Desdin held his spear close to his chest as Ensi pulled out a palm sized circular object from his jacket pocket. He pointed it towards the cave, illuminating large dust particles that swarmed in the air. It was not far in that the roots had settled into the interior of the larger pockets of the cavern. As they traveled further, the natural light diminished to oblivion. The distant echoes of water dropping, and every peculiar noise gave the pair pause. The sounds of their breathing and the scraping of their gear against the walls became comforting.

The fetid scent of bile forced the pair to cover their nose and mouth. Ensi gagged as they came upon a section filled with four torn sacks that looked like they were made from flesh. A body long since dead and decaying lay off in the corner.

Ensi asked in a muffled voice, “What is this?”

Desdin just kept moving further in. When they got to an area where the smell no longer lingered, he answered Ensi. “She is breeding. I can’t give you all the details, but for the Fallen giving birth is a complex affair. We share a common ancestor so we can mate. In the Farlands we had Fallen tribes. Their appearance wasn’t very different to ours. So, the relationships were consensual. Fallen men are mostly sterile. As long as the Fallen are within their normal lifespan their children behave and age just like ours.”

Looking back towards the room with the sacks, “That doesn’t appear to be consensual or normal.”

Acknowledging him, Desdin answered, “A matriarch is different. Normal Fallen births are extremely brutal. Without their mutations and regenerative abilities, it would kill them. The older they get and the more twisted their body and minds get is when it gets truly horrific. Their gestation becomes quicker and quicker. They are able to rip out their insides and birth feral creatures from what you saw in the other room.”

Ensi swallowed hard, “But how does she force these men to mate with her.”

“About that. Fallen have some nonsense abilities outside of their physical deformities. She can likely manipulate their mind and spirit. They can see her as whatever they desire if they are broken, willing to believe, or want to believe. Desdin pointed to a light source ahead.

Desdin and Ensi crouched down to further venture into the lair. Ensi then asked, “Why do you keep calling them Fallen? I’m thinking Devil Beast is far more appropriate.”

Desdin looked down in a brief moment of hesitation before answering Ensi. “I learned from my home that the way they must live wasn’t their fault. They had their homes taken and then exposed to experiments by the Oldest or the first few iterations of descendants millennia ago. Neither side knows for sure since records from that time are sketchy or nonexistent. We are all trying to survive in the world left to us. Just as humans sin gravely, so do some Fallen.”

Ensi balked at the thought. “I wouldn’t go around repeating that in a nation of fervent believers of the Oldest. I read some articles about a Fallen slum in the capital. Nobles use them as a labor or indulge in morbid curiosity in their mysticism. They don’t dare come out this way into the country anymore though. Feral or not, especially after this they would likely be killed.”

The duo had lost track of how far into the caves they had gone. Ensi glanced nervously at the light ahead. “I really hope we can squeeze through that way. "

Desdin sighed in worried exasperation, “Yea, really hoping that is an exit. This place has the potential to go deep and too much further in she might get behind us without our knowledge cornering us, which would be troublesome. She won’t use this cave again after we’ve been here. We’ll have to track her again with better preparation. I’m sorry about your friends.”

“I saw it on your face earlier. When my wounded friend died. You’ve been through it. Yulsif didn’t get the callousness, but you had to move on quickly for the living.” Ensi took a dutiful note of what he had seen before tracking back through the caves. As they stumbled out, he relished the fresh air of nature. Evening was upon them as the sun was setting in the town’s direction.

Wanting to break up the dour atmosphere, Desdin asked, “Why didn’t you join the lodge? You are more than able. If you had stepped up last night against that brawny fellow, I may have not needed to intervene.”

Ensi gave a half smile, “My father died when I was young. He was a rebuilder. They were doing repairs to a residential building, and he fell when a part of the building collapsed. Keoma and the forge were like a second home to me after that. I wanted to stay within Leoris to be around my mother if she ever needed me. Besides, the hunters never shut up. They shore up all our supplies, sure, but they aren’t friendly to anyone else in town. They behave like they are a class above everyone else, mainly because Vilsin produced a descendant."

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Desdin gave a warm look of approval. “You don’t need to prove you are a man every day to be a man. Keep it up and you will be sheriff one day.”

Ensi choked on his own saliva. “Who the hell wants that job? Walstaff is always struggling to reign in the egos of the other council members and keep the peace. Keoma can be reasonable, Hobe is stubborn, Vilsin is a privileged ass, and the archivist and clergy deem themselves beyond mixing with the rest of us. I don’t envy our sheriff.”

Desdin laughed while thinking about the intolerant woman he had met that morning. “Yea, that archivist is a real cu-,” he cut himself off when a twig snapped in the distance. He readied his spear with both hands. Ensi drew out his long sword. Behind them, in the growing shadow of the forest, were two sets of yellow eyes.

The eyes moved upon them. Desdin forcefully jabbed with the pommel of his spear. It struck one Fallen in the sternum causing it to buckle. Desdin spun his spear around to cut at the leg of the Fallen while sidestepping and sticking the spear into the ground. It kneeled on the ground as Desdin continued maneuvering around it. He then drew a short sword with one hand and lopped off the top of the Fallen’s head.

Bolstered by the events of the day, Ensi engaged his opponent with gusto. When the Fallen swiped at him with clawed hands, Ensi made bold and deep cuts up and down its arms. As it sagged forward to try another assault, Ensi lowered his stance, dodging the attack and slashing up a deep wound to its chest. It created an opportunity for Desdin to impale it with his spear from the back.

Ensi grinned with confidence, making a fist in victory. Suddenly, the sound of breaking rock from beneath them caused the soil to swell up. Desdin instinctively kicked Ensi out of the way and propelled himself back. Tentacles erupted from beneath the dirt. Ensi gathered himself along the forest, sword at the ready, focusing on the place where the ground had exploded.

Desdin looked horrified and screamed something while holding his arm out. Ensi wasn’t able to hear it. There was a ringing in his ears. His vision tilted and it was physically impossible for him to move his head. His eyes rolled down to several sharp appendages running through his chest. Behind him, the shimmering yellow eyes of the Spider loomed large after letting go of his broken neck. She raised Ensi up and violently slammed him into the forest bed. His body bounced once, with blood spraying in the air.

Desdin’s visage was both furious and horrified. He stared at Ensi, who lay with body twisted and eyes open in a pool of his own blood. Desdin gave a guttural cry and rage flushed his body. He breathed in deeply and gritted his teeth. His eyes turned crimson as he delved into a berserk like fury. He deftly slung his entire arsenal of daggers at the Spider. She deflected some but was unphased by the ones that stuck in her flesh.

He bounded into her space and, drawing both of his short swords, he masterfully with both hands made every attempt to land a meaningful strike. Fluidly dodging him, she began coiling her appendages around him. He cut his way out and evaded back to his spear. He gracefully danced with it before sending it flying at her with all of his might. It struck true, and she fell back with the blade of the spear in her abdomen. “The antlion has slain my children! But has the audacity to be angry with this one! Be humbled and die!”

The Fallen matriarch vanished from Desdin’s sight into the tree branches above. His expression grew urgent when he exhaled, and his eyes returned to a charcoal color. Upon understanding that he had crossed into her range and played into her provocations, he turned to escape. Sprinting swiftly back towards the town. He could hear the bark being rent asunder from every tree he passed. No matter how fast he was going, he could envision her presence on top of him with a shadowy scythe at his neck.

He started weaving in and out of the tree line, but from above, he was only narrowly evading her strikes. The cuts he was enduring to his exposed skin and jacket were piling up. She was trying to obscure his vision and confuse him with falling branches and debris from her carving up the scenery. The noise of chaos surrounded him and while searching for her he could only see where she was violently marking the trees. He screamed at her, “If you just stop fucking around and kill me, then it saves me from taking your head later!”

Her unnatural laughter came from all directions. Desdin breathed in once more and made a determined last rush towards Leoris. As he made it to the clearing before the port covered in sweat, he could make out several hunters, along with Keoma’s robed figure.

The spider taunted him. “Not enough for this one! Must play more!”

At the edge of the dock before them rested a row of several cannons. Hunters were loading glowing blue stones and slamming them into the base of the cannon. They were aiming it behind Desdin. Several long tendrils stretched out before him. They turned back towards Desdin with sharpened points. He covered his face and vitals in a defensive stance with the gauntlets and attempted to leap through them. They caught on his coat and clothes, tearing them and drawing lines of blood across his arms and back.

He rolled to a stop onto the road when he heard the cannons erupt. He looked back at the monstrosity behind him swelling in size. Inky shadow like tendrils bolstered her form as it emerged from the forest. Chrism fireballs erupted around and upon her. The matriarch hauntingly hissed and screamed as her form diminished and she retreated back.

Unsteadily, Desdin stood up and walked a few steps before taking a knee. Cherry and Demalyn had leapt off the dock running to his side. The three of them embraced in relief. They put one arm each around Desdin steadily guiding him on his feet as they made their way back to the town. Desdin glanced over at Cherry, whose face was still haggard from earlier. “Rough day boss?”