I... I must run... or he WILL be back

  Snow was pouring all over Lark, drowning the city in the cold tears from Elar, The goddess of Ice, but wherever she went, it was red and black, no matter where she ran, He would always find her. The cold made it difficult to continue, her lungs were almost frozen, her black hair now turning white was a reminder of what he had done to her.

  Her father.

  The king of Lark known as the strongest on Ruk.

  She ran, farther away than what she had ever managed too, even with the ice almost consuming them, her lungs kept on burning, it was becoming difficult to breath, she couldn’t think straight, she didn’t even have a destination, she just knew she had to escape.

  She tripped.

  She fell face first towards the snow, the cold was sudden, but she was already accustomed.

  She looked back at what she had fallen with, her uncovered feet red from the walking and the cold, were entangled with the chains that had sealed her destiny.

  The slave collars, those were a new technology designed by her father to contain her and the others.

  While other kids enjoyed life with their parents and ate candy.

  She could never see her mother, who was forced into a coma by her father, and the others didn’t even have anyone they could want to see, the others ate only rice and bread, their frail bodies constantly dying and being replaced.

  She? She was different, she could survive without eating for months, she only ate a loaf of bread every five months, any other substance she was given, if she could even call it that, were pills and injections, all that made her body feel weird, after some eavesdropping she learned it was liquid and condensed mana.

  The thing was, her body was able to absorb it, but not resist it, it was like she was allergic to mana, the changes on her hair were a side effect of those pills and injections.

  She was able to free her feet from the chains, but they always come back.

  As she got up to continue running, she heard a voice.

  “Your majesty! Do not make this more difficult! Your father won’t punish you if you give up now!” The voice called and even thought he promised that she knew it was a lie, she could see his smirk through the storm of snow.

  She ignored him, if she answered she would be gifting her location.

  A spear of fire pierced her thigh the next moment.

  She fell to the snow once again, the sudden change from cold to hot in her leg made it hurt more.

  She screamed, even thought she was attacked like this all day, she had yet to get accustomed.

  “You were able to run so far being only seven years old” The man said, coming closer “I must give it to you, you are sturdy to be able to survive this kind of torture all day”

  Damn it! I was so close! If only I could only get out of the range of the storm I could tell others!

  The man was now standing next to her, another spear of flames on his hand.

  She didn’t care, she tried to escape once again while crawling.

  The spear of flames pierced her hand this time.

  “Would you stop with this futile resistance? If I have to hurt you even more your dad will kill me for “Messing with the subjects”, so please, wouldn’t you help this old man out?” He said while kneeling next to her.

  “G-get away...” Her voice was weak, the cold and the pain near to consume her.

  “What was that? You are crying for your mommy? So sad she can’t hear you~” He grabbed her hair with his hand, forcing her up, the spears moving and causing more pain.

  “You are a monster, you are lucky your father was benevolent enough to not kill you, you freak of nature” He said while pulling her closer, but he wasn’t entirely wrong, she was a freak, and maybe even a monster, the cracks that took ownership of her limbs were disgusting, her dead eyes only being able to show pain and fear, something her father loved.

  “G-get away...” She repeated.

  “What are you saying? You are so beneath us the mana wielders that I can’t hear you~” The man repeated.

  Snow started to fall on her injuries, making her wince in pain.

  “G-GET AWAY!” She screamed with everything she had left.

  The next moment the man was dead, black spears piercing his whole body in an instant.

  “W-what...?” She was scared, who would be able to kill someone as strong as him? He wasn’t just any pushover, if her father sent him, he was someone capable.

  Everything started to go black, she was dizzy, the cold and the injuries started consuming her.

  “Helen Kerk! You are to be punished when you get back!” She heard the voice of her father, the one that had tortured her the six years she had been trapped.

  Attempt a hundred and seventy-five... a failure.

  Iko woke up in the middle of the night, the dungeon apparently replicating the day night cycle.

  What was that dream?

  She looked around the room, she still had the same clothing as before, but the room was... different.

  What... Happened?

  The entire room was filled with the same black spears that appeared on her dream.

  “Girl what the fuck is wrong with this place! These things suddenly appeared, and I almost get skewered by them!” The demon said from the couch on the corner, which now was completely destroyed.

  “Like I know... it’s also my first time here...” She got up and walked towards the window dodging the spears that destroyed the room.

  “What the fuck...” at first sight it was all good, but there were monsters that had the same black spears growing on their bodies, it was grotesque and sickening.

  The four temples didn’t escape either, the 4 statues now had the same spears growing from them.

  Iko checked the system to look for answers and she found a quest she hadn’t checked before.

  “A connection with... the one forgotten and that never had a name?” Iko was confused, she had gone to sleep thinking that that guy was crazy, but now she was connected to the second monster lord?

  Suddenly her ring started to shine, so she gave it corruption.

  “Iko Noulan! What in the hell is happening?!” Jaul voice came down on her like a waterfall, she had just woken up and now she was being screamed at again?

  “Like I know, I just woke up! And hello to you too!” Iko shouted back to the bastard that didn’t even knew how to say hello.

  “It’s obviously your fault! The strange spears all came from that castle you are on!” Jaul voice came from the ring once again.

  “Shut up! The only thing I know is that those spears appeared on my dream!” Iko accidentally said that by being mad.

  “Those spears... appeared on your dream? Tell me more” Jaul said and Iko could literally hear him opening his notebook again.

  “No” Iko said directly without even thinking, she didn’t know why, but she felt she shouldn't tell him.

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  “Iko Noulan, TELL ME” Her collar started to shine, the black metal now shining white.

  “NO!” Iko said while trying to not tell him, she had that urge to not tell him, or anyone else at that.

  So, she cut the connection from the ring.

  But the collar still wanted her to tell someone, but she couldn’t! She felt that if she told anyone, she would be punished.

  “I-it hurts...” She fell to her knees, the pain from the collar growing worse.

  It reminded her of her dream, where the girl... where Helen was wearing a similar collar, and yet, she still tried to escape that... king of Lark guy.

  But... why had that figure called her Helen? She was another girl different from her, as maximum they would share hair color and the... slave chains.

  This hurts... it feels like my body is shattering...

  And it was, as Iko looked at her limbs, black cracks started to appear and spread, in the case of her dragon claws, they were white.

  Now even the cracks...

  Iko had to do something, the system messages she was getting weren’t important, not if she died from the pain first.

  Leo should be around here shouldn’t him?

  She jumped out the window trying to fly over to where she heard fighting, for some reason the black spears made way for her.

  It has to do with this “Helen” girl... who is she?

  She tried to fly and she could, but it was hard to maintain balance, her wings didn’t move according to what she wanted, the chains on the collar and her limbs moved how they wanted.

  As she got near to the battle, she lost balance and started to fall.

  Shit!

  She had fallen in the side that had jungle monsters covered by spears, they were fighting some soldiers that rounded the 50 levels.

  She didn’t even look at the wolves or the dryads, she simply started walking towards the soldiers.

  “Leo... take me to him...” But instead of the soldiers listening to her, the monsters did, one of the wolfs tried to get her to ride on its back.

  “Something is something...” Iko let her body fall onto the back of the wolf who luckily only had spears on its head and legs.

  She heard another crack, but her limbs remained the same but shining brighter, she then saw fragments of her skin falling from her face.

  As she touched her face, she felt cracks around her right eye.

  You have to be kidding...

  “Go fast... to the exit...” Iko had wanted to look for Leo to search the exit, since she had only left by Jaul teleporting her, but there was no way she would go near him right now.

  As the wolf started running the soldiers started screaming at her.

  “H-hey are you okay?!”

  “T-the wolfs! We are going to have our paid cut!”

  They were saying things like that, but Iko saw something different.

  They were all the silhouettes that were trying to catch Her.

  They were calling for her, not for Iko but for Helen.

  And that scared her.

  Because they wanted to catch Her, but not Iko, they wanted Helen, but they wanted Her.

  W-who am I...?

  As the wolf’s carried her to the exit of the dungeon, she felt something weird on her horns, she touched, and she felt the black spears growing on her.

  Fuck...

  “You okay there kid? You don’t look that good... I have been staying quite for a while but... I'm kind of worried I'll fail at my job at this point” The demon said floating next to her, his thunderous face showed worry.

  A worry Iko was tired of.

  “Shut up and don’t talk to me with that fake worry...” She said with anger on her voice.

  The demon looked surprised, but at the end he did stop talking.

  The wolf continued running towards the exit, and they got to a door filled with decorative starts.

  “I-is this the exit?” Iko asked the dryad whose arms and legs were only black spears.

  She nodded, as if understanding her.

  “Thank y-” Iko suddenly fell once again, the pain becoming bigger and bigger with each passing moment.

  She forced herself up.

  “I... I do want to live... so don’t be such a bitch and move” Iko repeated to herself, for some reason, treating herself like shit seemed to do the work as her body continued moving, pushing the door open.

  As soon as she entered the room, she saw rows and rows of cages filled with people, all who started looking at her.

  “Don’t look at me like that... where the hell is the exit?” Iko asked to the nearest cage to her.

  “Exit? he... hehehehehehe” The man inside started to laugh, his body was on the verge of collapsing pretty much, the same with every single person in the room “I hope there was an exit, the only thing here is endless pain and the rock in the center which shines brighter than most stars” The man said pointing at the center of the room.

  “Grab it! BRING IT TO ME” The worst voice of all said.

  “Will it help me contain whatever is happening to me?” Iko asked the voice inside her blood, since she noticed that even if it sounded in her mind, it came from her dragon blood.

  “Depends if you are a weakling of mind or not! I hope you aren’t or I will kill you myself!” The voice said.

  As if you could, you are just my dragon side, aren’t you?

  The voice stayed quiet.

  Iko walked towards the rock, which was emanating an amount of corruption that would normally kill anybody.

  But Iko started to heal, the pain started to dissapear until Iko couldn't feel it, she wouldn't be surprised if she forgot about the pain.

  But the spears didn’t disappear, worse, they seemed to be even bigger than before, the cracks started spreading even more, and more skin started to fall off. But instead of showing her flesh, it showed a black surface.

  Whatever I'm just going to grab this rock

  As Iko got closer to the rock, she identified it, the corrupted text fixing itself.

  Iko looked back at the quest of the fragments she had unlocked.

  She got near it and the moment she was about to touch it, it’s black and purple surface started to crack, and the pupil inside looked at her.

  “WORTHY!” The rock broke in an explosion a second later, the eye inside being freed.

  What am I supposed to do with this...

  Her right eye exploded, the cracks around breaking her face, not allowing her to regenerate, before she could recollect herself, the eye that came from the rock shot to the now open hole, taking her eye’s place

  IT BURNS, IT FUCKING BURNS!

  Iko tried to claw the eye out of there, but she stopped the moment everything went black.

  She looked outside of her cell, the guard changed every day so she couldn’t bribe them, they were all high mana wielders, since the “incident” on the snowy mountain where she had awakened a strange power, the spears that appeared that day weren’t of a hidden master, they were hers, they came from her suffering and hate.

  And her father loved it.

  He started treating her worse everyday, the one giving her the injections and pills was him, so that she would hate him even more, she now ate only a quarter of a loaf of bread every 7 months, the dosis of the injections and pills were doubled.

  It hurts, and she hated him, his fucking plan was working.

  She looked at her limbs once again, they were all cracked, like always, she decided to think about something else, apart from the sheer cold and hunger she felt.

  She turned towards the window, there was nothing that would make it imposible for her to escape, but what could she do? She was in a fucking tower the size of 10 houses, she would die if she jumped down.

  She heard footsteps, and she knew them, her father was coming, she hated him but in secret, she also feared him.

  “Helen dear, when will you show your father some of that power you used back then?” He said while entering her cell, getting near her.

  “Don’t come any near... you monster” She spat at him, and it took all her courage to manage that, she was terrified of him.

  “You are not a teenager yet but still so... rebel” His hand grabbed her face, his ice magic freezing her mouth from the inside.

  “I will do whatever I want with you... I’m your creator and I may do whatever I want with my toys” He throwed her to the wall, it would have broken if it wasn’t reinforced by his magic, but her back did broke.

  Her body tried coughing blood, but the ice in her throat blocked it.

  “I know you hate me, and that’s the best, so show me what killed one of my trusted men” He said getting closer to her.

  She wanted to try, to try and kill him, but she knew she would fail, so why try? She was not going to give him the satisfaction of doing what he wanted.

  “Still not doing anything? Fine” His hand began to be covered by ice, the temperature of the freezing room dropping even lower.

  “I guess you won’t use this eye anymore, are you?” His ice-covered hand got near her right eye, and the next hours, the only thing that was heard were muffled screams covered by ice.

  Iko woke up surrounded by black spears, which were now growing from inside the cracks on her body too, it became harder to move while trying to not stab herself.

  “Fuck...” She looked around and saw all the other people that were trapped completely terrified of her if they weren’t already with her being a dragon and all.

  She got up, the black spears following wherever she went.

  The pain stopped at the least...

  She opened the quest.

  “Cool I guess...” She looked around, but an exit was nowhere to be seen.

  “I should just have asked Leo... Fucking Ironheart’s...” She cursed at the man.

  “I-I’m sorry, but were you talking about Leo Ironheart? The general?” A woman asked, she had blue eyes with the shape of a gem, her hair was also fully blue.

  “Yea, he entered the dungeon and is trying to clear it, I doubt he knows where y’all are” The woman reminded her of the Ruby guy.

  “By any chance you know someone named Ruby? A guy with red hair and red eyes?” Iko asked her.

  “Y-you know my brother?!” The woman said surprised.

  “Saw him once, he’s with Leo, he asked me about you” Iko told her, her face seemed to calm down.

  “So he’s safe...” She sighed a sigh of relief.

  “I would try to get you out but... I'm kind of covered in these...” Iko said “I can tell them were you all are if that helps”

  “That’s more than enough, thank you” The woman said as Iko started to leave.

  On the way out she saw a glass shard on the floor which luckily hadn’t break yet.

  As she looked at her reflection, she saw her eye completely white, there wasn’t even a pupil inside, just pure white.

  Suddenly a black dot appeared on her eye, the next moment, the glass was glitching in and out of reality.

  Hope this isn’t something bad...