A droplet of water splashed against the back of Seleth’s neck. She nearly leapt a foot into the air, biting down on a surprised yelp a moment before it could leave her mouth. What emerged ended up being more of a strangled whimpering hiss.

  She glanced up at the ceiling of the massive cave. Stalactites riddled it like pox, the water dripping from their tips pattering down all around like a slow rain. Seleth swallowed and forced her attention back to the small demon leading the way before her.

  Yoru had been traveling with her for several days, now. Or perhaps it would have been more accurate to say Seleth had been traveling with Yoru. But that might have been stretching things as well.

  They hadn’t had many conversations of note. For that matter, they’d only really ever had one. It had been just long enough for Seleth to learn Yoru’s name. Calling their other interactions conversations would have been a stretch. That would have required both of them to have been both speaking and listening — and something made Seleth think that Yoru hadn’t paid much attention to anything at all she’d said.

  That didn’t stop her from trying. The silence and the drip of the stalactites almost felt deafening. She had to say something, if just to avoid the ringing emptiness from swallowing her thoughts entirely.

  “Are you certain this is a good idea?” Seleth whispered. “Why are we seeking a monster like this out? It probably doesn’t even exist. But even if it did, shouldn’t we leave it as it is? The threat is too great for any real potential reward.”

  “You said it yourself. It is asleep,” Yoru replied.

  Another droplet of water fell on Seleth’s back. She flinched and suppressed a curse. The water wasn’t just surprising. It was freezing cold, and every single drop that landed on her ended up soaking into her clothes. Her teeth were going to start chattering at this rate.

  Seleth also couldn’t help but notice that Yoru had yet to be hit by a single droplet.

  “If it’s asleep, shouldn’t we leave it that way? Isn’t this just stirring up trouble for no reason?” Seleth asked. She hurried after Yoru. Despite her short legs, the small demon still moved fast enough to force Seleth into a light jog just to keep up. “You said you weren’t planning on telling anybody if we did find it.”

  “I am not,” Yoru said, continuing deeper into the darkness. The demon glanced over her shoulder at Seleth. “That would defeat the purpose.”

  Seleth’s response died on her lips as Yoru came to an abrupt stop. She skidded to a halt moments before plowing right into the demon, but any complaint Seleth might have had never even had a chance to spark into thought.

  Her eyes drifted upward, the knot in her stomach slowly forming into a thick, heavy lump. Rusted metal chains with links the width of her torso filled the darkness. Dozens of them stretched taught, all running out from a large metal sphere suspended in the air. The ball was the size of a small mansion and looked like it weighted a hundred times as much.

  “No. That can’t be real.” Gooseflesh raced across Seleth’s skin. She breathed, finally finding her words again. “It’s actually here?”

  “Why are you surprised?” Yoru asked. “You were the one that took me to the section in the library that spoke of the myths of this empire. Why would one not be real?”

  “Because they’re myths,” Seleth hissed. “They’re stories! I didn’t actually think the Strifeclaw had actually been bound in some random mountain range a thousand years ago! How did you even know it was here, of all places?”

  “Why wouldn’t it have been?” Yoru asked. “It seemed quite obvious to me.”

  “Did we read the same book?” Seleth asked.

  “No,” Yoru replied, still staring up at the metal ball. “I did not read at all. That was why I brought you. To read me the myths.”

  “And they’re all real? Every single one of them?”

  “Of course not.” There was the faintest amount of derision in Yoru’s tone. “What could have possibly led you to think something as foolish as that?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “I— but—”

  “Just because one is real does not mean they all are,” Yoru said. “And this one is real.”

  But how did you know that? What was different about this legend? They were all stales in an old book that nobody’s read in only the gods know how long. What gave it away?

  Seleth didn’t voice her question. Something told her it would have been pointless. Even if Yoru gave her an answer, it probably would have just left her with even more questions. The current problem wasn’t that the legend was real.

  It was the fact that she was no situated right in front of it.

  Seleth swallowed.

  “If it’s real, why are we here? The Strifeclaw is an ancient monster. It was sealed away for a good reason. It’s not like the dragon you killed a little while ago. Shouldn’t we leave? If we wake it…”

  Yoru blew out a breath. “Do you think I came all the way over here just so I could take a look at a giant ball of metal and then leave?”

  “Yes?” Seleth asked weakly. “I’m sure there would be a number of mages that would pay a great deal of crystal for information like this. You could sell it for a fortune. Enough money to buy just about anything you wanted to.”

  “Money couldn’t buy a single thing I want,” Yoru replied. Then she looked back to the suspended metal sphere. “We are paving the way.”

  A trill of warning raced down Seleth’s back. She took a step back. Then another. There hadn’t been many legends of the Strifeclaw. But the ones she did know made it absolutely clear that this was a terrible idea.

  The monster was immensely powerful. It had destroyed entire cities on its own. Thousands of people had lost their lives because of the being sealed within the metal ball before them.

  “Are you sure there isn’t a better way to pave the way?” Seleth asked.

  “Yes,” Yoru replied. “I am.”

  A shimmer of moonlight split the darkness. Gossamer hands of light snapped into being at Yoru’s sides, affixed to her shoulders as if they’d always been there. But she didn’t stop with two.

  Another set of glowing hands appeared from her back. A third joined them, adding up to a total of six silver-blue limbs made entirely of moonlight. Power swirled around Yoru, gathering at her feet in streams of silver.

  Pressure buffeted against Seleth. Its sheer force was enough to send her skidding back several feet. She raised her hands before her face as Yoru lifted into the air, rising up to where the ancient monster waited. A beast powerful enough that the last group of mages that had fought it had been forced to trap it — and Yoru was about to let it free.

  Seleth tasted copper against her tongue.

  How did I get myself into this situation?

  Yoru clapped all three sets of her hands together.

  A beam of moonlight exploded out from the mage like a sword, slicing straight up into the metal ball. The air split as a deafening roar tore through it. There was a brilliant crack. Then the huge orb split into two. The halves swung down, the tension of the chains swinging them to either side.

  And from within it dropped an enormous catlike monster. It was nearly as large as the metal ball itself, with a mouth full of so many fangs that it never could have properly closed right. Its claws were easily each ten feet long and made of blood-red bone and a thick matt of fur that had been supposedly enough to stop even the most powerful of attacks.

  Seleth screamed. She flinched back, drawing on all the magical power her runes had to offer. The magic wasn’t going to be much, but she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

  That didn’t stop her eyes from squeezing shut of their own accord.

  It wasn’t her proudest moment.

  A second passed.

  Then a flicker of confusion welled within Seleth. She hadn’t felt any change in pressure. The only presence in the room was Yoru’s.

  Seleth’s eye cracked open.

  The Strifeclaw was there, all right. It laid on the floor, not a single sign of motion or life remaining within its body. The monster was split in half.

  It was, undeniably and without a doubt, dead.

  Seleth stared in disbelief. Her mouth worked, but no words managed to make their way out. The Strifeclaw had definitely been alive a few moments ago. She’d heard its roar, and the blood pooling on the ground made it clear that this monster wasn’t some long-dead relic.

  Yoru had killed it in a single strike.

  What?

  Yoru lowered back to the ground and touched down beside Seleth.

  “And that’s that,” Yoru said.”

  “How?” Seleth whispered. “That was a—”

  “Legend,” Yoru finished. “One so old that nobody remembered it. Never trust a legend, Seleth. The older the are, the more likely they’re just some old fart bragging about something his old fart bragged to him about. That beast wasn’t much more than a Rank 6. I’m sure it was quite the struggle for the middling mages that sealed it, though.”

  “It… was a lie?”

  “An exaggeration. Real legends are either powerful enough to not be forgotten or — in the case of the truly great ones — dangerous enough to never have been known in the first place. But a forgotten legend is nothing more than some old man’s story.”

  “Then why did we come here?” Seleth muttered, her brow furrowed in confusion and stunned disbelief. “What was the point?”

  Yoru looked back to the dead monster. And, somehow, Seleth knew that the demon was smiling.

  “You can’t make a new legend without killing a few others in the process.”

  Patreon (50 chapters ahead!)