The Adrien struggled to focus as the chaos spiralled around him. Every second that went by felt like a test of will, drawing on his remaining strength. His vision grew blurry.
He might not know exactly what this energy was, what principles it worked on, what he did know was that he was limited in its use and capacity, as such right now he was running on empty, and his body felt it.
He was starting to feel nauseatic and headache threatened to split his head in two. Clutching his skull in a vice grip, Adrien let out a low growl as he dropped to his knees.
The pain from his wound felt lighter and less 'painful' compared to the pain wracking his head right now.
Alex, who was nearest him paled when she saw him suddenly drop, immediately coming to the conclusion that his injury was worse than it looked. "Are you okay?"
"My head, I don't feel so good. " He took a moment to quickly scan the area around them, the ground had been painted a deep shade of red.
Dead bodies were piling up still, adding to the casualties, painting an eerie scene that would make one's stomach churn in horror. Limbs and heads rolled endlessly on the floor.
He glanced around, absorbing the scene—once filled with life and hope, all now swirling into an abyss of darkness.
Adrien watched helplessly as another soldier—a young man with a bright spark in his eyes—was clawed down by a grotesque creature.
The light in his eyes flickered and died, leaving Adrien feeling that same chill seep into his own spirit. He could feel the light in his own eyes begin to dim, drowning beneath the weight of sorrow and despair.
"We can't win this, there is no fighting against these monsters. We tried our best. " He spoke, mostly to himself than to the girl beside him. His gaze slowly grew vacant and empty as he continued to look around him.
The last line of defence was barely holding on, and the monsters showed no sign of stopping. " I guess we have to make a run for it" He looked to Alex once more, their gazes locking, a complicated wave of emotions between them.
As much as they wanted to save the people in the camp, at this point, that was nothing but a fool's dream, they would all be slaughtered in the end. So, he made the most logical decision in this situation.
They would run, and maybe they would live to see another day, if not well... at least they tried. Running with the deep gash across his side would be a challenge and his energy was running low, but he would persevere nonetheless.
Alex nodded, determination flickering once more in her eyes despite her exhaustion. They began to back away, urging Mel and Sarah to follow. Adrien clutching his side with a limp.
The horde pressed in relentlessly, a ceaseless tide of claws and snarls digging into human flesh and bones.
"Towards the back!" Adrien yelled as he took Alex's hand, feeling the connection strengthen their resolve. As they moved, he decided try to mould the Aether as he had done before.
He pushed outward with a wave of the aether, creating a barrier that absorbed the oncoming strikes from the monsters, buying them precious moments.
But the creatures were relentless. A twisted visage of an arachnid monster bore down on them, one that had managed to dodge Adrien's earlier attacks.
It screeched, its sharp fangs on display for all to see. Its carapace, a jet-black midnight dark color that resembled a dark abyss.
Without hesitation, Alex used her ability to phase just as Adrien's weak barrier deflected the creature's charge. The monster collided with the shield instead, staggering backward.
"Keep moving!" Adrien urged again, adrenaline driving him forward. They wove through the chaos, navigating around fallen soldiers and the wounded.
Each step felt heavier, not from pain, or fatigue, but from the guilt and unwillingness, with the air thickening around them as dread settled in their chests.
The remnants of the camp loomed in their wake, a chaotic landscape carved into madness, overrun by the monstrous horde.
The flickers of firelight and the sounds of despair echoed, a haunting reminder of what they had lost and what they were fighting against.
A number of the grotesqueries split off from the horde and charged at them. They had clearly noted some of their prey trying to make a run for it.
They reached the camp's back entrance, barricading it with fallen debris at the last moment, trying to create a makeshift defence, hoping to buy themselves enough time to make a run for it.
Adrien focused, channelling the last bits of his energy into the barriers and reinforcing them with a pulse of the aether.
"Now we run!" he said, his voice hoarse but resolute. "Alex, can you lead the way? towards the east. Let's try to stay away from the coast." He could only imagine what the ocean's natives had become if the land animals were acting up this much.
"Got it!" she replied breathlessly, readying herself. With a determined nod, she slipped into the fray, phasing through the thick forest trees. A group of beasts on their trails.
Screams and cries of terror continuously echoed behind them, grating on their conscience, but their never stopped to look back, heavy footfalls and paws were trailing them even now.
'It will be quite the task trying to shake these guys of, we are leaving a trail, and I am slowing everyone down.'
Adrien was lagging behind the three women ahead of him, they could clearly run faster but were running fast enough so as not to leave a big gap between them and him.
Just then, a loud crash echoed from ahead, reverberating through the chaos as a large column of trees were snapped by a powerful force.
The small group of four shuddered, and Adrien's heart sank. Another group of beasts had found them!
They came to a halt, and stood back-to-back, warily eyeing the approaching beasts before Adrien darted to the left where there were relatively fewer beasts.
"Alex!" Adrien called, quickly redirecting his footing as more enemies poured into the small clearing just as they were leaving.
He could feel his aether reserves quicky recovering even as they were running. Not nearly enough to be fully recharged, but about twenty percent at least. enough to navigate their way through the oncoming monsters.
Adrien had taken note of how much aether each of his abilities used. From what he had gleamed, manipulating the flow of time, for instance, took up a large chunk of his reserves, even with minimal use. Each time he used it; he could feel about twenty five percent of aether instantly vanish.
That told him how broken that ability in particular was in relation to others like moulding his aether into blasts or shield, which use about five percent of his aether for each use, quite a miniscule amount.
Alex retook the lead, phasing through the waves of attackers, her face set with determination. "I'm here!" It all seemed to come naturally to her. How to initiate her ability to become intangible, the timing and how long to keep the ability active for.
With renewed Vigor, they moved as one, Alex phasing in and out of existence as Adrien channelled his energy into powerful bursts, each one carving a path through the horde—meeting each monstrous charge head-on.
Mel and Sarah were running on adrenaline, having long since lost a grip on reality. For some reason, the abilities Adrien and Alex had gained were entirely non-existent on their part.
The tension of battle hung thick in the air. As their pursuers began to falter against their surprising resilience, Adrien sensed a shift—it felt as if they were finally gaining ground.
That was a common instinct with beasts, they felt the need to chase their prey when they noticed some of them running away, but maybe feeling the chase was not worth it, and sensing that they had left a larger number of prey back at camp, some of them gave up the chase.
"Keep pushing!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the grunts and snarls. "We can make it out!"
Encouraged by their momentum, strength pooled within him, and he summoned a concentrated wave of aether, unleashing it in a pulsing wave of energy that pushed back against the remnants of oncoming swarm.
The attack sent the chasing beasts tumbling in an avalanche, like a domino effect, creating enough distance between the four and the horde for them to dip into the underbrush.
For a moment, it felt like they had tipped the scales, that hope began to blossom once more in the desperation of their struggle.
But he also knew that the night was far from over, and the fight for their survival would only intensify as more unseen threats would surely keep coming.
He did not know how long this 'stage' would go on for, but from their experiences so far, he guessed that this trial had no plans on stopping anytime soon.
It would be best for them if they found a safe, well 'safer' place to rest so that they would be ready to face whatever comes next.
'A cave would of some sort would be ideal, but there are no mountains around here, the closest are quite a distance away. I just hope we can find a place to rest soon.'
Adrien found that he was amazed by how calm he felt, even with a grotesque wound in his side. The scenes of bodies dropping like flies was grating on his mind sure, but rather he felt that he was calmer and even a bit nonchalant about it.
On that note, Adrien lifted his T-shirt, it had gaping claw marks in it. He raised his eyebrows when he saw that his wound was already mostly healed. It was visibly closing about, his skin looked like it was sewing itself back together.
Even the ache in his muscle was slowly fading away. As is some force was actively helping him get back to peak condition. Even his breath was getting more even by the second. 'That's a surprise.'
Adrien looked over, to his back, taking note of the ladies' dishevelled appearances. They all looked haggard and spent. Their breaths heavy.
The continued chase was taking its toll on them, not to mention the battle before. A sudden realization struck him, he had almost lost Alex to the mutated leopard in that battle.
He looked at her for a bit longer, basking in the appreciation that she had survived that, he had too many loose ends to tie with her. If she had died in that situation, apart from the grief that would overwhelm him, he would most likely have felt regret most of all.
Sensing his lingering gaze, Alex looked towards him, her ample chest rising and falling in tandem with her breaths. Adrien held his gaze for a second and looked away a moment later.
"We need to find a place to rest. Or else we won't last long." The others nodded.
With hearts pounding and unwavering defiance in their eyes, Adrien, Alex, Mel and Sarah pressed forward, at this point, Adrien was very sure they would keep encountering more and more dangers.