Chapter 4: [Mother]
She came down out of the mist like a mad dark god. Dozens of limbs gripped the wall, a flurry as her massive worm like bulk dragged across the cliff. Torn mouths covered the mass of the front of her body, each one emitting a different tone of the same scream. Her scale was difficult to comprehend. A single mouth was larger even than the big guy, each framed by a very human looking skull.
[Grand Aura of Fear in Effect. All other Auras will dissipate due to its strength]
I didn't need an Aura to be afraid. There was nowhere to run. The act of climbing the cliff was tearing it apart, chunks of rock and debris calling down in a cloud around us. I had no answer to her power.
She overshot the ledge, great bulk slamming like thunder as she turned and anchored into the face. The bellow became a shriek, and then a wail. Finally a sob. The disgusting demon brought its arms over the ledge. I could see each of its mouths undulating with her breath. It carried enough force to clear the smog, replaced with the hot smell of decay.
In pairs, she brought her arms to the ledge and began cupping the cliff hugger corpses, a tender motion. She brought each one to her eye, and then a low moan as she rocked the dead. She was treating them like babies. Was she...?
[Demon Examination: Other]
[Tier: Grand Unique]
[Caste: Greater Worm]
[Morphology: Mariel, Madonna of the Shrieking Cliff]
[Stats: Unknown]
[Skills: Unknown]
Was she our mother?
[Your insight has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]
In a way, you could see it. If we had many arms, not two. Many mouths not one. Eyes that grew like monsters. Our vestigial legs she had abandoned all together. Her body ended in a great worm like abdomen, segmented and pulsing.
The corpses she rocked seeped through her fingers. Their fluids collected and oozed out like tears. each arm cradled forming a halo of the dead. In its own way, it was as beautiful as it was terrible. A mothers sorrow.
Then she began to eat. One by one, she brought up the dead to one of her many mouths, and tipped them into her gullet. She let each one slide in, a slow affair. She never closed any of her teeth.
I could only watch, pinned in place by a mixture of fear and awe. The only thing beautiful about her wretched body was its symmetry. It took me away nonetheless. There's something mesmerizing about raw power.
As she finished the bizarre mourning, she turned her attention to us, the survivors. One large, watery eye brought level to the ledge. It was a dark glass mirror, our own distorted images reflected back at us.
What did she see? Were we her children, or were we cannibals, wicked eaters of her newborns flesh. I didn't even know what I saw. It was hard to recognize what I was being with what I am. Memories of being else, being human, already foggy seemed distant.
It was only when the wail turned to something of a hum, then a gentle chorus, that I felt the fear fade. Was she... singing to us?
With delicate care, she brought one of her thin, sinewy arms and extended her thin fingers. Like her arms, they were long with terrible joints in too many places. Her finger, the size of one of our arms, was warm and soft. I expected cold and calloused skin from the constant grip of the rock.
[You have received a special blessing: Rite of the Madonna of the Shrieking Cliff]
[Stat Growth Increased]
[Title Unlocked: Anointed of Rosemary]
What a strange place, this hell. Demons can be sinners, but a mother still loves her children. She moved past us then, tracing her claws across the wall. Listening to sounds I couldn't hear. When she heard what she liked, she started cutting into the wall. Her arms were cycling giant fists full of rock she threw down into the abyss.
And then she left. Without even a last look, she heaved her mass up the cliff face, deep handholds in her wake. We all watched her ascend until even my observation couldn't make her out. The smog rolled back in, and left us with ourselves. The few injured Silent Maw, crying now that their aura no longer masked them.
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Silent Winged Maw]
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Silent Winged Maw]
[Soul +1]
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Silence]
[Your versatility has rewards. Beginners Silence has Merged with Beginners Stealth Hunt]
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Silent Hunt]
Well that was convenient. I wondered, did the maws also lose their sense of hearing? It might be costly to noise blind myself when hunting for food. I could become the hunted if something snuck up behind me. I thought of Mariel. There was nothing to do against that kind of power. We were completely irrelevant.
What was up above us that she returned to? The thick atmosphere made a virtual ceiling. The only thing still visible were her tracks. In fact, several large tracks were. Were they hers from when she deposited us on the ledge? Some of them didn't look like it. I didn't plan to stay here to find out.
Crawling over, I looked at what "mother" had dug into the wall. A deep red glow filtered out. It was quite a ways from the safety of the ledge. Creeping up, I looked down again. A sense of vertigo welled up in the pit of my guts. There would be no coming back from the fall.
The remaining Cliff Huggers had maintained our uneasy truce. The big one and the dagger user were keeping close enough that I was uncomfortable. Now that we had something to investigate we moved as one to the edge. The dagger user grabbed one of the rocks left over from the debris. It looked it over before launching it across to the hole. The rock bounced off the inner wall, rolling past the lip. The big one and I watched it fall, bouncing off the cliff with small knocks. I didn't hear it land.
The Dagger user seemed satisfied. It must have been looking for movement, making sure there wasn't anything waiting for us. We were defenseless on the outer cliff face.
[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]
Already I grew tired of the notifications. It was one thing when they were offering new power, but they intruded into the silence of my thoughts. I didn't like the idea of something watching my very mind, and passing judgement on its merits. What was the system even?
[Information Denied. Insufficient Souls]
The new stat. I hadn't had time to look. Dreaded doing it even now. Whenever I opened the advanced menu the universe sent something terrible at me. That and wicked titles.
Making my way onto the side of the cliff, I started climbing towards the hole mother made. Having already survived an attack on the ledge, it wasn't safe to stay. I'm sure she broke through the surface to help us. The ledge was too narrow, we couldn't see what was inside. The only option was to hug the cliff and walk over.
I latched on, digging as deep as my claws could gouge. I had almost no choice but to look down. I couldn't propel myself well without using my arms to pull me. Seeing the cliff as the ground, holding my head parallel, made the height almost bearable. My natural latch made me almost feel secure. Almost.
The Big guy was right behind me, while the dagger climbed above me. I knew in my head that the height difference didn't matter, a fall was a fall, I couldn't understand the desire to be up. The big guy struggled. I could hear him having trouble flattening against the cliff. His larger size put his mass further from the safety of his grip.
I slipped and struggled to catch myself when he stopped and roared at the abyss. My observation detected nothing. He was challenging the fall like it could be shouted into submission. What an idiot. Could have killed us both.
I slowed as I approached the maw of the hole. The Daggers approach made more sense now. Where our eyes were, they could peer into the hole without giving up its reach. It could drop on anything that might wait within on the ground. Nothing seemed to lay in wait. They crawled right in, sticking to the ceiling. I was not going to emulate that feat.
Reaching around the edge, I swung into the hole, which immediately revealed itself to be a tunnel. The cliffs were hollow, red veins of light casting a dark glow through the winding paths. Mother had dug deep into the stone to find it. She must have known it was here.
[Location Unlocked: Hunting Grounds of the Shrieking Cliff]
Hunting meant there were other demons down here. I salivated at the thought. I was sure we would have shelter here from the Silent Maws. I didn't know what lurked deeper, but I could find a crevasse or chamber to make my own. I'd finally be able to check my abilities!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone