{pictures maybe, not sure if I already posted it before in one of my earlier chapters so…yeah!}
"The artist never entirely knows… we guess…we may be wrong….but we take leap after leap in the dark!"
→Agnes de Mille←
Freed from their ancient bonds and with the sweet scent of fresh blood, the wendigo slaves traversed the tunnels in freedom, while the cat tribe in the north scrambled as their ancient nodes warned them of their escape!
[it has to be them... Sister... ] yelled one elder counselor as she slammed her fist on the table.
[damn it! Sister, why didn't we kill them when we had the chance? Now look what happened! They released them!] said another just as mad.
[sigh, calm down sisters! I know…. But the raging sea…the reports have come in from our spies in the many coastal countries... And it doesn't look good…] replied the head elder as she played with her mask
[so what? Are we to let this "infestation" loose? They're already attacking the lower humans! They did not heed our warning at all!] interrupted another member
[Well, they haven't technically expanded into our borders, and we did say they could have the Lower Valley.] replied the last member
[Look, expanding or not isn't the problem, as we already knew they would at some point, as such we already have plans for such an event! However, releasing the "cursed ones" whether it was by accident or not, which I doubt it was… in any case, what done is done, they are free now and must be contained again!]
[that's easy for you to say, you never fought them! What makes it worse is that none are alive today who had imprisoned them in the first place!]
With that said, there was an eerie silence that befell the group, as they looked at each other in worry, as they all knew the stories of the last time these things ran free…
[well… we could wake "him"...] said one member breaking the silence…
At the mention of "him," the girls all looked at each other as if questioning…
[That's a dangerous suggestion sister… what you're asking for could get us all killed…] replied another member after a while.
[what other choice is there? There's not enough of us…. ] said another
[sigh, look, we're not going to wake "him" not yet at least... Things haven't progressed that badly that we need to…] replied the leading councilor.
[that what do you suggest we do?]
[I'll head out tomorrow and ask this "Breder" if he can handle this…]
[or what? Do you really think he'll listen to us? What if he doesn't?]
[he will… after all, he's fighting more than just the humans right now, especially after his little escapade with the beast folk… those lizardmen are dying for revenge, and then there's the elder beasts that live in the forest that he arrogantly killed their children! Then on top of that, our spies have reported him pissing off the dwarfen city… the goblins, and god only knows what else.
It's like he wants to fight the whole world at once… he should be glad the other nations haven't caught wind of his movements yet… but once he succeeds…]
[they will call us to "control" the matter right?] interrupted a member
Nodding her head in agreement, the leading masked councilor said:
[right, but by then hopefully we can spend the manpower to filter down his forces to a manageable amount…]
[And if we can't]
[then he will be left uncontended… the old evils take priority, besides he said he would help on that front, so…]
[but his "help" won't come without conditions or worse living sacrifice to further his forces…]
[yes, you're right about that… which is why we may have to make a choice…]
[a choice on what?]
[which poison to take…and which alliances to break!]
Meanwhile back at Aaron's short POV
Within the burning halls, and scorched walls, while in between the broken pipes… A horrid screech echoes to the spine-chilling Aaron. Scared and alone with every shadow, Aaron runs… And runs…hoping to reach the lower floors but between the waving fires…
The dismal light, the ash, and the smoke, the burn in his lungs, he keeps moving, further down, with each step creaking, breaking, and hot to the touch, as he felt hunted! He didn't know why but had an idea of what it was as he ran past burning zombies, dodging at a hair breath, weaving out between fires, that was when he saw it... In the corner of his eyes… he heard the low hissing, the scratching above him…
But with the heat at his feet, he didn't stop… even as the metal panels above him popped with broken steam! He kept running, racing… with a heart about to pop from his chest, he hit a dead end! A corridor with only a drop!
Seeing nowhere else, the stress, finally broke him! Screaming as he punches the metal wall in front of him, he hears and then sees, the hordes coming after him! With moments to decide what to do, he notices the panel above the zombies break faster, as he sees an all-familiar black creature with horns through the sporadic holes above him!
To the beat of its steps, and the sound of his heart beating to his ear, to the echo of the pipes as they shake… Aaron took one last look over the edge… to see freedom in the moonlight by the door… an iron gate wide open…just waiting…
Seizing this chance, Aaron stood on the rails, as the pustule-like alien was but moments from him! And so with a quick prayer, and breeze of the wind on his skin, Aaron jumped! Just at the right time, to see two arms miss him! But as he slammed into the wooden boxes below! As the blood rushed to his mouth, in the dark he saw through the firelight and the moon rays, the alien on the rails!
And like him, it didn't hesitate to make the jump! Reaching for his guns, Aaron fired, but they did nothing to stop it! Blood oozed and scars were left, but the alien did not care! Even as Aaron clutches his teeth to breakage and blood, his eyes stay determined as his mind thinks of Marvin!
[ha… to die after he gave me time… hahaha! I REFUSE!] roared Aaon with madness.
As he went in to punch the alien in the face! But just as they were about to clash, a sharp spear came flying from the darkness! Thrown with such strength, that the creature in front of him was sent flying with it into the wall! Stuck and unable to move, the creature screamed, as blood was drained by the spear!
Trying to pull itself free, seeing the creature of his nightmare being so easily trapped, so variable, felt surreal to Aaron… thinking he could finish it off himself, he reached to reload his guns as he felt the air around him change! Heard the grinding of metal... then out of the dark behind him and from the side, he knew he wasn't alone…
[because of course, he wasn't…] thought Aaron to himself as he cursed his bad luck, as the familiar feeling of being hunted showed itself again!
The sound of footsteps, but crowed in their volume... He knew he was outnumbered, and in those moments he thought about turning around but also felt that if he did… he would be dead for sure… so instead of doing that… he chose a second option, he didn't know why he thought about it… even laughing to himself at the thought of madness at the idea… but he did it any way… he opened his mouth to speak…
[I… surrender…] words he squeezed out through tight teeth as he kneeled and bent his face to the ground!
As the metallic noise got close, he could see the creature's white skin at his feet, but not daring to look up, completely at the monster's mercy, he didn't dare move an inch… and as the moment rolled by like hours… It was then out of the quietness, that he heard the creature at the wall screaming, with a sizzling noise! And the smell of burnt flesh! Still not daring to look, Aaron continued to wait… and wait…
Even as he opened his eyes to white one's-sole feet! He knew the creature was looking down at him... Debating… judging… and like a bad nightmare it was over… with a momentary blink it was like the creature never was!
The feeling of being hunted was gone, nor could he hear them anymore… just alone in the dark, Aaron could not believe these creatures spared his life. . and with that came joy, but that was short-lived... As he realized that he had received mercy! From a monster! But what made him deserving of their mercy but the others... The town… Marvin… not… why did they spare his life but took the others… what made him special? He didn't have an answer… and that confused him as much as it angered him! Wanting to scream but holding it in, Aaron slammed his hands against the cold floor…
Breder short POV
[father? Why did you spare that human?]
[yes father! Please do tell! We have to know!]
Hearing his children's inquiry, Breder said nothing… he just kept walking… knowing they weren't getting an answer anytime soon. They simply walked beside him in a quiet disposition.
Breder POV moments before saving Aaron:
The rooms, and halls… were old, and changing, as Breder and his children moved about, they avoided confrontation whenever possible, but with dead ends and passages so small they had to crawl on their bellies, with loops and turns and all the same color, no distinguishable marks of any kind, it was like a maze…
A creepy maze covered in pure black, that smelled of rot and sulfur, where water leaked and dropped… and while covered in dirty water from head to toe, Breder found traces of black blood, following it as walls changed again just out of sight, Breder knew he was trapped…
{Dammit, whoever built this place had definitely watched some alien VS predator movies!} screamed Breder in his mind, as he continued to hop around trying to make sense of any direction, the blood being the only constant variation.
But as the puddles of blood grew, Breder switched his vision to every color of the spectrum, he began to see a path! Following it deeper, even as the wall began to creak, were moans of a disturbed kind echoed in them… Breder still gave pursuit even knowing what may 'lie' at the end might just be another monster, but with confidence, he didn't care, as he believed he and his children could handle anything down here…
After all, he was faster… they were faster than freaks of nature, with abilities to climb and burn, with strength equal to smashing steal… why should he feel fear even in these dark places…
With thoughts like that, he continued, but when the trail ended by a huge pool, he felt hesitant, as the dark waters loomed, watching their father stare into the pools, the kids looked at each other as if begging one of them to ask…
But before they could, Breder dived head-first into the waters! With machine eyes, the first thing Breder saw shocked him to a stop! As the kids followed behind him they understood why… for all around them in chains that hung upside down… were more zombie creatures! And as they felt the breakage of the water, they stirred! Alive and moving even in such still waters! With greyed-out eyes and Gnawing in attempts to escape, with fresh meat in front of them how could they not?
With such power, with such a need to feed, they gladly tore their skin or broken teeth between snapping jaws in the hope of even taking a little skin from Breder and his Kids as they swam by. But seeing the creatures alive didn't disturb Breder… what disturbed him was the fact that each zombie monster had multiple spears in them! Bleeding them…
It was then that Breder now understood, that he wasn't swimming through water at all! For based on the sheer amount of monsters, and over a millennium of time… this hole was filled with nothing but blood!
Disgusted and fearing to take a sip... Breder races to the opposite end as quickly as he can! But as he approached the end, he noticed that the further he got, the less chained the creatures were, some even floated freely or reached from the bottom, with hands squeezing from every direction, Breder felt the tunnel shrinking, getting smaller by the pebble… but seeing his goal right in front of him, renewed his hope as he stabbed and maimed what got in front of him with his new skin!
As head and limbs floated to the bottom, Breder and his kids jumped out of the water the second they got the chance! Shaking like dogs to get the blood off, and feeling the chilling breeze, Breder screamed at VIce for a check up…
To his luck, Vice gave him good news, in that he was free from infection, as to why, Vice did only a shrug emoji and said it was all luck… and that maybe his new skin from absorbing the "alien" metal might have helped. But then his thoughts turned from himself to his kids! Worried he turned around to see them fine… confused he asked Vice again…
But this time Vice had an actual answer:
[The Mana I used to rush their evolution, seems to have temporarily coated their skin with a thin membrane of some kind… truly fascinating… well either way like you we can only choke this up to their luck…]
With a nod to Vice's words, Breder went back to focus on the objective at hand, when a sudden crunch sound… worried, Breder stared in that direction, to see a large looming shadow of a creature of some kind!
Stealthy and slowly, Breder got a closer look, but dark and with his eyes only seeing coldness, he could not fully make out the creature… but as the crunching got louder... As he got closer, with the smell of decay… he inched forward… but then out in the shadows and right behind him, one of his kids moved a small stone… a stone that made a slight noise, subtle but loud enough for the creature to slowly turn its head in the shadows…
And with the sound of the crunching and chewing going silent, Breder felt a chill down his spine as he turned from his kid to face the creature! Standing at an absurd height with a torn hand, that bleeds from his between his teeth. With embedded predator spears in numbers… with locked chains at his feet, and with the muscular chest of a barn door, the creature roars with a massive deer head! As lights blink on and off to show off the chamber and the creature!
{well shit…} thought Breder as he looked around the room…
{we're in a Gosh darn ship!} continued Breder in surprise!