Aegis Story

Chapter 3: Lost Journal

‐--------------

Heya, just wanna say this. Thank you for reading this work of mine! Really, this means a lot. I always had this buzzing idea of a story in my mind that I think it will be a waste to not at least share it with someone. I'm pleased if you enjoy it. If it wasn't a bother, leave a comment on your thoughts of the story so far. Now, not to waste any more of your time, enjoy!

---------------

I look at the corpse that falls to the ground. Should I..? I mean I'm very hungry and its the only thing I got right now. Who knows when will I find my next food. On the other claw, that is one ugly and disgusting mole. Taking one bite of that thing would probably reward me with millions of sickness.

I decided to try only for the legs. Maybe a bit won't hurt.

Munch

Yep, it tastes terrible. Ugh, I'm just gonna eat as necessary and no more than that. With each bite, the flesh tears surprisingly easy. Wish there was any water source to wash this foul taste from my maw though.

Alright, now that I'm not gonna die from starvation anytime soon, it's time to move. That fight would have probably attract other hostiles.

And so for the next hours or so, I continue walking along the tunnel. Picking random tunnel at intersections, marking the wall and hope it leads me somewhere. Along the way, I come across multiple 'rooms'.

There's this room full of statues, depiction of multiple creatures that I did not recognize. It looks like a monster version of normal animals. Who the heck make these and just leave them here? One of them looks like the giant mole though. I promptly slap that statue.

Then, I enter a room with a single fountain in the middle of it. How should I say this... the fountain had this very calming atmosphere surrounding it. It looks like the water flow from somewhere underground. Taking a drink seems to be ok, too cold for my taste, but still ok. I also use this chance to wash my muzzle from the blood. The water did not seem to be reflecting any light though, a shame since I would like to see my face.

Continue on, this room has another giant mole in it. Not feeling fancy of meeting another one, I sneak to another tunnel.

In this next room however, there is only a single thing lying in the middle of the room.

"What's that?", squinting a little bit, I see that it is a book. I slowly walk next to it and gently pick it up. The book looks like a journal of some sort, and it seems like it had seen better days, but it is mostly intact. Its cover is made of plain leathers, with a single name signed in the back.

"Aegis"

This.. this is it, this may have some clues of why I was here, ..or wherever is here. At this point, any clue may help.

Mindful of my claws, I carefully flip through the pages, only looking for keywords for now. "Yore's Task Force", "Mythical Beasts", "Mystery Dungeon"... wait, why was the last one in capital lette...

*Screeeeeeecchhh*

Oooowww my hearings! Who's there?! Ouch! Something on my neck! Why is there so many creatures here want to latch onto you?!?

I roughly yank the thing on my neck and throw it to the wall.

*Bang*

It slumps down to the ground unmoving. It was a giant bat with fangs that is too big to be legally allowed.

I look up to see another three of those bats. Oh, they are not happy I murdered their friend.

I grab the book and prepare a fighting stance.

*Screeeech* *Screeeeeech* *Screeeeeeech*

Ouch! I need to be careful of their 'sound' attack. I can't let my guard down now. One of them has made their move, flying straight at me. I shield myself with my arm.

"Oof" *bang*

It just rammed into me, sending me to the wall. Damn, they can build momentum quite fast. I think their main goal is to wear me down since their fangs have a hard time penetrating my scales.

Here it is, the next bat diving for me. I trust my claws, but I need to time this right. If I can just slash at them at the right time... NOW!

I sidestep at the last second and bring my claw down to it. The claw cut them clean in half. Was... was it really that lethal?

No time to ponder though, those other bats become even more enraged. Looks like they still want to try the divebomb trick. But... there's something different about them. They start to glow orange. I have a bad feeling about this.

When it's time for one of them to dive, I try to only go for the dodge rather than retaliating to see what happens. I dodge to the left and...

*BOOOM*

Wha.. what the... KAMIKAZE BATS?!?

The explosion must have injured me. But I can't about that now. Another one is going for the kill. This time I dodge backward while shielding myself and the book.

Didn't work though, it starts to chase me!

I run for the tunnel. I need to shake it off my tail somehow. This might be a big risk, but I didn't have much choice.

I close the gap bit by bit by slowing down to let it catch up. Closer.... closer.... NOW!

I run up against a wall and do a wall jump. Shielding myself, I prepare for it to impact the wall.

*BOOOM*

The blast sends me even farther than I anticipated, but I manage to safely land on my feet. Looking at the wall where it had crashed, I see a black smudge and a sizeable crater, evidence of it's explosive attack.

"Huff" finally, that's over. Maybe next time I'll try to find somewhere safer to read the book.