The day had been long, but the work was necessary.
Raven shifted uncomfortably, wincing as Xin adjusted the bindings around his shoulder. The healing process was strange...Xin didn't have to see his wounds to mend them. His power worked through the armor itself, seeping into the very material like hands of unseen energy. It was an odd sensation, but Raven couldn't deny its effectiveness.
"You're lucky," Xin murmured, his voice quiet, more to himself than anyone else. "If I hadn't figured this out, you'd still be bleeding under all that metal."
Raven gave a weak grunt. "You're getting better at this."
Xin didn't reply, only secured the last of the healing work before stepping back. Ether was their most valuable resource, the key to survival. And they were burning through it more than they could replenish.
Belial had come up with a plan—one that was simple, calculated....They could scavenge what was already dead. No unnecessary fights, no risks beyond what was needed.
They had moved swiftly under the cover of darkness, following the scent of death to where the beasts had fallen. Their work was precise: carve out the meat, extract the ether, and retreat before anything noticed them. They could only take from two or three monsters per person per night—anything more, and they risked being overwhelmed by the raw, unfiltered ether in their bodies before Xin could refine it for them.
Tonight had been a fair haul. Belial carried the skin sack filled with carved meat slung over his shoulder, and Raven held onto the two hollowed-out horns they used to store water. But that was the problem. They had no water tonight.
The lake had been off-limits too at the time, many monsters nearby. They had seen the eyes watching them from the distance, glowing softly in the blackness, the quiet rasp of breath too close for comfort. Going there would have been suicide.
So they had turned back.
The cave wasn't far now.
Raven exhaled slowly, adjusting his grip on his weapon as he followed Belial's lead. He was tired. They all were. The weight of scavenging, the constant state of alertness, it was wearing them thin.
But then—
A they heard subtle noise.
A shuffle, barely audible, but Belial heard it first.
His hand shot up in an instant, signaling them to stop.
Raven's breath hitched. His hands balled up to a fist. Beside him, Xin pressed himself against the rock wall, his heartbeat thudding so loud he swore it would give them away.
They weren't alone.
Belial's posture changed, muscles tensing, his stance low and defensive. His eyes swept the darkness ahead, scanning. Then his face hardened.
This wasn't a just monster.
This was worse.
The real scavengers were here.
The ones who didn't just take from the dead.
The ones who killed to take.
Xin swallowed hard. The shapes were moving in the distance now—shadows against the deeper black of the night. Silent, methodical, waiting. They were different from the beasts they fought. There was no mindless hunger here.
There was purpose.
Belial barely had time to think.
With a swift, near-silent movement, he grabbed Xin's wrist and shoved him into the narrow crevice of the cave entrance.
"Stay quiet," he hissed.
Raven followed suit, pressing himself deeper into the rock's shadow, his grip tightening on his blade.
The night seemed to stretch unbearably, the silence heavier than before. The scavengers were patient. They weren't charging in recklessly. That was the worst part. They knew they were here. They were waiting. Watching.
A test.
Belial's jaw clenched. He knew how this worked. If they moved too soon, they'd be exposed. If they hesitated too long, they'd be surrounded. Either way, the outcome was the same.
One of the scavengers moved...a brief instance of motion in the dark. Another followed. They were closing in.
Xin exhaled through his nose, steadying himself. He could feel the unfiltered ether still thrumming in his veins, stolen from the corpses they had harvested earlier. It wasn't ready. He wasn't ready. If he tried to channel it now, it could burn him out.
They needed an escape.
Belial made the first move.
A sharp sound, a pebble skittering across the cave floor—deliberate. A misdirection.
A rustle of movement. A shift in the shadows.
The scavengers reacted instantly.
And that was their opening.
"Now!" Belial barked, already moving.
Raven lunged, cutting through the darkness with practiced efficiency, his blade catching the faintest glint of moonlight. Xin bolted in the opposite direction, heart pounding, barely managing to keep his breath even as he sprinted through the narrow passage.
The scavengers were fast. But they had expected hesitation, not precision.
Raven ducked low, avoiding the swipe of a claw meant to take his throat. He retaliated, lashing out a Egregious hook. A cry of pain, but not enough to kill. It wasn't meant to. Just enough to create space.
Belial was already ahead, guiding Xin through the maze of stone. Their plan wasn't to fight. It was to escape.
Xin risked a glance back—and his stomach dropped.
One of the scavengers wasn't chasing them.
They were circling around. Cutting them off.
Belial saw it too. A curse left his lips. They had miscalculated. The scavengers weren't just following them.
They were herding them like cattle.
Panic surged in Xin's chest as he stumbled forward. No, they couldn't afford this. If they got trapped—
Then the darkness erupted.
A roar, not human. A force, not of the scavengers.
The shadows shifted, Those monsters that could fly Scattered. something massive was moving in the blackness beyond.
Xin barely had time to react before something else emerged from the night.
Something worse.
And then—
Everything went black.
The world flickered between consciousness and void.
Xin's body was weightless, as if he had been ripped from reality itself. For a moment, he couldn't tell if he was still running, still breathing, still alive. The darkness swallowed everything—his sight, his thoughts, his senses.
Then, suddenly, sound slammed back into him like a tidal wave.
A deafening roar.
A monstrous, guttural cry that sent ice through his veins. The air vibrated with its force, shaking the very walls of the cave. Xin gasped, his body lurching back into motion as he stumbled forward, hands slamming against cold rock. His breath was ragged, his pulse hammering in his ears.
Something was here.
IT was Not the scavengers..no it was Something worse.
He heard Raven's voice, sharp and urgent. "Xin, move!"
Instinct kicked in before thought. Xin scrambled forward, his feet nearly slipping on the uneven ground. Behind him, the darkness writhed, shifting, something moving within it—massive, lumbering, unnatural.
Belial was already in motion, pulling Xin roughly to his feet. His grip was tight, bordering on painful. "We need to go. Now."
"What was that?" Xin managed, his throat dry, his voice barely more than a whisper.
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
The scavengers had scattered. Whatever had arrived in the night had driven them away. And that alone was terrifying. The scavengers were predators, brutal and calculating. For them to flee so quickly meant one thing—
They knew what this was.
And they knew they couldn't fight it.
Raven was already ahead, leading the way deeper into the narrow rock passage, moving with urgency. The cave was their only chance. If they ran into open ground now, they'd be exposed, vulnerable to both the scavengers and whatever horror had emerged from the blackness.
The sound of something massive shifting behind them sent another shock of adrenaline through Xin's system. He didn't dare look back.
They ran.
The cave was a labyrinth, twisting and turning in ways that even Belial hadn't fully mapped out. The air inside was damp, heavy with the scent of stone and earth. It pressed around them, suffocating, the walls narrowing the deeper they went.
They didn't stop until the roar faded into the distance.
Silence.
Xin collapsed against the rough stone, chest heaving. His arms shook from the effort of keeping himself upright.
No one spoke.
For several moments, the only sound was the rasp of their breath, the faintest echo of dripping water somewhere deep within the cave. The air was thick with unspoken fear.
Raven was the first to move, pressing a hand to the cave wall, as if grounding himself. His expression was unreadable, his sharp eyes flickering toward the entrance, now swallowed in darkness. "We're not going back out there for a while."
Belial exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the tension. "No argument here."
Xin wiped the sweat from his brow, his hands still trembling slightly. "What was that?"
No one answered immediately.
Because no one wanted to.
Belial's gaze darkened. "Something that isn't supposed to be here..yet."
That was all he needed to say.
Something worse than monsters.
Something worse than them.
The reality settled over them like a weight, heavy and unshakable. Whatever had entered the night had sent predators scattering. It had watched them, unseen, unchallenged. And now, it knew them.
Belial swallowed hard. They had survived scavengers. They had survived Horrid monsters.
But this?
This was something different.
And the worst part?
They had no clue what was going to happen next.