The morning air reeked of ash and dread.
Eli awoke to the low hum of warning bells echoing through the hills, their tone unlike anything he’d ever heard—panicked, drawn-out, and unrelenting. Outside, villagers ran toward the plaza, clutching children and tools. Jeno blinked awake beside the still-glowing knife on the table.
Then came the roar.
Not a beast’s cry.
Not human.
It was the sound of the forest itself screaming.
The first wave hit just after sunrise.
A horde of frenzied creatures spilled from the treeline—moss-deer with sharpened antlers, fangbeasts mutated with bony spines, and grotesque boarlings fused with bark and stone. Their eyes glowed red with rune corruption, their veins laced with pulsating black vines.
Eli rushed into the chaos, axe in hand, his heart pounding like war drums.
“BACK!” he shouted, dragging the village boy Kyo behind him.
Kyo, no older than ten, stared at the monsters with wide, frozen eyes. “Th-they’re not stopping—!”
“They won’t,” Eli growled. “Not anymore.”
Across the square, Mistress Yula, the town’s baker and local shieldmaiden from the old wars, swung a rusted iron pan through a barktail’s face with a clang that shook the cobblestones.
Beside her, Grint the Blacksmith roared, hammer raised, holding the main gate with two younger villagers at his sides. "We hold this line, or we all burn!"
Jeno leapt from the rooftop of the healer’s hut, knife drawn, the runes on its blade flickering again.
He landed just in time to slice through the tendons of a fangbeast lunging for Kyo.
The blade shifted mid-strike, growing a notch longer with a sharp metallic ring.
Jeno stared. “You’re evolving again?”
The knife pulsed in his grip—hot, alive.
But then came the tremor.
The villagers stopped.
The horde fell silent.
And from the shadows of the tree line… it emerged.
A towering, rotted creature stepped into the village, ducking under the half-destroyed arch. It stood nearly fifteen feet tall—a warped treant, fused with bones and human skulls, vines coiling around its jagged bark arms. Its jaw split open vertically, revealing rows of fangs and a black rune burning inside its throat.
“The Verdant Devourer…” gasped Elder Caelus, clutching his staff. “That’s no guardian anymore… it’s cursed.”
The Forest Boss charged.
Its clawed hand swept wide—instantly cleaving Grint’s arm from his body.
The blacksmith didn’t scream.
He just fell.
Blood soaked the cobblestones.
“GRINT!!” Yula roared, slamming her pan against the beast’s leg with a desperate cry. It barely noticed.
Eli ran to help, slamming his axe into the Devourer’s ankle.
The blow connected.
CRACK.
Wood and flesh splintered—but the axe handle snapped, the weapon now useless.
The creature turned.
Eli had no time to dodge.
But Jeno was already there.
He leapt forward, blade shining bright, and drove it into the monster’s mouth as it roared.
The rune exploded—a blast of light carving out its throat.
But the creature didn’t fall.
Instead, it grabbed Jeno midair, crushing his ribs with a vine-covered hand.
“ENOUGH!”
A blinding white light exploded from the knife, forcing the creature to release him. Jeno hit the ground, coughing blood, but alive.
The knife now had three glowing runes on its blade.
The horde surged again.
Villagers screamed.
Flames spread across thatch rooftops as the corrupted beasts overwhelmed the north side.
“We’re losing them!” someone cried. “We have to fall back!”
“No,” Eli said, standing shakily beside Jeno. His hands were bloodied. His axe lay in pieces. “We end it here.”
Jeno stood too, despite the gashes across his chest. “That thing… it reacts to me.”
The Devourer snarled and began to charge again, trees ripping behind it.
Eli looked at Jeno.
“You ready?”
Jeno smirked. “You called me brother. Let’s make that count.”
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Comments
Sky blue
This book has me on the edge of my seat! 🤯
2025-06-19
0