Chapter Two, Sant Dreylla
Sant Dreylla fixed her boot- their boot- with the adhesive stick the girl found in her magical belt of useless items. Before, the people would never let them leave without making sure they were cared for and perfectly equipped. Now, they just witness the girl stumbling around barely aware of her surroundings- she could have fixed the boot in the last town they slept in. At least she listens to them and know how to not get herself killed. She's asleep now, just shy of five hours after sitting down. A ghostly chime dings once from their waist and the runed belt buckle glows blue, just light enough to make out the square in the dark. Two of the capsules have magically restored themselves- eight are now full. Plenty to keep moving, especially if the girl stays asleep.They stretch for a few minutes, massaging the wear from the girl's body before jumping down from the parapet and landing gracefully on their toes. They strode cautiously, continuing their westward path through the ancient stone halls. The saint could feel their true body in this place, deep in its belly. They could feel something else, too. Something older than them, that thing- that being- that they searched for in their past life. The being that led them to their first death. They were unsure of the distance between their body and the being, memories from the end are hazy or forgotten. It was a room with massive crystal growths...
She's awake. It's like listening underwater, they can't make out her words. Her emotions are clear, though- she's confused. Presumably wondering how long it has been since she fell asleep. The saint doesn't answer. They are not one for conversation, if she can hear them in the first place. Out of courtesy for the girl, they find another flare in the belt and light it. They know the girl is afraid of the dark, she makes their heartbeat race when exposed to it for too long. They continue at a steady pace for about another hour, with the girl occassionally babbling something indecipherable. They know when it's a question because they can feel her resentment at their lack of response.
Sant Dreylla stops and swipes their hand to shush the girl. There's a chittering up ahead. The saint kneels, listens closely to the ground. Step step step step, step step step, silence, chitter. It has at least six legs, and sounds either amphibian or reptilian in origin. They strain, tuning out the girl's rising heartbeat to hear the thing. It's over one hundred and fifty yards away and low to the ground. The footfalls say that it is larger than a man but not by much, and it has something dragging behind it, maybe a tail. The girl's fear is tangible to the saint, but this should not be a difficult fight. Sant Dreylla pulls Dulliol from their head, preferring the speed and range of the single blade in an extended hall, strikes a small hole into the dirt floor to stick the flare into, then waits just outside of its glow.
As the creature rounded the corner, the saint's plan was immediately put out. The beast could see in the dark and was not distracted in the slightest by the light of the flare, and came charging towards them. It was eight feet in length and half as high with pale scales and savage green eyes. It waddled on eight stout legs, ending in short claws, with a mouth leading to its neck on either side of the head. As it approached, the mouth gaped and revealed three rows of uniform, dagger-point teeth. Sant Dreylla hopped, kicking off the wall to quickly evade the lunging bite and dragged Dulliol's edge across the thing's neck but the scales were too tough. As they landed, the beast whipped its long tail out and struck the saint in the leg, which bruised immediately. It was slow but carried a lot of force.
As the tail flicked back, the saint moved to the offense, darting diagonally three paces and piercing the monster deep, just above the left middle-hind leg. It roared, trying again to slam them with its tail, but the saint cleared it with a hop and slashed at the tail as it flew back which let loose another yip from the beast. It stomped angrily, trying to make itself appear dominant, but Sant Dreylla lunged forward unfazed. Strike, strike, strike, three in a row caught its left side. With the sheer bulk of it, this could take an hour. With racing thoughts of how to speed this combat along, the beast charged once again, this time dipping low and catching the saint off-guard. Using its head as a ram, it pushed them back into the glowing light of the flare, slamming them into the jagged stone wall adjacent to it with a hollow cracking sound. The girl was worried about her body. The saint could not spare the time to do the same, and let adrenaline fill them. Before its jaws could open again, the saint took Dulliol in both hands and dug down, dug deep, into the creature's back. It recoiled, ripping away from them and letting loose a spurt of deep green blood from the wound and thrashing recklessly.
The saint fell to their knees for only a moment, breathing deep and rising as the thing shook its pain away. Whatever they struck, it must have been major. Its animalistic fight or flight response must be kicking in, as it began backing away. Sant Dreylla would not let it live, however, and charged, letting Dulliol's tip drag and kick up dirt before spinning it into a cloud in front of the beast. They had intended to leap through it as a surprise tactic, but they were surprised in turn when bright green cones of light shot from the beast's eyes, piercing their cover and overpowering the flare behind them. The light burned and rendered their surroundings in black and green. Unsure of what was transpiring, the saint rocketed forward with both hands gripping Dulliol, running head-on into the green glow and sliding the rapier into the creature's skull through its right eye. As it struggled, the saint pushed harder, muscles tense, until they felt something pop on the other side and the monster went limp. Over the course of an extended second the eyes dimmed from green suns to jade rocks. The saint lingered for a second, before staggering back, flicking thick blood and ichor off of their rapier, and replacing it into their head. Their arrogance cost them- if they considered the thing could see in the dark, they could have prepared a better trap. As they return to the flare to retrieve it, they look to the scorched area on the wall that the creature's eyes blasted and notice a perfect stone scorpion stuck to it. Sant Dreylla takes note of the oddity, lifts the flare from the ground, and continues west.
Comic
