The furred arm instantly turned back into a slimey liquid and retracted, back into the origin it came from. Due to the flames still blazing at the edges of her sword, the light added more contrast to the surroundings and Aefia managed to get a snippet of visibility that allowed her to see the outline of the creature itself. It was slightly darker than the darkness, absorbing even the last bit of light from the flames.
Is it supposed to be a black flamed werewolf? It doesn't look friendly at all, but why else would I think of it being anywhere near interactive? It isn't a human, so obviously it has high levels danger lurking around it. I am not sure if I will be able to deal with it all by myself.
The creature was a tall monster made of pure shadows. It stood with a bent back and looked very strange. Its body did not look like skin or bone, but like thick black smoke and dark ink. Every time it moved, it left behind tiny clouds of darkness that floated in the cold air. Even though it looked like smoke, its arms and legs looked very strong. It stayed very still, like it was getting ready to jump at something. It felt like a heavy weight was pressing down on everything near it in the quiet hall.
The head of the beast had a round skull pointing out, but its mouth was huge and full of sharp teeth. Those teeth gave off a small light that looked mean and hungry. The most frightening part was its eyes, which were two bright red circles in the dark. These eyes did not look like animal eyes, they looked like they were thinking and watching everything. There was no kindness in its face at all. It just stared at anything that moved, waiting for the right time to start its hunt.
The middle of its body was made of dark shapes and red lines. These lines looked like cracks in a hot rock, and they glowed like a fire was burning inside. The cracks moved slowly, like the monster was breathing or had a beating heart. Thin pieces of dark energy floated up from its hands like smoke from a campfire. Its skin looked like wood that had been burned or black glass from a volcano.
It felt very old, like it had lived in the dark for a long time before people were ever born.
Its arms were very long and ended in big, sharp claws. These claws looked like they could cut through anything very easily. Its fingers were long and thin, and they moved around a lot like they wanted to grab something.
The monster's legs were bent like the legs of a dog or a cat. This helped it walk very quietly but in a very sinister manner, even though it was very big. Every time it took a step, the light around it seemed to disappear. The ground under its feet became very cold, and the overgrown foliages nearby started to turn brown and die.
A circle of floating black rocks and shadows moved all around the creature. These pieces stayed in the air as if by magic, making it hard to see where the monster started or ended. It did not breathe air like a person. Instead, a thick grey mist came out of it and wrapped around its ears.
It stood very still among the old, twisted branches in the hall. If it were something Aefia had seen back at Nikoan, she would have not hesitated to run, but in this case, dealing with the monsters felt like a crucial step.
The monster growled and extended an arm at the blazing sword. It didn't move forward or flinch, making Aefia concerned that if the flames were ongoing, it may not be a source of fear to it. She waited her wrist and extinguished the flames in the sword, but didn't fully let go of it. To be able to keep an eye at the beast, a little bit of light would be necessary.
The place they were at, didn't have the capacity to cast fire that would work as a light source. Once a match was lit, it would extinguish the next second, and that was one reason behind why this area of the dungeon was shut off. Based on the stories Aefia had read about her lady's expedition in this world, this dungeon had a great history behind it.
***
On the day she had returned the book about Hellas, she had read one of the most interesting books in the same shelve that was opposite to the shelve consisting of books about the outer worlds. The book's title was 'A Childless Mother's Expeditions', which made Aefia curious and pick out the book to read it while in the library itself. What a 'interesting' topic. A childless mother's expedition...if it is really about an adventure, I would have expected it to be a much more fun title, not a teary and emotional one. Oh! And the author is also unknown.
She picked it up and read the first chapter and the next and the next, until she had reached the end. By then, it was already the library's closing time and she couldn't hang around any time longer unless she wanted to get trapped inside with a huge collection of books and get imprisoned the next day.
*
The dungeon was said to be the unreachable part of a destroyed world and it was built in the shortest amount of time, without any actual architecture, geography, or any sort of science was applied to the structure and that resulted in the death of the remaining who were alive during the destruction. It was altogether, a tragic and a reckless incident to consider into our present history books. For every world that I have gone to, this was the most intense history that I had come across.
The world only had one King and the rest were all Queens. Ever since the first generation, no one ever wanted to resort to violence except for food and when attacked by others. The king had made a public vow that he won't kill anyone but if there were someone who killed someone's husband, brother, sister, wife, mother, father, or just any single human being, they would have their heads cut off. But that was until the day that they got intel stating their world was the next on the line to get destroyed and this caused panic among the citizens.
The last generation Queen ordered an underground dungeon and castle to be made in a head of only one year. The main place, which is now known as the dungeon of void, was made the first thing and only the most noble of all citizens could live inside. It was absolutely impossible to create a place for the entire population to fit in, so the middle and low class people lived until they saw the destruction with their own eyes.
After the construction on the dungeon was completed, the Queen ordered all soldiers to bring down staple foods for until the destruction ended, but the surviving population didn't know the fact that, the dungeon was created with the help of an evil mage and the magic didn't easily settle into the infrastructure if the dungeon and it swallowed any 'still' object into the ground.
Within one week, more than three quarters of the food was depleted and the population killed themselves one by one just to leave the Queen standing until the very end, but sadly, he took perished, leaving a lonely world.
It was said that the mage was working for the Torture Cell and later, more explorers like me, said they that had found the rotting bags of food under the dungeon's shiny obsidian floor. They also said hearing the lost voices of those dead souls still lurking around the fields and one or two times, they possessed the shape of a weird mythical beasts who came in groups and killed anyone who tried to attack them. Some say they still follow the rules left by the King and are still 'law abiding' citizens of the dungeon. Although it is almost always impossible to notice, there were also some sightings of the dead Queen himself in his beast form.
The beast was said to be...
*
"This is an interesting story. But why was a castle being made soon after the ending of the destruction? Yes, I understand that the way to the entrance of the dungeon was blocked due to heavy residues on top of it. But why would anyone focus on building a castle instead of wasting their efforts trying to escape from the danger they found themselves in? Even in a panicked and starving mind, no one would dare to extend their stay in a completely unknown newly built world where they all died." Aefia told herself.
"What are you mumbling about?" Nada asked from the opposite of the shelves. "You seemed to be deep into that book just a few minutes ago, and suddenly you shut it and you are talking about unexplainable things." She said while seperating the books from both sides.
"Nothing, really. I thought the author of this book was writing nonsenses, so I was trying to see how I might use this in real life since I have already read it. If I know something and I don't use that knowledge in realtime, isn't going to waste?" Aefia replied.
And this is absurdly the first time Nada has spoken to me in a week. She isn't just curious, is she? Maybe she is trying to investigate somethings about me. Well, as long as she doesn't know about my personal missions and what else I am doing outside this world, that is all fine.
While distracted in her thoughts, Nada poked a hand through the shelve and got hold of the book Aefia was reading. She jolted back to life, only to realize the leather feel of the book feeling air weight and like nothing. She glanced up with a shocked face but recovered when noticing that it was 'just a book' to Nada. I seem to have been so dragged away by my mission, that I completely forgot about my best friend's mindset.
"What are you stressing about? This is nothing but a story someone wrote about what they know or saw, they aren't explaining the history itself. This book is basically to make you notice how the dungeon was built or shaped based on other people's thoughts and discoveries. It isn't a factual book so don't try and look too into it, unless this really happens in real life, it isn't an issue." Nada said while tossing the book back through the gap in the shelve and walking away with a plain face.
You seem to have quite changed now Nada, but I can't blame you because I have changed as well. To sum it all up, we both are in the same situation, except, I am in a more dire situation.
***
"I am getting memories about reading this one line describing the look of a dead Queen, and it very well matches the description of this beast... So this is a Phase seven black flamed werewolf?" Aefia spoke to herself, which was overheard by her lady, her son and Helio.
"So you have read the book?" Her lady asked with astonishment radiating in her face. "I didn't know it would spread all the way to your planet. Was the book name 'The Childless Mother's expedition'?"
"Hmm..." She thought while looking at the creature slowly moving towards the four of them. "More of it...Yes! Exactly! The Queen later took the form of a werewolf who has the power to use black flames onto it's enemy or opponent to deal critical damage to their minds." Aefia recalled while snapping her fingers.
"I may have forgotten the part where after a human turns into a beast, they have to start growing in power back from the first block. So right now, he is probably still a Phase one or in the starting stages of two."
"And how is that supposed to be of any help? You can defeat any sort of beast, despite their ranks and Phases." Her lady replied. "I don't think this is the time to discuss just how important that information was, right now, we all have to focus on saving ourselves. The next stages won't be easy." She replied while flipping the sword in between her fingers and holding it out in front of her as another claw ame face to face with her.
The sword sliced through the middle of the hand and turned into a sludge right below Aefia's feet. She jumped back right in time for the beast to spawn in the area she was standing just a few seconds ago. But what is its weakness?
Despite the loads of memory that was randomly jolting a awake in her mind, no memory carried the information she needed to defeat the beast. Is it even possible for evil spirits to go back to their death state even after we kill it?! Don't I have any skills where I can get the answer to the questions that I have right now?!
Sheesh! That was a close one! She thought to herself as the claws leave three rows of scratch marks on her face. The scratch marks made it seem as if her powers suddenly increased and her elemental animal's sigil just showed up on her face. Or maybe, it wasn't a scratch but burnt the same way as a scratch would.
No drop if blood appeared on her hand while she continued trying to wipe it off. But she could feel like there was a huge difference in her power levels compared to just few seconds ago. Her stamina seemed to increase and a very well-known screen popped up in front of her.
What! Is this...for real?! But if really is the case, my health and memory are being restored! I knew that I was nearing this stage, but I didn't know I very close to this stage.
[Congratulations! You are now a Phase Two Elemental Magic user! Your designated title is now, Apex Predator.]