> “...They found us. Abyss below, they found us. How did they find us?”

>

> - Translated from an ancient journal of Artemis

>

>  

I observed the creature for a few more minutes, clinging to the hope that I would figure out a way to kill this disgusting beast. It was, in a word, unnatural. The name my new wolf buddy gave it was accurate: interloper. That title bothered me a bit, but I figured it had something to do with not belonging here.

I know, I’m amazing at deduction.

What had that lupine said? It was a creature from beyond this world? It upset the natural order? From what I could see, that was a spot-on observation, as no beast, from rare to even epic class, could make a dent in it. The more I watched, the more I spotted various kinds of creatures it hoarded in piles. One thread tied all of those fallen beasts together, though. They were mutilated in strange, supernaturally clean lines. It was like they were sliced and diced by some divine butcher.

What exactly can this foul beast do?

Time was running out. I needed to kill this creature and get back to my friends. I knew intellectually that whatever fight they had was probably long over, but I needed to get back and see if there were any survivors.

If I can save just one of them, it will be worth it, I vowed.

Steeling my resolve, I began to descend into the ravine. My senses were on high alert, and it must’ve been the adrenaline coursing through my veins, as everything seemed to be in crystalline focus. I was able to discern the subtle fluctuations of the foliage and the shadows they cast. I could taste the convoluted mixture of half a dozen monsters rotting in heaps. I could hear the beast as it munched on its prey.

As I neared it, the details of its erratic form became clearer. It was serpentine in form, but that was where the comparisons ended. It had a giant maw that was long and narrow, lined with obsidian teeth that protruded at odd angles from its bite. The tongue that snaked out of its mouth was a dark purple, a hue at home amongst the glowing violet pockets that lined its many-limbed body.

Strangest of all, however, was how it moved. It was spasmodic and twitchy, even at rest, current of dark electricity occasionally zapping it. It snarled each time this happened. One particular shock sent it flying through the air. It spun on and curved on itself in an odd geometry right before its hind legs pulsed with violet energy. An impossibly thin barrier hexagonal in appearance formed directly underneath its feet and it shoved off the surface like it was stone.

Everything about this creature was off. It snacked lackadaisically until some movement drew its attention. A Shardclaw, barely older than a pup, whimpered at the edge of the clearing. It nuzzled the prone form of a much larger Shardclaw. The beast pounced without hesitation, pivoting from conjured platform to conjured platform in a weird facsimile of flight. The small wolf didn’t know what hit it until it was too late. The lupine disappeared inside its maw a moment later, crushing it with a single crunch.

“No,” I whispered. My fists clenched so tight I thought I might break my fingers.

An emotion stirred in my heart that did not entirely feel like it was my own. The tattoo on my chest started to warm. Heat and fury goosebumped along my flesh until I was ablaze with anger. My eyes lingered on the dozens of other fallen monsters, pity and grief threatening to overwhelm me. This was not supposed to happen. This creature did not belong here. It was massacring these creatures without a care in the world. And it wasn’t doing it out of hunger or fear. No. It hunted for fun. Images of James collecting Orion cadets only to enthrall them came to my mind. This…thing was no different. It thought that just because it was strong, it could take and take and take.

“Not anymore, you don’t,” I promised the foul interloper in front of me. My thoughts cleared as resolve settled into my bones. Screw whatever promise I made to that giant wolf. I would kill this thing because I wanted to. No, I needed to.

“Hey!” I yelled at the beast, drawing its set of four eyes in my direction. “It’s time to go back to whatever dark hole you came from, you disgusting excuse for life. I won’t let you kill any more locals, alright?” I strode toward it, flexing my gauntleted fingers as I shook my shoulders loose. I tightened the orange ribbon in my braid, the promise I made back then taking on a new light here.

I would honor the Hunt. Protect it. This creature was a threat to that, and so must die now. Worse, if left unchecked, there was no saying where it might stop. Halistair might be next. I wouldn’t let that happen.

My eyesight sharpened and I noticed new details about its form. Near the pockets of violet fluctuations, there were dense ridges like the back of the wyvern. Each time it used one of those hexagonal platforms to move about, one or more of those pockets dimmed. Also, on each of its legs were metallic rings that concentrated that power and condensed it into the surfaces.

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Holy shite, I cursed. This creature has its own enchanted gear! The more I watched, the more I was convinced of this fact. Those rings somehow channeled its power, or was, perhaps, the source of it. It was fast, agile, and possibly poisonous, but that was likely the extent of its power.

With a screeching sound accompanied by a clicking tone it made with its tongue, it lunged toward me. The barriers it made clipped one of the larger piles of corpses, and a clean line cut through the bodies like they were nothing. Its preferred method of attack crystallized in my head, then. It used those conjured surfaces for mobility, sure, but they doubled as static blades it used to shred its enemies. A ridiculous plan formed in my mind, then.

At least no one will be here to witness my pitiful death if this doesn’t work, I consoled myself.

“Come on!” I yelled hoarsely. My courage waned when its eyes met mine, and a shiver ran down my spine. Cold sweat formed on my brow as I took in the sheer size of it. While it was not quite the same size as the wyvern, I got the sense this monster was twice as deadly. Worse, I had no friends to aid me in felling it.

I was alone.

The beast clicked its tongue and lunged for me. I started to sprint to meet it, my senses honed and tunneled into this one ravine, this one fight, this one heartbeat. My boots ate up the ground like it was nothing while the creature navigated the air in a jagged line. It twisted at the last moment, two rings on its legs lighting up as hexagons appeared directly on top of me. I slid under the attempted bisection and slammed one of my fists into its closest leg joint. The interloper howled in pain and rage as my fight crunched ligament and bone alike.

Good. Its mobility replaces its durability, I rapidly surmised.

It snapped at my exposed head, and I had to roll awkwardly out of the way to avoid an unwanted beheading. My braid whipped through the air as I threw myself back onto the ground and rolled until I was back on my feet. My boots nearly slipped on the wet blood that pooled in this gods-forsaken pit, but I caught myself on a nearby Shardclaw corpse. I grimaced. The beast twisted in on itself like a corkscrew and it lunged again. I punched forward, releasing one of my kinetic blasts directly into its face. It dodged my attack right before it struck, ruining the trajectory of its next platform. I used another kinetic charge to burst myself up and out as it passed.

I slipped just over the length of its body. I reached for one of its ridges, but my left hand slipped. I slid along its uneven body as it swept past, my ribs and back taking the brunt of the undignified slide I was on. I twisted my hips and dug my right gauntlet into its flesh. The razor edges of the spikes there ripped through a huge, but narrow, part of its back as I neared its tail. I yelped as it suddenly performed a full turn in the air, throwing me hard into a pile of carcasses below. My head slammed against the tough hide of a large Zengo, and I huffed as the air in my lungs rushed out. I coughed as the overwhelming smells of death bombarded me.

The creature whirled. I tried to rise, but my vision turned red as I saw stars flutter in my periphery. I scrambled over the dead right as beast lunged. I fell down the pile right as a violet pattern emerged out of thin air and cut through the space I just vacated. I continued to roll, careful to protect my head as tooth and claw and bone protruded from the corpses littered around me. I landed hard on the ground and rushed to my feet, desperation giving me new energy.

Where is it?! I looked around frantically. One of them has got to have it!

A blue hue glowed beneath a nearby pile, and I rushed in that direction. The interloper made another swipe at me and I dove for the blood-soaked dirt at the last second. I felt its hot breath against my neck as its maw passed by me. It clicked its tongue in annoyance and rounded about to make another go at me. I reached my target and used a stream of mist to help shove the corpse above the thing I needed. There it was. I used my spikes to gouge out the item. The creature above dove at me right as I yanked it out.

The newly procured Shardclaw spike, still aglow with its power, was held firmly in my left hand. The foul invader made four barriers this time, blocking every path for me save one. I used my last kinetic blast to shoot upward right as it went in for the kill. Its maw opened wide, ready to swallow me whole.

I chucked in the glowing blue claw right as I hit the apex of my jump, and twisted backward so that my flip kicked the creature in the soft bottom of its long mouth. The force snapped the tooth-lined lips shut with a loud clap of muscle and bone. My foot hurt like the seven hells, but it was worth it when I saw the pain and horror register in those violet eyes. I slammed hard against another pile of the dead, and something in my left shoulder cracked under my weight. I moaned as the joint dislocated entirely.

“Take that, ya bastard!” I hollered as the beast contorted in the air right before it fell toward the ground…Right above me. I cursed loudly and tried to get up, but my shoulder screamed in protest. It fell out of the sky in a mighty heap, large swathes of its torso turning crystalline. My plan had worked. I noticed that since it killed for pleasure, it likely disregarded the magical remnants the beasts left behind. Fortunately, some of them had been killed in the last thirty-seven hours, and so I used its ignorance to my advantage.

But now, that ignorance was going to bury me in crystal flesh.

Right as it was about to land, I sensed that one of my kinetic charges had been restored, and used it to send me flying as horizontally as possible. I flew out of the wreckage an instant before the beast toppled on top of its victims. My head clipped something hard, and I immediately felt warm blood drip down my neck.

As my consciousness faded, I found myself smiling.

Words came to mind that didn’t feel entirely my own, but seven hells did they feel right as I peered across at the withering creature as it gnashed at the air in vain.

“I banish thee, foul beast. Go back to the abyss.” My head slumped back. As I stared at the creature, my vision started to shimmer. At first, I assumed it was a hallucination from my head wound or blood loss, but then I felt a warmth flood from my new tattoo. Roiling emotions swept over me and soon my vision disappeared as it was replaced with a whole new world.