Imperious 008 - Tainted

It was relatively quiet traveling back to the edge of the forest. She followed the illumination until she found the last few trees and the open ground beyond. The whole trek back took well over two hours and she was really starting to feel tired at this point. If she didn’t get some sleep soon she was going to be in trouble. She rubbed her eyes as she leaned against the last tree and frowned at the outer stone wall of the chamber? Cave? She wasn’t sure what this place exactly was besides being part of a dungeon.

The door’s still there, she thought, I wonder if I can step out into the lobby and take a breather, she licked her lips and reached for her canteen, sloshing it once. Shit, I don’t think I have a choice. I hope the boiling water in there doesn’t have any weird magic shit in it.

She moved to leave and heard the faintest creak of wood above her.

Fuck!

She threw herself forward as a shape landed right where she’d been standing. She scrambled to her feet as the heavy footfalls of something big charged towards her. She grabbed her crowbar and spun, swinging it in time to catch the alpha prowler in the side of the head. It let out a snarl of pain as blood dripped from one of its eyes. It landed and she stumbled back a few more steps before it sprung at her again, sweeping its claws at her in a horizontal strike. She stepped back again but it kept pushing. 

I can’t even get a thought out!

It snapped its teeth at her and she blocked with her crowbar on instinct, bracing both ends with her hands. It’s face was right in front of her, an exhalation of hot, smelly breath making her want to retch. Its yellow eyes bore into hers before it glanced to the right and snarled again. She whipped her head in that direction and saw one of its two companions charging at her from the side. She pushed back with all her strength but she may as well have been pushing against concrete. Her muscles screamed as she made a frantic decision.

“Fucker!” she barked and pulled hard on the crowbar, yanking the surprised creature in her direction. It seemed far more willing to go toward her than back. She tugged her weapon out of its jaw just as its companion collided with it. She spun and ran, a roar following her all the way to the door as its furious pursuit thundered behind her. She grabbed the door handle and pulled, yanking it open and throwing herself into the hazy wall of humidity beyond. She scrambled to her feet and looked up to see the smaller prowler crash through the door, the alpha hanging back. 

Or too big for the door, she thought before looking up at the wild animal. Its eyes were feral compared to the almost thoughtful look the alpha had given her. I get it, he let me go so he could hunt me, she glared past it at the alpha. The smaller ones aren’t smart enough but he is. Noted.

The prowler lunged again and she doubled back, leading it further into the lobby with a few quick back steps. Her back hit the podium and she spun around it, putting it between her and the beast that snuffed at the air and looked around, perhaps just now realizing its environment was different. She took the opportunity and threw herself at the beast with a roar of her own, cracking it once between the eyes with the crowbar to put it off balance. It staggered and she slammed her shoulder into it, pushing with all her strength as a scream bubbled up in her throat. It flailed, scratching at her chain armor, then it suddenly separated from her.

KSSSSSS!

The sound it made.

The scream.

It was gut wrenching.

Anna stood numbly as she watched it get boiled alive in one of the pools framing the lobby. Her heart thundered in her chest as she watched life leave its eyes, the sound echoing in her ears even after it died. She panted and looked towards the door, sweat streaming down her face as she met the alpha’s eyes. She sneered at it and turned to start marching towards the door. It let out a snarl and took a few steps back before darting back into the forest. She reached the door and grabbed the handle, tugging it shut with a gasp before resting her head against it.

She caught her breath and turned to look at the corpse floating in the water. Her ‘level zero’ body told her that she had done enough for the day but she couldn’t stop now. She stalked towards the dead prowler and looted it.

You have received: 15 Iron Coins and 36 Essence Points

Stage 1 Bonus Condition: Slay 10 Creatures (2/10)

The white powder it dissolved into dispersed into the boiling water before fading all together. She had no idea if the boiling water would be able to purge whatever it was so she decided not to touch that particular pool as she moved to one on the other side of the room and sat down next to it, tugging off her backpack and tossing it to the side. She pulled out her canteen and held it by the strap before lowering it into the water. She gave it a few moments before pulling it back out and carefully putting the cap back on without touching the metal body of the canteen.

Almost done, she told herself and dragged herself to her feet, marching towards the rear and away from the boiling pools. It’s humid and a little warm away from the pools but not uncomfortable compared to Florida weather, she thought and set the canteen down on the ground. It’ll be a while before it cools, I should sleep. I’ve got two days left on that food pill. Can’t lose track.

She sat next to the canteen and leaned against the wall before closing her eyes. Just a little… shut eye…

“How a freak like you could have possibly made a better impression than me is just…”

She looked up, confused, into a familiar face. She blinked a few times and furrowed her brows. Huh? The face kept changing, her head felt heavy. Who? The figure came into focus as Chloe loomed over her with a bat slung over her shoulder, “Do me a favor, Anna? In the future, remember your place,” the girl hissed before standing up and raising the bat over her head.

No!

Anna sat up and gasped, her eyes flicking around, trying to find Chloe. Where? Oh, nightmare, great. She’s haunting me, Anna thought and rubbed her face. She slumped harder against the wall and frowned. Right… she’s in the tutorial right now, so is Hale… she glanced towards the door to the forest and clenched a fist. Coasting while I suffer, she growled. Got off scott-free while I went to a prison cell, she grit her teeth and slammed her fist into the brick floor beneath her, the pain giving her focus. You better survive, because I’m coming for you after the year is up.

She spat on the ground and reached for her canteen, the metal was room temperature now. She snatched it up and opened it, chugging down a few gulps of water and wiping her lips. She pulled herself back up and glanced one more time at the door to the forest. I’m not ready for that room and I still don’t know how to refine essence, she turned to the other two doors. Maybe there are more clues in there.

She looked at her backpack and frowned, one of the straps had been torn at some point. I should leave it here. There’s only food inside and it looks like I can come and go from the lobby. No point in getting it messed up more, she sighed and turned to the remaining doors. Eenie meenie…

She picked the one directly behind the pedestal, yanking it open and pausing at the threshold. While the Forest had some ambient light to it to provide illumination, this room was pitch black. Only the light from the lobby gave her a view of the dark stone bricks that led further inside. She also smelled something in the air that made her wrinkle her nose. It smelled like burned sugar and ozone, sickly sweet to the point that it made the hairs on her neck stand up. She turned back to the lobby and snatched one of the many torches off the wall before returning.

Okay, have a quick look around then go check out the last room. Shit, it stinks, does everything have to smell bad or something or is my luck just this terrible?

She held the torch up over her head with her left hand while brandishing her crowbar with her right before slowly inching her way into the room. A moment later she got the expected notification of this room’s dungeon mission.

Dungeon Mission Alert!

The Tainted Halls

These halls are tainted with Mana, do not succumb.

Clear Condition: Find a Completion Token within the Maze.
Bonus Condition: Unknown

A maze, she frowned, And it’s ‘tainted’ with mana. I’m starting to think that mana is poisonous. But isn’t it magic? That’s how that usually works, right? I got mana taint from drinking a potion and eating those food pills but it eventually went away, she pursed her lips and checked her resources.

Resources:
HP: 30/30 | SP: 30/30 | MT: 1/51

Okay… she thought before watching her MT rise to 2. She felt something tingling inside of her body, like a sourceless heat that clung to her insides. It wasn’t uncomfortable but it wasn’t a good feeling either. She had a hard time really articulating how it felt. Almost like, she furrowed her brows, Like how I imagine it would feel if I could actually perceive dead platelets building up in my blood vessels, yeah, that sounds right, she thought. She was a little proud of herself for the analogy. High School Bio for the win!

Her expression fell, Fat lot of good it did me otherwise, she thought and started moving. She couldn’t stay here too long. The best thing to do was to see how far she could get before her MT hit about twenty-five. Then she’d backtrack the way she’d come and let it cool off. Oh I get it, it feels warm. My body is taking on mana taint like an overheating engine or something and it’s gotta cool off or it’ll overheat. Okay. But how do I use it?

She set the thought aside and tested to see if she could leave her resources up in the corner of her eye. It took some toying around but after a few focused thoughts she managed it. Nice, I can keep track now, she thought happily as she hit the first bend in the maze, the initial hallway was just dark and empty. She turned and kept walking, one right, and immediately hit a crossroads. She scowled and hung another right, two rights.

She froze as she watched the passage stretch ahead of her. That’s impossible right? If this passage was that long it’d go straight into the lobby but it’s not, her head hurt, Oh man this is weird.

She held the torch up a little higher and squinted down the path to see if it was a dead end or not but really couldn’t make much out past about a hundred feet. What she did see though was something that drew her immediate interest. A faint teal-blue glow off to the right of the passage. That looks like, she took a sharp breath and raced down the passage, It’s that stuff that was coming off of the prowler! 

The closer she got, the more intense the smell became and the more she realized exactly what that stuff was the prowler was using to refine its essence. She needed to be sure though. She needed to know. She slid to a stop right where the glow was brightest and turned as a tingling washed over her body. She looked down and her breath caught in her throat. It was a small three foot wide pool of still liquid, it looked like water, but it was glowing like it was radioactive. Her instincts caught up with her. This is a bad idea, I shouldn’t be anywhere near this stuff.

The burning in her muscles intensified.

Her mana tolerance jumped to eight.

“Oh shit.”

Eleven.

She pulled back and turned to a pair of glowing eyes and a circular set of lamprey teeth that opened wide and dripped with foul saliva. She gasped and the shapeless thing lunged with a garbled, miserable shriek. Something thick and heavy wrapped around her wrist as a weight pressed down on her, the teeth trying to get at her face. She pulled back and her heel caught the edge of the pool of glowing liquid. No no no! Get off! Get off! We’re gonna-

Anna slipped.

Pain bloomed in the back of her head as she hit the wall on the other side of the pool.

For the first two heartbeats, she didn’t feel anything as the liquid soaked into her clothes and armor. Then the burning started. The creature attached to her shrieked and gurgled, thrashing about and squeezing down on her arm. She struggled against it, pulling on the tentacle or whatever it was that was holding her only to get slapped in the face with another tendril for her efforts. Her head spun as the burning intensified, it went up her nose, down her throat, she coughed as the burning spread through every muscle in her body.

I’m gonna fucking die!

Thirty.

The prower didn’t die from glowing like that, how? What did it do? Another tendril struck her, the creature was slowing down in its struggle, it was dying along with her. It’s inside of me, burning. I took the essence into me too, right? Was that what it did? She concentrated as she scrambled to grab hold of the edge of the pool while the monster slowed even more. Her body felt so hot that she was wondering if her skin was going to melt. She felt the essence in her body, that tingly rainbow of energy that was locked inside of her waiting to be released and used. She felt it pour out and mingle with the mana coming into her body. Like that, right?

THUMP

A pulse spread through her that shook her to her very core. It coiled up inside of her chest as it looked for somewhere to go, anywhere to go. She grabbed hold of it in her desperate attempt to stay alive. The feeling came with a sense of brief relief even as more mana poured in. She spread it out and felt it course through her veins until they felt like they were going to burst. Not enough! She pushed the essence into her muscles and it felt like her entire body was going to explode. She filled her nerves, her organs, her bones, her brain began to swell as the headache to end all headaches caused her to let out a garbled drowning scream.

During the last moments before unconsciousness, as her mind slowed and drifted. Only one thought dominated everything else.

I will not die!

DING!