By the time that the sun was shining directly overhead, he knew that reaching the Tower of Rizzen wasn’t going to happen today. Likely not tomorrow or the day after either. The black pillar hadn’t grown much closer, despite him putting the miles beneath his boots as quickly as he could. The sheer scale of the edifice made it hard to judge its distance, although he had no choice other than to press on and hope he got there sooner rather than later.
The terrain that Nick crossed was a bit trickier than the day before, as the paths between the rivers and lakes were covered in dense brush and short trees. But the real problem was the blackmist. Thanks to the last two global events, the wretched stuff was everywhere, inky patches floating across the surface of the marshlands like a vial of oil poured over a pool of water.
Most of the mist banks were small enough that they passed him by within a few minutes at most. The little patches had proven to be unpopulated by the deadly redfang hunters, or he would have been forced to slow his pace to a crawl.
But the big ones were another matter entirely. They could take up to an hour to fly over his position, and in their depths, the redfangs prowled. By now, Nick had heard the mocking calls of dozens of the deadly flying creatures that had nearly killed him the day before.
Adding to his frustration, he hadn’t been able to learn anything more about the hunters in the mist. Without being able to see them, he couldn’t size them up or analyze their behavior. Couldn’t tell how dangerous they were, how they fought, or even discern if they were animals, beasts, or something else entirely. But he didn’t need his skill to know that running into the redfangs was a recipe for disaster. Not after his first encounter and narrow escape.
Thanks to the growing prevalence of the blackmist, instead of traveling in a straight line, Nick was forced to journey from potential shelter to potential shelter, adding both time and distance to his trek across the bog. It was a good thing that he had possessed the foresight to adjust his strategy, since he wound up being caught within two enormous tides of blackmist throughout the day.
After sighting the inky fog, he sprinted for safety, ducking below cover only seconds before the mist engulfed him on both occasions. The mad dash left him with no choice other than to huddle and hide, setting his already frayed nerves on edge.
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The only bright spot in all of this was that the redfangs appeared to track their prey by some manner of echolocation, rather than by tracing scent or sensing body heat, or Nick’s day would have been so much worse. So far, they hadn’t been able to find him when he wasn’t standing out in the open.
Even a layer of dense brush was enough to conceal his presence. It was a lesson he had learned only a few hours prior, after diving into a thicket only seconds before the pitch-black tide washed over him. He had also realized that he had yet to see any blackmist at night, making the unpleasant situation just a little more manageable.
Learning more about these fearsome foes had been incredibly stressful. He hadn’t been sure that they wouldn’t be able to find him until the mist blew past. Sitting in the darkness, trying not to make a sound while waiting for an unseen attacker to fall upon him unaware, was one of the most frightening experiences of his life. It got a little better over time, once he grew confident that he’d figured out the redfangs’ abilities, but the tension had taken its toll.
But Nick couldn’t afford to dwell on it. He would just have to relax as best he could whenever he got the chance and pray that it was enough to keep him sane. He supposed that this was a form of training as well, leaning to deal with the fear of death without letting it drive him mad. A lesson that he could take with him going forward, into a life that was certain to be filled with danger, at least for the foreseeable future.
To his relief, his luck was better during the second half of the day. He didn’t run into any more blackmist, and the handful of beasts he spotted from a distance was easy to avoid.
That all changed a few hours later, as afternoon transitioned into evening. Nick was in the middle of crossing a grassy plain running between two shallow streams, when a System message popped into existence in front of his eyes. He prayed that it was another proximity triggered event instead of a global trial, before letting out a muffled curse.
Apparently, the changes to the moon he’d witnessed the night before were only a warm-up to the main event. The ominous feeling he’d been having ever since had been no figment of his imagination, because what Nick read was even worse than he’d imagined.
System message: Global event.
A hidden condition has been met, triggering a global event.
Event, 'Blood moon rising,' has begun.
They slumber beneath the soil for decades at a time, waiting for the blood moon to rise over planet Drezen and begin the next cycle of consumption, terror, and rebirth.
Tonight, the blood moon will fill the sky, and with it, the chittering swarm will arise, heralding a night of blood and death for all who dwell within the bog.
The swarm will disperse with the light of dawn, hibernating within the bowels of the planet once more.
Hide while you can. They are coming.