The creature came to us before we could approach it.

Shadows darted above us and rushed for our heads. I slashed upward, Alice stabbed. But the creature dodged and crashed into the wall, tearing gashes along the stone. It looked like a badger on steroids. Its two muscular arms pushed up while its shriveled back legs dangled inches off the ground.

Scriiiiii!

Fire met its charge, but it jumped. It dug its claws into the wall as it bounced around the room.

"Duck," Alice commanded.

I dropped, and a wave of frost hit the walls, but as Alice dodged another swipe, I noticed only part of its shoulder had been hit.

My turn.

Flames danced as I tracked it. Left, right, to the floor, and then back to the walls. It never stopped moving.

I dropped my axe.

Scriiii!

Before it hit me, Freki jumped out of the ground and crunched down on its back legs. The creature slipped and faceplanted.

Now!

Flames jetted out, bathing the room in orange. The creature screamed, but I lunged closer, shoving my arm next to its mouth. Freki added his own flames, roasting the creature from both ends. As I released the torrent, flesh bubbled, and black ash floated down. We both stared, waiting.

I backed away, but its remaining arm slashed at my leg. Alice chopped it off and cut into the floor while I activated the rune along my hand. My axe snapped into my palm, and I swung across the creature's neck.

Blood gushed and sizzled as the creature's head rolled away, coming to a stop along the pile of broken wood.

Now it's dead.

"Recognize it?" I asked, sending Freki toward the exit.

Alice shook her head. "No."

I kicked the arms and grimaced. It had a badger's body, a white stripe running down its back, black fur, and a long bushy tail. Even its head had a similar shape, but that's where the similarities to an Earth creature ended. The muscular arms looked like a gorilla's, and the claws were the size of my limbs. None of that explained the weird shadows that surrounded it, along with the ability to zip around the room.

I flicked the blood off my axe and inspected its edge. It looked as good as new.

Wait.

A speck remained, and I watched the stone absorb it, leaving behind a clean surface.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, staring at the exit where Freki guarded.

I shook myself free and tightened my grip. "Nothing. New feature of the axe. I'll explain later."

"Ok."

With Freki on guard, I split my vision and let the fiery void pull me in. As I walked beside Alice and approached the exit, I commanded Freki to go further until he could see into the room.

He turned the corner, only to meet a metal door with a massive hole of bent metal and jagged edges exposing light from the other side. He jumped through, his body half-melding before popping out.

Oh, what the hell?

Vats, like in a sci-fi movie with grown clones in a lab, lined the walls in rows filled with floating goop. Things shoved their limbs outside the iron bars along the back edge, but the shadows covered the monsters, preventing Freki from seeing inside.

"Alice. Creepy lab, monsters in cages in the back. No signs of a person, but they could be hiding."

"Then we make an entrance."

I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I recalled Freki and had him wait in the shadows. After pulling back my consciousness, I extended my hand and envisioned the star, the flame ascending past a warm light into blazing fury.

“Ek kalla á lýsandi stjörnu.”

The orb came to life, pulsing with heat. Alice had her own orb, a condensed ball of pressure and air.

We kicked the door free, sending the metal flying into the other room before stepping inside.

Like a world come to life, roars and screeches assaulted our hearing, but nothing jumped out.

I extended the orb and illuminated the room beyond the meager glowing lamp embedded into the left wall.

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Mutants.

Beasts from a freak factory clawed at the cages, some with chains shackling them, others bound to the wall in manacles. Each beast looked emaciated, starved, and grotesque. The leftmost cage had bent metal bars and a broken iron collar.

"Look there, that must have been the cage for the thing that attacked us."

The orb continued to rage in my hand, so I forced the mana to stop. It grew unstable, and I lobbed it across the room, where it splashed harmlessly against the stone. The napalm spread and I saw what we had missed underneath.

Crap!

"Freki. Grab the books!"

Freki rushed forward and swiped his paw at the stack of journals. He got all but one, and the napalm claimed its prize. It went up in flames, and I resisted the urge to facepalm.

Alice walked forward, her magic dismissed without having to fire it off. But she kept her axe close as she approached the journals and tossed one back to me.

As I caught it, I scoured through the pages, finding diagrams and hastily written scrawl. From the journal entries, this was a multi-year study involving different creatures. I helped Alice rifle through the other books, and the more we read, the more certain I was.

This was part of a ritual. The diagram lines, the runes, and the ingredients listed all pointed to ritual magic of some kind.

"Cain?" Alice asked.

"Yeah?" I answered while memorizing the sigils on the page.

"Take a look. Does this look familiar?"

I dropped the journal and accepted the one she handed me. The cover was different, embossed in black leather rather than the fading brown of the others. And instead of black ink, it was dark crimson. Slowly, I sniffed the pages and pushed the journal away.

Blood.

"Page thirty. Right side," she whispered.

Her eyes were dull red, but she kept her expression blank.

I had a sneaking suspicion, but…

Sighing, I turned the pages and ignored the different rituals that flashed by. My blood stirred, and even the beast inside began to show interest. Then, page thirty came into view. The left page was nothing but gibberish text written in a language I didn't recognize.

But the second page-

Hunt!

I closed the book and took a deep breath. Images flashed, and my core rose with my emotions. It burned, begging desperately to be used. But the image on the page seared itself into my memory. It depicted a screaming child hanging on a thread, just like the village.

"I'll kill them."

As I opened my eyes, Alice nodded, her eyes bright crimson.

"We will."

It brought a grim smile, but my blood continued to boil. I walked past Alice and examined the giant vats. My flames exposed the insides, and thankfully, they were empty. Some contained brackish liquid; others were as clear as day.

My eyes turned to the creatures that continued to howl and rage. Each beast desperately bit at the air and attempted to lunge through the bars. I observed them silently as Alice stopped beside me.

"That one is a dog, a German Shepherd. Those are bear cubs, and that one chained to the wall is definitely a chicken," I explained.

The dog's jaw was split into three sections, each snapping at the air with serrated teeth. Its fur was spotty, leaving bare patches with bruised skin. The second compartment contained the cubs, but one had an extended neck with the bear's face still attached. The other didn't have the back half of its body.

And then there was the chicken. Instead of wings, it had powerful, muscular arms and sharp spikes instead of feathers poking out as the iron manacles contained it against the wall. It strained its neck and jabbed its own spike into its flesh before cawing at us.

"Cruel," Alice muttered. "Astra would erase this place. Scour its existence from reality if she saw this."

I had no comment. My grip tightened until I felt my fingers strain under the pressure.

"Kill meeeee…"

I froze and raised my arms as Alice raised her axe.

We waited and moved closer, scanning the room. But a minute passed; nothing attacked.

What was that?

"Who's there?! Show yourself!"

"Kill me. Please…" the voice groaned.

I tapped Alice's shoulder and pointed up above the chicken's cage.

She snapped her attention to where I pointed. “Ek kalla á lýsandi stjörnu.”

The orb came into existence, bathing the cells in light. The creatures flinched away before resuming their attempts to escape.

A fox with three tails was on the ceiling, bound in twice as many chains as the chicken. Their legs were broken and forcefully bent backward. Its fur had black stains that dripped, dispersing into dust that floated upwards into the fox's eyes. It blinked with milky tears and nudged its maw in our direction.

I clenched my jaw.

Corruption! Purge!

“Kill…me… Hunter," she rasped. Each word brought pain across her face until her head sagged. "Please."

"Can," I swallowed the acid in my throat and steeled myself. "Can you tell us who did this to you? I promise to set you free. But we need information."

She opened her mouth, but black bile spilled out and dripped to the floor. It exploded in a cloud of dust that dispersed as my cloak reacted and flapped it into the chicken.

The chicken's body convulsed, and it screeched in pain. The flesh around its stomach bubbled into a large spike that grew from the tainted patch and twisted in on itself. Flesh tore, and goop spilled out. It didn't disperse but dried and settled into another stain that had already darkened the floor.

"Three…" the fox mumbled.

Alice leaned closer, pressing into the cage while ignoring the claws that came dangerously close to cutting her legs. I slammed the axe down and broke the claws, and Alice nodded.

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice soft.

"Three humans. All I know. Kill…me plea-"

Wet tar spilled out, and Alice leaned back as I used my axe to fan the dust into the wall.

"Press light. Light exit," she groaned again. "Pleeeease."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Alice, step back," I whispered.

My voice sounded loud to my own ears, drawing out the thumping. She met my eyes and paused. When she stepped away, I breathed in the smell.

Corruption.

Shut up. I know.

It settled, retreating but not hiding. I exhaled and memorized the fox's face.

"What's your name?" I asked softly.

"Joy-tails… Hunter," she croaked.

No... She was...

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. White-paw mentioned her in passing, she shouldn't be here. She-

Stop. Focus.

I repeated her name back and closed my eyes. "I am Cain."

Joy-tails gurgled something unintelligble and my throat seized.

"Thank you for your help, Joy-tails. Enjoy your rest."

As I opened my eyes, I let the mana surge. Blood ignited, and the room turned green. The howls increased, and the creatures beat against the cage or tugged at their chains.

Thump. Thump.

Alice had already moved back, and she even clicked the lantern. The walls rumbled, and a section fell away, revealing a set of stairs.

I turned my attention back to the cages as the emerald flames climbed past my elbow and engulfed my shoulder.

Joy-tails looked in my general direction. She subtly nodded and spoke a final time, her voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you."

My arms turned the bars cherry red as I pushed them inside the cage. A single tear dripped down, sizzling and turning to mist before it reached my arm. I breathed and unleashed my restraint.

The room became an emerald wave that reduced the beasts to ash.