A Zoologist’s Guide to Surviving Magical Creatures

The shard pulsed again in my hand, its deep purple glow brightening the room just a little too much. My fingers tightened around it, but it was less an act of control and more of a reflex.

Whatever this thing was, I wasn't sure I understood it.

I could feel its energy buzzing through me, its power seeping into my bones, and I still wasn't sure whether it was helping or making everything worse.

I had just unlocked the memory from the fifth fragment.

It had hit me like a freight train.

One moment, I was standing in the throne room, still reeling from the aftermath of the previous fragments.

The next, I was pulled into it. Pulled into the memory itself, like being dragged under the surface of some vast ocean, my senses overwhelmed by the sudden weight of it.

The landscape was desolate, an endless stretch of cracked earth. There were no trees, no grass, no signs of life at all.

It was barren. Dead.

And yet, despite the lack of anything living, there was an overwhelming feeling of weight, of time itself pressing down on me. The air felt dry, arid. Every breath tasted like dust.

I wasn't alone.

Of course, I wasn't alone.

The figure was there. The same mysterious figure from the first fragment, the one I'd seen in the strange, dreamlike memories before.

But this time, it was different.

He was standing just a few feet away from me, his back to me as he stared out over the empty plains.

I didn't understand how, but it was like he knew I was there.

He didn't even look surprised.

"You're here again," he said, his voice low, rough, as though he hadn't spoken in years.

There was something almost familiar about it, but at the same time, it felt like I was hearing it for the first time. "Why do you keep waking me up?"

I wanted to say something. I had questions, so many questions.

But for some reason, I couldn't get the words out. The memories, the feelings, everything was just too much to process.

Instead, I found myself moving closer to him, as if the pull of his words and presence was stronger than my will to stay back.

"You don't need to wake me," he continued, still facing away from me. "I don't want to wake up. I don't deserve it. I've done too many wrongs, and there's no way to undo them."

I felt a strange weight settle over me, a sadness, a regret that wasn't mine but still made my heart ache. He spoke like someone who had carried the world on their shoulders for too long, like someone who had seen the destruction they'd caused and was now too tired to even try to fix it.

I opened my mouth, but again, no sound came out.

His voice softened, his shoulders slumping. "You don't even know who I am, do you?"

I didn't respond. I wanted to. I wanted to ask who he was, what all of this meant. But before I could get the words out, he finally turned toward me.

And that's when it hit me.

His face was... blurred. Like it was blocked by something, like there was something in my mind preventing me from seeing it clearly.

I could make out the shape of his features, the silhouette of a man who had once been strong, perhaps regal, but now... now it was as if someone had taken a brush and smudged the details until they were nothing more than a haze.

I reached forward instinctively, wanting to clear the blur, but my hand passed right through him, like he wasn't really there.

"Please," the figure said, his voice barely a whisper. "Protect this realm. Don't wake me up. Don't... don't let me return."

And just as quickly as the memory had begun, it faded. The plains, the man, everything dissolved into a blur of light, and I was back in the throne room. My hand was still clutched around the fragment, my pulse racing.

I blinked, trying to clear the haze in my head, the weight of the strange interaction still pressing down on me. My legs buckled beneath me, and I collapsed to the cold, stone floor.

I gasped for air, still disoriented by the vision. But I wasn't alone.

I looked beside me and found Hades sprawled face down on the floor. I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting. He wasn't moving. Not even a twitch.

"Hades?" I rasped, my voice weak. I crawled over to him, desperately checking for any sign of life. His body was unnervingly cold. Panic surged through me, but then I felt it—a faint pulse beneath his skin, a soft rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing, just barely.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, relieved for a moment, but that relief was short-lived.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the room, breaking my momentary calm.

My head whipped around, and I saw it: the doors to the throne room burst open, and a dozen warrior gods stormed in, weapons drawn.

They moved with precision, surrounding me in a matter of seconds.

Their eyes locked onto me, and every spear tip pointed straight at my chest. I froze, my heart thundering in my ears.

"You!" a deep voice barked.

The warrior who spoke had a scar running down his face, a rough-hewn, intimidating figure. "What have you done to him?"

I stammered, raising my hands in the air. "I didn't kill him! I swear! It wasn't me!"

The warriors didn't lower their weapons.

If anything, they looked more tense, more on edge. One of them spoke up, his voice barely above a growl.

"Explain yourself, mortal. You were found beside Lord Hades, unconscious. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! I swear!" I repeated, my voice getting more desperate. "This... this purple fragment, it did something to him. I'm not the one you're looking for!"

The warriors exchanged uncertain looks, but they didn't seem convinced. One stepped forward, still keeping his spear trained on me. "You're lying. How did you get that fragment?"

I glanced down at the shard in my hand, still glowing faintly. I didn't know what to do, but I had to make them see that I wasn't the enemy here. I raised the fragment, holding it out in front of me, hoping that somehow, it would calm the situation.

"This is the fragment! It's not me. It's this thing—" I started to explain, but before I could finish, something strange happened.

The warriors recoiled, taking a collective step back, eyes wide with fear. It wasn't just suspicion now. It was genuine terror. Their hands tightened on their spears, but they no longer advanced.

"What... What's going on?" I muttered, blinking in confusion.

I waved the shard again, trying to get a better sense of what was happening.

When I did, the warriors took another step back, their faces pale with fear. It was like they were terrified of the fragment itself.

"What is this?" I asked, looking from the warriors to the glowing shard in my hand.

I tried to test it again, holding the fragment up in my hand and waving it slowly in the air. The moment it caught their gaze, the warriors all jumped back, a few even stumbling over their feet as if trying to distance themselves from the glowing object.

"What the hell?" I muttered under my breath, thoroughly confused.

Was it the fragment that was scaring them?

The scarred warrior hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes locked onto the shard in my hand. "You... you possess it?" His voice was a mix of awe and terror.

"Possess... it?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean? It's just a piece of—"

The scarred warrior stepped back and hissed, "You... You have the shard. The shard of the Ancient One."

"The what?" I asked, completely baffled. This was new. I had no idea what they were talking about. "What the hell are you talking about?"

But before I could get an answer, the ground beneath us trembled. A deep, guttural rumble filled the room. The floor shook violently, the stone under my feet cracking with the force of it.

"Earthquake?" someone shouted, but it didn't feel like an earthquake.

Another rumble. Louder this time.

The warriors braced themselves, their spears pointing outward, but no one seemed to know what was causing the shaking.

I looked down at the fragment in my hand, which now seemed to hum with a strange energy.

"It's the shard," I whispered under my breath, the realization dawning on me. "It's connected to this—"

Before I could finish, something massive crashed into the throne room doors. The ground shook again, this time with such force that I nearly lost my balance.

The doors splintered and shattered, and something dark and hulking appeared in the doorway.

I couldn't see it clearly at first, but then it stepped forward, its massive form blocking out the light from the corridor. It was a creature, huge and terrifying, covered in dark, rocky armor. Its red eyes glowed ominously in the dim light of the throne room.

And then, in a voice that rumbled through the room like thunder, it spoke.

"You woke me."