[center][b][u]Collab Between Orpheus anf Fox[/b][/u][/center]

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Everything had gone to hell...

"You're okay, we're getting out of here," Harper sounded distant, as if he had been put in autopilot. The boy hooked his arms underneath Riley's own and pulled the girl to her feet. Her head lolled to the side, as blood trickled down her neck. "Can you walk?" There was no response. It looked like the cabin was about to cave in, and soon enough, the roof gave way. Luckily, Brandy prevented it from crushing them. 

Why... Why didn't the guides just leave? They were dying for humans they barely even knew and it was madness.

"Leila, Avian!" Riley suddenly lurched forward, and she probably would have fallen to the floor, if not for his tight hold. "Harper?" He released his hold. "Gods...Where are the others?" The girl brought a hand to her head and winced as soon as she felt something warm and sticky. It was hard to think straight when her head was throbbing so much, but there wasn't time to take a breather. "Let's go," Before Harper could have time to fret, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him outside.

Avian and Songbird were lying motionless inside Martini's bubble dome.

There was no way to determine what state they were in, especially Avian who most likely was dead, but it was a relief to see Martini and Jasper with them. He held out his sword in front of him, they had all been scattered. The witch appeared and reappeared at her leisure, easily picking them off one by one. The last he had seen her, she had been toying with Inadi and Lesley, but at the moment, everything seemed far too quiet.

The ground his rumbled and Harper stepped back into an old tree. In the distance, he could make out weird flashes of red. He saw a trace of a smile on of the nearby trees and something just clicked. "Don't go near the tre-- AAGH!" Before he could finish his sentence the tree behind him growled and he dove forward, falling into the ground. 

"Damn it all!" Riley stepped in front of the boy, embers flickering around both hands. She had enough for one more attack! She launched a fireball at the old tree and it fell back, screams leaving a hole in its trunk. "Keep away from the trees!" The girl snapped. 

Leon scowled. "She keeps teleporting!" Even his bursts of wind weren't fast enough, "Does anyone know where the witch is?"

[b]”ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP IT! YOU'RE BEING CONFUSING!"[/b]

Harper's eyes went wide. "Leila..."

Riley jerked her head in the direction the boy was facing. Sure enough, she managed to catch a glimpse of black wisps. The rest of Leila's speech was a dull buzz in her ears and soon the girl was running towards her friend with a look of utter terror on her face.

Branches curled around her ankles and Riley was yanked down. She let out a pained hiss and struggled to her feet, but the roots held her in place and the only thing she could do was grit her teeth and watch.

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"Permission..." The voice almost sounded sad. "Did anyone ask for our permission when they made us this way?" She placed an ice-cold hand on the archer's shoulder. "We never wanted to be made this way." There was a pause, "but we aren't like you, and we [i]can't[/i] be anything else." The archer felt herself sinking into the earth.

"No one wants to be hated-- to be like US!" Leila sunk deeper into the earth. It swallowed her slowly, like a snake.

The witch's eyes glazed over and the army of trees approached, in a few moments they would be surrounded and to make it worse almost all of them were out of energy, and out of the guides, only Martini and Brandy were still conscious.

"That [i]witch[/i]," Hakuren gritted his teeth in frustration. "Bear, I'm not just going to sit here."

Songbird and Avian would be alright without his ice powers. The ice mage left the protective dome and eyes his surroundings. The forest was alive, but none of the trees could leave their spot. If they stayed away, they would most likely be alright.

"Hang in their Leila!" Hakuren ran forward but the next thing that happened rendered them all immobile.

Wooden hands had latched onto their ankles, rooting them to the spot. 

"You think you children will be able to best me?" She left the archer alone, but she continued to sink into the earth. If no one saved her, it would eventually pull her under and suffocate her to death. It was like quicksand. "Even with your petty amulets!" She reappeared beside Leon and ran a finger down his cheek.

The wind mage shuddered as the witch clamped her fingers around his wrist. "You're merely playing heroes," She turned her head and held eye contact with Ace. "But can any of you really save each other?" The witch's voice faded in and out in a manner reminiscent of TV static, "WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN SAVE YOURSELVES?"

No matter how hard the humans tried, they found themselves unable to take a single step.

The witch snapped her fingers and the wooden hands around Ace's ankles sunk back into the earth. "YOU CAN'T SAVE ANYONE!" 

She yanked Leon up into the air. "Can you rescue him?" She challenged Ace to make a move, but as soon as the human would try anything, the witch would flick her wrist and send the girl careening back. 

"Help me!" Leon yelled as he squirmed and kicked, but the witch held him up with relative ease.

He didn't even have time to beg. "Time is up!" The witch threw him at one of the trees and the old oak wrapped its branches around the boy. "You can't save anyone." Leon yelled and fought but the tree dug its branches deeper into his flesh. In time his screams and cries died down, and eventually he stopped struggling. They could only watch as Leon's eyes finally rolled into the back of his head as his outstretched arm dropped limply back to his side, his final breath nothing more than a faint, strangled gurgle.

Riley was rendered speechless and Harper, the boy snapped.

"I... I-'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" He was crying so hard, but he didn't care. One of his friends was dead and they couldn't do a single damned thing about it! NOT A SINGLE DAMNED THING!

A gaping maw appeared where the oak's trunk should have been, and slowly Leon was pulled within. Eventually nothing was left, and the only proof of his existence were the splotches of blood that surrounded the evil tree.

Hakuren's shoulders shook. Just like that, Leon's life had been snuffed out. He took a step forward, and surpisingly, the roots that bound them in place were no longer there. The same thing happened to everyone and he made a mad dash for the witch.

"Hakuren!" Riley couldn't believe what was happening. They were all dropping like flies. Her eyes flitted to Leila, the girl was now buried neck-deep in the earth. If they didn't get to her soon... She'd end up just like Leon. Maybe this was their chance.

He'd freeze that witch alive! Frost snaked up the ice mage's arms and he leaped forward, prepared to strike the woman down with an icy uppercut. However, as soon as Hakuren had thrown his punch the witch disappeared in a puff of dark wisps. "Playing hard to get?" He snarled, "Cowards always find ways to play dirty, yes?"

Oh how amusing this human was. She appeared behind him and yanked him back by the collar of his shirt.

She leaned in to whisper in Hakuren's ear. "If you die here, everything will end."

An absolute ending. Hakuren's eyes went wide and a chill ran down his spine. "You lying bitch!" He swiveled around and threw another punch, but it connected with nothing but thin air. "An "absolute end" does not exist..."

He threw another punch, but the witch caught it in her hand and slowly, his arm began turning into stone.

"An absolute ending does exist. If you die in Nowhere, you will cease to be. Your past, present, and future, it will amount to nothing. You will be forgotten. Your name will be borne on the wind and nobody shall remember who you are, nor recall what you have done."

Hakuren's eyes landed on his petrified arm and he screamed. "You're bluffing...!" The man's knees had gone weak. 

If any of the lost souls had tried to help, the witch had simply blown them back with a flick of her wrist. They couldn't beat her, it was becoming very easy to see. Hakuren pulled back his free hand and struck her in the face, but she didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

"Every photograph, every memory. Not even your loved ones will remember your name. You will become nothing..." She raised her free hand and before Haku could say it, she had her nails buried in his stomach. The ice mage watch in terror as blood seeped into his coat.

"NO! NO! I REFUSE TO BECOME NOTHING! I REFUSE AN ULTIMATE ENDING!" He was on his knees, screaming his lungs out. He couldn't [i]not[/i] exist, the thought terrified him and before he could say anything, tears began trickling down his cheeks. "I CAN'T JUST DISAPPEAR!" 

The stoneflesh spell began creeping up his arm and shoulders, even the base of his neck had gone stiff now. Hakuren couldn't believe it. He was going to die like this and no one would remember him. Not Axel, not Aika, not even his own parents. "An infinite end, cannot exist." The witch slammed her foot onto his back and pushed him into the ground. Hakuren pleaded, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

The stone spell consumed him, and in the end he turned into a stone statue and nothing more.

Hakuren was dead.

Dead, gone, and nothing but a memory.

Harper couldn't even think, the boy gritted his teeth and ran straight for the witch. "GRAAAAAAH" As soon as he had swung his sword, the woman before him had vanished. He turned around and swung again and again and again.

"Enough of this," the witch's eyes glowed a bright orange. "You can choose to die here, or turn back!"

The next thing Harper felt was a piercing pain. He looked down to see his own sword buried deep into his stomach. There was so much red...

In one swift motion, the witch pulled out the boy's sword and tossed it across the battle field.

Harper crumpled to the ground and the last thing he thought of was home. It was a shame he'd never see it again...

The world went dark.