Star Eater

Chapter 37:

Arthur's Point of View

Unknown Location

Waking with a start and flinching from the pain, I was immediately in agony. Something was wrong. Something other than still bleeding out and dying slowly. First, I was a little confused as to how I was still alive. With how much blood I had lost, it should have been over when I passed out earlier. That or my wounds should've healed thanks to my healing factor.

Next, why did I still feel so weak? When I slept before, all the energy spent previously would return to me after resting. Unless my wounds kept me in a stalemate and something else was absorbing my energy, it made no sense why I still felt so weak.

"It doesn't matter." I mumbled to myself. "As much as I hate that fucking Elf for doing this, I'm not dying in such a ridiculous manner." Rolling onto my back took more effort than I thought. "I need to take care of these wounds." With gritted teeth, I focused on the little energy inside my body. "What the..."

Upon focusing on my energy, I felt a considerable amount there, but I was unable to access it for some reason. At least, not in a large amount. Focusing it into the gaping wounds, they slowly began to close at a snail's pace. With what felt like hours of concentrating, most of my body had healed. Unfortunately, there was still one major wound I needed to take care of.

"Run through by a tree..." Grabbing onto a chunk of the wood sticking through my stomach, I yanked it out as hard as I could. "FUCK!" I forced out as blood and spit sprayed from my lips.

Chunks of my intestines were on log, and I frowned as I tossed it aside. Immediately, my mind focused on my energy and moved it towards the wound. It was a slow process, and I was fading once again. For what seemed like days of agony, the wound closed, but I soon passed out moments after.

A loud crashing woke me with a start, and I looked around ever so slightly to see what it was. My wounds, despite being healed, still ached. Moving was incredibly difficult and still filled me with agony despite being healed. It was at this moment I wish I had my sword so I could try to figure out what was happening.

Another loud thumping sound got my attention, and I shifted my gaze around. "The fuck was that?" I whispered out as I strained just to move my neck to look about the area. "Fucking crater." Irritated that I could barely see anything inside my crater, I sighed in frustration.

My nerves were on edge for being in such a vulnerable position and unable to move freely. I was practically at the mercy of anything that would stumble upon me. However, my eye widened in horror upon seeing the creature that was making all the noise earlier.

On the outside of the crater was a conglomeration of trees, bush, rock, wind, and water, creating a rather large golem that took the shape of a bear. If it was a statue that was crafted, it would've been by a masterpiece and considered one of a kind. The creature's detail was unbelievable, and my body tensed as the bear moved down the crater towards me.

"Holy shit..." I mumbled in an awed tone as it got closer.

Even if it was a real bear, its size would've made me uncomfortable. It was easily the size of the Reed family house. On all fours, it took careful steps coming down the crater, and I watched it carefully as I slowly reached up to unwrap my eye. I might not be able to control it all that well, but it was about the only thing I could rely on in this situation.

The bear golem stood over me as it seemed to sniff me with a lifeful expression that surprised me. However, I kept my right eye wide and ready in case I needed to defend myself. Death was something I welcomed, but dying by a stone tree bear thing, wasn't something I would allow. Nor would I accept that it was all at the hands of Ayda Farro.

Sniffing me, I spoke back in a frail tone. "You even think about eating me, and you'll regret it." The golem looked at me with a questioning expression that startled me. "That's right." I said in reply to the bear's look. "You heard me."

Huffing and panting, I took a closer look at the moving golem and saw that it seemed injured. Scuffs, scratches, and what appeared to missing chunks of its body informed me it was likely in some manner of battle. The question was, with what? Something that was able to injure this stone bear just gave me more questions and concerns, especially considering I couldn't properly defend myself at this time.

To my surprise, the creature moved in such a manner where water started to fall from its mouth and hit my lips. Normally, this would've disgusted me, but I couldn't move, and I was thirsty from being in this crater for who knows how long. Starving too, yet I didn't notice because of my injuries. Almost greedily, I accepted the water and drank from the golem's spit waterfall. Eventually, the water ran out, and the bear golem pulled up.

It was quite possible this creature was trying to save my life. "Thank you...." I said weakly, and the bear just stared at me for a moment before it started to limp away up the crater's hill.

My right eye followed it and was able to see energy emitting from the golem. Different energies for its different parts. Blue for the water that flowed through it but was now gone. Grey for the stones that took up most of its body and parts of its legs. Brown for the trees and green for the bush and wind. It was quite the amalgamation.

Although the bear quickly turned back around and moved to the opposite side of the crater. Confused, I titled my head and used my eye to see what it was so afraid of. Black and red spots of energy could be seen, which made me narrow my eyes.

"Demons." They came into view at the top of the crater and looked down at me.

These were not the caped Ghouls I was expecting. In fact, their demonic appearance was a given. Creatures straight out a nightmare looked upon my prone form. From Nuckelavees, the horse-like demons with demonic riders, to another creature I was unfamiliar with. It was a demon with four legs that were quite small compare to its overly large body and four arms. Both were massive but still small compared to the golem.

However, despite their smaller sizes compared to the bear, they dwarfed me easily. Many of them appeared on the edge of the crater in quite a large number. They seemed to consider approaching me, but given my presence and weak demeanor, it was likely that they realized I was dying. It was true too. My energy was not returning to me and still fading for some unknown reason.

After considering their options, the demons decided to leave me alone and started to leave. I was thankful because they didn't notice the bear on the opposite side of them in the trees. It laid down to appear more like a collection of boulders with tipped over trees, but they stopped when they heard a whimpering.

The demons in question moved to the bear quickly, and I felt my terror grow as they closed in. "No!" I shouted and did my best to stand.

I failed but was able to get to my hands and knees as the demons halted to look down at me. Releasing a wave of killing intent towards them, they instantly entered fight or flight mode and rushed down the crater at me after pausing. Screeches filled the air as they all got closer. Some stayed above and headed for the golem with large swords, hammers, and more.

Gritting my teeth, I focused my eyes on the demons coming towards me. My eye activated and literally crushed two of the demons that were closest to me into paste. A pile of blood and crushed bones now cascaded down the crater, which gave the other demons pause.

However, in doing this, my arms and legs gave out as I clutched at my eye in horrific pain. It felt almost as if someone was stabbing me in the eye with a red-hot steel blade and destroyed my eye while cauterizing it. The pain was numbing, and I felt drool run down my chin as my mind seemed to fade.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the time. A screech grabbed my attention to the demonic horse in front of me, with its skeletal rider having a larger sword coming right at me. My mind thought of using the same technique as before, but horizontally instead. This time, when it activated, it blew the Nuckelavee away from me and into the crater wall.

Using this as an opening, another demon grabbed my leg from behind and began to slam me into the ground over and over like a ragdoll. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. Especially without my energy to numb the pain and injuries, I was sustaining. While this was going on, I heard the golem from earlier roaring from above me. Take a bear's roar and huff, which would give anyone pause, but this was just smothering. Surprised these demons would even fuck with such a creature.

Flung from the crater, the golem came into view as I approached it quickly and slammed into its side. It whined out in surprise as my body collided into it and looked at me as I landed on the ground beside it. The bear whined as it sniffed me and then roared again as all the demons circled around us.

"Kill them both." One of the Nuckelavees commanded, and my eyes widened in shock that it could talk.

Rage built up within me, and I felt another wave come from my body as it washed over the area causing all the demons present to pause. "Any of you touch that bear, and I'll slaughter every single one of you." I seethed out from my prone position as I kept a wide and creepy gaze focused on the supposed commander.

The demon in charge came to the wrong decision and hissed as it ordered the others to attack. My left eye started burning as well as I forced myself to all fours. New wounds and old wounds screamed at me, but I ignored them as I released a howl that silenced everything.

A storm of elements seemed to erupt from my body as it contorted back into an arc with my eyes looking up at the sky. Above was the same portal that I arrived here from, and I could see my energy flowing from my body to feed it. That's why I hadn't healed. My energy had been feeding the portal instead of healing me. It's why it was so hard for me to access it. Now... Now, I could feel my energy growing to overpower the portal in question.

Waves of energy thundered off me as it slammed into the demons surrounding us. With a pillar of energy shooting from my body and into the portal above, my entire being seemed to running on pure instinct. I didn't know what I was doing, but I watched as the portal above shattered like glass and dissipated. The demons also seemed to burn away as my vision became hazy and fire flared from my body as it seemed to purge the area of any Demons.

Falling forward, I felt myself fading once more. A whimpering got my attention as I tilted my head in the direction of the golem. It appeared to be just fine despite my light show and was doing its best to nuzzle me without hurting me. My fire didn't hurt it, which was a bonus. I didn't know why this stupid bear golem thing cared so much, but I smiled in return.

"I know you're hurt buddy, but you're going to have to give me a bit before I can make you better." Reaching a hand up and patting its nose, my surprise only grew as I faded.

"Thank you." The golem spoke out in a deep female's voice.

Looking up at 'her' with wide eyes, I passed out soon after.

*********

Our new goals for the coming week are going to be hitting 850 Power Stones again! Should be an easy first goal since we've done it already and had a rather clean margin! Our second goal is going to 900 Power Stones! We were only 27 Power Stones away from hitting this, so I think it should be very doable! Hope everyone is as excited as I am! Thank you for your continual support!