116 King Of The Mountain Part 1

Irade

May 20 7:15 pm BT – 5:15 pm UT, Somewhere In The Tian Shan Mountain Range, China

The sun hung low in the sky, refusing to go down. Irade could feel the air rushing past her, the soft rhythm of Black Wind's running rocking her like a baby. She held tight onto his fur, not because she felt like she was going to fall off (despite the high speed) but because Black Wind was warm.

They were running up the mountain, in the snow, dodging wet rocks and the occasional tree. They hadn't reached the peak of the mountain, but they had reached the point where it would have snow all year round. Probably. Irade was only assuming that from all the snow she could see around her.

Not that she could see much.

Irade looked up at the sun, and glared at it, somewhat annoyed.

From the little she had been able to see, the view was amazing. The sky broke into beautiful orange and purple around the sun capped mountains in the distance. The light bounced off the clouds around them, making them look bright, fluffy, and just a little colorful.

Which was what was so annoying. With all the snow and clouds up here, Irade was finding it quite hard to see anything. All the white was extremely bright, blinding Irade. No wonder mountain climbers had tinted goggles. And with no way to sense anything...

Irade grit her teeth, eyes narrow slits as she looked towards the sun. Her temporary loss of sight wasn't as serious as losing an arm, but at the moment, it felt like it was. Every now and then, she would feel like she was running out of breath, panicking.

"The air is thinner up here," Black Wind growled. "Just breathe."

Irade took in a deep breath, then leaned forward. Black Wind's warm fur was also easier to breathe in for some reason.

"I'm using magic to release more air," he snorted. "It's a simple trick once you learn how to control your-"

He stopped mid-sentence, jumping over a small chasm. Then he kept running, not finishing his sentence.

"We're almost there," he said instead. "Hold tight."

They ran across the snow for a little while longer, Black Wind's light steps making barely a dent in the snow. They passed by a few animals, all of which had been frozen in fear by the time Black Wind had rushed past them.

At last, Irade felt Black Wind slowing down. She lifted her head a little, cracking open her eyes just enough to check if she could see. They had slowed down enough that the wind pressure wasn't batting her eyes, so she opened them fully to take in the scenery.

There wasn't much. Open skies, a couple of low hanging clouds covering the rocks. The atmosphere felt damp up here, combining with a piercing cold that threatened to freeze Irade's fingers of if she completely let go of Black Wind.

Or a teenage girl and her wolf companion.

As they approached the cave, Irade noticed that the area outside the cave didn't have any snow. She narrowed her eyes, noticing the drops of water falling from the ceiling of the cave, echoing slightly every time it hit the hard, stone floor. Getting closer, she could feel the air also getting warmer, as if she'd slowly stepped into a building with central heating.

At the mouth of the cave, Irade didn't even need to keep her hands on Black Wind. It was warm enough that Irade felt fine in just her dress and harem pants. The cave was dark; she couldn't see more than a few meters in front of her. All she could really see was the smooth, blueish cave floor and walls, and the ceiling of stalactites slowly melting.

"Black Wind?" Irade asked. She was back to using Uyghur to speak with him; any practice was still practice.

"It goes down a long way," he growled. "But they'll let us come to them."

As if on cue, an orange ball of flame suddenly burst into existence a few meters in front of Irade, lighting up the way. Before she could react, another appeared further down, then another...

"So they really are expecting us," Irade muttered to herself.

She stood there for a moment, watching as balls of fire popped into existence, further and further down the cave, until she couldn't see them anymore. Despite the warmth, she felt a chill crawl up her spine.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gathered her resolve.

Käwsär. And his family.

This was all for them.

Irade opened her eyes, and walked into the cave.

***

Irade's footsteps echoed along along the long cave, giving her a sense of how deep it went into the mountain. She would occasionally feel drops of cold hit against her clothes; water from melted stalactites.

The weird thing was, those stalactites were the only...natural-feeling part of the cave.

The cave was basically a circle. It felt like someone had pushed a large tube down the mountain, making a perfect cylindrical shape.

Basically, the walls were smooth. Smooth and round. Too smooth and round to be natural.

But what did that mean?

Irade frowned. Why was she thinking about this? Why was she so bothered about the smoothness of the walls of this cave?

It felt like Irade had all the pieces of a puzzle laid out in front of her, in the exact places they needed to be. All she had to do was move them closer to connect them, and see the picture that they made.

Except she didn't know how to take that step to actually connect the pieces. It was incredibly frustrating; she knew that she had everything she needed, and yet...

What was she actually looking for?

She shook her head, and put the thought aside. She would deal with it later. For now, she had to meet this King of the Mountain.

They walked for a while, before reaching a crossroads. Then another. And another.

Luckily, they had the trail of fireballs to follow, otherwise Irade was sure they would've gotten lost. Well, maybe Black Wind could've guided them. But it definitely wouldn't have been as easy.

As they descended deeper into the mountain, Irade started to notice that the air seemed to get hotter. Not unbearably so, but just noticeably.

At the same time, the tunnels began to become more...intricate. The walls became more rough, more natural looking, the stone jutting out at strange angles. The floor became less smooth, more rough to walk on. Occasionally, there would be bones or skulls laying around the corner or sides of the path.

Every now and then, the cave would lead out into a large area with a high ceiling and chandelier hanging over them. Other times the tunnel would become short and narrow, and lead to an open door.

Irade had a feeling that if the King wasn't expecting them, they would have had to figure a way through these traps. She also had a feeling that the wider, arena-like rooms were for monster battles too.

That same nagging feeling at the back on her mind was bugging her again. She felt like she was a step closer but...

But what?

Black Wind suddenly growled. Irade's thoughts dissipated instantly as she realized that they had reached their goal.

Before her was a very familiar sight; a large, red door, with a golden, Chinese Dragon carved into the metal. She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the dragon; its eyes seemed to watch her come closer.

She stopped in front of the door, still looking up. The dragon carving glared back.

They stood there in silence for a while. Irade remembered the last time she went through a door like this, and braced herself.

She wasn't here to fight.

She was just here to negotiate. That's all. Negotiate.

"I've come to seek audience with the King of the Mountain," Irade called out, her voice suprisingly strong. She hadn't expected to sound so confident.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the door slowly creaked open inwards.

Irade watched as the interior of the room was revealed. Immediately, her eyes fell on the figure sitting on the opposite side of the room.

A large, lion-headed man languished upon a throne of bones. A large, impressive mane covered his neck and massive shoulders. His body was similarly large; he was twice the size of a normal human, and built like a brick house. He was shirtless, save for a tattered, red mantle. Irade was thankful to discover that he did have a set of word, gray trousers on. His feet were uncovered, and unsettlingly human.

As the doors opened fully with a boom, the King of the Mountain glared at his intruder. His golden eyes narrowed as his gaze met Irade's.

Instantly, she felt herself freeze up. She could feel an aura of power emanating from those eyes, full of intent to capture her, dominate her.

Her mood darkened; she hadn't come all this way to deal with a battle-hungry beast. She glared back, staving off the King's aura with her own distaste and disappointment.

The King raised an eyebrow, and barked a short laugh.

"Feisty!" he grinned. "It's been a while since I've met someone fun!"

He withdrew his aura, but there was still a dangerous glint in his eyes. Nevertheless, Irade stepped forward confidently, Black Wind slowly trailing behind her.

The throne room was a lot like one of the arenas she had walked through before. Bones littered the edges of the circular room, and a giant chandelier hung above them all. A red carped lead from the door towards the throne on the other side of the room. If Irade had been paying attention, she would have noticed that the chandelier was made of hundreds of tiny fireballs.

She did notice, however, that it was a lot hotter in here than the room. Probably because this place was the source of all the heat.

"I'm not here to have fun," said Irade resolutely, stopping at the midpoint of the red carpet, right below the fiery chandelier.

The King raised an eyebrow. Irade realized that despite his feline face, he did have eyebrows somehow.

"No?" he asked, amused. "Then why are you here?"

Irade wet her dry lips. She was here to do one thing, and she needed to do it right.

"You're planning to destroy a small family of humans on the side of the mountain," she stated.

The King didn't say confirm or deny it. He simply watched her, waiting.

"I want you to...not do that."

She managed to say the words, despite stumbling over her own mouth.

The King waited for a while. When Irade didn't have anything else to add, he simply snorted.

"That's all?" he said derisively. "Please don't ruin my fun. Goodbye."

"This isn't about fun," Irade repeated, balling a fist. "They're my-"

Irade hesitated. For a moment, she was about to say family.

"I don't care what they are," said the King, shifting position in his chair. He seemed quite bored all of a sudden.

"They're on my mountain. I want them gone."

"Why?"

The question escaped Irade before she could stop herself. Once she said it, she realized what had been bugging her all this time.

Why was this cave here in the first place?

When she first got the HUD, and met the monster, and saw all this stuff, she took it for granted that everything worked like a game. But now that she was here, out in the middle of nowhere, why were there still levels like this for her?

Were there other people like her?

Or was this all made just for her?

Because it did all seem like it was made, didn't it? Irade suddenly realized why the walls had bugged her; they were too smooth, too circular. It looked like someone had carved out the entrance of the cave.

And all the stages and everything...all of this seemed like…

...like a video game.

"Why?" the King repeated. He snorted.

"You don't even know why I'm here, do you?"

Irade blinked in surprise. The King moved positions again, leaning forward.

It was only then she noticed the chains on his arms, clinking as he moved.

"Listen, kid," he said. "I've been waiting for the right time to get out of this hellhole. And finally, after two thousand years, it looks like the Demon Lord is finally getting the gang back together."

Demon Lord?

"Why do I want to destroy some measly humans?" he asked, leaning back on his throne. "That's easy. I don't."

Irade blinked, confused. What...what was going on?

"I want to destroy all humans," he said matter-of-factly. "It's what I came here to do, all those years ago."

He stated his goal so casually, Irade felt like she had been punched in the face.

Destroy all humans?

...

What an unoriginal motive for a villain.

"You're telling me that you came here from another world...just to destroy us?" Irade said, not quite believing her ears.

But then again, why was she questioning this?

Sure, the motive was unoriginal, but it was pretty standard for a game.

So why didn't Irade buy it?

Why did she think there was something else to this all?

That voice in the back of her mind kept nagging her, telling her that something wasn't adding up. But what? It was all Irade could do to stop herself from ripping her own hair out.

"Us? What do you mean us?" said the King, confused.

Irade wanted to scream. This was not the time for another plot twist. What was this stupid King saying now?

"Aren't you one of us?"

The room fell completely silent as Irade's mind stopped dead in its tracks.

"One of...you?"

"Yeah," said the King, tilting his head. "Or are you like, a monster's kid or something?"

Irade took another moment to process that information.

A monster's...kid?

"What are you talking about?" Irade narrowed her eyes as she questioned the King.

He looked at Irade's bewildered guarded face, then at Black Wind. He looked back and forth between them for a bit.

"Didn't your little pet tell you?" he said, suddenly grinning. He sat up, suddenly interested again.

"Tell me wha-"

"That you have a monster core," the King answered, grinning wide.

Irade felt like the world had stopped moving. Her entire body froze, unable to accept what the King was telling her.

"Monster...core?"

She turned to Black Wind, who was growling at the King.

"I didn't...realize..." he said. "But...your core and the Kings'...are similar..."

...what.

She...was a monster?

Or at least...part monster?

"You really didn't know?" the King seemed to find this highly amusing. He slapped his knee, laughing.

"What kind of being doesn't even know who they are?"

That struck a nerve with Irade.

"So you're not going to call off the attack?" she asked coldly.

"Call off the attack?" the King grinned. "Why would I do that when I've alread-"

SCHWING!

Before he could finish his sentence, Irade had already used ['Dash'], slashing at the King's head. She frowned, and looked down at the [Hereditary Dagger].

Only to find that the blade had completely melted off.

"-y called the...oh, we're fighting?"

Irade turned to find the King grinning maniacally at her once more. He caught her gaze, and once more released his killing aura.

Her eyes widened as the face that was grinning from so afar was suddenly so, very close.

"Let's see whose faster," the King growled, grinning widely.

SLASH!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-"