An Acended's Journey

Lying on the bed bunk was a tall, scruffy young man with crystal blue eyes. He stared out at the bunk above him, releasing a sigh of silent anguish. Pushing himself off the bed, he looked out the window. Outside, the snow piled on the camp and barracks. 

"This sucks," he whispered. Shivering, Logan climbed out of the bottom bunk and opened the chores below his bed. As he chose what grey uniform he wanted, Logan eventually felt something watching him. Looking up, he spotted his bunkmate hanging off the side of his bed. 

"Whatcha Dooing, Logan?" His bunkmate playfully asked.

"I'm looking for your dad," Logan replied, with his head looking through the chores under his bunk.

The man rolled back into his bed, releasing a squeal of agony and muttering about the terrible pain. Logan chuckled before he stood up and put his black overalls over his grey uniform. At his full height, Logan could see his friend in his full glory—A large toned frame with a brown crew cut. 'God he looked stupid with that cut,' Logan thought. 

"Get up, stupid. We need to start clearing out the snow." 

Groaning his way to the side of the bed, he plopped down to get dressed. 

The world had gone to hell in the past couple of years. Natural disasters destroyed the world while wars were fought with robots, biochemical weapons, and nuclear bombs. The government, or what was left of it, tried to create refugee camps to house displaced citizens and rescue survivors. These camps didn't matter much to Logan until his hometown got bombed. He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to his family. Unable to support himself in a dwindling town, he needed to leave. 

Throwing some boots and a beanie on, he got to the front of the barracks, and he opened the front door. A gale of Icy wind blasted past Logan into the barracks behind him. Stepping out, Logan turned around and shut the door behind him. 

"Why does it have to be so cold!" Logan screamed internally.

Tucking his hands to his sides, he walked through the windy cold toward the center of the complex. Rows of barracks lined the snowy path like a cookie cutter neighborhood. People in grey uniforms were out this morning clearing the paths and bringing documents to the main complex building. In the far distance, a tall four-story building loomed over the center of the camp. 

A quick pair of shuffling feet was approaching Logan from behind. 

"Hey! You left me this morning.... I thought we had something... special." Logan's bunk buddy giggled as the words left his mouth. 

"Dude, come on. You can't say that out here." 

'Alex, you damn crazy guy' Logan thought while walking on. 

Logan and Alex finally arrived around twenty minutes later at a large mess hall located off of the Main central complex building. The building had a wide stretch of almost a hundred tables and a line area to collect food. They scanned their cards and entered the line.

'Something seems off about the cafe today. Are they understaffed or something?'

Logan looked at the staff at some problem that he couldn't find. Looking down, Logan had received some sloppy meat paste with some mashed potatoes and an apple. 

'What a disgusting meal. Probably all synthetic, too. To think that I used to be eating with my family every couple months. I wish things weren't this way… I wish I had my family.'

Shuffling to the table, Logan and Alex sat down.

"Does something feel strange to you this morning?" Logan said apprehensively

"I mean..." Alex replied, taking a bite out of his apple. Clearing his throat, Alex finished his sentence, "The compound was less busy this morning."

"I was wondering why the mess hall was only half full this morning. Looks like the cold has got everyone IN. Hah, 'in. ' Get it? It's funny because that's what she said!" 

Shaking his head, Logan scanned the surroundings while eating and noticed the empty mess hall. Line cooks were missing, and a guard absent from his station at the front. 

As time went on, the two men became more apprehensive. Alex and Logan ate their food in silence, looking for what might be going on this morning. 

Rows of tired faces joined the line for a meal and found a place to sit. Outside the front door, yelling could be heard. Logan could only spot the flashes of men, carrying stretchers with people, skirting on by the line outside. 'There must be some emergency going on in the camp. It would explain all the missing people.' Logan thought.

Logan and Alex finished up and dumped their food before swiftly walking toward the exit. Alex got ahead and approached a short, slim old man in line wearing the signature grey uniform. 

Alex questioned the old man, "Hey man, do you know what's going on out there?" 

"Well, they were carrying people over to the medical ward. The weird thing was that none of them looked injured in the slightest. It looked like they were just sleeping." 

"Thank you for the information. I have to go; see ya!" Turning around, Alex gave Logan a puzzled look before they moved away from the mess hall back towards their barracks. Behind them, a growing murmur slowly rose from the mess hall as people theorized as to what was going on.

Walking back toward the barracks together, Logan and Alex conversed on the eeriness of what was happening. Why were there so many laborers missing, and why were there so many people being carried away on stretchers? 

Close to their barracks, screams rang out to their right. Looking over, the pair saw women rushing out from their barracks in fits of scream. Logan and Alex dashed toward the barracks at that moment to see what was happening.

Entering the building, they saw a woman wreathing across the floor with bones shifting inside her body, while their skin started turning into a dark ash color. More women were rushing out from the barracks in fear of the demented event occurring on their floor. Still, within the ruckus, some women were sleeping in their bunks. Near the transformative woman, Logan could see the back of a petite young lady with golden hair. The young lady's hands were held out, holding onto the convulsing lady's hand. 

"What the fuck is that thing," Alex uttered out in complete shock.

Logan was in the same shock, taking in the wreathing black ashy skin creature on the floor. Then the 'woman' let out a piercing scream. Stepping back, Logan was scared and confused.

'Get away. Get away from that thing, lady.' Logan screamed in his mind.

The young lady near the monster had released her hand and stumbled back away from the creature.

'What the hell is happening here? What am I supposed to do? I have to do something. Get away!' Internally, Logan screamed at himself until an actual scream took him from his torpor.

"LOGAN! Wake up!" Alex screamed to his shocked friend. 

The creature was standing over the poor girl now with long spiny appendages and ashy molten skin. The creature's face opened up to reveal a large maw of teeth before releasing a guttural scream. The creature lunged down toward its first victim. Its clawed hands dug into her shoulders and pinned the struggling lady back to the ground. The creature opened its giant facelike maw and bit into the edges of the poor woman's face. Screams rang out as the last worried women in the barracks ran, leaving scant few sleeping in their bunks. 

Logan could hear it, the muffled screams of the lady on the ground as its maw grinded further into her face.

"Go get some help!" Alex screamed at the ladies running from the barracks.

Alex charged toward the creature as it tore apart the lady's shoulders and face. Reaching the creature, Alex tackled the monster, sending the two rolling to the floor. Blood spewed everywhere as the claws and teeth ripped the flesh from the women in the tackle. The girl who had been kind enough to be there lay dead on the floor. The skin on her face mangled, revealing the bones and muscle behind it. She was dead. 'I never even got to see what she looked like...'

 Logan jolted himself from the dark thoughts and sprung finally began moving, looking for something to use as a weapon. Turning around, he searched the front desk of the barrack for something useful. 

"Logan! Help!" Alex grunted out in his struggles behind Logan's back..

Logan could hear the banging bunk beds as the creature and Alex rolled around, distracting him during his search. Finally, he found a switchblade lying in the corner of the desk. Turning around with his prize in hand, he saw a disastrous scene.

Blood lay splayed across the ground in many places, bunk beds were thrown over and shifted, that poor woman lay dead on the floor, and finally his friend, covered in blood, sitting behind the monster in a headlock. The creature flailed about trying to throw the prey off its spiny back. As Logan approached the front of the beast, it was slamming itself against the walls and bunk beds, trying to get the pest off its back. 

Reaching the front of the beast, Logan ready his blade, looking for an attack.

Alex made brief eye contact with Logan before releasing his hold of its neck and snaking his hands down to its waist. Lifting up and over, Alex slammed the best into the ground. Now on the ground, the creature raked its claws into Alex's arm, making him release a scream. Keeping his grip, he rolled the beast on top of himself while making sure to stay behind it. 

'It's on the ground now. I can't miss this chance, ' Logan thought while lunging forward to slice its neck. The blade dug into the leathery skin and left a small cut against its throat, releasing a little black blood from its body. The Monster tried to lunge forward as Logan backed away but was pulled back down by the aggressor below it. The beast began struggling even more violently. Repeatedly slamming its back into the ground, swinging its arms at Logan, and kicking wildly. Below the creature, Alex grunted in pain as it slammed them into the floor. 

Trying to seize an opportunity, Logan went in for another stab against the creature and left another cut, but he was too slow to get away when it lunged its left arm at Logan in retaliation, cutting into his hand as he tried to pull away. Yelping at the sting, Logan stepped back and saw two men and a woman entering to help with the situation. Equipped with shovels, the four surrounded the creature and dealt blows to it. The Blows rained down on the creature, but even with the black blood dripping from its skin, it struggled even harder. Raking its claws all along Alex's arm, it released another grueling scream. Alex finally lost his grip around the beast, and the beast made a lunge off the floor toward the man in front of it. Coming down on top of an older man that had come to help them, the beast locked its claws into his shoulders, eliciting a cry from the older man. The maw opened up, and it wrapped its jaw around his face.

In a last-ditch effort, Logan lunged forward and plunged his blade straight into the back of its neck. Logan kept pushing his blade further into the ashy hide of the creature. As his blade deepened further into the back of its neck, its body slackened. Then, as suddenly as the creature had come alive, it slumped on top of its most recent victim. 

[You have slain a Dormant beast, Umbra]