Mature Content Warning: A graphically violent battle scene. A bit of gore and violent imagery.

Author's Note: Enjoy today's update. It is a bit lengthier than usual, but it shows something very important. I know there will be questions, but most of the common ones will be answered as the rest of the chapter is revealed. Please have patience. :)

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Chapter 13.1: The Awakening

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There are certain events in the life of a man that can permanently change the way that he lives his life. Lesser events can change the way that he lives his life for a short time. Recently, Scott lived through such an event, and as a result he now slept alone, or would as soon as he went to sleep.

Sonja, as tough and sweet as she is, did not insist on cuddling with him that night when he went back to sleep. She had seen the stuff of nightmares, and as such, she needed a little time alone.

Was it a horrible thing that he did not mind the fact that he had plenty of leg room? He liked the girl quite a bit. She was energetic and fun to be around. However, he was not used to being socially interactive with a beautiful woman on such a lengthy basis. It was quite draining.

Shara had headed home after a while, thankfully she had not stayed past the two hour mark. Scott was concerned about that for a moment, but he figured that if time started to run out he could slip away and let his body rest in the woods for a while.

After locking every window and door, Scott settled in to sleep on his bed. Sonja had opted to sleep on the couch, and he had opted not to argue. If anyone told him that it was rude to have his temporary slave girl sleep on the couch, he would have shrugged. Life was not inherently fair and when someone made a choice it was usually best to respect their decision.

Scott wriggled under his covers then wrapped his scaly arms around his pillow. It was time to sleep his life away while living high adventure in another existence.

Blackthorne awoke in darkness. He had been awake for less than a day on Earth, but over three days had passed in the other world. He looked out of the window of his inn room and noted that the night watch was active, so it was still a few hours till dawn. They tended to be less focused on patrolling just before dawn as their work shift would change soon.

He opted not to call Sonja back immediately. She would appear by his side no matter where he was when he called. She deserved some sleep, and he deserved some time to focus on his skills. If he let her sleep for six or seven hours of real time that would give him a full day to explore the world and to hunt to his heart’s content.

The first thing he did was transform into his human self. He took several minutes to transform and his form was flawless. He has discovered that he could instantly metamorph if he truly wanted to do so. However, such immediacy came with a cost. He would appear in an imperfect manner, namely he would be able to become human but he would not have any clothes on.

Only the full metamorphic process allowed for that, for some reason. It honestly made no sense to him, but he had practiced a few times after Shara left and it seemed to work the same each time.

Blackthorne checked his equipment and everything was where it should be. He nodded then left the inn. He needed to get busy, and quick. He planned to pay a visit to a certain mine. Due to his new found abilities he planned to see what he could do about fighting a scorpion.

The dark lord whistled a merry tune as he strolled through the streets of Argent. The unsuspecting people never knew the tiny little terror that roamed free among them. Though, in all fairness he had no interest in harming them and he was fairly certain that the city guards would easily be able to slaughter him.

Once he was out of town he ran toward the mine as fast as he could manage in the dimly lit night. He arrived after a few minutes had passed; proof that his hidden stats were quite high. He should test his running speed soon. Strength and agility several times higher than the average human would probably put him at least in the Olympic athlete category, if not a bit beyond it. Hell, he had just sprinted the entire way to the mine and he was not even winded.

~You who have lost your way... Become my dark beacon that I may know the path that must not be taken. ~

“Shadow Wisp!” cried out Blackthorne. The darkness of night fled from the area as the shadow wisp appear.

“Morning Wispy. Did you sleep well?” he asked.

The wisp glowed and then dimmed and then glowed again. It made a gurgled whisper then moaned a little. Yes, it had rested well considering the fact that it lived in the endless abyss reserved for the most wicked of souls or the truly unfortunate.

“Good! Shall we go brutally slaughter some wildlife for fun and profit?” asked Blackthorne.

The shadow wisp flickered a little in response. It almost seemed excited.

He directed the wisp to head into the mine first. He would need to see what was ahead of him. While they walked toward the entrance he pulled out two of his lesser swords. His Death’s Steel Broadsword was a weapon that he planned to use for direct combat. His lesser swords would be useful for an entirely different reason. He had six of them to work with at the moment.

Not long after they entered the area he heard the skittering of claws on stone. It was a truly eerie sound in the dimly lit and claustrophobic mine entrance.

The wisp continued to fly forward at his direction and soon the light drew the attention of the skittering monster in the darkness. Out of the shadows skittered a familiar multi-legged horror. It was the giant black scorpion that he had faced once before.

Blackthorne’s plan worked well. The wisp drew the scorpion’s attention completely due to its brightness and low moans. The monster lashed at it with its tail and snapped at it with its claws. However, it could do no damage to the shadow wisp. It was a conjured spirit and had no physical mass to injure. Only magical energies could harm it.

While the scorpion was busy, Blackthorne took a moment to consider its form. It was well-balanced on its six legs but it had to lower its body in order to attack with its tail. That might be useful knowledge. He was not certain, yet. He stared at it and realized what he had not noticed before due to the harrowing nature of their first battle. The monster was known as Big Daddy Scorpion. Its name was bright red, had a star next to it, and its level was fifteen. Everything about it screamed boss monster!

Sonja would have probably been able to handle it easily enough if she had decent equipment. But for Blackthorne it was a powerful foe indeed.

What he was certain of was the fact that the scorpion was growing frustrated with its prey. The moment that it turned its back on him completely, Blackthorne hurled his swords one after the other. He did not have great skill with thrown weapons, but all he had to do was hit the monster to unleash his weak enchantments.

Black energy skittered along the monster’s frame and it screamed in pain. It immediately turned toward the origin of the attack but the wisp wailed loudly at the same time and drew its limited attention back toward it.

Blackthorne nodded. It was big, but it was also stupid. That was good. The magical damage that his lesser swords could do was negligible, but that was fine. He was hoping more for the special effect than for actual damage.

He repeated the process three more times. Each hit did a little damage but, the monster did not seem to be paralyzed at all. The magical damage was not enough. He would need to create stronger enchantments.

He jumped just as the whip tail lashed out at the wisp. Blackthorne landed atop the monster’s back and wrapped his body around the base of its tail.

The scorpion shrieked in surprise then chittered angrily. However, its anger was useless. The beast could not roll over to easily dislodge him, and the mine entrance was too narrow to maneuver well. It was nearly powerless to stop him from attacking it.

Blackthorne cut brutally at the base of its tail with his broadsword. Every strike caused the scorpion to glow while a light red light as a tiny fraction of its vital essence was drawn away to restore the sword’s durability.

The chitinous armor of the beast was strong, but repeated strikes with a reasonably powerful sword allowed Blackthorne to slowly hack his way into the sweet meat of the beast’s tail. It screamed in agony as its rear appendage was torn free from its body.

The dragon in human form laughed triumphantly for a brief instant before he tossed to the ground with ridiculous ease. He had removed the monster’s most dangerous weapon, but he had also torn off the thing that he had used to maintain his superior position.

The scorpion moved quickly to capitalize on its tormentors fall. Blackthorne tried to scrabble away from it so that he could get back to his feet, but the monster was too quick for him. It had six powerful legs and he was not even able to properly use the two that he had.

The right claw snapped down and caught him around the chest. His left arm was immobilized and he could do nothing but kick feebly and flail at the monster with his Death’s Steel Broadsword.

Blackthorne cried out in pain as he felt his iron cuirass begin to press inward. The force of the monster’s claw was strong enough to stress iron with no effort at all!

He slashed outward with is free hand and used his sword to bat at the monster’s other claw. If the beast managed to get the other claw on him, he would die here. There was no question of that!

Luckily, he managed to kick the thing in the eye and it chittered out in pain. In response it raised him up high with its claw then slammed him down onto the ground. He felt incredible pain lance through his body. His right ankle began to throb violently.

“Shit!” screamed Blackthorne before he launched his right arm forward and skewered the thing’s eye with his broadsword.

The monster went crazy after that. It flung him around and screamed while it slammed him against the mine’s wall, ceiling and floor. Blackthorne lost his grip on his blade and felt as though his entire body had been beaten to the point of destruction.

Unarmed and with little hope for survival, there was only one thing that he could do. While the monster raged he focused on the rainbow fire of the world around him. The mine did not give off much vital force, but the creature before him did.

Blackthorne raised his hand and began to channel that vital force into a ball above his palm. The scorpion resisted as best it could, but despite its level and boss-like nature it was not an inherently magical beast. Its physical resistance was high, but it was neither smart enough nor spiritual enough to completely resist his vitality drawing force.

Life force of the earth, the wisp, and the scorpion flew to his hand and combined to create the power known as mana. The scorpion squealed in panic as it felt some of its energies being torn away. Blackthorne did not give it a chance to act. As soon as he had enough mana to cast his spell he unleashed it upon the beast.

His breath was labored, and pain radiated throughout his entire body. Yet, he managed to rasp out the incantation.

~ Anger of the disquiet soul, become my weapon and strike down my enemy...~

“Jolt!” cried the man as loudly as he could with a scorpion claw slightly compressing his ribcage. His hand contacted

The sphere of collected mana changed to an electric blue and black color. Tiny arcs of dark lightning skittered down the monster’s claw, but the damage was quite a bit higher than the effect would have led Blackthorne to believe.

The scorpion screamed in agony and its claw opened up due to an involuntary muscle spasm. Blackthorne wasted no time and immediately snatched up his swords. He hobbled forward a step, since his right foot was tender and sore, and then repeatedly slammed his blades down upon the ruination that was the creature’s right eye.

Blackthorne did not care anymore. He wanted nothing more than to absolutely crush the damned thing. There was no art to his motions, no subtlety. He slammed his blades down in a continuous whirling motion and screamed at the top of his lungs. Chunks of black chitin and scorpion gore flew through the air as he wildly battered at the thing with all of the strength that his badly beaten body could provide.

The sudden swipe of a claw knocked him back and onto the ground. The scorpion reared up then slammed its body downward. Its right claw rocketed down and crashed into him with enough force to badly dent his cuirass.

Blackthorne cried out involuntarily as he felt the force of the blow. He knew that he was in a critical position now. He would lose consciousness if he took another blow like that. Unfortunately, the beast had already begun to rear back for another blow.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the monster began its rearing motion. Blackthorne’s heart pounded in his chest. Was he going to die? He did not want to die!

His mind raced. He sought an answer, a way out. He sought deeper. He was a dragon dammit! He knew he was stronger than this, but he could not tap the well-spring of power that he supposedly had. If only he could use that ability of his race; the one that greatly increased his might.

He watched the claw rising up in terrifying slow-motion. His eyes widened. No, no this could not be happening! Not like this! It will not happen like this!

Something inside the man broke free. He suddenly felt a strange surge of power. Was it adrenaline? Was it something else? He neither knew nor cared, but he felt it. There was a radiant strength building within him that could not be denied.

The slow crawl of time lengthened and it froze completely. In the dimly lit mine Blackthorne realized the truth of what he was. He had thought of himself as an adorable scaly lizard who could still be human. Sometimes he thought of himself as human but with the ability to be a magical scaly lizard. In reality, he was neither. He was Mahorela Abaivonin. He was a dark celestial dragon, a creature with the body of a beast but a human heart and soul. He was not a dragon who could be a man, or a man who could be a dragon. His true power was hidden in the fact that he was both.

The dimly lit cavern was suddenly lit with an incredibly pure and intense light. The scorpion screamed in terror, but its scream was drowned out by the roar than exploded from Blackthorne’s human throat. Waves of concussive force raced outward from his prone body and the scorpion was pushed back by the awakening ancient power of the creature that it faced.

Blackthorne’s human form shifted. He grew short, but wicked fangs. Small horns rose up from the front of his head then curled back and up. Finger and toe-nails became claws. Vestigial wings formed on his back, and a thick black tail grew out from his spine.

Blood-red eyes shifted to a powerful neon blue color and then began to radiate with electrical energy. They were eyes that swiftly narrowed.

Blackthorne did not speak, there was no time. He knew instinctively that he could not maintain his true form for long. He was too young and inexperienced in the ways of his new race.

Wounds faded quickly and had mostly faded by the time he leapt to his feet. The scorpion had not yet recovered. Blackthorne had no intention of allowing it to do so. He thrust out his right palm toward the beast then drew away some of its life force, stole it really, to fuel his own power.

His hand moved to his side as the brilliant rainbow fire rapidly flew toward his palm. His left hand rose up even as the right one moved to his side. As soon as he had drawn enough power out of his opponent he roared out with great fury while hurling his right hand forward. Black dragon fire, a thing of lightning and death raced outward from his hand with incredible force.

The scorpion was forced back and up, partially into the air. It squealed in agony as lightning ripped through its body and the terrifying power of the dark avenger of the heavens tore its life away.

However, it was not enough. Blackthorne was too young, and the monster too powerful. It was severely injured and greatly weakened, but it was still strong enough to kill if it was not finished off quickly.

He knew that he had little time left and he would not be able to use his dragon fire again for a short time. Blackthorne raced toward the beast then leapt into the air. He shot down like a meteor striking the earth and slammed both feet into the creature’s chitin-clad head. After the strike landed he performed a mid-air backflip and landed on his feet.

Blackthorne was not done, however. He immediately span to his left and gripped the creature’s right arm. He slammed his foot against the creature’s shell then roared out once more as he used his draconic strength to tear the claw from the creature’s body with a sickening sound.

Gore and ichor covered the area as its life’s blood poured from the wound. However, it still lived. Blackthorne could not have that. He repeated his previous action and tore the other claw free with another angry roar.

Largely defenseless, the scorpion feebly bit at him. That was a mistake. Blackthorne almost casually held its weakened jaws apart with his right hand. He placed his left hand under its upper jaw and then he pried the beast’s mouth open until its jaws were torn asunder.

Truly defenseless now, the scorpion tried to skitter away but it was too weak. Blackthorne chose to put it out of its misery by battering it with dozens of impossibly fast strikes. His fists blurred in the air and seemed to almost disappear at times. Soon, the monster met its end amidst the staccato beat of thunderous punches that rained down on it with unstoppable fury.

Blackthorne kept punching long past the point of its demise, however. He was not sure when it died and at the moment he did not care. This thing had caused him no end of trouble and had nearly killed him twice. He wanted it to be dead and stay that way.

He did not stop punching until his body gave out. Blackthorne started to gasp, to pant loudly. He fell back and landed hard upon the ground. His shadow wisp came over to him then, almost as if it were concerned for its master.

As Blackthorne lie there in the dirt gasping for air, his form shifted slowly into that of a dragon hatchling once more. He could not maintain his transformation in his current state.

His heart pounded in his chest and he was unable to move for quite some time. However, after he regained enough stamina to crawl, he did so. Soon, he was able to stand.

Blackthorne climbed atop the scorpion then managed to rise up on his hind-legs. He wobbled slightly, but slowly he raised his right foreleg into the air. He made a fist then unleashed a tired, but sincere, victory roar. *Graaaaw-Eeeeenk!*

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