Chapter 6

I woke to a hot pain in my side, it felt like my skin was bubbling and peeling off. I sat up with a start, breath coming through clenched teeth. I looked towards my side, my clothes were burnt through and my left arm up to the shoulder was raw and blistered. I let out a hiss of pain and looked around for what burned me, on the ground in a pool around the monstrosity I killed was its thick purple blood, still hissing and spitting, carving its way into the stone. I took several hasty steps back almost stumbling over rocks and weeds. My footsteps echoed in the air, a foul smell permeated the area. I looked back towards the creature, its chest caved in from back to front, guts spilled haphazardly around it.

Floating several inches above its nonexistent chest was a light similar to that of the woman’s he ate, the only difference was instead of a comforting golden glow, this one was a dark purple color that seemed to devour the light around it. The orb’s dark outline gave it a silhouette against the cave background, I took a step towards it, making sure to avoid the ever growing pool on the ground. The closer I got to it, the colder the air seemed to feel, my hair stood on end and an uncomfortable feeling settled in my gut, coiling around like an icy snake. I came to the edge of the blood pool, I was unable to get closer to the body because of it, taking several steps back I leapt towards the body, soaring over the acid blood and landing with a sickening crunch on the thing’s stomach.

The stomach caved dangerously and I crouched low to keep from falling, pinwheeling my arms I managed to keep my balance. I reached towards the glowing light, using the same technique I had before I focused my will on the orb and grasped it in my hand. As soon as I made contact my blood went cold, it felt as though thousands of gallons of ice water were replacing my blood. My body felt like it was becoming too full, my veins stood out against my skin, black as coal, my veins started to writhe and twist sending cold agony through my body. I clutched my head as the cold reached my brain, the pain of my broken hand and burned arm were forgotten in lieu of this new feeling, it was as if a wrathful imp was stabbing my head with razor sharp icicles.

I collapsed under the pain, my arms twitched in front of my eyes, hand clenching and unclenching as my last lunch was set free. I looked in horror as my hands and arms formed dark scales, nearly black in coloration, they seemed to be popping out from under my skin. Blood leaked from around the scales, but it wasn’t red as usual, it was black. Tears coursed down my face and I felt my body start to shake again, I knew that my body couldn’t handle much more, and once I reached my limit death would not be far behind. I needed to heal my wound and rejuvenate myself, I had no healing magic and the only way I knew to heal on such short notice was to feed. The only meal within reach was the creature I was laying on, yet I had seen its blood melt through sheer stone.

It was either die from melting inside out, or from whatever changes I was undergoing, steeling myself I rolled my body so I was facing down towards its stomach. Opening my jaw wide I stuck my head into the hole left by my trap, and closed it around the first morsel I could find. My mouth exploded in pain, a hot burning was felt as its blood flowed down my throat. I felt blisters forming from the acid, and being smoothed away as whatever happened when I ate ran its course. My mouth and throat followed this cycle of burning and unburning as the rest of my body healed much slower than usual, the skin on my left arm reformed and was replaced with the scales, my right hand snapped back into place with a sound like a tree being felled.

I ate more and more of the flesh while my skin turned into scales and my blood froze in my veins, my entire body was covered in the scales, their seamless interlocking pattern making it look as though they were one single piece. The only place not covered was from my neck up, and even there I soon felt the creeping feeling of my skin changing, when it reached my mouth I heard a tearing noise, and only then did I let myself scream, a new form of pain ran through me with all the subtlety of a charging warhorse. I felt the flesh and skin from each side of my mouth tear until it reached my ears, a terrible grin was torn onto my face, as the rest of my head was covered. As soon as it reached the top of my head the pain suddenly stopped, and icy cold permeating my body disappeared.

I flopped to the side, my head exiting the chest cavity of my dinner. A huge breath left my lungs and I closed my eyes for a moment, before I felt like I was falling. My eyes snapped open and I realised immediately I was indeed falling off the corpse, straight into the pool of blood below. I panicked and let out a cry, it felt strange when I noticed my mouth was nearly twice as wide. I splashed into the blood and noticed I felt no pain, a strange heat was felt as my clothes burned away under me, but I didn’t feel like my skin was melting off.

I stood up unsteadily and stumbled away from the pool, looking at my pitch black hands. I reached up and ran one over my face, noticing how my mouth was extraordinarily wide, if I had any ideas of going into a city before, they were now thrown out the window. I sighed before looking inside me, towards where my Core, and Center resided. As usual I couldn’t see my Center, but my Core hung suspended in a strange purple miasma, I reached towards it and felt my body grow cold again, my skin seemed to flip in on itself before switching back to my usual pallor, and my mouth shrunk down to its usual size.

I stared at my hands, flexing them and wiggling the fingers, I patted my face making sure I looked like normal, or as normal as usual. I felt like everything was in order, and now that I was back to normal I was alerted to my hunger by the usual means. My stomach grumbled and I looked back towards the remains of the behemoth, I took a step into the puddle before I felt the usual burning sensation of acid against skin. I jumped back and realised my error.

Whatever form I had unlocked from this things “soul”, for lack of a better term, had allowed me to step into the acid blood without injury. Stripping off my clothing I reached inside of myself to the purple miasma and “touched” it, my skin flipped and a shining black carapace replaced it. I felt a strange tugging at the ends of my mouth, and soon felt the usual tearing sensation of it widening. I stalked towards my ready to go meal and chowed down, tearing it apart with relish, my tongue flitted out, seemingly of its own accord, to lap at the acidic blood on the ground. Once the meal was complete and I swallowed the scales whole, I got dressed again and decided to do some physical testing, with and without my new form, and after that it was time to test what other abilities this “soul” allowed me.

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I had completed my physical tests, strength, speed, and endurance had all been tested. All of them had progressed substantially since my last meal, I could run faster and longer, I could move rock that had previously been beyond my grasp, and the speed allowed for better swordplay, leagues beyond what I had previously achieved. That was only in my usual form, once I changed into what I dubbed “monster” form, after changing I was able to move in ways that were previously impossible, I could nearly bend over backwards and punch holes through stone, the only issue was, unless I was extremely careful my grip would shatter the sword I had. So that led me to my next series of tests, finding what else my monster form was capable of. After changing back and forth between normal and monster form so much I no longer had to focus as much to change, it could be done with a though and the process was underway.

I reached to the miasma inside and the change happened, I felt my senses heighten and a new sense of my body became apparent. I could feel the way my muscles shifted under my “skin” and the way my magical energy fluctuated, I reached out towards the miasma, but made sure not to turn back. Taking a metaphorical handful of it I attempted to focus it into a usable form, it seemed to compress into a more liquid state, bending and splitting as I willed it. I attempted to focus it into my hand, the hand went cold as if I stuck it into a frozen pond, and I felt the skin harden. I could “see” the tendons shifting and the muscles contracting, I moved the energy into my fingertips and attempted to push the power out. My fingertips stretched and pointed like claws, but the energy wouldn’t leave my body.

Stalking over to the cave wall I slashed in a diagonal line and felt scant resistance as the claws cut through the sheer stone. From my tests I also learned I couldn’t stay in this form indefinitely, after too long, around 3 minutes, the cold feeling would come back and I would have to switch out of the form or pass out from exhaustion. Apparently using the energy as I had had reduced this time limit drastically and after only one minute I felt about to collapse. Switching back to my normal state I donned my clothing, which were more like rags, and tried to find a way out of this cave. I strained my senses, listening for anything that would indicate a way out. It took only a few minutes before I felt a fluttering against my skin, a draft.

I followed the cave corridor towards where the wind was blowing, I turned multiple corners before stumbling across a small opening in the wall. It was too small to crawl through, but luckily I had just learned of a new way to remove stone. I switched forms and clawed quickly into the wall, cutting out small sections around the hole until it widened enough to go through. Switching back, I crawled through the hole into the bright sunlight, the sky was overcast and hinted at rain. The swollen clouds floated lazily along, uncaring for the battle of life and death that had just occurred under their heavenly forms. I couldn’t tell if the sun was rising or falling, so I decided to wait until it was apparent which way was west and which was east. Laying back against the cold stone I sat lazily, gazing around. The mountain path I was on was populated with various kinds of herbs and shrubs, each one a host to various kinds of insect life. Far below me was an open green area followed by sand, and then… ocean.

I smacked myself in the forehead as I realised my stupidity, I didn’t need to wait until the sun told me where to go, the ocean could do that just as easily. I had entered on the south eastern side of the mountain and emerged on the north eastern edge, this let me decide which way I wished to go. I could head north west towards the sea, but there wasn’t much I could do there, or I could go back the way I came, this was equally unnatractive as I didn’t think I could pretend at being human. I was then reminded where I was, I was on the largest mountain in the mountain range, I had brand new abilities to test and a perfect hunting ground for it. A wide smile split my face as I cracked my knuckles and stretched, preparing myself to hunt.

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Boyle and the guild leader he had met, earlier he learned his name is Gorm, paced in front of the count’s manor gate, waiting for the answer for an audience. They had alerted the guard of their need to see Count Alagin, and had been waiting since he left nearly an hour ago. The manor gate was impressive yet functional, with sharp pointed tips on the top and an artistic design of metal on the gate itself. The pair dealt with their annoyance differently, Boyle bit his nails nervously and let out the occasional groan, while Gorm paced in glum silence.

They both let out relieved breaths when they saw the guard walking along the path towards them, he held the Alagin standard in his left hand, a red flag with a majestic griffin baring its claws. The man took his time as he made his way to the gate, seemingly in no hurry.

“I hope he gets whipped for wasting time when the Count learns we have information about his son.” Boyle huffed.

“Quiet boy.”

The soldier finally made his way to the gate, and with a mock bow he opened it.

“The Count will see you, come along.” he drawled lazily.

They followed in mute annoyance after the guard, and he led them further down the path towards the manor. The manor functioned more as a place for entertainment than a defensible fort, the front had many windows on all floors and was made of wood. The doorway had a tiled pathway that connected to the path, and multiple freestanding marble pillars stood at attention on the sides. The trio walked up the doors and opened them, hey swung open noiselessly and were greeted with an open room. A plush red rug led its way deeper into the home, multiple hunting trophies of various fantastical animals adorned the walls, and magical lanterns cast brilliant light over the whole area. A troop of guards stood like the marble pillars outside, motionless and resolute, warning off any potential intruder. A middle aged man with salt and pepper hair stood at the end of the line of guards, he had sharp features and his splendid red clothes marking him as the Count.

“Bring them to my study. Make sure they don’t track mud.” he said with nary a glance back as he turned away.

Boyle started to walk forward and call for the Count when a hand grabbed him and pulled him back, he turned and saw Gorm holding him and pointing at the mat next to the door.

“Wipe” he said.

Getting the message Boyle wiped his muddy boots, scraping as much as he could off the bottom. One of the guards in the Alagin livery indicated for them to follow as he turned and walked the way the Count had. They followed him down halls filled with priceless paintings, Boyle wondered why they were allowed so close with only one guard until he turned around and saw three others following them. They walked in near silence, the only noise was the clanging of armor and weapon, along with the heavy tread of boots, Boyle couldn’t help but feel he wasn’t a guest but a prisoner.

They reached the Count’s study room and followed the guard in, the room itself was large but not overly so. Ahead of them was a large darkwood desk, covered in piles of papers and books, a large magelight hung suspended in the air. To the left and right the walls were covered in bookshelves, Boyle stared with his mouth wide at the sight, he had never seen so many books.

“Close your mouth boy. This is nothing compared with the library.” the Count said condescendingly.

“Sorry.”

“I don’t think I heard you right, I think you meant to say ‘Sorry your lordship’”

“Sorry your lordship.” Boyle mumbled out.

“Better, now why are you both here?” he asked coldly “I would like you to know that before you answer that the only reason you are here is because Gorm was with you, without him you would not be allowed in, and even with him I would hope to not be disappointed.”

Boyle gulped as cold sweat ran down his back, “I kno- I mean I think I know what happened to your son.”

The count’s eyes widened, then narrowed down like a predator looking at its next meal. “This better not be a joke, boy.”

Boyle swallowed again, “No, I saw someone, more monster than man with two enchanted swords.”

The count stood up abruptly, “What!? This is all you have!? You come to my home, and taunt me with new of my son! Only to tell me that you saw someone with two enchanted swords!?”

Gorm stepped forward seeing that the Count was dangerously close to becoming violent, “I know your son had two guards with him, each had a sword like Boyle described. I also know you son was in the mountains hunting, the same place where Boyle said he saw this man.”

The count simmered down, he took his seat again and straightened out his clothing. “This is still nothing but useless information and happenstance, how does this help me find my son?”

Boyle stepped forward again, a glint of determination in his eyes, “Your son was hunting a dall’in right?”

“Yes, and?”

“Well the man who killed my friends, the one with the swords, he had teeth like a dall’in and he… he ate my friends corpses before I ran” he managed to choke out.

“Now that, that is something interesting.” a vicious grin crept across the count’s face.

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I had hunted what I could up in the mountains, and while they provided small boosts to my physical traits nothing major had happened, I had been hunting gultins and other relatively easy to kill creatures, but now I had something to kill that set my blood to boiling. The creature had eluded me thus far, its grey pelt letting it blend in easily with the surroundings. My new quarry was a huge mountain cat, it had been talking me and I it for the past six days. The creature was always just around the corner from me waiting, yet always just out of reach when I went after it. We had been in several fights, I had managed to score several strikes against it, but even my claws in monster form only managed to cut a couple inches deep.

The beast had wounded me several times but I had managed to get away and feed, each time I looked back the thing was right there, waiting. It had an unnatural glint of intelligence in its eyes, I wanted so badly to tear it apart. It seemed as though it was always taunting me at my lack of ability, it almost felt like it wasn’t really hunting me, just toying. Surely today will be the day I kill it, I kept telling myself, yet each time I was proven wrong. I had tried setting traps for it, but it never fell for them, I had tried to win our fights when I was ambushed but it always came out on top. It was infuriating.

In my rare moments of peace I had tried using the miasma in human form without turning but hadn’t managed it, the same went for using energy from my Center or mana in monster form. I hadn’t managed to make either work without a sharp pain in the back of my skull ruining my concentration. At the moment I was sneaking along a rocky outcropping in the direction I thought the cat was in, I hadn’t given up trying to sneak up on it yet. I came out into a wide clearing of strangely smooth stone, it was a half circle area with the usual plants and insect life. The cat was nowhere to be seen, and I didn’t see anyplace it could have hidden yet.

I had an idea, if I couldn’t see it, maybe I could use my other senses. Focusing energy on my sense of smell and hearing I paid close attention. I could smell a faint earthy smell of clean stone from the recent rain, and I could smell the distinct herbs. My ears picked up on the shivering of insect wings and… a faint shuffling noise coming towards me. I inhaled deeply, attempting to smell for anything out of place again, I could smell wet fur. My eyes shot open and I peered in the direction the smell and noise came from, a rather indistinct patch of stone I had previously written of as a rock was moving slowly towards me. It moved so slowly and fluidly I wouldn’t have been able to sense it if I hadn’t know it was coming.

Deciding pretending to not know it was coming was my best course of action, I decided to attempt something new. If I didn’t the creature would either kill me, or this cat and mouse game would continue, and I was getting rather tired of it. I discreetly infused a small amount of energy into my left forefinger, my control over this energy was magnitudes better than before, and after I learned I could shape the miasma I found I could do the same with this. Sharpening it in my left finger I started to scrawl the simple, and forbidden, body rune for strength into my right arm. I was going to attempt to infuse it with mana in this form and change into monster form, then if all went well, use it in monster form.

After the distinct red glow faded away, this time tinged with slight purple and black spots, I dismissed my energy and waited. If this worked I might be able to kill the creature, and if not it was back to running anyway. The cat was closing in on me, it would soon get ready to pounce. Its hackles raised up and its tail swayed back and forth, like a grey lightning bolt it flew through the air. I switched forms, cold flames burned through my body and my face tore, I reached for the mana I usually had at my beck and call, but it was distant. This was a problem, the cat was tearing through the air at high speeds, desperation in my attempts I focused my mind down to a razor’s edge and reached.

This time I managed to grasp the tiniest amount of mana, but with it came near blinding agony, clenching my teeth, I focused my will onto the rune buried under my scales. A dark red glow burst forth, shining lights through the miniscule gaps between scales. This all happened in nearly an instant, I pivoted on my heel and thrust my hand forwards, inky black claws formed at the tip. I aimed for the cat’s wide open mouth but missed, my hand collided with it’s chest. Up until this point the best I had managed against the obviously magical creature were shallow cuts, but with my rune strength and monster ability my hand cut through the its chest. Crushing each rib like a tree branch, my hand rooted around inside of it, the familiar icy cold sensation starting at my hand and pulsing down my arm.

I clasped a familiar organ, beating in a rhythm and squeezed. Blood seeped out of the wounded animal as it let out a pitiful yowl, the once majestic hunter reduced to a corpse at my feet. I let go of it’s insides and the body fell with a thump, dead as it hit the ground. A mad smile split my face nearly in two, blood dripping down my arm and beating a pattern against the unforgiving stone.

“What’s wrong kitty?” I knelt down and cupped my ear towards its now silent mouth, “No response, that’s kinda rude.” I tore off one of its legs and dug in, succulent flesh giving way to my maw. “Oh well… More for me!”

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A terrible laugh echoed down the mountainside as a beast tore apart its prey, it’s too wide mouth spread in a massive grin. Its dark eyes and moon white pupils along with flecks of light swirled like the night sky, as a manic gleam told of a hunger that was never to be truly sated.