Every step froze the earth beneath him, stealing the essence of life from all that existed in his path. The vortex no longer existed. No silent stillness followed him now, but he still took from that which graced his skin. A curse for some, eventually, but for new it was a warm meal after a cold, hard day. It was... filling. Yet still not enough.
He could feel them quite easily now. They were closer. He sped up, attempting to break into a sprint but still not quite that strong yet. Slowing back down, he made his way toward them.
___
Victor, the behemoth that he was , simply stepped off the edge and fell to the ground. His companion,Bishop, did the same, cracking the ground beneath him.
"Show off", Bishop sighed, eyeing the lack of dust covering Victor as he begrudgingly dusted his pants off.
"You think it'll be here soon, or are we going to have to hunt it down?" Victor replied with impatience.
"Can't you smell him? I thought your kind was good at that sort of thing." Bishop started, much to Victor's annoyance.
"In fact, I heard..."
Before he could finish, the air chilled. Footsteps approached, accompanied by the sound of cracking ice.
Then the world fell silent, not to fear alone, but the very concept of sound ceasing to exist.
'It's a Void'
___
The root of the outposts problems was currently racing towards a literal hole in the ground as the Void made its way closer. Having realize how genuinely screwed he was, the boy went back to the very people who gave him the corpse in the first place.
Knocking the latch three times, it opened to him facing a young boy seemingly a bit older than himself.
"Leo it made a Vortex", he quickly spat out.
The young blond boy who seemed to have just woken up, looked the grave digger up and down as his face went through a million emotions, finally settling on pure horror as he slammed the latched shut in his face.
"Open this damn door damn door or i swear i'll rip your-"
"I was getting my coat", Leo interrupted as he swung the door back open. "is it here? Do you know what it is yet?"
Leo looked at the boy in front of him for a moment, noticing the pure hatred he exuded.
"No Clue." The boy finally replied. " A wraith maybe? hopefully anyway. The vortex was big though so no way to be sure."
"Whatever it is we can't just let it rampage, it's my fault for giving you the corpse." Leo replied, as they start walking. "It's probably just a wraith like you said."
"Just a wraith? Are you Insane?" The hatred in his eyes was gone, replaced by confusion, soon morphing into pity. "Ah, you spent too long down in that hole didn't you? The lack of oxygen is getting to you."
Leo breaks off into a sprint towards the outposts gates, looking back at the boy. "We can't fight a creature like that obviously, but having his real name might help out!"
The boy ran beside Leo. "You damn knight! Just do it quickly and don't stick around!"
Leo smiled, trying to respond but no words left his lips. In fact, no noises were made at all. Nothing but the sound of cracking ice.
___
The Void , empty and hungry as it was, did not pounce at the men like some animal. It watched, waited and with an eerie inhuman intelligence it understood.
"Are you still conscious?" Victor asked from across the clearing.
It stayed quiet for a moment, wondering how the man could still speak, then answered. "I think so, i don't quite remember who I am or how I died though."
Looking behind him at the gate, a small bead of sweat trickled down from his brow and fell to Victors feet.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Victor steeled his nerves. " I'm sorry they let this happen to you, but your journey ends here."
The air chilled a bit more, and the Void took a step forward only to be met with a blade piercing its neck from behind.
"Hold it still." Bishop's voice came from the empty space behind it, leaving the creature confused.
Victor appeared before them a moment later, having crossed the clearing, swinging a cleaver down towards the creatures head.
With Bishop's blade still planted firmly in its neck, it moved. It forced the sharp blade to sever its throat completely, escaping through an open wound at the front, all to dodge Victors swing.
It swung towards Bishop behind it, forcing him to dodge and swiftly rolling away from both of them and creating some distance.
The pair gave each other a look for only half a second before Bishop once again disappeared into nothingness.
Having rolled out the way, temporarily safe, the only thing the creature felt was agony. Its throat had been torn open by the blade, and it felt all of it. Yet, this did not affect it at all.
The grass beneath its feet had died but without something with a soul it knew it wouldn't heal.
Looking behind it a moment, it made a blind swing kick behind itself, prompting Victor flash towards it with his cleaver falling even faster. The insidious creature was ready however, barely dodging the swing and attempting to shoulder throw Victor.
He does not budge, instead holding the Void in place as Bishop sends his blade right through the monsters heart, then his kidneys and lungs.
As Bishop tore into its flesh, the void met his gaze with a chilling sense of understanding. It bent its restrained arms at an irregular angle, popping them from their sockets and freeing itself. Once again escaping the pairs trap.
___
The boys had made it to the closed gate. Opening it, they witnessed the short yet bloody clashes between the guards and the creature they were fighting.
The young Boys looked pale. Leo had never witnessed such carnage, while the grave digger noted the thing's utter disregard for its own physical wellbeing.
The Silence had led them to figure out it was a Void before they ever made it here, but seeing the battle all but confirmed their greatest fears.
Pulling against his friends arm, Leo attempted to pull them both away and run. The boy quickly followed but hit his head against Leo's as he had frozen in place.
Looking up at the blond boys face, he knew exactly what that look meant.
Leo frantically looked around him, finding a window. He shattered it with a rock lying around and, much to his companions dismay, cut his hand with it. Writing a name on the largest piece with his own blood.