Shane Zorn POV
The dome's purple sigils pulsed above me, casting an eerie glow across the chamber. Eight specters emerged from the shadows - banshees, their mouths filled with endless rows of spiraling teeth.
"Interesting choice," I said flatly, watching the black lines beneath my skin twist in anticipation.
The first banshee's scream tore through the air. I quickly became intangible, letting the attack pass through me. The force of it struck the dome's wall, cracking the darkened stone though it quickly fixed itself, after all a mere feral rank wouldn't be able to break through.
I spun my scythe in my hand. Dauðalok they had named it, the weapon of the child of the end, a weapon meant for the devouring of all, the weapon He had given me.
Blackened lines quickly appeared all over me, my eyes soon slipped from my sockets centering themselves at my chest and my back for the impending battle.
A blackened talon slashed above me, to which I turned my head intangible at the exact moment of the strike letting it pass through me, bringing my scythe upwards and slicing the banshee in twain.
While I did so the seven other banshees encircled me, opening their mouth impossibly wide, their chins almost reaching the floor, their disheveled and balding hair awry.
Then they shouted.
"AAAAGHHH!!"
The sound made it's way towards me, I quickly threw my scythe into the air and turned intangible except for the soles of my feet, the attack centered on me, the sound waves of each scream overlapping to the others at my exact position, my eyes trailed where I had thrown my scythe to, spiraling and then cleaving itself into a banshee's head, black blood spewing from her head, brain matter showing it's way through the brain.
All this had happened in mere seconds and as that happened the interference from the sound waves collapsed in on itself, I dashed towards the nearest banshee bringing my hand forward and clasping her mouth with my hand and before she could scream again, I smashed her head into the floor of the dome.
Again.
Again.
Again.
In the span of a few seconds I had planted her head so far down on the floor her skull was entirely deformed, her face even uglier than usual and her blood and brain matter sprawled around each of her head orifices.
A scream came at me, and I turned intangible.I brought my hand forward, my scythe began to quiver and flew at my hand which I quickly turned tangible so as to actually being able to grab it.
Two taloned hands slashed at me from two distinct banshees. While another one began to scream at me, I concentrated on it only making slight parts of my body intangible, my right palm, two of my digits, the soles of my feet.
I dashed at the one that was screaming at me from the front, I quickly sliced horizontally, making her guts spill out, dark red almost black blood pooled at her split body.
I turned my head to the remaining banshees and for a second they walked back, shrinking in fear, still even now I didn't smile. I released my Devourer intent spewing forth in waves, to augment their fear.
The banshees shrieked in unison, their fear turning to desperate rage. Good. Fear made them predictable, rage made them sloppy.
I phased through their attacks quickly dashing at them, scythe raised. The banshees scattered, their ghostly forms casting warped shadows on the dome's surface.
I grinned at the thought, quickly pivoting and throwing myself at the nearest one, I brought Dauðalok down in a precise arc. The blade passed through her spine, and for a moment, she remained whole. Then her form split apart, guts and blood staining the ground.
Two more rushed me from opposite directions, their talons extended. I let my body phase through them, the black lines spreading outward like a web. Their attacks passed harmlessly through the space where I had been.
I spun Dauðalok in a complete circle. Both banshees fell, their heads rolling across the floor, eyes wide with beastly fear.
The last two banshees backed away, their endless rows of teeth chattering in terror. One tried to phase through the dome's wall, pentagram like sigils glowing purple appeared across the dome, keeping her.
"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, my voice devoid of emotion. "You can't escape, you should have tried it many times before, how much information can you beasts actually retain."
She screamed at me.
It was cut short as I drove Dauðalok through her throat. Her companion launched a desperate attack, talons raking through the air where my head had been. I simply stood there, letting my form become intangible wherever her strikes would land.
"Beasts," I said, watching her desperation grow. "How weird it is that we depend on you? You who give us strength."
She responded with another scream, this one carrying notes of pure despair. I absorbed the sound, letting it wash through me like all the others.
I knew she couldn't understand me, but I had been here in the domes for over two weeks and even I needed someone to talk to so I did.
"When does a beast become a man?"
She simply screamed at me her sound that could rupture a man's head like a watermelon harmlessly phasing through me.
"Is it on his first devouring?"
This time she directed her scream at my hand, to which I quickly turned intangible, my scythe clattering to the ground.
"His second?"
She didn't reply simply screaming sound booms over and over although at one point she simply stopped sending them my way and just blasted them off wherever she pleased.
"No the truth is man is born a monster."
I recalled my scythe to my hand quickly making it tangible so as to grab the scythe and with a single fluid motion, I separated her head from her shoulders.
Dark blood spewing from her neck like a fountain.
As the drops of blood fell on to me like rain, I looked up, then I felt it from deep beneath me... my hunger.
The scent from all these banshees was edging me on, I wanted nothing more than to consume them but I remained where I was, after all this entire trial was based on the fact that I had to learn to control my hunger so I could go days without beast meat.
Something I had learnt the hard way the first days I had been thrown to the domes. Yet as I thought about everything that had happened the past two weeks a grinding sound filled the chamber.
Another door was forming in the wall, this one marked with a glowing purple pentagram - the same sigil that had once contained the ghoul. As it swung open, I could see another dome beyond, promising more trials, more tests of their "Child of the End."
I moved toward it, Dauðalok held ready. I wondered how much longer it would take for me to pass this trial, yet as I thought that a voice appeared in my mind.
My sister's voice whispered in my mind again, "You're close, big brother. Just a little more."
I nodded at her words.
"Soon Daysha," I replied silently. "so very soon."
I passed through the doorway, entering the next chamber. The door sealed behind me with a final, decisive thud.