Shadows of the Mind, Part 5

There was no moon in the sky. The few stars that could be seen were quickly covered by a thick blanket of storm clouds. Lightning flashed in the night sky, but no rain fell, and the heat of the late summer, early autumn was oppressive. Private Smith cursed his luck. It had been a relatively quiet night in the swamps. No Gree Gree or Churl raids. No roaming groups of undead. Nothing, except this heat and the swarm of mosquitoes. The two other soldiers in his patrol were yawning, stretching their legs. Smith, however, was on edge. He had felt like he was being watched the whole night, and once he thought he had seen some huge, cat like beast prowling the edges of their temporary camp. Twice he had heard a growl, but nothing had attacked their group. And in a swamp like this, if you heard growling but didn't see anything, it was best not to go looking for the source.

Johnson, the senior officer of this patrol, finally stood up from the stump he was sitting on. "Smith, Berns, lets get going. Nothings going to happen tonight, and if it is, its someone else's problem from here.." Smith let out a sigh of relief. The soldiers packed up their gear and started down the small, elevated dirt road that led to the base. Despite the fact that they were heading back to one of the safest places in the region, Smith was still on edge, and could swear that he could feel eyes staring at his back.

Shadow watched the humans leave, and one of the younger ones seemed to be in a hurry. He had been sitting above their camp, in the limbs of a thick tree, for a few hours, enjoying a few hours rest. It had been a few weeks since his encounter with Tib-wob, and he had been growing stronger every day. However, he didn't feel very strong. He had been in the swamps for the past five days, and had nothing but trouble since. Twice, he had encountered these fouls spirits of dark energy that the locals called "Haunters". It had taken him a while to notice that one had attached himself to it. Once he realized what it was, he turned on the creature, lashing out with a powerful blast of psychic energy and destroying the creature. Most of his days in the swamp however, were taken up with slaughtering the seemingly countless number of undead roving around the swamplands. Several times, he had found himself cornered, his powers of stealth, which were now considerably stronger, unable to let him escape. While these creatures were less perceptive than most to his veils, their sheer number made it nearly impossible to navigate safely. He had traveled due south, like Tib-wob had instructed, and had once, from the height of a tree, had glimpsed the great domed temple, looming over the swamp. Tib-wob was also correct amount the number of undead around the temple itself. He actually believed Tib-wob had been fairly conservative when it came to the number of undead present.

The past two days had been especially painful. It had almost seemed like the undead were hunting him down, and despite his veils, they found him and attacked without self regard. Most of the time, he had been able to slaughter them all, either through stealth and planning or through sheer rage, but a few times he had been forced to flee. And the closer he came to the temple, the more frequent and violent the attacks became. Shadow turned to look in the direction of temple, his eyes able to discern its shape even in such darkness. He had been contemplating the best way to attack it, a new direction from which to approach, and exactly how far away from the temple he should be before he veiled himself. He almost laughed at that last thought. He had practically been holding his veil up the whole time he had been in the swamp. He had even found a way to maintain it while he slept in the day. He was pulled out of his contemplations when he heard the snap of a twig and the shaking of bush below him. In an instant, without even thinking about it, Shadow pushed up his veil and he was standing on the branch. Silence, a strong silence pervaded the night, not even insects made a sound. Then he heard it. A low, dry moaning. Undead.

Shadow pushed out his senses, trying to determine the number of undead. A dozen or so, approaching in a nearly perfect circle around him. And something else. Something new, powerful, and dark. Similar to the feeling or presence the Haunters had. This was a new threat, one Shadow did not know anything about. He heard a rustling and burst into action. A zombie had tried to hurl itself out of the foliage at Shadow. Shadow sprang and the creature half way in its jump. By time they hit the ground, the corpse had returned to its original nature. Shadow turned to find a new opponent. Three had stumbled out of a muddy creek and began charging towards him. Shadow turned and ran a few paces and then turned on them suddenly. Shadow lunged forward, catching the center zombie while his tail lashed out and practically decapitated the zombie to his left. The third zombie had little time to react. Shadows forepaw struck out and hamstrung the walking corpse. Shadow pounced and crushed its skull as it hit the ground. Four more jumped out at him, one from every direction. Shadow forced himself straight up, his tail lashing in a semi circle behind him, striking two of the zombies in the head. He landed behind the one in front of him, and threw himself at it. All four of the zombies collided, and Shadow made quick work of them, slashing and biting. His poison, he had learned sometime ago was all but useless. Shadow turned to find another foe. A thought suddenly occurred to him. His veil was still up, but these creatures attacked him as clearly as if he had not been veiled. "Impressive, quite impressive. Your skills have grown considerably since you've entered this world." A voice called from behind, slick and oily. Shadow turned slowly, and concentrated all of his energies into his veil and mental fortifications. He could feel its mental presence and energies, snaking out towards Shadow. The new creature was covered in black, tattered robes, and seemed to float in the air. Its face was completely covered in a hood, and the hands that were uncovered were covered in a rotting, grey flesh. Odd tentacle like appendages seem to snake out of the bottom of its robes, twisting and turning underneath their horrible body. "You shall make an excellent pet for me..."

Shadows muscles tensed and tightened, his legs coiled underneath him. The creature began to speak again, but the rage had overtaken him. Letting out a roar that seemed to make the ground shake, Shadow hurled himself at the creature.

Smith had just passed through the gates of the base when he heard the sound. An inhuman roar, coming from somewhere deep in the swamp. Berns had heard it, but being a veteran of the swamp base, paid it little mind. He did notice one thing though. He looked slightly shaken. "Smith, is it me, or did it just get a darker?" And then, every light in the base snuffed out, and blanket of darkness, never seen by any of the soldiers before, covered the swamp.