The sand crawler emerged from beneath the sands, its grotesque, lanky and multijointed arms were once again the first thing to emerge. The sight of its sinewy flesh sparked his memories, and the feeling of being torn apart by dozens of these beasts enraged him. He remembered every moment, every broken bone, every muscle tear, the sounds of his tearing flesh mixed in with his screams... It was all like it just happened.
Taking a final breath, Theo stepped forward and soon the entirety of the spawn was in full view.
"Alright, let's see what you've got," he muttered as he readied himself.
Suddenly, the spawn shifted, and the familiar but still grotesque movement of its flesh churned his stomach, but before he could register the nausea, the spawn had lunged at him, echoing bone-chilling screeches with every step taken. Within seconds, its large frame loomed over him, and its multi-jointed arms came crashing down.
Leaning back, he ducked below the creatures claws and tried to roll away, but the creature was relentless, swinging its arm back, he tried to block with his arms, but it struck him square in the side, sending him flying back. Instantly, he felt all the bones in his body tremble from the impact, including multiple ribs, and his right arm he felt a pang of pain.
Theo grabbed his arm and groaned in pain.
'They haven't yet... but I can tell... my bones... they are on the brink of shattering from that one strike... but.... it was worth it!'
As he winced, Theo felt Pain explode through his body as he came to a stop a few meters away. Following the pain, a wave of heat flowed through his body, originating from the point where he was struck by the beast. He felt not only the heat, but a wave of power and looked to the spawn grinning wildly.
"Come on you bitch! Is that all you've got?"
As if falling for his taunt, the beast charged forward. In a flash its arms flew high above its head before quickly coming crashing back down. In the last few moments, an even stronger wave of heat flooded Theo's body, this time, it wasn't the normal increase in temperature. It felt like an actual flame was ignited beneath his skin.
Every subsequent minute movement only made the pain even worse. His skin began sizzling and peeling, but with all that time felt like it was slowing before his eyes as he got faster and faster. His eyes and mind felt like they were on the verge of bursting, despite that, a wave of confidence washed over him as he realized he was on the brink of something.
As he had done before, he gathered all the energy he'd absorbed, concentrating all of it in his fist. Slipping out of the way, he wound up his right hand, and all the concentrated energy intensified exponentially until it reached its apex and a raging flame burst forth and engulfed his fist.
The air around him sizzled as the flame crackled with intensity. And for a brief moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl, as if his mind moved even faster than time allowed.
"Die you bastard!" Theo yelled at the top of is lungs as he quickly drew his arm back, before unleashing a devastating punch. The intense flames instantly coalesced to a point, gorming a brilliant, blazing arc as it shot toward and collided with the spawn.
The spawn, caught off guard by the unbelievable show of speed, was struck directly in its grotesque chest. The creature let out a deafening screech that could be heard for miles and miles. The impact sent shockwaves of heat through the air.
Theo staggered back, the force of his own attack pushing him off balance. He felt the heat radiating from his fist dissipate, leaving nothing but remnants of the energy still crackling around him. The pain in his body was overwhelming, but it was a familiar sensation now.
'Where it it?! Is it dead!?'
As the dust settled, Theo squinted through the swirling sands, searching for the spawn. Soon, his eyes fell on its visage still standing, his heart nearly burst from the shock as he readied for another exchange, but as the sand completely settled, his calm was restored.
'Thank god!'
[Candidate, you have slain a Dormant Spawn: Sand Crawler]
[Class: Beast.]
The creature was still standing, but its body had been turned into a smouldering corpse by his flames. Theo stared at the beast astounded by what he had accomplished.
'Was that... me? Is that what my trait is capable of?'
Staring at his palms, he was in awe of his feat. Against a spawn, albeit a low ranked dormant beast, he showed a level of strength he never imagined ever reaching. But that then begged the question, how does he use that strength. Not in the sense of what it meant to wield power, that kind of talk only pertained to the truly strong. No, what currently bothered him was how it functions.
For example, he already knew that he could absorb and sense kinetic energy, but the way he used it in that fight wasn't at all how he thought it functioned. To him, originally this power was nothing but a way to tank damage and make his fights a battle of attrition. But the way he had just used that power, was nothing short of miraculous to him.
'But now that I think of the description of my abilities, what i just did makes sense.'
And it did, as his trait was described as 'blessed with the ability to control the very essence that makes all things possible in any way he wished'. Which meant creating flames, or accelerating the air around him to generate fire, or moving faster than the spawn could comprehend, even the acceleration of his thoughts, no matter how brief those moments were, they were still feats and abilities to be highly praised.
'And I can't wait to get that praise.... at least I hope I do.'
That battle opened Theo's eyes to the possibilities his trait possessed, but his celebrations were to be cut short as he had guests. Sensing more movement beneath the sand, he quickly turned, and with his heightened perception saw the beating hearts of more than a dozen more spawn.
With another manic smile, Theo raised his arms, readying for a battle unlike what he had just faced.