Beyond the Void

Chapter 24, Down

ANDREW

One moon and one ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Andrew whirled around on the spot. The sword was already in his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew saw Becca freeze and the others stop. After a brief moment of terror, Andrew felt Sten's hand on his shoulder.

"Do not stop. Keep moving." He urged. Andrew did not understand what good that would do. The chains in his head were clamouring and making a racket. It was difficult to think straight.

"They are coming! They're here!" Becca was looking everywhere.

"Keep moving and stay calm." Sten urged.

The buildings were in sight. It took a lot of effort to get moving. Trudging through thick snow, knowing those things were right here. There was still plenty of daylight left and they had come.

Andrew had been hoping the horrors did not tolerate daylight. Or maybe they had no problems with daylight when it was winter. Thoughts swarmed inside his head and he could feel a violent frenzy swirling under his skin.

Uphill a flock of birds took flight with frenzied voices. Andrew bolted to the front of the group. No time any more, no time to think, no time to pray.

A torrent of wind and snow filled the air. A clap was all he needed to let loose the torrent inside. He had blown away snow, dirt and even bits of trees, leaving a decent length of a smooth surface for running.

"Go then!" Sten yelled.

The air was filled with shrieks and vicious cries as everyone broke into a run. The flat land did not last forever, but it was enough to gather momentum when they reached the thick snow again. Something fell down the steep hillside. Only a little more and they would reach the buildings!

Another one of those things came tumbling down the hillside. Andrew saw a blur of something animal-like before he collided with it. That something grabbed his side and threw him away. Andrew thrashed on the ground as he tried getting upright. It was disgusting, the fear of something unknown touching him. Once he righted himself, he could see maybe ten of those things.

It had no eyes, no face, the only thing on a long jutting neck was a four sided mouth with three tongues. On the exposed nape, lie a giant yellow pearl. Overall, it looked like a flabby sack of skin. It was walking on all fours, but there was something unsettlingly human about it. It had hands! Instead of front paws, it had large and thin hands. A set of red claws decorated each hand. The rear paws were more what you would expect from an animal, but there was something human about those too.

Its body crooked and bent and it had a long tail, maybe longer than its entire body. Along its spine and tail ran a ridge of bone. At the end of the tail, Andrew noticed something awfully familiar. The pieces of bone they had found lodged on the side of the boats! There were three, forming a claw-like feature. An odd pattern of sickly orange and brown covered the creature's skin. Their curved backs were as high as a grown man was.

A jet of fire caused some creatures to back away. Robert and Eric had fallen behind and Eric was now rushing towards Andrew.
"Come on! Get up!" They yelled.

The creatures in front of his eyes baffled and disgusted Andrew. The way one of them had thrown him had instilled terror inside him. Eric ran to Andrew and grabbed under Andrew's arm, dragging him upright.

Despite looking like malformed humans, they moved fast. And they were well coordinated. Six of them cornered Eric and Andrew while the other four threatened to overrun Robert. Andrew was still hanging on to Eric, unsure of the situation. He had lost sight of the others and could not focus his will or vision. The silky veil pushed all rational thoughts aside.