Even more pressing than his pain, a black wave of exhaustion rose to engulf him, threatening to drag Nick down into the murky depths of unconsciousness. It was an unfortunate consequence of burning through the last remnants of his stamina to fuel his incredible leap.

If he didn’t do something fast, he was going to pass out, helpless if any of the swarming horrors found him.

An instant before the rising fugue could knock him out, he reached down to his belt and pulled out his flask of restoration. After popping the cap off with his good thumb, he quaffed the elixir in a single shot, which had finished refilling a few hours prior.

The second that the elixir completed the short voyage to his stomach, a roiling ball of energy coalesced inside him. It condensed and then expanded, releasing a concentrated tide of stamina that met the onyx flood of exhaustion head on. The opposing forces brought each other to a standstill, allowing him to straddle the cusp of consciousness as the potion took full effect over the next minute.

For a long moment, Nick was deathly afraid that he was going under, even with the elixir’s assistance, rendered powerless against the monsters milling just beyond the glass. But a few heartbeats later, the wave of energy and the tide of exhaustion canceled each other out, leaving him bone-weary but relatively functional, all things considered.

Meanwhile, the flask’s healing properties had sealed the cut on his thumb and taken the edge off his tapestry of bruises, reducing the damage he had inflicted to the muscles of his legs while unleashing his explosive burst of speed.

Nick lay sprawled out with his back against the cold stone floor. He fought to keep his breathing slow and steady. To be as quiet as he could, every scrap of concentration focused on the chittering and scraping outside.

He was afraid to so much as twitch, lest he disturb the nearby debris, alerting the swarm to his presence. By now, the monstrosities had finished rising from the earth around the ruins and begun to prowl, hunting for the taste of fresh meat.

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There must be even more of them than I thought, he shuddered in horror. Because the bone-chilling cacophony had risen, swelling to become a thunderous, nightmarish dirge. An otherworldly racket, evoking images of teeth tearing into flesh and gnawing upon bone.

While he lay there recovering, his eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting inside. Over the last few minutes, more of the blood moon’s light had started shining through the glass, bathing the interior of the building in its abyssal sanguine radiance.

When Nick was able to see clearly enough to make out his path, he began crawling toward the window on his belly. He needed to see what was going on out there, or fear would drive him mad well before the sun rose.

Slowly. Slowly. Taking excruciating care not to make the slightest sound, Nick approached the window. He braced his hands against the stone to peek one eye past the boundary of the glass.

Awaiting his gaze was a hellish scene. A twisted panorama straight out of a fever dream. A sight that would haunt his nightmares for long days to come, if he survived to see the sunrise.

Peering out from the hilltop, he had a clear view of the bog below. Of a world bathed in an eerie crimson light, like Blackmist Bog had been submerged beneath an ocean of blood.

All across the marsh, the chittering swarm had begun to hunt. Nick could see dozens of glossy white bodies in the distance, including a pair that were bigger than bull elephants. They were lightning quick, streaking across the marsh grass as they sought out living meat, occasionally stopping to tear apart one unfortunate creature or another who hadn’t hidden well enough.

It was a terrifying show of force, power on a scale that he had never witnessed before. Size up told him that facing even the smallest of them would result in a desperate battle. That fighting any of the larger specimens was a recipe for disaster.

Nick didn’t know how the foul creatures sensed their prey. He was hidden behind cold stone and glass, but if they could locate their quarry by using some manner of magic, he was likely a dead man walking… or standing perfectly still in this case.

To guard against the possibility that the swarm hunted by scent, he reached into his belt pouch and removed the charcoal filling one pocket, rubbing the gritty powder across his body before working it into his hair.

All the while, Nick moved with glacial slowness, careful not to make even the slightest sound or move in a way that would be visible through the glass.

Just as he was deciding that he had done everything he could to reduce his odds of being detected, a primal scream erupted from nearby. The earth started shaking as something massive ran alongside the wall of the building.