In front of them, the corrupted covered the land like a blanket . Millions of creatures: elves, humans, dwarves, and others, were all mixed together . The forest had died obviously . After several thousand years, only a few petrified stumps remained . The world tree darkened the sky above them . All of the leaves had fallen off already, or even the sporadic light wouldn't have made it through the branches that remained .

"In the past, the tree gave us a soft green light, so that you couldn't tell if it was night or day," Stella said after a moment of reflection . "Kreesto?"

"What?" asked Joseph, turning to look in the direction she was turned in .

"That, in front, at the roots," she pointed out a giant figure .

Joseph couldn't recognize the creature that was there . It was over forty feet long and looked kind of like a panther, but the tail was too thick . The tail more closely resembled that of a crocodile, yet oddly enough, looked appropriate on this thing . Two giant horns were jutting forward, like a bull .

"It looks to still be coherent," he said, studying the missing patches of fur, and the puss covered patches that remained .

"That left eye looks blind," she said softly, with a grimace .

"Yeah, the green ick leaking out of it is a pretty good indication, but what is it? You called it Kreesto?"

"Elder Ceana once found a behemoth kit and entreated it to the hunters to raise it . Oh! Joseph do you think this is the same kit? That means the poor thing has been corrupted for millennia!" Stella covered her mouth in horror at the possibility .

"What are the chances it isn't your behemoth? Even from here I can tell it's gone insane, Stella . Even if I could remove the corruption, I'm not sure I could restore it…"

"No . It's suffered enough . If it loses all its memories like my mother, it will attack us anyway . Let me deal with this please . I see Elder Ceana down there, too . "

"She doesn't look corrupted . Wait, weren't all the elder's guys? That is obviously a girl . "

"Yeah, Ceana was the only woman among the elders . I never said the elders were all men . "

"Fair enough . I'll stop her from interfering with your fight . "

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Stella flew at Kreesto, pain in her heart over losing something she had thought already gone . This poor beast had once been a proud hunter and guardian of the tree . Its fur had been sleek and covered in the faintest of spots . Now it only elicited pain and horror at the sight of it . Pulling out her daggers, she prepared to end it .

As she got closer, it sniffed the air and bellowed at her . The area around it was cleared of all corrupted, having been stomped into paste as they got too close . Stella could see that it had a thick chain around one leg, keeping it contained close to the tree .

Attempting to charge at her, it swung its great head side to side, as if to hit her with those long horns . Pausing in her flight, she watched a sickly green glow light up the horns and build in intensity, before a blast was shot her way . Dodging it, she swooped to the side, slicing a chunk of diseased flesh from its right shoulder, and then swooped back out of its reach .

Stella wasn't sure what would happen if she actually touched the behemoth, so this had to be a touch and go fight .

Waiting for it to turn in just the right angle, she dodged the blasts and then swooped in to slash at it . Once she was able to get the tendons, the fight was over very quickly . Landing on the ground before it, she watched it labor to breath . The blood that poured out of it was a thick black, with no resemblance to red blood left .

A cold layer of ice began to develop in its horns, and with a look of panic, she jumped to Joseph's shadow .

He half turned in surprise as she peaked out, looking at the area the beast had been . Below them, a thick layer of ice covered everything within forty feet of the behemoth .

"It used to have elemental attacks, but the corruption has messed with its mind so much, I guess it tried to use ice to kill me," she explained, flying away from him to examine the carnage . He was in the middle of a fight with Ceana, who was not very thrilled with the interruption . Stella had no problems dodging the blades she flung in her direction .

Reaching its frozen corpse, she took her G.o.d blade and slashed at it . She had to be absolutely sure this thing was dead, because she didn't want it waking up and attacking at a bad moment . If she could separate the head from the body, it would be truly dead . Her blade slid through the ice like b.u.t.ter, and soon, the putrid hide was exposed .

Sliding her blade along the vertebra of its neck, she cleanly severed the connecting tissue and jumped back as the head fell forward, no longer connected to the body . Turning to leave, something caught her eye .

There was a faint sparkle to the corpse that wasn't just the ice playing with a random beam of light . As she drew closer, her eyes grew large in surprise .

Sylva had heard of a how a behemoth came to be, and it seemed the story was true . If a behemoth was killed by a worthy opponent, the beast would be reborn as a babe, to be cared for by the killer . Her breath caught in her throat as she reached down and pulled the tiny figure out of the mess that was the corrupted behemoth . Its dark fur was slick with slime, that she quickly washed off, and as it turned to nuzzle her arm, her heart melted . Being the size of a kitten, there was no way she could set it down with the corrupted reclaiming the s.p.a.ce around her, to help Joseph fight .

There was nothing for it, but to keep the tiny behemoth kitten with her . It's glowing golden eyes opened a slit as it looked at her, then closed again, to snuggle in for a nap .