"Hold them down!"
The shout, loud and frayed, tore through the night. The sound was almost swallowed by the roars and thunderous explosions of the elemental blasts.
"Don't let those fuckers escape!"
A group of Awakeners, each one an heir to a godly power, unleashed their abilities into a sprawling horde of grotesque monsters. These abominations, their forms twisted and alien, felt fundamentally wrong.
The group's attacks created vibrant elemental discharges, flames, bolts, and winds in crimson, azure, and emerald hues. These colors flashed, momentarily illuminating the perpetually twilight sky.
Wind blades, sliced through the necks of the monster in their path with guesome efficiency. A wet, sickening thwack signaled the severance of spine and flesh, sending grotesque heads tumbling to the dusty ground.
Elsewhere, crystalline icy spikes, pierced the monsters' bodies with unsettling ease, creating clean, fatal holes through leathery hides and vitals. Creeping vines, coiled around a few of the trashing creatures, crushing limbs and skulls with audible snaps.
At the very back of the battle zone, where the intensity of the conflict was slightly muted, Kael was struggling. His battle with a single, cunning monster that had outmaneuvered the front line and found its way to the rear.
Kael was acutely aware of his place in this hierarchy—he was only a Rank 1 Awakened, the lowest possible tier. His Soul Sea was a shallow, barely tranquil pond compared to the serene ocean of his companions.
His designated role, a constant role of humiliation, was to carry gear for his teammates, heavy packs loaded with scavenged items and meager supplies. He couldn't run fast, his legs aching with every laboured step, and inevitably, his foot caught on a monster's corpse sending him sprawling to the ground. The impact jarred his teeth, sending a jolt of pain up his spine.
The monster chasing him, a low-tier beast with eyes that glowed with a dull, malevolent hunger, capitalized on his fall. The beast lunged at him, its huge mouth, filled with rows of jagged, broken teeth, opened wide. The foul, hot breath that washed over Kael smelled of decaying meat and something indescribably alien.
Panic erupted in Kael's chest. Instinctively, he spun around on reflex, a clumsy, desperate contortion of his body. He thrust his crudely sharpened dagger upward driven by unthinking need to survive.
The blade found its anchor deep within the monster's gaping mouth, piercing its throat. It screamed loudly in agony, making Kael's ears ring.
Its body thrashing violently for a few heartbeats before it spasmed once, then twice, and finally fell to the ground, lifeless, its twisted limbs splayed out in unnatural positions.
Kael sat there, chest heaving, gasping for air, splattered in the beast's black blood, his own heart pounding against his ribs.
He had killed it. A Rank 1 Awakened, barely able to defend himself, had survived, again.
"What are you doing, shit head? Why aren't you collecting the soul shards?!"
A man's voice, harsh and filled with and an almost casual contempt, sliced through the ringing in Kael's ears. It sounded from on top of the pile of monster corpses, a grotesque mountain of decaying flesh and broken bones.
"..."
Kael didn't answer, nor did he need to. He didn't have to look up to confirm its source. His jaw clenched in a mixture of anger and resignation.
He already knew, with a certainty born from endless repetition—it was Budd, one of the guild members, a constant, sneering tormentor whose existence seemed solely dedicated to reminding Kael of his insignificant place within their hierarchy.
The constant ridicule from Budd was a dull ache Kael has grown accustomed to, a grim part of his life.
A barely audible sigh escaped Kael's lips as he stood up. He walked to the monster he had just killed, its large, alien form already cooling, and pulled a shimmering blue crystal shard from its chest. It pulsed faintly, a cold, smooth object in his slightly trembling hand.
"Asshole," Budd muttered again, a final insult, before he turned and left Kael there alone, surrounded by the stench of the recently dead.
Gritting his teeth, Kael began to climb the pile of corpses, each step sinking slightly into the soft, decaying flesh. He started collecting the soul shards, beginning from the ones on top.
He covered his nose and mouth with a tattered cloth, a futile attempt to endure the overwhelming, putrid smell that emanated from the rotting bodies. Their black blood, and their decaying flesh reeked like a vile mix of clogged sewers and rotten eggs, a miasma so potent it almost brought tears to his eyes.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally finished collecting the soul shards. The once-staked corpses, were now scattered around, all with their chests torn open.
Holding the latest soul shard he had pulled, Kael looked towards his guild members. His heart sank, a cold dread washing over him.
They were now facing something even more horrifying than before—a gigantic, cyclopean monster, its single, sinister eye glowing with an unholy light, radiating pure malice.
And beside it, a colossal fire giant, its body wreathed in roaring, hungry flames, its presence radiating immense, suffocating heat. Both were surrounded by swarms of smaller, twisted creatures.
Kael saw two of his team already lying dead in the ground, their sacrifices were meaningless in the face of such overwhelming power. The other rushed toward him, their faces pale with exhaustion and terror, dragging their injured members. They were all broken, on the verge of shattering.
They streamed past Kael, who stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at those gigantic monsters, their immense forms silhouetted against the distant, corrupted skyline.
"Hey, you wanna die?!"
Someone, a blur of panicked movement and desperate breath, bellowed, yanking him roughly behind a meager pile of rubble, along with the other guild-members.
The monsters' roars grew louder, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Kael's heart sank further as he realized their chances of survival were dwindling.
The guild members exchanged desperate glances, their faces etched with fear and resignation.