Alex tried to move. Agony ripped up his leg.

  He gasped, stumbling as fire exploded just above his knee. His hand shot down instinctively, fingers coming away slick with blood. A jagged wooden stake protruded from his calf, buried deep, snapped off at the base.

  He hadn’t even felt it happen. Shock had dulled the pain. Now it came roaring back.

  “Iris” he choked.

  She didn’t look back.

  The creature surged forward, limbs striking the ground in a blur, Its mouth split wider than before, revealing layer upon layer of serrated teeth.

  Iris twisted, her blades flashing again. The golden arcs carved into the fog, severing one of the creature’s legs. It collapsed with a wet, nauseating crunch.

  But it didn’t fall, instead It reformed. Black tendrils poured from the severed limb, weaving back together, reshaping bone and flesh in seconds. The creature rose again, faster now. Hungrier.

  Alex’s blood ran cold. “It regenerates…” he whispered.

  The thing lunged.

  Iris barely rolled aside. Its claws ripped through the space where she had stood, gouging deep furrows into the earth. She spun, blades wrapping around its rear limbs, ropes snapping taut as she anchored herself to a fallen trunk.

  She pulled. Golden light flared. The creature shrieked, its legs tearing apart along the glowing lines, but still it moved. Still it crawled. More skittering echoed from the forest.

  Alex’s breath hitched.

  From the fog, another pair of glowing eyes ignited. Then another. And another. They emerged slowly, one by one, their twisted silhouettes unfolding from the mist. Three. Four. Five.

  No Seven.

  the hunting pack that emerged was smaller than the multi-limb monster… Alex had them before on the black battlefield. Creatures of pale bodies, corpses of the unraveling. Organs were snarled knots of dark, fibrous crimson tendrils that spilled out. Their heads were smooth, bald domes, featureless faces, with mouths that split the face from nose to jaw, lining with needle-like teeth.

  Iris froze for half a second. That was all the time they had.

  “Alex!” she shouted. “Get up!”

  He gritted his teeth and forced himself upright. Pain tore through his leg, nearly blacking out his vision. His sword screamed in his grip, vibrating violently, the hum turning sharp.

  The seven circled Alex. An enclosure of mist and claws closed in. The fog thickened, pressing inward, swallowing sound, swallowing distance. Their skittering echoed from everywhere at once.

  Alex raised Mnemosyne’s Silence, his hands trembling not at the weight of the blade but at the heaviness of not wielding it right will cost. “Damn it” He clenched his teeth, for a brief moment his gaze swept past the creatures towards where Iris was fighting the abomination… alone, its size close to that of a city bus.

  “Am supposed to protect her… No i will protect her,” Alex’s breathing was shallow, the turmoil in his hands constant, but something within stirred, just below the surface of fear.

  The blade pulsed as if responding. Not to fear, not to pain . But to something deeper.

  The monsters lunged. And the night exploded.

  The first one reached him in a blur. Alex barely saw it move. Instinct screamed louder than thought. He swung, Mnemosyne’s Silence met pale flesh with a sound like tearing wet cloth. The blade sank deep into the creature’s shoulder and bit through, cleaving it nearly in half. Black fluid sprayed across the stones, hissing where it touched the ground.

  The body collapsed.

  Alex staggered back, breath ragged, heart pounding.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  It didn’t stay down. The corpse twitched. Tendrils crawled from the wound, stitching muscle back together, dragging the halves toward each other.

  “No,” Alex whispered. Something slammed into his side. Pain detonated through his ribs as he was thrown off his feet, skidding across the dirt. His injured leg screamed in protest. White light burst behind his eyes.

  He rolled just as claws slashed down where his head had been. The fog swallowed him.Shapes moved inside it. Too many. Too fast.

  Alex pushed himself up on one knee, biting back a cry as his leg nearly gave out beneath him. He swung blindly, the blade humming violently as it cut through mist and flesh alike.

  A screech answered him. Something collapsed at his feet.

  Alex didn’t stop moving. The fog thickened, pressing against his face, clinging to his lashes, his lungs. He could barely see his own hands. Sound became everything.

  A wet whip cracked through the air.

  Alex twisted too late. Something striking his shoulder, a tendril snapping tight around his arm and yanking hard. He cried out as he was dragged sideways, his boots carving trenches through the dirt. He slashed blindly, the blade meeting resistance with a wet snap. The tendril recoiled, severed, thrashing somewhere in the fog.

  A pulse of crimson flared to his left. They vanished as quickly as they appeared.

  Another sound rushed in from behind him, low and skittering, claws scraping stone. Alex spun, sword raised just in time. Impact rattled his bones as something crashed into the blade. He felt teeth scrape along the edge, felt weight press forward, relentless.

  He pushed back, legs shaking.

  Then something slammed into his injured leg. Alex screamed as he fell hard, the fog swallowing him whole. Pain exploded through his calf as the wooden stake twisted deeper. His sword slipped from his grasp and vanished into the mist.

  Panic surged as he began to crawl blindly, fingers scraping dirt, heart hammering so loud it drowned out everything else. The skittering grew closer, circling. Tendrils dragged through the fog, brushing his boots, his back, his throat.

  A breath brushed his ear. Alex lashed out with his free hand, striking nothing but air. Then the crimson flared again. Right in front of him.

  Alex surged forward and found his sword by pure luck, his fingers closing around the hilt just as something lunged. He brought the blade up in a desperate arc. The hum spiked. The blade met flesh. Resistance gave way. Something shrieked, high and piercing, the sound vibrating inside his skull. Black fluid splattered across his face, hot and slick.

  The weight vanished.

  Alex didn’t pause. He rolled, dragging his leg, and swung again at the sound of movement. The sword cut through another shape, felt it collapse, felt tendrils whip past his cheek in retaliation.

  The fog churned violently now. Crimson flashes flickered everywhere. Too many to track. Each one blinked like a heartbeat, then vanished.

  Silence fell. Not peace. Not safety. Just the absence of movement.

  The black mist hung heavy around him, unmoving. Alex stayed still, barely daring to inhale. His heart pounded violently in his chest, his lungs burning as he fought the urge to gasp. Every breath felt too loud. Too dangerous.

  The fog thinned slightly.

  At the corner of his vision, something flickered. Gold, weak and unsteady.

  Alex turned his head. His vision swam, blurred at the edges, but the light remained. He pushed himself up, ignoring the agony screaming through his leg, and limped toward it.

  “Iris…” he whispered. The name felt fragile in his mouth.

  A sudden skitter scraped past him. Alex spun sharply, sword raised, but there was nothing there. Just disturbed fog curling back into place, as if something had slipped through it moments ago.

  Then he saw her.

  Iris was on one knee, hunched forward, one arm wrapped tightly around her side. Her breathing was shallow, uneven. Blood soaked through her cloak, dark and slick. The golden glow of her blades flickered weakly, struggling to stay alive.

  A few steps behind her, the larger creature lay half collapsed. Five of its limbs were gone, torn or severed completely. Black fluid poured steadily from its wounds, pooling beneath its twisted frame like spilled ink. Its body twitched faintly, unnatural muscles spasming as if trying to remember how to move.

  Alex knelt beside Iris, hands shaking as he reached for her. “Hey. Stay with me. Look at me.”

  She lifted her head just enough to meet his eyes. Her lips curved faintly, more breath than smile. “You did… good,” she whispered.

  Alex swallowed hard. “Don’t talk. Save your strength.”

  Her gaze drifted past him, unfocused. “They’re gone… for now.”

  For now. The words sat heavy between them.

  Alex tightened his grip on his sword and scanned the fog. Nothing moved. No skittering. No crimson eyes. The silence felt wrong.

  Then a voice cut through it. Firm. Familiar.

  “Alex”

  His heart pounded. His head snapped up. The voice was deep. Resonant. Steady.

  And it was coming from the mist.