Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 11th day

Tiflis woke up after a few minutes, he ran up to me in a second and nearly hit me. “What happened to you?!” He yelled out at me, I smiled — or what constitutes as a smile for me — and said, “You don’t need to worry about me, I’m all good. Just let me rest for a bit.” I closed my eyes, my tiredness seemed to melt away. When I awoke, I was in a… weird underground city of sorts. My eyes quickly gravitated to a scale in the center, it was… beautiful. A dark amethyst-colored scale with 2 glowing lilac-colored lines that ran through it sat atop an altar. I dropped the Hiddle in my hands right where I stood, he spurted a small amount of blood from his little mouth.

Even from where I was stood, I could feel the power emanating from the scale towards the entire area. I didn’t care for the 4 people, the scale was what's most important, while walking there I noticed a considerable shift only 2 meters away from the scale. It was still manageable, though, so I just kept walking. Suddenly, I felt something touch my leg, then immediately crumble, a skeleton of the person in my pathway collapsed. I could see that some parts of it were crumbling down, a small white piece of… something was inside its femur. I already noticed that it would be exceedingly difficult for me to get the scale, so this was something more interesting.

I picked up the bone and broke it open, trying to get at the little white speck inside it that was barely visible. When I broke it open, a white scale with a red line running through it was what greeted me. A very familiar came off of it, the almosanguine? No, she didn’t have any scales as far as I could tell, and I wasn’t close enough with her to feel this familiar. The shape of it felt so familiar, I went ahead and broke down all the other skeletons, trying to see if they all had scales. All of them did indeed have a scale in one of their bones, after I was done, there was only some powder and crushed up bones left there. I walked out of range and put down all the scales, they were all like an oval, and each had a red line running through them. They did have some pretty minuscule differences though, some were rougher than others, but I can chalk that up to their differing environments.

When I laid down all the white scales, they instantly pointed towards the scale in the center, interesting. I left them there and started to wander around, the massive tree in the center looked to be a nice vantage point, perhaps I could find something at its canopy. I walked up to it and dug my claws deep into its trunk, pulling myself up and steadily climbing all the way up the first large tree branch — which was the size of the tree trunks of other trees. I couldn’t see far, the leaves were packed where I was, and my eyes couldn’t penetrate the thick foliage. I looked up, only to see the tree’s upper canopy. Sighing, I continued on with my climb.

When I reached the treetop, a hollowed-out space led to the bottom of the tree. Hmmm, why did this place feel so alien to me, when everything else had a certain degree of familiarity. I looked down at the black space inside the tree and braced myself, might as well see what was down there. I stuck my claws even deeper inside the trunk of the tree and started to climb down, it was a twisting path of wood and there were even some small bugs. I finally dropped to what looked to be a tunnel.

The roots of the gigantic tree were intertwined in this tunnel, but it never seemed to go further than a meter into the 4-meter wide tunnel. I walked through the tunnels, some parts had concrete, others were eroded down to just dirt. Eventually, I could see what looked to be a door, there was also a very putrid odor that stunk in the air. When I opened the door, I was in an office of sorts that looked impeccably clean. I noticed a small briefcase that had a muffled sound coming from it, I injected my mana into my claws and then opened up the briefcase.

A green clump of cells inside a tube was inside the briefcase, it uttered out, “He-Help me.” I picked it up and saw a note inside the case, it was a genetic anomaly. I nearly shattered the tube and killed it now, but I managed to regain control of myself. Perhaps this thing could provide me with some answers, “How could I help you?” is what I said, masking my distinct hatred for the thing inside it. “Pu-Put me in the large tubes…” I took the little thing and walked out through a door, going to a tube. There was a small slot of sorts that fit the little tube in my hands perfectly, I put it in and the machine roared to life.

The little green clump quickly went to the larger cylinder, it instantly looked to be much healthier. “Thank you.” I heard it say, “I want to ask you some questions regarding this place.” It nodded, “What even is this place?” The clump of cells moved around a bit, seemingly contemplating an answer, before saying, “This was a laboratory used to experiment on me and my people, I just remember that I was abducted from my homeland and forced to come here.” Hmmm, they have a homeland? Interesting, I will have to take note of that, maybe another goal to add.

“Go on.” I said to him, and he complied, “I do not know how long I was trapped here, the briefcase I was in offered no sense of time. I just know that this place was a city under a country named Lesith.” I nodded, “What else do you know?” The clump of cells shook around as a way to convey that it didn’t know anymore, I narrowed my eyes. Tsk, this little thing probably wouldn’t talk much anyway. I lifted my claws and dug them into the glass, puncturing the tube, this genetic anomaly had high regeneration, but it still looked to be pretty new and can’t survive outside this substance. It looked at me outside the tube, not even having the strength to muster up any response, just looking at me with shock.

This thing was unworthy of life, that didn’t change just because it gave me some answers. I injected some of my mana into my claws and killed the clump of cellular life. Hmmm, now then, this place was pretty interesting. I wonder what there is down here, I was scared of this place immensely, I noticed it the moment I walked through the door, there was something in the air that scared me. This place isn’t normal, but it's the only place that can give me some sort of answer. I walked to a door, which leads into a storage room with 5 rows of cabinets, my eyes immediately went to a wall with a thick layer of dust upon it.

There was something in me calling for it, despite my mind saying that I shouldn’t, that it would be disastrous if I did. But there was also another part of me that felt that this was the answer I was looking for all along, that this would be the right thing. I moved slowly, reaching the mural and brushing off the layers upon layers of dust upon it. What I saw was a white snake biting its tail, and it made a circle shape around the center of the mural, before I knew it, the surroundings changed once again. Now, I was standing in a berry field when the sun was at the height of its cycle. The blazing sun shone upon the beautiful fields, I looked around and noticed a… settlement of some kind.

I started to make my way over there, what was this place? A white snake slithered through the grass in front of me, catching me off guard. It left just as suddenly as it came, now that I looked at this settlement, the people in it looked to be like those from the mural. A race with jet black skin and two tentacles trailing behind them, they had no reaction to me walking up to them. Even when I was right next to what looked to be a mother and her son, they didn’t react to me in any way. I tried scratching my claws to make a sound, and even tried to converse with them, all to no avail, which was weird. Was this its own contained, and separate world, I moved to another house.

It was a blacksmith, he worked with black metal of some kind amazingly well, his skill was evident. I, eventually, got bored and moved on. This settlement was still in the middle of its construction, some houses were still being built and a few more caravans were arriving. From what I saw, the people back there had phones, and unless these were a secular species, this has to be a memory of something long ago. I sat there for what seemed to be an eternity, just watching this species build up their homes until it was a sizeable city. My sense of time felt… weird, I saw moments that should have taken years to build happen in a matter of minutes. I stood up, looking at the sizeable city, and walked around the different alleyways and such.

I happened upon a white snake grappling around a small child, I sat down and watched the snake sink its teeth into the child, a sliver of its silver blood went inside the wound on the child, the child's eyes turned red for a second as the snake left. I left the alleyway, savoring the looks of the now large city. After a while of aimlessly wandering around, I found myself on the outskirts of the city. It was now nighttime and the beautiful berry fields were still flourishing.

A large white snake manifested itself on the fields, sitting in wait for something. Less than 10 seconds later, I got my answer, a gigantic silhouette of a Drake was seen in the air. I looked up and could see a Drake with purple scales landing on a field opposite the white snake, it looked in the direction of the white snake — who I just now noticed had gigantic red lines coursing along its body. “Demenseria…” said the snake, slithering around a bit on the field while still keeping a close eye on the Drake. “You are nothing but a worm that grovels in the ground, Tannin. Your days are numbered.” snapped the Drake, Demenseria, right back to the snake who was now lifting its head.

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I looked at Demenseria, his scales were subdued, yet still glowing. Unlike me, who stuck to the ground, he stood on his hind legs and used the gigantic wings on his back to balance out the 2 gigantic hands he has. He scratched his chin with his claws and looked back down on the snake, the horns on his head were large and displayed his majesty as a Drake. They, unlike the rest of his body that was a deep purple — or light purple for his underbelly — were black with purple lines running through them. He reached his hand into space and took out a quill. The snake reacted quickly and lunged at Demenseria, and that was when I was kicked out.

I was back in the storage room, looking at the mural and the disjointed white snake on it. I felt… unfulfilled. It cut out right before their battle, what was this, and I didn’t get any answers to the mysteries either. I sighed and walked right back out into the tunnels, I walked to where the entrance from the tree was and climbed myself out, the leaves in the canopy were nice and the fresher air outside than inside was also a nice change of pace. I climbed down from the top of the tree only to find the Hiddle gone from where he was, weird. I started to walk around and look for him, nothing changed, besides the Hiddle not being there anymore.

Eventually, I walked inside a house and noticed a set of bones that looked and felt suspiciously familiar. I picked some up and could see telltale signs of them being crushed at certain points. Wait, was this the Hiddle’s bones? The points on the skeleton all point to it being his, so what killed him? His skeleton was also very brittle, it crumbled down to powder after I poked and prodded at it for a few seconds. Tsk, what did this? I looked back towards the scale, I would have to figure it out eventually. The scale and that mural are the most important factors here at the moment, the scale is likely from Demenseria I saw, which connects it to the mural. I walked outside the house and made my way to the scale, I tried to sense it ever so slightly, and it violently lashed out at me.

I was flung in the air, with my organs battered and bruised, but I was alive and could now sense a very slight signature leading to an insignificant house. It was the same as all the rest of the first ring, I took my first step towards it when suddenly the entire area went dark. A dark claw tore open space in front of me and a bloodshot eye looked at me, its pupils constricted.

Dark, viscous blood poured forth from the opening, oozing down slowly as dark tendrils from behind this eye pushed it back towards the opening it made. A claw once again formed from the opening, prying it further and further open as more dark tendrils spewed forth to contain it. After a few minutes of a constant tug-of-war — where I was forced to sit and watch only as the eye was eventually pushed back into wherever it came from. Once that ended, I realized that I was near that inconspicuous house. That was when a force descended upon me and I closed my eyes.

When I awoke, I was in an underground city, my eyes were looking at a rusty dome.

I stood up with a headache and saw a massive tree in the center of the area and 4 people were prostrating around… a gravity scale of a Drake? My déjà vu with this place was so strong that it felt like I knew this place like the back of my hand, from the massive tree to the scale, it all felt like I had been here multiple times. Hmmmm, the scale was tempting, extremely tempting, even. I walked up slowly towards it, and after the 1-meter mark, realized that I should be able to do this even if the power of the scale increased as I was closer to it.

Once I was near enough to it, I lifted my hand and tried to grab at the scale. Sweat formed under my scales, the bone in my left leg broke, but after struggling against the power of the scale, I managed to get 2 claws around it and grab it off the altar. A large shockwave emanated from the scale, completely flattening the first ring of houses and breaking the massive tree down. Splinters were flying, I was flung in the air and landed on the ground, the Hiddle was somewhere at the moment. I landed down on the ground with a violent thud, blood spilled from my mouth. Four gigantic pieces of wood from the tree landed in me, one was in my left leg and the other three landed squarely in my body. One pierced my lung, another pierced my liver, the last one punctured deeply into my stomach.

Blood was pouring out of my mouth like a waterfall, the searing pain was masked by the sudden onslaught of fatigue that hit me. My eyes started to droop a bit, was this how I was going to die? My eyelids became heavier and heavier, warmth escaped my body, and it now felt like it was freezing. I failed... I failed my ancestors, was I not good enough? Is this how my story ends? I... this isn't what I expected, should I be angrier? I looked down to see my internal organs hanging around on the ground, a gray Hiddle in the corner of a house looked at me. Its eyes were hungry, and it angered me, but I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry... father.

I shot awake from my sleep, huh, I was in an underground city? It felt like I was having a nightmare where I died, thank goodness that it was only a nightmare. Four people around a gravity scale from a Drake, interesting, the temptation to retrieve it was there, but I resisted it. Something in my gut told me that it would only end disastrously were I to try to take it from the altar, I ignored it and instead went to a nearby house. Its decrepit state and faults all felt like it was my home, but I knew that I had never come here before. I instinctively punched my hand through a wall, and there was a gray Hiddle in my arms. I picked it up from its collar with my left hand, “Can you talk?” I said, even though I asked it, it just looked at me with fear and didn’t try to communicate with me.

There was dead silence in the house as I pierced its heart with my claws and proceeded to remove its teeth. I could crush those up and digest them, but they weren’t the most flavorful and I didn’t like it, after that was done, I gulped down the rest of it in one go. Walking out, I locked my eyes on the administration building, my fear for it was great, but my curiosity was even greater for the secrets inside it. I already felt like this place wasn’t just a normal one, there was something… off about it. The Hiddle was stuck there in its horrid state, but there didn’t seem to be anything but those gray Hiddles, maybe they would scavenge his body that is close to dying?

I sighed, oh well, might as well help him, he is the only thing I could even refer to as a friend. I picked up his little body and saw that, if barely, he was still breathing, I held him by his collar in my mouth and started to climb the tree. Once I reached the first large branch of the tree, I put him down and started to go back down of the tree. When I came up to the house, I first started to move around the house to see if there was any other option than just going through the front door. Even though my curiosity trumped my fear of this area, I wasn’t dumb enough to waltz through the front door. There was a plank that looked weird, maybe it was the decay, but no point in not checking. When I opened it, there was a weird white statue of a snake, it was pretty small but still weighed a decent amount.

Its red eyes were rubies, and the scales on it were real, white scales with red lines were upon a sapphire base. I injected mana into my claws and cut it open, or tried to, the scales stopped me. How strong were they?? Tsk, I put it back and went back to the front entrance — it was a bit too heavy for me to carry easily — the front entrance had a decayed door. I pushed it open and walked to the stairs leading to the basement, I wanted to see that first, compared to the rest of the rooms that looked to have nothing. I walked down to a room made up of only metal, its condition was decent compared to everything else. I walked down a hallway that had its label still legible, it was an information storage room.

When I reached there, a wall covered with dust took away all my attention. Something about it attracted me, I walked up quickly and began to wipe off all the dust. A disjointed white snake, identical to the statue I found last time, besides some very obvious differences. Four sections of the snake were gone, and it looked just… wrong. Almost half of the snake was gone, I turned to leave, but the surroundings drastically changed from the room to a burning city. I nearly threw up from the smell alone, I held it in and started to wander around. This was very weird, but crying about it would let me go nowhere. I needed to see what this place is, maybe it would have some answers for me? I walked through the burning city and went into an alleyway, I thought I could see a small girl in this alleyway that looked to be homeless being grappled by a white snake. I blinked a bit, the image disappeared and the burning alleyway was what was left.

What was that? I shook my head, I walked past that and saw a building that looked to be a blacksmith. A person effortlessly working on a piece of black metal came into view, I shook my head again. Why was I starting to hallucinate? I ran out of there and came out of the city, only to see two gigantic creatures fighting one another. All I could see was light trails, a white and purple one, fighting and clashing with each other. Eventually, after what seemed to be years, the two disengaged and I finally got a good look at them.

A white snake with red lines running through it was there, silver blood leaked out of many wounds on its body. I couldn’t look at its blood for too long, it made me have a headache. Scales fell off uncontrollably from the snake, a gigantic fang from its mouth — which was larger than me — fell from its mouth. A large cut showed its internal organs, and I could see an egg, it’s a female? I then looked at the other combatant from the battlefield, a Drake.

Its purple scales fell off, a horn was broken and the teeth in his mouth were just barely holding on. Dark, viscous blood leaked out from the cuts between the scales, a wing of his fell off as he looked at the snake. I could see that he was limping, and one of his hands was used to hold up the organs spilling out from the chest on its underbelly. It snarled a bit as the snake hissed back, the claws on the Drake were broken, and it clearly looked fatigued. “You are indeed… a worthy opponent, Tannin.” said the Drake, “Right back at you, Demenseria.” quipped back the snake. “There can only be one winner in this duel, and it has already been decided.” Tannin continued on, “Yes, it indeed has.” Demenseria said.

I felt the gigantic amount of mana release from Demenseria, the gravity in the area was condensed into a singular orb of a purple substance. It looked like a liquid that was being forced to conform into the shape of a ball, Tannin looked at it and hissed. She took a deep breath and also released a colossal amount of mana, condensing it all into a blazing fire that was both white and dark. The two released their attacks, they traveled so fast that I couldn't see or make out what was happening. Just the light reached me, my eyes couldn't follow the attacks, they were of a level far above my own.

Eventually, I could see that the tug-of-war between the two attacks they launched end. The snake defintively lost, she was spent, worn out, and couldn't move. He stood up and slowly walked to her as if he was the executioner of a criminal sentenced to death. A single tear fell down from his face, “I’m sorry, old friend.” was said by the Drake as he decapitated the white snake. It then looked at me, wait, it can see me?!? I started to slowly back away, “Well, well. What do we have here?” said Demenseria. My panic was at an all-time high now, fuck, what was I to do??