Sarah trembled in his hands but turned and held her hatchet wardingly as the sounds approached. She trembled and sobbed, but even so, she kept her weapon aloft and threatened whatever approached with the brandished woodcutting instrument. Before the mystery creature stepped into view, it called out, "Wait!"
TJ immediately recognized the voice and felt foolish, but Sarah's eyes went wide and wild.
"It's just us. Farid freaked out and started to follow you, so, to make sure we all stayed together, we decided to follow." Rebekkah poked her head out from behind a tree with a mollifying smile. Sarah still nearly hurled her ax, but TJ held a calming hand on her elbow while slowly guiding the steel item back to her side. Now that the Zealot wasn't threatening death and dismemberment on their allies, TJ sunk to a squat and knuckled at his eyes, hard. What little patience he had been able to garner was instead overwhelmed by frustration and rage. He was just trying to get back to his kid, and now these three idiots were in the way. The temptation to abandon them in the forest was immense. After all, they would continue to kill anything that came near them until they themselves were killed, and while that wasn't the ideal turn of events, it would be enough.
No. TJ was frustrated and angry and a mix of most other negative emotions right now, but he wouldn't leave people to die. That this was not the first time that he had to convince himself of that in just ten minutes wasn't something he wanted to confront just now. After all, if he had to think too much about it, he'd lose his mind. Instead, he reached a hand out to Sarah, who had no idea what he was asking.
"Hand me the hatchet." Though she obviously hesitated to do so, Sarah handed over the weapon. Then, with a scream of emotional release, TJ slammed it into the nearest tree one, two, three times. On the fifth hit, the tall ponderosa creaked. On the eighth, it leaned. On the tenth, it fell. With a groan and cracking branches, the ponderosa pine slammed to the ground, the boon of the fallen thousands of pounds of tree echoing through the forest. TJ sighed, straightened his back, and grinned.
"Ok. I feel better now. Let's keep moving."
"You… you sure?" Zig asked, her face half frightened and half confused.
"Yup." TJ tossed the hatchet towards Sarah, who caught it and shrugged around the huge mountain lion she still carried. "Now, keep carrying your load, don't worry about the forest around us, and keep moving."
Following his own command, TJ settled the large javelina more comfortably around his shoulders and led the team in a continued path. Two more circuits were completed, and they were ambushed one more time by pukwudgies. As the hail of javelins fell, TJ was their focus this time, and he used Wind Manipulation to push them away from piercing him directly. Zig tried to use her Arrow Shower, but after the arrow divided a single time, she staggered and nearly fell from the MP depletion. She shrugged off helping hands and continued on her way, her eyes darting back and forth with mounting terror.
Two more circuits were completed, and TJ was sure, as he clambered over the fallen tree, that whatever was adjusting the forest had fully twisted them around.
"THERE!"
Four of the party freaked out at the sudden scream, but Farid didn't care. He sprinted in a direction, basically following the direction the trunk had fallen. TJ was the first to understand Farid's excitement, but the others followed suit thereafter. Like before, they ignored brambles, thorns, and any other tripping hazard in their desperate search for escape. Now that they had a hope, a sort of a guiding beacon, their flight was no longer fueled by desperation, but by hope. TJ could see the Fear being pushed out of his companions' minds, and he hoped beyond hope that Farid wasn't mistaken or merely deluded. If this ended with them unsure of where they were, then TJ was sure that it would be soul-crushing.
When Farid pointed at a spot to avoid because it was where an untriggered trap was, the entire group sighed in relief, knowing that they had, in fact, found the right trail. Surprisingly, the stoic, put-together Rebekkah had the most explosive reaction as she collapsed to the ground in a heap of sobs. TJ couldn't understand her barely audible prayers, but what little he understood was enough to know she was grateful, not bitter or angry. He leaned down and patted the woman's shoulder, a grounding she seemed to appreciate as she leaned her tear-stricken face against his hand.
TJcouldn't quite understand her viewpoint, but before he could ask any clarifying questions, something tickled at the back of his neck, a warning of something nearby. He whirled, looking for whatever it was that was creating this feeling. The wind didn't tell him anything, seeming not to understand whatever it was that was off-putting to him. Zig, the hunter with the highest Perception, didn't feel it either, or at least she didn't respond when TJ gestured to her.
Then, as he dismissed it as an aftereffect of the Fear, a breathy voice whispered in his ear, "You feel me. You know I'm here."
Turning wildly, there was nothing there. Nothing to let him know that the voice he heard was real. The others reacted to his panic, but he held up a hand to stall any speaking.
"Who are you?"
"I… was right!" The being or monster screamed. "You've finally touched enough of the divine to feel my touch. To hear my words. To feel my pain."
At its words, a crippling loneliness, the distinct feeling of being forgotten by a close friend, of being abandoned by those who should have protected you washed over TJ. He groaned involuntarily, the emotional anguish of being left to suffer and die filling him. TJ involuntarily groaned as he bent over, the chill of an icy knife in his belly, nearly as physically agonizing as the wendigo's claws when they'd pierced him.
"You abandoned me! You left me to die! You didn't help me, you watched my death! You forgot me. You let my son grow up without a mother!"
The spirit's words struck TJ like a physical blow, it's hatred haunting him. More than that, the hissing whisper slowly became a voice TJ recognized, one he knew intimately. A voice he'd heard sing and shout and cry and whisper and murmur and laugh. Mari's voice. Mari was here. Mari… hated him? Blamed him for her death?
"You rejoiced when I died, didn't you? You got a life insurance payout, got to have everything taken care of for years, and now you're wandering around the forest with some other woman."
"No!" He shouted, uncaring of the reactions of the others. "I've never forgotten you! I spray your perfume on your pillow every Saturday. I tell Junior the stories of how we met, where we dated, and how much you loved being his mom! Every day, I talk about how important you were, no, are to him!"
"Liar!" Mari hissed, her form materializing in front of him. A pillar of light fell from between the trees, and a mist coalesced into her bone-achingly familiar form. She wore the same yoga pants and loose tank top she'd died in, her blood and the stains from the asphalt staining the white of her shirt. "You were grateful for that money!"
"Of course I was grateful to have half a million dollars, but I'd pay it back with all the interest in the world if it meant I could see you again. I'd sell the world for you, and you think some fucking money would change that for me?"
"Words are cheap, husband." Mari whispered, her fingers trailing down TJ's tear stricken face. "Prove your devotion. Your love."
Alarm bells rang in TJ's mind. Mari never wanted any proof from him, other than a kiss and a foot rub. Then, he smelled her perfume. Sweet. And perfect.
"What do you need?" He asked, his mind slipping away from his concerns. Zig and Farid were saying something, but it didn't matter. Only his wife did.
"Can you get me a body?" Her tone was reasonable, normal. TJ didn't question the request.
"Of course. How can I get you a body?"
"That redheaded one's will do nicely."
"What do I need to do for you?"
"Kill her of course. Make sure not to damage the body too much, hon."
"Of course not. I'll make sure it isn't too damaged."
TJ turned to Zig, sure she'd understand what he was going to request. It was for his wife, so of course she wouldn't mind, right? "Zig?"
"You're scaring me, TJ. What's going on?"
"I just need something from you. It's just that–"
Mari's screams of agony cut through his reasonable request. Whirling, TJ watched as that bitch Rebekkah's flames cut into Mari's spirit. He didn't hesitate to activate Divine Transformation and jump in front of the fire. Rebekkah stopped her Skill nearly immediately after he interposed himself, and TJ leapt towards her, his jaws wide open. She'd pay for attacking Mari. For laying hands on his wife! He'd prove his devotion.
"APPRAISE IT!" Zig screamed as she tried to wrench him from his path. Sarah dared to stop his defence of his wife, her shield appearing and smashing his back from attacking. He roared his wrath as he was pushed away.
"Please TJ!" Farid pleaded. "Just Appraise the thing you're talking to! Then you can do what you want!"
"Back the fuck off." Sarah growled. She didn't plead. She held her shield aloft, her eyes glowering behind her shield held high. Mari's whispers prodded him to keep attacking, to get her that body, but the wind said to do as they asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Mari leaned forward, tears streaking her face.
"Please. Baby, I just want to be with you."
Chindi, 8
The Appraisal told him something that shook the surety from his mind. He gritted his teeth as he asked the System aloud, "What's a Chindi?"
Chindi is, according to the Navajo belief, the spiritual remains of those who have died. It is all that is malevolent and malicious of those who have died. NOTE: Due to your Title as an Elite Hunter, you learn that this Chindi is an Elite monster.
Mari reacted as quickly as the System. She fled without another word, the mist fading to nothing in the shadow, and as her presence faded, TJ's certainty that she was, in fact, his wife, faded. He dropped his Divine Transformation and stumbled away.
"The hell is wrong with you?" Zig demanded. TJ shook his head and stumbled away in the direction of the highway. Before anyone else could make any other demands of him, a group of ten more damned pukwudgies appeared and hurled their spears. Though their opening salvo took TJ by surprise, the fury bubbled up inside him again, and he activated Divine Transformation. The rest of his party was most out of resources, but he, having been so careful to maintain his MP after gaining a level, lost all sense of rationality.
With a roar and a hiss, TJ conjured a tornado that ripped from his mouth, the air tearing leaves and branches from everything in its path. The spears flew in every direction without any target, and as the pukwudgies resisted being yanked from their perches in the trees overhead, TJ maintained the tornado while compressing a half dozen spears of wind to blast them from their position. He sent them forward as he felt his MP falling. TJ didn't care, and as the six bodies met each other in the center of the maelstrom, wind shredded their bodies, and TJ didn't stop until his MP was reduced to 0.
He didn't care. There needed to be something to vent his rage, and TJ smashed the pukwudgie bodies in front of him, uncaring for anything but the opportunity to kill something. The blinding headache suddenly faded, and TJ was pulled from his mindless fury for long enough to notice the System notifications.
Class: Neophyte has advanced to level 10.
Attribute points allocated: Endurance +3, Vitality +3, Toughness +2, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +2, Fixation +2, Free Points +1. Additional Free Point currently available. Skill Selection available.
Race: Human has advanced to level 10.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Vitality +2, Toughness +1, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +1, Fixation +2. Additional Free Points currently available.