Dave cursed internally as he ran with all his might, every ragged breath burning his throat and his lungs despite his newfound strength, as he struggled to do as his innate ability said. His danger sense was going crazy, blaring at him that absolute certain death had encompassed his entire being, while the slight improvement to his innate ability, which directed him towards avoiding the danger, laid out the only path where he might survive while only being critically mained.
Behind him, the Primal Exarch, as Nero had named the monster, casually walked, toying with him. The ground trembled with each step it took, its lumbering form perpetually leaving Dave running in its shadow - a cruel mockery of Dave as he desperately tried to follow where his innate ability guided him. Behind them, they left gouges in the land as the creature’s six massive legs tore into the earth with its weight, a clear trail of how the thing massacred even the very ground it walked on.
Dave felt it. The creature’s gaze on his back was like a physical weight on his soul, trying to force him down to his knees and accept his role as a sacrificial beast. Ironically, it was the very fear that it inspired in him that kept him running and resisting the weight of that gaze.
At the same time, he knew. He knew that the only reason he was alive was because that monstrous behemoth, its flaming red eyes filled with a primal fury, was toying with him.
As if to emphasize that very point, the Primal Exarch reached forward with its sharp claws, its nails scraping the suit, as well as the skin, off Dave’s back. Yet it was just a scrape. He was bleeding, he was hurt, he was in pain, but not even his bones were cracked.
To make matters worse, his innate ability was telling him that the more the exarch played with him, the longer he’d have to live.
If Dave were not so completely consumed by fear and overwhelmed by his survival instincts, he would have noticed that the path he was running was exactly the same he had come from. Whether by coincidence, or design, he was running in a straight line towards Nero and the rest.
*****
Nero and the group ran fast, following the faintest of signs left behind by Dave. Fortunately, it seemed he too was keen on returning to the tavern, so the direction they were running was towards the exit.
That was good news, but it was not enough to improve Nero’s mood. In fact, the longer they ran, the worse his mood became.
"We’ve been running for almost half an hour now," Nero suddenly spoke, slowing down enough so that the group could focus on his words rather than keeping pace. "Not once in that time have we encountered another enemy nor curse. That... is not a good sign. Something has scared everything away."
They all understood what that meant, and they all exchanged uncertain looks.
"Should we focus on returning to the base instead of finding Dave?" Noman asked hesitantly. Out of the whole group, he was the one lagging behind the most. His young age and underdeveloped body were beginning to show their limitations.
"For now, Dave seems to be running towards the tavern, so we don’t need to change directions at all. Just keep your guard up, we’re close to the exit. Another hour and..."
Nero’s sentence remained in, for the trembling ground and a rumbling in the distance gave him pause.
Now Perilith, as the name suggested, was full of peril, and it would be too much for Nero to say that he could recognize each and every threat by sound alone. He had not spent enough time there for that, nor had he faced all the dangers of the land. Even so, that rumbling, Nero recognized.
The image of a dark monster, with four hind legs and two forelegs, four spiraling horns above its head and wings larger than its bodyspan, suddenly came to mind.
It sounded like it was right in their path, and if the constant rumbling was anything to go by, it was heading right in their direction.
"I think... we should go around," Vanessa said, all her anger evaporating under the looming threat of the exarch.
"It has wings and can fly," Nero said solemnly, as he tested the weight of his glaive in his hands. "If it wants to find us, we cannot escape. I’ll face it head on, and you guys use that time to circle around."
Vanessa and Bael both wanted to protest, but Nero did not wait to give them the opportunity. He launched himself forward with inhuman strength and speed, showing none of the trauma one might expect in facing a monster that had nearly killed him, and left him with a broken body. In truth, he did not feel any of that dread either.
It was not thoughts of revenge, or a rematch that drove him. Instead, it was the memory of what he saw when he emerged from the underground cave. He had seen the remnant corpses of all those who had followed him - the deaths he had been unable to prevent.
Nero’s grip on his glaive tightened as his mind sharpened even more. The effects of his baptism evaporated as if they were never there as Nero entered into a heightened state of battlereadiness.
He stepped on the peak of a hill and laid eyes on the creature at last. It looked even more fearsome than he remembered, its stature somehow larger, its horns even more twisted.
The Primal Exarch, even from afar, sensed Nero and turned its gaze towards the silhouette on the hill.
There was a challenge in those burning red eyes, and Nero’s cool blue eyes answered with unwavering defiance.
The exarch stood up on its hind legs and roared out into the air, the very sound causing the ground to quake and trees to shake. Dave, who was running right in front of the creature, fell to the ground, unable to keep his balance.
"No!" he yelled, realising he had stumbled when he could not afford to. He was meant to be a play thing, and the moment he no longer presented the slightest bit of challenge, it would be his end.
Despite himself, despite his innate ability that had all but given up now, he turned to look and saw the creature looking not at him, but past him.
For a brief moment, he had hope. If the creature was distracted he could escape! Just as he scrambled to his feet, the Primal Exarch turned to look down at him.
"No! Please!" Dave pleaded, sheer fear causing even his mind to shut down. Yet the exarch was not interested in any pleading or begging.
Its claw rose like a mountain sliding out of the earth, blotting out the sky above. He felt the air split, the pressure of death pressing down, even his heartbeat freezing as if it had already given up. There was no outrunning it. There was no fighting it. There wasn’t even enough time for any final thoughts, and final regrets.
He saw the black claws, sharper and more savage than steel, reaching for him. Yet, in the very last moment, he saw a flash of blue and silver. It was too quick for him to understand what it was, yet the claw that was aiming for his face had been deviated.
He was not spared, not. Both his legs were crushed, leaving not even any remnants for him to recognize, but Dave did not know that yet.
A shockwave launched his body backwards, slamming into a rock and throwing him to the ground, leaving him a concussed and disoriented mess.
There was pain somewhere . Or maybe it was everywhere, he couldn’t quite tell. His body, which would have surely given in to death had he not become an Initiate, held on.
Dave looked up, his brain still not registering that he was even alive. He expected, somewhere in the back of his mind, to see the toying, cruel look of the monster looking down at him.
Instead, he saw a back, broad and tall, covered in blue flames, standing before him. For a moment, Dave could not understand what was happening, or who he was looking at.
"This is my prey," Nero said, his voice firm and commanding.
There was a heavy silence that followed Nero’s voice, followed, eventually, by a deep chuckle.
"I already told you, unworthy vessel," the Primal Exarch said in a heavy voice, tinged with amusement, "this is the dominion of the Primal Aeon. You should not have returned."
Nero was not swayed by the implied threat, nor did his heart tremble as the exarch rose up, displaying its full height as it looked down at him with a hint of finality in its eyes.
"The last time we fought," Nero said, his voice steady as stone, "you showed me the mercy of leaving me at death’s door."
The sapphire flames encompassing Nero’s body suddenly started flickering, as if they contained a rage they could no longer hold onto.
"Today, I will return the same courtesy."