It looked down at the dismembered skeleton, disgust coursing through its very essence.
Who the hell did this creature think it was, to try take the key to its salvation away from it?
It would of liked to have crushed the entire pathetic army in an instant, eliminating any risk. Unfortunately, revealing itself to the young man would certainly be a dire mistake.
Speaking of the young man, he was injured, but would recover. Thankfully.
Fen sat up, hissing at the pain of his ripped open shoulder. It moved closer to Fen, offering empty words of comfort, tearing part of it's sleeve off and wrapping it around the wound.
It offered Fen a hand, and hauled him to his feet.
Moving through the scattered dust and bones, they eventually reached the point the army had been stationed around - a large treasure chest.
It was strange though. It had seen creatures appear from the rift often, but never as many this at once - even stranger, was the treasure chest, and what it contained. It had only ever seen an isolated object such as it travel through a rift once, and even it could hardly remember the event - it must of been millennia. Strangest of all, was the artefact that was nestled in between the gold medallions and bejeweled necklaces - as far as it knew, artefacts could only be created by humans, not by anything that could travel through a rift.
It was there, nonetheless.
It was brought out of its slight confusion by the flash of greed that quickly crossed, then disappeared, from the young man's face.
Of course, it must of been like a king's treasure to a human. If he were to make it out with it, it doubted Fen would ever have a need for more riches again.
'Ahh, Fen. Overcome by avarice I see, yet again.'
It had honestly grown somewhat attached to him. It had never spent this amount of time with an actual being without consuming it before, so it was quite an interesting feeling. It would probably have to kill the man as soon as they made their escape of course, but it would certainly remember him.
It carried the casket of treasure, Fen trailed slightly behind, seemingly infatuated by the artefact - which was in the shape of a jade necklace. It was slightly wary of the necklace, but it doubted Fen would find any use of it, he didn't seem to have awakened his cores nor did he seem to have the intelligence needed to use such a thing.
There was something else though, a strange pocket watch. Seemingly unhappy with his findings, Fen had began examining it through the lens of the mirror that hung from the back of it. It didn't like not understanding, but it curbed its annoyance, and made a note to find out what exactly the man had been doing. Right before killing him, it thought would be the perfect time.
Setting down in an area a slight distance ahead of their battle, the two exchanged a quiet, and light conversation, before deciding to rest up.
Neither was actually asleep, but they were certainly both quite good at pretending to.
After a while, Fen gingerly stood up, grabbed hold of the artefact and began moving forwards in the tunnel.
'Smart boy'
He certainly knew how to steal.The artefact alone would sell for unimaginable amounts of wealth - had he taken any of the other treasures, he would of run the risk of waking his companion.
Had it not been already awake.
It waited around an hour, then followed. There was no real need to wait that long, but it was still cautious of the mysterious artefact, and had decided against getting anywhere near Fen once close to the exit - its true form would begin to show itself the closer it got after all.
It drew closer, and closer.
It was practically giddy. It had been so, so long.
So long since it was free.
Eventually, it approached the familiar chamber. Ohhh, it had dreamt of this day. Something was wrong though, something was off. There was a trail of crimson littering the floor in front of it. Undoubtedly the blood of Fen, but why? His wound had been covered up, and there was no need to take it off.
It aproached with a renewed caution.
Stepping into the chamber, it immediately noticed Fen. He was standing there, at the top of the steps to freedom, unmoving. Simply looking at the accursed wooden door. It grimaced at the sight of the familiar singe mark that remained there, as if to remind it of its prior incompetence.
It felt its form slip back into its natural state somewhat.
"Fen, are you alright? I woke up in the camp and you'd disappeared, so I came to try find you - what are you doing?"
"Seriously, creature? The naivety act has really run its course by now, you didn't seriously think I wouldn't of caught on did you? Everything about you is false. Your beliefs, your personality, your speech. It's all stolen, a mere imitation of what a human should be. Simply a tool you pick up and use, to bend things to your will".
It paused. This was… surprising.
"I see"
The creature showed its first true smile.
It was filled with pure, ancient insanity.
"Yes…, you are correct. Beliefs are powerful things, and especially succulent. Vessels such as this fade, people are forgotten. Beliefs tend to stick around for much, much longer".
"Poor Thor was certainly real then?"
"Yes, his sacrifice will live on, in me. Truly unfortunate that I happened to be hungry, eh!"
"You think of it as a joke?"
"Not a joke, per say, but I find his existence to of been somewhat wasted. In a way, you could say I helped him find purpose, even".
"How very twisted."
"If you say so, dear Fen. Now that we've been truly acquainted though, I dare say it's time we get down to business, don't you!"
"Please, do elaborate".
Fen's voice dripped with venomous sarcasm.
"How about this; you open that lovely door in front of you, and I truly will leave you alone - and your family, and friends. Is it too much to ask for a humble creature to feed once in a while? I'm sure we'd both vastly prefer this to the alternative".
Fen raised an eyebrow
"Which is"
The creature let out a demented laugh
"Nothing too serious, just an ounce of torture. A decade or so is enough to give anyone the upmost clarity!
"Putting it that way, the first option does certainly sound a touch more appealing"
The creature grinned.
"How very astute!"
"Now, Fen. If you were to stop stalling for time and instead get to opening that door, I would be greatly indebted".
Fen let out a sly grin.
"Too late!"
The creature rolled its eyes, and completely abandoned it's human form.
It happened in less than a second. The creature moved so fast that Fen couldn't even process it, but the creature processed everything.
It noticed the markings first. Four identical markings, all made from Fen's own blood. Its mind raced. Some kind of attack? No, it doubted it. Fen would of certainly used it immediately, when it had its guard lowest. It couldn't be some kind of teleport either, not only were artefacts such as that incredibly rare, even if it was it would achieve nothing. Fen would only be able to teleport somewhere within the cave systems, it had long tried a similair tactic to no avail. That left some kind of illusion as the only likely possibility. It would also fit with the man's futile attempt to buy himself time.
The creatures eyes widened, it two empty pools of darkness could be considered eyes.
Fen must have already escaped, and it was currently in an illusion. He had no reason to stay behind after all, as a human, he could freely open and pass through the door. Why would he remain here in an illusion though? To buy time, most likely in an attempt to keep it inside its millennia-old prison. It knew it wouldn't be as simple as closing the door once you had exited, but it was also certainly possible to close it once it was opened.
The door was wide open right now, it just needed to see it.
It moved in an instant to the bloody rune nearest it, slamming its force down upon it, effortlessly displacing not only it but the stone around it.
The illusion was broken.
It could see freedom.
The door was wide open, it always had been. The man, Fen was standing outside it, clearly struggling with something, a look of terror crossing his face.
As it practically flew towards the door, a cruel smile crossed its horrific complexion. It was going to tear the man apart. A creature such as him standing in the way of something as omnipotent as it?
There were simply no excuses.
Bliss was close now, it was mere nanoseconds from the door.
Closer,
Closer still,
A thought and it was there.
It died slowly.
It died painfully.
The true illusion shattered, and the creature was incinerated in ethereal flame, falling to the floor, yet refusing to die yet.
It writhed in agony, in terror, in sorrow.
The door was not open.
It never had been.
Fen towered above it, his gaze drifting down.
His voice had no compassion.
"This door must represent so much to you. It must be freedom, be hope, be the only way out of this eternal coffin. I'm sure you've tried thousands of times to escape another way, but I'm sure you were stopped, stopped by the laws imposed on you by whatever creature sealed you here. A creature far greater than you. Your only freedom, one dangled above your head for eternity is your downfall. You have no hope, you have no freedom."
"Only death awaits."
Fen sneered, looking down upon the pitiful being.
"Goodbye".