Ethan watched the bruised, beaten catgirl kneeling in her cage rise and walk towards him.
Finally! he thought. His Mana Nullifier was working. Even if it wasn’t strong enough to dispel the illusion entirely. This particular Nervestalker must have been a more powerful variant with over 50 Intelligence. Either that, or it simply had Tara’s mind in a much firmer grip than Fauna’s oppressor.
That wasn’t something he’d expected. But he’d also not given up on her. And now, the kitten that was facing him, totally ignoring the wails of her ‘sister’ behind her, was bearing its claws.
“Ethan,” she said. “Hand me your sword.”
He nodded slowly, handing her his Mithril Broadsword through the bars of her prison. Curiously, sparks began to fly from the item as soon as her hand gripped it, and it slowly morphed into a straight-edged dagger with a reverse-grip.
“Yeah,” Tara said. “I remember this. It’s what I stole from one of the guards who came to leer at me on this night. I opened my legs, I called him sir, and he unlocked the door. Then, when he dropped his pants, I grabbed his dagger and…”
The Nervestalker behind her had ceased its wails. Now, a pair of spectral grey claws flashed in the darkness of the basement, lunging for its prey’s throat.
But its victim was faster.
“…I made my mark.”
Tara spun with total control, flipping out the way of the Nervestalker’s desperate attack and then launched into a deadly pirouette, bringing the thin edge of her blade across the creature’s blue-black neck.
Spectral ichor oozed from its wound, and it flopped to the ground, its form blurring between that of Tara’s slave-sisters and her tormentors.
“I killed the guard,” she said. “Then I went upstairs.”
The Stalker threw itself at her again. This time she sidestepped its strike and drew the dagger across its back, severing its fluid-like spinal cord.
“I found the Master’s room.”
Her knife came down on the creature as it tried to crawl away – the nightmare world of the basement fading as its life drained from its body.
“And I climbed on his bed, where he was sleeping, with the blood of my Sister still on his hands.”
She brought one paw down on the specter as it cried out for mercy, while Ethan looked on, entranced by the whole performance and the dark words echoing from the Minxit’s mouth.
He’d never call her ‘kitten’ again.
“He opened his eyes. He saw me on top of him.”
She turned the creature round to see that it was wearing the face of her master – old, haggard, full of soundless rage and snarling up at her with blind hate.
“And I showed him what his good girl could do.”
The dagger came down on the head of the beast. It let out a final, tired wail of defeat as its life-force depleted, and its will to contain its prey withered with the rest of its mental functions. The entire edifice of the slave pen, the mansion, and Tara’s crying sisters melted away to nothing. And all that was left was the catgirl holding her blood-soaked knife.
Ethan crept forward.
“Tara, I –“
“Don’t,” she told him. “Don’t say anything. Don’t say you’re sorry. Don’t say you didn’t know. Don’t say you can make this all better.”
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He dropped his hands to his side, seeing her expression change to one of absolute numbness in the darkness of the void they now floated in, the Nervestalker’s twitching body crumbling to dust between them.
“…No one should see this,” she suddenly said. “Least of all, you.”
“If you had told me –“
“You’d do what, Ethan? Make the pain go away?”
“No. But I’d have understood.”
“How the fuck can anyone understand this?” she said, pointing to the vacant face of her Master being worn by the Nervestalker. "How...how can anyone make it make sense..."
Ethan said nothing. Because he didn’t have an answer.
And as the void started to swallow them both, the Nervestalker’s chest rose in a light, stuttered gasp of air.
“Take it,” she told him. “He might as well be of some use to you. Probably has some skill you can use.”
Ethan crouched, activating his Appraisal to sense any latent abilities in the barely conscious dream-summoner:
Nervestalker Alpha
HP: 1/20
Core Abilities: Hide, Ethereal Visage, Minor Illusion, Corporeal Mimic
Mimic…
Normally, Ethan’s thoughts would be consumed with some excitement at the prospect of such an upgrade. But he met Tara’s gaze even though she tried to avoid him at all cost. Like her life depended on it.
“You can probably guess the rest,” she whispered, tail tucked between her legs. “After I killed the Master, I set the others free. They ran way without me. Didn’t say a word. Some of them didn’t even wanna go. Just sat there, rocking like dull stones on the basement floor, staring at nothing. Some of them had given up on ever getting out ages ago, so they probably thought me standing there, bloody and frantic, promising them freedom, was just a trick.
“I burned the mansion and tried following after them. Got to Grenbelm Forest before I realized I couldn’t survive. Started stealing from farmers and marketplaces in the towns, till the purges began and slavery was the least of my worries. Ended up collapsing from exhaustion one day near the Ashfalls where Gyko had died ages ago. And that’s when she found me.”
Ethan nodded. “Jun’Ei.”
Ethan didn’t need to see their old leader appear in this dream realm. The spark in Tara’s eyes as she talked about her was enough.
“She found me when I was closer to death than I’d ever been before. I didn’t have the strength to try and kill her like I wanted. I dunno. After a while it just becomes an instinct. Everyone becomes your enemy. But she – she was different. She showed me a world where I could live. Where hybrids were as free as we could be in this human world.
Wish you’d met her when she was in her prime, Ethan. If she’s really in this place, I’ll bet you’d be impressed. Even if she’s wrong.”
Ethan took his chance in possessing the Stalker. No resistance came – he took its Mimic skill, jumped right back to Valgraiva, and then got the Spirit Cores from its body.
Spirit Cores Gained: 500
But still, upgrades weren’t what he was really thinking about here and now. Even as the black walls of the void around him and Tara started to die away, bleeding out into the unreality of this whole dungeon, he couldn’t help but move towards Tara.
“We’ll win this fight,” he said. “And then we’ll change this world so nothing like what you went through ever happens again.”
She blinked through disbelief, eyes that were still bruised even after the dream was done.
“You still think we can coexist with humans, Ethan? Even after all they’ve done to us?”
He wanted to tell her that he did. He wanted to tell her that he was certain there was a better way to end this war than one side killing the other.
But he could only tell her the truth.
“I don’t know.”
A new wormhole opened in the dark realm. He felt himself pulled through.
And before he was gone, he heard Tara’s final words to his departing form:
“One way to find out.”
----------------------------------------
Current Spirit Cores: 1150
Another realm. Another illusion.
He was beginning to get bored by this dungeon’s little tricks.
But Cores were Cores. And he’d need them when he faced the real Boss waiting for him at the peak of this Tower.
This new unreality that opened up was that of a forest grove. One that was surrounded by a litter of corpses.
Around him, hybrids and humans spread atop one another, their blood mingling in a grisly display of post-battle horror. Whatever fight had taken place here, it had ended recently. Some of the dead were still twitching in spasm.
“If this is supposed to trick me, it ain’t working”, he said aloud. “I’ve seen worse in this place and I’m done playing games.”
And before he could rationalize talking to himself, another voice answered him.
A voice tinged with ancient wisdom.
“No, Ethan Hawke. I can assure you; this is no game.”
He looked up from the remains of the dead, his body compelled to move forward like a twisted marionette.
And then, he saw her.
She was a Lycae just like Klax – but older, far older. Her wrinkled flesh contorted around her hollow eyes like a mummified body risen from its sarcophagus. The fur that coated her body was barely clinging to her limbs, and with every breath she took, her ragged bones seemed to heave with her.
“Welcome, Archon Ethan Hawke, Demon Hat and Lord of Monsters.”
He double blinked just to make sure. He didn’t know what to trust anymore.
“You’re…”
“Jun’Ei,” the withered woman said. “And we have much to discuss.”