A few seconds later, from the darkness of the mist, a very loud crash, as if a mountain were splitting open, almost burst their eardrums. Piercing through the dense haze, a huge piece of stone fell from the sky onto one of the shanties nearby. "For God's sake, I hope the house was empty," the soldier thought, and from the shape of the stone, the guard knew its origin—it was a part of the wall that protected the city. Most likely, the creature was now inside the city. A second of silence passed, and suddenly, a spiny tentacle, almost the height of a house, fell, tearing through the fog and darkness, landing behind them, crossing the middle of the street. Its proportions were so immense that it was impossible to tell where it began and where it ended. It looked like nothing more than a pulsating, semi-transparent piece of flesh like gelatin, waving the thorns covering its entire length as it moved through the wreckage of the house.
— God help us, — Hereni exclaimed in a tone of hopelessness.
The monster's tentacle rose slowly, thorns over a meter long and as wide as a tree branch sprouted from the bottom of the limb, only to disappear again into the mists as suddenly as it appeared.
Seizing the opportunity, several people emerged from their hiding places and began to run down the street amidst the thick fog. They didn't even look at the elderly lady and the soldier, who stood stunned by the scene. Unfortunately, in these moments of despair, the young often forget about the old, thought the soldier. Lastly, a couple emerged from the corrosive fog in front of them. Despite the stronger presence of ether there, they did not appear to be injured, with neither red skin nor burned or torn clothes from the deadly gas. The soldier noticed that both were wrapped in capes, similar to the one worn by Mrs. Zeliudes, undoubtedly crafted from the hides of slain ether monsters—a rare and expensive material used especially by those who venture on expeditions beyond the edge. As they approached, to the surprise of both, the young woman carried a baby under the cape in her arms. Upon spotting the pair in the midst of the chaos, they tried to pull Mrs. Zeliudes and the soldier along, but without success, as the elderly lady slipped away as quickly as they held her.
— Let's go! You can't stay here; the ether monster is punishing the wall, it's about to break through completely.
Moments later, from the depths of the fog, terrified screams echoed from where the couple had come, followed by thunderous sounds as if something large and heavy had been destroyed and hurled. It was as if the humble houses in the area were being crushed, and without any warning, another huge stone fell onto the house next to the elderly lady, another piece of the wall, this time even larger than the previous one.
— The wall must have fallen; look at the size of this stone, — Hereni said, alarmed.
— There are still many people there. I can't let this monster enter the city, not now, — the man said, looking at the young woman.
— You're not going back there,— the girl scolded, crying.
— Don't worry, you know I can handle this. — The man drew a sword from under his leather cape. Hereni didn't know if it was an illusion caused by the fog, but the blade seemed strangely reddish under the moonlight. — You'll be fine here; the ether is less intense. I have to help these people, you know I'm the only one capable. — The man looked deeply into the girl's eyes as he placed a hand on her face.
Then, he gently kissed the girl on the lips, and the light hit his face. It wasn't fear that his countenance revealed, just serenity, with exotic features, surely a foreigner, with eyes red as fire. The man ran back into the deadly mists, and the girl stood there crying for a moment.
— He won't be able to do this alone,— the girl said as she wiped away her tears. Then she looked at the old lady beside her and handed her the baby. — I have to go help him; take care of Nimbus until I come back.— She gazed deeply into the elderly lady's eyes and wiped away another tear that insisted on flowing from her eye.
Then she kissed the child's forehead lingeringly. — Mommy will be back soon; you'll be fine. I'm fighting, doing this so you won't have to fight one day. —Then she looked deep into Mrs. Zeliudes's eyes. — Take care of my baby until I return. And I will return.
She pulled a bow from under her cape and placed a green-tipped arrow in it. Moments later, she ran towards the mists but not before giving a final glance at the son she had left behind.
Lieutenant Zeliudes seemed a bit uncomfortable holding the child, unsure of how to handle it. She struggled to cradle the baby as delicately as possible, a challenge for a warrior accustomed to brutality.
— Oh, what a beautiful baby. Ancon and I always wanted to have a child like this. Too bad their parents will be back soon. Isn't that right, baby? — She continued walking away from the fog, watching the child nestled in her arms.
— Ma'am, I don't think they're coming back.
The elderly woman stopped and looked at the soldier, seeming not to understand what he said.
— What are you talking about, soldier? They're heading towards the city guard, surely they're all attacking the monster with the cannons right now.
— Mrs. Zeliudes, do you hear the sound of cannons? — Hereni spoke, and the old lady strained her ears toward the walls.
— True, — she exclaimed after listening into the emptiness. — What happened? Why isn't the guard fighting the creature?
— Ma'am, they probably won't come back. There are no cannon sounds because there is no more guard in the city, at least not at the main gate.
— What do you mean, Hereni? My husband is there.
— Lieutenant, I was sent here to escort you to a safe place by order of the commander of tonight's guard, your husband. He gave me that order seconds before the guard room was destroyed, and he was dragged by a spiky tentacle into the mist.
Mrs. Zeliudes was left speechless, but then she erupted.
— Soft-boned fools! — The child began to cry in fear with the woman's shouts. She knelt on the ground, pounding the leg she limped on.
— Ma'am, we didn't stand a chance. The monster seemed to know where to strike; it destroyed the main gate and caught the guard off guard. Your husband led the counterattack with skill, but the creature was too powerful, eliminated them one by one. Only I survived, and Lieutenant Ancon, in his final order, demanded that I take you to the nearest shelter. Shortly after, that tentacle wrapped around his body dragged him into the darkness.
— But why didn't you help him, soldier? Why didn't you pursue it, or try to cut that damn tentacle?
— Do you know what happens to a body when a tentacle with spikes that size wraps around a person's chest?
The elderly woman remained silent for a few moments, in a pitiable torment.
— He wasn't supposed to be on duty tonight, — her voice barely louder than a whisper. — I was supposed to be in command of the guard tonight. He volunteered to switch with me because I wasn't feeling well; my leg hurt a lot. — She stayed quiet for a few seconds while the child cried incessantly. — I was supposed to be dead today, not him.
— I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am, but I have a mission; I have to take you to a safe place.
When he said this, the lieutenant shot a hateful look at the soldier.
— Your mission? A safe place? Do you think I'm going to a safe place with a creature like that ravaging my city? And you? What are you still doing here, soldier? Even civilians are going to fight the ether monster. Your mission is to defend the city, not take me to a safe place. Go fight the creature on the wall; this is an order!
— But what about you?
— I'm not a helpless damsel who needs to be saved. Go gather everyone who's still alive and head to the cannons at the top of the wall. I'll call up the reserve soldiers and lead the offensive. Go now.
When Hereni ran towards the wall, Lieutenant Zeliudes stood there for a moment on the deserted and destroyed street, watching a baby not her own in her arms. Then, dropping her support cane to the ground to hold the child with both hands, she disappeared, limping but determined, into the toxic fog, heading towards the castle.
After running for a while and finding only the corpses of his colleagues along the way, Hereni headed towards the top of the still intact wall, where a line of cannons was directed to defend the city. When he reached the top, he saw the true extent of the destruction — a hole of over a kilometer in the wall, right where the gate was and precisely the weakest point of the rampart. Everything was devastated within a radius of over six hundred meters. However, what frightened him the most was the enormous gelatinous mass with hundreds of multi-formed, spiky tentacles thrashing frantically, sweeping the ground in search of life forms. Anything organic, from people, small or large animals, to trees and plants, was summarily ripped from the ground, forming vortices through the fog and taken beneath the monster, where its stomach was located. Once inside, everything was bombarded with paralyzing and digestive substances to serve as food for the creature.
The soldier struggled to turn the heavy cannon loaded with spears and hydrogen gas back into the city. Then he aimed the weapon at the creature and fired. The spear, over a meter long, shot at supersonic speed and disappeared into the gelatinous back of the monster. Hitting the target was an easy task, after all, how could you miss a target of those dimensions? However, killing that creature was practically impossible; its regenerative ability was impressive. Where he had made a hole in the gelatinous mass of that beast just a few seconds ago, now there was only a small puncture, and soon even that would disappear. The only way to kill it for real was to hit the spear in its main brain, a small brain mass the size of a human brain, located approximately in the center of the beast, just a little black dot within the gelatinous mass, exactly where Hereni had made the shot. And certainly, he had not hit the brain.
The soldier hurried and positioned another spear in the cannon's barrel, then activated the valve that pressurized the hydrogen inside the chamber and fired the second shot. This time, he aimed at a small dark spot on one side of the monster; again, the spear traveled faster than sound and hit the creature's back, creating shockwaves in its glutinous flesh. This time, the monster roared with such intensity that everything around it trembled. Glass shattered, walls cracked, and Hereni's eardrums almost burst. Finally, he had hit one of the auxiliary brains, the dark spot he had aimed at, but there was still a long way to go. Only a few dozen tentacles had stopped moving due to the destruction of their control brain, but the main brain was still intact.
At that moment, he noticed a caped man running on the creature's back. He only wielded a sword and effortlessly cut down any tentacles that approached with a single stroke. At the same time, a woman in an elevated position tirelessly shot arrows at the tentacles the man couldn't manage to sever. The soldier smiled, "The guy wasn't kidding when he said he would help." Then, Hereni began to reload the cannon. However, he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Moments later, he was lifted into the air, and when he looked down, the tip of a gelatinous tentacle was wrapped around his thigh, mercilessly tearing it apart with its dark and non-gelatinous spines. Clumsy and overcoming the pain, he drew his knife and desperately began cutting the tentacle. Despite the limb appearing gelatinous, it was extremely hard to cut.
At that moment, he heard the sound of trumpets. It was the signal to initiate an infantry charge, undoubtedly Lieutenant Zeliudes was leading a counterattack along with the reserve soldiers. This time, the monster would be in trouble; that lady was very furious. At this moment, Hereni finally managed to free himself from the deadly embrace of that tentacle. However, he had miscalculated; he was no longer close to the wall but over the city and at a considerable height. The fall was truly brutal, with his leg severely injured, the soldier plummeted and landed directly on the debris of a house. The impact was so violent that he only realized he was being dragged again by a tentacle when, in front of him, a crater filled with rows of sharp teeth loomed large over him. At that moment, he stopped struggling; the pain vanished, and his body became numb when it came into contact with that viscous and foul-smelling substance. The numbness was so overwhelming that he felt nothing more.
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