MHD: The Darkness Within VI - The Darkness Begins to Spread

When early settlers first set foot in the Central World hundreds and hundreds of years ago, they soon found out about the new landscapes and biomes that surrounded them. One of the first they discovered was what they soon named the Barren Desert, because to them, nothing seemed to live there.

Oh, how wrong they had been. Upon further exploration, they discovered hordes of vicious monsters making their homes there. To their shock, it seemed as though the monsters had made comfortable lives in the inhospitality of the Barren Desert. Not only that, but when the settlers looked further, they discovered huge oasis's and gardens filled with towering cacti.

No, Taka reminisced, thinking back to that particular history lesson. ''The so-called Barren Desert isn't so barren at all. "Prosperous Desert", maybe, would have been a better name.''

But the desert that he, Relcia, and Lauren were trekking through - simply called "the Desert" by the locals - certainly was deserving of the name "Barren Desert". The wasteland that surrounded them was almost completely devoid of life, plant or monster. It was only sand and rock, stretching on for kilometers. To Taka, it seemed miraculous that anything could survive here.

The only shrubs that Taka saw were those that he knew only inhabited the harshest environments, where even cacti could not survive. Crickets chirped from within their sparse branches, adding a somewhat relaxing feel to their journey. Especially after the silence of Castle Schrade, Taka thought, and shuddered.

Lauren scampered ahead, scouting ahead in search of any hostile wildlife. She needn't have done so - they were completely and utterly alone. In fact, the only monster that Taka had seen thus far, not including Lauren herself, was a lone Rathian soaring in the twilight sky. And that had only been for two seconds, before the wyvern disappeared behind a cliff.

As the sun continued to sink lower in the sky, it became darker and colder. Relcia began to shiver, and she clung to Taka like a Giggi, trying to get warmer. "You have Hot Drinks, you know," Taka said amusedly. "I know," Relcia replied with a small smile, and slightly tightened her grip on him. "Any excuse to get close to you." Chuckling, Taka gave her one of his Hot Drinks.

Soon, the sun had completely disappeared, and stars broke out almost all at once. Despite the cold, Taka had to admit that the Desert was strikingly beautiful at night.

But as the heat of the day slowly evaporated, the Desert's resident monsters slowly came out of hiding. Cephalos began their nightly hunt, swimming through the sand with ease, and Hermitaurs dug through the sand in search of stray morsels to fill their bellies with. Apceros came out in small herds to snack on the rare vegetation, and packs of Genprey went on the prowl, eating anything that they came across.

Due to this sudden activity, Taka became increasingly wary. Ready to whip out his Blango Decimator at any sign of a monster attack, he scanned the surroundings to make sure that nothing was creeping up on them. But luckily, the monsters that they ran across seemed to have no interest in them, either being herbivores or else looking for larger prey.

Lauren was now well ahead of them, already scurrying into a small cavern entrance. Taka looked at Relcia, silently asking her if they should follow. She nodded once, then got down on all fours and crawled through the narrow cleft. Taka went after her, noticing that the tiny tunnel beyond dropped at a sharp angle. Wherever they were going, they were going underground.

It wasn't long before the floor suddenly disappeared. Not literally, but it suddenly wasn't beneath Taka's feet, and he plummeted with a startled shout. Luckily, he only fell six or seven feet before he hit the ground.

When he came to his senses, Taka looked around in awe. He was in a vast cavern, and the tunnel entrance from which he had dropped was high up on the ceiling. Columns of sand poured down from above, piling up in medium-sized heaps on the floor. It was pleasantly warm, since the sand that was pouring down from the surface had absorbed the heat of the day and was now releasing it.

All of a sudden, Relcia was beside him. "You won't believe what we found," she said excitedly. "Come on, I'll show you there." Without another word, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind her.

They traveled a ways into the cave, ducking into a narrow side tunnel that branched off from the main cavern. At the end, there was an equally large cave. For some reason, the vibe radiating from the enclosed room gave Taka the chills. Was it the slightly lower temperature, or darker light? Or was it the occasional bone or scale that littered the ground?

But just up ahead, there was a sight to behold. It was a massive crystal, perfectly formed and standing as tall as he did. Taka ran over to join Relcia and Lauren, who were already there. "Isn't it beautiful, Taka?" Relcia whispered to him, and he nodded. It was indeed beautiful.

Lauren had a greedy look in her eye. As a Melynx, she was a natural kleptomaniac and was possessed by the urge to steal things of value. Although she usually kept it under control, it was clear that she was using all of her will not to give in to this temptation.

"Honestly, Lauren," warned Taka. "Now is not the time. Leave it be." But Lauren argued back, something she almost never did to Taka. "But master, it's just lying there, meow! We can easily swipe it and take it back to the village. Then we'd be rich, nya!"

Relcia took Taka's side after a moment of consideration. "Lauren," she cautioned the Melynx. "Don't you think there's something the least bit suspicious about a huge, perfect crystal just lying there for anyone to take?" Her words made Taka think; she was indeed right. He shuddered as the bad vibe coming from the cave intensified - or was the feeling coming from the crystal itself?

Suddenly, the last thing Taka wanted to do was to be near that gemstone. "Lauren, this isn't a good idea," he said, voice shaking a little. "We need to get out of here! It's dangerous!"

Lauren ignored him. The glow of the crystal seemed to be reflected in her eyes. Then she could wait no longer - she rushed over to the massive gem, dropped her staff, and began to pull it out.

"Come... to Lauren... nya!" she gasped, using all of her strength to try and budge the crystal. "Lauren, NO!" screamed Taka, suddenly realizing what the crystal really was. He ran full force at Lauren just as the geode erupted out of the ground, attached to a black, hard-shelled appendage. Taka grabbed Lauren and managed to escape just before the crystal smashed into the floor with superhuman force.

Then the sand erupted again, revealing the rest of the monster that had lay hidden beneath the earth. It was a gigantic black scorpion, with crystals decorating its head and claws. Sand poured off of its exoskeleton as it got to its feet, raising its crystalline tail above its head. Fear engulfed Taka's heart - it was an Akura Vashimu.

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