Damien currently sat within the all too familiar cave. He'd found a spot within it that had total darkness and after a slight hesitation about what could be hidden in the unknown, he stepped inside and found a comfortable spot to test a finding from Dharc's journal. Placing the staff down in front of his crossed legs, He began to focus on that strange energy he felt before. He had a hunch that strong emotions wasn't the catalyst for this power, on account of Dharc's gloomy appearance in the art in addition to the way he described it in his journal. Though, he also feared that--like the dark characters in some other stories-- Dharc could just hide his emotions well.
Shaking his head lightly to push away the thought of a certain goth titan that caused the 'awakening' of many youths, Damien focused his thoughts back on the energy he felt within. Though after what felt like a couple hours, he still couldn't feel anything. Sigh* 'I should have expected this. I went right to reading the journal after drawing it out the first time. I don't have the feeling as fresh in my mind anymore--' Damien thought quietly. Still sitting quietly in the pitch black space. 'Can't be helped though. My instincts are telling me I shouldn't jump the gun on this, and I hadn't made it this far by ignoring those--hell, the hole reason I'm in this mess in the first place is cus I ignored those and tried to save that brat...' Damien realized with a bit of frustration. Recalling the stupid kid with the ball and terrible acting skills.
'Terrible, but she fooled me in the end, so I guess I'm the real idiot...' Damien thought with a bit of frustration. his knee now shaking with agitation. 'If I get the chance I'll get her back for that stupid trick--and the stamp...'
Realizing he'd lost track of his goal, Damien quickly shook his head to pull himself out of his thoughts of petty revenge. Redoubled his efforts to hone in on his body to try and get back that familiar sensation. After a few more drawn out minutes, he finally got something. That dark and alien energy was beginning to swirl around within him again. After a drawn out session of trial and error, he started to get the darkness to move around within his body. Strangely enough, the more he did it, the more quickly it started to feel natural. Like he was relearning a skill he'd left unused for a long time. Meaning that after an hour, he could already control it with relative ease. Circulating it throughout his body and condensing it in different parts of his body as if he was trying to create some sort of mana core. Though with no luck.
Sigh* 'Had to try. would have been pretty cool if I could--' Damien began before his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a new feeling. He'd gotten use to trying to condense his darkness in different locations, but just now he found a spot his darkness was avoiding. He'd had the thought to try and force it, but he got the feeling doing that would be a serious mistake, so he held off. Instead trying to hone in on that part of his chest and feeling a strange and alien sensation. 'This is--different from the darkness-- like a whole different energy is densely packed and building up.' Damien thought quietly as he tried to get a feel for it to see if he could move or effect it as well. Thought when he was about to try, he suddenly felt a familiar cold chill. A cold sweat returning to him as his hands began to tremble at the mere thought of trying to play around with that new source. "Yeah, let's put off on that...it's probably some spirit organ or something(?) " he decided quietly. Instead opting to refocus on the darkness and trying to manipulate it outside his body.
To his surprise, Damien found himself barely able to get the darkness to go more than a few centimeters outside his body. He could feel it traveling just past his skin, but if he tried to push it further away, it would just dissipate in the air. With seemingly no way for Damien to recall it back. 'Well, so much for my dreams of a sword of darkness...' He thought lightheartedly. 'Alright. Guess I'll try what the journal mentioned.' Damien began as he took hold of his darkness once more. Enjoying how natural it already felt as he pushed it towards his eyes. creating a thin 'lens' of darkness over them and starting to--quite literally-- see immediate results.
Just ahead of him, he could suddenly see a vague outline of his legs below him. Something that shouldn't have been possible with how extremely dark it was in this part of the cave. 'Holy shit! It's actually working!' Damien thought eagerly as he tried to play around with the size and density of the lens he'd made. Steadily trying to focus his attention on his retinas as opposed to the entirety of the eyes. This took an excruciating amount of time. He'd no way of knowing how long he'd been at it, but he had to take a few breaks in between. In the end, however, he was greatly rewarded. Now he could see more details. The vague outlines had now gained depth. Soon after, he gained a more 3 dimensional view of his legs and could even see the vague outline of his staff resting just ahead.
--An unknown amount of time later--
"Holy shit. Holy shit!" Damien screamed in excitement. Now staring at a wall 2 meters ahead of him. His world bathed in a dull black and white shade around him. Though color was of minor concern to him now. "I can actually see! This isn't night vision. This is honest to god Dark vision!" Damien blurted out in fascination. It may not sound impressive, but he knew if he could improve it just a little more, he'd be able to actually dive deeper into the cave with literally no light source. Meaning he'd essentially found the tool he needed to leave this cave once and for all!
"It kinda reminds me of flash from that Pokemon game I finally got to play recently--" Damien commented absentmindedly as he glanced around or see what else he could see. "I wonder how far I can take this. There's got to be a limit, right?" He wondered excitedly. Eager to keep practicing just a little longer. Having long lost track of how long he'd been at it.
-----
Having gathered up all his equipment, Damien excitedly began to travel down the river path into the depths of the cave. The sun had long set and the moon light was nowhere to be seen, but Damien could see all the same now. He'd gotten the hang of keeping his dark vision active while he moved and had even managed to drastically increase its range. Any unease he held about navigating in the dark was long gone.
'Looks like my limit now is somewhere around 5 meters. Which is more than enough. I can always try to work on it more while I move. Besides, he really needed to start thinking about the other ways Dharc's journal mentioned he could use his powers. Dharc seemed to have diligently focused on his control from what could be gathered from his journal. It was a treasure trove of possible uses for his powers. Thought it raised a lot of questions for Damien who was from a world of science and technology.
'What even is darkness? It doesn't really have a form. Its essentially just the absence of light. How could dhark--or I-- manipulate what was essentially 'nothing' and use it to see. How does it even have any force behind it? What kind of rules should I be aware of...just too many questions...' Damien pondered silently. Reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of the jerky to snack on. Now that he was on the move, he needed to really start getting at least some calories in.
'There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of restrictions mentioned in Dharc's journal. Though it seemed he found out how to get his darkness to work outside his body...Though I'm still having no luck there--' Damien pondered as he took another bite of the piece of dry meat. A bit at ease now that he could see so clearly. 'There are a few things Dharc didn't mention in his journal. So I can start there...Any time I try to push my darkness too far past my body, it feels like I lost my connection to it. Like it's not "My" darkness anymore. So maybe there's truth to that. A difference between my darkness and the darkness outside.'
With those thoughts in mind, Damien began to spit ball a few theories on what that could mean going forward. Noting that even if they are different, Dharc had managed it. Meaning it was possible. 'Maybe it has more to do with a level of control...I may just not be familiar enough with it yet, and once I get the hang of this I'll be able to effect the darkness outside....or the darkness in something else...?' The theory made sense. Dharc's main ability was always the ability to control DARK monsters. Meaning this could very well be a critical step in gaining new abilities.
'Would that mean the natural course is to consider these tiers of control? Once I've mastered internal control, I move to external. Finally, I move to controlling other dark creatures energy. Essentially 'Charming' their darkness to my side…' Damien continued to ponder as he searched for the cave exit. As he continued to theorize, he was pulled from his thoughts by a faint sound of distant tapping. It didn't sound loud or overbearing, but it was fairly rapid. Which made it hard to image what was making it.
'Could be some kind of machine. Which could be nice. Some sign of intelligent life could be great right now.' Damien wondered silently. What ever it was, it was directly in his path, so he'd find it soon enough. 'Let's just hope--who ever they are-- they're at least friendly.' He concluded. Following a steady and cautious pace along the river. Not too much further ahead, a sensation tickled his skin that almost made him exclaim excitedly. A breeze. He couldn't have mistaken it. it was a single gentle and cool breeze crashing against his face from just ahead. A single thought instantly crossing Damien's mind. 'An exit!'
Eager to make it out of the cave, Damien began to increase his pace. A small smile beginning to creep on to his lips at the thought of seeing the sunrise or just getting a chance to feel the open air again. However, as he continued to speed walk towards the source, an eerie realization struck him. Causing him to suddenly slow his pace to a near stop. '--The sound....stopped'
An ear piercing sound echoed thru the cave as two large bladed objects punctured the stone floor where Damien had just been standing a moment prior. His danger sense on high alert as he haphazardly threw himself forward. barely scrambling to his feet as he looked back at what was likely going to haunt his dreams for some time. A massive, grotesque bug the size of golf cart stood before him. in perfect stillness, as if it had suddenly turned to stone after its failed assassination attempt on him.
It stood in a prowling position, and though Damien couldn't make out its colors, he could tell right away that its exoskeleton was like steel. It looked like some kind of mutated June bug with massive dark spiked horns growing out of the sides of its head in a Z like pattern. Its front claws looked to be the same dark color. Its eyes looked like two horizontal lights attached to a shiny plate at the center of its face, which Damien may have found slightly comical if he wasn't about ready to soil his pants with whatever Dharc's last meal was.
Taking a ready stance with his staff clasped firmly in front of him, Damien struggled to balance both the dark focused on his sight and the power he was trying to arm his staff with. Quickly regretting that he didn't have the foresight to practice multitasking with his powers. Trying to ease the strain, Damien narrowed his field of view so he could still see the monster. Allowing him to focus on strengthening his staff further.
The monster continued to stand still for a few more moments before its mouth suddenly came to life. moving about in a grotesque manner before it did something strange. Its exoskeleton expanded slightly, opening slightly like a cracked hatch door before Damien felt a familiar cool breeze rush past him. Almost immediately after, the creature became fully animated once more. Ripping its claws out of the ground they had been plunged into.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what that was. 'Some kind of wind based locator... Should have known I wouldn't be the only one with a way to navigate down here...' Damien thought as a bead of sweat formed at his temple. Him trying his hardest to think of what the creature in front of him could be. Though, to no avail. He never played or faced Insects aside from Traptrix or Inzektors. He could only hope this one didn't have any unfortunate effects.
As the Monster figured out Damien's location, it began to scurry silently to the left of him. Damien was rightfully surprised, since the thing was no longer producing any sound that he could pick up. Upon closer inspection, it looked like there was some kind of distortion at the tips of its legs. they floated just above the ground as it 'air walked' into a position to attack from a different angle.
shifting his body slightly to keep his left foot pointed to the creature, Damien shifted his body weight down and adjusted his grip on his staff in both hands. ready to use it as a bat if the creature got too close. Damien was officially in an entirely foreign territory. He had taken a few beatings in his life, but after he developed his danger sense, he made it a point to avoid any dangerous situations before they appeared. That is to say, Damien had zero actual combat experience!
'Why did my senses not pick this thing up earlier? why only as it attacked did the warning come? Even now...I'm scared. I'm horrified and disgusted...but my danger sense isn't flaring...' lightly shaking the thoughts away, Damien retrained his focus on the insect. 'That's not important right now. I need to think about how I'm getting out of this...'
The bug, having finished getting into position, crouched down into a pouncing stance. It didn't seem to want to use its wind sense again to avoid alerting him. So it can't tell Damien was still looking at it. 'Good' Damien thought silently. Gritting his teeth as he braced for the attack he knew was coming. The darkness condensed as much as Damien could muster for the moment while making sure to allocate some to the handle itself out of fear of it breaking at such a crucial moment. This, unfortunately, caused his vision to struggle even more. 'Shit. I can still see it but I can't get a good feel for distance.' Damien cursed silently. Pondering if he should forgo the handle and pray it holds. The monster, however, wasn't willing to wait that long.
Just like before, the moment the monster lunged, Damien's senses flared violently. His fight or flight screaming for him to swing--hard-- right now! Following his gut, he twisted his hips and swung the staff like he was trying for a game winning home run. The creatures clawed leg was a mere thirty centimeters from his face when Damien's skull staff crashed into the insects head. A surprisingly loud bang reverberated within the cave as the monster was sent flying into the darkness, far past where Damien could see. A second, crashing sound echoed in the cave as the monster presumably crashed into the stone wall. A piercing scream followed soon after. Damien clutching his ears and flinching in pain as the sound of trashing and flailing accompanied the scream for several moments, before the sound died down and an eerie silence entered the cave.
Damien nervously removed his hands from his ears as he re-positioned himself into a rudimentary self-defense stance. Quickly expanding his vision to the maximum range he could muster. Unfortunately for him, the monster had been sent flying outside his range, and he was left with no way of knowing its state. Knowing well enough that it was probably a good idea to strike while the iron was hot, Damien cautiously crept up to the direction he last saw the bug. His nerves were tense and his adrenaline was speeding thru his blood, setting his veins ablaze.
It didn't take long for sighs of a struggle to be seen. stone shards littered the ground as he approached the wall. Finally reaching it, the unfortunate sight of a cratered wall came into view. A patch of shiny liquid at its foot with no sign of the insect monster. 'It's still alive...' Damien thought with a gloomy expression as he tried his best not to lose his wit. Hard to do, since he lost his best chance of a swift victory when that surprise attack didn't get the job done. Trying to calm his racing thoughts, Damien opted to put the cratered wall to his back. figuring limiting the directions this thing could come at him was his best option.
Just a few short seconds later, Damien picked up on the dreadfully familiar breeze that just a few minutes ago filled him with hope. Not having sight of the creature was unnerving. He now had a judgement call to make. He had to coat his staff with darkness. It's obvious that his attack worked. The blood and screams were a dead give away. Unfortunately, doing so would further limit his field of view. This thing was more cautious now. It hasn't approached him as closely as it did the first time.
As he pondered what his best option was, his danger sense flared again. Turning his body to the right where he sensed the threat, Damien focused all his attention on reinforcing his staff. swinging it again with all his might. Once again, his staff made contact with the creature, momentarily bringing joy to Damien. Though it was short lived. The weight of a massive clawed backhand strike at the right side of his rib cage. Damien abruptly becoming airborne as his whole body tensed in pain--before violently rag-dolling across the cave floor. By some miracle, or maybe because of how his body tensed, he managed to maintain his grip of the staff as he assumed a fetal position, gasping for painful breaths. The sound of the creatures pained screams returning, but the adrenaline having long muffled Damien's sense of hearing.
Concern filled Damien's mind as he thought about how likely it was that something was broken after such a strong hit, and in the duel spirit world where science is seldom brought up, not to mention a cave in who knows where, He may die with no treatment. Regaining his breath, he slowly made his way back up, and to his surprise, aside from having the breath violently smacked out of him, he didn't feel like anything broke. In fact, aside some bruising, he seemed relatively okay!
'If this had been my old body, I'd be a mist of blood! How am I still alive?!' Damien thought in surprise. A flabbergasted expression plastered on his face as he quickly shook his head to refocus on the issue at hand. The pained screams of the monster dying down in the distance while Damien took the time to expand his field of view once more. This time taking the initiative to close the distance before the monster could hide in the dark again.Finding himself face to face with the monster again, what he saw left him speechless. 'This thing is a mess!' Was his honest thought. The left side of its head and eye were gone. It its place was a grotesque indent with a thick liquid flowing from it. The horn at the same side seemed to be holding on by a thread. The left side of its body near where its metal plating ends was also in a grave state. The blood flowing from that area seemed more severe. 'I may have hit something important in my second swing.' Damien thought as he pondered why there was such a difference in damage.
'If I remember right, Dharc didn't have very much attack. 500 if I recall...its highest value was in defense at 1500...maybe this guys attack and defense are lower than even Dharc's?' as he pondered, the reason, Damien made note of the creatures lack on movement. It had made an attempt to use its air sense, but the damage from his second swing seems to have made that difficult. Sensing that this fight may be at its conclusion, Damien cautiously approached the creature. It struggling to even move, let along notice his approach. Damien didn't miss this opportunity. slowly raising his staff, he focused his darkness to the staff's skull. not taking too much away from his vision in case the creature had anything else up its sleeve. Damien unceremoniously slammed the staff down on its collapsed head. Its body lazily collapsing on the ground. Not wanting to leave it to chance, Damien struck the creature a few more times before finally allowing himself to believe it was over.
Collapsing onto his knees, Damien paid no mind to the pool of bug juice forming below him. He stared absent-minded at the corpse in front of him for a few more moments. "Let's not do this again..." Damien silently pleaded to the long dead creature before steadily making his way to his feet. slowly finding his way back to the river to continue his journey.