“Caldrice?” The muffled voice of Kanreth said, his burly shoulder jostling him wake, “Caldrice, by the Maker, wake up!”
Caldrice’s vision blurred and distorted, looking at the frantic form of Kanreth in the lowlight of the room, “What?” He said sluggishly, propping himself up on his elbows, “Kanreth? What time is it?” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“We need to leave.” Kanreth said, ignoring the question, “Get dressed. Fast.” He moved over to the window, peering through it cautiously, a fearful gleam to his eye.
Caldrice grunted, shifting himself to look between his teacher and the window, “Kanreth, it’s still dark.” He sluggishly grumbled, “And I don’t see any torchlight.”
“By the Maker, boy, shut up!” Kanreth growled in a harsh whisper, “Shut up and get dressed. Right now!” He pointed towards the window, shaking his head, “There’s something out there, something that I don’t like, and if there’s one then there’s bound to be more.” His gaze continued to look out the window through the darkness, examining something just out of Caldrice’s sight, “I noticed it an hour ago, just the vague silhouette of it, but mainly I noticed how it’s been circling my house exclusively.” He’d close the curtains, “Occasionally it comes to the door, raking against it with claws that sound like they’re razor sharp.” He snorted, shrugging, “Then nothing, then it goes back to scuttling in the shadows like a roach, only coming close when it sees movement if I had to guess.”
“Kanreth.” Caldrice sighed, waving dismissively, “You’re not making any sense, can’t I just go back to sleep? What if it’s just your exhausted mind playing tricks on you?”
He waved Caldrice over, helping him out of bed before supporting him at the window, his finger trailing along the creature’s path, “I don’t…” Caldrice softly whispered, confused, before seeing the vague outline of something walking in the shadows of the other buildings upon all four limbs. From the distance, and the distortion in his vision, the creature looked like it was an emaciated dog, or wolf. Perhaps a bear with mange. Though, as its path grew closer to Kanreth’s home, the shape became more defined, more human – but wrong. The proportions were elongated, and where the toes and fingers should’ve been were fetid, warped claws of different lengths. As Caldrice gazed at the creature, its head tilted before rising to meet his gaze. Deep within the abomination’s sunken sockets were two blue eldritch orbs that hung ominously within the dark pits.
“What…?” Kanreth gasped under his breath as he saw the creature’s face for the first time.
Wispy strands of greasy, unwashed hair hung down upon the creature’s near-human face as its thin lips parted to reveal a set of thin, needlelike teeth, a ghastly shriek breaking the ominous silence as a surge of dark, eldritch energy illuminated within its veins, “AGNA SEHT!” It shouted, staring at Caldrice, before bounding towards the door on all fours.
“Kanreth!” Caldrice shouted, “It’s going for the door!”
“The door will hold.” Kanreth said, hesitating, “Not for long though.” He bent low, taking his student in his arms before swiftly moving the two down the stairs, before setting Caldrice down “We need to stay calm, boy.” He said steadily against the violent thudding against the buckling door frame, “I need you to do something very important for me.” He said, staring Caldrice in the eyes, “I need you to open the door on my mark.”
“And do what?” Caldrice asked, astonished, “That thing’s ripping apart the sturdiest door I’ve seen!”
Kanreth pulled his buckler from the wall, and withdrew his gladius from his sword case, “Get ready to pull the deadbolt, it won’t hold for much longer.”
On the other side, as Caldrice got into position, his clammy fingers wrapped around the deadbolt, he heard the ferocious muttering of the creature from the space between the door and the doorframe. Feverishly, the horrid, almost-human voice kept muttering that one phrase it had shouted repeatedly.
“Now!” Kanreth shouted, readying himself.
Caldrice pulled the deadbolt. The door swung open as the one thing halting the creature’s progress was eliminated. Its forward momentum sent it off-balance, splaying itself against the floor. Confused, it looked up at Kanreth with those inhumane eyes, still muttering the words, “Agna Seht.”
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With a look of disgust, Kanreth lifted his boot, kicking the abomination between the eyes, and shattering what semblance of a nose it had left into a blackish paste. It brought its limbs beneath it, before lunging at the Erastian, but felt the force of his buckler against the left side of its face in a brutal parry. The creature staggered, shaking its head to regain composure before swiping at Kanreth with its fetid claws. He swatted the creature’s hand away, severing the other arm with one clean stroke. He leapt back, as it unleashed a shriek powerful enough to hurt Kanreth’s ears, away from the abomination to lunge forward with his weapon, burying it deep within its throat, “Just shut up already!” He shouted, pushing his blade further into the beast, grinning with satisfaction as he heard the deep, wet gurgle coming from it instead of the earsplitting scream.
It brought its other hand up, gripping weakly at Kanreth’s bracer, trying to dig into the worn metal, but as life fled the creature’s eyes, so too did it from the abomination’s hand, “What a horrible creature.” Kanreth said, unsheathing his blade from the things throat, scowling as the corpse’s blood began to pool on his floor, “Great, now it’s soiling my floor as well.”
“Kanreth, what was that-“ Caldrice began to ask, but was cut off by a shriek from outside.
“I don’t know, but I think I was right.” He mumbled softly, moving towards the door, shielding Caldrice with his body as he blocked the doorframe.
Beyond the door, more of the creatures stalked the streets of Frostfall, two had begun to prey upon someone who had strayed beyond the safety of their home to investigate the horrible sounds present just moments ago. They were hunched low, fangs buried within the young woman’s flesh. The wet, suckling sound of their feast penetrated Caldrice’s every thought, but even as he threw his hands to cover his ears, he could not escape it.
“Jula?!” Shouted a man, “Get away from her!” He shouted, the glow of his enraged Arcana illuminating him, “Get away!” He shouted once more, preparing an incantation as more creatures mauled him from the shadows, “GET OFF OF ME!” He screamed as they buried their claws and fangs within him. With each passing second, his aura diminished until he, too, was cloaked in shadow.
“They use those fangs to drain the Arcana from their victims, leaving them helpless to defend themselves.” Kanreth remarked slowly, “Fascinating.”
“Why aren’t we helping them, Kanreth?!” Caldrice shouted, pulling his hands from his ears, “Why are you just standing there?”
“A good warrior knows when not to engage an enemy.” Kanreth quipped. “You saw how that man was overwhelmed in seconds.” He moved them back, slowly shutting the damaged door before replacing the deadbolt. He looked to the corpse, lips pursed, “Which would make sense. These things obviously have some type of Arcana within them, but it’s not an affinity I was able to recognize, nor even sense.”
“That thing,” Caldrice pointed at the fallen creature, “could sense me, though.” He looked to Kanreth, shaking his head, “It looked directly at me, when it shouldn’t have been able to sense anything! No one has ever sensed anything, I’m completely empty, but that wretched creature looked directly at me – not you, but ME.”
“It could’ve been coincidence, boy, and you know it.” Kanreth explained.
“If it was, then tell me why it shouted, ‘Agna Seht’ when string directly at me?” He pointed at Kanreth, “What does that mean?!”
Kanreth squat with his heels flat on the ground, before looking up, “Agna Seht?” Kanreth softly hummed, “I don’t know, truthfully, but I am aware that it’s Arcane in nature.”
“What?”
“I’ve heard each word used separately by Guardian and Arcanist alike.”
“So, these things, they’re some type of Arcanist?” Caldrice mumbled, confused.
Kanreth’s brow furrowed deeply, against the intense screams and shouts outside as he processed what his student had made note of, “If they are, then we most certainly need to leave.” Kanreth said, “If your harmless observation is correct, which I suspect it is, then not only are they former Arcanists, but it might be fair to say that what transformed them into these hideous creatures could be transferred from one person to the next.”
“So, one bite, maybe even a scratch?” Caldrice said distantly, easing himself into a chair.
“It could be a number of things, but I don’t know how many of those abominations are outside, nor do I want to be around if a good portion of Frostfall’s population is twisted by their horrible Arcana.” Kanreth gruffly stated. “We can’t stay here though, the door’s damaged, it’ll barely hold against another one of those things, and I don’t trust them not to swarm next time.”
“You’re not going out there then, are you?” Caldrice asked, his eyes wide.
“Well, one of us as to, and you’re not in any condition to make any sudden movements, let alone a full sprint. I could carry you, for a time, but I’m old, and even my strength will fail you.” He smiled somberly, “No, it has to be me that goes outside. I’ll go out back to the stable and saddle up Boris. The way I see it, that ornery yak can trample anything that tries to get in our way, and may be able to out run what pursues us.”
“Kanreth, that’s suicide! You saw those things leap out of the shadows!” Caldrice interjected.
Kanreth shook his head, “It’s the only way.” He moved towards the door, slowly opening it as he peeked through the widening gap.
“How does it look outside?” Caldrice whispered.
Kanreth was silent for a long while before lowering his head and chuckling slowly, “If I make it back, you’ll see soon enough.”