The creatures moved all at once.
Their surge was not natural…
More like an explosion of flesh and bone, as if a single thing controlled them all.
Distorted shrieks tore through the silence, and twisted bodies emerged from between the ruined houses, climbing walls, crawling over rooftops, and descending into the streets like hungry insects.
They were many…
Too many.
—
"Get back!"
Syrn shouted, as multiple magic circles appeared around him simultaneously.
Spears of wind, sharp and swift, launched forth, tearing through the first row of creatures.
But…
Even after being pierced…
They kept moving.
Slowly.
Stubbornly.
As if pain… no longer meant anything to them.
—
Lyra quickly raised her hands, and blue threads of light surged around her, forming a wide barrier before them.
In the next instant…
Three creatures slammed into it at once.
The barrier cracked.
Lyra gritted her teeth, and beads of sweat began to slide down her forehead.
"They are stronger than expected!"
—
Cain did not wait.
He lunged forward, fire blazing around his fists.
He struck the first creature in the face, exploding half its head, then spun quickly and kicked the second in the chest, sending it crashing into a wall.
But the third…
Appeared directly behind him.
Its long claws thrust toward his neck.
—
"Cain!"
—
Before the claws could touch him…
The creature disappeared.
No…
It didn't disappear.
It…
Disintegrated.
Its body collapsed into black dust, as if something had devoured it from within in an instant.
—
Nir stood behind him.
His hand outstretched.
And his eyes…
Cold.
—
"Too slow to touch me…"
—
The voice came from his mouth, but it wasn't entirely his voice.
It was deeper.
Heavier.
—
Cain swallowed hard and took a step back involuntarily.
For the first time…
He felt that the creatures before him were not the most dangerous thing here.
—
Nir raised his head slowly.
He looked at the village.
At the alleyways.
At the shadows.
Then…
He felt it.
—
All those creatures…
Were connected to one thing.
A pulse.
Distant.
Heavy.
Somewhere inside the village.
—
"The source…"
The voice within him whispered.
"If you devour it… everything ends."
—
A step.
Then another.
He began to walk.
Unconcerned with the shouting behind him.
Unconcerned with the creatures moving toward him.
—
Because whenever one approached…
It would disappear.
Disintegrate.
Collapse.
As if his presence alone…
Was enough to make their magic unravel.
—
The air around him began to change.
It became heavier.
Colder.
And darker.
—
"What is… happening to him?"
Lyra whispered, watching him.
—
"I don't know…"
Syrn said in a low voice.
"…But I feel the magic around him disappearing."
—
And he was right.
The further Nir advanced…
The magic circles in the air began to fade.
The fire dimmed.
The wind slowed.
Even the barrier Lyra had created…
Began to crack on its own.
—
Not because he was attacking it…
But because his presence alone…
Rejected the existence of any other magic.
—
"You are changing…"
The voice whispered.
"Your body… is adapting."
—
Nir felt a sudden pain in his chest.
He stopped.
His breath became heavier.
Faint black veins began to appear beneath his skin, then quickly vanished.
—
But he…
Did not retreat.
—
At the end of the street…
There was a massive house.
Old.
Ruined.
But from within…
Came that pulse.
That heavy feeling.
—
He approached.
Opened the door slowly.
—
The darkness inside…
Was alive.
—
And in the middle of the room…
Was a small girl.
Sitting on the floor.
Her hair was entirely white.
Her eyes black.
And around her…
Dozens of black threads stretched across the walls, floor, and ceiling… like a massive spiderweb connecting the entire village to her.
—
She raised her head slowly.
Looked at him.
Then…
She smiled.
—
"Finally…"
She said in a calm, childlike voice…
But it was more terrifying than the monsters' shrieks.
—
"I was waiting for you."
—
Nir froze.
Not out of fear.
But because the void within him…
Shook violently.
—
"She…"
—
The voice within him paused for a moment.
For the first time…
It seemed confused.
—
"Kill her…"
—
But the girl smiled broader.
And stretched her hand toward him.
—
"You are like me…"
—
Silence…
Fell.
—
"Aren't you?"