Chapter 98

Lykan

Fresh Water Biome

Lykan rested, basking in the false rays of the warm sun, the abundant Qi, and the forms of alien life that moved all around. Everything had a distinctly known quality, while at the same time having an unknown aspect to them as well. Looking at a creature it was almost easy to see if it fell into the predator or pray category. Yet, there was more. Each species was alien, from the way they moved, to colorations of their fur and scales. To the very way they all seemed to breath in and be dependent of Qi.

In some of the predators he could see similarities between the species and the various dragons that roam the world. It was once said that dragons were not native to the planet, that their fossil records show that they only began to appear around the time when the gods battled the titans. Though such histories are so old and forgotten that they are mostly anecdotal records of different creation myths at this time. The truth is not much survived the fall. Fewer events still survived from before the time of the fall, other than the records that the gods slew the titans and forced them back underground.

Now that he was here, in this seemingly strange world, Lykan wondered if he had somehow set foot on the land of the Titans. That he had somehow gone to a different dimension where the Titans retreated to. Such thoughts were ridiculous of course, surely, he would have known if he had gone to a different realm, right? But he couldn’t shake the overall oddity of the world around him. Clearly plants that resembled what he knew existed here. There were trees, if such tropical looking trees with sharp barbs up the side and little branches could be considered trees.

There were also brightly colored bushes, and tiny insects that all glowed with the presence of ambient Qi. The world around him was so diverse that he couldn’t help but feel out of place. Like he somehow didn’t belong on this planet, that he was the outsider in this otherwise amazing world of mysteries. Mysteries that were clearly related to the Titans in some way.

The fact that this area, this whole underground structure was related to the Titans was obvious. First there were the training facilities above, the ones that spoke and wrote instructions in perfect high wood elven. Then there was the fact that his trainer was a black face-tentacled creature with glowing red eyes that Lykan instantly understood from the myths and legends of old as being a Titan. While not much from before the fall survived, the description of the Titans, beings of pure evil that wished to corrupt the land were well known.

Yet looking at this area, Lykan couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to the story. If they had missed a few key details from the stories.

After a few moments to rest and regain his faculties Lykan thought about exploring. The world around him was beautiful. This was what he imagined a tropical paradise to be. The island he was on was a sandy shore that sat in the middle of a clear bay. Now that he had time to adjust, he could see the way the water was clear down to a good three to five meters, allowing view of all the wildlife in the area. There were creatures in the sea that made the creatures on the land look excessively tame by comparison. There was a large tentacled shark, at least that was the best way Lykan could mentally describe the creature. It had a long streamline body like a shark, a giant mouth that had rows of sharp teeth, and tentacles.

Lykan idly wondered if such a tentacled shark, octopus-shark, shark-topus? Was the same type of creature who had grabbed him on his way into this area. Shaking his head, Lykan figured that while he might be safe on the land and in the air, he did not want to take his chances again in the water. With that, he decided to explore more of the surroundings.

Now that he had a good chance to view everything, he realized that this area while large, easily the size of the entire Sidherthan academy including training fields, there was more.

The first thing Lykan did was rise to see the different Qi harvesting runes that were set up all around the ceiling and walls of the facility.

A quick inspection of the Qi runes on the walls indicated that the Qi was being absorbed and then converted to heat. Not too much, but enough to give the area a tropical heat. Ones at the top of the ceiling seemed to either compile to give light and warmth to the fake yellow sun, that looked odd to Lykan’s eyes. There was just something about the shape or size of the sun that seemed off, but Lykan couldn’t put his finger on why. Opting to dismiss such an observation, he continued flying around to see what made this room so unique.

After inspecting for hours, Lykan realized, what made this room so unique was quite simply put, everything. Everything about the room was odd. Blue paint covered metal walls. Or at least walls that looked to be made of some type of metal. The paint was also designed to cover most of the runes that were being used for collecting Qi.

It was times like this that Lykan wondered what exactly Qi was, and why the Titans of all creatures seemed so masterful at its uses. There were so many questions, but of course while the zoo was open, no caretakers seemed to be present to answer any calls. That was when the answer hit him.

He felt so dumb for missing it for so long. This was a park, or a zoo of some sorts. Lykan had even made the mental connection when he first found the place, thinking back to the zoo that was on the Sidherthan Academy Grounds. He felt so stupid for missing the obvious clues his mind was trying to give him all along.

Shaking his head, he again looked at the area around him with the idea that this was not some type of hidden tropical area. No, if this was a zoo of some kind, then the runes on the walls and ceiling made sense. The room had been designed to keep the creatures of this area alive and comfortable. Lykan idly wondered if the sun went out eventually, some sort of rune timer, but decided not to wait. He felt there were enough aggressive creatures currently in the daytime. He didn’t want to even consider what type of creatures would come out at night.

Moving quickly Lykan gave one last look to the room around him, only to shake his head. There was so much here to go through and so little time to do everything he wanted. Yet, he felt the need to move on, to explore. He had a hypothesis, now all he had to do was try to find more evidence that proved or disproved his thoughts.

Suddenly the different doors and entry and exit paths made sense. Or at least it made sense why they all seemed to be at symmetrical distances. If this was made by sentient creatures, then these exits likely went to different areas. Moving Lykan went to an archway that was close to his current position. The archway was massive, at least a meter taller than Lykan needed it to be. Then again, such grand sizes made sense, the Titans were by all rights, massive creatures. So, it only made sense that if Titans built this area, and these tunnels for their own ease of movement, then they must have made it large enough that they too could move about freely.

Lykan went into the first room only to see that it was a large circular room that seemed to offer nothing other than a sandy pit. Looking around there were signs that various monsters had used the land. Lykan still flying felt that if he landed a creature that was hiding from beneath the sand pit would rise and try to eat Lykan. This was a survival instinct that seemed to be coming more and more in play. He felt it had something to do with his new skills, maybe Ambuscade Mastery. He knew that one dealt with attacks from ambush, but did that mean it would eventually give him precognitive abilities? That was a hope, but it was also a long shot. Most likely the skill dealt with identifying areas where attacks could occur from and where signs of previous attacks seemed to have previously occurred. Though his skill was still at the Novice rank so who knew what insights it could offer as time went on.

Still Lykan was certain of one thing, a giant Qi predator of some kind lay beneath those sands. Idly Lykan wondered if the room had been created just to house such a creature. It wasn’t until he entered the room that he saw the ceiling of the room he entered was much, much higher than the tall archway he used to enter. In fact, the ceiling was easily five times the size of the archway.

Curious Lykan flew up to the top and saw what had to be a viewing platform with some type of railing so that spectating Titans could watch down below. Lykan cleared the railing and then looked on. He felt as a Titan child must, having an easier time looking under the bar at the ground below.

Wondering what lay beneath caused Lykan’s mind to work. He also wondered if this was in fact a viewing platform. There could be no other purpose for this platform, at least as far as Lykan was concerned. The height was too high off the ground, even titans would surely have a hard time falling such distances. Also, there was no ladder or other system to get up and down. In fact, it was only because Lykan could fly, an allegedly advanced skill to the Titans that he managed to get up here in the first place. For all these reasons Lykan felt he was right in his evaluation, that this was a viewing platform of some kind. Yet, he wanted to be sure.

Pondering for a second, an idea struck him.

It was a crazy idea. Likely one he would regret later, but he felt his curiosity would be more than worth the perceived loss. Especially as Lykan now had seven cores to consume. Realizing he had seven cores and thus should be fine on his physiological needs, he reached into his pocket with koi guts. The one that had released a stream of red blood as soon as he fully entered the koi pond. Grabbing the still wet, though seeming to melt guts Lykan held his hand over the railing. Then released.

Clop.

The guts landed with a barely audible thud. At first Lykan thought it was a bust, that he had just wasted the guts for nothing. Yet his thoughts were quickly proven wrong, as a massive sand serpent rose from the ground dozens of meters into the air. Sand and the small piece of guts were present, their remnants on a massive tongue that looked like it could snap out and grab Lykan. There was clearly some type of sticky reside on the tongue that attached to a mouth with oh so many large and sharp teeth. The teeth looked like ones a fully blooded dragon would have. And looking at the creature Lykan couldn’t help but wonder if there was some relationship between this giant scaled sand creature and the mythical dragons that roam the lands.

The giant worm dragon thrashed about for a bit, seeming to wonder if more food would fall in its giant maw. Lykan wondered if this was something the worm had been trained to do, to come up and be fed food. Lykan reached for one of the cores, but then stopped himself at the last minute. He could only imagine what this creature would be like if it grew more powerful. As it was, the beast was massive. There were a good fifty meters of tubing that separated Lykan from the floor and the giant beast easily covered forty or more of those meters.

Finally, after a few more seconds of wiggling around, the giant sand worm shrunk back. Lykan watched in muted horror as the beast moved then shook the entire facility causing a fresh wave of sand to fly out and cover its gaping maw. Looking at the open pit that Lykan now knew was the beast’s mouth, a wave of panic and relief spread from his body. His Ambuscade skill that warned him of danger had likely saved his life. He thought the skill was just warning him of a monster that was hiding under part of the sand, not that the sand was being used to cover a monster that clearly took up the entire length of the massive round room.

Lykan left the viewing platform, a door to the outside was clearly marked for him. As he left, he turned around to make sure the door closed, that he wouldn’t have to worry about that creature’s massive tongue coming out and aiming directly for him. As the door shut, he noticed a sign that was next to the door, clearly a wall marker indicating the purpose of the room he just exited.

Fresh Water Biome Wyrm Feeding Observation Deck.

There was so much to unpack in that one sign. First, was that fact that Lykan’s assessment that that was an observation deck of some kind was correct. Second was that the creature was called a Wyrm by the titans. The third and probably most telling portion was that the entire area was a freshwater biome. This helped clarify a few things. Firs that the whole place was created by the titans to mimic a freshwater biome. But that raised so many more questions for Lykan.

The first question Lykan had after confirming his hypothesis of this being an artificial biome was why? Why would the titans feel the need to make a freshwater biome with so many horrific creatures? The second and probably the most important was, where? As in where these creatures came from? Was it some mystical land that had never been explored by humans before? Or was there something deeper to everything.

So many questions.

Lykan realized that he could turn back now. He had more than enough, while the entry way that he had used to get here was likely blocked off by shark-topusses he felt he could easily manage finding an alternate route up. Yet, Lykan felt that he was just at the precipice of something greater. There was a discovery here that he was just beginning to unravel. He felt like a famous explorer who could finally shed light on some of history’s most ancient mysteries. Namely, what exactly were the Titans and why did they try to destroy the world?

Emboldened by the chance of new discoveries and new knowledge Lykan continued.