Shapeless Beasts

A figure with no form or shape to them sat down near a large gravestone as it threw up a shroud blocking it off from the outside world entirely. This was it's one moment of peace that it was given every year and it would enjoy it as much as possible. Its also usually why no one from around this place visited for the day to stay out of it's way. The stories that have been spread about it left everyone too scared to approach. "Show mortals things they fear the most and they'll do the rest of the work themselves." Occasionally though it ran into weirdo's that defied the normal.

"Hello Etern, It's been a while hasn't it old friend?"

Leaning back against the rock it's emotionless voice began to tell stories of its adventures that faded into the wind. Meanwhile another shapeless beast was devouring a flock of Astral Beasts as it slowly grew back it's power. "Silver..hair...silver...hair. Red eyes...Red...eyes." Falling into insanity it saw the image of the creature that had almost destroyed it. "Xi..Xi..Xilo." A man covered in blades from head to toe that walked even when they shouldn't have been able to. Xilo caused it countless sleepless nights and nightmares.

"Must consume. Stronger. Stronger. Stronger."

It had run away with barely any power left ever since that creature had destroyed it's whole body and slowly regained its power ever since. Starting off with small creatures it had been working it's way up to bigger ones. Swallowing the Astral Wolf in front of it whole it felt it's power grow further as it's intelligence slowly formed. After it ate a part of Xilo it had been growing smarter while also having more thoughts. "No good, bad thoughts." Along with some of Xilo's memories though it was learning to take advantage of this new found strength even amidst all the bad that came with it.

"Murder, Murder, Murder, Kill more."

Growing a pair of wolf ears it was evolving endlessly with nothing to stop it anymore.

"Revenge."

Moving on to it's next target it made sure it wasn't being followed as it headed north. There was a place there with a large amount of power converging together that it wanted a taste off. If it got its hands on enough of that power it could skip quite a few levels and maybe be strong enough to fight Xilo again. "Coming." Walking into a few bushes it's disfigured shadow disappeared leaving behind a trail of bones and blood wherever it went. It's hunger for blood had grown much larger and it didn't care where it came from.

Hearing footsteps nearby it perked up it's recently acquired Wolf ears it turned in the direction it thought it was coming from. "Hu..mans?" Seeing such a large group of things that looked similar to Xilo it searched through the little memories it had as it backed away. That lingering fear was still too much for the little beast to overcome. "Ouch, that hurt." Ignoring the pain in her hand, Tearia forced everything together as she finished the second phase. It had taken longer than she had expected but she managed to do it anyway.

"That was a lot harder than the first time around. Especially that last blast of strength, really did some damage."

Grumbling Tearia looked down at her hand to see a large red patch of irritated skin seep blood everywhere. Quickly moving it out of the way so it wouldn't mix in with anything Tearia flinched at the pain whenever she moved it. "Need some water." Pulling out some things from her bag she dropped some water on it quickly to clean it before wrapping a piece of cloth around it for now. Feeling some of the pain ease up she swallowed a pill she had with her that soothed pain and gave a bit of energy as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"One more phase then it's all over."

With the second phase out of the way now though she wasn't so confident she could get the third phase done smoothly anymore. "Failure or not, I need to." Taking a deep breath there were only a couple more ingredients left before she reached that phase so she didn't have much time to spare. This was the final sprint for her just like it was for Xilo's group. "Can't let them beat me to it." If they really returned before she had even finished she would be disappointed in herself.

"You've been given this time. Quit complaining and get to it, me."

Talking to herself she turned to see the sun setting as she grabbed one of the few ingredients left and started to melt it. "Alright I have a few minutes to go check." Seeing the second phase done now Aeon sat up as he made his rounds around the place. He didn't have much time but he wanted to confirm his thoughts and feel out the place one last time before he came back. "Hopefully it's just the same as before I left." Picking up his pace he travelled through a wall as he got to sneaking around. There wasn't much time to waste so he had to do everything he could.

"I need to keep Tearia safe too after all."

He really hoped no one would attack her while he was gone.

"We don't got much longer you two. Let's keep it up."

Seeing some of the landmarks he had seen at the beginning of their run Xilo knew they were approaching the town again. "Let's hope I'm not to late." So far though they had made good progress without any breaks even with that delay in mind. They should be able to make it within a reasonable time if his guess was right. "A big if there though." trying to pay it no mind he put some more power into his legs after Xelfia and Relia's confirmation. This was there last stretch and then the rest would be up to Tearia.

"Are you ready Tearia?"