Shadow of the Abyss

Through the rustle of the bushes, Altair moved. He had snow on his hair, melting from the heat of his body, that trailed down his chin. His heart was hammering with each passing second as he approached the Hunt.

Reina covered her nose. "What is that smell?" she grimaced, coming to a halt just within sight of the Hearth tree a few hundred meters away. "It smells worse than rott meat."

The Prince agreed wordlessly. He bt a knee, gesturing for Reina to shadow him. He pointed towards the shadow ahead, towards the beast gorging its fangs into its palm, pulling meat from the bone as though it were nothing. Its tail that, once held the head of the serpt, was now a blistering mass of puss, ready to pop at the slightest provocation.

The Chimera gave a whimpered roar, his once serine eyes festering a deep plague of Madness. Its tire body appeared beat, littered with scorched marks reaching the bone. The blood was black as ink and thick as glue.

"That is disgusting," Reina remarked, covering her mouth. "My blood did this? Fascinating."

Altair smirked, glancing her way, amused. "Really. I didn't know something could be both disgusting and fascinating."

"The Chimera is eating itself. Imagine the pain it's in, Alt. Sured by so many injuries, yet all it does is eat its claw." She pointed out as if to take notes. "And that blood… Look at the grass. It's wilting as if touched by death."

The boy's gaze swayed to the grass beath the Hearth tree, to the wilted gre spotted with the ebony dot. Altair stared hard at the grass dying right before his very eyes. It st a chill down his spine. It wasn't the first time he had se death, much less something as insignificant as dying grass, yet the closer he watched, the greater his sse of unease grew.

'Ria's blood was death.' He told himself, wanting to push down such thoughts. But the more he stared at the grass, slowly becoming overwhelmed by the ebony spots, the more he began to grasp.

"Do we strike?" Reina asked.

"That was the plan, but…" Altair said after a momt, stopping short as his eyes swayed towards the east. He smiled a dark smile befitting that of a monster. " Seeing it so mad and brok… It'll be a waste not to put such madness to good use.

"Ah," Reina smiled. "So, a battle royal."

"The Chimera is still full of ergy. It might be mad, but its power is still real." Altair told her, backing away. "You are still ignorant of how humans back on earth fight."

"And how do you suppose we lure them out? We don't ev know how far away they are?" Reina remarked, placing her palm over her waist.

"Our previous location was already discovered due to that blast," Altair said. "For now… let's make a fire."

"Eh?"

…

…

…

Footsteps heavy by winter's snow, Tania clched her arms together, trembling as the piercing snow peeled away her will. She shuddered, painfully glancing back to her m, trying her best to remain indiffert. She was their leader and could not show weakness.

"No fucking way kids are surviving here." Dillian harshly cursed through chattered teeth. "I can literally feel my balls crawling back up inside me. How are your balls, Hammerhead?"

"I'm a woman…"

"No shit… but you seem to have more balls than me," Dillian fearlessly said, crackling with laughter, trying to bring a smile to her face. The two had spt over fourte years together, raised by the Aros branch family.

"Yeah. Yeah. Laugh it up." Tania indiffertly mused, pausing wh a shadow flickered in front of her.

On one knee, Vada, a captain of the Black Scourge, appeared, bowing his head: " I've spotted a fire in the direction of a blast from earlier."

"ETA?"

"A day in a half at full speed," Vada commted, his appearance masked by his helm, but his voice was cold, lacking a humanity most humans held.

Tania felt her stomach jitter with butterflies. She reached into her backpack, picking out a particular parchmt. "We'll all use a Haste Scroll."

Dillian's brow shot up: "So early?" He voiced with surprise. "Don't you think we should hold off till we actually find Altair, and you know… he tries to run before we use the Haste Scroll. We only have one each."

"No. The Serpts Outreach is one of the biggest dungeons the Aros families have. Tracking them might take us months, if not longer. We can't give up this opportunity." She explained, tearing the scroll. "Ready your Shield Belt!"

Emerald light swelled a her as well as the several shadows hidd from plain sight that each began to follow her order. Dillian watched, cursing under his breath wh he saw Vada kick off his feet wrapped in the same emerald light as everyone else. He followed, tearing at the Haste Scroll in his possession.

In one breath, Tania felt her body move as if blessed by the winds, allowing it to reach inhuman levels of speeds. She blitzed through the forest, her appearance blurred by an outline of emerald nodes.

Through the icy winds that refused to touch her form beath her blessing, flickers of scarlet swelled through her eyes.  Wh Ash came quick in the hour that passed, sinking into her pupils, a roiling heat pressed against her face.

"What… what is this?" She shouted, coming to a halt before the large fire blazing through the forest. Sweat slipped from brow onto her uniform. "Vada… Explain. I—"

"ALTAIR!!!!" Shouted a panic-filled cry. The voice was clear and well behind the fire.

Through her Nerulink, via the NAV. Tunan expression turned to panic. " SAVE HIM!!!! JUMP INTO THE FIRE!!!"

Tania's expression fell, and without hesitation, she reached for the Shield Belt on her waist. Suddly, a protective hexagonal bubble sprang, sizzling with an electrical field. Tania lept into the flames.

"Crazy bitch!" Shouted Dillian, following after her with his Shield Belt active.

Fire blazed over the shields, shrinking their size as they emerged on the other side to a massive beast foaming at the mouth. Bearing rows of teeth at them. Confusion followed by panic sank in wh a large t-meter magical circle materialized out of Mana Nodes.

"Where is he?" Dillian demanded, glancing a, but all he saw was the sinking wreckage of fire and ash.

"Can't you see!" Tania shouted, with a thick voice shrieking across her jaw. "Do you see Altair?! It's a trap, you idiot! Separate! All of you!"

Suddly, the goat head released a great roar, shining a blue light over the land. Mana gathered into the Chimera, shrieking from over the horizon and moon.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!!!!"

In a matter of seconds, the fire throughout the forest began to shrink to that of embers as a cold gust of air fell onto Heav and Earth. Layers of frost gathered over the Aros soldiers as they began to move.

[Frigid]