————

Fuck!

Left! -Damned maze. Right! I run through the dark tunnel filled with miasma at full sprint, taking sharp turns—

*SCRREEEEE!

Fuck, fuck!

–Don't look back, just run. My claws scrape against the stone laid ground, Taint splashing under my feet, and sometimes I'm forced to drop on all fours not to slip —chased by that damn tapping noise *huff as I greedily grasp for air -What's with that anyway, demons shouldn't even need to breath!

I'm having to spend more mana with almost each step, sending it into the ground. Magic is hard and expensive under our current conditions, and bricks don't like to change.

*Crash! *Snap! Rock shards are pelting my back now when the stone spikes I half rise behind me get obliterated by the sheer fury closing in. These won't do much to stop it. The thing just plows straight through them, but they do slow it down just a bit -just enough. Maybe we should try Empow—

*REEEE! The sound of that scream vibrates all the way into my bones, causing dust and taint to fall from above.

Here! to the left! I throw myself into a small branching corridor vaulting over some loose debris that collapsed here, bouncing off the side wall and crash to the ground rolling.

*Sraaaatch! Thud! Wham!

More bits of crushed bricks fly into this tighter space and over my head in a cloud of stone grit when the monstrosity rakes against, and rips into the solid masonry behind us with the spikes covering its sides –Gouging out the surface and stopping just outside, not able to follow.

I could now finally drop to the floor and try to catch my breath. Haaaaaah~ Hate it here. Black slime everywhere.

*Wham! It hits the entrance with its massive horned head, causing more stone and bricks to fall down from the partially collapsed low ceiling. The whole tunnel shakes.

The creature madly snaps! giant mandibles inside, trying to make its way in, grinding the corners but the entrance is too narrow, too solid. With a look back I can see it glaring at me hatefully.

> Giant Demonic Centipede (19)

It retreats, and with a sound of hundreds of sharp legs clacking and taping on the stone, it whooshes! past this small service tunnel like a metro train as the monster runs along the wider passage from which we escaped, and departs deeper into the maze with amazing speed. Its long blade-like spikes that cover the lustrous segmented armor are drawing sparks on the rocks as it rakes them over the small entry to my shelter. -Very effective intimidation, I will give you that.

-Shit! Too close.

I was forced to ditch the spider we've hunted, but my tail is still griping onto the Black Scimitar though. Haaah—

Something will have to be done about this thing if we are to make this place our new base of operations. Those ancient pathways seem a bit more dangerous then anticipated.

Looking around, I'm in some sort of service area.

–I get up from the taint smeared ground, Rose wiping us off.

Following the square corridor I find a small room with a destroyed stone desk and couple of shelves -Empty. Something used to be mounted to the walls but is now long gone -Lights maybe?

Short staircase leads to closed metal doors, but I'm not in the mood - or state, to currently look at what's behind them.

We should now be close to the tower —I didn't get lost, seriously! Just that without having to pay close attention to the demon stalking us, I was able to notice more in our surroundings and picked up something strange with my senses. Obviously deciding to investigate, as that's why we came down here for in the first place.

What I discovered was some good news; we will never have to worry about finding weak demons to hunt. I've stumbled upon a nest of centipede like demons. There was so many of them, writhing, coiled together in that room. Calling it a swarm wouldn't be an overstatement —Social demonic beasts that don't try to murder each other, how does that even work? I still have a lot to learn about hell.

Didn't try to get too close with the backlash still affecting me so couldn't really check it out, but we will visit it later. There was something odd going on inside that room.

...And some bad news; those can grow to a ridiculous size. This giant bastard came out of nowhere via an adjacent tunnel and approached at ridiculous speeds. Warning came late since my range is scaling with the Attributes and those are currently lowered, not to mention the thick haze of miasma hanging around this place. Had to turn tail and run.

—Let's be extra careful and head back to the tower for now, a bit of rest is in order. Maybe we can grab another spider on the way, I really need to catch at least something, to help patch myself up...

——

Almost got lost in this damned maze, having to find my way after our little meeting with a metro centipede. The tunnels themselves aren't that complicated, running almost in a grid - the problem is, some do turn in weird ways, and many of them are collapsed.

We need a map.

Standing now over the hole leading into the tunnels I ponder about how to best secure it, while still leaving myself a way to access it at any time. Wouldn't want any pests coming out to pester me while I'm busy, if we do actually make this place into our new home.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Simply sealing it off with earth is out, since having to use magic every time we want to go through would be a pain ―I'll do that for now until I come up with a better solution though.

Putting my hand to the big tiles on the floor I reach out and pour some of my precious leftover mana into them. With a bit of resistance inherent to the processed stone, they soon follow my will - I've found out some time ago that processed materials which were shaped by a craftsman are much harder to influence and manipulate; they really don't like to change and are almost as hard to work with as sand.

I muse about this strange phenomena as under my intent solid rock morphs into plastic mass; then like wet clay it flows in a swirling pattern to create a cover over the breach, before hardening into an even stronger barrier that should be able to hold any of the weak creatures roaming below, and hopefully slow down the bigger things. To be extra sure I add few runes with my dagger. Simple fortitude boost, maybe unnecessary but I will be meditating - and since I'm still unfamiliar with this attribute, it might take some time to figure things out.

The enchantment starts to subtly glow as we part with yet another portion of precious mana. Now we can focus on trying to extract some more dexterity from an odd spider that we killed on our way back.

Yeah, found it lurking nearby the tower- didn't play around this time, and killed it fast. It has a dozen legs though? So I'm not sure about calling it such. This demonic beast was level five and it had a giant, nasty and mean looking eyeball on it's back, that madly swirled around as it stalked through the ceilings. Hell can be weird sometimes. ―What is with the bug theme of this place anyway? I've seen other roach-like thing as I walked around before, it even carried a living Lemure with it.

Doesn't matter for now. With the corpse of a huge spider secured in our vines, I make it up the stairs and to the ladder.

After closing the hatch to the top for good measure, I check to see if the dunes maybe opened a path outside but it seems there's still a lot of sand in the way.

-Once I'm at my full power moving it out of the way shouldn't take too long. Preventing it from trapping me inside again might be a bigger challenge but it will have to wait.

Closing my eyes at the usual pile I start taking in the dead Arachnida's essence, focusing on the new quality that is the Dexterity Attribute while trying to avoid what I now recognize as Traits. Having multiple arms could be handy though ―Maybe, but I can just grow vines out to do that now, and already have an extra pair if the wings count. Then there is my tail...

Something for later, don't want to turn into some eldritch horror.

I drift off into meditation; putting the wisps of the mystical energy where they belong, deep in my core - like the pieces of puzzle they click into places, forming a picture of my inner self.

As always memories rush forward...

***

It was a cloudy day.

With the Hag out of the house I was reading her Demonology Grimoire. I was supposed to quietly stay locked inside 'my room' but I figured out that I can actually twist her words; and how to open the cage became easy long ago with my now dexterous tail. Without very specific orders it's all left to my own interpretation and she became sloppy in recent months.

Whatever she did to me during the summoning is also slowly fraying away, giving me more freedom with each passing day.

It wasn't my first time going through this book, was actually done and reaching for a different one when I sensed her coming back. She wasn't alone.

I quickly make my way behind the bars and snap the door shut, which activates the enchantments and turns the lock. With curiosity I watch the doors as she seems to be leading them to the house -Now this is new. Through all this months no one was ever invited inside and I wasn't allowed to meet anyone. When they open I'm surprised yet again, as the witch helps to support a young girl who looks hurt. She guides her to a wide bench where the redhead gets laid down and then told to stay. Our new guest doesn't look good; her swimming, dilated eyes are hazel and something in my mind stirs when looking into them - but I can't grasp it. Some vague memory from the past makes my head tilt to the side.

The old meany then covers her with a blanket of all things, whispering gently that everything will be alright —Now that is odd and I'm immediately suspicious. The Hag being nice to someone? She busies herself around the place and brings a potion, making the girl drink it whole. It's likely nasty and the girl coughs to the side, but still obediently downs the bottle. I observe this all with growing confusion,

I know what's inside, helped make it. An antidote to poison - explains somehow the condition of our guest. She is dirty and has scraps and scratches all over her body, muddied clothes thorn after trying to force a way through spiky bushes growing on the swamp, some of their hooks covered branches still caught in the fabric and messy hair.

The wisp of mana hovering around the girls head only confirming that something is aloof.

"This potion will deal with the poison, but you still need to rest. Don't worry, no one will be able to find you here." The Hag gently puts a hand to the girl's head brushing her red hair -that I can believe, "You are safe now." -this bit not so much.

"Thank you." comes a hoarse reply as she calm down.

"No need for that child, I'm happy to help." Yeah, no need. I don't know what's going on but you are fucked, kid.

> Human. Lady (3), Arcane Novice (5), Minstrel (8).

I think I've an idea now...

***

To my surprise I was allowed outside and told to help care for the girl as she recovers, but not to bother her. She didn't react to seeing a demon walk around, If that is even what her eyes saw.

After three days she was much better - with potions provided speeding up the recovery, and shared her sad story.

A lone daughter of the local noble. He rules a nearby town and few small villages on the coast, a pretty nice but out of the way part of the kingdom. Her mother died few years ago while she was attending some sort of school for rich kids in a big city. The man was never the same after his wife passed away; their small family grew distant and wrote to each other less and less - even when she visited home once a year during the summer the two didn't talk much.

She had a break in her education for the winter and came back recently, as she was worried after not receiving any replies for months - usually she would spend it in the city as travel takes time. Only to find her father found himself a new mistress and was planning to remarry a local widow, without ever mentioning anything... She almost couldn't recognize him. They had an argument - a big one.

–Oh my, I wonder how did that happen.

She was able to talk some sense into him. Not much, but they had a heart too heart... At least she thought they understood each other a bit there. Things went very bad shortly after and she had to run from her own house, her heart broken by the betrayal. Hunted by some hired men, she got lost in the woods and then wandered into the swamp. This isn't a safe place for a young noble lady. Chased by monsters she was bitten by a viper and thought herself dead, when help arrived. An old herbalist living away from other people with her young apprentice in a small house hidden in the marshes.

They invited her in, took care of her —And now we are here.

She plays a sad tune on an old lute that the Hag had brought out from somewhere while finishing her story - much to the latter's delight. I knew the witch likes music; didn't know how much. The cold, late winter rain keeps pattering on the glassed windows and we all sit around the hearth, fire dancing merrily in the fireplace. -It's almost cozy. I bite into a dead rat that was offered to me by our host earlier since I was running on fumes. There is no reaction.

The girl always dreamed of becoming a bard. She often performed for other nobles on social gatherings when she was child and loved to sing at school. She had a talent and hoped she could pursue it - but as a lone scion of a noble family that was unlikely. She would have to take over some of the responsibilities after finishing her education.

She looks sadly into the fire with her hazel eyes and thanks Merta for helping her during this crisis.

—Sorry to break your heart again kid, but I don't think you managed to escape the people who were after you.

**

In a forested swamp near the coast, on one of a few dry patches of land stands an old house.

Thin smoke is rising from a single chimney, getting carried on the wind and dispersed by the rain falling over the old dark marsh. Winter storm is coming from the sea. A sign that spring will soon arrive to these lands.

Inside three figure sit in front of a fireplace listening to one of them play on an old lute —music rarely invades this gloomy part of the forest. Each of them having a much different vision of the near future.

————