Chapter 2: Your Daddy Is Fresh Meat!
As Creed turned around, his heart pounded so loudly he could hear it in his ears. His mind whirled with a million thoughts, each one more troubling than the last.
'What could that growl be? What should I do? Is this... the demon realm?' Every possible scenario raced through his head as he forced himself to face whatever lurked behind him.
He didn't have a choice at this point. He had to face whatever it was and face it fast.
When he completed his turn, his eyes locked on a sight that sent ice through his veins.
Three monstrous figures were standing just twenty meters away, towering over him like devilish giants.
They were truly enormous, nearly three meters tall, with skin that glowed a deep, sinister red, like fresh blood.
Their bodies were covered in dark, armor like carapace, giving them an almost insectoid appearance while still retaining an unnervingly human like build.
Their hands were terrifying claws, with nails so sharp they were even better than ordinary blades.
Their long fingers added to their frightening appearance, making them resemble the predators they truly were.
Even though they stood upright like humans, there was something deeply unnatural about them. Something that made Creed's blood curl and want to run as far away as possible.
A single, sharp horn jutted from each of their foreheads, glinting in the dim, red light and giving them an even more menacing look.
Demons. They were demons!
But not only were they demons, these were Fiend Demons.
He'd read about them in his father's journals many years ago. Although there was a drawing of them in the old journal, seeing them in the flesh was something else entirely. The versions in reality were so much worse compared to the drawing.
They couldn't even be compared.
Fiend Demons were notorious in every known realm for one thing above all: their insatiable bloodlust.
They were always hungry. They were always crazed. They could neither be satisfied nor could they be sane.
It was their curse, yet at the same time, their boon for it made them immensely strong the hungrier they become.
And that horn? It was their unique trait, a clear sign that they belonged to the most vicious, crazed and unreasonable of the demon races.
Creed's throat went dry, and a single, horrified thought crossed his mind. 'I'm done for'.
He cursed his luck under his breath, feeling a chill of despair. Of all the demons to run into, it had to be Fiends.
He had to end up face to face with the most vicious of the demon races on his first venture into this hellish world?!
'What rotten luck!'
The demons seemed just as surprised to see him, their glowing eyes wide for a moment. They studied him curiously for a few seconds, both parties maintening a tense silence.
For that brief second, a glimmer of hope flickered in Creed's heart.
He began to hope they might just ignore him and let him go. But that hope vanished as quickly as it came when they sneered, their lips curling into hungry smiles.
In unison, they licked their cracked lips, and one of them even growled in a voice like gravel grinding,
"Ur'al'ki shaa." The one in front said. The words rolled out from it's cracked mouth like a twisted chant, but Creed understood them instantly—they meant fresh meat.
Despite the current situation, Creed's blood boiled. Fresh meat? Really? If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was being looked down on, especially not by these beasts.
No matter who it was or when it was, it didn't sit well with him to be ridiculed.
And luckily, thanks to his father's relentless lessons, he was one of the few humans alive who could understand and speak Drakkath, the demon language. He wasn't going to let this insult slide.
Ignoring his own fear and drawing on every bit of bravado he could muster, he scoffed, then shouted back in perfect Drakkath, "Ur'al'ki ra ogon ka!"—Your daddy is fresh meat!
The moment his words fell, the Fiends' sneers vanished, replaced with a dark rage. Their faces twisted in furious snarls as the insult hit home.
He'd just challenged their pride, mocking them with the words of their own tongue.
It was unacceptable!
Without warning, all three released a wave of dark energy, thick and suffocating. The air grew heavy, pressing down on him like a crushing weight.
His limbs felt like they were made of stone, and even breathing became a struggle. Each demon's horn began to glow faintly, radiating their power.
Creed recognised them as Ashborn Fiends—Level 1 demons, the weakest of their kind. But even their basic power was overwhelming to Creed, whose body trembled under the sheer force of their bloodlust.
He'd never felt anything like it before. He wanted to run, but his body wouldn't respond. It was frightening. 'Come on, move!' he thought frantically, trying to will his limbs to respond.
But he was helpless—he hadn't yet formed his Life Seed, the core needed to resist such energy. Every fibre of his being was weighed down by the Fiends' oppressive bloodlust, and fear gnawed at his mind.
One of the Fiends, a particularly hulking brute, bared its sharp, bloodstained teeth, let out a fierce snarl, and lunged. It moved with terrifying speed, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat.
Creed's instincts screamed at him to do something—anything. With no other choice, he made a split-second decision and threw himself off the cliff edge behind him.
Wind whipped past his face as he plummeted into the darkness below. His heart raced, his stomach twisted, and the last thing he saw was the Fiends' furious faces glaring down at him from the cliff's edge, unable to believe he'd actually jumped.
As he fell, the demon realm's twisted landscape blurred around him, and he braced himself for whatever lay at the bottom.
He'd survived the Fiends—for now. But what waited below was anyone's guess.
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