Glassflower: Ursa and the Scarf Squad

Content Warnings:

-Language

-violence

-suicidal references

Over Thirty Hundred Years Ago.

A black, crystular claw broke through the surface of the silent waters.

"(My children)," Taipan's muffled voice called out.

The sound of her voice pierced and reverberated through the darkness.

A purple red strand of energy slipped through the cracks in the claw and swam into the water. The strand was like a serpent, darting to and fro through the corrupted waters.

"(So now you decide to use your skillset to help us directly?)," a muffled voice like a long, freezing walk criticised.

"(You know the deal we made Sasa, I am a mere advisor unless the situation calls for it),"

"(Our people are dying, and you could end it all with the snap of your fingers-),"

"(I prefer clapping personally)," Taipan scoffed.

"(I don't care what your prefer, I want-),"

The strand found a red light in the darkness. It swam around it, keeping a distance and observing it light prey. 

It was massive.

"(I've found the source of the waters' rise),"

"(Is it a core?),"

"(correct),"

"(wasn't flooding the gate supposed to keep the core from forming?),"

"(No, it was supposed to slow the process of Corruption),"

"(How much many lives will it require to destroy it Taipantheon!?),"

"(Destroying the Core at this point would risk lowering the waters and would cripple our forces completely. Destroying the Gate would cause mass cave-ins within Rem),"

"(What do you *advise*?)," Sasa growled.

"(We need a series of tunnels underground that can be used to transport and recycle water. This will help us prevent build up of corruption and any potential flooding. It's a classic technique that was first invented in Mesopotamia in fact, though it evolved as the centuries went on)," Taipan explained like she was speaking to a grade schooler.

"(And you'll help design these systems I hope)," Sasa questioned, in an annoyed tone of voice.

A pair of purple red lights stared into the water. They were serpents swirling ovals, almost resembling eyes.

"(Of course, we can't deal with a core, especially now of all times. Setsune isn't ready for such challenges yet),"

"(I'm never sure who your really talking to)," Sasa groaned.

Chapter XIII

Forces of Nature Part I

"You scum of the Hollow Realm! You won't fucking get away with this you piece of shit!" Tempestas yelled at Taipan as she ignored it.

Blue Mould overwhelmed and crawled all over Tempestas, only letting its head show. Taipan walked over to it, pulling out the dagger of red and black flames.

"Do you ever have anything useful to say?" she asked.

"Kill yourself!"

"You only know how to lash out. How unproductive," she shrugged, rolling her die in her other hand.

"You were just using me to get to Ursa!" it accused.

"Of course I was," she stated, looming over it. "She's my friend, the perfect amalgamation of humanity's hypocrisy, and more than you will ever be,"

"I lost everything because of you!" it exclaimed.

"Oh my child, you never had anything. Your forces were a diamond, a rock that you made up to be more than it actually was. They would've either found a better master or been destroyed in time, especially in this cycle," she lectured, feeling the dull end of the blade.

"YOOUUUUU-!"

"(*Quiet*)," she ordered, leaning in. "If I'm lucky I'll never hear your voice again. Your not even fun to toy with like Sasa or Gu He. Even Jadeite was worth listening to you. Think of that, your worth-, well, -less than my worst friend,"

"That's by your standards you hypocrite!" It accused, trying to wrestle free.

"Fair play," She looked to the Corrupted Beasts, "My children, finish the job,"

"WAIT-!" Tempestas responded before the Blue Mould covered its head, imprisoning it in a crystular prison.

Yellow began sapping from the prison, feeding the black around it and causing it to grow.

"That'll do then…now Ursa, let the curtain fall on this charade," she stated, cutting her arm with the blade then passing it onto one of her other vessels.

She walked off, gaining some distance as black and red flames began to engulf her vessel's body. The body fell to the ground as a purple red strand escaped it.

The infected vessel broke down, becoming a sphere. It burrowed part of its body through the cracks of the ground. Red lights pulsed through it and the ground as the entire open space began to shake and reform.

The vessel transformed into black and red flames and began to take on a new shape.

---

Ursa got up off the ground, dusting herself off, her cloth completely regenerated. [Eversor watched from the side curiously].

["So you're really going to let it rot in this place?" she asked, tilting her head].

"It's too dangerous," Ursa sighed, shaking her head. "It made its choice,"

["You provided Belle understanding of her circumstances when you met her, why not this one?" Eversor asked, placing her finger on her chin].

"That was different," Ursa stated, turning her back and facing the darkness.

["Not really. She hunted you down, attacked you. Tried to kill you multiple times, but you never gave up, even when she lashed out. Would you not save her again now?" Eversor asked, looming over Ursa, her nail on her chin, her legs crossed].

"I can't afford to do that anymore," Ursa growled, storming off, into the darkness.

["(I guess that makes both of us)," Eversor commented before vanishing].

Corrupted Beasts appeared from the darkness, hidden by Purple Nightmares. Green Wheels rushed Ursa.

Green. She grabbed them and with a spin FLUNG them back into the darkness.

A tail shot through the darkness at Ursa's head. She grabbed it with her teeth.

Yellow. She spun, unleashing a massive wave of yellow wind while pulling the Red Eyes close to her.

She wiped out multiple Beasts and disabled the Purple Nightmares. She grabbed the Red Eyes and JAMMED her nails right into them.

The darkness faded, revealing multiple clusters before her. Green.

Instead of fighting the clusters, she LEAPT above them. 

Red.

She extended strands of cloth across the halls, towards an opening behind the clusters. She pulled herself past them all. Green.

She sped forwards the Corrupted Beasts rumbling wildly behind her. A Red Eyes cut at the walls.

Two sets of Green Wheels tried to cut her off. She got on all fours and charged right through them with her head.

Blue Mould fused into slightly larger Blue Mould(around the size of vultures) and leapt upon her. She rapidly shook them off, either grabbing them, elbowing their weak spots, or using her head.

Up ahead, Blue Mould were building a barricade to stop her. Protecting the barricade were Orange Hearts. Their numbers were visually increased by Purple Nightmares, making it hard to discern which ones were real or not.

They leapt upon her, Ursa got on two, trying to keep her momentum, but take a moment to deal with this threat. She jabbed multiple of them, but she didn't get each of their hearts, keeping them in the fray.

She was too late. The barricade was made and the Clusters were upon her.

Orange. Ursa teleported all the way back to the safe zone.

"LATTE!" she waved, charging off the other way with a smile on her face.

Now sufficiently ahead of the Clusters, she was free to escape for the time being. She came across multiple paths: up, down, straight, left, right, etc. etc.

[The down path would likely lead to finding Tempestas]. She shook her head, she couldn't know that for sure, and she knew not what would await.

Going up would likely lead her closer to the exit, or at least hopefully give her a good vantage point. [Perhaps she'd be able to see Tempestas from there too. She went up].

A red light pulsed through the entire cave system. She froze.

The entire cave shook.

A massive, glowing red eye opened in the wall, looking directly at Ursa. She flattened her ears, her eyes shrunk.

The tunnel tried to swallow Ursa, crushing her. Green.

She dashed forwards, dodging the attack. Pillars shot out of multiple sides of the tunnel, attempting. She slid under and leapt over them. The entire floor twisted, attempting to SLAM her into the wall.

She dragged her claws across the ground, holding herself in place. The cave attempted to swallow her again.

She barely held it open, the weight of the entire cave upon her. Spikes shot right towards her.

Red. She rapidly twisted around her insides slipping free from the opening and through the spikes. She huffed loudly, charging forwards.

There was an opening up ahead. A wall closed the way and charged at her. Another Wall was closing in from behind as well.

Ursa's eyes sharpened. She found the cracks in the wall and charged.

She SMASHED through, reaching the opening, and running. 

She found herself in the centre array of the Gate, where multiple paths converged through the air over open space.

Below her she saw the bottom quickly filling up. At said bottom was a MASSIVE serpent of black and red flames, encasing itself in a black nest.

It HISSED! Filling up the air with deafening noise!

The paths through the inner part of the gate SHATTERED!

Ursa rapidly jumped from fragment to fragment, trying to gain some distance. The top of the Gate was only a bit away, she just needed to get it within range of the cloth.

Massive fragments shot down from the ceiling. She grabbed onto them and leapt off to get further. Yellow bursts were shot from around the Gate.

Ursa tossed shards of black their way, shattering many of them before they could burst. A shame she couldn't get them all.

She took many hits, her vision briefly blinded and her body hit by a burst of paralyzing yellow. She felt her heart racing as she fell down.

---

Taipan walked upon the water outside the Gate. The black shifted to act as stones beneath her feet.

She looked up, behind her, "We're on schedule then,"

---

Her bones had snapped and body twisted, but it wasn't out yet. Corrupted Beasts surrounded her.

The Core's Eye looked down on her from the walls like a great, red sun. The Red Eyes raised their tails.

Yellow Burst leapt onto a few of the red eyes. Blue Mould onto others. Each of the different Colours leapt onto the Red Eyes and fused with them.

Their bodies transformed, becoming thicker, looking more like knights, each with their own different coloured armour and the same bright red eyes. Their tails become swords, each different depending on the colour.

The Yellow Knights were lightly armoured with electrical blades. The Blue Knights were basic, but were the largest of the knights. The Green Knights were bulky and poorly fused together, with heavy armour and massive swords. The Purple Knights held invisible blades, their armour covered by a purple mist. And the Orange Knights carried multiple blades and three hearts in their armour.

They all loudly scratched the ground beneath them, their heads held high.

They surrounded Ursa as she got to her feet. She flipped her scarf over back and bore her fangs. 

[She felt her orange strand. She fell too far to get back to where she was. She was trapped in this battle].

They charged her from all sides. Orange.

She teleported above them and fell. She CRASHED onto one of the greens and CLAWED right through its weak points. 

An invisible blade barely cut her cheek. She kicked the purple away.

Multiple blades almost reached her when she teleported again.

She had limited places to reappear. She was hit by an electrical cut and fell to the ground.

The ground practically became blades as the Corrupted Knights readied for her landing.

Black.

Like a bomb. She hit with a force that cause a large portion of them to scatter, shattering and flying about.

She didn't get them all however, as the Orange Knights rose to their feet. They cut at her from multiple sides. She carefully twisted her arms around, grabbing their blades with cloth.

Not too far away, Ursa could see more knights gathering. She needed to make this quick.

She broke hearts from each of them, causing the knight to get some distance, dropping a singular of their blades. Green. She charged one and broke its other two hearts.

She ducked to dodge a horizontal blade from behind. She SMASHED her head and claws into its hearts. Two knights jabbed at her from left and right.

She redirected two of their blades and clawed through four of their hearts. They jabbed at her with their second swords. She countered their blades and elbowed their remaining hearts.

A Green Knight approached swinging its MASSIVE BLADE down on her! She saw her reflection in it.

She clawed at the sword, pushing her enemy back. She climbed up the Knight and LEAPT off of it! She threw a bundle of cloth, countering energy strikes.

She fell to the ground dodging other energy cuts, and charged forwards. Multiple blades appeared out of thin air, cutting at her. She quickly weaved through them, only taking minor cuts!

Many more knights stood in her way! She became a tornado, charging through them and pushing them back. There were too many.

She used the wind to SHOOT herself up so she could grab onto the walls.

The walls tried to throw her off. She used her cloth to grapple and keep herself on them. She swung and grabbed over and over again.

She saw a light in the corner of her eye.

The serpent was building up a sphere of black and red in its mouth. Ursa's heart stopped.

She clawed her way into the walls. Moving at lightning speeds to get distance. She bundled up her cloth, readying for a blast greater than the one she hit Jidenna{chapter IV} with.

The Core had charged up the blast. BOOM!

To Be Continued...…