The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

No power this dangerous should ever be used.

Neska stared at the incident report for a good minute, blindly taking in information. It wasn’t the details about the necrogen gas that bothered her, or what it did to the human body. Or even some of the Awakened.

It wasn’t the number of casualties. It wasn’t even the horrific rot spreading across their bodies as the organic tissues necrotized in real-time that bothered her.

It wasn't the redactions in heavy black ink over many of the details that hid key details. Markus’ name was all over it.

Accident, her tail. Markus had likely used this opportunity to study the effects, believing himself beyond morality, if this increasing ruthlessness was any indication. She didn't know what was worse: his mindset, or the fact that the military would consider such a horrific weapon for use.

She closed the book, fingers tapping against the cover. "Juni, you are a hundred percent right. This is a sin against the Divines."

Juni nodded her voice sounding weary. “What the hell have we found, Neska?”

“A bioweapon. They used harvested venoms from Markus’s evolution. My guess is they altered it. That was ten years ago.”

“And his second-to-last mission.” Trevor broke the heavy silence that had settled between the three of them. He showed them one last file. “Killed in action. Everything about the file is drowned in black ink.”

Neska tapped her hands against the desk. “Trevor, before we go any further…do you know why we’re worried?”

“I could think of a lot of reasons to be worried, but what’s one more?” he retorted.

“Do you think now is the time to bring that up?” Juni asked, looking crossly at her.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any better time.” Neska closed the book and held Trevor’s hand gently. “Trevor, I have to ask one very important thing.”

“You’re going to ask if I trust you, after the fight of my life in that Instance? Trust the snakey witch, who is currently holding my hand, and these hands have never touched a girl's hands in this way,” he said, his voice slowly elevating in pitch.

Was this not how one built rapport and trust with others? She’d seen other students hold hands on the park benches lining the campus walkways as possible trust-building exercises. “Well, yes, that.”

Juni sighed and pinched the bridge of her snout. “Neska, I think you saw something others do, but lacked context.”

“N-no, it’s fine,” Trevor laughed nervously. “I just didn’t expect your scales to be…you know, warm.”

“Uh, thanks?” Neska. “I think monster anatomy doesn’t quite line up with all the normal rules of reptiles and cold-blooded species.”

“Can we get on with it?” Juni fumed.

“Oh, right.” Neska withdrew her hands, and Trevor’s body untensed like an unwinding spring. “Okay, so, there’s something we didn’t quite reveal up front. It’s your brother.”

“What about him?”

“The assassin is working with your family, or coercing them to offer him support.”

Trevor wore a blank stare for several seconds. “I’m sorry, say that again?”

“Okay, you teens–actually, Neska, I don’t know what the hell your age is,” Juni snapped.

“Counting years as a monster? One plus…probably like teens?” Great, there was the looming dread: when exactly was her birthday? It was also trivial in the pending tasks of keeping Trevor from hyperventilating.

She cupped his hands again gently. “Okay, Trevor, I know that’s a lot to take in. Kalloway and I saw this event in the past with a severed griffin head, one from the academy. We used it for a scrying ritual to find Serkin’s attacker. Hadley and Jurik also confirmed that his poison sources could have come from your family’s lands, practically in the backyard of your estate. Specifically, elderwood sap, heavily concentrated. There are only a handful of places that are conveniently placed or accessible."

Trevor looked down at her hands cupped on his, and his whole body sagged. “I…I don’t believe it.”

“The assassin knew about my powers. He knew me. He also has an irrational grudge against Risha Aksen and is trying to destroy everything she ever built. Your brother was injured by a griffin when it was flailing around, dying. Hadley saw it.”

His eyes widened. “Father told me he got his hand cut, but didn’t mention the details. Oh. Oh my. I might be sick.”

Juni hopped up, fanning his face by waving a book back and forth. “Okay, none of that now. I stopped questioning Neska’s funky powers a while ago. Trust us on this, we don't want you getting targeted or used as leverage to force your family to cooperate.”

He slumped, resting his head on the desk, groaning. “Why are you still holding my hands?”

“As assurance that we are very protective of our friends?” It sounded right in her head at least. “Is this…not reassuring?”

“It's…a different thing. But my brother…” he pulled away, rubbing his hands together, looking confused. “How could he do this? Are you sure it was him?”

“Dark hair, tall, thin face, rather underdeveloped musculature?” Neska said, reciting from her notes. “A rather peculiar scar on his nose?”

His posture sank again. “Crap. One of dad’s magitech contraptions flew apart during assembly. It clocked him in the face, leaving a nasty scar. We're lucky it wasn't an eye. My brother is helping this bastard?!”

She realized this could derail quickly. “I doubt Markus gave your brother a choice, and his history from these reports is one of violence and covert action. I am hopeful we can find this man before he can endanger others.”

Trevor looked at her, brow raised. “This is what you were trying to do in the first place? Get close to me to see if I was working with them?”

“No. We were worried that you might be next on the list to be attacked if your brother didn't cooperate. I can't say that your father is in on it, but we have to keep this on the quiet side while the military investigates. I want to stop this guy so he can't hurt anybody else." She hesitated, then added, "Plus, I think you really do have raw talents and a certain kind of charm about you. I want to learn how to do crafting from you. I think you've been grossly underestimated.”

He smiled faintly. "I'm glad there's at least one person who thinks I'm not wasting my time. That means a lot to me, actually. But, why wait so long?”

“You had our back in the hive. If you were working with Markus, that would have been the perfect time to take me out, because that man had made it clear this ends with me dead,” Neska summarized. “Plus, you need to know what you're getting into.”

He shrugged. “I will take more monster corpses as compensation for a slight hesitation to trust. But don't give Kasfew a hard time, alright?”

“That shitbird–”

Neska interrupted Juni’s outburst. “I’m curious. You don't have much love for him. I also respect him for setting aside his personal dislike of me, but what do you see in him?”

“Someone who doesn't have a future.” Neska’s lips twinged for a second as she considered a response, but let it lie this time. “Anyway, should I be…terrified that my family is on this? I daresay it must be forced.”

“I know. We hope to find out,” Neska assured him. “I didn't think it was right to keep that information from you, but we also knew a lot less about our potential adversary. I am beginning to realize he is a very real problem.”

She glanced at the assembled story before her, and it told a very disturbing tale. “Markus is sitting on some long-stewing rage issues. He is dangerous. He holds Risha responsible for what happened to him. Speaking of which, what happened during his last mission?”

Trevor spun the book for her and Juni to examine. “Allegedly? Killed while testing this necrogen gas on a final mission, but most of it is redacted. Those earlier images are from a mishap during experimentation. My guess is this: they badly miscalculated the risk of collateral or friendly fire. The entire team was...reduced bits and pieces, this gas may be combustible. Apparently, the resulting damage was so severe, even without the flammability hazard, they dismissed the idea of mass production. As it were, with Markus dead, they didn't know if they had any more Awakened at the time to replicate the specific toxins.”

“And then they buried him with honors and a little shrine went up by the memorial. Guess it doesn't matter what you did before as long as you die in the line of duty.” Juni clenched her paw, trembling visibly. “Neska, I’m gonna go deface his memorial. Care to join?”

“What would that accomplish?”

“Soothing my rage aimed at this creep.”

“Just don't,” Neska said in a firm tone. “Let's focus on using the info we have so far. We have more than what we had at the start of the day.”

Juni nodded. “I think we need to lay out a ground rule for Trevor. For starters, don't try to reach out to your family. If Markus has others working for him as eyes and ears, and he thinks he's exposed? There's no telling what he could do, but it probably won't be good.” Her assessment, while stark, was logical.

Neska nodded silently, and Trevor opened his mouth to speak, but then bit his lip and nodded a second later. "Assuming we even find this guy, what are we going to do?”

“I doubt the ‘take him in alive’ option is easy or practical. I don't really see any other way. Letting him run around, given the damage he's done so far? We owe it to the safety of our peers." Neska stood resolute behind her words, knowing it must be done.

It would be dangerous, no doubt. But Markus had already hurt those she knew on a personal basis and cared for. No threat against her school would survive for long, not while she had a stake in it.

---

The next day, everyone gathered right outside of Trevor's dorm room. Strolling in like he owned the place was Kasfew, feathers all puffed and grinning from one side of his beak to the other. Punctual and dressed to impress, he wore a long shirt modified for his wings, slacks, and the most pretentious vest she'd ever seen. He even had white binding wrappings for his taloned feet.

“Do we have clothes beyond the academy uniform?” Neska asked dryly.

“Only when we're not in classes," he answered. Neska also saw a slight shimmer when her vision dipped into her combined thermal and spectral vision. There was a weave of mana threaded into his shirt's fabric layers. No wonder it looked so crisp and presentable. There might even be a slight boost to his attributes.

He gestured to his vest. “This one is a gift from the family.” His beak clacked audibly on that last word, as if it didn't agree with him.

“Cool. Where do I get one? A witch needs matching attire for her hat. The academy uniform suffices for now, but I need something that speaks to fashion.”

Syra stepped in, grinning. “You would look good in black! Just saying! But let's sort that out later. Lead the way, feathery ones!”

Kasfew rolled his eyes. “Yes, this was not on my list of predictions for this semester. This way.” He motioned them down the hall, clicks of claws, shoes, and scuffing scales. “I take none of you have ever actually been down into the undercommons, correct?”

Neska wanted to say she was 95% sure she had never gone down there, but a few of those lingering images from her last life still cast doubt. “Probably not? Hard to say.”

She tried pushing against the mist of memories obscuring her past, trying to pry them open, but the mists would not part. Like the mist, it parted beneath her hands like smoke, with nothing to grab. Either she'd never been in the undercommons, or something was permanently lost when the Varadur took her life.

Kasfew motioned for them to follow him down the hallway, towards a student commons area in the dorm. He pointed at the unlit fireplace, where Neska observed what appeared to be the crest of some family, and the shape of a phoenix's outstretched wings.

“Don't tell me that's the doorway? I mean, if that's the case, then what is stopping anybody from going in?”

“It is protected by a Barrier spell, coded to a person’s specific mana signature. You may realize this by now, but everybody gives off a unique and identifiable Mana signature. It's useful for setting access for towns and private estates.”

He pulled out a flat, riveted metal plate with beveled edges. It appeared to have a rune on one side that matched the door.

“Meaning, you can ward off the commoners from getting and ruining your immaculate, flawless views of the world below you,” Juni said in a surly tone.

"That's a rather harsh way to put it. Anyway, the barrier will dispel for us. One second.”

Kasfew tapped the rune plate against the mantle. With a creak of metal and a rumbling of stone, the fireplace expanded beyond its normal geometrical limits, blooming like a flower petal, revealing an archway roughly circular in shape, backed with a mirror-polished surface. Neska saw something other than her reflection, as if it were partially transparent, something that wasn't the room behind her.

No, the lighting was all wrong, and the building geometry didn't match when she looked over her shoulder. “What is this?”

“This, my dear serpolocomotor, is a portal. Do keep pace.” Kasfew confidently walked toward the mirror, and Neska expected him to crash into the surface and shatter it.

Instead, the mirror rippled like water, clinging to Kasfew's feathers, then snapped back as it ate him, and he vanished into somewhere else.

Everyone but Neska and Nori was slack-jawed. “Are we sure that's not a mimic disguised as a portal?” Brent asked nervously.

"Would it be the worst thing?" Juni said acidly.

“Guess I’ll find out for certain,” Neska declared. “In case my tail starts flailing, please extract me, rapidly.”

“Wait a–”

But she didn't wait for Juni or Brent to warn her. She slid forward toward the surface. Her face pressed against the surface, and as she made contact, it felt like she had pushed her head into warm molasses.

The world turned bright, and she felt herself falling through space as her body and her existence travelled elsewhere, a streaming blur of light.

---