{In a far off land, right before the Chick's evolution...}
"..."
"..."
"..."
"that's it..."
"THAT AS*HOLE CHOSE PALLIDI CHICK ... AGAIN!?
"WHAT IS THIS LIKE THE 2OTH TIME?!?!"
"I GIVE HIM AN EVOLUTION PATHWAY MOST KRYPTID'S WOULD SACRIFICE THEIR FIRST-BORN CHILD FOR AND HE CHOOSES A GOD DAMN PALLIDI CHICK?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DOES THIS PRI*K HAVE A GRIM REAPER FANTASY OR SOME SHI*?!?!"
The child slammed his fist on a table while spouting off curses at the chick's decision, he was wearing a navy blue shirt with small stars of golden yellow sprinkled few and far between; it looked like a classical pyjama from Earth. He was in a pitch black room, his face was illuminated but there was no source of light.
He looked no older than 10, features on his face didn't seperate him from any other child at his age either; short black hair, brown eyes, standing about 120 cm.
One thing that did differentiate him was his pale, almost translucent skin.
While his enraged shouts and curses started increasing in volume, his normally dark brown eyes shone a bright red, he was truly pissed off.
Continuing his assault on the wooden table a few more times, he later stopped and turned his face up to the orange screen that had reported the news to him.
"If he's that god-damn adamant about gaining the darkness attribute..."
"Fine..."
The boy swiped at the screen, making adjustments to the menu that appeared before him; the interface had an image of a golden bird displayed with striking detail on it.
"Make him a hybrid! If he selects no, ignore it! Commence evolution and over-ride his choices!"
[ Understood, would Owner (Peak) like to initiate contact with (UNNAMED) like with the others? ]
"No... this one's different, he's the control in my experiment. I need to see how far he goes without my advice" <1>
[ Understood, sending conversation transcript to other system ]
"Make sure it's hidden..."
[ Affirmative ]
The boy heaved a sigh and sat on a large couch which materialised out of thin air as he dropped his bottom onto the floor, he extended the footrest and rested his head on his arms.
"Is this how that old man Raphael you abused felt? No wonder he broke down... ugh"
"You've caused me a lot of pain... if you die on me I'm swear I'll kill you..."
-----
*Fwoom*
A soft white glow covered my whole body, my feathers and feet were the most sensitive to this change; it felt akin to stepping into a warm pool of water or entering a heated building from a cold winters day.
'Ahhh yeah... this combined with the formation really makes this the most comfortable I've been in this lifetime, but I don't have the luxury of resting! Not now!'
The white light that blanketed my body started to glow brighter at a rate almost proportional to the pale blue light dimming, my previous lethargic mannerisms were slowly being shafted off to the side.
My body felt weird when moving but... there's no time to waste!
*BAM*
I slammed against the invisible barrier that surrounded the circle, it felt less solid than before, almost springy!
*BANG*
*BAM*
*BOOM*
*BOING*
I kept slamming against the same spot I had smashed before, this reminded me of my escape from my egg a month or so back, difference being that this formation was trying to kill me as opposed to trying to nurture me.
After the fifth strike, the wall absorbed me further into it than it had before, I felt like I was immersed in a thick liquid.
*CRSSNNNAAPPP*
The wall broke with me still in it, this shot me forwards at a great velocity away from the formation and straight into a tree.
*THUMP*
'Ouch... '
'Why is it always a tree? Can we change it up and slam me into a soft pile of leaves next time universe?... Ridiculous...'
I slowly shook my head and managed to get on my feet, the white light still shrouding me during my escape. 'No time to waste! Let's skedaddle!' I thought, pumping soul power through my body; it felt like I could use more of it now! I broke into a run and started to get away when-
"SSKKKKKKRRREEEAAAAAAAA!!!"
'What. was. that.'
A loud and painful screech came from the forest, making the ground tremble and me along with it. Tiny pebbles *pitter-pattered* along the floor as the voice of whatever that was reverberated through the forest.
From beyond the trees, I saw a huge mass of black making it's way over to me, the golden rings on her neck shining in the moonlight.
'Ma?'
-----
'Besides glancing up at me occasionally and pacing around in circles, the bird's been pretty much stagnant...'
Eurydice furrowed his brow as he looked at the chick, there was something so odd about it... it's movements, actions and vibe were so different from other magical beasts he had encountered. Eurydice was worried the chick's heart might fail due to fear and his self-promised riches would yet again shatter like during his youth; however this one remained calm, unnaturally calm.
His greed wanted him to pounce on the bird now and take it prisoner, but his overall cautious nature prevented that, the formation could last for days! Why not let it starve and collapse from thirst first and then extract it's unconscious body then?
Eurydice relaxed when he thought of this solution, he had waited 28 years to become successful, what's wrong with waiting for a few more da-
Intent.
Eurydice sensed intent.
He immediately stood up from his tree, pocketing his throwing knives and pulling out a crossbow slung over his back; the knives would be useless against an enemy capable of producing intent.
'Is this anger? No... it's not as intense... I've never felt this emotion used in intent before! Who would emit such an odd thing?!'
Eurydice cocked his crossbow with an arrow, this particular one had formations giving it a flame effect, doing more damage to creatures not aligned with that element, in Eurydice's environment back in Dryad Capital, most magical beasts and people had affinity for earth or nature magic, fire was especially useful.
Eurydice scale the tree further, reaching the top. Concentrating soul power into his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings...
*CRSSNNNAAPPP*
'Huh'? Eurydice thought in shock, the pale blue light from the floor shut off like a switch, being at the treetops he didn't notice it growing dimmer, but it's complete absence was jarring to him.
Jumping down and activating 'Shadow Steps', he landed on the branch he was previously stalking the chick on and saw something unbelievable.
The previous yellow body of the chick glowed a bright white!
'It's evolving?! Right now?!... HOW?!!!!' Eurydice's brain did a double take.
Eurydice's formation needed a constant supply of mana, using it in the wild was unreliable but intel from the army suggested that only extremely weak beasts and men lived here. Evolutions were extremely rare anywhere you went, he didn't expect to come across one here.
'Evolutions mainly happen in battle right? I mean I've heard of evolved beasts that can absorb mana from the air and store it to breakthrough but this isn't an evolved creature!' Eurydice's thoughts were racing, his previous plans had been shattered.
With his jaw was slacked open and mind buzzing, he tried to understand what had happened. The military had not prepared him for a fight with a bird type creature, in fact most birds were the dumbest and weakest of them all; to such an extent that Dryads had conservation programs for some of them.
'Impossible...'
The chick was now fully free, Eurydice was furious to know that he was outplayed by a literal bird-brain, the only consolation being that the feathers were definitely going to be worth more now... this might be a blessing in disguise he thought!
'No more waiting, I need to finish this job now and head off for my assignment...'
Eurydice was confident in beating this beast still, especially when it was in a state of not being used to it's own body, he started to aim his crossbow-
That's when he felt it again... intent.
He flicked his head back and into the direction where it came from, the dark night was the perfect environment for a stealthy Dryad like him, but Eurydice failed to recognise that he is not the only friend to the night residing in this forest.
The Dryad saw the shadows behind the trees move, emerging from the vines and leaves was a being cloaked in darkness, adorned with three golden rings on it's neck, blood red talons crunching soft leaves as it walked.
Now that he was a lot closer to the being he knew exactly what emotion was being emitted.
His hands started to shake... emotion behind intent could never be faked and was simply the amplification of that emotion by using mana to give it an almost physical state.
'T-this monster... is annoyed?!'
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