Chapter 36: Cloudy Horror

The highlands were an unforgiving place. Cold winds howled across the barren landscape, tugging at the robes of the recruits who stood near the base of the hill, watching the strange spectacle unfold. Above them, Cloudbreaker stood tall with his short, buzzed blonde hair slick from the rain. His umbrella, a strangely out-of-place object in such a desolate setting, shielded him from the storm. Yet the storm seemed to be of his own making. Dark clouds churned in the sky above him, swirling in violent patterns that mirrored the ancient words that rolled off his tongue.

Abel stood amongst the recruits, his eyes locked on Cloudbreaker. The scene was eerily reminiscent of Gravedigger’s ritual, yet there was something distinctly different this time—something darker, more unsettling. The highlands, though open, offered no comfort. They lacked the familiar cover of trees, and the vast emptiness seemed to magnify the storm’s intensity. The wind roared like a beast, tearing at the recruits’ clothing, but they could do nothing but watch.

Cloudbreaker’s robe fluttered wildly in the wind, his arms now spread wide in a crucifix-like stance. In his right hand, he held the severed head of a strange bird. Its beak was unnaturally long, as if carved from the very clouds swirling above them. In his left hand, he grasped a substance that defied logic—a strange, gaseous foam that pulsed and shifted as though alive.

The sky above Cloudbreaker responded to his murmured incantations, swirling faster and faster, forming a dark vortex directly above his head. A beam of dense clouds shot downward, enveloping him in a cyclone of pale mist. The air around him crackled with energy as Abel and the other recruits instinctively took a step back, their hearts racing in sync with the storm.

Abel's instincts screamed at him, something was coming. He glanced at Lorne, who stood nearby, wide-eyed and tense.

“We should get ready,” Lorne muttered, barely audible over the storm.

Before Abel could reply, a distant roar ripped through the sky, freezing them in place. It was a sound unlike anything Abel had ever heard—raw, ancient, and filled with unrelenting malice. The recruits' gazes shot upward, and there, in the storm-filled sky, it appeared.

A creature—no, a horror—emerged from the swirling clouds. It looked like something birthed from the sky itself, its body formless and shifting like storm clouds, but with monstrous limbs that extended and contracted in unnatural ways. Its face was a nightmarish amalgamation of jagged, lightning-like features, glowing eyes, and a gaping maw of shadow and mist.

Abel’s breath caught in his throat. The recruits stood frozen, the cold creeping up their spines.

"What... what is that?" Lorne whispered, his voice trembling, very uncharacteristically.

“That’s no beast...” Abel replied, his voice barely a whisper. He had seen fearsome creatures before, but nothing like this—a creature made of the storm itself, an entity that looked as though it could swallow the sky.

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“How are we supposed to fight that?” Lorne asked, his voice breaking into panic as the horror moved closer, each second amplifying the dread within them.

“Cloudbreaker!” Alisa shouted, her voice cracking with terror, trying to break through the cyclone and the storm. But Cloudbreaker was lost in his trance, arms wide, eyes closed, still chanting in that strange ancient tongue as the storm intensified around him.

The recruits scrambled backward as the sky horror surged forward, its form twisting and expanding as it descended upon the lone figure atop the hill. Abel’s heart pounded as the air crackled with electricity. The storm lashed out violently, rain turning to sheets of ice-cold needles.

“Fall back!” one of the recruits yelled, panic setting in as they realized the full magnitude of the danger before them. “We can’t fight that thing!”

The horror let out another roar, the sound vibrating through Abel’s bones. He took a step back, and the recruits around him followed suit, their eyes wide with fear. They couldn’t stay—they had to retreat. But before they could act, the sky horror made its move.

With terrifying speed, the creature descended upon Cloudbreaker. Its shadow engulfed him completely, and for a brief moment, everything was still.

Then, with a sickening crunch, Cloudbreaker was obliterated.

The storm horror’s mass slammed into him with such force that his body was reduced to a gruesome paste of flesh and bone, splattering across the hilltop. The bird’s head and the foam-like substance disintegrated as if they had never existed, consumed by the raw power of the entity.

Abel felt a wave of nausea wash over him. His stomach churned as the storm beast, its task complete, turned its gaze toward the remaining recruits.

“Run!” Abel shouted, his voice desperate as the recruits snapped out of their paralysis. They scattered, their feet pounding against the muddy ground as they fled into the dense forest surrounding the highlands.

The wind howled behind them as the horror gave chase, its enormous form moving unnaturally fast for something so massive, although once it flew over the forest its speed decreased drastically as if it was being suppressed by an unknown magical force.

Abel could hear the crackle of lightning striking behind them, the scent of burning ozone filling the air. His heart hammered in his chest, his legs aching as he pushed himself to run faster. He had taken off the basked just like the other recruits to boost his speed, and he simply hoped to make back further into the inner perimeter and hope for the towers protection to handle this abomination.

The forest closed in around them, the trees becoming their only shelter from the relentless pursuit of the storm horror. Branches whipped at Abel’s face as he tore through the underbrush, the sounds of thunder and crashing trees growing louder behind him.

Just when it seemed like they could run no more, Abel spotted a large, gnarled tree in the distance. Its thick trunk loomed before them, a strange hollow at its base.

“Over there!” Lorne shouted, pointing toward the tree.

Abel didn’t hesitate. They sprinted toward the hollow, diving into the darkness just as a deafening crash echoed through the forest, the storm horror’s rage tearing apart the landscape behind them.

One by one, the recruits scrambled into the hollow, the darkness swallowing them as they tumbled into the unknown depths beneath the tree.