Taking in the view, the black chimera looked around. Her ears were filled with the sound of dripping water, and her nose was filled with the smell of damp earth. Her surroundings were connected by thick, large cobwebs, giving the appearance of a salivating beast.

She knew this was the perfect spot for her to rest. She settled down and closed her eyes, content to stay and observe the stillness of the cave. Kali inhaled slowly and closed her eyes, taking to rest her legs after six long days of travel. She let the sound and the smell wash over her as she felt her body relax. She lay still, enjoying the quiet of the tunnel and the warmth of the water. She felt at peace.

Still thoughts entered her mind.

Visions of strong people, ones so formidable that she couldn't beat them. Monsters like That Entity and The King. Surrounded by their own packs of strong people, that vision filled her with fear but she couldn't deny it made her feel envious.

She wanted that strength to protect herself, her children and her nest in the future. She knew that the only way to do that was to master this power within and find her own pack of strong individuals. She knew she could do it but it was the time it would take that made her want to give up. "Why can't I do it now?"

Bringing her left hand into view, focusing on the dim red markings on her fingers."Why couldn't things be easy? Why don't I know what to do?"

She felt, just out of reach, the answers to her questions but they were out of reach.Refusing to offer themselves to her until called for, Great Wiseman did not provide an answer since it did not have the answers she sought.

"I want that." She muttered half-heartedly while closing her eyes and rubbing her abdomen. "I want someone." Touching her chest she felt her heart beat fast and strong, burning bright and hot at the thought of a mate. "Why?"

She searched through her mind, bringing together fragments of memories with that same feeling. She saw visions of happy times with others. She saw her mother congratulating her on accomplishments in the church. She saw her father excited about her marriage to her wife. She worked hard, struggling to give her loved ones what she didn't have as a child. 

All of it was taken because she was weak, not even her dignity was left.

Her heart burned with envious rage but none of this felt like they were truly Kali's own. It was hollow, lacking something that made it ‘true’. Whoever those people were, they weren't her. She was just watching moments in their life, a spectator in what she assumed were her own memories.

"Why?" She was angry, happy, enamored, envious and sorrowful. Her emotions, whether the memories were true or not, swirled together into a juice of complexes that made the darkness around her darker and the area around her shrink. "Why am I like this? Why do I feel so hurt?"

"It's called 'heartbreak'."

Cutting through her emotions, her alarm bells rang. There was someone else nearby. Their presence was faint but frightful, filled with evil temptations and cruel tortures. She scrambled to her feet, frantically looking around her.

"What? Where-" she gasped.

"Sorry but no." The voice said, deep like a sea and dark like a moonless sky, ended that line of questioning before it could begin. "There is power in anonymity."

"Anonymity?"

"Master be careful." Great Wiseman warned, unable to process what it was seeing. The trait, analyzing the mana flow for any irregularities was suddenly blinded; it saw no farther than an arm's length in any direction. The mana wasn't trapped, it flowed normally but the trait and its master couldn't see it flow farther than an arm's length. It was like a curtain had been dropped on them. "This could be a trap."

"No shit." the chimera scoffed attempting to break the curtain with fire then her Mystic Blaze. Much to her shock the brilliant fire and rainbow inferno were swallowed whole by the black curtain. She quickly backed away from the curtain, her senses on high alert as she fired more attacks.

Rocks, wind blades, balls of darkness and bolts of lighting, each were swallowed whole regardless of how much power she put into the attack.

"Hahahahahaha!" Echoing from all directions a sinister laugh taunted the chimera's ears. "What's with you? Only using raw power? No spells? Hahahahaha!"

"What are you? What do you want?" Kali screamed "What did I do?"

"Oh? Hahahahahaha!" The laughter grew louder and more intense at her remark until it all came to a halt, like the emotions had been eliminated leaving only a muted joy in the next words "I am just like you in a way. As for what I want well to do what I was made for: help alleviate other's struggles!"

"By trapping me?"

"Hey now, I'm not dumb enough to compromise with a chimera again without protection and insurance!"

"And why should I trust you?"

"you shouldn't but at least hear me out, from one who knows struggle to another?" the chimera simply nodded her head propting the voice to make his pitch "in exchange for sending you to a place where you can get knowledge of magic and find plenty of females you must survive against the beast of hills."

"The beast of hills? what's that?"

"One of my many creations." The voice echoed with a bit of pride. "If you survive it for ten minutes I'll ensure your safe teleportation to where your needs can be met."

"why do I still not believe you?" Kali sighed, she didn't know why. She wanted the prize but in the back of her mind she felt suspicious: the deal seemed too enticing for her to turn down. "What do you get out of it?"

"My greatest creation gets to be tested." The voice cackled with pride and anticipation filling every word. "If it eats you it might evolve into a higher monster!"

"You really, sincerely wish to kill me?"

"No, I don't. I just answered your question."

"You literally just said you wanted to kill me."

"I did not."

"You did."

"Are you going to agree to the proposal or not?"

"Master, I believe that-"

"I'll fight it!" Kali Yelled, cutting off her trait before it could advise her to do the more logical. Getting there, to that place, wasn't something she wanted to wait for. No matter what, she wanted these bindings to be removed, she needed this pain to end. If this voice was sincere, if it could really take her to where she was supposed to go? Even if she had to kill that entity, she would!

"Good then let me create the scenery." Before the chimera could speak the ground was ripped from beneath her. She fell. She tried to stop herself but nothing, not growing wings, not using wind, not even using fire and wind all together could stop her descent.

Crashing into the ground, her vision blurred and twisted. She lay still, too weak to move. She could feel the impact radiating through her body as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Shaking her head free of the fog she looked around.

The world was an endless field of purple glass. Changing form and pattern the glass edges ground against each other filling the air with a sound that made the chimera want to rip her ears off. The ground she stood on was a single sphere, made entirely of crystal though this time smooth and giving off enough light to make everything visible.

"What?" she muttered as the chimera took in the view in awe. "How? What kind of spell?"

Her mutterings were cut off as her opponent entered the area. From above, a large cylindrical capsule made of black metal crashed behind her. She felt her body stiffen in fear. Her muscles locked her bones in place, her stomach twisted and turned while her mouth filled with bile.

Holding back her vomit, Kali eyed her left hand that had unknowingly transformed into a blade. Trembling the arm moved on its own slowly rising to her throat finding it a more fitting end than with the hands of whatever was inside that capsule.

The monster in the capsule was faster than her arm.

The capsule opened, the door moved up letting out a sea of dark steam that evaporated quickly. Turning around with her trembling body, Kali felt the monster's mana. What walked out of that smoke was a true beast.

Its body was large, lacking armor over its pure white and scarred skin. On its head wooden branches stretched out with purple leaves, and from those antlers vibrant purple tattoos stretched across its form. The tattoos were centered around its' three pairs of arms, its' two pairs of wings and its' pair of legs. As it approached a shadow of fear fell on the black chimera.

"Master." The calm robotic voice of Great Wiseman echoed through her panicked mind. "You cannot win. I believe our best chance of survival is to run."

Kali's silence was her agreement. By observing their speech, fine clothing, and beauty, a human would be able to determine if they were in the presence of royalty. By noticing its strong mana, intoxicating smell, and rugged hide, the Black Chimera knew right away that this beast was from a line of 'Monster Royalty'. She could only stare in fear as the beast locked its gaze on her.

Their clash was instantaneous.

The Black Chimera, ruled by fear and a desire not to die, took the first move. Her fingers sharpened to a razor's edge reinforced to its limit with magical energy supplied by the 'Lesser Dragonic Body'. She slashed, stabbed, clawed and cut. She moved her arms wildly, making her arms more flexible to add to the power behind each attack.

Yet all that was for nought.

Though the air cracked and the ground shattered from her attacks, the target stood untouched.

To the beast, her attacks were ungodly slow. Each claw swipe took an eternity to reach its body and lacked special effects. The mana covering its body was too dense for her body alone to cut through. The mana didn't need to be hardened nor were its tattoos needed, which left the beast annoyed.

"Just. Pest."

The Beast of Hills let out a thunderous roar. The air reverberated, infused with the power of its trait that made her bones rattle and made her organs tremble. Her body stood still, slowly cutting open, shedding her dark blood. From one came three and from three came seven more, her body lay still as it was seemingly ripped by unseen forces.

She collapsed to the ground. From her cuts, a deep, endless black stained the crystal. With her body trembling, foul sounds emanated from the wounds with fragments of bones exposed. Through a large cut on her stomach, she felt her insides being torn apart from within, causing her to vomit darkness.

"whvvvracck!" Kali vomited, frantically she grabbed her innards, ignoring the burning metallic sensation of her blood, and shoved them back inside spitting more blood as they slipped through her fingers.

"Regenerate!" she screamed attempting to push mana to the familiar trait but she couldn't. She couldn't "grab" the energy like she used to. It ran wild, pulsating, burning, gathering together then breaking, all to flee its fleshy shell. It was ripping all it could, breaking whatever it could to be free. "REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE! REGENERATE!"

She screamed but her body didn't comply. She was ripped apart from the inside, her strongest tool had unwittingly turned into her greatest torment.