Alice was currently looking at what Xana refers to as a Cave Map, but in all honesty it looked like a few scribbles. Not really a detailed map to show her the lay of the land.
"That is correct, occasionally Monsters from other sectors come here but they are mostly deterred by the presence of the [Earth Dragon]."
Xana explained, Alice nodded along before pausing and looking over at the Salamander.
"Why did you have so much emphasis on that last part? It was like when you say System."
Xana scratched her scales with one of her claws as she thought for a moment.
"Truthfully I do not know, some beings are assigned greater importance than others. The System feeds us knowledge that ensures we understand their significance. The [Earth Dragon] in particular is the [Guardian] of this sector, both ensuring that more dangerous monsters do not leak in and that we do not leak out. The only ones that commonly come over are... The Crows."
Alice tilted her head in confusion, her large bat ears flopping to the side.
"Crows? Underground?"
Xana looked at her with a strange expression, before nodding.
"Yes, all Monsters reside within the Cave, ever since the Humans pushed us down here claiming the surface world as their own."
Alice's eyes widened a bit, she hadn't realized it was that extensive.
"A-All? I knew this place was big but... that's insane how does everyone fit?"
Xana once again scratched her scales, Alice wasn't sure if she was trying to remember or simply thinking of how to explain it.
"You are very strange Alice, you find it odd that [Bird] Monsters are underground but not yourself or me, and you can read that weird language. Now you consider the size of the Cave and how it could house so many Monsters as if you already understand the scale needed. Most newborn Monsters do not understand these things."
Xana stared at Alice for a long while, Alice felt more and more uncomfortable before Xana shook her head.
"No matter, the System works in mysterious ways. The Cave is made of multiple layers, our sector resides under a layer in fact. Above us is where Humans most often trek, and the deeper you go the more dangerous monsters you shall encounter, well at least that is how it was told to me."
Alice let out a little gasp and then got much closer.
"Wait, that makes sense! You must have parents as well! Where are they? Are they big drag-"
"They're dead."
Alice was cut off, and then she slumped down her big ears drooping to the side as she shuffled away from Xana. She wasn't sure what to say to that, but she ultimately decided to wrap a wing around Xana.
"Sorry I should've..."
She began but Xana cut her off.
"It's fine, Humans killed them a long time ago, when I was still just a Lizard. One day I'll find their murderers and kill them."
Alice was silent, as she thought about it. She had taken to killing these Monsters quite quickly, but Alice had parents, she had a mother. Alice's parents had been murdered, not hunted, not defended against, murdered. The frogs she had killed recently... she had sought them out she had... murdered them. The first Adult Rat she had fought... it came for her not because of their little kingdom but because she had murdered his children. Her own mother had been murdered, because she was... she was a murderer. The amount of Rats she had killed? If it had been modern day... and they had been humans? She'd be a serial killer back on earth. They... they weren't just mindless beasts, they had thoughts, they had feelings and dreams!
Alice moved away a bit from Xana, moving out of her nice abode before she vomited onto the Cave floor. She felt sick, she had drunk the blood of them! These were... people why hadn't she thought of that until now? Because... because... she was a fake. She wasn't a Monster, deep down she was Human, or maybe she was neither, maybe she was some sick twisted third thing, something between the two.
"Alice?"
Xana's voice called out from behind, Alice didn't want to face her, didn't want her to see the expressions she was making, see the tears that were dripping into her own bile. She didn't deserve to be crying over this. She had taken so much life... and why? Why had she- Lily. That's why. She had to find Lily. Had to ensure they met again, even if it meant killing every single- What if Lily hates you for that? What if she can tell you're a murderer now? She's not going to want to hold bloodstained hands.
"I- Well- It's just-"
Alice began over and over, she wasn't sure if she was responding to Xana or to herself. She wanted to scream everything that had happened had been so much, and it was now crashing down on her as she came to terms with the reality of the matter. She had been coping so far, viewing this more as a game, after all she had stats and gained xp when she... when she murdered others. But this was her reality now, it wasn't a game it was life. She had nearly died twice now, why? Because she had been cocky, viewed these creatures as just rats and just frogs.
She hadn't seen them for what they were, not only people but dangerous monsters. Every time she fought she risked never seeing Lily again, leaving her alone in this world. And every time she killed she risked losing more of herself, losing... her humanity. But if she didn't fight, if she didn't kill she would never see Lily, she'd be stuck in this small sector of this big Cave. She'd be a bat for the rest of her life.
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"It's nothing. I'm fine, I just needed some air."
Alice said, pushing her emotions down, her worries down. She couldn't be weak right now, she was in a dangerous Cave filled to the brim apparently with every monster. It wasn't just rats & frogs standing in her way of escape, it was Crows and whatever else was between those and dragons.
Xana seemed as if she was going to say something but decided against it.
Alice turned to her and turned her snout into a smile.
"So these Crows are pretty dangerous? I'll be sure to remember that but for now... show me where this Rat Kingdom is. The Plaguemaster killed my mother and I don't intend to let him get away with that."
Ricket watched with a curious gaze, perched up in his hidden away spypost. When he had first been assigned to watch The Salamander he had been... ungrateful. He was Ricket The Predator of Skies. A simple observation posting was beneath him! But now... now he had found a new prey, this bat was... curious. The way it had torn apart those frogs, drained them of their blood. Ricket chuckled as his [Third Eye] glared down at them.
Perhaps killing this Bat would finally push him to evolution, he had been a [Three Eye Crow] for so long now, he craved to feel his body change once more, to feel the joy of discovering new limbs, it was like regaining a limb he never knew he was missing when his [Third Eye] first split open after his evolution. He wondered what else he was missing, what else was so vital to his existence that he simply did not know of?
"We can't just charge the Rat Kingdom blindly! I shall scout it out with my... skill and you remain here."
The two had begun an argument of sorts, their voices raising enough for Ricket to hear.
"What am I supposed to do?! Just sit here? I can't just sit here, I need to keep growing!"
Ricket laughed, clearly such a young one, a few quick evolutions- Did it just look at him? That bat just looked directly at his spypost. Curious.
"Yes Alice, you should sit here and rest. You just evolved, you need time."
The bat's ears flicked side to side before turning back to look at The Salamander.
"Fine, I'll stay here. Just don't take too long."
Ricket thought for a moment before his [Third Eye] glowed and activated, he awaited to view the Bats deepest secrets, to invade its privacy and to-
Ricket froze in place, he had never seen such a result, nor message from the System, what in the Timeless names was this? He tilted his head staring down at this Bat, its black fur nearly shined, and its red eyes were now back on his spypost as The Salamander skittered off.
Ricket hadn't seen many Bats but he had a feeling, something deep inside him told him this one was special, its wings had claws where most bats had a single hook, its ears were larger and clearly not attentive, a mere light chuckle had alerted it and now it was staring towards him. Ricket knew that the Bat couldn't see him. He blended in with [Shadow Play], but that didn't change the feeling. The feeling he was being watched.
He considered for a moment, before he realized... Yes, this was an excuse. The Bat discovered him, he had to kill it. Else the Salamander would be alerted and the whole operation a waste. Besides this Bat was dangerous, it needed to be slain before it became a powerhouse among the Cave.
Ricket stretched out his wings, letting the shadows flow off of them, as he swooped down towards the Bat, he was easily three times its size, it would be easy to over power. Easy to crush.
BOOM! His foot collided into stone, wait stone? Not flesh? He looked around confused, and then he spotted it. The Bat had dodged him, moved before he had even realized it. It looked at him with a smug sneer.
"Spying isn't very nice. But I'll let you go because I am nice, I am... a good person."
Its words at the end felt as if it was trying to convince itself, Ricket didn't care, it swooped forward at the Bat once more, opening its beak revealing rows upon rows of teeth as it cleaved towards it, the Bat made a motion to escape, but this close? It wouldn't get that trick off again. His teethed beak crushed down upon the Bat's body, digging into it with a deep hunger, not for the flesh of the Bat no, Ricket hungered for power, for strength.
Then the pain came, he felt as if something had stabbed him, repeatedly from below. Ricket cried out in pain, he wasn't used to actually being struck. [Shadow Play] and his [Third Eye] had ensured he dominated every fight since his obtainment of them. But now? Something was cleaving right through [Shadow Play] as if it was nothing! In his pain he opened his mouth, allowing the Bat to slip out and away.
It snarled at him as the blood dripped from its chest, but then it moved much faster than it should be able to with that kind of wound. Interestingly, it was just ignoring the pain as if it was nothing. But that was fine, even if it could ignore pain it couldn't ignore when Ricket would kill it. He moved to intercept it, his talons ripped into the bat, cleaving open its wings as it cried out before biting down on him!
It bit him? IT BIT HIM!? It dared to- Oh, so that's what it felt like to have your blood actively sucked out of you. What an uncomfortable feeling, he would make this thing suffer. He looked down at it, desperately biting into his leg, before he brought up the other one and slammed it down! Pushing it down into the ground before he kicked it across the ground.
"You little sky rat. You will pay for every drop."
But the Bat was barely looking at him, it was... was it reading System notifications? In the middle of combat with him!? The Predator of The Skies?!
He moved forward to attack it once more, stabbing its beak into the Bat as it read, unfortunately his beak merely grazed it, ripping open its side but not quite damaging it enough to kill it. Ricket moved slamming his beak into the small creature sending it flying once more, not intent to give it a moment's rest he moved to follow, as the bat was sent flying over the edge of the section of Cave they were in.
SLAM!
Alice felt her entire body crack as she slammed into the shallow water, she had fallen down from the Sector that she was used to, her wing bones were broken that was for sure. This was bad, not only was the Crow way bigger than her it was also clearly way stronger. She had to escape, or at least try... it might work? She had no idea, but if the notifications she read were correct it should.
WHOOSH! The Crow landed, splattering water as it walked over, it was an ugly thing, three red eyes glowing as it looked down upon her, teeth that looked human but sharper lining the inside of its beak, it brought up those razor sharp talons and stabbed one into her chest, digging into her insides, clawing out her organs.
Alice felt her blood flowing down her body, falling into the water below her, she weakly stared up at the massive Crow that currently had its talon pierced through her chest.
Is this... is this how I die? Again?
She thought, before shaking her head, she focused, and then she saw the prompt appear.
YES! She screamed in her head, the Crow was cackling now and then it just... stopped. Frozen in place, Alice moaned in pain as she pulled her body back, ripping herself off of the Crows talons before she attempted to fly away, unable to fly she began to move, crawling through the water, quick eyes flicking to the notifications beside her.
She pushed her body more and more, she had to get far enough she had to.
It felt a bit easier to move, she kept going, moving into a shadowed area, hoping it would... Oh.
Oh no she had to get away she had to- she slipped, and began to fall, no no no! She was falling deeper and deeper into... The Cave.
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