∼ The Shadows of the Night ∼

Chapter - 028

In the fall of dark, only the torches and their soft flickering glow dispelled the encroaching gloom. The sounds of critters, the blow of wind, and the distant creatures most foul echoed through the night with their ever-present toll.

It was no different from any other night spent beyond the walls of civilization. But all present knew that this time something... else was lurking in the shadows this hour of darkness.

Wagons, carriages, debris, and cargo had all been stacked to fence in everyone, walling themselves up in the middle of the Iron Road. The guards could only peer through cracks and slits to see what lay beyond, yet by that, only gloom and trepidation were to be gained.

Looking over the barricades, atop a purchase, Eric lifted a torch high, squinting as he thought he could see the shadows move.

"They're here," Boram muttered, looking to the sky to see the moon up high. "their apex of darkness has arrived,"

Eric's hand clutched around the sword in his hand, feeling his sweat soaking the wrappings. In that moment, he felt that the short blade was all too inadequate.

A scream was the first to hail the attack. A guard had been ripped off the makeshift fortifications, his shrill voice growing distant as he was dragged off into the night.

Dreadful murmurs echoed amongst the men facing an enemy they've yet to even lay eyes on.

A surprised gasp followed by a heavy thud heralded next death, a guard whose throat had been sliced in two, his life clinging to for only a few seconds more to do nothing but strike terror in his brethren.

"Eyes front!" Boram roared.

The distracted men quickly gathered their wits, only moments before all abyss broke loose. Creatures of such vile creation scaled the barricades, squeezed through gaps, and flung overhead with speeds unholy.

As Aria, standing farther behind with the rest of the merchants and travelers, laid her gaze upon them, she felt her heart clamp with an icy grip. As black as the night, the small monster, barely the size of a dog, was; a swift death. Long, elongated appendages tipped in claws of black keratin that stabbed into the gravel extended from its upper body.

Its head was horrible, its skin stretched too thin across its skull, on the verge of ripping and flaking off. What was most eerie about its face, however, was not a maw filled with rows of fangs, but rather the near-human teeth, cracked and split, that lined it. In a ghastly imitation of a face, it had no eyes to speak of, and its withery ears were long and hooked.

With stringy muscles and a coat of leathery black skin, the abomination looked like a horrible cross of bat and man.

As it caught sight of the defenseless and whimpering humans, the reaver's muscles tensed, about to lunge. A sudden blade pinned one of the creature's hind legs to the ground, making it emit a terrible shriek as it flopped wildly about, kicking up the grey gravel all around. But a swift slash ended the creature's life, Dresden's sword slick with blood as Mike retrieved his own.

Aria stood as still as a statue, looking as if what had not even fazed her - but underneath her hood, she was petrified.

Yelling erupted as blades swung and men engaged with the monsters all around. They would bellow and grunt, but once a man would scream, having been dealt but a single blow - he would already be dead, as reavers only struck to kill.

Eric felt his heart in his throat, standing there as he could only watch the horrors attack the men he had spent the last week traveling with. The tumble of gravel was the only precursor to the monster jumping up the barricade.

At a speed much faster than his own mind could register, his body moved on its own, letting the brawling instincts he had beat into the very fiber of his muscles save his now all-too-mortal life.

The swift shadow, with all its speed, impaled itself on his blade, squealing only inches from his face as its life slowly left before his eyes.

Stunned in shock and adrenaline, Eric could not feel his body, only the raging beating of his own heart. The creature slid off his blade, whining as it tumbled down the makeshift fortifications to thud against the gravel. Limp yet still alive.

Looking over the edge, he held out his torch to illuminate but caught only the whimpering form of the creature being dragged off into the darkness by something... even larger.

Sweat beaded at his brow as even cold chills crept down his spine. Looking at the rest of the caravan, it appeared that they were beating back the foul monsters. They had lost men, but they were actually winning.

Yet... a thunderous voice shattered that image. "IT'S THE ALPHA! GET AWAY!" Boram bellowed as he was running away from the fortifications, but all too late.

Three men guarding that part of the barricade right next to Eric were suddenly sent flying as it was torn asunder by something massive - and fast. Timber and debris were shot in every direction, making Eric shield his face from the splinters and wood peppering him, sending him to the ground with a wheeze.

Everything was hazed as Eric looked through bloodshot eyes, his vision partly sanguine as he saw only blurs and red. His own labored breath loud echoed in his ears, the sounds of screams and ruckus reverberations distant and muffled as they faded from his hearing.

Shocked, Eric's vision cleared suddenly to see a silent horror sailing directly at him. But a bolt of purple fire sent the creature off-course with a shriek, crashing limply into the ground as vile purple-black tendrils both burned and corroded at its flesh.

He was stunned yet again, but the tugging of small hands on his vest brought him out of it. It was Aria, hovering over him, those red eyes staring pleadingly at him as she was saying things he couldn't make out.

It was then he realized he couldn't hear anything. His vision was back to normal, and his body actually felt less fatigued than from before all abyss broke loose. "Aria must've healed me," Eric realized. Or at least, only partly.

He scrambled to his feet to see Nyx, hands aflame and scanning the chaos all around with an excited grin plastered on his damned impish face.

Aria was talking to him, but he could not hear and did not bother as the form of Boram caught his attention, the large man facing off against the massive beast that had broken through the barricade like it was nothing. It could only be the so-called alpha. It was many times larger than its smaller kin, large enough to rival the size of an over-grown bull, its tipped appendages large enough to skewer multiple men and cut them clean through with but a swipe.

Eric had never witnessed anything like the monstrosity. Boram was flanked by Dresden and a dozen other men, but they looked little more than a motley pack of mutts picking a fight with a savage bear.

Catching a glance of a stalking shadow, Eric's eyes widened, and before he knew it, he was sprinting dead for the man holding off the alpha. Boram's attention was momentarily split as he saw Eric coming right at him, sword poised to split open his head.

Incredulity briefly touched upon his round features, but as a reaver fell to the ground at his feet, recognition and gratitude replaced it. The two said nothing, sharing just a nod as they focused back on the alpha reaver - the huge dark creature staring down the remaining humans.

A man further down the line got impatient as he saw an opportunity, attacking the reaver's blindside - only to be kicked by the monster's hind legs, like a stallion. The man was sent tumbling back, coughed up bubbly blood as his entire chest was caved in.

Tremors of fright trickled down everyone's spine at that, their collective determination waning in the face of this overwhelming abomination.

But Boram did not back down, rather, he stepped forward, his lips pulling back to practically snarl at the monster. It was still inaudible to Eric, but he knew what the man roared next. "NOW!" Mike and Dresden surged out from behind the towering man, moving much faster than any man of their seniority should have been able to.

Landing a biting slash that screeched like metal against porcelain, Dresden slid across the gravel, barely dodging slash at him.

Unbalanced on one appendage, Mike dove under the monster, delivering a severing strike to its hindquarters, effectively rendering one of its limbs limp as the reaver shrieked.

The monster briefly lifted its deadly appendage, attempting to stab Mike through, but managed only to catch the hem of his robe, ripping at the seam as he got away. Suddenly stuck in the hard ground of the Iron Road, the bear of a man that was Boram came charging in, his blade running right into the beast's chest.

Even so, the large man was effortlessly batted away by the other arm of the creature as it wailed in pain. Getting the other free, the reaver moved to finish the job, Boram lying prone on the gravel and defenseless, but a purple bolt from far away thudded into its side, making it hiss shrilly.

It seemed to have been very effective at saving the large man, but more so, effective at drawing the attention right back to a now very much frightened demon and his warlock.

Stumbling as it began charging at them, one of its hindlegs useless and both the wounds to its side and the sword stuck its chest, making it hard for the creature to move properly, it used its spiked arms to fling itself across the ground.

Eric, in an attempt much more foolhardy than heroic, intercepted the monster by jumping atop it, his dagger drawn and sheathed into the monster's back, stabbing into the corded muscle. There he struggled desperately to stay fast to the bucking reaver, both parts wanting to tear the demon apart and him apart.

"Nyx!" Eric bellowed as he strained to stay saddled, but was slipping with the streams of blood slicking his grip around his dagger and purchase. In a last effort, he yanked the dagger down, ripping through flesh and scratching bone, making the monster reel up.

In that instant, its lower side was exposed fully. A streak of purple flames launched itself and tore into the soft and damaged tissue, setting alight the monster's insides with demonic flames that fed off the monster's very life force to sustain its own.

Keeling over and crashing onto the ground with a heavy thud and a cloud of grey dust - the monster had been felled.

Aria scrambled to look for Eric.

When people gathered around the fallen monstrosity some time later, a limping Boram supported under Mike and Dresden on either side, smiles greeted the sight of Eric laying with his head on Aria's lap.

"Bwah! You're still hearty, lad," He rumbled, with a wince. "I was sure you were crushed underneath this dreadful creature."

"Yeah, unlucky me. Here I thought I had escaped your poor cooking," He joked back, a wince also coming to his face.

Boram roared with laughter, despite the somber mood. But a sigh soon escaped his lips, his expression drooping as he looked around at the death surrounding them. They had lost nearly half the entire guard, and a handful of merchants and travelers had also been caught up in the fighting.

"I need some space," Aria said suddenly in a commanding voice, very alien to her normal timidity but effectively snapping Boram out of his stupor.

"Alright people, let's get started fixing what we have left. More foul monsters will be drawn to the slaughter."

His lighthearted expression gone as everyone turned away, no more prying eyes to be had, he could barely restrain a whimper.

Opening the already unbuttoned vest, Aria looked at the bloody but whole skin - yet underneath the skin was a complete mess of broken ribs and damaged organs. Aria had only managed to heal superficial injuries like his hearing and to stop him from bleeding out before the others came - for Eric had, in fact, really been crushed underneath the alpha.

"Hold still, you're dying." She said, not even glancing to meet his eyes as her finger lit up with green.

Even through the agony in his chest and side, Eric admired her devotion as her shy and fretful nature was washed away whenever conjuring her magic or falling into that reverie of hers whenever teaching someone about a subject.

The only thing his mind managed to piece together before he fainted was; "What an odd gal..."