A Creature Made From Darkness

Consumed by terror, Haruto silently crouched behind a stone statue. The darkness was so thick, he was literally ignorant of anything going on.

For a while, there was silence. Then, he heard sounds of clashing steel.

It made him wonder was whatever horror had shown up made from steel?.

Then suddenly, a loud, pained wail disturbed the silence of the eerie darkness.

That was the voice of the knight.

Haruto gritted his teeth.

'Being a girl sucks!'

He couldn't exactly tell the whereabouts of the dwarf or the gargoyle. Their group had suddenly scattered immediately the dwarf gave the call.

Haruto touched his chest. His heart was beating madly, like a caged beast struggling to break free.

His pulses slammed against his ribs.

'Am I going to die?'

The question hit him and he reminisced.

Surely, the system wouldn't want him to die. It had said so on the first day. Right?.

There had to be a way. If he was going to kill the spire lord, was he going to kill it crouching behind a stone statue? The answer was no.

Haruto shut his eyes tightly, said a few prayers…none that mattered.

And standing up, he remembered the procedures to the technique he mastered before leaving the sanctum of the Sentinels.

He blinked. Then felt essence rush into his cornea. Almost immediately, his brain activity and concentration increased almost miniscule and simultaneously.

But, although little, that was enough. The darkness was clearer.

He tried to locate where they had camped before.

While at it, he'd occasionally and unintentionally blink and deactivate the Astral Oracle.

That was what Mr Grey had meant by chosing wisely. But, it was all for the better. Blinking was a perfect choice as long as one mastered it. Others took time, touching the head, making a fist. They were not as fast as blinking was.

Grinding his teeth, Haruto ventured into the darkness. Occasionally looking back and front as well as sideways. The atmosphere was heavy and dark as well as eerie. The feeling of dread wouldn't stop disturbing the night or dawn…who knew? The darkness was just that…endless. Pitch black, it felt like time was stagnant.

Haruto felt his skin crawl, and back ache.

After walking for a while, Haruto started to hear gnawing sounds. Ruthless chewing. As well as soft growls.

Gulping, he continued ahead in the darkness, until he got to a point. The darkness seemed darker there.

Since the Astral Oracle was currently activated, it was normal to see through something no matter how dark. But, the darkness, it was rather peculiar and impenetrable. That was strange since the technique was built to see through intangible objects at its first phases.

'Intangible?'

Suddenly, his eyes widened into circles. His breath hitched, his knees, suddenly loosing strength and purpose.

Right under the thick darkness, the knight! Bloodied and ruthlessly chewed. His eye balls were gone, leaving hollow dark sockets with inner flesh hanging from it. One of his hands were gone, the second, missing three fingers. His armour was torn all over like paper.

Then it hit him! The darkness wasn't impenetrable because it was darkness. It was, because it was a thing! A horror.

The damn creature was on four limbs with jagged spikes lining its spinal cord and ended on sharp claws and a scorpio-like tail. It has a long head and maws that could gnaw through steel.

A sense of cold shivers ran through Haruto's body. He was frozen and staring at the bloodied body of the knight.

But, something was suddenly different about the whole picture.

This time, hollow sockets hiding thick darkness and malicious intent was staring at him.

Haruto's legs lost strength instantly. His heart sank.

With all the strength he could muster, he twisted his limbs and moved his right leg, in no time, he was in motion. Running in the lonely darkness.

But the creature was faster.

A loud growl erupted behind him.

Then, a sharp pain from his hind leg.

'Ahh!'

Haruto screamed, his voice portraying that of a delicate and hurt lady.

'Damn it! Damn it all!'

He retrieved soil from the floor and threw it at the creature. It did nothing but distract it for a small second. That was enough.

Soon enough, Haruto was crouched behind another statue. Trying to control his ragged breath and cursing silently at the pain his wounded leg brought him.

He stayed stiff in that position for sometime, hoping to not give away his position. And soon enough, it would seem his plan worked, the beast seemed to have gone somewhere else. Haruto heaved a pained sigh.

Looking at the sky, Haruto made an ugly expression. It was dark too, and bleak.

And beside him was…wait a minute, beside?.

Haruto soon had an expression of terror written on his face. He suddenly lost all sense of living as he stared at the mad gaze of the thing staring back at him.

Jagged spikes from spinal cords, long maws, sharp claws.

His blood had betrayed him. Of course! The undead creature could see better in darkness than he could. It was made of it.

'Damn it!'

A low growl escaped its mouth. Its hollow sockets ingrained deep fear into Haruto's mind.

Then, the beast moved.

***

It had been a while. Since Haruto covered his face with his hands.

After that, he'd heard another growl, and then two growls. And many more growls. The beast was locked in a furious fight with another thing. Haruto wanted to bet it was the gargoyle.

For a moment, he forgot the pain in his legs and just heaved a sigh of relief.

Unbeknownst to him, tears had welled up in his eyes.

'This wasn't what I expected at all. Damn you system!'

He sighed heavily and tried to rest his back on this statue. Relaxing his wounded leg.

He shifted ever so lightly, stared ahead and frowned slightly.

He could hear sounds, sounds of screeching soil. His expression quickly turned sour.

'When the hell is this going to end?!'

Soon enough, the darkness was moving. Something was coming. Haruto held his breath. Preparing himself for the worst.

And suddenly, something lunged at him from the darkness. Haruto flinched and almost screamed, but tiny hands were covering his mouth.

He struggled to release himself. Then, he heard a whisper.

"Relax, it's the dwarf"

Haruto stopped struggling, then he watched the dwarf crouch near him.

"Seen the elf?"

Haruto stared ahead with a deadpan expression. The choice of whether to cry or laugh was with him but he didn't know what to choose.

Remembering the disturbing sight of the knight getting gnawed on, Haruto looked to the side and answered plainly.

"He's dead. The creature killed him"

The dwarf's expression turned gloomy. He was silent for a while. Then, he raised his head to look at Haruto.

"What about the ugly creature?"

Haruto stared into the darkness.

"I…I don't know. I believe he's engaged the creature. I don't know if he's alive.

The dwarf was silent again. Then he sighed.

"This is going to be a long night milady, prepare yourself"

Haruto frowned.

'Milady?'

Right. He'd almost forgotten he was still a lady. He said nothing in reply to the dwarf's words. Only stared ahead. Anticipating whatever terror the thick darkness had to reveal.

…He has a feeling he was going to be so surprised.