A storm of rotted logs, wind, and shrieks burst inward with a deafening crack.
The ceiling groaned like a dying animal then thundered down in a collapse.
Vlad's pupils expanded as a whole tree came crashing through with it – its ancient, barkless ashy trunk splitting the air as it tore through the cabin like a spear from the gods.
Logs crashed down with thunderous finality, striking the floor with bone-crunching slams. A spray of bark, frozen twigs, and rotted splinters exploded into the air. Dust and mold spores choked their lungs, thick and sour on the tongue. The wind howled through the ruined gap. While the fog outside slithered in like a living thing, crawling across the wreckage.
The warmth of the fire vanished instantly, devoured by the shrieking wind and the sudden, violent cold. The temperature plummeted in a blink.
A gust rattled through the loose leaf litter on the floor, stirring dead foliage into the air like brittle confetti.
The brown-haired girl screamed a raw, panicked cry that barely rose above the chaos.
She stumbled back, shielding her face from the falling debris.
But Jasmine... was gone.
No sound. No scream.
Her body lay crushed under a heap of wreckage, torso mangled beyond recognition. Rotted beams pinned her limbs, warped and splintered. Blood seeped from her chest in a slow, steaming spread, pooling atop the cold floor and soaking into the loose cracks in the wood beneath her.
Vlad's heart stopped for a moment, it all happened too fast.
Shit! His body froze. How!?
He bit his lip and forced himself to move.
Without a second of wasted hesitation, Lex sprang into action, his sword glinting in the dim light as he reached for it. He grabbed the torch ripping the worn rope and turned instantly, grabbing the brown-haired woman – too stunned to move – in one swift motion, lifting her from the ground and moving toward the door.
"Get out!" he shouted, his voice tense with urgency.
Vlad had the same thought. He was already at the door, throwing it open and rushing out into the night.
The air was cold and biting, but it was a welcome change from the suffocating chaos inside. Dust clung to the air in thick, choking clouds, gritty and sharp. Some of it stung Vlad's eyes, blurring his vision, but he pushed forward anyway, teeth clenched and heart pounding.
Lex followed close behind, his grip tight on the brown-haired woman. The torch in his hand flickered loudly against the wind.
Vlad's eyes darted across the horizon as soon as he escaped the dust cloud. It was then that his earlier hypothesis, the one he'd kept hidden in the back of his mind, seemed to have been wrong.
The void that had stretched across the sky had lifted partially, reluctantly, like a veil drawn back just enough to reveal something worse. In its place, a dim, oppressive light settled over the forest, barely brighter than the deepest hours of a winter morning. The fog still clung thick between the trees, curling low over the ground and swallowing everything beyond a few meters in a swaying, colorless blur.
Vlad sensed something, he wished he didn't. He stopped running, immediately quieting his footsteps.
There were multiple of them.
Damm it.
Lurking in the fog and between the trees, their grotesque silhouettes pulsed in and out of the mist, drifting between the bare trees like shadows pretending to be air. Clawed limbs scraped across trunks with a sound like dry bones on bark with a dry, rasping screech, like bones dragging over bark. With each slow step, the dead leaves crunched underfoot, announcing their presence even as they tried to slither like ghosts.
Vlad's breath caught in his throat. Slowly, he drew his blade as the truth settled over him like ice.
These weren't just stragglers.
This was a hunt.
How are they here? His black gloves stretched with a soft sound as Vlad gripped the hilt. We didn't even make any noise.
Behind him, a hoarse and panicked voice broke the silence:
"How did that thing find us?"
Vlad turned sharply, his eyes growing wide as he froze.
Towering above the crushed remains of the cabin, barely visible through the thick, swirling fog, stood something enormous.
A massive figure.
Its body was hunched yet impossibly tall, limbs like tree trunks. It had four arms. The mist clung to its frame, veiling its movements in ghostlike flickers. Its eyes gleamed like molten gold through the haze, embedded unevenly across its elongated face. One of its eyes blinked out of sync, fixed on the wreckage below.
The fog distorted its edges, made it shift and shudder like a nightmare seen through frozen glass. Visibility was low and every detail appeared half-guessed, like the monster itself was only partially real, or waiting to become real.
The Valley Demon!?
The massive creature moved closer to the cabin.
In one of its massive upper arms, it held a crude, jagged club. Not made of wood or steel, but something darker, organic.
Vlad couldn't even tell what it was. It looked like it had grown rather than been forged.
And through the thick fog, the weapon's shape blurred at the edges, as if the mist itself recoiled from it. The swing cut the air with a dreadful whistle, disappearing briefly into the gray veil before slamming down with earth-shaking force.
Each movement of the beast distorted the fog around it, making it seem even larger. It looked less like something real and more like a nightmare forming from the mist itself.
It lifted its arm and swung, the club crashed down onto the remains of the cabin with a thunderous crack, pulverizing what was left of the wooden frame into splinters and dust. Rubble exploded outward. Boards shattered. The last wall collapsed as if it had never stood at all.
The earth trembled beneath Vlad's feet, and a gust of wind from the impact slammed into his face.
He leaped and grabbed Lex's shoulder roughly and hissed through clenched teeth, "We need to run, now! While it's distracted!"
Lex and the brown-haired girl looked at him wide-eyed, and Lex whispered, "But the noise…"
Vlad snapped, "Forget the noise! That thing has eyes–seven of them! And a nose! It can see us, it can smell..."
He stopped.
His words trailed off, throat tightening, eyes locking onto something just beyond the wreckage.
A figure.
Small. Still.
Barely visible through the dense fog that curled and drifted between the trees.
Perched on a high tree limb just across the clearing, as if it had been watching all along. A faint flicker of orange wavered in the mist.
A torch.
Tori.
In her hand–that damn pink bottle!
The torchlight shimmered faintly off it, almost mockingly.
Vlad's breath caught. Then he felt a mix of rage and relief.But his jaw still clenched, and every muscle in his body screamed for action.
That fucking bitch!
Before Vlad could move a shriek tore through the fog-choked air.
Something slammed into his side.
Gkh! A choked sound, half groan, half gasp, escaped Vlad instinctively.
He was thrown to the ground, his shoulder slamming into the frozen dirt with a sickening thud. Leaves scattered beneath him, brittle and sharp, some flinging into the air like startled birds. His blade nearly slipped from his grasp, its metal biting into his palm as he clenched it spontaneously.
Another monster was on him.
Another feral fiend!
Its limbs were impossibly strong like the previous one, pressing down against his chest. Its head twitched violently, jaw unhinging wider than it should have, lips peeled back to reveal a row of needle-thin teeth vibrating with hunger.
"Get...OFF ME!" Vlad snarled, twisting violently.
The fiend shrieked again, jaw wide.
SHHHNK!
A blur of silver drove through its neck.
Steel pierced sinew with a sickening crunch, black blood geysering into the air.
Lex.
The monster staggered back, a violent, gurgling hiss erupting from its mouth. It clutched at its neck, thick, tar-black blood spilling out in great steaming rivers. Its claws raked blindly at the earth as it reeled, gouging deep marks into the frozen dirt and dead leaves, dragging up clumps of soil and roots in its fury.
Lex didn't stop.
He shoved deeper, twisting the blade with both hands, warm black spray hitting his face, his teeth gritted as he forced it through sinew and bone. Almost dropping the torch in his hands.
It hit the ground like a collapsing tower sending even more leaves in the air, its limbs and gills twitched, mouth flared open in a final spasm of unnatural sound.
Lex yanked the blade free, breathing hard.
Vlad sat up, stunned, coughing from the stink. He asked in a muffled voice, "Where is she?"
"I told her to run, she doesn't have a weapon," he replied, gasping for air. "She's that way," He added, pointing his finger.
The brown-haired girl was running downhill.
Good.
Vlad scrambled to his feet, his boot crushing a twig beneath him–heart hammering.
He looked in the direction of the cabin, but the fog swirled thick around him, blurring his vision and turning the wreckage into shadowy shapes.
The Valley Demon had lowered its towering frame, three of its arms shifting the wreckage like it was sifting through sand. Bits of wood and shattered debris scattered with each terrifying movement. The mist twisted around its massive limbs, distorting the scene further, making it seem like a nightmare emerging from the fog.
Then it stopped.
One of its hands closed around something.
No, someone!