[center][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/a9gBb5X.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/XUvv02U.png[/img][hr][/center]

That red sky…

Lisa was on the ground; she could feel leaves and sticks underneath her body as she pushed herself to her feet - which was difficult due to the added weight of her backpack. Once she was at full height, she looked to the left and right and confirmed that Saskia and Ella were there - they were there. Lisa sighed out of relief but also noted that she was in some kind of forest; there were trees and leaves, and then the gentle breeze would accompany the fall. This place smelled [i]atrocious[/i], like a rotting body in an oven at the highest temperature for days. However, some distance away, there was that rotting corpse of a man who had to have died hours ago - that was probably it. Lisa winced, staring at it for a moment before shaking her head.

[color=764820]”Let’s, um, let’s… just get a mov-”[/color]

Then it hit them… [url=https://i.imgur.com/heUsKdu.jpeg]a titanic beast[/url] in the shape of a rotting bear. It swiped its claw at the ground, slashing Lisa across the chest before she could even react. She screamed as she hit the ground; she could feel her blood coat her outfit…

[h3][color=e77fbf][b][i]"LISA!"[/i][/b][/color][/h3]

Ella screamed. She ran forward, wrapping her arms around Lisa and pulling her back away from the bear. Saskia jumped in front of the two of them, blood armour coating their bodies and blood swords slicing them. The bear roared, recoiling, before it came with a full-force swipe at Saskia.

[color=764820]”Holy… shit,”[/color] Lisa coughed up blood; her vision was getting blurry. [color=764820]”... Let go… I… have to… cocoon…”[/color] Spider-webs began to wrap around her to form a cocoon.

Ella let go of Lisa, and Saskia blocked the bear's claws with their swords, gritting their teeth.

[color=DC143C]"Ella!"[/color] Saskia turned her head back, struggling to hold the bear off.

Ella spun, transformed into her magical girl outfit, and jumped in with a rainbow kick towards the bear’s head. A bone breaking kick that sent blood, teeth, and spit in all directions. The bear stumbled before it launched itself at Ella with both claws out. Ella screamed, turning into a ball of burning hot light as it collided with her, lightning shooting out of her towards it. Saskia spun around, bringing an elbow down on it and shooting a bone spear through her elbow when it hit. It roared, recoiling in pain, it thrashed around, trying to get Saskia off. Saskia took a claw to the face, but ignored it, other elbow slamming into it with a bone spear. Ella turned back into herself and kicked it as hard as she could in the head.

It fell over and hit the ground with a thud, it's tongue hanging out of its mouth. At this point, Lisa burst out of the cocoon, fist first, and then flipped it off. Lisa tore her way out of the cocoon, and panted, hands on her knees. 

[color=764820]”... Holy, shit!”[/color]

Saskia grimaced, blood pulled back into the wound in her hand and the one on her face clotting. Ella raised her channeler, bathing Saskia in a healing light so that the cut on their face healed.

[color=DC143C]"Let’s get out of here before something else attacks us,"[/color] Saskia said.

Ella nodded in agreement, before holding out her hands. [color=e77fbf]"Let’s hold hands so we can’t get separated!"[/color]

[color=764820]”I have a better idea,”[/color] Lisa said, as she summoned a tetrablemmid spider and grew to the size they could all ride on. No wings. 

[color=764820]”... I don't think flying would be wise right now,”[/color] Lisa said as she climbed on. [color=764820]”Hop on.”[/color]

[color=DC143C]"Right, the flying’s too noisy,"[/color] Saskia nodded. She got on behind Lisa, and then Ella got on behind her.

[color=e77fbf]"Where do we go?"[/color] Ella asked, looking around with a hand on her forehead. [color=e77fbf]"I don’t see a big monster anywhere!"[/color]


[color=764820]”Let’s just get out of the forest,”[/color] Lisa said as the spider began walking forward. Just as a precaution, extra eyes began growing on Lisa’s forehead and cheeks to give her a wider field of view and to prevent anymore ambushes.

This forest was odd. There was something wrong with this place, one that gave Lisa a lingering feeling of dread. She kept on her toes-

The bushes next to them rustled.

Ella let out a strangled scream, cut off by Saskia’s hand covering her mouth. Then Ella held out her hand, bright pink flames coming out of it and immediately torching the bushes.

There was nothing.

Lisa tilted her head.

[color=764820]”… It might be invisible!”[/color]
[color=DC143C]"Or resistant to fire,"[/color] Saskia suggested.

Ella held out her other hand in front of her. Electricity crackled around it before she also sent a continuous stream of lightning into the bushes. It caught fire, but there was still nothing.

[color=764820]”… Let’s get out of here.”[/color] Lisa said as she commanded the spider to go forward. Maybe it was just the wind.

Lisa blinked.[hr][center][hider=Bad Dreams (Instrumental) - Busta Rhymes][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxosHaW-t4c[/youtube][/hider][/center][hr][url=https://i.imgur.com/bCCDOn2.jpg]Then she was there.[/url]

“… [i]Greetings![/i]”

Ella screamed again, and blasted her with both fire and lightning. The strange smiling woman didn’t flinch.

“… I am the Mother Will,” She said. “And I’ve come to introduce you all to your new home. A place of reflection. Forgiveness. And enlightenment.”

Ella continued screaming, but changed from blasting her with fire and lightning to blasting her with snow and light. Which did nothing.

[color=DC143C]"That clearly isn’t going to work."[/color] Saskia rolled her eyes. They then looked at Mother Will. [color=DC143C]"I’ve never heard of you. What do you mean by home?"[/color] 

“… What else could it mean?” The Mother Will asked. “You belong here.”

[color=DC143C]"[i]Righhht[/i], sure…"[/color] Saskia intoned.

[color=e77fbf]"No way!"[/color] Ella shouted, finally stopping shooting stuff at Mother Will. [color=e77fbf]"This place isn’t very Magical Girl at all!"[/color]

“Everyone here has come for one reason or another,” The Mother Will said. “Accidentally or not, they find their true purpose here. They accept the Pit. They love the Pit.”

[color=DC143C]"Right. It sure does seem lovely,"[/color] Saskia said monotonously. 

[color=e77fbf]"... well if it helps us find our true purpose, can you tell us where the Rampage is?"[/color] Ella asked.

“I don’t need to tell you,” The Mother Will replied. “Because, whatever you need…”

She dramatically paused.

“… [i]The Pit provides.[/i]”

Ella tilted her head, looking confused. [color=e77fbf]"Well…. Thanks, I guess?"[/color]

[color=DC143C]"I’m needing it really hard right now,"[/color] Saskia muttered. [color=DC143C]"Hopefully it’ll appear soon."[/color] 

The Mother Will sunk into the ground, and vanished.

[color=764820]”… Well, that was weird,”[/color] Lisa shrugged.

[color=DC143C]"Incredibly,"[/color] Saskia frowned.

[color=e77fbf]"She said the Pit provide whatever we need, but it’s not providing anything I [i]need[/i] right now! Like, the All-Blade, or… something to watch anime on!"[/color] Ella shouted, as if they were both equally important.

[color=764820]”… Let’s just get out of here before something else weird happens,”[/color] Lisa said as she commanded the spider to proceed forward. It wasn’t long until they made it to the edge of the forest, and before them was breathtaking.

For all the wrong reasons.

Far as the eye could see it was a cracked wasteland, with storms and dust clouds ravaging the lands.

[color=DC143C]"That looks worse than the forest,"[/color] Saskia commented.

[color=e77fbf]"At least we’ll be able to see anything before it attacks us!"[/color] Ella said, looking around with narrowed eyes. [color=e77fbf]"But I don’t see any massive monsters pinned by a sword!"[/color]

[color=764820]”… Just where did the Hound send us?”[/color] Lisa asked Saskia.

[color=DC143C]"The Pit,"[/color] Saskia replied, expression completely deadpan. [color=DC143C]"I know as much as you do. Maybe if we keep going around the edge of the forest we’ll find something?"[/color]

Lisa sighed, as she commanded the spider to climb down the edge and justified her decision with, 
[color=764820]”… If it’s anywhere it’d be there.”[/color]

[color=DC143C]"Nothing’s in there,"[/color] Saskia said bluntly.

[color=e77fbf]"I think Lisa’s right! This is exactly where I’d pin something called the Rampage!"[/color] Ella said.

[color=764820]”I bet if we go out through the other side there’s just going to be more wasteland - but hold on,”[/color] Lisa said, as she casted Snare on Ella and Saskia to keep them from falling off. It was a steep cliff, just a drop, so there was only death if one well. Though, there are other stone spires closer to the bottom.

Lisa was nervous, gritting her teeth the closer down they got. They were only here for a couple minutes and Lisa already hated it here. She almost died, and had to deal with the Mother Wi-

The spider’s leg slipped, and Lisa shouted as they began to descend. In a moment of quick thinking, Lisa whipped her head around and casted Snare. This created a massive web that caught the spider… Left it dangling, however.

[color=764820]”... This won’t last long,”[/color] Lisa began, [color=764820]”Any ideas?”[/color]

[color=DC143C]"Just make it last a minute,"[/color] Saskia grimace. They managed to shift to not have Ella right behind them, back erupting open as wings made of raw muscle and bone pushed out. They continued to grow until the spread six metres across, stretching out. [color=DC143C]"I can get us down."[/color]

They wrapped one arm around Lisa, and formed a blood tendril to wrap around Ella. Their wings spread out, gently flapping. [color=DC143C]"Get rid of the webs."[/color]

Lisa grabbed on, and before she got rid of the webs, she shrunk her spider back down to a standard size, and it climbed up onto her boot. The webs disappeared, and Lisa let out a sigh of relief. 

Saskia managed to get them down to the cliff, avoiding the stone spires before landing. They grimaced, letting go of both Lisa and Ella, shaking their arms out. [color=DC143C]"I’ll keep these out in case I need to fly us anywhere again."[/color] 

[color=e77fbf]"Good thing we trained before leaving!"[/color] Ella said, narrowing her eyes and looking around. [color=e77fbf]"Which way now?"[/color]

[color=764820]”Let’s pick a direction and keep moving until we find something,”[/color] Lisa shrugged… it wasn’t a plan, but what other option did they have. The spider on Lisa’s boot crawled down and was wrapped in a glowing cocoon that grew increasingly over time. [i]This time,[/i] Lisa gave it dragonfly wings [i]just in case[/i] they needed to fly. Lisa looked around; the ground was jagged and crooked, forming a mess of different cliffs, valleys, and depressions as far as the eye could see. Maybe flying over it would be the best ide-

On top of a cliff, Lisa saw a [url=https://i.imgur.com/RO5UXix.jpg]strange white creature[/url] hopping from sight. It roared, and [i]more[/i] of them appeared from out of sight. They looked at each other, screamed, and slowly approached the three.

[color=DC143C]"I don’t like the look of those,"[/color] Saskia murmured, nails digging into their palm to reopen the wound there. Blood trickled over them, forming armour.

[color=e77fbf]"I’ll blast them!"[/color] Ella didn’t even wait, coating both hands in sparking electricity before shooting it at as many white creatures as she could.

[color=764820]”Maybe they want to run a train on us,”[/color] Lisa shrugged as she began summoning spiders… more tetrablemmids were applied with the Enlarge spell, and she hybridized them with Hercules beetles. Lisa assisted, however, by raising both of her hands into the air with a sharp movement and wrapped many of these creatures in webs. 

Many of these creatures were electrocuted by Ella. However, a few looked at her, and then they hopped in front of the others. Forming a meat shield with their bodies as they advanced, many of the other ones stayed behind to cut their brethren free.

Ella grimaced, swapping tactics. She held out her hand, a massive fireball forming in it before she threw it at the meatshield. Saskia formed a long, thin blood whip in their hand and tried to pick off any that got within range. They were whipped across the face, drawing blood; however, they kept proceeding and began to form a circle around the three.

[color=764820]”... We just need to hold them off until [i]this[/i] spider is ready!”[/color] Lisa shouted as she took a few steps back into the spider that had the wings. She sighed again and raised her hands, trapping several in the web - as she commanded her spiders to go to town on the three - they began biting, scratching, and forcing their way into [i]any[/i] orifice.

They launched themselves into the air at the three with a vicious roar.

Ella grabbed the Ice Scepter with one hand, the other flung out in front of her to shoot a massive blast of ice. She spun around on her heel to try and get all of them.

Saskia’s wings moved up, covering the three of them from above, forming their own meat shield from attacks - even though every hit to it hurt them.

The spider burst out of its cocoon, with dragonfly wings - and was immediately pounced by a horde of these creatures. They clawed and bit - but the spider’s exoskeleton proved steady. Lisa waved her hand and the spiders on the creatures exploded and dissolved them somewhat in acid.

[color=764820]”Get them off the spider!”[/color] Lisa shouted, as she cast chitinous spear and impaled one of them with all five. They retracted, and the creature dropped dead.

[color=e77fbf]"On it!"[/color] Ella shouted. Pulled out the Ice Scepter, using it to shoot focused beams of ice at creature after creature while avoiding getting the spider. Saskia formed their blood tendril, grabbing them with it and trying to throw them off. Lisa assisted by using Chitinous-Spear to stab them, flex, and fling them off.

Spider legs erupted from Lisa’s back as she launched herself onto the spider’s back. While everyone was getting on, she was holding off these creatures with spears and webs. Saskia easily got on using her own wings, which they then began to pull into their back. Ella had to put the Ice Scepter back in the holster she had for it… Kicking and punching creatures out of her way to climb onto the spider's back.

[color=e77fbf]"Go, go, go!"[/color]

The spider took flight, and darted through the skies. The leftover spiders - that weren’t killed by the creatures - detonated and sprayed acid and chitin fragments in all directions.

Lisa sighed, as she saw some of them making chase before hiding. 

[color=764820]”... Whew,”[/color] Lisa began, [color=764820]”That was a close one.”[/color]

[color=e77fbf]"This place sucks!"[/color] Ella wailed, hugging Saskia and leaning forward into them. [color=e77fbf]"I’m so glad Lupe taught me those spells… I miss her!"[/color]

[color=DC143C]"I have a feeling it's only going to get worse,"[/color] Saskia frowned.

Lisa smiled - it faltered for a moment, but she forced it.

[color=764820]”... We are more than up to the task.”[/color]