After a short while of rest, the children decided that they had enough of a break. It wasn't enough of a break to completely heal their fatigue, but the man's groan of agony was more than enough reason for them to keep moving.

The darkness crept up on them when the clouds decided enough light had been in. Through near pitch black darkness, their trudge to Rigas continued as the never-ending rain poured over them.

Eris's mouth was quivering, "It's pretty dark now…"

"It is, I couldn't see anything at all anyways," Zeais noted.

“If we had a candle or flare, that would be great.”

"I might have something!" Nove exclaimed as he felt his pockets. His excitement died, and looked dejected, "Nevermind, sorry. I thought I still had the marker. I already used it though…"

“The one from back at the grove?” asked Eris.

“Mhm,” responded Nova.

“You don’t need to say sorry Nova. If you didn’t use it, we wouldn’t have gotten to you so quickly.”

“Really?” he asked with a slight high tone.

“Yes! I’m glad you used it,” Eris said brightly. “You did good.”

Nova smiled faintly as he looked back at his uncle.

I'm glad as well. If I'd never been where I was, he might have… I wonder why she.

“Hey, Eris?”

“Hmm?” she replied.

“You never saw Nova and his Uncle going in your direction?”

“No, I didn’t see anyone.”

‘Where were you and your Uncle going Nova?”

“He was taking me into the fields to help him find Curie Trees!” replied Nova.

“You mean Cry Wood?” asked Zeais.

“Mhm! He said he would teach me how to make paper! The kind that…um..sparkles!”

“There are still tees left!?”

“He said people were talking about in town.”

"Oh, thats really nice!"

"By, town, do you mean Don'te?"

“Yes!” exclaimed Nova.

Hmm, I should look to maybe, before they end up all gone.

Zeais looked at Eris curiously.

“Are you from Don’te too Eris?”

“”Uhh,” Eris looked out into the distance, where Don’te would be. A brief look of sadness crossed her face, “Yeah…”

Did she not want to answer that?

“What were you there for?”

“I went to see a repair shop, I heard the merchants are pretty good.”

“They are!” Eris had a warm smile on her face that was just out of view from Zeais. “They’re very kind people.”

“I got asked to keep a bunch of things for visiting. I think they liked me?”

“Maybe they wanted a good customer to come back.”

“Maybe..” Zeais rubbed his stomach and sighed. “All the food around there smelled great. I wish I could have gotten a bit of it.”

“Are you hungry?” Nova chimed in from the back. “I have jerky if you need it!” He rummaged through his pockets hurriedly.

Zeais put up a hand behind him, “You don’t need to give me anything, you should save it for yourself.” He turned around to look at the boy and smiled. “You should keep it. With how small you are we need every bit of strength you have, okay?” A large smirk crossed his face.

Nova looked saddened, but he gave Zeais a nod and proceeded to pull just a bit harder.

That’s the spirit little one.

Zeais turned and looked at Eris from behind.

If she’s out here, what was she doing?

“Where were you coming from, Eris? Hunting?”

Eris spoke to him as she faced forward, “No, I was coming from the town Brights.”

“Oh? I’ve never seen you traveling before, what did you go there for?”

“I went to trade for something, just like you, but it wasn’t enough..”

“I see. Was it your first time there?”

“Yes.” Eris’s words slipped into a rather low voice. “I haven’t been many places, but… It’s a really beautiful place.”

"That's, good?" Zeais twisted his head and pondered what she said. His first thought was that she wasn't a regular traveler. "You went all the way there and didn't pack anything?"

"No, I did but!-" Her voice raised in pitch as she fell backward. Zeais put his hands out to try and stop her fall. Her body pushed back on him and he too almost fell back. With a bit of strength, he managed to keep them both from crushing Nova. "S-Sorry, I slipped on a bit of mud!"

“Uh, no worries.” Zeais had to drop his part of the rope to catch her. As he bent over, he could faintly see a skid mark in the mud. “Watch out for this bit of mud Nova.”

“Okay.” Nova beeped from behind.

“Thank you,” Eris stood herself up straight and grabbed her rope. When she began to pull, she cleared her throat. “I did, but I forgot it back in Brights. I got lost with time playing with the smaller children..”

“Why didn’t you go back to get it?”

"When I felt hungry, I reached for my strap and realized it wasn't there," Eris gave a short chuckle. "I knew something felt weird. I was about to turn around and go back but… I saw, something." Her voice once again lowered, but unlike last time, she had a harsh pitch. "I looked up… and then." She began to trail off from her words and held a hand to her head.

Zeais was about to reach out to her, “You okay?”

Eris shook her head, “I’m, fine..”

“Alright, if you want to stop we can-”

"No. I'm not tired it's just... My head hurts."

“Well, we should be close to the town I think, maybe you need medicine.”

“I don’t think medicine would help, I sort of feel better already.”

“Is that so?” Is she sick or something? Or is it..? “If you feel worse let us know okay?”

“Okay, but that man is more important to help instead. So we should hurry, for all of us.”

“Right.”

Their conversation ended there. The night filled plains, breezy wind, and cold rain were the only things that made sounds. The faint light that faintly glowed far in the distance was much brighter than long ago. Silence befell the children until Eris asked, “Zeais? Have you been to Brights? Do you think all the younger children in Brights, orphans?”

Zeais brought a hand to his chin, “Hmm, I don’t think so. Not all of us are.”

Eris looked back at Zeais with almost lightning speed“Oh!? You’re from there? Why didn’t you say that!”

“I thought it was obvious.”

Eris gave a small pout, “Then that means you can answer my questions.”

Nooooo, I hate being asked questions.

"Sure, I'd love to answer!"

“Great. Okay, firstly, why is it so high up? Doesn’t that make it hard to do things? And what about the children, isn’t that hard on them?”

“I don’t know why it’s so high, but we have things that make it easier to bring in goods. The smaller children don’t do work like me and the others, but they don’t mind running up and down the mountain.”

"Hmm, I see. Next, why are there no merchants? Doesn't every place have them?"

“I don’t know, I never thought about that. Maybe because it’s hard to bring lots of wagons? I don’t know about that other one either, I’ve only been around the county.”

Eris pouted and faced forward, she spoke quietly. “What do you know then..”

“I know that I can still hear you.”

“Hmph! Anyways, one last thing then.”

“What is it?”

“Why wouldn’t the weapons maker accept my knife as a trade? Is it because I’m an outsider?”

“Mr. Hines does that to everyone. He tells all of us,” Zeais cleared his throat and spoke in a rough voice. “If you’re going to trade, make it something that won’t help you when the time comes.”

"So that's why. I guess I shouldn't have yelled at him then."

"Yeah, that's not a good idea. He gives children reasonable deals if he's in a good mood."

Eris sighed “I was being so rude… I got too impatient.”

”If you ever go back to Brights I can talk to him for you.”

“Really!? That would be nice,” Eris smiled at him. “Thank you.”

Zeais gave her a happy grin back, “No, problem. You’ll need your bag back anyway, you helped me so I’ll help you.”

“Really. Thank you.”

“It’s not a big deal, the only thing is what you are looking for. What kind of weapon is it that you want? A knife? Sword?”

“I’m looking for… for…” Eris paused.

Zeais could swear she was looking at him, but the look in her eyes was far more distant. Even without the brightness of her eyes, she just had that look that didn’t look, right. Her pause was so long, that the low howl of the wind would be a better conversation.

Eris's expression didn't change much but she kept a stoic look as she finished her answer, "A gun."

A gun!? That's not really a small trade… And she wanted to trade a knife!?

“Ummm, uh. I don’t know. What to do you need such a weapon for, that a knife wouldn’t be enough for?”

Eris eyes were void of light that he could barely recognize her. Her voice was just barely audible to him, “Murderers.”

Zeais walked unaware of what she had just said until he replayed it in his mind.

Wha? Murderers?

Zeais finally caught up with his thoughts, before he could form a rational thought, he had to ask her.

“What do you-”

As his words were just about to come out, his body suddenly fell backward. When he looked to grab onto the nearest object, Eris, he quickly knew that plan would fail, as she was falling backward as well. Nova fell on top of his unconscious uncle and managed to dodge the other two children as they fell toward him. A short burst of high winds sailed over them soon after. The wind wasn't strong enough to knock them over once more, but the flying water was more than enough to make them think twice to open their eyes.

All three of them knew what would come next, the unearthly sound of screams. They quickly covered their ears for the ensuing sound. Like thunder, an ear piercing screech roared throughout the plains. An out of tune instrument would be the last thing Zeais would think of to describe it. No matter how much he heard it or how hard he tried to drown out the sound. The distinct whine always made his skin feel like it was being harassed by insects.

Eris immediately took her chance, pushing off of Zeais's chest with a hand, she looked into the distance of the sound. Storm clouds near the area she looked at parted ways, bringing the soft colorful light from the hidden moon with down to the ground below. For a second, her eyes grew wide, "I see them."

No! Do they have to form right now!?

Zeais stood up and brushed off his muddied legs, "Are they far?"

Eris squinted, “A bit. I don’t think it can notice us. We need to go, we aren’t far.”

Thud…Thud…Thud…Thud. The sound of its legs pounded the ground and echoed loudly. Each step it took had to be no more than four seconds between the next. Its size was incomparable.

Nova held his eyes shut the entire time, “No! No no! Is it going to get us?”

Eris gave him a half smile, "It's okay Nova. Not if we go quickly. Let's hurry okay?"

Nova still had his eyes closed, but a hand touched his head.

"Be strong, right? We aren't far, let's go, Nova," Zeais said, as he also gave the young boy a smile. His was more on the grinning side.

Nova’s eyes lit up, he could see a spark of determination in him.

Good. Now then…

"Do you think we can get there quickly, Eris?'

While she picked up her part of the rope she spoke rapidly, "It's just a hill, we should be fine." She rested the rope over her shoulder and looked back, "Let's hurry."

Zeais and Nova followed her instruction and got into position. The three of them pulled with more strength than they had before. Making it to Rigas was far more urgent now than just taking the man to receive help.

And this was supposed to be my break... How did this-

Another shriek blew past his ears, much lighter than before, but still annoying to listen to.

Nova looked back at the supposed location of the creature, his face twisted with fear. “It’s walking to us!”

“Don’t look back Nova, just keep looking straight. Just focus on my back, we will get there.”

Nova broke his gaze on the far monstrosity, and focused on Zeais’s back, “Okay..”

Their pace was far quicker than before, at the rate they were going, they could make it within twenty minutes. Zeais didn't care to ask for any more details on the distance, moving as quickly as he could, was all he could do.

"The beginning of the hill is coming up! Try and go a bit faster so we don't slide!"

Zeais put his back into it, he pulled as if he were going to tackle Eris right in front of him, fortunately, she was doing the same. The hill's incline began to steadily rise, he could feel the difference immediately. He didn't notice the amount of groaning he was making as he pulled.

Thud…Thud…Thud…Thud. The sound of its steps almost made his heart stop. It’s getting faster.

Eris began to pull slightly harder, “We should go faster.”

The incline gradually steepened, Eris’s face could almost touch the ground as she pulled. The slick grass made a wet slick sound when her feet shot forward. She fell face forward onto the ground and lost her grip with the rope. Zeais grunted when he felt the man begin to slide down. He leaned as far as he could to try and keep them from losing progress.

Eris sprung up and wiped her face of mud. She grabbed the rope hurridly, “Sorry! Try not to slip it’s getting a bit steep.”

Zeais was too preoccupied with pulling to say anything.

—
—
—
—
--

The children continued to drag the man up the hill for what felt like forever. The ever-encroaching steps continued far behind them.

Zeais raggedly sputtered, “How tall- is this- hill!?”

Eris was just as bad, "I can't- tell... It's too- dark."

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD. The monstrosities movements grew louder and sounded much faster than before. Zeais’s hear was pounding so hard he felt like it exploding once wouldn’t be enough. I’ve never been so close to these things.

The hill was almost as steep as a flight of stairs, the man's weight was much more difficult to keep up. They were barely making progress compared to when they first began the hills ascent.

Zeais struggled to keep his body forward “There’s no way!- we can keep pulling!- him!”

Eris grabbed the rope tightly and took the rope off her shoulder. She quickly twisted around and pulled the man backward. “Turn around- it will be easier.”

Zeais followed her suggestion and turned around. Nova mimicked him and clumsily twisted his body to face his uncle. She was right, this feels a lot bette-

"AAaaah noo!" Nova screamed ahead of him. His eyes were fixated on the enormous monster that looked like it could reach them in no time. Zeais could hear the boy began to sob, "I-I'm sorry!- It's my fault- I shouldn't ha-have- said I wa-wanted to g-g-go-"

"NOVA!" A ferocious yell came from behind Zeais, it was almost as scary as the 40-meter high monster chasing them that he couldn't see. "Be strong! We're almost there okay! We'll be fine! Just pull with everything you've got!"

Nova was sobbing, but he still seemed to put everything he had into it.

“He’s getting to- heavy!”Zeais yelled ahead. “We need to start- going side to side!”

Without a skip to her step, Eris steered slowly into a diagonal path. It wasn't a large difference than before, but Zeais feel it was easier to walk upward. Unfortunately, the man's weight was wanted by gravity and hindered their diagonal ascension.

Once again, rain began to pour furiously, wind steadily blew up the hill and into the children's faces. Barely able to see, they squinted their eyes and pulled in whichever direction lead them.

“This was much easier- when it was flat!” Zeais complained.

“Isn’t there a regular entrance- for this place!?”

“I’ve never been here before- either, remember!?”

Thud…Thud…Thud…Thud…Thud…Thud. The quickened pace of the monster's footsteps put Zeais's heart into overdrive. Eris began to rigorously pull upward.

“I can see it!” she yelled to the below her. “I can see the top of the hill!”

Zeais felt like he heard the magic words, a second wind he had no idea he had came in to play. Nova as tired as he looked, was still managing to help a good amount.

Left, right, left, right, the children zigzagged up the hill as quickly as they could. With each step they took, the hill became more difficult to walk up, even diagonally. The man's weight was too heavy to go sideways and he was basically all dead weight. It was easier for them to pull him and keep him from sliding while they pulled the sled on the sides of the hill.

We have to be getting close now, I can fee-

Zeais noticed something strange, he was listening for the thunderous steps, but there were none. That's when he felt his heart drop.

Zeais was so shook that he instinctively yelled at Eris, “How close are we!?”

She looked at him confusedly, but he knew something was strange. Zeais listened carefully into the silent night. Bzzzztt, a sound he couldn’t mistake.

“Uuhh, we need to go! Right now!”

Eris looked even more confused until she looked out into the distance. It wasn't the lack of sound that made her recoil, it was the mass of darkness that covered the fields. Accompanied by the sound of millions of tiny wings and slithering bodies, the pitch black wave surged forward. It rolled over the hills toward the children like a wave of water from a dam.

All three of them frantically began to tug and pull the sled, when a couple dozen flying insects zoomed past their heads.

Nova cried out when a large insect landed on his forehead, “AHHH!”.

Zeais swatted the insect from the boys head before he could even finish his cry. The man’s body also had uninvited guests crawling around. Once again he looked at Eris who knew even without him saying it.

She looked over her shoulder to what remained of the hill, "It's rounding off! Just a bit- more!"

The ground began to shake violently as the black swarm rushed up the hill. A faint white light could be seen shooting out from all directions underneath the swarm.

“The Influê is so far…” mumbled Eris as she looked out into the distance. As she pulled the rope back, her steps became easier. Without skipping a beat she turned around and tried to run up the remaining hill.

Zeais caught on when he passed the same point and turned around as well.

Finally!? Is this it!?

Nova began to tug with all his remaining strength, to help Eris and Zeais bring the man up the hill. As soon as the sled tip into the air and lightly laid flat on the ground, all three of them dropped to the ground.

The constant buzzing noise wasn't as bad as before knowing that he had made it up the hill. Zeais looked out at the bright contrast that was the town of Rigas. Of course, he could see nothing, but the town's light showing life was enough to make him happy.

"Now we just need to go dow-"

AoooooRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDD!

A thunderous crack of screeching nearly deafened him. The earth beneath him felt unsteady and the air pressure that blasted him made it impossible to stand. Zeais fell to his knees and held his ears until the violent screech ceased. Both Eris and Nova took the same action, aside from the Nova shedding tears. His small body quivered as he laid there.

Within seconds the screech had stopped and its echo could be heard far throughout the plains. Another rumble of the ground took place, except this time it didn’t seem to get closer.

It stopped… Which means... Sh-!

Zeais rushed to get up, “It’s forming again! We need to go!”. His body felt tight but he knew now wasn’t the time to give in.

Within the area that the deafening noise came from, a large abundance of light rose from the depths of the black swarm. It rose to a height where the insects had to form pillars to keep hold of it. The most spread out parts of the swarm came flooding back toward the light,. They formed a massive ball of slithering and wing beating creatures. The ball of insects crashed down over on top of the light and proceeded to cover it almost entirely. As if under command, other areas of the swarm formed large limb-like pieces and conjoined with the center area.

The children didn't have time to watch as their enemy pulled it's self together, this was their time to go. Right behind them, the city could be seen. There were large structures holding large materials together and plenty of lights from homes and shops. It all lay in the middle of an increasingly slopped hill. They were nearly there and the descent was the only thing in their way.

Eris grabbed the rope, as well as the crying Nova's hand and screamed to Zeais, "Let's go! While we still can!".

Already part of my plan girl.

Zeais rushed up to the sled and took part of the rope. The two of them began to pull as hard as they could while Nova had given up. For just the two of them, it wasn’t as hard as before, the downward slope definitely helped. In fact, it was so easy that they could almost begin to job as they pulled.

The children rushed down the hill as carefully as they could with the unconscious man. The grass was still slick and there was still light rainfall. Taking careful steps was almost impossible as the sled began to catch up their speed.

“Uhh, Eris! We should probably slow down.” cautioned Zeais

Eris looked back at the man who was steadily sliding faster, “I know, but maybe we ca- EEP!”. A quick shift of the ground beneath them made them lose balance.

AoooooRRRRRRRR! Another roar from monstrosity whipped out above the children's heads.

Nova's small legs gave out when the rumble happened, he fell to the ground like a brick, right in front of Zeais.

He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge the boy's body. Not because he had just fallen in front of him, but because he was already on his way to the ground himself.

What little of the world he could see, looked like slow motion. He could see his hands flailing about uselessly, as he tried to pinpoint a place to safely land. His body soared over Nova's small body like a skipping rock. He, unfortunately, did not take into account his legs. He watched as his foot slowly s meet with Nova's head as he passed over him.

Nova's face writhed in pain and his eyes were shut tight. As if the world had gone back to normal space-time standards, Zeais's face plowed into the ground. All he could see was the world violently twisting as he flew down the hill.

Eris, on the other hand, had saved her self from falling, but she couldn't keep the sled from accelerating forward on her own. She looked at both Zeais and Nova as they rolled past her, as well as the man helplessly sliding down. Surprise wasn't the only expression that appeared on her face.

The hills decline dipped down and she could no longer just jog. Almost full on sprint was the only option as she chased after both the man and children.

Several Thuds sounded out over her head as she ran down. A short glance upward and a massive foot could be seen above her. Brief flashes of light shot out and strange high pitched gurgles came from the other side of the hill.

Eris snapped her attention to the town when yet another bright light flashed over her face. A large whitish-yellow circle searched over the hill. The source of it was a child operating a large Eternal lantern in a tower. She wasted no time to try and get their attention. “HHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!!— HHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!!”

From far away, she could see the child look in her direction. Her eye's brightened as she slowed to keep her eyes steady, the child in the tower's eyes also brightened. Immediately after their eyes dimmed, the child tugged on the adult guard next to him. The ran up to the edge of the tower and seemed to be talking to people below.

A loud barrage of bells all rang at once from all over the city. A large gate opened below the tower opened and men and women of various ages ran out with all sorts of tools. The women were armed with sacks that had a distinctly red glow to them. The men had several jars filled with a black liquid. Once they came out of the gate, indistinct chatter could be heard from far away. A few fingers pointed in the children's direction, then they all came running at once.

Zeais thought he would throw up from rolling so much. He had finally reached a point where the hill was no longer steep and he could stop himself with his hands. After a couple of tries, he quit rolling successfully. The gray space around him swirled so much, he for sure knew he would puke.

“GET DOWN!!” An unfamiliar loud voice erupted from afar.

He tried to look in the direction of the voices but all he saw were small balls of faint light flying in his direction. Those lights were actually the glowing sacks the women held. The sacks soared over his head one by one.

Each woman swung their sack in a circle with a rope. After they hit the max amount of swing that flung the sack onto the hill as far as they could.

A large amount of slithering insects and bugs poured over the top of the hill. Giant slams cracked through the air and the ground as the monstrosity’s center area loomed over the hill. A dark shadow cast over the children and the surrounding base of the field as it brought a leg over to their side.

Eris was still behind running down the hill as the men threw the jars over her. She ducked to dodge the brittle glass of black liquid. The jars seemed to be aimed at the sacks of red light. One of the sacks was already covered behind her. It gave off a loud whistle before exploding into a fiery ball of purple fire. The explosion was not only bright and loud, but it gave off almost the same loud screech the monstrosity did.

After the first explosion, more sacks scattered over the hill began to whistle loudly. Eris's legs became a blur once several whistles went off at once. She sprinted full speed down the remaining hill. Her face looked stoic and desperate all at once.

Zeais was confused as his world was still spinning around him. He became even more confused when a pair of burly hands grabbed at him and lifted him from the ground.

“What the!?”

"Calm down kid! We're going to get you out of here!" A deep voice bellowed to him.

He wanted to get a peek at who was casually carrying him, but all he could see was his back and the trot of his legs.

“Run girl! Run!” A bunch of women yelled from nearby.

Soon after their yell, a series of explosions all went off at once in a fiery mushroom of purple. The creatures foot was right above it and flew upward from the force of the blast. A loud screech erupted from both the explosion and the monster. Zeais looked around as he covered his ears. Three men were running with the man wrapped like a mummy and another one of them held Nova like he was a tote bag.

As the entire group ran back toward the gate, Zeais saw the giant creature screech one last time in protest. It roared at the artificial screech of the exploded sacks and retreated away from the hill. A rain of black goop rained from the sky. Gobs of insects bundled together fell all over the place.

That’s gross.

The sight of the grass disappearing as the large wooden gates closed was the last thing he saw before he was thrown to the ground.

“Ow! Thank you, but was that necessary!?”

“You should count your blessings kid that there was a watch out today.” The large man who carried him spat.

Eris was right next to him on the ground, breathing heavily, “Thank— you..”

Zeais didn’t feel like arguing with his saviors, he was just glad he could take some shelter and rest.

Achoo! Zeais sniffed his nose.

Finally, shelter. I’m so hungry…