[Arc 1 — No Light Left For Us]
…
The march of the penitent son was not mere movement.
It was a tempest given form.
And to the mortals beneath it—
Catastrophe.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…" Zoe collapsed to her knees, uttering her last words.
By now, she should have known how utterly futile those words were.
Prayers could not stop an impending doom.
Prayers could not deter the penitent son of the moon.
Wicked Moon harkens not for mortals.
Wicked Moon relishes in despair.
Mist had a look on her face too hard to describe.
Her body eased into despair. She was waiting.
To her side, Hayden looked exhausted, relinquished to his fate. He slumped to the ground and watched— watching Wrath rage… and then fall.
The shadow of the wrathful foot consumed the forest, and light was banished by its mere presence. Darkness surged outwards alongside a quiet finality.
The void held for what felt like eternity before the darkness finally broke, leaving light once more to flourish in its absence. The earth's vibrations remained present, but it was diminishing at a fast rate.
"I'm alive. We survived. We survived." Zoe's scream filled the forest.
Hayden's face was still ghostly white. He stared to his side where a crater of unimaginable proportions had bored into the earth, stopping just inches away from his shoes. Myriad monsters were crushed like paste inside the crater.
That was the margin of their existence; one or two inches between life and being squashed like a common bug.
He was tongue-tied, and so was Mist.
Nearby, Raven rose to his feet, wobbly.
"We need to leave," he said hoarsely.
"Did you find anything?" Mist flinched the moment she saw Raven's bloodstained face. "Jesus—what happened to you?"
Raven replied with a dull expression. "Nothing. Also, no— I did not find anything, okay? I ju-I just think that staying in one spot will definitely get us killed sooner or later."
"Can't you like… sense where we should go?" Hayden challenged.
"I'm not some magician. There are limits to my abilities; that applies to all of us. There are things we can do and things we cannot. There's no hocus pocus here. Fuck, why didn't you push that titan?"
"I–I–" Hayden shut his mouth right away. "Fair enough."
"Are we done arguing? Good, let's move. I don't like this place," Zoe let out a sigh.
"You and I both. I give it a one out of ten rating. It's horrible."
Zoe let out a shaky laugh. "Thank god we can agree on that."
Raven took one last look at the trail the penitent son had left behind. The dirt adorned with crimson, stretching all the way to the beyond where the wrathful being still stirred chaos.
He clenched his fist, controlled his breathing, and looked away.
….
The walk deeper into the forest stretched on for hours and weariness began to set in.
Nonetheless, the four of them were determined to persevere. They were more terrified of standing still than they were their legs giving out. Bit by bit, the world was reshaping them— forging them into something grittier, though they hadn't realized it yet.
Raven, at least, saw a small advantage in it.
The long silence had given him time to think; time that he knew was a luxury in this world. One of the boons of his transformed body was the ability to split his focus, albeit not to a potent degree. But walking aimlessly required very little focus in the first place.
Piece by piece, the puzzle was coming together.
'It seems I have [Seventh Sense] to blame for whatever has been happening to me.'
His newfound body reacted to things now— subtle shifts, invincible warnings, faint omens brushing against his awareness.
Logically, those sensations should have killed him by now. Yet, ironically, what saved him was his innate skills granted by his sigil.
"Look who is in a moody mood today," Mist approached him. "You doing okay?"
"Are we okay?" Raven asked back.
"Touche." Mist chuckled, "Those lovebirds over there seem to have forgotten about our existence. I got tired of being the third wheel and came to you. Who else would accept lonely me?"
Raven let out a wry smile. "Yeah, who else."
He looked at Hayden and Zoe who were far at the front. A thought flickered in his mind.
After a moment, he asked, "Do you think we will all survive?"
"No." Mist smiled, ever so brightly. "I think we are all going to die."
"... I guess so. You might just be right."
Mist shrugged casually, "You don't really mind death. I know that for a fact. You and I— we are different from those two. We have nothing left for us. That is probably why we get along so fine. We are practically best friends."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Are we really?"
"Are we not?" Mist blinked, confused. "I'll have you know that I don't have many friends, and you, my dear raven, are the best of the lot. So–best friend."
"I'm one out of one, aren't I?"
"Some things are better left unsaid."
Raven was about to retort when a foreboding sensation crashed into him. He instinctively reached for his nose. A stream of blood met his fingers.
'It's happening again.'
His pulse quickened. 'Something is here.'
"Raven, I think I sense something," Mist's voice gripped him back to reality.
Raven looked at her, sharing a look of understanding.
He wasn't going crazy. There was danger around.
"Hayden! Zoe!" Mist called sharply.
Ahead of them, Hayden and Zoe turned. "What?"
Mist quietly said, "Turn around, the monsters are here."
"Turn—"
[Rejoice Severants for you have been blessed]
A strange sound cut her off.
At first, there was only a buzz— a low-frequency hum that seemed to vibrate the very marrow of their bones.
Caught in the center of the sound, Zoe's eyes went dull. Her body stiffened, as if rotted to the ground, completely enthralled by the sound.
Then, tiny yellow orbs ignited in the dark, glowing in chaotic patterns like living sparks.
"Gal-li-lich!"
"What?" Hayden's eyes widened and he took a step back.
The first creature slithered into the light.
A worm-like body twisted through the air, supported by five protruding limbs. Ten reptilian eyes gleamed along its length, each reflecting sickly yellow light. It released a shrill squeak— and more yellow orbs ignited in the distance.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The chorus of shrieks filled the forest, adorning the ancient trees until the woods resembled a grotesque parody of holiday lights.
[Beholden Kin of Flies]
Mist yelled, "Something is wrong with Zoe! Get her out of there!"
Raven froze, the omen was getting clearer. A flash of realization dawned on him. "No, leave her."
"Get out of there. The monsters are—"
It was too late.
The creatures dissolved into streaks of yellow lights, launching forward faster than sight could follow. They crashed through the forest like living bullets.
A wet sound split the air.
Holes appeared in Zoe's arms. Emerging from the wounds were the monsters writhing as it burrowed in her flesh. More streaks pierced her body, stitching through her skin at an insane velocity. Yet, she did not scream.
She just stood there, vacant. It was almost as if she was already dead.
"Get away from her!"
Yelling, Hayden imposed his will upon the very air. Invisible pressure blasted outward, crushing one— then another— but the swarm was endless. For every monster repelled ten more surged forward.
It took only a few seconds for his sigil to wane.
With one final, desperate burst of force, he snatched Zoe up, heaving her one his shoulders as he pivoted away from the center of the swarm.
"Gal-li-lich!"
Raven and Mist exchanged a single glance.
Understanding passed instantly between them.
Raven scrambled back.
Mist stepped forward.
A crimson sheen flooded her eyes. Whispered words slipped from her chapped lips as she dragged a sharpened stick across her palm. Blood seeped out; flowing upwards, bending to her will.
The monsters turned towards her.
She failed to react fast, and wounds festered across her skin.
Yet, Mist held to her magic, stabilizing it even further as she got attacked by the monsters.
Mist shouted, "Go!"
Amidst the monsters' fervent rush for flesh, red needles sprang across the forest, hitting as many of the horrors as they could.
The attacks failed to pierce their horrid hide, but the sudden assault disrupted their formation— buying precious seconds.
That had always been the goal.
Mist ripped the creatures clinging to her body free and hurled them aside. She unleashed a final barrage of blood needles, gathering enough time for her retreat.
[Splendrous Carnage, Severants]
[Wicked Moon harkens]