In the midst of the blazing blue, flames etched across the abhorrent UvoSathian trees, devouring their leaves and transforming them into charred carcasses of ruthless terror. She did this. An accident, after crisping a [Xensect].
KiAera's mind raced furiously, desperately seeking a strategy, a way to overcome the imminent threat that pursued her—the fuming Ilosphat. Its killing intent, so great, almost masked the whining, detestable screech of the creature grasping her, the wretched wails of the Kobolbol. "No! No! No!"
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
Creature: Kobolbo
APeX: [30 Units]
Attributes: [Brawl] [Cryptic]
Variant Grade: [Common]
Evolution Stage: [Fledgling]
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
She struggled to find her bearings as thick smoke billowed from towering infernos, shrouding the air with a sharp and acrid scent—a swirling veil of grays and blacks.
As the heat intensified, the smoke thickened, blocking her view of the menacing, Dilophosaurus-like creature—the hissing Ilosphat. A frilled horror, comparable in size to a deer. Its smaller, lesser counterparts flanked her within the depths of the trees. This is the afterlife? Good grief.
"Me trade, Merekit for yummies!" cried a raspy voice. "Teensy, but meaty, yes?" Her captor bawled, zigzagging between trees in a dizzying frenzy.
KiAera blinked through the smoke, her head spinning, as the sharp silhouette of a tree trunk rushed toward her—too late.
Ouch!
She groaned. Her small body dangled by the ears, swinging and smacking into trees left and right!
Her body slammed into them, bursts of pain shooting through her sides. She barely had time to recover before she was whisked away again, bumping and scraping against rough bark.
Why had she let her guard down when it approached? It begged for help. She should’ve seen this trick coming a mile away! Now she was paying the price, caught in the grip of a creature with far too many teeth and not nearly enough sense.
"You take us for imbeciles! We'll devour you Kobolbo! Handsss over the Merekit..!" the Ilosphat articulated with a hissing taunt. "Give!"
KiAera sighed when hearing the creature speak. Of course…
GamaGen. She voiced telepathically. WAKE UP.
⎾Drained, Miss KiAera, my reserves...are not up to par...⏌ the book in her grasp responded. ⎾Apologies.⏌
Its raven symbol dimmed, leaving KiAera flabbergasted. Next strategy, she shifted her weight, narrowly evading the fangs of an Ilosphat. Diplomacy.
"Kobolbo. Yummies." The Kobolbo's ears twitched. It did not look back. Nope. It ignored her and grasped harder. KiAera twisted slightly, feeling the coarse fur of the Kobolbo's grip tighten around her ears. Her thoughts raced.
The Ilosphat's snarl echoed behind her, a raspy promise of death, weaving through the smoldering trees like a predator's breath in the cold. Despite her pulse hammering in her chest, she couldn't help but notice the absurdity of it all.
Once, she'd run from scavengers in the rubble of cities, dodging bullets and bandits. Now? She was swinging like a trinket, carried by a blabbering monster, while a gang of prehistoric frills tried to make her into a snack. Yeah, she definitely preferred the gunfire.
Let's try this again. She cleared her throat before unleashing a disarming shriek. "Yummies to the left!"
The Kobolbo's ears flicked again, head swinging. Its grip on her ears slackened for just a moment, but that was all she needed. KiAera swung her body, using the momentum of her dangling weight to slam into a low-hanging branch. It wasn't a hard hit, but enough to make the Kobolbo stumble. She flipped herself over, landing on her feet with the soft grace her new form granted. Her ears retracted immediately, and she felt the familiar tingle of their extension—a ridiculous feature, but useful.
"Not bad for a 'teensy, meaty,' thing, huh?" she muttered.
The Kobolbo hissed in confusion, its tiny eyes blinking rapidly, trying to grasp the loss of its prize. The Ilosphat, however, didn’t give it much time to recover. A snarl pierced the smoky veil, and KiAera instinctively ducked as the larger beast lunged, jaws snapping where she had stood moments before.
Her mind raced, calculating. The Ilosphat's heat shimmered off its scales, radiating like the hot metal of cars back home after a bomb blast. That familiar sense of survival prickled at her skin—fight or flight, except here, both choices seemed equally insane.
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The Kobolbo screeched, scrambling away in terror, and for a fleeting second, KiAera felt sorry for the pitiful thing. No time for that. She needed to act fast.
Her hand reached for GamaGen, still heavy and drained at her side. No telepathic reassurance came this time, but KiAera could almost hear the book muttering complaints as its energy fizzled out. Useless. She was on her own now.
"Figures." Her breath came in ragged, hot puffs as she darted through the trees, the sharp edges of her retracting claws grazing the scorched bark. The forest felt alive in its death throes, crackling, burning, and shifting beneath her feet.
She dodged another swipe from the Ilosphat, its frilled crest puffing up like some deranged lizard monarch. How did she fight a thing like that? It wasn't just bigger, it was fast. Her human instincts wanted to grab a makeshift weapon, something solid, but here? Everything felt foreign. Even the trees seemed too brittle, too dry. Like bones.
໒꒰ྀིっ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১૮꒰˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶꒱ა૮꒰⸝⸝> ̫ <⸝⸝꒱ა
[Innate Status Screen]:
Name: KiAera
Age: [0 Cycles] [25]
Race: [Merecritt]
Species: [Merekit]
Innate: [Human 𓆩♡𓆪]
Class: [Unselected]
Evolution Stage: [Genesis] (G)
Variant Grade: [Common]
Attribute Influence: [Beast] [Fire]
Accumulated Particles (APeX): [1 Unit]
• • • • • • •
Skills: [Max Slots: 6]
• • • • • • •
1. [Claw Swipe] - Beast - TECH: 1
2. [Flare Flick] - Fire - TECH: 1
3. [Spectral Flame] - Phantom - TECH: 1
• • • • • • •
Natural Species Skills: [No Limit]
• • • • • • •
1. [MereKick] - Beast - TECH: 1
2. [Bite] - Beast - TECH: 1
3. [Ear Slash] - Beast - TECH: 1
4. [Ear Punch] - Beast - TECH: 1
5. [MereHeadbutt] - Beast - TECH: 1
6. [MereSwiftness] - Beast - TECH: 1%
• • • • • • •
Resistances and Vulnerabilities
◦ [Mental Resilience: Ultra]
◦ Attribute Resistances:
[Fire] [Metal] [Plant] [Xensect] [Glacial]
[Celestial] [Evil]
◦ Attribute Vulnerabilities: [Ore] [Terra]
໒꒰ྀིっ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১૮꒰˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶꒱ა૮꒰⸝⸝> ̫ <⸝⸝꒱ა
And yet, her monstrous instincts hummed, urging her to tap into something deeper. Her 'Specter Fire,' flickering at her tail-tip. But in the heat of battle, KiAera knew it was a risk.
Still, risks were better than dying. She peered over shoulder, her sigil activating, her [Insight] alive.
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
Creature: Ilosphat
APeX: [48 Units]
Attributes: [Deino] [Hazard]
Variant Grade: [Common]
Evolution Stage: [Fledgling]
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
KiAera felt the adrenaline pump through her small, but nimble form as her [Insight] pulsed with information, dissecting the Ilosphat’s power. 48 units of APeX... That wasn’t promising, but what in this world was?
Her ears twitched, retracting fully as she sprang upward, narrowly avoiding another snap of the beast’s fangs. The familiar hum of her Specter Fire flickered at her tail-tip, an blackish blue that rippled against the choking orange blaze consuming the forest. She could feel it now, coiling in her chest like a barely contained storm.
KiAera sailed toward a low-hanging branch, twisting her body mid-air, claws extended. Her landing was anything but graceful, but she gripped the branch hard, letting her momentum snap the tree’s brittle limb and send her spiraling toward another trunk. Her [MereSwiftness] kicked in, boosting her speed, and her small body moved like a blur between the choked ruins of the UvoSathian woods.
Behind her, the Ilosphat snarled, furious, its bulk crashing through the deadened trees in pursuit. She could almost feel the ground shudder beneath its weight, each footfall like a war drum.
Her mind raced. 48 APeX... I've only got one. Not a fair fight. But this wasn't about fighting. This was about survival, like everything else in her life. The thought of using her Claw Swipe or Flare Flick seemed laughable. What was a flicker of flame against this thing?
She darted behind a crumbling tree stump, breath coming in ragged bursts, the acrid air singeing her lungs. The forest felt oppressive, as though the very trees conspired against her, their blackened branches snapping in the heat.
The Ilosphat's killing intent swirled around her, like a noose tightening. It was closing in, but she had to keep moving, had to—
An idea struck her. Not her claws. Not fire. But something more primal. Her monstrous instincts were humming louder, something deep within her Merekit form begging to be unleashed. KiAera blinked, focusing on the burning sensation at her tail-tip.
Spectral Flame.
It was still risky, but not in the way she had thought. Her body moved before her mind caught up, launching her small form upward once again, using the Ilosphat's bulk as cover. She soared toward another high branch and, as she twisted mid-air, summoned the flickering flame from her tail-tip, letting it explode into life.
The ethereal fire flared brilliantly, a flash of ghostly blue and white, casting long shadows across the blackened trees. It wasn't like normal flame; it didn't burn, not in the usual sense. It chilled.
She could feel the air around her temperature shift as the Spectral Flame expanded, radiating a biting cold through the heat.
The Ilosphat hesitated. That was the opening she needed. With a sharp kick, she launched herself off the branch, directing the cold fire straight toward the beast's face. The flame hit with a hiss, and the Ilosphat shrieked, the coldness seeping into its frills and scales, making them quiver unnaturally.
For a brief moment, the forest went silent, save for the sound of the Ilosphat's labored breathing as it stumbled backward, disoriented.
KiAera landed, her feet barely touching the ground before she bolted, not waiting to see how long her attack would hold. Her mind was clear now, the plan crystalizing—she didn’t need to fight it head-on. She just needed to run. She could feel GamaGen stirring slightly, not fully awake, but enough for a whisper to slip through.
⎾...Impressive...⏌ the book muttered faintly.
"Yeah, well, not out of this yet," KiAera muttered back, eyes scanning the trees for a way out, a path that could lead her away from the relentless beast that had marked her.
The smoke began to shift as the breeze picked up, revealing a distant ridge. A place to make a stand. Or maybe, just a place to hide.