Hogarth was stuck. His kingdom has stagnated severely, little useful information returned from his scouts. He had chosen his most trusted scout, Sasha to investigate where most of the missing parties disappeared but now she had not returned. He watched as the other Rats squabbled over food, over space. They were growing in quantity but not in quality. Common Rats, all of them, to his dismay only a few had obtained branch Evolutions.

  He let out a big heavy sigh, his own evolution seemed like it would never come. He had been warned of course, yes the System blasted thing had warned him that going down the evolution path of Rat Royalty was a long and arduous one. That it would be restricted not only by him but by the size of his Kingdom. He had reached Rat King an entire year ago! He knew if he could just reach Rat Emperor that he would be able to slay the [Earth Dragon].

  At least he had sent Von he thought he was a pompous brat but the most promising from the 80th litter. Hogarth settled in, munching on the body of a snake that had been brought to him as he listened to complaints, at least that had been the plan but the entire kingdom hushed. That was strange, he could never get these brats to fully shut up but it did not take long for him to realize why they were so quiet.

  Heavy stomps echoed throughout the Throne Room, the thought still brought a smile to Hogarth's snout. Despite everything he had a nice big throne room! It had taken a while to dig out but now it could even fit... this figure. Hogarth felt sickly looking upon it, a hunched over figure with pale green fur was looking at him, skinny arms with long jagged nails, boney spikes coming out of its spine and mismatched teeth that grinned at him. It was unsettling, the figure was twice his size, standing at the height of a very very young human child.

  "GAZE UPON MY GREATNESS FOR I VON THE PLAGUEMASTER HAVE OBTAINED AN [EPIC] EVOLUTION!"

  Hushed whispers flowed across the throne room. Hogarth knew he had to rein in control over the situation. He stomped his powerful foot to gain the attention of all.

  "And your mission? Have you slain the bat!"

  An unsettling grin spread across the Ratkins face.

  "Of course! The bat is no more! We will expand! We shall not fear the Salamander! Nor the Serpent of the North! In fact I believe I can take on the [Earth Dragon]!"

  Shocked gasps flowed across the throne room. Hogarth narrowed his eyes looking upon Von he decided it was time to use his most powerful skill. He activated his [Fragment of The Voice of The Underground King] causing his voice to travel across all of his kingdom.

  "HEAR ME WELL MY CHILDREN, THE BAT HAS BEEN SLAIN AND MY STAR SON VON THE PLAGUEMASTER HAS EVOLVED ONCE MORE! OUR KINGDOM EXPANDS OUR CHILDREN THRIVE WE SHALL CONQUER THE CAVE AND RETURN TO THE SURFACE!"

  Cheers erupted among the Rat Kingdom and a wave of subservitude flowed across them, trusting in Hogarth the Rat King was good, it was safe. Hogarth never noticed the glint in Von's eyes as he took a bow.

  But then screams erupted, a rat covered in blood rushed into the throne room.

  "Sco-scout Norman reporting your majesty."

  He was trembling, constantly stealing glances at Von.

  "The... the... the bat lives!"

  "What?" "It can't be!" "Von lied?" "But he evolved" "I always knew he was a liar"

  More and more discussion was heard in the hall.

  "SILENCE!"

  The king's voice roared across the throne room.

  "Von explain yourself!"

  Von was glaring at the small scout, it looked as if he was ready to kill him.

  "I killed the Bat! I got the notification! I slew an Echo Bat! It was big and grey with white streaks going down its back!"

  All eyes turned to the scout.

  "Um... the... the bat is red, and small"

  Norman proclaimed, which only had the king lean in on him.

  "And how do you know what The Bat looks like? How did you get away?"

  Norman gulped, he wanted nothing more than to run from this situation.

  "The Bat... the Bat wanted... wanted to... to know about the Rat that uses poison! I... I... gave them Vons name..."

  The Throne Room erupted!

  "Betrayer!" "Deciever!" "Tratior!" "Mouse!"

  "I- I am no mouse! No traitor! I did what I... what I thought was needed to protect my fellow scouts! If anyone... if anyone's a bunch of mice it's you lot! We're out there every day! I watched my best friend have the blood drained from his still breathing body!"

  Arguing began, yelling and screaming, some tried to attack Norman but they were stopped by the Rat King.

  "What else do you have to report Norman."

  His voice was low and calm, commanding respect.

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  "T-The Bat wants... wants to kill Von, she said... she said that Alice is going to drain his corpse dry of blood and throw his body into a ditch..."

  More murmurs, questions, curiosities.

  "So... this Bat's name is Alice? And she wants to drain my blood? Hahaha... My King! I need twenty volunteers! I can... ensure evolution!"

  Gasps filled the air, and Hogarth felt uneasy, giving Von twenty rats was concerning. But this Alice had declared war on them, he could not simply ignore it...

  "Very well Von, you shall have your twenty. But know this, if you do not kill this Alice, there will be consequences."

  Von smiled at him, those mismatched teeth glaring out.

  Alice hung to the ceiling of the Cave as she thought about what she should do next, she had made a big claim but that didn't change that this Von had been able to kill her mother, who she surmised was much stronger than she was. A good place to start would be unlocking Mana Control but she wasn't sure where to begin with that.

  Maybe she could force that Snake from before to teach her? That could work it had already shown it knew magic although it was also hostile... still she shoul- Fire. Her entire body felt ablaze, twisting across her skin, melting it into her bones, she looked around in both fear and anger before she finally noticed it, the source of the heat that was sweltering inside her. A lizard was looking at her from within a bush. She had only noticed because one of its eyes was glowing.

  Alice shot down off the ceiling, flying towards the lizard, it seemed shocked and stumbled up before beginning to scurry away.

  "Don't think I'll let you escape that easily!"

  Alice shouted as she chased, flapping her wings as she soared above, looking for the right time to crash down upon the lizard.

  "I meant no harm! I don't want to fight!"

  The lizard called out, Alice glared down at it, she wished she could simply skewer it on its own shadow... wait why was she so violent. She had just been thinking of forcing that snake and now she was imagining killing this lizard? Although the Lizard had attacked her... although it said it meant no harm?

  "Then why did you try to burn me!"

  "I did not! I simply used my skill to observe you! I did not know you would notice!"

  Alice paused, a skill? Perhaps her [Supernatural Sense] had helped her notice the invasion?

  "Why did you use your skill on me?"

  Alice was curious, this had been the first lizard she had seen.

  "I was curious to learn more about The Terror of The Rat Kingdom who laid claim to The Plaguemasters life."

  The Lizard's voice was calm with a careful edge to it, clearly she was still feeling out Alice, seeing what kind of person she was. Was it truly mere curiosity? Or was she working with those Rats? She wasn't sure, the Lizard knew of her plans to kill the [Poison Rat] so she must have some sort of connection.

  "How do you know about that? Are you working with them?!"

  "No! I swear! I observed them talking, I often take to listening in on the gossip of their scouting parties. They are searching for you, raising an army to fight you!"

  Alice stopped soaring after her, slowing into a light glide before she landed onto the cave floor looking at the lizard with a curious gaze. It wasn't like any she'd ever seen before. Vibrant red scales mixed with lighter red ones, the smallest nubs of horns grew on its head, and one of its eyes seemed to be constantly burning, the pupil surrounded by flames that coursed through the iris.

  "What's your name?"

  "Xana, I am Xana The Salamander, and you must be Alice, your name is being thrown around the sector. Many are curious about the new upstart who has began sabotaging the expansion efforts of the Rat Kingdom."

  Alice paused and considered everything, there was an actual social structure here? She had assumed it was just every monster for themselves, keeping only to maybe their family like she had done with Phaelyn, but it seemed that some of these monsters co-existed in some way, or at least had territory that was respected.

  "Alice I hm, I don't have a title like that? I didn't even know we could get titles..."

  Xana laughed, it wasn't a cruel laugh one made of pure amusement.

  "My title is not one from the System, it is given to me by those of this Sector as I am the only Salamander. You have a many title granted in similar fashion."

  Alice tilted her head to the side, moving slightly closer to Xana which obviously made the salamander uncomfortable.

  "And just what are those titles? I'm curious."

  "They call you The Bat, The Terror of The Rat Kingdom and Drainer of Blood."

  ...

  ....

  .....

  "Those suck."

  Xana looked at her with shock, but Alice simply seemed bored.

  "I guess I shouldn't expect much from a place that gave you the title Salamander because you're a Salamander."

  Xana laughed once more.

  "You are a curious one Spawn of Phaelyn I-"

  Alice was on her, claws ready to slash.

  "How do you know that!"

  Xana breathed, she had almost instinctively burned the young bat.

  "Calm yourself, I had my occasional conversation with Phaelyn before, she was the only bat in this sector. Respected in some ways and mostly left alone as she kept to herself, often choosing to hunt elsewhere."

  Alice considered for a moment, looking at the Salamander.

  "Why are you being so informative? What do you get out of this?"

  Xana considered for a moment before she spoke again.

  "You've been rampaging for some time now, overhunting and now declaring war. I wish to ensure my little sector of the cave remains safe."

  Alice scoffed, turning her head away.

  "I won't give up my revenge. That Plaguemaster killed my mother, I won't let him get away with it!"

  "You should be careful young bat, rumors circulate that The Plaguemaster evolved recently and he is far stronger than he was before. Phaelyn was powerful and experienced. You may have evolved already but I doubt you have the Skills needed to fight someone with both Skills and Magic."

  Alice didn't enjoy that she was right.

  "I know that! Once I-"

  Alice's gaze snapped over, her senses blaring at her of danger. Xana seemed to understand as she did not question her sudden silence instead turning her gaze to look. Before long the two saw rats stumbling towards them, they looked sickly as if they were about to fall over, while others had flesh missing exposing bone to air. It was unsettling and strange. They looked like they were being moved around by strings.

  Alice snarled, before she flew forward to rip into them, however right before she was going to touch them she got a sense of danger, her [Supernatural Sense] screamed at her and she backed off.

  "Good call, those rats have an odd energy flowing off of them. I think it would be best not to touch them."

  Xana commented, before a magic circle appeared in front of her face.

  "[Here ye, spirits of flame, I call upon the pyre of the elder, feast your flames upon my foes, FLAME PILLAR]"

  Alice watched with shock as the Salamander chanted, and her shock furthered as flames erupted from the middle of the rats, she shuddered watching them burn, not because of how their skin melted off, not because of how the bone charred into ash, but because through all of it they just kept walking, never screaming, lifeless eyes staring at the two.

  Slowly the flame pillar dissipated and Alice snapped her attention to Xana.

  "You! Teach me how to get [Mana Control]!"