A Zoologist’s Guide to Surviving Magical Creatures

The moment we stepped inside, the air shifted. It was like walking into a vat of molasses—time thickened around us, every movement dragging like we were swimming through honey. Even my breathing felt sluggish, the rise and fall of my chest happening in some warped, delayed sequence.

Jiuge exhaled through her nose, her pink eyes flickering with a knowing gleam. "Hagalaz rune," she muttered. "Should've figured. It's always Hagalaz."

"Uh, I don't speak 'ancient magic security system,'" I said, voice sluggish in the distortion of time. "That means...?"

"It means pause, delay, obstruction. It seems like it's getting worse. It's starting to affect us too."

"Then we need to wrap this up fast, or our mission as the Vanguard team will be over before we even reach the second and third defenses," I said, exhaling sharply.

Jiuge gestured to the massive stone walls surrounding us, where six soulless orbs hovered in eerie synchronization, positioned exactly like the Hagalaz rune symbol.

"Those orbs are holding the time anomaly in place. We disable them; the time distortion will stop, and this place will be normal again."

Agnos, his long purple hair shifting like ink in water, flicked an ear. "Piece of cake."

"That's what you said before we got lost in that underwater labyrinth before Agnos," Heim muttered, his silver eyes sharp as ever, even as his dark braids swayed slightly in the slow-motion pull of the anomaly.

"I said 'probably' a piece of cake."

"Let's focus," Jiuge snapped. "I'll guide, you find. Move as fast as you can—well, as fast as the stupid rune lets you."

It was a frustrating, grueling process. Even reaching for the orbs felt like I was trying to punch through water. Heim found his first, looming like a shadow against the misty ruins. Agnos sniffed out another, moving with feline precision despite the time lag. I stumbled through the distorted air and nearly tripped over mine.

One by one, we pointed them out. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Agnos' golden eyes pulsed, his magic unraveling the Hagalaz rune's hold.

The effect was immediate—time snapped back into place, sending us all stumbling forward like puppets with their strings cut.

Jiuge dusted off her clothes, smirking. "And that is how you deal with runes."

"Remind me to never piss you off," I muttered.

We pressed forward, and that's when we found them.

The bodies.

Scattered like abandoned puppets, humanoid figures wrapped in cloth woven from the void itself. Their faces—if you could even call them that—were blank distortions of space, warping and bending reality just by existing.

"What the hell…?" I whispered.

Agnos crouched beside one, his fingers tracing the shimmering cosmic fabric. "Null Striders," he said grimly. "They're the inhabitants of this Lost Realm."

"They don't look particularly inhabiting right now," Jiuge pointed out.

Heim's eyes darkened. "They were drained." He rose, scanning the ruins ahead. "Security. Second level."

I swallowed hard. "What kind of security drains people like that?"

"The kind that doesn't consider them people," Agnos murmured. "Only intruders."

And just like that, the atmosphere felt even heavier.

We reached deeper into a vast chamber where the stone walls twisted with spirals and interlocking knots—Celtic symbols woven into the architecture itself. The moment we stepped forward, the air crackled, and three new orbs materialized, glowing faintly in a formation that made Heim's jaw tighten.

"Triskelion," he said. "Symbol of eternity, cycles of life, balance." His gaze hardened. "And a damn good way to lock something in place forever."

"That explains why the Null Striders are drained," Jiuge muttered. "The security system is absorbing anything that isn't an unknown god or a guardian."

"Great," I said. "Just fantastic. How do we turn it off before it decides I'm a snack?"

Heim's fingers traced the air, mapping the triskelion's points. "The orbs are positioned according to the threefold pattern—growth, eternity, and death." His voice was sharp with certainty. "We each take one. You follow my lead."

No hesitation. Each unknown god moved with lethal precision—Heim to the left, Agnos to the right, Jiuge straight ahead. I did what I did best: tried not to die.

The second the orbs were located, Agnos stepped forward. His golden eyes burned bright as his power flared—spirit magic unraveling the bindings of the triskelion security system.

The moment the orbs deactivated, the pressure in the room lifted. The Null Striders exhaled as if waking from a coma. Some stirred weakly, their void-cloth shifting. One managed to sit up, its head tilting toward me.

I immediately pulled out my emergency rations and offered a piece. "Uh, hi. You, uh… hungry?"

The being took the food. It didn't eat so much as absorb it, the cosmic weave shifting slightly as if rejuvenated.

I knelt beside them. "Do you remember what happened? Why were you guys entering this ruin?"

The Null Strider's voice was warped, echoing as though it came from the edges of existence itself. "Ruin? We… entered here. It was not ruins. It was… a place. A mall."

"A mall?" I repeated.

A pause. Then, the words that made my stomach drop.

"A mall. A Ziggurat Mall."

I turned to my team. "You mean we've been treating this place like ancient ruins, but it was just—just a giant magical mall?"

Agnos blinked. "That explains the sheer scale."

Jiuge frowned. "And if it was a mall… that means there could be more beings and other magical creatures trapped in the final level."

The realization hit like a brick.

Somewhere, deeper in the ruins—or rather, deeper in the abandoned mall—there were more creatures. Possibly locked in the last layer of security.

I exhaled, shaking off the weight of what we'd just uncovered. "Alright. We press on."

We left the Null Striders with supplies and reassurances that a rescue team would come. And then, with tension thick in the air, we turned toward the final level of security.

Whatever waited ahead… it wasn't going to be easy.

And if I had learned anything so far, it was that Mythica's surprises never ended.

Not even in an ancient cursed shopping mall.

The air grew heavier as we descended into the final level of the ruin—or rather, the forgotten Ziggurat Mall. The temperature spiked dramatically, and each breath felt like inhaling molten air. I tugged at my collar, but it was useless; the heat was coming from the very air itself, like we'd just stepped into the forge of a god.

At the heart of the chamber, a colossal bird wreathed in red flames flapped its massive wings, sending embers swirling like dying stars. Its body was pure fire, every feather a flickering inferno, but it wasn't just burning—it was struggling. A deep, guttural screech echoed off the ancient stone walls, filled with resistance, agony, and fury.

At first, I thought the flames themselves were attacking it, but then my gaze locked onto the figure standing before it.

A cloaked human, hood drawn low, stood defiantly in front of the majestic firebird. One hand clutched a soulless orb, a sickening void of nothingness that seemed to devour light itself. The other hand held a lantern, its glow flickering between deep red and abyssal black, pulsing like the beat of an unseen heart.

Jiuge's breath hitched. "Bifang."

I glanced at her. "Bifang? You know this thing?"

She didn't even blink as she took a slow step forward, her pink eyes glowing faintly with contained fire magic. "Bifang is no 'thing.' It's a guardian—of one of the space-time node. I met it before. It was close to Vorta."

That information meant absolutely nothing to me, but what did register was the urgency in her voice.

My gaze snapped back to the scene before us. The Bifang strained against an invisible force, flames warping violently as it resisted. The robed figure lifted the soulless orb higher, and the bird's body dimmed for a split second—as if the orb was draining its very essence.

I clenched my fists. "Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but that guy is definitely not trying to befriend the giant firebird."

Agnos flicked his golden eyes toward me, cat ears twitching. "Very astute observation, Carl."

Heim, arms crossed, barely suppressed a growl. "This is a violation of balance." His deep, shadowed voice echoed with the weight of something ancient. "If Bifang falls, the entire node's stability will collapse."

Translation: Bad. Very bad.

The cloaked figure tilted his head, as if sensing our presence. Slowly, he turned—the soulless void of a mask staring straight at us.

The lantern's glow pulsed violently.

And suddenly, the fire around us erupted.