Dust to Dust: Monster 11

Interference

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The tension in the air was thicker than blood. The apex predator of the forest, the armored wolf, stalked towards the darkness. Shades stretched from the depths of the abyss, reaching out to he advancing golem, preparing to engulf it. The wolf began to trot, then sprint, gaining momentum in order to deal the maximum damage to the blackness in the first impact. Running at top speed, the wolf yipped in anticipation for the coming battle, and-

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BOOM

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-hid in the rocks at the side of the tunnel, terrified at the otherworldly crash that reverberated through the dungeon. Doing his best to blend in with the surrounding rocks, the wolf attached random stones to itself to look like a part of the wall. The darkness shifted in uncertainty, as if feeling betrayal at the wolf's retreat. The golem cared not, all that mattered was survival. Something far more frightening than the darkness or an armored wolf was approaching from the surface.

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Reminded of the time he hid from his master's killers as a dust bunny, the golem felt small and weak again. It had been a while since something had made him feel so insignificant. A brilliant ray of sunshine fell down from the gap in the spire, making silhouettes apparent. Upright beings of the same species as his master were outlined in the radiant glow, clad in metal and hides.

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So much metal.

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So much delicious, glorious metal.

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If the golem could drool, he would have long since dehydrated his mud into dirt. It was all he could do to hold himself from jumping out and attacking one of the Uprights in order to claim his glimmering ore.

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But all thoughts of fights and resistance were swept away by the catastrophic blast of air pressure launched from the upright in dark hide. Waving around a black staff, she manipulated the hurricane winds to gather the darkness into a small ball no bigger than a rabbit.

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The second of three Uprights, the one clad in heavy plates of metal, sprinted towards the ball of shadow, raising a great hunk of sharpened steel as he ran. Nearing the intended target, the hunk of steel began to glow with the radiance of the sun. Burnt by the holy light, the darkness squirmed in its ethereal bonds, but nobody expected it to break free. The darkness was as good as dead the second it was caught up in the wind chains, and everyone in the room knew it.

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Fragments of sound began to escape the orb. Sputtering, swearing, and cursing rang through the chamber in countless voices and tongues, no two alike, and not a single one declaring acceptance for the end to come. Knowing the fate that awaited the it, the shadow raised its voices in one final screech, and the sword struck it.

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Not with a slash or a crunch; but with an explosion of concussive force and searing flames.

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The shadow was scorched into nothingness by the righteous heat, and the dungeon was rid of its sole inhabitant.

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Now that the darkness had cleared, the area was visible for the first time. A great stone slab was the centerpiece of the uncovered room, covered in shaped chunks of metal. Plates, sharpened blades, crushing hunks of pure mass, jingling chains of bright hardware, and various cloth garb and wooden implements littered the surface of the slab. A bounty, enough material to make the golem a being of solid ore, indestructible to the local creatures.

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All of it whisked away in the blink of an eye by the third and last Upright, somehow fitting everything into a hide bag slung around its waist. It then raised its hand and a green, soothing glow phased into being around the group. A few of the emerald particles drifted near the golem, and upon impact blossomed into pure vitality.

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Voices echoed through the cavern as the Uprights began to leisurely stroll back up the stairs.

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"Nothing great, we will head to the next Dark Pond immediately. Jesus, they're popping up all over the woods, there must be a minor Lake in the area." Lilting tones and healing light came from the same source, and they were both immeasurably soothing.

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"Jesus? I've heard that a few times now. Is that your settlement's patron god?" answered the wind manipulator clad in black hide.

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The brute in metal plates guffawed, bassy voice so strong it made the pebbles in the dungeon vibrate. "Tha hell you on about, you ain't heard of Jesus? I thought you capitol-dwellers were suppose ta have a head on your shoulders. He's the God of Bread and Wine, patron of tha Dinner."

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"That is... close enough. Not like you would find many people worshiping his origins now anyways. Not here. If a god is even capable of watching over us here." The soothing voice cracked, obvious pain distorting the message.

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"Hah, another whiner, eh? Your type doesn't seem ta last that long, I tell I ran around with this orc chick, right? Who tha hell would want such a fu........." The sound trailed off as the Uprights ascended from the now-empty chamber, ignorant of the eavesdropper.

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A crash similar to the one that heralded the Uprights arrival similarly heralded their exit, and the golem analyzed the situation.

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A few of the most decrepit items were left on the stone slab, but it was still more metal than the golem had ever dreamed of. Age and state of disrepair made no difference to him, he would melt it down anyways. Dashing over in excitement, he began pawing the sparse items, preparing himself to assimilate the material. His internal copper furnace began to burn copious amounts of fuel and numerous silver wires were spun off his core in preparation of the metallic gorging to come.

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Something flitted across the hole at the top of the staircase.

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Gazing intently, not moving a muscle, the armored wolf waited for the possible foe to show itself again.

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Wisps of dark smoke began winding their way into the room. They were similar to the previous inhabitant of the dungeon. Beings of pure darkness far smaller than their elder counterpart, and their blackness was less imposing. However they gathered, collecting into a mass eerily similar to the one recently purified as the wolf hid.

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Furnace already going at full blast, the golem was ready. He took a dull end of a metal blade in his mouth, testing the weight. A tendril of silver ran to the sword, giving the wolf feeling and control in his newly acquired weapon. The wolf wasn't aware of wind magic, holy magic, or healing magic, but he knew that the darkness was defeated by flame, and flame he could do.

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The shifting shadows wasted no further time and charged the slab, aiming towards a trinket that had fallen onto the floor next to it.

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The armored wolf would not relinquish his prize so easily, and took an experimental slash with the sword. It passed right through the black mist, and taunting hissing noises mocked him from the depths of the phantom. Physical force was ineffective, but the golem already knew the correct method to banish the wicked force. Heat was needed in quantities similar to the glowing blade of the metal-clad Upright.

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The darkness took the ineffective attack as a sign of uselessness, and ignored the wolf from that point on. It continued its way towards the trinket on the ground. Furious at being ignored, the wolf grabbed the glimmering object on the ground and ran for the exit, planning his next move. As the shadows took chase, the golem steeled his resolve, and swallowed the blade in his mouth.

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In his belly the blade was super-heated by his internal furnace, ancient cracks in the metal filling in due to the melting inferno. The edges of the sword began to shine cherry red, the tip so hot it lit the golem from the inside out. It was ready.

Pretending to drop the trinket, the wolf fumbled about to fake a panic. The darkness pounced on the area the wolf was looking at, unconcerned about the radiant maw of the beast just behind it.

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Pain.

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The specter felt a part of itself burn away and frantically searched for the enemy strong enough to damage it so.

There stood an armored wolf, tempered blade still hot from the furnace held between his copper teeth. With a plunge and a disembodied screech, the darkness was no more.

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Vat a Tweest!

Going to add in a lot more clues about this world during this section and the next, by the end of the Monster arc you should have the basics figured out :P

Made a cover in Paint, thoughts on it? It's obviously not perfect, or what I would like to have the cover be, but it's what my time and skill allowed for yesterday. Would you rather have this cover, no cover, x? If this fic hits top 25 I'll commission a nice cover.

This Wednesday's extra is a Special Chapter! It'll show off a story that I've been wanting to write since the prologue, and it'll come into play later.