The forest burned around him, and the scent of death filled his nose. 

He'd fallen on his rear, and and looked up at all the melting, dying trees and greenery, all while the ugly creature of destruction bore a disgustingly confident grin, as more dark goop oozed from its pores, barely wounded.

He, meanwhile, sat helplessly on the ground as the forest died around him, his clothes torn, his body cut and singed... A deeply familiar feeling.

His dark blood ran hotter than it had in years as his hatred reached a boiling point. His Beast howled longingly, its desire to consume only adding to the flame.

He couldn't forgive this abhorrent existence. It was going to die. 

...

He needed a weapon. 

The Beast charged at him once more.

The Kid got up on two legs, and ran. Endurance would be a necessity here, he felt. 

The Beast, still unable to turn quickly, missed its initial charge. But it was used to that, and simply charged again, unerringly. Perhaps it knew that its prey would soon succumb to its wounds, if left unchecked.

The Kid thought fast. The trees all around him were useless now. Even if he ran outside of the affected area, the Beast'd just do the same thing again. A normal tree wouldn't work, he needed something bigger. 

Big tree, big tree, big- 

AH! THE BIG TREE IN THE FIELD!

The Kid had no problem turning on a dime, and began bolting out of the forest. He wasn't sure what he was doing in there anyway, but he didn't care. 

The Beast gave chase. Good. It'd take a lot out of him to outpace the beast, but... To hell with it.

This Beast was an abhorrent creature, an ungodly mess that shouldn't be allowed to exist. On top of that, answers about the Cat might be closer than ever.

He wouldn't allow himself to die, he realized. He was invincible.

This is all only pretend, after all~

He blitz through the forest, danced around the trees and the bushes, and paid no mind to the wildlife that was crushed in the wake of him and his pursuer.

He soon emerged, out into the wide, open plain of green. The pre-midday sun beat down upon him happily, and seemed to endorse his hatred, his cleansing of that which deserved to be cleansed. 

The tree came into view instantly. He looked upon it with glee.

One last burst.

The tree in question had previously described as "comically large," but that's a bit of an undersell.

In truth, this 'tree' is a massive hunk of lumber that shoots up for thousands and thousands of feet, its leaves and branches piercing even the clouds, and it had at least the width of four houses. On top of that, it was several miles away from the Kid at this moment. 

This particular tree the is subject of many mystical myths and legendary legends, none of which were important enough for the characters to discuss or think about at any particular moment. And certainly not important enough to stop the Kid from doing what he's about to do.

Grigor limped slowly back to their little campsite, clutching himself and putting as little pressure as he could on his wounds.

The pink-haired thief knelt beside a still-sleeping S with a blank expression, clutching a small glass bottle in her hand. As Grigor approached, he noticed that S's skin seemed clearer, and the look of pain on his face had receded somewhat. He still looked far from well, but it no longer seemed that his death was imminent.

"Is... Is he better? Did you do something?" Grigor asked as he approached, doing his best not to collapse.

"Hmnuh?-" The thief seemed surprised at his words, though his approach wasn't at all subtle. "Ah, yeah. Relatively. Took a look at his wounds, and figured they were unrelated. Thought he might just be out of juice, so I poured this guy down his gullet." She shook the small bottle, and Grigor noticed the deep blue droplets clinging to the glass.

"And that worked?" Grigor breathed a slight sigh of relief. "That was a good call, thief. Perhaps I'd misjudged you." 

"Mmhmm. Helped a little bit, but there's clearly somethin' else going on." She stared down at S's unconscious body with a squint. "Did this happen while I was looking through his stuff? I thought he was just having a nightmare..."

"I-I'm unsure, I only saw him after you left. Are you certain those other wounds aren't related? They look pretty seve-"

"I've seen plenty burns in my time." She stated, her voice flat and quick. "These're old."

Grigor now noticed that she'd unpeeled some of the bandages around S's chest, and was staring at his bare flesh. Grigor recoiled slightly.

"Probably got 'em when he was a kid." She continued. "High-level stuff, too, surprised he survived. Seems almost like a brand, but it's too erratic for that. Something like this shouldn't have been too hard to heal, but something's stopping it."

"... Like what?" Grigor asked, as the woman remained still.

She just shrugged. Her lips curled sadly, but her eyes remained focused.

. . . This was well outside Grigor's field of understanding, he was too out of his element to say anything more. He directed his thoughts elsewhere...

Ah, that strange kid, Grigor had seen him charging past him earlier, right? Why in the name of the heavens was he doing that? Had something happened to the girl? Grigor turned out onto the plain, to see if he was still there.

The tree caught his eye, and all thoughts escaped him.

It was as if a beast, hundreds of feet tall and hundreds of feet wide had bitten into the side of it with an impossibly wide maw.

Beside the tree was an equally impossible large hunk of blackened wood.

And, as a little speck in the distance, a figure in tanned robes screamed triumphantly.