Closing my eyes, I banished all the fear in my heart, steadied my trembling limbs and stopped the panic from rising any further.
'Panic solves nothing in times of crisis, I need to be its master, not its servant.'
I opened my eyes, my vision sharper now. The promise I made to the townspeople repeating in my head. The bones in my hands scraped against each other, sharpening them. They now formed a crude but familiar weapon, and I settled into a stance, ready.
The Nightspawn flickered from my sight. Suddenly, it was upon me, its clawed hand slashing toward me. My left hand drove the bone into its wrist, the impact dull but enough to slow the strike, and with a twist, I drove the other bone toward its chest.
A deafening screech ripped through the air. The sound crashed into my skull, sending my body hurtling backward. My back slammed into the wall with a sickening thud before I could catch my breath. Before the pain even settled, the spawn was on me again.
Its gaping maw snapped shut, inches from my chest. I rolled, muscles screaming, as the jaws missed by a breath. My heart hammered in my throat, but there was no time to think. The creature's arms flung forward, transforming into lash-like whips. They cut through the air with unnatural speed, a blur of unpredictable motion.
One of the whips cracked across my shoulder, and a sharp, searing pain erupted in my arm as it hit the stone wall. My body crumpled, the bone almost splintering in my grasp. I gasped for air, but already, the Nightspawn was lunging again.
Its arms shifted mid-air, the whip-like limbs hardening into heavy cudgels. They came down fast, like falling towers of flesh and bone.
No time to move.
I crossed the bones in front of me, bracing for the impact.
*BOOM*
The force drove me to one knee, the floor buckling beneath me. A sharp jolt shot through my arms as the makeshift weapons groaned, fibers splintering, my grip slipping. I grit my teeth, the pressure mounting, seconds from snapping.
There was no way out. Not without more.
I drew a breath through clenched teeth, steadying the tremor in my limbs. My voice came out low, nearly a growl.
"Unshackle."
Heat surged through my veins, burning away the weakness. Muscles tightened, bones reinforced, tendons like steel cables. My body screamed, but with it came strength, raw, and unrestrained.
I roared and shoved upward. The Nightspawn reeled back a step, arms thrown wide from the force. The femur bones fell from my hands, shattered into useless fragments.
I stood tall, breath heavy, eyes locked on the creature.
'It's really strong for something so skinny.'
'My weapons are gone, but it doesn't matter. I'll kill it with my bare hands.'
*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHH*
It screamed again before launching itself at me, it seemed to share the same sentiment. I met it head-on, fist clenched, and swung.
*BOOM*
Our punches collided mid-air. The shockwave jolted up my arm, bones groaning under the force. It didn't budge. Not even a step.
Its head twitched, eyes narrowing, and then, another blow.
Faster this time. Heavier.
I threw my fist again, but it was already there. My arm was flung back like a leaf in a storm. Then came the real hit, its leg buried itself in my chest.
*BANG*
The wind ripped from my lungs. Something hot and metallic crept up my throat.
Then I was airborne, tumbling end over end like a kicked boulder before I slammed into stone. The wall cracked behind me. My ribs screamed.
Dust rained down. I stayed down for a beat, coughing. Blood kissed my lips.
But my eyes never left it.
'My exoskeleton won't withstand another blow like that, I need to end this.'
I forced my body upright, legs trembling, vision blurred. Every nerve screamed, every muscle felt like splintered glass, but I leaned forward.
One last strike.
My breath hitched. I clenched my fist, packed it with everything I had and sprinted.
The Nightspawn twisted its limb, bone and sinew warping into a gleaming blade. It lashed out—aimed straight for my heart.
It was going to skewer me.
The tip of the blade kissed my chest—
I twisted.
Metal sliced past ribs as I pivoted just enough to miss the kill shot. Then I drove my fist up with a roar.
*CRACK*
Its jaw exploded on impact. Bone splinters flew like shrapnel. The shockwave traveled up my arm, and something gave. My forearm snapped like dry wood.
Agony lit my nerves on fire.
The Nightspawn hit the floor like dead weight.
I staggered, knees buckling, chest heaving. Blood ran down my arm in thick rivers. My vision swam.
But I stayed on my feet. I couldn't fall. Not yet.
I stared at the Nightspawn, breath hitching, every inch of me trembling.
Its body lay crumpled, still, unmoving.
'Did I really kill it?'
'Did I… win?'
A twitch.
My eyes snapped wide.
It moved.
Slowly, it pushed itself upright, rising like something ancient waking from a dreamless sleep. The broken jaw I'd shattered was gone, replaced by a smooth, featureless void. Its body shrank and twisted, limbs contorting unnaturally. Wings tore free from its back, long and skeletal. The thing was reborn, smaller, tighter, and infinitely more terrifying.
Then it looked at me.
No eyes. No face. Just… absence. That dark void held me in its grip, and I felt something inside me shudder.
*SHHHIIIIIIIIIIKKKKK*
A sound like glass scraping across metal tore into the air. It shrieked beyond hearing, the pitch so high it bypassed my ears entirely and crashed straight into my brain. My knees buckled. I clutched my head. It felt like it would go on forever. But then, silence.
Not peace… void.
My hearing was gone.
Darkness spilled out of its body like ink in water, curling and crawling along the floor, swallowing light. But this wasn't the absence of sight, it was the absence of everything. My breath caught. The cold pressed in, not on my skin, but on my soul. I tried to move, to speak, to think, but every sense, every instinct was drowned beneath that tide of black.
I floated, suspended in nothing. No up. No down. No pain. Just… a crushing, bottomless despair.
I couldn't speak. I couldn't even blink.
Then. A flicker.
Light? No. Feeling.
Sight returned in flashes, slow and stuttering. My chest heaved. The weight still pressed on me, but I was aware again.
'What just happened…?'
I tried to move, but something was… weird.
Something was inside me.
My gaze dropped.
A blade.
Slick and black, glinting faintly under the gloom, buried in my chest.
My feet lifted from the ground. Blood spilled in thick ropes down its limb, pattering across the stone below. My lungs refused to fill. My mouth opened, but no sound came. Only the taste of iron.
My fingers twitched once.
Then stilled.
The Nightspawn stood inches away, one hand holding me up, its void-face tilted in something almost resembling… ridicule?
My vision dimmed.
I could feel it.
Not pain. Not fear.
The end.
But before the light slipped from my eyes, I saw a crimson eyed figure watching me from afar.
***
ELARA's POV
'Hmmm, so that was all he could do huh?'
I watched, chin resting on my hand, perched high in the rafters behind the spawn. Griffin hung limp from the Nightspawn's blade, limbs twitching, his eyes fading like a star.
'He was doing quite well in the beginning, but he wasted too much time.'
'He should've hit it with everything he had from the start.'
"It was still very educational though. I have a feel of his capabilities now."
"Well, it's time to go kill this thing."
By the time the Terror twitched at my presence, I was already gone. In one fluid motion, I slipped past its towering form, scooping Griffin's broken body into my arms. His breathing was shallow, a wheeze and a rattle, but still there.
'Persistent little human.'
I laid him gently against the wall. Bone jutted from his forearm, his chest rose unevenly revealing his shattered exoskeleton. I brushed a hand across the blood-smeared edge of his jaw.
"Well done," I whispered. "Rest now."
Then I turned to face the terror.
Its scream began to rise—
*SHHHIII—"
My fist caved in its chest with a meaty crack.
"Enough of your incessant whining."
It reeled, only for my heel to smash across its face, launching it back like a broken kite in the wind. Before it hit the wall, I was there. Fingers curling into its skull, flinging it towards the ceiling.
Wings flared. It caught itself, and dashed at me with slightly impressive speeds.
I grinned.
"Would you look at that? Learned to fly, did you?"
Axes for arms now, it came at me with wild precision. I caught both limbs mid-swing, the impact reverberating through my arms like a thunderclap, then crushed them. Bone ground under my palms.
*RAAAA— *
I slammed its face into the floor hard enough to split the stone.
"I thought I said, enough."
Releasing my grip on it, I kicked it away. It rolled like a soccer ball being kicked into a net.
*Yawn*
"Is this everything you have?"
It trembled, then stilled.
Something shifted. The air thickened.
Darkness spilled from its body, thicker than before, heavier. It swallowed the light, gnawing at my skin, my thoughts.
Even my draconic sight faltered.
Now this was impressive.
I lifted my hand and closed it. I couldn't feel anything, but I knew I was holding the spawn.
"Well done, you've actually managed to impress me."
"I guess I should reward you for this."
My dark hair took on a red glow, my crimson eyes burned even brighter than they usually did and my fists were heating up.
*RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH*
"Heh, even though my senses are dulled. I can still hear your pathetic screams."
Light roared out of me, drowning the black. The world bled red. The spawn's limb sizzled in my grip, the flesh melting off like wax in flame.
It dropped, crumpled. Kneeling. Writhing.
I stepped forward, the floor hissing beneath my feet.
"Well, this was fun," I said, my voice light. "But I'm bored now."
I vanished. Reappearing behind it. My index finger pressed to the back of its skull.
"Incinerate."
A hiss. A flash. Flesh peeled away like paper in a blaze. Bone followed. Then ash.
Then nothing.
My hair dimmed. The red glow faded.
Silence returned.
"Phew, now it's time to leave this dreadful place."
Griffin was right where I left him. Still breathing. I slung him over my shoulder like a sack of flour and raised one hand. A small orb of fire bloomed from my palm. I launched it straight up, the ceiling burst open in a blaze of stone and flame.
Night wind greeted me. Stars blinked down, a beautiful sight.
I crouched, tensing my muscles.
Then launched.
We soared from the womb, smoke trailing behind.
"Oh, right." I snapped my fingers.
A tiny red ember drifted from my hand, vanishing into the darkness below.
Seconds later, the world shook. A plume of fire roared from the womb, lighting up the night like a second sun.
I looked down, then to Griffin's unconscious face.
A smirk tugged at my lips.
"That enough of a funeral for you, Griffin?"