Arthur continued his slow descent into the cave, his senses on high alert as the narrow tunnel gave way to broader, crystalline walls. The light from the glowing crystals intensified, casting shimmering reflections along the jagged surfaces. He ran his claws along one of the walls, testing its strength. The crystals were hard, far tougher than he’d expected, like solidified quartz. They glistened with an unnatural beauty, but something about them made his skin prickle.

As he moved deeper, his eyes caught sight of something disturbing: deep, jagged gashes carved into the crystalline walls. The gouges were irregular, wild, as if something massive had slashed through the rock with ferocious strength. Arthur’s muscles tensed immediately, and he crouched low, scanning the area for any signs of movement. The cave was still, but the sight of the gashes was enough to put him on edge.

What could’ve done this? he thought, his eyes narrowing. Whatever creature had made those marks had to be powerful—perhaps even more dangerous than the Wendigo-like monsters he had already faced. The Nooms, as he remembered the system calling them. His claws flexed in anticipation, molten heat flickering through them as he prepared for a potential fight.

But nothing came.

Arthur pressed on, his pace slow, deliberate. The further he went, the more gashes he saw, some deeper than others. The crystalline walls, which had once seemed impenetrable, now bore the scars of some ancient battle. He couldn't shake the sense that this place had been a battleground for something monstrous.

Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber, unlike any part of the cave Arthur had seen before. His eyes widened as he took in the sight.

The entire room was filled with massive, mirror-like crystals, their surfaces polished to perfection. Each one reflected the light in sharp, fragmented patterns, creating a dizzying array of colors that bounced around the chamber. Arthur moved forward cautiously, his footsteps echoing softly in the cavernous space. The reflections distorted his figure, making him look taller, more monstrous in the shimmering glass. His shrieks and growls echoed back at him in eerie waves, twisting and overlapping like whispers.

In the center of the room was a pedestal—tall, smooth, and completely out of place in the otherwise chaotic, natural cave. The pedestal seemed ancient, carved from stone that had long since faded to a dull gray. There was something unnerving about it. Arthur’s instincts immediately screamed at him to stay away, warning him that whatever lay ahead was dangerous, even more so than the Nooms he had faced.

His body tensed, but his eyes were drawn to the pedestal nonetheless. He stepped closer, his hunger for power gnawing at him. He could feel it—something was here, something that could help him grow stronger.

But his senses screamed at him to stop. To turn around and leave this place.

This is wrong... something’s not right, a voice in his mind whispered.

Arthur clenched his jaw, his claws twitching at his sides. The memory of the titanic creature from his dream flashed in his mind—the slitted eye, massive and all-knowing, staring down at him with that overwhelming sense of curiosity and power. He had felt small then, but the hunger in him refused to let that happen again.

Stolen story; please report.

He wanted to be powerful enough to stand against something like that.

He wanted to be something like that.

Ignoring the warning in his mind, Arthur extended his tail and nudged the pedestal.

The room went silent.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the crystals around him began to pulse, their light intensifying as a low hum filled the chamber. Arthur took a step back, his claws flexing instinctively as the pedestal shimmered and shifted. Its surface rippled like water, and in a flash of light, the stone structure transformed into a glowing, translucent hologram.

Before him stood the image of a woman—human, beautiful, and clearly out of place in this monstrous world. Her features were sharp, her eyes a piercing blue, and her hair was tied back in a neat bun. She wore a sleek, dark uniform that seemed to blend elements of both science and combat gear, and as she stood on the pedestal, her expression was one of both calm and urgency.

"Greetings, explorer," the hologram spoke, her voice clear but distant, as if it had traveled through ages to reach him.

Arthur tilted his head, curious but wary. The woman’s hologram flickered slightly as she continued to speak, her gaze sweeping across the room as if she could see the reflection of herself in the mirror-like crystals.

"My name is Dr. Elara Venhalis, a member of the S-ranked exploration team tasked with investigating the Scorching Badlands. This is—was—a newly formed region, thought to be the result of ancient tectonic shifts combined with volcanic activity. The High Humans and the Elder Dwarves deemed it a place of significant interest due to its unstable environment and the strange phenomena occurring within the region."

Arthur listened intently, though some of her words were foreign to him. High Humans? Elder Dwarves? The terms stirred something in his memory, remnants of his human life, but they felt distant, disconnected.

"We—my team and I—were sent here on an expedition," Elara continued, her voice tinged with regret. "We believed the Badlands to be a recent formation, but we were wrong. This place is far older than we anticipated, and much more dangerous. The creatures we encountered... The Nooms. Twisted abominations, part monster, part spirit. They hunt in packs and have the ability to manipulate fire and fear. We were... unprepared."

Arthur’s mind flashed back to the Nooms he had fought, their skeletal forms and fiery breath. These creatures had a name, huh.

“And these are apparently one of the more easily killed monsters in this terrain,” Elara said.

"But either way, the last of us... died here, in this chamber. The Nooms overwhelmed us. I’m the only one left... or, I was." Elara's hologram flickered again, her form unstable. "Before I succumbed to the Nooms, I left behind something important. A treasure. It’s... here. The orb."

Her gaze shifted to the center of the room, where a faint glow now emanated from the pedestal. Arthur’s eyes followed hers, locking onto the object she had mentioned. It was an orb, small and crystalline, floating just above the pedestal’s surface. It glowed with a soft, pale light, but even from a distance, Arthur could feel the raw energy radiating from it.

"This orb," Elara continued, her voice trembling slightly, "contains pure essence. It was left behind long before any of us came here, a relic of someone—or something—far greater than we can imagine. The power within this orb is... limitless. If properly harnessed, it could advance civilization beyond anything we’ve ever known."

“This orb would have made all our deaths worth it.”

Arthur stepped closer to the orb, his hunger for power intensifying with each word. The energy coming from the orb was intoxicating, almost like the Spirit Cores he had consumed, but... more. Far more.

"But," Elara said, her voice darkening, "if a monster were to consume this essence... if something like the Nooms, or worse, were to harness this power... it could mean devastation for this world.

“God help us all if that happens."

Arthur stopped, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at the orb.

Elara’s hologram flickered once more before fading completely, her last words echoing in the chamber.

Arthur stared at the orb, its glow casting soft shadows across his monstrous figure. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

Limitless power...

Arthur’s maws widened so hard, he looked like the incarnation of evil.