Before I could even think to reply - not that I’d had anything clever on standby - something massive, lunged forward, clawed arms swinging through the air with the force of a wrecking ball. Instinct took over, and I threw myself backward, hearing the claws rake across the ground where I’d been standing just a moment before. I could feel the faintest graze of claws across my chest - a warning, a promise that this creature could’ve split me in half if it really wanted to.
“Gotta say, you’re a lot more lively than the usual lot they toss in here,” it growled, circling around me with a slow, almost lazy gait. “Most don’t even get out of the Pit, but you… you’re something special, aren’t you?”
It lunged again, faster this time, and I twisted just enough to dodge, feeling the rush of wind as it barreled past. My vision might’ve been shot, but the rest of my senses were sharper than ever. The creature was close - close enough that I could smell it -which I regretted- a mix of decay and something darker, sharper.
It circled again, and I caught a faint sense of something massive and hulking, its shape barely visible against the night sky, outlined by a faint, pulsing glow.
Glow? I can see it? Well, sort of. It was more like an outline. An impression really. Closer to the afterimage you get on the inside of your eyelids when you’ve stared at the sun too long. Neat.
I clenched my fists, summoning the strange, newfound strength in my limbs. “Alright, big guy. You want a hunt? You got one.” I steadied myself, listening, feeling for the faintest vibrations in the ground, ready to face whatever this thing was.
The creature let out a laugh - a low, rasping sound that rattled like dead leaves. “A brave one, too. Oh, this will be fun.”
The night around me was a jagged landscape of sharp-edged rocks and scraggly desert shrubs, all twisted like skeletons in the night. I could feel the chill of the night air seeping through the open collar of my torn shirt, carrying with it the heavy, metallic tang of blood and something sour, like rotting flesh soaked in salt.
The ground beneath my feet was rough and uneven, each step stirring up clouds of dust thick enough that I could taste the grit on my tongue. But more than anything, I felt it - the raw, electric tension humming through the air, warning me of the monster stalking close by.
The creature prowled just out of reach, its hulking form circling, heavy, lumbering footsteps echoing through the night. It moved with the sick, shambling gait of something only half-alive.
When it passed close enough, I could sense it - the sounds of misshapen limbs stitched together from different bodies moving. It let out a laughing growl, I could feel the burning of its eyes glaring at me with a ravenous hunger, the stench of its maw of cracked, broken teeth snapping with an almost animalistic glee.
I shifted my weight, each movement silent as I steadied myself, waiting for an opening. The creature lunged, faster than I expected, claws swinging wide, and I dropped low, feeling the rush of air as its claws tore through the space where my head had been just a heartbeat ago.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
My enhanced senses kicked in, and I felt everything with crystalline clarity - the scrape of loose gravel underfoot, the way the air moved as the creature’s hulking body lumbered forward, even the faint, rotten stench of old blood and decay radiating off it.
The creature snarled, frustrated, and I felt a surge of something dark stir within me. A hunger - different from before. This one was sharper, focused, like a blade honed for one purpose. I could feel the life - if you could even call it that - pulsing within this twisted Frankenstein’s monster, an undead energy thrumming through its veins. It was a hodgepodge of corpses, brought back from whatever dark corner of hell the vampires dredged up their castaways, and yet here it was, alive enough to hunt, to kill, to eat.
Perfect. I could work with that.
It lunged again, snarling, and I sidestepped, feeling the thrill of my newfound strength as I spun out of reach. My reflexes were sharper, faster - the creature’s clawed hand was practically in slow motion as I dodged. I felt a strange instinct flare up, a pull toward the creature, and without thinking, I reached out, grabbing its arm in a vice grip. The second my hand touched its cold, dead flesh, I felt a surge - a flood of energy pulsing from it into me.
Essence Drain Activated: Target - Undead
Draining vitality…
Absorbing Clan Attribute: Necrotic Strength
Ability Unlocked: Undead Fortitude - Physical damage resistance increased
Partial Skill Unlocked: Ghoul’s Resilience
Duration of newly acquired abilities: temporary. To make permanent, blood consumption necessary.
The power thrummed through me, raw and relentless, and with it came an influx of strange, fragmented knowledge. I could feel the creature’s own strength coursing through my muscles, an unnatural resistance to pain spreading through my bones. My grip tightened, draining more of its life force, and I felt my own body harden, growing stronger with every second. The creature let out a guttural snarl, trying to wrench its arm free, but I held on, feeling its strength fade as mine grew.
Its breath – once bellowing and monstrous – now panted in desperation as I continued to drain it, pulling more of its undead essence into myself. Every pulse of energy brought another wave of power, and with it, memories, instincts from whatever poor soul had been the original body. I could sense its knowledge of the terrain, an innate understanding of the Pit’s boundaries, of the secret passages hidden beneath the desert. And, as it thrashed, I felt something else: a primal urge to feed.
The creature’s head swung around, jaws snapping as it tried to tear into me, its last desperate attempt to shake me off. But I was stronger now, its strength adding to my own, and I wrenched its arm back with a force that shattered bone. The creature’s scream split the night, but I didn’t stop, pulling it close as I sank my fangs into its neck, letting the blood - or whatever passed for blood in this undead abomination - fill me. It was nasty. And yet I couldn’t stop.
With each pull, my senses sharpened, my muscles coiled with an even greater resilience, and I felt the creature’s resistance begin to crumble. Finally, with one last, rattling gasp, it fell limp in my grip, all that unnatural energy flowing into me in one final surge.
I stood over it, breathing hard, feeling the power settle into my bones, every sense humming with a new intensity. The night air was crisp. I scanned my memory of the desert around me, every detail crisp, every sound amplified, and then took a deep, calm breath.
The Pit was still, the silence heavy, waiting.
Only one of us had climbed out of the Pit tonight - and I intended to keep it that way.