The Deceitful One

After reaching home, Bryan kept the brown box on the table in the living room. He then headed to the bathroom to take a warm shower.

It had become a habit for him to take at least two baths a day. Gone were those days in the slums where he didn't even take bath for days on end.

After taking a shower, he wore his pajamas and sat on the bed in a lotus position to finish his daily round of meditation. He was only a couple of days away from carving the next rune!

Two hours later, Bryan opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath. Feeling refreshed, he got off the bed and grabbed the wooden box from the living room. He then walked back to his bed and sat down again.

Opening the lid of the box, he carefully took out the black egg and kept it on his lap. Back at Detective Watson's house, he didn't check the egg properly since he was so excited. But now he could properly scrutinize it.

He found out that the eggshell was carved with some sort of runic language and its design was intricately asymmetrical which hurt the eye if one focused on it for too long.

As Bryan stared at it, he found the designs to be completely incomprehensible. Moreover, the language the runes were carved in, was something Bryan had never seen before.

And he knew almost all the languages used in the Transcendent world! At the very least he knew all the languages that Detective Watson knew and had taught him.

'Hmm… how strange! The runes aren't written in Ancient Hymmnos. Neither is it written in Jotnar nor the Dragon Tongue.' Bryan wondered.

After realizing that the runes weren't written in Dragon Tongue, he completely discarded the idea of this egg belonging to a dragon.

Bryan could only shake his head at the thought of the creature inside not being a dragon. He then continued to carefully try to comprehend the runes.

However, Bryan realized that the more he tried to understand it, the more confused he felt. After a few minutes, he began to rub his temples as his head started to hurt.

"What a strange egg!" He muttered under his breath. It was the first time that this was happening to him. Moreover, for some reason, staring at the runes carved atop the eggshell gave him a sense of dread.

Bryan then recalled Detective Watson's instructions as he placed his hands around the egg and began to pour spiritual force on it.

The moment his spiritual force came in contact with the egg, it started to tremble. Bryan even felt as if the creature inside was enjoying the warm sensation of his spiritual force washing over it.

Bryan smiled faintly as he continued to pour his spiritual force. However, a few moments later, the runes on top of it began to glow with a black light and soon Bryan's entire bedroom was drowned in darkness.

The moment Bryan was engulfed by this darkness, he felt an extreme feeling of terror invade his very being. Immediately, he stopped the flow of his spiritual force. As a result, the darkness also receded back into the egg.

His heart began to beat at a fast speed as Bryan stared at the egg on his lap incredulously, "What the fuck was that darkness!?"

He had never experienced anything like that before. The darkness gave one the feeling that it would devour anything in its path!

Bryan began to wonder if something really terrifying was residing inside the egg. He thought in hesitation, 'Should I really be helping the creature inside be born?'

However, for some reason, his instincts kept screaming at him that the creature inside the egg was extremely valuable and that it would greatly aid him in the future. This was the same instinct that had always helped him through crucial times in the past.

A few moments later, Bryan seemed to have made a decision as he stared at the egg with a determined look, 'Fuck it! Even if the creature is born and attempts to harm me, I can easily deal with it. I don't think it'll be very strong as a newborn.'

He then continued to apply spiritual force on the egg.

…

Thursday, 10th February 1581.

After finishing a round of meditation, Bryan opened his eyes and carefully checked the 46th rune he had just finished carving. After making sure that there were no errors, he exhaled a breath of air as he began to smile.

"One more step closer to becoming a Transcendent!" Bryan clenched his fist excitedly. Over the last couple of days, he had spent a great deal of time meditating as well as warming the egg with his spiritual force.

So much so that he would sometimes even skip meals. For some reason, he felt thrilled at the idea of having a Transcendent creature as a companion. Hence, he went all out in taking care of the egg.

He grabbed the black egg that was kept beside him, cozied up within a blanket. After gently placing it on his lap, he looked at it and mumbled, "I have a feeling that it's going to hatch today!"

With great anticipation, he placed his hands around the egg and began to bathe it in his spiritual force. At the same time, he closely observed the state of the egg.

The egg continued to tremble nonstop and a few hours later, the first crack appeared!

Bryan stared at the egg in joy! Through the crack in the egg, he could even hear the sound of something taking its first-ever breath!

He continued to pour his spiritual force onto the egg as he intently stared at it. Gradually, multiple cracks began to form on it and about an hour later, the entire egg had begun to crack open.

Bryan stared at it with great anticipation as a bright smile adorned his lips. But soon the smile on his face froze instantaneously.

The small pieces of broken eggshells continued to fall on the bed. And from within the egg, emerged four black furry tentacles that continued to wriggle incessantly!

At the center of those writhing tentacles, what Bryan saw, sent chills down his spine. The four tentacles unfurled and spread outward and four yellow eyes with black vertical pupils stared at Bryan with wonder and curiosity!