Name: Nil

Race: Demon

Type: Transformed Deviant Soul

Age: Immortal – 4years

Crystal Essence: [Crimson]- Lvl.2— 65esq

[Available Essence Points— 0]

Strength: 14

Agility: 56

Wisdom: 13

Abilities: [Faithless Absorption], [Faithless Mimicry]

[Available Trait Points— 5]

Traits: [Calloused Exterior]- Lvl.1

Ascension Perks: [Reais Fiend]

Spells: Nil

Patron: Nil

I’m cornered.

The horned one [Inurri] snaps its little cubed shaped head at me, wings buzzing as it closes in on me. There’s no escape to be had, not with [Adar] and [Tagorria] waiting at either side both drawing closer, tightening the trap.

There’s no way around it. Fueling my good arm with Essence, attempting once more to form claws at my fingertips but to no avail, still, the bulking and tensing in my muscles should be enough, it’s all I have.

With a desperate roar I make a dash charge towards [Inurri] and the mosquito headed ant strafes and matches me in charge. Numerous legs skitter, broken stinger poised the [Inurri] lunges as we meet, reaching to pierce my chest.

Faster than I ever thought myself capable, I grab hold of its stinger and dig my feet into the burning sands, pushed back by the force of [Inurri] charge. Beginning to slow I follow the defence with a tug, my arm pulses with Essence as I heft the Demon overhead and toss it towards [Adar].

[Adar] snaps out its wings and carries away from the tumbling [Inurri]. Still there’s no reprieve as even in these winds I can catch the shuffling strides of [Tagorria] on its way to bite my head off.

I take a dive and roll to the side, tumbling away from the locust shaped battering Demon. A quick scan finds the others recovering, [Adar] a bit distracted snapping at [Tagorria] but otherwise, they’re up.

‘So soon…’

Panting I dive away from the charging [Tagorria] and grunt at the strain on my shoulder. It’s begun to swell.

‘Venomous stinger. Damn it.’

As [Adar] buzzes into the air, drooling some sort of mucous from its mouth, I watch the other two, particularly the venomous one. At the point of its broken stinger glows a spindle of Essence, a crimson colour spindle of mist elongating the broken stinger, healing it gradually.

‘They can regenerate? Why can’t I?’

One of the reasons I’m so cautious of the biting desert storm is because of the fact that I’ve found no way of regenerating my body on my own…at will. My closest experience with regeneration was immediately after the Tusked Demon threw me off and burnt off my lips. They grew back the next minute, but I suppose fresh blood and flesh, as well as the powerful Essence I sucked out of the Tusked Demon shift the chances of regenerating.

At will I divide a portion of the Essence empowering my arm and direct it at the swelling.

The area soothes, lessening rather than bulging with muscle like my other arm. ‘Intent is important’ I note.

Gritting my teeth I make ready to go against all three Crimson Level Demons with the injuries they’ve inflicted.

Since the start of this mess I’ve gotten hit by two of them once and I’m almost handicapped with the venom coursing through, barely slowed by Essence. It’s a lot for a start, especially since I haven’t taken down any of the three and one is healing its injury.

Screeching wildly [Adar] lunges from the sky, jaw slack and teeth bared as it makes to snap my head off. The long gash in my chest is still fresh from it’s last attack, I start to run. Feet scuffling against the burning sand only to catch a rock and spill on my back, vulnerable.

In a snap it mounts me, wings setting into its back as it bares against the good arm I’ve brought up to protect myself.

Its mates don’t waste any time covering the rear, skittering closer to have their piece of me, the sight of [Inurri] bursts a bubble of fear within me, it’s stinger is nearly complete.

I abandon my good arm to the jaws of [Adar] atop me, retrieving the Essence flooding it and with a single snap of its maw agony beyond anything I’ve experienced jolts me into quicker action.

Tugging on the vibrating sensation in my swollen shoulder, I flood it with all the Essence I can manage until it breaks. The Essence and tingling venom within rush throughout my right arm, morphing it, peeling skin and condescing flesh. The combination splits and fuses my bone into a long single sharp point. A point that spears through the horned head of [Adar] and pumps what I know is venom into it.

[Adar] falls slack over me, its weight barely held by my stinger arm. [Inurri] and [Tagorria] come to a stop at the development, the loss of their fellow Demon. The two study me as I struggle to pick myself up from under the heavy carapace corpse of their third, it’s a deal harder with one arm bitten off and the other transformed into a stinger.

My first instinct is to dig out for the throbbing [Soul Crystal] hidden in the corpse, but I can’t. Both practically as I have no arm with opposable thumbs and sensibly with the other two studying my every move.

There’s chittering from [Tagorria], its large locust body and shielded head parts to reveal the drooling maw aching to digest me. It starts a charge.

In the corner of my eye [Inurri] still stands in wait, looking for the outcome to this so I turn my full attention to the charging Demon, its wide shielded head shut and ready to ram me into oblivion if I’m not ready. But this time I am.

“Raaarggh!!” With a costly roar as sands slice into my open mouth, I poise to spear through [Tagorria] like I did the one at my feet.

My stinger meets its shield with force, enough force to threaten to snap my stinger even as it hasn’t made a dent. Eyes bulged I realize the mistake just in time to strafe to the side and duck under a wide swipe of one of it’s six legs.

Antennae waving, it’s quick to realign itself, hiding soft spots and weak joints. Grinding my teeth I pull on even more Essence from my [Soul Crystal] and pump it into my morphed arm, it staunches the bleeding from my lost one. My stinger straightens in response to the flood of power, the bend and crack from meeting the shield is patched and strengthened, but still not enough to charge right back in at the swiping [Tagorria].

It charges after me again, all six legs skittering it forward with its head set to bash me in.

‘I’ve got to get the sides…!’

Target in mind I bring up my left side, propping my armless shoulder best I can for-

“Argh!”

The numerous cracks are loud and audible, bone pierces out my skin from the impact. My shoulder surely shatters but I steal the opportunity I need and jab my stinger right over its head the same time it slams into me.

The impact alone isn’t enough to send me flying, not with my stinger lodge in what I think is its neck. The Demon locust lets out a cry and starts trashing, lifting and pulling me by my stinger. I grunt as all I have to fight against its dragging are my feet.

But even worse is what I find in my periphery. [Inurri] starting to strut towards us, confident in its victory, secured in its meal.

‘It’ll finish me and this demon off and it’ll have a feast on our corpses!’

In agony and close to death, the thought of all of this work serving that Demon burns. This feast is mine.

“Stay still!” I punctuate the command with a pump of venom into the [Tagorria], sinking my stinger arm even deeper and making a mess of its neck. Turning and pulling and thrashing around with my stinger arm until the wound is a gaping hole.

Pushing in even deeper until my stinger bursts out the other side, I grunt, struggling against the tough carapace and flesh but in the end I manage to rip my arm out of the [Tagorria] neck, essentially decapitating it.

The ominous buzzing behind me meets me fuming, turning to look up at it I’m struck with a sense that it’s extremely pleased with itself right now.

‘I bet it would.’

The dire remnants of strength motivate me to fight even harder for my life, but I’ve lost an arm, shattered my shoulder and I’m facing the Demon I unintentionally mimicked. This close up I can spot the fundamental differences between our stingers, but it doesn’t matter. My muscles are exhausted, and my body’s been abused to a point I’m surprised I’m still conscious.

[Inurri] readies, pulling back its head for a strike with its stinger. The attack comes down hard, I barely have the strength to maintain my block. Again I sense a feeling from it, shock, annoyance.

‘Heh…I’m not going down without a-’

Black, sharp objects break into the sides of [Inurri], zipping out from the billowing winds are more of these objects, peppering the ant mosquito to the point it’s large behind bursts open, pouring out acid as it tumbles over on its side. Dead.

Crumpling to my knees I pant, huffing to catch my breath, sandy as it is. But there’s no such thing, my mind rips with pain as images flash through it, images of humans killing demons and…

“No! No, I…I was human. I don’t think I am anymore.” Blinking at myself I stare back into the sandy dunes until my eyes catch a figure, it stalks forward, slowly until it's in full view and a good distance away from me.

Three yellow eyes study the surroundings from their bony sockets. A narrow nose rests below, but it's the large mouth below that takes all the attention. A wide grin reveals two large canines and a slithering tongue that licks its lips. Long round ears sit on each side of its short, fat head, which itself is covered by some kind of cloth, a hood and has two stub horns protruding from the sides.

Its small fat body is slightly hunched over. Two short arms rest at the sides and end in wide hands with short fingers, each with long clawed nails. Likely the thing black object that fired at [Inurri]. Its legs are short and stand straight, each ending in small feet.

[Khozuik] is what I see it described as.

For the fact that it dons a wide brown hooded cloth over itself means that it must be intelligent, far more intelligent that the insects dead around me at least.

‘And it asked a question…with images but a question nonetheless. This is an individual, a thinking individual. Now…how to communicate.’

Slowly, I take to my feet but in a snap it brings up its arm, pointing the sharp claws right at my face and slams my mind with dozens of images of all sorts of bipedal creatures kneeling.

‘Back on my knees then.’

It walks closer, close enough I can hear it humming over the winds. And through images it asks, “You very human. Close but no human organ.”

The image of human genitalia floods my head and I shake it, replying, “No, I’m not human…anymore. I used to be but now I…I’m not so sure.”

Again it slams me with images of genitalia and I can tell it wants me to show it my genitals. Growling, tired, hungry and with my knees burning, “Does it matter. I don’t have any”

It blinks at me, lips turning in a frown, “Noisy, will sell as new human.”

‘Wait…sell me?’

“Can I…?” I start to ask, reaching for the corpse of [Inurri] and it screams at me, jabbing its claws my way.

“No! Soul Crystal mine! No move!”

‘Still got robbed. I hate this place.’