'I said I'd fight but…'
Footsteps scurried through an open field and roaring could be heard following in tandem.
"I have no idea what I'm doing!" Lok yelled as he ran away from the nightmare bird.
Pant! Pant!
"Shit— what the hell is the kid doing?! He's running in circles! Did Kei not teach him how to fight at all?!" Kori questioned aloud as the beast she was fighting swung its sharp bone bladed leg at her, though it had only pushed her away instead of doing any sort of damage to her.
"You filthy beast… you tore my chestplate." Kori muttered in anger.
Meanwhile in the field Lok still ran and evaded the creature as long as his feet allowed him to do so.
'What can I do? What can I do?! I'm scared!' Sweat ran down his face while his thoughts were as rampant as they were before. He then remembered what he thought when wanting to protect that boy.
'What would Kei do?'
He planted his foot to the ground and skidded a few feet before facing the bird flying towards him.
"AAHHH!!!"
Lok released a yell from deep within him as if to give himself the courage to take his stand. He took his hand that held his dagger and raised it behind his head.
The bird stopped and covered its face with its wing, intelligently preparing for Lok to launch the dagger at it.
Subverting the nightmare bird's expectations Lok drove his dagger into the ground again and again. This made the bird think that the boy had gone mad with helplessness and instantly balled its talons into a fist and flew towards him.
Lok kept stabbing the ground while the bird came closer. Just when the bird was about to hit Lok he firmly gripped the ground where he had just stabbed. For the nightmare bird the world went dark.
Lok had thrown the dug up dirt into the beast's eyes causing it to crash into the ground at it's highest speed.
Ways past the treeline a worried spectator's face transformed into astonishment. "Woah…." She said, barely focusing on her own battle.
Pant! Pant! Pant!
Lok stayed still on the ground. His whole body shuddered with fear, but that was beginning to fade, just a little.
"Kori! Did you see that! Did you see?! I beat it!" Lok sprung up with excitement while pointing at the bird.
Suddenly a body came flying from the treeline and landed next to Lok surprising the boy. "Kinda busy." Kori began to stand.
"Are you ok?" Lok became worried.
"I'm ok. Nothing hurts me." Kori said confidently.
She looked at the band on her wrist that was layered with several notifications she had never read previously.
["Shit-bird" corruption stage recognized: Low Trifled.]
["Creepy Stalker" corruption stage recognized: Standard Trifled.]
[Spirit Stage recognized: Low Purified.]
[Design recognized: Null— All damage to you will be swallowed to 0.]
[Defect recognized: Susceptible to Spirit Damage.]
"Thank you for your hard work Jin. You don't have to report any further." Kori spoke to her companion.
[No, thank you, Kori. I'll be here if you need anything. Though I must advise something, even if you cannot be hurt, you should still fight as if you can be. If not, you will become complacent and that will result in defeat.]
"Just now, you reminded me of a certain someone I hate."
[I apologize]
"It's not your fault, just rest Jin."
The blue lining within the center of the band pulsed three times before slowly losing its light. She looked up towards the beast and began to sprint at it without hesitation.
'Just because I can't be hurt doesn't mean I have the strength required to get past its armor. It's a full rank above me. Though… I do have a plan.'
Pushing through the treeline she was face to face with the stalker. It slashed at her but it had only pushed her away, Kori immediately charged back in.
Ducking under its slash attack she clung onto one of its bone-bladed legs and began to punch it at the joint. The creature stabbed Kori but its blades did not pierce her at all.
She was like an immovable object and no matter how hard it slashed or what technique the creature used she wouldn't budge.
Snap!
The stalker toppled over in pain but Kori did not waste the opportunity. She figured that if she could not severely damage the creature then maybe it could do that to itself. She drove the bone blade into the stalker's head killing it.
Tiny blue orbs ascended from the dead creature's body and floated towards Kori.
[Spirit Essence of 'Standard Trifled Creature' unable to be absorbed.]
[Cleanse your spirit to further evolve.]
[Current Stage: Low Purified.]
[Refilling Essence Reserves.]
[Spirit Essence Restored 100/100.]
Kori read the notifications and bit her lip in frustration.
'I still can't rank up…'
"Hey! Did you beat it!?" Lok yelled out as he began to jog over to her.
Kori's eyes dilated and her body tensed. "Behind you!" She shouted while running towards Lok.
Talons wrapped around Lok's shoulders as his feet ascended from the ground. He thought he had bested the bird, but didn't know it had only been injured, now it wanted nothing but to spill the boy's blood.
Kori jumped as high as she could and threw the bone leg. The creature screeched as her attack landed, the bone sword found itself lodged in the nightmare bird's belly.
This angered the beast more. Kori's face was full of worry and Lok kicked and screamed as much as he could but the beast was flying Lok into his territory, the sky.
"Jin, wake up now! Can you get me up there?! You used air to cushion my fall, can you use it to propel me?!" She questioned in distraught.
[Correct, but that is reliant on spirit essence, all of my functions are. I do not have the reserves required to get you that high and cushion your fall.]
"What if you don't cushion my fall, I don't get hurt."
[I'm afraid it still won't be enough to go that high.]
Once it was high enough it threw Lok upwards. Kori could only watch in anger, she felt helpless.
'It's trying to let me fall to my death?!'
Lok thought this but had drastically underestimated the bird's anger. It came back into view ramming Lok's stomach with it's head as the boy fell.
Lok's pain was so immense his voice could not escape his mouth. It then flew him higher and repeated the same attack.
The child's eyes rolled to the back of his head and something inside him… something that was split, showed itself.
The clouds of the dark sky gathered, not of the world, but within himself.
From his back there was a sizzling noise.
Ink spilled into place with a perimeter of fire. A mark burned itself into his spirit, a tattoo. One side half sheep, the other half wolf, both divided perfectly by a shepherd's crook that flowed down the spine.
The crook tilted and coiled— towards the wolf.
The boy's eyes snapped back, a shade darker.
His psyche was no longer brimming with fear and curiosity, but hunger and excitement.
He no longer flailed in the air but was falling relaxed as if he had awoken from a long nap.
The nightmare bird came in for another attack.
The Zeytian child smiled gleefully like he was inviting the beast. Coming within range the boy twisted his body and landed on the creature's neck.
"I have no idea what's going on, but what I do know is that I love a big feast. So, how about a taste huh?" The boy smiled ear to ear before biting into the beast's eye.
This was no longer about survival, no. The boy liked it, he adored it, he basked in it. The thrill from the blood that filled his mouth, the cry of the injured, the taste of the beast.
"So you can feel pain. Good! Let's see if your cries make you taste better!" He laughed.
Grabbing onto the nightmare bird's feathers the boy crawled gleefully around to the creature belly to retrieve the bone sword.
The bird cried out in pain and could no longer control itself, flying both of them towards the ground.
Kori couldn't hear or see much of what happened at the distance they were at but it seemed like Lok brought it down to her.
She ran to the crash site without hesitation.
"Lok are you ok?!" She yelled.
The boy turned around leaving Kori full of shock and unease. His shirt was filled with blood, all his teeth were sharp and you could see the bits of corrupted flesh on them. His eyes were darker than usual and his ears grew from normal to fine points like a textbook Zeytian.
Parts of flesh from the creature's neck were in missing chunks while the boy's mouth was covered in blood. "Who's Lok?"
"Huh?" Kori replied, perplexed.
"Well… I could offer you a piece of my meal but I'm not sharing. I'll just sleep instead." The boy licked his lips and suddenly drifted off.
Suddenly Kori's band transformed into the gauntlet and raised her arm forcefully propelling her forwards towards him, whoever he was now.
"Jin, what are you doing! We don't know—" She tried to say as Jin forced her to wrap her arm around Lok's body catching him.
"Kori? What… happened?" Lok asked before passing out completely.
Kori was left puzzled, in the midst of her confusion she caught a peek of Lok's back through his torn clothes. There she saw the shepherd crook was now coiling towards the sheep side.
"The Zeytian tattoos. Two sides… wolf and sheep. Just what is this?"
Above them the figure was still ominously observing, still watching, still sharing. The announcer, the camera that captures all.
****
"Hey. Heya. Yoohoo mask face, wake up." A man snapped his fingers.
"Huh…"
Kei slowly opened his eyes.
"This girl says you're her friend, is that true?" The man interrogated smugly.
Kei turned to see Lila unconscious, chained to a tree and gagged around a campfire, as was he.
"Mm! Mmm!" Kei did his best to break his shackles but nothing could be done.
"I'll take that as a yes." He laughed.
He removed the gag and stood up. Two more people stood beside him with 4 more sitting at the campfire. He had a black band around his wrist, showing that he was a prospect, showing that he was someone 'worthy' of being chosen.
"Hey, I'm Simon… and I say, you should tell me more about you and your house."