I had thought that the moaning of the wraith that hunted me a couple nights after Sanctuary Valley fell would have been the most frightening thing I would ever hear.

That wraith was nothing compared to the absolutely spine chilling moaning that tore through the air. The almost deafening sound seemed to rattle every bone in my body.

Looking out the window once more, I stared at the gathering mana in horror. The globe of mana started to shudder and twitch. Tendrils slowly rose out of the mass, growing thicker and more defined by the moment. I could not count exactly how many limbs there were as they shifted and writhed.

Each of the limbs split and stretched into dozens of ever shifting hands. The countless arms felt along the ground, as though exploring the world in curiosity.

Unlike the previous wraith I encountered, this horror was much, much larger. Its shadowy outline, though still otherworldly, was somehow more tangible. Where the previous wraith had moved with purpose, this one moved slowly and erratically.

That changed as lightning struck a building nearby.

Even before the sound of thunder reached me, the nightmarish entity reacted. Grabbing at the ground around, it pulled itself along at ridiculous speeds. Upon reaching the building, the ill defined figure lashed out violently.

The shadowy arms of the wraith passed through stone with no resistance. A moment afterwards, a gash would form as that portion of the rock crumbled to dust.

In barely any time at all, the wraith had destroyed more than half of the building.

In the wake of the destruction, the nightmarish being once more paused. The central ball of mana started to stretch and elongate. Several particularly thick limbs spread out from the central mass. I didn’t know what it was doing until I recognized the form it was taking.

The large limbs spread out to the sides of the horror as a spectral parody of legs and a tail. The center slowly took the shape of the corpse the wraith had been born from. The thing very nearly resembled the fallen titan, with one notable difference.

Dozens of squirming arms took the place of the titan’s missing head.

As the horrific remnant took shape, I tried to remain perfectly still in my little ring of sigils. While I had briefly imagined the titan coming back to life, I never expected it to actually happen. The towering wraith was just as enormous in living death as it had been in life.

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Lightning flashed again nearby, and the wraith simply vanished.

I was confused as to what happened, until a nearby building simply collapsed. The wraith had moved faster than I could possibly comprehend. Everything in the nightmare’s path towards the lightning was brought to ruin. Should my shelter lie in such a path, I knew there would be absolutely nothing I could do to protect myself.

All night long, I listened to the sound of that dreadful moaning. At times, the titan’s wraith wandered far enough away that I hoped it would finally leave. At other times, it passed through the buildings to either side of my shelter.

As dawn drew near, I held out hope that I would see the sun rise once more. Unless the nightmarish being was somehow able to survive what no other wraith could, I would soon be safe.

Just as the first hints of color appeared in the sky, the moaning rapidly quieted. I let out a sigh of exhausted relief. After the fear ridden night, I was utterly exhausted.

I didn’t care that it was already morning. I was in desperate need of rest.

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It was already late in the day by the time I had awoken from my nightmares of headless horrors and grasping hands. Taking a look around, I found that the already ruined village was a mess. Only half the buildings remained standing, though for many, that was a generous description.

Most of the vegetable patches had been reduced to rot and mud by the nightmare’s passage. Other plant life fared little better as trails of destruction crisscrossed the plateau.

My plans of remaining in place to practice my magic were looking a little shaky. I didn’t know if wraiths vanished in the light of day, or merely went into hiding. Knowing my luck, the horror was probably going to attack again as soon as night fell.

It was already too late to start climbing down from the plateau, so I needed to be sure that I would survive another night. Using some large ceramic pots from the ruins, I gathered a large amount of clay. Between that and the plants I had gathered the day before, I was ready to make some more potent sigil paint.

An ancient mortar and pestle proved its worth as I slowly broke down the various mana rich plants in my possession. My improved mana control allowed me to infuse even more power into the mash than I could before. The resulting green paste was the perfect complement for my other ingredients.

With the mixing of clay, plant matter, and blood, my new paint reached completion. After filling my jars, I set to work inscribing new sigils on every wall of my shelter. The interior of the building grew to resemble the warded cliffs of Sanctuary Valley. I would have preferred to paint the outside as well, but it was still raining far too hard for that.

As night started to fall, I briefly held out hope that my newest preparations would prove unnecessary. It was already dark, and things remained quiet. I let out a sigh of relief.

My relief proved premature as a terrible moan once more echoed across the plateau.