Now, Manila

Madalena caught up with Eron in the stairwell.

“Hey! What’re you doing?”

He ignored her and continued down.

She tried to grab his arm, but he shrugged her off.

“Hold on! You can’t just go off and do… whatever!” Madalena snapped.

She jumped over the railing and landed in front of Eron with her fists raised.

Eron eyed her with disbelief. “You can’t be seriously thinking of starting a fight? Here? With me?”

“I overheard what you and Doc were talking about. It’s not going to work. We can’t fit everyone in one bus. It’s going to take at least two trips.”

Eron said nothing. He simply tried to to walk past Madalena.

Her eyes narrowed and she shoved him into the wall. The entire stairwell shook with the impact.

“You can’t be thinking that,” she hissed. “We promised them. All of them!” she jammed a finger into his chest.

Eron stared at her without emotion. He had numbed himself in preparation for what he had to do.

Years of experience flashed through his mind.

Promises kept. Promises broken. More of the latter than the former.

Monsters and evil men had taught him that he couldn’t save everyone no matter how hard he had tried. There had never been a completely clean victory.

Lives had been saved, yes.

But, they had also been lost.

Every success had been inextricably tainted by failure.

Madalena didn’t know what it was like, so he cut her some slack.

She’d learn.

“We have days,” Eron said flatly.

“What about Cal? You said he was coming.”

He heard the plea in her voice. “It was always a long shot. I never got a message back. I can’t be sure that he even got it. The fog might be blocking that too,” he shrugged. “Even if he got it… how long since I sent it? Thinking about it, I realize that I don’t know for certain. Weeks? A month or more? Time is… slipping away from me.”

“But our hope—”

“Let’s say Cal got my message. He still has to get across the ocean. I’ve seen giant flying monsters. Could he get past them? I don’t know. Then the fog. It stole my true power. It’s reasonable to think that it’d do the same to him. I’m thinking that maybe it’s for the best that he doesn’t come and end up trapped like us.”

“You promised!” Madalena snarled. “You said we just had to fight hard and hold on… now… you’re what? Giving up?”

Eron frowned down at his cousin. “What makes you think that? I’m going to get as many people as I can out of here. Lilah, the kids, Doc, you, Cherry and everyone else I can fit in the bus.”

“And you’d leave the rest to the fog? Leave them to be taken and turned into those things… just like our family?”

Eron gently, but firmly forced Madalena’s grip from his shirt and pushed her back. She was noticeably stronger than he remembered. “What’s the point of losing everyone in trying to save them all when I can save as many as possible?”

“You have no right to pick and choose!” Madalena cried.

“No, I don’t,” Eron agreed as he continued down the stairs.

“You know what it’ll do to Lilah if we leave people behind. Keeping everyone safe is all she lives for,” Madalena pleaded.

Eron stopped. He looked up at Madalena. “I don’t want her to die.”

“You’d save her life, but kill her soul.”

“If she dies inside the fog, then she loses both,” Eron said before walking into Cherry’s ground floor restaurant.

Cherry was seated at the bar with several empty blood bags next to her.

To Eron’s surprise she was still sensibly dressed.

“How much did you happen to overhear?”

“Enough,” Cherry said lightly.

“To help? Willingly?”

“I’m a blood-drinking aswang, but I still want to live. Neither death, nor being turned into one of those shades is appealing to me. And so, I find myself reluctantly helpful,” Cherry sighed.

“I remember there was a bus a mile, mile and a half down the road. It was in pretty good shape. Tires a little flat, but that can’t be helped. I’ll drag it out of here on its rims if I have to.”

“What if it’s not there anymore?”

Eron shrugged. “Then I’ll find another. I’ve seen plenty of buses. They’re all over the place. The only problem is finding one that isn’t too messed up.”

“Great! I choose princess,” Cherry’s smile was impossibly breathtaking.

“You can move just as fast as me,” Eron frowned.

“Yeah, but that’ll drain me faster. If you carry me there then I can save my energy for the fighting,” Cherry grimaced.

“Fine,” Eron said. “But no messing around.”

“Yessir,” Cherry saluted.

The two exited the restaurant.

Cherry giggled in Eron’s arms even as he dodged shade monsters out of the thick gray fog all the way to the bus.

“We have to hurry. Before my relatives make an appearance. I don’t know why it’s only monsters, but—” Eron kicked a grotesquely muscled beast in the face, sending it back into the mist it came from, “I’ll take any break I can get.” He unceremoniously dropped Cherry at the bus’ door.

“Rude,” Cherry stuck her tongue out.

“You’ll have to drive. I’ll push. Hit the breaks if we’re—”

“About to hit something,” Cherry waved a hand in his face, “I know how it goes.”

The bus door opened with a loud squeal.

Cherry looked at her fingers. “It’s a good thing I can’t get tetanus.”

A bleating monstrosity leapt at her out of the swirling mists.

Sharpened fingers speared out.

“Ugh, at least they don’t leave chunks behind,” she grimaced as she reshaped her fingers and boarded the bus.

She was just in time as it lurched forward with surprising speed.

“Push without giving me any warning,” Cherry muttered. “That boy doesn’t know how to properly treat a lady.”

Another shade monster shattered the window. Jagged shards cut the side of Cherry’s perfect face.

She snarled and speared whatever it was with her fingers.

The shades created by the fog were immune to her usual charm, which meant she had to get her hands dirty, figuratively of course.

Physical violence was very distasteful, but this was not the time for her to be squeamish.

Shade monsters were gathering in force around the bus.

They were a bigger and slower target now. Not as quick and agile anymore.

An enormous shape loomed up ahead.

“I am regretful of my decision,” Cherry said.

She kept a tight grip on the wheel with one hand and aimed the fingers of the other. Nothing to do, except hope that she’d hit something soft and squishy, rather than hard and unyielding. She didn’t want a repeat of the last time that she struck at a huge shade monster blindly.

“He’d better appreciate this,” she whispered.

At the rear of the bus, Eron pushed with all his might.

Shade monsters attacked, but he swatted them off his back.

Something wrapped itself around his leg, but he kept moving and tore free.

A few strides later it came back. This time wrapping itself around his head.

Eron bit down and kept moving.

A moment of resistance then it tore and disappeared.

“Always with the tentacles,” he said in disgust.

At least when one dissipated into the fog it didn’t leave behind the gross stuff. No blood, meat and other unmentionables.

The shade monsters didn’t stop.

Roaring, snarling, bleating, screeching, sucking.

A riot of sounds assaulted his ears.

Heavy steps from the side.

A looming shape appeared out of the thick swirl of gray.

Eron shoved the bus forward with all his strength.

He leapt up and landed a thunderous blow to a massive head.

The shade monster dissipated back into the fog before he got a good look.

A broad armored head, vaguely dog-like, with fangs and tusks.

That was a new one.

No time to be curious.

He rushed forward hoping to find the bus in the thick fog.

The split second of separation had been enough for him to completely lose it.

Follow the street beneath his feet.

That’s the only place the bus could be.

Sure enough a few distance-eating strides and he ran right into the bus. The metal dented around his head. Pulling back he saw that he had left an imprint.

A laugh.

His brother would’ve found that funny.

He forced the thought away.

No time for distractions.

He had to keep pushing.

The sanctuary wasn’t far and they only needed to make one turn.

Cherry knew what to do. She wasn’t human. Her senses were better.

“Shit!” Cherry snarled.

Shade monsters were grabbing for through the broken front windows and the side. They were tearing at the roof.

“Turn, turn, turn… it’s coming up!”

She stabbed desperately with her fingers. Shooting them out like spears and retracting them before the shade monsters could latch on.

“Stop distracting me you assholes!”

She fought to keep most of her attention on the street.

Visibility in the fog was measured in a handful of feet at most.

Which was enough for someone with supernaturally enhanced reflexes.

“Purple jeepney, purple jeepney,” she muttered. “There!” she spun the wheel to the right, hard.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The loud crash jarred her.

Ripping metal screeched painfully in her ears.

The surprise had caught her off guard.

She screamed.

Eron winced at the sound. He too had been unprepared for the assault on his hearing.

He fought to keep the bus moving even as it scraped the corner of a building.

The violent impact did provide one benefit. It shook most of the shade monsters off.

One last stretch of straight street and they reached the main sanctuary.

Eron and Cherry managed to barely squeeze it into the side street as close as possible to the warded building. Just inside the protective effect.

They took a moment to breathe with relief.

Eron regarded the flat tires and the huge gouge in the side. “Took that corner a bit tight,” he said.

“I’d like to see anyone else make that turn. I had about 3 feet of warning,” Cherry said.

“Congrats then. You’ve just made the best case for driving this thing out of here.”

“Madalena—”

“She’ll either be helping me push or will be a… battering ram… of sorts.”

Cherry opened her mouth to argue, but shut it. “The latter sounds like a brilliant idea! The bus can only take so much damage from running into cars, barricades, shade monsters. Madalena would indeed be useful punching through obstacles.”

“I’ll have to rig up some kind of platform for her to stand on.”

“Well… good luck with that. I need a drink,” Cherry disappeared into her restaurant.

Eron followed her after a moment.

He went straight up to Lilah’s apartment.

“Hey, I’m back. So, I got a bus and I have a plan for getting us out of her, but it’s up to you if you think we can do it,” Eron said.

Lilah sat up in her bed and placed her bowl of soup down on the night stand. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Eron fought himself on how much of his plan he should share. Madalena had been right. Lilah wouldn’t want to leave anyone. If he framed it that way then she would fight him.

He suddenly felt like a huge dick for even considering how to keep that part of his plan from her.

Instantly fatigued, he sat down in the chair next to Lilah’s bed. “Listen. My plan isn’t the best… but it’s the only way that at least some of us will get out of this alive.”

Lilah’s brow furrowed.

Eron told her.

“But… I thought we were waiting for your Kuya Cal,” Lilah said.

“We’re running out of time.” Eron wasn’t going to tell her that Dr. Rufo had given her a few days to a week to live if she kept using her magic. She was only twelve and that wasn’t right to put that on one so young. Even if she was already shouldering the weight of their world. “If we stay and wait we could lose everyone. If we leave as soon as possible then we can save a lot. I can even make multiple trips if you’re feeling up to keeping the portable ward going.”

Eron noticed something then.

Lilah’s desk was empty.

He had left the ward behind on his trip to get the bus not wanting to place further strain on Lilah.

“Where is it?”

“Madalena took it. She’s going to bring more people here,” Lilah said.

Eron jumped out of the chair with a curse.

“It’s fine,” Lilah soothed. “I’m feeling better now and I told her that she could use it. Like you said, right? I don’t have to use as much of my mana if we shut off other sanctuaries.”

Eron was halfway to the door when rational thought overtook his initial emotional outburst.

He realized that he had no idea where Madalena was going.

“Where is she going?”

“South,” Lilah said.

Of course.

“Which place?”

“She didn’t say.”

Eron weighed his options.

There were a handful of sanctuaries to the south.

If he went after Madalena then there was a chance the shades of his relatives would show up.

He regarded Lilah.

The girl didn’t look to be in immediate danger.

Her ward should keep Madalena and the others safe.

Then again his relatives hadn’t shown up when he went for the bus.

Did that mean they were elsewhere? Focused on Madalena?

“My ward will keep them safe. I won’t let the fog get them.” Lilah’s jaw was set forward. Her eyes glaring in challenge.

Eron sat back down. “Okay, okay. Just don’t work yourself too hard.” He eyed the dregs in Lilah’s soup bowl. “You want more? Dr. Rufo said you have to get food in you to keep your strength up.”

“I’m full, but…” Lilah eyed him shyly.

“If you eat more…” Eron forced a smile, “I’ll tell you another story.”

“Yay!” Lilah clapped.

“Any kind in particular?” Eron stood.

“One where you beat up the monsters!”

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Lilah was still a kid.

The times when he was reminded of that fact always broke something inside of him.

----------------------------------------

Cal had placed the special equipment inside the living room of a multi-room suite on the floor with one empty floor below, just above the fog’s highest point. There were few floors above.

He did this to give them a buffer in both directions.

By the time he had returned with the last of their group the R&D Team had finished setting everything up and were going through their final checks.

“Leave those too hurt to walk,” Demi said. “We can’t wait any longer.”

Cal half-listened to the individual leaders going over the tally.

It didn’t turn out to be as bad as he had expected.

Only four members of the spear unit would be left behind due to broken bones in their legs that would prevent them from walking.

“Apparently, broken arms and ribs don’t render one combat ineffective,” Cal said.

Phillip could only shake his head. “It seems that no one wants to miss this opportunity.”

“Are you ready for this, Dad? If what Eron said about our relatives—”

Phillip’s gaze was steady as he looked Cal in the eyes. “It’s taken me most of the trip here, but I’ve come to terms with that. My goals are to see Eron and the other survivors get out of this safely.”

“You should have a strength and toughness edge on everyone, but they can and will gang up on you.”

“Don’t worry, Anak. I can take care of myself.”

Cal eyed the others going through their own preparations. “Can you take care of them?”

“I’ll do what I can, but remember… everyone here can and will face their own challenges. We can’t sell them short.”

“Alright, listen up!” Demi barked. “We’re about to go in, but first Maya’s going to explain our two keys to successfully completing this Quest.”

The R&D Team leader stepped forward and cleared her throat. The brawny woman appeared to have more in common with a mechanic than a scientist. In truth, Cal knew that she was a blend of the two.

“We all know the Quest. Save anyone still alive in that slop and find a way stop it. Accomplishing the former doesn’t require the latter, but if we can kill whatever monster is behind this then… two birds with one stone. To those ends, we have these,” Maya gestured to the cobbled amalgamation of old tech with magical upgrades.

“Magitech,” Jake said.

Maya shot him a steely-eyed glare. “Fuck if I’d call it that willingly,” she cleared her throat again. “Right, so. I’ll keep this simply. The first machine will allow us to maintain communications. The slop is supposed to be impenetrable, but with the readings we took, we’re fairly certain that with enough magical energy we can punch a signal through. Team leaders along with Jake will have the mobile communicators. Secondly,” she pointed to another device, which like the first was built around several laptops and portable power generators, “this along with the drones will allow us to triangulate on powerful magical signatures within the fog.”

Cal raised a hand. “I thought we couldn’t get a read on what’s inside due to the whole impenetrable thing.” He already knew the answer, but he wanted to move things along.

“Not from out here, but the teams on the inside will have scanners. Those can transmit along the same magical,” Maya grimaced, “connections created from the first device.”

Cal inched his hand up.

“No more questions,” Maya snapped. “This shit will work. The kids did a great job,” she looked like she had bitten on a lemon, “and I’ll stake my rep on it.”

L&L, Lexie and Louis or Louis and Lexie depending on who you asked, beamed proudly.

“Okay, thank you, Maya,” Demi said. “So, primary objective is to ingress and head over to the main sanctuary, as they call it. We have the location on our maps, which you all should’ve memorized by now. Visibility will be crap, but our mages,” she glanced at Jake, “think they might have a way to mitigate. We will maintain a tight formation. You get pulled out even a few feet and we might never see you again. Phillip will be on point. Any questions?”

There where none.

“Jake, did you already hand those scanners out?” Demi said.

“Yes, ma’am. Gave one to Max and Two-toes. I’ve got the third,” Jake held up a smartphone, one amongst the many he carried. “I made it really simple. They just have to feed it mana every few hours and it’ll take care of everything automatically. Scan for powerful signatures and send the info back up here.”

“Cal,” Demi beckoned him over.

“Watch Captain?”

“Are you sure about this?”

“About my staying out here? Are you worried?”

Demi frowned. “Our biggest gun isn’t going in with us. I’d be a fool if I wasn’t.”

“There’s a good chance I can provide quick evac if I know exactly where you are down there. Which, if the magitech stuff works, I will. If I go down into the fog I’ll just be another superstrong, supertough guy in awesome, futuristic armor. I didn’t even bring my futuristic axe,” Cal said.

“There is something to be said about bringing weapons,” Demi said flatly.

Cal threw up his hands. “I admit it. I’ve gotten use to being a weapon. Obviously, I’ll need to reconsider that moving forward.”

“Very well. In any case the equipment needs to be protected. Our entire plan rides on them working,” Demi said.

Cal excused himself and went to his father.

Phillip gave him a bone-crushing hug that he felt even through the Threnosh-made armor.

“Jesus, Dad, that actually registered as minor damage,” Cal said.

“Oh, sorry,” Phillip eyes widened.

“No worries. Nothing critical.” Cal lowered his voice. “I’ll try to make contact with you through this,” he tapped his temple. “I don’t know how disruptive the fog will be to my abilities when I’m out here, but if I know where you are I think, I hope I can pull you and others near you out.”

“Even if you can’t see?”

“ESP, right? I’ve got more senses than they have names for,” Cal grinned. He had cause to regret not practicing with them more beforehand.

“Just do you best. As long as you do that then I don’t want you to have regrets about anything, understand?”

“I— I don’t do well with not having regrets,” Cal admitted.

“Like I’ve said before. You can’t shoulder the world, no matter what you might think,” Phillip said.

Cal nodded after a moment. “I’ll do my best,” he said with a wry smile.

“Alright, weapons check! Spells! Skills! We’re going in,” Demi said.

Phillip gave Cal one last nod before he led way out the suite door.

Cal tracked his father all the way to the stairwell.

He was there watching with his mind’s eye as they descended one floor.

The fog loomed below them. A gray, foreboding mass. Writhing with tentacles that reached out hungrily toward Phillip’s legs.

“Everyone ready?” Phillip said.

“We’re right behind you,” Hanna said.

Cal watched his father step into the fog’s welcoming tendrils.

When Phillip’s head disappeared down into the depths Cal no longer saw anything.

“Tell me you’ve got a connection?” Cal’s eyes snapped to the magitech monstrosity on the table.

“There won’t be one until they actually get down into it,” Maya said.

“Hanna has one of the communicators. She’s already in.”

“How do you know?” Lexie eyed him with interest.

Cal thought about how to answer her.

Louis also looked at him suspiciously, but the teen was doing a better job of disguising it.

“Try to connect,” Cal said. He decided that ignoring the girl was the wisest thing to do.

Maya eyed him for a moment. “Do it.”

“Establishing link,” Louis said as his fingers danced on the laptop’s keyboard. “And now we wait.”

The screen looked like gibberish to Cal.

Lines of code in a window. Several separate windows that looked like an audio player.

“Flashing lights and whirring sounds,” Cal muttered. “We’re playing pretend… then again that’s—”

“Magic,” Lexie and Louis echoed.

“That’s a little… creepy, but kinda cool too,” Cal said.

Lexie beamed at him, while Louis scowled.

Maya grunted something impolite, but she kept it mostly inaudible for the kids.

Cal regarded the rest of the people left behind.

Pilot Pete and the two mechanics were seated at the kitchen table snacking, of all things. Though Cal couldn’t fault them. There wasn’t anything for them to do at the moment.

The injured spear unit members were resting in the bedrooms. They couldn’t do anything else.

“… you … Over… repeat. Do … copy? …”

A voice crackled in over the laptop’s speakers.

“That was Hanna!” Cal said.

Lexie was over Louis’ shoulder in a flash. “Adjust frequency to—”

“I know!” Louis snapped. His fingers tapped steadily.

“Hmm… Lexie, I’m getting a spike in battery drain. Can you confirm?” Maya said as she observed the screen of a second connected laptop.

“On it,” Lexie rushed to the third connected laptop. Her fingers flashed furiously. “Increase to power drain in line with establishing connection, 20% above projections.”

“Damn it. Donald, Jerry. Grab the extra power sources. I want them ready,” Maya barked at the mechanics.

The former stared at her slack-jawed with a chunk of hamburger in his mouth for a few seconds before scrambling on the heels of the latter.

“Do you copy? Over. This is Hanna.”

“There!” Louis said triumphantly.

“We copy, Hanna. What are you seeing?” Cal said.

“Gray fog. Visibility is as bad as expected. No monsters, yet. Will update if anything changes. Over.”

“Understood. Keep us posted. Be careful.”

“Do you read me, over?”

“Yeah, Watch Captain. You’re coming in clear.”

“Did Hanna call in?” Demi said.

“She did.”

“Good. I can’t see beyond the people right in front of me or behind me.”

“Have you picked up anything on the scanners?” It would simply things if they could find out where the entity or entities responsible for the fog are located.

“One second— Jake’s got nothing. He says it’ll probably take some time. Let me know when Sgt. Butcher and Doran call in. Damn stuff is as thick as a clam chowder.”

“Understood, Watch Captain. We’ll let you know.”

Doran had just entered the fog with his spear unit.

Rino was only now descending as the last person. She had yet to transform.

“Is this battery thing going to be a problem?”

Maya did a quick mental calculation. “It depends.”

“Or course it does,” Cal groaned.

----------------------------------------

Quest.

Free the Metro-Manila Territory.

Success Parameters: Unknown. Rescue Survivors.

Failure Parameters: Death.

Rescued Survivors: 0/???

Reward: Unknown.

Failure: Become a Shade.