Civilization

Echoing footsteps in the cave greet us as the flame from the torches show us a scene straight out of a horror movie. Both Sylvia and I could only gulp down our nervousness, as we venture deeper into the cave, as each step brings us deeper into this unknown darkness. At the start of the cave, it was only the ceiling that had weird writing, but as we venture further, the same weird writing would fill the sides, blending into the ceiling.

Every so often I would hold Sylvia back, as I observe the writing on the walls, gazing at the sigils that litter the space in between words and lines. Making out some familiar shapes, I try to piece this puzzle together, as I see sigils that looked like eyes, deformed bodies, animals, and even common landmarks such as mountains and volcanoes. However, no matter how long I look at them, I couldn't figure out a pattern, but instead it looked like a child had painted the walls however they wanted.

A winding downward path awaits us as we proceed deeper, and the metallic scent of iron starts to permeate the air. Wet splashes could be heard in the echoes of the cavern as even the floor starts to be covered in blood-red writing, but compared to the clean dry finishes on the ceiling and sides, the ground was wet and runny. As if someone had just recently painted the floor.

It is messy, and there were a lot of gaps and blurred writing and sigils, mixed together with the running liquid. It became increasing difficult to make out the writing as the liquids start to pool together, merging into one big puddle as it travels slowly down the cavern. Stopping my from proceeding, Sylvia shakes her head and puts a finger to her mouth. Pointing to her torch, and then the ground, she signals me to do the following steps.

Slowly, she brings the torch to the ground, pushing it into the blood-red liquid and extinguishing the light as quickly as she can by rolling the tip around. Copying her actions, I do the same, quietly, eventually eliminating our only source of light. Waiting with her for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, I calm breath in and out, letting out the increasing anxiety that is being built up in the darkness.

Grabbing my arms softly, Sylvia pulls me behind her as we take each step slow and steady, brushing our left side against the wall every so often as to not lose our way. Eventually I make out a bend in our path, and with Sylvia peeking around the left side first, she quickly brings her head back. Even in the darkness, I could see that she was a slightly frightened expression.

Lightly tugging on her arm, I signal her that I too want to observe the situation. Shaking her head, she instead signals we should leave, pointing upward. Raising an eyebrow, I question, what could make her so scared that she would prefer to leave but as if answering my question, a blood-red light escapes into the cave. Like a wave, the writing all around us lights up, traveling upward following along the various lines.

Bathing in blood-red light, coming from the ceiling, walls and floor, I could only prepare for the worse than I tightly grip onto my wand. Pushing herself in front of me, Sylvia brings up her fists as she splatters the illuminating blood on the ground to the sides as she repositions herself. Putting up her guard, she waits patiently in front, keeping her ears open.

Glancing around, I try to figure out if an enemy is about to appear from the writing, but only silence greets us. Moments feel like days, and after waiting for a while with nothing happening, I tap Sylvia's shoulder. Peeking over her shoulder, she sees me pointing forward. Nodding her head, she carefully makes her way around the bend, slightly losing her balance as she steps lower than she had expected.

With a light splash the liquid reaches her knees, but quickly she puts up her guard, ready to react to anything even in her unbalanced state. Wading through the blood pool, Sylvia disappears around the corner. Following her, I also approach the bend, carefully stepping forward as to not create a loud sound as I step lower into the pool. A warm, sticky liquid wraps around my skin as it reaches my knees. Still illuminating the surroundings, the liquid glows and shifts as Sylvia and I wade through it.

In front of us, we see the cave expand out, showcasing a large cavern and as we approach the cavern, we both sharply inhale at the sight before us. Below, surrounding a singular rocky pillar, is a lake of illuminating blood, an extension of the liquid that pools around our legs. Along the sides of the cavern, covering every little crack is the writing, sigils and lines, with a large magic circle in the center of the ceiling, directly over the pillar.

Standing on top of the pillar is a person, with a monster hovering right above their heads. Dressed in a black robe with deep scarlet writing along the edges, the person raises their hands up to the monster, encasing it in a thin sphere, with a similar shade of red as to the surroundings. Twisting and breaking in unnatural directions, the monster is ripped into shreds, as blood bursts out from its body, pooling in the bottom of the sphere.

Holding in my urge to vomit as I feel my stomach churn at the sight of a monster brutally killed right in front of my eyes. However, I force myself to keep watching the person's actions, curious and frightened by their plans. The rest of the monster's body is crushed into a ball, squeezed and rinsed for the blood as if gravity had forced its flesh together into the ball the size of a golf ball.

Plopping into the liquid, the ball of flesh floats and rolls around in the pool before it slowly disintegrates into nothing, leaving behind a half-full sphere of blood. Floating in the air above the person, it slowly moves, so it was directly over them, before bursting above the person. Raining on them, and covering them from head to toe in the blood of the monster, as a slightly maniacal laughter escapes their lips.

The blood shines brighter around the person as they throw their head backward, laughing crazily at the magic circle. Slowly the light collects around the magic circle, as red lightning crackles around it, arching downward to the person, bouncing around the rocky pillar as it makes it way to the liquid below. Panicking, I was about to move backward when Sylvia grabs onto me, stopping my movement.

Jumping out of the pool of blood, meeting the red lightning in the air with a similar scarlet colored horn, is a horse like monster. With a body the size of an elephant, and a horn as large as the leg, the horse neighs loudly as the lightning wraps itself around the horn as the horn shines brightly. Deep red stripes cover the monster's body with a jet black under color and a similarly red colored star tail, and it was only then did I realize that it was a Zivotinja.

Albeit slightly different from the Zivotinja that I had seen before, but a Zivotinja nonetheless. Ian had informed me that there was a variant Zivotinja however, I remember he had told me that it was a different color and most definitely not blood-red. To my surprise, the monster bounced off the air as it gallops up to the top of the pillar, stopping next to the person as a red bolt of lightning escapes its horn and penetrates the magic circle above it, causing a total black out to occur.

With the sudden change from light to darkness, I had to shield my eyes as the monster's stripes were blinding in the darkness. In the darkness it was as if it were only a pair of scarlet eyes, stripes and a red star. Its body was nowhere to be seen, but I knew it was there, just hidden in the darkness, as it stares at Sylvia and me. The sound of chuckling echos in the cave as the person finally speaks.

"Hahaha! It seems we have visitors, although, I have known of you for quite some time now. Constantly looking and observing my little village from a distance. Not too far but not too close either. Especially after I had attacked you with a small section of my army. You were strong, with a larger amount of tamed monsters, BUT! There is something you didn't have, and it was something I realized.

Not one of your monsters was superior to the other. It was like looking at copies of monsters. There was no alpha monster. But you see, I saw one. In the forest, a golden wolf, larger than all the other wolves. I wanted that monster. I wanted to tame it, but sadly it got killed. So I had to look for a different solution and that was when I stumbled to this place.

I'm in a world where magic and monsters exist, so obviously, I could do whatever I want. And this, this place, was the answer. A SACRIFICE! THAT WAS ALL I NEEDED TO DO IN ORDER TO RAISE MY MONSTERS TO BE STRONGER! HAHAHA! IT WAS TOO EASY! TAME A MONSTER! SACRIFICE THE MONSTER!

You… You, too, are a player, are you not? What did you find? Join me! It will be so much more fun, playing a game where we can kill ANYTHING!" - ???

Revealing himself, the player laughs hysterically as he pulls a glowing red book out from his robe. Flipping it open, a light crimson shine illuminates his face, as the corners of his mouth touch his ears.

"Why do you say nothing? Are you AFRAID? HAHAHA! TO BE AFRAID INSIDE A GAME! WHATEVER! I HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR YOU! Crimson Ghosts make short work of them, we must venture out. Scarlet Hare, blast through the ceiling, there is no need for this cave anymore. We need to follow the scriptures of Nital, and help the Reaper in his quest." - ???

Without giving either Sylvia or me a chance to speak, the person shouts out whatever was on his mind, commanding the monster to attack the ceiling with another bolt of crimson lightning as 4 creatures spiral out of the book. Taking the form of specters, the monsters glow scarlet in the dark, quickly approaching Sylvia and me from the front.

"I have no idea what just happened, but that guy is attacking us." - Sylvia

"I'll figure it out later. He just said way too many things, way too fast, as if he was some super villain. Deal with the monsters in front of us first, and we can think about him later." - Nina

"Already on it!" - Sylvia