The bright white sphere sprang into existence between the screaming Maw and Arcen. He had never seen it this up close, and he knew right away he’d anticipated it correctly. This was like shoving your face into a floodlight in a football stadium. He felt the splash of heat right away and jumped several steps back.

  Lightning bolts erupted from the ball, electrocuting the ground around him in wide arcs. Most of them hit the Maw, currently being eaten by death worms while getting coated with burning oil.

  “Hurry!” Elena screamed behind him.

  Arcen stumbled and ran on all fours trying to find his feet. He made it halfway towards the Chamber veil where Elena and Jelly were waiting for him.

  “Run! keep running!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

  The ground rattled behind him again as the screaming Maw hopped over the lightning sphere. A red burst of light hit Arcen momentarily, like light streaking in through an open door.

  His body froze in place almost immediately.

  Oh fuck I’m done for!

  The red light flickered as a thunderbolt hit the creature mid-jump. It wriggled on the floor on burning oil as more bolts probed it now and then. Red Court vanished, and Arcen kept running towards the exit as fast as he could.

  He started dodging and weaving through vines where that cursed Red light couldn’t touch him.

  He heard the Maw chasing after him as he jumped into the chamber veil. Elena was right there on the other side, aiming her fingers towards it with a frown on her face. Arcen stumbled, rolled, and fell face-first on the ground.

  Choke point! If we can keep it in, we’re good!

  He flipped around, swaying his hands at the chamber veil behind him. The Maw burst forth only to be greeted by Elena’s restraining contract that held it in place. She hit it with her heaviest attack, the one that she killed Arcen with on the ground floor.

  Arcen didn’t see what it was; it wasn’t fire or oil. It was like a gigantic Detonate, a spontaneous explosion of any material in a straight line. She hit the Maw directly at the bottom of its gaping mouth, and it went through, exploding its teeth like thousands of domino pieces. It started recovering right away, broken flesh mending together in disgusting thin strands twisting into each other.

  “Keep running, I’ll catch up!” Elena yelled at him, throwing Jelly back to him. Arcen got back on his feet and did as he was told.

  “Tassi!” Jelly said, hopping onto his shoulder like she was switching car seats. She had zero reaction to what was happening and seemed to think this was all a big game.

  Arcen ran past Elena as she pumped out the most amount of oil that he’d ever seen her produce. She was hosing the creature with streams of oil as thick as a forearm. It was more viscous this time, and it gathered around the chamber veil like glue.

  She ignited it as she retreated. ARcen felt the heat of the blast on his back as they rounded a corner. The creatures in this chamber hadn’t been killed yet, and they were panicking just like the new arrivals that left a predator stuck at the entrance.

  If base camp is safe and this chamber is safe, how did that fucking thing appear in the middle?

  He could come up with ten questions trying to answer that question. This Maw wasn’t here by natural means. It had some way to appear in a chamber, or someone had put it there.

  Snapping back to reality, he focused on running. Elena found the nearest veil off the main path, and they entered a chamber Arcen hadn’t seen before. It had a glowing wall in the distance, the same as the chamber they came from. He’d passed through a series of central stalk chambers like this on his way towards the base camp.

  Elena had picked a different path in a different direction. He prayed to all the gods that she knew what she was doing as he followed her in a lumbering jog. He didn’t have much energy when he started, and now he was running on fumes.

  “We need a place to hide,” Arcen said, panting.

  “Two more chambers!” She huffed, transitioning back to running from her oil sliding.

  The Maw screamed behind them, having broken free from the chamber veil they tried to block from entering. Elena had already plugged the veil that they just passed through, but if the creature could scream this loud, that meant it had broken through without issue. They couldn’t waste Aura or time trying to keep it out. They had to slow it down.

  They burst into a new chamber, and Elena dropped a massive amount of oil again. Arcen stopped to help this time because he was already out of breath.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶

  ????

  WORM PIT

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯

  He placed it right next to the plugged hole for the cursed dog to fall into after breaking through. They ran away again after Elena set the plugged veil on fire. This chamber had things that were chasing after them through the darkness between distant trees. Elena kept shooting fire beams ahead of them now and then to deter them from launching at them.

  They can fight that gnarly fucker!

  Arcen hoped this would at least distract the creature long enough for them to hide. The guttural screech of the creature reverberated through the chamber as he did. They were only about fifty meters away from the final veil, after which Elena promised a place to hide.

  Arcen was limping like a zombie rather than running at this point, and he was suppressing the urge to turn back for a last stand. The ground rattled beneath them as the Maw closed the gap in huge strides on easy, open terrain. Elena shot several beams at it, making an oil slide for herself with her other hand. The creature had come too close for them to keep running.

  They were back to the strategy of her distracting them.

  The Maw howled at her after eating four of her fire beams to the face. Its mouth turned red like a flashlight aimed at Elena.

  “Watch out!” Arcen yelled, extending his hand.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶

  ????

  BALL LIGHTNING

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯

  He was too late; the red light washed over her, and the Maw launched itself at her in a split-second dash. His Ball Lightning materialized a few meters away, but the creature was only about a meter away from Elena.

  The red void flickered out like a light switch was turned off. Elena dashed back without wasting a millisecond. The Maw shook its head as if it had been hit with an invisible punch. It kept shaking and falsely charging in random directions as if it were confused.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Arcen’s Ball Lighting was already making it worse for the creature, pummeling it with random lightning bolts every now and then. He took the opportunity to make it worse, the only way that he could.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶

  ????

  WORM PIT

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯

  Elena came to a crashing halt next to him and immediately started checking the black egg on her shoulder.

  “The egg stopped it!” She said, wincing as she touched it with her oil-drenched hand.

  Sure enough, the egg had a faint red glow at its center.

  King stopped the Red Court?

  “Feels like a hot iron though, ouch!” Elena said, ripping her long coat open. She pulled her arms out of the sleeves and wrapped them tightly around her waist. The bandages on her left shoulders were smoking vapor trails. She ripped them loose, smothering the heat with more oil. She did the same to the black egg, coating it in a thick layer of wax-like substance before it could set fire to her long coat.

  “You alright? I can carry it if you want,” He asked, pointing at the egg.

  “Just run! We don’t have long!” She said, taking off towards the chamber veil behind them.

  The Maw was already making its way out of the Worm Pit, only hindered by the occasional lightning bolt that made it freeze up and slide down the crater.

  They rolled out of the chamber into the one that was supposed to have places to hide.

  Arcen immediately understood why she picked this chamber specifically. This place looked like one gigantic ant hill with at least a hundred different holes all around them. Creatures that looked like rabbits hopped around these holes while fat, red worms the size of motorcycles weaved in and out of them like subway trains.

  Not sure I want to poke my head in there!

  Elena pulled herself out of her long coat, hopping on her legs as she ran, wrapping the egg with the oil-drenched fabric into a big ball that she could hold without burning her hands.

  She didn’t bother plugging the hole this time.

  “In there!” She yelled, pointing at the nearest hole that was big enough for them to crawl into. She dived in first, creating an oil slide behind her for Arcen to slide into.

  Jelly dashed down from his shoulder, took one look at the wax-like slide that disappeared into darkness, raised her tiny hands, and jumped in like it was a water park adventure. Arcen hesitated for a second, jumping a couple of times to hype himself up.

  The Maw burst into the chamber, screaming like a dying pig. It opened its huge mouth, the red glow about to erupt from it. This gave Arcen the confidence boost that he needed. He dropped to his knees and launched himself headfirst into the oil slide to hell.

  As he did, the Maw rushed forth, trying to shove its massive head into a hole half its size. The red glow intercepted Arcen’s legs a couple of times, but the bends and twists of the hole did the evasion actions for him as he gained speed on the oil slide.

  This wild ride in pitch darkness ended a few seconds later as he shot out of the hole at a horizontal angle into a slightly larger space.

  “Oh, what the hell!” Arcen yelled, trying to crawl back up the way he came.

  There was a huge worm—much bigger than the ones he saw outside—just staring directly at him with four beady eyes. In his panic, he almost activated Worm Pit. It wouldn’t have appeared in such a confined space, but if it did, all three of them would’ve been eaten alive.

  Taking a second look at the scene before him, he saw Elena standing next to the worm with one hand pointed at it. She had already restrained it with a contract.

  “Stay back!” She yelled at Arcen, switching her hand’s posture to a gun pointing directly at the creature’s face.

  With one quick glance at Arcen, she fired off her killing blow, piercing a large cylindrical hole into the worm’s flat, earthly face. Orange liquid burst forth from it, cascading and pooling onto the floor.

  Elena let her arm drop, took a deep breath, and lay herself down on the muddy ground.

  “That was some crazy shit,” she said, closing her eyes.

  “We made it somehow…” Arcen panted, squeezing his sore, painful knees. His ankles hurt way worse. He took off his boots, hammering his fist on his joints. Everywhere hurt.

  He didn’t even want to use Restore. He wanted it to hurt just to feel alive after what he just gone through.

  He watched Jelly as his eyelids fell. She stood on the ground until the worm’s orange blood pooled around her tiny feet. Finding it unpleasant, she shook her feet like a cat that stepped on a puddle. She climbed onto Elena’s chest, rolled herself over, and relaxed with a squeaky grunt.

  Arcen slumped into a corner as the dying worm’s orange blood pooled all around his legs. He was too tired to do anything about it, in much worse condition than Elena was.

  His drowsy eyes brushed over the black egg. It looked like a soccer ball now that it was wrapped tightly with Elena’s oil-drenched long coat. It had rolled on the uneven ground where it was dropped, ending up next to him.

  It was still hot to the touch, but not as bad as it used to be. It felt pleasant, like a hand warmer on his cold, wet, and dirt-stained skin. Taking a closer look, he noticed a faint red glow leaking out of the flaps of fabric. Touching it gently, he thought about seizing this opportunity.

  It didn’t take too long for him to scrap that thought.

  His chance had rolled right next to him, but it wasn’t the right time. He was in a deep hole with no way out of it. Even if he had a way out of it, that hell dog was outside waiting for him. Even if the stars aligned and everything was perfect, he was literally too tired to lift a single finger.

  Fuck that egg, I’m going to sleep.

  He leaned over and placed his head on the warm egg, making a pillow out of it to rest his head on. It was much better than sleeping on the muddy ground with a growing pool of orange blood on it.

  He closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

  Sleep was wet, cold, and uncomfortable, but he enjoyed it more than he had ever enjoyed sleeping. He didn’t want to wake up and fight with hell dogs or complete quests for Gods. He stirred a couple of times, resurfacing for one reason or another. He groaned and changed his pose every time.

  WAKE UP!

  He heard the words echo in his ears. He kept his eyes closed, flipping over to the other side. He hadn’t slept enough at all. All four of his limbs were in pain.

  YOU WAKE UP NOW.

  The voice was louder this time. He covered his ears with his hands, burying himself deeper into his makeshift pillow.

  I WANT YOU TO WAKE UP!

  Covering his ears had done nothing for him. This was loud, like someone was speaking directly into his ear.

  Arcen opened his eyes, annoyed. “El, just let me sleep. Please!” He hissed, closing his eyes tightly. He needed to sleep until he couldn’t sleep anymore.

  As he drifted back to sleep, a thought kept nagging him. The ground had been different when he opened his eyes. He went to sleep in a muddy hole with orange blood all around him.

  Wait. What the fuck was that? Did she move me somewhere?

  He opened his eyes begrudgingly. He was bothered just enough to want to know where he was.

  The place he opened his eyes to was the polar opposite of where he fell asleep. This was open space, with open air and polished rock beneath him that felt like marble. The ground was dark, and the sky was all orange hues.

  There’s a sky in here?

  He had never seen a sky in the tower. He hadn’t seen a sky like this since before the Mayday.

  “I must be dreaming…” He whispered to himself, rolling back up to a more comfortable pose.

  YOU’RE AWAKE.

  He jolted when the voice blared in his ears again. He touched his ears and looked at his hands.

  “Oh, what the fuck?!”

  His hands were human again. He wasn’t purple anymore. He was fifteen, naked, and sleeping on the ground. The shock of this dissipated quickly when he remembered where and when this happened before. He looked around him, heart pounding in his ears.

  YOU’RE BACK.

  The red hues of the sky and the black rock beneath him made sense immediately. King was looming over him, much shorter than he remembered from the last time.

  This time, he had fewer things that made him look like Norm Lorraine. He looked more like what he was inside the egg, that ugly, cute black tar kitten that Arcen saw back when he was injected into it. King had evolved in silence, learned language, and was settling on what it really was, evolving backwards into a child. Physically, he was about as tall as a seven or eight-year-old.

  “W-why am I here again?” Arcen asked, trembling as he crawled away.

  I WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU.

  “P-play?!”

  YES, I NEED TO TOUCH THE WORLD AGAIN.

  Arcen stopped crawling, got on his feet, and stumbled backwards. He covered his crotch with his hands.

  “What do you mean you want to play?! It’s not a game out there,” He said, trying to find a way out. He knew this was all in his head, but that didn’t mean he could wake up without doing what King wanted him to do.

  THAT MAW LOOKED FUN.

  “Fun?!” Arcen howled. “I almost died!”

  I SEE, THAT IS WHY IT WAS FUN.

  “-and don’t think I’m going to do anything with you ever again! You ate so many people!”

  I REMEMBER. NO ONE HAD ANY LOVE.

  “Of course there wasn’t! Eating people is not how you find love!”

  INTERESTING. I WAS TOO YOUNG TO THINK FOR MYSELF BACK THEN. I MUST HAVE DONE WHAT YOU WANTED. NOW I AM CURIOUS WHY YOU WANTED TO SWALLOW THEM, IF IT WAS NOT FOR LOVE.

  King’s words pierced Arcen like a thousand spikes. After all this time, it had all circled back to him. The alien toddler hadn’t decided to swallow people on its own. It was going on his base instincts, the ones that got warped by those four love pills that he crunched, thinking they were weirdly shaped painkillers.

  The baby King had put his memories and his mutant instincts together in a senseless salad. That was nobody’s fault, of course. Neither one of them knew the consequences of their entirely unpredictable actions.

  I WANTED TO PLAY WITH YOU, BUT IF YOU CAN TELL ME HOW TO FIND LOVE THE CORRECT WAY, I WILL LEARN.

  The king sat down cross-legged, looking up at him expectantly. He extended one of his small, tar-black hands before him, inviting Arcen to sit down.

  Find love the correct way? How the fuck am I supposed to know that?

  He’d spent twenty-three years on earth without knowing it. Being asked this question now made him question his life choices. He really had no answer to give, and lying wouldn’t be any better because he couldn’t tell what this alien freak would do next with false information.

  Not knowing what else to do, Arcen took a step back, turned on his heels, and started running away.

  WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

  Big oof.

  (alien) kids grow up fast these days or what.

  Next chapter on Wednesday.

  Regular reminder to rate/review if you’re enjoying the ride!

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