You would think being a creature of the night I would enjoy the pitch blackness of the mines right? No and surprisingly Cainites don’t naturally see in the dark. Certain clans have the ability and thankfully I started my undead life as a Gangrel so with a bit of vitae Eyes of the Beast took effect from the Protean discipline. With that in effect I’ve got two sight based powers going, one to see in the dark and the other to see into the Umbra. With both of those available the path is visible but frankly I wish it wasn’t. The walls are coated with an oily film that progressively gets thicker as I venture deeper into the dark. When I was a kid my Mother use to tell me that the Wyrm was one of the Triad spirits almost with the Wyld and the Weaver. He was the embodiment of entropy and allowed things to decay and fade. One day the Weaver grew tired of the Wyrm running the things it’s created and decided to capture the Wyrm to stall entropy and the Wyrm lost its shit. Instead of naturally bringing things to an end it became something more cancerous. Other stories tell that the Wyrm is the byproduct of the physical and psychological damage mortals have laid on Gaia and it’s current need to destroy us all was to reset things.
Honestly… I can understand either or. I would be pissed if I was hog tied and kept prisoner when I had an important cosmic job to do. I would also be pissed if I was an aspect of the world because frankly the world sucks. I believe that everything exists for a purpose, even Cainites, but the world is out of balance. Humans have spread like a plague, vampires have gotten too powerful and no longer cull the mortals the way they should, and the shifters have lost their way. Should the slate be wiped clean? Hell no, I wouldn’t be a member of the Sabbat if I believed that. Despite what the Tower thinks we don’t fight for the hell of it. Even the ones that went overseas for their Crusade aren’t doing it just to fight. They want to kill the ancient vampires before they awaken and eat everyone in an orgy of bloodshed and hunger. I still believe that we could have been allies with the Garou if the wolves got their snouts out of their asses. We could have made a happy murder hobo party until Gehenna came. Hell I’m a 9th Gen and I feel the call to go to war but instead I’m here cleaning out a Wyrmhole. At least that was what I assumed was down here. With no humans around and the animal life all run off from the corruption something was spawning Scrags. Unless the one I killed was the only one and I was pretty sure it wasn’t.
“Just stop Yuiko…” I told myself as we continued further in. “Get your head straight and stop complaining.” Hissing slightly to myself I tried to stay focused and not let my mind wander. It was too easy to lose myself after the Temple burned and if I was honest with myself this adventure was really what I needed. It was something to take my mind off the Inquisition and vampire politics. A way to focus on something I was uniquely qualified to handle. And by uniquely qualified I meant by stabbing monsters and devouring them like the good Ahrimane I was.
It took about 20 minutes but we eventually did run into more. The chitin cladded monster carried a pickaxe that appeared to have been stolen from supply and it hadn’t noticed me yet as we rounded the corner. Nala saw in my shadow still obeying my last order to protect my rear and that was good. Good murder kitty, let me handle the nasty bugger ahead. Drawing my sword underhanded my body coiled up prepared to pounce. I needed to make sure it died quickly so using a little vitae and Spiritus I called upon the malicious death spirit in my sword to guide my hand as I quietly dashed up to my target. Then with a leap I came down on it from above and plunged the blade into its back at an angle to pierce where the heart would be. The creature attempted to scream but my weight and momentum knocked it face first into the rock and my free hand crushed the skull down into jagged earth until it popped like an over ripened melon. What was left of the body started to de-manifest but its energy wasn’t returning to its source. Opening my maw I drank deep of the freed spiritual energy until nothing was left to be recycled back.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
One down and an unknown left my senses trying to pick up where the highest concentration of corruption was and began to follow it again. If this was a Wyrmhole I might not need to eat for days and with the last two fights I was certain I could take these things one on one with no issues. They were tough but my combination of powers was unfair when it came to rapid takedowns. If I needed to use my War Form it meant something went tits up. 5th stage Disciples were always crazy like that.
Hours… I had travelled these tunnels for hours and I still hadn’t found the source of the infestation. I had killed four more of the Scrags and I was now convinced they were scouts or look outs. Something deep inside told me when I got to the main source I would be outnumbered. Finally though it seemed my quest was starting to come to an end. There was light up ahead, the kind of green glow you expected for radiation which always seemed to be a good sign of sickly balefire. Where there was balefire there was the Wyrm and I could now sense the end of my search.
Braced against a corner I turned and saw them. Three Scrags armed with machetes, a fourth with what appeared to be a large viper made for green flame, and the Wyrmhole. Toxic water swirled like a whirlpool in mid air. The viper Scrag was talking to the others and using her Spirit Speech spell she could listen in on them. They were complaining that several of their brethren had gone missing so it was pretty obvious they were talking about me. This was not good… Even as I watched the Wyrmhole looked like it was about to hack up another bane and I was already worried about this fight. The Balefire elemental was already making my Beast nervous but unlike the Cainites that clung to their humanity I had a way to guide my Beast during a Frenzy.
“Nala, try and separate the three normal ones from the one with the elemental. I’ll rush it down then help with the other three. Then we dismantle that wyrmhole.” My whispers were met with my shadow nodding before the spirit cougar separated from my shadow and I prepared myself for what I was about to do. Drawing Vitae and Will deep inside my flesh pulsed and I could almost feel my heart beat again despite being unable to use the Blush of Life. My claws grew to the size of kitchen knives and my body expanded slightly as my eyes sharped into cat-like pupils. This was my ultimate power… the thing that brought me closer to my birthright than anything else. I could feel my teeth sharpen and extend in a way no human form should have and finally a red fluffy tail with a white tip emerged. It twitched with the fury flooding my veins as my Warform completed. The secret tool of any Arimane… the 5th stage of Spiritus and what caused some to think of us as Abominations. I was ready to rip these creatures apart and with a final grip on my Beast I rode my Frenzy to its destructive end. Either they would be exorcised from this plane or I would meet my end.