The temple was collapsing before their eyes, with huge chunks of stone falling to the floor, crushing spiders and destroying what remained of the furniture. Shadows were moving quickly between the falling rocks.
Anino and Vallynor were in a sea of shadows, trying to escape the temple. Or rather Anino was, as Vallynor was still writhing in pain, not giving him a chance to rest.
As Anino searched for a way out, he could see two huge shadows fighting each other. He noticed that the exit was nearby, but he didn't dare to approach it, not only because both of them were dangerous, but also because their host was vulnerable now.
Two huge monsters were fighting against the wall of the temple, causing it to crumble. If this continued, the temple would eventually be destroyed.
The question arose as to how this temple had remained intact until now, and why someone was now destroying it. It was very strange, as many years must have passed for this temple to turn into dust.
A huge white creature was fighting against a wave of food, occasionally hitting the temple with its limbs. It caused wild pain in the soul upon contact. But there were souls like this, a mixture of different human souls. It didn't happen often.
The desire to become stronger motivated him, so when he felt pain, he continued to fight, shouting "I am the chosen one!".
The temple began to crumble into pieces, and the falling stones raised clouds of dust, almost completely concealing both monsters. But by their shadows and silhouettes, it was clear who was who.
Anino, searching for a way out but not finding it, found himself at a dead end. He couldn't pass through the walls without knowing what was behind them. Suddenly, he heard the screams of many children and, turning to the source of the noise, he saw the white monster tear off a large piece of a soul and wildly tear it apart. Slowly devouring the soul, the monster created a terrible scene.
At the same time, another part of the soul, having suffered such terrible damage, began to look around until it noticed the moving shadows. Seeing the shadows running away from the enemy, it headed in their direction, leaving him to fight and enjoy his second side.
Anino quickly moved and felt a chill down his spine. Turning his head, he saw the black monster, full of wounds and missing one part of its body, attacking them. Sensing danger, he ran with all his might, even ignoring the falling stone.
The monster, created from children, let out a silent scream that made Annino and Vallynor leave the world of shadows. Annino quickly turned to face the enemy, preparing for battle, while Vallynor fell to the ground and writhed in wild pain. He wanted to scream and cry, but the pain didn't allow him to. The undead body couldn't cry.
The monster didn't even pay attention to Annino and his attempts to stop it. It immediately attacked Vallynor and entered her inner world, quickly merging with her soul.
Suddenly, the pain that engulfed Vallynor subsided, giving him a little freedom and the ability to think. In his head, he heard the cry of a boy, which he could understand very well.
"A pact?" Vallynor asked, looking around in confusion. He entered the inner world, but a white monster appeared in his path, devouring pieces of the soul of the black monster that was still fighting and didn't seem completely dead.
"You're suggesting making a deal?" he asked, hearing a new cry belonging to a girl.
Sitting down on the ground next to Anna, Vallynor told her that they needed to escape. The pain he was experiencing didn't allow him to think clearly. So he ordered Anna to go as far as possible, while he listened to the cries of the children and tried to understand them correctly. Then he repeated the words he heard to make sure of their accuracy.
"You want your souls to merge with mine. Where I will be the leader and you will be my servants. You will help me so that our souls don't break down and decay too quickly. Our souls can't hold on for long because of critical damage, but if we unite, our souls will live... together. But in return, I have to kill the Chosen One? Am I understanding correctly?"
All the pieces of the children screamed in unison, confirming Vallynor's words. And he realized that he had no choice.
"Yes," Vallynor answered quietly, feeling the emotional pain becoming stronger. The recent enemy could no longer control my wounds, which only intensified and were caused by him.
The monster was created from thousands of pieces of children's souls and began merging with Vallynor's soul where there were huge wounds. A black lump appeared where pieces of the soul were fitting into the shape of Vallynor's wounds.
The slowly mending soul took the shape of a sphere and restored its former appearance, only with scars in the form of black lines, cracks, and huge chunks missing from the vessel. Where the children's souls had joined, they glowed brightly, melting together completely.
This process brought a new wave of pain, causing Vallynor to lose consciousness twice. Fortunately, he was in the world of shadows with Annino, where Annino kept watch over his master and searched for a way out.
The white monster finished eating a huge chunk of soul fragments in the shape of thousands of pieces and began looking for the second part, thinking of the pleasant and rich aroma that motivated it to search for the other half. But not finding it, it began sniffing, turning its head from side to side, until it stopped, sensing something.
Turning its head, it saw a shadow moving away. Spreading its wings, it began flapping them, rising into the sky and gliding like a flying squirrel, descending straight toward the shadow.
Annino and Vallynor saw the white monster, resembling a dragon, with tentacles hanging from its neck and back. It had several limbs: some were long and thick, while others were small and skinny. The head looked like a human's, but had no nose, instead having a huge, long mouth like a dragon's.
As they approached, the monster struck the ground with a tentacle, but to no avail. Then they saw some darkness envelop it when it raised its tentacles for the next strike. Annino felt the danger and tried to dodge, but the tentacle fell on his shadow, and they were both pulled into the world of shadows. The monster threw them to the ground, and they tumbled several times.
Annino quickly got into a fighting stance, ready for battle, while Vallynor felt weakness and emotional pain that slowly subsided, making him move languidly. Annino looked at the white monster with fear, feeling terror deep in his soul. He had faced many enemies before, but had never encountered such a terrifying force that could pull them out of the world of shadows. He was engulfed with the feeling that magic was something terrible.
The white mutant dragon wanted to devour them whole as the earthquake that was engulfing the place became stronger and stronger, even cracks began to appear. Vallynor felt that something was wrong.
He quickly approached Annino and jumped onto his back, shouting "run". Annino didn't even blink, he obeyed.
The huge monsters that had recently wanted to devour this prey completely felt the earthquake and stopped. They began to look at the ground, as if thinking about who was to blame. After a minute, realizing who was to blame, they angrily wanted to roar and then run away.
The dragon had only managed to rise five meters above the ground when a huge, gigantic clawed hand emerged from existing cracks, approaching the white dragon and grabbing him by the tail. He angrily shouted "I am the chosen one!"
In response, a terrifying roar came out of the hole, which, if you listened carefully, could be detected as somewhat feminine. But because of the fear and the terrible danger, it was imperceptible.
He noticed that the huge clawed hand, which was even larger than this dragon, emerged from the ground. He watched the clawed hand and was able to see the chains that held the hand and seemed to pull it down.
"What is happening here?" Vallynor couldn't help but ask, looking at all of this.
The huge clawed hand caught the tail of the white dragon. He angrily turned his head and began to shoot different types of magic, and the tentacles hit the fingers. And this had its effect: two clawed fingers were destroyed.
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But there were still three fingers that held the tail tightly, and the chains that wrapped around the hand pulled back into the ground with force. The white dragon began to lose the advantage, using the strength of the chains and his own, and approached the ground, where his fate awaited him.
"I am the chosen one!" the white dragon cried out, using magic in the form of beams to cut off his tail from the very base.
The clawed hand, which was pulling with all its might, sharply fell into the ground when its owner cut off his tail. Both emitted a strong cry: one of pain, and the other of disappointment.
The white dragon rose higher and began to shoot the strongest long-range spells and skills at the hand, which was sinking into the ground. As it fully sank into the ground, the cracks disappeared. Looking around, the white dragon saw the moving shadows again and pounced on them.
Fortunately, he was wounded and moved a few times weaker. But he shouted angrily and began to emit lightning at the shadows. Aninno deftly dodged out of the world of shadows from each attack, not letting the lightning hit the shadows.
Vallynor, who was sitting on Aninno, felt very bad. Somehow the pain from symbiosis with the souls of children saved him, but he felt that this was not a solution to his problem. But now even this will do, although he needed the pain to weaken or he already got used to it.
"Aah!" Vallynor exclaimed as he thought about his problems. Several lightning bolts ran through his body, causing him and Aninno acute pain.
"How did this happen? Why can everyone only hurt our soul and ignore the body?" Vallynor cursed in his heart, realizing that a new dose of pain came from the lightning that penetrated inside his body and struck the soul. The pain was not strong, but enough to paralyze.
The white dragon flew to them, but did not immediately descend, but began to circle over them, looking around and searching for the mysterious hand to appear again. After a few minutes, he landed on the black sand, making a loud crash, and then a terrible roar. Looking at Aninno and Vallynor as food on a plate, the dragon approached and shouted:
"I am chosen!" After that, he bit Aninno's front paw and began to chew as if tasting it like a gourmet. Then, as if smiling, he opened his mouth wider.
Aninno was paralyzed, but that didn't stop him from making sounds of pain. The white dragon not only tore off his paw, but also a piece of his soul. And now a huge mouth was approaching him.
Vallynor, seeing how one of Aninno's paws was torn off, screamed and without thinking began to throw all kinds of magic at the dragon that he knew: fireballs, necrotic spheres, even corpses that suddenly rose from the sand, rushed at the white dragon.
Having received various spells straight to the head, he turned his head several times, as if shooing away a persistent fly from the street, and then looked at Vallynor and brought his head closer to him. His eyes began to run all over the body, the pupils unexpectedly enlarged, as if he saw something impossible. Raising his head, he shouted:
"I am chosen!" After that, he turned his head back, tore and bit Vallynor's legs.
From the mouth of Vallynor came a painful scream, both his own and that of his children. Tearing off Vallynor's legs, the dragon took a piece of his soul without taking his eyes off him. The white dragon chewed on the legs and soul of this... man.
Savoring the taste, the white dragon realized he had not made a mistake and joyfully exclaimed, "Only one chosen. I am the chosen one." He then opened his mouth as wide as he could to consume Vallynor in one bite.
Aninno, who was nearby, watched helplessly as the white dragon tore off his owner's legs and ate them, and then tried to consume him whole. He began to regret neglecting magic, now fully realizing how powerful it was. He decided that if he and his owner survived today, he would train in magic and kill that beast. But apparently, it was not meant to be.
Vallynor watched as the open jaws approached him. He wished he were unconscious right now. He did not want to see his body torn apart by sharp teeth in his final moments.
His old and new wounds on his soul troubled him and made him ache, even if he died without any offspring. The next moment he woke up. And now a huge mouth two meters wide was approaching him, waiting for his inevitable death. He heard laughter, and not only he, but Aninno and the dragon also turned their heads toward the source of the laughter.
This laughter was very unpleasant to hear, like the creaky laughter of an old woman. In less than ten seconds, something exploded and everything was enveloped in black fog.
The white dragon understood something, opened its wings and created a wind that dispersed the black fog. And where there should have been a dog and a human, there was emptiness.
He stared at the black sand for several minutes before realizing that someone had dared to steal his prey. Furiously roaring, he released lightning beams for several kilometers, destroying everything in sight. After that, he rose into the sky and flew away, leaving behind a huge empty circle.
***
Vallynor felt like he was in warm water but abruptly opened his eyes when he realized it was boiling water. He looked around and realized he was in a house where various ingredients were on shelves: herbs, organs, stones. Now there were only empty jars with pictures on the shelves, and only occasionally could one see one or a few jars with something inside, half-filled or almost empty.
Vallynor wanted to look further, but quickly remembered that he was in a pot filled with various spices, carrots, parsley, and even meat. Unkind thoughts came to his mind: someone was preparing him alive. This frightened him, and he quickly put his hands on the edge of the pot. He heard a hissing sound as his flesh began to sear from the heat of the pot.
"What should I do?" he asked, wondering what to do.
"Just get out of the pot, of course," he heard an old voice nearby.
He would have jumped out of the pot long ago if he could, but he had no legs. "Wait, who said that?" realizing that there was someone nearby, he began to look towards the source of the voice.
Not far away in the shadows sat an old woman with gray hair, who looked straight at him. Dislike could be read in her eyes.
"Why are you looking at me? I want to eat, so sit still and don't move," she said, raising a spoon in one hand and indicating that she wanted soup. Soup from him.
"Wait, why do you want to eat me? I'm not tasty. I'm entirely made of spoiled meat..." he said, trying to save his skin.
"Hahaha," the old woman began to laugh, watching Vallynor trying to save himself. Ten seconds later, she calmed down and said, "Don't move, or your legs will grow the wrong way. And then we'll cut them off, and you'll sit like this again."
The old woman's words were like thunder in clear skies, which surprised Vallynor. He looked at her, not understanding if she was his enemy or ally. And as if reading his thoughts, she continued, "An acquaintance sent me to save you from the Chosen One. Otherwise, you would have been a snack, and your fairy tale would have ended."
She looked at the shelves and pulled out a stone or some kind of plant from the jars, throwing them into the pot.
"Who are you?" Vallynor asked himself, watching the old woman throwing various ingredients into the pot. "Does she want to eat me, or is she really trying to help?"
She turned her head and looked at him for a while, then turned her head back, not taking her eyes off all the jars, and said, "I have many names. Unfortunately, I have long forgotten my true name, but you can call me Baba Yaga."
As soon as she finished speaking, she left the room, leaving Vallynor stunned.
"What???" - that was all Vallynor could say, watching the old woman leave the room. "Baba Yaga? What if she's really in a hut on chicken legs?"
Observing for a while at the door, I quickly looked around, trying to find something that could help me escape or at least protect myself from this witch. And if she's really Baba Yaga, then... trouble.
Examining the shelves with empty and partially empty jars, I noticed several photos of a beautiful girl. Almost all of them had the same girl, but with different men next to her. On one of the photos, there was only a man, but because he was far away or the photo was bad, it was not possible to determine his face, only his body - almost bones and skin, like mine at the very beginning.
While I was looking at the photos, I decided that standing here was bad, because it would give the witch a reason to devour me. I started looking for something else, continuing to think about various attack options. The witch's words didn't calm me down, on the contrary, they made me uneasy.
"Do you think about how to escape?" - unexpectedly, the witch appeared from behind, and Vallynor was scared to death. "I said don't move. Otherwise, everything will start over. And yes, for motivation, I have a dog. If you keep acting like a bull - I'll eat it. Got it… Alright," she said, finishing the sentence, and threw black ash into the cauldron. Smoke came out of the chimney where Vallynor was next to.
Vallynor watched as the old woman disappeared again, and his mouth was open and full of black ash. He began to repeat questions in his head: what was she doing there? What does she want? And most importantly - will she eat him?
"I won't eat you. If..." - she didn't continue, as if thinking about what else to say. She almost only spoke to her lips: "Just don't kill husbands. No, they're already dead and goats. You'll burn the house down. No, it's long been petrified. Aaaa..."
"If..." said Vallynor after a minute of silence, looking straight at the old woman and not closing both eyes at once, afraid that she would devour him in the moment he blinked. And his words became a trigger, reminding the witch.
"Of course, if you don't try to rape me... Wrong choice of words. If you're obedient, I'll help you. Otherwise, you'll make a great soup. Mmm, with meat," the witch replied.
"Mmm, with shit," Vallynor replied, exhausted from the tension, realizing that it was Strange Baba. But why was she helping him, that was the question.
"Well, boy, don't make any problems. You won't become soup. Mmmm, soup. Why are you looking at me and then at the specialists?" the witch said.
"Specialists?" Vallynor asked, surprised and scared, almost screaming.
"Yes, specialists, why? Throwing away water is a waste - it's a pity. You can boil meat in it and even use it for healing. And then throw it away if necessary," explained the old woman.
"What does all this mean?" the stunned woman asked.
Baba Yaga took a large fork, which she unexpectedly took out, and hit her on the head. "Ha, I don't feel any pain," thought the woman, but at the last moment, she fell silent.
"Now it's clear?" Vallynor yelled after another blow with all his might. The pain came by force, but this blow did not harm his soul. But what about the soul?
"Rest. It would be better to sleep. The soul heals better when you're offline," advised the witch.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked when she was ready to leave.
"Why? Ha-ha-ha. I was asked by an acquaintance. So no thanks to me. Understand?" the witch replied, looking at him, and then left.
"Who asked to save me?" the woman asked herself, remembering the old woman's voice. "I'll have to ask her who she is."
Damn it, because of his helplessness and danger, Vallynor couldn't come up with anything better than to listen to the witch. He sat and analyzed all the moments. There were many reasons that proved that she wasn't an enemy. But still, she could be playing with him. He had to somehow summon the old woman.