Coalesce: The Escape

The path leads down the mountain a little ways and turns into a small valley, from there the entrance to the caverns is clear. We carefully make our way down to the entrance and draw our weapons to be prepared for anything. I have no idea what’s waiting inside for us, goblins, trolls, witches. Whatever it is I hope Pounit is worth it. My mind swirls with every possible outcome and creature that the school could bring; most bad, some good. It might be kind of fun to learn to use magic. I did want an adventure and this certainly is one. I do have a mission still, and I can’t let myself lose track of it. I’m sure it will all be fine, though, we have all the time in the world right now. We leave Legend and Ruby outside the caverns, not sure what we’ll find when we enter.

I drop into a crouch and creep close to the stone wall as we enter, the cave slightly damp and musty. A dim glow appears and voices echo up ahead. I slow my pace to make it easier to go undetected, the shadows help.

“I’ve told you, Lord Drakol will not be pleased! He wanted the vermin alive...” Footsteps echo, signaling a large, fairly empty opening ahead.

“I have failed. It was too hard to resist, and it wouldn’t shut up!”

“The boy had better be alive.”

“The boy is alive, but his sister escaped the night of the attack.” More footsteps and a sigh of frustration.

“I send you to do a simple task. Grab the boy and his sister and bring them here. I get a dead girl and a useless boy. Do you think I’m that stupid? I know the girl has black hair. You brought me a blonde, you fool.” The sound of flesh on flesh echoes loudly. A clatter of metal and something falling over follows. I take the distraction and rush as quietly as I can into the cavern. Two people are there, one on the floor in a pile of broken wood and silver. I raise my sword just as the one standing turns. His eyes flicker and a malicious smile crosses his face.

“Look at this...” He murmurs and a third man jumps down behind me from above. I feel a sharp pain in my neck as he grabs me. I’m stunned momentarily just as my blade finds cloth and rips through to find skin. Kylon slashes at the man holding me and a hiss of pain comes from him. Two bodies hit the floor simultaneously with a wet thud.

“Vampires....” I mutter and finish off the third quickly as possible. Sabille and Eraleth are already looking for the next place to go.

“You alright?” Kylon asks, grabbing my hand, looking at me with furrowed brows.

“Yeah... We need to be careful though, those were vampires.” I rub my neck slightly and walk over to the other two as they head down another tunnel. There are several twists and turns and empty rooms before there are more signs of life. Or rather, unlife with vampires. After awhile the dark is actually quite nice. No blinding white from the snow.

“Moon...” Kylon mutters. His voice has a scratchy quality and comes out as more of a growl. This can’t be good.

“Kylon...” I turn to him and his head jerks to the side and he lets out a howl. I swallow hard. I don’t know how to handle him like this. I was never around when it’s happened before, and I never thought I would be.

“Uh-oh.. It’s a full moon... And there’s moonlight coming in,” I whisper as I back away. His body starts morphing, his spine curving and his hands and feet growing claws, a snout taking shape next. I’m too stunned to speak or move as an ear-splitting howl echoes around us and he lunges, his wolf side taking over. I scream and fall as his claws rake my face. My heart thunders in my chest, surely I won’t die like this. To the one person who’s always been here for me.

“Over here!” Sabille shouts trying to draw his attention away from me. He snarls and leaps towards her. I gasp and scramble to my feet. We have to find a way to distract him long enough for him to change back.

“We can’t hurt him! We have to keep him distracted until the moon isn’t overhead!” I shout.

“How?! He’s trying to kill us!” Eralath shouts in a panic.

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing. As far as he knows, he’s always been a wolf. Until he changes back that is,” I press my hand to my face to keep the bleeding to a minimum. The wound stings something fierce, but I don’t have time to worry about that. Shouts come from farther down the tunnel and a group of vampires come running toward us. Kylon howls and leaps at them now. His teeth rip through their flesh sending screams and hisses of fury flying everywhere in the caverns. I look away and start shaking my head as a ringing starts in my ers, deafening me to everything else. My head spins and the edges of my vision go black. A strange sensation creeps over me and I squirm uncomfortably. Kylon turns back towards us, his sides heaving and blood dripping from his snout. A somewhat grin lifts the corners of his mouth.

“You don’t need to hide my friend... For I am just like you...” He snarls and howls then takes off down the tunnel on all fours. I cover my injured eye with my hand leaving a bloody handprint across my face. I break into a run after him, Sabille and Eraleth screaming at me to come back. I can’t leave him though. What if he dies? Or there’s someone that doesn’t need to die. If my suspicions are confirmed it’s very possible… I can’t let any innocent bystander be ripped to shreds. What a horrible way to die.

Howls of pain reach me and I run faster, heart pounding with adrenaline. My breaths come in sobs now. Kylon’s howls are becoming more and more agonized. I break into the cavern to see blood everywhere and Kylon writhing in pain in the middle of the floor. The bottom of his tail is stripped of fur and blood soaks his pelt.

“Oh no.. No..” I mutter and drop to his side not caring if he tries to kill me. “It will be okay... I promise...” I look around for anything that could help stop the bleeding. A single vampire sits in the corner laughing. I barely hear her as blind rage starts to take over.

“He’ll die..” She stands. “I smell more blood... Young pure blood...” She hisses and comes towards me. I throw a dagger at her hitting her in the throat, a raw, guttural scream leaving my throat.

“I don’t care.” I shout and rip the sleeves off my jacket. I split the seam and tie the cloth around his wounds. I lay my head on his side, all of my senses aware of everything around me, everything but my own pain. Everything was so loud, my breathing, my heartbeat, footsteps echoing from seemingly everywhere.

Then everything goes black.