"I woke up confused and unsure about anything that had happened. I looked around to see if anyone was there but my eyes were met with blood-red walls, tainted with black and white colors. I had no idea where I was but strangely enough, I felt at peace… until I didn't."
"Everything came back to me as a complete wave that hit me when I saw it. The looming figure of the Arachne that had killed me…? But I was alive? Before I could rearrange all my thoughts, together she began approaching me and I became alert, searching for a weapon or anything that I could protect myself with. She arrived in front of me in no time due to her abnormally long legs, looked down at me, and said
"Oh, how pathetic. That's fine though, I love my experiments most when they are fearful and fighting for their lives." A cold chill ran down my spine. I began wondering if all this was worth the trouble, but my thoughts didn't last long. The Arachne jabbed its leg into my arm and lifted me up. Searing pain tore through my body and I shouted but nothing came out, no sound. Moments later I was back to normal. No pain, no wound on my arm. The mental games were excruciating, the worst part of the experience I had with those beings. As to why I'm growing younger, they experimented on me for hundreds of years, I lost count after the first few. My body was spent, I couldn't move any of my muscles and could barely think, and my sanity was practically gone. The Arachne realized this and one day decided to release me. It said that it was because amongst all her subjects I was the only one that didn't try to run away the entire time. It's not that I didn't want to try, I knew I couldn't get away from it, I didn't even know where I was. I had just accepted my fate, but it in turn presented me with the opportunity to get out.
After doing what I could to fix my body and realizing that normal methods wouldn't be of any use, it brought something special. It shone blood-red like many things in that place. Resembled an egg, and I came to learn that it was called the Egg of the World. It becomes tied to whoever eats it first and infinitely generates for that person. I have the ability to alter my age, but I must continue eating the egg, or I will return to the state I was in. I was released with the egg a little over 200 years ago, been living here ever since."
The two of them stared at Jan and silently processed the information he just told them.
"So in short, you're a boomer that uses an egg for makeup?" Ari commented.
Jan and Kalvin sighed in unison, and the trio began laughing until there was a loud explosion that came from the center of the village. Smoke and dust rose and they rushed to the scene, the town hall met their eyes, but it was not the same as it was before. Split in half, pieces of the wooden wall scattered all over the place, the building tilting on 2 sides, and commotion was everywhere. Ari immediately went to get her axe and Kalvin brandished his daggers in preparation to fight whoever it was that caused this.
Loud yelling was coming from the direction of the dust but they couldn't make out what they were saying or who it was. They anxiously waited as the smoke and dust slowly cleared out and the faces of the assailants became visible. The first they saw was a hefty man, strapped with bright and heavy-looking armor and a great sword on his back. He was yelling at someone across the debris. A short female beastman who wore an oversized jacket that flashed knives when it was blown by the wind. She had brown fox ears, a puffy dark orange tail and 2 rapier's by her side. There was also one more individual who was not indulging the other two, rather, standing by the side and seemingly waiting for the commotion to quell. He stood quite tall, dark outfit, black armor, and 6 long swords neatly arranged on his back in the form of an arch. With the way he was standing it looked as if he was asleep, but every few seconds his fingers would twitch. The trio, Ari who had long returned with her axe, observed these things and were trying to figure out if they were foes or allies.
The dust had completely cleared and the two of them had stopped arguing, they had become aware of the commotion they were causing and that they had actually destroyed the town hall in their squabble. Everyone around was anxious and weary of the newcomers, especially the man in black. Some brandished their weapons and others watched and waited. The hefty man cleared his throat and began to address the crowd.
"Ehem, hello everyone, my name is Clyde. I am a part of the forces that will be helping everyone here fight the monster hoard."
Everyone was quite skeptical of him because no one had heard any news of any kind of reinforcement. Then the beastman spoke up.
"Sorry for the commotion we caused, there have been severely concerning changes in the way the hoard is moving and we couldn't decide on a consensus and began arguing, destroying the town hall in the process. We deeply apologize for impeding everyone's work and getting in the way."
The man in black said nothing but opened his eyes and began walking towards the debris. He stared at it for a moment and then left, the building began piecing itself back together and everyone was appalled at this display of power. Their morale was greatly raised by this for the battle that was very soon coming.