Chapter 54
Real Eyes Realize Real Lies
The Pale One dodged the shot, almost easily, light twinkling from its coat.
The arrow whistled harmlessly past its ear and skittering off the granite with a sharp crack.
The swift beast abruptly bounced off the trail, veering sharply up the sheer rocks toward the watchtower perch where Jimmy, Jaime, and Belle huddled.
Its paws found purchase on surfaces that should have been impossible, claws scraping sparks from the stone.
The last in line was a streak, black fur a void in the night.
Circling wide disappearing through the shadows, flanking the group from the opposite side.
"Flankers! Eyes on the flankers!!" Jimmy hollered from his vantage, voice cracking with urgency as he nocked another arrow.
Nock.
Draw.
Aim.
Breathe.
Release.
Dodge.
FUCK.
Not good.
The two remaining worgs charged the gap one at a time.
The whole pack moved with silent, eerie teamwork.
Breath steamed in the cold night air, carrying the stench of iron and rancid meat.
A chilling misty aura, a pair of eyes in the center, closed in on the entrance.
The hazy ice flecked cloud swirled, rapidly condensing around its massive paws.
The temperature around it plummeted.
Dan could feel the cold radiating even from ten feet away, beard frosting.
He raised his shield—now a crude thing of lashed wood and scavenged metal—planting his feet wide behind the bottleneck barricade.
He couldn't follow the charge.
Wood exploded in a wave of frost under the collision, shards flying like shrapnel.
The impact drove Dan back two full paces, his boots scraping furrows in the loose stone.
His back muscles screamed in protest, and the bone-chilling cold seeped through his bones, numbing limbs and stiffening joints.
The remaining beast, dark gray coat flowing on unfelt wind, leaped cleanly over the powerlifter's head.
It sailed through the air with impossible grace for its size.
Kim's eyes were wide, hair slowly rising in an unnatural current.
Her pupil’s dilated.
Irises radiating a swirling blue.
The giant monster streaked toward her, paws not making a sound.
Flow.
A three-foot wave thundered from the nearby spring, crashing into the side of the beast and sending it tumbling across the rocks in a spray of foam and fur.
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Kim rushed forward, stabbing her spear into its shoulder with a wet crunch.
The worg instantly bit down on the wooden shaft, jaws closing like a trap.
Wood splintered with a violent crack, and the spear was ripped from her grasp, leaving her weaponless.
Oh no, oh no, oh no!
Kim backed away, hands empty, heart pounding as the enraged beast shook off the water and turned its glowing eyes on her.
The Pale One dodged two throwing sticks from the watchtower—Jaime's and Belle's frantic hurl—then paused mid-stride and lowered itself to the ground.
It glowed with a pale light that made Jimmy's stomach drop.
Feels so familiar..
In a flash, four identical versions of the beast sprang up, running, jumping, closing in on the watchtower from different angles.
Perfect copies, down to the snarling fangs and sparkling coat.
The Dark One appeared out of the shadows, leaping the rocks.
George half spun, getting run over like a freight train.
Spearhead clattered to the ground, weapon shattered.
Claws raked, stripping flesh.
Fangs sunk into his shoulder.
Blood rained to the stone.
George roared in pain and fury, swinging the broken haft and snapping the beast's head to the side with a sickening crack.
“GET OFF HIM!”
Chris barreled in from the side, spear slamming home between the ribs with all his strength.
The massive creature flipped off his father in a spray of blood.
George rolled away, clutching his torn shoulder, face twisted in agony but already trying to stand.
Dan was covered in frost, his movements stiff and agonizingly slow, like wading through tar.
The Frost One recovered faster than it had any right to, lunging low and biting down hard on his exposed leg.
Time seemed to stop.
Bone creaked under the pressure, but Dan didn't move an inch.
He couldn't.
His Seed frozen solid, movement locked in ice.
His club seemed to crawl through the air, too slow to matter.
“NO.” The word rang through the air like a thunderclap.
With a sudden snap, ice shattered around him like glass.
His Seed flexed, momentum surging back in a rush of heat.
Channels cracked under the sudden strain.
The club came down with earth-shaking force, splattering Dan with brain slush and frost as the worg's skull caved.
Up on the watchtower, Jimmy, Jaime, and Belle targeted random targets frantically, trying to slow the charge with a barrage.
Like throwing rocks into the sea.
They were getting close—too close.
Jimmy's mind worked frantically.
Blind them?
Jaime and Belle were throwing and missing, voices rising in panic as the four clones closed the gap.
He blasted a large cone of light upon loosing an arrow—the light washed over them harmlessly, the arrow whisking into the night.
The girls started screaming as fangs gleamed closer in the moonlight.
Jimmy closed his eyes, body beginning to glow with stored Qi.
The worgs were five feet away, a closing circle of death.
He drew his bow back fully and released his charge in a controlled surge.
A wave of light flowed like a new dawn.
It didn't just wash over them; it refracted.
Three didn't have heat.
Just light, dancing in a cage.
He spun 180 degrees and released in one fluid motion.
The three illusions immediately broke apart with a shimmer.
The real one, dropping dead one foot from the perch, arrow through its eye and body twitching.
Kim was backpedaling across the rocky ground.
Enraged worg snarling without a sound, water dripping from its fur, stalking forward.
“I’m going to die here…” Unheard, lost in the chaos.
Luna launched from the side, a white and brown missile.
She latched onto its neck, and shook for all her worth.
The worg spun and bucked, jaws snapping at air.
Luna flew off, landing in a whimper.
She rolled across the rocks but scrambled back up, limping, growling, backing away.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Moving with flowing grace, Kim swept up an extra spear from the ground, twirled it once for balance, and jetted forward.
Water droplets in the air coalesced onto her spear, propelling her smoothly forward.
A sickening wet crunch, and the beast was impaled through the ribs and heart.
Kim stood, face shocked, as its dead weight ripped the spear from her numb hands.
Chris wrestled with the Dark One he had pinned against a rock, yelling incoherently as he dropped the spear and stepped up.
It turned, fangs snarling, only to be caught with titanium.
Shattered teeth sprinkled to the ground.
Roar quickly turned to whimper.
The night rang, over and over, like a forge.
“DIE!”
DING.
“DIE!”
DING.
“DIE!”
DING.
Blood splashed his face and clothes in warm arcs.
The beast stopped moving after the fifth kick.
He kept kicking anyway, metal ringing on bone, until it hit stone.
The fight was over.
Blood was spilled everywhere—on rocks, on clothes, in the air.
The bowl stank of iron and wet fur.
The group stood panting, shaking, staring at the corpses cooling all around them.
Chris’ head dropped to the ground.
“...Dad...”
