"Ugggghhhh..." A man wearing a long sleeve red shirt with pitch black pants and black boots was laid face first across a clearing on the side of a mountain passage, the surrounding area not at all effected by his arrival.
Suddenly, he began to stir, sitting up as the man rustled his messy, crimson hair, dark bags piling underneath his half-lidded red eyes.
"Uggghhh... Where am I?" He asked to no one in particular as he observed his surroundings, noticing that the location he had appeared in was something he has not at all seen back home. But the most prevalent feature that occurred to him...
'WHERE'S THE CRIMSON?!' The normally stoic man thought in severe distress. As he looked around, he could not at all locate any spec of red from atop the mountain, only seeing the lush, green canopy of the various surrounding forests that stretched on for miles, along with an shimmering ocean surrounding the coastline. There were also a couple villages jutting out from above the forestry, but the elegant castle in the distance to his right was much more eye-catching.
'This is bad', he kept thinking to himself, 'If I can't find any crimsified materials soon I'll...'
However, the crimson-haired stranger cut himself off, noticing he had a large, red bag with pulsating veins randomly arranged amongst it, a single, blue eyeball looking towards him menacingly. The man looked at it with glee, as one would a friend you haven't seen in years, immediately returning back to his calm persona.
'Great! Just need some Viscious Powder and then-'
As he was about to reach towards the mouth-looking zipper of his bag, he heard a scream of horror come from further up the mountain top.
"AHHHH! HELP!"
Now, whilst the strange man didn't particularly care for helping people in need, he was curious as to what was going on. So with an over dramatic eye-roll, he ran at a speed far faster than a normal human up the obvious rocky path, hoping that he could make it before the 'fun' started.
"AHHHH! HELP!" The small green scaled dragon girl with brown hair, who looked no older than an infant, screamed in peril as she backed up against an unclimbable wall of the mountain, three humans wearing steel plated armour that shone in the sunlight. All of them wielded broadswords, blocking off any exits the dragonkin may have used to escape.
"Oi! Shut yer trap, ya lil' bitch!" One of them stepped forward and slapped her, sending her towards the ground with a wimper whilst rubbing her now bruised and red cheek. However, the knight seemed amused by all of this, "Heh! Who would 'ave ever thought of a human dominatin' a monsta - a dragonkin no less?"
"Well sir, she is a little 'n..." One of the other knights said with slight regret, as though he didn't think this was right, but the only response he got was from his other, clearly more in agreement, comrade was a playful elbow nudge.
"Aww com on lad! Young or not, her bod would make a fiiiiine play thin', eh?" He offered with a wink, whilst the short dragon girl picked up on his comment and widened her eyes in horror.
"No... No, PLE-" Before she could finish her plea for help however, the knight whom slapped her grabbed the girl by the neck, before binding down the rest of her scaly limbs to the ground with his.
"Hahaha! Good idea lad! We can has some fun wit 'er before we sell 'er off to some other sap for a quick coin," he said with an evil smirk, eyeing the dragon girl's body tastily, "But enough chat! Come on lads! Lets... Indulge ourselves a lil."
That was all the knight needed to say before the his comrades grouped up around the dragonkin's defenceless body, although one of them seemed hesitant at the thought of raping a little girl, monster or not.
"Umm, are ya sure this is a good idea sir?" The two looked at him incredulously, as though he asked something painfully obvious, to which he shrank away slightly, "N-not that I would go against your o-orders or anything, but... Aren't dragons extremely territorial of their possessions an' children? If 'er mother is around, we could get seriously fu-"
"Bah! Enough of yer excuses, boy!" The apparent leader of the small group sneered at him, "Besides, I doubt 'er mother cares about 'er anymore. If she were that protective, would've spotted 'er before we had to chance to even chase the bugga."
Those words appeared to have tugged on the dragonkin's heartstrings, tearing up slightly, indicating the knight was not far off from the truth.
"Which means..." He put his mouth mere inches from the monster girl's ear, "...she's free for the takin'."
He then darted his face towards the nervous guard, flinching at the sudden look, "get the iron chains from the bag. Ya know, the 'enchanted' ones. Even if she's a young'n, it's takin' a lot of force to hold 'er do-"
"Good evening gentlemen. Wonderful weather today, isn't it?"
A sudden, bone-chilling voice interrupted the leader's order, directing all attention towards him, even from the dragon girl, a glint of hope in her eyes at the hopes of the mystery man being her saviour.
However, the knight captain was not so pleased to see his presence interrupt their 'quality time', eyeing up the man's strange clothing, "An' who might you be?" He questioned with suspicion laced in his tone.
"Why, I'm merely a witness to this spectacle I've stumbled across. Hard not to notice with the screams of the little one echoing around for miles," the leader 'tsk'd' at that, "In fact, what are you going to do with her, if I might ask?" The crimson haired man asked in feigned curiosity.
"Hmm?" The more laid-back knight began, "Why, we're gon' rape 'er until she begs fer mercy! Hehehe- OWW!" He answered with no remorse in his tone, that is until her leader smacked him over the back of his head, "WOT WERE THAT FER?!"
"Fer givin' away our plans so easily to a potential enemy!" He answered with anger in his voice, although the stranger simply chuckled at the interactions between them.
"Hehehe, normally I wouldn't plan to stop you, as shows of suffering are quite amusing..." But then he laid his eyes on the dragon girl, her eyes practically begging for mercy with tiny trickles of tears decorating the once dry ground, striking a chord in the usually emotionless man's heart.
'Damnit, I wasn't planning to save a little girl...' he looked at the monster girl's almost pathetic expression again, 'Argh, Screw it...'
"...However," the men grimaced at the word, "I don't take kindly to children being used to fulfil the carnal desires of pigs such as you," his voice and face pure monotone with every word.
Unnerved by the passive-threat of the man, the group of rapists took a step back, suddenly forgetting about the monster girl, giving her the room and strength to escape her possible rapist's grasp. Even though if a dragonkin was very young, their base strength could exceed that of a bodybuilder. The only reason they were able to hold her down was because she had ran out of energy during them chasing her, having regained it during their monologue.
Looking up to her hero with respect in her eyes, the stoic man motioned towards the rocky path that allowed access further up the mountain. Taking the hint, she nodded and ran towards it.
"She's gettin' away!" The leader shouted out loud, irritated by the fact he was intimidated by some guy who wasn't even equipped with a weapon or armour, "Burt, chase after 'er!"
"Yes, sir!" The perverted knight from before, now known as Burt, ran after the girl with broadsword in hand, fully intent on regaining their catch.
"Oh no you don't."
However, the knight was immediately stopped as several fleshy, pink tentacles erupted out from the earth in his path, causing nearby loose stone to shake from the force. Burt almost screamed as he fell on his ass, backing up at a fast pace towards his comrades, who also had their mouths agape in horror.
"W-what the hell is this?!" The captain almost threw up at the sight of the fleshy tendrils, which were reeling back into the mountain like a retractable wall. A light chuckle was the crimson-haired man's response.
"That was me. A part of me, at least," The man answered in a passive-aggressive tone, taking a few more steps forward, the event from earlier making him appear even more threatening than before.
Put both under the pressure of his life being threatened and facing a 'human' far more powerful than them, the leader gave in to anger and barked out, "BURT! ATTACK!"
"B-but sir, didn't y-you just se-"
"I know wha' I saw! And I'm ORDERIN' YOU TO ATTACK!"
Not wanting to add to the captain's wrath, or have it directed towards him, Burt hesitatingly complied and ran towards crimson-haired man, who wasn't even reacting to his presence. Did he want to die? Or perhaps he was underestimating him? Either way, he needed to aim for the killing blow in order to finish this quickly. Perhaps the leader would give him a pay rise if all went well!
Unfortunately for the undertrained shit-for-brains, it did not go well.
As soon as his sword was mere inches away from slitting the stranger's throat, another one of the previously seen tentacles made itself home to the knight's throat, tightening around it and lifting him off the ground, causing him to drop his sword with a loud *CLANK* as it hit the ground.
"Hmm..." The man seemed lost in thought, rubbing his chin, "Even though there is no Crimsified material in this world that I can feel, my abilities are still usable, but with severe limitations to power, range, and other variables. Interesting..."
The stranger then looked up to the soon-to-be corpse's face, his eyes practically rolled back into his head as the lack of oxygen draining his life away, "Whilst I can commend you for following orders like a good attack dog," the tentacle tightened even further, "You were foolish to even think that you could lay a scratch on me."
"Agh... Gggagghgaggghh..." Burt couldn't get any words out as the fleshy appendage was crushing his wind pipe further every second, only fuelling the crimson-haired man's amusement.
"Some great famous last words... Hehehe..." As if to add the icing onto the cake that this man was not human, he opened his eyes, not revealing his normal red ones, but rather golden yellow ones, completely bloodshot, the black pupils constricting so far that they looked like tiny dots, "farewell, irrelevant foot soldier."
At those words, the tentacle jerked upwards so fast, that the 'irrelevant foot soldier''s head, along with his neck, was torn straight off, the body falling forward and in the process, splattering blood all over the man's torso and legs. However, he acted as though it was an everyday occurrence, not even batting an eye at his ruined clothes.
The now clearly dead knight's group, however, did mind. A lot, if the nervous one scattering today's lunch all over the earth had anything to say about it.
"H-h-how? How is this happening?! M-male monsters don't exist!" The leader attempted to be in denial, however the proof was there, in the form of his comrade's lifeless body creating an ever-growing blood pool at where his neck formerly was.
"Oh?" This confirmed the stoic man's suspicions, he was not in Terraria anymore. There are as many male monsters as there are female back home, whilst apparently here there are only females. Then... How did they reproduce? Were they asexual and didn't need a mate to create offspring? Or perhaps...
...Oh. Yeah, that answer makes so much more sense now.
Deciding that it was best to learn about this brand new world at a later date, the stranger thought he might as well get this over with, "So, any last words before I kill you both?"
"W-what?" The leader seemed taken aback by the rather blunt question, but then soaked it in and realised what situation he was in, "No... N-no! Please, I don't wanna die!" The knight shoved his also panicking comrade forward in a hurry, "Take Clancy instead! Please, s-spare me!"
"Wait, wh-" was all recently-named Clancy could get out before a tentacle shot through his neck, penetrating it so far that it came out the other end.
And another corpse added to the blood pool.
Thinking that the man - no, this monster - had accepted his seemingly remorseless sacrifice of a fellow warrior in arms, the man hid a slight smile of hope behind his helmet, "S-so you killed Clancy instead o' me, right? You're gonna l-lemme go, r-right?"
"..."
"..."
"..heh. Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The monster broke out of his stoic demeanor, going into full out laughter as held his stomach tightly. The knight took offense to this action.
"W-what's so damn funny?!"
"Hehe... Sorry, it's just, heh, That's a grovel for mercy I haven't heard of in a while. It just shows how undeserving you are of your life," He spat the last words in a venom so toxic the knight could practically feel it seep in through his armour.
Several tentacles then appeared out from the ground, surrounding the leader the same way they did to the dragonkin, "Okay, that's enough now, this is taking too long."
Giving in to the pressure of his life nearing his end, the knight went to his knees in a praying position for a last ditch effort, "PLEASE! I PROMISE, I'LL NEVA SEXUALLY ASSAULT ANYONE AGAIN! JUST LEMME LI-"
"Quiet," The man's voice reverberated around the mountain like surround sound, shutting up the leader pleas for mercy, "I'm bored of seeing you beg at my feet. And since you're the leader of your ragtag bunch of child-rapists..."
The tentacles began to grow sharp, fleshy spikes at their pointed ends, "I'll make your torture far more exciting than their's was."
And soon, unholy shrieks of pure suffering filled the air.
Along with the sound of something tearing that shouldn't be teared.
The dragonkin was scared.
No longer for her own purity (not that it would matter eventually) and life, but for the group of knights she had encountered.
Whilst she obviously knew what their intentions were, and didn't have a favourable opinion of them for attempting it, she doesn't think they deserved to die. Punished, yes. Jailed, absolutely. But not tortured and then killed. Even though she was currently huddled behind a boulder that covered her field of vision from the one-sided onslaught, that did not mean she wasn't out of earshot.
The girl could understand why he would kill all of them, but that did not give her supposed hero an excuse to do it. If he was much stronger than them, why didn't he let them go and see them as a waste of time?
"Hey."
Speak of the devil, and he shall come.
"AHHHH!" She jumped in surprise at the sudden greeting, landing on her butt in the process. Looking up, the dragonkin noticed her saviour with the same emotionless expression as before, but with... Possibly over a litre of blood covering his clothes.
"Sorry," he seemed embarrassed to have scared a little girl simply with a small greeting, avoiding eye contact, "Just wanted to make sure that you were alright," he offered his hand to pick her up.
"Huh? Oh, right," she took the hand, using the man's support to pick herself up, "Yeah, I'm fine. Although, it would've been much worse had you not arrived."
"I can tell," he seemed to stare back at the carnage the stranger caused, a slight glare in the look. Soon after, he noticed the short dragon girl's tail swinging back and forth behind her, the person in question giving him a quizzical look, "If you don't mind, what species of monster are you? Never seen your type from where I'm from."
"Huh? Really? Well, I'm a dragonkin, a humanoid dragon species. My name's Granberia by the way!" She gave the man a proud smile, "And what monster are you?"
"Hmm?" His eyes widened slightly, but it was unnoticeable to his companion, "What makes you think I'm a mon-"
"I saw the... t-tentacles, whilst I was running."
"...Oh," the crimson-haired man hoped to keep this a secret in a world with no male monsters, but no sense in denying something clearly obvious, "Well, I don't exactly know. I guess you could call me the lord of all things fleshy and bloody? One of the many 'nicknames' the humans gave me back home," He responded with a shrug.
"Oh... Um, I don't really know a monster like that. Much less, a male one," Granberia seemed to blush slightly at the fact, but noticed something he said that made her stare in curiosity, "Wait, you called yourself a lord. Does that mean you're a king monster?"
"Yeah yeah, I guess," the man waved off her question lazily, clearly not wanting to reveal anything more about himself, "Anyways, enough about me," he gestured towards the path that spiralled to the peak of the mountain, "is there anything special at the top of this mountain?"
"'Mountain'? This is a volcano Mister! Gold Volcano to be exact."
...Oh. That's why there was smoke coming out from the top.
"Rephrase that. Is there anything special at the top of this volcano?"
"Well, there is a cave entrance into the volcano, where the legendary fire spirit, 'Salamander' lives," Granberia informed.
Now this peaked the crimson-haired man's interests. A spirit of the fire element, eh? Perhaps he could obtain valuable information from someone so powerful about the world he was stuck in. After all, this spirit was the closest source of info he had, not that he knew of any others.
"Hmm. Guess we'll go in there then, perhaps I can drop you off with her or something until your mother drops by," He tried to be helpful, but that seemingly lowered the dragonkin's spirits, to which the crimson-haired man immediately noticed, "Hmm? Did I say something wrong?"
"Well, um... You see, my mother abandoned me when I was... Just a baby," she began tearing up again, "I've had to take care of myself for sometime now. However," she looked back up to the man, small tears trailing down her still bruised cheeks, "Everyone always attacked me or chased me off. So, I've had to live off of any scraps people left behind, or steal from campsites when they were asle-"
Suddenly, she was caught in a bear hug from the man, whom was currently tearing up as well, however his expression unchanging. Whilst showing no reaction to murdering man and monster alike, children would always hold a soft spot in the stranger's heart.
"To have lived like this, by yourself, without a family to care for you for so long..." He looked deeply into the young dragonkin's eyes, "...It makes me feel sad that anyone would neglect someone as adorable as you~" bloodied hands rubbed delicate cheeks as he said this, like an over affectionate grandma with their grandchildren.
"Hrrk!" The little girl was blushing furiously now, causing her to nearly fall over in embarrassment. However, this only worried her companion.
"Are you okay?" He began to pick her up by the waist, "Do you want me to carry you? Must have been exhausting trying to escape from those disgusting excuses for knights."
It was true, her legs were still sore from all the running, so Granberia decided to play a little more like a 'damsel in distress', just this once.
"Umm... Yeah, thanks," She replied, the man lifting her over his shoulders, wrapping her scaly, dragon-like legs around his arms, along with her petite chest pressed into the back of his head, but the crimson-haired man either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Oh and also, my name's Brian," he began walking up the volcano path, "Just thought I'd tell you, since you gave me yours."
"Ah. Well, thanks for dealing with those guys back there Mister Brian!" She cheerfully exclaimed, but then appeared distraught, "But did you... have to kill them?"
"Yes," Was his straight forward reply.
"But why?"
"Because they were a prime example of scum of the world; wastes of oxygen and resources, etcetera etcetera."
"B-but one of them was rather hesitant to-"
"Look, Granberia," he turned to face her, "I understand you don't like the strong preying on the weak. I could tell that the moment we started conversing, and I respect that. However," his eyes turned yellow and bloodshot again, "If they had succeeded, would you still like for them to keep on living? To rape even more girls? Hell, they could've been apart of a mass sex slave chain for all you know! It's best to not take any chances."
Granberia understood where Brian was coming from, but still... "The hesitant one might have been nice...?"
"He sealed his fate the moment he decided it was a good idea to group himself up with rapists. The least I did was make his death quick," his eyes returned back to their deadly red colour, "Enough about that now. What's done is done."
"Yeah... I guess," Granberia solemnly agreed.
After the little conversation, the two travelled up the volcano in silence, Brian observing the horizon in the distance as though searching for something, cursing under his breath as he looked away. Granberia, however, decided to get a good look at the male monster, getting able to feel a good grasp of his slightly muscular body from the way she was carried, along with a... Very odd looking bag that was hunched over the crimson-haired man's shoulder, using the same bloody colour scheme as his apparel. The Dragonkin also noticed how much paler he was than before. Perhaps, even as a male, he needed semen to survive? After all, monsters did begin to show various signs of hunger, both visibly and in their actions, for semen if they were really starving for it. Perhaps she could... help him get some? He did have his own penis...
"We're here," Brian suddenly declared, facing towards the a deep cave entrance that went downwards, the faint, orange glow of magma seeping outside, "Why are you blushing?" He asked bluntly when the monster turned to face his companion.
"Eh?" The girl in question snapped out of her lewd thoughts, jumping off of the man in embarrassment, "N-no reason!"
"...Well, whatever. We've arrived, so now all we need to do is find this Salamander and you'l hopefully find someone who'll take you in," Brian began walking towards the cave entrance, motioning for the flustered dragonkin to follow after him.
"B-but what will you do then? Salamander is only known to help warriors who can best her in combat, or at least prove their worth to her," she chimed in, although it didn't seem to waver the male monster's confidence.
"Then I'll just have to try my be- BLAAARGH!" Suddenly, Brian threw up a large amount of blood onto the rugged earth as well as a portion of his already bloodied shirt, collapsing on to all fours. His dragonkin companion went to his side in obvious worry, eyes widened at the sudden damage to his health.
"BRIAN! What's wrong?!" She shouted in distress, shaking the man's shoulder for a response.
"Oh... How could I... Have forgotten...? Hehehe... Guess I... got too distracted... by the slaughter... eariler..." He began crawling towards the cave entrance, still determined on following his objective. Granberia, however, wouldn't have any of it.
"No! You need to sit down and rest! There's obviously something wrong with you!"
He was becoming motionless, eyes slowly closing, "Damnit... shit... fuck..."
"B-Brian? No, PLEASE DON'T DIE!" She practically begged in desperation of not wanting to be alone again, but it fell upon deaf ears as her friend's head made a firm collision against the hard rock beneath him.
The last thing he saw was what appeared to be the figure of an orange woman stalking towards them inside a trail of a pool of lava.
"Why did you bring me outside the safety and comfort of my cave again?" Brian asked the short girl beside him, the two sitting on the edge of a cliff made out of veiny, red stone with a layer of crimson grass and dirt underneath where they were sat, dangling their legs on the cliff edge.
The girl in question was wearing an odd choice of apparel for a cold night, consisting of a white dress with a frilly blue skirt, her long white hair blown back by the dirty wind. She also had bright red, thigh-length stockings with black shoes.
Currently, this girl was staring into the night sky with a pair of brown binoculars, which was a deep red colour thanks to the environmental effects of the crimson, although she could see the bright stars shine through the misty redness perfectly, some varying in size and others in colour. To her it was a beautiful sight to behold.
But to Brian... well, it was safe to say he was enduring it for her sake.
She then responded, "Well... It's just, I know how lonely you can get at times, what with-"
"Almost everything in existence hating me based on the fact that I 'run' a 'kingdom' full of savages and mutated sacks of walking, rotting flesh? Oh yeah! That," He interrupted with an over exaggerated eye roll, to which the girl pouted adorably in irritation.
"You don't have to put yourself down so low like that," she lowered the binoculars and turned to face the crimson-haired monster, revealing her deep blue... eye. Her left one was covered by a pitch black eyepatch, "As your sister, I have to take the caring and responsible role and make sure you don't raze another human village to the ground, simply because 'they were too close to the border', or 'they attempted to destroy my prized artifacts'," the snow-haired girl attempted to mimic her apparent brother's voice, but it came out sounding cute and adorable.
Unable to argue with the breakdown of his anger fits, he responded, "Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. But... I can't help it!" He suddenly jerked his head to the side away from her, the girl looking over in concern, "They treat us like shit! Not just me, not just brother, any creature that walks either my Crimson or his Corrupted lands, but monsters as a whole! And the fact that you seek peace with those vile humans, only to have them relentlessly assault you and your fellow Demon Eyes-"
Interrupting another one of Brian's rants, the little girl wrapped her arms around the Crimson Lord tightly, whom responded reluctantly in the same way to the gesture shortly after, "I... I know peace will be hard to come by, and there will be groups of both monsters and humans who don't agree with my beliefs..." She looked up to him with a fiery determination in her eyes, "But if I don't try, then who will? For the sake of the survival of monsters and humans, we need peace."
For a while, Brian just stared half-lidded into his sister's eyes, her expression of confidence never wavering, before he broke into a light chuckle, "It's nice to have someone like you looking out for me, little sis. I can't stand to argue with you when you pull out such a cute look on me," the tension wore off as the crimson-haired man ruffled the girl's snowy hair, messing it up and causing her to get flustered. Rarely did he ever show such affection to anyone apart from her, but even that was rare.
"O-oi!" She got up to her feet whilst putting her hair back into place, her brother chuckling at the sibling interaction. "W-well, whatever. I came to hang out with you all night until dawn, and that's what we're gonna do!" She pumped her fist into the air in excitement.
"Oh? And do tell what are we gonna do?" Brian narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "It better not involve that weirdo friend of yours, Sara. I swear, whenever I go near that dungeon place of hers, I feel like the souls of the damned crawling up my back," He shivered in genuine fear of the unholy grounds. He was not in the mood for having a Looney Tune-like chase scene with Dungeon Guardians again. Although, if it were inside his place of power, that death trap of a building would've been torn down years ago.
His sister, too, also shared the sentiment, shivering slightly, "Y-yeah, I understand what you mean, but she's lonely like you are, you know? Feel like she... needs a friend other than bones and spirits..." the snow-haired girl looked downtrodden again, which in turn made Brian upset too.
'Too kind for her own good, eh?' He decided it would be best to start the fun and games now, "Well, what did you have in mind then?"
She immediately perked up, "I was thinking we could go for a flight! Truly appreciate the cold, night time air and bask in the shine of the moon!"
"Hmm..." The make monster rubbed his chin in thought, before giving out his answer with a rare smile, "Fine. If it makes you happy, I'll do it. Let's just head back to my cave and grab a Crimson Heart first, need it to fly 'n all."
"Yay!" She literally jumped in joy, intertwining her her arm with her brother's before walking into the direction of a large, circular dome of bloody red stone, sticking out unnaturally in the surface of the crimson field.
"I love you, Brian," she held him closer.
"...I love you too, Ellen."
"Ell...en..." Brian moaned as he awoke from slumber, feeling the searing hot rock beneath his lain down body, although it didn't dangerously effect him as it should. In facf, he found it to be rather soothing and caring, almost like... something was trying to keep him alive.
In fact, what happened earlier? Ah yes, dying an undignified death, the most pitiful and pathetic way to die for a monster of his specific 'curse'.
Staying away from crimsified materials for too long.
Honestly, he'd have rather died fighting in a battle that involved his brother, an epic war between Corruption and Crimson, where only one could make it out alive and reign on top to bring in a new era of chaos and destruction to the humans!
But instead, Fate decided to send him to an unknown location where he couldn't even sense any form of Crimson any where in the world.
What luck.
Although, the male monster guessed he deserved it, after all of the pain and suffering he delivered to both humans and monsters alike, it was only a matter of time before Karma kicked into full overdrive and ran him out of his home. He could only hope Ellen, known as the Eye of Cthulhu amongst both fear-ridden humans and her clan, was faring any better. She was possibly the nicest, whilst also most naive, person in the world.
Anyway, back to the more important matter at hand.
Death.
Brian couldn't feel anything, nor move any part of his body other than his head, searching the room he was placed in with what little field of vision he had. Now that he thought about it, it was less of a room and more like a large natural underground space with various pools of lava decorating the outskirts like a moat. It gave him the nostalgia that his home had back in The Crimson, except prettier with the stalagmites and stalactites surrounding him like the jaw of a shark.
Damn, he was homesick.
But how did he get here? Perhaps Granberia brought him here because she thought she could save the Crimson Lord? Whilst yes, he was currently still alive, he was almost completely disabled, and soon would die. Honestly, she was almost as stubborn as Ellen.
"Oh? You're awake."
Brian slowly moved his head towards the direction of the voice, careful not cause himself any further harm. Too his side, how he didn't notice earlier, was the floating figure of a brown-skinned woman, red eyes and a white tattoo around her stomach.
The most eye-catching feature, however, was her hair.
Orange flames danced around where the girl's hair should be, flickering every so often which lightened up the area around them. Some of her 'hair' fell down to her side in the shape of a dragon with it's maw open, whilst the rest dissipated into the air.
She was also not wearing any clothes, but Brian was too busy slowly dying to care.
The two stared at each other, waiting for the other to carry on the conversation. Noticing his extremely damaged state, she decided to speak up, "You look pretty dead there."
'How charming,' he sarcastically thought about her casual bluntness to his situation, clearly not in the mood from the eye roll he gave the mysterious lady.
Which she took full notice of and nervously giggled, "Hehehe, sorry. Just don't know what to say in these situations," the fire-haired girl then looked over to somewhere else in the cave that was outside Brian's field of vision, "Granberia's worried about you, ya know?"
Ah, that must be how he got here. For someone so young, the dragonkin was as tough as nails, something he could really appreciate. But the way she addressed her by her first name as though the two were best buddies already, did the two know each other? Perhaps this lady used to know Graberia's mother before she-
Wait a minute. Lives in a volcano... Hair literally made of fire... This must be the legendary fire spirit, Salamander that the young dragon girl informed him of. Honestly, for someone with such a vast intelligence that it would put scholars who spent their entire life studying to shame, Brian was awfully oblivious to obvious facts at times.
He then noticed his bag by his side, underneath Salamander's floating body, still staring at him with the now bloodshot blue eye. That's when yet another figurative face palm slapped Brian dead centre in the face, he always kept Vicious Powder with him for life-threatening emergencies like these.
"In... bag.." He began, looking at the fire spirit with pleading eyes, "Red... pouch..."
"Hmm?" She picked tried to pick up on what he was saying, "You want me to stick my hand in that?" She gestured disgustingly towards the pulsating bag, responding by menacingly staring towards her, which did not help it's case, "But it looks so creepy!"
For a spirit of flames, one of the most destructive and deadliest elements, she sure was acting childish about this, "Red... pouch... please..." The Crimson Lord's skin tone was darkening by the second now, almost as though it was rotting.
Whilst she personally did not care for the man, Salamander did find the fact that he was a male monster (as Granberia informed her) intriguing, and slightly enticing. It would also be a shame to see the little one depressed that the one whom saved her from a terrible fate died.
So, she worked up the nerve and attempted to put her hand inside the mouth-like opening of the bag. It was almost like the container had a mind of it's own, what with the large eye on it's side staring suspiciously at the fire spirit, before ultimately deciding that she may access it's contents.
Surprisingly, however, the inside felt warm and velvety, granting a soothing feeling to her skin. As Salamander dipped her hand further inside, she felt the round, squash-able shape of a pouch full of powder, before grabbing the tied end of it and yanking it out of the bag. Honestly, she expected this strange man to have more on him than a single pouch, but now was not the time to ponder over this.
She hovered the small pouch above the man's face, eliciting a small smile from him in return, "Pour... over... stone..."
"Are you sure? Don't you need to, I don't know, eat it or som-"
"Stone..." Brian repeated, careful not to strain himself too hard otherwise risk a coughing fit.
Salamander seemed confused by this, but otherwise complied, pouring the red dust onto the stoney floor of the volcanic cave.
What happened next she did not expect.
As soon as the dust made contact with the stone floor, it began to turn a veiny red colour, almost flesh-like in appearance, spreading slightly to more stone within it's vicinity before the spread slowed down to a stop.
'W-what kind of magic is this...?' In all of the eternity of her life, Salamander had never seen anything as intimidating as this, almost like the fleshy stone was alive, radiating a polluted, red darkness in the air that was ultimately harmless and just a cosmetic affect, however it didn't seem that way. It even pulsated like veins! And apparently this man needed it to survive...?
Speaking of Brian, he was currently trying to roll off of the bed onto his most precious resource that felt like he had been an eternity without, struggling a few times, but eventually made a solid landing onto the crimstone.
With his face.
"Ooohh..." Salamander cringed, "Are you okay?" She asked concerned, when suddenly the man took in a massive breath.
"HUUAAAAAAAHH!" Brian breathed in deeply, absorbing all of the 'toxins' that were floating around the crimsified stone, as well as returning the stone back to it's original colour and texture, as though it had never been crimsified in the first place. Soon, his skin regained it's colour, and the Crimson Lord was able to get back up to his feet, clutching one knee with his hand.
"Hah... haaaah... note to self; carry crimstone with me wherever I go..."
"Um, excuse me?"
Brian redirected his attention to the fire spirit who appeared to be studying him all over, once glancing at his crotch but the man just thought it was an unfamiliar custom at this point.
"Hmm? Oh yeah," He held his hand out out towards Salamander, offering a handshake, "Thanks for saving my life."
The fire spirit smiled whilst accepting the offer, "No problem, however it was a very..." She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "peculiar method of avoiding death. In fact, why were you dying? And why did you need that... Horrifying substance to live?"
Whilst Brian would love to share information about his world, as well as obtain some about hers, he was more worried for the little dragonkin whom he travelled with, "We'll talk about my situation later. For now, where's Granberia?"
"Oooohh..." She seemed to appear sad at the topic. What happened to her? "Well, you see, one of the Lava Girls of this volcano heard her yell your name. She was really hungry and wanted your semen."
"My... semen?" Brian was slightly lost for words at that. Sure, he knew this world was pretty fucked up by now, but this really takes the cake. Apparently this girl needed his semen to survive? What kind of god would create creatures who need such a food source?
"Yes, your semen. I assume this means you've never come across monsters like us before?" She asked with a slight tease. For someone who was an apparent monster them self, he seemed to know very little about them.
"No, I haven't. Where I come from, monsters are ruthless killing machines whom can only barely tolerate each other. They attempt to kill any human on sight."
"Oh..." Salamander seemed a little surprised at this revelation, "they don't need semen?"
"No."
"...Do you nee-"
"No." He answered with a slight glare, causing her to giggle slightly.
"Hehehe, sorry. Anyway, where was I?" The fire spirit continued the story, "Once the Lava Girl found you two, she attempted to take you an-"
"Jerk me off, yes, pretty obvious."
"...Yes. No more interruptions please," She seemed a little irritated, but soon returned to her calm expression, "Anyway, Granberia stood her ground valiantly, able to get her to leave. Honestly, for such a little one, she sure is strong."
That sealed the deal for Brian; this dragonkin would make a fine warrior, both in strength and loyalty. To be honest, the Crimson Lord expected Granberia to run away off to find Salamander and leave him for dead like he wished, but he guessed he assumed wrong.
"However," the fire spirit began, "She did not suffer without injuries and severe burns; if dragon-kin weren't naturally immune to lava, her loss would've been inevitable. It will take a while for her to completely heal. Good thing I found you two before it got even worse."
"Ah," to be honest he should've expected this. Even an infant dragon had their limits, of course, "Where is she resting? I think I can help her."
"Oh? With more of your 'magic'?" She raised an eyebrow in slight discomfort, however Brian quickly shot down her suspicions.
"Relax, it only works on me. Whilst I could make her... 'different', it wouldn't heal her," he dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out a glass bottle with a yellow ring around the base, a fizzy red liquid pooling inside.
"Huh?!" Salamander said, shocked, "When I put my hand in there, all I felt was a single pouch!"
"My bag only let's people take out what I want them to take. In other words," the Crimson Lord moved his head so it was a few inches away from hers, "...maaaaaaaaagiiiiiiiic." He said sarcastically whilst shaking his hands, maintaining a monotone expression.
"...Not funny," she clearly wasn't amused.
"Regardless, we're getting off topic. Mind showing me where she rests?"
"Yeah yeah, follow me," Salamander began floating towards a rock formation similar to where Brian had been previously resting, before the two came upon a stony bed with the sleeping form of Granberia laid down on it, several scorch marks along with bruises and cuts to which Brian 'tsk'd' at with a frown.
"Poor little girl..." The Crimson Lord said affectionately, caressing the dragonkin's brown hair like you would a puppy.
"You must really like children, huh?" Salamander asked, as it just seemed unusual for someone so menacing as to need flesh-like stone to survive, as well as having a living bag (that didn't seem to like her very much), to show such compassion for a child he's been with for little more than half an hour.
"Kids, I believe, are life's greatest joy. They carry the future on their backs, and have the potential to become anything, like a mold of clay perhaps."
"Hmm, good point. Is that all?"
"Well, the main reason is because I find them so damn adorable~"
"..." The fire spirit just stared at him.
"...What?"
"...You're not a lolicon are yo-"
"AAAANNNNYYway," he interrupted on purpose as to not answer the question, but Salamander just shot him a knowing smirk, "Just need to pour this drink down her mouth and the wounds should heal instantly."
"Really? I've heard of healing potions before, but never of this caliber," she rubbed her chin in thought.
"Hmm? Back home, almost everyone has access to these."
"R-really?!"
"Yes, I can understand your surprise, but there is a... side effect to excessive use."
"Such as?"
"Potion Sickness. Honestly, it'll do more harm than the wounds could have. Internally, at least," Well, it was understandable. Something as amazing as to instantly heal any damage to the body, no matter how badly damaged, and almost everyone had them? There was sure to be some disadvantages, "Now, bottoms up Granberia."
Pouring the fizzy liquid down the little dragon girl's throat, her body subconsciously gulped it down, emptying the bottle. After a few seconds of waiting, Granberia's burns and cuts disappeared, returning her smooth yellow hide back to normal, the scratches and chips on her scales also repairing themselves, before the dragonkin looked as though she had never been injured in the first place.
"Whoa..." He wasn't kidding. If it weren't for this side effect, people could remain invincible with this kind of medicine.
"There, she should stay asleep for a couple hours at most. Now," Brian turned his head autonomously towards the floating fire spirit, "I desire information."
Now she was smirking. Cockily.
"Oh, I know."
"Hmm?" The Crimson Lord rose an eyebrow at the little minx.
"Little Granberia told me when she carried you here, saying that her friend 'needed help looking for something'. Of course, I put her to sleep after she was done ranting; kid's tough, but needed rest."
"...I see." For some reason, this little dragonkin was more inclined to help him out than he thought. 'Must be due to lack of companionship; sees me as a close friend already.'
"And yes, I'm willing to help you!" She shot him a large grin, although it wasn't one of friendliness.
It was one of challenge, arrogance even.
"...If?" He crossed his arms defensively.
"Correct! If..." she gestured to the remainder of the large underground chasm behind them, the large moat of magma giving the various stalagmites stalking the outskirts of the area a menacing glow, whilst stalactites hung ominously down from the cavern ceiling, some even combined to create spire-like pillars, "...you defeat me in a duel!"
'Shit. Saw it coming, but shit,' Brian had almost no power left after nearly dying; the crimstone he face-planted into was in short supply, only having two bags of the life-nourishing dust left. He really needed to conserve his dwindling life support, as each crimson pouch only lasts a couple days, even less if he exerted his powers here.
He needed to find Vicious Mushrooms ASAP. Either that, or locate a Crimson Biome, but that seemed next to impossible given his bullshit situation of being in an entirely different world. Waiting for one to spread via dust would be risky and time consuming; he could die before any mushrooms even sprout.
'Guess I'll have to go melee for this one,' he thought with a sigh. Whilst he wasn't terrible with close-combat weaponry, he definitely wasn't the best. Magic was his strong suit.
"Still waiting for an answerrrrr~" Salamander's mocking tone cut through his train of thought, bringing him back to reality to see her laying on her hair as though it's a magic carpet, wearing a cocky smirk.
He didn't appreciate that laid back attitude, responding in kind with a narrow-eyed glare, "Yes, I accept your proposal." The spirit's smirk grew even wider at the response, only angering Brian even further.
"Good. Now, victory conditions~!" Salamander pointed her hand towards the Crimson Lord's face, "You win if you manage to hit me once!" And then pointed to herself, "And I win if I fully defeat you!"
"...Are you mocking me?" He finally let venom seep out into his voice. He hated being underestimated in a battle, especially by someone who deemed themselves greater than everyone. 'Narcissists' he thinks they were called.
"Hey, relax!" The fire spirit raised her hands in an effort to calm him down once she realised she pushed his buttons unintentionally, also slightly panicky in her tone.
'Guess he doesn't like being seen as weak, eh?', "Fine, how bout you give me your proposal then?"
"Even duel; I win by beating you. Vice versa," Brian replied immediately, crossing his arms as though to send the message across that it was not up for debate.
However, his fellow fighter was not too keen on the idea.
"E-eh? Are you sure? I mean, All-powerful 'Spirit of the Element of Fire' here! I'm not just some random slime you can encounter in a forest!"
It wasn't as though she was being arrogant (okmaybealittle); Salamander just wanted to make it fair for both parties. After all, no monster or human who has challenged her has even been able to scratch her. Except for that one man... the man who slew the tyrannical 8th Monster Lord...
But that was in the past. No one has yet to reach up to his standards, and whilst little Granberia provides raw potential that intrigues her, she has yet to get a read on the Crimson-haired man. He was on Death's door just five minutes ago! She thought she was doing him a favour by providing a handicap.
Apparently however, he didn't see the kindness in her offer.
"I'm very sure; after all, I'm neither human, nor an ordinary monster myself." The Crimson Lord responded in equal confidence, causing Salamander to raise an eyebrow at the latter claim.
"Hmm... Very well," She began hovering over to her side of the cavern for their fight, closing her eyes in a relaxed expression, "Don't say I didn't warn you!"
Oh hohoooo... Don't worry..." He reached towards his signature bag, before beginning to pull out something that definitely should not be able to fit inside of it.
The bag was even making choking sounds.
"...Don't say I didn't warn you, more like."
Once she reached her self-designated position, she opened her eyes, only to open them even wider once she laid her eyes over towards her opponent.
'He certainly didn't have that with him before, right?'
Brian was wielding what appeared to be a spear-like weapon in one hand, but it had a long serrated blade along the edge of the sharpened pike, and on the opposite end was a rugged hook.
The most startling feature however, was that the colour scheme reminded her exactly of the flesh-like stone was a witness to earlier; bloody red veins pulsated along the blade and hook, whilst from the bottom of the pole to the pike was eerily pitch black.
Overall, Salamander got the impression she did not want to get touched by it.
Too bad Brian was far too determined to make sure she did.
"R-ready?!" The Fire Spirit shouted out once she snapped out of her stupor, however still eyeing the weapon wearily.
"Yes!" The Crimson Lord returned whilst aiming his weapon point-first towards his opponent, rushing towards her at inhuman speeds.
A clash between Fire and Crimson has begun.