The Grand Weave

Something was wrong. The room brushed my skin with eerie cold, cold enough that I could see my breath in the air. There were faint rays of light pushing through the room's curtains, so I knew it was at least sometime in the morning. I pulled up my system clock.

Time: 6:04 A.M.

Time Remaining till next wave: 6hr: 37mins: 11sec

Still a decent amount of time left. Back to more present matters was figuring out why the room was so damn cold.

I got up slowly, not making a sound as I did. I silently summoned Zharia and had her hide in my hood. Through our connection, I could feel her generate a tiny bubble of warmth. The bubble was more like a field of energy that extended to just a few inches from my face. Still, it was hot enough to warm me up and melt the chill in my bones.

After I limbered up I carefully made my way to the main living room. When I turned the corner, I froze. I summoned my spear and brandished it at the shadowy figure sitting by the table.

Despite my reaction, the creature or person did not move and merely sat there, staring at me with three crimson eyes. I could feel Zharia's alarm. her body growing hotter, starting to distort the air. For more than a few agonizingly silent seconds, we stared at each other. I nearly ordered Zharia to attack before he spoke.

"Curious, I sense no fear from you," the creature whispered.

His voice sounded distorted and bubbly.

The creature hid in the room's shadows, angled in such a way that I couldn't make out any details other than a vague silhouette and its glowing red eyes.

Though... I should be able to see. There's enough light.

For the most part, it looked humanoid. I could just barely make out the elongated claws in places of its hands and feet.

"What are you? And why are you here?" I asked in return.

Instead of answering, he continued to stare at me. The three eyes tracked my form, up and down from across my boots toward the back of my cloak.

I felt something weird from the creature. It wasn't something I could adequately describe. It felt wrong, and yet, at the same time, it felt right. It was contradictory and made my head swim. The creature felt off, off in the way that it didn't seem like it fit into the natural world. It was a sense of perversion that broke some mystical, fundamental rule that made reality reality.

Yet... I felt something else. It made my skin crawl and tingle, but not in wrongness and more in want. It was a fragile sense of allure that wanted to draw me in. This creature either had or was something that made me bare my fangs. It felt like some instinctual part of me had just woken up for the first time, and it was now clawing at my mind in a scramble to be set free.

"Hmmm, curious indeed. I can smell it better now. The scent is exceptionally potent up close," the creature spoke again. I couldn't see his face, but the creature must have cocked his head in an almost inquisitive fashion if I was to judge by how the eyes turned. I wanted to ask what it was talking about, but it continued its rambling. "Ahh, this explains a lot. Though... hmm, strange. Yours was not the scent from earlier. No... You lack its flavor.

The creature paused, and then inhaled His eyes wobbled for a moment and then closed before opening them a second later.

Before, his eyes looked at me, but I detected nothing from them other than their attention. Now? Now, it felt like the intensity of the stare was trying to worm its way into my soul. It was as if the creature thought it could see inside of me if it peered hard enough.

"OH MY! YOU SMELL ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I CAN SMELL IT! I CAN SMELL THE SPIRITS ON YOU! SO POTENT! OOOOOOOH YES! SUCH REFINED BLOOD! I WANT IT! I NEED IT! GIVE ME SOME OF YOUR BLOOD!"

The creature stood up and his hood slipped free.

A crown of three blackened horns jutted out from the creature's head. His hair was strands of red fleshy tentacles, and his face was sharp, with the flesh looking stretched as tight as can be across it. The three crimson eyes were positioned centrally, in the spot where a person's nose should have existed. And on both sides of its cheeks were slits that looked like gills. The creature's mouth was locked into a salivating grin, each tooth a sharpened triangle.

I kept the spear level with its face and started to slowly back out of the doorway. When the creature noticed my actions, it froze. When it twitched for a brief moment, I was ready to jump back but didn't need to. Without warning, the creature straightened its back, and its face morphed into a calm nothingness.

He then proceeded to dust off some unseen particles from its red-colored robes and sat back down.

"AHEM. Yes, well then. Sorry about that. I lost myself there for a second," the creature said carefully.

He sounded embarrassed over his temporary loss of control.

Against my better instincts, I decided to reply.

"Who are you? And why did you get all freaked out about my blood?" I asked.

"Hmmm, I would say I go by a couple of names, but I suspect they are not my real name. Something feels... off."

He growled and clutched his head. With a snarl, he decided to leap at me, claws extended.

I swiped my spear up, angling it between us. The creature stopped and leaned back. A low snarl left his throat. I didn't hesitate to jump away and send a mental command to Zharia. Within seconds, the dim room was bathed in the light of golden flames.

My heart thundered as the torrent of flames slowly died down. With my night vision destroyed, I was thankful that some of the house was set afire, providing a gold-tinted illumination to see by. I frantically scoured the room for signs of the creature but saw nothing.

"Master, look up!" Zharia screeched.

I looked up.

Oh.

The creature hung from the ceiling, utterly untouched by the flames below. The only signs of damage were four tears in its robe, revealing glimpses of the form underneath. It was like a scene from a horror movie, only more disturbing with the addition of two new sets of spindly limbs. These appendages, thin and elongated, protruded from the creature's back, resembling a grotesque pair of wings.

He unleashed an ear-piercing shriek and flung himself from the ceiling. I braced to impale the creature, but he moved faster than before. As I angled my spear, he twisted midair and landed within striking distance. I called for Zharia's mana—no response. In a flash, it enveloped me in a vice-like hug, His four spindly back arms trapping me like a bug in a cocoon. My heart sank as the creature's mouth split open, revealing rows of crimson teeth. Immobilized, I could only watch as its hands slowly reached towards my face.

I sent more urgent commands to Zharia but was met with stony silence. For whatever reason, she wasn't responding, and I was forced to deal with the creature alone. I wanted to shut my eyes when its monstrous jaw leaned in closer, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. This was it; I was about to end my magical journey in the belly of some crazed monster

However, the jaw-snapping, face-eating moment never came. When the creature cupped my face in its palms, it screeched a banshee-like wail and released me.

Confused, I pitched forward and caught myself with my arms before hitting the floor. As I pushed up with my hands, my vision wobbled. The world spun, and it took me two more tries till I was finally able to stand up. I looked across the room to the now silent creature staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. I looked for my weapon, but sadly, I noted it was lying next to the creature's feet.

"Explain yourself, felkin. Why did I get a prompt from the Weave for attacking you? WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

The last words were intoned with something other than words and made my insides feel sick.

I spat on the floor when an awful taste entered my mouth, and glared at the creature.

"I don't know what you mean, you bastard. I don't even understand how or why you are here." I growled.

The creature's eyes flashed. "I can tell something is strange about this. Why do I feel off, lacking, like I'm missing some part of me? I am not whole, and I do not know why. There is no reason for the Weave to appear unless we were in sanctioned ground. I demand that you explain yourself, whelp."

At this point, I expected people to burst into the building any time now. With all the ungodly screeching emitted from the monster, the rest of the team had to have heard something by now. Or, if this thing dragged on long enough, there was a high chance the burning building in the middle of the village would be enough of a bat signal.

"Stop stalling, newborn, and explain."

"First of all, why are you calling me a newborn? Secondly, I don't know. I don't even know what you are."

The creature snorted at my words. It waved a hand dismissively a second later when I opened my mouth to speak again. "Please, you're a hatchling barely standing on your pitiful legs. While it may be true you could be an ancient one without having gained power, I find that highly unlikely. You reek of power, intoxicating, delicious power... Boy, if we were in the Underworld, I'd be fighting off waves of monsters to talk to you this privately. No, you are, without a doubt, a fresh youngling. Untiered and unevolved. I don't even think you've consumed the blood of another."

That was a lot to pack in, but the main gist revealed a growing suspicion of mine. I looked behind him to the room being consumed by fire and stared at the untouched and closed door. I had no weapons and no options, and my only offensive summon was somehow out of commission in my hood. If the creature was okay with having a conversation instead of attacking me, then I would be the world's greatest conversationalist.

Turning my gaze back to the creature, I stared it in the eyes as I asked my question. "You speak as if there is some familiarity with my kind. I have met very few who knew what I was. How do you know that I'm a felkin?"

His eyes narrowed, and it uncrossed its arms. The fingers of its other pair of arms started flexing in the air as if grasping for something. "How do I know what race you are? Are you trying to mock me, child? I know what race you are because we are both demons. You may be only a felkin, and others might look down upon you for that, but that does not mean you are not of my ilk. Get some blood, evolve your bloodline, and tier up. You'll find yourself not so different from others of our kind. Despite what they howl in protest."

Well, that confirmed things.

Need to keep stalling.

"Are you the thing that Horux summoned? Are you the person sending waves of blood beasts to the village?" I asked.

"Don't call me a thing, youngling. I AM Arz'odral, the Viscount of Blood. Or I believe I am. I do not feel right. Like my powers are missing, I am weakened somehow," he snarled before calming down and continuing. "And yes, I was summoned by that idiot villager. So eager was he for power and revenge, only to realize how pathetic his containment circle was. That pathetic human is little more than a dried husk in the ground. Take this as some advice for future you. Often, people will fail to draw the summoning circle correctly. And the sigils of containment are so very, very, easily broken. You need not be a succubus and charm your way into the world. If you want to pop a bubble, all you need to do is find the weakest... Point."

More shit to file for later.

"Enough playing around. Answer me! Why I can't touch you? Why is the system interfering? No more questions from you, ONLY ANSWERS."

"I'm don't know what you mean," I started. I quickly put up a placating hand to forestall the demon's wrath. "My team and I entered a wild rift as part of the expedition and clearing team to complete it. We're currently in the process of completing a scenario event. I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions about why you might feel the way you are."

Arz'odral's face went blank. His eyes dimmed, and they seemed to lose focus of their surroundings. The demon's entire body went stiff and froze to utter stillness. Only their shadows danced across the room, as the living room behind them glowed in the crawling flames.

It was only then that I noticed I neither felt the heat nor smelled the smoke that should have been blanketing me. Looking closer, the flames and gray smoke stopped about a foot from the demon. Whatever magical crap it pulled--prevented me from coughing my lungs out.

I took a few tentative steps away from the demon and tried to make my way to the room's only window. I was less than a quarter there when Arz'odral wailed.

"Reduced to a mere fragment! A plaything for the system to use as whatever pawn it desires. How dare it! I refuse. I REFUSE!" Arz'odral shouted to the empty air.

A pool of blood emerged from the floorboards and submerged the demon's feet. Like a writing whirlpool of red, it swirled chaotically and grew. The flames and smoke vanished as the wind whipped up by the raging blood blew it out of the building.

I held a hand in front of my face to shield myself from the growing storm and quickly retreated. By the time my back pressed itself against the window frame, the raging, crimson calamity in the center of the building had shredded most of the wood and stone around it. With a pulsing heartbeat similar to the one before the start of a wave, the wall of frenzied blood exploded outwards and briefly turned my world red.

I waited. But nothing happened, no pain, nothing. I opened my eyes and found myself in the remains of a charred and shredded building. When I looked down I inspected my body for damage. Unharmed. Not only that, I was completely untouched. The ground looked like a scene from a massacre, but I was squeaky clean. Before I could look around to snoop for any clues to what had happened, a small voice mentally chirped in my head.

"M-Master? Wha... what happened?"

I reached behind my head and carefully brought the small bird out from my hood. Holding her gently up to my face, I examined her for any damage. She tired and felt groggy. Her flames were dim, and she lay collapsed in my hands.

I lowered my voice and answered softly. "I don't honestly know, Zharia. That whole thing was a writhing ball of craziness. I'm glad you're okay, though. I think you passed out after the demon screeched at us."

Seeing the little bird all tuckered out angered me. But, as long as she got to rest in my soul space, I was sure she would recover. She made no protests as I slowly lowered her to my chest, and I watched her disappear. After she vanished, I felt her comforting and familiar weight inside my soulspace.

As I got up and dusted myself off, I stared at the morning sun, only to find out it wasn't really the sun. The crimson moon was still there, but it lit up the tinted sky with rays of light pink.

This world's fucking weird.

Adjusting to three potentially alive moons was enough of an oddity back in Inoria. After reorienting my sense of direction, I started walking to the town hall. Of course, to complete the cherry on top of the crazy cake that was this morning, I manged three steps before an angry mob surrounded me. Half of the expedition team members were stepping out from the crowd as I stopped in place.

The lead person in the group was Orsk, and he approached carefully. I waved to him cheerfully and put on a thin smile when I saw Sam staring at me intensely.

"Well, hi guys, fun morning we're having?"