“It’s still night-time?” Jean asked as he stretched his arms.

“Yes,” Ayden said as he paced around in the living room.

“Also, we’ve already taken advantage of Àlainn's kindness for quite some time. I think we should repay her in some way." Ayden said.

“Who?”

“The seamstress.”

“Is that her name?” Jean asked as Ayanna slowly awoke.

“Well… sort of,” Ayden said.

“How do you think we should repay her?” Jean asked.

“We could catch something beyond the city walls and offer it to her as thanks,” Ayden suggested.

“There’s a bunch of farms to the northeast. We could… borrow some of their livestock- wait a minute! You want us to leave the city?” Jean asked.

“I don’t want you to do anything, but think about Àlainn. I’m sure she’d enjoy a delicious roast beast.” Ayden said with a wide grin.

Jean turned to Ayanna.

“Fine, but I’m not going anywhere without her.” He said.

“What do you think, mom?” Ayden asked.

Ayanna simply nodded.

“Oh and I hope you don’t mind, but I want to return to your friend's home for a bit,” Jean said.

“Why?”

“I recognized some of his equipment and as a smith myself, I could make use of some of it,” Jean said.

Ayanna gave Jean a thumbs up.

“Good. Be sure to be safe- oh and be sure to keep an eye out for any survivors, ok?” Ayden asked.

“Sure,” Jean said as he tied his long black hair into a bun.

Ayanna then joined him at the door.

“Alright, we’ll be back as soon as possible,” Jean said as he and Ayanna left.

Ayden let out a sigh before sitting on the sofa.

“Hey, Fea. Can you fly?” Ayden asked.

“The name is Feannag! Actually, call me McAllister and yes, I can fly.” Fea said as he spread his pitch-black wings.

“Ok, can you scout around and look if anyone is still alive in the surrounding area?”

“Mmm… fine,” Fea said with a groan.

He hopped over to the door and tried reaching the handle, but even though he could reach the handle, his hands couldn’t provide enough force to actually open the door.

Ayden smiled as he watched Fea’s desperate attempts.

“Need help?” Ayden asked.

“Mmm… yes, please,” Fea said, prompting Ayden to help open the door.

Fea then spread his wings before flying off into the night.

.

..

“Curse this night,” Jean muttered to himself as he gathered some of the tools in Randall’s house.

Ayanna was upstairs where she paid her respects.

Jean wondered if it was Randall who crafted Ayanna’s daggers and the more he inspected Randall’s equipment, the more he considered the possibility.

Ayanna walked down the stairs with her usual neutral expression and Jean remained silent as he packed whatever he needed into a neat pile.

“Mmm?” Ayanna sounded, expressing her confusion.

“This place is filled to the brim with all manner of equipment. I think it’d be best if I worked directly in here. If your friend was as good a smith as I hope, then there’s bound to be a forge or something in the back room.” Jean said as he stood up.

“Now, let’s go catch us something to eat,” Jean said as he and Ayanna walked out of the house.

They then made their way towards Sùith’s northern gate.

Their steps were cautious and their eyes keenly inspected the dark city as they weaved their way north.

They eventually arrived at the large wooden gate to find that it was partially open.

The two left the city’s walls to find themselves faced with a vast stretch of grassland.

The pale moonlight cast its light onto the grassy planes.

“There should be some farms to the northeast. Come on.” Jean said as he lead Ayanna.

A few empty carriages could be seen here and there, but there weren’t any holes in the ground, much to Jean’s relief.

The two walked up the path that led north before Jean came to a complete stop.

Ayanna followed his eyes to see that he was looking at a small house to the east.

It looked like it had been built fairly recently and a few sheep could be seen roaming in a carrel a few meters from it.

“Mmm?”

“Uh- nothing. It’s just that house seems out of place.” Jean said prompting Ayanna to survey the house’s surroundings.

Yes, it was surrounded by nothing but dried grass that went on for as far as the eyes could see, but other than that, nothing really bothered Ayanna about it.

“Want to see if anyone’s home?” Jean asked.

Ayanna nodded and the two promptly walked off the northern path.

They approached the house to find two children, a boy and a girl, playing outside.

Jean’s eye’s narrowed as the he boy stood to face him and Ayanna. The boy then waved at them as they approached while the girl ran into the house.

“Papa!” The girl cried.

“Hello.” Jean greeted.

“Hi!” The boy greeted gleefully as a middle-aged man exited the house.

He wore simple, worn clothing and walked with a cane.

Jean also noted that they both had only two sets of pupils each, much to his relief.

“Good evening. Is there anything I can help you with?” The man asked as he approached.

Jean winced for a moment as he felt a strange wet sensation on his chest, but he paid it no kind and kept his eyes on the man in front of him.

“Yeah, we were wondering if we could purchase one of your sheep,” Jean said, but the man’s eyes narrowed before his face lit up, seemingly with joy.

“But of course. Although I’d like to know who I’m trading with. Perhaps we could have a chat over a cup of tea? It's been ages since we last had guests.” The man asked, but jean shook his head.

“I must apologize. We’re only here for the sheep.”

“Is that so? How about this: you two join my family and me for dinner and I give you two sheep.” The man offered, but just as Jean started shaking his head, a low growl came from Ayanna’s belly.

Jean looked at her and she smiled awkwardly.

“Should we?” Jean asked and Ayanna nodded her head.

“Fine.”

“Perfect! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Oliver Stanfield.” Oliver said as he offered Jean his hand.

Jean accepted it to find that it was wet.

Not moist.

Cold and wet.

But when Jean looked at Oliver’s hand, it was bone dry.

“The name’s Jean Vermont and this is Ayanna. Thank you in advance for your kindness.” Jean said as he followed the man towards the house.

Jean’s nose twitched a little as the smell of rotted wood filled the air.

He also heard a strange wet squishy noise every time he took a step, but just as he followed that line of thought, the little boy from before walked up to him and began sniffing him.

Oliver noticed this and gently shooed the boy away.

“Do forgive little Peter. Although I must admit that you do have faint traces of a regal scent.” Oliver said as he opened the front door, revealing an extremely beautiful middle-aged woman.

No, calling her beautiful would be an understatement.

The woman seemingly glowed as the moonlight bathed her in its dim light.

Jean’s eyes narrowed once again as his eyes met hers.

“Greetings, my name is Veronica and it’s an absolute pleasure meeting you,” Veronica said as he offered her hand.

Jean accepted the small hand to find that it was so gentle and dainty that Jean barely felt any pressure from their handshake.

Oliver then led Jean and Ayanna into the dining room where they each took their seats on the rather well made looking table.

Although Jean could’ve sworn he’d sat on something wet.

He looked down to find that the floor and his chair were completely dry.

“Now, where to begin. Oh, Veronica dear, prepare something for our guests.” Oliver said as he kissed Veronica on the cheek.

“Of course,” Veronica said as she stood.

“So, what do you two do for a living?” Oliver asked. His face beaming with enthusiasm and seemingly genuine curiosity.

“I was a blacksmith and she… was a fisherwoman of sorts,” Jean said as he crossed his arms.

“Is that so? Do you craft weapons?” Oliver asked as Ayanna looked around in wonder.

“Yes and no. I worked for a certain noble family-“ Jean stopped himself.

“Well… I’d like to keep the rest private.” Jean said, but Oliver’s brows furrowed.

“Why? Is it not in your nature to communicate? To share?” Oliver asked before a certain little girl ran into the room.

“Papa! Peter got sand all over my dress.” The little girl reported as Oliver picked her up.

He then placed her where her mother once sat.

“Don’t hate your brother for that. Instead, plot your revenge. Tonight, you shall play with his favourite toy, hehe- RUN!” Oliver screamed, startling Jean and Ayanna, but not his daughter.

“What’s wrong?” Jean asked as he placed his hand over his dagger.

“Mmm? What?” Oliver asked as his daughter playfully kicked her legs back and forth.

“You yelled "run" just now,” Jean said.

“Did I? Mmm… I’m pretty sure I didn’t. Anyway, let’s talk about how you two ended up here.” Oliver said.

Jean’s vision blurred for a moment and he felt a strange aching pain in his chest.

“Uh- we came from Sùith- wait a minute! How have you managed to protect your family from the madness that’s going on out there?” Jean asked as he leaned forward.

This, unfortunately, caused his aches to increase in severity, but he did his best not to show it.

“THEY’RE DEAD! What are you talking about?” Oliver screamed before returning to speaking normally, startling Jean and Ayanna again, but to a lesser extent.

“Umm… you know. The beasts and madness that’s sweeping over the land. Haven’t you seen it?” Jean asked as Peter hopped into the room.

He then plopped into the chair next to Ayanna before turning to his sister.

“You told on me, didn’t you?” He asked.

“Yes I did and papa said that I can take your teddy.” The girl said before sticking her tongue out.

“Papa, Jessica is sticking her tongue out at me!” Peter cried, but Oliver dismissively waved his hands and kept his eyes on Jean.

The candlelit room then suddenly got a little darker as Oliver closed his eyes, but as soon as he opened them, the room returned to normal.

Veronica entered the room with a tray with several cups of tea on top of it.

“Anyway, let’s enjoy this wonderful looking tea, shall we?” Oliver asked and Peter nodded excitedly as Veronica took the seat between Peter and Jessica.

Jean was then suddenly overcome by an numbing level of drowsiness.

So much so that his head fell forward, hitting the table with a splash.

His senses then suddenly returned to him revealing that he was in a dining room, yes, but everything was rotten and broken down.

The table itself was a bed of plant life and there didn’t seem to be a roof above him.

Jean then turned to Oliver as he stood up, but something was different.

A faint purple glow could be seen in his eyes.

It was a deep and dark purple.

Jean quickly turned to Ayanna, but she seemed perfectly fine with what was going on as she sat on her moss-covered chair.

Jean stood up before pointing his dagger at the moss-covered Oliver.

His clothes had seemingly become one with the earth and his pale slimy skin made him appear more beast than man.

“What’s going on here?” Jean finally asked.

“Nyoorlun tep! Kaazuk iarlanerun!” Oliver yelled at someone behind Jean, prompting Jean to glance behind himself.

He then saw a sickly, bony and rotten thing that vaguely resembled Peter.

Next to it was the remains of what Jean assumed was once Veronica’s body and in the next seat, sat the bones of a child.

“Papa, we should- hurry!” Peter gurgled even though there was clearly no flesh where the throat was supposed to be.

Ayanna silently watched as Peter waddled toward her.

His blister covered, swollen little feet splashed across the waterlogged floor as he walked.

Ayanna looked at Jean with a curious expression, but his mind simply locked in on getting her out of the house as fast as possible and so he grabbed her hand before forcibly pulling her towards the door.

Ayanna didn’t resist, but her eyes widened with confusion as Jean led her out of the house.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Jean asked as they walked.

Ayanna nodded.

“Somethings wrong with that-" Jean stopped before falling to his knees.

They’d barely managed to get ten meters away from the broken house.

Oliver and his son slowly exited the house.

Ayanna knelt to face Jean to find that his eyes trembled as he tightly squeezed his head.

“My head! It hurts!” Jean cried through gasped teeth.

Ayanna looked back to see Oliver and Peter as they approached.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked.

His clothes dry and his eyes concerned.

“Your friend dragged you out before we could even have dinner,” Oliver said, but Ayanna held Jean’s shoulders.

“Stay away!” He cried, but Ayanna couldn’t make sense of anything.

She then watched as Jean's body started floating.

It then floated to about a meter in the air before something invisible and wet wrapped itself around Ayanna.

Her eyes widened as she too rose from the ground.

Jean then turned to her as a stream of tears fell from his eyes.

“Ayanna!” He yelled.

Ayanna frowned for a moment before her eyes fell upon something sickly.

It looked as though she was being pulled into a gigantic mass of teeth embedded in fleshy gelatinous goo by a bunch of tentacles.

Same as Jean.

Ayanna gasped before violently slashing away the tentacles that coiled around her with her dagger.

“Ah! Papa, that woman hurt me!” Peter cried as Ayanna’s vision blurred out.

“What? Why would you do such a thing?” Oliver asked as he held little Peter in his arms.

Ayanna stood up before rushing toward where Jean was floating.

She then cut the air in front of him and stabbed something cold and meaty in the process.

“Ah!” Oliver cried as some of his fingers fell off.

“What are you doing?” He asked as Jean fell to the ground.

Ayanna then collected her thoughts before taking a deep breath.

She ran towards Oliver only for her vision to blur out again, revealing that a large tentacle was coming her way.

Unable to dodge it in time, Ayanna crossed her arms before being knocked backwards.

“Haaaaa!” Jean yelled as he violently slashed away at the tentacle that was connected to a mass of gelatinous goo.

Ayanna quickly stood up before resuming her attack on the second blob.

She ran towards it to find that it was connected to what looked like the remains of a small boy, only chunks of rotten flesh could be seen here and there.

Ayanna hurriedly stabbed the boy shaped corpse in the head and in the next moment, the mass of gel and tentacles deflated, releasing the foulest of stenches.

“No!” Oliver, or the slimy ball of flesh that called itself Oliver, cried as Jean continued to hack away at its tentacles.

Oliver then moved his slimy self towards Peter’s body, but Ayanna intercepted his path and chopped off even more of his grotesque leathery tentacles.

Oliver didn’t scream as he continuously shifted his weight towards Peter’s corpse.

“Peter!” Oliver gurgled as he crawled to his son’s side.

Ayanna was about to stab Oliver in his right temple, but she stopped as soon as she heard him sobbing.

“No…” Oliver cried as his gelatinous body settled by Peter’s side.

“I… tried.” Oliver sobbed.

“I really did, but nothing can stop the hands of time,” Oliver said as he wept.

Jean walked up to Ayanna as the pain in his head subsided a little.

“Flonaygen oot metarr.” Oliver said, but with a deeper voice.

“No, it wasn’t your fault. I only wish we’d met sooner." Oliver said as a tear ran down his face.

“Brenzlop eeinar, Oliver.” Oliver said with a deeper almost distorted voice.

“Goodbye, Oormaelor,” Oliver said as he let out a deep sigh.

His eyes met those of Jean, who was still burning with rage.

"I guess I have you to thank for all of this." Oliver wheezed.

"What? How can you even speak after all that? Were you trying to eat us or something?" Jean asked as he choked on his anger.

"No, that was not his intention. I beg that understand that he didn't think he had any other choice," Oliver said as more mucous-like liquids poured out from his many scars.

"What?"

"Yes. This was his first time in our world and so I'm sure protecting whatever happiness he could find was his highest priority." Oliver said, but Jean had managed to calm himself substantially.

"Ok, so what was he anyway? I don't think normal beasts can warp reality. It'd be unfair they did." Jean asked.

"He was a transcendent one. I begged him to save my wife and he did so, but it would seem that space and time affect even those from above." Oliver said as he closed his eyes.

One of his leather tentacles reached out to Jean with a necklace with a locket.

Jean accepted it, even though it was coated in a cold layer of mucous.

"A portrait of my family. Please keep it safe. I do apologize for all the trouble Oormaelor caused. He just wanted to feel..."

Ayanna and Jean stood frozen as they gazed upon the two heaps of flesh with faces that vaguely resembled those of humans.

“What in the actual fuck was that?” Jean asked.

Ayanna’s shoulders dropped as she looked at the carrel.

Jean did the same only to realize that the carrel was just a pit of mud and moss.

“Should we continue?” Jean asked.

His eyes narrowed at the sudden appearance of a thick forest behind the house.

Ayanna tapped his shoulder before walking towards the dark woods.

Jean sighed before joining her.