What the fuck is that? Draven was moments away from tripping a guard through his shadow when the door flew off its hinges, turning said guard into a bloody mist. Draven was thrown out of the shadow, scrambling to his feet as he watched as the threads quickly took over the room, trapping everyone inside.

The fighting immediately stopped as everyone turned their weapons against the threads closest to them.

Draven stumbled through the shadows, landing on his knees next to Ulric. His senses thrown into disarray as the shadows in the room fell into chaos.

Ulric pulled him in close, supporting him to his feet. “Are you alright?” Ulric asked.

“Yeah, just a little fuzzy.” Draven said, shaking off the buzz as he stared warily at the threads. His eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the hallway that thing came out from. This was the first time he felt safe being surrounded by enemies. Thank fuck there’s people between us. “What is that thing?”

“No idea.” Ulric said.

Sweat dripped down the faces of the guards closest to the monster, the weapons in their hands no longer giving them a feeling of safety. The ones closest to the door were weak at the knees, having seen the lifeless bodies of their friends and coworkers hanging from the body of the monster.

The room came to a stop, dripping with tension. Nobody wanted to attract the attention of the beast. For a moment, everything was still.

And then it wasn’t.

Bang!

Weighed down by the tension, one of the guards snapped. In a panic, he opened fire on the beast, trying to create an opening to escape up the stairs.

The bullet whizzed harmlessly past, the thread shifting slightly to avoid the rain of bullets. A thread shot down from the ceiling before any more bullets could be fired, piercing straight through the guard’s head.

Chaos ensued as everyone rained fire on the threads, which the threads dodged with uncanny accuracy. It wielded the guard's body as a weapon and a shield, knocking the other guards to the ground before more threads pierced right through their souls. More and more bodies were strewn up across the room as the guards fell with frightening ease.

The monster struck each of them down before they could even lay a hand on it.

“Stay here. I need to find Ed.” Draven said as he dove into the shadows, quickly disappearing into the depths of the complex. What the fuck happened here? Having caught a glimpse of the hallway earlier, Draven thought that he was ready for what he would see, but it was so much worse.

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It was sheer chaos. Threads, blood, and bodies stretched across the entire complex. Most of the corpses were left perfectly preserved, the only sign of injury being the threads that had pierced through them.

Blood flowed freely around the threads, dripping onto the ground.

Draven observed the bodies closely, and what he found shocked him. They’re still alive!

The chests heaved and the bodies twitched, desperately gasping for air.

What is going on? Draven moved carefully through the shadows, trying not to draw the monster’s attention, heading deeper into the complex. The deeper he went, the less the bodies moved around, but he could still tell that they were alive.

As if sensing something, the threads crashed into the shadows where Draven was, repeatedly smashing into it to no avail.

He breathed a sigh of nervous relief. Phew, it can’t hit me. But how does it know I’m here?

Reaching the study at the end of the corridor, he found Christophe’s body strung up near his desk with a look of surprise etched on his face. Several threads pierced through his body. But despite everything, his heart was still beating steadily.

Draven looked into Christophe’s eyes and finally realised what had happened. Soul deprivation. Running back out into the corridor, he checked on the rest of the bodies, realising that they had all had their soul sucked out of them in such a way that the body remained alive.

They’re just empty shells. The true horror of the situation dawned on him as he stared at the soulless husks hanging in front of him. The continuous assault of the threads on his hiding place began to wear away at his nerves, but he held strong, knowing that he was safe.

Returning to the room with Christophe in it, he searched for any clues as to what had happened. I saw the guards take Ed back this way, did they take him straight to Christophe? Then where is he?

He found it odd that he couldn’t find Ed’s body in the room, and doubting that he could’ve made it out alive, guessed that he must’ve been brought somewhere else. Where could they have taken him?

Running back to the main room, he watched as Ulric narrowly avoided the oncoming waves of threads and bodies. All of the guards had fallen. This scene was even more disturbing knowing that he was watching their souls being sucked out of their bodies.

Shit, we need to get out of here! Where the fuck is Ed?

His heart pounded in his chest as he searched for Ed. Every moment he spent here was one more moment where Ulric could die. But he trusted him and believed in his strength. Come on. You’ve got this.

With each room he searched, the more frustrated he grew. He couldn’t find Ed, even if he was most likely a soulless husk at this moment.

Returning to the main room, he hopped into Ulric’s shadow and called out to him. “I couldn’t find him. We need to leave!”

Ulric nodded as he skillfully dodged the bestial strikes coming from all around him. He waited patiently for Draven to get them out of there.

Focusing his energy, the shadows danced as they converged around Draven and Ulric, becoming one large mass of umbral shadow. The threads struck against the shadow, crashing down on it like the thunderous crack of a whip. Cracks formed on the shadow with every strike.

The shadows burst like a bubble, as Ulric and Draven disappeared.