Wasn’t this place supposed to be abandoned? Well it kind of was if you didn’t count the spawn of the Wyrm to be people. Why was it here though?

I had only just started to scout the abandoned gas station when a wave of nausea struck me. First all, my body isn’t alive so that shouldn’t happen and two the source wasn’t readily apparent. Having not even stepped inside my feet held back at the entrance and my right hand went down to my blade and drew it. Nala hadn’t come back yet so nothing was found on the spirit’s end but something here had my heckles raised. Crouching down by the door I slowly pushed it open with my free hand before looking into the inky gloom. Nothing seemed to be there even though the door wasn’t locked. Something might have come through here in the past but the place was dusty enough to have not seen life in awhile. Let’s try a different method, so running a bit of will through my eyes I activated my Hermetic Sight. The basic application of the Thaumaturgical path of Spirit Manipulation allowed me to peek through the veil and what I saw was not an abandoned gas station. Sure the station was there but it wasn’t anything man made that caught my attention. The dust wasn’t just due to age but black like coal tar and the walls were dripping with what seemed like thick oily sludge.

For anyone who had played games like Warhammer the Umbra was similar to the Warp from what I understood. Emotions, trauma, life all imprinted onto the Umbra and reflected it. This being an abandoned coal town explained the dirty feeling the Umbra had. I’m not a bleeding heart environmentalist but even I know in my non beating heart that sort of activity wasn’t good for Gaia. The griminess though wouldn’t cause the Beast to react… Something else was here that was a threat. Do I find a new place to sleep? The sun was set to come up within an hour so there was plenty of time to find somewhere new but what if the whole town was like this? Think, think Yuiko… My thoughts were interrupted though by a growl behind me as Nala came back with what appeared to be an oily looking oversized beetle and that sealed it. This place was infested and I wasn’t getting a good day of sleep unless I cleared it out myself.

“Damnit Nala, couldn’t you catch me something that had blood at least?” Despite sounding upset, the oversized house cat knew I was just tired. She was quite proud of herself for catching the Wyrm spawn and bringing it back. “I’m not eating that thing girl… I don’t care if I have the power for it. That thing looks like the inside of a public toilet.” My response caused Nala to chuff before dropping the corrupted spirit. My foot came down to stop it into spiritual powder before deciding it was time to put my big girl pants on. Blade in hand and cougar at my back I stayed low and entered the small building. Almost instantly I regretted as the noise we made outside the entrance had caught the attention of whatever had been in here. A shovel came at my head from the ambush and only my Celerity prevented a busted face. Diving to the side the improvised weapon smashed into the door frame as a humanoid creature in craggy oily skin came into view.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Nala took point and leaped onto the wyrm ridden creature with her massive paws taking it off balance and onto the ground. The creature didn’t scream as the massive predatory kitty snapped at it with her fangs but the noise it made didn’t make me feel any better for it. It gurgled like it had lung cancer so call me chemo because as soon as Nala had it pinned down my blade came down onto its face pinning in underneath the supernatural sharpness the artifact possessed. Then with a hiss of irritation because this was not the meal I wanted this morning my fist was driven into its chest. The feeling of its carapse shattering felt nasty on my hand but as a spirit being this thing didn’t stand a chance against my Spiritus. Engling Fury burned some of my Vitae and the creature was ripped apart as my vampiric power devoured it. The taste was disgusting and felt more like trying to drink the used oil from a fast food place than actual food. Either way though the creature dispersed and at least I wouldn’t have to touch my preserved blood supply.

Picking myself up the hand that was previously inside the chest of what I think was a Scrag was placed on Nala’s head to give her a bit of a floofing. “Well that was a thing… Maybe a local Garou pack hasn’t cleared this area yet? Maybe if they stopped harassing innocent Cainites they would do their Gaia-forsaken job. No wonder she cursed the lot.” I had a love-hate relationship with my cousins. As a kid growing up in a Fera household I had wished dearly for my first change but when it didn’t happen I had a chip on my shoulder. As an Ahrimane I have some powers that they do but they don’t see me as an ally. As that oversized dick in Canada stated while I tried to negotiate a ceasefire between them and the Sabbat, ‘You smell just like wyrm so you die like wyrm’. Well if the rage puppies didn’t want my help then I would help myself to devouring their enemy. Maybe Gaia would forgive my transgressions if I destroyed her enemies? Who knows, the gods have spoken to me since I died the first time and I don’t expect that to change.

“Come with me girl, let’s find a hole to sleep in.” A little more petting the cougar vanished until she was needed again and I headed to the back of the building in hopes of finding a safe place to bed down. Where one Scrag was there might be more but with day coming they would be as limited as I was.