The Earth Online

62 The Three-headed Beast of the Quartz

Thaleos immediately jumped a couple of feet away to distance himself from the elusive beast. It looked like an Animalia Kingdom beast on the surface level, but at the same time, it seemed to have an affinity with the shadows.

It looked quite at home in the darkness and even comfortably moved around the shadows as if one of them.

The beast tamer wasn’t sure if there were any hybrids within the four types but based on observation. It would be safer to assume yes.

Having a vague idea of the beast’s hybrid origin helped Thaleos strategize his next move. Like how he was shuffling around the hidden parts of the metallic cave, the three-headed beast did the same.

They were basically playing a game of cat and mouse. The beast tamer did his best to run away from any shuffle or sound and made sure that he stayed away from the darker shadows.

He was still thinking of different ways to protect himself from the beast. Just to buy him more time, he released all his three beasts and instructed them to go to different parts of the cave.

Since all their movements were making a sound, the three-headed beast was slightly confused as to which sound to follow.

Thaleos hypothesized that although the beast had three heads, all its eyes were sensitive to the light. Just like any other creature, if you stay in the darkness for a long time, you lose sight of the light.

Seeing the beast confused gave him a little confidence to zero in on it from all angles. He quickly commanded all his beasts to attack at the same time and activated his Mental Whipping skill.

The beast immediately started thrashing around then strategically attacking each of the beast tamer’s pets with its three heads. When Thaleos saw this, he was lucky enough to have the mental whip on hand.

Seeing the three-headed beast skillfully attacking his tamed beasts—which were having a hard time keeping up with the beast’s narcotic aura, the bearded man tightly held unto the skill weapon and whipped the large beast with all his might.

As soon as he saw the whip tightening up on one of the beast’s neck, a grin started forming on the beast tamer’s face. His own beasts seemed to have this relieved look on their faces as they saw their master coming to their aid.

When the beast momentarily froze, Thaleos swiftly made his way to where his wolf-eagles and metallic chicken were. As he was a few inches away from stabbing the three-headed beast, it suddenly stomped its foot on the ground.

This action immediately caused the whole cave to shake, making the mental whip slip up a bit. Once it noticed the obstruction loosening upon its neck, the quartz beast started shaking its three heads.

The place was now being covered in this ominous and translucent purple mist. Thaleos immediately figured that the beast had the narcotic skill as he was getting dizzier and dizzier.

What Thaleos didn’t know at that point was the beast was already one with the darkness. The mental whipping’s disturbing nightmares just gave the beast more strength.

As part shadow beast, the three-headed quartz creature dwelled in the misery of others and powered itself to control the shadows better. The beast tamer realized this quite late as the vicinity started getting darker and darker.

Aside from the exceedingly dark environment, the purple mist seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. Soon enough, he started hearing the weeping of a middle-aged woman.

The familiar crying was something he heard 15 years ago. A cry he wanted to forget but couldn’t. He hated this memory the most, and no matter what treatment he takes, he couldn’t move past this.

Thaleos realized that the three-headed beast somehow managed to reverse the mental whipping effect on him, causing him to go back to this nightmare of his.

His beasts could feel his distress and immediately went to where the beast tamer was. The wolf-eagles’ hackles rose as they growled, and Attila the Hen clucked at the three-headed beast.

Thaleos wanted to scratch his ears off as he felt like noises from the animals, the cave, and the three-headed beast was three times louder than usual. The sounds kept bouncing off the walls, trapping him in this echo chamber.

Just as he was about to go crazy from the noise, suddenly, the whole room became painstakingly quiet. The silence was unbearable. It made him feel like he was buried under the ground—deprived even from the sound of the wind and the water rush.

He didn’t know what was worse, but the whole thing was driving him crazy. Then he heard the crying again. It started soft but gradually got louder and louder and louder.

Then he heard a gun being c****d. His eyes widened in horror as he vividly remembered this scene. He closed his eyes in an attempt to stop what was happening, but he knew that whatever he did would be futile.

Then he heard the cursed words, words that repeat themselves in his head over and over again like a broken record player.

“Son, d-don’t do this, please. I-I was forced to do it… Please.” Thaleos could hear his younger self sobbing and mumbling around like a drunk mess.

“How could you do that, mom? Kenny died because of you! I almost died because of you!” The beast tamer closed his eyes as the pain started stabbing him right in the chest.

“Y-you know how mommy is, Leo. M-mommy needs something from Mr. Snake. He-he was—” Before the middle-aged woman could even continue her explanation, the young man aimed the gun near her head and swiftly shot the box behind her.

Thaleos might be drunk, but one thing is for sure, he always had a perfect aim. He was trained and drilled to aim at any object or human perfectly, even if his eyes were closed. Mr. Snake made sure of that.

Just as the middle-aged lady was about to plead for mercy one last time, Thaleos heard the shot getting fired. At that moment, he felt like he was the one getting shot, and when he opened his eyes, he could see his mother’s dead crying eyes staring straight at him.

“This is your fault.” The woman croaked out one last time before taking her last breath.

Thaleos felt like he was paralyzed, his feet were stuck on the ground, and he could barely make a move to approach his younger self or his dead mother.

Suddenly, the whole place became dark again. Just like a light bulb being switched on, everything became so bright. It looked like he was in a clear white hospital room.

Before him, there stood his bloody mother’s corpse and his younger self with tears streaming down his face.

Both of them whispered, “You did this. You killed your own mother.” He knew that the mental whipping effect only had a ten-minute impact at most, but this nightmare just felt forever.

He was in a deep state of depression right now that he just forced himself not to feel anything at all. He discovered that in life or death situation, this was the only coping mechanism that could help him.

He knew that the mental whipping skill messed with your mentality to make you vulnerable to actual physical attacks. So killing all his emotions, he slowly took out his black katana and stared at the two figures.

He knew that this was the unconsciousness of the three-headed beast just playing in the shadows within his mind. He needed to stop it before the monster could go deeper into his subconscious.

After taking one last look at the past, he raised his sword and slashed at the figures with all his might. He felt one lone tear pouring down his face as he continued slashing them over and over again.

He could hear the three-headed beast’s screams as the bodies graphicly started bleeding on the floor.

He knew he had to continue until the beast’s shadow would leave his mind. This moment felt so weird to him, he felt like he was pouring in so much of his guilt into the attacks, yet he felt this form of peace in his head.

Death to him felt like such an unjust way of punishing a person or taking revenge. Before the apocalypse, he felt like religion left such a large mark on his unconscious self. That even before religion, moral systems dictated that no one else can take a human life aside from themselves.

It was unethical.

But in this world, and at this moment, he realized that this dystopian world dictated the deconstruction of the moral systems. If you’re pushed in the corner with no choice but to kill to save yourself or your friends, then you have to make a choice. Even in situations where he wasn’t pushed to the corner, he still had to make choices.

Leaving something or someone evil that covers its ears, even when encouraged and helped a thousand times to change, becomes a festering threat over time.

His thoughts somehow triggered the three-headed beast to leave his mind, waking up his consciousness again. He could feel the familiar cool breeze of the quartz cave fanning his face.

In this peace, he realized that the burden it brings is a burden he must carry.