Nyx stifled a yawn, not bothering to cover her mouth due to the white mask that covered her face, as she strolled through the dusty streets of the less prosperous parts of town with her hands clasped behind her back. While walking, she analysed her surroundings carefully, often stopping for a few moments when she discovered anything that piqued her curiosity or interest.
Most of the houses, shops and warehouses nearby appeared somewhat rundown, made from mud bricks and dried grass, while the clothing of the pedestrians she passed had become significantly less glamorous. Often displaying signs of everyday wear and tear and the occasional stain.
After a while, Nyx paused for a moment to stretch, letting her arms reach into the sky as she twisted her back. As she did, she noticed a man wearing a thick, leather coat standing in a small group loitering near a dingy alleyway. Near the man were a few merchants with makeshift stalls, a group that was drinking as they gambled with dice and a slave broker with two, sickly thin slave girls looking no older than ten years old.
Noticing that Nyx's mask was facing his direction, the man paled slightly, spitting the grass stalk from his mouth and was about to say something. However, he hesitated after watching Nyx turn away.
Nyx chuckled as she saw the man's shoulders sag out the corner of his eye as he grabbed a bottle from one of the men gambling and downed it as if he was dying of thirst.
-"Some things never change," Nyx revealed a whirly smile underneath the mask as she tilted her head upwards. After she located the tall, stone gatehouse in the distance, peeking above the low buildings and marring the skyline, she adjusted her direction.
Though it now seemed that she had a set destination, Nyx continued to pause every now and then. It was during one of these moments, where she was watching a group of children fighting down a side alley with both magic and hidden weapons that a bell resonated five times from a church-like building in the distance.
-"That time already?" Nyx snorted lightly as the children scrambled in all directions, quickly disappearing as a wave of people seemed to appear out of thin air.
Within a few minutes, the nearly empty streets that she had been walking were full of tired looking, somewhat grumpy people that all seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. Soon those that looked like they worked in the shops and warehouses where replaced by those covered in dirt and a few columns of slaves dressed in ragged, barely decent clothing. Slung over both group's shoulders were a variety of farming or mining tools.
However, even though the streets were packed and much narrower than where she had been earlier, the ever jostling crowd didn't impact Nyx in the slightest as she continued her stroll like pace with ease.
Ever since she had donned the black robe and white mask, be it a civilian, cultivator, mage or soldier, everyone she had encountered had quickly moved out her way and avoided eye contact. While the effect was similar to when she was wearing the sect's disciple robes, where before she was greeted with respect, Nyx was now treated as if she were a terrifying beast that would attack at the slightest provocation. Even the children's faces were extremely stiff as they darted behind their friends or parents in an attempt to hide from Nyx.
Without warning, a small girl that had just walked out of the crowd suddenly burst into tears, telling her mother that she wouldn't be naughty anymore. The whole scene caused Nyx to chuckle in amusement, causing the girl's crying to turn into despair filled wails.
The sound, loud enough to almost silence the noisy street, caused many to back away from Nyx. Without a moment's hesitation, the girl's mother quickly picked the up the screaming child and disappeared down a side street while casting Nyx nervous glances over her shoulder.
Watching everything unfold, Nyx's head tilted to the side. -"It seems that the sect's enforcers are not as simple as I have been told."
A few seconds later, she started to frown. -"What the hell. How come a black cloak and mask are enough to make a child burst into tears when, with everything I have done, I have to make an active effort to get the same result. They have even turned me into a game..."
Releasing a deep breath, Nyx shook her head. "Maybe I haven't been active enough these last ten years or been too selective with my prey. I guess it's not really scary if you only go after the 'bad guys'."
"I beg your pardon, miss?" A man that looked to be a librarian flinched as he heard Nyx's voice, turning stiffly to face her as he made a slight bow. "Were you talking to me?"
Nyx leant forward slightly, watching the man's face pale significantly as he stared at the featureless white mask, before sighing as she turned away. -"I wonder if how his expression would change if he knew what I really was. Would he piss his pants or laugh in relief?"
A few steps later, Nyx giggled to herself, the morose atmosphere that had been gathering around her vanishing in an instant. The light-hearted, feminine sound dew the gazes of a few of the men passing nearby, curiosity dancing in their eyes as they watched Nyx out of the corner of their eyes.
-"Being too idle really makes you worry about the strangest things." Nyx ignored the strange gazes as her footsteps became lighter and she started to hum, watching the crowd part before her with a smile.
The tune was eerily similar to the song she had sung when chasing down the fat man in the underground dungeon. Without the words, those nearby found it somewhat pleasant if a little childish and the number of strange looks that Nyx received only grew.
Before long, Nyx turned onto the main street, her pace increasing to the point where she almost started skipping as she headed towards the gatehouse tunnel.
Above the entrance to the seven meters long, dark tunnel, on a wooden plaque, the word's 'Gate of the North Star' were engraved and gilded in gold.
Besides a building that looked similar to a barracks was a queue of people waiting patiently as they were questioned by the guards before leaving. On the other side of the tunnel were a few carriages that were currently being inspected before they could enter.
The moment the guards saw Nyx approach, they quickly saluted her, disjointed metallic clangs resonating outwards as they slammed their fist to their plate armour. Noticing the noise, those queuing turned back before moving to the side and letting Nyx past as they stared at the floor and bowed their heads.
"Idiots." Nyx was just about to exit the gatehouse tunnel when her voice echoed in the constrained space. However, only a few of the younger guards frowned, the rest not even looking in Nyx's direction as she walked out of the shade and into the blazing sunlight.
Turning her head to the side so she could see the men lined up on the left side of the tunnel, Nyx clicked her tongue nosily. "Just because I am wearing a black robe and mask, my identity isn't even checked."
The expression on the guard's faces, at least those who were still close enough to hear her, distorted slightly but they didn't move from their positions and acted as if she was invisible.
Nyx's head returned to facing forward as she sighed. A small group of farmers had been passing her at the time, the sound causing them to flinch before they increased their pace to almost a jog.
"How is this a stronghold of one of the most powerful sects on this continent? Their security is... terrible. And what is the deal with these enforcers? It feels more like my death squad days than a law enforcement division." Nyx's disgruntled voice carried on the gentle breeze as she continued walking along the wide, sun-baked road. The gradually falling sun casting a long shadow over the fields to her left.
Eventually, Nyx stopped and turned around, looking at the small dot that was the gatehouse and stone walls in the distance. As she did, she started chuckling. The chuckle quickly turned into a full-blown laugh as she looked up into the sky. "Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty I am free at last."
Nyx's vision dropped, scanning the surrounding grassland, which was around the height of her waist as she had passed the prime farmland a mile back. After a few seconds, Nyx flicked her pale, white finger outwards and two small streaks of black left her shadow and disappeared into the grass on each side of the road.
After a few minutes, the smile on her face gradually fell, completely disappearing when the two black streaks returned to her shadow and vanished. -"What? They really didn't send anyone to keep an eye on me?"
Nyx's eyes narrowed. -"Either they really are incompetent or... outstandingly good."
Waiting for a few more minutes, her face twitching every now and again, Nyx shook her head and spun around on her heels. -"Why do I feel so frustrated? Isn't this what I want?"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
-"Fuck it. I can play a little game of hide and seek with Dimi when she catches up. See if they reveal anything when they think I might have done a runner. "
As she proceeded along the single road, a few small groups or carriages passed by. Most of them were merchants, but there were a few that contained lots of young adults and teenagers. All of them were talking excitedly, especially when they saw Nyx's robe and mask and realised that she was part of the Twilight sect.
Nyx didn't even look in their direction as she passed, walking at a steady, unhurried pace that deceptively covered a lot of distance in a short amount of time causing the eyes of those that had passed her to open wide in surprise.
It wasn't until a couple of hours later when the sun had started to set, that Nyx stopped. After looking around and releasing more shadow-like streaks, Nyx abruptly turned and disappeared into the tall grass that had once again grown to nearly double her height.
Nyx continued onwards carefully, sniffing the air every now and again and tilting her head from time to time when she stopped to listen to her surroundings. There were even a few instances where she would lay down and place her ear to the ground.
Every now and again, one of the black, mist-like streaks would return yet she always revealed a disappointed expression beneath her mask as she did.
-"Really?" As the sun continued to set, Nyx pulled back her hood and let her silky, black hair flutter in the breeze. "Why is no one following me? It feels... wrong. Can my abilities have degraded so much that I can't even detect them?"
Half an hour later of repeating the same actions and changing direction multiple times, Nyx stopped and looked up. The once crystal clear sky was now a deep blue, the outline of the moon and stars barely visible under the sun's dying rays.
-"This should be good enough." Looking down, Nyx waved her hand outwards, causing a thin wave of black, blade-like essence to fly forwards. The tall stalks of grass touched seemed to dissolve, a faint amount of smoke scattering into the sky.
In the span of a few seconds a small area, just big enough for Nyx to lie down, had been cleared.
-"Still too weak." Shaking her head as she recalled the essence that had been shot out from her hand, much fainter than when it had first left her body, Nyx turned around before flopping onto the ground in an ungraceful manner. -"Even though the grass is full of unbound light essence, it still took a few seconds. If that was a living creature, the best it could do is a surface wound."
Nyx sighed loudly as she lightly struck the ground beside her. "Who would have thought that starting from scratch would be so much hard work. It feels like it will be a long time before I can use the abilities I perfected on the prime continent."
Slowly, the sky continued to darken as Nyx stared upwards, the small motes of light in her eyes swirling mysteriously, appearing like gateways into another universe. Occasionally a shooting star would be reflected in them, leaving a trail in the sky which was both beautiful and mesmerising.
"Still... the fourth continent is so peaceful..."
Nyx took a deep breath, calming breath. The sound of insects and rustling grass filling what would have otherwise been a deafening silence.
Eventually, Nyx grunted as she lifted her hand up in front of her. "So... how do I do this?"
A few minutes slowly passed by.
"Maybe I should have asked for a few tips..." Nyx let her hand drop listlessly beside her as she sighed and sat up, removing her mask and placing it on the ground nearby. "Then again, I'm a human becoming a beast, not a beast becoming a human, so it's probably not the same."
Nyx was now openly talking to herself, a habit that she had picked up when she resided in the forests alone.
Taking another deep breath, Nyx closed her eyes as a thin black film began forming a slightly translucent barrier around her body. Every now and then a small, flicker of what looked like black lightning would erupt from her limbs, striking and disappearing into her body. As this was happening, the muscles all over her body tensed and relaxed at different intervals, yet there were no other signs of change.
A frown gradually appeared on Nyx's features as seconds turned into minutes, which rapidly turned into hours. It wasn't until the moon had reached its zenith that Nyx finally opened her eyes and released a deep sigh. "I have no fucking clue what I am doing."
Slowly drawing her knees to her chest, Nyx let herself fall onto her side as she hugged herself. "I feel like I should know how to do it, no that I do know how to do it. But whenever I get close, it feels like something is stopping me. It's like... urgh. I don't know..."
Nyx banged her head on the ground several times in a slow, lethargic manner. "Maybe this is something like instinct. A bird knows it should fly, and to do that it needs to flap its wings, but until it gets to experience, its just... theory?"
"So what the hell is similar to turning into a different creature?" Rolling onto her back, Nyx stretched out. Fer feet, the soles extremely dirty, sticking out the bottom. "How do they do it? I know beasts with weak bloodlines or those that haven't cultivated to a certain level are unable to but... is the final step nature or nurture?"
After thinking some more, Nyx stilled. "Actually... why do they always take a human form and not some other kind of beast? Is human anatomy unique in some way? If I had the choice, I would want to be a croc or dragon or something. Humans, take away their intelligence and thumbs, and you have a pretty low spec creature."
"Maybe... I should wait?" Resting her head on the ground, the partially dissolved stalks of grass uncomfortably digging into her scalp, Nyx thought back to when she had broken through to the twelfth core layer. "I wonder what Dimi saw back then? Was... am I really a Nightmare? What do they even look like?"
After a while, Nyx's grumblings grew fainter as her eyelids slowly fell, slightly raising when they drooped too quickly. It wasn't long before her breathing turned deep and steady.
"The night sky... It's just like that lake... When..." Nyx's mumbled voice was barely a whisper, her eyes finally closing as she fell asleep.
A gentle breeze passed over the grassland.
It wasn't even half an hour later when multiple loud cracks, along with a high pitched, painfilled gasp broke the peaceful ambience as Nyx leapt to her feet and took a strange, aggressive pose.
Snorting loudly, she instinctively released a burst of black energy from her body, causing the grass surrounding her to billow outwards. The circular ripple continued for at least thirty meters before it started to weaken.
After blinking a few times and looking around, the black mist that had appeared, wrapping her hands in their claw-like, demonic appearance, retreated back into Nyx's skin as she slowly relaxed her muscles.
However, the moment she tried to move, she sucked in air through her teeth and quickly bent down and lifted her robe.
Even though there wasn't much light to see, Nyx's pupils shrank as she saw a pitch black colour quickly receding from her legs and feet. As it did, faint popping and cracking sounds resonated outwards as her muscles and bone seemed to twist and turn as they returned to their human form.
Gritting her teeth as her back became wet with perspiration, Nyx watched with rapt attention as her legs returned to normal. The faint moonlight highlighting her pale, white skin, making it seem incredibly delicate and pure. A striking contrast to what she had seen moments before.
"For fuck sake..." A few minutes later, Nyx swore as she closed her eyes and raised her hand to clasp the bridge of her nose. "Of course it would be like this..."
"Damned beasts. Making it look so easy and painless." After a few moments, Nyx's shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world was suddenly crashing down. "Then again, why am I surprised..."
Nyx chuckled mirthlessly as she took off her robe, revealing her slim, somewhat skeletal, body, and placed it and the mask into the leather bag.
After looking around, she quickly bent over and, after using essence to once again cover her hands, dug a deep hole before placing the bag inside and covering it with dirt.
Carefully patting down the loose soil, using the claws of her demonic-looking hands to cut a few stalks of nearby grass until she could sprinkle the remains over the top, Nyx sat back down and frowned. "Why is my arse so sensitive."
Shuffling her weight, a few streaks of black lightning clearing any of the grass stalks that refused to be moved out of the way, Nyx raised her head and stared at the moon.
"Reality is perception and perception is reality." Nyx smiled, though if anyone saw her expression, they would have been terrified. "I have always called myself a monster but... I guess it's official."
"If I feel like a human, think like a human, believe I am human, I will be a human." Nyx looked down at her pale hand, turning it slowly. As she stared, her skin started to move. Small lumps and twisting muscles were soon seen as tiny, scale-like, patterns began to appear. "Back then I didn't feel human. I felt like... something more natural."
Without conscious thought, the black mist that had been concealing her natural eye colour was obliterated by a flicker of light blue lightning that seemed to come from the depths of her pupil. The resulting glow from her eyes was so great that it was faintly cast upon the wall of grass in front of her.
Though the amount of light was too little to be of any use to those with common sight, it strangely enabled Nyx to see her immediate surroundings as if they had been directly illuminated by the sun.
After raising her eyebrow slightly at this, Nyx quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she took a deep, steadying breath.
"The problem was that I was trying to change into a beast but... I actually need to return to this body's natural form. Something that my sense of self and identity has been subconsciously fighting against."
Nyx silently stared at the ground for a few minutes.
"This better get easier in the future."
Soon, the quiet, yet deafening sounds of insects soon muted as hair-raising cracking noises started to resonate across the surrounding grasslands. Alongside it, came the faint, feminine sounds of panting, groans and the occasional ragged, painfilled grunt.
After a while, the sounds became more chilling and beastial in nature. The human noises were replaced with hisses, light growls and the occasional half-shriek that would frighten even the bravest of souls, especially on a dark night.
Slowly, the cracking noises reduced yet, just when it seemed everything had returned to normal and the natural ambience of the grasslands had started to return, a terrifying screech erupted from Nyx's throat as she threw her head back and roared into the night sky.
Birds that had been roosting amongst the grass burst into the sky, flying in all directions as small mammals and reptiles bolted similarly on the ground. Even the insects quickly fled in small swarms, leaving Nyx at the epicentre of what became a natural dead zone.
Her figure was hazy, a black, shroud-like mist almost completely obscuring everything, excluding her lightening filled, blue eyes and the strange, whip-like appendage that grew from the base of her spine.
Slowly standing, faint popping noises emanating from her joints, Nyx started to stretch her body. If she moved quickly, the mist-like covering would be left behind for a moment revealing a feminine, captivating demon-like form.
After taking a deep breath, Nyx's head abruptly turned to the south as her eyes narrowed.
Lightning flickered in her eyes as she sniffed a few more times before revealing two rows of small, tightly packed, shark-like teeth in what appeared to be a smile, so white that they stood in stark contrast to her otherwise, pitch black form.
["Oooh, it seems like I wasn't alone."] A barrage of hisses and low clicks escaped Nyx's mouth as she gazed into the distance wondering how much her sense of smell had improved to be able to discover the faint, human scent on the night breeze.