Devil's Chosen

Crumbled

Losing balance, my feet tripped over each other. Falling to the ground with my hands forward, crashing hard into the stone. The gate in front of me began to creak as it slowly started to move. Behind me, pillars began to break, and with them so did the cave. Boulders fell from above, landing in the hallway. Statues began to crumble one after another, and from my viewpoint, it was a spectacle.

The giant scaled creature's head snapped from its body, falling to the ground, causing massive shockwaves across the floor. Tentacles from the leviathan began to break apart, causing even more destruction. Eventually, even the grand eye began to disintegrate. Its circular outline broke free of its bonds and split the world.

Next to the eye, the giant armoured statue began to shake violently. Its sword began to crumble, with massive chunks completely breaking off from it. Giant wings that my vision did not allow me to see before fell from its torso, completely flattening a statue that stood below it.

The gate in front of me moved slowly, as more of the cave began to break. Boulders fell onto the stairs, creating massive holes. There was no turning back now. Watching the destruction, a sight of true horror appeared. The tree was beginning to fall...

From above, a massive wave of air flew in all directions. It approached me and made contact, sending me flying towards the edge. From out of the darkness came a snapped branch that rivalled that of the leviathan. It fell at an extreme speed, the mass and distance turning the branch into a fireball.

The sight was terrifying, and the constant shockwaves left my body numb. It crashed down upon the leviathan statue, causing the large sculpture to crumble under its weight. Dust kicked up, creating a veil over the hallway. More and more branches began to fall, creating an amazing sight in the cave. They lit the surroundings, allowing me to see higher into the cave.

One smashed into the massive reptilian statue, splitting it in half, while another fell atop the giant armoured one, causing its stone figure to shatter. One by one, the massive statues fell, until the cave was filled with dark stone. Finally, the only statute to remain was that of the massive tree, which had now developed monstrous cracks in its surface.

From atop the stairs, the gate had finally opened fully, and as it came to a halt, the cave shattered. The tree fell, and the roof collapsed. Large stalagmites fell upon me, landing mere meters away.

With a final look at the fallen statues, the door closed behind me after entering. The loud commotion that had just filled my ears vanished without a trace, almost as if the cave had disappeared completely.

The floor that my feet dug into was smooth; upon it were beautiful patterns. My mind could not make sense of what they meant, but clearly, each symbol was a word in a story. The void surrounded me; the only things visible were me and the circular platform beneath me. Moving slowly while approaching the edge. My vision extended since the only thing below was darkness and an endless drop.

Backing away in fear of falling, my body instinctively went towards the center of the platform. Looking around in panic, realizing that the only exit to this place, the gate, had vanished.

The darkness seemed to engulf me. Every second, the darkness approached, taking more of the platform. Within a few moments, the smooth stone around me had completely vanished, and after that, so did my body.

Even with Heightened Perception lvl 4, the only thing visible to me was my hands in front of me. Everything else was clouded in a dark haze.

My body was frozen in fear, too afraid to move. The platforms' edges could be anywhere now. Standing in the darkness, my mind flashed with images of the statues in the hall. Words began to flood my mind as each came. The armoured knight was a human... the tall, elegant, long-eared one standing next to it was an elf. And the short warrior was a dwarf.

It felt as if my mind were being torn apart as information flooded in. Names of all the statues appeared in my head. My hands pulled at my hair as the pain built up inside. My knees buckled, causing my head to smash into the floor.

Writing in agony, my mind started to c***k. My ears rang, and my vision spun. Screams echoed through the void, and blood began to flow out from my eyes. Heat started to build in my head until it eventually exploded into the rest of my body.

The abyss went quiet, and the pain subsided. My eyes opened with clarity as the darkness began to fade. In front of me, the Demon System had opened and was displaying new words.

You have acquired World's Knowledge lvl 1

My eyes opened in surprise at the new message. As it faded away, the status screen popped up, revealing the description.

World's Knowledge lvl 1 allows for basic knowledge of every race, and allows for the user to access the levels of the subject as long as they are within ten levels of the user or lower.

This skill was incredible... But what had caused me to obtain it? Was it all those statues? Or something else?

The questions flooded my mind as my body began to calm down. I brought myself to my feet while looking around the platform once more. While having more clarity, examining the darkness seemed clearer than before; it seemed as if something lay behind the veil.

As the thought entered my head, a giant fireball formed above me. Brightening the room and dispelling the darkness. Flinching as light entered my eyes after being surrounded in darkness for so long, tears began to run down my cheeks. Wiping them away, my eyes focused on the giant ball of light.

It did not move to come towards me, but instead it rested near the room's roof, flickering every so often as small bursts of fire streaked away from its central mass.

Around the room, the platform that was below me seemed to glow. Its shininess blinded my eyes. Each wall had one massive pillar that stretched from below up into the roof, and on each wall were masterful runes that flickered with a blood red colour. Directly in the middle of each wall were also stone eyes that appeared to be closed.

After examining the walls from afar, it seemed like a perfect time to return to the edge of the stone platform to see what was in the previously dark pit. As my head tilted over the side, the sight that befell me sent shivers through my body. Below, there was no end; even the light from the ball of fire could not reach the bottom, but it did illuminate something. Near where the light cut off, there seemed to be a perfect circle of dark black rocks. Looking closer at the rocks, they seemed to be familiar, almost the same tone as the fangs the monsters had...

After further examination, it appeared that the pit below the circle of rocks had moved slightly. Every few seconds, a slight pull came from down below, causing a cool wind to fly towards the pit.

Was that pit actually a mouth...

Was there a giant creature below me?

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. While thinking about it, another part of the room caught my attention. Forgetting about the monster below, my eyes fell upon a symbol near the center of the room. It was another hand, the same as the one that had appeared on the altar that opened the gate.

Not notching it before while being panicked; now it seems so obvious to me. Looking at my hand, while hesitantly bringing it closer to the symbol. Upon a slight pause and deep breath, my hand pressed against the cool stone. A slight pain entered my hand as it touched the floor, and blood soon dripped onto the symbol.

Unlike the normal rock, my blood did not melt the stone; instead, it began to disperse throughout the platform. My red blood ran through the carvings, creating a beautiful sight. It flowed elegantly, filling each carving until none remained untouched by it.

Once the blood had filled the floor, the walls began to shake, and the red glow from the runes grew brighter, drowning out the pleasant light from the fireball and turning the room an ominous red.

As they did, one by one, the four eyes began to open. First was the one on the side where the gate used to be, next was the one to my right, then my left, and finally, the last one was the one directly in front of me.

They all looked upon my slender but beautiful figure, making me very uncomfortable. Slowly, they began to blink and move side to side until falling upon me once again. From below, a giant gust of wind entered the room, before quickly being sucked back out. Racing to the edge and looking into the pit, the sight frightened me. Blood quickly began to pour out of the mouth of whatever rested below, filling the room at a steady pace.

Fear gripped me as from that blood came a massive tentacle. It soared into the sky, straight up towards the roof of the room. stepping back in fear as it approached. However, before it reached me, a red barrier appeared between the platform and the wall, stopping the tentacle from advancing any further.

It smashed against the force field, sending shockwaves through the room. The eyes on the walls darted to the tentacle and then back to me, with another bang against the red barrier, a c***k formed. While the tentacle attacked, the platform began to glow, and my blood became a source of light.

The eyes began to blink rapidly, and the walls began to spin. Above the fireball vanished, replaced with a glowing magic circle. Gravity began to fail as my body began to float. While lifting off from the ground, my eyes rolled, as blood rushed to my head. After regaining concentration, my body flipped over to realign my feet with the ground. Suddenly, with a loud boom, another c***k appeared in the barrier.

The eyes began to blink furiously, as red particles appeared in the air. Above me, a beam of light was beginning to form. Below, another smash: the barrier shattered, causing blood, and the tentacle entered the room.

raising ominously into the sky, it towered over me. With a swoosh, it attacked, descending upon me. A scream escaped my mouth, and my arms raised to defend myself, but in that same moment, a flash of light appeared from above. The light blasted the tentacle back. The room had gone completely dark for a moment as the eyes shut one after another.

Soon after, from above me a beam fell upon me, consuming my very being and leaving the room to fill with blood.