The forest was a cathedral of shadows, its air thick with the scent of damp moss and the metallic tang of old leaves. Armen moved deeper into the greenery, his eyes darting back and forth. He wasn't just looking for food anymore; he was looking for safety. He waited until the sounds of the city gate had faded entirely, replaced by the rhythmic creaking of branches and the chattering of unseen insects.
"Alright," Armen whispered, his voice barely a breath. "I think we're far enough."
He focused his mind, feeling that strange, heavy pull in his chest where the connection to the system and his core resided. He willed the darkness and light to manifest. In an instant, a pool of ink-black shadow boiled up from the forest floor, and the Luminous Abyss-Crawler stepped out, its obsidian scales catching the dappled light.
"Okay, watch my back," Armen commanded, pointing behind him.
The creature immediately spun its low, jagged body around, its pale eyes fixed intently on a clump of ferns. It stood perfectly still, the light-spikes on its spine pulsing with a rhythmic, golden glow that looked like a heartbeat in the dim woods.
Armen laughed, a short, genuine sound. "No, not like that. I didn't mean literally stare at my back for the rest of eternity. But dang, you can actually understand me." He snapped his fingers. "Face me."
The beast turned with surprising agility, its claws clicking against a dry root. It looked up at him, the thin black vapor leaking from its cracked shadow-horns curling around its head like a dark crown.
"Turn around," Armen said.
The creature spun in a circle, its tail leaving a faint, shimmering smear of light and shadow on the dirt.
Armen smiled and reached down, rubbing the cold, stony texture of its head. "I need to give you a name. I can't just keep calling you 'the beast' in my head. Let's see. Aby? No, sounds like a girl's name. Lumy? Or maybe even Luno. It's a shame I don't even know your sex."
He paused, a memory from his old life surfacing. He remembered helping a friend check a litter of newborn pups back in the suburbs. It felt like a lifetime ago, a dream from a different person. He looked down at the reptilian creature.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," he muttered. "Lay over. Or roll over. Show your belly to me."
Lumy, as he was already starting to think of her, tilted her head. Then, with a slow, clumsy motion, she flopped onto her side and rolled onto her back. Her underbelly was softer, the scales there a lighter shade of charcoal, and her bioluminescent veins were more visible, pulsing with a faint, warm light.
Armen leaned in, squinting at the anatomy of the supernatural salamander. "Well, I see no slong or some hotdog, so Lumy it is. Good girl."
He patted her stomach, which felt surprisingly firm. Lumy let out a low, vibrating hum that rumbled through Armen's hand.
"Now, help me find some food for you also," Armen said, straightening up. "I'm starving, and I bet you haven't eaten since... well, since you were an egg in a UI."
They began to wander through the thick undergrowth. Lumy moved with a predatory grace, her body hugging the ground. Every few steps, the shadow energy from her horns would brush against a blade of grass, leaving it shriveled and grey.
After a few minutes of searching, Armen spotted a cluster of low-hanging, yellowish fruits on a twisted vine. They looked like oversized plums but with a thick, leathery skin. He grabbed one, his heart racing. He didn't have a laboratory, so he had to rely on the old-fashioned way. He peeled back the skin, revealing a pale, stringy flesh. He smelled it and it was sweet, like overripe melon. He took a tiny bite, letting the juice sit on his tongue.
"Bland," he muttered, swallowing. "But it doesn't burn, and it doesn't taste like almonds. Seems not poisonous."
The hunger won out over caution. Armen began to shove the fruit into his mouth, the juice dripping down his chin. It wasn't the pizza he had been dreaming of, but it was fuel. He quickly scrambled up the sturdy branches of a nearby tree, finding a safe crotch in the wood to sit in. From there, he plucked several more fruits and tossed them down.
"Here, Lumy. Try these."
The Abyss-Crawler snapped a fruit out of the air with a flash of small, luminous teeth. She crunched down, the yellow juice staining her obsidian jaws. She seemed to enjoy them, her light-spikes pulsing a bit brighter as she finished the snack. Armen sat in the tree for a while, eating until the gnawing pain in his stomach finally subsided. He took his tattered, ragged tunic and ripped a long strip of cloth from the hem, tying the remaining fruits into a makeshift bundle.
"Gotta save some for later," he told lumy below.
They continued their trek, the woods growing deeper and the air cooler. Armen found another bush with bright purple berries that looked enticing. He went through the same ritual: open, smell, taste. The moment the juice hit his tongue, his face contorted in a grimace. It was bitter, with a chemical aftertaste that made his throat tighten.
"Blech!" He spat it out, wiping his tongue on his sleeve. He dropped a handful in front of Lumy just to be sure. She leaned down, licked one cautiously, and immediately hissed, backing away with her head low.
Armen let out a dry chuckle. "I guess we have the same taste buds. Avoid the purple ones."
As they pushed through a particularly dense wall of briars, Lumy suddenly froze. Her light-spikes didn't just pulse; they flared with a sharp, aggressive golden light. Her body lowered even further to the ground, and she let out a low, guttural growl that sounded like grinding stones.
Armen stopped, his hand gripping the trunk of a nearby tree. He looked through the foliage, following Lumy's gaze.
About twenty yards away, standing in a small clearing where the sun broke through the canopy, was a beast. It was about two feet tall, covered in a thick, matted coat of emerald-green fur that looked exactly like moss. Its tail was a long, flexible vine tipped with a sharp, wooden barb, and its eyes were two glowing amber slits. From the way it breathed, Armen could see small puffs of pollen-like spores drifting into the air.
Its element was obviously plant.
"Our first target," Armen whispered, his excitement rising.