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The cramped cavern walls pressed firmly against his body; like a hungering snake, the tunnel constricted inwards, squeezing, almost pulling him in. One arm crushed under the weight of his own body, scraping against the harsh bite of stun with every shuffle forward; the other arm stretched out before him, illuminating his path by way of a soft blue glow that emanated from the beating lamp cage. The small handheld cage contained within it a luminous thing, some ethereal presence perpetually swaying to a forgotten wind. With every determined pull of his arm, he delved further into this metamorphic beast, and that blue glow would jump and scatter, igniting that beast into a frenzy of furious, screeching shadows. Brutal jutting blacks leaped out from behind jagged stones as if the cave itself had awakened, biting down into its helpless meal. Any hope the man had for defence was trapped within his rucksack trailing behind him by an ever-fraying rope tied to his ankle.
Occasionally, the light would reveal, for but a moment, these strange bulbous creatures with undulating tentacles and semi-lucid bodies; the rays of illumination would quickly pass, and by the time they returned, the creatures would already be gone. The man made slow progress; with every push forward, he had to fight to squeeze through the ever-shrinking tunnel. The rhythmic thud of his heart reverberated ominously into the yawning abyss, its eerie cadence only surpassed by the laborious rasp of his own breath. As the tunnel descended at a gradual incline, the ceaseless rush of blood to his head threatened to unravel his sanity.
He continued to crawl slowly down the path for what seemed like hours, although it was impossible to tell without any source of natural light. At long last, a subtle, invigorating chill caressed his face, offering a precious taste of untainted air. The lamp cage was unaffected by the breeze; the light within was a glow of some pure essence; it was not some flame or magic that could be so simply extinguished by outward influences. With the breeze coursing through his hair, the man found a renewed vigour and continued forward with greater speed. The prospect of stretching his cramped muscles and breathing in an open, expansive space drove him on with renewed zeal. The fresh, crisp breeze called him further, its gentle whisper evolving into a melodious rush, eventually crescendoing into the harmonious symphony of running water. The cave's light was now too brilliant for the mere strength of his lamp cage. With a press of his will, he sapped any colour from the softly lit cage, the blue light within seemingly absorbed into the metallic walls of its container. The cage regained its natural hue from this, but the light source, now drained, could no longer illuminate the cave. Darkness overcame the tunnel, but not entirely; a feeble glimmer emanated further down the tunnel. Invigorated even more, he pushed through as quickly as he could until, finally, he could see it.
The cave unfurled into an awe-inspiring cathedral of stone, where colossal stalactites reached down from the lofty ceiling like titanic daggers. Even the grandest of these petrified crenelations barely grazed the tips of the peculiar trees below. Concealed deep within the living rock, this colossal arboreal kingdom lay hidden, a realm of bizarre, teardrop-shaped giants that dwarfed the man hundreds of times over. A verdant grass carpeted the expanse in a lush, emerald embrace, nourished by the cascading waterfall that descended from a rupture in the cave's roof, forming a meandering river that sliced through the entire forest before vanishing into yet another enigmatic passage. The hole from which the waterfall tumbled appeared as a gateway to the outside world, allowing the gentle caress of sunlight to pour through the charming aperture. This daylight filtered through the descending waterfall, casting undulating silhouettes that cloaked the cavern in a mesmerizing cerulean glow. Noticing the sunlight irritated the man as he wiggled and writhed in the cramped tunnel hole in which he lay.
The man struggled to squeeze himself out of his tunnel before promptly falling a few feet and landing awkwardly upon the supple carpet of grass. He swiftly regained his footing, brushing off the clinging shroud of dust that had settled upon his body during his descent. As he shook himself clean, a handful of the curious, translucent creatures had been unveiled from the folds of his garments and sent scattering into the air. In the open air, he could now see these creatures for what they were: minuscule, spherical entities, almost translucent, their odd forms reflecting a faint shimmer of captured starlight. Tiny, hair-like appendages adorned their exteriors, delicately wafting to propel them unbidden by gravity back to the safety within the crags of the cave walls. The man broke his gaze from the crack with which those peculiar beings disappeared and went to pick up the lamp cage which had fallen with him. He inspected it intently. "Are you okay?"
The lamp cage did not seem to bear any scratches or dents from its fall; satisfied, the man tied it onto his belt. He unknotted the rope around his ankle, stuffed it into his backpack, and took the opportunity to stretch his limbs and coax life back into his fatigued muscles. He picked up his rucksack and headed into the forest.
The man wandered through the forest all day, moving slowly and carefully as he hunted for his prey. As time crept on, the light from the waterfall began to fade, indicating what the man assumed was the start of night. Without any hope of finding anything in the darkness of the cave, he set up camp, lighting a small fire and pulling some dried meat from his pack to snack on. The night was calm, with the gentle crackling of the fire playing as a soothing lullaby. Yet, amid the quietude, another unsettling presence lurked in the shadows—an incessant, eerie patter, a multitude of slender legs skittering up trees and threading through bushes. Alertness surged through the man as he sprang to his feet, drawing his short sword, ready for any threat that dared approach. The eerie patter grew louder and ominously nearer, encroaching from every conceivable direction. It became evident that the enigmatic creatures of the darkness were not confined to the ground but were also scaling the treetops and tunnelling beneath his feet.
In his free hand, with a push of magical essence, the man conjured a brilliant burst of blinding arcana, a searing white explosion that banished the shroud of darkness, unveiling a harrowing sight. Before him sprawled a horde of hundreds upon hundreds of chitinous legs. Creatures boasting massive, formidable mandibles, their width dwarfing the expanse of a single leg. Lengthy bodies sheathed with hard-segmented exoskeletons. As swiftly as the radiant illumination arrived, it dissipated, surrendering to the relentless darkness that once again engulfed him. Alone in the obsidian embrace, the man clung resolutely to his campfire, his fingers tightening around his weapon, poised and ready for the impending onslaught. The cacophonous patter grew louder and more numerous, a blinding chorus.
Then silence.
He waited, still poised for the coming battle. The passage of time weighed heavily as seconds stretched into minutes, stretching further into hours. Then, light poured again from the waterfall, and daybreak revealed an empty forest; its once-teeming denizens vanished without a trace.
Having wasted the night, the man was exhausted, but he could not waste what little daylight he had. He extinguished the campfire, grabbed his equipment, and continued his hunt. His methodical stalking eventually brought him to a petite clearing amidst the densely wooded terrain. Within this clearing, a magnificent sight awaited—a pristine, snow-white horse, its graceful form poised as it leisurely grazed upon a lush bed of golden blossoms. However, what truly captured his attention was the peculiar yet hauntingly captivating feature that adorned the horse's head—a substantial, sharpened bone protruding from its brow, twisting to a sharp point. From the tip of this remarkable appendage, delicate wisps of ethereal tendrils would materialize, their intricate dance a mesmerizing display before they gracefully dissipated into the surrounding air.
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The man quietly placed down his backpack. He unclipped a small pouch from his belt, carefully unlatching its clasp. The pouch was filled with a moist, clumpy powder. He unsheathed his sword and smeared a measured portion of the powder onto the blade. He then pricked his finger, letting his blood drool down the blade and mix with the powder. The coagulated mixture of blood and powder sizzled away, and the blade was engulfed in a thick red mist. Next, he unclipped his lamp from his belt and poured his will into it; the blue wisp within grew, for but a moment, to a heated yellow that then shot out a powerful bolt of arcana toward the horse.
The bolt found its mark, grounding into the horse's flank with a bone-jarring impact that sent the magnificent creature sprawling. An anguished, piercing cry escaped the horse's lips, momentarily paralyzing the man, his senses overwhelmed by the intensity of the sound.
Before he could regain his composure, the horse rose from the ground, its fearsome bone protrusion levelled menacingly at the man. The tendrils sprouting from its tip thickened, pulsing with an ominous, fiery orange luminescence. With a thunderous charge, the horse surged forward, its immense orange tendrils whirling through the air, tracing arcs of ethereal light that crackled briefly before erupting in a secondary explosion. Regaining his senses just in the nick of time, the man sprang into action, his reflexes honed to a razor's edge. With a deft maneuver, he intercepted the first oncoming tentacle with his glowing blade that sliced straight through the tendril. Once severed, the tentacle faded away into nothing.
The horse reared from the unexpected retaliation; in turn, the man quickly lunged forward and swiped at the horse's stomach, easily rending it apart. Like an opened pouch, the gash in the horse's stomach let spill the contents inside, and three long palpitating worms dropped onto the floor, their barbed teeth still barely holding their thorny upper bodies within their host.
Exposed to air, the worms exploded into orange flames, their back ends flailing widely in desperate attempts to crawl back into the safety of the horse's stomach. Unable to keep up with the random motion, one of the worm's tails struck the man's side with a force that sent him hurtling toward a massive tree. In the nick of time, his lamp burst into life, bathing him in a protective shroud of azure radiance moments before his collision with the unforgiving trunk.
The glow of his lamp dissipated, and he raised his blade again towards the eldritch horse. With a discerning gaze, he meticulously tracked the erratic dance of the three spindly worm tails, deciphering their elusive pattern. His watchful eyes traced the sinuous, thick orange tendrils adorning the horse's menacing bone, methodically unravelling the intricate web of perilous orange streaks it had laid out as a trap.
After calculating his enemy, he jumped back into battle; the orange streaks ignited into searing flames just as he predicted, but he deftly navigated the fiery maze, evading each incendiary burst with swift agility. As he hurled himself into the midst of the writhing worms, he could not entirely avoid the inevitable grazes and scratches that came with such perilous proximity. Finally, when close enough in range, he drove his blade deep into the horse's neck, and with the glow of his lamp cage, he sent a deep blue light into his sword. The blue light infused itself with the sword's crimson mist, igniting the melded mixture into a deafening explosion that decapitated the horse and sent purple bolts flying into the forest, piercing trees and shrubs alike.
Two worms quickly detached themselves from the lifeless horse and slithered away into the forest. The third worm, cleft in twain along with the horse's neck, writhed in agony. Its longer latter body slowed to a still mortis; while the short upper body ensconced in the horse's head regenerated a new infantile tail. The worm wriggled itself free of its host, pulling out the protruding bone with it.
The small horned worm tried to quickly wiggle away, but the man managed to jump it and stake the worm firmly to the ground. With a second swift strike, he lopped the horn off at the base, and the worm finally stilled.
The man went back to collect his backpack before returning for the worm's horn. He pulled out a small dagger from his pack. The dagger was plain but sharp, its edge curved and partly serrated; this dagger was a tool specifically for dissecting animals. He used the tool to carve out the rest of the worm's horn that resided deeper in its head.
He set camp right in the middle of the wrecked bed of golden blossoms, and from the depths of his pack, he retrieved an assortment of cooking utensils. He hung a small pot above the fire and drained a vial of darkened ichor into it. He was so excited to finally have all that he needed he could not wait a second. Once the ichor was brought to a boil, he then—from his pack—pulled out a pouch of glowing dust, a thumb-sized beating heart, and a skinless wing; with deliberate care and precise timing, he dropped each ingredient into the bubbling broth. Positioned with utmost care beside him, his lamp cage continued to cast its gentle, comforting blue glow.
In one hand, he gripped the newly acquired horn shaft, while in the other, he clutched both the base of the truncated horn base and a tiny, quivering chrysalis. His gaze remained fixed on the pot, occasionally stirring its contents without ever releasing his two items.
Finally, the liquid in the pot shifted colours; he swiftly lowered the chrysalis into the bubbling mixture. Immediately, he brought his hands together, aligning the two halves of the horn and directing it just above his concoction. In an instant, the liquid erupted into a billowing plume of steam, which was promptly absorbed into the horn. He carefully moved the horn, its two halves somehow reconstituted and vibrating with power, towards the lamp cage and positioned the pointed tip between two of its bars. The blue essence inside spontaneously blazed into a red fury and just as quickly turned back to blue as the horn popped out of existence.
"WHAT?!" The man's voice erupted in a frantic crescendo, his fingers tugging at his hair painfully amidst the rising turmoil. "No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't be!"
He fervently began pouring magic into the lamp cage, striving to infuse it with power. Briefly, the blue light shimmered, shifting to a pallid white hue, though the change proved fleeting, returning to its customary blue glow. Deflated and dispirited, the man slumped beside the lamp cage, drained both physically and emotionally.
With a lackadaisical reach, he retrieved the lamp cage, exerting his drained will upon it to project a beam toward the cave roof. The resultant burst evaporated the entire ceiling, unveiling the world outside. A massive building, perhaps millions of times larger than the man, could be seen. He didn't care. He walked towards his pack and pulled out a small tablet. He ensured that he had everything he came with and then swallowed it.
The man suddenly grew larger and larger until, finally, he was back to his normal size, all alone in this empty alley squeezed between a rancid butcher shop and a long abandoned Devadootian church. A few passersby paused in their bustling routine along Horsa's vibrant market street, their curiosity piqued by the strange beam of light that had just pierced the alley. The man looked down at the cracked pebble by his feet.
With unbridled frustration, he roared out and stomped down on the pebble. Just as he crushed the stone, a loud bell chimed next to him. When he twisted his head to see what caused the sound, there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus that grew out of thin air, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb. The arm was outstretched towards the man holding a glowing parchment: It read.
You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Pith