The monster stirred. From its suspended stillness, its grotesque hands extended, unraveling into countless sinewy threads, twisting and coiling like a mass of writhing serpents before converging into a pond of pulsating black vines.
A nauseating, wet squelch echoed as the strands wove together, pulsating with an eerie and sickly glow. Above, its disembodied bulbous eyes, unblinking orbs of dripping malice, then rolled in separate directions, darting like carrion crows in search of prey. Then they aligned, their abyssal pupils locking onto Virelio.
He was still moving, still helping the others, dragging the injured away from the cursed fog that oozed from the ruined Tala residence. But the monster had chosen him. A grin slashed across its face, jagged and predatory. Its grotesque, half-morphed hand slithered forward, stretching with unnatural elasticity, closing the distance between them.
Virelio tensed, his breath sharp but controlled. He knew. It had begun.