Golden saucers peering from the gloom in the hallway tilted quizzically for a moment before a huge black mass shot out of the darkness. Domison was tackled to the ground and Mel leaped back into the hallway outside of the apartment, getting ready to help where she could if a battle broke out. But none did and she realized that the dog, which had dominantly black fur with a red undercoat and was the size of a horse, was licking Domison’s face. Disgustingly, it was cleaning the dried gore from his skin and she could see a wide grin shine through before he buried his face into ebony fur.
As soon as Domison had looked into Pabu’s eyes, he knew it was his puppy. Even though he had grown quite significantly and his fur had darkened into a black that could rival the night sky, Domison knew it was his family. He pulled away and the huge dog pressed his fur-covered forehead against Domison’s, both closing their eyes. As soon as his eyelids had shut, he could feel a tugging coming from his core and a warm presence pressing against the edges of his mind. No words came through the brushes of consciousness, only impulses and impressions, ‘Family. Worry. Fear and loneliness. A strong impulse to connect.’ Instinctively Domison opened his mind to the presence just outside, and access to his inner core shortly followed. The warm, familial energy spread from the top of his skull, down his spine, and finally settled at his navel.
For a scant few heartbeats, nothing happened. Then a huge amount of energy was drawn from his core, only to be immediately replaced by a feral and primal power. The mix of abyssal and bestial energy began to swirl within his core, subtly mixing before the mixture settled into a deep pool of black. Just looking at the floating core at his navel made him feel like he was going to be sucked in for a moment. A ripple ran through the surface of his core and then the energies rushed out through his body, seeping into his blood and running a full circuit from fingertips to toes, all the way up to his brain and then stopping at his heart. His heart started to pound in his chest, each cycle of energy-saturated blood sending trails of ice through his veins and they began to wiggle, reshaping beneath his skin and converging around his core. Every muscle in his body was expanding and contracting in time with each circuit of his heart and core before finally it ended.
Domison was panting and covered in sweat and what gore Pabu had not extracted from Domison’s skin, with his wide tongue, was now washed onto the floor. But he was not conscious of this fact, still immersed within his inner world. He could now see channels working their way all around his body where his veins had once been. These channels converged around his heart and his inner core, each beat of his heart sending a pulse of the energies within his core in tandem. He could also see something else, looming behind the silhouette bent around his core. It was a massive canine-esque black silhouette with golden spots of light instead of eyes. A stream ran between the man's core, through his back, and linked to the chest of the silhouetted animal.
Through this connection, he could feel an unprecedented amount of energy passing through and a slightly smaller amount leaving himself. It was a give and take that seemed to be weighed to Domison’s benefit, though he was unsure what Pabu may have gained from this connection. All he knew right now was that between the circulation of power within his core, and the connection with his companion, the swirl of energies within him was blissful. He kept his eyes closed and just focused on the energy circulating within him and through the connection. His breathing became deep and he fell into an almost trance-like state. His focus began to drift between the power running through his pathways and replaying all of the battles he had been in within his mind, the world around him fading farther and farther from his perception.
When Mel realized that the huge dog was not actually attacking him, wearily, she entered the apartment again. She could only assume the massive canine now laying in the hallway, eyes closed and head covering most of the man’s torso, was the “puppy” Dom had mentioned in passing. Wearily, she shimmied past the two figures on the ground with her back pressed against the wall. She shrugged as she thought to herself, ‘Family reunions really can take a lot out of you and it's not like we have been getting the most luxurious sleep.’ Once she was a safe enough distance to not disturb the two, who seemed to have fallen asleep or something, she pushed away from the wall and took a look at the room around her.
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Broken glass lay haphazardly across well-worn hardwood floors and empty bay windows let in some sunlight, causing the shards to shimmer lightly. There was very little furniture in the room, a medium-sized dog bed, several bookshelves lining the walls, and a small desk with a shabby little chair tucked underneath. Besides the dust covering everything in a layer and the shattered glass on the floor, the room was quite neat. A small kitchen, filled with appliances that looked as old as the apartment, connected to the living room in an open floor design,it was equally as tidy as the communal space. After soaking in the quaint atmosphere, she turned and called for Coraigen to come inside.
Once the large Orc-like male had entered the living room of the apartment, he deposited Mark’s pale, unconscious body onto the blanket Mel had found and spread out on the floor. She began to fuss over him, casting her little healing spells and squeezing at his hands. Coraigen wished that he could help, but he wasn’t that kind of support class so he only sat and reviewed his status screens, going over his gains. Between the fighting he had done himself, the sprinting, and the system considering him to be in a group with the black-haired man referred to as Dom, they were quite impressive.
Descenders were required to be at level thirty or below, and Coraigen had been at a respectable forty-five. Even though the experience points required to advance any of his primary, passive, or tertiary skills had almost quadrupled at every level his overall gains amounted to several levels across the board. He was now a level twenty-eight in his main class, Path of Ancestors Spirit, increasing his active skills by two levels and his passives a single in turn. His ‘maneuvering’ tertiary skill had gone up a whopping five levels after the constant running, and this had increased his stamina recovery and movement speeds by marginal amounts. He was still a lumbering and quite slow individual in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit helped in his eyes no matter what his clanmates would say. Once Mel was through tending to Mike and Coraigen finished allocating stat points and ruminating on branching possibilities in his status screens, they sat facing each other in silence. It took only five minutes of oppressive quiet before Mel broke the silence and they began to converse.
The world around Domison began to slowly fade back in as he slowed the cycling energies in his inner world. When he opened his eyes he realized that he was still sitting in the hallway and the rays of light that had been peeking in through the living room bay windows were gone. Still not moving, his eyes shifted to the side and he could see Pabu laying with his head resting upon his paws, golden eyes watching him with a twinkle of joy. Domison smiled for a moment and just basked in the feeling of wholeness that was wrapping him like a blanket. He could hear voices drifting in from the living room and sharpened his focus, muffled syllables becoming legible sentences.
“-ms to be very strong, but from what you told me it's almost as if he doesn’t have knowledge of the system.” Coraigen’s voice was the first he could make out, their voices soft in the moonlight, “There are a few reasons that could explain it, but you are right that it is an odd occurrence. Is there anything else he told you? Rarities can oftentimes explain these oddities, as they grow in power in different ways depending upon rarity.”
“Umm…” Mel started, “I think he said it was Mythical… or something like that?” The words came quickly at first before she ended in an even lower voice. “I try not to pry or ask too many questions because I don’t want to impede on his privacy too much or annoy him, you know? But like… he saved us and I’m REALLY curious, I just want to know more about our savior.”
Coraigen chuckled in his deep, gravelly tone before responding, “It sounds to me young female like you are just hoping to form a stronger bond as quickly as possible so that he does not abandon you. Admirable attempt, but I have a surefire plan to align myself with Mister Wolfe long term.” Domison heard a meaty thump like a massive fist slapping into a barrel chest.
Domison shook his head and laughed under his breath as he listened to their conversation, standing as Coraigen was about to make clear his master plan. He stepped from the darkness of the hallway as he spoke, Pabu stalking out shortly after, “First of all, who told you to call me ‘Mister Wolfe’? Secondly, I would very much like to hear this plan to win my allegiance, if you wouldn’t mind enlightening me?”