Metatarsa

"Hey!" Fred yelled. "Get back here, you fake-ass, quasi... Pope wannabe!"

Glancing to his left, he noticed that the six Blue-Cloaks had turned around and were riding back toward the alternative Pope. Fred quickly swung downward, grabbed Satrina in one fell swoop, and jumped out of the carriage. Fred landed hard, rolling, let go of Satrina and stood up. "Tarsa! Tarsa!!"

There was no sign of her. The Pope had stopped moving and was laughing now. His hideous, inhuman laugh only seemed to increase in pitch as his body seemed to bubble up with countless grotesque boils... and then he was suddenly a horrid mountain of flesh, green-blue-red and rising into the sky, dozens of feet above Fred's head. The Blue-Cloaks screamed in horror, pulling their horses to a stop in front of the flesh-blob, only to be consumed as it rolled over them.

A single gigantic, blood-red eye popped out of the morass. It stared at Fred as that hideous voice laughed. "The girl wasn't my original target, but it's just as well! Now both that other one and Valmar's wings shall be MINE!!"

"This is bad, Fred!" Skye said, landing on his shoulder.

"You seem to have a firm grasp of the obvious, Skye! Did you see Tarsa?!"

"She stumbled into the woods as if in a daze, and then... it's like she just vanished. Be careful, Fred. There's more going on here than meets the eye!"

"Damn it!" Fred cursed. "Only one way to straighten things out!"

He had meant to run after Tarsa, but unexpectedly found himself sprinting up the side of the green-blue-red morass, right toward that glistening blood-red eye. "AAAR!!" Fred roared as he buried the Geoblade to the hilt in the bursting eyeball flesh... and then he was flying through the air to land on his back on the road. Fred gasped, the wind knocked out of him. The eyeball creature was shrieking in pain, black blood gushing in torrents from where Fred's sword had punctured it.

"Valmar's Stomach, eh?" said a woman's voice. "You did a good job softening it up for me, luv. I might have to do you a "special favor" later! Tee hee hee!"

Fred looked up to see who it was - for a second he thought she might be Tarsa, but then realized her features were far different. Her beauty was sharp and angular, almost vicious, framed by long ashen-white hair. She wore dark robes with glistening red sigils upon them, robes that displayed tantalizing flashes of arm and leg, and heavy black leather boots. Huge black wings sprouted out of her back.

Before his disbelieving eyes the woman rose into the air as if levitating, and her hands and feet seemed to mutate into horrifying black bird claws. Lightning bolts arced from her to strike Valmar's Stomach head on. The massive blob of flesh screamed in horror and pain as it melted before Fred's eyes, leaking a gigantic pool of blood all over the road as sparkly effects flowed into the floating woman, bathing her in a halo of light.

Fred sat up as the woman landed beside him. Her hands and feet seemed normal again, and drool was trickling down her chin.

"Ah!" she cried. "I feel so wonderful! So whole! So full of power!!"

Her eye fell upon Fred, "Hey, you're a cute one! My name is Metatarsa, luv. Next time we meet... I'll make you mine! Till then, hon! So long! Toodles! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

A bright light blinded Fred, and when he could see again, Metatarsa was gone. Instead Tarsa knelt there, her black hair all messed up. "Fred!" she gasped. "What happened?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out." Satrina said, walking up. "Tarsa is possessed by Valmar, like several others in our world who are in the thrall of his active force. I wish I could offer you advice... but this is beyond the scope of even my knowledge. You'll just have to take it one step at a time."

"Huh? Possessed?" Tarsa gasped. "What does that mean, Fred?!" She seemed confused.

1. Offer Tarsa friendship and support.
2. Slay Tarsa outright to prevent the spread of Valmarspawn.
3. Continue on to Agear Town.
4. Travel to see the (real?) Pope at the St. Heim Papal States.

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