Uda - Tide (4)

Uda could see how the patch of forest between them and the distant mountains was steadily being torn apart. The canopy ripped open as trees were uprooted and smashed by an invisible force. Soon the death cries of unknown animals echoed, and birds took off in panicked frenzy. The ground beneath their feet began to tremble ominously, and the entire tower started to shake.

"Nia, are you ready?" Uda asked, throwing a panicked glance behind her.

Nia was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the platform next to the staircase, eyes closed, her face twisted into a grimace. Uda got no answer. All she heard from her companion was a murmuring whisper.

Then the monsters broke through the trees.

There were so many that Uda could barely distinguish them. All she could see were writhing limbs, chattering maws and jaws, arms, legs, claws, and teeth. In just a few heartbeats, the creatures reached them.

The mass of horrifying shapes flowed like a tidal wave around the tower, isolating them on an island in the middle of a sea of bodies crashing against the walls. Claws scratched at the old stones. Bodies were thrown or pressed against them, producing dull thuds.

Stones tumbled down, smashing into the first terrible bodies.

The men and women who had thrown the projectiles screamed loudly, perhaps to drown out the horror that stormed their minds at the sight and presence of the writhing nightmares.

Uda herself felt strangely calm, almost refreshed, and the sensation unsettled her.

She saw Nia continuing to murmur silent words. Her face twisted more and more; she trembled, and black tears streamed down her cheeks.

Nia began to scratch the back of her own hand, flinching every time, but Uda did not dare stop her.

What have we asked of her? Is it really worth it to destroy these dark creatures? To shatter her mind even further? What is she thinking right now?

Uda blamed herself more and more, but she could not dwell on it because the first creatures had begun to climb the outer walls of the tower, driving their claws and paws into the stone to find purchase.

Orfet screamed and hurled a rock at a large, thick creature with a razor-sharp beak and yellow, lidless eyes that had already climbed nearly two stories. The rock hit it directly in the face, causing it to fall and crash into the swirling mass of scaly, leathery, and hairy bodies below.

Uda grabbed smaller projectiles. She relied on her strength and her ability to throw hard enough; the stones she hurled accelerated with a crack, and Uda felt small shockwaves as she released her grip. The projectiles flew down so fast she could barely see them. Screams and commotion erupted wherever her shots landed, but it made no difference.

The flood of monsters was unstoppable and merciless. For every creature they eliminated, three more appeared and began to climb. Soon they were even using the corpses of their fallen comrades to build an ever-growing wall of bodies, pressing up the tower like a giant open maw ready to snap shut.

The stench of the horde burned in Uda’s nose, and a bitter taste spread in her mouth. She ignored it.

"There are too many; they are almost here!" Ya screamed, throwing a beam into the depths and, judging by the noise, hitting several of the monsters.

"They are almost on us! They are breaking through the windows too! One of them smashed the barricades! What if they break through underneath us?" gasped a young woman who had turned pale and peered down between the battlements.

Indeed, Uda now heard screams from the floor below. She hoped the staircase remained sealed, but she had no illusions.

Soon she was sprinting from one edge of the tower to the other to help wherever it was critical.

One of the men near her was suddenly flung backward and slammed hard onto the ground.

Uda barely glimpsed his shattered chest before he dissolved into rippling luminous patterns. The fleshy projectile that had killed him was all that remained.

On the other side, Ya screamed and tumbled behind a battlement just in time. A thorn-like projectile whizzed past where she had just been standing.

"FUCKING SHIT!" Uda screamed, looking desperately at Nia.

She was still sitting there, rocking back and forth. Blood streamed down her face from scratched wounds, and she moaned in pain. Her fingernails were smeared with red, and she was crying harder and harder.

Uda grabbed a shard of pottery and shattered one of the creatures that had begun to shoot from below with grotesque, disgusting projectiles, half-slimy, half-metallic. Suddenly everything slowed down. The creatures moved sluggishly, and their screams became deeper and more drawn out.

Before Uda could realize why, a crystalline arrow flew toward her. It was still slow enough to dodge, but fast enough that she had to leap aside.

She underestimated her strength and crashed into one of the battlements, which crumbled and sailed down in chunks, crushing several attackers.

Uda had no time to celebrate the fact she had not fallen over the edge along with the stones. She quickly scrambled to her feet.

Everything returned to normal speed, and as she peered between the battlements, she saw that the creatures were almost upon them.

"NIA! PLEASE!" she screamed.

Suddenly dark, sluggish clouds gathered above them, and she saw that Nia was now surrounded by a black, shrouded aura that flickered menacingly. It grew into thin threads reaching toward the sky, intertwined, where they birthed clouds that looked like fruits on a leafless tree.

The massive swaths soon covered the mockingly bright sun and enveloped them in darkness from above as well. The clouds thickened until they blotted out the sun.

The rain would come. Nia had done it.

New hope flared in Uda’s chest, and she hurried to pick up the next stone and hurl it into the mouth of the first creature that dared to climb over the battlements.

At the same time she grabbed her trusty metal rod, which she had placed next to Nia as a last means of defense, and positioned herself protectively beside her.

Whatever was about to come, she would make sure—with her own body if necessary—that Nia survived as long as she could.

At Uda’s shout, the others also hastily retreated from the battlements and formed a protective ring around Nia and Uda.

They clutched weapons that looked almost laughable, like half-rotted table legs and planks.

"Pain, so much pain, it hurts so much... it hurts so much... I will drag you all into this pain, you sneaky, filthy bastards. I will devour you and melt you down and rot you away and skin you..." Nia murmured, her teeth bared in a slight grin.

Her posture was more relaxed, but she dug her fingers so tightly into her shoulders that her knuckles turned white.

"I will get you, you miserable, disgusting spawn..."

Uda held her breath. The clouds now covered the entire sky, fed by Nia's black aura.

Would she still manage it? If so, they would not have to endure much longer. The rain would fall soon. Then the only thing left would be to retreat into the interior of the tower.

They just had to hold out a little longer.

"Back... stay back... she... she belongs to me..." A voice cut through the air, ice cold, malevolent, driven by a terrible will.

Nia suddenly let out a scream and began laughing madly. To Uda’s horror, the dark threads that had just been feeding the clouds tore apart, and the sun broke through with ominous rays.

Around them, the others moved closer together, shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the monsters to come leaping over the battlements at any moment.

But nothing came.

A heartbeat passed.

Then another. Then far too many.

Yet the air grew colder, and a rotting stench enveloped them.

Uda grabbed Nia by the shoulders and shook her. She had to restrain herself from using too much force and accidentally hurting Nia, but somehow she managed.

"Nia, what the fuck? It was almost done! You almost made it, what is happening? WHAT IS HAPPENING?" she screamed.

Uda hated herself for losing her composure, but she could not take it anymore.

Everything had gone according to plan, it had almost worked, and now... FUCKING SHIT.

Nia did not even look at her but kept gasping faster and faster, a smile frozen on her lips. While Uda slowly began to sink into the despair she had fought off for so long, Nia looked toward the battlements.

"He is coming... He is finally coming..."

"What is she talking about?" shouted Orfet, who held a large beam like a club in front of him, scanning the surroundings.

"About... he is coming, finally... I knew he would come... I knew it, I felt him... I knew he would come... I... I had to see him again..."

To Uda's horror, a figure crawled onto the platform, slow and twitching, dark and reeking. It was a human body, dragging wisps of black mist behind it, until it finally stood up and staggered toward them.

"Ahhh, Nia, dearest, lovely Nia... I knew you would not leave me behind... It was your fault after all, wasn't it? You turned your gaze away to that slut over there. You looked away, and I had to push you aside... and woke..." the thing crooned.

It was Locu’s body, but Uda could barely recognize him.

His face was half-rotten, and gaping black holes stared from his eye sockets into nothingness. His body was covered in slimy filth, leaving a wet, dark trail behind him...