'Holy crap!'
That was the first thought that came to Dean's mind.
"Hu, Hu…"
Dean froze on the spot, as though immobilized by countless, invisible chains. Dread and terror slowly coiled around his chest like an iron vice.
It was then that Mia and the rest of the cohort finally noticed his tense expression.
Only then did they finally notice the stifling silence that permeated the atmosphere.
The kind that made their heartbeats the loudest sound.
Ba- thump! Ba- thump!
Their muscles tensed as they rose to their feet.
Mia's gaze shifted towards Dean, hands tightening around her sword. "What's wrong?"
Her eyes, as always, held that same uncompromising calm. But now… they had this slight tinge of wariness flickering within them.
But…
"Uh..."
He couldn't reply to her question. I-It was as though he'd suddenly lost the ability to speak.
"Huff, Huff…"
He could only raise his trembling hands into the air, pointing forward, towards… them.
In an instant, Mia's eyes came to rest on them. At the same time that she did, lightning bolts streaked through the cracked sky, illuminating the dessicated, rotten hands slithering in the dark.
Right about then, they all saw them. They all saw the... demogorgons.
Akin to the nightmarish form of a dog. Except this dog was a lot bigger and a thousand times more nightmarish. They had vicious saliva dripping down the corner of their mouths, dark tentacles writhing hungrily within.
Yet, that wasn't the scary part.
The demorgogons.
They had numerous faces attached to their heads, along with numerous hands; dessicated and rotten. Their hunched backs, yet the most dreaded, were imbued with dark, corrosive spikes.
"...!!"
In that moment, no one moved. T-they couldn't. It was as though fear had turned their limbs into stone.
Aezel caught sight of the strange scene, his expression darkening as he summoned back from his soul space, his set of bow and arrows.
A chilling coldness seeped into everyone's spine, and in that moment, everywhere went… silent. Eerily silent.
The kind of silent that made it harder to think. Harder to breathe.
"Ukh, Ukh." Dean struggled to breath through the haze clouding his mind.
...It was then that the blind girl's grip on Aezel's hand tightened even further. With a shivering voice, she questioned:
"Aezel, what's going on?"
"N-Nothing."
Aezel forced a smile. "Nothing worth fretting over."
'I hope.'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
As Dean stared at the tens of nightmarish creatures, a thought slowly crept into his mind.
'Why hadn't we noticed them earlier?'
He mused under his breath, confusion and fear rapidly creeping in.
But, of course, the answer to his question was so obvious that he blamed himself for not realizing it earlier.
Due to the unnatural terrain of the dark maze, which was usually a mix of crimson and azure; and sometimes, a malevolent dark color, they had failed to notice the demogorgons. Mostly due to the spikes protruding from their backs, making them seem no different than some… part of the dune's natural features.
But now…
As they focused and watched with bated breaths, bolts of lightning flickering across the cracked sky above, they were able to see the monsters clearly.
...Too clearly.
At that point however, Aezel glanced at Mia and questioned with a raised brow.
"How did they end up here?"
Dean shrugged, and then replied with a grim expression. "Who knows. But we do know why, don't we?"
"To escape from the dark mist," Aezel muttered with a raised brow, a deep scowl marring his features.
'Indeed. The dark mist was more than enough to make them think of other alternatives. And…
'What better place to hide from the dark mist, than a nearby dune structure.' Dean mused under his breath, the scowl on his face deepening even further.
It must have been a hell of a trip to make it here, which also explains why they were all…
Sleeping~~
"They are all sleeping. So… what do we do?" Dean questioned, his gaze shifting towards Mia.
Of course, he knew the answer to his ridiculous question. But to him, the thought of battling tens of nightmarish creatures was even more ridiculous!
"We fight," Mia replied, eyes filled with intense determination.
For a second there, Dean truly believed she'd lost it.
'Fight them? Tens of them?!'
Just one had pushed him to his limits. He couldn't even start to fathom what ten of them would do to him. Forcing down the unease coiling around his chest, Dean gritted his teeth and said:
"This is tens of them we're talking about! Each one tougher than steel. With claws twice as sharp. And worse, the only way to kill them is by cutting their necks clean off their bodies."
Dean scowled.
"And with how tall the bastards are, are we supposed to ask them to lower themselves to our height?"
In that moment, Dean noted the calm and determined expression on Mia's face and exhaled shakily.
"All I'm saying is that we can avoid them."
Mia shook her head.
"We can't. Whether we like it or not, facing them tonight is the best chance we've got at defeating them."
She exhaled, her face growing paler.
"If we were to wait till tomorrow. The only advantage we have, the element of surprise, will be long gone by then. And by that time… I don't think I need to tell you guys just how ugly things could get very quickly."
"It-I..."
I tried to refute her words, yet no word escaped my lips. Unfortunately, all she'd said was nothing but the truth.
"Agh! If only you knew how annoying that was'
With a sharp exhale, Dean tried to grip hold the broken branch. But…
It was then that a cold, chilling realization settled in.
'H-He couldn't find his weapon. But how…?'
Confusion marred his features as I searched for the spear. Yet he wasn't able to find it. And…
His heart thundered in his ears, the fear within him intensifying with each breath that he took.
Judging by the others' expressions, they didn't seem to notice that he had a missing spear. No… he doubted they even knew he ever had one.
'What the hell is going on? A-An eldritch horror?' Confused and fear-stricken, Dean tried to calm down. Tried to breathe.
It was hard, but eventually, he'd succeed.
'Now. Think Dean. Think!'
...The longer Dean pondered on it, the faster the pieces started to align. And before he knew it, it all soon dawned on him.
Right about then, Dean's eyes widened in shock.
'No... No way.' His face paled.
His body had grazed the dark mist a while ago. Albeit barely, it was still more than enough to bring into effect the dark mist's corrosive trait.
And the most important factor?
Judging by the weird intensity of the chaotic blue flame, and its sudden reinvigoration. Added to its consumption of his previous weapon back in the cursed land, he was able to arrive at an unsettling conclusion.
"The chaotic blue flame. It feeds on weapons."
The conclusion sent a chill through Dean.
The discomforting thought of being in the middle of a battlefield, surrounded by thousands of horrifying entities, and then suddenly… his weapon vanishes into thin air, soon crept into the walls of his mind, sending cold chills slithering down his spine.
Dean shuddered at the various irrational thoughts creeping into his mind. But he immediately forced them down. After all...
If there was one thing he was sure of, that was the fact that this world operates on a clear sense of rule. Hence there was no such thing as no explanation behind... something.
Be it an entity or a... being. Everything in this damn world has an explanation to it.
"The same rule applies here. There must be a reason the flame acts this way. I just have to figure it out."
As Dean calmed himself, willing his rapidly beating heart to slow down, his eyes widened as a chilling realization settled in.
The chaotic blue flame.
It devours weapons when it needs to do something for him. Or to be more precise, the consumption of weapons feeds it with enough energy needed for it to be transmitted and used by him.
The first time it happened was when he had gotten the flame which re-forged his body. Or so he had thought. But now… now, it seems that he was wrong.
'He had only lost the dark bone after stepping into the portal.'
Hence it was safe to assume that he'd encountered an eldritch horror in the midst of the teleportation!
As the various realizations settled in and as the pieces aligned, Dean stood frozen in sheer terror as fear rapidly crept in.
Yet... that wasn't even the worst part.
A grim expression darkened his features.
The worst of it all was the fact that he'd no memory of when and how the weapons were taken away from him, or to be more precise, consumed by the flame.
It almost seemed as if his mind was subconsciously trying to stop him from delving into those parts of his memories.
And…
It was then that realization dawned on Dean. Hitting him harder than a moving truck.
The blue flame.
It was one of the love-craftian entities whose existence shouldn't be known of.
Dean nodded.
"...Now that explains everything."
Surprisingly, despite the grimness of his current situation, he was somehow able to maintain his calm.
He didn't even know if he should be happy, or feel the other way, at the thought of being in possession of such a thing. Or rather… being.
But now was not the time to ponder on that. Right now, he had more troubling matters to focus on.
As everyone tensed up, preparing for the inevitable battle, Dean scratched the back of his head and smiled wryly.
"Does anyone have a spare weapon?"
His words were met with looks of incredulity and disbelief.
"H-How the heck have you survived this long without as much of a weapon?"
Dean glanced at Aezel and shrugged.
"By improvising."
That was the truth anyway. But Aezel didn't seem to believe him. Not that he could bother to explain himself. But come to think about it…
He had really never gotten himself a weapon. Most times, heck, all the time, he simply improvised with what he had got.
…Though, it wasn't like he was ever left with any other choice.
"Here," The blind girl stretched her hand. "You can have mine."
"Thanks."
Dean nodded as he took the azure dagger from the her hand.
Taking it from her, he couldn't help but smile at its glistening edge.
'This was made just for me. Stabbing people in the back, k-... Wait, why will I stab others in the back?'
Dean scratched the back of his head. "Uh- well, I'm sure there will be a damn good reason for that anyway."
He nodded and glanced at Mia.
"Now what?"
"Now we attack," Said the valiant young lady.
Right about then, Dean glanced back at the ten or so nightmarish creatures and couldn't help but suck in a cold, deep breath.
'Seems like we have no other choice.'
He exhaled shakiky. Knowing he could do nothing but grit his teeth and go on with this ridiculous plan of theirs.
...Over the course of a few minutes, they soon came up with a plan. A simple yet… hopefully efficient one.
Aezel would protect the blind girl from a safe, hidden spot while supporting us with arrows.
Mia was of course responsible for fighting the demorgogons.
And that left Dean even more curious.
'...Just how strong is she?' He couldn't help but wonder.
Though as fate would have it, he would soon get to see for myself. And last but not the least was his role.
It was actually quite simple and much to his liking. He was responsible for sneak attacks and well… garnering the attention of the nightmarish creatures.
And…
All this was just the first step of the plan he'd formulated.
As everyone readied themselves, muscles tensed, hands tightened around their weapons, Dean took in a deep, heavy breath and…
Step--!
Dashed into the distance.
He ran and ran, and eventually, when he was far away from the rest of the cohort, a dark smile curled up his lips. And in that moment, a piercing cacophony reverberated through the endless night.
In response, massive shadows moved in the darkness, rotten hands glistening like nightmarish blood in the dark.
As they rose to their massive feet, their hollow eyes glistening with unheld malice, Dean's voice tore through the quiet night:
"Come get me you piece of CRAPS!"
Immediately, he turned back and took to his heels. Cursing under his breath, Dean ran with every ounce of strength left within him.
In that moment, eyes… slits… hollow sockets that flashed with condensed murderous intent all came to lie on him. And then,
Step--!
...All hell broke loose.