The day had taken a turn, when the morning promised a day of sun and warmth, late into the afternoon showed grey skies and dark clouds blanketing Royal Woods. At the entrance of the city's neighboring forest, law enforcement were gathered in haste to search for a missing child, beside them was a small group of civilians whom had volunteered to assist in the search. Though, there was an air of uncertainty amongst the search parties. Not for the change in weather, but rather, due to multiple reports of strange noises, unnatural screeches, and the feeling of eyes being locked unto the search members as they traversed the woodlands. The forest had become strange as of late; more folks were going missing, few remained missing. Those that returned told similar stories; the forest, although lush and brimming with life, felt dead. There was no way of describing it, and rumors had already begun circulating amongst the search parties. The stress of finding the missing child only increased when it was reported that two of the search party volunteers didn't return with their original party.
An officer stood in front of the party of teens, taking a report. "So, let me see if I understand this right; you all agreed to split up to cover more ground, and agreed to meet up at a certain point?"
The collective nodded, not all at once, but in unison agreement.
After jotting down the response, the officer stole a small glance at the four teens. "Might I ask; what possessed you kids to do that?"
"We grew up here…" One of the girls mumbled, her head hung low as she was trying her best not to break down. "We've been in these woods so many times, memorized most of the trails and shortcuts." Her voice was cracking each second. "Everyone knew where to meet up…we thought…"
"It's ok, Mandee." The sole male of the group comforted his friend; another of the girls takes the reigns, giving a statement for her saddened friend.
"We didn't think anything of it, splitting up, we'd done it before and we always found our way back." Another of the girls noted. "When we all met up we decided to wait for Jackie and Bryan…but…" The officer's eyes drifted upwards from his notebook, he noticed all too familiarly the haunting stare in the girl's eyes; fear. "There was something moving in the trees…and then we heard the scream." She shuddered; the others were visibly shaken as well.
By now, the officer was less inclined to write this off as two teens acting on hormones in a lost forest, acting now with the info he'd been jotting down; this all spelt out a bigger problem than just a lost child.
"A scream?" He asked, his attention focused solely on the teen girl in front of him.
"What scream?" The girl turned her head sharply towards her friends, all of them looking at her with a mix of confusion and fear. Their expressions were overshadowed by the haunting shock in the teen girl's eyes when her friends gave assumption that they heard no such scream, and it sent a ripple of fear coursing through her entire body. There was no way they didn't hear that hellish scream, it was short and slightly muffled, but she could never forget it. Small echoes of it still lingered in her subconscious.
"D….Didn't you guys hear that scream…?" She asked, a sense of begging came with her tone, as if hoping they had heard what she heard during their tread. When they all shook their heads the girl's eyes widened further. Her whole body was trembling; she appeared almost ready to collapse.
"Excuse me, ms…?"
"Fiona." The teen responded, her head hung low with her eyes still widened.
"Ms. Fiona, where did you happen to hear this scream?"
This continued further, though there would be little if anything to gain from the teen's testimonies. As it stood, there were now three missing persons and it with each second that passed, the chances of finding them alive grew slim. However, when whispers began circulating over who ever heard the young teen's statement in regards to what they had heard and seen in the forest, there were a reluctant few who refused to step a foot back in the forest. In the absence of truth and facts, the humans resorted to what they knew best; rumors and superstitions.
Meanwhile, after allowing the teens a moment alone, the officer took it upon himself to wander towards the edge of the forest, eyeing the shadowed depths, searching for something. His eyes continued surveying until his nose twitched, prompting him to spare a glance to his left. A blonde teen, around the age of the four he had interviewed, was standing idly beside him; her attention was focused on the forest as well.
"Miguel, Mandee, Fiona, and Dana." She muttered, subtly gesturing to the teens the officer had just interviewed. "Wasn't able to get to Fiona, but the memories of the others were taken care of."
The officer nodded. "Better than none of them, nice work, Sam."
The blonde scoffed, her eyes continued surveying the forest, eyeing the areas farther inland and seeing little to no movement. The disappearance of the child was, although alarming, of no surprise; kids tended to wander off and get lost in the forests. Under any other circumstance, Constellation would've seen it as normal and not interfered. However, the sudden increase in the feral's numbers, coupled in with revelation that Carol was still alive and sane; it left the members on edge. This incident in particular had what little operatives the faction had scouring the forest, keeping humans and ferals away from one another. Though, it seems as though one slipped through the cracks…a shame too, poor kid was only two years away from graduation.
"And what of the Louds?" Taurus asked, focusing his attention back to the woodlands.
Sam's expressions shifted, a small ting of anger still resided in her. She didnt enjoy discussing that particular family, or the recent failure of keeping their newest kin safe. "The jock is home, and the family was still asleep when I left." She answered hurriedly.
"Then let's finish this up already. As soon as the child is found, we'll…"
Before he could finish, an ear-piercing collection of screeches echoed from deep in the forest. The chorus sent a massive shiver up the spines of both the ghouls. And when they turned to the civilians, to see if they had heard the symphony of tempest; they relieved to see the humans going about their usual routines as normal. It was only thanks to their enhanced hearing that the two were able to catch the deathly cries. Though, it only made them grow in fear; these wails were not just a handful of ferals, and these numbers were not natural. Something was actively creating ferals and unleashing them into the Royal Woods forest. And they had a pretty good guess as to who was contributing to their population increase.
"How many did that bitch make?" Sam shuddered, feeling the intoxicating scents of malice and pain surging through her body, tingling her senses in all the right places.
"Given how stretched our faction is at the moment, and if she really is the one behind the increasing feral numbers; I'd say Aquarius has herself a little army now." Taurus muttered, doing a visibly better job at sedating his own bloodlust.
"This is bad; we have to warn the others." Sam breathed out; a small tint of red flushed her cheeks as she began feeling the ominous aura seep out of the forest and unnerve the humans nearby.
Just then, echoing across the forests and reaching the ears of the unlucky few on the border of the forest, a bellowing roar pierced the ears of the unsuspected, forcing the ghouls to clamp their ears shut to shield themselves from the agonizing screech. In a way, it almost felt as if the voice was bellowing directly into their ears.
It was only for a moment, but it felt as though the agonizing roar went on for hours with no end in sight. Of course, after a moment of realization, and the ringing in their ears to cease, the two heard the frantic whispers from the humans. Taurus and Sam watched as the people began to eye one another, folks were inching away from the forests, eyeing the fog that was now flooding the sea of green in a blanket of white.
As if to add to the ever growing list of paranormal events, a noticeable chunk of a cliff side in the distance collapsed, taking with it an abandoned electrical tower. The group of humans watched the structure collapse with the loose earth beneath it, following shortly after was a numbing silence, and soon after the familiar clang of bending and fracturing metal.
"Sam." The aforementioned ghoul turned to her superior, waiting for his order to inform their leader while he went in to investigate. "Go help the others."
And like that, she was stunned. No, in shock. Of all the orders she had received from her comrade/father, never once did he directly send her, or any other ghoul for that matter, into an unknown danger. In a way, it was unnerving, but mostly; she found herself being unshackled and given the freedom to do as she pleased. But there was always a catch.
Seeing her hesitate, Taurus hushed his voice, catching whiff of the humans starting to approach the forest; human curiosity at its finest. "Go in and help the others keep the ferals at bay, I'll inform Capricorn when I get the chance, but I need to make sure no humans wander into the forest." The voices were growing louder, and still Sam had not moved a muscle. Bearing his fangs at the girl, Taurus growled out. "Go."
To which snapped the ghoul from her momentary shock, and without hesitation, dove straight into the forest, Taurus reaching out for her just as she had disappeared into the thickets. Just in time too as the humans had finally reached him, though he kept his back to them whilst he reformed his ghoul features.
"Officer, what's going on?" One of the locals asked, a woman. She was tanned skin, hair tied into a bun, and features akin to an ethnicity Taurus was a part of. Of course, those loose senses of racial bonds severed the moment his blood turned black. Still, there was a softness he held for these humans, albeit faintly.
After hiding away his features, the ghoul turned to face the crowd. If all went right, he could keep these people away just long enough for the ferals to be contained or dealt with, and Aquarius caught and punished for this severe breach of their code; humans were not meant to know of their existence, after today they'd be lucky enough to pass all of this along as nothing more than an unfortunate, albeit coincidental, turn of events.
"My name is Officer Diaz, and I'm going to have to ask you folks to stay out of the forest."
-Deep in the Royal Woods Forest-
He didn't stop, he couldn't, with the constant screeching of the ferals around him, and the sudden bellow of much more dangerous beast still ringing in his ears, Lincoln couldn't stop running. And luckily for him, being in his ghoul form extended his stamina cap, allowing the young ghoul to continue his evasion with the girls still held firmly in his grasps. Every second, he could feel his blood running warm, the fear and anguish all around him was intoxicating; alluring, one could say. The darker emotions seemed to play into the ghoul's body similarly to an aphrodisiac, of course, he could only assume he wouldn't feel these sentiments if he were one of the sources of the chorus of tempest.
'We need to stop.' Came the breathily moan from inside his head.
"Not yet, I can smell the ferals again, we can't stop." He argued, one of his tendrils slithered up to his face, breathing just as heavily as him, but not from their sprint.
'Can't you sense it? We're in the middle of it; there are ferals every-ah-where.'
"All the more reason for us to-nng-keep going." He spat through gritted teeth, keeping Darcey in a firm grasp, yet still giving her an opening to breath. The teen in his arms, after a while, he'd finally noticed she was awake. Of course, considering she was tied up in his tendrils, she couldn't exactly leave his sight anytime soon. So far their escape was met with no resistance, ferals were indeed abundant, but they'd yet to see any.
He noticed another clearing, this one with a stream. His nose caught whiff of a ghoul, bringing the tall ghoul to a sudden stop. Darcey was quick to notice the change in his body language, particularly when his tendrils slithered forward, hissing at the direction of the stream. Lincoln calmed his breathing, focusing on the scent and trying to determine whether or not it was a feral.
To his luck; it wasn't. And adding on to his good fortune, it was a familiar scent. However, he couldn't determine who it was. His senses were clouded by the negative emotions seemingly radiating from the forest itself. Cautiously, so as to not play into one of Carol's traps he approached carefully, noticing Darcey shuffle in his arms he placed a claw to where his mouth would be; an indication to keep silent. Which she did, allowing him to approach stealthily.
With each step closer, the ghoul felt his excitement reach newer peaks. And yet he knew not why? People weren't supposed to be enthralled with the prospect of encountering dangerous beings, in particular ones who got off on the pain of other beings. Then again, given what he was, Lincoln had begun shelving away his questions and uncertainties, choosing instead to deal with getting the humans out of the forest, later he'd allow his mind to break with how sick it was becoming.
Of course, as he was getting a clearer view of the clearing, he saw an ashen tuffle of hair atop a body with six arms, quietly sobbing by the stream. She was the ghoul alongside Jordan, the quiet one. He never got her name, but he knew she was on his side, so that was a plus at least.
Lost in a moment, he snapped a twig on the ground, instantly alerting the ghoul, and as her head whipped towards him, if only for a few seconds, Lincoln saw a fire in her eyes that sent shivers up his spine. As if she was radiating a heavy aroma, beckoning the ghouls around to flock to them. But when her eyes landed on him, all the malice and temptation vanished, replaced with a moment of shock, and soon after a new set of tears.
There was a pregnant silence as he stood on a bed of smooth rocks, her on boulder by an ever flowing stream. He stayed absolutely still; his tendrils dared not make a move lest she be scared away.
"It's you." Surprisingly, she broke the silence. Though her body now faced him, her arms hugged her knees to her chest, burying the lower part of her head at her knees.
"Yea." He breathed out, quickly realizing the fragrance he had been exposed to was absent here. Or rather, it wasn't as strong as the surrounding aromas of the forest. Here he could actually smell the wildlife. They must've stumbled onto an area where the ferals either missed or chose to ignore. Regardless, Lincoln took cautious steps forward, taking into account the possibility of a trap. "Where are the others?"
She shook her head, her eyes peering to the right. "Dunno." She whimpered. "I woke up here, alone."
It was only in that moment where the girl's head popped up, her nose twitching and her eyes aimed directly at Lincoln's chest. He glanced down, realizing Darcy had poked her head up, causing the six-armed ghoul to stumble back with a loud yelp.
"W-w-w-what a-are y-y-you doing with that?" She nearly screeched out, her head darting every which way, as if searching for something.
Darcy's brow raised, confused as to why this monster, being obviously something of nightmares, was more clearly scared of her.
"Calm down…" He gestured with a tendril.
"…Layla." She shuddered, her eyes never leaving the tiny human in Lincoln's arms.
"Layla." He parroted, glad to have a name to call her by now. "I'm trying to get them out of the forest, but the witch is here and-"
"Them?"
The realization came a little late, but the boy's tendrils were quick to slither in front of him, a set of them came into his vision wrapped around something with flow of ebony hair. It unraveled on the soft sands between the stream and forest tree lines. The image of a teen drenched in her own sweat and grime accumulated from the run here.
What came as a surprise, mostly to Layla, was the unwrapped teen jumping to her feet as soon as she was untangled, kicking away at the tendril closest to her feet and making a bee-line towards the forest. Her being conscious was of no surprise to Lincoln, he could smell the fear radiating from her the moment she awoke.
Jackie awoke in an embrace of slithering tendrils, gripping her tightly, her body tensed, and with her mouth covered she could make no sound. Of course, what frightened her most were the two voices she could hear through the muffled cocoon. She swore she heard the distorted voice, the one that gave off the tone of being a mix between a young boy and a young adult woman. With each word the distorted voice uttered, Jackie felt the tendrils vibrate, ever so slightly. But there was something about that voice that gave her a sense of familiarity, to the point that when she heard it; she thought of her blonde friend, the one who wore a teal-dress almost religiously.
The second…almost broke her. She could hear distortion in the second voice too, but it was overshadowed by the speaker. A female voice, her tone was soothing and welcoming, but mixed in with the distortion, though masking her initially; it was someone she knew. As if to play on her mounting denial, refusing to believe what her ears were hearing; the tendrils by her eyes parted slightly, giving her a blurred view of the world outside her cocoon. She caught sight of a pale, red-eyed blonde with blackened veins at the corners of her eyes. The words she spoke were of little concern, but the face she sported was what sent shivers up Jackie's spines, made her legs weak, and forced her into chocked sobs.
Carol.
There was no mistaking it. The face of one of her friends was staring at the faceless creature that held her in its appendages. When she spoke to it, she gave off a tone of authority and care, akin to a mother. To Jackie, this was something she'd chalk up to a fever dream, maybe even a hallucination one would suffer through before reality finally set in.
Why was Carol here? Was that really her, or was the forest playing tricks on her? And what the hell were these things? When she emerged from the forest into a clearing, her eyes caught sight of the reason for her and her friends being in the forest at all; Darcy. But towering over her, with its tendrils slithering around aimlessly, she saw him; the faceless slender creature. She couldn't help it, after hearing that scream earlier she dove into a sprint searching for the child, especially when she realized she had gone on to a path she was not aware existed prior. But then, she found the child, accompanied by an unknown, and it in turn met up with several other creatures. Her mind was so busy attempting to comprehend the situation that the moment the tendrils began easing their grip on her, she felt a surge of energy rush back to her.
When she was allowed freedom from the cocoon, when she heard and saw the appearance of a newcomer, her instincts kicked in and she struck away whatever was near her, and made a mad dash towards the forest. She intended to dive into the thickets and make enough random turns so as to lose these creatures.
Although, all it took was a single tendril wrapped around her ankle to send the girl crashing down unto the sand. She rose up, kicking away at the tendril that held a firm grip on her foot. Only to feel a great surge in fear as a second tendril caught her free leg and hoisted her up.
Her hands were quick to hoist her skirt back up, keeping her legs closed enough and closing her eyes in the hopes he'd wake from this lucid nightmare.
"That hurt, you know."
But that only made her fear seep further, tears, which were already streaming down her cheeks, ruined her makeup. Black eyeliner marred her cheeks, and her breathing was mixed in with sobs as she prayed silently for this all to be nothing more than some messed up trip.
"What?" She heard a much more high-pitched, yet in a more high-pitched and softer tone.
"A human." The distorted one answered, almost dryly.
"No, I mean what hurts."
"She kicked my tendrils; I can still feel those damned boots too."
Jackie heard their back n forth; it all felt less of what she expected from monsters, and more akin to a conversation. They spoke her language, which was easing her more as time went on. Mostly because she chalked all of this up to the whole ordeal being a part of some big prank. She dared open one eye, and she almost wished she hadn't.
She took in the sight of the creatures, in particular the six-armed one cautiously approaching Darcy, who was still in the slender one's arms.
"Where did you find them?" The shorter creature asked, eyeing both the little child and the teen shyly.
"I found this one surrounded by ferals." He gestured to Darcy, the aforementioned girl only peeked a few times, eyeing Layla curiously before hiding her head in the slender's chest. She then felt the tendrils shake her a bit as the attention of the two were now on her. "This found us." He shifted her position, a single tendril gripped her hands together and hoisting them away. her yelp was followed with the world spinning back to normal. Now, her feet were free, but she was held above the ground in the grasp of a single tendril. Two slithered up to her face, the ends of both opened, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth, the appendages hissed at her with each inch they grew closer to her. A small whimper escaped her lips as she felt another tendril wrap around her legs. Restraining her completely.
"Isn't that a bit much?" The six-armed creature asked. And yes, it was, Jackie could picture where this would all turn to. Or rather, the two scenarios that could be played out; either one, she dies this way, eaten or strangled to death. Scenario two…would be a more frightening path than death, as her legs hugged one another tightly.
"That isn't me." The slender one replied, to which one of the tendrils slithered up to Jackie's sight, only a single row of teeth were shown, and an unnerving amber eye staring at her.
'Guilty.' She heard a much more feminine tone from what she assumed was the tendril. But it wasn't that fact that it spoke that unnerved her, but the sultry hiss that came with it.
A blackened tongue emerged from the opened jaws of the tendril, dripping drool as it leaned ever closer to the teen, only to be yanked away with a forceful tug. "Enough." The faceless one hissed a bit, having yanked on his own tendril. Though, while he kept the perverse appendage from the teen, the way he passively approached her. With no facial features, Jackie had no way of knowing what exactly her captive was thinking, or feeling. Which only served to play into her fears, unknowingly making herself an enticing morsel for the flesh-consuming creatures.
For Lincoln, this was a double-edged sword; on the one hand he had support, another ghoul at his side. When he left these humans nearby whatever civilization they could find, at least he wouldn't be alone afterwards. But therein lay an issue; Darcy barely trusted him, choosing instead to stay in the arms of the one thing that was actively trying to protect her was a reasonable response. Jackie would either stay frantic, faint, or be actively wary towards the two ghouls for the duration of the trip. And adding to their woes, Carol made it abundantly clear she wasn't going to allow humans who've seen the ferals to just simply walk out of the forest.
They were going to be hunted, relentlessly. As of now, the humans were his primary concern. Either getting them out of the forest or getting them close enough to reach civilization on their own were the viable options. Keeping Layla close to him was a no brainer, the issue lay in whether the girl was combat able or not. With the stench and wails of the ferals surrounding the forest; the boy wasn't so sure he could watch over the three on his own.
As if in synch with his current thoughts, a shriek echoed from deep within the thickets, causing the young child to buy her head back into Lincoln's arms, Layla dove behind him, her eyes shut tight as she held firmly on to his tux. As for Jackie, her body trembled, more than the others seeing as she was being held up like a slab of meat on a hook.
"We need to move." Lincoln's words were mostly directed towards Layla, her trembling ceased fairly, though she showed hesitation in leaving their current position.
"B-b-but, the ferals…" She whimpered. "They're everywhere."
"All the more reason to get the humans out of here, the witch won't stop 'till she gets her hands on them. After that, we'll find the others..." He noticed her hesitation, her legs trembling with the idea of having to walk into an area riddled with cannibalistic creatures more inclined to eating them alive and slow enough to draw out the pain. One of his tendrils reached out, caressing her cheek tenderly as it directed her head up. "I'll get you back to Araña, I promise."
"?" She gazed at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.
He leaned in, keeping his voice to a minimum. "Jordan. Don't use real names around the humans, last thing we need is them digging into our old lives. Stick to nicknames."
The six-armed ghoul nodded, still clutching to the faceless ghoul.
"Any nickname you want me to call you?" She asked, still keeping the hushed tone he had.
"Nothing that comes to mind right now, but to make it easier…" Lincoln turned his head towards Jackie, catching sight of a silver necklace brought out of the seam of her shirt from her struggling. On the necklace was a cross, a sight he wasn't expecting to see, but was a welcoming one nonetheless. "Hallelujah." The first word to come to mind, not simply for the religious symbol hanging by a chain around the teen's neck. But rather, the situation with the voice in his head reminded him of a certain animation he had seen prior to all of this, how he felt towards the female conscious that tended to act out in ways that were opposite to how he would.
He heaved a dry chuckle, realizing the nickname he thought of for himself was from a show he watched before becoming a creature that survived and thrived in gore and negativity. His life was beginning to scream 'edgy protagonist of an anime'. In a way, it made him cringe; it was interesting in media, but in real life he truly wished he was blind to the whole ordeal. He could've gone his whole life content and happy being unaware of the existence of ghouls.
"Hallelujah?" Layla asked, uncomfortable with her fellow ghoul's prolonged silence.
"Yea."
"Please…" They heard a whimper, their heads turned to the teen, tears and makeup streamed down her cheeks, her struggling had ceased and her head hung low. "I'm begging you…" Small fits of sobs were choked in with her words. A small trail of snot could also be seen trailing down her nose. "Let me go…"
Lincoln could feel the fear in her, his body shivered in delight. He could feel Layla's hands tighten on him; taking a quick peek at her he noticed her subtly biting her lips. But like the teen, there was fear stricken in her eyes.
"I can't do that." He answered solemnly, bringing her closer to him, earning a whimper and muffled yelp as when her eyes glanced up, she found herself uncomfortably close to the faceless urban legend. She turned her head to the side, struggling to keep her body as far as she could from the slender creature. "If I let you go, there's a chance you'll end up running."
Her eyes snapped open; being this close allowed her to hear him much clearer. The distortion was still there, but she could hear a distinct voice within the garble of sounds uttered by this unknown that made her blood run cold. She dared to open her eyes, turning her head slowly to meet the unknown's. Of course, without a face, she was met only with the unreadable blank slate that was the slender's face. Though she feared him, and rightfully so, there was something in his voice that screamed familiarity. And while she was still praying this was all some terrible nightmare, she had to hear him speak again.
"Where do we go from here?" Layla asked, her nose taking several sniffs of the air, detecting little to no trails of ferals in their vicinity.
"Easier said than done, I don't even know where we are." He mumbled angrily, turning his head a few ways, first to a pair of mountains behind them, then to the ever growing forest around. "Maybe if we get to higher ground…"
While his mumbling continued on, Jackie's eyes widened. Though the distortion would continue to instill doubt, she had an idea as to who the creature's voice belonged to. Her mind conjured up the image of one of her closest friends, dressed in a teal dress almost every day. Beside her was a young boy, ashen-haired, orange polo, and blue jeans. He was smiling at her with that chipped tooth he was known for, that and his unusual colored hair.
She was tempted to speak up, to call out this prank now that she had a clear idea of who she assumed he was. But, the way he moved, the way his tendrils felt, and the constant screeching around them made her feel too unnerved to do anything.
"I want my mommy." That little voice, jackie's snapped instantly towards the arms of the dressed creature, to which she only now realized was finely dressed. In actuality, his clothing was what made her skeptical, and made her doubt whether or not this was all real.
Lincoln gently ruffled her hair. "I know, Darcy. We'll get you out of here." Just then, the girl felt her stomach rumble, causing her to blush and cast her head down.
The tall ghoul let out a small chuckle as he glanced around the forest area. His head came to a halt, peering instead to the running stream at their feet. The idea for fishing came to mind, but the body of water was too small, not to mention they hadn't the tools for acquiring their meal.
"We'll follow the stream downwards. We might just run into more humans."
"If that happens?" Layly asked worryingly, which was beginning to confuse the teen as the small six-armed creature was helluva lot more frightening than a bunch of humans.
"Depends, if there's a chance these two will get out of here, we'll leave them with the humans." Lincoln answered.
"Why…" Jackie croaked, her sobbing had ceased but her tears had not. Fear was still present, but was slowly making way for a small pit of the good ole human anger. If this was a prank, it had gone far to the point where it could be considered funny. If this was real, and she in no way was dreaming, then by all counts of the legends she had heard up until this point; these creatures should've either killed them or cursed them to be mindless puppets. And yet, here they were, being escorted by them out of the forest. "Why are you helping us?" Another thought came to mind; they were only giving them a small splinter of hope, making them believe there was a way for them to survive all of this, only to have their hopes splintered when freedom was within their grasps. Make them feel as though they had a chance only to torment at the last possible second. Miguel's little horror stories were finally getting to her, but she could never imagine she'd be in the place of the characters she would read of.
Her limps were untangled; she fell to the soft sand unceremoniously. She landed with a soft thud, caressing the places where she was restrained. It only took her a second to realize she was free before her eyes snapped open, and her head snapped towards the forest. She would've sprinted again, taken flight and disappeared into the thickets and made her way through the greens for the safety of Royal Woods had another ear-piercing screech not rendered her stiff.
"Because…" She flinched, her head turning to the side where she saw the slender creature kneeled down beside her, his head facing the forest, with Darcy held tightly in his arms, and the six-armed ghoul hiding behind him. "The alternative is letting you become like them…like us."
She stared at him for who knows how long, her eyes were fixed on the faceless creature that for the longest time, she assumed was nothing more than an urban legend. A figure best associated for creepy games, amazing written stories, and a less than average movie based on him. But here it stood, it's tendrils were an added feature, but she was not one to openly make a jab at it. especially considering what it was capable of. But the words he spoke were what rocked her; if she had run off from them when he first untangled her, if she went out on her own at all she would become like them. That in turn raised a much more demanding question.
"What are you?" Her voice was a whisper, but he heard. She did not push herself away, but she did not nudge any closer to him, despite the increasing screeching that was now proving to be growing closer to their position.
To which Lincoln arose, placing Darcy, albeit with her clear hesitation, in Layla's arms. His tendrils raised themselves, hissing loudly towards the sound of the wails.
"We…" He began, dusting the dirt off his tux, his head fixed towards the thickets, just as the small bushels rustled. He fixed his tie just a sliver, before a bipedal feral jumped out, aiming for Jackie, yet intercepted by a tendril, slammed against the sand, then hoisted up and thrown against a nearby tree with a sickening crunch.
"We are the Grim."
So real quick, if I didn't mention it before; Taurus is based off Marco Diaz. Also, this should go without saying, but Lincoln's Ghoul name was originally going to be Gemini, for obvious reasons. However, I took into account recent events and seeing as our little chipped-toothed ghoul isn't actually going to be a member of Constellation (Spoilers btw) I thought it best to give him another name. So I went the sacrilegious route.
Also, the Grim is going to be Carol's faction. I thought I had it established and written down before hand, but taking a look at previous chapters, I realized I forgot to include it. Sorry to include it so suddenly. As i said before, the following chapters will revolve within the forest, and as a reminder, when you picture the ghouls screaming out, take a hint at the flood from Halo 2. That was my inspiration at least. Until next time.