Draimon: Fracture: Erasend- Book 2: Journey's Beginning

Chapter 6: Past And Future

Dyven opened the door, and Chuben flew towards them, "welcome back master, are you ready to go?"

"I am."

Chuben stared at Aiden, her waving back; he sighed and let his legs drop. "She's not coming with us, is she?

"She wanted to, now come on."

"Very well," the Fualow replied.

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The three walked the narrow brown streets in the dim light, tall rough buildings on either side. Rotreasi carried trash cans away within eyesight and cleaned the area by picking up and eating rubbish, including l*****g the ground with their long tounges. When Aiden looked at them, she saw they covered their bodies in trash; it seemingly fused with the other pieces. She couldn't help but stare at them; one saw her and smiled back, his lips rising across his face.

"Those are Rotreasi, a sup-species of Rotreshi who deal in rubbish; we should get away before they come any closer," he said, grabbing her hand and picking up his pace away from the Demimen.

"Why, do you hate them?"

"No, they just smell really bad, even with the Odaniae," Aiden looked up to see small Creatures flying over the group, their wings a blur. "You know there're even some Rotreshi who work in therapy."

"Kinda regret not taking that Monster knowledge course now," Aiden said.

"Just means we have more to talk about."

She couldn't help back look away.

"Huh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "it just gets kinda dull in there, you know."

"Yeah, trades danger with boredom, and I did not want to work in power production; that job ***** your stamina..."

She stopped when two Shifters fighting one another came into view. One had brown scaled skin with six spine legs, the two in front large. It had a long-bladed tail, clawed arms and a long neck with jaw and blade horn. The Transformed pierced the earth with its front legs. The opponent, a man with a long tail, lifting himself as the ground exploded. He twisted and slammed his tail down, then going in for an assault of twists and blows.

"And the other way, just let them kill each other," Dyven said.

They kept walking in a straight line until Dyven took a hard turn left.

"Wait, why are we..." Aiden stopped to moan, and her body nearly fell before both she and Dyven forced themselves to step back. "**** yeah. The Lumedi consumed house," she said as she steadied her breathing.

"Sorry, guess their aura got stronger," Dyven replied.

"And just one person caused that?" Aiden asked, pointing to the home-house, modified to have boarded windows and made taller by Meems."

"One or a couple, I think."

"It can happen to more, can't it?" Aiden asked.

"They should know that if they want to or feel themselves turning, they can just go into the house. We hopefully shouldn't end up like Lutal."

"Sorry for asking..."

"Oh, it's no problem."

"But, like can't we deal with them, what if they grow too much?"

"Then we'll just build their tower higher and wider, hey better to have them than apathy, sadness or rage Consumed, heck those Lumedi can even override them. We also hire the ones who are more in control. Their l**t control is incredibly powerful for Monster hunting, anyway; let's just walk around them.

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"You don't need another person; I am more than you need for Monsters like these," Chuben said when they back en route.

"Shouldn't you be happy that Dyven's got me?"

"I am more than able to protect master Dyven, but with you here, his skills will degrade."

"I'm not looking to become stronger; I just want to protect that house. When more Hunters go there, I'll even stop."

Chuben sighed, "if that is what you wish."

"Look, when I die, your contract'll end. After that, you'll be free to do what you want."

"I shall wait until that day then."

Aiden stopped, "don't you care about him? What even're you!" She yelled.

"Sorry, but for me to form a connection, I need to fight alongside and push my masters; that just hasn't happened with this one."

"But?"

Chuben flew towards Aiden's face, "I may talk like a Human, but as you can see, I'm not. I simply value strength above all else; that's why my kind joined you. If I had a say, you would be sent to where ever you call home."

"That's enough, Chuben!" Dyven yelled.

Chuben flew away from Aiden, her regaining her footing.

"My apologies," he said, waving his head to the side.

"Come one, we're here," he said, opening the door.

"Hey Dyven," the counter attendant with pure white skin and long hair wearing a mix of red and brown synsis said.

"Hey, Tamra, got someone with me," he said, nearing the counter.

"Welcome," she replied.

"So, how does this work?" Aiden asked.

"It's simple, really; you take a weapon from this fine selection here," Tamra said, waving her arm across the various weapons behind her. "Then you go into the corridors and kill any Monster you find; you'll also get some credit for each kill."

"Nice," Aiden replied, "but why are there Monsters roaming the halls?"

Dyven opened his mouth.

"It's ok; I'll tell'er," Tamra said, holding up her hand, "as you may never well know, this world has Monsters that deal in corpses, either reviving or using them to grow. So when a Monster appears, we kick them into the hunting halls away from the bodies and the staff. Then it's Hunters, Hunters in training or non-Hunters job to kill them, the non-ones supervised of course."

"But if you know when they appear, why not just..."

Tamra cut Aiden off by putting a light red gloved finger to her limbs, "you do not know why many times people ask that question. Ok, the best way to deal with these kinds of Monsters is through inceration; turns out other than Pyroians, corpses burn away into nothing, and we kinda need them for synsis, which we use for like everything." Tamra shook her jacket and leaned back.

"O yeah, our clothes, building, basically everything's made from blood," she shivered slightly.

"Says the person who treats Outwallers like story characters," Dyven noted.

"We don't use just the blood; we mix it with other stuff; but yeah, that is kinda cold, even for me," the Cyroian said.

Aiden shivered a second time, "why is it so cold?" She asked.

"so the corpses can freeze," she paid attention to Dyven and covered her mouth, "by Adam, Dyven, are you ok. You're wearing clothes and heat synsis at that."

"Said the same thing," Aiden said.

"I'm fine; I've still got a few years left in me."

"But you're in the later stages; you caught it when your wife left."

"Can we stop talking about my health? I just came here to fight Monsters."

"Sorry," Tamra said, then looking at Aiden, "so what weapon do you want; I see that you're a Mechoian though precision doesn't mean all that much in here; few kill points on top of regeneration and all.

"You could take either a cyro or electro cannon," Dyven suggested.

"Well, I'm legally required to take the electro one," Tamra nodded and handed over a weapon with a barrel thinner than the others, "I'll give you a lighter one."

"They do the same," he said as he got his heavy pyro cannon, "I'll deal with the flames, and yours'll make them even stronger. Chuben'll fan around them."

"And I can take the electricity and even make it even stronger."

"Yeah, and no talking unless you want to give our spot away, but you can watch my back something this bastard doesn't do," Dyven said lightly, slapping Chuben over the head.

"I was pushing you," he whimpered.

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The three wandered through the brightly lit halls.

They rounded a corner to find a hunched Rotreshi, veiled in an oversized full-body coat of skin covered in belt-like bands with bone armour along the sleeves that hid her hands, body and drapes. Her ample chest and thick thighs raised the coat in those areas.

Only two parts of her body were visible, her feet covered in bone armour; the two guessed the bone protected the rest of the leg. Then, was the face, clearly Human apart from the large scars and the eyes; covered in a too-big hood was a sickly pale face with thick wild red hair. Her eyes were pale as well, but each had a thin c***k from top to bottom.

A visible Odaniae flew over the hood, but Dyven and Aiden were the only two who noticed it.

She shambled towards them and mumbled before collapsed; Dyven rushed towards her and motioned Aiden to follow with her cautiously stepping forth.

"She's not going to eat our faces off. Is she?" Aiden asked.

"O, she can't; we would be dead if she wanted to," Dyven replied.

Aiden was silent for a moment, "THEN WHY THE HELL'RE YOU HELPING HER IF SHE CAN KILL US!"

"You can kill her right here. I saw how fast you ran towards her; you can bring your foot down and crush her head."

Dyven shrugged his shoulders, "I just have a rule where if I can't reason with or the Monster wants to die, then I kill it. She might actually be one I can; it's far better than just killing them." Dyven paused to think, "Chuben feed her some of your body."

"Why?" Both asked.

"Rotreshi, despite being the physically weakest Demimen, can gain Dracomen levels of power by absorbing the properties of their food.

"WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GIVE HER THE MUSCLES OF A PROBABLY REALLY STRONG FUALOW!"

"I am; I'm over two thousand years old."

"YEAH, REALLY STRONG, IF YOU DO THAT, SHE'LL KILL US ALL!"

Dyven covered his ears, "you done?"

"Yes. Sorry."

Dyven sighed, "think about it; why is she here?"

"She probably wants muscles considering what you said," Aiden replied.

Dyven nodded, "and she was likely kicked out of her village."

"Muscles, want. To be strong," the Monster girl moaned.

"There, she likely came her as it was the closest place she could get muscles; come on, Chuben. I want to show her the Monsters are far better for her than us."

Chuben snorted, "fine, but she attacks you; it is your responsibility to kill her."

"Yeah, yeah, just do it."

Chuben landed, one of his wings growing to many times its size and detaching from his body.

The Rotreshi shuffled to the meat and began eating it; standing as she ate, when finished, she stood straight up, looked at the three of them and covered her face with her hood. "Go away," she said with a weak voice.

"See, she's fine," Dyven said.

"Please don't talk about me," the Monster girl replied.

"You want muscles, don't you? You want to get stronger; I can help with that."

"Stronger, yes, that's all I remember," she replied, "but how did I get here?" She asked.

Dyven turned to Aiden and whispered, "with them being in a constant state of near-death and rot. Their memory isn't the best."

"Did you give me that limb?" The Rotreshi asked, "thank you."

"Yes."

"So if I eat you, I can get even stronger? Finally, a big strong body," she said, eyes turning wild, raising her club sleeve and thrashing down. Dyven raised his arms and held the blow with a faint brown barrier, then moving his arms to the side, the attack dropped, and he bonked the girl on the head with a fist.

"Oww," she said, rubbing the top of her head with a sleeve.

"Chuben give her more," Dyven ordered.

He snickered, "glad you're cooperating," shoving an enlarged wing into her wide maw.

The Rotreshi tore into the flesh before Chuben cut her off. She swayed her body, "this power."

"Yes, plenty more where that came from."

"Where?"

"Outside this city, we'll take you there."

The Monster-girl covered her face with her hood, "just leave me alone. I can go there myself. I'm strong enough now."

"No, we'll take you. I know how your kind works; you can use muscles from your stores, but it doesn't take long for them to fade away due to your biology. You'll run out and become helpless in a fight."

"I don't care; shut up, or I'll kill you. I may not be able to take you or that other Monster, but I bet I can kill her.

"Hurt her, and I'll kill you," Dyven replied.

The Demimen gritted her fangs, and Aiden shifted her feet at his answer.

"Come on," Dyven said, "Chuben, use guard-coated hands to grab her neck."

"Let go off me, I'll kill you!" She yelled as much as her voice allowed her.

Chuben leaned in, "you forget your new strength comes from a fraction of mine."

"Just a little more socialising, then you can be alone and get as strong as you want. Just store those muscles for now, would you, and it's not far to the wall."

The Monster-girl was silent after that, so were the three others on the trip to the exit.

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"This door'll take you to Tamra; she'll sort you out," Dyven said as they reached it.

Chuben let her down, and she turned to face them, "thank you, I'll..."

"Yeah, yeah, your welcome," Dyven said, pushing her out by her bone armour, "just don't ever come to this house again, ok, bye now," and he closed the door. He heard the Odaniae crash against the door, "and you," he said, opening the door, the Rotreshi letting out a harsh cry.

"Did you really mean that?"

"Of course I did; I am sure she can do good and become strong."

"No, about the other thing," Aiden said.

"Oh, of course, I did; we sit next to each other."

"Uh, how many of them are like that?" Aiden asked, changing the subject.

"Very few, many of them are content to live as they are," he stopped to think, "though I have heard that the judges'll turn criminals into Rotreshi for drastic crimes. Or if someone mutates."

Aiden shivered slightly, "you think that's why she's like that."

Dyven shrugged his shoulders, "no way to know; I doubt she'll remember? You wanna keep going?"

Aiden nodded

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"Hey, thanks for sparing her," Aiden said after a while.

Chuben snorted, "you should have just killed her; I know you could have done it without that damn weapon of yours."

"Yeah, what was that?"

"Due to myself catching slow-death, I'm slowly becoming a Phyoian; you know those with really strong bodies and senses. So my body is growing stronger every day."

Aiden hung her head, "but when you become a full Phyoian, your body will become weaker every day until you die."

Dyven was silent, "anyway; I wanted to get her to change her ways; if she wouldn't, then I would have knocked her out and left her outside the wall. Far better to have her protect this place."

As he talked, a green-Sludged came into view, him shambling towards them. The Bioian looked like any other man, but a thick green substance covered his body with tentacles of the same squirming and wrapped around his limbs. "Please kill me," he moaned as his body rushed towards them, stepping out of the way. The Sludged turned, the man inside struggling to breathe; he looked ready to collapse, but the tentacles held his body up. The tips turned into eyeless maws, "I don't want this!" He cried as the teeth rushed towards them.

"Aiden, stun them."

"Right," and a blast of yellow electricity sprayed out the tentacles falling as the energy stuck them.

Dyven loosed a fire stream, "don't stop. I shall honour your request," he said, stepping closer with Aiden beside him.

The flames surged with the electricity and engulfed the Sludged, "thank you," the man said.

"Chuben!"

"Fine," he said, fanning his wings to form a tornado around the target, the flames going from strength to strength.

But the mutating tentacles emerged from the tornado, "keep firing until it burns itself out."

Not long after, nothing remained but scorched ground.

"Was that a Sludged?" Aiden asked.

"Yep, the green ones can revive the dead through regeneration. The sludge uses the host's heartbeat and heat to sustain itself, letting it keep the host alive. And after a while, it can produce offspring; that's why they need to be killed."

"That's horrible, coming back and having something control you," Aiden said.

"No, they are aware of their actions; the parasite just compels them to eat. Some can even control themselves and stop offspring from being born."

"But that one wanted to die."

"Yes, we were doing him a good service."

They continued killing Monsters, even finding a Soul-eater, which Chuben was able to tear through.

They found a near-n***d person wandering the halls and shivering; Dyven raised his weapon but stopped. "Wait, no, this guy just revived himself."

"What?" Aiden asked, "how is that possible."

"Please don't kill me; I don't want to go through that again," he sobbed.

Dyven put down his weapon, "hey hey, it's alright," he said before checking the man over.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" He screamed.

"Can't be too sure," Dyven replied and was satisfied when he had checked everything.

The man shivered, "is that everything, seriously? You don't even know what I've been through, what I've seen."

"You might not have any sludge on you, but that doesn't mean you're not a Devourer."

"I'm not," the man replied.

"And that's precisely something a Devourer who was absorbed someone's body, and memories would say. Simple trick though."

Dyven shoved his arm into the man's face, "come on, nice big strong arm, you know you wanna. You can't hide your true nature even with a full person's memories."

"GET THAT OUT OF MY FACE AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Ok, ok, you pass," Dyven said, "we'll take you out."

"Don't let me die again."

"We'll escort you out; stay close now."

Dyven began walking to the nearest exit, and Aiden ran next to him.

"Another one. How the hell did this guy revive himself?" She asked.

"Revival is an ability," Dyven said.

"Not even gonna question how that's possible," she answered, "but I guess practically everyone has appearance shifting."

"Yep, and you said yourself someone chooses to or wears the wrong pants, trousers or shorts, and they turn female. However, it does increase population growth, but so long as we don't press it, we won't end up like Lutal."

As they walked through the hallway, a pale Devourer, a maw attached to a long body with spine legs, ran towards them, "flesh grow, now devour," it said in a mashup of voices.

"Nope," the three repeated their attack, and the Devourer burned into nothing in moments. "Now that was a Devourer," Dyven said.

Aiden yawned, "I'll go home when this man's safe."

They walked over the scorched ground, "I think it's time to stop."

"See you," Aiden said to Dyven when they had reached the exit, she walking away.

"Bye, your insides may be slowly rotting, so take a healing potion just to be safe."

Aiden turned to face him, "what the hell?"

"They can only break down rotting food, so they produce a rot mist. That's why I had Chuben hold her."

"I'll take a potion bath just to be safe," she replied as she walked out of view.

"Come on, Chuben, I'll take you home."

The Fualow sighed, "back to video games and anime."

"You know you could learn how to get back yourself, would save me a lot of trouble."

"I biologically incapable of memorising something like that," he replied.

"Fine."

Dyven dropped Chuben off and closed the door behind the Fualow.

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Dyven lay back upwards on a doctor's bed; a black synsis skirt and top wearing Volture with black skin, hair and green eyes rubbed his back.

"I think that's enough for today," the doctor said.

The Rotretali sighed and got up with Dyven stretching.

"Do you have to be so rough?" He asked.

"It's alright," the doctor said, "just come back when you want another session."

"Thanks, though," Dyven said as he left.

"So, what do you think, Lylen?"

She licked her lips, "even tastier than the last time, Xoma."

"So his loneliness is getting worse," he said, putting his fingers to his lips, "should we hire on an Odaniae?"

"Don't even think about it; I want all his emotions to myself," her voice becoming rougher, "uh I mean, maybe it's best to not mess with his emotions too much; he does have slow-death after all," she said rubbing her neck.

"O come on, that's just a rumour, wait; you don't have it do you? You have been treating him for a while," Xoma gritted his teeth, "I should never have let you treat him."

"Dude, I'm fine. It's not contagious."

"What would it even do to you?"

Lylen shrugged her shoulder, "I dunno, I guess turn me back then slowly kill me."

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Dyven went to leave the sata-house, "an absolute pleasure to have you today, sir. We eagerly await your return," one of the workers said.

Dyven left, and it was then that the Sky-slicer attacked, it crashing through the city's roof.

The worker who just spoke to him opened the door, "come on!" She yelled as the great Monster's Wyvern-like Scavagers swarmed the streets. Dyven got back in just as one charged.

The once lively atmosphere shifted to unnerving silence; Dyven's phone went off, telling him that the attack had destroyed his home and that he would have to wait for repairs. That's if we survive this, Dyven thought, the notification forced him to look at the screen, and below the first, the second said that his home had been breached with a Monster signal which vanished. I need to get back home, he thought.

The sata-house was full of that which they desired most, food, entertainment, among other desires (nope). In the centre of this room was a cage housing Lumedi from the fallen city of Lutal to remind Walldurus' Managers that the release was necessary. Even they were still, though only for a few moments, each wingless Lumedi had numerous tails along, each one different having a variety of skin hair and eye colours ranging from, pink, purple, red and blue.

"Come on, everyone, no good sitting around doing nothing," one of the workers said, and with that, everybody got back to what they were doing.

Except for Dyven, him sitting on his own.

"You good just sitting there?" One of the employees asked, "surely there's something you wanna do?"

"**** it, if I'm gonna die, I'm going in the cage," one of them said.

"I just came here to sleep; I shouldn't even be here," he said, getting up and going to the game room.

He stayed until he received the notification that the fixers had repaired his home and left.

The sensors detected a Night-wraith, but the Meems didn't confirm a kill, he thought. It must be keeping its energy low and waiting for me to come home. Well, you're out of luck, and I'll kill you myself.