The boat continued drifting along for what felt to the group like hours, each minute that passed stretched by paranoia. Sometimes a guard would make a start at something only to dismiss whatever they’d seen, with only the gentle lapping of water against the boat's hull to serve as a backdrop to the eerie, foreboding atmosphere that surrounded them.
The sudden snap of a twig up ahead caused everyone to start, as guns were immediately trained in the direction of the noise. The group stayed there in silence for several moments as they waited for any reason to engage, but none came as the rivercraft drifted past.
“Fuck!” Nika snarled. “It’s like they’re taunting us! Chiyo? Still nothing?”
It’s hard to focus my senses! The Ilithii growled in frustration. Like there’s something throwing me off!
“What kind of something, Chiyo?” Alora asked, looking at the Ilithii while trusting Jack, Sephy and Dante to keep watch while her Dancing Lights floated above them.
It feels like…. The Ilithii replied after a few moments, cogitating her thoughts as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. Like the fog all around us obscures more than the physical, and I think it’s getting worse…
“Uh, Captain?” Rapids-On-Rivers called out from the front of the ship, pointing up ahead at something as Captain Ripples-On-Salt quickly made their way over to see what was up.
“Frost?” He asked in confusion.
“Yeah?” Jack asked, perking up on being called.
“Huh?” The Captain asked the human. “Not you, look!” He pointed to the side of the boat where a thin layer of ice was beginning to rapidly form on the lip of the wall.
“WOOF!” Dante barked suddenly, startling everyone on board as the ‘dog’ stared out ahead of them, growling angrily as the markings all over his body began to grow a far more intense blue than normal, and it felt as if the very air around him charged with static as he readied an attack, barking out a challenge into the darkness ahead of them.
“Where are they?” Jack asked the ‘dog’, but Dante couldn’t seem to focus on any one place, turning his head rapidly from side to side as he growled in frustration. Looking around, Jack could barely see anything save the dark ground of the bank, and a few colonies of ugly-looking white fungus.
Then, suddenly, from somewhere deep within the fog-shrouded forest, a chilling sound rang out, sounding like a series of faint whispering at first, before turning into a low, mocking chuckle that seemed to emanate from all directions at once, echoing off the trees and bouncing across the water around them with an otherworldly, horrifying intensity, before it suddenly stopped abruptly, as if somebody had hit the ‘mute’ button.
“It’s all around us…” Sephy whispered as the blood of everyone on board ran cold. Somewhere in the treeline, an eerie light flickered once again, this time just a little bit closer…
As the mist started to thicken even more, Nika snapped her gun up as she heard a noise. Not like the snap of a twig or the rustling of leaves. This was different. This was…
A faint, haunting whistling echoed through the mist ahead, sending shivers down her spine as she got up and walked to the bow of the ship, ready to fire. The sound was barely audible, a mere whisper on the edge of her consciousness. But as the boat continued on, the whistling grew louder, filling the air with its unnatural, disturbing tune.
“No!” Nika growled, as a long, deeply buried, primal fear was brought to the surface once more. “No! You’re not here! You can’t be!”
“Nika, what’s wrong?” Sephy asked, confused. “What are you seeing?”
“You can’t hear it?!” Nika yelled, her eyes wide with panic. “Where is it? Where is it coming from? It’s here! We have to run before it finds us!”
Then she saw it, emerging from the mist like a nightmare given life.
Close to three metres tall, the feminine figure was completely covered from head to toe in flowing, light blue robes of fine gossamer that flowed in the breeze like ribbons. It stared at her calmly from the bank of the river, making no movements except to turn its head to follow her, watching from beneath its veil….
“No!” The Kizun yelled as she leaned over the side of the boat, unleashing a full auto torrent of plasma fire into where the figure was standing. “No! You won’t take me!”
As the smoke cleared, it was gone.
“Nika, are you alright, what did you see?” Jack whispered, immediately beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder that caused her to jolt in a panic.
“You didn’t see it?” The Kizun panted, recovering from her panic as she looked at Jack incredulously as he held her still. “It was-”
Suddenly, they were interrupted as a blood-curdling scream yelled out from somewhere behind them.
“What’s happening?” The Captain called out. “Who was that?”
“Oh fuck! Captain!” One of the crew yelled out from the stern of the ship. “Strides-On-Marshwaters and Dives-In- Reeds are gone, I swear they were just here!”
“I’m on my way!” The Captain called back as he rushed to take a look, with the group following close behind, stopping by the door to the common room and below-decks. “The two of them were on guard here. What happened, Swims-With-Birds?”
“I don’t know Captain!” The young-looking crewwoman shook her head, worried. “I’d just checked in with them, then less than a minute later I heard one of them scream so I ran here!”
“No bodies, they must be somewhere,” Priestess Flows-In-Streams noted.
“Agreed.” The Captain nodded. “Rapids-On-Rivers, take four volunteers and quickly search below decks. With luck they retreated there. Be swift!”
“Aye Captain!” The guard nodded, quickly gathering his volunteers and heading below decks.
“Everyone else, slow the vessel down and check overboard!” The Captain then ordered the rest of his crew, who was met with tentative replies before they all split off, leaving the group on their own.
“Splitting up is a foolish idea,” Alora growled under her breath. “But perhaps necessary to keep the ship running. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Christ, what the fuck’s that smell?” Jack muttered, sniffing and recoiling in disgust as the adrenaline of the moment faded.
“Yeah I can smell it too,” Nika added, wrinkling her nose at the foul stench. “It’s musty as hell here, like there’s something rotting around here!”
“Check this out,” Sephy added as she spotted something, pointing at the railing. It took the others a little while to notice due to the imposing fog,
Scratch marks. Well spotted! Chiyo noted, taking a closer look. Are they fresh?
“Yeah I think so.” Nika nodded, touching the splintered wood fibres with one of her clawed fingers. “This has been freshly exposed, it looks too clean.”
“Something missed one of the giants?” Sephy asked.
“Or something climbed aboard....” Jack growled as the Ring of the Berserker vibrated on his finger. Dante sniffed at the spot the River Giants had been, looking worried, as another breeze of wind carried the same evil laughter from before, sounding much closer this time…
“Let’s retreat to the front of the boat where nothing can sneak up on us and we get the best view,” Alora whispered, leading them away from the edge of the boat. Looking around, the lights were flickering once again in the forest, becoming much more numerous as they got closer and closer….
“According to the map, we should be near to our stop,” Nika told them, still shaken from before as they made it back to their original spot. “We just need to hold on, but failing that we can make a break for it and run.”
Sephy, are your cameras still active? Chiyo asked as they got back to the front, referencing the covert surveillance pins the Skritta had planted around the boat to monitor the River Giants. Do you think you could find out what happened to the two missing guards?
“Oh shit, that’s a good point.” Sephy nodded as she quickly crouched down and began flicking through the various feeds.
“Summoning lights!” Alora called out as she threw multiple dancing lights in the sky above them, illuminating the boat, but strangely the light didn’t seem to shine too well on the bank, like the darkness was actively pushing back. Another breeze carries a chorus of ethereal giggles echoing around them.
Nika? Are you alright? Chiyo asked as she patted the Kizun on the back.
“I’m fine!” She grunted, shaking it off.
“Find anything Sephy?” Jack asked as he raised his plasma rifle, unsure of where to even aim. “Sephy?”
He looked down, and immediately moved to comfort her as the Skritta had a hand against her forehead, tears running down her cheeks.
“Hey!” He called out gently as he touched her on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Please don’t send me away!” The Skritta yelled out, looking straight past Jack as if not seeing him. “Please! I don’t have anywhere to go!”
“What are you talking about?” Jack asked her, confused. “Why would we send you away?”
“I’m sorry! They were hungry!” Sephy sobbed, and Jack realised she was hallucinating.
“Sephy! Snap out of it!” He yelled, shaking the Skritta by the shoulders.
“Huh? What?” Sephy asked, sounding confused as her frantic breathing began to slow back down. “Wait…what the hell?”
“I think you were seeing something else,” Jack told her. “Are you alright? Still with us?”
“Yeah…” Sephy snapped back into focus. “I don’t know what…”
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” They heard someone yell in the background in panic, causing everyone to snap round to the source of the commotion, as all of a sudden one of the River Giants bolted from the aft of the ship.
Before anyone nearby could react, the giant had leapt off the side of the boat to land on the forest floor and began sprinting as fast as they could into the forest. Two more River Giants leapt off to try and chase after their friend, rushing off into the fog after the rapidly disappearing crewman, whose screams of panic were abruptly cut short.
“NO! COME BACK!” The captain yelled as the two other giants, barely visible in the fog, turned around, and suddenly recoiled in horror.
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One of them screamed as something unseen barreled into them, knocking them out of sight. The other yelled out and tried to help their friend, before they jerked suddenly as if being tripped up by something, before falling to the ground.
“No!” The captain yelled. “Get me lights over there!”
Before anyone on the ship could respond, the ghostly lights in the forest flickered on, much closer this time as the malevolent giggling got louder…
“They’re taunting us!” One of the giants yelled in terror. “We’re dead!”
“Hold your nerve!” Priestess Flows-In-Streams yelled out at the panicking guards, as one recoiled from something in the forest and leapt off the other side, heedless of the risk as he fled into the darkness.
“Shit!” Nika growled to the others. ”They’re picking us off and we can’t even see them! Chiyo? Do you detect anything at all?”
I can’t! The Ilithii replied in a panic. Something’s blocking my senses!
“Cover me while I cast! Priestess, help me if you can!” Alora yelled out to them, wasting no time as she dropped to her knees, closed her eyes and began chanting.
“All hands to the main deck!” The captain yelled at the top of his lungs from where he had control of the helm, keeping the boat on course. “All hands to the main deck!” He repeated, his voice beginning to crack as they heard another yell from somewhere from the back of the ship.
“Jack?” An eerily familiar voice called out from behind him, and the human’s head spun around to look at the bank as the ship continued drifting along the currents.
“No…” He gasped under his breath.
A familiar human girl in a purple hoodie was standing on the back staring at him, tears running down her eyes with a mask of despair on her face.
“Why weren’t you there?” She asked with a sob. “Why didn’t you do anything?”
“I…” Jack began, then stopped. No…this didn’t make sense…
Jack shook his head with a growl and snapped back to reality. “Nice try!” He snarled, blinking once as the illusion in his mind disappeared.
Jack? Are you alright? Chiyo asked, sensing his pain.
“I’m good!” Jack confirmed as he stood up and took stock. “Whatever this is tried hitting me. How’s everyone else?”
“We’re good!” Nika confirmed. “But I think they’re trying to get Alora!”
He looked around, seeing several of the guards moaning or clutching their heads, and knew they wouldn’t survive for long unless they did something, but what could they do against an unseen enemy?
Wait. There was a solution…
“Alright motherfuckers!” Jack roared out into the forest, his bellowing voice drowning out the mocking laughter on the wind as he raised his heavy plasma rifle, flipping a switch on the side and confidently striding to the side of the boat. “You wanna play?” He grinned, looking out at the treeline, where he had no doubt something was staring back. “Let’s play!”
His plasma rifle hummed with crackling energy and roared to life, as with a determined shout Jack pulled the trigger and held it down, unleashing a full-auto torrent of white-hot heavy plasma fire into the forest. The shots tore through the foliage like they would paper, incinerating what was left of leaves and branches on contact, and properly lighting up the area all around them as he kept his finger on the trigger…
“Woah! Holy shit!” Sephy yelled pointing into the distance at several faint shapes on the ground. “Guys! I think we’ve got bodies!”
Indeed, now that the forest was lit up by the torrent of hellfire Jack was unleashing they saw many still forms laying on the ground that were almost exclusively Zorn, with several animals too, with many of the bodies looking almost torn apart…
And that wasn’t the only thing they saw in the dimly lit forest…
Chiyo spotted several shapes in the distance. Short and stocky shadows just out of view, and slowly moving in parallel to the boat in a line, while around them she could have sworn she saw several smaller shapes dart and dash around them, if only for a moment before their shadows were absorbed by the darkness…
I saw something on Jack’s side! Chiyo informed the others as she ran up to the human, gathering water in large globs to float around her, ready to lash out in a kinetic attack. They’re keeping their distance!
“Then we’d better not stand around doing nothing!” Nika yelled as she dashed up to the opposite side of the boat, having quickly set up her gatling laser, and spotted yet more of the mocking ghostly lights coming closer. “Light them the fuck up!”
“I’ll back Nika!” Sephy called to Chiyo. “Dante! Stay with Alora and cover her!”
“Woof!” The dog barked back as he stood at attention and obeyed the order.
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Jack yelled in a battle cry as the gun continued to whine, not paying attention to what anybody was saying as he continued to blanket the forest in a torrent of pure destruction. Trees and ancient logs cracked and exploded, their trunks erupting in splinters and smoke as a few simply started to collapse, and allowing beams of daylight to shine through the thick canopy, penetrating the darkness below.
Jack kept the trigger squeezed down.
He could have sworn he saw the strange stout form of something in the distance stumble and fall as the tree stump they were hiding behind was completely obliterated, with a frenzy of other shapes fleeing away from the destruction, desperate to escape the inferno.
“COME ON!” Jack taunted, yelling out over the deafening cacophony. “COME ON! DO IT! KILL ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!”
He knew whatever was out there was trying something, almost like the faintest tickle at the back of his mind as his Ring of the Berserker tingled on his finger…
He angled the heavy plasma rifle upwards, roaring out in challenge as he tried to obliterate any untouched vegetation that he could see through the thick haze of fog and smoke. Any shadow, any shape, any light would see no mercy from him!
Eventually the gunfire finally relented, with the battery fully spent. Jack immediately ejected the spent one, smoking as it clattered on the deck before slapping another in, then grinning widely as he flipped the switch and aimed his underbarrel grenade launcher, before suddenly snapping his head around as Chiyo placed a hand on his shoulder, with an expression of…
Jack couldn’t quite tell as he slowly backed away from his act of mass deforestation, and honestly he didn’t really want to know…
Nobody spoke for several seconds, as they stared out at the wasteland of scorched craters, charred trees and fires burning amongst the wreckage, casting a flickering, hellish light all around them. The ground was littered with the smouldering remains of plants, though he couldn’t see any physical signs of the enemy he’d been shooting at…
“Ummm….wow…..” Sephy finally gasped at the awe-inspiring sight. “That was pretty cool! And I think it worked, but we probably shouldn’t mention this around any Druids we know…”
Suddenly the whispering returned, echoing around the forest with angry hisses, filled with rage and spat threats with none of the mocking giggling from before, before it was abruptly silenced, as a loud, deep, inhuman cry of anger bellowed out from somewhere in the distance, followed rapidly by several more, this time closer. To Jack it seemed like the howling of wolves across distances, but there was no person or animal he knew of that sounded anything like these unnatural cries…
“Ef Linnes Praegos!” Alora yelled out, sounding exhausted as she smacked her palm on the planks of the deck, as a circle of light manifested around her, before quickly shooting out and expanding all around them. As the light touched him, Jack felt his running emotions calm down, and as he looked around he could still see several of the previously struggling crew begin to snap out of their terror and push themselves to their feet.
“We can’t be far! We’ve just got to hold on!” Nika shouted out, having pulled back from her side of the boat, which was now moving at a snail’s pace, simply carried along by the currents as whatever propulsion the ship used had halted.
“Crew! Report!” Captain Ripples-On-Salt yelled out. “Where is Rapids-On-Rivers?”
“Captain! Rapids-On-Rivers aren’t responding!” One of the crew members shouted from the back, fear evident in their voice.
“Dammit!” The Captain cursed. “I called all hands to the main deck, why are they still down there?”
“Maybe they didn’t hear you, Captain?” Priestess Flows-In-Streams called back.
“Can someone check on them and call them up?” The Captain asked. “If they haven’t emerged…”
Suddenly the boat shuddered from a powerful impact, sending Jack staggering slightly as he grabbed onto the nearby railing.
“That came from below!” The Priestess shouted in a panic, as Jack swore he could hear a new sound carried on the wind. It was hard to hear above the panic callouts of the remaining crew, but he could swear he heard some kind of cackling from somewhere nearby, with a feminine tone that did not match any of the women on board…
Someone’s casting a spell! Chiyo warned.
“They’re trying to sink the boat!” The Captain yelled back in terror. “Someone find out what’s going on down there! We need to fi-”
“CAPTAIN!” One of the crew cried out in alarm, as the captain suddenly shuddered and collapsed on the ship’s helm, with thick crimson blood suddenly running down the man’s face from his eyes…
“NO!” Priestess Flows-In-Streams sobbed as she dashed towards the captain. “Someone needs to check the decks below!”
“I’ll go!” Jack called out to the others, knowing the risks but realising he was the best choice. “Stay here and cover Alora! If it goes to shit, get ready to run! I’ll be right behind you!”
You’re not going alone! Chiyo declared. That’s stupid and you know it!
“I know, but we still need enough people up here!” Jack argued. “Dante can come with me, along with some of the crew!”
“WOOF!” Dante barked in agreement. As he bounded up towards Jack, the markings on the ‘dog's’ body glowed with a fierce blue light, illuminating his proximity well.
Without waiting for any further argument from the others, Jack set off at a sprint, calling out to the River Giant guards at the rear as he did, with two of them quickly agreeing to back him up. Steeling his nerves, Jack gripped his plasma rifle tightly as he quickly told one of the giants to open the door to the common room, as he methodically cleared the room as quickly as his nerves would allow. He couldn’t afford to waste time in a situation like this!
As he pushed forward to the stairs he was careful as he descended them on the left side, ready to quickly reach out and grab the wall for support if they were hit by something again, before he got to the bottom.
“Guys?” He called out into the dark, but received no answer. “Anyone alive?”
Nothing.
“Let’s go! Keep an eye out behind us.” Jack ordered the two River Giants. He didn’t know if they could fight well, but at least if they cried out they could alert the human if anything tried to sneak up on him. He knew splitting off like he had was a huge risk, but this needed to be done, and he had no intention of taking any unnecessary risks while doing it.
He quickly cleared each and every room they passed, with no place for anyone to hide in the relatively spartan quarters, but slowed at the T-junction at the end of the corridor, as Dante gave a low growl. Right side was clear, but checking around the left bend…”
Jack raised his gun, zoning in on what looked like a River Giant at the far end of the corridor. He moved out more into the open to allow the others to form up and see as he moved forward ever so slightly, feeling that something was really off about this…
“Hey, you alright?” Jack called out to the figure, who shuddered slightly but didn’t turn around.
The figure didn’t say anything for several moments, before calling back in a hoarse, croaky voice.
“.....no…..”
It sounded like Rapids-On-Rivers, but something about the voice made Jack blood run cold.
“What about the others? Are they alive?” Jack asked, inching slightly closer as he noted the open door next to Rapids-On-Rivers.
“.....no…..”
“One more question.” Jack clenched his jaw. “What are you?”
Suddenly as if fired from a gun, the figure dashed through the door far quicker than it had any right to be, as Jack unleashed a burst of his own which missed. As Jack chased after him he heard an almighty crash, and as he turned at the doorway he saw a massive hole in the side of the ship, smashed through by the fleeing figure who was already peeling off into the darkness beyond. On the floor of the room were the four bodies of the River Giants they were looking for.
“Shit!” Jack cursed.
“We can patch the hole, but we’ve gotta get the fuck outta here!” One of the giants told him as he rapidly backed away.
“Don’t lose your shit now!” Jack cursed as the ship started to take on water.
“We’re nearly out!” They heard a voice from above call out. “Light ahead! Hold them off!”
“We can patch the hole from above!” The other River Giant told him. “We can use the sails!”
Seeing how terrified both giants were, Jack had doubts about that, but he gave his companions the benefit of it anyway.
“Woof!” Dante quickly barked, looking up.
“You’re right.” Jack nodded. “Let’s get up and help the others!”
Dashing up the stairs and reaching the main deck, Jack could see the light in the distance that was getting ever closer, and knew that the hidden monsters around them wouldn’t chase them there. Legging it up to the front of the ship he was relieved to see the others were okay, and he wasted no time in unleashing yet more automatic fire into the forest to the shrieks of anger from their mysterious enemies as they were forced back.
“Yes!” Sephy called out as the rays of daylight touched the front of the ship. “We’ve made it!”
Jack only barely acknowledged that information as he ran down the side of the ship, blasting everything he could with auto-fire obliteration, until finally the ship was in the clear, and the only noise around them was the quiet, peaceful lapping of waves…
“Holy shit…” Nika gasped. “We are not going back there!”
“It’s okay, we’re away…” Alora panted, as she fell back to collapse on the deck.
Jack, what did you see down there? Chiyo asked him, as his gaze was fixated on the nightmare they had just put behind them.
“I saw a devil…” Jack finally spoke, his voice quiet and serious.
“...and I blinked.”