Part 18 (Unedited) – Hunting Season
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Hey guys, long time no see!

Im really sorry about the unanounced hiatus... my mental health kinda sorta mega crashed :/

But that doesnt mean ive abandoned the story! I still really like Demon Days, I just didnt have the energy to work on it for a while, especially with life getting busier as well. Im feeling a bit better now so im gonna try to write more regularly again!

Again, im super sorry to anyone who was enjoying my story, i didnt mean to bail on you,,, but hopefully I can churn out a few more chapters while keeping myself energized haha

Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Scale, Cleopatra, Muld, Silver, and I all stood inside my room again. I made a mental note to create more chairs, as well as to maybe create a proper meeting room in general. At the moment, only Cleopatra and Muld sat on actual chairs, while Silver and I sat at the edge of my bed, and Scale crouched over the fireplace, taking an almost childish joy in watching the flames crawl over the firewood.

Ahh, I’d have to get more firewood as well. I really hadn’t thought ahead when first creating my fireplace, adding firewood purely because a fireplace didn’t look quite right without it, rather than adding it for the sake of actually using it.

“So, we are gonna split up then?” Cleopatra asked.

After Ivercel’s climatic announcement, he let us all go to prepare for our hunts in our own ways. He warned us that while the creatures that would be closest to our domains should be weak enough for us to safely fight, there was no guarantee that the creatures farther away would be manageable. 

Despite the risks, however, Ivercel explained that one could not truly grow if they were coddled too much, and taking greater risks would often lead to greater rewards. That being said, he seemed almost impatient after his lecture, and I got the feeling the real reason he was letting us go on our own was because he had plans of his own he would rather attend to.

“It makes sense to. We all need to explore the areas around our domains as soon as possible. Besides, having more than one of us around might be overkill for whatever weak creatures lived closest to our domains.” Scale said, stepping away from the fire and joining the conversation.

“Stay careful, accidents can happen.” Silver said, to which we all nodded.

With our decisions made, we left my wooden hut and one by one my allies entered into the fog surrounding my domain, leaving to go to their own. I watched the fog after they had all left, and after a moment of waiting, Silver returned with three foxes.

“Ivercel never explained the transfer process…” I said, wondering where to start. 

After our battle last night, Silver and I had decided to make a trade. Three of her foxes for one of my unicorns. It might have been slightly imbalanced, as I was likely getting a little more from the deal than Silver, but we were pretty sure that a three foxes to one unicorn ratio was pretty close in terms of spirit power cost.

“Take my hand.” Silver said, seeming to have an idea for how to make the transfer happen.

I did as she told me and a moment later I felt a bit of spirit power brush up against me. I felt something similar to when I had first created a monster, or first used a spirit gate, or used any of my skills in general really. It was like an instinct was guiding me, but unlike those other times, just instinct wasn’t enough. My body had an idea of what to do, but there was still some knowledge missing.

I looked at my unbonded unicorn, the one I intended to trade, and I felt a sort of bond appear between me and it. Interesting, it was almost like a string was tied between us. From where Silver held my hand, I could feel another string of power, and through it I could almost swear I felt the three foxes that she had brought to trade. But what next?

Silver frowned in concentration, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed, before I suddenly felt the string on her end move. What was she trying to- oh! I moved my own in a similar fashion to hers, and soon the two strings tied together. Finally, instinct was able to take over, as a felt my grasp on my unicorn fade, while the feeling of the three foxes increased. We released each others hands, knowing intuitively that the process had been completed.

“Will be a pain to teach the others.” Silver said, grimacing at the thought of having to explain such a vague feeling, and I could only agree. It would be an important skill though, as variety in an army could be extremely helpful.

“Good luck.” I told her, and she nodded back to me.

“Don’t take stupid risks.” She said, in a tone that didn’t seem entirely joking. I’ve only been alive for a day, what could possibly make her think I would take dumb risks? There was a big difference between a calculated risk and a dumb one, mind you.

Then she was gone. I stretched my arms out and rolled my shoulders. Well, my preparations were complete, all that was left was to find something to kill. I stepped through the fog of my domain and caught my first glimpse of the spirit world surrounding it.

I was searching for something specific as I rode Avalon through the spirit world. Ivercel hadn’t actually mentioned them to us, but anyone with memories of creatures native to the spirit world probably knew what they were. In fact, of my four other friends, only Cleopatra didn’t know about them. 

Apparently most of her memories came from earth, and it had actually been extremely hard to stop myself from asking all about earth while we were discussing how to go about hunting around our domains. Well, there would be plenty of chances to ask her about her memories later. For now I just needed to keep an eye out for… aha!

In the distance I spotted a jagged, unnatural looking hole in the ground. It was right on the boundary between the plains and a forest. I looked to my foxes that silver had given to me, and signaled for them to scout ahead. I wasn’t entirely certain if they understood my command as they didn’t seem to be quite as intelligent as Avalon, but they moved ahead at a cautious but quick pace so I decided they figured enough of my command out at the very least.

Avalon whinnied nervously, sensing something was off from my own emotions yet not understanding why I was being so cautious with what appeared to be just a hole in the ground. After all, it could have just been caused by a sinkhole, right? Nothing scary about it…

Except it wasn’t just a hole, it was a rift. A sort of ‘monster factory’ that would generate a specific kind of creature at a set rate. A rift designated to create a stronger creature, say a dragon, might only generate one dragon every month or even longer, whereas a rift that generated weaker creatures, could generate one or even more a day.

Avalons ears shot up as a sharp clicking filled the air and I brushed a hand down his neck to soothe him. The sound was almost… insect-like, as if thousands of mandibles were clacking together. Despite the noise, I still couldn’t see them. It almost sounded like they were all around… oh shit.

My foxes raced back towards me as I turned Avalon around and pushed him into a full gallop away. That was when I saw the first of them burst out of the ground.

 

1 Star - Unbonded

Beetle Wolf Body - Lesser

Scavenger Role - Lesser

Earth Affinity - Lesser

 

Beetle wolfs… wolf beetles… literally massive chitin covered wolves with all the terrifying features of beetles. Individually, not the strongest creatures in the world, but it looks like I just might have set off the whole gods forsaken hive.

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