6 - Clouds

I wake up and yawn. That was a really good sleep! I feel prepared for any challenge now!

I stretch my body for a bit, enjoying the simple feeling of it, raising my flames and getting ready for the next challenge. This should be the last corridor and the last spot without any enemies, so I need to enjoy it while it lasts.

I hop towards the corridor, watching as the colours start to darken, just to pass some time. I know that it would take some time to reach the end, and as I don’t have anything else to do, I decide to simply observe the colours. They start to darken and darken until they are solid black.

The corridor is similar to the other ones, the same structure with the difference being the colours, the black-grey lights that illuminate almost nothing of the passage. It is seemingly made of marble as well, its colours the same solid black, but the feeling it gives… It gives me shivers. It is a void that sucks all light inside of it, forever banishing it from the world...

All in all, excluding that, it's a nice corridor. I continue hopping through the passage, and an ominous feeling starts to bloom inside me. It feels like something is wrong… or that something bad is going to happen. I shiver. Something is at the end of the corridor, and it is something powerful…

I continue forward. This is a dungeon, so that would be the miniboss? The boss? Or similar? I’ll know soon. I eventually reach the end of the corridor and see the gate that is there. It is dark as the night, like a void that devours all light, and just seeing it makes me queasy, somehow. So dark, that I almost can’t see it is there, and I can only do it because of my flames.

Ok, a really dark gate. I make a hand made of flames and open the gate. What I see beyond it is a pure dark void. I sigh. Into the void I go, I guess. I carefully place the hand inside the void, and it gets stuck. Huh, it seems like a wall… I disperse the hand. Time to enter it.

I enter the void, and for only a moment I feel weightless. Then immediately I’m in another place. It looks like the ruins of a forgotten temple, a place so old that the very atmosphere indicates so. It is Completely devoid of colours, shades of black and white are all that there is. I quickly look at myself. Good, I still have my colours… so it seems like it is a characteristic of this place... The ruin is absolutely destroyed, rubble, shards, pieces of stone, brick and glass are only what remains, and nature claimed its place in the scenery a long time ago, with its trees, grass, moss. It enveloped the ruin and made the area it’s own.

I look behind me and see a pristine gate. It stands out from the scenery around it. It is spotless, no scratches, dust... nothing. The only thing odd with it, excluding its pristine state, is the white mist that seeps through its gaps.

The place seems calm. No sounds, no wind, no sun, just me and the monotone ruins.

I create a hand of fire, direct it towards the gate, and open it. This place seems like an arena for a boss, I think. The whole aesthetic looks like it.

What I see is a courtyard, with broken pillars, walls and floor, also mimicking the monotone look outside. Grass, trees, moss, greenery and white mist, and much more. In the middle of it lies a small necklace, with the image of a crescent moon, it being the origin of the mist.

The courtyard, with its sun shining upon the broken floor, highlights the plants that call this area home. The necklace, too, being illuminated by the light. No wind nor sound stains the place, the calm eternal.

I approach the amulet with caution, slowly touching it with my wings when I feel a shiver down my spine. The necklace starts to shake and shines with a dark and cold light. The mist converges into the necklace, and a mist-like being starts to form from nothing, the object resting where its heart would be.

The being made of the white mist that resembles a humanoid moves, it’s form becoming more and more detailed, solid. A flowing robe of clouds materializes on its body, with barely perceptible lightning passing through it. It's androgenous face stares at me... it’s glowing black eyes watching me.

I stare at it with wide and surprised eyes. This was way off my expectations!

The being raises its hand, and I feel the claws of death approaching to claim my soul. My feathers shivers, and I [Dodge] the bolt of lightning that appeared. The being doesn’t give me time to think, and another bolt comes to strike me. I barely dodge it and start to think quickly.

What do I do here?! Focus on attack, defence, or dodging? Attack, then! I create a ball of flames and shoot it to the being. It simply acknowledges the fireball, raises its hand, and swats it from its way. It looks at its hand, noticing the small damage I inflicted. Its face is sad, I notice. The ball runs its course and hits nothing. I don’t panic at the scene, it was as expected, so I need to be smarter to win.

I dodge another bolt of lightning and conjure a dozen flame arrows. I immediately send 8 of them towards the being, It’s eyebrows shaking at the scene. It responds by summoning 8 balls of lightning to counter my arrows. They hit each other in an explosion of elements. I acknowledge the fact that it isn’t paying attention to me and [Charge] at it. A free hit?!

I make my flames rise and envelop themselves around me. I shape the flames in front of me to form in a spear-like shape and attack the being, hitting it. It sees me at the last moment possible, and with lightning-fast movements, brings its glowing hands towards the spear of flames. My flames and its hands meet, both energies mix, our eyes wide open with emotion, one full with excitement, and one full of sadness and regret meet. An eruption of elements happens, and we are thrown to opposite sides of the courtyard, my flames dimming themselves a little, while my mind tries to get its bearings again. I was hurt, too, but my regeneration is enough to take care of it.

The being stands up after being thrown, and with a speed so fast that it blurs, appears in front of me. I’m thrown far away again, this time almost fainting from the pain. Argh! The warmth in my heart soothes me, serving as a pillar to endure the pain

I get hit again from an unknown direction, and finally see what exactly changed about it, as it had changed its fighting style so quickly. Its colour is not white like it’s other form, with the cloud that makes its own existence the same colour as blood, it wears a light armour made of clouds, a similar material to its Body, its face being the same, but its eyes… they are red, with red lightning coursing through them, seemingly stuck there.

It strikes me again while I’m in the air, and I get thrown to the floor. F*ck! In my desperation, I conjure a spear of flames and aim it towards the ground to serve as a hook… No, wait. I extend the tip of my spear to the sides after it is buried in the ground, and make a true hook.

The being tries to strike at me again, but this time I’m not thrown away from it, the hook letting me stand in place. The being hisses and lunges to strike at me again, but I have something to do first, in the brief respite it gave me.

I flare up my flames, controlling them to encase me fully. When the being strikes me, it is burnt by my flames, screeching in pain as it continues to hit me, not stopping after one strike, striking me with a barrage of attacks.

I try to dodge, and where I can’t do so, my flames defend me. But it can’t go on forever, I already can see cracks forming in my shield. I don’t have much more time!

It stops the barrage for only a moment. I can feel, more than see, what it is doing. Energy concentrates in its hands, its hissing louder, now, and the red in its eyes shining so brightly that it almost blinds me. W-what is it doing now?!

I disperse the hook and the shield, remaking only the shield anew, and I stare at the being. The energy stops converging, and gauntlets made of clouds appear in its hands, with dangerous-looking claws at its fingertips. The energy is so compressed in the object, that it almost blinds me again.

I don't have time to think about it! I create claws of flames of my own, trying to match the being’s, but it is not enough. it lunges at me again, faster than ever before, aiming its claws at me. I counter them with my own, nearly missing, but as I hit its claws. a blast of energies occur, the power behind it so strong that it is enough to send me and the being flying opposite ways, but even then, it recovers faster than me, leaping so quickly that I only see its after-image.

It reaches close to me, its eyes glowing with a terrible colour, the lightning in its eyes nearly leaving the organ. I strike my claws on its own, another eruption of energies transpire, my claws endure it, and I finally strike the being itself, my claws ripping it through its chest. throwing the necklace that rested there away, falling towards the ground.

The being stares at me with wide eyes, eyes that now are colourless, and after a moment it smiles, and disappears, its body turning into mist.

The necklace makes a soft ‘ding’ sound when it touches the ground, the mist that it creates still there, scattered through the monotone background. The sun shines, the mist converges into the amulet, and another figure appears. This one, apparently made of blue clouds, wears heavy armour, with a longsword and a tower shield in its hands. A… Knight?

The knight is in a kneeled position, bowing to the necklace. It prays to it, picks it from the ground, and wears it at its chest, where its heart would be. It stands up slowly and looks at me with its shining blue eyes.

My feathers ruffle, our eyes meet, and the final stage of the battle begins.

I drag my claws to my front, the knight prepares itself as well, bringing its one-handed straight sword to the right of him, positioning its kite shield covering all its ‘vitals’, ensuring the necklace’s safety. It nods, and lunges at me, slightly slower than its last form, but still fast.

It reaches me and slashes with its sword. I block it with my claws, and sparks arise. The knight deflects my claws, and strikes me, slashing through my feathers and drawing blood. My blood. Coloured black with white motes. I had never seen it before now…

The slash sends me flying away, my blood spilling and coating the floor, some of my feathers falling to the ground as well. My back strikes the wall, and it breaks, with me falling to the ground between the rubble and shards of stone. Argh!!

Fighting through the pain, I dodge at the right moment, the knight is upon me in only but a second, and I quickly raise a barrier of flames to give me more time. It's not the wound itself that hurts, it's the meaning behind it. I was never hurt this badly before, to the point of seeing my blood. It hurts, but it heals, my regeneration taking care of that.

The knight attacks the barrier and cuts through it effortlessly, but it has shown its worth, as I can react to the slash in time. I dodge, creating a spear of flames to strike it, and dodge again, getting away from it.

It evades the spear without even looking, while it strikes at me again. I conjure balls of flames in its path to me, but it raises its shield and tears through them.

I need to do something quick!

Remembering what the last figure did, I condense my mana, converging them and evoking another spear of flames, this one more solid than the others, black with motes of white light inside of it. The knight obviously notices it, and runs at me, faster than all of its forms, but alas, it is too late for it.

The spear completes its formation, I mark out a location where the knight and the spear are going to intersect. I focus on that place, anchoring the spear to that place, and the knight, in all of its speed, can’t avoid it.

The spear pierces the knight, skewering through its armour and perforating its heart. The necklace that rests there falls, touching the ground with another ‘ding’ sound.

Silence claims the place, the motionless knight standing still, me breathing hard after all of that effort, exhausted after using that much mana and energy. The knight’s armour disperses, its face being visible, now, with tears in its eyes it tries to speak, but no sound comes out. Even then, I understand what it says. ‘Thank you’, it -no, ‘they’ say- and their form disappears, turning into white mist, leaving only me in the monotone arena.

It… Did it end? I collapse to the ground, spent. It was… fun. The battle was fun. Dangerous, but fun, rewarding, and more… My first real fight in this world, where I put everything I had on the line, and won…

I remember the being, all of their expressions through the battle, Were they stuck here? Inside the necklace? Maybe- I hear a sound of a door unlocking. Huh? The way forwards? I turn my head with difficulty and manage to see it. A new gate appeared, this one white with complex engravings on its surface. Its doors are open, showing a room beyond it.

This was a miniboss, then. I want to rest, but I know that I can’t right now. Sleeping in the middle of the arena wouldn’t be… honourable? I want to pay respects to the being that I fought… I sigh. I’ll rest when I enter that room, then.

I rise with difficulty, too tired, breathless and spent, and slowly drag myself to the gate.

I pass through the necklace, and when I do, it shines and shakes. Oh no, not again! It moves closer to me, seemingly wanting for me to do something with it. I screech at it, meaning that I don’t want it to get close to me. It ignores the screech, and I, too tired and fatigued, can’t put on a fight. It approaches my neck, and binds itself around it. I screech, but it doesn’t listen. As a result, I have a new accessory on my neck.

I curse and try to take it away with my talons, but it doesn’t want to separate itself from me! I screech in frustration and groan. I’m too tired to take care of this situation… I give up on it, for now, approach the entrance and enter it, slowly making my way to the room.

I stumble through the corridor, stopping to rest for a bit and continuing through it. I eventually reach the room, a rather bare room, with no furniture, no decoration, nothing. The only thing visible is a chest, right in the middle, and another passage after the same.

I crawl myself to the chest and try to open it. I think I have enough mana to conjure another hand, don’t I? I create a hand of flames and open it. The flame is cold keeping the chest safe from burn damage, and what I find inside the chest are a dark blue potion and some silver coins.

Just… that? After all I went through?! I don’t even have the energy to get angry anymore… I look at the chest again, noticing its padded insides. It seems… comfy… I yawn. I’ll rest and sleep there, then! My loot will be sleep!

Tired, I enter the chest and make myself as comfy as possible, the padding being made from a soft silk-like material, the sensation is good on my feathers and body. When I’m almost sleeping, however, I remember something really important to do before that.

I can’t believe I forgot to check the status screen! I open it with a mental command and see the changes it has gone through.

-

[Mana Resistance III] Upgraded!

[Pain Resistance V] Upgrade!

[Mana Control V] Upgraded!

[Mana Shaping V] Upgraded!

[Mana Efficiency III] Upgraded!

[Mana Compression I] Learned!

[Overcharge I] Learned!

[Fire Manipulation I] Learned!

[Moonbound] Trait acquired!

-

Many skills at the cap, now… and a new trait? [Moonbound]... I look at the necklace hanging at my chest and sigh. I’ll deal with it later.

I check my full status, to see the full change that I had gone through.

-

Status:

Name:

Race: [Starlit Infant Phoenix]

Level: 10[I](+)

Stats:

Strength: 6

Agility: 11

Recovery: 21

Mind:13

Will: 9

Soul: 12

Stat points: 14

Skills: [Dodge V], [Charge V], [Bash III], [Poison Resistance I], [Stealth III], [Meditation V], [Mana Resistance IV], [Pain Resistance V], [Mana Manipulation V], [Danger Sense V], [Mana Control V], [Mana Shaping V], [Mana Efficiency III], [Mana Compression I], [Overcharge I], [Fire Manipulation I]

Abilities: [Phoenix Heart], [Starlit Flames], [Lesser Elemental], [Emotional Telepathy], [Memories], [Moonbound]

-

Oh, I need to evolve still… Wait, why did I forget that!? The battle would have been so much easier if I did so! I groan. I can’t change the past now, can I? So, let's do it now. First, the stat points. What helped me in the fight were my flames, my relative speed compared to them, and my regeneration. So… Mind, agility and recovery, then. And Will, probably? I wouldn’t endure the pain if it was lower than it is now...

I add 4 points each into Agility, Recovery and Mind, and add the 2 left to Mind and Will. Looking at the numbers now, they grew quite a bit.

-

Stats:

Strength: 6

Agility: 15

Recovery: 25

Mind:17

Will: 10

Soul: 12

Stat points: 0

-

All of them are above 10. I focus on the plus sign after my race. Time to evolve.

-

Evolution initiated.

Choose one of the following races:

[Starlit Child Phoenix - D] = Balance

[Starblaze Child Phoenix - D] = Fire

[Starlight Child Phoenix - D] = Light

-

I have 3 options… The first one is the balanced one, from what the screen says, and the direct evolution of the Race I already am. The second is more focused on fire, it seems? While the last one is focused on light.

I’m mostly fighting with my flames, and not using the ‘light’ part. So, the second one? Seems like a better option for now… Okay, that one. I select the option and start to feel even more sleepy than before. I make myself comfortable again, and as I do so, I fall asleep.

…

I dream, a dream so real that it can be confused with a vision.

I dream about a crescent moon, and its last paladin, Skyla.

Skyla, the remnants of who I fought before… the cloud Dungeon Boss, their deity being the Crescent Moon, a forgotten deity, its follower’s have long since died out...

Skyla fought, protected, healed, and created. They were one of the best paladins of their order, their strength uncontested, their healing the most effective. It was all destroyed on a fateful day.

Blood, rain and mist. These were the things Skyla saw within the temple after returning from a mission. The temple had been reduced to rubble, with bodies around it’s ruins, priests, fellow paladins, faithful, no discrimination for those who died. However, the city was intact, and everyone that passed through there didn’t look, but even that was not enough to hide their faces of terror at the scene.

Skyla fell to the ground, their tears joined the rain in their descent. It was all lost, their family and friends, killed. They raged at the scene after crying, and they began to search for everything that could hold a clue, everything that indicated who was the killer.

They finally found something. A being with a cloak made of shadows stood in front of the Main altar dedicated to their deity, in its arms were a piece of glass emanating a power familiar to the paladin. Divine power, Crescent Moon’s power, all contained in that shard.

The being turned its head and stared at the paladin, its cold golden eyes showing no compassion or remorse, no tiredness nor pain. Apathetic was the expression its face showed.

Skyla knew very well who that being was. Godkiller, was its title, a being that slew countless gods, destroyed many orders of knights, mages, and many more. A title shrouded in mystery,a legend that is known throughout the four corners of Terra.

That same being had slain their deity.

“One remained… how curious,” It said, and started to walk closer to the paladin. “I guess I should eliminate you.” they completed.

Skyla ran towards it, their vision clouded in red, in a haze so strong of rage that they didn’t even notice when their head fell, and they died.

The shard that the Godkiller held shone, and a tiny piece of it, so small that not even the Godkiller could detect it, separated from its main form, went towards the paladin, embedding itself within the necklace they wore.

The Godkiller left the temple, and disappeared, towards an unknown direction.

Skyla’s body disappeared and turned into mist, flowing towards the necklace where their deity’s last divine power rested, for an eternity it rested, waiting patiently for a chance, to kill the being who had destroyed its order, to get revenge.

The dream ends, and I wake up.