My warriors are immediately effective. They are faster, strong, harder, and smarter, and they work as a pack together. When we come across two stone statues, both larger than the previous, but without the extra pair of arms, we hunt them like a pack predator hunts prey. We encircle them, and we wait for an opportunity. The statues show no signs of fear, yet I smell them.
These are living creatures. I don’t know how, nor do I care, now, but I can tell. Their eyes dart between us in a way a piece of magical stone would never, and their backs close in on each other, until they are both facing outwards. We allow them to close up, and then we attack. The spears of the back set of wolves target the legs, and when the statues bring their blades down to defend, strong steel hammers smash into them instead, cracking the stone with ease. Their weapons shatter, and moments later, the Vaalosaurs crash into them, knocking them on their backs. Unarmed wolves pounce, all of their efforts into the speed of their legs, and land on the arms, pinning them down.
Wolves move forward, stabbing spears into the necks of the statues, over and over again, chipping away at the stone, until the head cracks off with a cacophonous snap which reverberates off the walls. The second one is stubborn, and I climb atop it, then swing the hammer like I’m playing golf, wrenching the head from its shoulders in a single swing. I feel the rush of pleasure flow through me as I take.
Why did I not do this sooner? What stopped me? What made me do this, so suddenly?
I ask the question, but I know the answer. It was when I was nearly about to die. When Elijah killed me. I realized I had led a very similar life. Worrying about doing the right thing instead of doing what I want, or helping others instead of myself. The curse helped free me from that, and I’ve never been so grateful.
I drop off the cracked stone, the last remnants of its life gone, and I laugh. We continue without me saying a word. I look over my pack - they aren’t a hive mind, yet they act as one, with me as the focal point. They all know what I want to do, what the wolf next to them wants to do, and they do it without hesitation. When I took them into my pack, I promised them something, something which they want, something they need, as a species. Strength. Unity. Power.
That’s what I want. It’s a match made in heaven.
A large stone door blocks our way. I smash the hammer into it, but it doesn’t budge. I command the Vaalosaurs to push, and it does not budge. A small circle, blue as the ocean water, shines in the middle. I put my hand on it.
DO YOU WISH TO CHALLENGE THE DUNGEON’S FIRST DENIZEN?
I accept. The doors open, and black light streams through. The room is bright, but dark at the same time. Black walls, smooth as obsidian, wrap around the entire room, with thick red veins casting light out. Four figures stand in the centre, smaller, sleeker, and made of black and white stone.
I walk forwards, and to my surprise, they speak, all as one.
“An Incarnate comes to us. We are the Dungeon’s first challenge, out of two before you face the ruler.”
They do not give me a chance to converse, instead unsheathing four swords at once - each. Their bodies are thin, but not without strength, standing perhaps a meter above me in height. They have four arms, two of which are white, the others black, alternating on each different creature. What is most striking is the red glowing gem in their sternums, each the exact same. They lunge forward, and we react quickly.
My hammer lashes out as one speeds towards me, faster than it was expecting. It seems to almost teleport backwards, narrowly avoiding anything more than a glancing blow. But the hammer is not named for it’s caution. I drive forwards, slamming the front of the hammer into the belly of the stone statue, and placing my claw into it’s shoulder. It keels over, and I let the hammer slide down so that I grip it near the top, then bring it upwards. It impacts onto the face of the creature, sending shards of shattered stone towards me that cut into my body, and I feel my regeneration seal the tiny lacerations in seconds.
Elliot and Mylixe joined us, but they did not join me. They are not part of my pack. Two crossbow bolts fly over my head, and impact into the same statue I just hurt, knocking it to the floor. Elliot swipes with an axe, taking a small chunk of stone from one of the statues, but gets two swords swung at his head in return. Mylixe puts her claws in the way, and the swords deflect from the metal plating that seems to grow around her arms. The creature stumbles away, but the wound it sustained seems to crumble further. Elliot moves forward, and the stone around where he cut starts to disintegrate.
A line of blue light slams into the third statue as I move to be above the one that charged me. I let the handle slip again, until I hold it by the very end, then I bring it up, and smash it down. Four stone swords move to block it, and they give under the strength of the blow until the hammer hovers inches above the creature’s face. It teleports again, and my hammer slams into the ground, the force sending barely-visible cracks through the dark stone. Two more bolts fire over me, hitting the creature just as it reappears. I lunge at it whilst it is stunned, throwing the hammer into it. As before, it blocks, so I put my claws under the blades, then tear, my claws ripping through the stone with some effort.
It cries out, and out of the corner of my eye I see Avelihn scythe through another with a beam of light, but it reforms a second later. My statue swings it’s blades at me, and now unarmed, I jump backwards. It rams itself forward, into two spears that appear over my shoulder. In shock, it takes a second to process, and I see it’s eyes for the first time - two slits with tiny eyeballs, but they rapidly move back and forth in fear. I put myself in between it and its weapons, put my hands on it’s sides, then lift it over me, driving it into the floor. It tucks its head, all its weight slamming onto itself, and the stone can’t handle it, and crumbles underneath, snapping the stone that connects the neck. I bring my foot down onto it, making sure it’s dead.
Aidan’s children tear another apart, Mylixe acting defensively, protecting her brother, and keeping close to the stone creature as it disintegrates. It backs up, and for a brief second, the wound stops growing, but Mylixe moves closer, allowing Elliot to do the same, and when he moves forward, the wound re-opens. So, that must be one of his abilities.
My pack has surrounded another, and they constantly poke it with spears, then punish it with hammers as it closes the distance, until someone strikes a devastating blow to it’s legs. It falls to the ground, and my pack savages it, delivering blow upon blow as one only practiced in carving out stone can do. They look like blacksmiths shaping iron - but stone is not so malleable, and it breaks under the unrelenting barrage. It tries, with great futility, to bring the weapons up to defend itself.
It is useless. I look over at the fourth, one that seems to not die. It has no fear in it’s movements, no hesitation when it moves forward to swipe at a barrier of air that Avelihn produces. That all changes when it sees it is the last one. Confidence turns to doubt, and it runs.
We hunt it down.
An hour later, we have a safe place to camp. Both doors can be closed, and they don’t seem to open except to an Incarnate’s touch. That’s when night falls.
ALERT: CURSE OF LUST STARTED
