"The inn owner is gonna kill us for breaking the window!" Durthu whispered.
"Fuck the inn owner, Eloise is gonna kill us!" Cyrus was starting to panic.
In this world there didn't seem to be showers but rather baths, hot springs, and things of that nature. If this was on Earth, he'd have been able to hear the shower turn off. He couldn't hear her so he couldn't prepare himself for when she decided to come out. He was panicking and began to pace back and forth with Durthu watching him.
"Look! There's curtains!" Durthu pointed.
"So?!" Cyrus stared.
Durthu picked up the glass and chucked it out the window before closing the curtains, "Now she won't know!"
"What if she wants to look out of the window?!" Cyrus whisper-yelled.
"Oh… right…" Durthu scratched his chin, "Well we accept our deaths."
"God damn you." Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose.
The two sat and tried to play it off, dreading the moment that Angel left the bathroom. When she finally did come out, she sighed in relief and dried off her hair… which she'd taken out of the braids they were in. Cyrus blinked and stared for a moment. Ever since he'd met her not only did she have in her braids, but it was as if she made sure she looked presentable at all times. Now? Well, of course she still looked presentable, but her clothes were loose, her hair was undone and curly and stopped just past her shoulder blades.
Cyrus hadn't even realized he was staring until she raised a brow and pointed at him.
"Is he alright?" Eloise asked Durthu.
"Yup! We're all good! Right, Cyrus?" Durthu hit him on the back.
Cyrus winced, "Oh! Uh… yup, we're all good!"
"Why are the curtains closed?" She asked.
"... We got… cold." Cyrus lied through his teeth.
"Mmhmm." She nodded, unconvinced, "Durthu, is he telling the truth?"
"Yup! Got cold!" Durthu gave a thumbs up and smiled.
"Uh huh…" She hummed and sat on the bed, "So how are our sleeping arrangements gonna work?"
"Me and D will sleep on the floor or something." Cyrus said, "You can keep the bed since you're the only girl."
The three began to talk, mostly about what had happened leading up to this point and planning out their next steps. While doing this talking, Eloise felt something eating away at the back of her mind and felt as though she just had to ask.
"Why did Serenith mention an egg?" Eloise asked.
"Yeah I wonder that too." Durthu looked at Cyrus.
"Well uh…" Cyrus scratched his head, "I originally got it before you joined up, Eloise."
"Explain, Cyrus." She crossed her legs.
Cyrus spoke about the egg. He told them how he'd first obtained it as a reward for solving all of Darngir's riddles. Durthu listened intently, Eloise was also listening but checking his face for any lies. He continued to speak, retelling how he found out it absorbed heat and did well in the dark, which was totally contradictory.
"Serenith never mentioned the void." Eloise piped up.
"I'm gettin' there." Cyrus shushed her.
He told them that, after defeating the Sphinx, he'd obtained another egg. When he brought the two eggs close together they fused into the Aether Egg, which is what Serenith brought up. He had, inadvertently, obtained his own Aetheris through coincidence. He didn't understand it himself, when Durthu asked a question that made far too much sense when thought about.
"Why would the kitty cat woman give you an Egg of Light?" Durthu asked.
"Kitty cat woman?" Eloise stared at him, confused.
"The Sphinx?" Cyrus asked, "I… don't actually know."
"Should we check it's room again? Maybe we'll find something of use where it lived." Eloise looked at Cyrus.
"We can. I know where to go." Durthu raised his hand.
"Yeah, we can go back. Afterwards we'll search this floor for anything else we can use to get stronger." Cyrus rubbed his hands together.
"Alright, sounds like we've got a full day ahead of us tomorrow." Eloise smiled.
"Well today isn't over yet, I'm gonna scout the town. See if there's anything I can find out about this floor since we got here late." Cyrus stood up and left.
Did he leave so she couldn't yell at him when she discovered the window? Yes. Did he also tell the truth? Also yes. He really didn't wanna get in trouble for that window, since technically he didn't even do it and he was afraid that Eloise would probably chop his head off if she found out. So instead he went wandering around the town, eavesdropping on conversations hoping to find something regarding this floor.
He'd taken note of his own observations, of course, but all of them were things that were fairly obvious. He was really looking for information regarding any kind of dungeons or structures, and after a lot of eavesdropping and following folks, he heard something that grabbed his attention.
"Yeah, Damien found some sort of big ass cave. He said it looked like something was living there but he didn't stay long." A small hairy man said to a taller dark skinned woman with pointy ears.
"We should check it out. Maybe we'll find something." The dark skinned woman scratched her chin.
"Perfect." Cyrus whispered to himself and went to find said cave.
He was going to leave through the main gate but when he saw others still investigating the massacre that happened, he turned and went to find another way out of the town. He instantly felt mad at himself for not trying to listen for some sort of directions, but how hard could it be to find some giant cave? I mean there couldn't possibly be that many. He would prove himself very wrong, very fast.
After a few minutes of searching he found a different gate and left while blending into a crowd. Nobody questioned or stopped him, so he managed to get out of the town and began his journey. He started to use the process of elimination, as he just came from the North and he didn't see any traces of a cave, merely forest. He looked around and saw he was now heading South, which seemed just a little too perfect for him… so he went Southwest instead, just sort of walking in that general direction in hopes he'd find a cave or something.
And as he walked and walked he decided to check his Hunters Journal to see if maybe anything was updated. He first checked Serenith, only to find all of that was still blocked out. He then clicked on the Sphinx, hoping maybe he could find something of use regarding its ties to the Aetheris or the Egg of Light it gave him.
Sphinx
Species: Sphinx Mertarian
Place of Origin: Unknown, theorized to have come from Earth before being relocated.
Biology: The Sphinx is a very interestingly built creature. For males, they do not develop wings nor do they develop a completely human face, keeping some animal characteristics in their face, they tend to spend their time as a stone statue through some sort of unknown means, possibly through an internal organ that allows them to enter this state of "hibernation". Meanwhile, females develop wings and human faces, though it seems this was developed as a form of mimicry to cause their prey to approach them, as this facial appearance is uncanny and looks as though it was mimicked. The scream of a Sphinx is just as confusing, as the volumes they shout at should be impossible, but this piece of their biology is well known. The vocal cords of a Sphinx can fluctuate and change size and thickness, they also have four lungs that are much larger than average, to store more air. The biology of a Sphinx is a mystery to all.
Habits: Sphinx's are sadistic and cruel beasts, relishing in the pain, suffering, and fear of their prey. Female Sphinx's are the best example of this characteristic, often using their human-looking faces to smile and torment their prey whilst hunting. While hunting, a Sphinx will hunt as an ambush predator, often hiding and watching their prey before attacking. When they're ready, they often reveal their face to instill fear before attacking. The Sphinx will create a nest or a home, often inside of a structure or atop a mountain. They seem to have a fixation on temples and pyramids, really anything that creates a geometric triangle, probably due to their origins.
Diet: Sphinx's are carnivores and will eat anything, from the smallest bug to a Titan if they can kill one.
Mating: Male Sphinx's do not fight one another to gain the attention of a female, rather, a male Sphinx is bright in color and their screams are significantly louder than a females. To gain the attention of a female, a male will flash their bright colors and scream as loud as they can until the female chooses one of them, where they eventually mate.
Tameable, if taken and raised before being influenced by older Sphinx's.
Relation to Aetheris: This is a hidden section open only to you, Cyrus Richards, due to having an Aether Egg in your possession. The Sphinx is a direct derivative of the Aetheris species, God decided they were much too hard to complete and thus abandoned them but took some aspects from the species and repurposed them. As a result, upon killing a female Sphinx there is a chance half of an Aether egg will drop, requiring an Egg of the Void to complete. To learn more on an Egg of the Void, find and kill a Void Dragon.
Cyrus hummed and stared at the last section. What was a Void Dragon and where would he find one of those? Actually, why would this "God" guy (he means me by the way) split Aetheris DNA between two separate species that so far, have no relation? And why can he still not look at any of Serenith's information? It still only showed question marks. He kicked some snow from under him, he felt as though he needed to learn more about this species before the egg hatched. What if it was something that wanted to kill him or it was something that was useless? Obviously, he didn't yet know of an Aetheris's capabilities so his worries were valid at the moment. But most importantly, he wanted to know what this thing would operate like. He held up the egg in his hands.
The hatch rate had gone up to 72.63%, obviously it was beginning to slow down. Not only that, but it was less active now. He ran his fingers across the golden markings that flecked its shell and the rough texture of the white, which felt almost like scales. He held the egg up and realized it had also grown larger in size, originally it was smaller than a golf ball and now it was about the size of a baseball and a bit heavier than a small iron cannonball.
"Why the hell are you so heavy?" Cyrus asked the egg.
He didn't get much of a response.
"Oh yeah, now you wanna stay still. Asshole." He rolled his eyes and put the egg back in his inventory.
Despite pretending like he hated the egg or was gonna use it for some sort of weapon purposes, and although he'd never admit it, he developed a bond with the thing, even if he only had it for a month. He kept it in his inventory for safekeeping, to make sure nothing that could shatter it would be able to. He closed the window and went about searching for that cave, eventually though he came across a large mountain range and stared at it.
He turned around to see that the plumes of smoke from the town were much smaller now… how far had he walked? He looked back at the mountain range and saw a multitude of caves along it, from the base of the mountains to the top, and he audibly groaned. Would he have to check every individual cave? Maybe he could use the process of elimination and only search the bigger caves? But even then, he had no clue if this Damien fellow was a normal sized person, if he was a Dwarf or Imp then even a slightly larger than average cave would seem huge.
"This sucks!" He shouted to himself.
The human grumbled to himself as he took note of each and every single cave. He felt he was getting closer when he started to see traces of life, only for said traces to disappear without a thought. He wanted to punch something and looked up the mountain he was currently standing at the base of. He stared at the snow covered stone and scratched at his chin as he started to wonder what could possibly live in one of these. Maybe he should've brought Durthu, the resident beast expert to try and give examples.
Thankfully his wish would come true. From the sky, he heard whistling. When he looked up there was a flash of white before he had the wind kicked solidly from his lungs and was on the ground holding his chest. Were his ribs broken? He couldn't actually tell as he sat on the floor gasping for air. He blinked and looked up to see a familiar set of wings uncurling and a piercing glare shooting into his very soul.
"Oh, hey Eloise." Cyrus wheezed, holding his chest, "How'd ya find me?"
"Durthu tracked you." She hissed, "You broke the window?"
"Technically I didn't break anything." Cyrus stood up, stumbling backwards with his arm out, "So hear me out here."
"I'm not hearing you out, you two broke a window." Eloise grabbed his arm and bent it.
"Hey! Ow! Ow! You're gonna break it! Stop!" Cyrus patted her arm with his free hand.
"Why are you even out here?" Eloise asked, forcing him to crouch while she held his arm.
"I was looking for something! Why the hell are you so strong?!" Cyrus winced.
"Sorry, Cyrus! She was very scary!" Durthu came up.
"You helped her track me?! Dude!" Cyrus stared at his Orc friend.
"What were you looking for out here?" Eloise looked around, "A cave or something?"
"Yes, exactly! I keep seeing traces of something alive!" Cyrus rubbed his wrist after she finally let him go.
"Will it be useful?" The girl asked.
"We might get some useful items, I thought it was worth checkin' out." The human boy answered.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "We'll help you search. What're we looking for?"
"A really, really, big cave with the signs something is living in it." Cyrus said.
"Alright!" Durthu went off.
The three all went searching for a cave that fit the criteria and, surprise surprise, Durthu was the one to find it. He shouted for the other two, standing in front of a cave with a mouth as large as a house. There were footsteps of something large going inside the cave but not out, there was also the distinct smell of heavy iron radiating from the cave. The scent was so strong even Cyrus could smell it, he had to plug his nose as he stood there and stared into the darkness of the cave.
He looked at his companions who were looking at him expectantly. He was so confused on why they treated him like he was the leader or something, but whatever the case he nodded and took the first step into the cave. Eloise provided light by creating small orbs of Holy Magik that floated around them and illuminated their general area. Cyrus crouched and touched the cold ground where he felt the imprint of a paw, but as he dragged his hand a little further forward he felt the paw print change into a human footprint, before it changed again into a snake trail. He frowned and stood up, disturbed by this revelation.
"So we– who is that?" Cyrus pointed.
"What do you– woah!" Eloise jumped back, followed by Durthu.
Standing between the two was a person, "Uh… guys, I've been with you since the first floor. You don't remember me?"
"Uh… no?" Durthu stared.
"What's my name?" Cyrus asked, backing away.
"I know your name, man." The person spread their arms.
"... Step into the light." Eloise quickly put her armor on and had her sword in hand.
"You guys seriously don't remember me?" This person asked again.
"You don't smell familiar." Durthu spun his axes in hand.
Cyrus, during this exchange, was looking at his Hunters Journal. He felt his heartbeat slow to a nigh stop and drop all the way into his ass as he read the entry for whatever he was looking at.
Sibyrath.
Species: Sibyrath.
Place of Origin: Glaciem.
Biology: These creatures have a similar mimicry ability to the Mimics themselves, although they cannot perfectly replicate an appearance, keeping some of their natural characteristics despite taking the form of another entity. The Sibyrath has distinct features and biology, a well documented one at that due to hunting. The giveaway that something is a Sibyrath is the face, which always looks stretched and fake. Another intriguing part of Sibyrath biology is their gland, which allows them to spit either a freezing or highly corrosive fluid at remarkable speeds.
Habits: Sibyrath are carnivorous predators that eat anything that moves. They often disguise themselves while in groups and pick off anything alive for consumption, more often than not pretending to be a friend or ally to have prey lower their guard. They are shockingly intelligent despite being closely related to Mimics and use this intelligence for their own cunning and deceptive nature.
Diet: They are extremely carnivorous, enjoying hunting more intelligent prey such as humans, elves, and dwarves.
Mating: There isn't much known about this, other than during certain times they group together and disappear to mate.
Cyrus took a few more steps back, followed by Eloise and Durthu who were looking at him expectantly. The Sibyrath took a step forward, making a point to avoid stepping into the light, even when Eloise sent them towards it. The creature was still trying to convince them it was friendly, pretending to be an ally.
"I know what you are." Cyrus blurted out.
"A human, duh." The Sibyrath kept trying to play it off.
"Is it hostile?" Durthu asked.
"Yes. We have to run." Cyrus instructed and brandished his own weapon.
The Sibyrath stood for a moment, "A shame."
A large glob of liquid shot past Cyrus's head, melting off some of his hair. He turned and ran deeper into the cave with Durthu and Eloise right behind him. When he looked back there was no longer the silhouette of a human being, in fact there was no silhouette at all… because there didn't need to be one. When Cyrus turned around he nearly had a heart attack at what he saw.
It looked almost like a Giant, but covered in hair and fur, maybe like a yeti. The face was the most terrifying part though. The Sibyrath had a look of pure glee, making sure to keep its face in the light. It was keeping up with them quite easily, just chasing them deeper into the cave. As he analyzed its face further, it just got worse and worse. Mixed into the Sibyraths teeth looked to be blood and organs, speaking of teeth they were sharp and refined almost like the creature kept them well groomed. Its eyes were endless black pits with bright white circles for a pupil, and the skin that was on its face looked as if it didn't quite belong there, almost like the Sphinx or an Elf but… significantly worse.
"Look!" Durthu made a vague motion.
"I see it!" Eloise shouted.
"Go!" Cyrus shouted as well, making a sharp turn.
"You can't ru~n!" The Sibyrath laughed before continuing in the direction it was going.
"What are we gonna do?! How do we kill that?!" Durthu shouted.
"I'm trying to think! Give me a second!" Cyrus shouted back, stopping and sitting on the ground.
Eloise followed suit and paused, "Why is the ground wet?"
"Oh fuck…" Cyrus gagged.
They were sitting amidst a pool of corpses, the ground was wet with blood and there were chunks of flesh and meat everywhere. Cyrus stood and covered his mouth so he didn't vomit everywhere. He'd seen a scene like this before on Earth, when he stumbled across a bunch of Cannibals that resided in Baltimore. He hated that scene just as much as he hated this one. He looked around and saw another room, pointing to it in hopes it'd take them out of this room of gore.
"This cave is its home, it knows all the routes, we need to be careful." Cyrus said, stepping into the new room of the cave.
"We need to stay together." Durthu looked around.
"Come here." Eloise motioned for them to come to her.
The two boys listened, standing near her. The girl used her Magik to create a mark on their skin, an x. It rested on their palms and she even put one on herself, holding her hand out towards them.
"This will help us distinguish ourselves if it turns into one of us." Eloise said.
"That is… really smart, I didn't think of that." Cyrus hummed.
The three reserved their energy, taking their time and looking around cautiously as they explored the winding cave. Every single time Cyrus heard even the slightest sound, he got on the defensive and looked around as if his life depended on it… because, technically, it did. Every corner he turned, he made sure to quickly swivel his head and look around.
It was extremely dark, even with the lights Eloise created. Cyrus and Durthu stayed on either side of her as she was their main source of any useful Magik. Durthu had a warrior Magik but they had no clue how strong this creature was and it could also spit acid, so it wasn't worth it to try and attack it. Not yet at least. As the three kept moving through the cave, a rock fell and hit Cyrus on the head. He looked up and blinked, staring into the abyssal darkness for a long second, trying to see if there was anything there. Thankfully, Durthu had a better nose than he did and threw Hypnos into the ceiling, where a laugh came from.
"Awh fu~ck." Eloise sharply exhaled.
"Ya found me!" The Sibyrath cackled and dropped down.
"Are we fighting?!" Durthu shouted at Cyrus.
"We kinda have to!" Cyrus held his sword and stared the creature up and down.
Upon closer inspection it was bigger than Durthu, maybe a little bigger than a Giant but it was hard to tell due to the fact it was hunched over. The Sibyrath had a thick muscular structure, resembling a gorilla or some kind of large ape. The face seemed to lack any of the distinctive hair that was on the rest of its body and its nails didn't resemble claws or anything of the sort. Cyrus took in its description in a matter of seconds and quickly devised a rough method of fighting.
"It uses its teeth and brute force. Don't get hit, don't get grabbed, avoid getting spit on." Cyrus muttered just loud enough the other two could hear.
"What're we whispering? I wanna hear." The Sibyrath grinned.
"We'll figure out its weak points. I'll support you two as the fight goes on." Eloise nodded.
Durthu and Cyrus nodded and the three shared a look. They broke apart and the Sibyrath watched them in amusement, deciding to go for Eloise first. The moment its hand stretched out for her Cyrus cut off two of its fingers. The Sibyrath fell back and shouted before grinning and reconnecting its fingers. Durthu swiped at its ankle only to miss entirely as it transformed into another creature. The Sibyrath had turned into a large reptilian, not a dragon exactly, but it resembled one without wings. It ran for Cyrus only for a golden spear to penetrate one of its hands.
Sibyraths don't quite enjoy being run around, so it was starting to get annoyed. It transformed into a large bird and kicked up a large cloud of dust before becoming a hog of sorts. It rammed into Durthu first, knocking the Orc clean off his feet. While Eloise was blinded by the dust it turned into a bird again and clipped her wing, but it was pricked by the Sword of Thorns. Eloise fell from the air as the Sibyrath transformed into a Bearlwulf and went for Cyrus… but a shame, it didn't seem to know. When Cyrus saw the form it took he nearly grew a smile as he put his sword into the stone and punched the Sibyrath clean in its head, causing it to stumble for a split second. When a Sibyrath transforms, it takes on most of the other creatures' biology and the head of a Bearlwulf is vulnerable.
While the Sibyrath struggled to regain its footing, Durthu ran forward and kicked it in the ribs, forcing it to transform once more but this time back to its normal form. The large hairy thing huffed and blinked as thorns quickly spread across one of its arms.
The Sibyrath violently tried shaking the thorns off, "What is this?"
"Get fucked." Cyrus grinned and threw his sword at its face.
The Sibyrath blocked the sword with its hand but paused as it realized it wasn't the black sword the boy had before. Thorns spread across the Sibyraths hand now and it growled in anger as it swiped its hand to the side. This time, it wasn't playing around. The hand covered in thorns had slapped Eloise into one of the cave's stone walls and the crack that echoed was palpable.
"My wing! It broke my wing!" She screamed in pain.
Durthu looked at her and shouted in anger as he activated his Magik, "I'm gonna kill you for hurting my friend!"
"D, wait!" Cyrus shouted.
It was all falling apart now. The Sibyrath spat at Durthu, freezing the Orc's leg in place, but he was able to break through it. He wouldn't be able to move his leg for a long while after this but as long as it worked at that moment, he was fine. Durthu ran forward and grabbed the Sibyrath by the arm and ripped it clean off, this earned a genuine roar of pain from the creature. Durthu threw its arm to the side and went in to punch it, only for the Sibyrath to bite into his arm and nearly tear off a chunk of his forearm. Durthu shouted and pushed off from the Sibyrath, falling as his leg finally gave out.
It began to move towards Durthu and Eloise, forgetting about Cyrus. The human boy pulled his sword from his inventory and targeted the Sibyraths hand that was covered in thorns, cutting it off with a strong and precise slice, cutting it off at the wrist. The Sibyrath turned to him, spitting a glob of acid that burned off two of Cyrus's fingers. The boy held back his pain, his Regeneration began to heal his fingers as he swiped again, this time dragging his sword down the creature's leg.
The Sibyrath was big and strong, yes, but it wasn't as fast as a drunken Giant or a Sphinx and Cyrus would use that to his advantage. He stayed out of its range to the best of its abilities as it spat acid and ice at him, one glob of its acid nearly took off his leg but he managed to petrify that part of his leg. He shrugged off the burning sensation he felt and kept attacking, slicing at its legs and ankles to restrict its movements.
"Quit your moving!" The Sibyrath roared and covered half the cave's room in ice.
"Think this'll stop me?" Cyrus was angry, nothing would stop him from taking this things head off its shoulders.
Cyrus used the ice to make himself move even faster. If he made a mistake he'd slip and then he'd really be done for, thankfully he wouldn't make a mistake. He broke off a section of the ice and stabbed his sword into the ice to use it as a crutch to make a hard turn behind the Sibyrath, who quickly spun (like a gorilla) to face him, but there was nothing there when it turned around. The boy had jumped onto its hairy back and clung to the long hair.
During this exchange, Eloise and Durthu were off to the side panting as the cold was finally starting to fill the cave… had a snowstorm began outside? Well he would find out pretty quickly as the Sibyrath suddenly roared and made its way to the entrance of the cave, stopping when it got outside. The sudden stop swung Cyrus from its body and he hit the soft snow underneath himself. As he stood up, he realized the Sibyrath had transformed once more… but this one was different.
This time, the eyes seemed to glow and they were far too high up. The shadow that was visible through the snowstorm looked oddly familiar, as if Cyrus had seen it in a book or maybe a photo. He regained his composure as the Sibyrath, in this new form, took a step towards him. This one step almost made the entire ground beneath his feet shake… what could it have possibly turned into to cause something like that?
"I haven't had to become this in a long time, boy."
"What are you?"
"An ancient creature, very well known throughout. You may recognize me."