Chapter two

A day after the attack survivors started to show up to the small cave, the nobleman’s niece had survived but her uncle had not, several people from the village survived as well although not a lot, it was a sad sight to see people i’d grown up with injured and some barely alive.

Aenon had survived through the night thanks to me wrapping his wounds best I could and Sarah giving him first-aid although he was not in good shape and he sadly hadn’t woken up, the good news was that he was breathing and the bleeding had stopped.

The nobleman’s niece had taken a liking to me and seemed to feel safer around me than the others so we quickly became friends. Her name was Primrose and she was honestly a nice person, she didn’t care about the gray scales that freckled my face or my teeth that I could extend and retract, in fact I think she was fascinated by my appearance.

The surviving villagers had taken well to the sight of me without my mask, believing that our Goddess had given me a great gift. I wasn’t sure I felt the same but if the thought gave them comfort then that’s all that mattered. Several days had passed and we were starting to run out of supplies, the cave was well hidden and I doubted the creatures could find it but it was still dangerous to head back to the village, shrieks and screams could still be heard in the night coming from the creatures apparently they still hadn’t gone away and were more than likely consuming the dead bodies that remained on the beach.

By chance I happened to move a crate near the back of the cave one day revealing a small cavern entrance, I knew thanks to my enhanced sense of smell there was running water and fish below the depths of the cave.

“Prim! Look at this!” I exclaimed.

The tall green eyed brunette walked over to where I was crouching down looking at the cavern entrance.

“Wow..” she said unimpressed.

“There’s fish down there.” I replied as I noticed the bored look on her face which quickly changed at the mention of food as we were dangerously low and having to ration.

“Wait, really!? How do you know?” she asked.

I tapped my nose and grinned at her, my canines extending slightly.

“Oh of course.” she giggled slightly.

“So will you come with me?” I asked her sheepishly unsure if she would feel comfortable doing so but I really didn’t want to go alone and well no one else was in good enough health to go with me but primrose and possibly Sarah.

“Um I guess so.. Will we be safe?” she replied.

“Probably but I can’t guarantee.” I said honestly.

“Well… I guess it can’t get any worse than it already has.. Sure, I'll go, Adrianna.” she replied with a nervous smile.

Primrose had taken to calling me Adrianna lately telling me it suited me better than Adrian, I couldn’t really disagree as I was starting to feel the same, the general discomfort that I had felt after my initial change was going away and I was beginning to feel more comfortable, I wasn’t sure why but I didn't really question things.

I told Sarah where I was going as primrose and I packed a small bag containing supplies.

“Be safe.. I love you.” Sarah said as she wrapped me in a tight hug. I could tell she was upset over Aenon and honestly I was too, we weren’t sure if he was going to make it or not and Sarah had spent the first few nights sobbing while she laid next to him.

“I will, I love you too sis.” I replied as I kissed her on the cheek.

After we finished packing, I explained what I was doing to the villagers and that If I wasn’t back by the time the food ran out that they should try finding a nearby spot to fish when it seemed safe.

Primrose followed my lead as we squeezed through the small entrance, barely big enough for us to fit, we made our way downward through a rather steep tunnel and eventually it opened up into a large rocky cavern with huge ceilings, A large lake was in front of us and the dark water eerily trickled in the silence of the cavern. 

I lit a torch and gazed around, something was off but I couldn’t tell what it was. Primrose spotted a small sandy beach at the edge of the underground lake, it wrapped around the body of water and stretched all the way from one side of the cave to the other.

The air underground was surprisingly crisp and fresh, I inhaled deeply enjoying the slight scent of salt water. Primrose and I made our way down to the beach and I started preparing a small cage trap, tossing a few dead crabs inside. I tied a rope to the trap and threw it into the lake causing a small wave of water to rush from the middle of the dark water onto the beach.

We waited and waited, I knew when to pull the trap up and patience was key, Primrose wandered around while I sat on the beach holding the rope tied to the trap. After a few hours I’d caught a generous amount of fish and I was surprised when Primrose started yelling for me to come look at what she’d found.

“What’s wrong, Prim?” I asked her as I ran over to the spot she was looking at near the other side of the dark Cavern.

“There’s Gold in that tunnel I think!” she said excitedly, pointing towards a tiny tunnel carved out from the stone walls, it was obviously done by someone since it didn’t look like a natural occurrence. 

Sure enough as I peered inside I caught a glimpse of shining yellow, I got down on my knees and started crawling through the tiny tunnel, I reached the end and I gasped as the tunnel opened up to a small room filled with gold and jewels.

“Holy shit! This room is filled with treasure!” I yelled back at Primrose who was peering through the entrance.

“Bring some! I doubt we can carry all of it.” she replied.

I gathered a small pile in my hands and put it in a leather pouch then strapped it to my waist, although before I left the tunnel, a small silver light caught my eye from under a few pieces of gold. 

“What’s this..” I mumbled to myself as I pulled the silver item from the pile of gold and examined it. It was covered in dust and bound tightly in leather wrap, which I unraveled revealing an odd dagger with similar symbols etched into it that I'd seen on the orb. 

When I ran my fingers over the smooth blade it began to glow at my touch and much to my astonishment, the blade extended into a small lightweight short sword, I felt intense heat emit from the blade as a pure white light surrounded the sharpened edge, the handle coiled itself around my hand like it was made of rubber then hardened.

A strange voice spoke in my mind. 

‘The blade of Atlan accepts you as its new owner, chosen one.’

When the voice finished speaking the blade unbound itself from my hand, returning back to a normal leather bound handle. Bewildered I ran my fingers over the handle and if things weren’t odd enough I felt a literal heartbeat coming from inside the sword. At my touch the blade would return to its regular dagger form and then back again if I stroked the handle with my finger tips.

“Wow..” I whispered as I put the dagger back into its sheath and tied it to my waist.

I slowly made my way back through the tunnel and handed Primrose the sack of gold. I showed her my new dagger and she was just as amazed by it as I was.

“That’s so bizarre, Adrianna.. But are you sure you should keep it? What if it's cursed..” she asked with a slight hint of fear in her voice.

“I don’t know.. But something is drawing me to it, I want to keep it.” I replied as I stood up and made my way back to the trap and pulled it out of the water, tossing more fish into a bag I’d brought.

Primrose followed and we sat on the beach for a little while until I noticed something strange in the middle of the lake. A pair of large, black, Orb-like eyes was staring at the two of us from inside the dark water.

“Prim.. get back to the cavern entrance.” I said in a panic as I noticed the eyes were moving slowly through the water towards us.

“What? Why?” she asked.

I pointed at the eyes and she gasped as she saw them yet she remained by my side as she stood up.

“I’m not leaving you here.” she said.

We didn’t have time to argue as the eyes began to rise from the water, revealing what they were connected to. My mouth was agape in horror as I looked at the monstrous creature rising from the water. 

It was huge, It made the anglers that had attacked the village as I was calling them now, look like shrimp. The thing was a mix between a giant sea spider and a squid, it’s bulbous sack-like head had a set of large eyes on the top, the ones that had been staring at us, while below was a set of six smaller eyes, it’s tiny mouth was agape revealing a sharp pair of mandibles and behind them was row after row of razor sharp teeth that resembled broken glass shards. It rose its huge tentacles in the air, each one ended with a sharp Arachnid like set of pinchers.

Sensing the fear growing inside me, my dagger flew from its sheath and into my hand, the handle coiling itself around my wrist as the blade extended and the piercing white light ignited along the edge of the blade, I could feel the sweltering heat coming from it.

“Fuck!” I yelled as I grabbed Primrose, dodging the first attack from the creature as It slammed its tentacle into the sand towards us.