Journey to the Trinity Tree

When the horns sounded off, Envy immediately scrambled to her feet. Unlike many of the others, who, in droves, raced into the fight, the golden she-cat ran against the flow of the crowd the moment she was outside. She was not about to stupidly rush into a fight like this, especially when there was plenty of risk that she would get hurt. Besides, at night, these creatures had the advantage; they were dark and menacing, and among the dark skyline, Envy's gold coat stood out like a sore thumb. It was a sharp contrast to the shadows and ooze, and Envy wasn't about to risk that.

Instead, she maneuvered her way up the side of a tree she had previously scoped out when exploring the area, carefully climbing up to some of the higher branches. From there, she had a good perch to sit on as she surveyed the battlefield, able to see almost all the chaos unfolding below (and also giving her a good position to defend and check if anything was coming up after her).

At the sight of all the fighting, Envy couldn't help but frown. The army was smaller than she had expected. In fact, it didn't seem like it was at full-size at all. If Envy didn't know any better, she would say it was a scouting party...and as the thought dawned on her, she realized that that was exactly what this attack was. It was a surprise attack, sure, but more than that, it was the enemy's attempt to see just what sort of force they were up against.

It was a test of the champions and their strength.

"Is it better or worse that we seem to be giving it our all?" she murmured to herself. "Should we have tried to hold back some in hopes of fooling our enemy, that way causing them to underestimate us and to fail to attack us at full force?"

Now she was sounding like Pride. That was exactly a plan that a charlatan like him would create, except he wouldn't even try to be a part of it. While Envy had no intentions of fighting (or at least intended to avoid it as much as she could), she was still going to be actively involved. If she could offer herself as a strategist in the actual battles, she would. She would help direct the champions on where to hit (both in terms of hitting the opposing army as a whole and on where to hit the opponent specifically), because she would use her time staring down from this vantage point to determine their opponents' weaknesses. Granted, the weak points of the actual enemy were harder to notice from up here, but Envy was getting a few ideas, and besides, she was sure that when she gathered the accounts of some of those who had been in the thick of things, she would get a good idea of where the creatures were weakest.

"This should be just as much about us scouting them out as it is them scouting us," she murmured, eying the unfolding carnage with distaste.

The creatures were revolting. Their eyes, despite being filled with malice, were devoid of any life. They were mindless soldiers, decaying husks, and the way they oozed and cried out was more disturbing than Envy cared to admit. It was disgusting, the way they squelched and squealed, sounding like their throats were filled with something (perhaps the mud that oozed from them), and the sound only grew more unpleasant when it mingled with the screams of the champions fighting.

"This should end soon," she muttered, briefly shutting her eyes just to take a break from the carnage. Despite no one being around, Envy spoke aloud, figuring it would help her ensure she had processed everything going on correctly. "It is obvious that this isn't organized on either side. Granted, we were fairly unprepared, but the scouting party obviously wasn't given much more direction than to simply attack and see how we fared. I don't even know how in control these monstrosities are, or if they are all puppets for something more sinister. Whatever the case, we obviously need to shape up before the next onslaught, because they certainly will."

The real question was, how was Envy going to gather more of the champions, let alone convince them to listen to her and work together as a cohesive unit to fight against the army of decay?

---

Cole threw himself into the fight when the army began to reveal themselves in droves. The golden-maned lion couldn't believe how many of them were there; even with the many champions that the goddess had brought forward, it was evident that they were outnumbered, and yet he could not get rid of the feeling in his gut that the soldiers they were currently fighting were not the most powerful that this army had. In fact, despite the numbers flooding to meet them, Cole was almost certain that this was simply a taste of what would be unleashed on them, a simple test to see how the goddess' new champions would respond to their arrival.

It was a chilling thought, but it fueled Cole's anger to move faster, hit harder, as he made his way through the masses, still unsure as to what was even causing these creatures to attack.

He slowed in the middle, facing off against a particularly big foe. Dark mud oozed from its cracked skin, and it fixed him with a crooked grin, its eyes glinting menacingly as it flexed its claws and gave a guttural cry that sounded like how Cole imagined a creature with sand filling its mouth and throat would sound if trying to scream. In response, the gray lion - who was almost equal in size to his opponent - snarled, baring his teeth before throwing himself forward.

He nearly retched as he bit down on the creature's shoulder, stumbling backwards and spitting out the mud that oozed from its wounds. The creature grinned wider, taking its own turn to lunge, but Cole gave it a well-aimed kick to the stomach that sent it flying backwards into one of its fellow soldiers. It got to its feet, grin turning into something far more primal and filled with rage, and Cole braced himself for the next attack. It came, and Cole matched it, a whirlwind of claws and teeth as he tussled on the ground with the creature. Finally, braving through the mud that seeped into his maw and made him wish to retch, Cole bit down on its throat, and the creature practically melted beneath him. Scrambling to his paws, Cole was certain it would not move again, and he continued onward, ignoring the stinging in his shoulder from the creature's claws.