The sunlight disappeared from the blood soaked field and left me and James in a darkness, void of sound save for our breathing and the chirping of crickets. Starlight bounced off the mirroresque blood and made a morbid beauty. The only stimulant that I could focus on was the smell of rot until torch light peeked over the edge of the valley. 

“Huh,” James muttered as he looked at the singular fire approaching, “Think we should be worried?”
“Always.” 

I stood up and picked up my staff as James stepped partly in front of me with his shield raised. The shiny grin of the torch got brighter as it got closer and my paranoia spiked. My heart rate heightened to the point that I could see my robe twitch slightly with each hard beat as the end of my staff started to glow, but James was locked in a state of unfading concentration. I envied that sometimes. He was never scared. 

The flame kept growing and growing until it was obvious that it was no normal human holding that flame. I quickly stepped in front of James and raised my staff to the sky as a beam of light shot from the end before splitting and creating a dome of light blue energy that flowed like water before dimming to a dull transparent grey. I spent most of my energy casting the cloak, but, if the spell worked, I wouldn’t need to cast anything else. The beast holding the torch came into view. 

A large monster, bigger than Lolliyant, made of rocks, moss, and wood with one of it’s wooden appendages that could barely be called a hand lit in a blazing inferno that was in no way earthly. It stumbled towards the cave and past us as an ungodly smell of sulfur suddenly assaulted us. The creature moved like it was new to life and created from materials you would find in a swamp, but something about it seemed older than time. 

“Lolliyant…” it called out lowly as it stumbled further into the cave, but soon realized she wasn’t home. 

It hung its head and slowly eased itself down into a seated position. With slow movements, it raised its arm and let a large slate of stone admerge from the moss and mud of its arm before pressing a burning finger into the stone. 

“When the world dies…” it paused to take a deep and raspy breath, “the humans… will call for Goliyoung… but she will be dead…” 

It burnt away markings into the stone plate as its featureless face stayed completely devoted to the tablet and barely moved away, but after the cloak started to fade, its head snapped up. 

“Goliyoung hears you… She demands you show yourself,” it spoke as it stood and pushed its flaming hand into the darkness.
James got tired of waiting as he usually does and spoke up, “We aren’t a threat.”
“Goliyoung doesn’t trust humans…” it said as it lowered itself to its knees, “Why are you here?” 

I let the cloak fall as the burning hand came to a rest about twenty feet above us and provided us with a light to blot out the stars and make the bloody mess behind us blend with the blackness. 

“We’re-,” I started, but stopped to make sure James was on board with the friendly approach. 

He nodded and motioned me to continue. 

“We’re friends of Lolliyant,” I said confidently, even though that confidence was faux.
“You know Lolliyant…” it said and nodded, “Goliyoung is… her sister,” it explained and held its mossy hand to its chest.
“But you’re not a dragon?” James said before trailing it off in the tone of a question.
“No, Goliyoung is…” it stopped with another deep breath, but didn’t restart. 

She didn’t know what she was. It was a solemn reality that I imagined wasn’t exclusive to her. 

“Well then,” James said as he stepped up to Goliyoung, “Any friend of Lolliyant is good company in my opinion.” 

A shiver went down my spine as if insight alone had just whispered in my ear and warned me about impending doom that stemmed from that sentence. I felt like Goliyoung was going to be the key to our death in some way or another, but everything was giving me that feeling at this point. What was the harm in putting one more nail in the coffin? 

“You humans…” Goliyoung started before pausing to breathe again, “Do not fear Goliyoung?”
“Of course we don’t,” James assured putting emphasis on the word ‘we’, “You’re just a little… unappealing to look at is all.”
“And to smell,” I muttered before receiving a sharp elbow to the ribs and a glare from James.
“How would Goliyoung… look better?” she asked her head swiveled in a turn which left me with the feeling of eyes on my body. 

I awkwardly smiled in hopes that I wouldn’t need to answer that. 

“Goliyoung can… change shape…” she added, “Should Goliyoung look… like you?” 

A sudden prodding hand made of moss and mud quickly wrapped around me and gripped the fabric of my robe tightly enough to constrict my movements and make me accidentally let go of my staff and my only defence. Goliyoung pulled the fabric above my head and blocked my sight with the thick burlap fabric that stood as my only defense when faced with sharp objects. The night breeze kissed my stomach, but the cool air on my skin only made my face hot as I couldn’t push my robe back down against the strength of the much bigger Goliyoung. Below my robe, I only wore a thin chest guard made of a strap of leather and a metal ring and pair of tights for modesty’s sake. 

“Woah! Woah!” James exclaimed quickly as I felt the cold metal of his shield covering me, “That’s not very polite,” he added sarcastically. 

Goliyoung quickly dropped my robe and let me fix my apparel. 

“Goliyoung is sorry…” she said as she reached to her own chest, “But now Goliyoung knows… how to look appealing…”
“I think she just called you pretty,” James said and nudged me which I almost socked him for. 

Goliyoung raised back up to her feet and grabbed her flaming wrist with her free hand. With a sharp tug and the crack of wood, her hand came off and fell to the ground as Goliyoung crumbled into a pile of mud, rocks, and wood. The flames dancing on the wood jumped from the charing substance and raised to form a ten foot tall figure of fire which copied my figure in a more… exaggerated way. The fire suddenly plunged into the dirt as the field fell to the mercy of the star light. Seconds dragged by like hours before sparks shot from the grass beneath us and formed a hurricane of grass blades that tightened together into a new version of Goliyoung. 

A creature about forty feet tall made of plants to mimic the female figure, but sans face and features. It was like a giant grass mannequin with light cracks in the flora that cut through her body to show of her flaming core. 

“Now, Goliyoung needs…” she stopped and took a raspy breath with a much more gentle weeze, “to warn Lolliyant.”
“Warn her?” I asked as Goliyoung nodded.
“Mother’s coming…”