Author's Note :
It seems I'm not doing so well (due to almost no followers at all)... however, I will still try to keep on going! Hopefully, I will be able to change this in the near future!
Dear readers, please do point why am I performing so bad. It would be highly appreciated :).
Reader's Interactivity 101 :-
At some point, such as in this chapter, there will come a selection of choice that will determine how good or evil will the Main Character acts as. This, clearly, will affect the way he thinks, how he acts, and the way he perceives everything around him. Choose wisely, as for every choice you make, will alter the reality of this story!
And once again, happy reading!
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Chapter 2 – The Bear Bathed In Inferno
I soar through the bright sky of the open land, viewing upon the living below, each up to their own tasks. A day after escaping that dungeon, the sky had been a place of comfort for me. Well, at least during the day since flying in the middle of the dead night is never a good idea when I’m exuding light.
The night before had been one hell of a chaos. I stumbled upon a children who saw me, hiding in between bushes. Considering that I emit a dim light, it shouldn’t be a strange thing if the children had thought that I was a firefly, a species thought to appear only once in ten centuries.
Even so, I ended up escaping as the children had adult escorts, of which tried to capture me thinking I’m a very rare species of bug, if they thought I’m a bug that is. With my speed, it had been an easy escape, but the sheer number of villagers that came about soon after was no joke. The place I was spotted at was immediately filled with villagers, peeking on every nook and cranny to find me.
And the night had more kind of troublesome stuff in store for me. After almost two hours of tiring escape, the villagers gave up on chasing and catching me. At first, I thought I was finally done for the night. Well, that was until the very same adventurers that spotted me exiting the dungeon, emerged from nowhere after hearing the very same reports of the ‘firefly’ appearing.
Even so, their spirits to catch me –probably driven by their wish to sell me for a numerous sum of money, were far different from the normal villagers. Using all the skills they had, the three adventurers, of which two were magic users and one was a swordsman, gave me a ton of trouble.
The first magic user continually casted whirlwind, throwing me off balance whenever I tried to fly away, and the second magic user kept on trying to shackle me to the ground with what looked like a purple barrier. Probably a barrier to encage souls or spirits. Nevertheless, the deadly combo was finished with the presence of the swordsman, whom instead of swinging her blades, tried to catch me with her own hands.
It may sound lame, but being someone who swung blades for ages, her speed and dexterity with her hands were no joke.
Regardless, I managed to survive the night without being captured. My fate might have turned out different if I failed to defend myself that night…
Now that I think about it, I own absolutely no skill whatsoever. The only thing I have is the soul absorption, of which are very slow to perform, and are not exactly an ideal defense against… innocent beings. This is… quite worrisome. If I want to seek for information and details regarding myself, how can I do it before ending up turning into a supposedly captured specimen of a bug?
Now… think. How can I obtain skills and strength? Training to use weapons? No, I don’t have hands and that is very much ineffective for me. Use magic? Maybe, but mana is what I’m compromised of, so overusing magic could kill me. Not to mention, I don’t remember any spells of any sort, so that’s a no.
Hmm… wait a minute. Did I not sense a sudden rise in term of energy when I absorbed the soul of that goblin in the dungeon? Could it be… that instead of devouring the mana that made up the very existence of the soul, I simply assimilated it with myself instead? Quite… fascinating.
If so… it may be possible that I could become stronger by absorbing the souls of monsters. This is… the best way for me, and also for them. Why? Because, they won’t have to experience eye-gauging pain, and would rest in peace before they even know it. Even if they –the monsters, doesn’t deserve it.
As such… let’s begin.
I ceased my movement in mid-air, and dived down upon the forest beneath me. It took me no more than a few seconds to reach the forest floor, since I wasn’t so high in the sky in the first place anyway. Plus, the absence of friction upon my body had assisted me in gaining higher speed within seconds.
The day before today, I had experimented a little bit with this invisible-to-myself body. Since my body was constructed out of mana –or so I assume, I face an absolute zero friction during moving since the air itself were made out of mana. It’s like diving into myself… in the air. I had also learned that even if I was previously invisible to everyone, I am not a spirit or a ghost.
A spirit or a ghost is capable of walking, hovering, flying through any substance things like stones, walls, even humans. However, I am incapable of doing that. The reason is because mana simply cannot clash with another of its own, especially those with different characteristic. A being of mana like spirits and ghosts are an exception, because they have different arrangements of mana, as I recall that is.
Think of fireball and thunderbolt generated with magic. They don’t mix together when they clash, do they?
Anyhow, before I seek a monster to prey on, I should ensure that the target that I’m about to choose are nowhere near any other monsters. This is because although I’m yet to test this, I may perhaps are capable of being injured, and I don’t know how hard of a hit can I exactly take. The last thing I will want is to get surrounded by monsters and get beaten to death.
Beneath the tent of the forest, lived many kinds of wildlife. Birds flew around in peace, squirrels trying to crack acorns and nuts open, and other animals that scattered away after noticing me. Is it possible to find any monsters in the forest? Maybe at night, but what if it was nicely bright during the morning?
Might be a little hard, I dare say, but I’m not giving up.
Impatient, I whizzed through the forest. You know, it’s always a plus with this kind of flight speed, easy to escape from anything, and also from detection. Travelling time are also reduced greatly. Even so, it takes quite some time to get used to, since I will always bump into things, like trees, the back of a bear, or even the bottom of a cliff.
Soon after, the roar of an unknown being came into my detection. It shook the entire forests into fear, birds began blasting into the air in groups, ground mice rolling from bushes to bushes away from the source of the roar, and even some giant –but peaceful, lizards that hid within tree barks due to its incapability to sprint at a considerable speed.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
I found my target, finally. With excitement, I thrusted up high into the sky. I needed to survey what type of monster was it, and if it was in combat with anything or anyone else.
With precautions and every alarm within me ready to ring in case I take a hit, I hover above the very spot of where I assume the roar had come from. And there it was, a bear shrouded in fiery inferno, its crimson red flame eating away at the nature in its surrounding. Its eye was doused in flame, as intense as the one covering its entire body.
It’s a magical beast huh… a species that was created as a result of normal animals possessing too much of mana irregularity.
Poor soul.
The bear, as if lost direction of what it should do, began wreaking havoc upon its surrounding. Wildly, it slashed the tree barks before it, shredding the pitiful tree into burnt ashes as the fire on its claws started branching away on the tree, leaving behind a disastrous land of dead and burnt layers of wood.
Even these natures have souls, and I could see it… at the very moment when they had completely… passed away, the orbs hovering on their leaves broke violently, as opposed to how the goblin orb I had absorbed only disintegrated softly. It bursts into tens of pieces, of which then decays into smaller form of ‘deceased’ mana.
As if trying to ascend into the heaven, these mana began floating into the air, forming a very beautiful scenery of serene, despite the chaotic situation down below.
As beautiful as it is… I cannot allow this to continue.
Whilst the bear continues to cause irreversible damage upon the forest, I descend behind its back, silent and without producing even the slightest gust of wind. Devoid of the knowledge on my presence, the bear then advances forward.
What is it after? A village? A human?
I don’t know, but I should cease its movement, and kill… end it, right here, right now.
Focusing my thoughts, I expanded my mana and stretched it out forward. The result was the very same illusionary hands that I first created in the cave before. Although barely noticeable in bright daylight, I could see it clearly, thanks to the difference in the characteristic of my mana from the mana in the air.
With the utmost gentleness, I reaches for its orb. It seemed… chaotic, cracks spread everywhere upon its surface, vibrating much harder than any other orbs I have seen. A voice soon echoes within me as I reach closer toward the orb:-
“Please, do not destroy me. Please, I beg of you. Do not destroy me, for you will destroy my owner.”
…Huh? The soul… it’s… defending its owner?
“Why do you avoid death, little one? Why do you deny the end when it is time? You do possess the knowledge, that you won’t have much long of a time anymore, you-“
The orb began exuding an aura, a black aura of resistance. It is pushing away my illusionary hands, rejecting the grasp that I have brought. “This is not by natural cause, high being. My owner… it is not a magical beast on rampage.”
Without letting the orb overpower me, I pushed my hands with more force. “What… what are you trying to imply?”
“It… it was a very peaceful animal. Not a magical beast, but a simple bear that lived its life following the rules of the nature. But one day, a human boy clad in red robe came, and planted something within the chest of my owner. Now… that… ‘thing’ have assimilated with the bear, and are now trying to push me out of the bear’s body.”
“Are you saying, that even if you perish, the bear will continue on its rampage?”
“You are intelligent, high being. Please think of it, I am the only one holding back my owner from truly unleashing his power. Without me, there will be no one to stop it in its track. So… please, assist me.”
Helping this bear and its soul? But… how? As it is now, trying to stop it in its track are suicidal to me. No matter how I change my perspective, I can’t help but to think that I’d end up getting sliced into two with those claws. Is there a way to help them… or is it not possible? Nevertheless… time is ticking…
[ Choice 1]
Help the bear and its soul
If the soul speaks of truth, then the bear are in fact an innocent being. And absorbing the soul will only make matters worse! As such, assisting it may perhaps be the most reasonable decision I should make. Not to mention... why do it call me... 'high being'? Perhaps it holds yet another piece of the puzzle to unlock my true identity....
Become the answer to me, unknown.
[ Choice 2 ]
[table=red] Refrain from helping the bear and devour its soul instead
It doesn't matter whether the bear was innocent or not. What I seek for now is power, and I do not require any more burden to slow me down. Considering this bear holds an immense power, that alone is a bountiful harvest for me. Not to mention... the damage done by this bear... is no longer excusable.
Assimilate with me, power.
[/table]
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Author's Note :-
This vote, unlike last time, will last only for a day. As always, should a major decision has been decided, then the poll may perhaps close early or not, and I will begin working on it, as soon as possible.
As always, happy voting! :)