Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Monster Girl Quest: Dawn of the Bloodstone
Chapter One
Arrival
The shadows of the forest trees shrouded the floor of the forest in darkness. The trees were tall, the canopy was thick, and the air humid. Small shafts of sunlight sometimes penetrated through the gaps in the trees to illuminate the odd patch of forest floor, but they were nothing but candles on a dark night. Flowers and roots had overgrown everything, even the old pathway through the forest. The entire area was covered in vegetation; flowers, and overgrowth that lacked a decent word in language to describe it. Some of the dangling cords of plant matter even appeared to be prehensile. Foreign howls, birdcalls, and rustling vegetation warned of only one thing. This was not a safe place to be.
The very air began to fold and shift, as if the background were cloth. Suddenly, a semi-transparent, black sphere of pure darkness appeared. It began to elongate into an oval shape, the tip sinking into the ground. The darkness solidified and became a portal, and its vertical opening allowed for a figure to cross through from an unknown realm… They were dressed in a midnight-black, hooded leather trench coat, black leather pants, and a black undershirt. They had the hood up, obscuring their face in total darkness. The coat was plainly adorned with a silver zipper, and silver beaded pull strings for the hood that formed a semi-circle in the middle. Judging by the figure's posture and broader shoulders, one could presume they were male.
The man surveyed his surroundings, standing absolutely still. They hated forests. Sensing the aura of humans was an easy task, one could easily pick out a high power with ease in a crowd of humans. In fact, it was one of his best skills. But forests were difficult, there was simply too much life energy surrounding him. Sensory overload in a way. A human aura would be dwarfed by the forest—and with the size of the forest he was in—made it nearly impossible to track a human even with his skills. Even if it were high powered one such as his target.
"I figured as much." The man grumbled to himself.
The portal the man had exited closed behind him, fading away and leaving no traces of its existence as the man slowly lowered his hood. Nothing about his appearance seemed too out of the ordinary; he was no older than his early-twenties, and his face was human in shape and structure, with fair skin. The man's short and messy light-brown hair looked good on him, accentuating his features well. Then there were his eyes. They were a luminous, Crystal Blue. The type of blue that was just too bright to be natural. Without those bright eyes of his, the man would have been able to blend in anywhere. The stalker in the forest was drawn to his eyes. Watching him cautiously from the shadows.
A deep scowl formed on the man's face. Things had not gone as planned. His target had managed to shake him off, wind up in some strange new world, and now that he was in a forest, he was most definitely lost. Quite the misfortune indeed. The man sighed in aggravation before heading off, unbeknownst to him he was being followed by someone, or rather, something. A Tiny Lamia slithered silently out of her hiding spot behind a tree, watching the man of interest.
The man closed his eyes once again, kneeling to the ground and placing his hand on the dirt. Once again reaching out with his senses, all the man could feel was the forest's energy. It was pointless to even try. What he could tell however, was that the air was cooling down. A storm was coming. With a low sigh of disappointment, the man put his hood back on before heading off, unbeknownst to him he was being followed by someone, or rather, something. A Tiny Lamia slithered silently out of her hiding spot behind a tree, watching the man of interest.
She had a snakelike tail as a lower torso with a wrap around her midsection and her undeveloped upper torso was barely covered by a simple wrap, she had long purple hair and teal blue eyes. Though she saw the man appear out of the portal, to her, the mysterious man appeared weak and lost. She had been so close to the man that she could have reached out and touched him at any time. The Tiny Lamia had once heard that powerful warriors could sense the presence of monsters, and this guy didn't seem like he could. He was even unarmed, easy prey for a monster. But her instincts told her not to attack him head on. Something in her gut told her that this was no ordinary man, so she slithered away to a base hidden inside a cave. There were three other girls waiting.
"Hey! I saw something interesting outside." The Tiny Lamia spoke up as she got in the cave. "A man came out of nowhere!"
One of the girls was a Goblin Girl who had short, light brown hair covered by a leather helmet with horns. All she wore was leather belted armor and was carrying an oversized hammer. The other had long blonde hair cropped into two long ponytails and wore a black frilly cape with panties since the frilly top of the cape covered her undeveloped breasts. Her eyes were a deep orange with red slits, denoting her as a young vampire. The third girl was a Dragon Pup. She had bright yellow eyes and long purple hair, her forearms and hands were claws, and her lower torso was that of a scaled dragon's. She even had a tail. The Dragon Pup wore a wrap around her midsection and her upper torso was covered by a cloth bra.
"So?" The Vampire Girl replied, not too amazed by the statement. "That happens when you stimulate them you know."
"Not what I meant, he just walked out of some dark swirly thing and it went away." The Tiny Lamia added sheepishly.
"What?" The Dragon Pup asked her.
The Tiny Lamia explained what she saw to all of them and her description of the teen that came out of the portal. A bright flash of light was the only warning before the crash of thunder. The four monster girls moved, inwards talking to themselves. Rain splashed down onto the forest, quenching what fires the lightning would start. Animals scurried to their homes, some underground to avoid the biting winds that shook the trees. Soon it was night time and the four monster girls were getting tired. Meanwhile after a day of walking in the forest, the mysterious stranger approached the cave. Soaked, cold, and tired himself, he sighed in relief.
Rummaging through the pockets of his coat, the man took out a black crystal. It had the shape of a four-sided pyramid, and there were insidious, crimson red runes etched into the sides. It was a harmless magical artifact, even though it looked intimidating and had been created by dark magic. With everything in place, it was time for the incantation…
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power." The man hissed into the artifact. The crystal thrummed in his hands, responding to the incantation. "Through power, I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken."
The air grew cold and the crystal thrummed with dark power like a heartbeat, or rather, a mockery of one. The man knelt on his knees, clutching the black crystal and bringing it close to his heart in a symbolic gesture. He then continued his chant.
"There is no peace, there is anger. There is no fear, there is power. There is no death, there is immortality. There is no weakness, there is the dark side. I am the heart of the darkness. I know no fear. I instill fear in my enemies. I am the destroyer of worlds. I know the power of the dark side. I am the fires of hate. The whole universe bows before me. I pledge myself to the darkness, for I have found true life in the death of the light. I know the true power of the dark side."
A malevolent presence filled the air, but the man was unafraid. It came from the crystal. That was its purpose. A ward. Psychological warfare. It was a simple spell, a harmless little spell that would help ward off any potential enemies by creating a dark, evil presence that would frighten most people and cause them to turn back. He placed the crystal at the entrance of the cave and covered it with dirt before walking deeper into the cave. Content that nobody would be coming in unless they were blatantly stupid or had a death wish.
"This should do for now, hopefully I won't have to sleep lightly here." The man exhaled, cracking his back and stretching.
Something flew out at him from the shadows the moment he looked like he had dropped his guard. The man quickly dodged a Goblin Girl with an oversized hammer. Feeling the tremor in the ground as the hammer crashed down. He held his hand out, and a burst of green flame appeared in his gloved palm. It was like a line of fire just a foot longer than a meter stick and it faded away, leaving a katana with a jade green blade and runic symbols carved into it in the fire's place. The Goblin Girl threw sand in the man's face and swung her hammer as hard as she could. The hammer missed him by a mile.
Though the man could not sense the girl's aura due to the lingering presence of the forest around the caves, the Goblin Girl was far too noisy in combat, grunting with exertion every time she swung her hammer about. He could tell where the hammer was aiming just by that alone. Wiping the sand from his eyes, the man refocused on the battle.
"Hyaah!" The Goblin Girl yelled and retreated. "Now prepare for my ultimate move!"
Ultimate move? Had the girl been toying with him? Did she have a hidden power? The man sank into a defensive stance. The Goblin Girl swung about wildly, and the man didn't even have to use his sword to block as he dodged the hammer once more. In her wild fury, the Goblin Girl tripped over a rock, falling face first to the ground, hard, and the man winced a little. That had to have stung. The Goblin Girl got back up with tears in her eyes and moved away from the man, who looked at her impassively. Of course, he wasn't going to hurt the child, but now he didn't even need to fight her.
"Come on kid, give it a rest…" The man called out to her.
Instead of surrendering, the Goblin Girl picked her hammer up off the ground. The man dashed forwards, keeping his body low to the ground. On instinct, the Goblin Girl had aimed up where a normal person would have been and missed once again. The man grabbed her wrists and held them up above her head, forcing the hammer to fall to the ground behind her.
"Now then." The man abruptly let go of the Goblin Girl. "Why did you attack me?"
"Because I'm one of the Four Bandits, and I have the Earth quality!" The Goblin Girl yelled triumphantly, picking her hammer back up.
The man had to give her at least some credit; at least she wasn't cowering in fear. Or begging for her life… maybe she already knew he wasn't trying to hurt her? Whatever the case was, the man had bigger issues at the moment.
"If you are a successful bandit, I fear for the warriors of this place." He sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, wait... Hey!" The Goblin Girl agreed and then she realized that wasn't a compliment. "By the way, there are four of us you have to defeat, good luck stranger!"
And with that the goblin girl sprinted off deeper into the cave. Four bandits. The man was tempted to leave the cave right then and there and take shelter in one of the trees. The flash of lightning and crash of thunder told him that was a terrible idea. With a defeated sigh, he walked on, taking his time. He was in no rush at all. He heard a slithering sound, which was the only warning as a snake-like tail enveloped the man, he easily broke out of the grasp without harming the next combatant.
"And what, did you hope to accomplish with that?" There was a slight amount of amusement in his sarcasm.
He felt bad when he saw the expression on the girl's face. The Tiny Lamia backed away from the hooded teen, her eyes began to wet with tears. The man felt a little guilty now, was he too mean? He didn't think so… His eyes widened as he realized the Tiny Lamia was smirking.
"I- I'm the second of the Four Bandits, you're strong but can you deal with my powers over water?" The Tiny Lamia declared softly.
The man let out another sigh. In a way, he was actually a little disappointed in himself for falling for her trick. Taking a better look at his opponent, her lower half was snakelike, signifying her being a lamia… but she was just so tiny. And cute. Wait… the man stopped mid thought. Where did that come from?
"Why do you look so disappointed?" The Tiny Lamia glared, definitely offended her opponent wasn't taking her seriously. "Just because you broke out of my grasp once doesn't mean you can do it again! I was just toying with my prey!"
She was faster than the man had anticipated, but even then, it wasn't a problem for him. He didn't even dodge or struggle as she coiled around him. Her tail constricted around his upper torso and around one leg, and the Tiny Lamia squeezed about as hard as she could. Which was about as much as a tight hug. It was so light, in fact, that the man gently unwound the tail off him and picked the Tiny Lamia up off him, staring directly into the Tiny Lamia's eyes as he did so. She started to cry.
"Wha… Why didn't it work?" The Tiny Lamia blubbered.
Okay, maybe staring her down in a power move was completely uncalled for. The man went to apologize for his rudeness but suddenly the Tiny Lamia lashed out at him once more.
"I won't forgive you for that!" She declared, tears still dripping from her eyes.
Her fangs latched onto the man's hand, much to his surprise, and though it should have hurt, it didn't seem to do too much as he lifted his hand up. The Tiny Lamia was also lifted up in a comical fashion as he inspected where the fangs were latching onto his hand. They hadn't even penetrated his skin, much less the glove. He flicked her nose and she let go.
"I'll remember this!" The Tiny Lamia wailed as she slithered away from him, fleeing further into the caves.
"Maybe if you think it over enough, you might just realize how stupid this is…" The man muttered to himself.
It seemed that the comment was more aimed at himself than at the Tiny Lamia, however, but he pressed on anyways. Now that the forest was starting to become overshadowed by the caves, his aural sensory was slowly but surely returning. He could already sense his next opponent. She had decent magic reserves but was no more powerful than the previous two. The real enemy was after her. Its life energy was potent. Childish laughter echoed around the cave.
"You're pretty good to beat the Earth Goblin and the Water Lamia…" A child's voice slunk out of the darkness. If only the man were further in, then he would have been able to sense his opponent's location. "But I won't be so easy."
"Why don't you come on out so we can get this over with?" The man called out into the darkness.
A swarm of bats accosted him, but instead of attacking, they only seemed to be heading towards the exit. Or so the man thought. Something small clung onto him and began to bite at his neck. It stung a bit, but no skin had been punctured. The man gently and easily lifted his assailant off him, but before he could do anything more, she turned into a bat. Her movements were slow, slow enough for him to potentially pick a rock off the ground and nab her with it, but he remained still.
The bat then returned to her normal form. She was so… so… naked… It was appalling to the man. The others were scantily clad, yes, but the young girl wore absolutely nothing but a cape and underwear bottoms. She was a young vampire by the color of her eyes, the bats, and the cape… The man shrugged his coat off and held it up for the girl to take.
"Put it on." The man demanded.
"Enthralled by my beauty?" The Tiny Vampire ran her hands down her body. "Hey!"
Her cry was muffled by the coat. The man had thrown it at her. By the time she had recovered, the man was dashing towards her. Bright blue eyes met scarlet ones and she smiled with wicked glee.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" The Vampire Girl nimbly evaded the man. "The Vampire Bandit of the Wind of the Four Bandits shall be your opponent."
Then it clicked for the man. It was all a game to them. They were posing. Pretending. With a sigh, he berated himself for not seeing it earlier. Then again, he had been travelling all day, and was nearly exhausted. A darker thought entered his head. There had to be heroes of this world. People who might not, or just wouldn't care, that these children were only pretending. They could get hurt if this kept going on. The Tiny Vampire laughed as she swung her mantle around.
"Here I come!" The Tiny Vampire shouted. "I'll suck out all your energy!"
She once again dispersed into hundreds of bats, swarming the man. He was impressed. So young, and yet she still could put up a fair fight for most enemies. The man tried to sense which bat was the vampire, but each and every one of them had the same energy signature. She no doubt had much potential, and a fight with an adult of her kind would more than likely be a challenge for him. Suddenly the bats vanished, but the vampire girl had yet to appear. Realizing the tactic, the man whipped around and flicked the attacking vampire girl on the forehead.
"Wah!" The Tiny Vampire rubbed her temple. "Why are you being so mean?"
"S-Sorry…" The man apologized without thinking. "Wait a minute…"
"I won't forgive you for that!" The Tiny Vampire bared her fangs. "If it's come to this, I'll show you my true power!"
Whatever she had planned, the man knew that wouldn't be too effective. He could sense her magical energy was running on empty. Whatever attack she could pull off, would hardly be of any concern to him.
"So be it." The man smirked in a pretend fashion. "Show me your true power!"
"Just wait a second… I'll focus all my magic!" The Tiny Vampire declared.
Though it was invisible to the naked eye, a nearly transparent glowing aura around the Tiny Vampire seemed to be concentrating tighter around her body, its glow brightening a tad bit more as time passed.
"Once I'm done, just look into my eyes, ok?"
The man blinked in realization. It was a compulsion spell. Of course! It was too weak to do anything due to her energy being so depleted, but if she had used that from the start without warning, he would have been in a tough spot.
"Ah crap, I did it again." The man grumbled to himself.
His bad habit of underestimating his enemies had popped up again. Perhaps it was because his opponents were children, perhaps it was because this was all a game to them, whatever the case was… he still needed to take them somewhat seriously. The Tiny Vampire's eyes shone bright for a moment
"Ha!" The Tiny Vampire exclaimed. "What?"
The man had averted his eyes at the last moment. The Tiny Vampire seemed devastated.
"Thanks, it's not every day I feel like a horrible person ya know..." The man grumbled to himself.
Picking his coat up off the ground and dusting it off, the man donned the garment in a dramatic fashion before venturing further into the caves. A Dragon Pup blocked his path and the teen got into a ready stance.
"So stranger, you bested my allies, but can you fight fire with fire?" The Dragon Pup grinned and the man lowered his weapon to his mistake.
The Dragon Pup spewed forth a column of orange fire which the man nimbly dodged. Once again, he had underestimated his opponent. Were his opponent a capable warrior, the man would have no doubt found himself at the end of some incredibly sharp claws.
"That caught me off guard." The man said to his enemy, nodding as if that was a nice move. "My turn."
He rushed at her and held his sword to her throat, yet the Dragon Pup had picked up on his reluctance to attack and she went for his crotch. The man grabbed her hand and picked her up, the Dragon Pup kicked at him in protest, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.
"Hey! Put me down!" The Dragon Pup yelled at him. She let out a burst of fire, which made the man drop her, and the Dragon Pup scrambled back. "Hah! Gotcha! What... the..."
The man stood in the middle of the flames. Though the fire was burning his skin, his burns were healing as fast as they formed. The man walked out of the dying fire, sending shivers down the Dragon Pup's back.
"Now, is that all?" The man asked calmly. The Dragon Pup backed away from him.
"P-please d-don't hurt us." She cried out.
"I didn't come here to hurt any of you." The man told her as he took his hood off and sat down on the ground.
"Then why are you here?" The Dragon Pup questioned him.
"I stumbled into this place on accident as I was looking for a place to weather the storm outside." The man explained to her.
"You're, you're not a hero?" The Dragon Pup asked, sill reluctant to trust the man.
"Come closer." The man offered gently, beckoning with his hand. "I won't bite. I promise."
The Dragon Pup scooted closer to the man, waiting for him to suddenly attack her, but nothing happened. Sensing the Dragon Pup's nervousness, the man spoke up in a gentle, friendly manner.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"P-Papi…" The Dragon Pup introduced herself.
"I'm Jonathan." The man smiled to her.
Papi smiled back despite her initial discomfort. Something about Jonathan just seemed so comforting, and without thinking, she dropped into his lap. Her first reaction was that
Jonathan was incredibly warm. After such a long day, Papi couldn't help but let out a yawn. She heard a slight chuckle come from Jonathan, and she looked up at him. His expression was warm and welcoming.
"You're so warm…" Papi snuggled in a little closer.
"You don't mind me staying here until I get enough energy to go to the next village?" Jonathan chuckled once again.
"No." Papi replied.
"Hey! What are you doing to her?" The Vampire Girl's voice jolted Papi up.
"Mind introducing me to your gang?" He asked and Papi nodded.
"It's ok… He's friendly." Papi calmed the others.
"I'm Vanilla." The Vampire Girl introduced.
"I'm Teeny." The Tiny Lamia introduced.
"I'm Gob." The Goblin Girl introduced, and Jonathan introduced himself.
Jonathan gently got up, lifting Papi off his lap and picking a corner of the cave. He then took off his jacket and fashioned a makeshift pillow out of it. Next, he drew a complex, ritualistic sigil where encircling where he would be sleeping. When satisfied he then laid his head down and bade the four a good night. They waited until they thought Jonathan was asleep and shed their clothes. They then jumped at him. The four monster girls smacked into an invisible barrier and fell to the ground.
"Put on your clothes you four." Jonathan smirked to them.
The four hastily said their apologies, and one of them told the others that they were going to take watch for the night.
"Don't worry. Nothing will come in."
"What?" Papi asked him, confused.
"I left an item at the entrance that wards off people and wild animals." Jonathan explained. "It should work for monster girls too."
Jonathan laid his head back down and waited once more. This time, the monster girls curled up in their own sleeping areas. He could hear someone's teeth chattering. Although he was accustomed to sleeping in less-than-comfortable conditions, he presumed that they were not. He saw Teeny curled around herself, shivering in her sleep. With a sigh, he scuffed up the circle, breaking the spell. He walked over and picked the Tiny Lamia up, gently carrying her to his sleeping spot. Draping his body around her, she soon warmed up, and Jonathan could finally close his eyes, a light smile dusting his face as he drifted off to sleep.
Miles away however, lightning flashed, and thunder bellowed. An adult lamia fell to the ground with the rest of the slain monster girls, blood spilling from a large wound in her chest. A figure stumbled into the mud a moment later, gasping for air and clutching his side. Blood dripped and mixed with the wet earth, the masked figure's hand clenched into a fist upon the muddied earth, growling in both anger and pain. The man snarled with rage as he channeled his destructive emotions of fear, anger, and hatred to purge weakness from his body and mind to become a being of pure, brutality. He wore an elaborate set of robes. The mysterious figure wore the Charged Hypercloth Aegis set, although much of it was heavily damaged. The mask of his armor was half destroyed and covered by a hood, leaving a single, baleful yellow eye to glare out from beneath. He raised his hand to the air, and a portal much like Jonathan's began to form, only to sputter out and die away. A smoky black and crimson aura enveloped the armored man, and the nightime air echoed with a scream of unabashed rage.
Greetings everybody. As many of you are well aware, this Fanfiction has/had gone through a revision. To kick off my return to FanFiction, I have posted the first chapter of the Rebooted MGQ Fanfiction. With a more centralized plot, the story has had a great many improvements made to it. Other than that, due to me changing up the main plot of this story while still drawing from the original workings, this Fan-fic will most definitely have a faster and more consistent update status. Don't be a stranger, and do not hesitate to post a review! Until next time, Agent Archangel, signing out.