It was unlike any Draugr I’ve ever seen, yet there was no mistake… This feeling that made my muscles ache was undeniable. With each squelching step, it drew ever closer and I could somehow feel its existence resonate with mine. It was then I understood just how dangerous this creature was. It was only moments ago that I felt my body shiver from what I witnessed between those two brothers. But now… I could feel my body shiver and shake uncontrollably… and I feel unable to compose myself. Just what… just why do I find it hard to breathe…? And these muscle aches… this irregular throbbing sensation… I could feel my legs buckle, it was almost as if my body wished to submit itself… to obey… to ease this insatiable hunger… to become one… no… I must deny this feeling… I must! Why… why now…? Again… memories of my upbringing began to flood my mind… That dark place she had brought me… those lone figures in the darkness… they paled in comparison to what stood before us… I clenched my fist to regain my sense of feeling, I needed to reassure myself… that I was in control. This is no time to falter, I will not become another puppet.

“S-somebody kill it! Hurry-” A man blurted out, breaking my train of thought. But his life was cut short as the Draugr lunged at him and savored his new meal.

“An atrocious thing, I will end its life before it claims any more.” A rather rugged man took the initiative and rushed in before the Draugr could come any closer.

“T-That’s right, what can it do against us? I’ll take care of this, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt so stay here. I got this.” The girl’s lover charged in. “Die, monster!” 

The two of them issued a barrage of attacks against the Draugr with what weapons they had. The rugged man managed to take it by surprise and plunge his short spear deep into its flesh. Yet his opponent appeared unphased. The lover then came in for the assist in an attempt to get a free hit in while it was distracted.

“Take this you monster!” He charged forward with his rather clean shortsword. 

The Draugr let out a low squelching hum before swinging it’s thick head at the man, smacking him across the escarpment with great force. Knocked aside with little effort, I could see he was struggling to breathe as he held his ribs and recoiled on the floor in pain. His lover rushed over to him in concern, yet he aggressively brushed her off. He seemed to wretch in pain as he continued to hold his ribs and instinctively curl up.

“Get off me, I’m fine… Urgh!” He heaved, coughing up blood. 

“But you’re hurt-”

“I said I’m fine!” He yelled, propping himself upright. “Caught me off guard ‘is all…”

“But I worry about you.”

“Well stop worrying, will you? I’m the man in this relationship and I won’t let some monster get the better of me…! I just need some time to catch my breath… damn it!” He yelled in anger. 

“O-Okay… I’m sorry-” She opted to console him once more by reaching out to him.

He smacked her arm away. “What did I just tell you-!” He coughed up more blood, struggling to keep himself upright until the strength in his arm gave way and he came face to face with the floor once more.

“It’s gonna be alright, I’m right here with you my love… I can’t bear to be alone… so to see you hurt… I could never leave your side!” Tears in her eyes, she was finally allowed to comfort him as he continued to recoil from the pain.

“Ungh…”

“So it's you… the one who caused him- us… so much pain…” Pyro muttered.

“Hey, is something the matter?” I asked. Seems he has something on his mind, not sure I understand what might be troubling him.

The rugged man took advantage of the distraction and immediately retreated backwards to rethink his actions. But the Draugr had already caught onto his movement, it’s neck ‘sniffing’ for his scent as its spindly body followed the trail. And with each step he took, the Draugr was always quick on his trail as it drew ever closer to his position. Without the help of others, it would seem this is where he would meet his end. The Draugr wrung its neck open when it knew it had cornered its prey, it’s mouth widened to finish him off.

“We won’t let it end for you here, friend!” A group of men came bolting towards the Draugr in a rescue attempt. “We came here together and we’ll finish this monster off together!” Seems they were part of the same group, they just might be able to do something.

    The Draugr was taken by surprise as it seemed confused at all the commotion going on around it. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the Draugr was left in a helpless state as the group brought it’s spindly body to its knees; all that could be heard was its shrill squelching scream as it endured each and every attack it was inflicted. They might actually do it… so much of its blood began to pool at their feet, I can’t imagine it has much longer to live if it can’t even manage to protect itself. I feared it might have had the ability to adapt like those in my memories- huh? 

“Shit, get back!” The rugged man warned. A group member caught on and they both narrowly avoided what came next.

The Draugr held it’s head high before letting out a low gurgle, from it’s mouth erupted a noxious fluid concentrated on those around it. “Gah! W-What the hell is this!?” 

Their bodies began to tremble as they all collectively dropped their weapons. “W-Why can’t we move our hands- they hurt… and my face, it burns… it burns!”

“I-It got dark all of a sudden, w-where is the monster! Somebody, anybody!? I can’t see anything… why can’t I see!?”

“S-somebody… suhmbody help… usss…” To our horror, those caught by the liquid had their flesh slowly begin to melt. 

“Svarog help us… n-nobody get near the monster-” 

The Draugr lunged and swallowed him whole. It was so quick, nobody could process what had just happened. I imagined he would be spit out before long, yet the time never came as we witnessed it truly feed for the first time. The sounds of it crushing bone and gnawing flesh could be heard, it’s mouth seemingly tightening as it digested what little was left of the man. It’s meal finished, It let out another shrill squelching cry as we witnessed a horrifying transformation. Everyone was in disbelief, and my worst fear had come true… it’s body began to grow. It’s limbs stretching in response, with muscles that grew in bulk, it fell forward to walk on all four like some predatory beast in an attempt to better support its new body. It was twice… maybe even three times its normal size now… this is bad.

“Fuck me.” The Draugr responded in kind as it pounced towards the rugged man. “Shit, no fucking way- I ain’t going to let some monster eat me!” The man pulled a shield off his back, emblazoned with what looked to be a ‘spinning wheel’, lodging it into the Draugr’s throat to serve as a temporary stopgap. “Come- somebody come and help me damn it! I cannot do this alone!” Yet it’s ever-yawning mouth seemed to grow wider, ready to devour him whole.

“That shield… Kolovrat, the burning sun… kin from my homeland? I must-” Pyro opted.

“Don’t. It’s too dangerous.” I held him back.

“Wha- Why do you stop me? I must help him!”

“You can’t just attack it head on, if we’re not careful it could be the end of you. We need to stay alive for the mission, not to make careless mistakes and end up dead.”

“You- Get your hands off of me!” He shouted, shrugging me off. I was taken aback. “What good has the patrician done for us! Those dogged legionaries have done nothing but disrespect us and bark orders. We followed their command, just look where it has taken us… a resting place of evil! Where Orest- they met their end… such blind obedience… I will not become a dog of dogs.”

“Alright. You’re not wrong, I get it. But you can’t let them get the better of you, so just calm down…” 

“Kuh… Tch…! That cursed monster is proof that they have sinned… Those careless bastards came and woke a great evil… such irreverence, no better than the Triglav-Rodnianin royals who have done nothing but rob their people’s livelihood! Starving families surviving off what little scraps they find littered across my homeland… I’m once again reminded of those poor souls who came before us, their faces twisted in horror, clawing to escape… yet with so many lives lost, they still seek to tempt fate…? Using us as they please, do they not value our lives? We are not sacrifices to be offered up! We are all humans… Fardaughter and patricians be damned!”

“Pyro… don’t do anything hasty-”

“...Grah!” Pyro brandished a guardless backsword in one hand and a short spear in the other, sparking each weapon ablaze with galdr-fire.

“Pyro- shit!” How reckless…

“You monstrous bastard, let go of him! I will burn you till there’s nothing but ash!” Pyro shouted. 

    An onslaught of fiery slashes and left the Draugr on the defensive, forcing it to fall back with every attack it was dealt. Having seemingly caught the Draugr once again by surprise, it withdrew from feeding on the rugged man. It seemingly cried in pain from every strike of galdr-fire Pyro inflicted upon it. It’s wounds refusing to heal, it appeared to be weak to that of eitr-infused seidr. Few men noticed and garnered enough courage to join in and strike against the Draugr. Thrusting, cutting and gouging it’s grotesque body with what weapons and sorceries they had in an attempt to stagger it. It let out a shrill cry as it bled all over the stone flooring. 

    “It is especially weak to seidr, give it all you have!” 

“To think this damn monster is forcing us to use what little eitr I have- but fuck it, we can’t let it kill us here!”

“Now! Let’s kill this damn monster!” Others cried, encouraged from seeing Pyro aid his fellow kin. 

“What can one monster do against all of us, hah!”

“To think we let this damn monster scare us, we’ll avenge those it’s killed. Hurry, let us finish this horrid creature, let it know their pain. I want to hear it squeal!”

“A bunch of morons, not even coming up with a plan. Not even giving it a second thought…” Some criticized, not wishing to waste their breath.

“So what? There’s one of ‘em and tons of us! Easy pickins, let ‘em burn the monster alive, haha!” 

“I’ve got this, that damn monster won’t get the better of me!” The girl’s lover from before was eager to redeem himself.

At that moment, the Draugr let out a debilitating shrill cry unlike any we heard before. “G-Get off me! What do you think you’re- Gah!” 

To our shock, the disheveled bodies of what looked to be the old man from before began to assault those around him. “Bloody Oracle… He’s still alive-” 

“No, I don’t think so. Look! He’s responding to the monster’s call. He’s no longer the old man we knew… we have to kill him- somebody kill that shameful imitation!”

Two men charged forth in an attempt to subdue and kill the reanimated corpse, their blades piercing his soft flesh and exiting out the other side. Yet the old man seemed indifferent to being physically harmed. The two men slowly retreated but not before the old man crept forward and caught onto one of them. Having a tight grip on his arm, the man screamed out in pain. In response, the old man reached towards his victims face with his empty hand and tore the man’s jaw clean off, ending his incessant screaming. He then began to lurch backwards before vomiting all over his victim’s lifeless body, coating it in the selfsame noxious fluids we saw before.

“B-Brother…?”

“Halim, don’t- Stop, do not approach him! Something is wrong with Aswad!” 

“Shit, get away from him!” I shouted. “At this rate, they’re multiplying.” This was bad, at this rate there will be more of them than there will be of us… my blood’s too weak… I’m nothing like ‘her’…There won’t be any stopping them- shit!

The monster began to shriek and as if obeying its commands, Aswad began to make his way towards the hall with the statues.  “W-Where are you going…? Brother, please answer me!”

Aswad stood in front of the gate's control mechanism, just what is it- shit. Unbeknownst to us it was seemingly able to operate the device. In that moment the ground shook and the gate that led back to the staging ground began to close. 

“The gate… it's closing…?! W-we need to get out of here!” They shouted.

“N-no, I don’t want to die here!” Other’s cried.

    They all began to make a mad dash for the exit, dozens upon dozens of group left those who were still engaged in battle with the lesser Draugrs. The situation only grew worse as the Draugr let out another shrill cry which reanimated the rugged man’s group, those who had been partially melted from it’s acidic fluids. Seemingly capable of wielding the weapons they had once dropped; they chased down the terrified deserters whilst the Draugr leapt ahead of them in an attempt to block anybody from escaping.

“I don’t have a choice.” I pulled out my Vykin cannon in an attempt to charge up. As soon as it clicked, the Draugr laid its eyes immediately on me. “Wha- shit!” 

The Draugr immediately leapt towards me at great speed and knocked me aside, I was flung into the wall and felt my back bones shatter. In the midst of it all, the gates closed shut leaving us in utter darkness. My cannon… where is it…? Without it, I don’t think I stand a chance. Ah, so this is what you look like… for the first time I finally came face to face with the Draugr. It’s elongated neck drooled in anticipation to feed off my rich blood. Hah… you gotta be kidding me… is this my fate…? Seems my life up to this point was a pretty bad joke… But I can’t let that happen… I can’t let it end here… I have to pick myself up… Ah… I can’t even move my body… 

“If you’re gonna eat me… you better hope I taste good…” I smirked. It was hard to speak now, I was coughing up blood.

“Don’t do it- are you fucking crazy? You’ll get us all killed!”

“We can’t let it leave! Let… go of me!” I could still hear the voices of those left behind still fighting for their lives… but it’s all over now… isn’t it?

Amidst it all, the gates we’re beginning to close shut entirely. “We don’t have any more time, I have to use it- I need to throw it!”

“You- shit, fuck this I’m out of here, do what you want!”

Seem’s most of the groups managed to escape, that’s good… Ah… it seems it’s finally ready to feed… The Draugr opened its mouth wide… to think this would be the last thing I see- huh? A shrieking screech interrupted my thought and found my view obstructed by the familiar breadth of wings.

“Edith…?” Even after I treated her so poorly… heh… she really is too good for me… She’s trying so hard to distract the Draugr like she had done before… but it’s no good, I can’t let her- Wha- The Draugr swallowed her. “N-no!” I screamed.

“Eat shit, you monster!” A small object was thrown in our direction, landing beneath the Draugr. 

“A… grenade…?” The gate closed firmly shut, left in complete darkness, I shut my eyes and accepted what came next.

The whole chamber began to collapse as the resulting explosion from the grenade destroyed what was left of the escarpment. The Draugr was blown into pieces and Edith along with it… why… Why am I so weak?! I couldn’t save her… kuh…  and all who remained trapped here were thrown into the yawning abyss below. There in its depths were we welcomed into its cold embrace… descending into dire darkness…