Spirit Taming

Chapter 225: Alexander's Past

"Memories flooded Clark's mind as he looked at Alexander. Before he could speak, it felt as if the world had frozen around him. He was stuck as a third person view of the very cave he was in. However, things were very different.

The images on the walls had become bright as if they were just painted. There was no gaping hole in the ceiling. Instead, there was a small pool of water with a few people sitting around it in gray robes. However, these people did not look kind. They had scrapes and battle scars all over their bodies. They were clearly bringers of ill will.

To further enhance this, Clark heard a scuffling sound coming from the opposite side of the cave. This seemed to be the entrance that had not collapsed yet. All Clark could do was watch and listen as a coy was dragged through the cave and thrown in front of the pool. A few of the gray robed cultists looked up wondering what was going on and who was bothering them.

"I managed to find a small muse roaming the outside of the cave. We nearly had a scout find out how before we have fully bonded with the gods within." The cultists all appeared to become alert before they calmed down. They knew that having captured this person that no one would be able to tell where they were specifically. But it was a sign that they might be found soon.

"Why didn't you kill him? He is a threat. Threats should be eliminated." The man that stood up brandished a spiked metal club. It seemed that he was more of a brute than any of the others.

"It's because he had a little god with him. It seems to be his spirit beast. Can you believe it? He must work for someone. But was guided here by the gods. He just needs to learn the ways and he may be one of the strongest we have that has seen the truth." The small boy that was tied up tried to free himself as the man who captured him showed off a small stone carving.

"The stone imp. Excellent. You have the best judgment here. If this is his spirit beast he holds the key to taming these living stone gods. Then we will become the disciples of gods ourselves!" the glad voices that followed made Clark angry. How could they assume these beasts were gods?

What twisted thinking was this?

"Come boy, we will begin teaching you the truth of the world. Since you have one of the young gods as your partner you should learn easily. We will drop you in to the entrance. Just enough for you to meet more young gods. They will educate you on your place and what your young god should be like." The memory faded as he watched cultists pull the boy away.

Before Clark fully returned himself to reality he was able to grasp a few things. That was Alexander. No doubt about it. His beast was a stone imp which was definitely the younger version of the gargoyles. And lastly, Alexander was tortured to ensure that he would become a pawn of the church of the living stone cultists. Yet, somehow, Alexander had resisted and escaped.

Or maybe more, he might have defeated the cultists himself. It was still a mystery.

"Well, are you going to move?" Alexander broke Clark's thought process. The system had rewarded him with a very interesting piece of information. It was not only about the growth life of the gargoyle but also about Alexander when he was much younger. How Alexander had been caught while exploring and forced in to the living stone dungeon. How he had been tortured by the cultists.

"I am ready. Show me where to go." Alexander walked deeper in to the cave. The walls had more and more ruined paintings on the walls that Clark now understood to be diagrams of stone beasts. Some of them were even what appeared to be scenes of sacrifice to them. A disgusting practice that anyone should detest if they cared about the living at all.

"This is the entrance to the dungeon. At one point there were people that lived inside. Not many people can remain sane while living inside a dungeon. I am not saying it is impossible to do so, but it is abnormal." Alexander thought of it for a few moments before he seemed to be stuck on what he wanted to tell Clark.

"I know you have heard it here and there, other races exist. We know of some dungeons that have entire worlds in them. Or at least we call them bridges to other worlds but it is believed that these beings live just the same as us. They hunt dungeons, explore wilderness areas, and tame beasts. We would call it a dungeon but, to be honest, they might just call it home and us the dungeon.

But that is different from this dungeon. It is a singular existence that has been fully mapped out. The latter type of dungeon isn't mapped out at all."

Now, this was something Clark and most people understood about the world. Other races existed and they were both in and out of their world. Some had cities while others had small villages outside of a dungeon. They were sentient and spoke like any other human. But they were not human.

"Like the elves and beastmen? They can both be spirit beasts for humans but If I heard right, there was a human spirit beast for an elf once?" The rumor had spread fairly fast but many people had not believed it.

"That is true. A human spirit beast was born to an elf. It was odd but they came to a human settlement to teach the best. The elves had records of it happening but it is just as rare as a human having an elf. A real sentient elf, not the elemental beast that most people know of. It's odd.

Many people believe that these beings are gods when they go to the dungeon but are fooled by it. That is just how people react when they encounter something they can not fathom."

It was clear that Alexander was speaking this way because he had encountered the cultists here. He had been brought in here when they believed the gargoyles to be gods. They had truly gone crazy in their own way and Alexander the victim.

"Wait, did you say that your master sent you here to train to?" Clark caught on to one plothole in this story. How did Alexander end up here if he was caught by cultists? The system had surely given him the truth. So what had Alexander meant when he had a master that sent him here as a test once upon a time?

"I was brought back. There's always somewhere that we should return to conquer our fears. This place was mine. My mentor, or master, took me here to learn the lesson to pursue the things I had grown to fear. Now I am the only gargoyle specialist tamer in the world from what I know." This made a lot of sense to Clark. Overcoming fear and making it a strength was something everyone should strive to do.

It could bring out the very best in someone.

"Now, in you go. I want you to bring me back the silver statue I left in the final room of the church." There was a single ornately carved door of stone in front of them. Alexander seemed to expect that Clark would hesitate, however, Clark walked forward and opened it right away. He could not waste any more time asking questions and worrying about Alexander's past.

He had already learned more about Alexander which made him appreciate how strong his mentor really was.

The change from the cave to the dungeon was not as bad as Clark had expected. He suddenly found himself in a small village. Cobbled stone paths and small stone homes without shutters or wooden doors. The small homes were all open to the air and slight drizzle that fell from the gray sky.

"What's with this rainy day trend? Every dungeon or time I go out lately." Clark felt that there was a rain god out in the heavens cursing him with constant rain. But when he began to observe things more, he found that many stone carved drainage statues were made. This little village was perfectly made to handle constant rain. Even more, a large structure loomed overhead.

A church was too small of a term to use. The building that stretched toward the gray sky was more adequately described as a chapel or grand cathedral. It had the largest size out of the entire village. It also had very many carved statues on it. So many that seemed to be staring right at Clark with every single step he took. "Oh…this is the living stone dungeon.

Those might be beasts."