Darkness Falls

"I guess that's it then," the young priestess said resignedly. She removed her helmet and held it at her side. Her onyx hair swayed freely in the frigid breeze as she gazed into the shadows of the trees. She slowly turned in the direction of Lucia's body, wondering if she could have done things differently today. She did her best to dress the wound by tearing off some of the clothing she was wearing underneath her armor. The excessive bleeding had finally stopped somehow. She thought maybe the ice-cold weather had cauterized the wound shut and frozen the blood flow. Whether it was possible or not, her mind was too distracted to tell and she counted the situation as a small blessing.

Gently stroking Lucia's hair and clearing it of frost, she looked around and contemplated to herself. Should she have listened to her friend's warning and avoided looking for trouble for the sake of her altruism? Was this all part of Macha's divine plan?

She donned her helmet once again and made ready to move. Hoisting up her partner, Zulema made sure the coast was completely clear before attempting another march back to camp. The frozen forest was dead silent aside from the ghostly whistle of the winds. They were surrounded by a dark, prison maze of wood and snow that was now being guarded by a monstrous warden who was ready to execute them on the spot. Her anxiety had slowly been building and was on the verge of reaching its apex, but she kept that mental breakdown bottled for Lucia's sake. If there was still any chance of saving her, it was all up to Zulema.

She wondered if she had injured the thing at all during their bout. It certainly fought back with endless vigor. What was another injury to an unliving beast missing half itself? Was it possible to kill something that was already dead? The deathly howl it released was still haunting her. The forest ahead of her was covered in an all-consuming darkness that made her feel more terrified and isolated than she's ever been. Despite her maturity, she was still younger than most of the other female members of the church and at the moment, deep down in her heart, she truly felt like a little girl again. A child who couldn't distinguish the rational with the irrational and felt fear at every little movement she was sure had crossed her vision. Yet despite the emotions swelling in her heart, her mind tried its best to shout. Telling herself that she was an adult who was responsible for the safety of others. That she didn't have time to waste feeling afraid. The conflict within her raged as she continued to drag herself and her friend back to safety. Even with her abilities, she felt like a nothing in the presence of the current danger. She was sure that she was still being hunted—that at any moment it will again have picked up her scent and will jump out at any moment to tear through her armor like a can opener so it can chew her meaty insides with its hideous, unnerving teeth.

The rattled priestess tried to distract herself from the situation by busying her mind with random thoughts. Zulema tried recalling the protocol for encountering any type of E-class creature: If any one priestess should encounter an E-class while out in the field, to immediately regroup with their field leader and depending on the rank of said leader, to proceed ahead with one of two options. If the leader is of Cuckoo rank or higher, then she will formulate a plan to dispose of the target. Otherwise, the priestess is to report immediately to the church so they can send the appropriately ranked authorities to engage. Sister Marie had only recently been ordained to Cuckoo Sister so she didn't find it odd when she was assigned to a mission as simple as this. Back when Zulema thought they were only coming as military backup. But now she wondered whether Marie had been fully aware of this beast and its true nature. Regardless, there was no chance of defeating it without her.

Aimless thoughts raced through Zulema's mind. She quickly shook them away as she finally realized that she needed to stay focused in case she gets ambushed. The trees had all blurred together and she wasn't exactly sure just how far she had traveled. The weight of her partner was finally starting to exhaust her as the adrenaline in her body began to die down—the only thing helping her stay balanced being the scythe in her hand, poking uncertain holes in the ground. There were a couple of times where she had almost considered leaving Lucia and abandoning her to her fate. She wasn't sure if there was really any point in bringing home what was possibly her frozen corpse. The intrusive thought disgusted her and she quickly blamed it on the bludgeoning fatigue wearing down her mind and body.

The priestess immediately halted her traverse. There was something disturbing in the snow that she hadn’t realized was there until only a moment ago. Pulsing with a dark, primordial energy were a track of oblique prints that led further ahead of where she had been moving. She cursed the idiotic inclinations that led her down this path. The stress was riding her, pushing her to a breaking point, and as she looked up ahead, a pair of throbbing, caliginous orbs accompanied by a row of glistening, gnashing oblong teeth stared back at her.

She stood completely frozen like a docile creature caught in the headlights of its oncoming death. She held onto a futile shred of hope that it somehow hadn’t caught sight of her. That maybe the heinous thing was staring beyond her, into abyssal realms untouched by light where odious beasts gathered en masse and concepts like humans made no perceivable sense to their mind’s eye. She hoped and prayed for what felt like eons until at last the eyes in the night’s shadow began to tremble with movement, at which point she pushed against Lucia hard, throwing the body away from her and using the momentum to jump in the opposite direction. Afraid to be rough with her companion, she aimed her body at the nearest brush and made sure the monster held its attention on a moving target lest all of that work be for naught.