2 Chapter 2

The imp descends further into the craggy, ashen land. As he pushes forward the grey energy travels through him repairing his body, flesh and bone, piece by piece. The broken tail straightens and its fragmented bone conjoins and becomes whole. His gnawed off arm ripples as its bloodless stump slowly burrows outward offering a fresh, familiar hand for his use. The imp looks at it in surprise but nothing more, devoting his focus to his unknown path.

The barren ground offers no comfort as he travels. Its dead, empty land only differentiated by the towering stone platforms reaching toward the sky and the twisted, serrated hills. Bubbling lava can be seen flowing through thin cracks spread across the ground, their web-like structure extending throughout the visible land and beyond it. More volcanoes can be seen far away from him, making him wonder if those would create a version of his kind like the one behind him has. It is a land of flame, of smoke and ash. And yet, for the imp, a comfortable land.

Then the imp looks up and his breath stops for a short moment. He stares up at the sky toward a giant island farther then the eye can see. Its ground shapes like a backwards triangle, the long-edged surface growing thinner the farther it reaches. It floats there atop the clouds with its visible edges covered by towering mountains. He can only stare and wonder how such a thing exists. Could people live up there? What kind of life would they have? It takes a long time for the imp to rip his eyes away from the spectacle, begrudgingly moving his feet forward.

The sun had started descending by the time the situation changed. The imp had been so focused on treading forward that he neglected what was around him. A brief glance to the side revealed a dense, sprawling forest filled with vegetation, in sharp disparity to the land his own feet stood on. The two opposite landscapes form a disconnected, jagged line separating their boundaries. The trees and green life dig into the blackened ground as if trying to rip it from its own hands, the blackened ground eating into the life of the forest like a beast munching on its meal. But it is the two roaring monsters that complete the spectacle. A giant menacing ape stands in the forest, its height at least ten imps' stacked on top of each other.

Its muscles ripple as it beats its chest, its skin glimmering like solid steel. Standing against it is a similarly sized lizard. Its body barbed with sharp needles that dig into the earth like water, its mouth exhaling a dark, toxic flame with every breath. The two face each other off as the imp could only stand there, a mixed feeling of fear and curiosity making him more sick then afraid. He knew, rationally, he should leave. His pitiful presence in front of them couldn't even register. He just has to walk away. And yet, he couldn't.

Then they clash and the choice is made for him. Their two bodies lock against each other with a resounding thud, the heavy impact sending a shockwave spiralling outward. It slams into the imp and throws him into the air, flinging him away and into the forest. He passes many trees before finally slamming into the ground. A moment passes and then the pain registers and he screams, his body feeling as if it has torn itself from the inside out. With heavy gasps he attempts to pick himself up as a healthy sense of fear finally sets itself in. Halfway through the motions he stumbles forward and knocks into something. Opening his eyes he finds himself starting face to face with the skeleton of a large imp.

Or at least, that is what he sees. Except this imp has no tail, no hooved feet. Instead it has horns that twist around themselves and sharp, elongated claws. And it is much larger; at least twice his size. The imp would find it scarier if the flesh had not long crawled away from its body and left only the bone, bare and empty. Emboldened the imp draws closer and spots something held in its hands. It appears as if the skeleton had once been clutching something much larger that has long since eroded. Now all that's left is a tiny, frail thing. A 'book' is the word that popped into his mind.

The imp reaches down and grabs at the rectangle, ripping it out of the skeletons hands mercilessly as his eyes focus only on the book. Strange etchings, up down and side by side, scratch against the surface of the book. The imp almost dismisses them but feels drawn toward them, a familiar sensation tickling at the back of his mind as if he's in on a secret he himself doesn't know. Upon closer inspection the imp realises that the rectangle is not one singular object, but many tiny ones combined. With a careful hand he reaches down and pulls open the first page, revealing more archaic etchings.

The familiar feeling grows larger and as he opens to another page he finds himself grasping something. On this page is the etchings, but accompanied with them are pictures. They show a large horned imp moving their mouth in particular ways. Focusing on one of these pictures he attempts to emulate it. "Ar. Ei. Eh. Ogh. Ou." His eyes widen as he hears the sounds come from his mouth. He says it again, and again, each attempt matching closer to the motions depicted in the book.

Intrigued he opens further in and finds new etchings, this time depicting many small elongated white grains gathered together. "Ra. Ie. Ss. Eh." He attempts, feeling quite certain in his pronunciation. But something doesn't feel right as he goes through the page again. Then it clicks. Each sound isn't separated. They combine. "Raeise. Raiceh. Raece. Rai…Raiz. Raiz!" He exclaims, this time feeling no doubt in his assurance. Raiz is the word. It sounds right to him. Strong. "Raiz." He says again, waving the book around. "I Raiz. Raiz!" he continues to shout in mad glee. The excitement of discovering something new, something unknown, overwhelms him and in his moment of discovery he decides to take the word as his name. Raiz.

His celebration is interrupted as a huge object slams right next to Raiz, causing him to stumble. Holding tight to his book he scrambles back and finds himself staring into the eyes of a very familiar, very large lizard. It has long stopped breathing and as Raiz freezes in his tracks, the grey energy starts to pour from its body and escape into the air. It hovers for a moment as it searches for a target and then finds him, the energy rapidly condensing and then pouring into his body. Raiz quickly finds himself overwhelmed as the sheer amount of energy entering his system starts to bloat. The ecstasy, the sweet whispers from the energy, only grows with intensity from each new influx. Realising the danger he starts to panic as he attempts to will the energy to disappear or to go, just anywhere so that it can stop filling him and driving him to the edge of insanity.

His manic commands find traction as, to his surprise, he finds himself able to will it into eyes. His vision clears, grows and his sight extends farther. It goes through his ears and the sounds around him heighten and clarify, their distance determined with pinpoint precision. But the energy keeps pouring in and Raiz can only continue. With less panic he considers for a moment and realises he forgot a very important something. The ape. The thought only just passes when the giant beast tears through the trees and appears before him, its body deeply injured but still rippling with power. Raiz's eyes grow wide and his brain churns fast for an answer.

The ape, however, is distracted by the dead lizard as he expects his reward. Those precious few seconds are a godsend for Raiz as he sees the injuries covering the ape's legs. With no hesitation he focuses harder than he ever has in his short life and wills all of the energy to meld itself into his legs and feet, their strength and mobility rapidly increasing with each moment. And then he twists himself around, clutching his book tight, and runs as fast as he can away from the ape. The cracks of dead branches are unable to be muffled by the leaves and the ape instantly responds, twisting its head around to stare at the escaping prey. It only takes a moment to register the energy roiling around the imp for the beast to realise its loss.

With a loud roar it pounces towards Raiz and immediately starts the chase. The distance they travel blurs as Raiz's speed increases with each step. Soon he finds himself bounding across the ground like a stimulated leopard on two legs, the ape slowly falling behind. Soon the ape cannot be seen at all and Raiz slows down, giving himself a chance to catch his breath. The energy had long since gone after being used on his legs. Given this chance of respite Raiz doesn't pause to think before excitedly reaching for his book again and opening it.

Just as he starts to read he feels an overwhelming sense of danger and throws himself to the side. In his place are the fangs of a snake, having thrown itself from one of the trees, its teeth find themselves stuck in the imp's book. Seeing his precious book being chewed through Raiz becomes mad and pounces on the snake. His one bound instantly throws himself on the snake and he claws at it, his teeth hands and tail all helping him tear the snake to shreds.

Only releasing it after making sure it's dead he slowly works its fangs out of the books cover with some mean-spirited thoughts given to the dead creature. The book is made of something truly precious as the venom from the snake only mildly scars its surface. Raiz gulps rather loudly, however, when he ses it drip onto the ground and start to eat through it. He wonders if the venom was similar to the red, melting liquid in the volcanic land. Taking the energy from the snake he uses it to enhance his hearing as he continues to run, only veering back towards the ash-filled land.

Soon he breaks through the trees and finds himself grateful for making it back to his home, bounding forward as he did before. As he races across it he encounters other large predators but his speed ensures they can only watch as they fall behind him. Soon they lose interest and turn on each other, creating a mess behind him. Unsure of his safety Raiz continues to run deeper and deeper into the land.

It isn't until he stumbles upon a small cave, dug into the side of a large skyward stone, that he stops. Tottering inside the cave with his book clutched tight he collapses onto the ground. The night passes in a fitful sleep for Raiz. When dawn comes he is already awake, his book open as he studies the etchings and images carved into it. The language grows more familiar with each moment he studies it, something inside him connecting with it and rapidly helping him understand its context. Raiz loses sense of his surroundings and time as he finds himself drawn further into the book and the language it presents. More than half a day passes before Raiz can rip himself away from it. Forlornly closing the book Raiz decides to head onward, clutching the book tight as he leaves the cave and starts to run.

Not much time passes before he slows down, as he sees between the edges of the two lands; the forest and the ash, a strange closed cave. Its circular door is two stones struck against each other. Each half acts as its own world. The left side holding vines and vegetation as they stretch across its surface. The right with black ash and molten rock held against its surface. Unlike the fighting environments beneath them, these two disparities appear in harmony as they meld themselves together in the line stuck in the middle. Upon approaching Raiz realises there are words above the cave's door carved deeply into its surface. Raiz stares at it intrigued, but is unable to understand their meaning. Still his curiosity stops him from leaving, and once again he loses sense of what is around him.

So enraptured by the door he only realises the ape had caught up to him when he hears its roar directly against his ear. Turning to face it Raiz looks into the ape's eyes, its body more mangled then before but still solid. Clutching his book tightly to himself, Raiz stares up at the beast and impulsively gives a small wave to it. The movement triggers the beast and it reaches down toward him. Raiz attempts to dive out of the way but the close proximity prevents him from escaping. The ape dismissively reaches down and grabs hold of his arm. A more mocking roar escapes its throat as it holds Raiz up against his will. It brings Raiz's body skyward and starts waving it around as it shouts with glee.

Then the air's resistance suddenly grows weak and the ape becomes confused. It brings its arm back down and looks at the arm clutched in it, the rest of Raiz's body, too weak to hold on, flung far away into the sky towards the forest. Not long after Raiz slams into the ground heavily injured, his only arm still holding tight to his book. Raiz knows the ape will not be far and can only desperately move. He places the book into his mouth he holds it tight with his teeth and, with his only arm, begins dragging his body forward. Raiz crawls on the ground as the dirt and vegetation make their home on his body, slowly moves forward at a snail's pace. His single arm drags him an inch at a time as his vision starts to give up on him, the overwhelming pain screaming at him to give up. Still he continues onward.

Unknown to him his crawling takes him out of the forest as he reaches a mysterious secluded area made entirely of crystal. Raiz himself finally reaches his breaking point and collapses in front of a pedestal, his blood soaking the crystallised ground. Beyond the pedestal lies a giant statue clutching a matching sword in front of itself, standing guard before a towering cathedral. Surrounding this place on all sides are six different environments. The sprawling forest and ashen land equally behind him. In front a land of white ice and flowing water, then of jagged metal and towering mountains.

To the left a strange place, high and low ground a step away from each other with creatures that could almost float jumping across them. Then to the right is a swampy, multi-coloured mess of bright inks splashing against each other. Each environment clashes against each other with an aggressive desire to conquer, but none are willing to encroach on this secluded crystal space.

As Raiz falls unconscious in front of the pedestal the ape barges out of the forest and steps onto the same ground, standing before him. It beats its chest with a victorious roar as its eyes stare deeply at the tiny creature before it. The weak, little thing that had taken much from it. With a snort the ape raises its fists high and go to slam them down. However as it does the statue suddenly moves. With blinding speed the sword is picked up and swung sideways before returning to its original position. One would think nothing had happened if the ape's head did not roll off with the beast's arms still raised, his face locked in its ferocious expression. The body collapses before Raiz and all goes still.