System Change

Looking up at the broken sky and into the void, Derek stared at the beast. The way it had shattered the sky and caused shards to fly at a nearly unperceivable pace automatically told him that the beast they were dealing with was one with intelligence. None that he faced, other than the ones that had this intelligence, had the ability and power to cause the sky to fracture and break out of the void in such a manner.

Yet somehow, it looked different from any of the other Void Beasts he’d seen since coming to his current system. Mostly, that was due to its size, or lack of, that is. Its body was almost identical in size to Derek’s own body after he had gone through his evolution—the perfect body for him. And, from what he was able to tell from the distance, it was actually very close in height to him.

But, after staring at it for a few moments, it finally clicked. It has a sort of void aura that none of the other ones I’ve me have, not only that, but its coloring is much closer to the void element. All the Void Beasts he’d fought so far had been very dark gray with various shades of void purple. However, with the beast in front of him, it no longer had that dark gray coloring—its entire body was the same color as his own void energy.

“Hold on,” Derek said to Alanah as she prepared to launch herself up into the sky to battle the creature. “Wait for a second before you attack.”

“What?” she half snapped back—her siren form causing her personality to become on edge and icier than before. “Why?”

“It’s different, don’t you see?” Derek replied. “Just look at it.” He pointed at the beast above them. “Look at the coloring, the size… feel the aura.”

“Fine…” Alanah muttered, then closed her eyes for a moment before releasing her own terrifying aura—causing her own to clash with the beast’s for a moment. “Hmm…” she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Derek after withdrawing her aura. “Its aura feels very similar to your own. Not as… intense, and not as controlled, but very similar.”

“Exactly,” Derek said. “And have you noticed?”

“What?”

“That it is studying us,” Derek answered. “When have you ever seen a Void Beast break out of the void and not try to come out? Not to mention, you directly hit it with your aura just then, and it didn’t do much more than wince—I was watching it the whole time.”

“No, I haven’t seen one of the beasts behave like this—not try to jump out of the portal, that is,” Alanah replied. “Well, unless it is met with a power force before and killed before it is able to come out. But this…” her tone wasn’t as icy as it was before when she was geared for a fight and had her guard up, but it still held the edge it always had when she was transformed.

“Not only is it intelligent… it’s cautious,” Derek said. “I think it’s more than just an intelligent Void Beast. I think it may be acting more like a person than a beast. Like it has much more control over itself. It is able to make the decision not to follow its bestial instincts.”

“So it does…” the siren replied, then closed her eyes again. Soon, what little aura she still had leaking out while in her siren form disappeared and her body changed back to that of a beautiful half-elf. “What do you want to do?” she asked, her voice no longer biting, and the seductiveness toned down by a lot.

“I… don’t know,” Derek said. It almost seemed to be a waste if he were to just kill such a beast without speaking to it first. “I’m going to go see if it will talk.”

“I’m going too,” Alanah said.

“Fine by me,” Derek replied. “Just stay a bit behind me. I don’t want to spook it and cause it to attack instantly.”

“Okay.”

Derek prepared to jump into the air with Void Steps, but before he could make a move, the Void Beast beat him to it—quite literally. It stepped out of the void—allowing the massive hole in the sky to begin the process of repairing itself—and continued stepping.

Is that… Derek thought as the beast traveled in the sky. Holy shit! It’s using Void Steps. Unlike every other Void Beast that left the void and fell to the surface, this one remained in the sky and used a skill that Derek was very familiar with.

Unable to contain himself, Derek kicked off the ground and flew into the air. Once he reached the same height as the beast, he stopped and stared at it. Then, slowly, he inched closer and closer until he was close enough to hold a conversation with it. He wanted to speak to it before, but after seeing it use one of his own skills, he couldn’t wait. Void Beasts, as far as he knew, didn’t have access to a system, so when the one in front of him used Void Steps, it was doing so with no assistance from a system. Now… what do I say that won’t make it immediately attack me?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Uh… hi?” Derek said, with slight confusion written on his face. Yeah… good job Derek… that was perfect. Nobody would attack after such an introduction.

Surprisingly, even after his idiotic opening, the Void Beast across from him didn’t attack straight away, and it didn’t even seem rage fueled like any of the other intelligent ones, instead, it narrowed its eyes and spoke back, “Why… why have you brought me hear?” The beast had the same serpent-like way of speaking as the other intelligent ones, but it was a little easier to understand. It formed its words faster than the others, and it was more… casual.

“Oh… well…” Derek was caught a bit off guard by the regular question asked by the beast. He rubbed the back of his neck and his gaze instinctively shifted to the ground below them—the ground littered with blood stains from other Void Beasts. The beast looked down when Derek did, then lifted its head back up to stare him in the eyes.

“I see…” the beast said. “You are… harvesting my them for their resources.”

“Yeah…” Derek didn’t know what else to say. “Uh… sorry about that?”

“Why are you sorry?” the creature tilted its head. “It is their fate for being weak and unable to evolve or… for being unlucky.”

“What?” Derek asked. “You don’t care about your kin?”

“Why would I care?” the beast asked. “And why would you think them my ‘kin?’”

“Well… because they are Void Beasts, and you are a Void Beast.”

“Do you care about all…” the beast looked Derek up and down. “Whatever you are.”

“Human,” Derek said. Then he thought about what the beast asked. “And no, I guess I don’t care about every human. In fact, some are better off dead, at least in my opinion.”

“Then why would I, as this ‘beast’, care about others of my kind?” the beast asked. “If not you, then those weak or unlucky would be consumed by their kind. It matters not whether it is you who does it or me. Death would have awaited them either way.”

“You… well…” Derek was stumped. He was out of his depth. He thought that the beast would speak a few words, then do as all the others before it had done—try to kill the void user before it could ‘control.’ It still may, but I’m not sensing the rage and anger that the others have. It’s just… tense. “You would consume your own kind for their resources?” he asked.

“Of course,” the beast answered like it was the most natural thing to do. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Hmm… Derek thought. I guess cannibalism is just something the Void Beast would do. It made sense. It really was natural for many creatures and insects back on Earth—things like certain fish, reptiles, or spiders were known to eat their own kind under normal circumstances. Even wolves and bears would do so if food was scarce. Some species even used cannibalism as a way to control overcrowding. So, if a beast could get stronger in conditions such as the one that Void Beasts live in by consuming each other, why wouldn’t they choose to do so? It really did seem… natural.

“I guess… it does make sense,” Derek said after thinking about it. “It is just something that, as a human, is extremely frowned upon, and only the worst of humankind would do such a thing.”

“More than you would think,” Alanah said from behind him, causing him to turn and look. “What? You never know what kind of skills and classes one may get, so it isn’t uncommon to notice people disappearing. I have wiped out a line or two that I learned was doing such things—and many other individuals. I would bet that if you asked Edwin or even Osian, they have done the same.”

“Oh…” He hadn’t even thought about classes and skills. What would it take for one to be given such a class or skill by one of the systems? And, what kind of person would accept such a class over other choices? Sure, he’d read novels and such about characters that consume skills or strength from killing, and that made sense. It was kind of the same with the essence or experience he gained from killing system users, but to have to actually consume someone… no, it was not something he would ever be able to do. However, it made him understand Silvi’s obsession with elf burgers more. She was still a beast, after all.

“See? The pointed ear one understands,” the Void Beast said.

“And you… being a Void Beast that is… intelligent, don’t feel or have any hesitation when doing so? There aren’t any problems that occur by doing so?” Derek asked, still surprised that the beast was being as civil as it was. “And you are just fine consuming your own kind?”

“Why would I have any hesitation? And ‘my kind?’ They are not my kind. They are only my kind in the fact that they look similar and become an existence in the same way, but they are no more than beasts. We are formed of the void—each of us is our own kind,” the creature explained.

“Oh…” That… sort of makes things different… I guess. I wonder if you took blood from two Void Beasts, if the DNA would show that they are even the same. The essence is what we are consuming… I guess it’s not necessarily from their blood or parts. It’s just the essence that has been stored inside their muscles, blood, and everything. “Well… thanks for the information. You have given me some things to think about.”

“You asked, and I answered. That is all,” the beast said, still staring at the two of them with narrow eyes. With the way it was positioned in the air, it could likely attack at any given moment with no notice.

“So…” Derek said. “Are you going to attack?”

“Attack?” the beast said, tilting its head once again—kind of like a puppy would. “Is there a need to attack? You did not attack.”

“I see,” Derek said. “Then, you don’t want to kill be because of my control over the void?”

The beast looked deeply at Derek for a moment, then slightly shook its head. “I cannot kill you. I can feel the void inside. Attacking would be nothing more than a death sentence, and I have worked too hard to throw my life away in such a meaningless struggle. Will you attack? Will you put an end to my progress and consume me? Like you will do to my ‘kind?’”

“That…” Derek turned and looked at Alanah.

“Don’t look at me,” Alanah said. “But I think I’ve hunted enough Void Beasts for today.”