Memories of the Reaper

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Shadows swarmed through darkness like maggots out of a bony carcass.

Derek Grey unsheathed his swords, running at the invaders as his bloody gauntlets gripped the ice blades. Taking her place by his side, Kendra Lynx threw two blades in a single step. They arced through the air and impaled the chests of the nearest two shadows, dropping like stones before coming back to their feet. "Nightcrawlers!" Kendra seethed.

"What are they?" Derek asked.

"Bloody bastards from Zenox. They have genetic mutations that block pain receptors. They'll keep coming unless you cut off their heads."

"Got it," Derek nodded.

Derek side-stepped the first one as it tried to rake him with its claws and sank his sword through its neck, twisting hard to the right. His blade came out of its neck with a sharp hiss, delighted. However, as he pulled out the blade, the nightcrawler had the face of James Cordoven. The older man's eyes widened in surprise and said, "Darkness hides in all of us, my son." Then, the head fell from the nightcrawler's body, no longer resembling the provost.

Derek stared at it, his body trembling, as another nightcrawler slammed into his back, raking its claws against its head. Poisonous toxins flowed into his bloodstream, and his head blurred as he fought off its effects. The creature scrambled on top of him, and Alpha crashed into it, tearing into its flesh with her beak and talons. He stabbed it through the chest and neck before kicking its bleeding corpse off of him. Getting to his feet, Derek turned toward it.

"My son," James Cordoven whispered from the dead nightcrawler's body.

Derek blinked and looked away. "You're not real," he thought. Another nightcrawler ran toward him, and the middling barely ducked under its claws. He lowered his shoulder and shoved it over his back, flipping in the air before hitting the ground with a resounding smack. The middling shoved his sword through its head before it could scramble back to its feet.

"Don't let them snuff out your light, Eris." James whispered from the dead body on the ground.

"Stop it!" Derek screamed, cutting into more of them. He slashed and carved through the other crawlers like a meatpacker slicing cattle. The metal blades were extensions of his arms, and he wielded them masterfully.

It only made the whispers louder.

"I came back for you."

"Stay behind me."

"I will continue to help you."

"I just need you to trust me."

"We can never be free."

"This war must end."

"I'm so proud of you, my boy."

Derek gritted his teeth, trying to avoid eye contact with the fallen bodies, knowing that all of them would look like James Cordoven. A blade flew by his head, sinking into the chest of a nightcrawler that had snuck behind him. While it was dazed, Derek cut off its head.

"I'm here to keep you safe!" James yelled at him from the ground.

"Keep your guard up, you idiot!" Kendra yelled as she skillfully side-flipped over one enemy to slash at another. She kicked it in the chest before slitting the throat of the first nightcrawler and threw its body into the oncoming pack.

"Shut up!" Derek yelled at the faux-James. When Kendra glared at him, he added, "Not you!" The middling moved through the legion of nightcrawlers, cutting through them with zeal. His strokes were fluid; he had only been training for six months, it was true, but with his unity, the middling had the experience of centuries. After another dozen were killed, Derek felt something run into his back, and glimpsed Kendra's black cloak against his own grey one.