It was magical. It was holy, It was life itself. Aria almost couldn’t keep her tears in. Flowing in front of her was a beautiful river, a gem.
Aria ran to it, throwing away all her worries as she jumped into the cool flowing water. The water was cold, but Aria didn’t care, she stayed under the water, scrubbing until all the dirt, the sand, the grime, the blood, until it was all gone. She ran her fingers through her gnarled and matted hair, pulling out chunks of dried blood and dirt. She scrubbed everything, even running her nails over some parts that were a bit more resistant to the cleanse.
It took her almost half an hour to scrub every nook and cranny of her body, but she positively glowed at the end of it. Pulling herself out of the river, she laid down on the grass nearby, letting the light of the sun dry her. Aria shivered a bit, but her semi-superhuman vitality helped stave off most of the cold. She rested, closing her eyes and just enjoying the sun as she lay there. But peace is short lived in hell.
A snarling pulled Aria back into reality. She sat up slowly, carefully spinning toward the noise. A giant wolf-frog-thing was stalking through the grass, straight toward her. “Haaaaaaa…” Aria let out a long, deep sigh. “No rest for the wicked.”
She stood up, getting a better view of what she assumed was some sort of monster, nothing that ugly could be natural. It had the body of a wolf, four limbs and covered in mud-colored fur. Patches showed in its coat showcasing glistening skin the color of vomit. Its head was bulbous and bloated, looking like a massive bullfrog. Aria almost had to look away; it was so ugly. She grimaced, estimating it to be almost as tall as her.
The creature seemed somewhat dangerous, but Aria mostly felt that it was just ugly. The thylamon had made her instincts scream, but this thing just had her feeling somewhat uneasy. A wicked grin stretched over Aria's face. “A perfect little test dummy.”
Maybe her reaction wasn’t exactly what the creature was expecting because it slowed its approach, seemingly cautious now. That made Aria snort in amusement. “Let's see if the little froggy is close enough to inquire.”
Bulbion Wolftoad, Level ?
“Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly what I expected. Now, the only question is, how do I box a wolftoad?” On instinct, Aria fell to the side, her hands landing in the ground as her body arched in a bridge. Above her, a massive tongue had shot out like a spear, parting the air where her head had just been.
Aria rolled her legs over her head, smoothly completing her back-handspring and rising to her feet. “You bitch.” Aria snarled, rushing at the ugly creature.
The creature seemed almost hesitant as she rushed it, but Aria didn’t buy it. She kept her vision tunneled on the beast as she ran, zigzagging through the grass. The wolftoad tried to once again impale her on its ugly tongue, but Aria was too fast. Her zigzagging pattern had already thrown off the creature’s aim and her reflexes were more than enough to avoid the sloppy shot.
As the slick muscle flew past her head, Aria had a potentially stupid idea. Without thinking about it much, Aria grabbed the tongue as it retracted. The idea worked well, a little too well in fact. Much to Aria’s chagrin, the mucus coating the tongue was almost like a fast acting superglue, she couldn’t let go even if she wanted to.
Aria slammed fist first into the open mouth of the wolftoad, its many little teeth grating her arm like sandpaper. “Damn.” Aria cursed, slightly disoriented from the speed at which she’d been hauled forward. “I didn’t expect that to work so well.” Her arm was in the creature’s mouth, still holding its tongue in a vice-like grip. The rest of her naked body was pinned against the awful mucusy and warted flesh of the creature’s head. Her left boob had jabbed its eye when she’d rocketed into it, making the creature cry in pain and surprise.
“Ow, bitch.” Aria cursed at it, pulling her free hand back as she willed one of her skills to activate. “You wanna eat me? Eat this, bitch. Devour.”
Aria didn’t see it, but she could feel the skill activate, the devouring flames of Twilight raging into the creature through her touch. The reaction was immediate. The wolftoad screamed as it shook its head, trying to lose its prisoner-gone-awry, but Aria had no intentions of leaving. “Stupid frog!” Aria cried, jamming her fist into the creature’s eye, the same eye that she’d accidentally titty-poked.
Goop rained on her as the eye fully exploded, hitting Aria in the eyes and getting no small amount in her mouth. She gagged, spitting as much of the foulness out as she could. The toad-thing was screaming louder now, bounding toward the river with her still hanging from its mouth. Aria laughed at the absurdity of it, her spirit positively alight. She could feel the flames drawing energy from her, the pull increasing several fold every time she punched the creature.
Halfway to the water, the creature’s legs buckled, its body crashing to the ground. Aria was barely able to twist away from being crushed by its fall, her body twisting awkwardly as her arm was still stuck in its mouth.
The creature huffed on the ground for a few moments before succumbing, its breath going still.
You have killed a Bulbion Wolftoad, Level 32. Experience has been earned.
You have killed a creature 20 or more levels above your own, bonus experience has been granted.
Experience penalty applied.
You have lost experience
Twilight Acolyte has leveled up
Twilight Acolyte is level 4
Gained:
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+2 Vitality
+1 Strength
+1 Agility
+2 Intelligence
+3 Wisdom
+5 Free Stat Points
Aria felt a pleasurable wave wash through her, making her do a little mental jig. She placed her free stats into intelligence and wisdom, spreading them so that the number came out looking pretty.
Arienna Dubrai
Age: 18
Race: Human
Vitality: 52
Strength: 22
Agility: 22
Intelligence: 40
Wisdom: 55
Unallocated stat points: 0
Influence: Twilight Acolyte, Level 4
Skills:
Active - The Flames of Twilight, Level 2
Four free active skill slots available.
Passive - Twilight Vessel, Level 1
Four free passive skill slots available.
General Skills:
Inquiry, Level 1
Pain Resistance, Level 3
Poison Resistance, Level 3
Meditation, Level 1
Soul Sense, Level 3
“Nice.” She grinned, looking at the numbers. “This bitch is gonna be the queen of the afterlife.” She was brought back to reality by the stinking corpse of the monster her arm was still buried within. “Fuck! This thing is gross!”
After no small amount of fussing, and a decent bit of ripped off skin, Aria was free of the corpse. She inspected her arm, looking at how the flesh was shredded by the many tiny teeth, the skin missing from her hand where she’d had to rip it off of the superglue-mucus. Aria knew she should be feeling pain, and she was, but it seemed like it should be so much worse than it actually was. “Freaky afterlife mumbo-jumbo.”
Aria was pleased with what she’d learned from the short hunt. She’d figured out that she could keep the flames active constantly, sending a continuous stream into the creature she held. She’d also figured out that striking with the flames was able to inject far more energy in a burst, presumably doing more damage, or maybe just doing focused damage? Damn, needs more testing. But, she was able to keep a continuous stream active and strike with the energy at the same time. I need to test how many connection points I can channel through. If I can just hug something and channel through my entire body, that would be incredibly cool. I’d be the deadliest cuddly bear. Aria smirked at the thought.
Her flames had done more damage than she presumed they would, well sort of. After the healing flames had restored her body from its disastrous state, she’d had relatively high hopes for the tail end of the coin, and it did not disappoint. The only strike where she’d actually damaged it with the blow itself was when she struck its eye, and even then, the way it exploded, Aria was sure the flames had something to do with that.
She looked at the skill description again.
Act 2: Devouring flame, Night - Channel the devouring flame of the abyss into creatures and objects you touch. The flame will devour them from within, returning to you a small part of what it has taken. Devouring creatures with this skill fuels growth. Power, return, and growth increased with every level. Cost reduced with each level.
What she was really interested in was the part near the end. “Devouring creatures with this skill fuels growth.” She looked at her hand, still a bit of a bloody mess, before shrugging and holding her palm onto the corpse. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Devour it.”
The fire obliged, a torrent of flames blacker than ink erupted over the corpse, rushing across the beast until nothing was visible through the layer of flame. Then, they began devouring it. The flames' eruption had left Aria feeling lightheaded, her energy reserves dipping below the safety she’d set. But the vision before her made it all worth it. The flames weren’t just burning the corpse, but eating it, devouring it. Like hungry wolves, they ran, consuming everything they touched.
Aria went to the river, washing herself of the wolftoad’s filth, making sure to scrub the inside of her mouth extra well. “Nasty beast.” She muttered, stepping out of cold water in all her naked glory. “I really need to find some clothes. I’d even just take a sports bra so these things don't flop around so much.” She emphasized things as she cupped her breasts, lifting them and then letting them fall. They were too large to fit in her smaller hands. A blessing and a curse. They were too large for all the running and fighting she always used to do, so she would either bind them up or wear a sports bra to keep them locked in place. Now, in the afterlife where she came in bare as the day she was born, the twin monsters were free to bounce and jiggle and cause her all the discomfort they wanted.
“I wonder if I’m alone in this world? Am I the only human? That’d be weird. I just have to fight weird ass frog-wolves until I die again. That’d suck.”
Aria glanced at the burning corpse of the toad beast. The corpse wasn’t fully devoured, not even halfway, but she felt full. Like she had a second stomach that was packed with energy, unable to absorb even a drop more. The inky flames still danced beautifully over the corpse, but they didn’t seem to be devouring it any further, like their needs had been satiated and now they were resting.
Aria looked at her semi-shredded arm, blood still leaking from the many little wounds the water had kept from clotting. “Onto the second act of the play.”
Aria activated the first act of the twilight flames. “Heal.”
The ghostly fire ignited on her arm, running down its length and repairing it with incredible speed. In a moment, her injuries were gone. The flames had even run their course on several wounds she hadn’t even known existed. Aria focused on that second stomach she held, feeling it topping off once more with energy as the inky flames had once again begun to devour the toad’s corpse.
Aria watched in raptured silence as the flames stopped their dance, growing idle as they rolled playfully around the corpse. It would’ve been disturbing, but the flames covered the entire corpse, making it just look like one beautiful flaming void. The feeling of her second stomach was clearly linked to her ability to devour energy from her kills. “It definitely has a maximum capacity, but what is its charge like? Do I absorb twice as much energy if I use it on two bodies at once? Does it even work on multiple targets at the same time? It says that it fuels growth, but what does that mean? Is it literal, like I’ll grow taller? Or is it more spiritual, like my skills grow or something? So many questions.” Aria lost herself to her ramblings, the part of her brain that loved discovering new things taking full control of the ship.
Aria stood after her contemplation. “Alrighty, we got the questions. Now, we need some answers.” She looked around, rubbing her hands together. “Where are more little test dummies?”