The First Descent Pt. 3

The trip down the staircase just outside the black door was pretty short. It led to what I assumed was the midpoint of the spire.

Once again, I found myself within the dark halls of the cursed tower, except this time, they were paved with dozens of beast corpses.

The corpses varied in size and shape, but their fountains of black blood and scattered limbs comforted my spirits. Eeol and Zoey had survived up to this point. With that, I continued onward.

My march eventually came to a stop when I saw two dark creatures within the spires grand halls.

This was going to be my first encounter with a dark creature by myself. I carefully placed down my bag of supplies and unsheathed my little dagger.

The creatures in front of me were no larger than dogs, but their claws and fangs made my knees buckle with fear.

It didn't take long for the creatures to notice my presence.

They barked loudly and bared their fangs at me but I was undeterred.

I readied myself for combat, but then just as I blinked, one of the creatures disappeared.

I heard a snarl behind be and before I could even turn, one of the creatures was leaping towards me.

I desperately swung my dagger at the creature, which I decided to call a Pulae, but missed its head. Instead, I hacked away one of its paws leaving it to tumble loudly on the obsidian floor.

I blinked again and just like before, the Pulae was gone, but due to its injury, it hadn't gone far.

It was then that I deduced that every time I blinked, either their speed increased or they magically teleported to their desired destination. Both theories meant that I'd be in hot water if I blinked.

I also then realised that I was fighting two Pulae, but it was too late. The second one had already sunken its teeth into my arm.

"Ah!" I let out a pained scream, but I forced my eyes open and violently stabbed the Pulae's head. I luckily managed to land several hits on its eyes making it release its jaws and freeing my arm.

In a moment of pure rage, I dashed towards the now blind Pulae and continuously stabbed it until its body no longer moved, but before I could celebrate, the Pulae from before dashed toward me.

I panicked and accidentally blinked. However, the Pulae teleported regardless right before my eyes.

I watched it sink into a void that was darker than Nar' Agrun itself.

I then felt it reappear behind me.

It had its fangs aimed at my throat.

In an act of pure madness, I sacrificed my already damaged arm and let the Pulae gnaw on it instead.

"Ah!" I let out another scream before stabbing the damned creature.

I stabbed it for so long so many times, it had died long before I stopped.

A few minutes later, I got up and returned to my bag where

I took out several medicinal herbs, but when I looked at my ruined arm, I saw that the blood had long stopped flowing out.

The arm, however, was beyond repair.

I needed it amputated, but Zorvan and a few of the other knights were the only ones with medical experience.

I looked at my dagger as it trembled within my shaking hands.

I then held it up to my dislocated arm and pressed it gently on my skin, but even this action proved to be excruciatingly painful.

But I felt something within the pain. A strange pulsating feeling that echoed throughout my body.

I raised my dagger to my shoulder again and focused that feeling towards my hand. The particles of light began leaving my hand and attaching themselves to my dagger and I was yet to draw blood.

The dagger was quickly coated in what looked like pure light, but I had no time to be amazed.

I gently placed my glowing dagger on my skin and in an instant, my skin was split apart at the point.

"Ah!" I let out a joyous scream of pain before placing all the strength I had left into the dagger and in an instant, it slid into my flesh like a hot knife through pig fat. My arm fell to the floor and my eyes flared open releasing a bright white light into the corridor.

I passed out shortly after.

.

..

I eventually woke up with a thought numbing headache.

I opened my eyes to find that my blood-covered body was laying on the obsidian floor near my bag.

I then looked at where my arm once was and found that the wound I'd created had almost completely scabbed over.

I let out a defeated sigh as I moved my left hand's imaginary fingers. I wondered what Eeol and Zoey must have had to sacrifice to kill the other creatures I'd seen on my way through the spire.

I was then shaken out of my thoughts by the sounds of barking and snarling.

I dragged myself up and looked down the corridor to find an entire pack of Pulae.

"Hehe." I let out a chuckle, even though my nutrient-starved body begged me to sit and accept the end.

"Come on!" I screamed, ignoring the pitiful voice in my head.

There was no way I was going to die before finding Eeol, so I pumped as much light into my dagger as I could and bared my teeth in a deranged smile.

The Pulae then charged at me, twelve strong and I dared myself not to blink as I swung my new blade diagonally, cleanly carving through bone and flesh.

The Pulae must have realised that I wasn't going to die anytime soon, so some of them retreated, but I was way too enraged to stop, so I dashed towards the cowardly beasts and killed every one of them.

Exhausted, I then returned to my bag and applied some medicinal ointments onto my wounds.

See the thing is, I had enough supplies for three people, namely Eeol, Zoey and I, so I'd have more than enough for myself. But since I wanted to find Eeol and Zoey, that would mean having to share the resources. Which meant that I'd have to be careful with how I managed them.

My stomach then growled, shaking me out of my thoughts. I knew I had to preserve my supplies so that only left one thing.

I turned a starving eye towards the fresh Pulae corpses. I crawled over to one of them and used my dagger to cut off one of its legs.

I remembered learning from Eeol, that light is part of the essence of all creation. I wondered if that meant I could destroy and create matter at will, seeing as I could control light to an extent.

I pumped more light particles into my dagger, but I still couldn't feel any heat. I then imagined my dagger was made from the hottest fire possible and then, gradually, the bright white light that was my dagger slowly brightened.

I could feel waves of heat coming from my dagger so I wasted no time and started cooking the leg I'd taken.

Ten or so minutes later, a rather unpleasant smell filled the air, but I paid it no mind and took a bite out of the freshly cooked leg.

All it took was one bite and I was assaulted by the urge to vomit.

The meat tasted far worse than it smelled and with each bite, the taste got worse, much to my dismay.

But, although the meat was pure awfulness, my stomach accepted it as food. So I spent the next three hours devouring the Pulae I'd killed.

After all that eating, my belly quickly filled and as I was about to stand up, I was immediately brought to my knees as my body digested the evil meat.

Sharp pain assaulted my every nerve as my body desperately siphoned through what was needed and what would do my body harm.

However, even though I was in tremendous pain, it wasn't enough to stop me. I got up, grabbed my bag and crawled further into the spire of sin.

.

..

I eventually got used to the pain that came with eating meat from Nar' Agrun and my steps regained their bounce.

With a tank full of energy and a new weapon, I made my way through the corpse ridden corridors.

I wondered if Eeol and Zoey had mastered the use of light magic, or Fos magic, as the knights called it.

My thoughts were then interrupted by what looked like the end of the corridor.

It was a large open doorway.

I approached the grand doorway to find what looked like a large cylindrical chamber.

At its bottom, was a scene from my worst nightmares. Hundreds of Pulae, spawning, fighting and barking so loudly I couldn't hear my thoughts.

But, aside from all the barking and all the vile multiplication that took place below me, one thing stood out.

I saw a Pulae that was much larger than the others. Its black pelt and black eyes were different from the other because it had white spots on it.

Those spots made me shudder in fear as they burnt themselves into my mind, but before I could come to any conclusions, the large Pulae turned its head in my general direction. I quickly retreated and set my bag to the side.

If I was going to go down there and emerge alive, I'd need a plan.

I sat down and thought about how much light I could pour into my dagger.

I raised it and continuously poured light into it until a crack appeared on its bloody surface.

I was about to stop my little experiment, but then I saw several heads peeping up from the door.

I was confused as to how the Pulae climbed the stair-less height in order to get to the corridor, but my question had quickly been answered.

I quickly hacked off the peeping heads and looked down into the pit of filth to see that the Pulae were using each other to form a makeshift staircase.

I then looked at what I dubbed the Alpha Pulae and accidentally locked gazes with it.

The alpha let out a loud howl, seemingly ordering the others to storm up their makeshift staircase.

But, in this situation, I was at an advantage. All I'd have to do is hack away at anything that popped its head into the corridor.

I then put on a confident smile before moving my bag further into the corridor.

The onslaught then began, the first few swings easily cut away at many of the Pulae that climbed into my territory, but then I quickly realised that the Pulae were gradually getting bigger, stronger and faster.

I also realised that the Pulae that I'd killed earlier were pups. Pups that had ventured out into the spire, possibly out of curiosity.

But those pups were the size of medium-sized dogs. The Pulae I found myself killing were at least the size of medium-sized bears.

My cuts then started causing less and less damaged to the ever-growing horde of Pulae.

That and my energy reserves were going to run out pretty soon.

I then wondered what would happen if I pumped light into my muscles and just as the thought crossed my mind, my pained muscles bulged.

I felt a surge of energy and my slashes regained their cutting force. I also felt the strain on my body lessen as I mercilessly hacked away at the horde, coating myself in blood in the process.

But, just as the intense battle reached its climax, my dagger broke in two and the resulting shockwave sent both me and the horde backwards.

I panicked. Without a weapon, I'd be defenceless. I'd be a meat snack.

With this fear in mind, I then pushed more light into my hand as I got back on my feet, this shattered the hilt of my dagger but the light continued to flow until I created a weapon made entirely out of light.

With no time to praise myself for my success, I went back to work and continued mincing whatever dared enter my corridor.

An hour or so later, the horde had grown considerably smaller and I could finally take breaths between attacks.

I stabbed the last Pulae and walked over to the doorway. I looked down and saw the Alpha furiously glaring at me with its black soulless eyes.

It was a challenge. Well, I took it as one.

I jumped down the fifteen-meter drop with light-infused legs that absorbed most of the impact and landed into the cesspool that was the Pulae lair.

My boots dug into what I hoped was only Pulae excrement. It formed a two-inch deep layer at the bottom of the chamber which would have disgusted me had I not eaten several Pulae earlier.

I also heard the cries of newly born Pulae coming from all over the large chamber. I could see the swollen bellies of pregnant Pulae as they birthed even more of their kind in the distance.

Sickened by the putrid sight of young being born into filth, I scowled and in that instant, the alpha closed the gap between us.

I then realised just how big he was. If the mature Pulae were the size of medium-sized bears, then the alpha was twice the size of fully-grown bears.

I used every muscle in my body to run away but I was far too late. The Pulae's giant claw ran across my back, tearing flesh and breaking bone.

I couldn't even scream this time as my body fell onto the filthy floor.

I crawled away as fast as I could, but the alpha wasn't going to let me get away easily.

However, what the Pulae didn't know was that I had been accumulating light in my right hand the entire time.

The Pulae charged at me with its gigantic jaws wide open, but as soon as it got within my reach, I punched its head with all my might.

The Pulae's head jerked violently to the side. I wasn't satisfied with this.

Even as the Pulae stumbled due to the punch I'd sent earlier, I sent more light to my right hand and punched it directly in the ribs and heard a satisfying crunch.

I didn't know its anatomy, so I wasn't sure if I hit any vital organs, so I continued hitting the beast.

But it would seem that I wasn't the only one who was enraged.

The Pulae's violently lashed out at me, teeth and all.

It pinned me on the floor and prepared to bite my head off, but I shoved my hand into its mouth and created a fosblade.

The fosblade cut into its skull, splitting it in two.

The Pulae's lifeless body then fell to the floor.

Before thoughts of victory even crossed my mind, I turned to the female Pulae who were still birthing pups even as I killed their alpha.

I then wondered how Eeol and Zoey got past the alpha and whether the alpha I killed was the first one.

It's entirely possible that they killed one alpha and left the females.

I walked over to one of the grotesque creatures laying in the filth, surrounded by pups.

I then saw one of the larger pups eating at the much smaller toothless one.

I killed their mother and kill the pups right after. I did this repeatedly until none remained.

The chamber was finely quiet and a wave of calm washed over me. I had killed every last one. Me. A squire. A farmer boy.

Sure, I could never kill a Saepenar, but this was still something.

I enhanced my legs and jumped to where my bag was and saw that it was buried underneath a mountain of Pulae corpses.

I let out a tired sigh and dug away at the heap of bodies until I found my bag.

I checked and all of its contents were still inside.

I rubbed my stomach and looked at one of the adolescent Pulae.

It was big, muscular and relatively clean.

I dragged its body over to a spot with fewer corpses.

I used my fosblade to cook it and I soon discovered that I could create light based versions of anything as long as I could clearly picture it.

I then created a small white fire and cooked my dinner. Or lunch? Or breakfast?

I ate away at the corpses for what seemed like an eternity. At this point, I didn't even care what the mean tasted or smelled like.

I ate for the sake of sating my ever-growing hunger.

After an hour or so, I packed my things and got up, but then I realised my clothes were in tatters.

I had always dreamed of one day wearing the armour worn by the knights of Eirini. I hoped to one day serve by Eeol's side and yet there I was alone. In the darkest of the three realms.

But no! I wasn't alone. Eeol was somewhere down there. All I needed to was find him.

This hope that I felt resulted in particles of light leaving my body and clinging to my skin. They continued to flow out of me until I was fully covered in light.

Then, in a flash. The light took form in an armour I'd never seen before.

It gloriously clung to my skin and it bathed the sinful spire in its awesome light.

I felt the warmth of hope hugging me so tightly it made my heart jump with joy.

I picked up my bag, jumped down into the chamber of filth and went towards what I assumed was the exit.