The fireball floating in his skeletal minion's hand illuminated the large mound of rotting, bloated flesh. Shane was immediately reminded of how he would keep his dirty clothes piled behind his bedroom door in his younger years. This is something I would do, the thought making him shiver. What made this Cain different? He didn't know, but a hunch told him they would find out soon enough.

Alabaster walked up next to Shane and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. The vampire did not react to the gore pile before him—his face was frozen and lacking all emotion. Jeeze, how many decomposing bodies has this guy seen? Shane thought with an absurd, silent chuckle.

Liz slowly floated up next to Alabaster. She tried and failed to stifle a loud gasp, making Shane's body hair stand on end with anxiety.

"Liz!" Shane quietly shouted with a look of dismay, his eyes darting around the room towards the dark corners and endlessly black hallways.

Towards the left side of the open chamber were similarly sized hills of trash full of half-broken wooden objects and twisted metal shapes. To the right were troves of smaller organic waste matter piles that Shane didn't want to get any closer to. Thankfully he didn't see any movement within the shadows these various piles were casting.

"Sorry!" She whispered to the group, "I don't do well with surprises."

Shane was just about to tease her with a snarky response when a noise down a blackened hallway came bouncing into the chamber.

"Frieeeeeends?"

The voice sounded strange at first, but he instinctively knew it. Oh god. It's him, Cain, ME! He thought as he told Mage to cancel its firelight spell, plunging them all into darkness. Why did he feel so immediately afraid of this Cain? Was it because the last one was so strong? No, that wasn't it.

Muffled sounds of shoeless bare feet came echoing down the hallway on the far side of the chamber. The speed and alacrity of Cain's rapid footfall spurred Shane into action.

"We all need to hide, NOW!" Shane said in an alarmingly desperate tone.

It sounded strange to his ears, but that was how he felt. Liz was the first to move, seemingly eager to prove herself after her audible mistake. She propelled herself head-first into the mound of decaying flesh behind the door. Following her lead, Alabaster transformed into a bat. He took off toward the ceiling to find something to latch onto and observe without fear of getting caught.

Shane had already started moving as Alabaster transformed. He dove into the shadows of a massive pile of broken wooden objects. At the same time, making sure to avoid the sharp pieces of reflective metal sticking out of the next pile over. Seconds later, the sound of running entered the chamber fully and abruptly stopped.

"Master, why do we hide?" asked Sharlot, her tiny voice beaming into his mind from within his now turned-up hood.

He took a second to calm his slightly labored breathing and planned on giving her a response. Except, he couldn't give her a clear and concise answer. His feeling afraid was too vague to feel comfortable admitting. He put a single finger to his mouth to signify he would stay silent for now. She responded with a couple of playful pokes to the side of his neck.

A pang of regret made itself known within his heart. Shane didn't like feeling like he was ignoring her—master-minion relationship be damned. I'll find out and then let you know, Sharlot. I just need a second. He cleared his mind with a quick shake of his head and noticed his eyes had since adjusted to the room's darkness. The soft blue glow radiating from the many fungi near the river was now much more noticeable.

Shane had his back to the pile he was hiding behind. He slowly and quietly shuffled onto his knees—careful not to make a sound or disturb the pile of loose, wooden garbage. The pieces that made the pile were large enough to leave small openings Shane could see through. Like that of a wooden fence or bathroom stall door.

At first, all he could see was the bluish glow of the fungi. Suddenly, a flurry of quick movement caught Shane's eye before he realized Cain was standing only a meter in front of his covert position. The holes within the pile were small, but there were many. Starting from the lowest hole revealed Cain's nearly translucent white skin that was somehow lighter than Alabaster's pale hide.

Shane ever so slowly peered through the next higher hole, and then the next, and the next. It must have been his luck that kept Cain standing still where he was while primarily visible in the putrid river's light. While Shane's body had a bit of muscle over a bony frame, Cain's body was far more emaciated than Shane's real-life body ever was. Not only that, but Cain's feet were the size of a child's while his hands were that of a giant's.

Not just a giant's hands either. They were more like the clawed hands of an especially large hybrid. Shane held his own gasp upon realizing the reason behind Cain's tiny feet. His body parts were grafted on as superior replacements. Is this what the madness drove him to do after failing the system? He asked himself sorrowfully.

Shock immediately replaced Shane's sorrow when a quick swipe of Cain's sizeable clawed hand sent the entirety of the nearby metal pile flying against the wall behind Shane's hiding spot. He had to force himself to remain silent as jagged pieces of iron and steel landed on him.

-5 HP

-7 HP

-6 HP

A few pieces managed to sink into his left leg, right arm, and lower back. Shane bit his lip and yanked the metal pieces free. They clanged against the ground roughly when the other falling metal parts landed on the stone floor. He took quick and shallow breaths and focused only on staying quiet.

"Frieeeends leeeave?" asked Cain disappointedly as his milky sightless eyes darted from one end of the room to the other.

While raising himself higher to see, Shane noticed just how long Cain's hair was. His wavy white hair fell past his waist while his bangs covered most of his broken nose. Shane continued watching Cain as the withered man played in the disgusting wastewater. It almost looked like a dance of sorts. Perhaps a Cain of culture?

The bioluminescence of the fungi revealed many filthy rags wrapped around Cain's body. Shane was too far to see if the rags were loot of powerful rarity, but he was close enough to see Cain's aura.

The aura was a swirling bloody black. Shane instinctively knew that a black aura relative to his own meant Cain was twice as powerful as he was, if not more.

He's so strong! Maybe even stronger than Taeshi! I can't fight him, not like this, He thought as sweat broke out across his entire body.

"We hide because this man could likely wipe us all out. We are no match, but I do have a plan," Shane very quietly whispered to his arachnid companion.