The dead monster lying next to me had tried to kill me. It had tried to kill Lyren. Part of me felt like I should have been horrified for having killed a living creature. My parents had instilled a strong sense of natural preservation and conservation into me from a young age. However, as I stared into the creature’s lifeless eyes, the only thing I felt was a dark, purring satisfaction that curled in my chest, savoring the kill like it was a favorite meal.

  What’s happening to me? I thought. But before I could delve into this new existential crisis, a shooting pain reminded me that the bite on my forearm was still a mess of torn flesh where crimson blood mingled with the Darroch's inky secretions. Each pulse of my heartbeat sent fresh waves of searing pain through my arm, like battery acid eating through nerve endings. Unlike the slash wounds across my chest, which had already sealed themselves, this injury fought against my body's new healing abilities.

  The black venom pulsed between the mangled edges of skin that struggled to reconnect, as though the creature's toxins were actively resisting being purged from my system.

  The memory of how the black blood of the Umbral Chimera had reacted to the moonbeam water flashed through my mind.

  Crawling over to the edge of the spring, I plunged my wounded arm into the glowing pool. Pain exploded through my nerves, liquid fire burning my arm from the inside out. A growl tore from my throat as I forced my arm to remain submerged.

  The Darroch's dark poison bubbled from the wound, hissing and dissolving in the luminescent water like a vampire being burned with holy water.

  The stench hit me next, putrid and sulfuric, far grosser than the corpse of the boar chimera had been. My stomach heaved violently, emptying itself into the pool. Even my vomit sizzled on the surface before vanishing into nothing. Whatever the hell this water was, it certainly wasn't a fan of anything dirtying its crystal clear surface.

  A roar from the barrier pulled my attention away from the pool. The second Darroch pulled its upper body through the thinning remains of the barrier.

  These damn things are persistent.

  I pushed my strange new body to its abnormally large feet. My vision blurred at the edges, darkness threatening to close in. Whatever supernatural strength coursed through my veins now, it couldn't replace a day without food or sleep. Each wound that sealed itself drained something vital from me, like my body was cannibalizing itself to keep me alive.

  The Darroch had most of its upper body through. The magic was smoking as it burned the creature's skin. Thirty seconds, maybe less, before I'd have to fight again.

  I watched as the Darroch forced its way through the tattered remains of the barrier. The grotto entrance was narrow, meaning the final creature was only just beginning to push its way in but it wouldn’t be long behind.

  As the second monster fully entered the cave, slipping through the membrane and falling to the ground like an animal being born, its dark gray skin was covered in angry burns and covered in blisters like bubbles in tar. The first one I’d killed had similar wounds. Apparently, Lyren’s magical barrier hurts the Darroch pretty badly. How much harder the first one would have been to fight if it hadn’t already been so injured? Huh, I thought. Maybe I can use that.

  My breathing was finally beginning to slow but my mind was still foggy with exhaustion. Then, a sudden spike of white energy drove through my temples. Head leaned back, my eyes bulged and my teeth ground together for a moment before the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Then the brain fog caused by my fatigue was gone. The world sharpened around me in an instant, like watching an old TV and then switching to 4k.

  I’m not sure how or why but the white power i’d seen assisting me with Nyxora’s gift seemed to be helping me again. Now, everything felt like it was slowing down. Like the frantic running and fighting had ceased in a moment of calm clarity. I still felt all of the fear, pain, and fatigue that had been plaguing me since I’d found myself in the Glimmerwood but it was like my mind could just turn it off.

  Which was good because the Darroch pushed itself to its feet, tasting the air with its long tongue before its eyes locked onto me.

  My brain seized on the burns covering the Darroch's skin that I’d noticed before. The barrier didn't just hurt them, it burned their bodies like acid when they pushed through. I didn’t know if I could fight this Darroch off like I had the last but I did know that I had almost no chance of fighting two. They were too strong and fast, not to mention their venom from their bite that hinders my healing.

  I needed to find a way to keep the third one trapped there, half-in and half-out, cooking in that magical bubble while I dealt with its friend.

  If I could position myself just right and fight the second monster near the entrance, I could block the third one's path forward. Let Lyren's magic weaken it until it either retreated or became damaged enough that I could finish it with one quick strike.

  Despite my mind now being clear, exhaustion weighed on my new body like iron chains, and yet I needed to not only survive another encounter with these nightmares, but somehow also dictate where and how we fought. Good luck Garber.

  The third Darroch couldn't be allowed through that barrier. Not if we wanted to live through this. I staggered away from the wall, favoring my partially healed left arm while closing the distance to the second Darroch.

  Unlike its dead companion, this one kept its distance as its horrifying skull-like face tracked me. Its sunken amber eyes burned with chaotic light as a foot-long tongue flicked out, sampling the air between us.

  It slowly circled over to its fallen kin, never taking its glowing eyes off me. The creature dropped to all fours, circling the corpse once before emitting a strange clicking warble.

  Was it mourning its friend? Just how intelligent are these things?

  The Darroch suddenly clacked its jaw together with several sharp, percussive snaps. Then it prowled past its fallen ally to face me, sickly orange veins burning beneath its gray skin like its blood was boiling.

  That works for me you bastard. I kicked your friend’s ass and you are next. Stay. Right. There. I thought, circling around to place myself between the Darroch in front of me and the one trying to breach the barrier. Each step toward the Darroch steadied my resolve.

  A jagged stalagmite caught my eye. Perfect.

  I wrenched it free from the cave floor with a sharp crack. That was surprisingly easy. I thought, marveling at my new found strength. My lost bat hardly mattered now. This chunk of stone, veined with golden streaks through white mineral, had satisfying heft.

  Driving the creature exactly where I wanted it to go, I swung the stone weapon in threatening arcs.

  Once I reached my mark I feinted toward the creature, causing it to dodge backwards. Mid-lunge, I spun and smashed my makeshift club against the third Darroch's skull where it had just begun to push through the barrier.

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  The blow smashed its head against Lyren's magic shield with a loud crack. The barrier's energy surged at the increased force at the contact point, intensifying from a gentle hiss to the angry sizzle of a squeezed hamburger when the fat hit flames.

  Black ichor bubbled and popped as the creature's gray flesh charred against the magical ward. Despite what must have been excruciating pain, the monster just roared, pushing even harder against the barrier rather than retreating.

  The second creature lunged the instant my back turned, a blur of slick skin and gnashing teeth.

  I spun, pure instinct driving me as I got the stalagmite up just in time.

  The Darroch's jaws crashed down with bone-shattering force, grinding the stone between its teeth. I pulled my hands back just as the stone was crushed, shards exploding outward along with several fangs that had splintered, the creature’s black venom spraying across my face.

  So much for my new weapon.

  I ducked beneath the Darroch’s follow up attack, my hands claws ripping into the beast's flank. With speed and agility that would have made olympic athletes jealous it spun, preparing to slash me with its claws.

  Unfortunately, for it I was not only as fast as it was but I also had some kind of vicious predator riding around in the back of my mind feeding me tips while we fought. I was already in position and followed with a kick to its chest that audibly snapped several of the gaunt creature’s ribs. The Darroch hurtled backward into the barrier, narrowly missing its trapped companion.

  Damn it. I missed it.

  Instead of the crushing double impact of the two monsters smashing into each other that I'd hoped for, the magical barrier flexed like a trampoline, absorbing the force and leaving the creature I’d kicked with only a few broken bones and superficial burns where its hide touched the magic. Though, I was happy to see, the collision did have the added effect of throwing the last Darroch back outside the barrier.

  I’ll take it I guess. What is it they say about no plan surviving first contact with the enemy?

  Before I could press my advantage, the Darroch had already righted itself, glowing amber blood dripping from the sides of its horrifying mouth. It snarled at me, showing it broken and missing fangs as it coiled to spring again.

  But suddenly, its head raised up, its serpentine tongue flicked out, sampling the air. The creature went rigid, its skeletal head whipping to the side. The Darroch dropped to a crouch, its burning eyes finding a new target.

  Following its gaze. It had spotted Lyren's motionless form across the grotto. My heart seized. "NO!"

  The monster abandoned our fight, bounding toward the unconscious elf on all fours with the speed of a wild cat.

  Something primal ignited inside me, violet energy flooding my legs. My muscles expanded and claws grew from my feet, tearing into the ground and launching me forward before my mind even had a chance to catch up. My feet barely touched the stone as I hurtled across the distance, my transformed body moving in a pale blur of motion.

  I lunged forward just as the Darroch's claws reached for Lyren, my body slamming into its midsection. It screeched in pain and surprise. The impact sent us both careening past Lyren, into the grotto's moonlit spring.

  The creature's flesh met the crystalline water with a sound like meat on a hot griddle. Its skin immediately blackened and peeled away in ribbons, violently dissolving into the pristine pool.

  As we wrestled in the water, thrashing wildly, it raked me with talons that carved furrows through my pale skin. Our blood mingled in the water, my crimson mixing with its burning sickly orange, transforming the once clear spring into a churning cauldron of bubbling gore. Each time one of the amber veins beneath the creature’s skin ruptured and its contents touched the moonlit water, a torrent of plasma-like energy burst free like the flames of a blow torch.

  I fought with everything I had to maintain my grip on the slippery, convulsing monster. Keeping it as far away from the edge of the spring as I could, pulling it beneath the surface every chance I could.

  It was hard to see the creature’s condition as we fought in the water. I could feel the same burning feeling I had before as the cleansing water pushed the venom of several more bites out of my wounds. It wasn’t healing me but as soon as the venom was gone my own regeneration started closing the wounds.

  I struggled for breath and every part of my body hurt but I just had to hold on a bit longer. All thought narrowed to a single, savage purpose. You will never touch her.

  With one hand I held the dying creature below the water and with the other hand I plunged my claws into its chest again and again, each strike puncturing deeper. The fight started to leave it as I tore through gristle and sinew, black ichor pulsing between my fingers.

  Time vanished beneath the churning water. My chest screamed for air, pinpricks of light exploding behind my eyelids.

  The Darroch's body gave one last violent shudder, then it went slack.

  I let go and watched it float back towards the moonbeam. The moment it made contact with the light, what remained of its flesh melted away. Black ichor and orange blood dissolved into a foul, bubbling, viscous film that spread across the entire surface of the once clear pool like spilled motor oil.

  I dragged myself from the pond, blood pouring from a dozen gashes, some deep enough to expose bone. At the shore I rolled to my back and just sucked in air for a moment. Pain and fatigue blotting out all rational thought.

  My body was healing, but with this many injuries and how tired I was, I started to wonder if I was going to bleed out before it did. My mind was cloudy again and I wished the white energy, whatever it was, would give me another shot of wake up juice. But nothing came. I was completely spent. All I wanted was to close my eyes for a second. I’d earned it, right?

  A blood-curdling shriek pierced the air.

  Shit! Lyren!

  While I'd been locked in combat with the second Darroch, the third monster had torn free from the barrier.

  I spun around to witness exactly what I had feared. The monster was holding up Lyren by her waist, her eyes bulging as her arms and legs dangled like a ragdoll. The creature's disgusting needle filled maw was clamped down on the crook where her slender neck met her shoulder. Lyren's scream transformed into an animalistic howl as her spine arched impossibly backward.

  With a wet, sickening sound, the Darroch’s jaw hinged open, revealing the horrific anatomical ruin of its face, cheeks ripped wide to the holes where its ears should have been, exposing rows of needle-sharp teeth glistening with black venom and crimson blood.

  Something beyond a scream tore from my throat, a sound no human should make. The world inside the grotto went violet. I was pushed aside in my own mind like a passenger that could only watch as my body was hijacked.

  A violet fire in my veins exploded, consuming my mind. I wasn't Myles anymore. I was teeth. I was claws and hunger. Something savage and powerful swelled beneath my skin. In less than a breath my bones splintered and reformed. My muscles ruptured only to be reformed stronger, denser. My hands and feet grew even larger with wet, cracking pops as my claws lengthened.

  From inside the white room of my mind I could no longer control anything but I felt everything. The beast inside me was in control now and it saw the Darroch not as a monster, but as meat that had touched what was Mine.

  Each footfall cratered the stone beneath me, the bones in my legs shattering and knitting together in microseconds as I hurtled forward.

  The grotto blurred. I became fury itself. When I struck the Darroch, the impact detonated like a bomb.

  Lyren's body ripped free from its grasp, flying through the air in a tumble of limbs. She slid roughly across the stone, coming to a stop near the spring, completely still.

  My world collapsed to a tunnel of unfathomable rage. The beast inside me didn't just abandon humanity, it shredded it and pissed on the remains.

  Strategy? Weapons? Self-preservation? Meaningless. My anger was molten, elemental, and unstoppable. My claws were now obsidian scythes that sang through the air and rent open flesh, each impact jarring my shoulders.

  Desperately, the Darroch's talons ripped back, exposing muscle that tore away in ribbons only to be reformed in heartbeats. Each wound was a spark of agony that only fed the inferno.

  Blood sprayed across my face over and over, flooding my mouth with hot copper. I wasn’t sure if it was mine or the Darroch’s and I didn’t care.

  The only thing that mattered was the primal NEED to unmake the thing that touched Lyren.

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  Wet meat separated, bones splintering like gunshots. CRACK! The creature's jaw dangled by sinew, then tore free in my fist. CRACK! Its skull split beneath my thumbs, brain matter erupting between my fingers into amber tinged pulp.

  The beast I had become howled with victory, the sound echoing in the suddenly silent grotto.

  Then the rage receded. Again I felt the white energy shock my system. I felt myself shift back into control of my body. Shaking and drenched in blood I stared down at the mangled corpse, the burning satisfaction of the beast inside me leaving a terrible smile on my lips that I had never known before.