Surely, the hermit would help if things got too dangerous. Or, so the muse hoped. The muse tied the vine and spun the ax in the air over its head. It turned its body to watch the circling beasts. They yelped and lunged more as their confidence grew. Soon, the fear of their attack disappeared. The muse was ready.
The beasts had waited too long. When the first one charged, the muse gave the vine some slack, and the ax sliced through the monster. The rest of them attacked, but the spinning vine of death sliced through them all easily. Some were knocked back by the vine but eventually ran into the whirlwind. Before the muse knew what had happened, the beasts were all gone. Breathing heavily, the muse jumped at the sound of the hermit’s voice behind him.
“Good job! See, ye can’t just take what the forest gives ye. Ye’ have to see what’s available and put things together for yourself. Ye’ took the ax because the forest gave ye’ an ax. But, if humans could put everything together on their own, they wouldn’t need us, would they?”
Aw-struck, the muse examined the weapon. It realized that all this time, it had been underserving the humans it visited. It could have been doing so much more.
“Let’s go. This is the good part!” Without waiting, the hermit flew into the sky, but the muse was not far behind. The hermit led the muse above the beast and reached its arms into the air, taking in a deep breath. “Do you feel that? Do ye feel the electricity?”
The muse closed its eyes and spread its arms and legs out like the hermit, taking in a deep breath. A tingle ran from its nose into its lungs, then into its body. The muse took another breath, focusing on that energy. With each breath, that tingle grew from an ember into a blazing fire. The energy coursed through the muse, and the muse finally said, “I feel it!”
“Then strike with me. No weapons. We don’t want to slay the idea, just weaken it. Strike its vital points so the human can do the rest.”
“It barely keeps a shape, how do we know what the weak points are?” the muse asked, baffled at the hermit’s simple plan.
“Where it comes together. Where wings meet body. Where arms meet body. Where eyes meet body. Feel the lightning, be the lightning, strike like lightning. Understand?” The hermit balled up a fist and smiled at the muse.
“I’ll give it a try.”
“Okay, when I say go, we go. It hit the front, ye hit the back. Breathe, breathe,” the hermit patted the muse’s back.
So, the muse breathed. The electricity coursed through its body, from its head to its toes and the tip of its tail. The world disappeared. All that existed was the pulsing of electricity with each breath until…
“Go!”
The muse zoomed toward the beast like a bolt of lightning and shot a fist into the giant’s rear half. Electricity rippled out from the impact. Two booms of thunder followed their massive attacks. The beast screeched and fell to the ground. Once it touched down, the vines tied it up. The trees and other large plants reached out to hold down the beast. Stunned, the beast struggled beneath the plants. Soon, it was overtaken by the forest. The muses watched from a hilltop meadow.
“Human’ll eat this thing up and spit out a new idea some time from now. Hey, bring that vine over here, will ye’?” the hermit requested with a wave of its arm.
The muse complied and handed over the weapon. The hermit planted the vine-ax in the ground. It stood tall and grew new branches, turning into a whole new plant.
“Wow!” the muse said, amazed by what it was witnessing.
“When you make something new, plant it. You never know what it could become,” the hermit said.
“You said the human will turn that thing into a new idea, too? What was it to begin with?”
“Big ideas like that need a human to give ‘em form. Could be a story, or a strategy. It’s something with a few points, that’s why it had sets of wings. There’s no telling until it comes out of the cocoon the human’s making for it. It needs to incubate. I can tell ya’ this, though. Helping humans reel in these big beasties is what we’re really here for. It’s just as important as killing the baddies.”
“You said this one isn’t very big?” the young muse asked.
“Oh yeah, not too big. Most humans can’t handle ‘em much bigger than this. They don’t even attract ‘em. My human’s somethin’ else. We’ve taken down some big ones in our time together.”
“What happens if you just leave them alone?”
“Ideas like this one eat until they’re scared off by another idea or get gobbled up by the human. Sometimes we don’t even need to help. If they get bigger, it can be a problem. The big ones will eat everything and drive the humans crazy. If you’re lucky, the human can help them fly off to find a better home. Or, they work with other humans and their muses to take ‘em down.”