Records of Rebirth

I quietly followed after the winged creatures as they made their way through the dark mist. Their journey through the chasm path was as dizzying as it was long, but I stayed cloaked all while maintaining a steady pace. 

In the absence of sound and an abundance of perilous rocks jutting out from every surface, the shrouded valley took on a rather desolate feel.

So far, I had not been noticed by any of the creatures, and I was glad my dark magic did not fail me this time. 

A small smile formed on my face when I recalled the shadow creature's ghastly shriek as my attack found its mark - perhaps it was still injured since it no longer interfered with my magic. 

However, I knew this peace would not last for long. If I didn't find it soon, it would recover and resume its tyranny in the valley once more. Fortunately, the winged creatures seemed to have reached their destination.

Overhead, I made out the shadow of a structure through the dark mist. It's barely discernible form cutting a strange figure perched high on a layer of chasm wall.

While its construction was similar to the lifeless domed building I encountered before, it was only a fraction of its size, the exposed rectangular stone work no bigger than a small room. 

It was bizarre. This part of the valley seemed much older and untouched, the tall height of the chasm acting as a barrier away from winds and rain, and like a crypt that had been sealed away for eons, the stone was still in good condition, making this tiny structure neat and well kept without any sign of wear, save for a single crack on its straight roof.

Considering it was so hidden, it was as if an explosion had melted its surroundings to shape in order to protect it among a slew of jagged rock. I was confident I would never have found it without the aid of the creatures. 

However, looking at it made me despair - it was too tiny. What exactly was it and how could the shadow creature be here?

I glowered vengefully at the winged creatures flying ahead - did I just follow them to their secret fun house?

But as we reached the structure, the numerous winged creatures disappeared through the crack in the stone roof, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake like a slew of excited bats.

This made me second guess its size. If it was really as simple as it looked, there was no way it could contain so many creatures at once. So I halted my approach to settle down on the rocks across the chasm, where I observed the structure with caution.

It was thoroughly ominous. None of the winged creatures came back up from inside after several minutes of waiting and I felt like flying over there to peer through the cracked roof. 

But I quickly scrapped that idea. 

I was a newly minted rich snake with a plethora of fantastic skills, not some bandit or spy - I did not need to sneak around!

I was a good distance away from the structure, enough to escape if noticed. If anything, this seemed like a good opportunity to test out the effectiveness of [Mind's Eye]. Its abrupt description stated it was meant to reveal things that were hidden, and as unbelievable as that sounded, it's expensive cost made me itch to see what it could do. 

Was it even worth that price? 

I activated it, and immediately there was a prickling sensation behind my eye sockets and a deep throbbing across my forehead as if I was under some sort of mental attack. I winced through the pain as I looked up and down, half expecting the rocks of the chasm to become illuminated in light like some magic spell. 

However, nothing outstanding happened. 

Instead, my headache got much worse as my vision suddenly became several times larger. 

Like I was seeing everything through a zoomed lens, the rectangular structure became as close as it would be if I was perched right in front of it. And then, to my astonishment, the stone walls melted away. 

It wasn't as though they turned invisible. Rather, the walls seemed to peel back like the layers of an onion, to reveal what was inside as I watched.

The creatures that vanished through the cracked roof weren't there. Instead, the structure's interior revealed bare walls and a tiled stone floor with an open trap door leading through to another section below. 

This was not a room but rather, some sort of turret above a much wider underground structure whose interior was no different from a medieval castle.

What was this place?

The surrounding rocks beneath the structure also melted away, allowing me to see through several layers of rough stone, until I discovered more than six floors of furnished rooms and carpeted hallways, all appearing up close in full colour. 

The lower I looked, the more the decorations were stripped away, giving the ground level an ominous appearance similar to that of a stone tomb. The stone floors formed mosaic patterns that while old were still unbroken. The windows that would have been, were boarded over with iron bars.

And there were dungeons, lots of them. 

Tall, imposing cells reinforced with iron, scattered throughout the entirety of the lower floors, and they weren't deserted.

Creatures filled the dungeons, smaller ones on the surface, while increasingly larger monsters occupied the lower, darker cells. 

The winged creatures that entered prior, now fluttered across the dungeon's ceiling, ominously hanging from long dead light fixtures. 

Guarding them all was the massive winged serpent that was curled up in the walkway between the cells, its torn flesh and several rows of open ribs, deathly still as it lay with its eyes closed. 

My eyes throbbed with pain, but I forced myself to continue searching across the floors, until I noticed a shadow of something flicker behind the winged serpent, before starting to move towards the dungeon's cells at a slow, leisurely pace.

I finally found it. 

This was the shadow monster's lair.

And [Mind's Eye] had just given me the blueprint. 

However, the thought didn't give me much comfort. 

The shadow creature's imposing figure appeared in front of a cell, staring ominously at the creature inside, before sinking into the ground once more.

And as it did, I breathed a sigh of relief because it didn't turn to look towards me.  It was comforting to know I was outside its detection range.

While I was no closer to finding out how it did what it did, or what it's aim was in capturing monsters, being able to observe it without getting detected made me realize the value of the skill. 

"What do you think it wants..." I started to say, but I stopped when the shadow creature re-emerged from the ground, inside one of the cells. 

Brandishing a pitch black rod in hand, it moved without hesitation, impaling the flesh of the unmoving creature inside without pause. Then, the rod in its grip immediately started to grow in length.

The impaled creature however, didn't scream, nor did it move. There were already several rods lodged in its body, and some had even splintered off to form branches. 

Unlike the winged serpent or any of the creatures I'd encountered so far in this place, this one seemed...different. But when the creature started to bleed I was taken aback. 

I wasn't focused at all on the creatures in the dungeon cell's, but when I looked closer with [Mind's Eye] I realised all of them were in similar horrible states.

Perhaps I'd gotten so used to seeing those resilient monsters that didn't flinch at injuries, that I assumed those in the cells were also the same. 

The cells were full of impaled creatures, all bleeding, some in various states of unconsciousness, while others were fully aware of what was happening to them. 

The eyes of the creatures were riddled with fear, their breaths haggard, while the rods impaled in them only kept growing. 

I was horrified. 

How long had they been here that they were so weak they couldn't even escape? 

I was suddenly filled with fear. 

Would this have been mine and Sylrin's fates, had we allowed ourselves to be captured?

The cell's were the only part of the dungeon that showed serious signs of damage, which made me wonder just how many times this had occurred.

The shadow creature moved over to the creature it impaled, and I could almost feel its probing stare, as if to check if it was still alive. 

When the creature remained still without a sound, the shadow reached out to one of the larger rods in its body that had split to form branches. At its touch, the pulsating energy within it flowed away from the dying creature and into the shadow's body, before the rod dissipated into smoke. 

Almost instantly, the shadow seemed to regain its vitality. The bandages along its chest got denser and its depleted aura seemed to increase again.

Soon, the shadow creature was almost back to its original strength as I stared at it in disbelief.

It was stealing from them, draining their life and power to strengthen its own.