Now, Manila

Cal had a map to Eron’s main sanctuary in his faceplate. It was fortunate that the fog wasn’t yet able to affect Threnosh technology, even if he only had the most basic functions.

“The fog seems a lot thinner than I remember,” the young man said.

“Still can’t see shit though,” the scowling young woman replied.

“Keep it quiet,” the leader warned.

They still hadn’t offered their names, which was fair since he hadn’t either.

The fog was considerably less dense than it had been on his frantic escape from the high-rise. Then he had been barely able to see beyond an arm’s-length. Now he could see a good fifteen, twenty feet in all directions. It certainly made following the street signs easier.

“Why no attacks?” the blank-faced young woman said.

“I said—”

“That’s a good point,” Cal interrupted the leader. He felt something was off. Whether it was from a tangible source or just the paranoia induced by the unnatural gray swirling around them was the question. Perhaps his currently sealed mental powers had something to do with it. “There’s a cost for it to create those shades.” Somehow, he knew this with certainty. “Either it can’t do so right now or there is no gain for it to attack us at this moment.”

“Then my question is why?” the leader said.

“It could be resting. Regaining its strength. Could be saving it.”

“For what?”

“Let’s say you’re in a long, drawn out fight. Both you and your opponent are exhausted. One last punch, kick, whatever, would win it.”

“You gather your strength for that one moment,” the leader nodded.

“Mostly, although there’s a bit of nuance to it. You can either wait for that moment or create it,” Cal said.

He reached out for his power.

An image flashed in his thoughts.

“Cracks in a jar,” he murmured.

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t feel as oppressive as before. Not like I’m being watched at every instant. I feel… less of it,” the young man said.

“That’s a good thing,” the scowling young woman said.

“It is for us,” Cal agreed.

The fog grew thinner as Cal led them toward the main sanctuary.

Elsewhere, others noticed an even more drastic change to the fog.

“Hey, Donald, come check this out.” Jerry was flat on his stomach shining a flashlight down the huge hole in the floor.

Cal had shoved them all up to the highest floor when the fog had tried to take them. It had been a frightening experience for them all and Donald had been shaken the most.

The man was sitting at the breakfast nook and steadfastly refused to get near the hole. “No, no, no.” He shook his head vehemently.

“Pussy,” Jerry muttered. “Hey, Pete—”

“What,” Pete sighed.

“I need someone else to look at this before I take it to the boss.”

“Fine.” Pete approached the hole as if he expected a tentacle to suddenly lash out and grab him. He had seen it happen to someone who got too close to the river bank and that wasn’t how he wanted to die.

“What do you see?”

“Huh?” Pete frowned. He had good eyes. Even though Jerry’s hand shook the beam of light, he was almost certain of what he saw down below. “The floor we were on originally.”

“Right? No fog? Right?” Jerry spoke in hushed tones.

“Better tell Maya,” Pete said.

“You do it…”

“Fine,” Pete sighed.

“This better be good,” Maya said.

She was hunched over a laptop, just like the two kid geniuses.

“The fog’s receded. We can see all the way down,” Pete said.

Three sets of eyes widened.

There was a mad scramble to the hole in the floor.

“Is it supposed to do that?” Louis said.

“Not according to all gathered information. Admittedly, there isn’t much,” Lexie said.

“Lexie, try to get into contact with the teams. Louis scan for energy signatures.” Maya’s tone was brusque.

The kids hopped to it and rushed back to their stations.

Fingers danced across their keyboards.

“We haven’t been able to get anything for hours. What changed?” Pete said.

Maya ignored him.

Seconds turned into minutes and Pete wandered back to the kitchen for something to eat and drink. He was mostly useless anyways. All he had been doing was hauling power generators to and from the balcony. They had been able to get some charge from the solar panel setup, but now that night had fallen that was done with.

It was an open question on whether the devices would last through the night.

Pete finished an energy bar and a glass of water when Louis suddenly jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist.

“Fuck you! Motherfucking fog!”

There was a shocked gasp from Lexie as Maya rushed over.

“Louis, watch your mouth,” Maya said flatly. “What’d you find!” she said with excitement.

“Huge energy, like enormous,” Louis grinned maniacally. “The interference we were dealing with before sorta just practically disappeared,” he shrugged.

“Coordinates!” Maya barked. She wrote them down as Louis recited them. She read them back to the boy for confirmation before she called out to Pete. “Find this place!”

“On it!” Pete rushed over. He was a pilot. He knew coordinates. He practically ran over to the large map of the city pinned up on the wall. He frantically searched until he found it. “It’s almost directly west of us. About five and a half miles. Practically right next to the bay.”

“What is it?” Lexie said.

“No clue. A building. This map doesn’t have labels,” Pete said.

“We have a potential location for the target. Lexie, I need our people. They need to know,” Maya said.

“On it, sir!” Lexie’s fingers blurred across the keys as multiple windows of code flashed on the screen. “Louis was right. Interference is significantly less. However, I’m increasing the power drain.”

“That’s fine. We only need enough time to give them the location.”

Pete let out the breath that he had been holding. They were going to do it! He walked out to the balcony for some fresh air. It was nice being in the penthouse suite of a fancy hotel. Only took the end of the world for the opportunity.

The moon and the stars were bright tonight and he could see the gray fog below as far as the eye could see. Even the bay hadn’t avoided being engulfed by it.

A muffled squeal of delight from inside drew Pete’s attention.

Lexie was doing a little dance of joy in her seat as Maya shouted something into the mic.

“Damn shame about the view. I bet it was something once,” Pete said.

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

An argument brewed in Cherry’s restaurant. Several hours had passed with Eron in a growing state of frustration from his impatience. The new arrivals insisted on waiting for the unconscious members of their leadership to wake up with the assistance of Dr. Rufo and others.

A map had been unfurled on one of the tables with the coordinates communicated by Lexie marked.

“Is this the location of that senate building you had mentioned?” Eron said.

Dr. Rufo adjusted his glasses and peered closely at the map. “Yes, definitely.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

“Then I’ll be getting back to my other patients,” Dr. Rufo shot a sour look at Hanna and Sgt. Butcher before he went back upstairs.

“It’s good to get probable confirmation of its location, but I don’t think the plan needs to change. The only ones that can move at my pace are my dad, Madalena and maybe the Weredog. They’re needed to evacuate everyone,” Eron said.

“What about the Quest?” Hanna said.

The statuesque woman was out of her armor and was seated at a table.

“You’re just going to have to fail it,” Eron said flatly.

“Unacceptable,” Hanna said. “We came here to help you out, sure… but we also came to gain Universal Points and levels for the strength to deal with our own horrors from beyond.”

“I’ve got the same Quest. The failure conditions include being turned into a shade. You’ve already lost several people to it,” he glanced at Sgt. Butcher on the other side of the table.

“You’re not in command of any of us,” Hanna said flatly.

“We don’t waste lives,” Sgt. Butcher said. “We sacrifice for the good of the rest. Rayna’s Rangers finish fights.”

“Fuck yeah!” Mouthy slammed her mug on the table. She was with the remaining rangers at a table on the other side of the dining room. She stood, a little unsteady as Hardhat reached out. “Catscratch, Chains, Two-toes and Smores. They didn’t die for nothing. We’re killing this fog piece of shit.”

Eron sighed. “The two of you have concussions,” he regarded Hanna and Sgt. Butcher. He eyed the latter. “You’ve also got a bunch of bleeding holes in your back.”

“Your doctor was very helpful,” Hanna said.

“First aid Skills and minor healing spells brought us the rest of the way to combat effectiveness,” Sgt. Butcher added.

“The hell they did!” Eron snapped. “Vern pounded your head like it was a speed bag. I don’t care if you’ve got Threnosh armor, you don’t just walk that off in a few hours.”

“That might be all true, but it doesn’t change the fact that you aren’t in command. You can’t stop us from trying to finish this,” Hanna bared her teeth.

“I’m trying to keep you all alive,” Eron threw his hands up. “Why is this even a discussion?” He searched the room for an ally.

His dad shook his head.

Watch Captain Lawrence was deep in thought.

“We deserve the right to try this,” Mouthy said. “We earned it! And we need to make their deaths count!”

“Sarge... Two-toes and Smores got turned into shades. They’ll be trapped like that forever if we don’t kill this entity,” Aims added.

“It’s the same for my guys,” Doran graveled. “I’m not leaving them like that if I can help it, but I’m not going to force what’s left of my unit to face this nightmare. I’m staying to fight… everyone else can do the same or evacuate with your people,” he nodded at Eron.

“Like I said, we’ve faced something like this before,” Hanna said.

“No offense, but you fought fishmen and cultists, my brother and nieces fought the Deep Azure thing. This is probably on that level, if not stronger,” Eron said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“I— we need to get to the point,” Hanna said.

“I’m not even going there to try to kill this thing. My only concern right now is to get as many people out of the city as possible before Lilah—” he shook his head, “that’s the only thing that matters.”

“Not to me,” Hanna said.

“The Watch won’t be fighting. We’ll join the evacuation and provide additional defense,” Demi said suddenly. “We are no longer combat effective.”

Eron eyed the Watch Captain with mild surprise.

“Is that an order, Watch Captain?” Hanna’s face was a stone mask.

“For you? No. You have the same freedom that you’ve always had,” Demi replied.

Hanna gave her a curt nod.

“Rayna’s Rangers will fight,” Sgt. Butcher said.

“I haven’t had much of problem with these shades,” Rino shrugged. “I’m not backing down now.”

“I’m in too. I need to push myself, push my magic,” Jake said. “Santi’s leaving with you guys though,” he turned to Demi.

“What? Have none of you been listening to me?” Eron said.

“Seems like it,” Mouthy muttered.

Eron’s eye twitched.

“Anak,” his dad warned. “They have the right to their choices. You and I might not like it, but it isn’t our place to get in their way.”

“The senate building is nearly ten miles away. That’s only a few minutes for me, but the rest of you will have to walk the entire way exposed to the fog. I won’t be there to protect you from the shades,” Eron said.

“The fog’s expended a lot of energy in the attempt to stop us from getting here. If we leave here after you’ve started your distraction then that should take the pressure off of us,” Sgt. Butcher said.

Eron regarded the pale-faced, sweating woman. He blinked rapidly. “You can’t—,” he sighed. “You can barely sit up. You’re in no condition to fight,” he said kindly.

“The tougher the challenge overcome, the greater the rewards, the stronger you get,” Jake said.

“That’s absolutely true,” Eron began, “for the small handful of you that survive.”

“Maybe we should go together,” his dad said.

“I need you to gather the people in the other sanctuaries,” Eron shook his head.

“Couldn’t Madalena do that after she drops the first bus load outside the fog?”

“I want Lilah to drop all of her wards as soon as possible. Can’t keep risking her life like this.”

His dad frowned, but remained silent.

The shaking started subtly.

Water, juice and harder things rippled in their glasses.

No one noticed it until the plates and utensils rattled as the tables shook.

Then, the entire room shook violently.

“What the fuck is this shit?” Mouthy muttered.

“Earthquake or—” Jake said.

Cherry appeared at the bar. “I think it’s an attack! I feel it!”

Eron’s gaze snapped to the front of the restaurant.

Out on the street the glow of Lilah’s sigils flickered.

The gray looked much closer than it should’ve been.

“It’s—”

Eron heard a sudden scream from upstairs.

“Eron—” his dad caught his gaze with wide eyes.

“That was Lilah!” Eron dashed up the stairs.

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

Eron leapt up the stairs from landing to landing. His dad was right behind him.

The rest of the people in the restaurant exploded into movement as well.

He reached Lilah’s floor and rushed to her apartment.

Other people had come out of theirs as the shaking continued unabated.

Scared looks turned to relief as they saw him.

Mouths opened to ask questions, but he didn’t have time for them.

“Grab your things and get to the bus! This isn’t a drill! You,” he pointed at a young man, “tell the people in the upstairs apartments!”

He nearly blew the door to Lilah’s apartment off its hinges in his haste.

Dr. Rufo and Madalena were already in Lilah’s room.

The girl in question was convulsing in her bed.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Dr. Rufo’s voice was strained.

“The fog is pushing in,” Eron said.

Madalena opened the window blinds and cursed.

The gray was almost flush with the glass.

“The sigil in the living room is flickering,” his dad warned.

“Madalena, you have to go now,” Eron grabbed the portable ward off the side table and thrust it into his cousin’s hands.

“What about Lilah?”

“We’ll bring her down to you after this settles. For now make sure everyone is on the bus and ready to go.”

“Okay,” Madalena gave him a curt nod and hurried out.

“I don’t know what to do,” Dr. Rufo said in a hollow voice.

“Doc, you should get down there too.”

Eron went to Lilah’s bedside and tried to gently hold her. “Lilah, you have to drop the wards to this place. Keep the others and the portable one, but the ones on this building need to go dark.”

A visceral scream erupted out of the girl’s mouth as she continued to thrash despite Eron’s efforts.

“You can’t fight this one. You have to let it in to stay alive. Don’t worry, we’ve still got the portable ward and the plan to get everyone to safety.”

Eron’s heart hammered. He could barely hear the scared people running from all over the building to get down to the ground floor.

“Please, Lilah… you can do it. It’s not a failure.”

“Maybe one of the mages can, I don’t know, make her stop,” his dad said.

“C’mon, Lilah…” Eron couldn’t hear his dad. “Please…”

It happened suddenly.

The building stopped shaking.

Lilah fell still and sank back into her bed.

Her breathing was shallow and labored, she had a pale pallor and was drenched with sweat.

Eron lifted her off the bed.

“Eron,” his dad warned.

He noticed it right away.

There was an inch-thick layer of fog on the floor.

He looked to the closed window.

The fog was rapidly seeping inside.

A loud crash jarred them.

“That came from below!”

“Here! Take her to the bus!” Eron handed Lilah to his dad.

“What’re you going to do?”

Eron was already rushing out the apartment with his dad right behind.

“If the fog’s up to our ankles… then what does that mean for the floors below us?”

They found the answer in the stairwell.

The gray was thin, but had completely engulfed the second floor and no doubt the first.

“Get her to the bus!” Eron said.

He ran to the source of the sound. His heart sank when he realized that it had come from one of the apartments that housed the kids.

The door was already open, so he rushed in with the hope that it meant the kids had already been evacuated.

Once again his hopes were cruelly dashed.

The living room wall was a gaping ruin. Something big had torn it open from the outside.

Dr. Rufo was face down on the floor next to the bedroom door on the right. There was a small puddle of blood next to his head.

Eron could hear him breathing, so he was still alive.

He heard another crash coming from the left side of the apartment. He rushed into the short hallway.

“Haymaker!”

A big fist clocked him in the face.

The gun shot-like boom sent swirls of fog flying away.

It was mildly uncomfortable.

The shade had a brief look of hurt and surprise on his face before Eron broke it with a punch. The body disappeared before it hit the floor.

There where two bedrooms at the end of the hallway. The one to his left was empty. The one to his right… wasn’t.

Another shade had her back turned to Eron. He broke her neck with a simple twist of his hands.

A handful of small children were backed up against one of the walls. There only defense was Nestor. The twelve year old boy waved a machete in shaking hands as shades loomed over them.

The shades turned their heads as one toward Eron.

They swarmed over him.

He saw past them even as he threw hands.

More dark forms were coalescing in the bedroom and outside past the broken hole in the wall.

“C’mon, kids!” Eron roared even as the shades struck him with Skills and spells.

He pushed into the room and toward the hole in the wall to give the kids room to run.

Nestor urged the little ones out into the hallway, while keeping his body between them and the threats.

A tentacle suddenly lashed from outside and wrapped itself around little Cathy’s body and pulled.

Nestor went after her, ignoring Eron’s warning.

The boy hacked with his machete, scoring a deep gash into the tentacle. Enough to slow it and keep the screaming Cathy from being taken.

Triumph was short-lived.

A second tentacle struck and pulled Nestor into the thick gray morass.

Eron saw the look of shock turn into terror as Nestor was pulled right past him.

Another face to add to those that he had failed.

“Nooo!” Eron roared.

Not this time.

He flung his arms wide, breaking the bodies of the shades swarming him.

Cathy screamed.

The injured tentacle writhed as it struggled to keep its prize. It was still pulling her toward the hole.

Sharp fingers speared out of nowhere pinning the tentacle to the floor.

Cherry appeared clinging to the ceiling. “Hurry!” she called.

Eron dived on the floor. He grabbed the tentacle and ripped it with one move. He pulled Cathy free from it and clutched the sobbing girl to his chest. “It’s okay. They won’t get you,” he whispered.

Cherry dropped from the ceiling, transforming her fingers into a more manageable length. She moved like a blur, swirling the fog in her wake as she sliced through each dark shape that had yet to fully coalesce.

As soon as her fingers had returned to normal Eron thrust Cathy into her arms.

“What? What do you want me to do with thi— her?” Cherry’s eyes were wide.

Eron regarded the other children huddled together in the hallway. “Take them to the bus. Dr. Rufo too.”

“I already have my hands full.”

“This isn’t the time for games. We both know you’re more than strong enough to carry him and all the kids at the same time.”

“A bit unwieldy to do that. I suppose if I could find a big enough sack,” Cherry mused.

“Just lead them down to safety, please.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make it give Nestor back.”

Cherry opened and shut her mouth. “We’ll get everyone out of the city. Good luck and be careful.”

Eron leapt out into the open.

The fog swirled around him as he hit the ground.

It appeared thinner than he had remembered ever seeing it. Almost sparse. A light mist.

The light from the corner restaurant’s sign was bright, but he felt no warmth from it.

There was no reason to expect that now that the sigils on the buildings walls had gone dark. They no longer shined with the warmth of promised protection. They were just paint now. Graffiti.

He glanced into the restaurant and saw people staring at him.

Idiots.

They should’ve been on the bus by now.

He turned away. His focus was needed elsewhere.

A familiar man appeared out of an alley way on the other side of the street.

“Tito Carlos, give Nestor back,” he growled.

There was sadness in the old man’s eyes. “You know that’s impossible.”

“He wa— is only a kid. One that wanted to be brave. To help. Never complained. Always put the younger ones first.” Eron’s eyes glistened. “He did his best with everything asked of him.”

“He was brave. He saved that other child,” Tito Carlos said.

“He is just a boy!” Eron roared. “Give him back!”

“There is no back for us. Nestor’s story is one I’ve— dreamed— many times in this gray hell. There are hundreds, thousands of the same tragedy repeated over and over again. You can’t have him back, not any of us. The best you can do is give us freedom to see what comes next… if there’s even anything there.”

Eron’s eyes narrowed.

“It took a lot to break those wards. It has never been more vulnerable. You see evidence of that all around you,” Tito Carlos spread his arms wide. “You weren’t here at the beginning. This is what it looked like in those early days. Before we realized too late what had come to our city.”

“Then break its control. Help me fight! Help me kill it! Free yourselves!” Eron pleaded.

“Never that,” Tito Carlos sighed. “I suppose it’s like having a child. I never had any of my own, but I can say I understand the feeling now. As contradictory as it sounds. I could never raise a hand against it. I love it like I would my own child. As do we all. As it makes us. The most I can do is give little hints. But you— you can do more. Will you make the rational choice this time? Unlike the last time?”

“Another trap?”

Tito Carlos laughed bitterly. “You understand enough of how it works to see that isn’t the case. Will you take your opportunity to end this and free over ten thousand souls from this gray hell?”

“And the other?” Eron already knew the answer.

Tito Carlos lips pursed, pointing towards the building behind Eron. “Their lives.”

Other forms began to take shape in the fog.

“It wants to end this. Your brother did something that scared it. It struggles to contain both of you. Suppressing one was difficult enough. It’s finding two dangerously difficult. That’s why it expended so much energy to finally break through your sanctuary. It wanted to drive you out for one last attempt to take you and turn you from a thorn into a tool. Subsume the first and more familiar threat before turning its attention to the unfamiliar second.” Tito Carlos gazed to the west. “Your faster than me. The others are about to appear. They’ll be stuck here and they’re even slower. None of us can stop you from… well, I think you’re smart enough to understand.”

“And abandon everyone to you and our family.”

“It’s the rational choice. The greater good for the entire world. You can stop it before it spreads everywhere and turns our world into a barren gray wasteland. All for the price of a few dozen lives. All of them warriors. They knew what they were getting into.”

“There’s another choice. I— we beat all of you and then take care of the entity. If what you said is true then it won’t be able to bring you back quickly enough to protect it. You guys are the only ones that could stop me.”

“It won’t work. You can’t do it. Even with your dad.”

“He’s stronger than any of you and you’re the only one stronger than me.”

“And I’m a better boxer than either of you,” Tito Carlos smiled. “Sure, you might be able to pull it off, but the only ones that would survive are you and your dad. All your friends from America will die. The two of you will be spent for what you truly need to do.”

Eron curled his fingers into fists. “I don’t leave people to their deaths.”

The asphalt shattered under his boots as he exploded toward Tito Carlos.

His great-uncle moved a fraction of a second after him.

They landed simultaneous blows that sent each flying backward.

Nearby windows shattered.

Eron pulled himself free from a crumpled car and saw that more relatives had finished coalescing out of the swirling gray.

Tito Carlos emerged out of the same hole he had made in the side of building. He shook his head. “You had a chance! You could’ve freed everyone! Could’ve ended this hell! What happens to you and your friends is on your head!”