Episode 19- Uncomfortable Attraction
The next morning, Zero and Red Dawn stand in their regular clothing in front of Rowa Test within the crystal cave. "The egg will soon hatch," says Rowa as she looks at Red Dawn, "which side will you be on?". "The side of righteousness...and love," responds Red Dawn looking at Zero. "Then please my old friend, save us. Save the egg.", says Rowa. Zero looks at Red Dawn. "Ino. What happens when you have to fight against the people you've fought along side of? Will you still be my ally? Will what we have win?", asks Zero. Red Dawn opens her mouth to respond but is stopped by a loud rumble outside of the cave. "The mountain monster is back!", says Rowa.
"The what?", asks Red Dawn.
"There is a creature that is neither man nor dragon that has been plaguing this mountain. I do not know where it came from or how it got here, but it comes from period to period to simply kill. It never eats. It just kills.", says Rowa.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?", asks Red Dawn.
"I planned on fighting the monster myself, as this is my own home.", replies Rowa.
"I'll see what the commotion is on your behalf.", says Zero.
"I'm coming with you!", says Red Dawn. "No. Keep your friend safe. Also yourself. I don't want anything to happen to you.", responds Zero as he runs out of the cave. As Zero runs, he thinks to himself, "I know that Ino is a capable warrior. There is just this feeling inside me that doesn't trust if she will fight on my side. I simply don't know.".
Zero runs faster and notices his speed has increased from what he is familiar with. He has somehow retained his speed from his previous state of nothingness. As he continues to run, dark light energy surrounds him, forming his dragon scale armor. He then jumps onto the side of a tree, then quickly onto another, and another. In midair, he notices a large crater like hole in the ground and lands near it. In the middle of the crater, he can see a large black figure lying motionless. Zero comes closer to see that it is a large silverback gorilla. Its eyes are open but it has clearly been killed as blood oozes from its mouth. Whatever killed it slammed it into the ground with such force, that recovery was impossible. Zero hears another large boom but it's closer and louder. Zero runs quickly towards the noise and stops as he notices a man calmly sitting on a large rock with his back facing Zero. The man is mumbling words to himself that cannot be understood as Zero isn't close enough to him. Zero slowly creeps closer to hear the man and begins to notice his features.
The man is wearing a long, black robe with dark brown lining on the ends, with a dark brown cowl covering the top of his head and draping down his back as long as a cape would. He wears no shoes and is using a gold fountain pen to write in an old, leathery, brown book with an open latch on the front cover. Gnarled, long, black hair can be seen bursting from underneath the cowl. His face is thin with extremely pale skin that looks so sickly that whether its real skin or not is questionable. His eyes are diluted an eerie, solid black and he has a very unkempt beard stubble with barely any length.
The man looks up at Zero slowly, unsure of what he is. "Are you man or beast?", asks the man in a deep, raspy tone. "Neither", replies Zero, "I came to see what the noise was that rumbled this mountain. Do you know where it came from?".
The man lets out a sinister laugh then replies, "You'll know soon enough, scaled one. But you are an interesting one. Your scales. How was the pattern formed? What inspired the design? Just looking at you tells a story. Could it be that your armor is a manifestation of your soul? Or could it possibly be a manifestation of your inner turmoil? Did you craft it? Or does it just appear as it is? Part of me wants to know your story but another part of me wants to enjoy the completed meal that stands before me. Your art. Your pain. You are beautiful!".
"Who are you?", asks Zero.
"I am nothing, yet I am the founder.", replies the man.
"What are you doing in the middle of nowhere on a mountain?", asks Zero. "Nosey one aren't you?", says the man as he smiles an eerie smile. His teeth are unusually long but are very clean. "Very well, if you are dying to know, I'm collecting research data.".
"Are you the cause of the rumbling on this mountain?", asks Zero.
"I am not the root cause, but in a way I've created the cause.", replies the man as he continues to smile.
Confused and a bit irritated, Zero asks, "What exactly does that mean? And where can I find the cause!?". The heavily dilated and eerie eyes of the man stare deeply at Zero. "My son should be done soon, so you'll find out shortly. This will be good for my research. ", says the man. Before Zero can respond, the nearby trees start to rustle hard and fast.
A figure bursts out of the high trees and hits the ground hard, close to where Zero and the strange man are.
Zero looks shocked to see a large anaconda wrapped around what appears to be the figure of a man. Zero then looks closer to see that the feet are visible from whatever the anaconda is wrapped around. The feet are dark blue and covered in what looks like dragon skin. Each foot has four toes in the front and one large toe at the back of the foot, all with sharp black claws.
Suddenly, the snake explodes into pieces, sending snake flesh flying in all directions. Zero uses one arm to cover his face as particles fly on him and fall down. Bloody snake pieces fly on the strange man as he stands up, extends both of his arms outward, and looks towards the sky. "Marvelous!", he shouts.
As Zero puts his arm down, he sees what the snake was wrapped around. The creature is odd and looks as if it should not exist.
The beast has the face of a tiger, complete with orange and white fur, with black tiger stripes. The body is large and muscular with human-like appendages as it stands on two feet. Tiger stripes flow down its furry back. The arms from the elbow to the fingertips have mutated into dark, blue, leathery dragon skin, with three fingers and one thumb on each hand, complete with black claws on each tip that matches the legs from the knees on downward. The beast turns to look directly at Zero while breathing heavily with excitement.