All seven of the merchant guards were huddled together, bodies pressed against each other to conserve heat as they guided the hovercart out of a dark and narrow cave. They hadn't traveled far. It took long nonetheless. The snowstorm had certainly slowed their progress. The fur ball of grey, white and blue held onto the carts line together as a chilling windstorm battered them from almost all directions, the wind changing direction on a whim while they traversed the mountains. The heavy snow loomed somewhere in the distance, but they couldn't quite tell where. The hovercart was simple in its design. A large rectangular metal platform, with several little clips on the corners. The clips would hold the corners of the tarp that they would lay over the crates for protection. And shelter, if they needed it. Cramped shelter. But shelter nonetheless.
A loud, distant shriek echoed in the distance, followed by about a dozen gentle cooing noises which were too loud to be calming for anyone. Aviasni were patrolling the area, looking for both traveling Eliksni and adult Chels. The group cautiously stopped as soon as they heard it, doing their best to determine the beasts location. The treetops mostly protected them, so no Aviasni could engage them directly for the moment. It was when they re-entered the uncovered portion o the journey that worried the crew. The Aviasni were ambush predators, striking from the side or from above, giving their prey only a few precious seconds to react before they were carried off or torn apart by the creatures large claws and feared not the weather. As long as the group didn't leave any openings in their fur fortress, and made sure everyone looked one way, they'd be fine. As the shriek tapered off, the howls of the wind took over. Almost any area on the mountains were far more dangerous than narrow caves, especially the rocky areas in the rain.
Yaviks stopped the caravan for a few minutes. His back was slightly sore from leaning over in the small huddle, and he was willing to feel the chilling wind for a few moments until the pain subsided. Leaving the others, he approached a break in the ever-thinning line of trees. Securing his weapon to his back and firmly grabbing hold of some low branches, he climbed to the top of the tree and tried to scout out the path ahead. The rain matted down his already soaked fur and the water retained on the leaves only furthered this process, making the branches and trunk slick. This was by far the most dangerous part of being captain, risking life and limb to see if there are any blockages or other hurdles in the path during breaks. Here he was completely exposed to the Aviasni and any other flying creature. In this distance he could see their destination, a small oval shaped valley, surrounded by steep vertical mountainsides only a few miles wide and not many more long. Several plumes of smoke rose from the village below, odd given their standard heating technology, but power outages were common in a storm like this. He'd investigate the best he could when they arrived.
Turning his mind back to the task at hand, Yaviks pulled himself out of the tree, stretched out his back, and recalled his guards. "Alright, let's get back on it. Take defensive positions. We're enjoying the breeze for a few moments." There were mixed reviews and slight grumbles, but those against it ultimately swallowed their gripes.
The group continued on in a somewhat nervous silence, only speaking in short sentences to alert anyone to a small obstacle Yaviks couldn't see from the tree. As they approached, the rain subsided, but the icy wind continued blow across the mountainside as they continued onward, bringing with it suffocating fumes from the smoke that curled up the side of the mountain until finally dissipating. After a rather slick, final slope where all of them lost their footing at one point or another, Yaviks and his crew had finally made it.
The village did its best to use as much of the valley as possible, buildings carved into the sides of the surrounding mountain range while other stone structures stood steadfast in the snow, however there was something absent from the village. The smoke continued to rise, but the only sound aside from their footsteps and the wind was silence. Curious, they continued into the village, not finding a single soul in what was once a marketplace.
"I don't like this place." Vraxis grumbled, holding his bulky mining laser tightly in both of his upper hands.
"I don't either," Yav admitted. "But we have to press forward." The others simply gave him a small nod of agreement as they continued, looking around the area carefully. The storm picked up again, bringing with it snow and sleet this time instead of rain. It was hard and bitter, winds blowing so fast that they caused little tornadoes of snow particles around in the caves and crevices of the mountainside, which made peaceful whistling noises that only made the group that much more on edge.
The trail was easy to navigate, the group simply followed the bright green glow sticks that had been drilled into the ground, with only the small orb of green light sticking out of the fluffy white snow. There were probably about two dozen of them in the valley, so far they were going straight out from the entrance to the valley, following the glow sticks with little effort. The distance between the two caves didn't seem too long, but when actually walking it, it was long and arduous made even more so by the freezing snow. Small wildlife took cover in the abandoned homes, scurrying into whatever crevice they could find as the group walked by. They hadn't encountered any other caravans so far, which probably meant that this village didn't trade, but Yav didn't see any farms or storage anywhere, just fires with nobody gathered around them.
Perhaps they just didn't use caravans anymore and delivered goods with cargo ships, joined the movement that he had considered several times before, but being a crew member on a ship lacked adventure, mystery. He enjoyed the ambiguity of this job. Who would they meet? What would they see? What would see them? Each encounter was different, and that's what made Yaviks love his work as much as he did. With the constant threat of the Aviasni and the occasional defenseless person who needed rescuing, it satisfied his need for adventure, danger, and decats in his pockets. It also gave him an excuse to see all the world beyond his village.
It hadn't taken long to travel across the valley toward the tunnel, which was across from the tunnel they had come though, just over a half hour. Seeing as though they were likely ahead of schedule, the group fanned out and poked around what remained of the village.
Other than crumbled buildings and fires, nobody found much. Yaviks walked up to one of the cave houses built into the side of a cliff. It took him a moment of digging through the harsh snow to get to the metal door, but there was something satisfying in it as well. He could become somebody's savior, become a hero and an example to his son. Thrilled by this prospect, Yav grabbed the door handle but immediately retracted his hand. The metal bit into his hand and shot pain up his shoulder. "Oh-" Yav grunted, vigorously shaking his hand. "That's cold. Ok, ok. Let's try this again." Yaviks grabbed the handle again, pulling for a moment before having to let go and shake his hand again. This door was frozen shut, and he was not going to get it open. Once again, Yav thought of someone possibly being trapped inside and considered calling Vraxis over to help get it open. He ultimately decided against it and rounded everyone up to keep moving.
A short time later, they arrived at the tunnel, snow piled in front of the entrance with only a small hole in the top where snow had not yet reached. "Clem and Dahvis. Clear a path for us." Yaviks ordered, getting small nods from both of the guards as they broke off from the group as they walked toward the tunnel.
Standing side by side, they pushed against the snow, nearly a solid block of ice due to the temperature They had been doing this for so long that they didn't need to speak as much as they used to. Now they knew what to do and when to do it. The two Eliksni pushed the tall pile of snow out of the way, leaving clumps of the disconnected snow together as they removed the obstacle. Once the block transferred from the dirt to the stone, it became apparent to Yaviks that the pile was not going to break on its own.
"Stop a second," he called out to Clem and Dahvis. The pair stepped aside and made room for Yaviks. He studied the block for a moment before stabbing it in a few places with his staff. Cracks immediately formed where he had stabbed it, spider-webbing out from the ice-snow's wound. With a nod of understanding, Clem and Dahvis set to work pushing the pieces down and away from their path.
The tunnel itself was very small. Barely big enough to fit the hover cart, which was only about 8 steps wide. At least Yaviks remembered it being that wide. He'd measure it later. Another sound shrieked in the distance, followed quickly by another that echoed gently within the tunnel, the sound slowing fading away into little squeaks as cooing noises followed. "Coooooooooh. Cooh. Coooo..." an Aviasni called out from behind the group's hover cart, the whole group turned back yet again, weapons pointed to the sky cautiously.
The creatures had learned to adapt to their prey or go home hungry, stalking their prey and waiting for them to forget about their presence before attacking swiftly and viciously. Depending on how much an Aviasni interacted with an Eliksni, some of the flying beast's behavior would become much more unpredictable and reckless compared to ones that lacked experience. Smart as they were, the Aviasni were still animals, cunning ones that took a similarly cunning mind to fool. It probably thought that the group was a singular entity until it saw two pieces, Clem and Dahvis, break off and realized its dangerous score. However dangerous the road was, the group was a team, something their previous Captain had made sure to maintain, and Yaviks was not about to let that mindset disintegrate on his watch.
The rest of the group scurried forward into the cave as soon as the path was clear, leaving the hovercart momentarily but holding a firm grip onto its rope. Once inside, they marked all edges and crevices within the immediate area for any possible threat. Determined the cave was clear for the moment, Yaviks gave the order to start pulling the cart again. Once again, a loud shriek echoed, causing the whole group to watch over their shoulder like the prey they knew they were.
Yaviks and the others liked to think they were safe in the tunnel mainly because Aviasni wouldn't be able to fit inside, and if they could, they wouldn't have much room to maneuver anyways and even less time before they shot it. Convinced that they were not in any danger, the group continued onward, walking down the tunnel as they pulling their cargo along.
Yaviks had been happy with how smooth things had been going so far on this trip, they hadn't had any attacks and even fewer problems with the cargo, but Yaviks still felt strange about this trip. He'd had a similar feeling before on several of the group's previous trips, the slight urge to pull his weapon and fire at the nearest shadow. What could it be? Paranoia? Anxiety? Yaviks couldn't tell which. To him, paranoia was the fear of the unexpected, the sudden change while anxiety was fear of the future, of what possible hardships lay ahead. His definitions were certainly not the way they were supposed to be defined, but that was how he defined them, and he didn't care what anyone else thought about that.
The group had walked about 20 steps into the tunnel by now, Clem and Dahvis in the lead, with Nilvis following behind them both. Ralas and Novas were standing on the sides of the hover cart, occasionally making little heart shapes with their hands at each other. He and Vraxis were in the back, both sitting on the corners of the back of the cart. Vraxis was staring at his ore cutter's little screen, which replaced a scope and partially blocked the iron sight. His upper right hand was on the screen, tapping the screen once or twice every second. Yaviks grunted in disapproval at the gray furred Eliksni. Vraxis replied with a smaller, softer grunt of submission, staring at the screen for another second before turning it off with a small sigh.
"Stay alert Vrax," Yaviks warned. "And stop playing Flappy Chel." Vraxis replied with another soft grunt.
"I wasn't playing Flappy Chel," he argued. I' was just doing a bio scan on my leg. Thought I was getting a little frostbitten back there."
"By tapping the screen over and over?" Yaviks asked, suspicious, curling his mandibles around each other in amusement. Vrax looked down at the screen again and then back to Yaviks before quietly muttering. "Fine, you got me." He muttered quietly, before turning back to watch the side of the tunnel, mining laser aimed at the wall should anything decide to jump out. Yaviks simply nodded his head and uncurled his mandibles. Vraxis wasn't a stubborn person by any means, but he did occasionally get distracted, something that could cost everyone their lives if a dangerous situation suddenly struck. It worried Yaviks. He didn't want Vrax to get taken away from them by some creature, so he made sure to remind him that he needed to stay alert on every trip, and to keep an eye on him when he could.
"We're in a cave. What is there to watch out for?" Vrax mumbled.
"That's when something ambushes you," Yaviks retorted. "When you least expect it. Keep your eyes open."
The party pushed further into the cave. Slowly, the cries of the Aviasni became drowned out by the relative silence. Other than the occasional alert to some obstacle or perhaps a cough or sneeze, it was eerily quiet. It made Yaviks anxious, enough so that he momentarily halted the caravan and had Clem and Dahvis scout the path ahead. While they were gone, Vraxis took up the post at the front while they waited. Everyone seemed to be on edge as well, possibly because of the relatively close call with the Aviasni. That was the closest they'd been with one in the last couple of months, and that could barely register as an encounter. "Thought there weren't any tunnels?" Novas called out, closely nestled with Ralas.
"Sometimes you just have to improvise," Vraxis replied. "I couldn't predict that this village was going to be frozen."
"So then how far off does that put us off from Coolee?" Ralas asked.
Yav wasn't paying attention though. He was wandering through a maze of thoughts rushing through his head. Doubts and fears not just for himself, but for his mate and child. Out of worry, he placed a hand on his back to ensure that his Shrapnel Launcher was there, his other hand tightening its grip on the spear. Reminded that he had a weapon on him, his doubt soon faded.
"One village was around the middle of the trail. I guess we found it. Which means we're half way there. But I wouldn't call that place a village. That place was deserted. Can't have a village without villagers." Vraxis spoke up for Yav, obviously noticing how he was deep in thought. But he chose not to say anything about it. Thankfully. Doubt can spread like a sickness in small groups like this. And Yav didn't want to make the others doubt as well.
They continued to walk down the tunnel, walking between the wooden pillars and hoping they would hold the ground above their heads if a roof collapse occurred. The hover cart was easy to move through the tunnel. They occasionally would need to tip it to the side slightly to make it fit through the wooden pillars holding the rusted metal roof up above their heads. The walls and the floor were all stone though, and if not for the pillars and roof, they would think this was a natural tunnel. Carved from the howling winds, or water seeping into cracks, then freezing and expanding. Over and over. The tunnel seemed to have been carved in great haste, Yav noted the small stone fragments and pebbles on the floor. They hadn't been cleaned up. Either the miners were amateurish, or were in a rush. Vraxis pushed himself off the cart, also noticing the stone fragments left on the floor. He crouched down over one pile of hacked stone, lower left arm reaching down to the ground and grabbing one of the pieces effortlessly.
"Whoever did this wasn't very experienced. Maybe they-" Vraxis brought the fragment up closer to his face, turning around and doing a short little sprint toward the back corner of the hover cart he had been sitting on. Didn't want to be separated from the group. Yaviks stared at the young gray merchant guard as he leaped up onto the back corner opposite of him. The hair on his shoulders puffed up with curiosity as he drew his mining laser from his waist, pointing the molecular scanner attachment on the bottom of the plasma cutter shaped weapon at the small chunk of stone, flipping a small switch on the side of the small screen above the trigger of the laser cutter. A small mechanical squeak was heard from the scanner as Vrax held the stone chunk in front of the attachment. Once a several lines appeared on the screen above the trigger of his mining laser, Vraxis casually tossed the scanned fragment on the ground behind the cart.
"Here we go. Typical granite, with some small amounts of iron on it. Someone used a drill. So they must be amateurs with good kits. Doesn't matter now. The tunnel leads to a ruin." Vraxis mumbled to Yav, obviously fascinated by the readings on the screen. Captain Yav simply grumbled quietly, wanting him to stay alert again. Vrax did as he was told.
The rest of them continued down the tunnel, with Clem and Dahvis continuing to lead the way, walking with an attitude. They wanted to leave this place. Yavik was beginning to want to as well. All Eliksni feared being trapped. It was instinctive, burned into their brains over centuries of survival. To be restricted was to be vulnerable. Eliksni homes always had multiple entrances and exits. Made them much more comfortable.
The tunnels walls looked jagged and sharp, like strangely-shaped teeth. The gentle hum of the hover cart's engine, and the quiet, alert steps of Clem and Dahvis echoed through the tunnel, then faded. The tunnel had an exit. They'd be out of here soon. Then they'd walk toward Coolee, take the trip back, and then what? Didn't matter now. The present was Yav's priority, especially now. Not the future. Or the past. If a group of merchant guards were killed, any trace of them would be recycled by the planet's environment. Unless something found them only a few hours after they were killed, they'd disappear completely. That was just one of the risks they had to take.
The walk out of the tunnel was slow. Clem and Dahvis led the way, Novas and Ralas were relaxing under the tarp on the hover cart after the pair had complained about their legs hurting, and Vraxis was sitting with Yav, watching everyone's back.
'Perfect formation.' Yav thought, turning his attention to the tarp for a moment before getting up on his feet so he could look over it. Clem and Dahvis were still marching forward, and he let out a small sigh of disappointment when he saw the end of the tunnel. The exit was there. But it was pretty far from here. About 200 steps. How much longer? "There is nothing in here." Clem mumbled loudly, with Dahvis grunting a short "Obviously..." to Clem as they walked. Clem simply rolled his head in annoyance at Dahvis.
The end of the tunnel was a relief for the group, once they reached it. They'd decided to switch roles, putting Ralas and Novas in the back of the hover carter, and Yaviks and Vraxis in the front.
"Don't even think about playing or scanning anything. Understand?" Yaviks huffed, Vraxis giving a small nod of agreement towards his captain. The way Vraxis was holding the mining laser looked slightly sloppy to its user, so the Eliksni simply reached into one of his pockets, pulling out some attachments. A long full stock, and a small grip shaped like a small little tooth, with its sharp tip curled back toward the trigger. Horn grips. That's what Clem called them. Some major Juv farmer made a deal with a hunting company. Giving them some of their biggest Juv horns which Yaviks assumed the farmer sold the horns to someone else before they chose to sell them to a hunting company. But...enough about ornamental weapon attachments. Yav needed to focus. Vraxis needed to focus even more.
'If you're sloppy in this Vrax, you're gonna wish you never even crawled out of your house this morning,' the captain quietly thought to himself as he watched his side of the front of the cart.
Both Eliksni had the two small cables that let them drag the hover cart along hooked up to the X shaped straps on their backs. The X was located at the lower part of their back, between both of the lower arms. Most Eliksni are better at using their upper hands than they are their bottom ones. And, they wanted to make sure the strap wouldn't restrict their movement too much either.
But for better or worse, the group marched toward the opening, a white hole as bright as a star. But...it was snow, as expected. The outside wasn't exactly surprising, but it was comforting. Now...instead of having to worry about attacks from the front and from behind...they had to worry about attacks from everywhere else. But...at least they weren't trapped. The grouped dreaded being backed into a corner.
So, as both Yav and Vrax quietly marched out into the snow ridden outside, they both smiled as they watched their assigned flanks. You didn't fool around in the open. Yav looked to the sky, searching for any sign of the Aviasni, but only found the gray clouds sprinkling frozen precipitation over their path. The group pressed through the ice, feeling its bitter chill with each step. A few minutes later, they reached the crest of another hill, the penultimate one just before they reached their destination.
"Hold up," Yav ordered, raising a fist. The snow made it difficult to see the village below them,
"Something wrong?" Vrax asked, approaching the edge of the hill alongside Yav. Together they looked out over the snow-covered plain that stood between them and their ultimate goal. The path veered to one smaller hill within their line of sight, but Yav thought that perhaps they could avoid it altogether if they blazed their own trail, a way to maybe shave a little off their travel time.
"No," the captain responded, shifting the staff's position in his hand. "I'm debating whether or not to break from the path. Save a little time and get out of this cold."
"That would put us off course wouldn't it? In my opinion, I think we should just stick to the path and take the hill. After all, the Aviasni or some other animal could have a trap set up beneath the snow."
"What makes you think there isn't one on the path? It's pretty snowed over at this point."
Vrax turned his gaze to the hill and road leading up to it. "Call it a gut feeling," he said gruffly placing a hand on Yav's shoulder.
Yav stared at the untouched snow for a moment longer before responding, "Maybe when it's not frozen."
Vrax slapped Yav's shoulder a couple times. "There ya go. Already sounding like a captain. I'll get the others." Before Yav could respond, Vrax was already shouting to the others to "shake a leg and get a move on." It was just then that he realized why they were all standing in a circle. Yav caught up to them just in time to see Vraxis yanking his mining laser out of some improvised apparatus that pulled the trigger just enough to get it charging and release extreme amounts of heat without actually firing it. They had apparently been using it to thaw their frozen hands, and Vrax was not too pleased about that.
Yav let him sort it out since he seemed to have it under control. The others walked away with some minor protests but seemed pleased to have some feeling back in their frozen limbs. Taking their positions and covering their assigned flanks, Yav gave the order to march onward. They moved in relative silence, listening to the choir of the wind, their footsteps, and hum of the engine.
About an hour later, Yav and the group passed over the crest of the final hill overlooking their final destination. A wall twice as tall as Yav blocked most of the details, but the group could definitely see smoke rising from the homes built on the icy plain, not only a sign of warmth but also a signal that he could head home sooner rather than later, maybe pick up another toy or souvenir for young Heksis if he finds there are some extra decats for arriving a little earlier. "We're almost there!" Vrax cheered to the joyous shouts of the others. "Food's on me when we get there." A second chorus of enthusiastic cheers followed behind him.
The group moved with a little extra pace as they descended the hill and approached the gates. The smoke continued to carry through the air, bringing along with it a strange scent, putrid and suffocating, like an entire Aviasni flock had died in the center of town. Yav looked at the sealed gate, meant for the most part to keep ground creatures from entering, but it also allowed for guards to make sure there was nothing illegal in their cart or perhaps give them an opportunity to excise a tax on something else. The guards generally stayed in the watchtowers that flanked the entrance to the wall, activating the scanner as a delivery passed through the gate, but after several minutes of waiting, it dawned on Yav and Vrax that there was no guard that was coming. Yav called up to the guard towers but got no response; the others joined in a moment later.
A few shouts later, there was a sickening crunch, and the gate suddenly began to lower. "Thank you!" Yav called out to whomever opened the gate. It slowly slunk down, white dust covering the pentagonal teeth at the top that interlocked with similar teeth hidden within the upper section. A rush of that putrid air suddenly filled the group's lungs, sending a wave of nausea through all of them for a few seconds. "It's even worse up close," Clem said, shielding his eyes as if the smell was assailing them. Dahvis and Nilvis were doing similar, the former saying, "You'd think they know not to burn Kloff Wood."
"Maybe not," the latter responded.
"Then we'll let 'em know when we get in there," Yav called out. He proceeded to wave the others through before joining them himself, but he paused just as he crossed the gate's threshold to look at the dust covering the top of the gate now residing in a neatly placed strip of space between the magnetic locks. He bent down and swiped his fingers across the teeth's rough surfaces, rubbing some of the dust between his fingers and watching it settle on back on the gate. 'Chitin?' he thought to himself, a material that had become increasingly rare and outdated with the increase in manufactured goods. It may not have been Chitin though, but the feel even against his frozen fingers had every indication that it was chitin.
Yaviks pushed that out of his mind and followed his team to the scanner, a rectangular metal room sealed off from the test of the world by the heavy gates and their respective magnetic locks but there never came the usual hum of said scanner. In fact, the first gate never closed back up. "Looks like we need to tell them their gates are broken too," Vrax commented. "Guess they need these components more than we know."
First impressions, to Yav, were a big deal, and that was certainly the vibe he was getting from this place. He just hoped the manual override still functioned. Since there did not seem to be any power, the override would be open for use as opposed magnetically locked when the power was on, only deactivated by the guard towers should they deem it necessary. "Ralas, use the manual override and get this door open," Yav politely ordered.
"On it," he said, finding a crank on the door and beginning to push against it. It refused to move at first, but with a little more physical coaxing, Ralas began to raise the door as a much thicker wall of the same putrid smell rushed through the new opening, causing everyone to gag for several seconds. Through it all and probably holding his breath, Ralas continued to raise the door, wet spots gathering beneath his eyes as the smell surged. After several more minutes of agony punctuated with disgusted mutters and calls to cease the complaining, the smell seemingly began to dissipate. Ralas coughed a few times while he was cranking, struggling to keep his grip on the lever every now and again, but the door eventually raised high enough to fit the cart, Yav signaled the others through. All but one of them went, Ralas being the only one besides Yav inside the scanning tunnel. He seemed frozen in place.
"What's wrong?" Yav asked his motionless comrade. He said nothing but showed Yav his hands. Several deep cuts streaked blood all over his hands. Glancing over to the lever, Yav saw blood on it too. Other than the blood, his hands had also turned an unnatural shade of purplish-blue. His lower hands dangled at his side lifeless but did not look to be harmed, just limp. "What happened to you? Why didn't you say anything?"
Ralas said nothing for several seconds before muttering weakly, "Don't tell Novas."
Yav patted him on the shoulder. "I won't my friend. Let's go find the local doctor and get you warmed and patched up." He nodded and tucked his hands beneath the opposing armpits, making them look folded to conserve warmth rather than injury. They ducked beneath the partially open gate, but nothing could prepare Yav for what he saw next.
In a word, Coolee Village was empty, devoid of life and many of the structures. The area that Yav had no doubt was once covered with buildings, markets, and houses was drastically empty. The stone roads and masonry on the buildings were broken, cracked, or completely missing altogether. Towers of smoke rose from razed buildings set ablaze by someone or something. Yav stopped in his tracks, mouth agape as he stared out amongst the destruction. Looking to the other guards and cart, they had all stopped not far out of the door, either on their knees or just standing there. Never had Yav seen so much destruction in one place. There was a new smell that overwrote the putrid one from earlier, one of death, a scent Yav had not experienced in years.
Forms lay slumped against half-destroyed buildings or in the streets as the initial shock diminished and Yav made out more of the details. Uncaring snow had begun to pile up on the streets, barely acknowledging the new lumps on the ground it was forming against. 'What happened here?' Yav thought, breaking out of his stupor and forcing himself to catch up with the others. Just then, something caught his eye to the left. Turning, he saw something that looked oddly enough like a sword a couple dozen steps away. He approached it tentatively, feeling like he was the only one who could do something or even move at this point.
The closer he got, the more the wind picked up, reaching a howl just as Yav got within a few feet of what he could now saw was a blade. It was gray and extremely heavy-looking, shaped more like a bone with sharp edges and a hilt than a traditional Eliksni blade. It had a faint green glow about it. Surrounding it were black and red plates that looked to be made of chitin or a substance extremely similar to it. He picked up one of the plates, but it immediately turned into dust that blew away with the increasingly violent wind.
The sword seemed to whisper to his soul, making him forget about the others and everything around him. All that mattered was the faint glow that surrounded the sword, fingertips on his mind lightly pulling his hand away from his body and toward the sword. His hands felt like that just had to touch it, to feel its rough hilt and heft it over his shoulder and swing it at whatever enemies would come in his path. This sword had all the answers he subconsciously sought. The fingertips dug deeper into his mind, moving his hand towards the blade automatically. Just as he touched the rough hilt a shrill shriek pierced the air, splitting his ears and throwing everyone out of their own respective trances. All around him, Yav saw light green portals with dark centers swirled into existence out of nothing.
Suddenly, bony white creatures that looked like eyeless skeletons charged out of the portals. They came one by one at first but quickly frenzied and charged out in droves. Their cries were nothing like the initial sound, but the claws at the ends of their hands were none too inviting. To whomever could hear him, Yav shouted, "RUN!" The others' heads darted about their surroundings, once again frozen but this time in fear rather than an alien trance. Heeding his own advice, Yav turned around and grabbed his shrapnel launcher, darting towards the gate and firing behind him every couple of steps. Within a matter of seconds, the area was a sea of the white, bony creatures and a chorus of the terrible shrieks, ever-increasing in volume and intensity. Every time he looked behind him, another head of his comrades disappeared into the crowd. First Novas, then Clem, then Dahvis, Ralas, and finally Nilvis. He never saw Vraxis in the scuffle.
Just as he reached the gate, one of the creatures clawed his leg, sending a burning pain all the way up his leg and causing him to trip and fall. He immediately turned onto back and fired the shrapnel launcher wildly as he was quickly surrounded. Everytime he shot one of them, it seemed two more would take its place. Yaviks scurried on his back, kicking with his legs and firing his weapon until he was able to get on his feet and shove his way past the whatever they were. They wouldn't be deterred, continuing to chase, claws at the ready and maws wide open, intent on killing their prey. Yav fired blindly again but heard only a click usher from the weapon. Acting fast, he yanked the cartridge out and fumbled in his utility belt for another. He firmly grasped the new clip and tried to slam it into the receiver, but he missed, hitting the gun with enough force to knock it out of his hand and onto the ground below. Panicking and realizing he was losing ground, Yav lightened his load just as he entered the tunnel, throwing the gun back just as another claw dug into his leg...