Silas reloaded the spent chambers as Glass took a few moments to recover. Once the Sergeant had recovered from the ordeal, he motioned for Silas to wait before crouching down and cutting the mutant corpse apart.

Shortly after, the young man stood back up with a small hexagonal object in his hands, bright red with specks of black. Silas shook his head as Glass gestured to him with it before he put it away. As far as Silas was concerned, he wanted nothing to do with these things, human or not.

Once The Director made sure the kids were still calm, the party started moving again. The street eventually levelled out into flat ground again as they reached the market district where most of the artisan workshops were.

The buildings now were mostly two stories. The first floor was often a store, while the second would be the workshop or owner’s residence. He himself lived nearby, renting out an old refurbished General Store owned by one of the Lower City’s nobles. While the Golden Gun was on the other end of the district, he could easily afford the carriage.

Street lights here shone strong enough to provide a little more sight within the fog, letting the group peer into the various buildings as they walked by. He saw the woman who tailored his clothes decapitated within her store, and the old man who sold him groceries cheap had fallen against his counter, his skin a pale grey and wide, bloodshot eyes.

Stifling the sadness in his mind, Silas got to thinking instead. The Director said they’d most likely only have to deal with stragglers, sure, but this few? Other than the Blind Mutant and a few strays, they saw significantly fewer than they expected. Not only that, but a rather large portion of the corpses they found were still human.

As far as they could tell, it was probably about half of the population that mutated. A very small number failed the conversion for an unknown reason, and the rest seem to either be hiding or dead at their feet. Tens of thousands of people became mutants in such a dense population, yet where are they?

The duo stopped on the street and Glass gestured toward the ground. The cobblestones were dyed a dark crimson, blood seeping into the gravel and grout. He knit his brows together briefly. Where are the bodies?

Continuing down the lamp-lit street towards his residence they didn’t find a single corpse, human or mutant. The sickly sweet metallic scent of dried blood lingered everywhere, but the source had seemingly disappeared.

Silas got the group to stop at a General Store to search for ammunition and some extra supplies, finding himself about a dozen extra rounds. The bullets had a brass coat over a lead core, while the base looked like a glass container. A dull red liquid swirled around inside and Silas scowled. Such a small amount of Deium Oil meant the bullets were low quality, but at least they worked.

When he stepped back outside, the kids had huddled around the door and next to the Director. Much to the older man’s dismay, the kids seemed to be getting nervous again. Even Caisus ran over and hugged his arm, threatening to sob quietly.

Looking over at The Director, he didn’t seem to know what happened either. Only when asking Caisus himself did he seemingly get an answer.

“Your eyes flash, and then we feel calm! Do the eye thingy!”

“The eye thingy?” Silas startled. Did he ever have an eye thing? “What are you talking about, Caisus-”

The Nightmare Seed pulsed and the speed it drew in the specks of light suddenly increased until there were none left; the kids visibly calmed down and Caisus giggled, pointing towards Silas’ mismatched eyes. “Like that!”

The Seed grew stronger too.. Is this what Fear Refinement is? If it’s a Nightmare Seed, can it refine Nightmares too? Silas looked towards The Director and saw the strange expression on the old Empyrean’s face. It seems they’d have to talk later.

“Is that a Nightweaver thing? Sick!” Glass wrapped an arm around his shoulders from behind, a smile on his face that outshone his tired eyes. “What’s up with all that anyways?”

“Later, Glass. We’re almost at my place anyways.”

“Fine, fine. I spent all this time trying to make you an Empyrean and you went off and...” Glass stopped, but Silas felt he knew what the man might say. Empyreans weren’t very accepting of other Pathways. The Churches were proof of this; both believed the other was heresy.

They took the chance to wrap their boots and shoes in some spare clothes found on the dead to make their steps quiet while Silas actively refined the party’s fear. It didn’t show a direct increase in strength yet, but it kept his mind sharp. Strong.

Blood energy washed over their bodies as the Director took over for Glass, who had run out from healing his own wounds. Leaving the duo with a small amount to shield themselves from the fog, he stepped back with the kids and let Silas move forward with the Sergeant.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Not a single corpse laid on the street in front of them as they walked along the buildings, staying away from the middle of the road. The few buildings they could peer into were all empty. Silas just hoped the occupants were hiding, not dead.

Fiddling with the revolver’s hammer as he walked, Silas kept his gaze on every alley and window he could see, taking advantage of his enhanced sight while Glass focused on the main road. Every shadow and every movement nearly made him jump, yet he never caught sight of what exactly was moving. He chalked it up to rats, not wanting to think about if the fog affects animals too.

A small flash of red light came from his side and Silas halted. Glass signaled for them to stop. His residence was right ahead. The surroundings were quiet, the only light coming from the street lamps. Even the smell of blood that Silas had long grown used to was overwhelming.

Glass gestured to the front and when Silas still couldn’t see, he focused his energy onto his eyes. While the fog remained, it could no longer hide as much of its contents from his sight. Sweat dripped down his pale face.

Standing perfectly still, a horde of mutants blocked the street only a few doors down from his house. Clothed in the remains of their human lives- torn suits, vests and dresses that hung loosely on their thin limbs. Their grey skin was covered in dried blood and scratch marks much too light to be anything but human. Bodies lay between their feet, chests cut apart and limbs ripped from their sockets.

As the wind blew the crowd swayed lightly with it, their gaunt frames looking like they’d fly off with the wind. Their legs remained rooted to the ground without any hint of instability.

Silas looked back at Glass and noticed the man’s despair. He took a deep breath and slowly approached the guardsman, taking great care not to step on anything loud. He got close enough to rest a hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“My place isn’t suitable anymore.” Silas looked back at the Director and the small group of kids. “We need to back away from the horde and take a gamble with one of the houses. Take a detour with a side street.”

They’ve been following the main road this whole time under the night sky. The issue with the side roads was the lack of natural light- they delved into the cliffside rather than simply being built against it. They’d be relying on the street lamps, without the little help the night sky gave them.

Glass nodded his head and the two made their way back to the party. When they relayed this information to the Director, Silas could only describe the man’s expression as unpleasant.

Steeling themselves for the dark, Silas brought Glass along and slowly led the group into the narrow side streets. Too narrow for a carriage, the side streets got dirtier and cheaper the deeper in you got. Storefronts and stalls were still found at first, stained in the blood of the previous owner.

Several minutes had passed when the storefronts finally turned into house windows and chimneys, deciding they were far away enough to rest. Glass had started moving towards him to make a plan when Silas felt a sudden surge in ‘Fear Energy’, the motes of light in his mind. It doubled, no, tripped in a mere moment.

A screech cut through the air and Silas turned just in time to see multiple silhouettes flying towards the Director through the fog. With a spin of his cane, the mutants were all sent flying back to whence they came. Yet the screeching never stopped.

There were more? Hidden? His gaze pierced through the fog and towards the source of the screeching to see a faint figure hidden behind a broken window, its scream echoing through the street.

Silas raised his revolver without thinking and emptied three rounds into the mutant, ending its terrible shriek. The ignition of Deium Oil lit the street with a dull red flash and momentarily allowed the group to see their attackers.

Glass sprinted back towards the party, diving through the air to tackle another lunging mutant before it could get to the children. The frames mixed together in the dark, making it too risky for Silas to fire a shot.

Echoing roars came from the main street and Silas felt sweat roll down his face. His wrist snapped to the right and fired three more shots, two bullets grazing another mutant and stopping it in place for the Director to finish it off. Switching his revolver for his knife, he rushed to Glass’ side and stabbed the mutant in the head as they rolled around.

Looking up, he saw the Director finish the other mutants off with two quick cuts that separated their heads from their bodies. The roars of the horde grew closer. Silas took out his pistol and quickly tried to reload it. “We need to get inside, the horde-”

His eyes widened and a sudden gust of wind blew his hair back followed by a metallic screech. A set of claw-like nails mere inches from his eyes, so close that he felt discomfort in his glabella. The long arm attached to the claws had been stopped by the Director’s blade.

Another long-armed mutant! Silas leapt back, not caring for the noise as he hastily loaded new bullets. The mutant sped back into the darkness with another bout of wind. Glass staggered to his feet and moved towards the kids, holding up his sword in their defence.

Silas rifled through what little he knew about this ‘type’ of mutant. Insanely fast, low durability. Reacts only to noise. It didn’t react to the canister he threw, instead attacking Glass. But Glass didn’t make a noise. Did it have a range of hearing? Volume didn’t matter within that range?

His eyes narrowed and he whipped his arm around towards Glass, his gun raised. A shadow flashed out of the alley, its long arms swiping at Glass and the kids behind him. The guardsman slashed out, his dull blade meeting one of the creature’s palms.

It staggered, shook and stumbled back, its other claw not finding the reach to finish gouging Glass’ chest. A gunshot rang out and it was pushed further back. As its neck snapped towards the direction of the gunfire, a cane sword flew through the air and pierced its neck.

The mutant gasped for air and fell to the ground. Standing tall, the Director stepped by Glass and gripped his cane, twisting it inside the creature’s neck and thoroughly destroying its flesh. Rumbling echoed down the side streets and Silas quickly reloaded the spent round.