The demon's tail whipped through the air, its claws snapping wildly as it lunged towards her, any trace of sanity or calm now gone replaced by madness, rage and a thirst for vengeance.
Alexia desperately evaded the pincher in every way possible leaving herself open to be ripped apart by it's massive razor sharp claws as she slid backwards using the force of the hits by the claws .
She was trying to create as much distance as was possible between herself and the rampaging frenzied demon beast. It was much more assuring to be dealt brutal blows and gashes by it's deadly claws than to die instantly by the sinister poison in it's stinger.
She was already formulating a rough escape plan in her head, but before she could put it to use, she had to get to the place where she had found the wolf's carcass without alerting the scorpion of her intentions.
She hoped to use the hole that the scorpion had burrowed out of to escape and maybe then she could find a way to kill it underground. It was the most concrete plan that she could think of in this pessimistic situation that had the least chance of a quick death.
With a swift instinctive dodge,she narrowly avoided another fierce jab from above then tumbled to the ground,her body rolling across the rough terrain in the direction she was aiming for. The scorpion blinded by rage was only focused on how to tear her into pieces not comprehending what she was up to.
With mere inches to spare she plunged into the hole, narrowly escaping the blade like claws that aimed to sever her head from her shoulders.
Unfortunately such could not be said about her hair that was now caught in a pincher like grip of the scorpion's tail, jerking her to a sudden halt leaving her suspended halfway open to the assault of the scorpion's stinger. The deadly stinger now poised to give a final finishing strike.
Without thinking much, she decisively set her sword aflame and sliced through her hair setting herself free and causing the scorpion to strike it's own tail. She was very much aware that that wouldn't kill it either but it was sure to hurt a lot.
Landing on the damp earthen floor with a thud, she wasted no time before sprinting into the closest burrow before her. It was only seconds later that she realized the implications of chopping off her hair. She cursed while picking up her pace as she sweared to give that scorpion a horrible death.
The beast let out an enraged screech, before jumping into the hole and swiftly following after her.
***
At the moment, buried deep underground, Alexia could somehow tell that the night was almost over. She knew that was kind of hard to believe considering she was deep in the earth, surrounded by darkness and being relentlessly hunted down by a giant maddened scorpion demon.
However that was what her intuition told her and after numerous trials and errors she couldn't say she was a firm believer but she decided to trust it. Now back to her current plight.
After being chased for a while now, she had come to painfully realize that even without it's eye. The beast was finding it's way and her just fine in the darkness, infact it was doing a lot better than she was. Her only advantage was that it's size made it somewhat restricted.
Sighing to herself she paused and stopped to rest, in a few seconds, the darkness around her had become much denser and the scorpion was upon her. It rushed towards her wanting to finish her off quickly.
With adrenaline fueled agility, she dodged an incoming claw and launched herself towards the scorpion. Eager, it raised one of it's legs to impale her while its claw raced towards her restricting her movements.
Her body glided across the dusty ground as she slipped underneath the scorpion's elevated underbelly. Setting her sword aflame, she raised it and sliced through it's soft underbelly as she slid past it.
Once she was free from underneath it, she lifted herself up just in time and continued her sprint. Making sure that she was far away from it's frenzy before pausing and turning back to enjoy the result of her masterpiece.
The darkness swirled erratically like a whirlwind. The demon arched it's back in pain and agony, it's legs thrashing wildly as it let out screech after screech of anguish and anger. It's tail flailing about in reckless abandon, spewing it's deadly venom in all directions as if stilll wanting to cause harm to the one who had injured it.
It's claws snapped blindly in a vicious move to bury everything around it under the scorching earth. It's wound continued burning with unrelenting flames prolonging it's agony.
After the flames receded, it slumpled on the ground, still breathing but sufficiently weakened for what she was about to do next. It was true that it would die eventually but she didn't have much time left before the burrow collapsed on their heads due to it's erratic movements.
So she had to give it a swift death, so she could collect the luxstone before escaping from here no matter how reluctant she was.
' You're just annoyed that you can't pay it back for ruining your oh so long hair. Be quick, this place will collapse in a minute or two.'
Listening to the voice in her head, Alexia's veins throbbed violently as she gritted her teeth stepping forward to deal the finishing blow to the scorpion.
' And also, at this rate your teeth might crack.'
Alexia climbed unto it's sturdy shell, ignoring it's futile attempts to jab at her with it's stinger. As soon as she reached it's neck, she gathered up her last remaining fire power and stabbed it with a swift decisive blow.
Jumping down, she picked up the already formed luxstone and stored it in her storage bracelet , she had to move quickly, she could already hear the walls crumbling.
Luckily for her, she had remembered to leave tracks she could follow to reach the surface. Although she did it clumsily, she still deserves praise for accomplishing it under such bad working conditions.
She frantically retraced her steps as the burrows collapsed behind her forever burying the body of Thrakos. She wasn't sure why it was being hunted but she was sure no one would ever find it again.
Finally seeing the entrance to the surface, she dashed ahead, avoiding the pieces of rocks and debris that fell from the ceiling. With few minutes to spare, she increased her pace but just before she could climb out, the entrance collapsed sealing her only means of escape.
Her heart thudded in her chest as the burrows began crumbling soon it wouldn't be long before she was buried underground like the demonic scorpion with no way out.
Her first reaction was to try and dig a way out but she stopped herself halfway. That solution wasn't feasible,maybe it could have worked if she was a dwarf but being a dragon, she wasn't suited for underground adventures especially with her size. Slightly panicking, she decided to go with her intuition.
" What am I supposed to do now, don't you have any ideas?"
' Nope, my only advice would be to conserve your energy and delay the inevitable.'
Alexia was very surprised by that response. Wasn't this voice in her head meant to be her advisor or something, how can it have no idea what to do and then tell her to prepare for her death?
" Aren't you meant to be giving me ideas or telling me what to do in these kinds of situations? How come you're so unreliable."
' You should really learn to never solely rely on others no matter how dependable they seem.'
" I have no intention of dying today! Especially when I have the chance to leave this forest now."
" You have to help....."
Her voice was cut off when something heavy, most likely a rock fell on her head. She could feel her head throbbing and the world spinning before being overwhelmed by darkness.
***
Alexia felt warm but the ground was hard and uncomfortable.
' How come the afterlife was so rocky and why is my body still feeling like I entered a meat grinder if I'm dead.'
She frowned and furrowed her eyebrows.
' Wait, do spirits even think and besides...I thought I was going to see some white light or something.'
Then she heard another annoying voice in her head.
' Gosh! Congratulations on staying in the land of the living and to your disappointment you are not dead...yet.'
Her eyes widened as she sat up gasping for breath, she was still alive but how did that happen and who saved her?
' Do you know who saved me just now?'
' I'm here to guide you not to be your free surveillance system.' she heard it say in a flat tone.
" Since you're here to guide me why didn't you try to get me out of that tunnel?"
' It's night time, I'm tired. I won't be around for a while. Try to stay alive while I'm gone.'
Now Alexia was feeling really confused. What was the connection between it being night time and it refusing to help her? And when did this thing ever need sleep?
She tried to communicate with it again but she was met with only her own voice. It felt a little weird being the only one in her head when they were meant to be two.
Her eyes wandered around trying to confirm where she was. The high standing crimson trees with some toppled or bent by a devastating force, the slope that was now on the hard ground, the moon that shone illuminating her surroundings.
She was sure she was back to the place where she had fought the scorpion, Thrakos, just above the now collapsed burrows. She continued sitting there before taking out the luxstone from the storage bracelet.
Looking at the big shiny stone, her eyes twinkled, she felt that everything was worth it for this particular moment.
' I'll soon be free of this wretched forest.'
She grimaced in pain when she tried to grin. She was mildly surprised, this had taken her less time than she imagined and all things considered she regarded that as a good thing.
Closing her eyes to concentrate, she absorbed the essence of the feral prime beast. It was much more abundant than even a martial apex beast, the difference was mind boggling. Soon enough she felt herself reaching the saturation point, when she was close to her bottleneck, she condensed the essence in her soul and continued absorbing more.
She was determined to drain all the essence from this stone and reach what could be considered the apex stage. After she was done, the luxstone turned into powder disappearing with the wind.
She stood up, testing the limits of her new body. She threw a punch forward and instantly felt the difference. With her soul fully saturated, she felt faster, stronger and flexible overall. Her already sharp dragon senses became sharper and she could feel that the fire in her soul had grown more destructive.
She was finally ready to advance, all she needed now was to train her physical body to it's limits and try for a breakthrough. She could finally leave this place, her lips split into a smile once again but this time it didn't feel that painful.
She was really eager to get back to the palace and give his royal highness a piece of her mind. She endured the pain and hurried back to the camp, testing her new abilities once again. She had to tell her uncle about this and she also had to meet Evan for a healing session.