Dungeon Raider System

To say they were confused would be an understatement as even though Uriel had developed a series of skills and abilities that were far from the ordinary, being in more than one place at the same time was not among them. Nika's first thought was that Uriel had managed to understand the nature of biological fields and he was able to spread his consciousness over the place, while Luna assumed he somehow learned how to make clones of himself immediately jumping to the many possibilities that could open for her such as getting one of them as a test subject and other to accompany her. Medusa, on the other hand, was the closest to understanding what Mark meant with his gesture, though she was off about the extent of what really happened.

Without thinking of her own safety, she rushed over to the first place Mark mentioned and found the evidence that proved she was correct. It was a chunk of meat no larger than a fist, but she knew it was Uriel's despite not seeing it. After all, both Mark and Soulfire were famished but unhurt and there weren't any living creatures in the shadowlands other than themselves and Uriel.

Nika ran swiftly to the place only to join Medusa in her shock at the horrid scene, but when Luna arrived emanating light from her body things escalated to the next level.

It wasn't just a chunk of flesh, just as Mark gestured Uriel's body parts were spread all over. They moved from one spot to the next, finding way more flesh and bones than what could possibly come from a single person which confirmed they came from Uriel. His regeneration speed was over the top which amounted to the fact that now he was incapable of dying made him the only candidate.

"This isn't a battlefield, it's just carnage..." Nika pointed out the lack of evidence that suggested a fight took place. The earth was unspoiled and there weren't any flux orbs on the ground or even blood splatters, which meant that the body parts were thrown from a far away distance.

"It's not carnage, it's torture." Even Luna whose moral compass was closer to cryptids than that of humans was taken aback by grotesque scene. Just like animals, cryptids were capable of doing some horrible things, but never without a reason.

"Regrouping is not an option, we need to find him fast." Medusa threw her intentions of helping Soulfire and Mark recover before resuming their search for Uriel.

Needless to say, they all agreed with Medusa. Uriel may have been immortal, but that didn't make him immune to torture. His pain threshold was far higher than that of a normal hunter since all he knew while growing up was pain which only grew worse as he advanced in his hunter career, but they had seen him reach his breaking point with far lesser punishment.

Each time he recovered with the gentle care and company of his friends, but without that it was only a matter of time until his mind shattered and was lost forever.

After studying the spread of body parts Medusa was able to guess more or less the source. It was similar to what she intended to do by following back the signal sent by the museum, only ten times easier as they had a visible path of flesh, bones and blood.

As they advanced the horrible scene became nightmarish as the road they walked was carpeted with flesh and blood emitting a thud with each step they took. Luna gazed around and saw evidence of cryptid activity, which she didn't hesitate to point out loud.

"There's teeth marks on this part and the bones are gnawed..."

"Do you think it's a wendigo?" Medusa asked.

"Unlikely, those are not related to shadows. If a wendigo was to come here, they are an apex predator in the mountains but they would be nothing but prey in this place." Luna explained.

"Then what could possibly do something like this?" Nika asked after crouching in front of a pile of arms carefully put together by something.

Luna could not answer.

No creature that she knew of, be it a cryptid or a mythological beast had ever been known for such a strange behavior. It was so out of the ordinary, that she didn't even attempt to find an answer and just kept walking until they found a similar pile, only with legs instead of arms. The same thing happened with other body parts, all piled up with such care it was clear they weren't meant to be food, but the purpose was something no one could fathom.

Mark, who until then had been throwing up from time to time had already grown accustomed to the sight, but then he raised a question no one had thought of yet.

"Why isn't there any smell? Should this be rotting or something?"

"I... uhm... I don't know," Luna lowered her gaze as her light dimmed, then she thought of a possibility that scared her even more than what happened to Uriel. "it could be because bacteria cannot live in this environment." Such an abhorrent claim caused no effect on those who listened, but Luna knew this was far worse than anything they had ever encountered.

She could think of humans surviving a flood, an ice age and even other extreme conditions. Even without light, she knew humans would be able to evolve at some point, but without bacteria it was absolutely impossible which meant Uriel was right all along and the world truly was about to end for good.

At that point, though, Luna had stopped caring about the world. All she could see where the pieces of his friend laying on the ground. She was a medic, not a butcher, and she knew exactly what kind of pain he had to undergo for something to create such a scene out of his own body. The fact that they never found a head was relieving in the sense that they didn't need to look at the face of their friend over and over as that would have been enough to leave them traumatized for life, but it also confirmed that whatever was holding Uriel captive had the intention of causing him the most amount of pain since only with a brain could a person experience it.

Further along the repetitive scenery that nevertheless became increasingly more unsettling, a tall figure walked inside their line of sight. It was strange because no one could see or hear it before he stepped in.

It was a man wearing nothing but a blanket over his shoulders to cover most of his body. The blanket was so stained it looked brown and so ragged it was possible to see beneath acting as the bare minimum of clothes.

"Uriel!" Medusa gasped and the figure did not reply.

His eyes were lost in the nothingness, devoid of emotion and completely empty. There were bags under his eyes and he didn't shift his expression. He didn't even react to Luna almost bashing him with a hug and the other coming close.

"You're Okay now, everything's fine now." Medusa wept.

"You can cry on my shoulder if you want." Nika said trying to sound like she was joking, but she actually meant it as the pitiful figure in front of her caused her the deepest sense of pity. His body was fine, completely healed as it seemed, but no one could fathom the mental scars he received.

"What's wrong? Are you not happy to see us?" Medusa asked receiving only the saddest moan in reply. His body felt cold and withered.

"Luna, is there something we can do to help him?" Nika asked.

"I'm a doctor, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with his body," Luna replied objectively, this time not even she had the gall to try and sneak a peek under the blanket. "the best we can do is take him somewhere safe." The group agreed and led Uriel back through the same path they had taken, helping him walk despite him being capable of doing it on his own.

"Let go of that thing." Said Mark after just a glimpse of his face and although he didn't seem scared, he took a battle stance nonetheless.

"How can you say that! Just because you don't like him..."

"I should have broken your spine when I had the chance." Nika spat on the ground and walked past Mark.

"It's not him, it's a cryptid."

"What an idiot, don't you think the first thing I did was touch him with silver?" Medusa said, leaving out the fact that the silver she used was a silver necklace with a diadem of the same material nested on her chest.

From their very first encounter with skinwalkers they made sure to always wear something made of silver and even carried coins such as trites in case they needed something to quickly pass around. It was some sort of a ritual they performed every time after they didn't see each other.

"Still, I'm sure that's not him." Mark's confidence came from the fact that even though there was nothing wrong with Uriel's body as far as he could see, his body didn't react with the gut deep fear he had developed whenever he saw Uriel. He was so confident it wasn't Uriel, it made them hesitate.

It was only then that Uriel's face shifted to a genuine smile and it was all they needed to know the thing they were holding was actually a cryptid.