Signs of Corruption

Waking up at the crack of dawn, Reiji and Elnyra once again set of into the second mountain. Determined to find their prey. Choosing to risk the danger, they head further up the mountain, starting their hunt at the halfway mark.

"Let's head in deeper than yesterday. If we didn't find any yesterday around the base, I doubt we'll find any today."

"It'll be more dangerous the higher we go. Just becareful."

Nodding with determination, he walked fearlessly up the mountain, his instincts fully awake.

"Elnyra... can you feel it? Somethings wrong." The hair on his neck stood on end, his instincts screaming out.

The higher they climbed, the worse it got. The air grew thin and  wrong - the taste of ash and decay coated his throat, as if the sky itself was rotting. Patches of black snow, crusted with an oily sheen, decorated the landscape.

The stone was worse. What was once grey and solid, was now veined with sickly purple fissures, eerily luminescent, pulsing like the veins of some diseased beast. Where the cracks spread, the rock crumbled at a touch, as though the mountain itself was decaying from within.

Trees never reached this high, yet even mosses and lichens withered away, leaving dead husk clinging to the stone. In other places, they had  warped into thorny black growths, snaking along the cracks, oozing some kind of foul sap.

The stench was almost unbearable. Not just blood or death, but the sour tang of something ancient and malignant pressing down from above. Even the wind seems tainted, carrying dark whispers, not words, but sounds of something stirring.

"It's the corruption. When the seal weakens, the corruption will begin spreading throughout the land... It's starting again."

"How bad is it? Are we out of time?"

Shaking her head, Elnyra's translucent face frowns, her expression turning solemn.

"It's just starting, there's still time. Focus on getting stronger. We're on a tighter schedule than I anticipated."

"I guess this explains why we haven't been attacked by any monsters since we got up here."

"... I hope there are still Tauros left for us to hunt."

"Let's head further in. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can return to Tristan. Xenon should know about this."

Creeping up the mountain, the pair held their breaths, each step forcefully taken. Ignoring his instincts, he willed himself forward, stubborn as ever.

"Reiji, wait." 

"What is it?"

"Over there, beneath the cracked boulder."

Hearing her direction, he swiftly strides over.

"It's blood. Dried. Almost didn't see it." He mumbles as he inspects the splatter beneath the boulder. Circling the boulder, a trail of viscera appears. "Let's follow it."

The trail didn't require an expert tracker. Broken horns, half-buried in snow. Hoofprints gouged deep into the frost, and the rust like stink of dried blood marking every step. 

At first, the signs were scattered - shredded wings, jutting out of the snow, torn tails and half eaten paws, decorating cracked boulders - but the higher he climbed, the heavier the evidence became. 

Soon the trail of viscera was littered with carcasses. 

The massive bodies of Tempest Tigers splayed in unnatural angles, throats ripped out, bellies hollowed. The bodies of Roc Birds shredded into strips of meat, their rock like feathers grinded into dust. Some looked fresh, their blood steaming in the cold air. Others were little more than frozen bones, stripped clean, twisting and broken.

"Tch. What a nightmare. No wonder the Roc Birds and Tempest Tigers have all migrated to the lower half of the mountain."

"It does explain why you were attackes so often. But what happened to all the Taurus?"

"I think we'll know soon enough."

At last, the blood trail ended. 

Infront of the pair, a dark cavern carving a mouth into the mountain's upper face. The stone around it, cracked and blackened, pulsing eerily, like coals burning under the skin. Heat rolled out from the poorly lit darkness, carrying a stench so foul, Reiji's lung burnt - a mix of rot and rust, and something wrong.

Inside, the cavern stretch wide and high, the throat of the mountain slick with condensation, streaked with pulsing crimson veins, that illuminated the dark. 

Bones lay in heaps along the edges - cracked ribs, and skulls with horns protruding out. All trophies of the carnage.

"Well I guess that answers where the Taurus went." Reiji no longer spoke. Switching to telepathic messages only. Afraid of what his voice might awaken.

"There Reiji. In the center."

The minotaur loomed in the center, casting shadows that crawled along the throat of the mountain. A hulking beast with it's fur matted with blood, it's horn blackened, and cracked. It's once mighty eyes, now clouded over, a faint purple glow seeping out. It's chest heaved with each ragged breath, burning with madness. A giant cleaver the size of Reiji laid at it's feet.

 "It's been corrupted."

The guardian was dead.
What remained was simply a waking nightmare.

"We should retrieve the horns and leave."

"I'm not going to argue with that."

Creeping in, Reiji crawls his way to the pile of skulls, barely able to breathe. His skin crawled with sharp pain, his lungs barely able to inhale and exhale, his heart beating the echo of war in his skull. 

The distance was barely more than ten meters, yet it felt like a marathon. Reiji thought his heart would give out first. Eventually he made it to the pile of skulls. Slowly placing them in his inventory, he took the exact amount, afraid that anymore would attract the Minotaurs attention.

Crawling back the same way, Reiji moved towards the cavern exit. His quest completed. Each movement, allowing him to breathe more, every meter closer to the mouth, earned him another breath of life. 

Reaching the mouth, Reiji used his Ki Sense, making sure that the Corrupted Minotaur, still didn't know he was there. Breathing a sigh of relief, he made his way to leave, before freezing, his face turning pale. 

Gritting his teeth, he turned and charged at the Minotaur, his body enveloped in bright orange ki.  

"Dammit!"