“Oh man, that raider just got fucked up! Those Quartzpions really mean business, huh Fang. Fang?” looking left, right, up and down at the ground I found no trace of that failed science lab experiment.

“Hey you two knuckleheads, do you know where Fang went?” I asked.

“The Black one? Truly, an amazing hunter to escape without me noticing… “ Edge mumbled. What does he mean black one? That's like the pot calling the kettle… oh. Well I guess it's fair.

“What about you? Remember seeing where he went, furball?” I asked Azure directly.

“This one is ashamed to say he has not, “ he said meekly. Tch, damn you Fang, where’d you go?

“Father! These two need help!” Laying down gently on the no man’s land, Krystal stepped back from two very scared and bleeding humans. Soldiers from the look of it.

“Quickly, Krystal can you search their wounds? See if you can sense if there's any shrapnel or lodged chunks of metal,” I instructed.

Krystal began immediately, removing any bloodstained cloths, which was basically everything. Hovering her small hands over the bleeding wounds, it didn't take long before she responded.

“I feel several pieces in the fatter one’s legs-“

“Hey! Why's everyone calling me fat today?” he complained. Shut up and let us do our work, peasant.

“- and several in the other’s arms and upper body,” she finished.

Thinking over what needed to be done, I delegated jobs, “Azure, hover over their wounds until they're numb. Edge, I need to you bleed and heat up a piece of metal, we’ll use that to stop the bleeding. Krystal, when they’re numb enough and Edge is ready to act, I need you to pull out all the metal. But be careful, don't cut any extra tissue unless you have to.”

On the brink of panicking, the two soldiers tried to stand as Azure hunkered over but Krystal held them down with her longer arms and whispered soothing words to them.

Calming down, the two humans gritted their teeth as Azure’s chilling aura made their cloths frost over and stiffen, the sweat on their skin turning a pale white, their hair frosting over slightly.

Poking the skin around some of the wounds, Krystal said some more words and they shook their heads. Phase one complete.

“Good job Azure, now stand back.” looking back at Edge, he had picked up some thicker quills from a nearby dead Steelhog. The metal in his hands glowing a healthy flesh-melting orange. Good.

“Krystal, you're up next. Edge, whenever she finishes with a wound, I want you to press that metal against their skin firmly for roughly two seconds. The two of you take a break to heat the metal back to orange when it dies down. Now get to it. “

About an hour and two passed out soldiers later, they finished their gruesome work. Now all they had to do was wait for them to wake up. Hopefully we’ll have a nice little chat. I'd hate to kill them right after all that work.

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Sliding on the ground, my legs immobile, I was unable to resist and my eyes would not forget. Bodies, so many bodies. They lined the sides of the hallway, they're limbs frozen and shattered, their flesh melted off or their skin pale, teeth rotted out and hairless. The bodies of raiders crucified on shards of black glass, large metal worms feasting on their gushing innards.

Quickly looking away, in the opposite direction a human was chained to a stone slab. The veins throbbing in his neck from his guttural screams. He thrashed futilely, his pleads for mercy unanswered as small bulges crawled underneath the skin around his stomach before hiding again.

On the verge of throwing up, I tried to look away in the only direction that wasn't some kind of nightmare, upwards. My captor dragged me behind him, his bones protruding from his back and ants tore pieces of flesh towards some unknown destination. Before I could rip my view away, it’s torn skull turned in my direction, ticking all the while.

Looking down at me, the once young and handsome James lips curled upwards into a crooked smile of shattered enamel attached to black veined gums. The sockets where his eyes should've been unsettling me more than the corpses.

“Hey James, why the long look? Don't worry, you'll join us too. Look, we’re here” Turning me around, I saw a room that stretched beyond the horizon, filled with similar acts of macabre.

“You know what they say. For Blood, For glory.”

Looking back up at James, his head began to peel down the middle and a pair of wriggling metal hands twitched and reached, closing in on my face.

“Nooooooo!” Screaming, I bolted upright. My heart beating a thousand miles an hour, I whipped my head around trying to get my bearings. A nightmare ? But it was so real…

“Oh look who’s awake! Morning princess, how yah feelin?” Turning around, I saw a large pulsing orb filled with multiple colors flowing inside. Beside it, three large and domineering monsters stared down at me, ready to rip and tear at any moment.

Gulping, I found the one that I remembered as our Savior, “Thank you...creature, for saving us. Are we to meet the Guardian?” I asked tentatively.

“Guardian? Oh you must mean Bloodfang. At the moment we don't know where he his, so instead you will speak with our Father.”

Father?

“Hi there! My name's Carl, what’s you and your friends name?” The orb spoke. The orb. In the core room. Which can only be the core. Spoke. To me.

Eyes rolling in the back of his head, James fell unconscious once again.

“Seriously? I thought these guys were soldiers, you'd think they could handle first impressions, at least!”

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“What are those?”

“Warrior Frants.”

“And those? And what about those smoking birds?” James asked.

“The blue looking frogs are Froads and the birdies are called Frawks,” I answered happily.

Rick and James were sitting next to my round body in the observation tower I had built for me and Fang.

“Check out those guys! They’re so agile and I can feel the crunch from their clubs from over here! Ouch, goodbye warrior Frant,” James said in mock sadness.

“Left, left, right hook, yeah! Smash his fucking face in!” Rick shouted enthusiastically. They really seemed to be enjoying the battle royal, which felt good for some reason.

Gazing over the battlefield, I saw all three sides going all out, the Frostmates crashing into the Frants and the Quartzpions. The Frawks swirled and dodged, having difficulties as deadly mercury tipped quills were being shot towards them from the numerous Steelhogs on the ground. Stone worms wrapped around stray contestants and squeezed their bodies to elemental pulp. Their cousins, the Red Worms, aptly named so after the bandit slaughter thrashed throughout the middle of both sides. Their softer skin split easily and they’re new gift displayed itself. Screams from the reeling monsters echoed raged over the sounds of battle as they rolled on the ground, trying frantically to get the acidic blood off of their bodies.

In the center of chaos where Rick was giving a play by play were my three bosses, duking it out to the end. Rick’s last cheer was because Azure just landed a nasty hook to the side of Edge’s face, almost knocking him over. Instead, he stumbled away, his cracked face dripping with molten blood before he snarled and charged at the Frostmate on steroids. Ducking under several of his punches and spinning out of the way of a kick, Edge gripped tightly to Azure’s side fur and climbed behind him. Wrapping his legs tightly around Azure’s solar plexus, Edge used one good arm to start choking the life out of Azure while he jerked free a large shard from his black crown before hammering it repeatedly into his chest.

Desperate to get him off, he tried falling and slamming his back to the ground, but Edge held tight and he never stopped stabbing. As a final ‘Fuck You’ of sorts, Azure used the last of his strength to charge at Krystal who was valiantly fending off a horde of Frants and Frostmates who decided to put their differences aside and work together to bring the tough bitch down. When Azure’s legs began to buckle, he leaped towards her while turning around so that he’d fall on top of her, Edge first.

Of course Edge was paying attention this whole time and he wasn’t an idiot, so when they started falling rapidly towards the ground and the defending Krystal, he tilted his head back so that his mostly intact crown was pointing straight at her. Like a nail beaten in by a sledgehammer, Edge’s Crown punctured straight through her skull and out the other side. Unfortunately, the force was a little too great and Edge’s own neck snapped and hot searing blood gushed out, melting the other two bosses bodies as his continued to crack and separate.

“Woah,” Rick said, watching the orange death spread across the field.

“That was amazing!” James, looking back between Rick and the resulting dead-zone.

“So, I’m assuming you two enjoyed the match?” I asked smugly.

“Yes.”

“Of course!” Oh James, so young and so easily entertained. We haven’t even gotten into the good stuff yet, I can tell once we introduce weapons that the whole dynamic will change.

“Well great! I’m more than happy to host a battle for my only two emissaries. I’ll have something special cooked up for you guys when you get back from Oogla, alright?”

“We can’t thank you enough for all the hospitality you’ve shown us Carl, we’ll do those things you asked us but if there’s anything else we can do just name it,” James said. Well hopefully, why do you think I’ve been so nice to you two chickens?

“Of course, I’m sure I’ll have a couple ideas how you could help when you get back. Well if that’s everything, I think you two should start making your way back home, I can’t imagine night being too pleasant out there,” I said.

“Right you are Carl. Between raiders and typical monsters prowling around, Sand Witches come out and roam the dunes looking for souls to steal. Get your shit James, I doubt we’ll make it back before nightfall, but I know a guy who’s got a pretty decent hole in the wall east of here. His name’s Jeffe and we go way back…”

The sound of the two rangers, as I’ve come to find out their profession, faded away as they made way back down the tunnel. Good things are coming, I can feel it. Or maybe that’s just those two walking down my halls. It’s a weird feeling. But that’s not important, no I couldn't care less about intestinal issues.

Soon, I’ll be having a lot more guests to entertain and I can’t have them experience empty rooms like this last group. It’s time to crack down on monster making and room building, because this shit’s about to get constipated.