Chapter 2: Breath of a demon
3 pairs of footsteps made crunching sounds as they stepped across the dry yellow grass, the ground beneath their feet began to rise higher, while small rocks, and boulders started to appear. Two creatures with bulging muscles that looked like they could toss an elephant rounded a bend. Coming up behind them was a hulking creature, he looked like an entity who should only exist in nightmares, his towering form could rival a small giant's. There was a sword nearly the height of a single storey house on his back, chopping a giant to death didn't seem impossible when you looked at it.
Glimmering sets of eyes peered cautiously from their hiding places, watching as they pass by. One of them flashed when the 2 muscular males first rounded the bend, readying itself to pounce. Though the two didn't seem like easy targets with their powerful looking limbs, the owner of this particular set of eyes wasn't a weakling either. Gathering it's momentum, drooling at all the meat it imagined it'd be able to enjoy looking at the duo with their big fleshy bodies, the beast was ready to engage in a cruel slaughter.
But just a second before it initiated it's assault, a gigantic figure soon rounded the bend after them. Anyone would be startled by his abrupt appearance, a hill sized frame, grey skin and muscles brimming with vitality, the breastplate he wore was reinforced with magical symbols. Seeing him come galloping along so merrily, the mole like beast who wanted to launch an attack a moment ago withdrew all it's momentum, coming to a screeching halt. It retreated from the area like it's ass was on fire, those other sets of eyes followed it's example, quickly beating a hasty retreat, forgoing their hunt for today.
Of course the hulking figure was Pernoaken following behind the lead of his orc scouts. Chief Merken treated this incident very seriously, an entity of unknown power fell down in his backyard. Things may get messy real fast if they had any ill intent, no information was known about the mysterious individual, all they knew was it should be a being of considerable power. Pernoaken himself actually looked forward to the future events following this unknown creatures appearance.
He was humming along quite happily at the moment, there weren't too many things around which could threaten his life. It had been a long time since he was a mere common orc, when life or death, as well as his fate was something he had no control over. Once an orc begins to ponder the world around him, gaining a deeper awareness of it, he ceases to be a common orc. Ideas that were foreign previously are brought forth for them to scrutinize, they start to contemplate their existence, those aspects of life which wouldn't normally register start to stand out, making them marvel at how they went without being conscious of these obvious things that could have positive, or negative effects on their lives.
Naturally Pernoaken went through such a phase crawling up the long road to the level he was on now. With every triumph over an increasingly powerful foe, and his body grew to nearly rival a giant's, the innate arrogance of a higher form of being began to integrate with his natural aura. What really drove him mad was the scornful looks the people with highly spiritual Bloodlines gave him when they met on the battlefield. As if spilling the blood of a lowly orc will taint their hands, they were lofty existences, to them orcs were mortal creatures who should obviously be in awe of them, not overestimating themselves trying to challenge their supremacy, such a stubborn lot might need to be exterminated, why couldn't they be like the humans, displaying an appropriate level of obeisance which befitted their prestige?
Scowling as he recalled all the near death experiences he'd suffered at the hands of those spiritual races, the huge orc warrior dispelled his gloomy thoughts before they could ruin his good mood. He was tired of the uneventful scout patrols, maybe another person would take the time out to enjoy these peaceful intervals, no one wanted to live a life of constant bloodshed. But this orc warrior actually grew restless in peaceful times such as these, it was no wonder that Chief Merken always sighed in helplessness whenever he thought of Pernoaken's antics.
Numerous mountain peaks with varying degrees of thickness pierced the clouds, seemingly forming a link between heaven and earth. The trees around here weren't as colossal as the trees in some other parts of Tyjuku, so the sharp peaks of the Sky Whale mountains were visible above their leafy crowns. Anu, and Apu generously shed their light on all the lands. Even so, some creatures preferred the darker parts of the forest, Pernoaken himself was one of them. He wasn't philosophical, artful scenes like the beautiful meadow with fields of colorful flowers he was looking at now failed to move him with their beauty.
His 2 scouts halted at the top of a slope overlooking the meadow, sticking out their tongues, trying to get a taste for the energies in the air. Since they'd had a hint of a taste from the targets foot print, with even the most minute of details his scouts were able to help him hunt anything to death. No matter how skilled they are at concealing their trail, it might take them a bit longer, but they'll be able to pick up something that could be used to lead them straight to you. He was confident in their ability, thus even though it seemed like they were leading him on a wild goose chase, Pernoaken didn't pester them, he let them do their jobs, since he wasn't interested in learning the skills of a scout himself.
"Honorable Trollsbane, we believe the being who fell from the sky went inside this meadow. But there's a dangerous scent in the air, like the smell of a terrible beast from the depths of the forest".
One of the scouts spoke up, and though he kept his composure well, Pernoaken can see the high morale they had at first when hearing about the reward of a female human, and a jug moonberry ale which had nourishing effects that could even rouse the innate vigor of the body, deflated quite a bit. That surprised him, because even with him being here, just the smell of the other party cowed his men, his presence didn't reassure them at all in the face of it. Especially the part about a beast from the depths of the forest.
Presumably, any random monster from back there could easily rival the strength of their late Founder's. He was curious about this, you have to know Merken Nar Moon Axe was a monster who'd made it into the history books. There were even some scary creatures that refused to die, angering the heavens with the various elixirs they'd created to train their spirits, and increase their life spans, who remember the valiant orc that carved a path of blood out of the darkness to give his people light. For these high and mighty personages, it was rare for them to care, or remember someone, they treated everything beneath them like the wind.
However they couldn't help but sigh in reminiscence at that era with Lord Merken, if these arrogant relics had a good impression about anything other than themselves, it would cause quite a shock to the little ones in the clan.
In other words that goes to show you Merken Nar Moon Axe had to have been formidable back then, these fellows even wanted to be transported back to that era of chaos, where genocide happened everyday, whole races were extinguished from man, woman, and child, mostly human females were taken in as slaves, their scent seemed to drive some of the monsters crazy. Merken Nar founded his House of Nar, everyone laughed at the presumptuous orc, "a lowly creature like you dares to use such terms, a wild beast like him belongs in the jungle, not playing noble houses like only a being of high blood has the right to do".
Merken was hated for his talent in war, seeing him think so highly of himself pissed the powerful clans off, it was fine for one of their ilk to have titles, they were what a ruler should be. High spiritual Bloodline, giving you the ability to cast all kinds of heaven trembling magics, females of all races that could quicken your seed will beg you to cum inside them, because their femininity responded to your spiritually strong masculinity, your seed will surely help them give birth to powerful offspring. Next to them this orc was like a donkey, while they were a prized bull, how dare he strut in front of them. Actually for these clans to even pay attention to Merken's existence is because he was strong, he also knew his own powerful magics, this wasn't something you could ignore, even more so coming from a creature who was not known for having wisdom.
Focusing on all the stories of the Founder's exploits, Pernoaken had roughly calculated his strength, though he knew his estimate wasn't accurate, it wasn't hard for him to understand the deep forest was a totally different realm. Excitement surged in his heart when he looked down at the meadow, will he really be able to come face to face with a legendary monster? He'd heard that as long as you treated these terrifying entities with the respect due to their status as spiritual masters, they'd be to lazy to lift a finger to end your miserable existence.
Not only that, if they ask something of you, do everything in your power to carry it out, because the rewards are usually huge, these eccentric beings liked to appear magnanimous, like they were striving everyday to end world hunger, just go along with the script when one of them gets into character to play a role. Kissing ass was something Pernoaken refused to do under any circumstances, but he didn't mind serving as their henchmen if they can assist in his growth. Judging by the way they'd smashed to the ground so heavily, something went wrong during the process of whatever this unknown being was up to.
Whatever the case, the unknown entity crawled out of the crater unscathed, there were no signs of blood, or any other evidence of injury. The two scouts were unable to understand how an individual with such tiny feet could make a hole that big when they hit the ground. Added on to this abnormality, the being only took one step from what they can see to move dozens of meters ahead. Because of that it was easy to lose track of one their footsteps, good thing for them the entity moved in one direction without veering off course.
This made them even more mysterious in Pernoaken's eyes, like a being which shouldn't be inquired about. Shaking the brooding mood off of his shoulders, he looked at his scouts. "You guys stay here, I'll go see what it is that's inside the meadow". Looking reluctant the other orc scout who hadn't spoken up before said "Alright Honorable Trollsbane, but you must be careful, us scouts believe in our noses, it never fails us. Whatever is inside that meadow smells way more terrifying than our chief".
Turning back towards the meadow, Pernoaken said with a fearless grin on his face "don't you boys worry, if everything works out my way you fellows might even get a chance to evolve to the orc vanguard level. But you can't be pussy, always dreaming about being stronger, you have to be ready to seize opportunities the moment they present themselves"!
The two stared at his back, speechless, wondering what madness their leader was cooking up now. Whenever something gets blown out of proportion as a result of his actions, the chief usually has to come out to clean the shit, surely his hands should be very smelly by now given all the shit he's had to clean up behind Pernoaken? And now it looks like he was straining to squeeze out the crap, of all craps, for our poor chief to wipe for him. They would've wrestled him down to stop him if it was someone else, unfortunately it happened to be Pernoaken Nar Trollsbane with another one of his mad stunts.
Blocking the route of a person so huge with their miniscule forms was ridiculous. One kick from Pernoaken will likely kill them, luckily for them they weren't brave enough to get in his way when he set his mind on seeing it out till the end on times like these when he's taken by a whim. They prayed to the Lord Founder he didn't anger whatever powerful thing waited inside the meadow. Going down the 20 meter high slope didn't bother Pernoaken at all, it only took him 3 leaps, he stood in a flower field which formed a thick beautiful carpet, like you were standing on a rainbow.
Hardly sparing a glanced to admire the beautiful scenery around him, Pernoaken moved to enter the meadow. *shiiii* a thick wall of pressure slammed down on him about a meter away from the treeline. Goosebumps rose up on his gray skin, deep in his body, a place even he was unaware of, his spirit stirred uncertainly. All of his senses shutdown on him, leaving this powerful orc warrior in a dark place. Anyone, no matter how mentally strong would get anxious experiencing something as terrifying as this.
Pernoaken chose to roar in defiance, frightening the two scouts still waiting on the slope, all they saw was Pernoaken suddenly come to a halt, almost immediately after that he began roaring crazily, like someone stole all his moonberry ale. Such a strange situation made them feel even more insecure, will their leader who was unbeatable in their eyes actually fall just like that even before coming face to face with the other party? When a powerful being goes to a place to train, and doesn't wish to be disturbed, their bodies give off a strong deterrent force which will warn trespassers who wander near to stay away.
This pressure can even kill if someone were to carelessly approach, Pernoaken's assumption that some incident occurred that caused a legendary creature to suddenly appear was right on the mark. What couldn't have been expected was just how legendary the creature that fell into this world truly was. Floating inside of a blue orb, a beautiful brown skinned child wearing a black robe made of ethereal cloth, created an area of complete stillness inside of the meadow. An inky black gas came out of his nostrils, drifting slowly on the wind like smoke, it didn't seem like it could be blown away like regular smoke though.
Heading towards a small plant with soft thorns, it's gorgeous petals fanning out like a windmill, a bit of gas about a few fingers thick burrowed into it. The plant's stem trembled, the thorns on it's body which were originally soft, slowly grew erect. They started to harden, becoming sharper, the fan like petals surrounding the part that looked like a round head sitting atop the stem like it was it's neck, shifted to a position on top, causing the flower to look like it was wearing it's own petals like a crown.
More clusters of inky black gas began moving towards the plant, this time it was possible to tell that it's stem was actually trembling in delight. Whatever the mysterious black gas was, this plant seemed to be expressing a desire towards it. Beneath the soil, it's roots were getting longer, rapidly increasing in size, they burrowed deeper under ground, searching for moisture, which it needed now more than at any other time of it's growth, the plant was changing, before it'd absorbed the black gas it's bodily activities were mild.
It was in the middle of a mutation, the plant had started to express desires, an indication that it was gaining spiritual awareness. With the boy in the black robe training here, the spirit energy in the area became hyper active, coming into close contact with it along with it's absorption of the inky black gas was a life changing moment for the plant. There was no going back now that it was awakening, with the gift of spiritual awareness it wasn't a common plant anymore.
It's crown of petals changed from green to red, it's stem that was the width of a pinky now had the thickness of an arm, while it was slowly turning a pink color. The stem had also grown longer, except the plant concealed most of it in the ground. In the soil near it's roots, the moisture no longer had enough flavor to satisfy it's now quite picky taste buds. Inside it, the plant could feel a strong thirst for a different kind of liquid. But this feeling only left it puzzled, since the only wet thing it ever got to drink was the rain water soaked up by the soil.
Resting on a branch after a tiring day of hunting insects, keeping one eye open for any snakes trying to creep up on it, a crow was behaving leisurely, it had a few juicy worms tucked away. Tomorrow if it chose to, it didn't have to go out hunting, what it had stashed away was enough for it to feast on for another full day. There was even enough time to waste for it to seek out a female to mate with. It's dark eyes peered around, complacent, life appeared to be going great for it. Suddenly a puff of inky black gas blocked the crow from view. Squawks full of panic came from the puff of black gas, the gas started shrinking, after it contracted thrice, silence was the only thing you could hear coming from the puff of gas.
Turns out the black gas was going inside the crow's body, when it's form became visible again there were some definite changes. It's beak turned a bloody red color, the tips of it's feathers had the same bloody color as well. Quick as that, the leisurely posture that was like a identifying characteristic of this crow was replaced by a sharp menacing look. Looking around it noticed there were other creatures besides itself absorbing the black gas. Birds, insects, trees, it was unknown how the black gas chose a target, but once it went inside their bodies, and they overcame the wild panic assaulting their psyche, a bright look of clarity, like a light bulb pushing away the darkness, became present in their eyes once they climbed back to their feet.
Experiencing the wonders of the inky black gas first hand, the blood beak crow understood it was something precious. What the crow would've become if it had awakened naturally on it's own was a spirit beast, yet through some strange twist of fate it happened to be in the same place a Demon of high order was currently training his spirit. The inky black gas was the demonic essence that leaked out every time he exhaled, and although this demonic child was a powerful, high order of being, he was still too young. Back in the Demon Eye clan where he came from, he was still considered a baby, which was understandable considering his Bloodline, this was a clan of Demons with true primordial blood running thick in their veins.
Activating spirit arts required you to form the associated symbols, and words of power. Sometimes there were leaks when you manipulated the energy to create these forms. It was still to early for this baby demon to weave the flows of energy without leakage, that he could inscribe divine runes on his body with the only repercussions being a lost of consciousness is already scary enough. If his energy manipulation skills were just as ridiculous, it would be enough to anger the heavens, they might even be tempted to send down a tribulation.
Animals, and plants mutated both physically, and spiritually upon coming in contact with demonic essence. Obtaining complete spiritual awareness was only a few training sessions away. All they needed to do next is feel for the spirit energy in the world outside of them, on succeeding in finally perceiving spiritual energies, the animals had to feed that energy to the demonic essence growing slowly inside of them. Accordingly, the animals inside the meadow that attracted the demonic essence gained partial spiritual awareness, they instinctively knew how to breath in that special way beings that wield spiritual powers breathed.
Now that they had partial awareness, these animal's overall abilities went through a shocking upgrade. Take the silver cocoon stuck to the underside of a large tree branch. In it is a caterpillar on it's way to becoming a butterfly, yet that was a long way off. This was a normal caterpillar, no different from any other, wrapped up in a cocoon that looked like somebody pissed on a piece of cotton. But a ball of inky black gas flew inside it, making the caterpillar wiggle vigorously inside it's cocoon. Then it suddenly stilled, it's body turned gooey, twitching and jerking grossly.
Great changes occurred from the inside, to the outside, the cotton soft cocoon started hardening, since it was such a low level existence to begin with, the caterpillar's body had to be broken down 6 times before one that could contain the strength of it's new spirit was refined. Demonic essence easily filled it's tiny form to full capacity. When this happened it's body had to be broken down again, spirit energy re-molded it, taking on the role of a master potter's hands, kneading and stretching the lump of goo.
Soon odd thumping sounds could be heard beating rhythmically against the walls of the hard silver cocoon. This was the song of life, all beings were given a chance to evolve into the greatest version of themselves using the power of their spirits.
Having such a pure form of demonic essence bestowed upon them, the animals in close proximity to the young demon were given a solid foundation to build off of. Treating them like mere animals wasn't suitable at their current stage, because once they've reached the appropriate level in their training they would become what is referred to as true demons.
At the level they were on now, they were what is known as little demons, a term which had little to do with size, it refers to demons who hadn't reached the stage of generating their own demonic essence, which is actually just a more solid, purer form of demonic energy. Up on it's perch, the blood beak crow must've realized this was a huge opportunity for it, good fortune like this wasn't something it could expect to receive more than once in it's life. One time was already enough, this was blatantly going against the natural order of heaven and earth. So many animals gaining enlightenment into spirituality all in one place, at the same time like this, was likely unprecedented.
The heavens wouldn't like it, but the spirit realm encouraged people to break outside of their shells, it wanted them to take a glimpse at a much larger world. Maybe worlds, in plural, would be a more appropriate way to state it, because the higher you go, the realization of how small you truly were was brought forcefully home. In any case, the blood beak crow couldn't spare a thought for that kind of useless musing, it was in the middle of crazily absorbing spirit energy since it was extremely abundant right now. This bird displayed a prudence that was very surprising.
It no longer paid attention to what was going on around it, crackling sounds could be heard quite clearly as it's body increased in size. This was a critical moment for it, the crow was spared the agony of experiencing the feeling of it's entire skeletal system being deconstructed, ice cold yin power came pouring in, much of this yin energy moved, concentrating in it's wing joints, while all these changes were happening inside it's body, the crow had fallen into a simi-conscious state. Breaking through the limits of what a normal crow is capable of, it's growth put it at a little over a meter in height, even as it sat with it's legs tucked beneath it's feathers, the aura of a monster bird can be seen with a glance.
After 12 rounds of circulation, all movement came to a halt within the crow's body, it's heart beat strongly, it's blood crashed through vessels which were broken down then remade to where they now had a trace of spiritual properties. Refining anymore of the demonic essence didn't seem possible at this point, the ball of black energy sat in it's core, refusing to respond no matter how hard the crow focused on it, it even had a crushing headache following the fierce struggle for dominance. That was strange, it never felt this kind of pain in it's skull before, climbing to its feet, the crown held a pitch black wing with bloody highlights against it's head.
Wanting to drive away the heavy weight of pain crashing down on it's skull, the blood beak crow shook its head, which only made it feel nauseous. Walking sideways like a crab, the crow seemed to do a drunken dance before it tumbled over the side of the tree branch. From that height, although the fall wouldn't be fatal, some fractures, or broken bones were a guarantee. Falling down headfirst will result in a broken neck, the blood beak crow dropped towards the ground just like that, it's beak pointing downwards made it look like a flying arrow.
*ka chink* that wasn't the crunch of broken bones, this was the sound that people expected to hear when seeing the crow falling head first to the ground. It's neck should be twisted to a weird angle, it isn't an owl so it's neck couldn't naturally turn that way, so people will expect to see a dead crow. Feathers fluttering in the wind, the crow struck the ground, but the scene which everyone will agree should occur didn't happen. Exactly like a nail being driven into a wall by a hammer, all the force from it's fall seemed to be drawn towards it's beak.
Nothing seemed able to stop it once enough momentum was built up, the blood colored beak drilled through the ground, a jackhammer was most likely unable to do a better job than it. Dust from pulverized rocks curled around the hole made by the crow's beak. Two sharp talons gleaming like magical treasures twitched, they were the only part of the crow that can be seen sticking out of the hole. Breathing became difficult with a big pile of dirt covering it's head, the loss of air made the crow start to panic. In response to it's desperation, a single blink of light flashed where a small speck of demonic energy circled an even bigger ball of solid dark light.
Strength multiple times beyond what a crow should possess exploded out of it's body. The mound of dirt shifted on top of it, throwing it's head around frantically loosened up the place it's beak got lodged into, another pull, and the crow's head popped free. Spitting grit out of it's mouth, a look of fright was in the crow's eyes, being smothered like that, the newly born demon beast didn't want a repeat of this traumatic event. It thought it would be buried alive for a moment there, feeling like it escaped a close brush with death, the crow flapped it's wings.
Between it's new, and old bodies, there was no comparison, the crow appeared to be clumsy right now because it had yet to familiarize itself with it's new form. Even then, with a slight movement of it's wings it effortlessly took to the air. The winds parted in front of it, it's wingspan which was now 2 meters cut through the air, yin energy flared up inside them, and the crow was a dozen meters away from the ground in 2 seconds. Shocked by it's new found speed, the crow messed up the rhythm of it's flapping, the yin energy it's body now naturally produced refined it's bones, as a newly transformed demonic bird it had acquired magically powered flight, which is another addition on the list of things it needed to get the hang of.
Some of these former animals were waking up, they've witnessed the ecstacy of spirituality with their own bodies, stoking the embers of obsession sprouting in their hearts. To satisfy that craving they needed to intake various amounts of energies everyday. Tomorrow was just another battle of life, and death to them, looking forward to a brighter tomorrow was a concept these creatures couldn't conceive of before today's miraculous encounter. Things were this way for them because that is what the heavens ordained, for it to be otherwise was a defiance of the natural order. Defying the natural order of heaven and earth is the only way this handicap can be overcome.
Opening their eyes, bright sparkles which weren't present before can be seen as the demonic beasts measured their counterparts. There were some who hadn't woken up from their deep state of meditation yet. Strangely, no one leaped to take advantage of them in that unguarded moment. With the acute senses they have, the demon beasts could easily determine those 3 fellows were out of their league. From it's position in the sky, the blood beak crow noticed this strange behavior, it had a puzzled expression with it's head tilted sideways observing the scene below it.
Probably because it was out of range the crow didn't feel the strong auras weighing down on the area. The 3 beasts' eyes were closed peacefully, chins resting against the ground, one of them, a black scaled king cobra with a golden hood, it's 6 meter long body packed with muscles that could crush a person to meat paste, breathed out strings of blue light every six minutes. Seeing it like this would make anyone's heart tremble in trepidation, now it was worthy of the 'king' part of it's name, though they were feeling the rush of new power, as if they were invincible, maybe it was their new spiritual awareness, but none of the beasts had the guts to go up and disturb the king cobra's meditation.
There was also a huge ash colored bear who's rear end with it's short round tail protruded out from a berry bush, in the middle of happily filling it's belly with delicious berries the bear lost consciousness out of the blue. Small cuts, and scrapes were left on it's body when it crashed into the thorny bush. This was such an undignified appearance for such a mighty beast. An expression of discomfort was plastered on it's face for over 45 minutes, then a scorching heat wave shot out from it's body suddenly.
The hairs on it's body changed from brown to an ashy color, getting close to it was similar to standing beside a furnace, previously it was an animal which relied on brute force to repel it's foes. There was no way to tell what kind of terrifying abilities it'd gained now. All of the cuts on it's body were healed, big patches of missing fur from the many battles it had fought in it's youth which had left it's coat in tatters also vanished without a trace, leaving behind a lustrous coat that was imbued with it's own spiritual properties. Like magic, old wounds that had plagued the bear, negatively impacting it's combat power, to where the most likely fate awaiting it would've been death at the hands of a younger, more vigorous beast, disappeared completely.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone