Chapter 24: The Gigantic Cocoon

Thirty minutes had crawled by since they'd declared Aiden some kind of mixed-blood Eternas, someone who awakened their Innate Ability. He wasn't denying it, just playing along. Playing along felt like the only option.

While the new treatment was better, the glint in their eyes sent shivers down his spine. He felt like a golden chicken they planned to squeeze for every last golden egg.

Sure, they might be treating him a little better now, but a chicken's fate wasn't exactly rosy when its purpose was served. His gut churned with the suspicion that they planned to kill him once his usefulness ran dry.

The woman, even, stuck by his side now, peppering him with questions about humans. She suddenly was a little too much interested in Humans.

Aiden, in turn, tried to pry information about the Eternas from them, but his questions went unanswered.

Every moment a new Escape plan swirled in his head, but each one ended the same way – with him dead.

"Almost there, human," the male hunter grunted, turning to face Aiden. "Do you understand what you need to do?"" The male hunter's voice snapped Aiden out of his thoughts. He nodded, eyes landing on the blood-soaked forest floor ahead.

A sickening green blood stained the ground, but no bodies lay in sight.

But Aiden knew – the blood belonged to the giant caterpillar army the hunters had likely culled before chasing the lone survivor. After all, his Devil Eye of Misery had previously picked up on the scent of the army of large Caterpillars in the same direction when he was waiting for them in the tree branches.

The female hunter had already told Aiden on his task. Their target was an enormous tree, the former home of a colossal Caterpillar army.

That giant tree possessed magical properties, evident in its oversized, vibrantly green leaves, a prized food source for insect-like beasts. But their true quarry resided within: a queen Caterpillar who defied the natural order by crossing the threshold of evolution.

From what the female hunter told him, usually low ranked beasts didn't have much potential for evolution. This queen Caterpillar is quite an exception.

This majestic creature hung upside down from a colossal leaf near the very tip of the tree, having spun itself a silken cocoon that shimmered like a giant, polished chrysalis.

The hunters needed Aiden's help. They intended to perform a sacrificial ceremony while preventing the queen from emerging from her pupa. The details of the ceremony remained shrouded in secrecy; Aiden's sole task was to restrain the cocoon from emergence using a strange, red stone they'd provided. This stone required continuous contact until a sacrificial ceremony. As a reward, they'd set him free.

That was their promise, but Aiden wasn't a naive child. He knew freedom wouldn't be on the menu. These were beings whose main source of power is other beings' blood and his own blood seemed to hold a strange allure for them.

Escape, at least in a conventional sense, seemed like a fool's dream.

As a child, he had listened to many stories of heroes from her sister, those who defied the jaws of death and rose to become extraordinary figures. He even dreamt of becoming one himself, a yearning that fueled his search for tales featuring blind heroes. Unfortunately, such narratives were scarce. At best, the blind characters are usually relegated to strong sidekicks, destined for a tragic demise by the story's end.

After a tense trek, they emerged before the colossal tree. Its vast leaves lashed in the breeze, dwarfing the surrounding vegetation. Yet, compared to the awe-inspiring Mysterious Tree with its otherworldly aura, it paled in comparison.

But for now, this towering giant held his focus. Perched near the very peak, a massive cocoon glinted in the sunlight, Aiden could sense that an extraordinary being is sleeping within.

—-

Even from a distance, the cocoon pulsed with an otherworldly energy. Aiden can feel it thrumming beneath his skin, an extraordinary aura that promises a creature far more than just an oversized Caterpillar.

The intricate, crystalline surface shimmered like a captured rainbow, a stark contrast to the decaying leaves that littered the forest floor

As Aiden stood mesmerized, the male hunter wasted no time. With a powerful leap, he propelled himself onto a nearby branch, his movements swift and predatory. Reaching the colossal leaf where the cocoon clung, the hunter whipped out a rusted knife from his worn leathers, its blade glinting dully in the filtered sunlight. With a single, decisive motion, he severed the silken cord connecting the cocoon to the tree.

The queen Caterpillar gave no reaction – no thrashing, no tremor of unease.

Aiden wasn't surprised by the queen's lack of response. In fact, it hadn't even stirred during the previous slaughter of its kin. It seemed its evolution was a cocoon within a cocoon, its focus solely on its internal transformation, oblivious to the external world until its very life was threatened. This metamorphosis was something truly extraordinary, a process so all-consuming that the creature's survival instincts lay dormant.

The hunter, with a couple of agile leaps, descended and unceremoniously plopped the cocoon onto the forest floor. With practiced ease, he conjured a series of blood arrows, each one etched with the sigil of a giant Caterpillar. He thrust them into the ground, meticulously forming a series of interlocking circles around the cocoon. Nine perfect circles, each one cradling the previous, were meticulously created, with the cocoon resting in the heart of the intricate design.

The air crackled with unseen energy as exactly 201 arrows found their place, a complex sigil drawn in blood.

Finally, the male hunter turned to his own body. With a grimace, he drew the crude knife across his arm, letting his blood flow freely. Stepping closer to the cocoon, he circled it with his bleeding arm while muttering ancient words in a guttural tongue. The language seemed to vibrate through the air, resonating with the power pulsing from the cocoon itself.

Aiden stood there, watching the bizarre spectacle unfold. The guttural chanting, the blood sigils, the pulsing cocoon – it all coalesced into a scene ripped from a nightmare.

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