4. Onwards

He followed the water. If it split, he tried to choose the way that had more. Food got more plentiful, easier to find. The air was cool now and his body no longer the darkest thing in sight. He needed a lot of testing. A lot of touching and feeling things that had the same shade of grey. But he had found out that what he saw was not light in any form, it was heat. Or better to say the difference of heat that things had. That was why that furry little thing had been so bright. And why his sight hadn´t helped finding insects and such. Those had the same temperature as their enviroment. But as the air got colder, he sometimes got a glimps of them. But only if they moved, and only the bigger ones.

On day he found another source of light. A strange plant of lichen or moss. Glowing pale in a green golden light, trapping small insects in it´s sticky fibers. At least his knowledge called those green and gold in this new language. He remembered blue, from those few prevailing memories of the sky, but he had never seen something of these colours as far as he remembered.

But he didn´t think much about colours at the moment. He had ignited the Dark Flame all over his left hand and marveld at it, seeing it clearly for the first time.

Black flames flickered over his hand, engulfing it completely so that no skin was to see anymore. But to call those flames dark or black was not enough. They were drinking the light, burning it away. They were hard to look at, like a hole in the space formed like his hand. A flickering nothing.

As he traced a finger over the thin carpet of glowing plant, what he touched burned away. smokless, cold and fast, leaving just a minuscle amount of ash. But it did not ignite the plant, burning only where he had touched. He marveled at it and feared it at the same time.

Another day he finally had to shit. He had by now thought he had lost this so human need, and as he squatted down and pressed, he found out it was not quite the same as before either. With a heavy “clonck” his excrement hit the floor. He examined it. It had no smell, was cold and hard, and as he crushed it, it did fall apart into a fine pulver that reminded him of ash. Strange, but at this point another question didn´t make that much difference anymore.

Days later he made a lucky and glorious discovery. From his main path a narrow crack had taken im in a bigger cave. Not the smell of food had lured him in here, it had been the light. Even if he had his new form of sight, he missed the light. Back in the mine, oil for lamps had been nearly as precious as food. Here he had only the rare places with glowing plants and slime, and he never would have not enjojed one if he found it.

The cave was more or less round with a dome shaped ceiling and walls, that had the green-gold shimmering moss all over it. The ground was nearly knee deep under water that stood still as the cave had not another exit. Under the water were growing a lot of plants, but they were not the reason he felt so lucky about finding this cave. Between the stalks and leaves of the plants there were small animals. Small, pale and without eyes they swam in the water. They had four limps and a tail, some fuzzy feathery growths on the sides of their head and were not bigger as his smallest finger. But after he had managed to catch one, and that haddn´t be easy, and he pulled it out of the water, there had been the amazing smell again.

Again, he had just stood there, breathing it in deep while he had felt it´s small heart beating fast against his hand. Until the heart got weaker and stopped. After that the smell was nearly gone, only just senseable by holding the little thing right under his nose.

And the taste!

As he ate it, never before he had tasted such a glorious meal. And other than even the insects it didn´t just keep the burning going. It als fed the warmth, which had just been ignited by the smell of it.

So, he stayed. He knew that he would need to go on with his journey at some point, but what did one or even more days matter after all. The warmth was growing, and it satisfied this new hunger he had since his change. Well, not satisfied, but lessend it.

After a while he found out he could lengthen the time he was able to breathe in the smell. He just had to keep the little animals from dying. Carfully holding them back under water after just a few breaths. He had problems doing that sometimes, just trying to take another breath before putting it back. Then it died and he had to carefully hunt for another one. Even if he managed to be diciplined with it, they died soon anyway. Their little heart just stopping.

He hunted, he breathed, he ate, and he felt himself getting stronger. More awake, feeling healthier and faster. The little things got scarce, but he got better at hunting them and he wouldn´t stop, even if he had stopped eating everyone of them. Putting some in his sack for later.

“Well, you are really a verry rare specimen.” A voice from behind him broke the perpetual silence he existed in all the sudden.

In shock he jerks around and moves backwards at the same time, until his feet and ass hit the cavewall. A human figure is at the other side of the cave. Right beside the only exit. No, not human. Glowing hot in his new sight and just a siluette in the pale light off the moss he can still see that something about it isn´t quite right. He is ready to fight, to defend or to flee if the opportunity arises. A short hope, that this is the help the voice had promised, is fast put down. They clearly stated that help would only come if he made it out of these caves. He ignites the Dark Flame on both of his hands.

“My, my! What a lovly flame you got there.” The person speaks. “I have one too, even if it´s not that unike as yours.” With these words a green tinted flame ingnites over a hand and brings brightness into the cave. Brighness and heat, as this flame must be hotter than normal flames. For the first time he sees the person clearly.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

A woman, but with certainty not human. Dark skinned with a hint of red in it. Black eyes without any white and two black horns coming out of lush deep red hair. She is bearly clothed in small pieces of black shiny leather that, even if they hide the importand bits, seem to have to struggle to hold back her assets. He has never seen something like her and even in his near panicked state his body reacts to her sight. Even if not human, this woman is so much more as the starved ones he had seen with the others in the mine. Or the healthy but young ones with the hated clean ones. Even if not human it´s the first adult woman he has seen since memorys that are so old, that they are nearly gone. The nothuman woman laughts.

“Now come down and be calm. I´m not here to harm you. Even better, I´m here to help you.”

Beeing cautionous he gets his wits together enough to speak: “Who are you? The voice said that the help she would send me waits outside of these caves, not within.”

“No. No, honey. I don´t know of what voices you speak, but they didn´t anounce me.” The woman smiled alluring. “But those that you hate and want revange from, they have made many enemys with all the things they have done, are doing and will do in the future. So, I don´t doubt that some of them might want to use you for their plans. And I will be truthfull to you, I too am just the messenger of one of these enemys, and we woud be very happy to use you to help our goals.”

His thinking was running and couriousness, doubt and fear was going crazy in his head as the woman was going on in her light sultry voice: “But one thing I can promise you easily. Those others will drag you befor the eyes of the world to be pitied and stand for the many victims of their enemy, to ignite the rigious anger of the good people. To get armies marching in their name and glorie to crush their and your enemy under their foot. Well, if that is enough revange for you, then okay. But know, that they will do so anyway, if perhaps a little later without you as easy presentable victim, destroyed by those evil enemys.”

She made a dramatic pause, kind of mokingly. He didn´t like the picture she was painting with her voice. He had defide them. He had stolen himself away from their greedy grasps and against all the odds he still lived. And as nice as it was to know that the clean ones would get their due, whatever happened, he wanted them to scream under his on hands. Burning from his Dark Flame and knowing it was him doing it.

“But if you want to take a more hands on approach to your revenge, than I have three things for you from my Mistress. One answer, one piece of advice and a gift. All without any hooks and without anything that is asked from you.”

“Who is this Mistress of you? And why should I belife you?” He asked mistrustfull. His life had taught him that nothing comes for free.

“It´s free because you will do anyway what my Mistress wants to be done. What she is willing to give you makes it just easier for you to be the tool that achieves her goals. My Mistress is Niyamarahitam Sukham, Patron of all those that life outside the law. Of those that defie the the Rules and Order. And for why you should belife me? You know what this is, am I right?” She pulls a glowing orb from behind her back. Yes, he knows what it is. The truthtelling orb the clean ones use. He snarls at it, bitter memorys coming to him, but she doesn´t point it at him, she just speaks: “I Abhilashah, servant of Niyamarahitam Sukham swere that I have only told the truth to you and that if you take the things my Mistress is offering you today, there is no price or debt for you.”

And the orb is shining clear and dosn´t even flicker. Calmer now but still cautinous he nods his head a little. Not trusting his voice at the moment. She just smiles.

“Good, so first the answer, and the advice that follows from it. You my dear little wonder are a monster now, no longer human as you were. Magnificent, but still a monster. You nearly died, should have died, but in the unusuall state you were as you did awaken the world didn´t recognize you as a thinking being. If it had you would have died, as a Class would not safed you. But the world gave you a Beastevolution, and that means it changed you so you would be able to live. But the little bit of Lifemana that was still in you was too changed to keep you living by itself. That´s why you hunger. That´s why you so ravenous eat these little morsels here. Why they give you so much more than dump insects. You hunger for their lifeforce because you yourself have not enough. And not simply lifeforce, you need the right spice to be able to use it. You are a fear eater. You smell it. You breathe it in their Mana that’s seasond with their fear. The flesh is so much tastier and filling with this seasoning.

And here is the advice. Hide it! Hide it good! The humans will see you as a monster if they know. And you are. So, hide it from them and be carfull.”

Thes revelation shocked him, but it made sense as he thought about his experience.

“Your Class is rare and strange, but in itself it shouldn´t bring you ridicule. And lastly the gift from my Mistress. If you are willing to carrie her sign on your skinn you will find trustworthy people everywhere. Not necessarily good people, but trustworthy. That sighn can only be seen by those that have it themselve and there are only two rules. A plege on the sighn must be kept, and everything between the people that carrie this sighn stays between them. If you break a plege or give information to outsiders knowingly then your life is forfaith. The sighn becomes a beacon and every other carrier of the sighn has the duty to kill you.”

The want to reject must have been clear in his face, because she stopped him with a pointing finger: “Before you say no, know it is an exclusive company you would be in. It´s not as every thief, whore and scoundel is allowed to weare the sighn of my Mistress. Only the craftiest, those that have proved their worth and the most interessting get this previleg. And aren´t you an intreressting one?”

He thinks about it, thinks about her plege on the orb.

“And don´t forget, you will need help getting your revenge. Non of these people will help you for free, but if you can meet their price, use your new powers for things they need, you will have allies that can´t betray you.”

He thinks hard. It´s a risk, but he can´t just reject the truth of her words. And he dosn´t need to use it if it happens to be a poisenous promise. Trying to sound calm he says: “I accept!”

“Good!” She says and walks to him with a swing to her hips, that let´s him feel things he never has felt before. Strong arms pull him upwards, so strong he now knows, that if she had ill plans towards him, he wouldn´t have any chance at all.

With her whole body she presses him to the wall of the cave and puts one hand right beneath his throat. Then she kisses him. Her hot lips and tongue drive every thought out of his brain. For a few seconds. Then she is engulfed in her own flames that blind him but only burn him where her hand had been.

As the blinding flames are gone, so is the woman. He falls forward into the cold water. As he comes up again, spitting out water and after he is finally able again to see in the near darkness of the cave, he is alone. Alone and as far as he can see blurred on the surface of the water has a bright red mark high on his chest.