Capítulo 5: The Desert is Dry & Soul or maybe not

/ After exiting the warehouse /

Looking over the golden sand Ahmya felt something she hasn't felt in a long time.

'Heat'

Since in the void there seemed to be no true concept of temprature, always being slightly cool, Ahmya had almost forgotten what it felt like.

Feeling the sun burning her exposed skin Ahmya quickly came to a conclusion.

"The heat still sucks ass."

Satisfied with her profound knowledge Ahmya was about to begin the journey to her goddess before...

"Are you really going to wander through the desert like this?"

Hearing the incredulous voice of Panthera coming from behind her Ahmya turned to her new found system.

"Is there a problem?", Ahmya asked cooly.

Panthera looked at her like she was an idiot before pointing down.

Following where her finger pointed Ahmya looked at her feet or more specifically the steam rising from them.

Looking back up to meet the disapproving gold eyes of her companion Ahmya only had one thing to say...

"This is fine."

Panthera seemed to want to say more but Ahmya stopped her.

"I barely feel it anyway, the important thing is finding my goddess", saying this she was about to walk away before something Panthera asked stopped her.

"Why do you want to meet that goddess so badly anyway?", her system actually pouted a bit while asking that question.

This made Ahmya stop for a moment.

Turning away from her, Ahmya's voice rang out with an etheral quality.

"Because she is the only reason I am still alive~"

Panthera was stunned by the raw emotion in her mistress's voice, before she felt her face flush and knees grow weak when Ahmya turned to face her.

On her mistress's face there was no longer that emotionless mask instead she was flushed, her breathing coming out in short hot bursts, her eyes reflecting the true depths of her insanity.

Any other person might have felt repulsed by how vulgar her current display was but in Panthera's eyes this was the most beautiful her mistress had ever looked, her gaze never straying from hers.

"And now she needs to take responsibility for making me so obssesed~", drilling her gaze into Panthera's eyes her smile widned even more.

Walking over to the taller woman Ahmya framed her face with her hands their gaze locking in a heated dance.

"Don't you agree, Kitty"

Panthera's flushed even more, her embarrassment at being called such a name wanting to make her dig herself a grave but...

"Yes, mistress", was all she could mew out.

Ahmya's smile became almost motherly at that and she moved one hand from her cheek to her hair.

"Such a good Kitty", was all she said before she started to pet Panthera's hair.

Panthera could only try to keep quiet as all kinds of emotions rushed through her brain, only learning to breath again when it was over.

/ A few minutes later /

Floating behind her host, Panthera felt utterly lost.

On one hand she can definitely say that she had enjoyed the headpats, on the other hand she felt conflicted over how meek she had acted in front of the shorter woman.

However when she thought back on when she called her 'Kitty'....

"nnhhn..."

A shudder went through her.

Biting her lower lip Panthera looked at her host's backside walking in front of her.

"I hope you are worth it, woman", with conflicting feelings brewing inside her, she followed after Ahmya.

( Ahmya )

Having put the little cat in her place Ahmya's mood was great, however it didn't last long when she began to notice something.

'My body isn't holding up as well as I thought it would', staring down on her red feet that were definitely burned to some degree, Ahmya was forced to rethink her plan.

Even though calling it a plan might be overestimating it.

She had after all planned to just walk in a straight line till she would reach her goddess.

However she has been walking for at least 3 hours now and the distance between them hasn't noticeably decreased.

"Panthera", calling out to her system, Ahmya abruptly stopped in her tracks.

"Yes, mistress?"

"Can you make a map of this world?", Ahmya cut straight to the point.

Panthera didn't give an answer till five minutes later saying,"A true map will be impossible but I can mark where I feel strong energy sources."

This was better than what Ahmya had been expecting, so she told Panthera to give her what she can.

A few minutes later a screen appeared in front of Ahmya, on the screen motes of light shone in different colors and intensities.

However one part of the screen was so densily packed that it was impossible to miss.

After studying the screen for a bit Ahmya asked,"So what do these motes of light represent."

Appearing beside her Panthera pointed at the big green mote in the middle.

"This is a plant based life form and to my knowledge should be something like a tree of life, there are probably elfs living there if I had to guess", Panthera explained.

Looking at the little motes of green light surrounding the big one Ahmya guessed they were lesser magical trees.

Having commited the forest in the middle of the world to memory Ahmya shot Panthera a look urgung her to explain more.

Understanding what her mistress wanted she continued.

"All these other energy sources are almost exclusively divine in nature."

Ahmya looked at the hundreds of motes of light before slowly nodding.

Panthera continued,"However either they are all extremely weak what I don't believe or they have some kind of rules in place to prevent themselves from using their divine power for the most part."

Ahmya felt an extreme feeling of deja vu but couldn't exactily pinpoint what caused it, shelving it for later.

"Then that place",pointing at the brigthly shining part of the screen,"is a gathering place for gods?",Ahmya asked.

Panthera had a complicated expression on her face as she said,"Yes, but...", biting her lower lip she continued,"I also sense a great malicious presence in that place."

"The dungeon"

Panthera looked at her with a surprised expression on her face, that Ahmya had to admit was pretty cute on the tall woman.

Smiling slightly at the cat eyed woman Ahmya said,"There is no need to be surprised, my goddess wants a warrior who will conquer the dungeon for her."

This made Panthera concious of the fact that Ahmya was still not wearing a shred of clothing on her toned body.

Ahmya's smile got a little wider when she caught Panthera's gaze lingering on her muscles.

Coughing into her fist,Panthera tried to steer the conversation into a different direction,"The divine signal we followed here is also in that place."

Smirking at how Panthera deflected the conversation Ahmya said in a teasing tone,"If you want to watch you can watch you know~"

The golden eyed woman immediately flushed red before stammering,"What, what do you mean?"

Locking her void like eyes on the stammering woman Ahmya smirked.

"I am quite proud of this body of mine, you know?"

Striking a few poses with her eyes never leaving Panthera's face she observed how her face got more and more red before she disappeared.

"Well that was fun"

Turning to where she now knew the dungeon was Ahmya resumed her journey through the desert.

Meanwhile on Panthera's side....

Holding her hands in front of her face she only had one thing going through her head.

'How shameless!", in her mind the scenes of Ahmya's naked body played on repeat.

'Shameless, shameless woman!!"

/ Several hours later /

Ahmya continued on but her body got heavier with every step till she couldn't walk anymore.

Every step her foot sinks into the sand making her waste more energy.

Moreover even though she hasn't felt it in so long she could still tell what it was....

Thirst

Her body outside of the void seemed to possess the same needs any other human.

However it almost seemed like she consumed even more energy than a normal human, her need for nutrition and water was rising by the minute but....

She hasn't found any source of water, not to mention an oasis.

Not to mention, she was itchy all over from the wind blowing sand on her with every breeze.

Staring at the setting sun she only had one thing to say.

"I don't like sand, it's coarse and irretating and it gets everywhere."

"Mistress?", appearing standing above her Panthera seemed worried.

"If I may be so forward I would like to suggest something."

Looking up at what she had already declared in her mind as big kitty Ahmya said cooly.

"Sure, what is your idea."

Taking a deep breath Panthera started explaining her suggestion.

"Since I can't transport you in this world without alerting the gods-"

Thats when Ahmya interruped her.

"How did we get in then?"

"I used your connection to one of the gods to smuggle us in but in this world they'll definitely notice it", explained Panthera.

"I understand", Ahmya felt a bit dumb to not have thought of using Panthea's powers as transportation.

"But I still have a connection to the world my previous host started in", looking at Ahmya's current state she felt that it was good that she left a connection in that world.

Staring at the golden feline eyes of her system Ahmya asked,"Wouldn't the gods notice this?"

Smirking with a bit of arrogance Panthera said,"Don't worry mistress, just as I have used your connection I can use mine too.

Ahmya had to admit that, that made sense but....

*Squiisshh*

Grabbing her face Ahmya squished Panthea's cheeks.

"Don't be so arrogant it's not a good look for you Kitty", Ahmya whispered into her ear.

"Undurrstood", Panthea slurred her words a bit as she blushed once again.

"See that's a good kitty", happy with her answer Ahmya began petting her again and Panthera began to think that this was going to become a normal occurence.

After she was satisfied for the moment Ahmya released her sytem...

...for now at least.

/ After the rift to the warehouse opened /

Jumping onto her island Ahmya made her way to her throne.

Arriving in front of it a question popped into her mind.

"Is the multiverse theorie correct, Panthera?", asking this while sitting down Ahmya made herself comfortable.

"To an extent", was all she got from Panthera before she went silent again.

Raising an eyebrow Ahmya waited for her to continue.

With almost an exhausted sigh in her voice Panthera continued.

"While the multiverse does exist it isn't quite as all encompassing as it sounds, for those being born out of it's hold there is only 'self' and some entities are just beyond the concept."

Furrowing her brows Ahmya took her time digesting that information.

"Does this mean the gods are above such concept?", Ahmya asked her mind racing with possibilities.

"While I don't know their exact power, I don't think so", replied Panthera.

"But there maybe some of them that can communicate with their other selves."

"I see", was all Ahmya said.

A comfortable silence set in and Ahmya took the chance to rest, she had been walking through the desert for over half a day without any protection from the sun and heat after all.

/ Two hours later /

Stepping on the stone beneath her Ahmya looked at the gargantuan trees that made up the forest in front of her.

"This was a lot faster than last time, why?", turning to the slowly materializing Panthera, Ahmya had a questioning tone in her voice.

Finishing her materialization Panthera answered,"That is because unlike the time I followed the trail of the divine energy I basically traveled in a straight line, though you could also call it a kind of space tearing teleportation with point A and point B."

"I don't suppose you can use it on me?", Ahmya already had a feeling that it wouldn't work but she asked anyway.

"Well I could but...", putting a finger on her lip Panthera said coyly,"I don't think you would appreciate being ripped to shreds."

Ahmya only snorted before looking at the small herd of Aptonoth grassing peacefully next to her.

'Monster hunter, huh', Ahmya studied the Aptonoths quietly from her spot by the shore line.

She hadn't played it much herself, only when Akio asked her to beat a monster she couldn't but she watched akio play a lot of it.

In the game Aptonoths were a weak 'small monster' that almost never attacked, only running away.

The player character could depending on their weapon even one hit kill them pretty easily.

However, as Akio had so entusiastically explained to her, the humans in the MH world were super soldiers specifically created to combat elder dragons.

They were way beyond human in strength and their durability was in all honesty cockroach like.

So while to them an Aptonoth might as well be a small dog, to a normal human it was a life threatening creature.

With the largest males reaching almost ten meters in length, even though most only reached five-six meters, they were not something a normal human could take on.

Their leathery grey skin was pretty tough and their long tails were armed with spikes, guaranteeing a fatal hit if it collides with Ahmya's body.

"You don't seem surprised?"

Hearing Panthera speak to her broke Ahmya out of her reviere.

Turning her head to meet the golden eyes of the woman she said.

"My sister played a game series called 'Monster Hunter' with a passion, I know most creatures crawling on this planet."

Panthera only seemed a little surprised before quickly becoming serious,"While it is good that you already have knowledge of this world please don't treat it as a game this wor-"

Ahmya stopped her system before she could go on a rant.

Locking her void black eyes with Panthera's feline ones Ahmya spoke with a serious tone,"I am very clear that this is not a game Panthera and while I appreciate your concern I am very clear about my own strength."

"But-"

"No, but", pressing her finger into Panthera's dark full lips Ahmya stopped her from talking.

Looking at her like a grumpy cat, Panthera clearly still not happy nodded slowly.

"Good, now look."

Staying in the grassing creature's blindspot Ahmya swiftly arrived behind the biggest male of the herd.

Panthera was getting quite nervous about what her mistress by now, as even though she knew Ahmya was powerful she was still in a sense a normal human....

or at least that was what she thought.

Leaping from the ground with such force that she left an indent in it Ahmya pounced on the unsuspecting herbivore like she was a bloodthirsty beast.

Landing on the four legged creatures neck she grabbed by it horns as it started to try to get her off.

Using one hand to stabilise herself Ahmya started raining down hell on the creatures head with her other.

Letting out wails of pain the creatures face was soon covered in blood, however Ahmya....

...was thrilled beyond measure.

'I haven't felt the feeling of killing another living creature in way too long', with a smile that almost reached both sides of her face Ahmya continued mutilating the poor Apthonoth with her fist, completely disregarding the state of her hand that had also started to tear up from hitting the sharp edges of the Apthonoth's skull.

Breaking out into roaring laughter Ahmya's blows became even faster till they seemed to become a blur.

"Die, Die, Die, Die~!!"

Singing cheerfully Ahmya in her craze didn't even notice the rest of the small herd fleeing.

She didn't stop even when the behemoth of an animal fell over clearly on it's last breath of life, untangling herself from the dying creature Ahmya started stomping on it's deformed head crushing it to an unrecognizable mess of bone and greymatter.

Heaving heavily Ahmya let out a satisfied purr, her skin and pristine white hair covered in blood in and other fluids.

"That hit the spot~."

Stretching herself Ahmya felt all the tension she didn't even know she had melt away.

"You..."

Turning her bloodstained face Ahmya looked over to an incredulous looking Panthera.

( Panthera )

Looking at her bloodstained appearence I didn't know what to say, she had after all just killed an Apthonoth bare handed, something that I didn't think was possible for a 'normal' human.

I of course knew she wasn't normal, I had found her floating in the void for gods sake.

But still I hadn't expected to see her literally mutilate a creature so much bigger than her like she was playing with a toy and her laughter....

I felt a shudder go down my spine.

It was truly beautiful in it's own horrifyingly bone chilling way.

Remembering the ectasy in her voice as she pummeled the poor Apthonoth to death sent a tingling somewhere I won't aknowledge, for if I do I might have to confront the feelings that are rapidly building since I have met her.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts I opened my eyes only to lose my breath as I looked into the void like eyes of my mistress.

Having seemingly moved in front of me while I was in thought her sharp eyes trapped in their gaze.

"Me?"

Her voice broke me out of my reviere and I took a few steps away from her.

Taking a deep breathe I diverted the topic into another.

"Now that you have collected your first soul I am gonna explain a few things."

Pulling up a system window in front of me I let her look at it.

"This is the sheet where your forms are recorded, including procent completion rate and useful facts and knowledge about the species."

Clicking on the only thing that was there Ahmya quickly read through the basic information of the Apthonoth species before locking onto the bar that told her she had 0% of it unlocked.

"How do I raise that number?", she bluntly asked.

"It's simple really", looking into her eyes I felt myself fall deeper and deeper into her clutches,"you either spend time in that form or..."

She looked at me with her expressionless face while tilting her head.

I felt a grin creep up my face, showing my fangs.

"You just kill more."

( Ahmya )

Looking at Panthera's fanged grin Ahmya felt a wave of adrenaline rise in her body.

"Just kill more, huh?"

Ahmya felt herself grow excited over the carnage she was going to cause before she noticed a small detail.

'How do I even transform?'

Looking up from the system window Ahmya looked at Panthera, her eyes filling with confusion.

Panthera looked at her for a while seemingly not understanding what she wanted before her golden eyes flashed with understanding.

"You want to know how to transform, right?", the raven haired woman asked.

Ahmya nodded.

"Well it's quite complicated but basically I create a connection between your soul and the species template of the being you killed, kind of like a spell matrix but you currently only have one soul so it's not all that complicated yet", explained Panthera calmly.

Ahmya nodded to show that she understood but didn't stop staring at her sytem.

"There is no need to be so impatient", began Panthera but Ahmya's intense stare started to unnerve her.

Looking into Ahmya's light absorbing eyes Panthera felt like her soul was also going to be devoured.

*Squish*

Squishing Panthera's cheeks Ahmya broke her out of her trance, her impassive face meeting Panthera's dazed one.

"Less getting distracted, more explaining",said Ahmya her tone just as bland as her expression.

"Ah, yes", freeing herself from Ahmya's clutches Panthera started explaining again.

"While I was the one to make the connection the soul template is bound to you without my support, that means even without me it would still be there and usable but it also means that while I can help you need to be the one to reach out to the soul."

Thinking over what she had heard Ahmya asked her next question,"And how do I, do that?"

"Well you need to feel you soul first", answered Panthera.

Thinking of how to do that Ahmya remembered her connection with her goddess.

'If I can trace the connection to my goddess then I should also be able to trace it back to my soul.'

Seating her behind on the ground under the intrigued gaze of Panthera, Ahmya started concentrating on her bond with her goddess, her surroundings faded into the backround leaving only the warmth of her goddess.

Opening her eyes she found herself floating in a realm eerily similar to the void, her surroundings seemed to come to love trying to drag her into the abyss before the shadows quickly disintegrated under the divine energy of her goddess.

Ahmya looked at the retrearing shadows with curiousity before focusing on what she had come here for.

Looking towards where the bond with her goddess pointed she was able to faintly see the soul of her goddess in the distance, a energy blood red in colour rotated around a crystall of pure divine energy.

The crystall radiated an aura of mischievousness but just under that layer of tricks and perversness was a voice calling out for violence and death if one just as much as looked at her the wrong way.

Ahmya felt herself growing excited, feeling her blood rushing into her nether regions before she tore her attention from her goddess soul with all her willpower.

'I need to find my own soul', remembering what she came her for Ahmya turned her astral body to the other end of the bond but only saw darkness.

'I guess I have no choice', finishing her thoughts she followed the bond into the abyss searching for her own retched soul.

Decending into the darkness Ahmya began to lose track of time only paying attention to following where the bond takes her till she came to an abrupt end.

Floating before her abyss like eyes was a sphere of pure darkness made of the same abyss as her eyes or maybe there was more the saying that the eyes were the window to the soul.

Ahmya didn't know nor did she care her only concern being how she was going to control her soul to do what she wants when she wants.

Approaching the sphere Ahmya felt utter disgust for it, such a soul wasn't worthy of being with her goddess.

Reaching out with her right hand she was just about to touch her soul when...

"Kaaghhk!!"

Swiftly ripping her hand away Ahmya stared venomously at the pair of jaws that had just appeared on the sphere that was her soul and were currently busy licking her astral blood from it's fangs.

Ahmya watched silently as her soul quickly devolved from a calm sphere into an eldritch abomination as hundreds of eyes and teeth appeared on it's surface before several tendrils started to split off it.

What Ahmya didn't know was that during her stay in the void her soul had changed, having been exposed to void energy for so long it started to beginn to change and become one with the abyss.

However Ahmya didn't know that nor did she care for there was something way more urgent in her mind.

'I can't let my goddess see me like this', Ahmya started panicking,'What if she doesn't want me when she notices how filthy my soul is.'

Ahmya felt like her heart was gonna break into pieces as she thought of her goddess abandoning her.

"That can't happen..."

The monster that was her soul seemed to shriek at her but Ahmya didn't even notice.

"..can't happen, can't allow, no, she has to like me..."

As Ahmya rambled on in a increasingly deranged tone the eldritch abomination started to float closer to her before it opened it's biggest mouth filled to the brim with rotating rows of teeth.

However just as it was about to swallow her whole it suddenly felt a scorching hot pain shot through it making it wail.

Locking it's numerous eyes on the white haired figure before it felt fear for the first time when the woman lifted her face, her eyes completely black, thick tar like tears running down her face.

"I can't have my soul looking like this"

Ripping her hand from it's flesh Ahmya threw the chunk of meat away making the abomination screech at her.

However Ahmya didn't care as she started to rip the creature apart piece by piece.

Of course it wasn't just standing idle while being ripped apart but...

As it's tendrils started to sneak up her body she just completely ignored them not stopping for a moment, even when she was almost completely covered in them she didn't even slow down as if they didn't even exist.

The creature wailed and screeched as it's body was slowly ripped apart before attempting to flee only to find itself unable to.

"You have to die so I can change", saying so Ahmya stuck her entire arms up to their shoulders into the monster before violentely ripping the being in half.

That's when she saw something that made her pause.

"That is-"

Inside the monster she saw a crystall similar to the one she saw inside the soul of her goddess and in that moment it became clear to her that this was her true soul not the eldritch abomination around it.

The crytall shone like a kaleidoscope of colours with black energy pulsing through it like cracks.

"Beautiful", Ahmya unconciously muttered as she reached out her hand to grab her soul even as the tendrils of the abomination crawled through her body as they entered her ofrices.

As soon as her fingers touched the crystall that was her soul Ahmya felt a rush of euphorie go through her wich was only enchanced when she heard the miserable wails of the abomination as it slowly disolved into pure void energy.

Only after the being completely disolved did the feeling of euphorie start to subside and Ahmya was starting to become calmer.

"How interesting", holding the kaleidoscopic crystall in her hand Ahmya felt as if she was holding a part of herself she knew she had.

However her attention quickly shifted to the thick fog of void energy drifting around her, even though it was harmless for now it was only a matter of time till it reformed into something else.

As she was pondering what she should do an idea started to form in her mind.

Taking control of the void energy was easier than she expected, almost like she was just doing what she had always done.

The hard part was after that though as she started to condense the void energy together with a bit of her soul energy, immediately she felt a pain go through her that trancended the realm of physical torment but Ahmya held on as she saw her creation taking form.

The energy slowly took the form of a pure black water lily before something formed on the massive flower.

Taking almost all of the energy the figure slowly took form, long black hair growing fro it's head as features began to form before an almost identical copy of Ahmya stood up in all her glory.

The only differences between them were that the guardian was almost three times Ahmya's size and only existed in different shades of black with a grey rope remnicient of a toga draped over her body and when she opened her eyes they flashed with the same kaleidoscopic shimmer as her soul crystall.

Looking at the guardian she had created for her soul Ahmya felt that rather than a entity with it's own will it was just as much part of herself as her arm.

As such nothing had to be said when the giant walked over and took her soul crystall from her hands before walking onto the massive water lily and curled around the the crystall protectively it's eyes closed.

Letting out a sigh of exhaution Ahmya let a small satisfied grin creep her face.

"Now my soul is beautiful enough for my goddess too", she said before starting to shimmer out of existence as she returned to the material world.

-------------

So sorry for the delay first of all.

I had no idea how I wanted to go with this story but I kinda have an idea now.

However my knowledge both of danmachi and monster hunter world/iceborne was kinda limited, so I have spent the last few days binge watching danmachi and have started reading sword: Oratoria so that should help.

And I have watched so many monster hunter lore videos that my brain can't think about anything else.

If there are inconsistencies in the chapter it is because I wrote this in parts with several days between each.

/(-^-)\