CH119

As Ben got up a sight of chaos greeted him. At first, he thought a horde of different monsters had come to attack them, they were all so varied in shape and size, it was like the attack on stonewall all over again, but as he looked closer he found they all had distinct similarities.

Despite differences in body structure big enough that they could be mistaken for different species, they all had dark red scales and soulless violet eyes, marking them all as members of one race. Demons.

From what he’d learned, one of the most dangerous aspects of the creatures was their adaptability, their forms drastically changing within single generations to fit their environments, making them well suited to conquer various worlds, and incredibly dangerous to have on the planet, and now their little hunting group had become their prey.

Even worse, there wasn’t the trifling five they’d been told to expect, but thirty of them at least, and some making a beeline to him as soon as they saw him.

He didn’t know what to do, what he could do. He wasn’t a fighter and he didn’t sleep with the barrier gauntlet on, how was he supposed to run? One that was built like a bull lunged at him and he felt death in front of him again. He reached his arm out, prepared to lose it so he could connect with the creature to try and scare it off like he’d done in the past, but before he could Will appeared and lunged at it, knocking it away briefly and giving him enough time to grab Ben in his arms and run with all of his might away from the camp.

“WILL WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Ben yelled as he was being manhandled. “WE CAN’T LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE!”

“STOP MOVING SO MUCH! IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE!” His friend yelled back, pain lacing his voice. “I already saw their bodies being dragged into pits when I got up, if even Wedrow was killed then there’s nothing I can do but get out of here.”

Killed? No, they- But Thera, Steph, they can’t be… He felt sick with horror. For his friends to be gone in the blink of an eye while he slept, how could that happen? How was he supposed to tell everyone? Two of the few people he cared about in the world were gone just like that and his horror turned to rage as he screamed in his mind.

MYRIAD! HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN!

He knew his god was watching considering everything that happened and he wanted answers. This couldn’t have happened. Myriad had been watching the entire time, even if he wasn’t omniscient or omnipresent, how could they have been snuck up on like that?

When his god did speak up, it was with a voice filled with remorse. <They were burrowers. It looks like they crawled through the earth to get to them which is why I didn’t see their movements. Ben, I’m… I’m sorry.>

There has to be something we can do, they can’t just be gone!

<There’s only a few chasing you, at least on land, I can’t guarantee there aren’t more beneath the earth. Please, just let Will run with you.>

He gritted his teeth and tried to keep silent, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. His friends would be dead or dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Once they finally felt they were a safe distance away and Myriad said they were no longer being chased they sat in silence. Will had spent almost half the day running and they needed to figure out what to do from there, but neither of them had the energy to talk.

Instead, Will threw together a fire, and Ben let himself fall into despair. With his friends gone he felt all the energy seep out of him in a way he couldn’t stop. It was worse than when he’d taken a few days after he’d been left behind at the church, what was he supposed to do now?