The proximity of Old Titan City to Titan City was primarily a factor of distance. We had traveled down hundreds of feet below in our scaling of the wall. From Titan City’s existing entrances, those were usually sloping paths to lifts, mechanical contraptions maintained in case of the need to evacuate. Hence our appearance down here— evacuation to the old city would be impossible with the spike feeders littering the realm. Cleaning them was not only our job but a measure of preparation for the worst.

That’s why it was strange to sense a presence above the others, an unmoving signature. My range didn’t reach back up to the city above for my electroreception. Whatever body that it was at the perimeter of my perception was down here with us, and yet unbothered by the rampant numbers of the monsters. I presumed they were unbothered, anyway, given their isolation compared to the activity of the rest of the activity within the area.

It was a bold choice to be in the area of spike feeders, let alone in Old Titan city. Unless someone had the strength or confidence to know that the spike feeders couldn’t harm them. It was suspicious. It was strange. It was many parts wrong. The constant onslaught of the spike feeders faded at that constant sense of wrong. The nagging sensation that whoever it was shouldn’t be there. Not moving. Just staying still.

I simply hadn’t known how to communicate it to the rest of the team. What kind of explanation could I give that would make sense?

“Someone’s not moving.” Easily refuted. It’s not unusual to try and hide from a spike feeder attack.

“Someone’s down in Old Titan City.” Odd, but not impossible. We had to come down in an indirect manner, but channels are open above. Perhaps even used to get around by unscrupulous sorts.

“I think someone’s spying on us.” Possible, but how would that be defined? The aforementioned thoughts? It’s was all instinct, really. I didn’t have any firmer evidence.

Maybe it was something else entirely, the words that would move them alone with an explanation to follow later. Maybe I had to have them believe in me, like how I believed in… well, most of them. Trust was a precious commodity that I couldn’t freely give out, but in times of such peril, they would have to listen to me. That, of course, wouldn’t matter if I couldn’t even find a good time to share my suspicions.

Moving to our now position had guaranteed that we could cover every angle, but the numbers weren’t dropping any less. I felt like I’d seen every kind of spike feeder at this point, maybe even some duplicates if that was even a thing. That would be a question for Brunhilde, I supposed. If there was ever time for that, or if she would ever deign to speak with me outside of work.

Even if I had seen two that had similar bestial features, the arrangement of their spikes was never the same, let alone the other physical attributes being space and shaped slightly different. It was a trend one could get lost in if they had the time, but the only time I had was to be spent mauling down as many of the monsters that got in my way. I didn’t bother using my spurs for any of this. I needed a faster option that was less likely to distract. The spurs were my final option, which meant I couldn’t rely on them. Even this endless barrage could be utilized as another form of training.

Thoughts languished in my head, mingling with my concern for the mysterious watcher. I couldn’t have them here any longer. Not until a proper opening appeared amidst the fighting. I couldn’t be distracted lest my concerns become wasted, my vulnerability harming the others by my inaction and lack of focus.

A winged spike feeder lunged overhead, its gray mottled wings tattered, barely carrying off of the ground. I drew a line in the air between us, releasing my Direct Current. The electricity traveled along the path, zigzagging down the trajectory before piercing the skin. The beast shuddered, body convulsing from the attack, plummeting onto the amassed beasts below it.

The spikes below pierced through the flesh, the flying spike feeder punctured as though perched upon a pincushion. Of course, due to the nature of their forms, this piercing attack was bi-directional, the ones below just as riddled with corresponding holes. It was an opening born of chance, only as possible as the enemies that came my way. For those that only traveled on the ground, I could only meet them as they came, but when others came from the sky, I could set them onto their cohort for some collateral damage.

Another one slithered along the ground, spikes carving out grooves with each sway of its form, slicing into the still corpses from prior engagements. It was curiously devoid of limbs, essentially a long rod of spikes and hatred. I wasn’t going to complain though.

I Electromuted its essentially sole muscle and shoved my spur into its form, the rigid creature screaming an unearthly wail. The guttural noise reverberated through its frozen body before it collapsed, dead and starting to stiffen. “Vera, why don’t you toss one down, like a giant log?”

She stepped aside a slow claw, slammed her horns into the waiting chest and faced me in one fluid moment, eyebrows perched high upon her brow. “Wouldn’t hurt,” she shrugged, lunging for the corpse.

She hefted it with ease into the air, hands finding purchase where no spikes protruded, and flung it down at the incoming throng of enemies. It mowed into the many raging bodies, battering them back, grouping them together by the piercing spikes sticking out of the corpse.

“Look, I didn’t want to say anything when there was no space to move,” I started, frantically scanning the area, searching to see if that presence had come any closer but they were exactly where they were before. “But I think Vera’s made a sufficient opening. I’m sensing something weird. Can you trust me, and we’ll continue moving forward?”

“Of course we trust you,” Mia said. “Besides, I’m not really a fan of staying out here. This is even more exhausting than using my techniques. If we don’t find somewhere to rest, I’m going to collapse and you’ll be swarmed over.”

I looked at her at the corner of my eyes, noticing her drooping arms and sweat-ridden body. Her steps to stay vertical were shaky, upper half slumping from a bad pivot. She lunged into a spike feeder, daggers finding purchase, but the effort to extract them was evident. Her arms shook as she worked the metal out of the monster’s corpse, chest rapidly rising from the exertion.

“Looks like our need to believe you coincides with our need to escape, Perry. Let’s go. Let’s find our exit. Let’s tactically regroup. Mia, take up the middle and catch a breather.. Vera, you and I will blast us through. Perry and Alain, keep an eye out for stragglers and surgically remove them. Understood?”

We grunted in agreement, in time for Vera and Javier to barrel on forward through the avenue Vera had created moments before. We pushed on ahead, those in front ensuring there would be no further obstructions, only a passage clear of bodies.

While the horde swelled behind us, we were more focused on getting ahead. Escaping was the only option for survival, given it seemed like no matter how much we killed, their ranks would swell up again once more.

What we needed was another way of solving the problem, perhaps away from the watchful presence of the unseen stranger, but before that we needed a moment to even think of what to do. There was no room to come up with anything else, unless we could find a better place to take shelter from the unrelenting assault.

“Look for someplace they’re avoiding,” Alain commanded.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize we were doing the obvious option,” Vera replied, goring an errant beast with a flick of her horns. It smashed into a wall, collapsing the brittle bricks behind it, a cloud of dust arising from the crumbling matter.

With an obvious opening created, this was the moment to disappear from the pack of ravenous beasts behind us. We filtered through the wall of particles, winding down the streets of the ruined city until we made it to an area bereft of the beasts.

This was perhaps the one section that seemed devoid of the monsters. It couldn’t be chance to come across it. We wouldn’t have stopped until our senses found the part devoid of the monsters. It was just a matter of time and effort, hastened by our need to escape.

We were in a small closed off area, a partially ruined building evocative of the ruins we had lost Gunter in not too long ago. Strange containers lining the walls, and disturbingly, corpses of spike feeders littered all over the floor. There was a strange energy pervading through the air, a sensation pulling at the skin.

Something was very wrong in this room.

“Are you feeling that?” I muttered. I moved over to the door we had burst through, looking for something to cover it with. Didn’t want a spike feeder to somehow find its way into the room, which seemed evidently possible given the remains we danced around with each step.

“Feeling what? Uncomfortable with the corpses in the room? Yes, Perry. We don’t like that either,” Mia said.

“Not that,” I spat back. “There’s something else going on.”

“I’d say. Look at these corpses. There’s no sign of external damage to the bodies. How did they all die?” Vera asked, prodding at one of the corpses with her feet. The gray body turned over, just as unblemished on the other side.

“Do you really want to know that question or would you prefer leaving this dump as soon as we can?” Mia replied, pulling Vera closer to her. A silent nod was all it took, the two unwilling to part.

Alain, however, had seemingly caught on to the sensation I pointed out, patrolling the room for whatever it was that wasn’t right.

“Is it in the containers?” he asked, face nearly pressed up against the glass. “What’s giving off that… not a stench. Whatever it is has my hairs on end.”

“I can’t say I’m noticing it,” Javier said. “Let me check the perimeter while you continue to investigate. I’m the best suited for the job, after all.” He faded into nothingness, his camouflage hiding him from our sight. I could track him with my electroreception but it wasn’t him who I wasn concerned about.

“By the way, while I don’t disagree with our running away there, what spooked you?” Alain said, turning back to me. His brows were furrowed in concentration.

“I know this will sound strange, but there’s someone else in the city. Another person.”

“You don’t mean Gunter, right? We can’t call him a person anymore,” Mia interjected, pulling herself back into the conversation.

“No, Mia. I obviously didn’t mean Gunter. If we could even call that spike feeder that. There’s someone sitting up above, perched away from the rest of the spike feeders, unmoving. They’re alive. They’re in range of my electroreception, which is to say, with us in Old Titan City.”

“You know that could just be—”

“Yes, I know that could be someone from up above, but that would still be strange to me. Why would they be lingering there? I didn’t like the sensation of their presence. It was wrong. It was unwanted. It was out of place.”

“It’s also got you speaking like Javier,” Mia said, casting a glance behind her, as though she expected our leader to pop out of nothing, but that was an erroneous assumption. There was only Vera by her side.

“Oh hush,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “My instincts said whoever it was was bad. I wanted out of there. We’re here. Was that such a problem?”

“Probably not,” she admitted, shrugging in recognition of my statement. “Even if it is explainable, you’re right, it doesn’t make it less weird. Especially in light of the signal Brunhilde said was out there. Which we’re still struggling to find.”

“I’m struggling to find,” Alain interjected. “You’re standing around talking about Perry’s insecurities. I feel like it’s somewhere in this room, but I can’t put my finger on what’s giving off the signal. I hate this sensation, now that I’m aware of it.”

“What if you tried to triangulate the signal?” I offered.

“Don’t you think I would have already tried that?” Alain groaned. “Whatever is producing this sensation manages to exude it in a manner that makes the sensation seem as though it’s coming from everywhere in the room. At most I can narrow it down to this building. Why don’t you take a look instead of defending yourself further?”

I shook my head, confused at his abrasive nature. For all of his sour approaches, this had been the most overt negativity I had run into. Perhap this was a reflection of his own anxiety at the situation. He had been so desperate to keep his own emotions in check, but even the infallible Alain wasn’t immune to the hardships of stress.

“Fine, I will.”

“Great. Do so, then,” he replied, taking a seat against a stone pillar. Tension fled his body as he finally sat at ease. I guessed it was my turn to take up the burden if the others wouldn’t. I tuned my electroreception, checking for activity similar to that I had seen within the dungeon. If there was anything emitting a signal, it would have to be something like that. I didn’t think it could be a living creature. We would have had to notice something like that in the room already, or so I hoped. If we had missed a creature, that would have had grave implications for our team’s capabilities.

“Are you done doing things there?” Javier called out. “They’re starting to approach our direction. You might want to hurry up.”

Great, exactly what we needed. More pressure. As though we didn’t know we were on a clock as it was. I narrowed my electroreception’s radius, focusing it on our environment. There was Vera and Mia holding one another, drawing comfort from the interlude from the violence. There was Alain requiring his own reprieve, body strained from the extended exertion. Outside was Javier, anxiously monitoring the situation, his body flitting about the perimeter. He never stopped. There was no time to stop with the ever evolving situation. And elsewhere inside of this building there was a strange element in the air, a distortion all but invisible to the eye. That… was not what I was expecting to see.

I circled around the shimmering element, wondering what I was looking at. In response to my unsaid inquiry, a prompt popped up.

Interface with the sigil? Yes/No

Oh. One of the box situations. Not a good omen to run into. One I could handle, but not one I could well enough explain. But that didn’t mean I could ignore it. We had a job to do, and that meant I couldn’t skirt my responsibilities.

I accepted the invitation, noting the new box that popped up in front of me.

Summoning Sigil Remaining Duration: 999999435 years. Adjust the duration?

Obviously I wanted it shut down. I agreed, setting the duration to zero, the sensation pervading the area fading into nothingness. I saw Alain’s eyes shoot open, his head tilting about seeking an unknown answer to his unstated question. I wouldn’t be the one to answer it though.

“I don’t know whatever it is you did, but they seem to be departing the city. Well done, team,” Javier shouted from the outside.

I sighed in relief, happy that we had managed to push through this crisis, if only for the moment. “Should we pick up the body then?”

“The body?”

“Gunter’s body.”

“Oh. I suppose so.”

What better thing to bring back than bad news amidst the good.