As Kael was frying the thug, suddenly "STAB" one of the thug's underlings stabbed him in the back. He felt a sharp pain and dropped the thug to the ground, coughing blood as he collapsed as well "THUD."
The underling dropped the knife to the ground. "I-I killed him... ha... hahahaha!" he laughed like a maniac, as if he'd done the impossible. The others laughed too, even stepping on Kael's head. Adrian, seeing this, rushed to stop them but was halted by a local.
"Stop it, Adrian. He brought this on himself."
Suddenly, Kael started smirking. "...Going exactly as planned," he thought to himself.
"A few minutes earlier"
Kael was surrounded with no way out. "These guys... they really wanna kill me. They didn't even try to confirm who beat up their boss," he thought, watching as they mindlessly attacked Adrian. He smirked. "So I should make them think they did." He focused on the boss, purposely turning his back to the weakest one, letting his guard down.
"Come on. Take the shot."
"Back to the present"
Kael lay on the ground, still smirking. "Yes... spread the news. Tell Izuwan that I'm dead," he thought.
Suddenly Adrian stepped up. "Enough!!" he yelled at them. The locals were shocked. They tried to stop him, but one of the thug's underlings approached him with an axe in his hand.
"Hey, kid... you got a death wish or something?"
Adrian was scared but still stood his ground. His humanity refused to walk away.
"He's already dead. You won... so stop it," he said, clenching his fists.
The underling looked at him for a moment before smirking. "Don't want to," he said as he lifted his arm to strike.
Suddenly a voice came from behind. "Stop it!!"
It was Elena June, with Emberwatch behind her to protect her.
"Catch them all," she ordered.
Without hesitation, the Emberwatch captured them all.
"Thank you for saving me," Adrian said, bowing to her.
"No need to thank me. I was just doing my job to protect this village," she replied.
Elena glanced at Kael's bloodied body. "Who's he?" she asked.
"I don't know. I accidentally bumped into him, and the next thing I knew, I got surrounded by the thugs with him," Adrian replied, also glancing at Kael.
Suddenly, one of the Emberwatch whispered something to Elena.
"Mayor Elena... we looked into that guy's status. He's a wanted man."
Hearing this, Elena looked at him for a moment and whispered back, "Then dump his body in the Mav Cave. Let the monsters eat his dead flesh." She walked away right after.
Kael's eyes darkened as the Emberwatch lifted his body.
*DRIP* *DRIP* The sound of water echoed through the cave. Kael opened one eye slowly. He felt something poking his back. He looked around to see bones. Bones of people who had been eaten by the monster.
"So this is the Mav Cave, huh? The secret of Eldermere. Izuwan did tell us about these things... but I never expected them to be real," he thought to himself.
He got up to look around for an exit, but suddenly something blinded his eyes for a moment. It was coming from deep below the cave. Looking closer, he saw, it was an egg. A beautiful one that looked like it was about to hatch, surrounded by dead flowers that were visibly being absorbed by it.
Suddenly, a sound came from the path in front of the egg. Each step grew more intense as it got closer and closer. Kael narrowed his eyes, locking onto the shadow emerging.
"That... that's the Abyssal Mav," Kael muttered. He had learned about them, seen sketches in Izuwan. "I can't believe it. It looks even more terrifying in real life."
A beast emerged through the smoke, a descendant of the hellhounds.
"I heard only the near-dead can see them," Kael muttered, clenching his fists. "Am I... really gonna die here?"
Suddenly, the egg started to crack. Kael moved closer to get a better look and hid behind a rock. The egg *CRACK* opened. A baby Abyssal Mav, wrapped in its own tail, was inside, slowly opening its eyes. It yawned, sending a shockwave through the cave. It clumsily walked toward its mother, but suddenly it stopped in its tracks. It tilted its head upward, looking at the rock Kael was hiding behind, and let out a low growl.
"Shit! It knew," Kael whispered, holding his breath. But it was too late. The mother, who had been distracted by the baby, now sensed Kael's presence. She leapt from place to place, closing in on him.
"I'm so screwed!" he said as he started running.
"Fck! Fck! I don't have my dagger with me," he thought. As he ran, the mother beast appeared in front of him.
"How the hel—" the mother struck him with her paw, sending him flying.
Kael lay on the ground, his face blank, vision blurred from blood loss.
"Shit... I lost... too much blood..." he muttered, bleeding from his head.
"I'm scared... that beast is gonna tear me apart... and feast on what's left..."
"I don't... want to die," he thought.
Then suddenly, his pupils slowly began to glow white, his sclera turning black. His defense mechanism activated. The mother beast sensed something off and tried to attack but was sent flying as the air around Kael burst with a great force, turning black and surrounding him, slowly lifting him up. Once lifted, the aura entered his body, healing everything in an instant.
The mother roared, shaking the whole cave.
Kael opened his eyes and looked at the beast, but it wasn't Kael anymore. His survival instinct had taken over, activating the monster within him:
"THE DARK HOST."