As I approached, the creature began to squirm beneath my gaze. What I had first mistaken for stillness revealed itself as a paralyzed terror—it knew what was coming. Pathetic sounds escaped from its amorphous form, high-pitched whines that grated against my ears like rusted metal.
Green gas suddenly erupted from countless tiny pores across its disgusting skin, billowing outward in noxious clouds. The sickly-sweet smell intensified, becoming something putrid and choking. I held my breath, my steps never faltering as I crossed the final distance between us.
Desperate now, the creature unleashed a scream just as loud as its many times before. The sound pierced my eardrums with physical force, and I felt warm blood trickling down the side of my neck. Still, my stride did not break. My purpose remained unchanged.
The worm-like monstrosity attempted to slither away across the cobblestones, leaving a trail of viscous slime in its wake. With cold precision, I brought my boot down hard upon its bloated middle, pinning it in place. Under my heel, I could feel its body pulsating, struggling against my weight.
It made sounds then that almost resembled speech—wet, bubbling noises that might have been pleas for mercy in some inhuman tongue. The thought only fueled my disgust.
Pathetic creature I thought, looking down at the thing beneath my boot. You wear a demon's mask to cover the body of a worm. I ripped that mask from your grotesque skin, and now... I leaned closer, putting more weight on my foot, feeling the creature squirm. I'm going to kill you.
I raised my sword high, for one brief moment, I released my held breath so I could deliver final words to the architect of my nightmares:
"Fear me."
The blade came down with all the force of my rage behind it, all the accumulated hatred of everything it showed me, all the horror of watching my friends torn apart. The sword sank deep into the creature's body with surprisingly little resistance, like cutting through rotten fruit.
Beneath my foot, the monster convulsed. Guttural moans and whimpers escaped it as its life force ebbed away. I watched, merciless, as the pulsations slowed and finally ceased altogether.
Only then did I remove my boot and wrench my sword free with a wet, sucking sound. The blade emerged coated in a viscous fluid that was neither blood nor ichor but something in between—dark and iridescent in the moonlight.
I stared down at the creature's remains, feeling nothing but revulsion rise within me. Without conscious thought, I spat upon its carcass, the final insult to a being that had caused such suffering.
Then, cutting through the silence came a sound echoed through the town—human voices. Distant at first, then growing louder as though someone had slowly turned up the volume on a muted world. The spell was broken. Eldor was returning to life.
And with that realization came another, more urgent thought: "Rowan. Maya."
Just like that, the veil of hatred that had enveloped my mind lifted, dissipating like morning mist under a hot sun. In its place rose a desperate need to see my friends—to confirm with my own eyes that they were truly alive and well.
I turned and ran, my footsteps echoing across the cobblestones as I sprinted back the way I had come. My heart hammered against my ribs, no longer with rage but with anxious hope. Around the corner I flew, sword still clutched in my hand, slick with the creature's remains.
And there they stood—my companions, alive and moving, examining themselves with expressions of confusion. Maya was brushing imaginary dust from her sleeves while Rowan patted himself down as if ensuring all parts were still attached.
Maya looked up first, her keen eyes catching my approach. "Kai? What's going o—"
Her words were cut short as I crashed into them both, dropping my sword with a clatter and wrapping my arms around them in a fierce embrace. I held them so tightly I could feel their heartbeats against my chest, solid proof of their continued existence.
"K-Kai?" Rowan's voice was muffled against my shoulder, his tone bewildered.
I couldn't answer. The dam within me broke, and all the emotions that my rage had been holding at bay came flooding forth. Tears spilled down my cheeks as silent sobs wracked my body. I clung to them like a drowning man to flotsam, unable and unwilling to let go.
They didn't question, didn't pull away. Instead, their arms came around me, returning the embrace with equal fervor. Maya's hand came up to stroke my hair, her voice gentle.
"It's okay, Kai."
Her simple words of comfort only made me cry harder, tears soaking into the fabric of her tunic. We stood like that for what felt like an eternity, the three of us locked together while the sounds of the town gradually returned around us—distant conversations, the creak of cart wheels.
Eventually, I drew back, wiping roughly at my face with the back of my hand. I drank in the sight of them through tear-blurred vision—Rowan's angular face creased with concern, Maya's golden eyes searching mine for answers.
"W-what happened?" Rowan asked, his voice unsteady. "Last thing I remember was it was daytime and the town..." His eyes widened as memory returned in fragments. "The town? Everyone was frozen and that green gas and that scream?" Panic began to edge into his voice.
I swallowed hard. "You guys didn't see anything?"
Maya's brow furrowed in confusion. "Like what?"
"Any hallucinations or dreams or...something?" I watched their faces carefully, searching for any sign of recognition, any hint that they had experienced the same horrors I had.
They exchanged glances, their confusion deepening. "No? Should we have?" Maya asked.
A chill ran through my spine. They hadn't seen what I had seen. They hadn't experienced the horrors I had, the twisted nightmares where loved ones became monsters. Either the creature had affected me differently, or their memories had been mercifully wiped clean.
How I envied them that blankness. How I wished I could forget—forget seeing my mother and Ms. Clementine and the others as they held me under the water, forget witnessing that deplorable monster and what it had done to my friends, forget the all-consuming rage that had filled me so completely that nothing else in the world had mattered beyond destroying the source of my torment.
I had never experienced rage like that before. It had been different—alien. Almost as if it... hadn't been mine.
I shook my head, pushing the unsettling thought aside for later examination. I placed my hands on my friends' shoulders, forcing a smile that felt fragile on my face.
"Never mind. Don't worry about it now. Everything's okay, and the townspeople should be safe." I retrieved my sword from the ground, wiping the blade clean on my trousers before sheathing it. "Let's go have a look."