"Each moment you fail to conquer the tower it grows stronger. Once it gains immortality you would never be able to defeat it."
Those words of encouragement from insufferable Mr. Silhouette flitted through Caedren's mind as he started up the stone steps.
The massive double doors soon spread out before him.
It was scarred by deep claw marks that crisscrossed to form a strange pattern. Even the cursive runes glowed with the residual power of the tower.
He spared a glance above his shoulder.
Yep, the silhouette was well and truly gone. Abandoned Caedren right after delivering its final chilling words.
"Try not to die on the first night. That'll be really pathetic even for you."
Caedren didn't plan on poofing again any time soon, but the odds were stacked high against him.
He considered the monstrosity of a door. No visible locks, knobs or levers.
How was he supposed to get the damned thing open?
Did they expect him to phase through or throw it down with one kick like a Hollywood action hero?
Groaning in frustration, he slapped his palm against the hard wood.
The door blazed hot, angry at him for spanking it.
Waves of heat vibrated up his arm, and he'd have happily pulled away and called it a night if he could.
But his palm remained glued to the door, and the flames kept ripping him apart.
A jarring suction force snapped him forward, but instead of colliding with the wood his body dispersed.
Literally.
He stared in horror as his arms and legs stretched to become fluidic matter, like water flowing through a pipe.
Daggers stabbed him all over as he broke apart.
He didn't have time to scream because by the time his mind registered the fact that diffusing was a really terrible thing he was back together again. As good as new, thank you.
He gagged, bile rising up his throat as he doubled over.
His skin prickled, chest burned, and something went mad in his stomach.
"What…what…the fuck!"
In the split second before all hell broke loose, Caedren noticed a couple of disturbing things.
Somehow, someway, the monk-style white prison garb was gone.
He now wore a long, fitting coat of deep obsidian-black, the fabric smooth and heavy, absorbing light rather than reflecting it.
The material looked almost liquid in places, woven with faint, angular sigils, and silver-violet lines embedded beneath the surface like veins of cold fire.
The coat flared slightly at the hem, moving as if stirred by a wind that avoided the world around him.
Beneath it, a high-collared inner tunic of dark gray clung to his frame, emphasizing his lean, athletic build with rockstar worthy grace.
Add fitting black gloves and high crushable boots.
He looked regal, mighty, unarguably pow….
[Click here for visual image in Author's comment]
Something growled somewhere, jarring him back to concentrate on his surrounding.
A world of soot, steam and desolation.
Ash formed black soil on the ground, sharp rocks jutted out like frozen claws, the sky forever remained a rusty brown as if painted by dust.
The scorched black land was devoid of plants and any sort of life.
The air smelled smoky and fetid, as if something was left to rot somewhere.
Caedren barely felt the dry, cold wind as it sent the hem of his coat billowing.
Something far in the distance caught his attention.
It would've looked like a humongous ostrich egg if not for the grey shell and pulsing blood veins all over it.
Scattered all over the barren plane were other eggs of similar size and color. He counted twenty of them before giving up.
"Eggs mean whatever beasts lurking inside are young, weak and foolish."
There was a resounding crack as the closest egg developed fractures and spreading tears.
The baby monsters were ready to hatch.
And he was right here to welcome them with the swipe of a deathly blade.
For once luck was on his side.
Dark mist poured out of his right palm to blossom into the Shadow Sword.
The runic hilt felt perfect in his grip and the long, black blade glistened like polished obsidian. Whispy mist lingered all over it.
Caedren smirked, appreciating his weapon.
"Let's show pumpous Silhouette what we're made of."
He spread out his legs and leaned down, sword ready, waiting for the beasts to meet their fate.
A soft crack shattered the tense silence. One nearby egg had fully hatched.
What emerged from the crumpled shell was the opposite of what Caedren had had in mind.
Despite resting on two spindly legs, the beast still managed to come up to Caedren's height.
Red feathers covered its entire body, fluffing up as sweeping wings on either side of its long, haggard neck. Large crimson eyes fixed on Caedren almost immediately.
The beast would've passed as a cross between a vulture and a troubled ostrich if not for the curved talons at the end of its wings and legs.
It released a wrenching screech, showing off rows of razor-sharp fangs within its beak.
A Harpie!
Fresh from birth, they appeared like mutating birds with terrible anger management issues.
Give it a few days and they'd grow to become vile flying demons with earsplitting singing voices and vengeful tendencies.
The Harpie screeched again before attacking.
Caedren was prepared for the attack, but had greatly misappropriated the beast's speed.
One flap of those great wings launched the Harpie over twenty feet to touch down right in front of Caedren.
A sharp talon swiped to take off his head but he rolled to the side and shot out with the Shadow Sword.
The blade pierced neatly through tissue and bone, and a long neck seperated from the rest of its body.
Gooey blood spurted out as the headless Harpie crumpled.
Caedren stared down at the corpse.
"That was quick. I barely even broke a sweat."
Screeches tore down from the sky. He looked up to find shadows of flapping wings and massive forms.
He'd been so distracted by the first Harpie he'd not heard more hatching.
About ten of them circled the sky above his head. Even more broke free of their shells to join them.
Caedren gulped. "I should've kept my big mouth shut."
A chorus of screeching followed the harpies as they shot down to do damage.
Caedren leapt up to meet them.
Zukko of Earth had been week, spindly and clumsy. Pitiful. Broken.
Caedren Valerian was strong, lithe and svelte. Like an elite dance turn gymnast turn assasine turn tower conqueror.
And he was Caedren now.
The first swipe of the blade tore a Harpie in half while the return arch disemboweled another.
Bloody corpses rained down around him as he dropped, and leaped again.
He caught a wing and tore it free with a guttural growl.
The Harpie cried out in pain and snapped those cursed beaks at his head but a sword jammed through its throat the next second.
The harpies rallied into a murder of beating wings and poured towards him.
Cloak billowing like a cape behind him, Caedren raced to meet them.
Maybe something more extreme for dramatic effect?
He didn't know if his abilities worked in here but he didn't hesitate to try.
Carnage Genesis!
Darkness burst out from his body as he leapt into the air.
The mist flowed like the hem of his coat to become thick bands of tentacles.
The tentacles speared through the unfortunate harpies even as the Shadow Sword tore others apart.
Decapitated bodies littered the ground, blood pooled around them.
Splattered with blood and winded, Caedren dropped outside the sea of death.
The dark mist of carnage swirled around him, merging with the black of his coat and sipping through his skin.
"This is what true power feels like."
Outside the tower the dark mist had not been this potent and powerful.
Almost as if the abilities existed at a tamer level out there.
He'd just vanquished over a hundred beasts in the space of a few minutes and with no injury at all.
He smiled, obviously proud of his incredible achievement.
"How cool is that?"
Shockwaves trembled up his legs as the ground vibrated.
He scrambled back.
"What's happening?"
His anxiety spiked.
The last time he'd experienced something like this he'd gotten swallowed by a Disos Well and ended up here.
But the splintering and cracking ground stopped short of reaching where he stood.
The corpses fell through the fissures…the fissures that kept expanding until there was a gaping hole there.
Caedren's eyes widened as something rose from the hole. Like seeing something horrific in slow motion.
The egg had a sickly green shell as rough and hard as granite rocks. Black veins and patterns that looked oddly like thorns matted the surface.
The most terrible thing about the egg was its size. Almost five Harpie eggs combined.
One crack of lightning connected the black thorns until the shell crumpled in splinters.
Nothing large or worthy of such a vast compartment came from it.
Instead…
The most beautiful woman Caedren had ever seen flounced out of the slimy shell base.
She fell to her knees, head bowed.
"I surrender, Master Valerian."