ROOT

We had since departed from the upper levels of the world tree, and were heading down a spiralling staircase at the heart of the tree.
At the bottom was a glow of red, it was the core of the tree, from it all the roots extended.

“Make haste, you guys! If this is as bad as mother Usasha says it is, then we must prevent any further damage!”

“Don't worry, Cassandra, we'll get there long before any of that happens!”

Not long after, we had arrived at the core.

It was a shining red orb that glowed bright green with a sort of gradients to the type of green that was there; it seemed to be a mixture of a lighter and darker shade of such.

“ON GUARD, DEMONS INBOUND”

“Wait! Tulote, they haven't spotted us” I said

They seemed to be pre-occupied with whatever it is that they were doing, and did not see us. It was the perfect scenario.
“Here's the plan, I know these pathways like the back of my ears, so I can get us to the affected areas fast also thanks to Mother's gift.” Cassandra continued, “and it seems that our first area is right in front.”

“Alright let's make this quick”

Two hulking demons, their skin looking like a distorted form of obsidian, and their bodily forms being enveloped in dark energy, were hunched over what looked like a pulsating root, their backs turned to us.
One had its grotesque head titled as if it was listening, while the other clawed at the glowing green surface of the root, seemingly injecting this putrid demonic energy into the root through their long snake like tongues.

Arda drew out the Gladius, and morphed it into a dagger.  Tulote had forgone his fiery physics defying sword, for something more modest and fitting.
A short sword.
He did this so that he wouldn't clang against the stone, and alert the enemies.

Cassandra had utilized the shadows of the immense roots to provide some sort of camouflage. She made sure to be impeccably quiet to not alert the demons. 

I followed, pressing close to the bark, also making sure to be as silent as possible.

Tulote watched our rear flank, and you'd think for someone his size, he'd be disproportionately disadvantaged for this kind of mission, but that was not the case at all. His steps were, dare I say, the quietest of them all.

We moved in perfect unison.

I remember the air growing heavy with the stench of brimstone and something acrid, it was like burnt metal. I also remember hearing demons mumbling to each other in whatever tongue it is that demons speak in. 
All I know is that their voices were low and grating at best.

I could just make out the demon's details of their forms now; sharp, serrated claws, leathery wings that folded tightly against their backs, and eyes that glowed amber.

Cassandra signalled.

Her hand raised, then dropped.

That was the cue.

--

I was first, and I sprung from the cover of a thick root.

“Gotcha, you son of a bitch.”

In a blur, my dagger's blade found a gap in the nearest demon's neck.
It sunk deep with a wet, sickening thud.
I remember the demon gurgled, and made a choked dying sound before collapsing silently to the ground.

Its dark energy gone.

Before the second demon could react, Tulote was on it. He moved with a speed that still succeeded to surprise me despite seeing it many times at this point.
He darted around, and I'm extremely sure that if I was not the hero, that I would've never hopped to track his movements. Ever.

His short sword plunged into the demon's guts, then twisted. A roar of agony tore from the wretched creature's throat, but it was cut short as Cassandra, having now appeared behind it, wrapped a silvery cord around its head, yanking it backward with incredible force.
The demon's neck snapped. 

We continued like this, daring not to break the silence with a word or otherwise.

I was getting used to this whole stealth thing.

Each encounter was more or less the same, except Tulote made sure to kill his share of demons before their pain receptors had alerted them to screaming.

We moved through the labyrinthine-like root systems, following Cassandra and her gift track corruption. 

More demons, variations of the same grotesque form, fell without ever knowing what hit them.

Some were patrolling, and others were injecting their dark energy into the tree of life. 

Cassandra led.

Tulote decided our optimal approach.

I would strike with deadly and swift blows.

I remember there was this specific instance. We were almost found out by the demon patrols, and they had spotted Tulote.

Tulote started dancing in a circle and said the most obnoxious thing.

“I'm a dancing demon doing dancing demon stuff, heheheh.”

I'm convinced he got his parents' madness.
While he was distracting the demons, Cassandra and I snuck up behind them, and snapped their necks.

They fell with a slight thud.

We drew them out of the line of sight like we had many others, so it was less likely that we were to be found out.

This had seemed to be the last of them, Cassandra's necklace had stopped glowing, which signified that we had cleared the tree of all demonic energy.

“Is this it?” Cassandra asked

“It seems that way.”

“I don't know you guys, stay on your guard. Something doesn't seem right about this whole ordeal.”

“Still, hero, it's a good time to rest ourselves, according to the artifact mother Usasha gave me, it seems that was the last.”

“Alright, we'll recuperate for a bit.”

“Hey, hero?”

“Yeah, and could you please call me Arda? If we're going to be working together, I'd prefer it that you called me by name.”

“Sure, no problem Arda! What do you plan on doing after this war is over?”

“I, well, I'd like to go back home to my kids.”

“No wife? Separated or divorced?”

“She died, actually, so I guess that makes me a widower.”
It felt exceptionally weird saying that about myself.

“I am so sorry, Arda. Oh gosh, did I come off as inconsiderate? I'm so, so sorry.”

“It's alright, Cassandra, you're all good.” I said with a smile.

“Oh just call me Cass, my friends, like this old geezer here, call me as such.”

“Who are you calling old, elf?”

“Hehe~”

Just then, Cassandra's necklace started glowing red. It flashed it repeatedly.

“What does that mean?”

“I-I don't know!”

“GUYS, QUICKLY OVER HERE!”

We ran into a small burrowing in the side of the damp walls and hurdled inside.

“I sense an extremely powerful foe.” Tulote continued. “Stand ready, our cover might be blown.”

We all had our weapons drawn, ready to fight our way out if we had to.

Just then, a being stood right in front of us, it hadn't seen us just yet. But just by looking at it, I could tell that Tulote gauged this correctly, this was no mere demon.
This would be the strongest foe I've ever fought to date.

A demon, larger than we had ever encountered, easily twice Tulote's height, with broad, muscular shoulders and wings that the creature unfurled like sails if you well.
They scraped against the cavern ceiling.

Its skin was a deep, charcoal black that was scarred and seemingly etched with glowing red runes that pulsed in sync with Cassandra's necklace; which she had then covered at that point to stop the glow from revealing our presence.

It's eyes, genuinely distressed me. They were twin pits of liquified flame, and they burned incessantly. 

In its titanic hand, it clutched a gnarled, obsidian-like staff that pulsed with the same dark energy if not more than it had.

“Good God.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“I sense the energy of Dietha within this vile creature.”

“That can only mean one thing.” Cassandra said.

“What?”

“This is a greater demon.”

“Well, that doesn't change anything. We hit it with everything we have. No use hiding around.”

“You're right. I'm tired of hiding from these things. Its very presence is accelerating the world tree's decay.”

“Then we strike at once.”

Its presence infuriated us to our core.

This being was not allowed to exist, and we were going to make that right.

The surrounding air was thick with crushing demonic energy, sort of like how the depths of the sea had a crushing pressure to them.  

It's back was to us, and his focus was entirely on navigating to the core.

“RAH”

Tulote was the first to engage. His short-sword instantly removing one of it's two horns. 

Cassandra and I sped about it, stabbing and retreating. 
All the while, I shot bursts of light into it.

The demon then got to its feet, and grabbed Cassandra.

“MY NAME IS ABADDON. FOURTH CHAMPION OF HER DEMON QUEEN DIETHA. YOU WILL NOT TRAMPLE ME WITH SUCH PETTY TRICKS.”

“ARGH”

Cassandra tried attacking again, but Abaddon just swatted her away like a fly.

I tried attacking again and again, each time narrowly avoiding the demon's blows.

It was as though the longer this fight went on for, the stronger her got.

He kept walking towards the core.

I had to stop him.