The lack of oxygen is trying to force me unconscious, but I resist. I’ve always told myself that I would face death with my eyes wide open and I see no reason to break a promise to myself. Some part of me always knew I was destined for tragedy. Despite my setbacks, life has been too good to me. It is unrealistic. Too good to be true. Maybe that’s what helped me to realize that I’m nothing more than fiction. Even in the moment of my demise, I still don’t remember exactly how I found out.

I wonder if Ra’hel even sees me as a person? Maybe she figures that we are all made-up so it doesn’t matter if she kills me? I’d be lying if I say I haven’t thought about it. If we are all just figments of someone else’s imagination, how can anything we do to each other ever really be wrong? Maybe Ra’hel isn’t even considering that possibility, and my addled mind is overthinking it. She probably doesn’t care if I’m a real person with my own thoughts, emotions, hopes, and dreams. To her I’m just a meal.

Has she been planning this all along? The day we first met she made a move on me, was this why? Was she going to eat me? Is that why Nevasca has always hated her? Of course. It makes sense. Predators prey on the weak. The sick, old, and crippled of the herd always get eaten. It’s nature’s way of doing things. Ra’hel’s instincts are probably driving her to eat me.

But I don’t want to be eaten! There are still so many things left to do! So much to live for! I… I’m just too weak. The strong eat the weak, in a very literal sense. I’ve tried everything I could, but what is a weakling like me to do? Maybe in one on one combat with enough preparation, I could take Ra’hel in a fight. However, that option isn’t available to me, and no one is asking my opinion. She got me when I was distracted. Despite the cruelty of what she is doing, I have to admit, it was a well-executed attack. In fact, I can’t even bring myself to hate her.

She is just following her instincts. It would probably be the same for me if I didn’t channel my Monster Core instincts into those flames. I too could be such a creature, driven by instinct and desire. Maybe I would even attack Honey, Mordai, or even Quinn. Who knows? I’m sort of glad I don’t have to find out. A lot of my questions about my life will go unanswered when I die. Maybe that is for the best. Some things are better left unanswered.

My eyes stare into the gaping mouth about to envelop my head. My harsh fate descends like the hand of a god, unstoppable and decisive. Ra’hel’s tail tightens even further, which I didn’t think was possible. Black dots swim in my visions, but I force myself to stay awake. My body struggles subconsciously, fighting for air. The tightened coils loosen, without warning. I desperately gasp for air. Sweet, life-giving oxygen rushes to my brain. Ra’hel recoils, her mouth closes and her face twists in a grimace. I can hear bones grinding, but they don’t feel like mine. I have no way of being sure though, my entire body has gone numb. I am beyond pain.

Like a bolt of lightning on a clear day, realization hits me. Disoriented and lacking air, I couldn’t even think straight. I could see down her throat because of FIRE. I don’t have her animalistic instincts because I feed mine to FIRE. I have Source existing outside of my body I only need to command, not control. The price has already been paid! I have hope.

I refuse to die like this! I have a destiny, and I must grasp it! I miss my family in my old world, but I can build a new one here! I have friends and things to live for! I’m going to have adventures, conquer this godforsaken Dungeon, and get to the next level. I’ll become so powerful that the Guildmaster will cower at my feet! I can’t die here!

Despite my convictions, I am exhausted from my struggles. My muscles are worn out, and my mind is still hazy, despite clearing up a little. I can’t formulate a plan. Even if I could, I don’t have the strength to carry through with it. I do the only thing I can. I order the five wisps of Core flame above my head to attack. A simple command, lacking any definitive instruction. I’m not sure they will even be strong enough to fight her off. I’ve never used them before.

My vision brightens, outlining Ra’hel’s twisted face even more. It is like daytime in here, instead of a dimly lit underground cavern. Ra’hel seems to be in pain and distracted, but then my fire attacks. Their size has swelled, making them much larger than I remember. In fact, they are huge compared to what they looked like when they were born. Their flames aren’t the soft glow I am used to. They rage, like a wildfire. Flames of destruction, full of power. They set upon Ra’hel like a pack of wolves. Their forms twist into different creatures. I can recognize beasts I’ve fought before in their ever-shifting forms. She opens her mouth to scream and one forces it’s way inside. The smell of burning flesh assaults my senses.

Ra’hel thrashes in pain. Still wrapped in her tail, I am smashed against the groun, over and over. She clenches her tail in her writhing, driving my breathe from me. My body heaves with unvoiced laughter. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

After several moments, I am flung away. A wall comes hurtling towards my face and I hit it with a sickening crunch. The cavern rumbles, the earth splits, spikes erupt from all surfaces, and rocks fall. Ra’hel’s Geomancer magic is going wild in attempt to defend herself, but it is useless.

My body flops limply to the ground, but I still have enough strength to turn my head. I find the fight by following the flickering lights with my eyes. Ra’hel is lit up from the inside, her bones showing as silhouettes. My flames devour her piece by piece, but her vocal cords are too melted for her to even scream. In her eyes, however, I can see true fear and agony. The same look the goblin mother had on her face when Ra’hel ate her baby alive.

I smile in grim satisfaction. She isn’t the only monster down here. I am as one as well. Truly this is an eat or be eaten world.

My remaining strength fades. I suspect I’ll black out soon, but we’re still in the Dungeon. I don’t want to pass out unprotected. Besides, I’m not as cruel as Ra’hel.

“Finish it,” I croak, addressing my Wisps. “Eat her heart and then come protect me.”

The Wisps flicker, perhaps irritated at me interrupting their fun. However, they do as I command. Ra’hel’s thrashing finally stops, and the Wisps shrink back to their normal size to take their usual place above my head. Everything fades to darkness, the smell of burning flesh lingers in my nostrils.

***

When the trap had dropped Snowflake and Ra’hel into the area for their deathmatch, it had taken one other person. Elizabeth. Elizabeth had been there, the whole time. She had been assigned as her youngest brother’s shadow by her brother Henry. And so, his shadow she became, literally.

Her ability to possess a shadow is the reason Henry assigned her this task in the first place, despite her history as an assassin and not a bodyguard. She didn’t mind though. Family is very important to Vampires, her clan especially. When Father was young, he had been forced to murder his own kin, in a fight for supremacy and inheritance. He hated it.

At the time, it had been their clan’s way. ‘The strong live and the weak die,’ had been their clan’s motto. And it worked, for a time. Their clan was the most powerful among all the Vampire clans. Elizabeth’s grandfather, the progenitor of the clan, had raised a truly powerful host in the form of his children. The strongest among them, Charles, her father.

Charles had no desire to slay his brothers and sisters, but he defended himself in a definitive when attacked. He was attacked frequently and forced to kill, for he did not believe in leaving enemies behind to grow stronger. Often, he would cry over the drained husks that he had once called family, but that did nothing to assuage the guilt in his heart. Over time, the guilt shifted. It was not his fault, he decided, but the fault of his father. It was his father who forced Charles to do such things. And so, the guilt grew into rage.

Elizabeth’s father, Charles, had slain her grandfather in one on one combat. A mighty feat. The family that accepted his new reign, were spared and brought into his loving arms. Those that did not, were ruthlessly slain. Charles would not risk the chance that his more violent siblings would attack his children. No mercy was shown to those he suspected.

Charles had raised a new clan of Vampires. One that did not slay family for strength, but was united in strength instead. Elizabeth, an elf converted by Charles’ blood, was part of the generation raised in such a way. As such, watching her new brother being attacked and mauled was difficult. Elizabeth, however, followed her orders. Her new brother must experience hardship to grow. Henry had commanded to only intervene to save his life.

In this instance, Elizabeth did not fear for her brother’s life. The traitorous snake had made a fatal mistake early on, which lessened her worries. The snake drank her brother’s blood. In the depths of Snowflake’s shadow, she had smiled when she saw this. The transformation would kick in soon, and a new family member will be born.

‘I wonder if she’ll be weird like he is?’ She asked herself. ‘He is still alive, unlike the rest of us, and he has that Monster Core, which might affect her in strange ways.’

Elizabeth explored this train of thought as the struggle unfolded above her. Despite her concerns about her soon-to-be niece’s transformation, she was more worried about the process of teaching her proper manners. It is a Vampire social no-no to eat your companions, after all.

Once a hardened assassin, raised by the Elves protecting the World Tree to be an emotionless killing machine, Elizabeth had gone through training in ‘manners’ herself. A hundred years ago, or so, the Elves and Vampires had been at war. Elizabeth was sent on a mission to murder Charles, but was discovered. He had offered to let her kill him without a struggle if she could beat him in a game a chess. She had lost and was reborn as his daughter. Charles had taken it upon himself to teach her how to be empathetic, something she had taken from her as a child. Perhaps the snake would go through similar training.

While she mulled these thoughts over, Ra’hel’s transformation began, wracking the snake’s body with pain. Snowflake used this opportunity to counterattack, sending forth his crown of flames. The crown spilt into five distinctive Wisps, which each grew into a fire elemental. A nifty little trick, in Elizabeth’s opinion.

The Wisps attacked the snake viciously, their forms shifted from beast to beast. Perhaps searching for the most economical shape, they mixed and matched body parts of creatures they had seen. To Elizabeth, they felt powerful enough to quickly kill Ra’hel and be done with it. However, they appeared to be working out some pent-up aggression. Elizabeth did not mind as the Wisps tortured her soon-to-be niece. After all, she wasn’t family yet. And if she was, this would be a comparatively light punishment to what Charles would dish out for an unprovoked attack on a family member.

Ra’hel’s death throes were a sight to see. The Source-hardened Cavern they were in, was torn asunder by her out of control magic. An impressive feat, especially when adding in the raw strength of her natural body. If she transformed and learned to behave, she could grow into a truly powerful member of the family.

Snowflake’s body crashed into a wall, like a rag doll. Elizabeth was surprised that although he was broken and weak, he still had the strength to watch his Wisps torture his foe. A cruel grin showed his sharp teeth in all their glory. A malicious light glinted off his deep red eyes. Elizabeth sighed in admiration. The potential in her brother is great, despite his current weakness. Such a state of mind, even after the beating he had received, was a strength of its own.

For a moment, Elizabeth was concerned for her brother’s safety, but scanning the energies in his body put her worries to rest. The Monster Core was keeping his organs functioning, while his Blood, finished expelling the poison, began to knit his body back together. A rare moment of teamwork for the often-colliding energies.

‘I guess it doesn’t matter who is stronger if the host dies.’ Elizabeth smirked.

The fight finished with the Wisps consuming Ra’hel’s heart and returning to their master. A bat made of shadow sprang into being at Elizabeth’s behest. It entered the darkness in the side of the ruined chamber. She had sent the bat to carry a message to Henry. Ra’hel’s body needed to be retrieved, just in case she got far enough along in the transform to revive as a Vampire. Such a volatile new family member would need to be watched and trained before being released into the world.

‘Father will be so happy if he gets a new grandchild,’ Elizabeth grinned.

Under her control, the shadows in the room attacked the ceiling of the chamber, weakening it. Snowflake’s companions finish breaking through the ceiling, their desperate attempts had not gone unnoticed by her. Their shock at the state of the room and the bodies of Snowflake and Ra’hel were palpable.

Nevasca rushed to Snowflake’s side and refused to let any of the others approach him. Her tail lashed dangerously, her body posed to kill any that step too close. Nevasca had felt Snowflake’s emotions through their soul-bond. She knew he had been betrayed, and blamed herself. She had been too lenient. She had let her guard down against their companions. A mistake she vowed not to let happen again.

Elizabeth sighed upon viewing actions that pertained to the mental state of her half-sister. Trusting no one is a hard way to live, but Elizabeth couldn’t fault her.