It had been several days since the man had met Yharim. Kade had shown the man more bout Yharim's kingdom and he felt more comfortable with it. The sun shone brightly through the morning sky and the 5 moons were still visible. Kade had told him he invited someone for a sparring match and the man decided to follow, curious of how this would happen. The two climbed throughout the thick clusters of ferns and bushes.
"Where're we going?" Asked the man.
"Just a few minutes until we reach that lake, where we're gonna meet up."
Rays of light shimmered out the jungle canopy, the floor was covered with systems of moss-covered intertwining roots. The air was forever filled with calls of flying foxes and derplings. Giant elephants' ears trickled puddles of water down their leaves. The man already thought it was dense when looking at the forest from up, But not as dense as getting constantly slapped in the face by leaves. Kade had told him to stay away from some since many different plants there could eat him, so he mainly tried to stay far from even one. Rustling through some bushes they stumbled upon a rock cliff covered with moss and algae leading to a gigantic lake. There were several waterfalls showering down into the water, casting a rainbow arc across the lake.
"Grab my hand," Kade told him.
"Wait what are we doin-"
Before the man could finish his sentence Kade had snagged him and leaped right into the cliff. 3 pairs of beaming white wings, with blinking eyes on the joints fly out his back. Kade quickly flew up, almost touching the water, and directly toward the two figures standing there. Kade gently glided up the waterfall and gently landed on the other side.
"When are they coming?" The man asked.
"I dunno, maybe in a few minutes?." Kade replied
"Already here," a voice said.
An arc of crimson bolted above the two and flew above the waterfall. 5 red tendrils flew out the figure and latched onto some overlapping branches. The figure swung and pulled itself directly onto the cliff.
In front of them was a tall man, his body and limbs were lanky and nutrient-low. The skin on the sides of his mouth was slashed out, revealing tendons of muscle. He wore a fur collar dark-red cape that covered over a black hoodie and crimson shirt. His eyes glowed an ominous purple, which made the man surprisingly uncomfortable.
"Hey." He said. "It's been a while."
"This is Lloyd, An elite warrior and a friend of mine," Kade told the man.
"So nice to meet you," Lloyd said to the man.
What? No questions or anything about who I am and why I look like this? The man thought.
"Well then, glad you could accept my request, you could admit we've both got a bit rusty."
"Felt like a haven't fought in years, wanna start?"
"You might wanna back up a bit, this might get a bit chao-"
With insane speed, Lloyd suddenly materialized behind Kade. The skin on his hand morphed into a cluster of flesh that wrapped into a blade. Kade quickly turned around, his hands hardened into pinkish skin, deflected the blade, sending shockwaves around the area. Kade grabbed Lloyd's arm and threw him to the other side of the lake. The cliff broke into cracks and dust. Kade's skin began to morph into more pink and purple scales, metal rods bent into place. His skin became a sturdy armor, rings of metal with real eyes wrapped around his limbs.
"This is normal, RIGHT?" The man asked in caution.
"YEAH, MOSTLY," Kade replied.
A slight glimmer of purple light came from the other side of the lake, and before the man could blink a giant beam of purple energy blasted from the other side and almost incinerated Kade, If he didn't duck. The giant dust cleared, and Lloyd ripped himself off the wall. Tears on his skin suddenly leaked out blood and tendon that wrapped around and spreaded across his limbs. The flesh infused into his entire body until he was completely covered. The flesh formed into a bloody, tendon-covered armor. His eyes and the inside of his mouth smoked with purple energy, covered with rows of jagged teeth. Lloyd grinned and several fleshy tendrils busted out his back. Each tendril had a bulb on its tip with a serrated mouth that clenched onto the cliff and launched him toward Kade. 2 crystalline blades shot out from Kade's hands as he bolted toward Lloyd, the ground around him shattering. The man couldn't keep up with the sheer speed the two were moving at, only swarms of dust clouds, blades, and tendrils, all he could do is watch. The 2 came at an abrupt stop, their hands pushing against each other. Kade suddenly grabbed Lloyd by the head and then slammed him into the water, sending the entire lake almost overflowing. From the giant air pocket in the middle of the lake, several mouths and giant flesh worms rose from the water. The crystal blades coming out kades hands largened and in one swoop slashed all in half. Another huge beam of purple energy came out of the water once Lloyd flew out. He grabbed Kade and kicked him out of the lake. Flying through the air, Kade stopped himself from the force and blazed back to Lloyd. His hand tore itself apart and merged into a giant war hammer. Lloyd's grin increases. Right when the hammer was about to hit, a massive swarm of thousand of tendrils regurgitated from Lloyd's mouth and practically covered the air. The mouths tried to hunt Kade down from the air but he was still fast enough to escape and chisel through them. Eventually, the swarm completely blocked all ways of escape and trapped Kade inside. The swarm slowly compressed itself together, attempting to crush Kade. Several blades punctured through the tendon and then he shredded out the swarm, sending flesh and blood spewing out. Kade ripped out a spear from his chest and dashed toward Lloyd. Multiple laser beams Lloyd tried to shoot, but Kade was flying at a speed impossible to catch. He shot down and seized Lloyd by the neck, his other hand sharpened to a claw. Purple gas came out of Lloyd's mouth, followed by blinding light. Kade quickly dropped him and jumped away, barely escaping the beam. Kade bolted behind Lloyd, his hands constructing back into a hammer. Before Lloyd could notice, he got entirely swept off the air and flew into the cliffside, making a meter-deep dent through the rock.
Kade swooped up the cliffside, right at Lloyd.
"I'm starving, wanna go grab lunch?" Kade asked with a smile.
"Huh, yeah I'm pretty hungry, but I'll beat you next time,"
Kade laughed and raised out his hand and Lloyd grabbed it. The two climbed up the cliff where the man was standing, in shock. '
"Let's go back to the kingdom and get some food," Kade told the man.
"...okay,"
It took a few minutes to go back to the kingdom, much faster this time since Kade volunteered to fly him there. The three landed on a dock used for those flying ships.
"Wanna go get some fries? I know a really good place." Kade asked.
It was quite a long walk back to the city, enjoying the lush infrastructure of the jungle on the way. By the time they had reached the gates, the markets had gotten quite crowded since the hours before. Everybody seemed to be enjoying life, buying goods as the sweet aroma of beckoning food wafted through the stands. People cheered and talked loudly, bustling with positive energy. Everyone seemed happy, Enjoying life. Nothing else.
Wrenching pain struck up through every atom of his body, then simmered down, then burned right up. He clenched his stomach and dropped to his knees. A scraggly gag and a large gasp for air erupted out of his mouth. His back ached and ached into enigmatic levels, like spears bursting out of his skin, burning in hot iron. Symetrical wounds spliced open as ribbons of luminant blue flowed out.
Entry number 1253
Only 1 subject of the four I harvested survived living not within the core, that being CS-3. Though, this one seemed unusually intelligent and sentient. It solved every mental test I gave it with substantial ease, very peculiar. genetic scans show the original organism that lays deep within the core has no sign of sentience, not like such a fauna needs one. Could it be that the inner, twisted souls had found a way to possess the vessel? I will need to further investigate this situation for more answers. Anyway, due to its great intelligence, 3 has learned many different feats from learning and imitating the motions I perform, they have taken a form similar to mine or an average terrarian, and already know how to walk on two feet. 3 has also been seen with the ability to expand upon its original form with a somewhat infinite supply of biomass. 3 seems to be always eager to escape the facility, it already memorized the entire building. I've spotted it trying to cut through cables and turn off machines on many different occasions. It never cooperates with me, always finding ways to foil my plans. Surprisingly 3 never ever gives up, maybe a bit too much. I see overflowing potential within this one entity. I would have never thought this project would be such a success.
Weapon: (no weapon)
Armor: (no armor)
Accessories: Eidolist cape (CalVan)
it's finally done.