What are the beasts, these ancient and powerful creatures, with such diversity amongst their number, their endless legions dwarf our own civilization, their forms both deadly, myriad and seemingly of purposeful design, where did they come from? Well, those are hard questions to answer, you must understand that our world is mostly unexplored, our planet is of immense size, simply trying to cross our continent, Firnius, is a massive endeavor, to say nothing of the dangers, the travel by mount alone, even on the backs of the finest steeds of the kingdom would take over ten months from the two closest points of the land. Where did the beasts come from? No one knows, one thing is for certain, they were here before us and they will be here well after we perish.You may ask what are these beasts? The only thing certain is that they are powerful, some of titanic power, within the very deepest reaches of the earth, untouched by our mortal hands, the very land itself gives birth to monsters that would make you quake in your very soul, scuttling around in the dark places, that’s not the worst of it either, for you had better pray you never try to sail upon the oceans bordering our kingdom, it is a death sentence, those who do shall behold true fear when they gaze into its depths, for the ocean always gaze’s back.

Kazie Umbre 1st scholar of the Arcanium Consortium

Several weeks had already passed since we had set out from the bulwark, charged with hunting down a particularly dangerous beast, it had not been a smooth journey, one of our number had fallen on the way already, no one could claim that our land was safe, we knew that better than most, still it hurt, to lose one of your own, a friend, a comrade in arms, it was never easy, but we are soldiers of valen, we know our duty, so ever on we press, until we end the beast.

A strange beast it is too, its like never seen before, truly ugly I am told, its form of a great wolf, writhing grey tentacles covering every inch of its body but for its eyes and slavering jaws generously layered with rows of razor sharp teeth, it did not look healthy according to witnesses, it had attacked the outlying farms that surrounded the great city, beyond the walls of the bulwark where soldiers are constantly on guard.

The wolf had devoured an entire family in the dead of night before the alarm was razed, but it was for naught, it fled into the wild with the last of the family clutched in its jaws, a small boy, leaving nothing in its wake but for deep prints in the mud, panicked screams and the distinct sounds of cracking bones, the poor child.

It has been a long time since then, our ranger, Lena, had tracked the beast for many weeks and we had finally started to make real progress, it had journeyed very far into the wild, into a massively sprawling forest that was still uncharted territory for us as no known troops or explorer’s of our kingdom had scouted this far in the past, the prints had started to become fresh, signs of its passing in abundance all around, broken branches and deep claw marks marring many trunks of the surrounding forest, as if the beast had a taken offence with the greenery.

It was in the evening, far too close to night for comfort, that we started to notice that the scenery had started to change, all plans to set up a fortified camp forgotten, first it was the silence, noticed by the sharp ears of Lena, an oppressive silence, one that should not be in a forest of this size, the chirping of the many birds had ceased, the insects absent and the normal hubbub of animal calls and distant roars muffled, as if afraid to wake a sleeping dragon.

We formed ranks, all six of us moving in tight formation, a tight wall of steel and blade surrounding our troops, the assigned mages took up their positions within the middle, I pulled my axe from its holster above my shoulder, my old friend, always by my side through all my battles, I started stretching my legs and arms, getting the blood flowing and shifting the full plate mail that may as well have been welded to my body by the accumulated sweat of the journey.

Lena instantly stringing her bow, an arrow to the string already in an animal like graceful pose, ready to move at a moment’s notice, smooth as silk, I smile, the army do’s its training well.

The mages have already begun their spells, chanting in a language that still makes me uncomfortable to this day, like ants within my ears, a buzzing that wont quit, still it was comforting to have them there, nothing like the fire power of a mage to make most grown warriors wet themselves, no one would like to melt inside their own armor or take a blast of lightning to the face, just glad it wasn’t my boys that had to face them, I hate fighting mages.

We press on through the undergrowth letting the shields of the group press back any low hanging branches, afraid to slash the foliage of the trees incase of leaving an opening that could be exploited by whatever was the cause of the silence.

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Always moving, never stopping for a single moment, my eyes never left Lena as she navigated our path forward, I would be damned to whatever hell existed before I let her fall to a sudden ambush, I had learnt my lesson this far in to the wilds, it was my inattentiveness that let Tomas fall under the Armored Python, we were trusted to watch his back, especially me, I’m his Sargent. I was even looking at the fucking thing, I stood staring like an idiot as we passed a colossal oak tree it’s branches stretching into the sky, wondering in amazement at the large tree limbs just as one of the said limbs shot forward to reveal a mouth bigger than Tomas was tall, over in a split second, no more Tomas, no more python either after our mages had finished with it, or oak tree. fucking beasts.

No, our remaining ranger will not fall, not again, I will make damn sure.

The formation moved ever forward, we took no breaks, the situation did not allow it for it.

The very ground seamed to change before our sight, what was once deep, rich soil and undergrowth slowly turned dark and dank, an acute stench of rotting in the air, decomposing rampant all around, the trees started to take on strange personality’s, the bark turning black as if a wild fire swept the area in the past, no leaves graced their crooked extremities, what could only be called grey fungus seemed to layer some of the trees, even the ground. We must be nearing an area of a swamp, the rank stench of decomposing and dank soil normally a precursor for it, which was not a great sign for us, swamps were a hot bed for disease and maladies, not my favorite places, I gave the signal in whispered orders to start covering heads and hands just in case, I closed the visor of my own great helm that I was already wearing, sealing myself in, watching as my men did the same, the mages pulling long green cowls over their heads, their hoods casting deep shadows upon their faces, the chanting never stopped though, irritating buzzing.

Lena seemed to not be phased too much though, always knowing where to go, damn fine ranger, she didn’t appear to be paying attention to holding her bow at the ready though, somewhat clutched in one hand, I would chew her out after this for that, this is no situation to be getting sloppy in, not the time for it now though, The night moves ever closer as we keep going.

Light from an over cast sky flooded with clouds was finally starting to reach us, it did not help ease my nerves, the leafless trees casting foreboding shadows everywhere, the light gloomy or rather ethereal, not good.

The troop slightly started closing together, I don’t think they realized, not that I could blame them, something was wrong here, very wrong. I could feel it, like spiders running up my spine, a tingling on the nape of my neck or a formless shape just in the corner of my vision but no matter how quickly I look nothing is there.

This is no swamp, no marshy ground anywhere, just dull black mud, there are no insects trying to get their two pounds of flesh from us, in fact there is nothing, just silence. A dead fucking silence, unnatural. The land got worse the further we traveled into it.

What is wrong with the trees anyway?! Why do they seem to be twisted?! Like they are melding together to create…. something! As if some force was controlling them, changing them into something un-holy. Fuck THIS.

“Everyone stop, something is obviously wrong here, hunting the wolf may be a priority for the kingdom but it didn’t cause this place”.

I maintain eye contact with my men, trying to will courage into them, even as they stare out into the desolate forest, keeping formation, one of the mages abruptly stops chanting, eye slightly rounded like a new born calf, obvious fear coming through.

“Sargent, we need to get out of here! There is something wrong with the ambient essence in this area, I have never seen anything like this! Its foul, rotten!” the normally flowery speech of his race no where in sight as his voice started to crack in strain over his words.

The other mage, still chanting makes eye contact, supporting what the other elf had said with her own widened eyes.

I take a deep breath, this was bad, only the deep dark places had essence that was rotten, the true birth places of monsters, god dammit! We were not prepared for this! We can’t face them with only a single understrength squad. Then my choice is clear, screw the wolf, I nod at the mages in understanding.

“Ready yourselves! We are moving out immediately, the bulwark must be warned! Another dead spot has appeared, that means there is a passage somewhere to the deep around here! Keep formation! Eyes open! These fuckers could be on us at any time and I don’t know what we could face!” I grip my battle-axe, knuckles straining in readiness, my eyes already roaming all around us in search of the enemy. That’s when I notice. Oh please no.

Lena is missing.

“come.. to me…..”.