The group of nine chosen individuals sat in the middle of the clearing and decided on what their first action should be. Boog, Aragol, Karmen, Elmar, and Casandra conversed while the others remained quiet and listened.

Celestia kept rubbing her nose and sneezing, even though she was as far from the large mushroom trees as possible. "My head is starting to hurt some more," she said with a light whimper. "I don't want to become a child again..."

Graham, who sat beside her, put a hand on the grey stone at his neck and a breeze appeared from nowhere. It swirled around Celestia like a protective barrier, gently tossing her hair. He gulped and took a deep breath to gather some courage before saying, "I-I made a wind shield around you...a small one. Any spores that get close to you will-will be blown away."

Celestia giggled as the breeze tickled her nose. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils and exhaled with relief. She eyed Graham, who quickly looked away, and smiled warmly. "Thank you, Graham. I didn't know you could control the wind. That is amazing."

He turned her way but stared at her feet. Fighting through his thick wall of shyness he said, "I can't-I can't do much more than a breeze...I mean, I can do more but...I just...I need to be angry but I don't like being angry."

"I'm sure if you practised you could do more without having to be angry."

Graham shrugged. "Maybe..."

Boog was getting loud, as was his custom. "Now who the hell made you leader, Aragol? I'm the strongest one here. I should be the leader!"

"Physical strength does not equal the ability to lead!" Aragol spat back. "I fought so-called leaders before. They were the strongest men of their tribe but were often the easiest to defeat. They were clouded by their pride and could never think two steps ahead of them. I killed them all."

"You want to try that again?" Boog asked, standing up to his full height and tensing his bulging arms. "You did what?"

Aragol stood up as well. He was a reasonably tall man himself but Boog towered over him. He was not intimidated in the least, however, and stood his ground. "I killed them. I fought them and I killed them. In the battle pits I fought men even taller and more physically imposing than you. Some would claim them to be half giant. I killed them too."

"So your ability to kill anything makes you the leader?" Karmen asked with dripping sarcasm. "That's so much better than being the strongest."

Aragol relaxed and took a step back, releasing his gaze on Boog and glancing around at the others. "No...I was going to say that back home I am a general. I am accustomed to leading men. I do not claim to be the leader, only that I have led before and would not shy away from the responsibility." He gazed at Ivory. "Ivory has led as well. She is a captain in her world. She could lead as well."

Ivory felt everyone's gazes on her and she shook her head. "No...I will not."

"Why do we need a leader?" Celestia asked, joining in the conversation. "Aren't we a team? Shouldn't we be thinking about where to begin instead of butting heads?"

Aragol nodded. "We should. I have a war to fight when I return to Dracona. If we stay here too long it will be over by the time I return."

"No one gives a damn about your war," Boog grumbled.

"You have nothing waiting for you?" Aragol asked with a frown.

Boog didn't answer him.

"Where do we go, Aragol?" Casandra asked, wanting to quell the rising tension. "Where is the nearest anchor?"

Aragol closed his eyes and thought about the task the cloaked man had given them. A moment later he saw himself and the others in the clearing, looking up from high above. The view moved and looked over the forest of mushrooms to settle on a black mushroom tree far taller than all the rest. Long white tendrils poked out of its side like branches and even in his mind he could sense its danger. He opened his eyes, turned in the direction of the black mushroom, and pointed ahead. "We head that way."

"What is that way?" Elmar asked, standing up and grabbing his staff.

"We have a hike of several miles through this forest before we reach a black mushroom of incredible size. I believe that is the anchor that we need to cleanse."

"How are we to cleanse it?" Casandra asked.

"I...I do not know. The vision only showed me the anchor."

"Oh, let me guess," Victoria started as she stood up, "we have to work together to cleanse it. That hooded guy could have at least given us instructions or something..."

"We'll figure it out when we get there I suppose," Casandra said, trying to sound hopeful.

"Is everyone ready to leave?" Aragol asked, looking at everyone in turn. Boog had his arms crossed over his chest and said nothing. Ivory was once again dressed in plate armour and had her silver axe in hand. She nodded to him, ready to depart. Casandra was up and nodded to him as well, a light smile on her face. Graham nodded once, his face a mask of uncertainty and worry but his back straight and his feet firmly planted on the ground. Celestia was giggling as a waving strand of hair tickled her face. Aragol smiled; she looked ready enough. Victoria, to his surprise, almost looked eager to get moving. Gone was the fear and doubt that had plagued her since her arrival. She kept looking in the direction he had pointed and she could not stand still. Elmar gripped his staff as a walking stick and looked ready, though he often glanced at the ground, as if searching for something. Karmen was looking at him and appeared to be expecting him to say something.

"Are we going, or what?" she asked impatiently.

Aragol nodded, slightly annoyed at her rudeness. "Yes, we are off." With that he stepped ahead, leading the group into the mushroom forest. It was not long before they were completely surrounded by thick stems and shaded by mushroom caps, their gills dropping spores over their heads and onto the ground. Boog followed at Aragol's side, staring ahead as if expecting the black mushroom to appear any moment. Ivory was at his other side, her eyes searching for danger, her axe at the ready. The others followed behind them and Elmar held the rear.

Victoria smiled wide. "Finally, we get to do something other than sit and talk. I love hiking, even if it is in a weird place. It always makes me feel better."

Celestia, who walked beside her, looked up at the sky. "If it wasn't for our task I could almost call this place beautiful. I've never seen such auroras before. It makes me want to fly up into them to be surrounded by all the colours."

"They're beyond the atmosphere," Karmen said with a roll of her eyes. "You'd suffocate before you ever reached them."

"I know that!" Celestia shot back. "I'm not stupid!"

"Could have fooled me..."

Celestia pursed her lips and frowned deeply at Karmen. "Why do you have to be mean? We're a team. We should be friends."

"Until I see a reason why I could ever consider you a part of the team we are not friends, Celestia."

Celestia gasped at the brutally rude remark. Her eyes began to moisten and she looked away, not wanting Karmen to see her cry. "That was uncalled for..."

Karmen shrugged. "I speak my mind. If you can't handle it go tell your mommy and daddy. Like I care."

Celestia felt a stab of pain as she thought of her family. Quietly, she said, "My...mother... She must be so worried...Why did I ever go to that stupid mansion?"

"What mansion?" Victoria asked before Karmen could say anything.

Celestia shook her head. "It's not important, just something from my world that I probably should have never done."

"Oh, I've done plenty of those. No worries, Celestia. Once this all over we'll go back home as heroes. Our lives will be so much better."

"You think so?"

"Of course."

Karmen chuckled sardonically. "Yes, because our two most useless members think they'll actually survive this thing. Please..." Karmen felt a tap on her shoulder and suddenly her feet lifting off the ground. She twisted her body around as she began to float higher and higher. "What is this? Someone, get me down!" She saw Elmar offer her a wink. "You did this! Elmar what the hell?" The others ahead of them stopped and turned around to watch the scene as Victoria and Celestia giggled and laughed at Karmen's worried expression.

"We will never work together properly if you can't keep your snarky and impolite comments to yourself," Elmar told her. "The man in black chose all of us for a reason. Theirs may not be apparent but we will discover what it is in due time. Now apologize and I will let you down. Wait too long and you'll be too high for me to reach you. I cannot help you then."

Karmen frowned at Elmar, her face red. She was now over the heads of everyone and slowly rising higher, inch by inch. She looked at Celestia and Victoria, who were both having a merry time watching her float away, and her frown deepened. She had done nothing wrong. She had no reason to be punished. She would apologize for nothing.

"Elmar," Aragol said with a nod to Karmen. "Put her down."

"All she has to do is apologize," Elmar replied with arms spread in a shrug. "After that I'll bring her back."

Aragol raised his eyebrows at Elmar and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, please. She is not a toy."

Elmar sighed in disappointment and raised his staff. He tapped Karmen's foot with it and she rapidly dropped to the ground, landing hard on her bottom. She cursed and rubbed at her aching backside. A dark shadow loomed over her and she looked up to see Boog glaring down at her.

"What did you say about Celestia?" he growled slowly, enunciating every word carefully. He resembled a bear sizing up its next meal. His fists were shaking and his eyes were burning with anger.

Karmen felt her spine tremble and her blood turn to ice. She gulped down a small fraction of her fear and opened her mouth. It took a few attempts to speak before she finally said, "I...I said I am sorry for ever insulting her and Victoria. I...I will not do it again..."

"You're damn right you won't," Boog said through gritted teeth before slowly turning away and returning to the front of the line with Aragol and Ivory. He glanced back at her one more time and Karmen met his gaze, shriveling inside from the power and fury she felt from it.

Celestia walked up Karmen and extended a hand. Karmen said nothing but grabbed her hand and stood up. She rubbed the dirt from her pants and looked away, too embarrassed to meet the other girl's gaze.

"Thank you, Elmar and Boog," Victoria called out.

"Yes, thank you both!" Celestia said happily. "You are true friends!" She looked at Karmen when she said the words but the brunette kept looking away.

The group set off again and after a few minutes came to a steep ridge that stretched far to either side. There was no way to go but up. They walked along its slope for a distance until they had to lower themselves to all fours and crawl the rest of the way up. It was rocky and uneven but there were many handholds to be found and it wasn't impossible to scale. Ivory had banished her armour for lighter clothing and was keeping pace with Aragol and Boog. Karmen, Celestia and Casandra were the lowest, climbing slowly but steadily. Graham and Elmar were still at the bottom, watching the others scale the ridge with knowing grins on their faces. To everyone's surprise, Victoria was far ahead, scaling the rocks as if she was part mountain goat. She nearly ran up the jagged side of the ridge and was almost at its top.

Elmar looked at Graham. "You ready?"

Graham nodded, meeting the other man's gaze and finding little shyness when he said, "Together, right?"

Elmar nodded. "Together." He gripped Graham's hand and tapped him on the shoulder with his staff. He immediately began to rise into the air and Elmar tapped himself, rising up with him. The two men rose up into the air at a faster pace than most of the climbers and looked down at them, allowing themselves a chance to feel superior. Within moments they were nearly even with the ridge's top. Elmar looked to Graham. "This is all you."

Graham pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in concentration. With his free hand gripping the stone on his necklace he summoned a gust of wind that pushed against the backs of the two floating men. It pushed them ahead and floated them right over the top of the ridge. Elmar tapped the both of them with his staff and they gently landed on the ground at the very same moment Victoria reached the peak.

"Cheaters," Victoria said in jest as she turned around to look down at the others. "Hurry up, all of you! Elmar, Graham and I are starting to grow beards already!" She regarded the two men behind her and chuckled but it was abruptly cut short.

Elmar and Graham turned around to see what she was looking at and discovered why she had stopped laughing. Beyond a few more miles of mushroom forest the huge black fungus Aragol had told them about loomed. Its white tendrils stretched out in every direction and a dark shadows swirled around their lengths.

"What are those things?" Victoria asked, fear evident in her voice.

"Creatures of shadow most likely," answered Elmar. He glanced down the other side of the ridge and his eyes snapped open wide. "My buttons!!" Without delay he nearly ran down the other side of the ridge in a great hurry.

"Elmar!" Victoria called down to him. "Wait for the others!" She looked back to see Ivory, Boog and Aragol reaching the top and ran to them. "Elmar ran down the other side after his buttons! I told him to wait but he didn't listen."

"His buttons?" Aragol asked dubiously.

"The hell does that man want with those things?" Boog asked as he stomped over to the edge and looked down. On his way there he stopped, catching sight of the black mushroom in the distance. "Damn...That's the anchor?"

Aragol walked up to his side. "It is one of them. We are nearly there. Let's get Elmar and keep going."

"Oh come on," Celestia complained as she scaled the top of the ridge, out of breath and sweating. "Can't we take a break? I'm tired."

Casandra reached the top and lay down, breathless. "Good...idea..."

Karmen wasn't as nearly tired as the other two but she sat down and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She didn't admit it but she too appeared to need a break.

A loud cry of surprise pierced the air and made everyone look toward the source.

"Elmar!" Victoria cried, recognizing the voice.

Boog didn't wait for anyone and leapt over the edge, clearing twenty feet in a single bound. He fell fast and landed on his feet hard in a loud boom. The ground around him cracked and shards of rock and chunks of dirt flew into the air from the impact. He showed no signs of pain and immediately began looking around for Elmar. He saw no one. "Elmar!" he called out. "Elmar! Where are you?" He walked off a distance and caught sight of something on the ground. It was large pouch. He picked it up and looked inside, finding hundreds of buttons of various size and colours within. He dropped the pouch and kept searching.

Aragol and Ivory were already near the bottom of the ridge, having rushed down its side to offer Boog some aid. Behind them, from atop of the ridge, the others watched worriedly.

There was another cry and this one was filled with pain.

Karmen, hearing the cry drum against her ears, felt a need to act. With a glance at the others standing at the top of the ridge and looking down, she left the area and began climbing down. Graham made to follow.

"Stay with them," she said to him as she climbed down. "If things go badly they'll need someone to protect them."

Graham nodded and he gathered what courage he could to appear strong. He stayed with Celestia, Victoria and Casandra and held his grey stone firmly in one hand. Whatever would come out of the forest and climb up at them he'd blow back down to its death. He glanced to Celestia and she glanced at him, her eyes wide with fear. He let go of his stone and grabbed her hand. She took it gladly and squeezed. Even though he himself was scared he felt a rush of warmth flow through him and it calmed him, setting his mind at ease. He would protect these three women with his life if he had to. Nothing was going to harm them.

Elmar flew out of the forest and slammed into the side of the ridge with tremendous force. The staff in his hand was let go and it tumbled to the ground. Elmar groaned in pain and managed to say, "It's coming..." before he blacked out.

"Finally, some action!" Boog cried with glee as he stood in front of Elmar protectively. To his right Aragol appeared, blade in hand, and to his left was Ivory with her axe. They stared ahead in the direction Elmar had come, waiting for whatever had thrown him to appear.

It finally did, felling a mushroom tree in its path and screeching loudly at the three standing in front of its prey. It was a massive insect with six legs full of jagged barbs, a head dotted with dozens of eyes, mandibles that opened up into a gaping maw full of curved teeth, and a body covered in ridges and spikes. Two large pincers snapped menacingly as it eyed the three defenders.

Boog pulled two objects from his pockets and put them over his hands. The large brass knuckles glinted in the daylight and suddenly disappeared. He looked to Aragol and Ivory, who were confused as to what happened to his weapons and gave them a wink. Without any word said he charged the massive insect. Aragol and Ivory exchanged glances before rushing ahead, following Boog.

The insect saw the three approaching it and screeched again, forced into action by their advance. It swung a massive pincer at Boog and it struck him hard, sending him soaring aside and right through a mushroom stem. The cleaved mushroom tree crashed to the ground in a cloud of spores and nearly crushed Elmar where he lay.

Aragol ducked under a swinging pincer and rolled underneath the insect. He stabbed Dragon's End into its thorax and it screeched in what he hoped was pain. It stretched its legs and stood up to its full height. It then reached a pincer below its body to grab Aragol but he hurried out of the way.

Ivory went for its face, pulling her axe back and crying out before throwing it. It flipped end over end and struck true, burying itself into one of the creature's eyes. It screeched loudly once more and snapped at Ivory with a pincer. She rolled aside from it and leapt up at the creature's face, reaching up for her weapon. She grabbed it and held on as the insect began to swing its head from side to side, trying to shake her loose.

Aragol took the distraction as a blessing and used the time to slash at one of the creature's legs. Dragon's End's keen edge cut through the chitin with ease and severed the leg in half, green ooze gushing out of the open ends. The creature momentarily ignored Ivory still hanging off its face and turned around, swinging a pincer at Aragol. He ducked under it as it passed over him with a great rush of air and leapt aside as the second pincer stabbed into the ground next to his feet. The first pincer returned and Aragol saw no way of avoiding it. It opened up to seize him and he chopped at one of the claws, cleaving it off just as it snapped shut. For a moment the insect paused as if confused as to why its pincer did not grab Aragol. The man saw that had he not cleaved off the end of one of the claws he most certainly would be crushed and praised his quick thinking.

The insect thought quickly as well and reached for him with its other pincer. Aragol readied to cleave it off and momentarily ignored the damaged pincer behind him. The insect thrust the remaining claw of the broken pincer straight into Aragol's back, piercing through his armour and poking out the other side. The man looked down to see the bloody claw protruding from his chest before the insect tossed him aside to focus on the woman still clutching to its face.

Ivory, startled by what happened to Aragol, used the fear and shock and turned it into anger and fury. With a great tug she pulled out her axe and rolled over the insect's head. It reached for her with its pincers but couldn't grasp her. Standing on the insect's thorax, she viciously chopped at its head, crying out in rage. Green ooze and pieces of chitin flew up into the air as the insect screeched and swung its body about, furiously trying to dislodge the attacker. The captain of the Empire managed to create a gaping hole into the insect's head but before she could sink her axe into it she was thrown off. She landed on her back and her axe flew off into the distance, far out of reach. The insect set its many eyes on her and stabbed both pincers down at her.

One of them exploded into thousands of bits of chitin and gallons of green blood spread over a wide area. The insect backed away with its one remaining pincer, the one Aragol had damaged. Covered in green blood, Boog stood with his fist outstretched, in the same position he had been in when he had punched the pincer into oblivion. Looking at the insect, he spat out some of the its blood from his mouth. "You all right, Ivory?" he growled.

Ivory nodded and when realizing he couldn't see her added, "I am fine."

"Good." With that he charged the insect again, green blood dripping off his musclebound body. He wouldn't be knocked away this time. The insect focused on him and swung its severed pincer at him, the stub slamming into the ground with great force. When it lifted it there was no Boog to be found. It moved about, searching for him in earnest. It shrieked when its damaged stub was suddenly blown off from its socket. Boog appeared out of thin air standing atop its thorax and turned to sever the last remaining pincer. The gargantuan insect danced about, swinging its body from side to side as it swayed its last pincer uselessly. With a few powerful punches it too was severed and fell to the ground in a loud thud. With the insect defenseless it turned toward the mushroom forest, hoping to flee. Boog cried out and began slamming his fist into the creature's thorax, his huge fists cracking through the chitin with relative ease. Before the insect could escape he shattered its midsection and it collapsed to the ground in two pieces. Boog wiped some green blood off his face and admired his handiwork.

"Behind you!" Ivory called out to him, her newly retrieved axe in hand.

Boog furrowed his brow in confusion and turned around.

Only to set his eyes on another huge insect, similar to the one he had just killed but even bigger. A nearby screech had him glancing back and from behind Ivory a third insect appeared, its pincers snapping and its mandibles clicking.

"So much for saving the universe," he said as he gathered his energy and strength in anticipation for another lengthy fight.

Ivory turned around to face the creature behind her and pulled back her arm, preparing for another axe throw. She was sweating beneath her armour and her back ached from being thrown off the first insect but she ignored the pain. She and the others were doomed to fail if they couldn't even deal with the local wildlife. Just as she went to the throw her weapon the creature charged ahead, ignoring her and hurrying toward Boog. Ivory called out to him and ran after the insect, hoping to get a chance to climb atop of it and kill it before it reached the man of muscle.

Boog was caught between the two insects and decided to flee the area instead of fight and die. He vanished, going invisible, and ran out of the way of the charging third insect. The second one searched the ground for him, confused as to where he went, and occasionally stabbed the ground with its pincers. He hid behind the stem of a mushroom tree and watched the two insects, waiting for a chance to attack to them.

The third insect reached the area within moments and glanced down at the ground for a second before looking at the second one. The second insect ignored it, preoccupied with hunting for its prey. With a cry the third insect lunged ahead and grabbed the second one's midsection in one of its pincers, clamping down tightly. The second insect was caught completely off-guard and it struggled to regain its footing as the third one attacked it. With its free pincer the third one began snapping at the second one's legs, clutching them and ripping them off violently. The second one, soon without any legs on one side of its body, fell to the ground. It snapped its pincers in an attempt to defend itself but the third insect was relentless. It slapped aside its pitiful attempts with its free pincer before clamping it over the second insect's head. With powerful force it squeezed tightly, the pincer slowly clamping shut until the head cracked and crumbled into chunks of chitin and green blood. With the second insect dead it released it and backed away.

Everyone watching the battle then saw the creature begin to rapidly shrink and distort in shape. Its six legs became two and its pincers became arms. The chitin softened and became soft skin and its head grew long brown hair and a face. When the transformation was complete there was an unconscious and naked Karmen lying on the ground before them.

To shock them even further, Aragol walked out of the forest appearing completely unhurt, the gaping wound in his chest closed, only a hole in his armour left behind.

Boog was visible again and he walked into the open, his face an expression of utter confusion and disbelief. "What the hell is going on here?!" He turned to Ivory, who stood nearby. She had no answers for him.

All they could do was watch as Aragol, who was somehow very much alive, kneel down in front of Karmen and feel for a pulse.