They immediately leaped to their feet and drew their weapons, each of them opting for their blades over their ranged. No one wanted to be firing off guns in this enclosed space.
They grouped up, backs to each other and ready to fight whatever might manage to tear through the metal container.
It sounded like the beasts outside were seeking out a weak spot. The containers were built to withstand great force, but they knew nothing about the strength these creatures might possess, and their shelter had not been built with them in mind.
"Do we have a plan?" Seph asked.
"Hope they can''t get in, get bored, and wander off," Cage replied quietly, amusement obvious in his tone.
Seph, however, did not look amused.
"It''s not a plan, but that would certainly be ideal," Mercer chimed in. "If you see an opening, you three need to run. Get back to Perdition and let them know what happened out here. Cage and I will keep them distracted."
The three candidates looked between each other, unsure and clearly not keen on that plan. It felt wrong to leave people behind. From the looks on the others faces, they wouldn''t be running either, despite disobeying an order. At least that was something they could all agree on.
The container jolted again, almost toppling over. The monsters must have known they were inside to be so intent on this particular container.
Sun cringed when she saw the metal denting with some of their stronger blows. Without seeing them, without fighting them, it was difficult to know what they were up against or how to deal with it.
"Can you conjure water, Cullen?" She asked.
If she had enough water, she could just try and use her abilities to take care of them, if that worked on Traverse natives.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Now''s a piss-poor time for a drink, kid," Cage muttered.
"She needs water for her ability to work," Cullen told him before glancing at Sun. "Do you want it now?"
She shook her head. "Just if they start to get through, enough to put us ankle-deep at least."
"Right."
"You think it''ll work on them?" Seph asked.
"Worth a try, but we shouldn''t depend on it."
Cullen prepared himself to cast, summoning the power within him. And then it went silent. The banging stopped, the growls, the sniffing... just gone.
Everyone stayed silent and still but tensed and ready if need be.
Sun felt a strange sensation then, like nothing she''d felt before—this trip was full of those, it seemed—it was like an itch or an irritation inside her skull and down her spine that quickly grew to the feeling of claws piercing her skin from the inside out. It came with such a sudden sense of impending danger.
"Cullen, the water!" She hissed.
The sudden sound of tearing fabric and cracking ice rended the silence. They came face to face with one of the creatures from outside as it tore through the veil. It was large, heavily scaled and plated, black as obsidian with claws the size of steak knives.
Cullen cast, but something must have gone wrong because he almost flooded the container. The water seemed to stun all of them, the beast included. It drained into the tear through worlds the beast had created, washing it back. It hadn''t been prepared for the flood. Neither had they, and they were all washed off their feet and towards the rift.
Freezing water wasn''t something she was too proficient with, but in a panic her power did seem to know what to do to protect her. Ice grew from the rift, plugging it up. The five of them slammed into it hard as they struggled to swim to the surface.
But Sun couldn''t swim; she flailed about wildly trying to get up. She felt a hand close around her arm and drag her up. She found herself clinging to Cage as she gasped for breath.
"Fucking hells, Sun, you can''t swim?" He exclaimed.
"No," she gasped out.
"Your power is water!"
"If you couldn''t swim, why would you ask him to conjure water!?" Seph asked.
"I didn''t know he was going to flood the room," she coughed.
"I panicked and put too much power behind the cast," Cullen explained apologetically.
"Let''s focus on the positives; we''re alive," Mercer pointed out. "Do these beasts not like water, Sun?"
"I don''t know anything about them."
They hadn''t tried to just tear through the barrier a second time since, though, maybe they didn''t?
"All right, Sun, I can''t keep holding you; time for an impromptu swimming lesson," Cage told her.
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and she clung tighter to him.
"Just a second," Cullen said.
With another cast, he managed to dispel most of the water; the ice she had created remained, though. But it appeared the rift was still there, trapped inside the ice. They were drenched, weighed down by their soaked clothing and anticipating another attack, but their attention was so fixed on the rift. Through the ice they couldn''t see much, but the sounds were making it through, if a little muffled.
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"Incredible," Mercer breathed out, circling the ice.
"Will it close on its own, or does someone have to close it?" Cage asked.
"The ice is quite possibly what''s keeping it open."
"Do you want me to drop it?" She asked.
She was a bit reluctant in case those creatures were just on the other side. But then, it seemed they could tear open holes whenever they felt like it, so maybe her fear was misplaced.
"No, not yet at least."
He looked around the container; the water was still ankle deep, and the phonograph was destroyed. It wouldn''t have been able to survive the water. All the notes they had were wet.
"Salvage what we can, hang them up to dry out," he told them, gesturing to the floating papers and sunken books.
"Do you think they''ll attack again?" Seph asked no one in particular as they set to the task, gathering their dropped weapons first.
"Likely," Mercer replied.
His words were proven true when there was a thunderous boom against the ice in the rift. They all jerked, dropping what they were doing and clutching their weapons tightly.
Sun stood back, closing her eyes. With all the water on the floor and the ice reaching through to the other side, she was able to get a sense of what was beyond her ice. Although something was clearly pounding against it, she felt nothing, no spark of life. Which most likely meant her power wouldn''t work on it. It wasn''t surprising; she''d known it was a very real possibility, but it was disheartening. Could it be killed at all?
She quickly told Mercer her power wouldn''t work on it, and he just gave a nod, readying himself for the fight. If their weapons didn''t work on it, she could always try and trap it in the ice, which would need more water.
The request for more water, should the need arise, was met with a less than enthused stare from the others. But if they couldn''t kill it, trapping it might be the next best plan. She wondered how they had planned to trap the creatures in their cages. They could just open rifts to escape. Maybe they hadn''t gone into this with enough information. She did wonder how they even knew about these creatures considering she''d only learnt of them a few weeks ago and had said nothing to anyone about it. Not specifically anyway.
Suddenly, more rifts opened around them, the other creatures creating their own entryways.
"Everyone get outside!" Mercer barked.
They bolted for the doors, Cage throwing them open, and they poured outside. They turned back to see more of these fearsome creatures tearing through their rifts, five in all. Commander Mercer raised his hands, crashing them together. The container started contracting; the sound of crushing metal was almost deafening. The monsters were fast, but only the closest managed to get out of the container before it crushed them. The shrieks and cries that came from those being crushed were something she was certain would stick with her for the rest of her life. The black fluid she took to be their blood was leaking out with the water through cracks in the twisted metal. So they could be killed then? Or were they still alive in there, just in excruciating pain?
Cage quickly morphed into a huge beast, something she had never seen before. But then, animals weren''t something she was overly familiar with. It was massive, though, thick black fur, only slightly smaller than the creature he was attacking. Cage''s teeth and claws were sharp but still smaller than what he was fighting.
The two beasts crashed into each other, each trying to take the other down. It was Commander Mercer who resolved it, again using his telekinesis to absolutely annihilate the creature.
Why had he been so worried before? It was obvious to see why he was a Commander. She had met other telekinetics before and watched them train in class. But something like what Mercer had done—if they could have done it at all—would have caused dizziness, nosebleeds; she had even seen a guy pass out from exerting himself so much, and all he''d done was hurl a bunch of small rocks across the field. Still a fantastic ability, it just seemed to come with a high cost.
The creature dropped to the ground, a fleshy, oozing mass. But it looked like it was still trying to move beyond the typical muscle spasms for a fresh kill. It was alive!
Mercer cast something then, completely reducing it to ash. Then he did the same thing to the container.
Sun knew she wasn''t the only one of the candidates that suddenly felt like children being babysat. It was written all over Cullen''s and Seph''s faces as well.
When Nick had spoken to her about his evaluation, it had sounded so different—far more structured, with plenty of opportunity to prove themselves. This really did feel like they were a burden Mercer and Cage had been forced to drag along.
"I don''t want any trace of these creatures left here," he explained to them.
"Do you think there could be more about?" Seph asked.
"It''s possible. And they seem to be able to come and go through the veil at will. It''s dangerous to linger. I think we need to return to Perdition. This is going to require minds far more versed in this than ours and more than five Revenants. We found what happened to the people; that''s our initial objective achieved."
Sun wanted to destroy the machines; they would only bring trouble. Messing with the Traverse and the creatures in it was beyond foolish, and surely nothing good could come of it.
Unfortunately, the Commander didn''t order them destroyed. And she was too afraid to suggest it in case that reflected poorly in her evaluation. She already felt she''d underperformed.
"Let''s get back to the horses," Mercer told them, taking the lead. He didn''t seem the least bit affected by his display of power.
The moon was nowhere near being full, but it provided just enough light to not be stumbling around in the dark. Still, the Commander conjured a single bright light in his hand to help lead the way.
When they reached the horses, the creatures were still a little agitated but eager to leave. With only four horses and five people, Cage took to the skies above them, an extra eye out should something come upon them. They kept their pace quicker than walking but couldn''t risk going much faster with how dark it was.
As they were riding, Mercer suddenly stopped, gesturing for the others to do the same. Once he did, they could hear why after a few seconds. The sound of cracking wood in the distance rang out across the near dead forest. Something—or maybe several somethings—was charging towards their position. Cage swooped down, landing on his feet.
"Something''s coming—one from the east, another south of us, and a third between them."
"Is it the same creatures?" Mercer asked.
Cage nodded. "And they''re moving fast."
"You three, keep going that way; you''ll get back to the village," Mercer told them, dismounting and handing the reins to Seph—by far the most confident with horses of the three. "Take Kinzie with you. Keep hidden, and if we haven''t turned up by morning, get back to Perdition."
"Sir," Seph made to protest.
"No, just go," Mercer said, his voice harder than they''d heard it before. "Disobeying orders will not look good on your evaluation."
Seph looked to the other two, seeking backup. Before they could say anything, Mercer ordered them to go, this time with much more authority in his voice.
The three candidates obeyed this time, despite the uncomfortable feeling it left. They rode off in the opposite direction from where the creatures were coming from. They vaguely knew their way back to the village. And they definitely picked up the pace, but still didn''t have the horses in a full gallop. Cullen did conjure enough light to see by though, it helped a lot. Even with the speed they were at, it was still highly risky. But none of them wanted to be caught with these creatures without Mercer or Cage.
Sun felt a dread-filled rippling sensation that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. A tear was forming nearby. She whirled around, looking for it, but it was too dark to see. Moments later she heard the sound of heavy footsteps pounding into the waterlogged earth. Cullen and his horse let out pained grunts before Cullen''s light died. Sun had managed to see a shadow before it all went dark.
"Cullen!?" Both she and Seph cried out when they realised what had happened.
Sun conjured her own light; it was weak and unstable, casting not being something she had much proficiency in. She had summoned the light just in time to see the beast drag both Cullen and his horse through a rift.
She and Seph dropped off their own horses, running to the portal.
"It''s starting to close!" Seph said.
What the fuck were they supposed to do!?