With throbbing pain, I woke up. My muscles ached and felt sore, my vision was hazy as I simply stared at the stars overhead. I raised my hand, hearing the rustling of a bush. Memories slowly came back to me, as I remembered just where I was, how I had passed out, and the things that had played before my eyes. Moonfang, Bloodfang, Guardian… Lower and Upper Moons… I groaned as a headache pulsated through my head. I was feeling slightly better in comparison to before, but it was still a sickly feeling, though at least my mana was present, even if it was a small amount. I sighed and reached for my potions, taking out a mana potion and health one, I was beginning to realize it as my stock dwindled to nothing, but—
What was I going to do once I had no more potions? That was troublesome. There was a brief period during the Skirmish in which I had no potions whatsoever, it was annoying. However, the battles that had happened— whoever knows how long ago — made me consume well over ten potions, that was a terrifying consumption. Just two more fights and I was probably going to run out of health potions altogether.
I frowned. I needed to do something about it, but at the moment I couldn’t really do much to change things. Well, aside from the obvious thing of not fighting D rank monsters, moreover, things were strange here. The Moonfang I had fought had— gotten an environmental advantage? I remembered that the fight was a lot harder than it should have been.
A small sigh left me, I was truly in a perilous situation, every monster was like a mini-guardian of sorts or so it seemed, simply stuck underground somewhere. The only exits I knew of were the tunnels on the plateau, which as far as I knew led to the ravine where the— well where they were fighting. I shook my head as I felt the ground slightly tremble, just that alone confirmed it. I was still inside the bush, and a quick look through the foliage revealed the two corpses. Both were untouched.
“For how long was I unconscious?” My voice came out hoarse.
Glim bobbed. [2 hours, anddd 34 minutes.]
I nodded, that was much less than what I initially anticipated, and also somewhat explained why I still felt awful. The potions brought me some relief, at least. That said, my situation was somewhat bad, I had no idea of what to do next. I was in no condition to fight absolutely anything at the moment— not any kind of D rank monster anyway. I felt slightly rueful, depressed about my situation but at the same time it was a bit ridiculous. I was stuck underground inside a mountain once more, but this time around my safe zone was unreachable.
In comparison to the Skirmish things had gotten worse, at least I was stronger now. I almost wanted to just go and open my skill reward notifications, but unfortunately, I was still stuck in a bush. Though at the very least I could distribute some stats, so that’s the first thing I did. My status had changed somewhat dramatically too.
Name: Blair | Level: 31
Race: ??? (E-Grade)
Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition], [Champion Of Champions], [Champion Of Illusion], [Pest Control], [DeathShot], [Five of a Kind]
Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom (D-Grade)
Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),
Universal Inquiry (NaN)
Free attribute points: 8
VIG: 71 | END: 42 |
STR: 40 | AGI: 51 |
PER: 43 | WIS: 77 |
Skills: [Proficient Archery (Uncommon Passive)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)], [Power Draw (Uncommon)], [Penumbral Sense (Rare Passive)], [Frictionless Slide (Rare Passive)], [Burrowing Shot (Rare)], [Flashbang (Rare)], [Mana Manipulation (Epic Passive)]
Prophecy Skills: [Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive)], [All Dark (Uncommon Passive)]
Attunements: Dark plants (II)
Prime Currency: 0
My vigor was extremely high and so was my wisdom, but now I couldn’t help but wonder what I actually needed. Would Endurance make me not faint? That could help, but I would always faint near death. No amount of agility would allow me to dodge the whips or the frenzied Guardian so that was kinda useless. Strength was— I used a spear most of the time, and I never had contests of strength with other beasts.
Perception? If I understood correctly it would help me perceive things better, which was well— great? Maybe it helped with mana manipulation too? But at the same time I didn’t know what it did. So that left me with Wisdom and Vigor.
A sigh left me, I knew I was going to regret it later, but for now I just had to be able to stay alive. I shook my head and placed all 8 points into Vigor before I could even second-guess myself. In an instant, I felt my condition slightly improve. And the stat itself rocketed all the way to 80 points. What used to be my lowest stat was now the highest, or well I couldn’t remember anymore— so much had happened.
Not having any other choice and still injured, I decided to wait for the health potion to finish its effect so I could hopefully relocate to a more safe place, not like any place inside a nest was safe.
I closed my eyes and as I did that, a sound I identified to be walking caught my attention. My eyes snapped open with wariness and some anticipation. It took a few more seconds, but around the corner I saw another one. It was a Moonfang, but slightly different? Its fur was fully purple, and the mana whips that hung on its head trailed well over a meter behind it.
[Moonfang, Upper Moon. Lvl. 52]
I frowned. It looked much different than the other Upper Moon, this one actually felt like a different species altogether, but the name indicated they were the same. How weird. I looked ahead, as it stared at the corpses of the two Moonfangs.
“Intruder, and…” It trailed off. “The Lower Fang has betrayed us?” It bared its fangs with glee. “I’ve always wanted to kill him!”
It ran off into the tunnels without anything more. It seemed that the Guardian was going to be in trouble. I closed my eyes, not like I could do anything about it. I was in no position to fight.
◇ ◇ ◇
My mana was recovered and my injuries had been reduced to nothing but bodily soreness, meaning — I was fully recovered, or well as recovered as I could be anyway. My eyes looked around for any kind of danger but no matter where I looked, there was nothing. With that in mind, I stood up and stretched a bit, considering there was no sound or danger around. My armor was almost fully regenerated, perhaps it was due to it being an item but I wasn’t complaining. It saved me the clothing problem in its entirety after all. My back cracked a bit, but I seemed to be doing fine.
With that in mind I walked out of the bush with bow and arrow in hand. Ready to fight if necessary, though I was hoping to avoid it in its entirety. I circled around the rocks, where all the previous monsters had come from, and came to see a long stretch of rock, one that continued all the way to the end of the chamber, where a lush forest stood. Tucked away on the right side of the path there was a naturally formed rock ramp that was slightly worn out with uneven holes. I doubted for a second before deciding to go down, the only thing that made me want to do it was something that the Moonfang had mentioned.
Ascend stratas.
Maybe I was misunderstanding it, but the lower the level the better it seemed for me. If my theory was correct then the lower the level, the weaker the monsters. It was best for me to get strong enough to be able to kill an Upper Moon and preferably leave the nest altogether, the place was massive and to be honest trying to clear it sort of sounded like tempting death. No, it wasn’t even tempting it, I was just going to straight up die if I fought the Guardian, and there were more. What if the Moon equivalent was just much stronger— It was definitely stronger. I shook my head as I stared at the forest over the horizon line.
The trees stood considerably smaller than the Skirmish ones, but their blueish leaves reflected the starlight occasionally, like small sparkling lights. As I descended I took in more details and even saw small flowers, they sparkled with green and once more, I saw what I identified to be mana. It reminded me of mana at least, small floating orbs of color, though most were a blueish purple.
Finally, after taking in the scenery I reached the bottom. The forest was devoid of monsters, or at least apparently. Nothing but a small gust of wind blew, but all the natural sounds were plant related. I looked to my left, only to see an overarching bridge, one that— it was the one that lead to the plateau on the other side of the mountain. My eyes moved around for a second as I stepped forward. Everywhere I saw to my right there was forest, there were paths in between the trees like an intertwined labyrinth.
To my left there was a clearing, where a lake was present, near its shores there were trees. It kinda confirmed it for me. The place I was in was pretty much an ecosystem on its own. I shook my head and moved forward, choosing to approach the lake. I wanted to see the other side of the chamber, even if it was nothing but forest. I wanted to get an idea of things.
I moved forward and walked along the edge of the lake, sticking close to the ramp. Everything was quiet, which made me appreciate the beauty of it even more. The air was fresh and even if briefly I felt relaxed.
Settlement? If I was able to clear the nest and expand the Settlement all the way down here— My thoughts wandered off for a minute, simply thinking of relaxing and doing things other than killing monsters. I was unsure about my situation, but at least for the time being there was no other point to getting strong other than to survive. I wanted some form of revenge, but I was unsure about my situation and even myself—
Howls entered my ears, many more than ever before. I panicked as red flooded my vision, but everywhere I looked was red— the entire chamber itself was red?! My mind spaced out as my eyes darted around. Nervousness overtook me. I didn’t want to fight. I had to run. First I looked towards the lake and considered taking a dive to try to run, but it was brushed off my mind almost instantly, I looked elsewhere towards the rocks. And I saw the briefest faint blue color on the wall.
Chance. I slid in the direction. I didn’t know what caused the danger sense to go off, but just feeling the chamber tremble told me everything. The monsters were moving, and fast. I reached the place that Penumbral Sense indicated to me . I couldn't help but notice it was just a rock wall. I frowned, feeling increased uneasiness but still moved forward and reached my hand. As soon as I did I felt something pass through my fingers and my hand went through the wall.
I had a half second of doubt before I decided to head inside. The danger disappeared nearly instantly, and a weird feeling passed through my entire body.
[You have entered a nest.]
I cursed only to notice I was just inside a cave. It was empty, and it had a torch that illuminated the place, and I noticed some grass around. But that was it, it was akin to a small chamber just like the one I had stayed in during the Skirmish.
It was a nest but I saw no monsters. No presence of anything. It was empty. I looked around feeling insecure but Penumbral Sense marked everything as blue. Everything. It meant that whatever was hostile was out of reach. That said, I did not understand what the danger exactly was, but I felt relaxed. I trusted my skill, even if it wasn’t infallible— Well I had no way to know that.
“Glim, is there any monster inside this nest?”
[No,] it answered. [But the monsters of this nest are still alive, if that is what you’re asking. And no, monsters won’t magically generate inside of it.]
I nodded. That was enough for me. I had been feeling nervous about getting into a fight, I was unsure about things, but at least the nest I was currently in was some sort of safe zone. Even if it really wasn’t. A sigh left me as I grabbed a seed from my storage and shifted it with my mana. I lazily dropped it in front of the entrance and made it sprout onto a tree that was blocking the way.
And soon, I was completely alone and more importantly safe. I laid down, it was basically a safe zone. Briefly staring at the ceiling, my thoughts wandered off.
What was I even supposed to be doing? Was I supposed to try to develop my settlement? What else? Clear the nest? That was clearly an impossibility. There were quests to do— and maybe think my situation over, but I didn’t feel safe enough to do that. In the end, it seemed that I could do nothing.
Settlement? Was it eventually going to become a city? But with what population? I did not really understand it—
A horrid crack buzzed through my ears as I felt my distant mana dissipate. Splinters flew across my vision as my eyes widened. A gigantic monster of dripping blood broke through the tree as if it were nothing, danger filled my vision as I stared.
[Guardian of the Sun and Blood. Lvl. 53]
It wobbled and its eyes glanced over me before it seemed to sigh and lay down. Clearly not caring for me. But it was… the Guardian? It was missing part of its leg, its ribs were visible and its fur was mostly gone. The only identifiable parts were its crimson eyes and tail. The hostility I felt was gone in a mere instant, as it simply laid there. It can speak, right?
“Um…” I called its attention, only to be met with his gaze. “Why do the Moonfangs want to kill you?”
It grunted. “Superior racial hierarchy.” It closed its eyes once more.
I shook my head. It was clearly too injured to do anything, at the same time I was unsure how it felt about me. At least it didn’t kill me in the past nor did it now, and it had also called me friend. Though, who knows what ‘friend’ meant to a monster. I looked at the ceiling feeling a bit helpless. I didn’t really know what to do, outside seemed unsafe.
“How did you recover? You were messed up when I encountered you,” It suddenly asked without opening its eyes.
I thought for a second. I felt a bit ridiculous but once more I was choosing to trust the monster. Though judging by its condition I also felt confident in winning a fight this time around should anything happen, even if it wouldn’t be pretty. In the end, I spoke.
“Potions.”
“Potions?” It asked. “I don’t know what that is.”
“A liquid to heal you…” I sighed.
“Do you think you can spare some of this liquid?”
I let out a sigh as I took a health potion vial. I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing. My eyes turned to the outside only to see the entry be slightly transparent, and it was indeed still as red as ever. I saw a Moonfang run by.
“They won’t find this place, don’t worry…”
I nodded and finally approached the Guardian with skepticism and care. Preparing my spear to use a flashbang if the situation needed it. The Guardian opened its eyes as I got closer, its eyes wandered from the spear to the vial.
“It’s that thing?” I nodded and simply left it in front of it before retreating. “How do I consume it?”
I frowned. “Maybe eat it? Normally you remove the top to drink it but you can’t do that.”
“Can you do that for me?”
I gripped my spear. “No.”
It chuckled. “It’s good to not trust those outside the pack.” It inched its paw forward and smacked the vial next to itself, then with a swoop it ate it. I heard an audible crunch. “Not pleasant. I see. Pain is a good lesson,” it mused.
I was a bit confused but simply stared with skepticism as it let out a sigh of relief.
“I can feel it working. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome…”
It closed its eyes. “You must not know a lot about this place, you want to know about those of Blood and those of Moon?”
I pondered for a second. “I suppose so.”
◇ ◇ ◇
First it spoke about how he was sworn brothers with the Guardian of the Moon, and then the Guardian stole the Moonlight and he had to create a fake night of Blood to keep things stable. To be honest I understood basically nothing other than both used to be together until they weren’t. I got that those of Moon, the Moonfangs thought they were superior and tried to govern but he the Guardian of the Sun and Blood stepped in and ended up making a deal. A pact.
He would protect the children of the Moon, or rather, those who were the closest to the Moon if those of Blood were left alone to live their lives. However, things took a drastic turn today. He had always resented them, but now he could slaughter them. It was fulfilling even if he felt rueful about his brethren dying.
He continued speaking. “And now I must run. Those of Moon have grown too strong. You should run too, traveler. The Moon smiles upon them inside this wretched place, enhancing them and empowering them.”
I vividly remembered how hard the Moonfang was to kill after it powered up, so it seemed to be a universal thing across all of them. At the same time I felt some empathy for the Guardian, I guess he hated the Moonfangs and their people just as much as I hated Woodland elves.
“That’s troublesome,” I sighed. I felt much more trust for the Guardian now after hearing it speak for well over ten minutes. “Why can’t this place be discovered?”
“Well, it’s my home. It’s one of my abilities. I just made it my home, I can’t explain it.”
“The System?”
“I do not know what that is.”
I tilted my head and frowned, unexpectedly though, the Guardian spoke.
“Traveler, tell me about your situation. Why are you here alone?”
I swallowed and weighed my options. And the likelihood of me telling the Guardian everything was high. I felt ridiculous, but I felt inclined to trust it. At the same time its eyes seemed to regard me as an equal, it held no hostility— he hadn’t had hostility for me for the longest time. I groaned, I was irrational, but I just felt… alone.
“I was just a normal girl…”
◇ ◇ ◇
They took everything.
I ran.
I missed everyone, I missed my memories.
I did not want to remember.
The System…
I spoke for who knows how long, it felt like hours. The Guardian listened silently, sometimes asking questions. I felt… appreciated.
“The thing you call The System is the voice of God, though it seems to be a bit different for you. That said, Blair— if it’s alright that I call you that.” I nodded as he shook its head. “I can’t believe I am classified as a kill target for you. I have no ill-will towards you, even though I understand you killed some of my people. Those of Moon are to blame, and you have killed some of them already.”
I nodded feeling emotional. “Those of Moon are the worst.”
The Guardian chuckled. “I can understand how you feel now. I feel the same. I treasure my people, and I do not wish to end up like you. Blair, I have… a request. They will hunt me down if I go outside, but you— you can kill them slowly. Slowly get better, and slowly gather strength so we can end them.”
I nodded but bit my lip. “But, even if I kill them all, I’ll have to well… The issues you know about…”
The Guardian nodded. “I do not know how to circumvent the voice of God, but at least you have my word that for as long as I am alive there will be no ill-will from those of Blood. This is my pact.” Its paw shone with a crimson aura.
“Pact?”
“Channel your inner energy into your hand, and make a pact.” It explained.
Inner Energy. Mana? I extended my hand towards his paw. The size difference was staggering, my hand only covered about half of his paw.
“You have my word that I will not target or hunt those of Blood.” I took a breath, mimicking it. “I will only target those of the Moon. This is my pact…”
As soon as I finished, a notification came.
[You have entered an alliance with: Guardian of Sun and Blood.]
The Guardian stared ahead with surprise.
“Blair, what does it mean to become Guardian of the Deep Dark Settlement? And if I agree, will that allow my kind to live and prosper within the thing you call ‘city’?”
My mind blanked out for a second. Become Guardian of the Deep Dark? Him? The Guardian that had instantly killed an Upper Moon? One of the two Guardians of a Super-Nest?
Azrie
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With throbbing pain, I woke up. My muscles ached and felt sore, my vision was hazy as I simply stared at the stars overhead. I raised my hand, hearing the rustling of a bush. Memories slowly came back to me, as I remembered just where I was, how I had passed out, and the things that had played before my eyes. Moonfang, Bloodfang, Guardian… Lower and Upper Moons… I groaned as a headache pulsated through my head. I was feeling slightly better in comparison to before, but it was still a sickly feeling, though at least my mana was present, even if it was a small amount. I sighed and reached for my potions, taking out a mana potion and health one, I was beginning to realize it as my stock dwindled to nothing, but—
What was I going to do once I had no more potions? That was troublesome. There was a brief period during the Skirmish in which I had no potions whatsoever, it was annoying. However, the battles that had happened— whoever knows how long ago — made me consume well over ten potions, that was a terrifying consumption. Just two more fights and I was probably going to run out of health potions altogether.
I frowned. I needed to do something about it, but at the moment I couldn’t really do much to change things. Well, aside from the obvious thing of not fighting D rank monsters, moreover, things were strange here. The Moonfang I had fought had— gotten an environmental advantage? I remembered that the fight was a lot harder than it should have been.
A small sigh left me, I was truly in a perilous situation, every monster was like a mini-guardian of sorts or so it seemed, simply stuck underground somewhere. The only exits I knew of were the tunnels on the plateau, which as far as I knew led to the ravine where the— well where they were fighting. I shook my head as I felt the ground slightly tremble, just that alone confirmed it. I was still inside the bush, and a quick look through the foliage revealed the two corpses. Both were untouched.
“For how long was I unconscious?” My voice came out hoarse.
Glim bobbed. [2 hours, anddd 34 minutes.]
I nodded, that was much less than what I initially anticipated, and also somewhat explained why I still felt awful. The potions brought me some relief, at least. That said, my situation was somewhat bad, I had no idea of what to do next. I was in no condition to fight absolutely anything at the moment— not any kind of D rank monster anyway. I felt slightly rueful, depressed about my situation but at the same time it was a bit ridiculous. I was stuck underground inside a mountain once more, but this time around my safe zone was unreachable.
In comparison to the Skirmish things had gotten worse, at least I was stronger now. I almost wanted to just go and open my skill reward notifications, but unfortunately, I was still stuck in a bush. Though at the very least I could distribute some stats, so that’s the first thing I did. My status had changed somewhat dramatically too.
Name: Blair | Level: 31
Race: ??? (E-Grade)
Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition], [Champion Of Champions], [Champion Of Illusion], [Pest Control], [DeathShot], [Five of a Kind]
Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom (D-Grade)
Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),
Universal Inquiry (NaN)
Free attribute points: 8
VIG: 71 | END: 42 |
STR: 40 | AGI: 51 |
PER: 43 | WIS: 77 |
Skills: [Proficient Archery (Uncommon Passive)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)], [Power Draw (Uncommon)], [Penumbral Sense (Rare Passive)], [Frictionless Slide (Rare Passive)], [Burrowing Shot (Rare)], [Flashbang (Rare)], [Mana Manipulation (Epic Passive)]
Prophecy Skills: [Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive)], [All Dark (Uncommon Passive)]
Attunements: Dark plants (II)
Prime Currency: 0
My vigor was extremely high and so was my wisdom, but now I couldn’t help but wonder what I actually needed. Would Endurance make me not faint? That could help, but I would always faint near death. No amount of agility would allow me to dodge the whips or the frenzied Guardian so that was kinda useless. Strength was— I used a spear most of the time, and I never had contests of strength with other beasts.
Perception? If I understood correctly it would help me perceive things better, which was well— great? Maybe it helped with mana manipulation too? But at the same time I didn’t know what it did. So that left me with Wisdom and Vigor.
A sigh left me, I knew I was going to regret it later, but for now I just had to be able to stay alive. I shook my head and placed all 8 points into Vigor before I could even second-guess myself. In an instant, I felt my condition slightly improve. And the stat itself rocketed all the way to 80 points. What used to be my lowest stat was now the highest, or well I couldn’t remember anymore— so much had happened.
Not having any other choice and still injured, I decided to wait for the health potion to finish its effect so I could hopefully relocate to a more safe place, not like any place inside a nest was safe.
I closed my eyes and as I did that, a sound I identified to be walking caught my attention. My eyes snapped open with wariness and some anticipation. It took a few more seconds, but around the corner I saw another one. It was a Moonfang, but slightly different? Its fur was fully purple, and the mana whips that hung on its head trailed well over a meter behind it.
[Moonfang, Upper Moon. Lvl. 52]
I frowned. It looked much different than the other Upper Moon, this one actually felt like a different species altogether, but the name indicated they were the same. How weird. I looked ahead, as it stared at the corpses of the two Moonfangs.
“Intruder, and…” It trailed off. “The Lower Fang has betrayed us?” It bared its fangs with glee. “I’ve always wanted to kill him!”
It ran off into the tunnels without anything more. It seemed that the Guardian was going to be in trouble. I closed my eyes, not like I could do anything about it. I was in no position to fight.
◇ ◇ ◇
My mana was recovered and my injuries had been reduced to nothing but bodily soreness, meaning — I was fully recovered, or well as recovered as I could be anyway. My eyes looked around for any kind of danger but no matter where I looked, there was nothing. With that in mind, I stood up and stretched a bit, considering there was no sound or danger around. My armor was almost fully regenerated, perhaps it was due to it being an item but I wasn’t complaining. It saved me the clothing problem in its entirety after all. My back cracked a bit, but I seemed to be doing fine.
With that in mind I walked out of the bush with bow and arrow in hand. Ready to fight if necessary, though I was hoping to avoid it in its entirety. I circled around the rocks, where all the previous monsters had come from, and came to see a long stretch of rock, one that continued all the way to the end of the chamber, where a lush forest stood. Tucked away on the right side of the path there was a naturally formed rock ramp that was slightly worn out with uneven holes. I doubted for a second before deciding to go down, the only thing that made me want to do it was something that the Moonfang had mentioned.
Ascend stratas.
Maybe I was misunderstanding it, but the lower the level the better it seemed for me. If my theory was correct then the lower the level, the weaker the monsters. It was best for me to get strong enough to be able to kill an Upper Moon and preferably leave the nest altogether, the place was massive and to be honest trying to clear it sort of sounded like tempting death. No, it wasn’t even tempting it, I was just going to straight up die if I fought the Guardian, and there were more. What if the Moon equivalent was just much stronger— It was definitely stronger. I shook my head as I stared at the forest over the horizon line.
The trees stood considerably smaller than the Skirmish ones, but their blueish leaves reflected the starlight occasionally, like small sparkling lights. As I descended I took in more details and even saw small flowers, they sparkled with green and once more, I saw what I identified to be mana. It reminded me of mana at least, small floating orbs of color, though most were a blueish purple.
Finally, after taking in the scenery I reached the bottom. The forest was devoid of monsters, or at least apparently. Nothing but a small gust of wind blew, but all the natural sounds were plant related. I looked to my left, only to see an overarching bridge, one that— it was the one that lead to the plateau on the other side of the mountain. My eyes moved around for a second as I stepped forward. Everywhere I saw to my right there was forest, there were paths in between the trees like an intertwined labyrinth.
To my left there was a clearing, where a lake was present, near its shores there were trees. It kinda confirmed it for me. The place I was in was pretty much an ecosystem on its own. I shook my head and moved forward, choosing to approach the lake. I wanted to see the other side of the chamber, even if it was nothing but forest. I wanted to get an idea of things.
I moved forward and walked along the edge of the lake, sticking close to the ramp. Everything was quiet, which made me appreciate the beauty of it even more. The air was fresh and even if briefly I felt relaxed.
Settlement? If I was able to clear the nest and expand the Settlement all the way down here— My thoughts wandered off for a minute, simply thinking of relaxing and doing things other than killing monsters. I was unsure about my situation, but at least for the time being there was no other point to getting strong other than to survive. I wanted some form of revenge, but I was unsure about my situation and even myself—
Howls entered my ears, many more than ever before. I panicked as red flooded my vision, but everywhere I looked was red— the entire chamber itself was red?! My mind spaced out as my eyes darted around. Nervousness overtook me. I didn’t want to fight. I had to run. First I looked towards the lake and considered taking a dive to try to run, but it was brushed off my mind almost instantly, I looked elsewhere towards the rocks. And I saw the briefest faint blue color on the wall.
Chance. I slid in the direction. I didn’t know what caused the danger sense to go off, but just feeling the chamber tremble told me everything. The monsters were moving, and fast. I reached the place that Penumbral Sense indicated to me . I couldn't help but notice it was just a rock wall. I frowned, feeling increased uneasiness but still moved forward and reached my hand. As soon as I did I felt something pass through my fingers and my hand went through the wall.
I had a half second of doubt before I decided to head inside. The danger disappeared nearly instantly, and a weird feeling passed through my entire body.
[You have entered a nest.]
I cursed only to notice I was just inside a cave. It was empty, and it had a torch that illuminated the place, and I noticed some grass around. But that was it, it was akin to a small chamber just like the one I had stayed in during the Skirmish.
It was a nest but I saw no monsters. No presence of anything. It was empty. I looked around feeling insecure but Penumbral Sense marked everything as blue. Everything. It meant that whatever was hostile was out of reach. That said, I did not understand what the danger exactly was, but I felt relaxed. I trusted my skill, even if it wasn’t infallible— Well I had no way to know that.
“Glim, is there any monster inside this nest?”
[No,] it answered. [But the monsters of this nest are still alive, if that is what you’re asking. And no, monsters won’t magically generate inside of it.]
I nodded. That was enough for me. I had been feeling nervous about getting into a fight, I was unsure about things, but at least the nest I was currently in was some sort of safe zone. Even if it really wasn’t. A sigh left me as I grabbed a seed from my storage and shifted it with my mana. I lazily dropped it in front of the entrance and made it sprout onto a tree that was blocking the way.
And soon, I was completely alone and more importantly safe. I laid down, it was basically a safe zone. Briefly staring at the ceiling, my thoughts wandered off.
What was I even supposed to be doing? Was I supposed to try to develop my settlement? What else? Clear the nest? That was clearly an impossibility. There were quests to do— and maybe think my situation over, but I didn’t feel safe enough to do that. In the end, it seemed that I could do nothing.
Settlement? Was it eventually going to become a city? But with what population? I did not really understand it—
A horrid crack buzzed through my ears as I felt my distant mana dissipate. Splinters flew across my vision as my eyes widened. A gigantic monster of dripping blood broke through the tree as if it were nothing, danger filled my vision as I stared.
[Guardian of the Sun and Blood. Lvl. 53]
It wobbled and its eyes glanced over me before it seemed to sigh and lay down. Clearly not caring for me. But it was… the Guardian? It was missing part of its leg, its ribs were visible and its fur was mostly gone. The only identifiable parts were its crimson eyes and tail. The hostility I felt was gone in a mere instant, as it simply laid there. It can speak, right?
“Um…” I called its attention, only to be met with his gaze. “Why do the Moonfangs want to kill you?”
It grunted. “Superior racial hierarchy.” It closed its eyes once more.
I shook my head. It was clearly too injured to do anything, at the same time I was unsure how it felt about me. At least it didn’t kill me in the past nor did it now, and it had also called me friend. Though, who knows what ‘friend’ meant to a monster. I looked at the ceiling feeling a bit helpless. I didn’t really know what to do, outside seemed unsafe.
“How did you recover? You were messed up when I encountered you,” It suddenly asked without opening its eyes.
I thought for a second. I felt a bit ridiculous but once more I was choosing to trust the monster. Though judging by its condition I also felt confident in winning a fight this time around should anything happen, even if it wouldn’t be pretty. In the end, I spoke.
“Potions.”
“Potions?” It asked. “I don’t know what that is.”
“A liquid to heal you…” I sighed.
“Do you think you can spare some of this liquid?”
I let out a sigh as I took a health potion vial. I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing. My eyes turned to the outside only to see the entry be slightly transparent, and it was indeed still as red as ever. I saw a Moonfang run by.
“They won’t find this place, don’t worry…”
I nodded and finally approached the Guardian with skepticism and care. Preparing my spear to use a flashbang if the situation needed it. The Guardian opened its eyes as I got closer, its eyes wandered from the spear to the vial.
“It’s that thing?” I nodded and simply left it in front of it before retreating. “How do I consume it?”
I frowned. “Maybe eat it? Normally you remove the top to drink it but you can’t do that.”
“Can you do that for me?”
I gripped my spear. “No.”
It chuckled. “It’s good to not trust those outside the pack.” It inched its paw forward and smacked the vial next to itself, then with a swoop it ate it. I heard an audible crunch. “Not pleasant. I see. Pain is a good lesson,” it mused.
I was a bit confused but simply stared with skepticism as it let out a sigh of relief.
“I can feel it working. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome…”
It closed its eyes. “You must not know a lot about this place, you want to know about those of Blood and those of Moon?”
I pondered for a second. “I suppose so.”
◇ ◇ ◇
First it spoke about how he was sworn brothers with the Guardian of the Moon, and then the Guardian stole the Moonlight and he had to create a fake night of Blood to keep things stable. To be honest I understood basically nothing other than both used to be together until they weren’t. I got that those of Moon, the Moonfangs thought they were superior and tried to govern but he the Guardian of the Sun and Blood stepped in and ended up making a deal. A pact.
He would protect the children of the Moon, or rather, those who were the closest to the Moon if those of Blood were left alone to live their lives. However, things took a drastic turn today. He had always resented them, but now he could slaughter them. It was fulfilling even if he felt rueful about his brethren dying.
He continued speaking. “And now I must run. Those of Moon have grown too strong. You should run too, traveler. The Moon smiles upon them inside this wretched place, enhancing them and empowering them.”
I vividly remembered how hard the Moonfang was to kill after it powered up, so it seemed to be a universal thing across all of them. At the same time I felt some empathy for the Guardian, I guess he hated the Moonfangs and their people just as much as I hated Woodland elves.
“That’s troublesome,” I sighed. I felt much more trust for the Guardian now after hearing it speak for well over ten minutes. “Why can’t this place be discovered?”
“Well, it’s my home. It’s one of my abilities. I just made it my home, I can’t explain it.”
“The System?”
“I do not know what that is.”
I tilted my head and frowned, unexpectedly though, the Guardian spoke.
“Traveler, tell me about your situation. Why are you here alone?”
I swallowed and weighed my options. And the likelihood of me telling the Guardian everything was high. I felt ridiculous, but I felt inclined to trust it. At the same time its eyes seemed to regard me as an equal, it held no hostility— he hadn’t had hostility for me for the longest time. I groaned, I was irrational, but I just felt… alone.
“I was just a normal girl…”
◇ ◇ ◇
They took everything.
I ran.
I missed everyone, I missed my memories.
I did not want to remember.
The System…
I spoke for who knows how long, it felt like hours. The Guardian listened silently, sometimes asking questions. I felt… appreciated.
“The thing you call The System is the voice of God, though it seems to be a bit different for you. That said, Blair— if it’s alright that I call you that.” I nodded as he shook its head. “I can’t believe I am classified as a kill target for you. I have no ill-will towards you, even though I understand you killed some of my people. Those of Moon are to blame, and you have killed some of them already.”
I nodded feeling emotional. “Those of Moon are the worst.”
The Guardian chuckled. “I can understand how you feel now. I feel the same. I treasure my people, and I do not wish to end up like you. Blair, I have… a request. They will hunt me down if I go outside, but you— you can kill them slowly. Slowly get better, and slowly gather strength so we can end them.”
I nodded but bit my lip. “But, even if I kill them all, I’ll have to well… The issues you know about…”
The Guardian nodded. “I do not know how to circumvent the voice of God, but at least you have my word that for as long as I am alive there will be no ill-will from those of Blood. This is my pact.” Its paw shone with a crimson aura.
“Pact?”
“Channel your inner energy into your hand, and make a pact.” It explained.
Inner Energy. Mana? I extended my hand towards his paw. The size difference was staggering, my hand only covered about half of his paw.
“You have my word that I will not target or hunt those of Blood.” I took a breath, mimicking it. “I will only target those of the Moon. This is my pact…”
As soon as I finished, a notification came.
[You have entered an alliance with: Guardian of Sun and Blood.]
The Guardian stared ahead with surprise.
“Blair, what does it mean to become Guardian of the Deep Dark Settlement? And if I agree, will that allow my kind to live and prosper within the thing you call ‘city’?”
My mind blanked out for a second. Become Guardian of the Deep Dark? Him? The Guardian that had instantly killed an Upper Moon? One of the two Guardians of a Super-Nest?
Azrie
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