TBATE| The Walking Catastrophe

Chapter 14 - Lineage

My eyes slowly fluttered open and I found myself laying down inside a black box, seemingly the same one I had been in before. As I sat up, I noticed Caera laying up against the far wall and eying me warily. Rubbing my throbbing head, I too leaned back against the wall that she had so graciously propped me up against. She seemed to be eating some kind of nutrition bar, and only then did I realize that she had most likely completed the maze that we were in.

"How'd you do it?" She asked, right before I could question how she had completed the maze functionally blind.

"Pardon?"

"How'd you overpower a beast like that without any mana?" She said a little louder than I thought was necessary, "I was willing to overlook your oddities due to our situation, but I need answers now. What are you?"

I sighed and brought forth my trident in my right hand, "I have no reason to disclose anything of the sort."

"Maybe," she said, "but it'd be beneficial if we both knew each other's capabilities before the next challenge."

"And what exactly is that?"

"While the first portion of this zone was a test of endurance, and the second was a puzzle of sorts...this last zone will be a test of pure strength that I guarantee won't be easy. So it'd help us both out if you quit being so mysterious."

"Fine," I drew a sharp breath before dusting my clothes off and storing my—

'Shit...I forgot that I lost my dimension ring.'

Giving me a weird look, she added, "and if it makes you feel any better, you know enough about me to get me executed anyways, so you don't have to worry about me running off and telling the authorities or anything."

I nodded and created some water out of thin air.

"As I'm sure you've noticed I'm neither a striker, caster, shield, or sentry," I said, waving the water around and absorbing it back into my skin before shooting it off into the wall, "and I don't use runes either."

Caera nodded, staying silent.

"I can pretty much control water however I see fit. I don't need spells or anything to control it, it just bends to my will. On top of water, I have a rudimentary control over sound, and I can use my trident here to summon lightning."

"How are you able to do all of this?" She asked, her expression complicated.

"Well, I'm sure you've probably realized this from my fight earlier, but I'm not exactly human."

Her eyes dilated, but she kept her true emotions hidden.

"While you're Vritra blooded, causing you to develop some of their characteristics and even their magic...I'm a little bit different. I'm neither human, nor asura, leaving me somewhere in the middle. Kinda like the *spoilers*," I explained, "although, my powers don't stem from the basilisk race..."

"And I thought my situation was peculiar," Caera mumbled to herself, "still, you better be careful, I'm not sure about others, but you shouldn't let any retainers or scythes learn of this...you'll be dead before you even made it out of the descension chamber..."

I chuckled, "that's why I'm in here—"

As if its only purpose was to put a stop to our conversations, the siren blared yet again and the two of us scrambled to our feet.

The walls around us began to literally melt away as the environment around us heated up. My eyes darted around and I could feel the water in the atmosphere begin to evaporate.