Redfield hadn’t been a particularly large city, nor did it have any real distinguishing features beyond the fact that it was in an extremely profitable location. Tucked between two sets of foothills in what had been a swamp before its founders had dug a series of canals, filled in the low spots, and engineered a rather ingenious series of drains more than 200 years ago. The result was an extremely fertile little town that had made its fortunes growing produce and tobacco to sell at the larger city of Riverport, even going so far as to build the road between the two cities with the profits they had made. After a hundred or so years, the farming and tobacco production had shriveled to nothing, but the town had smoothly transitioned into being a lovely retirement location. The communities were gated, the buildings luxurious, and the streets were spotlessly clean, often having some public festival or gathering every Sunday for as long as David could remember.

He almost didn’t recognize it.

Where Riverport had been consumed by trees and vines Redfield had been wholly consumed by the swamp that had once occupied the land it stood on, with a concerning amount of stagnant water that had built up as soon as the drains and canals were no longer maintained. With nowhere to easily drain away, the ground had saturated before it began to devour the once pristine buildings hungrily, and almost every structure still made of brick had sunk almost entirely into the soupy ground. Towering cat-tails and large aggressive-looking lilypads were everywhere, and the sound of buzzing of insects and the songs of nightbirds was loud even from the outskirts of the city. Clouds covered the moon and the foothills were consumed by total darkness, which suited David just fine as he clung to the branches of an old dead tree and looked out over the tiny valley.

Wow, just wow. I’m really glad that I can fly, that’s just a straight swamp down there now. Doesn’t look very deep, but there would be almost no way to walk around without making a ton of noise unless you were walking at half the speed of smell. Plus it’d be just my luck if one of those goons of Viktor’s was a crocodile or like…some other vicious aquatic animal. It’s weird though, I always thought swamps smelled kinda bad as a human, but it just smells like home now, somehow. Lemme just check my Status real quick just in case.

User: David Fisher

Species: Twilight Seeker Ω

Rank: E

Health: 165/165

Stam: 390/390 (++)

Level: 10

Exp: 835/1500

Special: Echolocation D

Traits: 4/4

Nocturnal E: +12% Damage, Stam Regen, Exp Gain at night.

[3/10]

Echolocation D: Manipulate high-frequency sound waves to see with more than just your eyes. Multi-stage ability: Repeated uses against the same enemy builds Combat Expertise, and may trigger an Echo.

[6/10]

Flight D: Allows for flight and gliding. Mild Stamina drain. (stam+)

[2/10]

Small: Your form is small, weighing no more than 115lbs. (stam+)

[n/a]

Abilities: 4/4

Screech E: You emit a loud screech, damaging enemies in a cone. Low Stam consumption.

[4/10]

Moonsong F: A soothing melody that adds a greatly increased Regeneration rate to yourself and your allies for a short time. Moderate Stam consumption.

[3/10]

Gloom C: Your wingbeats spread Dusk powder with every flap. Enemies under the effect of Gloom are inflicted with visual hallucinations. Stacks up to 8 times.

[4/10]

Nocturnal Strike C (4pts): A quick, lunging attack that steals a small percentage of the target's Stamina.

[5/10]

Mutagens: 5/5

Dread Mutagen C: Your form inspires dread, which may cause enemies to reconsider aggressing you. Enemies that meet your eyes may find themselves unable to look away, eventually causing them to be afflicted by Fear.

Atavistic Mutagen D: Form becomes primal, strengthening your body.

Soporalytic Mutagen E: Your attacks have a moderate chance to inflict paralytic sedation, inducing muscle spasms and rendering targets unconscious.

Secretive Mutagen E: You become more elusive, making you harder to track and detect.

Apical Mutagen C: Assert your dominance, add bonus effects to Abilities dictated by Ability Type. [Control: Drain a small percentage of Enemy Health and Stamina] [Offense: Sunders a percentage of Enemy Defenses]

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

David dismissed the panel quickly after reading the effects of his newest additions just to jog his memory, he remembered the basics but it had only been a little longer than a day, and he didn’t want to forget any crucial details like he’d done before. With a curt nod, he released his grip on the dead branch he was hanging from with his hind claws and allowed himself to glide away from the tree and out over the reinvigorated wetlands that surrounded the city, relying heavily on Echolocations to scan the waters and vegetation that grew around and in the waters. David alternated between pulsing the path ahead as well as below him, noting the sheer amount of fish and other small wildlife that lurked below the murky waters with interest as he made good time towards the city itself.

He reached the first of the sinking buildings quickly, reaching out and snagging the crumbling brick with his talons and coming to a halt with an almost silent thump before rapidly shuffling his way around the side, gazing down into the darkened street cautiously. David’s jaws chattered silently, the frequency of his Special far above the normal range of hearing as he swept the waves up and down the street before detaching from the old stonework and flapping his way across the street to land a few buildings away. He repeated the process and slowly leapfrogged his way further into the city center, growing more anxious by the minute as he found nothing and no one the entire way, disturbed by the total lack of the small wildlife he’d seen just outside the city.

You’d think with all the water in the streets and…y’know…everywhere, that the little things wouldn’t know the difference between the city limits and the outside. That’s weird. Really weird. I don’t like that. Even in Riverport, you had the occasional thing running around the city itself, they even had enough to hunt for the first few days according to what they told us. Something’s off, and it smells weird. The water just smells, I dunno, dead or something. Bad.

David wrinkled his nose at the thought, sniffing quietly at the air and trying to compare the scents to his memory of what the wetlands outside the city had smelled like. There was a definite difference, and he was positive that it was largely thanks to the fact the water was stagnant and unmoving, its surface covered by scum and algae. David hissed a bit unconsciously before he cut his breath off violently, kicking himself for making unnecessary noise before he leaped off the roof he’d been standing on and back into the air. He’d been to Redfield a few times as a child, and he vaguely remembered that the City Hall was the exact center of town, the building overly grandiose and accessible.

His wings filled with oddly warm night air rising from the water below as he gained altitude and flapped quickly toward the center of town, careful not to cease his pulsing scans of the area below him. David reached his target in only a few minutes, the time slipping by rapidly as he forced himself to focus and stay alert, the predatory voice in the back of his mind greatly displeased with the scent of his environment and adding to his building anxiety. He nearly fell out of the air in shock when he finally saw Redfield City Hall, fumbling his rhythm as he jerked back from the stinging light that pierced his eyes like a needle, and quickly landed across the street on the roof of a boutique that had sunk at a crazy angle into the mud.

Fire? Is the building on fire? No…that’s purposeful. Only in a few spots. Someone lit a fire? How? There’s no way unless…damn. If Viktor is some sort of monkey thing like Theo said, he’s got hands. That lucky piece of shit, you know how bad I miss my hands? Thumbs? I guess the wings make up for it a little bit but…okay, focus dummy. We take a look then head back to Claire and decide if we can do anything about this, I don’t like her odds getting through all that water without someone noticing her though.

David wiped the irritated snarl that had formed along with his thoughts off of his face and bounced off the roof, slimy tile disintegrating under his feet as he pushed off and scooped the air under him. He glided silently, flapping only as needed to maintain his altitude above the watery courtyard as he passed over it towards the building. He avoided the areas with visible light, and saw that the source was mostly rusted-out barrels full of deadwood and what looked like old 2x4s and other supplies ripped off of houses blazing merrily in key locations. He frowned as he started a slow circuit of the building itself, realizing that the barrels would have to be fed fresh wood fairly often to be burning that brightly, and keeping a close eye out for any guards or observers. After a complete loop of the building, he gained a bit of altitude and drifted in for a slow landing on the roof, drifting in like a feather and landing in without so much as a whisper as he leaned back to stop his talons and claws from touching down first.

He lurked across the roof, sniffing slowly and setting his ears swiveling like radar dishes, alert to any minor noise or movement as he blanketed the roof in Echolocations. Finding nothing he slunk to the edge, hanging face down off the gutters and gripping the side of the building easily as his talons sunk into the rotting wood without any resistance as he crawled like a spider towards the closest window to the roof, which he judged to be a couple stories up at least.

“I’m telling you, Bill, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. We heal up from almost anything in an hour or so, maybe Viktor is right and we’re just mentally weak.”

David froze, not even daring to breathe as a muffled voice drifted out of the deteriorating building and into the warm night air as he neared the empty window frame.

“Shove it up your ass, Randal. That’s the Stockholm speaking, and you know it. We might heal up but we still feel everything, and I, for one, don’t particularly enjoy bleeding out on the floor for 30 minutes every couple of hours while I stop being hamburger.” A sharp, hateful voice replied to the first almost instantly.

“I admit it’s…not optimal, but with all the defensive skills he made us take it’s getting better. Your shell’s like iron now, they can’t even crack it in one hit anymore. We’re getting stronger at least…” Randal muttered apologetically

“Fuck you. I’m leaving, you can sit here and preach to yourself asshole.”

David slithered his way down the wall and circled the window, careful to pull his ears back and out of the way as he slowly lowered himself to peek into the room. He barely had time to register a long, bony tail tipped with a knot of bone whip out of the room as someone, presumably Bill, stormed out. His gaze snapped onto the remaining figure, a stumpy beaverlike creature covered in sharp quills that grew ridiculously long on its back and tapered to short spikes down its rat-like tail. Randal sighed and began to trundle towards the window as David yanked his head back, convinced the creature could see well enough in the dark by the total lack of light in the room it occupied. He moved quickly, slinking around the window frame and creeping below the opening to reorient himself upward, not wanting any debris from his claws to fall into view as he debated the pros and cons of making contact.

“He’s right, damn it. I can’t spin this any sort of way, Viktor has us by the balls…”

David’s ears flicked forward as he chittered an Echolocation upwards, the return wave painting him an intricate picture of Randal standing just inside the room, front paws on the window frame as his short oily fur ruffled in the wind blowing in off the swamp.

“Maybe I should jump like Liza did…just get it over with.”

Before David had time to react, Randal had leaned out of the window to look downward into the water, inadvertently locking eyes with him as he contemplated taking the easy way out.

–Randal Marucchi has been afflicted with |Eye of Dread|–

–Dread Mutagen has leveled up!–

–Gained 6xp!–

“Hello Randal,” David whispered before the man began to shake violently.