122 Amara

The coming storm roared a ways in the distance. Yawm and I walked through the wind with ease. The branches of trees clanged against each other, the crystalline leaves clanking like glass. It was like being in a wind tunnel surrounded by wind chimes. It would pretty nice if it wasn’t so overwhelming.

Once we paced a bit further, the falling trees were a block away. The head of the creature shown above the treetops. It’s head was a glossy, plum colored metal. The two eyes were angled trapezoids, giving it a permanent glare. The metal didn’t stay the same shade throughout, however.

Once the monster crashed through the nearest trees, it revealed itself. Thirty feet in height, it was a behemoth. Unlike previous golems, many intricate pieces composed its hulking frame. The pieces came together, creating a cage over the center of the creature.

From this glowing, azure pit, a set of eyes stared back at us. They were relatively humanoid, like some kind of feminine creature. A thick layer of blue, clouded crystal covered it, hiding it from view. A frigid mist fell from the crystal cage it was in, further clouding our view of it.

Curious as I was, Yawm cupped his chin,

“So this golem controls the weather here on the planet. If a tree assumed the weather never changes, then this...thing mustn’t have moved for a long time. I wonder if I could turn it into a terraforming unit.”

As the rain poured, I turned towards Yawm, “That’s a pretty damn good idea actually.”

From within the glass confines of the cage, two hands pounded against the side of it. As they scraped against it, they see through streaks. Within these streaks, the insides of the crystal cage revealed itself. Inside it, there was a beautiful woman with skin like porcelain. She wore gray rags made of burlap, hiding a seductive figure.

Yenno, normally I would want to save a damsel in distress. The thing was, her face wasn’t right. The creature’s silky, raven hair wrapped all the way around its head, covering its face. On its palms were its eyes.

Its pale skin contrasted the black hair, making the red eyes on the palms pop out even more. It looked like one eldritch trapped within another eldritch.

I pointed at it,

“That thing looks like it wants out.”

Yawm shrugged, “It’s likely less useful than something that terraforms environments. It will suffer for the good of many that use the habitable planets this thing will create. Besides, it’s a mere eldritch. What it wants means nothing.”

I frowned. What Yawm said made sense, but it sounded a bit like a reptile was talking in a human’s skin. That’s how casual and cold he was while talking.

The golem stomped onto the ground in front of us, interrupting our discussion. As it tore trees apart, the air around us crackled, turning a hue of green. Compared to the roaring winds, the crackling was subtle. In my mind, the sound was like a deafening roar by comparison to the storm. That was because I knew what would follow.

Yawm raised a hand, the aura condensing into his palm. A second later, a forefield formed around the golem. It was the same forefield he used against me when we first met. It wasn’t as peaceful from the outside. That was partially because the air hummed with chaotic energy, but also because of the green lightning.

As the torrent of emerald electricity tore the forest apart, Yawm crushed his hand. As he did, the force field shrunk. It lashed out with the sound of ripping steel. The golem pushed out with its mighty limbs, trying to overpower the field. It stood no chance at the field kept the exact same rate of reduction.

It was like Yawm didn’t even notice the strength of the monster. Once it was unable to move, another wave of cackles rippled out near us. Yawm raised another hand, creating a portal beside us.

The eyes of the eldritch within glanced around, panicking as the portal appeared. The golem sucked into the green abyss, pieces of its body disappearing. A second later, the eyes from within locked onto me.

To be more precise, they locked onto my forearm. A second later, it etched markings onto the glass container. I squinted at them, curious of what she was making. A moment later, I shoved Yawm.

He turned towards me, the descent of the golem into the portal ceasing. I grinned, directing his attention towards the markings,

“She’s trying to write the cipher.”

Yawm’s head locked onto the marking as he took a few steps forward. He rubbed his hands together, rearing a fist back. A second later, a shockwave rippled out from him. The wind off his strike overwhelmed the surrounding storm, the rain stopping for a moment.

The golem’s body ruptured, a chunk of it disappearing. Yawm raised another hand, energy coalescing much faster than before. He struck with the fist, decimating the lower left leg of the golem.

Where Yawm fist touched the metal of the golem, the eldritch evaporated. Yawm continued striking, each of them eliminating more and more of the golem. Before long, nothing remained but the icy core of the monster. I walked up as Yawm reared his fist back. I placed a hand on his shoulder,

“Maybe I should handle this. Yenno, since I have a bit more finesse.”

Yawm glanced down, paused, then lowered his hand,

“You might be right about that.”

He stepped back before I analyzed the creature,

Eldritch Energy Dispersal Unit #23-4544(lvl 1,000) - This mechanical construct was created to disperse the energy of a powerful, sentient eldritch. This attracts it to powerful energy sources nearby. Without the dispersing feature, the eldritch’s corrupting influence would destroy it, like other, previous models.

The reason for storage is because this eldritch is much like angel or demon eldritch. The creature respawns upon death. For most eldritch, this isn’t a problem since their goals and aims are so simple minded. This eldritch is different.

It’s one of the only eldritch that has been shown to use forbidden knowledge with fluency. It can communicate with language, and can even give the impression of something ‘likeable.’ This is merely a guise for you to lower your guard. The moment you rest, it will wrench its teeth into your throat.

It’s recommended that you leave this eldritch within its containment cell. If you wish for experience for this monster, simply go towards any sentinel and give them a code a the end of this analysis. If you destroy this holding cell, you will be penalized with a class B penalty.

You have been warned.

Experience Code: 57305673-!49#5983-Amare

I frowned at the penalty, so I turned towards Yawm, “I’ll be getting a B class penalty for destroying this. I actually don’t want to destroy it now.”

Yawm crossed his arms, “You don’t even have a B class bounty yet?”

I shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t know. Even then, I think we’re better off with you breaking this instead of me.”

Yawm shrugged, “It’s all the same to me.”

He walked up, raising a hand. Instead of using his hole fist, he flicked at the glass with his index finger. It pierced the quarts like bulb, creating fissures all throughout the structure. Yawm reached both his hands into it, ripping outward. The bulb shattered, and theeldritch fell down. As it did, I analyzed it.

Amara, the Lost One(lvl 4,744) - Amara is an eldritch with immense mana generation and forbidden knowledge. Using this mana generation, she produces elemental bursts that are immense in power. Outside of her elemental prowess and knowledge, she can manipulate even intelligent sentients.

She’s used many sentients already with her cunning. It’s of utmost importance that you understand a singular fact about Amara; she is still an eldritch. It doesn’t matter if she appears gentle and kind. There is potential to decimate worlds lying just under the surface of her skin.

Like all eldritch, it’s imprinted into her biology to be mass murderer. Like all eldritch, she’s a genocidal tyrant given the right circumstances.

Normally this kind of message would make my heart sink, but it didn’t this time. That’s because I met Yawm and discovered that most of what Schema told me was wrong about him. Amara might be the same. Heavy emphasis on might.

With that in mind, I stepped towards her. Yawm placed a hand on my chest, stopping me. His eyes narrowed as he hissed,

“I can sense what that is. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It’s an eldritch.”

I pushed his hand off me, “The thing is, Schema’s message is telling me the same thing.”

Yawm raised his hands, “That’s all the more reason to stay away from it. Schema is our enemy, but he is no fool.”

I shrugged, “What makes it weird is how much emphasis is on the monster being bad. Schema did the same thing with you, but look how that turned out.”

Yawm’s hands lowered as he clasped them.

“I, hmmm.” He opened a palm towards me, “An open mind is essential for discovery then.” Yawm lowered his hand afterwards, “This is a piece of the adventure.”

I nodded, "Get ready to attack if you need to. I'm giving this eldritch a chance, not my life."

I turned towards the creature, "Hell, the only reason I'm doing this instead of you is because of my armor. Otherwise I'd be recommending you for this bullshit."

Yawm cracked a set of knuckles, "Hah, then I'll disintegrate it in an instant should it attack."

I walked up to the eldritch. I reached out, offering a hand up,

“Hey, my name’s Daniel. What’s yours?”

It took my hand, lifting itself with a damn near dainty grace. The hair moved off its face, revealing no expressions. A mouth ripped open, revealing sharp teeth. From this jagged set of jaws, a voice spoke out. You wouldn’t believe it, but it wasn't a shrill screech either.

She spoke like a song,

“I am Amara. It’s wonderful to meet you, Harbinger.”