Of Ice, Death & Monsters

The night came and went for the agents and Magi of Ephitet. Luckily, no monster seemed to have attacked them during their rest. They all slept soundlessly, with Professor Rook being the one who slept last, uncertain about the plan ahead.

Of course, he trusted his colleague. Marian was brilliant, one of the best, but this endeavor was much more than most could handle; better men than he have failed, but he should not waste the gift that the fox has given him.

He grabbed his tail, scratching at the scales as he took a deep breath and reviewed what he knew already: They were in Galfania, a land essentially undocumented and unknown. Most of the natives here are either crazed bloodthirsty monsters or deranged cultists.

Claws grew from his hand as the frustration settled in. His Magick, too, has changed from being based on the scientific properties of ‘time’; now it’s been reduced to summoning strange creatures.

Can he trust the volunteers to even survive the night, knowing of the horrors that would be out there? Can his group even survive? No food or water as of the moment. The only shelter was caves, and with people like Jane out and about… He would be hunted.

“Is something wrong?” A voice whispered beside him as he turned to find one of the Watchtower volunteers, Mollie, staring at him.

“Go back to sleep. It’s none of your concern.” Rook whispered back as he wrapped his tail around his waist.

“Alright, but you sigh really loudly.” She turned away as he was about to sigh, but held his breath instead.

“...Noted.”

Rook closed his eyes and, after some squirming, he managed to fall asleep with the rest of the group.

Day 1

Morning came, not with much light, but rather with the smell of dew and the strange feeling of mist on their bodies. Rook stood upright as he narrowed his eyes and peered beyond the cave entrance. There was nobody there, and he didn’t seem to be injured at all so far either.

All was good, no attacks so far at the very least. However, Rook knew that wasn’t going to last much longer. Every record of Galfania that the Balthalems kept post Thousand Nights was all about the numerous monster attacks. They needed to fortify, to build-

Marian yawned and stretched her arms out as she fluffed her tail out in the open in front of Rook. “Looks like morning has come. Let us make haste once more and explore the land.” She turned around as the rest of the volunteers began to get up as well.

Derek and Topher actually seemed to be before even Rook, playing with a few wooden knives and a bowl. “Oh, well, we found something already.” The both of them then brought out a few bowls full of berries and what appears to be berry paste.

Mollie leaned over and sniffed the bowl. “Smells… Tarty, and fruity.” She poked at it with the edge of her knife as if it could be some kind of explosive that could go off at any minute.

“Oh? Give it here.” Marian gestured towards herself with her tail as Derek handed her the bowl.

The Magi then carefully examined the berry, picking it up as she sniffed and rubbed it in between her fingers.

“Did you already find it in the bowl or did you collect it?” Rook turned to the pair with an eye of curiosity. Perhaps it really is one of the first few finds they will ever uncover here. Well, that’s one off the checklist.

“It was already in the bowl when we found it, same as the paste.” Derek then went ahead and tried a berry, popping it in his mouth before Rook could stop him.

“It’s a little sweet, tarty, kinda like apple pie. Oh frozen though, super frozen.”

Rook groaned and rubbed his head in frustration from his actions, but at least they could determine if it was poisonous. “Do you feel anything wrong? Any side effects?”

Derek shook his head. “Nah, nada. Really could go for some water though.”

Topher held up a few flasks, shaking them as if to check for water. “I found these, but it’s just full of snow.”

Henry began to walk deeper into the cave. “You just found it right in the back of the cave?”

Mollie stared at the makeshift blankets. “Well, it tracks. Looks like people have been living here for quite some time.”

“I think, rather than living here, it was a hideout. A place used for temporary accommodation. If it were an abode, it would have had more than the bare necessities.” Marian wagged her tail excitedly as she began to chew on the frozen berries.

“Which means, we can find more resources in other caves as well~ Oh, how wonderful!” Her tail wagged excitedly as Rook walked by the mouth of the cave, peering over to their surroundings.

There was something wrong in the air. He could feel it; somewhere out there was danger lurking. And he wasn’t wrong at all. As from the corners of his eyes, he found what appeared to be someone bloodied, shambling almost, walking towards them.

“Be careful, someone is approaching us as of this moment! Prepare yourselves!”

Derek and Topher nearly threw away the bowl in surprise while Mollie and Henry dashed to the entrance, gun in hand, as Marian laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic, Jameson. You’re going to frighten the volunteers.”

She strode on ahead, carefully keeping her eyes on the shambler. “Now then, what do we have-....” Her voice grew faint as she saw what it was.

It was a woman whose body was in rigor mortis, flesh already sunken and eyes gone. They walked as if animated by another force, headed straight towards them. There was no sound, no groan, no moan, not even a whisper.

“Don’t shoot…” Marian ordered as she approached the woman as if it were an injured animal, slowly stepping towards her with a raised arm.

However, much like an animal, the walking corpse attacked, lunging at Marian, who swiftly grabbed her chest and ripped it off the body. However, even this didn’t stop her assault.

The corpse tried to grab at Marian’s throat, but the wolf girl simply grabbed at their head and pulled it off the body in one fell swoop, throwing it away into the forest… Yet still, the body moved.

All of the volunteers began to unload their rounds into the corpse, peppering it with bullets to no avail as it wouldn’t stop, no matter how many holes filled its body.

“Stop firing!” Marian called out as she backed away from the shambling walker.

At once, the volunteers paused, giving Marian enough time to lunge at the corpse, ripping it in half from the neck down, and finally, it stopped moving.

“What in the Star King’s Blade was that fucking thing?!” Derek kicked half of the body away with a grimace.

Roll knelt down as he finally realized. “Ghoul, it’s a ghoul. Walking corpses that search for anything living to eat, preferring life like us, not like plants. We were its target.”

Mollie poles at the other half with a long stick. “How come the bastard didn’t die when we made it into Baltha cheese?”

“They’re animated by another force, more construct than monster. They won’t stop unless their body simply cannot take any more damage.” Marian muttered as she faced the direction from which the ghoul came, noticing more silhouettes.

“And more are coming. We’re going to have to go now. Gather as many materials as you can. We need to find a safe spot to call our base for now, possibly a higher vantage point.”

Already, the others began to place what they found inside of the makeshift blanket, wrapping it like a knapsack as Derek and Topher were made to carry the load.

“We should sparsely head towards rivers or lakes.” Rook added to the list of commands as he ventured beside Marian, as that was the best place to be.

“There were many stories about monsters that would drown those who came close to them. In fact, there were multiple monsters whose entire plan of attack was simply waiting near bodies of water for their victims before dragging and drowning them. Far too many monsters…”

He shivered a bit, remembering how odd it was reading about that. Before, he didn’t have to worry about it, but now, he knew that he had to.

“He’s right, we stick to walls and never split up. Now, let’s hurry before we’re caught!”

And with a simple nod, all of the volunteers surrounded the magi and marched with them across the land.

Night 1

It was as if the world itself was against them. The entire day was filled with nothing but terrors at every turn.

Monsters were everywhere, no matter what they did. It was as if there was an inevitable rule that they would be overrun with monsters.

The ghouls were simply the first part, a constant reminder that never seemed to end unless you killed them. Marian had to take it upon herself to constantly tear them to shreds or find anything large enough to bind them to the ground, like a blunder or a destroyed tree, to take care of them.

Then there were more terrors like those strange shadowy wolves that attacked them, but Rook quickly moved them all to the light, which repelled them quite easily.

They only went to the waters once, and that was to fill the flasks they found with actual water. Although the water quickly froze in their flasks as they tried to put it in, so they instead carefully drank it.

However, it was only a few gulps until they saw grotesque creatures rise out of the waters before they were all told to run away as fast as they could.

Each and every time, they barely escaped in the nick of time, slowly becoming a lot more tired and exhausted. Some monsters actually were close to taking them out if not for the warnings of the volunteers and especially the Magick.

Whenever a monster got too close to comfort, Marian would swirl one of her hands clockwise, gaining immense speed, and rip off their hands or tear their body apart. Rook would sometimes stand perfectly still, too, immobilizing anyone he stared at as if there were an iron grip around them.

Frostbite was a real terror, where they would have to find any source of warmth before their limbs fell off, usually resorting to just rubbing their hands on Marian's fluffy tail. However, when cases seemed to be great, she would bring out the Vocalization of Heat.

"Grant Us Warmth And Stay With Us, Oh Spirit Of Heat."

Immediately, orange sprites appeared around her that would warm the group up for a minute to keep them from freezing.

Then there was, every so often, what they called the Vocalization of Chance, where they would chant. “The Spirits Bring The Hope I Require”, before being surrounded by yellow golden sprites that made them incredibly lucky for a moment.

However, there was one beast that they couldn’t exactly face, one beast that had them at every corner.

It was the size of a small house, with the head of a cow, long arms ending in claws, and hind legs like a horse. It had long, sharpened antlers that had fresh bodies on them that were dripping blood, and it looked like it wanted to add more to its collection.

They tried to fight it off to no avail. Marian’s claws only reached the surface. Deep wounds and bullets were the same, only annoying it for the most part, as it charged straight at them. Luckily, Marian acted quickly and immobilized it, standing still as the others climbed a small hill towards a nearby cave.

She then, with quick timing, swirled her hands clockwise and accelerated towards them all, swiftly climbing up the hill and into the cave. In it, they all breathed a sigh of relief as they found the same resources that they did in the morning, several hand-woven blankets and even a few of those bowls of berries deep within.

They all slumped by the walls, taking a deep breath, collectively realizing that they were going to be here for a while.