17,999 Modern Era, 14 years ago /// 5th Grand Sector, Equilibrium – Central-Southern Savannah.
The 5th Grand Sector, named Equilibrium, known for its natural beauty and climate which got, at first gradually, then exponentially hotter the further south one went, and colder the further north one went. The freezing north and the scorching south were separated primarily by the central equilibrium surrounded by the Ashra and Throa mountain ranges respectively.
The Central-Southern Savannah was a large strip of land separating the Ashra mountain range and the desert leading up to the Endless Dunes, filled mostly with beasts rather than monsters, and overall, not very dangerous.
'Bleugh. So boring…'
Imp, a former Goblin King, was currently making his way through the Central-Southern Savannah on his way towards the Ashra mountain range. He had ended up further south close to the Endless Dunes after an accident with a Space Fracture and ended up walking south towards the Endless Dunes. Only after robbing a merchant caravan had he managed to steal an enchanted map and correct his route towards the central equilibrium where he could safely return to the 4th Grand Sector.
'Hahhh!' Imp's frustration was barely contained within his tiny body his body, now attempting to escape though his mouth.
Imp was Elite, a high-tier supernatural who had originally been a Goblin King… Originally. A long time ago though, his tribe had been destroyed in war by another tribe, and although he had gotten revenge by killing their king, he had never tried to form another tribe, choosing instead to wander somewhat aimlessly around the 4th Grand Sector. As for why he wished to return to Ebony Earth if he had no home, it was simply because of familiarity and his lack of interest in other Grand Sectors.
There weren't many things in the surrounding area that could pose even a slight threat to him. Food was not a problem either as he could go weeks without eating and hunting was as easy as breathing. Water too, was not a problem as rivers and streams of water were common on the route he took, allowing him to drink to his heart's content whenever he came across one of them.
There was one small problem though, which was entertainment. After all, it was hard to walk alone through seemingly endless swathes of dune and savannah with nothing to do was quite boring. Although Imp knew he could entertain himself by hunting more frequently, his priorities currently were fixed on returning to Ebony Earth.
Not so bad if I only hunt one… But a goblin's goals must be malleable, focusing on one thing with obsession was the work ethic of dirty orcs did after all.
After a brief but careful consideration at the back of his mind, Imp decided to hunt down a Griffin, more so for fun than actual need.
Griffins were beasts with the torso and legs of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. Imp was initially surprised by the number of Griffins in the savannah as he had thought previously that Griffins lived in mountainous areas which turned out to be incorrect; Griffins were a very adaptable species that could thrive in almost any environment.
Wild Griffins, in the tiers of the supernatural, could have power ranging from a Beyonder (middle mid-tier) to Elite (middle high-tier), meaning that Imp's life was unlikely to be threatened by one.
After a few minutes of scouting the area using his superior eyesight, Imp set his eyes on a target.
It was a Griffin that Imp believed to be at the rank of an Ascender, much weaker than Imp himself. The Griffin had orangish-brown feathers so short it looked like fur, and weird legs which seemed to be an amalgamation of a lion's paws and an eagle's talons, creating an outwardly unnatural appearance. It was roughly six-feet tall on all fours, a head or two taller than Imp.
Imp was somewhat of a unique (former) Goblin King. Unlike other Goblin Monarchs, who usually ate and lazed around for a majority of their day, growing tall and large, Imp preferred to stay small and thin due to his love for stealth and thievery.
Slash there, land, Griffy… Imp had already begun to formulate and construct a plan by envisioning how the fight was most likely to go.
Imp's hunting plan was simple, coat his dagger in a poisonous concoction, stab the Griffin before it took off into the sky, and then wait until the Griffin grew weak from the poison and fell, unable to sustain flight. If the Griffin survived, Imp would simply kill it, if it didn't, it would save him the trouble.
Imp ran through the tall grass leading up to the Griffin who was perched on a large, smooth rock. Even at full speed, not a single sound could be heard from the goblin's movements, and the grass appeared as undisturbed as ever. This was the effect of the Skulker Skill Sequence, particularly, the Assassin sub-branch.
Reaching the rock, Imp slowly circled around it until he was facing the part closest to the ground. He bent himself forward, and sprung forward using his legs, flying towards the Griffin at incredible speeds. Before the beast could react, a gash suddenly appeared on its back as Imp flew past it, twisting and turning through the air like a jester to mock the Griffin before disappearing back into the grass, out of sight.
The Griffin wasted no time in jumping up into the air and flapping its wings to fly.
As it flew higher and higher, its eyes constantly scanned the expanse of tall grass for any sign of the annoying goblin.
Unbeknownst to the Griffin, Imp was currently standing still in the tall grass, snickering as he watched the dumbfounded Griffin.
The longer it waited, the more the Griffin's agitation rose until it decided enough was enough.
Suddenly, the Griffin's wings began to flap with far more power, not to rise in altitude, but instead to send powerful winds down over the tall grass. The winds blew with immense force, making the tall grass bend down and expose everything hidden in them, an antlion, a tortoise, a sneaky goblin…
'Eh?' Imp was caught off guard; he clearly hadn't expected the Griffin to use such a tactic so soon!
Imp was instantly exposed, none of his abilities were enough to hide his grey skin and dark clothes that contrasted against the light-coloured grasslands in the background. The fact that it was high noon did not help whatsoever.
The Griffin's eyes widened in fury as it lunged at Imp, preparing to ram into him. Whether it was to impale him or simply to try and crush him, Imp did not know.
Whoosh!
The winds did not cease at all as the beast approached, instead growing stronger and stronger, practically flinging the Griffin towards Imp.
Despite this small predicament, Imp was not flustered, he even laughed! Who did this Griffin think it was? Even if Imp didn't specialise in strength, he was still two minor tiers and one major tier higher than it was in the tiers of the supernatural!
Imp sent his Elite essence around his body, strengthening it in case something happened to go wrong.
As the Griffin's approach quickened more and more, Imp smiled in exhilaration.
Thrilling! He thought, looking directly at the approaching beast.
Finally, the Griffin arrived, opening its beak to lash out at Imp.
At that moment, Imp jumped, turning around mid-air to grab the Griffin by its beak, he pulled it back, causing the Griffin's head to be jerker backwards and making it fly back up into the air at a steep angle.
Letting go of the beak, Imp held on to the Griffin's back as it thrashed around wildly in the air, trying to get the foe off its back.
Imp let go of the Griffin with one hand, using it to draw out his ballock dagger and line it up with the Griffin's spine.
He waited for a second for the perfect moment, the brief intermission between the Griffin's manic movements. Once the time came, Imp wasted no time, stabbing his dagger directly into the Griffin's spine, severing it.
The Griffin let out a shriek as the flapping of its wings paused and its flight faltered, and after twisting the dagger, completely stopped, plummeting to the ground like a javelin.
Imp let go of the Griffin as he pulled out a large thin cloth from his pouch and used it as a parachute to slow down his descent.
Benefits ov thiefing. The cloth was another thing that he stole from the caravan.
Upon reaching the ground, he jogged to the Griffin, finding it sprawled on the ground, lifeless.
He smiled, getting closer to the corpse and cutting pieces from its flesh and stashing it into a spatial storage pouch.
After a few minutes, once Imp believed he had taken enough meat from the carcass, he got up and walked off, returning to his primary task of reaching the Ashra mountain range.
He left the rest of the carcass on the ground for the animals to eat, not even bothering to collect the Power Nature as it held no value for him.
He walked for the rest of the day, sleeping under a large rock and waking up the next day to move again.
…
11 days later, border of the Ashra mountain range.
Looking up at the wall of imposing mountains just a few hundred metres ahead of him, Imp felt unsure whether he was in the right place. The map that he stole described the Ashra mountain range as a lush, bright coloured environment while the mountains in front of him appeared to be dreary and unsettling.
Is inside more good than outside? Imp's goblin speaking habits were not hard to notice even in his own mind.
Imp stood there for a few seconds, then shrugged and began to walk towards the valley in front of him, unsure of what to expect.
A few minutes later, he managed to reach the valley's entrance which was surrounded by thick fog that limited his sight to only a few metres in front of him.
After walking deeper into the valley for a while, Imp looked right to see a large monolith that had toppled over yet still maintained its shape without any cracks or signs of deterioration.
Moving towards the tip of the monolith with curiosity, Imp saw some texts written in Ancient Sharifyt.
Must be from Void Age. Imp assumed, almost all texts written in Ancient Sharifyt were from the Void Age.
"It came one day without warning,"
"Descended upon us like living darkness,"
"Moved quickly through our village and left fast,"
"Destroyed everything and left nothing behind."
"Old Eyraba remembers seeing the Four-Winged Dread as it destroyed her house…"
The accounts continued.
Imp's eyes widened at the words "Four-Winged Dread" and a shiver ran down his spine, suddenly making him stand upright.
Winged Dread was one of the names given to a legendary primordial monster known for bringing chaos and destruction everywhere she went. She would cause ruin without any reason simply out of boredom. On top of this, Winged Dread was said to reincarnate into one of her eggs every time she died, and each time, unleash a larger catastrophe than the last.
'Hapless…' Even Imp, a Graveskin, felt bad for the mundane people who had to witness such a terrifying monster ruin their village – and probably their lives – without being able to do anything.
He continued his stride into the valley until he reached the end of the fog.
Upon passing through the fog, Imp was met with a bright, lush forest that seemed similar to how humans described paradise. He could not see far due to him being at ground level, but it was still breathtaking and exciting to finally escape from the boring dry savannah and enter a humid forest full of greenery.
After taking a deep breath of fresh air, Imp once again pulled out the map and began examining it.
The route that Imp was going to take wasn't just any route, it was a forgotten and somewhat forbidden pathway through the underground cave systems that ran across the two sides of the Ashra mountain range widthwise. There was only one problem with this, that being the fact that the Ashra mountain range was known for being safe on the surface while being extremely dangerous underground.
No big nest, no counters, no top-tear supernatural, no problems. He spoke inwardly,
There were three entrances within seven miles of him, so he chose the closest one and set his sights on a mountain to the east.
Imp made no attempt to conceal his footsteps, allowing them to make thumping sounds which seemed to echo slightly across the forest.
His surroundings blurred as he sped by trees, bushes, rocks and unsuspecting animals, scaring them off.
At some point, he came across a river and had to jump across it to avoid getting wet. While doing so, he had seen a bear that he assumed was some kind of beast hunting fishes.
After ten minutes of running, he finally reached the mountain and began to quickly climb it using his supernatural agility without caring about exhaustion.
Halfway to his destination though, he encountered a problem.
'Hah? Golem?'
In his way was a Cloud Whistler, a gaseous golem known for wearing weird masks and making extremely loud whistling noises. Since gaseous golems were usually made out of wind, their bodies were often defined by the dust and random items that were caught in their body. This Cloud Whistler was defined by the grass, leaves and dirt in its body, making it look like a…
Imp suddenly snorted, 'Flying fart- HAHA' then burst out laughing.
His amusement was short lived though, as the Cloud Whistler instantly turned to face him, and then, Imp's ears exploded.
FWEEEET!
This Cloud Whistler was a high-tier supernatural! The sound of the whistle was not only extremely loud, but it was further amplified due to supernatural effects! Its whistle would be enough to badly injure Imp or even go as far as to kill him if exposed for too long.
It did not end there though, the gaseous composition of the golem would be a nightmare for Imp to deal with. In simple terms, the golem's very being countered Imp!
No time to infect shadow…
Imp groaned in pain, covering his ears as he quickly ran down the mountain, giving up the notion of battling the golem and deciding to try the other two entrances.
…
A few miles away on a different mountain.
Oliver had taken Gina out on a trip through the Ashra mountain range. He had made it sound like it would just be for entertainment, but in truth, he was hiding the fact that he planned to propose to Gina.
They watched the gorgeous view presented to them by nature, eating some light snacks. The colourful vegetation of the vast landscape was lit up by the afternoon sunlight, creating a bright, lively atmosphere. There were valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers and springs below them, practically asking to be observed.
Oliver took a deep breath and exhaled, readying his mind for what he was about to do.
The two had been silent for a while, and the tension between them had been rising to an unbearable extent.
Suddenly, Oliver stopped eating and dropped down on one knee, and spoke while staring at the wide-eyed Gina, 'Gina, I thought this would be the right time to do this, will you marry-'
FWEEEET!
…
One hour later, at a cave entrance.
Imp grimaced in pain, the deafening whistle made by that wretched Cloud Whistler had been so loud that Imp's ears continued to ring even an hour later.
This mountain that Imp was on had far less vegetation than the others, only a few small groves and yellow grass. Walking up a small slope, Imp found himself at a large mine entrance with solid stone supports. The entrance was almost 16 metres in width and 10 metres in height.
Looking around to see nothing dangerous, Imp began his descent into the underground cave system.
On his way down, Imp pulled out an enchanted lantern and lit it using his essence.
The cave seemed to be built for mining some kind of metal, but Imp couldn't figure out what kind.
There were no lanterns, no abandoned equipment, not even any rail tracks, everything seemed to be removed by hand.
This was not too surprising however, as it was common for large mines to later be turned into living spaces such as villages or even cities after a large portion of the materials were mined out.
After a short while, Imp reached the bottom of the initial descent into the cave, being met with a large, extensive cavern that was hundreds of metres wide and long, with large rocky pillars, roads, buildings and even some old bridges being present beside the cliffs and all over the cavern. Most of the buildings were overgrown, giving it an aesthetic that Imp found unique and strange compared to the gothic settlements he saw in the 4th Grand Sector.
Looking down the path he was standing on, Imp saw…
It took every ounce of self-control in Imp's entire being to not let out a yelp, instead, he turned around and dashing out of the cave as fast as he could.
At the bottom of the cave, coiled up around a large pillar of rock, Imp saw an absolutely titanic Basilisk that must have at least been 140 metres long and was probably a top-tier supernatural!
Damn all fate! Imp screamed inwardly.
After exiting the cave, Imp sat down right outside the entrance, listening for any sounds that might come from the cave.
After fifteen minutes of heavy breathing, sweat and an unnatural heartbeat, Imp concluded that the Basilisk had not in fact woken up, and embarked on his final journey to the final entrance.
On the way, Imp decided to sit down, have a meal and rest, so he made a small campfire, hunted a rabbit, cooked it and ate it while absentmindedly staring at the sky as it turned night.
Taking in the sight of the vast Cosmos made him feel both amazed and terrified.
Imp remembered a quote told to him by another high-tier supernatural, "You never know whether that beautiful star you've been staring at is actually a star, and you can never be sure it isn't staring back down at you."
Shivering slightly, imp doused the flame using water from a nearby spring, covered himself with bushes and went to sleep.
…
Tomorrow noon, next to a waterfall.
Imp had long taken in the sights that were offered to him by nature and was now looking for the entrance, constantly looking down at his map and up at the rocky cliff.
'Protruder rock, protruding rock, protru- WHERE?!' Imp's frustration only rose and rose; he had been searching for almost two hours for the damned thing!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Imp began to punch every small protruding rock he could see, shattering them.
The map described a small protruding rock to the right side of the waterfall which would supposedly open up the final entrance if one pushed it hard enough, that much was simple, standard opening to a secret entrance. The only problem was that the cliff was over 60 metres long and had upwards of two thousand small protruding rocks on it.
Bam!
'GRAH!' Imp let out a pained grunt as the final rock he punched quickly went inwards into the cliff and then stopped, seemingly becoming indestructible.
Imp jumped around continuously while shaking his hand frantically, waiting for the pain to disappear. After around half a minute the pain had disappeared, and Imp was ready to go inside.
Staring inside, Imp was met with a narrow passageway barely large enough for an average human to walk through, which meant that Imp could walk through it without problem thanks to his small stature.
Walking into the passageway, Imp decided not to use his lamp this time, and instead chose to both conceal his footsteps and chose to drink a Potion of Obscure Sight that he himself brewed using his truly sublime alchemical potion making knowledge that no goblin could compare to. This potion would not only let him see through the darkness but also allowed him to see invisible things such as Phantoms.
After a dozen minutes of walking, Imp finally came to the end of the passageway, and the sight in front of him made him want to cry.
Hate spiders… Imp spoke inwardly with both anger and sorrow.
The entire cavern and cave system seemed to be a nest of gigantaraneae, giant supernatural spiders. Although most of these spiders were only Beyonders and slightly shorter than him, the sheer number of them combined with the few Ascenders and high-tier supernaturals made this an absolute nightmare for Imp who had a personal hatred towards gigantaraneae.
Damn. All. Fate.
The giant spiders appeared to be dark brown, hairy and absolutely disgusting. The sounds that they made were almost deafening for Imp, making it hard for him to focus his senses.
Just at this one moment, he could see hundreds if not thousands of gigantaraneae!
As he was about to turn back, Imp thought back on the Cloud Whistler whose mere existence would be a nightmare for him to deal with, and the titanic Basilisk laying asleep in the overgrown cavern, reluctantly deciding to risk his all trying get through this cave.
If he managed to get past this nest and make it to the next passageway, the gigantaraneae wouldn't be able to follow him, and he'd easily be able to make it across the entire mountain range by tomorrow (assuming he sprinted through the entire passageway the entire time).
Making up his mind, Imp did not take a deep breath so as to not alert the spiders and took a step onto the closest web.
The entire cavern was filled with complex and thick weaves of spider web which appeared to spit out and consume countless spiders every second, Imp did not even dare to imagine what would happen if he fell into the ocean of webs.
He would have to make sure not to move too quickly or make any rash movements so as to not alert the overseeing gigantaraneae who would sense him through the vibrations in the web. As for how they could manage to sense a small goblin like him through the vast nest or how they managed to do it with so many other spiders walking on it was not something Imp fully understood, but it was something he knew from experience.
Constantly Imp had to make sure not to bump into one of the spiders while also making sure not to make too many sudden movements.
Hiss!
Imp felt extreme discomfort and disgust due to being in such close proximity to so many spiders. Their mandibles, fur and wide black eyes far too detailed and visible. The experience was worsened further by the hisses and clicks and countless other noises reverberating throughout both the cavern and the webs.
After various minutes of careful sneaking, Imp finally saw the exit passageway surrounded by webs, covering almost every part of it. Instantly he began to think of a solution on how he could enter the passageway without alerting the spiders.
As he was thinking, a spider dozens of metres above happened to… slip? Inexplicably falling on top of Imp, crashing into him and… alerting every single spider in the vast nest.
DAMN-ALL-FATE! Imp thought the exact moment he realised what had happened.
Instantly the gigantaraneae swarmed towards Imp, letting out angry hisses while racing towards Imp, practically running over each other to reach him.
Seeing this, Imp quickly strengthened his body with essence and jumped up into the air, catching himself on a small weave of webs above and balancing himself on top of it.
As the gigantaraneae rushed to the sides to try and reach him, Imp spent his few very short moments to move his pouch to a place where he could easily access it and put on a mask over his face.
He then pulled out his dagger and a vial of a translucent liquid and sent his Decay Affinity essence into it, strengthening the effect of the concoction inside.
In the next moment, an especially large gigantaranea jumped towards him, crashing into the web and forcing Imp to jump due to the vibrations on it.
Master. Imp thought briefly, putting the prior vial next to his hip and pulling out a different one as the giant spider lashed at him.
Dashing backwards and constantly dodging the spider's lunges, Imp managed to slice a limb off of the abominable thing.
As the spider recoiled from the pain, Imp used his gauntleted hand to light a fuse attached to the vial in his hand and threw it at the monster.
Hiss!!
The concoction entered the spider's mouth and suddenly lit on fire!
The spider's insides exploded as its eyes began to be discoloured from the inside and flames spewed out of its mouth.
By then, the average and some high-tier gigantaraneae had managed to reach Imp, attempting to stack on top of him to overwhelm him with their weight and numbers.
Imp quickly used his Affinity to shadows and covered his body with them, making the spiders momentarily confused on where he went as he nimbly and skilfully ran between them.
Knowing that he could not fight all of them had once, Imp once again jumped, this time towards the swarm.
As he flew through the air, Imp reached towards his hip and grabbed hold of the vial he placed there.
Throughout this entire confrontation, Imp had been pouring his essence non-stop into the first vial, putting around 3,000 notches (30%) of his essence into it.
Deciding that the vial was ready, he shattered it in his hand, instantly causing a chain reaction to occur throughout the nest.
Unlike the other explosive vial, this one was filled to the brim with poison.
An almost unnoticeable cloud similar to water vapour quickly spread across a part of the nest, causing the webs to melt and spiders to both suffocate and die of excessive poison consumption.
The ones that survived did not survive the fall caused by the rapid dissolution of webs.
Imp landed safely on the ground, since he was an Elite not even falling at terminal velocity would cause him too many problems.
Some braver high-tier gigantaraneae attempted to rush towards him but ended up fainting as they were too strong to be outright killed by the poison.
Imp did not even think about killing the gigantaraneae or collecting their Power Natures as at a vast presence descended on him at that moment.
sh#*.
The queen of the spider nest, a top tier supernatural gigantaranea suddenly appeared, fortunately on the other side of the nest. She had probably been in a slumber and had taken a short while to fully come to her senses and realise what was happening.
The queen was huge, at least 14 metres in height and covered in pitch black fur. As she approached, countless webs shot out from both her body and the surrounding environment, trying to both rebuild the nest and stop the invader from escaping, but it was too late.
Imp had already run into the passageway and began to sprint with all his might, not even considering stopping before reaching the end.
…
11 hours later, Softmoor, on a small hill next to the Ashra mountain range.
Saying that Imp was exhausted would have been an understatement. He had spent all of his essence, stamina and will sprinting across over 100 kilometres of passages over 11 hours.
'Hah, hah, hah…' Imp was breathing so heavily that each one sounded like a groan.
It was nighttime by the time he made it out of the passageway, and he could look up to the sky to once again see the gorgeous sky decorated by countless stars, planets and nebulae, not to mention the moon. Unlike before, Imp felt no discomfort looking at the sky, as if the eye that had been watching him once had decided to turn its gaze away, leaving behind only the pleasant lightshow called the Cosmos.
Looking down, one could see a vast moor filled with plants, trees and gorgeous landscape which practically blessed the eye to look at. The sight was countless times more breathtaking since Imp was on a tall hill, allowing him to see dozens upon dozens of kilometres in front of him.
He could see a large river flowing out of the mountains into the distance where it met a lake that looked no larger than Imp's thumb from such a distance. Perhaps there was a village there, one large enough to host a gateway allowing Imp to sneak back to his Grand Sector without problem.
But that, he would worry about later, he had only just now confirmed his escape from the nest of gigantaraneae and was beginning to calm down.
Thinking back to his personal history, this small journey really wasn't that bad! After all, what was this small stride compared to the terrors he had once faced in his life? Imp's mind rolled back like a film tape to events leading decades back. Imp remembered his pancreas exploding, being stabbed through the heart, having a parasite eat his brain, being chased by a legion of orcs, his first encounter with gigantaraneae… after only a few recollections though, Imp's thoughts began to slow as he started feeling the drowsiness setting over his mind and bodt.
'Sleep…' was the last thing Imp uttered before falling on his back, fast asleep.
…
Next morning.
Pat, pat, pat.
Imp groaned, he had just been trying to have a good night's sleep after a supremely deadly encounter when some rude thing had come up and started kicking him!
Imp waved whatever was doing it away before attempting to fall back asleep.
All of a sudden, a block of ice dropped into Imp's mouth, causing him to yelp and sit up before being flashed by the sunlight.
'Ah!'
After a few seconds, Imp opened his eyes properly to see a tall figure dressed in loose fitting black garments staring down at him.
Imp was frightened by the unexpected appearance of the creature before the feeling turned into confusion.
'Why wear here?' Imp muttered, it was common to see this kind of clothing in the desert, but Softmoor had nothing to do with deserts! It was humid here, lukewarm, comfortable... There was clearly no reason to dress that way to hide from the sun unless you were a Night Dwelling-
'Vampire?' Imp asked.
'Yes.' Replied a monotone male voice.
Imp quickly stood up, more so out of respect than fear, as all his fears had disappeared just a few seconds after waking up.
'Send me home?' Imp asked, wasting no time.
The vampire tilted his head slightly, clearly thinking (although his face was covered by garments), then replied, 'Sure.'
'Yes!' Imp rejoiced. This why I love vampires!
…
Eastern 4th Grand Sector, evening, next to a large river.
A shiny crack suddenly appeared in the air, beginning to warp the space around it like a black hole. The crack started smaller than a finger, but quickly grew to the size of a dwarf, then slightly larger.
All of a sudden, the crack in the air shined and expanded, throwing out a goblin from inside the light before quickly beginning to close.
'Thanks!' the goblin yelled back at the crack in gratefulness just before it disappeared.
Getting up, the goblin dusted off his clothes and began turning around to figure out where he was before seeing… pagodas?
'Thisn't where I'm from!' Imp yelled.
The End