Chapter 12
Kaynul
Six years from now, the world would categorise 7 different ‘Codes’ that depicted the levels of danger presented by virtually anything: Code Home, referring to all-access areas that were inhibited by humans. Safe zones, military bases, walled cities, cleansed nations, any part of Earth that went at least 6 months without a Kaynul sighting was dubbed Code Home.
Code Struggle referred to the edge-case areas, where the firstly Awakened would often roam. These areas had a decent chance of containing A Tunnel, though it was much, much rarer to spot a Kaynul. Between the years 6 and roughly 15, around 60% of planet Earth was dubbed within this Code. However, as the definitions were quite… loose, there was still quite a lot of overlap with the Code Home.
Code Danger was reserved for any and all areas that had a Kaynul sighting within the last 6 months. These were popular spots for experienced Awakened to hunt in as they tended to have extreme chances of containing Tunnels. Eventually, most of the Code Struggle areas were slowly overwhelmed and became Code Danger, and that wound up being the de facto state of the world by the time of Ethan’s return–there was only some 10% of landmass that could be considered Code Struggle, and just around 5% that was considered Home in any capacity.
The general public usually was only aware of those 3 as they were the most used ones in the all-purpose discourse. However, there were 4 more reserved specifically for the experienced and active Awakened. Code Estranged referred to a situation where an area of Earth had become a borderline Field–Code Estranged was actually extremely rare to come across as whenever it did happen, masses of Awakened would mobilise to prevent it from becoming the next code–Code Fields.
Code Fields referred to the areas of Earth that were permanently populated by monsters. The monsters didn’t merely roam around those areas–they would build fortifications, stabilise Tunnels, and occasionally even spill out and invade past the general borders. Fields were always a massive undertaking, actions years in planning, as taking back the soil of mother Earth was seen as a quintessential element of being human–at least, that was how it was sold outwardly. What it was a suicide mission that paved the way for the greedy to grow richer and stronger.
The sixth Code was a stealthy sub-section of the Fields, Code Rejection. It referred to Fields that were impossible to take back without the involvement of the entire top brass. Eventually, the entirety of Sub-Saharan Africa would become a massive Field ruled over by a literal dragon. There was only ever one attempt to take it back, but it ended within ten minutes of the dragon showing up and burning just over five hundred Awakened to death.
The seventh Code largely went unspoken–Code Death. It did not refer to areas, but rather to specific entities–Terrors. At least, that was their most popular name–people called them Reapers, Angels of Death, Devils, and a plethora of other names. All boiled down to the fact that Terrors were monsters beyond monsters, the ilk that could dominate a galaxy by their lonesome.
Throughout Ethan’s past life, there were only 4 recorded Terror killings–only two of which were ever publicly confirmed. And the 2 confirmed ones were of effectively juvenile Terrors, monsters still in their infancy. Nonetheless, the items dropped by those two Terrors were so beyond stronger than anything else in existence that the charter was made that they could not be used by anyone without the express approval of the Governmental Council.
Sarah and Jameson took him on an expedition to ‘hunt down a Terror’ twice–it was well before the sheer absurdity of what those things represented was understood, and in many ways they were quite lucky that, during the second expedition as the first one was a bust, the Terror they encountered was more of a jester than a murderer. He made them miserable, but never truly harmed them, eventually letting all seventy-six people that came along go.
These code divisions would play a crucial role throughout humanity's resistance, but they were also traps–often, areas were purposefully misidentified for one or another nefarious purpose, and one could scarcely trust records younger than even half a year.
The reason Ethan recalled all of this in perfect detail was because of something that their rudimentary alarm system caught on camera–it had given them quite a few false alarms, be it because of the birds flying by, insects landing on the camera, or just the wind bending the branches in a strange way, but for the first time since its inception, it wasn’t wrong.
While Ronald and Tara stared aghast at the four-legged, brittle-haired, hunched creature resembling a rotting wolf with four eyes and a lack of lower jaw, Ethan mused inwardly that his memory was indeed spectacular. This particular creature fell under the general umbrella term of Kaynul–though, individually, it was colloquially called zowolf. Short for zombie wolf. The name was quite lacking, but it stuck as sort of a joke since zowolves were the first ever Kaynuls across the world.
Kaynul was a term for the initial breed of monsters that could appear on Earth–most monsters were distinctly confined within the Tunnels, the pocket dimensions that would swarm the world, but the appearance of a Tunnel was usually predicated on a Kaynul sighting. Early on, it was considered beyond god awful luck to spot one in the neighbourhood as it meant immediate evacuation, but as humanity grew stronger, Kaynul–at least for a short period of history–began being seen as harbingers of good luck.
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Kaynuls’ exact relationship with the Tunnels and creatures within was never quite understood–some theorised that they were from the specific Tunnels and were fed special gemstones that allowed them to cross the membrane between the dimensions when it was excessively thick, and some theorised that they germinated on Earth through one process or another. None of it was particularly close to the truth–at least Ethan never believed so–but whatever the relationship was, it did exist.
“Alright. Alright,” Ronald nodded. “I’m officially freaking the fuck out. What the hell is that?! Did we also enter a zombie apocalypse in addition to alien invasion?!”
“Why am I not surprised that you are perfectly calm?” Tara glanced at Ethan and said with a frown.
“Because you have a very high opinion of me?” Ethan responded, tilting his head lightly and smiling. “Relax. Why are you freaking out?”
“Why? Are you seriously asking us that right now?” Tara spat through gritted teeth and even Ronald looked like he was on the verge of punching out.
“It’s just a cute little dog,” Ethan shrugged. “Imagine if it was twenty times that size, had six heads, and spewed poison non-stop. Now that would be a fun fight. Anyway, all that notwithstanding, you two should go to sleep.”
“... huh? Why? Are you gonna hunt that thing alone?” Ronald asked.
“Huh? Why the fuck would I do that?” Ethan looked at him as though he’d asked the stupidest question ever. “No, I meant we’re going on the prowl tonight. The hunt. We. As in, the three of us. Fuck, your ass really thought I’d give you magic, feed you, roof you, teach you, and you would then take fucking naps while I hunted down monsters?”
“You knew Ronald would ask that question,” Tara said. “With how you worded us going to sleep. Why are you like this?” she sighed as Ethan grinned, his seemingly angry face vanishing in a second.
“It’s fun,” he replied simply. “You’re a bit of a seer, it seems. I’ll have to try harder with you.”
“Please don’t. I did actually believe for a moment that you were pissed off. You’re a good actor.”
“... eh, 2/10,” Ethan shrugged. “Leave ass kissing to Ronald. You ain’t fit for the job. But I was being serious–I can’t have you slipping up even for a second. Tonight, you two will hunt that thing and I will simply guide you.”
“...” having expected that, both Tara and Ronald stayed silent. They knew that none of what they received was free and that Ethan would eventually ask things of them–but they were still in the puppy stages, where they had to be guided and shepherded properly.
Inwardly, both youngins' suspicions were stirring–as with seemingly most other things, Ethan seemed to know that creature. No ordinary human, no matter how well trained psychologically, could simply proclaim in a somewhat bored tone that they’d be hunting that thing on the day of the first sighting. But they were afraid to ask–no, perhaps, even deeper than that, they were afraid to know. And thus, they stayed silent and retreated to their couches, forcing themselves to sleep.
In the meantime, Ethan left the lodge and started tracking the wolf monster. Every Awakened worth a salt twenty years into the future had many talents, chief amongst which was the ability to track monsters. Coming upon where the monster stood, even someone unaware would be able to recognise the signs–zowolves had acidic saliva, and due to their missing lower jaws, if they were hungry, that saliva would go everywhere, and wherever it went, it burned or rotted things.
And the wolf in question was definitely hungry, evidenced by the burned holes in the leaves and the missing patches of grass. Beyond that, however, it wasn’t as though the monster was conscious of its movements–it hardly bothered masking anything it did, leaving behind footprints, crunched grass, branches, and even the faintly fading rotting scent that it was known for.
It took Ethan less than twenty minutes to locate it–it was currently eating, having caught a rabbit by the looks of it. Its posture was quite strange–it sat up on its rear and held the rabbit by its front legs in front of it, almost reminiscent of human infants. Ethan ignored it, having seen even worse mimics of human behaviour, but didn’t approach it. Rather, he returned to the lodge–the monster, after feasting, would likely hide in the nearby shrubbery for the remainder of the day and throughout the night as while its acidic saliva helped it break down whatever it was eating, it took quite some time to actually digest its food.
As for why he would have the kids hunt during the night with barely any visibility–especially in the forest–instead of the day, it was simple: it was more of a teachable moment. The days, right now, were bright and visibility was fantastic–but they would grow darker and darker as the years passed. Beyond that, most hunts were done during the night as the vast majority of monsters had a similar preference with sleep to humans. While there were quite a few nocturnal beasts, they were special occasions rather than the norm-setters.
Especially early on in humanity’s resistance, going at monsters face-to-face was essentially a non-starter. While Ethan could calmly stare at the zombified wolf and boldly proclaim they would hunt it, that wouldn’t become the norm for a long while. In fact, some twenty-four years into the future, the strongest Awakened would become someone who was two-years-old at this very moment–they had no base instincts they had to override from the roots, and were raised with completely new instincts being instilled in them from the onset.
Ethan’s greatest advantage as a returnee–past the obvious ones such as knowledge and a vast wealth of experience–was his ability to directly engage with the monsters. Such fighting style wouldn’t become a norm for almost eight years after the Descent, as even the most experienced Awakened preferred ambushes over direct battles as they increased the likelihood of dying by an insane margin. Nonetheless, that was all for the future. For tonight, he would let the kids experience both–he would let them ambush the monster as they will undoubtedly fail, and he’d then have them fight the monster face-to-face while he assisted from the side and prevented any deadly injuries. It ought to be fun, he mused inwardly, having returned to the lodge, glancing at the blissfully sleeping kids on the couch with a strange glee in his eyes. Perhaps, he was a bit off too. But not too much. Not too much.