--------///----Eclina's POV----\\\--------

It was a few days after the meeting with the big tree, but i could already tell that Mr.Garris was planning something. Other then meeting with the dryads, after we would do our sweep for rifts, he would go around the forest for a few hours and then just come back with a conflicted look on his face. I was curious about what it was but whenever i asked he would just shake his head and say i'll find out soon. Me and Espiral were confused but we didn't think much of it. Until Mr.Garris woke us up and started giving us our next task.

(Garris) " I know you've been wondering why i've been searching the forest, and now it's time you find out. "

Mr.Garris knelt down and motioned for the both of us to get on his back. He's never done this before so we were already curious about what was going on, so we just did what he wanted us to do and got on his back. Then, Mr.Garris made some air restraints to keep us from falling off and took to the sky.

(Garris) " A few days ago the dryads had informed me of rifts that had been found by them and the beasts of the forest. Naturally i went to close them during our usual checks but something was different. There was a rift that i was incapable of closing. At first i panicked and immediatley consulted Fenrir and the Arbor but they kept their calm. Then during our normal checks and some i did on my own, i kept searching the forest for other rifts that i wouldn't be able to close but none of them were like that rift. You may have felt it when we cleared other rifts but i intentionally decided to wait and allow this one to open. Due to its size and location, even if it opened it would pose no danger to the forest at large.

After consulting the Arbor and Fenrir, we've come to the decision of testing you both with this rift. From prior experience, the smaller the rift the weaker the enemy, and this rift is tiny. This will give you both the chance to fight something you will have no prior knowledge of. Whatever comes out of that rift will be dangerous so treat it asa monster and do not let your guards down. However due to this still being a rift, i will still be in the vicinity in case something you cannot handle emerges. "

While Mr.Garris was telling us about what we were going to do, i couldn't help but think back to the massive rift i found... I was still scared of it but after training for months, fighting things that should've been dificult and still winning, i was a little more confident, And with the rift being tiny i wasn't that scared of it.

(Eclina) " Do we have any clues about what might come out? I know you just said we won't know what could come out, but Mr.Fenrir and the rest of the progenitors could see what was on the other side of the big rifts. "

(Garris) " No... That's why i will be staying in the area. We're incapable of seeing beyond the small rift and into whatever world it is connected too. Unless the rift was of the same proportions of the others around the world that you mentioned, then the progenitors would be able to see beyond it. However all you two will have to focus on now is the rift you will be facing. It is close to opening and soon you'll be facing whatever comes out. "

(Eclina) " Do we know when exactly it'll open? "

(Garris) " Unfortunately, no. All i can tell is that it will open soon. It may open by the end of the day, right when we get there or the day after. However even if it opens before we get there then it will be trapped as i've cordoned off the entrance to the cavern it is in. "

(Espiral) " A cave... Can we lure it out? I'm not really good in caves... "

(Garris) " That's possible. However i'll have to cordon off the area you will fight in as to prevent damage to the forest. You'll be restricted in space but it will be better then fighting in a cave. "

(Espiral) " Yay! "

(Garris) " Anyway, prepare yourselves. We're almost there. "

Mr.Garris had kept going and eventually brought us to a cave in the side of the mountains and shrunk down.

(Garris) " There's a small plateau that we flew over, you can lure whatever creature emerges from the rift over there. "

(Eclina) " OK. We'll do our best! " 

(Espiral) " Yea yea! "

(Garris) " Then go and be careful. Since we're still uncertain what may come out from the rift, you'll have to prepare first. I'll be around but only in the case of an emergency will i jump in. "

(Eclina) " We'll be fine! We can handle it. "

(Espiral) " What big sis said! "

(Garris) " Then i'll leave it up to you. Stay safe and hunt carefully. "

Mr.Garris took off and i could feel that he set up walls of air around the plateau just like he said he would. Me and Espiral looked at each other and nodded as we walked / flew into the cave. I could feel where the rift was so finding it wasn't going to be a problem. We didn't have to go that deep into the cave and eventually found a small space in the air that looked like it was rippling water. But since this wasn't in water it was more like how the air looks like it was shimmering when it's really hot. Me and Espiral just walked up to it and started to wait.

I didn't know what elements i should use against whatever came out so i just kept my darkness active and left a space for me to use any of my other elements depending on what the thing that came out was. Luckily we didn't have to wait long because the rift started to ripple more and more until it started to open up. The rift went from a small space in  the air, into a portal that got bigger and bigger as something was opening it. There were scyth like hands on the top, the bottom and the sides of the rift that were pulling it open.

The hands looked like they had chitin as their exterior while the tips and blades were bone. As the rift kept opening up, a head with antanae, compound eyes, a split mouth with mandibles that could open up in three parts and had parts of its face decaying off showing a different layer of the thing... Which looked... Off... To me. The thing saw us and started clicking its mandibles as drool started coming out of its mouth and the parts where its different skin was showing. Then its upper body started to come through as it didn't need to hold up the rift to let its body through. Its upper body had two big scyth arms on each side and smaller scyth like appendages under the bigger ones but they seemed to be dripping something. Its body had chitin plates built against each other like scales though there were still parts of its body that had its skeleton exposed and even bleeding at some places. The smell was disgusting and reminded me of corpses left out in the sun, it was hard to not throw up just being in the same place as this thing.

Then its bug legs that seemed to be just big spikes hit the cave floor. The sound of clinking reverberated throughout the cave as more and more legs started to come out. The bottom half of the things body was like a centipede but it didn't seem to have as many legs or sections since the legs were thicker and more like a spiders and had spikes coming off the sides while there were exposed joints that had hair coming out of them. Those along with its disgusting decaying and throw up like green skin made the entire thing disturbing. As it finished coming out, the rift shut closed and just dissapeared.

The bug thing looked like it was two meters tall, had disturbing membrane covered wings that didn't look like they could support its weight, a spike coming out of its back end and some of its teeth that looked like they were decaying and ready to fall out at anytime. As soon as the portal had disappeared, the thing charged at us as kept clicking its mandibles at us clearrly wanting to eat us as fast as possible. Me and Espiral were ready so we back tracked to the plataeu that Mr.Garris cordoned off for us. The fresh air did wonders for the stench and made it easier to deal with. But i didn't have time to worry about that since now it was time to fight whatever this thing was and kill it.

Espiral was already up in the sky and out of its reach but i decided to use my fire tail along with my already active darkness tail so i couldn't join him up there. I faced the thing and started to form fire lances and darkness spikes and prepared to fire them. The bug thing didn't just stand around as i did this and it started to bring the top scythes to its mouth and drooled on them while the bottom pair of scythes went into the parts where it was bleeding and had parts of its bloody skin exposed and dipped those scythes with its blood. Then it sharpened them against each other and started to charge at me while letting out an ear piercing screech.

I wasn't ready for the screech but i didn't let it bother me as i charged at it. I let loose my fire lances and tested the bugs skin to see how it handled them. But right before my lances made contact, the bug used its scythes and cut through them and weaken them to the point that they did nothing. Then i tried my darkness spikes and the bug avoided them! It seemed to be a little smart, and that was going to be annoying. I kept charging at it and started to make new attacks but then Espiral shot a small lightning bolt at it which took its attention off of me and directed it at Espiral. The bolt itself didn't seem to do much but it seemed to make the thing mad,

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It started to flap its wings but i wasn't going to let it get to Espiral so i made a few darkness needles and shot them at it as fast as i could. They hit the things armor and didn't seem to corrode much but it brought its attention back to me and raised its scythes towards me as i jumped at it. It swung the scythes at me but i coated myself in darkness and pulsed it outwards. The bug screeched but it couldn't slow down so its scuthes came in contact with my darkness and started to corrode. Though i couldn't slow down either so i jumped onto its body and climbed up onto its head.

But the bug started to beat its wings and did a short jump that knocked me off balance. I ended up falling off but i dragged my claws down its face and almost got its eyes but it headbutt me, knocking me away. Though after i got headbutt, Espiral shot out fire balls the blew up in the things face. It let out another ear piercing screech but we just ignored it. After the smoke cleared, we saw that 1 of its mandibles was on its hinges and close to falling off its face. There were parts of its carapice that were burned a shade darker but we made sure to keep it from flying as Espiral shot out another bolt at its wings which kept them from from lifting the bug up and going after Espiral.

Looking at the damages, i rethought using fire since Espiral could do it for me and decided to start switching to earth so i could keep the thing on the ground and make openings for Espiral to hit it. While i was switching from my fire, i started to run around the bug to try to find an opening to use my darkness, but whenever i would get to a side where its joints were exposed it would just turn and charge at me. Although it was smart, it wasn't really smart enough to come up with ideas.

When my earth tail was ready, i coated myself in earth and charged back at the bug. But this time, instead of jumping at it i went under it and made spikes grow from my back and impaled the underside of it. But that led to me finding something out the hard way. When the bugs blood got onto my skin, it started to burn! I seperated my spikes from my armor and ran out from under the bug so i could shake off the blood. When i did, i saw that it didn't burn the floor or my armor, just my skin. It wasn't even burning the bugs scyth hands which was annoying. The bug charged at me again but this time it was sharpening its scyth hands against each other and making small sparks everytime it did.

I decided to ignore the sparks for now and just run around the bug so i could get a shot at the bugs joints, but this time instead of continuing the charge, the bug slowed down by impaling the ground with its legs and shot out something from an exposed part of its body. The glob of whatever it was flew at me but i avoided it and looked to see that whatever it was, it was strong enough to corrode the ground. I knew if i got hit with that then i was going to be in way more trouble then when the blood landed on me.

I kept running around the bug but all of a sudden it just decided to stay still and wait for me to make a move. Though since it was staying still, Espiral was able to send more bolts and fireballs at it, which resulted in the bolts hitting and not doing much damage whhile the bug cut the fireballs. Espiral seemed to be getting annnoyed at not being able to do much but he kept trying and focused more on his lighting since it couldn't be cut. The bug stopped trying to fly up to him since it knew that as long as i was on the ground it wouldn't be able to safely try to fly.

But it looked like there was another reason why it didn't try to get to Espiral. The more Espiral shocked or burned it, the less damage it would take. The burns on its skin didn't get any worse even after multiple fireballs and lightning bolts. It even seemed like the more it got shocked, the less time it would be stunned for. Those things made Espiral less of a threat in the bugs eyes and made it focus more on me since i actually managed to wound it before. The bug looked at me and just kept waiting for me to do something.

(Espiral) " Sis, what do i do? "

(Eclina) " ... When i say it use the bang! "

I saw him start to get ready for it so i started to charge at the bug and bring all of its attention to me. As i got closer the bug started to get ready to cut me since it raised its big scyth arms up and started to screech at me. Right as i was in range to jump at it, i gave the signal.

(Eclina) " Bang! "

I stopped and closed my eyes and let the bright light explode out and blind the bug. It let out an explosive screech which told me that the plan worked. I opened my eyes and saw the bug slashing at the air in front of it and flailing about trying to hit us but failing miserably. I started to run again and made earth shackles to keep the bug still as i used darkness spears to aim at the bugs joints. But i didn't expect for it to be able to cut through my shackles so all i had to rely on were my darkness spears. I shot out atleast 5 spears all aiming at the bugs joints but somehow it knew where they were aimed and avoided them by just the right amount to where they wouldn't touch the joints and just hit the ground.

I didn't understand how that happened but i couldn't afford to just stand around surprised at the fact all of them missed. I started to circle the bug again and tried to look for an opening but the flash was starting to wear off since it was flailing less and less and starting to look around. When it didn't see me the first time, it started to frantically turn around until it saw me, which when it did it made sure to keep me in its sights. I tried to shackle it again and aimed at the legs furthest to the back so it would take a bit for it to cut the shackle but the things upper body just turned almost fully around and cut them apart like it was nothing.

I couldn't keep doing the same things so i opted to swap from my earth to my air since i had more options with it and i could avoid its attacks easier with the air. I kept running around and made sure that i was out of its reach until my air was ready. As soon as i was ready, i charged my darkness and coated myself in it as i ran to the bug. It stayed still and kept waiting for me but i charged some air outside of its field of vision and sent off some air spikes at its joints. Air wasn't that destructive but i still managed to do some damage to its joints, which caught it off guard as it fell to the ground.

But it kept its gaze on me and kept its scyths raised as i kept getting closer. Though since it was so focused on me, it didn't notice Espiral charging up a big fire lance and aiming it at an exposed part of the bugs body. When Espiral shot it off i made sure the bug didn't see it and shot a darkness lance of my own. It focused on my darkness lance and tried to avoid it but i made air shackles connected to my tails all around its body and constricted its legs, arms and neck. So even if it cut off the shackles on its legs i would still have some way to keep it still. My darkness lance hit and tore off a big scyth from the bottom on its right side while Espiral's lance landed inside the bugs body and burst!

The bug let out another ear piercing screech, which was followed by the mandible that was damaged, falling off. The bug was vulnerable so i shot out out a ball of darkness and when it was in range, i blew it up and made darkness spikes and needles pierce its body. The needles didn't do much damage but they were starting to corrode its skin while the spikes were taking it off and corroding it faster then the needles were. And the damage from Espirals fire lance burned the bugs body and gave it the smell of cooked corpses. Some of its skin was falling off but the skin that hit the ground seemed more like a shell then its actual skin.

From the parts that were getting corroded, i could see a different layer of skin that wasn't muscle. It was a brighter shade of green and seemed to be softer then the top layer. I was going to start charging up for another ball of darkness but then something that i didn't expect happened. The bug started to twitch and started to claw at itself with its scythes and eventually just stopped moving all together and fell to the ground. I just looked at it with a confused look on my face and even Espiral didn't know what was happening. He just came down and landed next to me and looked at the bug with me.

(Espiral) " Umm... Is it... Dead? "

(Eclina) " I... Don't know... "

I was about to walk up to it and poke it but then i heard it... I heard something cracking... The bugs "corpse" started to shake and its first layer of skin seemed to turn a shade darker and looked more like a shell then it did skin. Then i heard another crack and saw a visible crack start to form along its body. Then the top layer just started to fall off! It was molting!

(Eclina) " Fly! Now! "

I started making air steps and took off and made sure Espiral knew to follow my lead. I made air and darkness spikes and shot them at the bug but my darkness lances couldn't pierce the shell or decay it, neither could my air. Its like it hardened all of a sudden and couldn't be penetrated, forcing us to just wait until it came out. The cracks all along the outer layer kept growing until the bug started to squirm underneath its shell. Then it started to open up... The outer shell begun to fall off and gave way for the bug underneath to come back out.

The skin that we saw earlier was this things new layer, it was a brighter shade of green that didn't have any of the exposed patches that the other layer did. The scyth that i shot off managed to grow back, despite being bone which surpised me, and the mandible that fell off earlier was back. The upper body didn't have as much chitin armor that it did earlier and it was even smaller then before. The bottom half especially, it was shorter and didn't have legs as thick as it did earlier and even the spike at its back side was smaller. The smaller scythes that i noticed earlier were still dripping something but now they were bigger and seemed like actual threats that i could get cut by.

The bug started to stare at me and It seemed like it was about to do something to me, but then it started beating its wings as fast as it could and started to take off! Espiral even shot out a few bolts but they didn't have any affect and the bug just kept flying! I ran to intercept it but it was faster then earlier and managed to slip by me and went straight for Espiral! He flew around and tried to avoid it and i even used some air shackles to try to slow it down but despite all of that, it managed to slash out and almost severed his wings. If he didn't make a small explosion to make him shoot away then he would've lost his wings.

He hit the ground and started to bleed a beyond dangerous amount of blood... He was screeching and crying but the bug kept coming and just ignored my shackles as if they were nothing. Suddenly a ball of solid light enveloped Espiral and pulled him out of the plataeu before the bug could get to him. I knew that Mr.Garris was responsible but that thought was trapped at the back of my mind as my mind just experienced a sudden sense of emptiness that took over. My air tail turned off as i fell to the ground. However it was replaced by my light as both it and my darkness coated my body. I didn't make it happen but it did, and i didn't care why. It didn't matter. I didn't care that the bug molted, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the death of this creature. Nothing else mattered. Then what came to my mind was a single word.

(Eclina) " Unforgivable. "