A few seconds passed by before I could hear the steps of another walking towards me. “Ah, have you finally decided to just give up?” The assassin’s voice sounded next to me, and I desperately fought to move, and I couldn’t even open my mouth to speak.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.” I saw a glint of steel in the moonlight, and I screwed my eyes shut, mentally cursing every last member of the noble court. I would come back to haunt them all, and I would make them pay. However, the blow landed on my good shoulder, pinning me to the tree. My assailant let out a surprised shriek, and I opened my eyes.
I saw a scrawny creature with patches of long, stringy hair matted together by grease. Its eyes were muddy brown, and its teeth were all sharpened to a fine point as it bit into the shoulder of the assassin. Slimy flesh glistened in the moonlight as it rode the assassin as he tried to throw it off. More gasps of surprises filled the air around me as more of the creatures fell from the tree. Finally, my fear wore off, and I reached up and pulled the knife from my shoulder. Seeing my chance to escape present itself, I reached up and pulled the dagger out and quickly threw it to the side and made a run for it while everyone was distracted.
I ran for what felt like hours until I came across an area that looked as if it used to be a training ground, and thankfully it was empty. I stumbled over to a small structure on the outskirts and fell inside. My vision swam, and my body was going numb. My stomach twisted as nausea rocked my body. I rolled inside and stared at the ceiling as thoughts slowly drifted through my failing vision.
Was this how I was supposed to die? For the first time since my father died, I cried. I failed everyone, and, most of all, I failed myself. I dragged my team into this, and for all I knew, they could be dead. With much difficulty, I pulled myself across the floor and propped myself against the wall.
Even though those creatures caught the assassins off guard, I knew it wouldn’t last long. They would be after me soon enough, and then my team if they were not already dead now. I felt my heartbreak as I realized the depths of my failure. A dry cackle left my lips as I stared out across the training area as I replaced my weakness with rage. I refused to die here. I have never been this weak before. So why now? The rage helped push me to my feet, and another round of pain shot through me like a thousand fire bolts causing me to drop once more.
My health bar was slowly trickling down, and my anger faded. Please, I didn’t want to die. Not here. Not alone. I would do anything to not die here. As the sorrow flooded my mind, a thought drifted on the tide. Didn’t I still have something? The pain started to leak into my mind, and I became delirious as fire filled my veins. One that I faintly recognized as another toxin. What did I have that could help? It was something important, right?
I was slowly losing consciousness before it finally hit me. I had that summoning stone. I reached into the hidden pocket and stared at it. The patterns on it danced around and seemed to be filled with life as they took various shapes. The way the lines moved and shifted threatened to drag me into it once more before I shook myself out of it.
I held it in the moonlight, and I realized then just how fragile yet heavy it was. The way it seemed to weigh into my palm and sear my flesh with the coldness it seemed to radiate. Without another thought, I crushed the stone, and a line of text tilled my vision.
God, huh? I thought it was just a simple core. I felt my eyelids grow heavy as time seemed to stand still, and a magical formation appeared on the training field before me. The shape was lost to me, but it reminded me of snow with how intricately they crossed each other as they spun around, locked in an eternal waltz. Pulses of violet light started to fill the air, followed by soft orange lightning bolts that struck the ground.
The pain that wracked my body came to a halt. My breath caught in my throat as a form rose from the middle of a formation. The first part that I saw was a mask covered in whitish purple and a color that I immediately recognized as being the same as ki. Then long, flowing honey brown hair caught the wind. The being was wearing a long, flowing cloak with colors that made me feel as if I was staring into eternity itself. The right hand was clad in some strange metal that reminded me of glass, though the left hand was clenched in a fist and covered in a myriad of scars.
I sat there dumbstruck as I realized I was staring at the core of the domain. I thought cores were supposed to be just, well, cores, not a living being. I used my analysis skill once more out of habit than anything else.
I felt despair at looking at her level. A level one? I may have just killed us both, but her color was one that I had never seen before on a named text, and that was the color of freshly polished gold. But just before I opened my mouth to speak, I saw another notification appear; this time, it was a global notification.
A boss in the domain has awakened and evolved into a unique race and boss type. Slay it to receive unique accolades.
As I stared at the Empress before me, I could only wonder at what I had done.
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