David’s face wrinkled in disgust as he suddenly detected a strong odor of urine coming from just above him, and quickly slithered upwards to perch in the window frame, his snout only a few inches from Randal’s face as the man quaked in fear. He was careful not to break eye contact immediately, hoping that the poor man wouldn’t scream or otherwise alert the entire building before he had a chance to speak with him, but his worries proved groundless. Randal froze completely as David stared back into the oddly muted colors of the man's eyes in the perfect darkness, and the man shook like a leaf in the wind as he began to mutter quietly to himself.

“A-Ave..Ave Maria, g-g-gratia p-plena…” Randal choked out with enormous difficulty.

David blinked slowly and deliberately, freeing them from the effect of his Mutagen, and the poor man sagged to the floor like a discarded marionette.

–Your |Eye of Dread| has faded on Randal Marucchi–

He lay there panting out the rest of the prayer as David rolled his eyes and slowly lowered himself onto the floor. At the same time, Randal attempted to scoot away from him, rapidly becoming arrested by the large sharp quills extending from his back. David held a single claw to his snout to silence the man as he clumsily attempted to cross himself with his stubby legs and squeezed his eyes shut before curling into a tight ball, quills bristling threateningly as he shook with fear.

“Psst, hey dude, you’re good. I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m just here to look around.” David whispered, “A friend and I heard about Viktor and what he’s doing here, and I came to see if it was true. I heard your conversation with Bill, sorry for scaring you, it’s a Mutagen. I’m just snarly-lookin’, not a demon. I promise.”

“W-what? How could you – Theo! He got away?! Viktor lied?!” Randal uncurled slightly at the soothing tone of David’s voice, “He got help? Please do something!”

“Yeah, that’s the idea. Is it as bad as he said?” David cocked his head curiously before firing a few Echolocations out of the open doorway at the end of the room suspiciously. The soundwaves washed both directions down the hall before returning a confusing multidirectional, but thankfully empty image of the derelict corridor.

“Worse!” Randal barked a bit too loudly, “Since he left they’ve been starving us so we’ll have a harder time doing the same thing! Viktor and Paul beat us constantly, they said they’re leveling their skills but they enjoy it! I know they do!”

“Shhh! Please be quiet!” David hissed as his ears shot to full alert and focused on the doorway as faint sounds began to drift towards them from the distant bowels of the upper floor.

“Sorry, sorry.” Randal chirped, “Can you help us get out of here?”

David opened his mouth to reply when a voice suddenly rang out from just beyond the doorway, a huge serpentine head entering the room as it swung into sight supported by a pale trunklike body.

“Randal, you beatin’ off in here or something? All that rattling around woke me up, you better fuckin ho–” The lidless eyes of the serpent sparkled as he spotted David in the darkness, “O-ho! Randal, you made a friend! I told Viktor we should have a recruitment quota, haha! What’s your name, snack?”

“David.” David replied casually as he began to edge towards the window, “You Goon one, or Goon two?”

“Har har, real cute. Call me Paul, and I’d be Goon one. You’ll be…” Paul paused as he flicked his tongue out thoughtfully, “Number twenty-two? Overall, I mean. Not counting the dumbasses that got eaten or the ones that ran away. Now hold still, this is gonna hurt a bit otherwise.”

David only had time to react thanks to Randal’s position between him and the monstrous snake, the assault being slightly delayed as Paul struck around the hideously sharp quills and Randal shrieked in terror. He threw himself upwards, abandoning his attempt to dart through the open window and clinging to the wall as the moldy plasterboard crumbled under his talons. David hissed viciously as the serpent looped a coil of his thick body through the window frame and allowed it to hang before he looked up at David near the ceiling with renewed interest, the final few yards of the scaled body still entering the room as he did so.

“Hah! You can fight! That’s new, I like it. Small but mean, eh? Viktor is gonna love you.” The tongue flicked out again as he spoke, “Randal, fuck off. I don’t wanna poke myself on your worthless ass again.”

David snarled at the reptile as Randal fell out of the room in a frantic sprint, bouncing off of the far wall in his haste and leaving a few quills behind as he dashed away. He tried to angle his head to maintain eye contact with the serpent to trigger the Eye of Dread, but the man was positioned awkwardly, his wideset eyes not entirely in view as he slowly gathered his body into a large coil. Paul returned David’s earlier sibilant hiss with one of his own, the sound reminiscent of the air brakes on a semi-truck but slower, and his mane lifted to full puff in retaliation.

“Didn’t even flinch! Good shit, good shit. You got some balls on you, for sure.” Paul said happily from within the coils of his own body, “Okay, tell you what, you obviously ain’t a punk-bitch. We got a good thing going here, and Viktor’s a good boss. Want in? We can help you level, and train skills, plus we have an Area Boss still up you can share the loot from. What do you say?”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“I’d say having the prisoner leave the room was a really bad call on your part, bud.” David’s snarl turned upwards at the edges maliciously as he finished the sentence with a deafening Screech aimed directly at the reptile.

–Health: 165/165–

–Stamina: 360/390–

–n/a–

The Screech rapidly climbed beyond the range of hearing most things were capable of perceiving, but it did no less damage for it, and chunks of rotted wood shook loose from the walls and floor from the sonic attack’s intensity. Paul recoiled violently, his fanged mouth opening wide enough to swallow David easily as his lower jaw unhinged and he thrashed backward in surprise before David hurled himself off of the wall and shook a thick cloud of Gloom from his wings as he powered towards the open doorway. His right ear twitched as a wet sound rang out from Paul’s direction, and turning slightly to see what it was proved to be one of the worst mistakes he’d ever made.

The stream of venom hit him squarely in the face, soaking into his eyes to blind him instantly, and Paul somehow managed to land another shot on his neck before David barreled through the doorway and impacted the wall hard.

–You have been afflicted by |Blind| |Corrosive Venom|–

–You have taken 3 Impact Damage–

–Health: 157/165–

–Stamina: 356/390–

–Blind, Venom E, Corrosion–

David reflexively began to fire off Echolocations as he bolted down the hall, his vision reduced to a smear of color and pain as his eyes failed totally. The venom burned, and he swore he felt his eyes begin to bubble as the potent compounds began to eat into them with little resistance. David skidded, digging his talons into the floor and using them to fling himself around the sharp corner at the end of the corridor, firing a Screech over his shoulder and catching another bolt of venom to the wing for his trouble. The liquid instantly began to dig into the leathery membrane of his wing as he flung himself forward, running up the wall with little difficulty and hurling himself back down the corridor the way he’d come.

–You have taken 6 Poison Damage–

–You have taken 22 Acid Damage–

Paul struck around the corner like a whip, cursing hideously as David rebounded off the walls like he was made of rubber, jaws chattering out constant Echolocations as shouts began to sound from lower floors and the sound of running feet met his ears. He flapped hard, not even noticing when his wings slammed into the far wall through the pain in his eyes, and scattering as much Gloom as he could. The slightly off-color silvery mist that had been trailing from his wings exploded into a thick cloud of debilitating agents that drifted down onto Paul’s sinewy body as he launched himself overhead, sailing down the hallway towards the room he’d first entered through.

“Wha the fu– HEY! Get your ass..” Paul trailed off slightly as the lower portion of his body contracted violently, “Hold up..whadda…Oh shit. Bro, what?”

–Paul Andrews has been inflicted with |Gloom| |Paralysis| |Sleep|–

–Bonus: Control Combo |3|–

–Gained 9xp!–

–Apical Rejuvination: +12 health–

David glanced at his readout as the notification popped up, his surprise at the fact that it was still perfectly visible buried under the adrenaline as he rocketed towards freedom and away from the enormous serpent.

–Health: 141/165–

–Stamina: 338/390–

–Blind, Venom E, Corrosion–

He activated Nocturnal Strike and lurched forward on his next leap, slashing his talons deeply into the thick scaly hide of the serpentine man and using the extra momentum to fling himself toward the doorway. While David desperately tried to keep his Echolocations running, he felt the hide tear strangely under his strike, and Paul choked as the pain hit him along with the blow. He nearly tripped over the thrashing length of Paul’s body, leaping into the air and snagging the wall with a claw to push himself forward before he landed on the rotted carpet and clawed for traction to sprint the last 20 feet to the room he had just exited, the dent in the wall where he’d flung himself out marking the entrance as the slideshow of Echolocations began to blend together.

He hit his stride just as a horde of hooting, furry creatures burst into the end of the hall, eyes flashing as they piled up at the corner of the hall before beginning to rush towards him in a tide of fangs. David didn't slow, and began to inhale hugely as he charged at them, intent on reaching the open doorway before they cut him off.

–You have taken 6 Poison Damage–

–You have taken 17 Acid Damage–