Chapter 18 - Exposure
Draenor’s first priority was Alonia. But unfortunately, the battlefield was far from forgiving to the inexperienced. He had learnt as much firsthand in his own youth.
It didn’t take long to find the girl. She was surprisingly composed, considering the circumstances. She bore an expression of pure confidence - marred only for the few tears snaking down her face.
He crouched down next to her, speaking loudly into her ear over the battle’s cacophony. “It ok little one. Hold onto my leg, and we’ll get you back to safety! Whatever you do. Stay close.”
That was all it took for her to latch onto his leg with the desperate hope of a drowning man. She returned a nod, not trusting herself to stay composed while speaking.
Draenor moved within the formation of guards as best as he could, trying to remain behind their relative safely.
But the beasts were relentless in their charge, and the men before him were suddenly impaled by the horns of the incoming creatures.
Draenor instinctively moved the girl behind him, shielding her from the beast. But he wasn’t alone in his defence as the girl’s father got to the pair and joined Draenor.
The pair traded conservative blows against the beast. They both knew they were no match for the thing. So instead, their only mission was to delay the monstrous thing for as long as possible.
But, not going on the offence brought its own breed of danger, and soon enough, the girl’s father had dodged just a little too slow. The beast’s claws scraped down, bone-deep into the man’s arm, tearing muscle and sinew alike to dangling threads.
The girl screamed a blood-curdling scream as her own father’s blood spurted toward her. And then, despite all the determination, she could muster, bile lept to her throat, dizziness invaded her head, and the world began to wobble. A sticky, wet liquid struck her forehead, and before she could think any more, she fainted.
***
Vangrec finished off the beast before him, ripping his axe from its dead chest before swiftly moving to the side to avoid the blood no squirting out its chest.
He had never seen anything like this. It was like something had deadened the creature’s senses. He had already scored a deep gash into the creature’s femur, and yet, it had stumbled on with barely a care in the world.
He couldn’t afford to spend the time worrying right now; he had a responsibility to ensure his men were safe first.
Luckily, his men had outnumbered the creatures. Otherwise, he doubted they would still be standing. He was one of the few who could battle the beasts on a somewhat even playing field, and though he had personally seen to the training of his men, they still had a ways to go before they were ready for something like this.
He was surprised to spot the human boy still standing and weaving through the battle with unbridled bloodlust. There were too many uncanny activities happening of late. But for now, he contented in the gratefulness that the boy was making quite a sizeable effort in keeping his people safe.
***
The Null surged to their feat, regarding the beast before them with boundless anger. It had been countless years since they had last felt pain; their mortal coil was simply too weak to bring forth their true potential. That, or something else had changed in the process that had brought them to this world.
Regardless, they had ample strength to put down a beastly mutt like this one - and oh, how they would enjoy it. A savage grin stretched upon Tal’s body as the Null controlled it to sweep forward. Their hand struck outward in a finely controlled movement, scoring a dull blow to the horned creature’s jaw.
The beast retaliated by launching the crushing weight of its meaty feast down onto the human who had foolishly gotten within its range.
The Null activated just one of the abilities that they knew they currently had access to. They would need to test just how much their capabilities had diminished, but this was one ability they knew for sure still worked.
The beast’s arm continued its descent through its now incorporeal flesh, its momentum throwing it forward, off balance in the absence of the expected collision.
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The Null could have chosen to immerse their body fully in the gifts of this ability, going completely invisible, but they wanted to savour the anguish blooming in the surprised expression of the beast. They wanted it to know in its dying moments just how outclassed it was.
They plunged their fist into the beast's body, slowly modifying their ability to bring their fist back to the material plane.
The beast instantly seized up at the human’s hand, lodged deeply in its chest, gripping its heart in a firm grasp. Horror illuminated the creature’s features before it collapsed to the dirt with its final heartbeat. This time, the beast didn’t rise from the second mortal wound it had received today.
The Null growled, unsatiated with the battle, before surveying its surroundings - an action they admittedly should have already done. But it spied multiple soon-to-be corpses engaged in various duels around the landscape.
The beasts were so engaged, in fact, that they were able to sneak up behind multiple of the creatures and extinguish the last of their pitiful lives. But, this time, it occurred to the Null to conceal their actions a little, for the human’s sake, into something more mortal looking.
With each strike into each of the creatures, they would use their ability to faze out the upper portion of their fist before immediately materialising it back again - leaving hand-sized holes in the flesh of the creatures.
In this way, they systematically crept upon each remaining beast, revelling in the barely contained glee from within as they fell each of them with a well-placed strike to any identified critical points.
Then, The Null doubled over, unexpectedly exhausted at their little performance. ‘Seems this human is even weaker than predicted,’ they thought.
Suddenly, a familiar scream interrupted their laboured breathing, jolting them upright from their exhaustion - a bizarrely mortal feeling of dread accosted their thoughts - they hurriedly sought out the girl.
The Null could put no reasoning behind their subsequent actions, save that their soul bind was changing them in some vastly unappreciated fashion.
They fought against the invading exhaustion, summoning all their might as they raced toward where the scream had come from.
Two men stood in defiance against one of the beasts, the only able barrier of defence between the girl and the monster. And they were fighting a losing battle.
The Null arrived at the scene right as their vision began to blot out. They could feel the deadening of their limbs; their bodies could no longer provide enough energy to continue the plight.
They unceremoniously collided with the creature, but the close quarters of the situation provided the opportunity to reach inside the beast and yank something vital.
The beast fell. Their eyelids fluttered. They both crashed to the ground. Their mortal body began to slip away, and though they could try to continue fighting the feeling, there was no point. There were none of the beasts remaining. They had had their excitement for tonight.
***
Tal woke with a splitting headache. Every heartbeat brought forth a new wave of pain. Opening his eyes to the glare outside was its own variety of pain - but he did so reluctantly, then bolted upright when the day’s previous events caught up to him.
He wasn’t back in his own cavern. Instead, as he looked around, he could see he was in a massive tent. It was open at either end to allow some light and air in. All around were lines of stretcher beds, and populating those were dwarves sporting various different injuries. Some hadn’t woken up yet, especially those with more grievous wounds.
A new face strode to meet him - a female dwarf who looked like this world’s version of a nurse. “I’m sorry we don’t have anything longer for you “, she smiled, gesturing at his feet hanging off the end of the dwarf-sized stretcher. “Welcome back to the realm of consciousness! You’ve been treated for the few physical wounds you had, remarkably few, in fact. But you're free to go if you don’t have any questions.”
“Thanks”, he smiled. “And…sorry. I wish I could have done more out there. I must have endangered everyone even more so when I blacked out.”
The nurse looked at him quizically, “By all accounts, you were a force to be reconned with; one of the reasons that so many weren’t injured more than they were,” she paused then, “Maybe you should stay here; perhaps you got a concussion when you fell and….”
‘What the hell do they do…’ he thought but interrupted, “Right! Sorry, yeah, it’s all coming back now. Just a little groggy still, I suppose.” he replied, unwilling to have the nurse examine him any further in fear that she may discover his condition. “Thank you for everything. Really” he continued before she could go on with her line of reasoning.
“Right…” she trailed off in disbelief, obviously too busy to care too much, “Just get plenty of rest for 1-2 days. After that, avoid anything strenuous, and stay clear of any jolting. Then, if you get worse in any way, come see me.”
Tal assured her that he would task care of himself, thanking her for the help, before exiting the makeshift medical tent.
‘What the hell happened’ he repeated to himself. He had no memory of what had happened after his vision had been impaired by the swarm of black dots. However, he remembered right before that the gripping hunger of The Null, trying to assume control of his body. ‘Obviously, they did,’ he thought, ‘Now I just have to see what the damage is….’
The first thought on his mind was to find the one thing that had been able to help him with his soul-binding problems so far. He needed to go back to his cabin. ‘At least they can’t keep control of me for too long.’ he thought.
Before he could return to his cavern door, though, he was stopped by Vangrec. “We need to talk,” he muttered, his face completely serious.
‘Shit. What have I gotten myself into now.’ he cursed himself. “Sure, what’s up? Can you give me a minute?” he replied, attempting to keep his voice firm and confident. “I sure hope you don’t plan on having that mess happen every night.” he kept up, trying to break the tension.
Vangrec, though, was having none of it. “This is about you. What I saw…come with me.” That was when Tal noticed the dwarves hand resting upon his battleaxe.