Raven's shoulder's felt heavier than before as he walked along the dark and cold business street; for some reason, he didn't wish to take the bus. There were many things today, the battle with Ragovad, dating Emily, meeting Philis...
He pulled his phone from his pocket, the bright light from his screen giving him some extra sight as he saw the countless messages from Lilith, they started angrily, but slowly they became more mature and obedient.
The final message
- I miss you, please come home. x [From Lilith] With a small picture of a slightly burned egg and bacon with rice and toast.
Somehow, the image caused his chest to ache, he was having all this fun, and the girl that only had him in the entire world was eating alone in the dark, no... She wasn't even eating; Lilith was waiting for him...
'And I... Was avoiding her on purpose...' Raven thought.
- I am coming, rushing to you. Please wait for me! [To Lilith] He replied, putting the phone away solemnly and gazing into the distance.
'Let's go home.'
His steps increased pace; he quickly began to break into a rush; the unused level-ups were all distributed.
[Attributes (Average = 1)]
Strength: 4.3
Agility: 2.3
Stamina: 5.8
Vitality: 6.5
Intellect: 3.2
Wisdom: 3.4
Not to fight monsters, not to become stronger.
Raven just hoped and desired for them to help him get home faster!
Tap-Tap-Thud!
His legs began to swell, the pain he felt when levelling up several times causing his teeth to shudder and rattle, but Raven continued running.
He began to think of the past week, the past month, losing Philis over his stubborn thoughts, meeting Lilith and taking her in, becoming an adventurer...
A manticore... so many ideas as he remembered the scent of Philis, her soft body as she held him, tightly grabbing onto his back as if she never wanted to release him.
How could his heart not desire her touch?
He wanted to call her back.
Ask her to come home with him.
His life was changing so fast that he could barely keep up with the day-to-day! But what about Emily? What about Lilith...?
'I feel like the worst type of trash... A murderer... wanting his cake and eating it!'
Raven felt like the dark city streets; neither cars nor people soothed his mind as he rushed from the distant business district to his home near the slums; with each step, his thoughts and feelings clashed.
"I want to be with Lilith and help her find her desired future! Make her smile, like the Manticore on the mural!"
His heart beat faster as he thought of her.
The purple energy surged as if synchronising with his thoughts, the dark shows and streets becoming brighter as his neon eyes vividly shone with a bright blue light.
"I want to make up with Philis... But not lose my new life!"
The selfish truth deep within his heart caused the organs of his body to become filled with the pink hue absorbed by the women at the bureau, his speed seeming to increase further as the third seal of the second gate was broken quickly.
Raven's breath seemed to have a purple hue as he was running at a full sprint, now two times faster than the average person; only 50 minutes, and he would be home; that cute girl waiting wouldn't be sat alone with that cold food!
'I am selfish, greedy and arrogant!'
"I want Emily to be beside me, never to leave!"
"I want to have sex with Miriam repeatedly, never letting another customer touch her again."
His desire for monopoly, feelings of lust, greed and sense of pride and arrogance seething as his lower body began to form dark purple scales.
His feet hardened, becoming hard like stone or a bull's hooves.
"That cute demon fox! I want to taste her... make her scream my name!"
Raven shouted into the night.
He always held back, whether it was his parents, friends, humans, or even Philis!
He wanted them to be happy and make sure they were proud, but it wasn't enough. Inside he always felt something wasn't right; this isn't me... This isn't my life!
Now the Manticore's heart was running on overdrive; the constant fighting, his encounters with a present and past love, and the strong women caused his young, unawakened manticore blood to boil.
No longer could he smile and say lies, just so the other person didn't feel bad.
Nor could he pretend that working a tedious dead-end job made his day worth it just by seeing her face!
His breathing became rough, now in a place he didn't recognise; the lights around him were dark as he stepped forward, leaning against a tall building, panting desperately, clenching his hands as he was frustrated at his feelings.
So selfish and arrogant.
But he wanted them and everything, and he no longer knew if this was just the Manticore in him speaking.
Or was it his will from the start?
Would they hate him, desert him if he spoke the truth? That he wanted to have his cake and eat it...
"Stupid..." Raven whispered into the void, taking deep breaths thinking to all these thoughts, his skin pulsing with pink and purple veins, while his nails were warping into claws, eyes now brilliant blue with slit pupils.
He slammed his hand against the wall, the brittle brick set for demolition collapsing with a rumbling boom, Raven's feet once again thudding as he rushed back, the image of Lilith now dominating his mind; it continued flashing like a warning an ultimatum.
Monster.
That's what he was.
A void sounded in his head, like his own but shrouded in darkness, distorted like a beast's.
'If you don't feel good enough for them all?'
"Then become a man great enough that they can only look up to!"
'If you want to hold Philis again?'
"Then sweep her off her feet! Make her love me again so crazily that she can never leave again!
"But I won't abandon Emily! I will be honest and tell her my intentions and how I feel! With time, everything can be achieved!"
'If you want that manticore girl, the minotaur and the demon fox?'
"Take them, make them fall so deeply in love with me they cannot escape!"
The voice faded into the darkness as he realised he was only a few minutes from home, his body filled with sweat, the walls around him filled with sharp claw marks, and the pavement with deep hoof prints.
For a moment, he thought he saw a violet flash, a pair of eyes watching in the darkness; even his dark vision couldn't penetrate that strange fog surrounding the path to his home.
'Could it be Lilith? Did she leave the apartment to wait for me? Silly girl... so cute.'
Raven's mind seemed to get more precise the more he argued with that voice, the less he hid the thoughts and desires he held; even now, he wanted to fuck Emily, take her back to his place and make her addicted to him.
He could barely contain himself with Lilith; how could he not eat meat that threw itself into his lap?
A sudden sound like a stone was kicked sounded from his side, now surrounded by tall apartment buildings as he was only 5 minutes at most, his feet stopped; there was something here.
His instincts screamed with conflicting thoughts.
One told him to flee, get away as fast as possible
One urged him to enter the darkness; she was waiting!
'Who is she... Lilith? I cannot keep her waiting...' Raven thought as his feet moved towards the slight sound where the rock was kicked.
Raven's half-transformed body began to lumber towards the strange murky darkness, slight ripples in the dark as if something was standing there, watching him, its body swaying, maybe dancing.
Why did his body feel terror and arousal at the same time?
Could Lilith do this?
It smelled sweet.
He tried to pull out his phone, but a flash of black burst past his hand, the phone slamming onto the ground, as suddenly it began to play a melody.
♫ The Pianist's Lament - Prelude ♫
The melancholy and macabre violins and cello began to serenade his ears, a sense of foreboding beyond that of Ragovad as he stepped further into the mist, a small voice on the wind, gentle and soft, beckoning him to come closer.
"You're finally here..."
"I finally found you..."
"You cannot hide anymore..."
Each time she spoke, her words were in sync with the haunting melody, the Pianist's lament playing the part where he even seeks to make a pact with the devil to meet his beloved again.
"My mate!"
Purple eyes shining in the dark. It was Lilith; only she had those beast-like eyes, those strange runes and slit pupils!
"I have waited millennia..."
"Aeons..."
"Did you enjoy your time beside her?"
"The fake queen?"
'Fake queen? What is she talking about.'
Raven wanted to find her, but the further he entered the mist, the more desperately lost he became, the sound of her voice and the melody now wrapping around his mind as if it was all around him.
"That happiness was mine... You were supposed to be mine!"
Before he could understand, a sudden figure lunged forward, both corporeal and ethereal, as if she was here but somewhere else!
Black hair, glossy and pristine like the void itself, forged each strand.
Creamy white flesh, as if made from the most wonderous and divine nectar and milk of the gods, shiny and smooth, not a single blemish or mark.
Ameythst eyes, radiant and glowing like miniature stars watching him with a gentle yet ferocious look, all sense of humanity missing.
A long black tail with the scales of a dragon, the stinger of a wasp and lion-like fur around it, swaying in mid-air like a murderous tool of death.
It was Lilith, but not...
"Hello there, my dearest husband." The woman's face was distorted with a twisted emotion, neither love, lust, hatred or anger. It was like all of them were mixed.
Raven's body began to scream; he must flee. Escape, no matter how inelegant and pathetic he might seem.
Yet he stood there.
Watching.
"You will not flee? Despite shaking so much, your teeth rattling can be heard from here. Alistair Granbell."
Her voice was mature, her body mature, different from Lilith, too different. She was eerie and creepy; his skin was filled with goosebumps as she approached, her smile causing him to feel only despair.
"How did it feel? To awaken my gift and not hers? That pride... That desire... It's not something that a fake can give... We've met once... have you forgotten? your body holds half my heart." Her head tilted; it would be cute if not for her contorted face with only a freakish look.
"Your gift?" He finally managed to force his words out, and instantly, the pressure receded vastly as he now got a better look; it was like the void moved away, feared her.
A tall woman, close to 6ft, identical to Lilith, but their colours and mannerisms were the opposite.
So similar it was eerie.
Her lips showed a genuine smile, no longer twisted and strange as if his mere words were enough to make her smile happily.
The girl then pointed towards him as he looked down.
Scales, hooves, talons, huge bulking muscles, and two massive horns seemed to grow on his head.
Like the monster in a game he once played, something called a Behemoth from Last Fantasy 7!
'What!?' He knew he was a chimaera and changed, but what was this form... That damage from earlier, did his body create that? Because of his extreme desire to return home to Lilith!?
"You look so handsome... now, will you come with me? I have been waiting for so long... I cannot go there... you have to come to me!"
His hulking body stepped back; the sense of his mind was no longer split like some fog was gone the moment he entered this place. The instant he did, her face distorted, her body becoming monstrous as she started to howl and wail, a strange but bestial cry.
"Don't go back to her! I will never let you live! You are mine!"
Raven didn't move further, his eyes narrow and watching this creature.
He realised that it couldn't force him to do anything, nor could it force him. Raven needed to come with her willingly! But he chose not to flee.
"Tell me, why should I follow you? I don't even know your name!"
Suddenly, her mouth opened a row of sharp teeth formed an eerie smile that matched her lovely face; it caused a strange contrast that created something Raven couldn't deny.
She was a monstrous beauty.
"Little birdy... Little birdy... will you die just like your mother?"
"!?"
The voice was like a strange song, melodic and matching the interlude of the Pianist's lament that played in the background.
"I am the one who creates."
"I am the one who destroys."
"I am the first."
"I am the last."
"The mother of all Manticores."
"She who devours all!"
Her body twirled as she gave him a light bow, her face now the spitting image of Lilith when she greeted him naked each morning, trying to push his buttons, but this woman...
She terrified him.
"Eve."
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