Shadow Anomaly - Book 1 - Chapter 3

So far this story is doing quite well on my Patreon. And I'm enjoying writing it, so here's another chapter.

If you want to read the Google Docs version, click on the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_u1PlEDhXP0Kszxco5onAJAYRaxfAUzfIB7qJhjFNO4/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read it here on the post as formatting isn't as big of an issue for a non-LitRPG story:

ABA #1431

After hunting several of these strange creatures, I come to understand more about myself, my new shell, and the creatures here.

First, I can expand the distance from my shell by devouring that strange energy in the air. And my shell itself, the human body, seems to grow stronger when I have my shadows devour the energy.

It’s strange though, because when I devour the energy with my shadows, it somehow just ends up inside of my shell. Reinforcing my shell in the process and making it stronger.

As for what the energy itself is? I have no idea.

It’s already weird that I can eat it like my normal food. So I’m probably going to have to find someone or something that can help fill in my knowledge on this place.

The second thing I’ve come to understand is that when my shadows leak out of my range of control, they dissipate and just vanish. Which makes me feel like I’m injured and gives me a sense of danger.

So things won’t be good if I lose all of my shadows.

But I can replace my shadows by devouring food. Which makes the situation less dangerous.

And the third thing I’ve learned.

The more shadows I have, the stronger they become. Even if they don’t affect my shell in the slightest.

As for the last thing I’ve learned over my time hunting these creatures?

This shell is weak.

After walking around and fighting for hours, it grows tired and requires a break.

The only upside is that it doesn’t require a few of the things the strange knowledge in my mind implies other humans need. Like physical food or liquids. Nor does it need sleep. Which is a strange action humans do to rest their minds and bodies.

Although my shell does need rest at least to restore its muscles to normal condition.

And it’s during one of those very rest times where I’m sitting down on a small crevasse located high up in the cave that something unexpected happens.

I hear voices coming from a connecting tunnel.

“It’s strange, right? Do you think there’s someone else in here?” a male voice echoes through the cavern, making me sit up and look towards the ledge.

“Unlikely,” another male voice answers the first. “There wasn’t any other ships nearby the Gate, and the Vauler Guild has already purchased the rights to this Gate. The only legal way for someone to enter this Gate without being part of our team is to have been here when the Gate emerged.”

“Probably just the monsters killing each other,” a female voice says as I lower myself down to the floor and move towards the ledge to get a view of the cavern as a whole.

A few seconds after I reach the ledge of the crevasse, I find the sources of the voices entering the cavern down below. And they’re quite a few in number.

There seems to be seventeen humans total. And for some reason, they all have that energy I’ve been sensing in the air around me filling their bodies.

Just like my own shell.

But these humans all have differing amounts of energy in their bodies.

Four of them have a lot more energy than the others, followed by about eight of them that have a lot more energy than the last four that have very little energy in comparison. Albeit still a good bit more energy than my body has right now.

“But the monsters would eat each other, right?” one of the four strongest people down there asks. One of the two females of the four. “Monsters eat each other after fighting.”

“These monsters might be unusual, or we might have another vanguard going around the Gate,” the man at the front of the group wearing some strange metal all over his body answers. “Keep your guard up regardless. We’ve already lost thirteen of our number. If we go below ten, we’ll be required by Association law to return as soon as possible.”

I frown a little while tilting my head.

Monsters? Gate? Association? Vanguard?

What do these terms mean?

I can at least assume that the monsters term probably has something to do with those mantis things. But I have no idea what the others might be referring to.

“I would like to find and document the boss before ending the expedition if possible,” the strongest guy there – the one at the front of the group – says as the group continues through the cavern. All the way to the other side of the cavern.

But when he makes it about three quarters of the way through the cavern, he pauses and glances in my direction. Making me instantly drop my head out of this body’s instinct alone.

Then silence falls the cavern for a few seconds until one of the other humans asks, “Is there anything up there?”

I feel tense since something tells me I won’t be able to take on all of them at once.

There’s just too many of them.

Actually, I might not even be strong enough to take on that one leader alone, much less the others.

Before I can worry though, the man answers, “No,” and continues making his way into the tunnel. Confusing me a little.

Even after several minutes, silence remains in the cavern. With no signs of the group coming back.

So I continue resting for another what feels like an hour – based on the human time system injected into my mind – before climbing down and entering a different tunnel than the one the humans went through once I feel it’s safe enough to move. At which point I start hunting more of the creatures I’m assuming the humans referred to as monsters.

And with each monster I hunt, I feed my shadows to increase their density. All while still devouring energy from the air around me with my crimson shadows forming a small aura around my body to do so.

After hunting for a little while, something strange happens.

Specifically, something happens to my shell. The energy in my shell suddenly begins to tremble out of nowhere. All before it begins to circulate faster and faster throughout my human body. Seemingly strengthening it more and more until I hear a cracking sound.

And when I look down, I see my shell’s skin suddenly shedding. Which the information in my mind doesn’t say anything about humans doing.

Why am I shedding?

My shell also begins to feel incredibly energetic and far stronger than before. Almost like it’s having some sort of instant evolution in power.

And by the time it finishes, I see a few differences than before.

For one, the material coming from the top of my head that the information refers to as hair is now taking on the same shades as my crimson shadows. Crimson and black.

But the more important thing is that the energy in my body now matches the energy in the weakest humans I saw before in that group.

A few seconds pass in silence as I stare at my hands, just wondering what happened.

Then I let out a breath of air and decide it doesn’t matter for now.

I climb to my feet again, having lost my balance and fallen down to the ground when the strange shedding and evolution thing began. Only to find the cavern beginning to tremble as a loud screech echoes down the tunnels and into the cavern I’m in.

What’s that?

I frown before beginning to walk in the direction of the screech. All while taking off the cloth on my body and removing that shed skin. Then I put the cloth back on since the information I have implies the humans dislike seeing other humans without the cloth they call clothes.

And when I get closer to the source of the noise, I begin to walk lower to the ground and closer to the wall.

All the way until I find myself entering a massive cavern. One in the form of a spiral going all the way down to a flat level at the bottom with a purple liquid filling half of it.

I narrow my eyes at the sight I find myself facing in the cavern.

There are the humans in the cavern, but instead of the seventeen I saw earlier, there’s only about ten of them. With all of the weaker ones either missing, or scattered dead around this cavern.

Meanwhile the humans are fighting and seemingly attempting to flee from a massive creature that’s currently climbing the spiral to a higher level where the stronger humans are firing off some sort of energy blast at it from their hands.

The creature itself spans about three meters in height and has a humanoid upper body and an insectoid lower body that has six legs. With its entire body covered heavily in carapace plating, and a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.

It also has two very large fangs sticking out from the sides of its mouth that are twitching forwards and backwards, four large claws on its hands, and deep red eyes.

What is this thing…

The creature has energy on par with the strongest human in the group. If not a little more than him.

And since it’s not a human, it has a natural advantage over him in pure power.

Humans are weak creatures after all.

Even with this energy in their bodies.

Just looking at this massive creature though has me feeling an instinctive sense of terror. One that has me wanting to immediately leave the cavern.

But before I can do that, the leader of the humans notices me and narrows his eyes despite my position being close to the ground so far away from him on a higher level.

Then he smiles for some reason.

That’s not a good sign.

Chapter 4 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/138445477