“Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!” Amber jumped and leaped over cars and between buildings, frantically swinging on a gravity web to a minivan that was perched precariously on the edge of a fissure in the street. There was a screaming family trapped inside, there was no time to lose. “Avesh! Avesh! Avesh!” She webbed the rear end to the asphalt, then tore the doors off. “Hi, sorry ‘bout that, you should run now!”

“Everyone out!” The father, mother, and two children practically flew out of the car, the father only pausing to unbuckle a baby in the back.

“Look out!” A massive chunk of debris was falling towards them. Amber reared up to catch it, glancing at the man and his child. She knew it would go bad, but there was nothing else to do.

“Haaa!” Nightfang broke through like a comet, shattering it to pieces. They all cried out as stones fell on them, but despite some scrapes and bruises, all of them were alive.

“Ow. Everyone okay?” Amber asked.

“Thanks Spider-Girl! Batman!” the little boy said.

“Good. Move! Fast as you can!” She urged them off, then turned back to the insectoid monster. “I don’t think this’s going very well.”

“I know. All this’s messed up. You see the sky?” Nightfang said, looking up at the red tinge and mysterious temple. “And there’s all these other monsters around!” The watched Gregor finish savaging a tentacle beast, only to groan and leap up to a fire escape as a gang of them surrounded him. Nightfang shook his head. This was too much. “And with the centipede…” he murmured, watching it crawl from tower to tower. His hand fell to his belt. Was it time to use his secret weapon? Lord Harvaste did say it was only for the direst of emergencies…

Amber grit her teeth, and her fists. This wasn’t right. None of this was right. These monsters, attacking these helpless people. Her job as an uylata was to expand the physical universe, and prevent its’ collapse from the void creatures. This, she decided, was only a microcosm of that.

“Listen up. We should switch. You guys should take care of evacuation, and leave the bug to me.” She glared at it, her eyes flashing golden yellow.

“Are you sure?” Nightfang asked.

“Yes. You guys aren’t as mobile as I am, but there’s more of you, you can help more people than I can and provide support. But if anyone has the best chance against this thing, it’s me. I have experience.” she said, cracking her knuckles. Nightfang gulped. The air around her was different, a chilling aura that screamed predator on the hunt. He nodded.

“Listen up team!” he said into his headset. “Back off trying to attack Yun, switch priorities to saving civilians and support! We’re gonna let Amber handle it!” He gave her a thumbs-up and leapt away, crawling up a building and flitting between masonry, hurling debris at monsters with bulletlike force.

“You sure this’s okay?” Genevieve radioed.

“Yeah. I trust her. You should’a seen the look in her eye. We’re backup for this one.”

Back down on the ground, Amber took in long, deep breaths, kicking off her shoes. She would need grip and mobility. She stared at Yun, the monstrous centipede smashing the buildings and burrowing through the street, his laughter booming above the destruction and screams. She snarled. It was time to stop holding back.

It was a strange thing, being an uylata. Though she wasn’t a spider herself, the instinct to hunt, capture, and consume like one was ingrained into her, an automatic defense against the insectoid voidbeasts. That long body, wriggling enticingly as it moved, it was triggering her adrenal gland. Her hands shook with anticipation, wiping the drool from her mouth. In a way, it reminded her of being a ghoul.

She shuddered as she remembered, closing her eyes. The strength was similar, so she was mostly used to it. But so was the appetite, sort of. She was growing ravenously hungry, her body screaming to liquefy his innards and drain him to a husk. Her teeth sharpened into fangs. Yes, similar to her time as a ghoul, trying to hold her instincts back. She was so fortunate to have Scoot keep her in check, but he wasn’t here this time. He never would be again. And this creature was one of the ones responsible for that, no matter how tangentially. He would destroy the city if left unchecked, and kill thousands of innocent people. She knew death first-hand, a torturous hell she wouldn’t subject to her worst enemy to. Everything just…stopped, when you were dead. She hated to do this, but hated people to dying more.

That first part was a lie, though. What she really hated was how much she liked it; it was impossible to deny the rushing of blood, the thrill of the hunt, the power singing in her bones and tendons and muscles, driving her on to rip, smash, crush, bite. It started when she became a ghoul, but she never forgot that feeling of release, release from civilized thoughts to primordial throbbing. She locked the feeling away, forcing her wild instincts down, but no matter how much she hated to let loose like that, a part of her always longed to run wild, let go and never look back. Amber smiled sadly. She was so screwed up, ever since Stephanie killed her.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again. But at least if I do this, no one will have to die.” She opened her eyes, and gave into her instincts.

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Dalton lay on the ground, panting, a wet cloth on his face and Riley fanning him. His entire body was coated in sweat. For the last two hours he had been casting nonstop, rushing and accelerating many different and diverse projects.

“You okay?” Riley asked.

“Gonna…die…” he said, trying to gulp down air.

“Ahh, don’t worry. It’s not as bad as you think.” Scott said, finishing up the last sigil on the overcomplicated circle. This one was different: it required at least thirty minor circles drawn in different places under the overarching magical inscriptions, and it was hard to work with such aged material and not have it crumble. But work he did, and the ritual was almost complete. All that was left was to recite the spell and it would be ready. Along with his own…modifications.

“Boss, the speakers are set up.” Connor said, overseeing some zombies hooking up the electrical gear. The massive equipment hadn’t been easy to get into the museum, but then Scott said just to smash the entrance in. They wouldn’t care with all the other things happening in the city. He shuddered as he recalled seeing the carnage, even going as fast as they were. Connor felt guilty looting the stores, but it was necessary for the project Scott had outlined. All he could say was, his teacher was mad. “And so am I, for following him.” he muttered to himself.

“Excellent! We’re almost ready! Here’s my phone, I’ve already loaded the playlist, heh heh hee hee hee hah hah hah hah!” Scott cackled, giving Connor the device and rubbing his hands together. Oh, this was going to be fun.

“Is…is this really gonna work?” Brad said, going over the circles with an untrained eye. He’d been told to sit in the corner and shut up while they worked, and the truly frightening amount of zombies had persuaded him from arguing.

“Of course, it is me we’re talking about after all! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Scott crossed his arms and threw back his head, projecting confidence. “You’re about to see the culmination of science, sorcery, and genius! Who else would’ve thought to use his enemies’ own delivery vessel as his own?” He snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, you can leave now, we no longer need the car. Dalton, you stay though. I’ll need your services again.” The boy on the floor whimpered. “Not now, don’t worry. But you’ll have one more job before we’re done, then you’re free to go. And trust me, you’ll be grateful you did it afterwards. Y’know,” he said, crouching next to the velociomancer. “Have you ever considered a career as a magician? You could make a killing shipping goods, with as fast as you can go. Companys’d pay through the nose. You’d be a millionaire before twenty.”

“R-Really?” Dalton said, leaning up. “Y-You think so?”

“Yeah, they’re always looking to transport stuff faster. Amazon alone would literally throw money at you until you were buried for a contract.”

“Thanks, but, I’ve already got a plan. Me an’ Brad’re gonna work for his uncle.” he said, trying to smile but Scott’s bones freaking him out.

“Yeah, now butt out.” Brad said, quickly trying to scoop up Dalton and leave.

“Not so fast.” Scott put a boney hand on his arm, and Brad shivered. “Didn’t you say your uncle works for the mob or something?” Brad gulped. “Why the hell would you wanna limit yourself like that…I wanna say Dennis? Is it Dennis?”

“Dalton.” he said, confused. What was this guy saying?

“You’ve got a lot more potential that working for the mob, they’ll just have you stealing stuff and breaking knees really good if they find out what you can do.” Scott shook his head. “That’s not where the money’s at, though. You wanna get rich, you take your abilities into the public sector. Everyone needs stuff moved, you can make it happen yesterday.”

“Requiring three stones baked in moonlight, three sacrifices of goats and approximate calculations of reverse orbital velocity.” Dalton recited blankly, then blinked. “You really think so?”

“That’s enough, Dalton!” Brad shouted, trying to drown out the necromancer. “We already got it figured out, you really wanna do what this freak says!?”

“Dude, you can make fire without combustion, even in a vacuum if I’m recalling the rules of pyromancy right. Why would you wanna waste your life on criminality, when you could be making criminally insane amounts of money?” Scott pointed out. “You get literal mountains of cash, you don’t need to break the law; hell, with that much, you make the law.”

“Life advice I don’t need from a freak like yo-!” He was suddenly cognizant of every zombie, from fresh corpse to skeletal husk, surrounding and staring at him. They blinked in unison as Scott grinned. “Ahem. Uh, what I meant to say, was that we’ll consider it carefully after we get through all this.”

“That’s what I thought.” Scott said. Connor’s head poked over the side of the ship.

“We’re ready!”

“All right! You ready, crew!” he shouted, turning to the assembled crowd of zombies. They raised their hands and cheered, waving and beginning to board.

“This wood’s old, are you sure it’ll hold the weight?” one of them asked as he walked up the gangplank.

“You leave that to me.” Scott patted him on the back as he took his place at the bow, eyelights shining in concentration. “Zagh’hnae! Vruuisk! Lyserisk v’berfrgno kiinmgh asterous mon eil vaxxeous et na heilm! Sowah! Sowah! Sowah! Zagh’hnae! Vruuisk! Lyserisk v’berfrgno kiinmgh asterous mon eil vaxxeous et na heilm! Sowah! Sowah! Sowah! Zagh’hnae! Vruuisk! Lyserisk v’berfrgno kiinmgh asterous mon eil vaxxeous et na heilm! Sowah! Sowah! Sowah!” He waved his hands as he chanted, the circles beginning to glow with a toxic emerald green light, spreading the same color ethereally over the ship, groaning as it began to raise from its’ hold. “Hit it!” he called to his apprentice, and Riley pressed play.

Through the mostly silent district, bells began to ring as there was a trembling, small creatures scurrying away. The museum rumbled and split open to the wial of guitars, an army of zombies marching forth to do battle with the forces of darkness as the drums kicked in, guided overhead by a shimmering ghost ship, the same that had found the Lost Treasure of Abazuul, ACDC blaring from the gigantic speakers attached to the stern, a mad necromancer laughing maniacally on the figurehead.