Desdin arrived at the dock at a furious pace without breaking a sweat. He exhaled and observed the tables turned over and the lone slain citizen in the middle of the chaotic aftermath. Demalyn was sitting with her brow folded intensely, gathering her thoughts. Just beyond her, he saw the corpse of a Fallen creature that had splattered and scattered violently. He quietly approached and calmly asked her, "Where is everyone?"

She answered, "They went to the woods after the Fallen. I couldn't stop it, Desdin. She messed up and made 'it' come out of me by threading her mind to me. I meant to make that sad boy wait for you to arrive, but it was like my head was splitting in two. Go after them. We need to regroup. I'm sure Cherry had to awaken to fight off whatever was in the town. I will go to her and keep her from overdoing it. Bring the hunters and the two deputies back here quickly. This is not something we can handle if we are each fighting without some preparation."

Desdin understood and rushed into the van, opening the weapon panel. "Where is my sword?," he muttered out loud to no one in a frustrated manner. He holstered two short swords before pulling on a leather sleeve of throwing knives around his chest and taking a six foot spear with a two foot long blade at the end.

He shut it and went to a closet panel close by. It opened, revealing a suit of black scaled armor adorned with crimson red flourishes around the waist, shoulder, and arms. The armor would be a firm fit to his frame. It had a crack along the chest from shoulder to waist. The helm above it had one horn wrapped around the left side of the skull, with one horn shattered off at the temple on the right. It also had a broken jaw piece that hung loosely.

Desdin only took the gauntlets that formed to a point at the fingertips and tightened them around his wrist with only his palms and the underside of his fingers exposed. He then grabbed the long black coat with silver lace on the shoulders hanging beside it and tossed it on. When he exited the van, Demalyn had already left the scene. Gripping his spear tightly, he bounded from the dock into the dense forest line.

A crowd of people had gathered outside the hospital. Deputies had put up a blockade, and several hunters stood guarding the entrance with Stokely handing out orders. Panicked voices were rising in the crowd. Cherry had regained her senses by the time they had arrived. She called after several of the deputies to tend to Walstaff. She noticed staff from the hospital huddled close by. Some were crying while some wore splotches of blood on their scrubs.

She approached them with a ragged look of concern and asked, "What is the situation inside?"

One nurse that recognized her said, "Most of the wards are on lock down. These things attacked the staff in the morgue before invading the trauma ward. Doctor Hobe, he went to save as many people as he could. He is still there. Oldest, please save Doctor Hobe."

"If you don't have injuries, make yourselves useful and help the sheriff over there," Cherry said. She then turned her tired attention towards Stokely. He ignored her while she was staring up at his face. "Move, let me in."

Stokely gave no indication of budging. He said to her, "Master Vilsin has taken two of our best hunters inside with him to save the Doctor and our citizens. You don't look well and have done your part in saving the sheriff. We'll handle it from here."

Cherry, exhausted, turned and walked away to be alone. "Big dumb bastard."

A car arrived seconds later with Demalyn, who had rejuvenated from the events at the docks. She dashed towards Cherry, embracing her. "Rest dear."

Cherry folded into her. "We have to get in there, Dem. This is bad. Where is Desdin? I need him to knock around that guy at the door because I can't right now."

Demalyn looked over at Stokely. "Well, he sort of already did that last night. Desdin went after the deputies and hunters that chased the Fallen into the woods. He had to because I couldn't. She made 'it' come out and I could feel you needed me here. But I'm fine now, I can go in there and take care of this. No problem, okay?"

Cherry gave an exasperated and desperate cry. "Fuck me. This is so bad. If 'it' appeared with all these people here, we don't know what will happen. You can't go in there, Dem. After meeting Desdin, that Fallen bitch waited until we were all separated to test us. I can awaken again and just tear whatever is in there apart."

Demalyn gripped Cherry. "Ms. Lightbear, the one hundred and fourteenth in line for the Lux, you cannot do that." Cherry lost the tension in her body at that name. Demalyn continued, "You haven't awakened since we started this journey years ago. You are so in shock that you can't tell how badly you are shaking. All that makeup you put on is a mess." Demalyn pulled Cherry close, who gave in and closed her eyes. "We must hope that their hunters can take care of this. We can't do everything."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Demalyn had been petting Cherry's hair as she rested upon her lap when the door slammed open from inside of the hospital moments later. Cherry opened her eyes to see Hobe stroll past Stokely with cool repose. He sat a bloodied great axe down and lit a cigarette before sitting down on a bench. Something had gouged his left eye out and the wound dragged beyond that to where the top part of his ear used to be. Several of the hospital staff rushed up to him to tend to him.

Cherry pulled herself together and walked over to him. He looked up at her and said, "You look like hell." Cherry sat beside him and took his cigarette as her own so that the staff could tend to his face. He continued, "I killed one of those abominations. Still one left. Vilsin can get the job done, I hope." He slumped over and lost consciousness.

One of the staff rushed over to Hobe. "He is still alive. As soon as we get to the hospital, we can treat him inside. Stop the bleeding for now! Get supplies from wherever you can!"

Much of the crowd had been watching Cherry and Demalyn sit there throughout the ordeal and whispers questioning their presence on the scene was circulating. Cherry visibly wore their concerns and could not look towards the people gathered. She walked over to Demalyn while peering back at Hobe and then to where Walstaff lay being treated by the hospital staff. "Let's go home and wait for Desdin. We are not doing anything here and we are on the brink of losing all hope and credibility in this town. We need to regroup as soon as possible."

Inside the hospital, Ollin, Reshti, and Vilsin were going room by room with rifles at the ready. They looked around with terror while seeing the remnants of bodies dragged from rooms in a streak of their own blood and then butchered. Something had physically clawed and smashed the walls and floors, leaving scars and debris. Many of the overhead lights had gone dark, with others broken and hanging loose. They came upon the warped corpse of a monster that was beyond recognizable in a pool of black sludge. Ollin flipped it over before making a disgusted gasp. "What is going on here?"

Tarrich had hid himself out of sight under the round desk at the center of the ward. He struggled to keep quiet. He could hear the hunters approaching but could just muster the courage to murmur, "Oldest, please help." A short distance away, he could hear a creature slurping on the bloody concrete.

It must have also heard the hunters, for it gathered itself on all floors and began tapping away on the floor. Reshti was the first to see the monster. He raised his rifle. Unlike the other monsters, this one had further mutated. Where its head used to be was a tubular vein with two dinner plate sized black sockets for eyes. It bore its almost humanlike teeth at the hunter. Reshi fired his rifle, but the creature slid away on the blood clumsily before leaping and impaling him on all fours. It leapt up and down several times without even giving him an opportunity to scream out before he was gone.

Vilsin began stuttering a whimper as sweat was pouring off of him. With a trembling hand while they were both backing away Vilsin grabbed Ollin by the should as he moved behind him. In a frightened whisper, Vilsin encouraged his man, "No...now...while it is busy, kill it."

While the monstrosity was focused on Reshti's remains, Ollin attempted to thrust his spear at it, but the snakelike head of the monster twisted around his shoulder and neck. Ollin struggled to get away but lost his balance. The monsters visage was above Ollin's face whose froze in horror as its jaw unhinged to fit his entire head before it chomped down in a mess of gore. Vilsin dropped his sword and began stumbling back falling and scrambling to get up and run away.

The creature contorted as it untangled itself from Ollin. The mouth formed a bloody smile as it approached Vilsin. It gasped and hissed at him as he reached for his sword with a trembling hand. Saliva and blood were spilling out from the monster's maw. Upon craning its neck towards him, it croaked out, "Mother says foooor yoooou." It bent its head further down on the floor and folded onto its limbs like a resting lamb. It repeated, "For you! For you! For you!" Vilsin looked at it, in shock and fear, and gathered himself. He stared cautiously while the beast didn't move from its vulnerable position. Vilsin struck the monster's neck repeatedly. He hacked until he had decapitated it.

Tarrich was careful to remain hidden, unsure of what he had just seen and heard. Vilsin also stood there at a loss. His hands were stained black, and his outfit was now adorned with gore. He let out several whimpers and cries when he looked at the remains of Ollin and Reshti. Still sniveling, he composed himself. He tiptoed out of the ward and then out of the hospital. He turned to Stokely, who seemed happy to see him.

Vilsin raised his hands to the crowd. He blinked many times while moving his shocked gaze over everyone staring at him. Many had clasped their hands together. There was a silent moment as contemplated the gravity of what had occurred behind him in the hospital and what he needed to do now as he turned to face the worried faces of Leoris.

He cleared his throat before shouting out to them, "Today, we dealt the threat a defeat at the hands of your hunter's lodge! It came as a great sacrifice to us, but as of this moment, we have some of our finest pursuing the threat to the edges of the forest. Leoris will stand victorious!"

The crowd parted as a portly man adorned in blue and purple robes resting his fingers on his extended belly stepped forward. He had been the priest overseeing the funeral. Vilsin looked at him. "Diapson, I am so glad you are here to see us at the moment we turn this thing around."

The portly man smiled and opened his arms, embracing Vilsin, "Brother we are so lucky you are still alive to see us through this mess. There is no one else in this town that can save us." Diapson left the embrace and held up Vilsin's arm before the crowd beaming at all gathered. "Our heroes are here in our home!"

The audience let out cries of relief and applauded the duo. Stokely and the other hunters all stood cheering, whistling, and clapping with all their might. Keoma stood at the back, watching Vilsin with some suspicion as he stroked his mustache. Two of his students, covered in soot, exchanged looks before Keoma pointed them towards the forge. "Either Vilsin is born again, or we have work to do. This may yet be far from over. Bring the cannons to the dock while everyone is here."