Chapter 12: The Fear Eaters
Perhaps you have heard of the Realm of Shadows before? It has many names but to most scholars it is referred to as the Nocturnal Realm. Nocturnal is also the name given to the numerous creatures that come from this realm. It is a dark mirror, a twisted reflection of our world full of hungry creatures that feed on the mortal races. Most people living in our world learn about it from a young age. There is a poem that has been passed around for generations that parents have used to scare young children into being good:
Beware the dark, hide from the night, when you hear the dusk bell toll.
The night is always hungry, the night will eat you whole.
It crawls into your mind, and feasts upon your fears.
It eats your bitter sorrow, and drinks your pained tears.
For when the sun leaves the sky, the darkness hides a beast
So guard your pain, and dry your eyes, or be the night’s next feast.
Even though it was reduced to a children's rhyme used to scare disobedient children into going to sleep on time, the threat of the Nocturnal Realm, and the creatures that it spawns is quite real. These creatures feed on fear, sorrow, despair, every dark hopeless emotion that mortals have. There have been stories throughout history of people living in a prison of fear, or people that are so overcome with sadness and grief that they can no longer function suddenly disappearing. Witnesses claim that the shadows came to life around the person, grasping and pulling at them until they sink into their own shadow never to return.
What actually happens is that their raw emotions create a link to the Nocturnal Realm, and the realm draws them in to feed. Every bit of fear and sadness is amplified and becomes nourishment for the realm and its inhabitants. Even the raw energy of the soul is slowly consumed until there is nothing left behind but a hollow corpse.
This door can open both ways as well. This happens most often in areas where magic is frequently used. Small rifts can open causing the latent mana to mutate into living creatures powered by negative emotions. They seek to feed on these emotions, and do their best to spread them to as many people as possible.
And then there are the Sovereign Nocturnals. They live in this world, not the Nocturnal Realm and they can walk unnoticed among the mortal races. Some would argue that they are not Nocturnals since they reside in our realm, but their connection to the Shadow is undeniable. They do not feed on emotions, rather they gain nourishment from the soul directly. They are intelligent and cunning, and stalk the night preying upon the mortal races.
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Thane
“Amara, we need to talk.” It had been a few days since they left the village and he hadn’t really had a chance to ask her many questions yet. The two of them were riding in the back of the cart now so they had plenty of time.
“Mn, what about?”
“Well, why are you still with us for one? You left your teacher, your friend behind to follow some people you barely know. Just because you were told some stories about our parents?”
“I had to let him go, being around us is too dangerous. We’re all in the same situation here. I’m sure whatever inquisitors survived will be spreading the news about us and preparing to hunt us again. There is very little the rest of the Temple Knights can do to stop them.”
“Are you certain they would? Try to stop them I mean. They are all on the same side right?”
“The thing you need to know about fanatics is that their own thoughts and opinions don’t matter to them. It’s all about the opinions of the higher ups, whether it be high ranking priests or the gods. To them, when you won that duel it was the same as if a god came down himself and proclaimed our innocence. The inquisitors follow a different set of beliefs.”
“They did accuse you of some pretty serious things.”
“Mostly lies or accusations because of their fear of our special condition.”
“Murder, destruction of artifacts, witchcraft-”
“Oh that last one is true. By their definition, I am most definitely a witch.”
“What?”
“Well, when I was excommunicated and forced out of the temple I needed some way to protect myself. So I made a contract with one of the Demon Kings. I figured if anyone would help me voluntarily oppose a god, it would be a demon.”
He heard Sarah let out a laugh from her horse, “Well, I can’t fault your logic.” she said.
“Hey, don’t just go thinking they are all evil just because they are demons. Do you honestly think all the gods are good? Would you really call Calista and Gram “good”? Then don’t brush off all demons as evil. They are just a group that...um...wants to destroy the gods....”
“Yeah, I got it,” Thane said, “anyway, you said you were excommunicated. Were you training to be a priest?”
“I was training to be a temple knight, a paladin. I was a child recruit and was raised in the temples. That’s how I know so much about their rules and laws.”
“You’ve been through a lot, how old are you anyway?”
“Umm...eleven or twelve I think.”
“Are you sure you want to come with us? We don’t exactly have the safest jobs, it’s actually quite dangerous.”
“Oh don’t worry about the danger, I’m sure I can keep you protected.”
Sarah let out a loud laugh at the conversation the two of them were having and pointed to the side of the road. “We should probably stop and take an early lunch, we might have to keep moving once we hit the main highway.”
They all hopped off the horses and wagon and began to stretch their limbs from the journey. After they ate, Sarah decided to challenge Amara to a sparring match since she had some knight training. Thane was more interested in the figures that were drawing closer in the distance. It seemed that Gailwyn and Ruby were finally catching up to them and could be seen in the distance.
“Hey, that was dirty!”, he heard Sarah shout, “One more time.”
He waved to signal the approaching horses and walked forward to meet them. When they got close enough to speak, Gailwyn started apologising. “I’m sorry it took so long to catch up, we had a bit of a delay at a village near Twinford. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”
Thane avoided eye contact and shifted uncomfortably, “What makes you say that?”
“Well, there was some infighting among temple knights and a few prisoners escaped. It seems some outsiders interfered and killed a captain of the inquisition in a trial by combat, freeing those who were on trial. They said he was accompanied by a group that included a bald giant.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of 3 meter tall bald men out there, what makes you think it was us?”
“I got most of the story from the temple knights, but I DO expect a full report from you tonight.” She shook her head in disbelief, “Did you really kill a Templar Captain in single combat?”
“I’ll tell you in my report.”
They walked back to the others and heard Sarah shout again, “Once more!”
He looked over to Amara who was wielding her longsword, holding it like a greatsword in her small hands. “If you’re going to keep saying ‘once more’ until you finally win, we’re going to be here until after sunset.”
They continued their journey. Thane took his turn on the horse and they began to head towards Verda. The first signs that they were approaching the city were the farms. The sheer amount of workers in the fields was far more than Thane expected. It was harvest time and there were hundreds of people cutting and packing teh grain, while multiple mills were grinding away. The second sign was the tall spires that began to poke up towards the sky off in the distance. They were used to not seeing anyone on the road, but once they were on the main highway, they were one among many carts, wagons and carriages heading in and out of the city. Merchants were doing their last trade run before winter and travelers and diplomats were getting their traveling completed before the weather turned foul.
The city itself was unlike anything Thane had expected. It was built around a hill with a gentle slope, and many large and impressive buildings lined the hillside and there was an intimidating keep at the highest point. Bartholomew wasn’t exaggerating about the size, this was easily ten times the size of Twinford, and looked like it housed hundreds of thousands of residents. It wasn’t just the size of the city that shocked him, but the size of the buildings themselves, there were numerous large towers and mansion sized temples and other stone structures that Thane could only guess their function.
They lined up at the entry gate and Gailwyn stepped forward to declare intent and ask for information about who the sigil on the chest belonged to. As they were waiting, Thane was approached by another man who was part of a merchant caravan’s guards. “Don’t I know you?” he asked. “Ain’t you that hunter boy from that little village out west?”
“Yeah that’s me.”
“I thought so,” he turned to his companion “Hey cousin, it’s the kid that killed that big cat out West.” He turned back to Thane, “You really kill that thing with just a halfsword? I seen them mountain lions before but never seen one that big.”
“Yeah, it was all I had. It jumped me from behind and it was already on my back by the time I noticed it so a bow or spear was out of the question.”
“Glad someone tough as you ain’t wasting away in some small town anymore. The Elf sold it to some noble who probably has it as a rug in some big house somewhere.”
“That’s right, you used to work for Mersine, what happened with that?”
“Uh, she kicked me out, I got a bit handsy one night.” He held up his right hand and showed both sides. The back of his hand and palm now had a nasty scar. It looked like Mersine stabbed straight through it. “I got off easier than some. At least I still got all my bits attached. I heard another guy wasn’t so lucky.”
“Thane, let's go, we’re clear.” Gailwyn was beckoning him near the gate.
Thank the gods, Thane thought. “Good talking to you again, I’ve got to get going.”
As soon as he stepped through the gate he was overwhelmed. In Twinford most of the goods and merchants were confined to the marketplace area. Here, he was surrounded by beggars, vendors, and people offering guide and transport services the moment his horse stepped onto the road. Another difference was that the roads here were wide and paved with bricks or cobblestones. So he didn’t have to leave his horse and cart at a stable at the entrance, he could ride it through most of the city instead of just the main road.
“First, let's find a place to stay tonight,” said Gailwyn. “We should have enough time before nightfall to ask around and see if anyone knows who supplied these herbs.”
Thane was glad she seemed to know the way, because he had no idea where to start looking. He doubted he could explore this entire city in a week if he tried. And this place was so noisy. As they rode through the streets everywhere was the sound of carts and horses, moving machinery, people talking, or yelling to get your attention to sell something. Despite its size, he doubted he could find a silent place anywhere.
Once they reached a large inn, they stabled the horses and began to walk through the city on foot. Gailwyn was still carrying around her large tome, and had tucked several sheets of paper in the cover that detailed the contents of the chest as well as a sketch of the sigil that was on the lid of the chest.
They set out for an open air market together to try and get information. This one was about twice the size as the open air market in Twinford and was much more densely packed. It still had the same mix of trash and treasure with a variety of goods. While Thane was examining a table of “magical artifacts” that consisted mostly of small rocks and crystals that radiated a faint magical energy, he was approached by a nervous looking man.
“Um, s- sir, are you an adventurer by chance?”
"Was there something you needed?”
“Yes sir. Down in lowtown, there have been monsters. The guard won’t come down that far so the local merchants pooled together a fund to pay anyone that can help.”
Sarah was eavesdropping on the conversation and interrupted, “That sounds pretty suspicious. What kind of monsters are you talking about and why won’t the guards come? You would think that monsters in the city walls would be a priority.”
“I, I don’t know, miss, it was the merchants that sent us out to find adventurers.”
“We should at least hear them out,” said Thane.
“Hmm...I guess we could, we can always turn it down if the pay isn’t enough or it's too dangerous. Bring the others if we go, especially the big guy. He’s probably the best deterrent against backstabbing that we could ask for. I’ll go let Gailwyn know we might be taking a job.”
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Even with all the bright clear streets and noises of a big city, Thane was certain that places like this would exist. It was gloomy, in a state of disrepair, and had many homeless at the edges of buildings and grouped up in alleyways. Since the city was built on a hill, the name lowtown was quite literal. It was at one of the lowest points of the city and in the shade of the city walls with mold and moss growing on the road and buildings.
Sara drew close to Thane and whispered in his ear as they walked. “Building with the red roof, bottom left brick by the door. See the symbol?”
He looked where she directed him and saw three upside down Vs carved into the brick. This was something their teacher Maria had taught them around a year ago, the others weren’t allowed to attend this lesson since they didn’t bother learning the hand signs that Sarah and Thane used to communicate silently. He had been thinking more and more that when Maria called herself an ‘information gatherer’ what she actually meant was ‘spy’. “Weapon merchant?” he whispered back. “Some weapons that they don’t want shown publicly, I assume.”
She smiled happily, “You remembered, now two more buildings ahead, by where the moss has been scraped off.”
He looked and saw two concentric circles with a triangle in the middle, “A merchant that deals in stolen goods.”
She nodded, “I’m starting to see why the guards never responded to the request, I doubt the local ‘businessmen’ would even let a complaint reach the guards.”
He nodded, “They definitely don’t want to draw any unwanted attention down here.”
“What are you two whispering about?” asked Mahs.
“Just trying to get an idea about who would want to hire adventurers down here and why.” his sister replied.
“Um, miss, the person who asked for you is right up here.”
They came up to a tavern and saw three men working in front of it. One man held a ladder steady while another was handing up a sign to the third man at the top of the ladder. The sign was an indication of the tavern, it had no words written on it and instead it depicted a mug of ale with an eyepatch.
“Sirs,” said the man who guided them, “I brought some mercenaries.”
Once the man on the ladder had the sign, the man on the ground came over to the group. “I see that. They seem a bit young, but the big guy is a nice find. Here’s an extra for that.” He flipped 2 silver coins over to the man who excitedly grabbed them and bowed before leaving. “So, you guys know why you’re here?”
“To hunt monsters I heard.” said Thane stepping in front of the group, “Something about being unable to get the guards to come clean up?”
“You got it. Since there’re five of you, how’s about five silver per corpse?
“We still don’t know what you want us to fight and how many there are.”
The other two men had finished hanging the sign and joined in with the conversation. One of them began signing to the man, what surprised Thane was that these were the same hand signs that Maria had taught him. -Will they keep this quiet?- the man signed. , What he actually signed was three signs: ‘they’, ‘talk’, and a third sign indicating a question. The code was simple and often had to be interpreted.
-I know when to not talk- Thane signed back.
For a moment the three men were shocked, the leader cleared his throat and continued. “Let’s talk more in the bar. Just you two though, there isn’t enough space for the rest, especially the big man.”
“Stay here and keep your weapons ready” Thane told the others before following the three men into the bar and whispering to Sarah, “What about the symbol in the corner of this building, do you recognize it?”
She shook her head, “It might represent their group or boss. It’s nothing that I’ve seen before.”
They entered the bar to find another group of three sitting inside and a single bartender. The bartender was an older man with an eyepatch who was busy cleaning out the mugs preparing for the evening. “Now tell me,” the leader of the group said, “where did you learn those hand signs?”
“We learned them from our teacher Maria.” said Sarah.
“Yeah, that means nothin’ to me. You see, only two types of people learn the signs. People like us, and people out to catch people like us. You sure as sin ain’t one of us.”
Thane remembered Maria’s warning, that he shouldn’t use any of their names recklessly, but he had a hunch this might one of the times it could get them out of trouble. “We learned them from Maria of the House of Whispers.”
He heard the sound of the old man dropping his mug and the man he was talking to scratched his head. The answer seemed to satisfy him since he dropped his threatening attitude and continued talking, “So you’re the blade and she’s the whisperer huh? What about the others then?”
The man had some sort of misunderstanding, but Thane didn’t feel the need to correct him. “They don’t know the signs, the only ones that know how to read them are me and her.”
The dropped mug rolled into the foot of the man, “Hey old man, pick up after yourself or is your other eye…” he paused when he saw that the man behind the bar was no longer there. Thane didn’t know where the one eyed bartender had run off to, but he left in a hurry. “Bah, forget it.” He picked up the mug and placed it on the counter. “Anyways, the job. Five silver per corpse….actually make that five silver per confirmed kill.”
“What are we hunting?”
“Damned if I know. They’re uglier than Buer’s asshole, a big mess of eyes and teeth with a pair of spiked flailing things.”
“They were tentacles, boss.” said one of the other men.
“Whatever you call them, they have sharp spikes on the ends that rip right through flesh. Every night they come out of the shadows and scare the life out of anyone they find. They lash out and laugh as people scream. When they kill someone they drag the corpse around and wave it like a flag until they get bored. They always travel in two groups for some reason.”
“They only come out at night? Where are they during the day?”
“Who knows? They could slip under some foundation, or gaps in the city walls, underground tunnels, abandoned buildings. Nobody has been able to follow them, so we can’t find their nest.”
“I get it, you want us to come here at night and hunt them while they are active. I’m just wondering why you are going out of your way to do this, even paying us a good rate.”
“Listen, the high and mighty shits on the hill don’t care about the weepers down here any more than the folk down here care about them. You probably think we just exploit these people, and at one time that would be true. But when the boss took over, things changed. Now it’s my job to keep this part of town safe, these are my people and they look to me for help.”
“You’re not the boss?”
“I’m the boss down here but the boss is...the boss.”
“I’ll talk it over with my companions and if they agree, we’ll be back here tonight to hunt your monsters.”
He walked out of the inn and explained the request to his companions. Adding that he was not entirely certain what kind of creatures they were hunting.
“Emotion feeders” said Mahs. “I’ve been reading a book that I borrowed from Gailwyn that mentioned them. To put it simply in an area where magic gets cast frequently mana starts seeping through and begins to condense. Since mana is more thought than matter, it attracts the shadow realm and the shadow energy animates it. They feed on thoughts or emotions, and it sounds like these ones feed on fear.”
“If they are made of mana can they actually be killed?” asked Thane.
“Sure, break apart the bodies holding the energy together and it will disperse. Since they are tied to the shadow realm, silver should be toxic to them as well.”
“When did you learn all this? Have you been studying the shadow realm?”
“Of course, didn’t you see some of the spells I was casting when we got in a fight with those paladins?”
“I was a bit busy trying not to die.”
“Ah well, it doesn’t matter, the spells won’t work on these things anyway. Illusions work on the mind, and these creatures technically don’t have one since they are basically magic and shadows given form.”
“So what do we say then? Are we going to hunt these creatures for them? 5 silver per corpse is pretty good.”
“I don’t know,” said Kisha, “It’s fairly obvious that we would be working for criminals.”
“Think of it like we are working for the poor people who live in lowtown. We are just getting paid for it by criminals.”
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After a bit of discussion it was decided that they would take the job. Gailwyn told them there was no problem taking side jobs if they were offered privately. The company wouldn’t take a cut of private jobs. On the other hand, if they used the mercenary company's name to get a job, they could get into a bit of trouble. Ruby insisted on coming and helping, an offer that was quickly shot down by both Thane and Gailwyn. Whether or not she could handle herself made no difference, she was currently under their protection, so anything that would put her in harm’s way was out of the question.
After sunset they walked back to lowtown. Amara insisted on coming, which brought their number up to six. Thane tried to tell her to stay behind but he had the feeling that he would never be able to convince her and she would follow them no matter what was said.
“So what's the plan?” she asked. “Are we splitting up or taking out one group at a time?”
“We should stick together, we don’t know how many there are or how strong they are.”
“Probably a good idea, we should be able to support each other from their mental attacks.”
“Wait, mental attacks? Mahs, you didn’t say anything about that.”
Mahs simply shrugged and Amara explained, “They are creatures of pure emotion and magic, so they will send out waves of emotion when threatened. In other words they can transfer fear into others. It should be fine though if you’re prepared for it. There isn’t a greater feeder, so they shouldn’t be too much trouble if we stay focused.”
“How do you know there is no greater feeder?”
“Because if there was, lowtown would already be completely destroyed.”
“How does she know more about this than you Mahs, I thought you were studying the nightmare realm?”
“We’ve been through this before,” he replied, “that girl isn’t normal. If she really is a girl.”
She laughed, “What else would I be? Just consider my knowledge divine inspiration.”
“Divine...right.”
“We’ll need some light, can anyone do a basic light spell?”
While they were talking about the fight, Sarah came up to Thane and spoke quietly, “Here take these.” She handed him a bundle of six arrows.
“What are these?”
“He said that silver is toxic for them, right? When we savaged the gear and metal from the orc village, it turns out that there was a bit of silver mixed in. I had the blacksmith make a silver lined dagger and a couple silver tipped arrows in case we needed them.”
“And you didn’t tell us before because…?”
She smiled, “Because there wasn’t enough to share. I already marked them for you.”
He ran his fingers across the fletched end of the arrows. Each of them had a ‘V’ carved in the end of the shaft so he could identify them without looking.
Soon they arrived at lowtown, and were standing in front of the bar where they were originally hired. The lights were on in the bar and it seemed fairly active with loud shouts and cheers coming from inside.
“So now what?” asked Kisha.
“Now we wait.” replied Sarah. “Either the monsters will appear somewhere or we will spring their trap and get ambushed.”
“Wait, ambushed?”
“There is still a chance this was a setup, the pay seems a bit too good. It's just enough to be tempting without looking too suspicious.”
“You’re just being paranoid.”
“Only if I’m wrong.”
“Hmmm” Stone gave an audible growl and lifted his axe ready for combat as he glared into the darkness ahead. “Something is there.”
“Mahs…” said Amara, “Conjure some light ahead of us.”
A luminescent orb shot ahead brightening the dark streets. As if chased by the light they saw a small figure duck into an alleyway. They ran after the figure and looked down the alley. It was pitch black, the darkness was obviously not natural.
“Mahs,” said Thane. “One more light please.”
He hesitated for a moment before sending a second orb forward. The creatures came into view and Thane reflexively took a step back.
Thirty large distorted eyes turned in unison to stare at him, and twenty mouths lined with sharp pointed teeth began gnashing in anticipation.
He saw five of them and all he could think of was eyes and teeth. They had no uniform structure or any logic as to how they were put together. It was like someone took a handful of eyes and a few carnivorous mouths and just tossed them on wet, red clay and let them stick. Each of them had 2-3 long whiplike appendages with claw like spikes at the end. Two of them were using these appendages to grip to the window and ceiling of the nearby buildings hanging close to the wall. The other three were using them in combination with their surging amorphous bodies to shamble over towards Thane at a surprisingly quick pace.
It wasn’t until they let out a shriek that Thane snapped out of his daze to grab his weapon. He raised his greatsword at the charging monstrosity and brought it down as soon as the creature was in range. It didn't seem to expect an attack as it didn’t try to dodge or block it at all. The sword cut through the fleshy beast easily causing a spray of black ichor to erupt and bubble on the ground.
Unfortunately Thane was too focused on stopping the creature that he wasn’t paying attention to the tentacles. He brought up his arm in time to block one with his bracer, but the second lashed across his shoulder, a few of the claws scraping against his armor while some created two deep gashes across his upper arm. Kisha was in a similar state, she was too distracted to defend properly. One tentacle was latched onto her armor while two more whipped at her constantly giving her no chance to strike back. The third had gone for Amara thinking she was the easiest target to frighten and instead found itself stepped on by a giant. It made a few quick lashes tearing into the giant's legs before being silenced by his axe.
“Don’t get distracted, defend yourselves properly, and be ready. Now that they see us as a threat…”
The voice was interrupted by a loud shriek that sounded different from the first one. Thane felt like he just got punched in the stomach and found it hard to breathe. He was scared, he needed to run, he had to get out of there.
“No” he grit his teeth and shook it off, tightened his grip around his weapon just in time to hear a scream further down the road. When he looked he saw a man and a woman being chased by two more of the creatures. “Stone, Mahs, get those people to safety, we can finish off these three.
“Watch the girl.” Stone said as he ran down the road.
Kisha and Sara were hacking away at the creature that was still snagged on Kisha’s armor. They would be fine. When he checked on Amara she was compressing magic into a small ball. The ball was invisible but seemed to warp the air around it and gave off a high pitched whine. It sounded like his ears were ringing after a loud noise or blow to the head. He realized the ball WAS the sound. She fired it at one of the last remaining creatures, and once the ball of distorted air hit the creature, it expanded in an instant, immediately causing the creature to explode into black ichor splashing against the walls of the alleyway. He looked at the four dead creatures, the ichor that remained was bubbling away and disappearing, leaving behind nothing but a dark stain on the stone and earth.
The last creature, realizing that his waves of fear were ineffective, was looking around frantically. It gave out one last desperate shriek before Thane brought his sword down, splitting it like the other.
Kisha had healed the gash along her side and was now using her magic to close up Sarah’s wounds. “Those things are hard to defend against.” she said. “They lash at you from multiple directions and the arms are flexible enough to just wrap around your block and slash at you anyway.”
Kisha sighed and wanted to make a comment but instead just finished her healing and moved on to Thane. “Show me your arm.”
“I’m fine, it’s just a-”
“Arm.” she repeated more firmly.
He held up his arm and she started the healing, “That wasn’t so bad, it stung a bit but the mental attacks weren’t as bad as I feared.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Sarah, “My brother is still looking for the sword he dropped when he ran and Kisha here froze up like a statue until the little witch turned that one into wall paint.” Kisha tensed up for a moment but didn’t say anything. Once Stone was back with the group she started healing the wounds on his legs.
A bit of a crowd had gathered while they were healing up. Some of them saw the tail end of the fight and a few were poking at the black stains on the ground where the ichor of the creatures had bubbled away. Suddenly Thane heard the sounds of combat a few streets over. “Wait, he said there were two groups right? It sounds like someone is getting attacked by the second group now.”
He took off running as fast as he could towards the sound of combat. Soon he found himself in a secluded road that was being lit up by a broken lantern on the ground spilling oil into a large flame. He saw another group of the creatures facing off against two women. Judging by a few dropped weapons and a knocked over cart, these women appeared to be part of a second group, but had been abandoned to fend for themselves.
They were both still standing and fighting, but were pushed into a corner by the creatures. They were dressed and armed identically, with a long hooded cloak over a hardened, boiled black leather armor that had been riveted into layers. They both wielded two swords that were being used to deflect the relentless assaults by the creatures leaving no opportunity for a counterattack.
He rested his sword and began to chant, trying to provide an opening for the two to fight back or escape. There was a bright flash and a crack of magical lightning that tore into one of the creatures causing it to erupt into bubbling black goo and fall to the ground.
The women didn’t miss this chance and quickly slashed and stabbed at one of the creatures, killing at and causing the last two to flee. He was about to give chase but instead he put his sword away and went to check on the two women who were fighting. As he got closer he realized they were both wearing black cloth masks over their faces as well, and were both wearing a familiar signet of a tipped chalice. “Are you guys all right?”
“I’m fine, what about you, sister?”
The second woman was fiddling with her torn hood before sighing and tossing it back. She had taken a blow to the head earlier and was pulling at her tangled hair while a trail of blood dripped down her cheek. When she finally managed to shake free her tied up hair she replied, “I’m fine. Who are...you?”.
Thane froze when they locked eyes, there was something different, and he sensed something was not normal. Her slightly slanted eyes were a deep purple in color, and he found himself staring. Her hair was unusual as well, it was a shimmering black color but when the light reflected off it, it gave a slight purple glow that matched her eyes. He snapped out of it and replied. “I’m Thane, were you hired to clear out these monsters as well?”
She continued to stare at him without answering before her sister replied in her stead, “If you guys could finish flirting that would be great. No nobody hired us, we are here on our father’s orders.”
“Your senses are as dull as your wits if you think I’m flirting, can’t you tell he’s-”
“Thane!” he heard Sarah shout as she finally caught up.
“I’m what exactly?”
“Thane, what happened? As soon as you ran ahead the road you were on got covered in some sort of magical darkness. We couldn’t get past it until Ruby showed up and dispersed it. Are you alright?”
“Ruby, you can't just…” he sighed, she wasn’t supposed to be his responsibility so he would have to have a word with Gailwyn later. He looked back to the woman, “So you were saying something about me?”
The woman seemed to ignore Thane’s question, “Like my sister said, we were sent here by our father, to find him.” She pointed off towards the alley at a man dressed in expensive clothes. He was wearing a red jacket over a dress shirt and fine pants that were both made of silk. The two remaining creatures were rubbing up against his legs like some sort of pet dogs.
“Ah, I see Lord Syphus sent a few of his whore daughters to find me. Were those your personal guards that I killed back there? I’m sorry, but I saw your family crest and just couldn’t stop myself.”
“The annoying mosquito is buzzing sister, I think it’s time to swat it.”
The man looked over to Thane as if seeking sympathy, “You see how annoying this family is, it's no wonder I want to crush them every time I see one.” To emphasize this point he grabbed the two creatures that were rubbing against him and slammed them together until the both dissolved into the pool of black ichor. “You however, aren’t supposed to be here. These lowborn aren’t completely hopeless if they are astute enough to hire skilled help. Leave now, the blood of these whores is all that I seek tonight.”
He ran his thumbs over his arrows until he found one of the marked arrows. He quickly pulled out his bow and notched the arrow, aiming it at the mysterious man. “I don’t think I can do that at this point.”
The man laughed, “You think a mage of my skill is worried about arrows?”
“Even silver tipped ones?” Thane replied and focused mana into the arrow causing it to give off a bright glow.
The man hissed and bared his fangs as he jumped backwards with incredible speed, clearing four meters in a single backstep. “Vampire?” Kisha exclaimed.
“Are you running away, you annoying mosquito?” one of the women mocked as she chased after him.
“Of course I am, anyone with half a brain would want to get as far away from that thing as they can.”
Thane fired his arrow at the fleeing vampire and heard a blood curdling scream, but he couldn’t check the result of his shot. There was a threat much closer. The black ichor from the two creatures that had been crushed together was not dissipating. Instead it was growing larger, as if all the ichor that had bubbled away previously was coming back into one black mass.
The woman who ran ahead soon found herself stuck in the expanding black mass, the black substance began to take shape, first forming arms and legs until a twisted head and black wings emerged from it’s shoulders. The arms reached down and pulled the woman free from it’s still forming legs and the body hardened.
It was human shaped, taller than Stone but with thinner limbs and a wider body. It’s face was missing, just blank, black leathery skin. Instead the mouths and eyes began to open all over its body and limbs, much like the amorphous creatures before it, leaving only the face featureless. One large mouth stretched open over its stomach, and the thing brought the struggling woman closer. She shouted and struggled as it stuck her into its wide maw and bit down with its full strength. The bite was just below the shoulders, and it bit through her as easily as Thane could bite through a slice of bread.
Everyone was frozen, they couldn’t do anything but watch the woman be silenced. Thane felt the same sort of unnatural fear as he felt from the smaller creatures, but this one was much stronger. He hardened himself again, and got ready to fire another arrow and fight this monstrosity.
Any thoughts of fighting disappeared the moment the creature opened its mouth and screamed. The scream wasn’t that intimidating, but the thoughts that flowed through Thane and his companions were crippling.
fear Pain
hopeless RUN
They’ll die
You’ll die consume
RUN Unstoppable
Monster MURDERER
You will never matter kill them
You will get them ALL killed weak
DIE
Everyone in the area fell to their knees.
It was hopeless.
It would be better for them to just wait for death.
