Chapter 12 - The Nightmare Contract, Part 2
Veil and Mistress Adelin rushed across the desert, heading in the direction the Reapers' scouting party went. As Veil ran at a steady pace, she covered her eyes slightly with her frills to block the glare of the day-moon's light, thankful that she had extensive stamina training and her unique physical traits to make the trip easier.
For a moment, Veil wondered how Mistress Adelin was able to keep up with her despite lacking the same advantages. But as the Mistress's footfalls and the slight sound of panting never seemed to fade away behind her, she focused her mind on more important things.
The scouting party getting attacked was easy enough to understand. Over the past few days, they had been finding abundant evidence of nightmare activity - disturbed plants and wildlife, curiously shaped footprints, and apparently even some dreamkeepers who had been slain and left to rot in the desert. All of the signs pointed toward a hot trail, one that Veil was sure the nightmares were eager to leave if it meant they could kill more of Serapis's faithful.
What was harder to make sense of was the apparent size of the group of nightmares that attacked the party. Chanda said that they were outnumbered, but the group she went out with had ten people in it, including herself. For such a large group to be outnumbered, there would have either been too many nightmares to hide, or…
Veil turned her thoughts away from the grim alternative. Or what if… Maybe the nightmares had some way to hide such a large group… Invisibility, maybe? Or something like Zahra's power…
The light of a large fire caught Veil's attention, pulling her out of her thoughts. Just up ahead, she could see a massive wall of flames that spanned a considerable distance in both directions. Towards the middle of the wall, a group of four dreamkeepers was huddled looking towards it. And in the middle of them, with a red-orange halo glowing brilliantly over her head…
"Miss Chanda!" Veil cried out. "Thank Serapis, you're okay!"
Chanda turned her head at the sound of her name. "Veil? And Mistress Tenebri? Thank Serapis indeed, I wasn't sure my message got through to you!"
"We came as soon as we could! We saw your fires go out and…"
"As soon as they did," Mistress Adelin said between breaths, "we knew we couldn't spare the time to wait. More importantly, what happened? I assume the nightmares ambushed you?"
"Most of them burst out from the dunes," Chanda said with a nod. "Two of our forerunners were caught unaware and… As for the rest of us, I've been using my power to keep the nightmares away from our injured, while the others…"
Chanda gestured toward the wall of fire. In between the tongues of flame, Veil could see three House Ardeo members taking on nightmares of all sizes and forms with varying degrees of success. Even using their powers at full strength, it was all they could do to hold back a force that vastly outnumbered them. A few nightmare carcasses could be spotted among the sands of the battlefield, but the three dead dreamkeepers were what truly stuck out among the fallen.
Veil turned her gaze back to the fight in progress. As she glared at the nightmares, she activated her power. The sound of a whirr of energy behind her suggested that Mistress Adelin had done the same.
"We're ready." Veil's voice came out cold as she spoke. "Just let us through, and we'll make them pay for this."
"Veil's right, there's no time to lose. Both of us are ready to fight if it means no more of us have to die today."
Chanda looked up at the two of them and nodded. "You're right, we've had more than enough deaths today. Both of you, be careful. And may Serapis guide you as you carry out Her will."
With a short flash from her halo, a hole in Chanda's wall of flames opened up. Sparing only a moment to nod to her, Veil and Mistress Adelin made their way through the opening to join the fight.
—
As soon as she made it through the opening in Chanda's wall, Veil turned her full attention to the fight. A lumbering nightmare that seemed to be covered in gnarled, thorny plant life thrust its massive arm towards one of the scouts. As it did, large thorns from the plantlike growths on its body fired off in all directions. Some of them headed towards the other scouts, who were too occupied with their own respective enemies to answer the incoming threat.
Veil reacted as quickly as she could, sending a volley of plasma balls to intercept the thorns. At the same time, Mistress Adelin used her power to grasp the nightmare's arm. As the thorns were disintegrated by Veil's power, the nightmare's legs buckled as its weight was forcibly shifted by the Mistress's shadow claws.
The scouts could only afford a brief moment to acknowledge the House Tenebri members' contributions before returning to the task at hand. The scout who had been getting punched at pushed the sudden advantage he was given, using his power to harden his body and start assaulting the massive nightmare.
The other two scouts followed their ally's example. One scout's halo blazed as she created rings of fire around much smaller nightmares, holding them back from the fight. The other shot simple but effective blasts of fire directly at any nightmares that approached her.
After a quick talk with the fire ring user, Mistress Adelin started using her power to ravage the smaller nightmares. Any of them that weren't held back with fiery restraints soon found themselves the victims of claws that reached out from their respective shadows tearing them to pieces. For her part, Veil turned her attention back to the massive nightmare and started using her power to destroy the plant growths on it, restricting its attack options.
The massive nightmare roared as Veil's plasma balls tore through the plant growths. Rising up to its full height, the monster began swinging its arms wildly. The hardening power user was caught unaware by the attack and was launched a fair distance away from the fight.
Veil paled as she saw the nightmare approaching her. A few of her plasma balls striking it in the chest as it approached did little to impede its movement, and it only roared in defiance as they burned through a relatively thin layer of its flesh before dissipating.
As the nightmare began to swing its arms towards her, Veil began to run, not even half sure she would be able to avoid its attacks for very long. Behind her, the sound of the nightmare's arm rushing through the air haunted her sense of hearing. Her heart beat even faster as she kept running, but the enormous mass of flesh continued on its path of destruction.
In a short period of time, the sound behind her became so loud that she was certain she was about to be hit. Without a power that could boost her endurance, Veil knew that if it hit her she would be killed on the spot.
Veil could hear her heart beating.
She could hear the claws on her feet repeatedly hitting the ground.
She could hear the sound of the nightmare's surprisingly quick footfalls, as well as its arm rushing towards her.
She could barely hear something else rushing through the air behind her.
But what Veil heard next took her completely by surprise. Rather than hearing the impact of the nightmare's arm striking her, she heard the sound of flesh being struck, followed by a loud crash.
Veil immediately turned around and was surprised to see the nightmare collapsed in the sand. Even more surprising was the apparent cause of the monster's collapse - a familiar spectral ball and chain lying in the sand, which disappeared moments after she saw it.
"Evan!?"
Veil turned to look in the direction where the weapon's chain had come from. Sure enough, the gold-furred tiger man was standing not too far away, with a satisfied smirk on his face, and his freshly recreated ball and chain swinging over his head.
"Heh, couldn't just let that huge bastard take you down like that, now could I?"
Just behind Evan, two more familiar dreamkeepers stood, with looks of relief on their respective faces.
"Zahra! And Arc, too?"
Zahra gave Veil a smile. "You weren't the only one who heard Chanda's cry for help after all! Sorry we're a bit late, but I had to take some time getting a little help!"
"Holy… Seeing nightmares in person though…" Arc muttered, "Serapis, they really are real…"
"Sure as hell looks that way! Now we just have to-" Evan paused, then quickly launched his weapon at the massive nightmare, dropping it to the ground again. "Hey, stay down, asshole!"
As Evan started bashing the nightmare over and over with his power-made weapon, Zahra shrugged and let out a laugh. At her hip, Veil could see a pair of sharp-looking daggers tucked into her skirt's rope belt.
"Just have to put them down, I'm guessing he was gonna say! Looks like he's already getting to it though!"
"I… I'm not sure I'd be very good at that… My power's not that great in a fight after all…"
"Hey, don't worry, Arc! You did good just getting us here! Right now though, there are some injured dreamkeepers back there who could use your help getting back to camp! Might even give Chanda a chance to help us out!"
Arc looked back at the wall of fire and nodded. "O-okay, I can do that. You sure you'll be okay though?"
"This isn't the first time I've had to kill nightmares, you know. I'll be fine, especially with everyone else here too!"
Arc gave Zahra a nod and activated his power. As he vanished into the desert winds, Zahra turned back to Veil with a smile on her face.
"So, Veil! Ready to send these things back to the pit they spawned from?"
Veil nodded. "Of course!"
"Good! I'll cut some of the bigger ones down, you finish them off with your power. You'll be able to keep up with me using my power for that, right?"
"It's how I was able to become a Servant, wasn't it?"
"Heh, good point! With the two of us fighting together, taking these things out shouldn't be a problem at all!"
Veil and Zahra nodded to each other, and Zahra activated her power and disappeared. Following a trail of disturbances in the sand that could have only come from her ally, Veil headed back into the fight.
With the added help, the flow of the fight turned in favor of the dreamkeepers. As Mistress Adelin and the fire ring user continued to control the crowd of smaller nightmares, Evan countered the massive nightmare's attacks with well-timed strikes from his ball and chain. After a little while, the hardening power user returned to the fight and joined Evan in taking on their massive foe.
Meanwhile, Arc used his own power to carry the injured scouts with him back to camp. With the well-being of her comrades ensured, Chanda was able to lend her support in the fight by burning the remaining plant growths from the large nightmare.
For their part, Veil and Zahra took to handling the larger nightmares together just as they planned. After a quick talk with the fire blaster, she agreed to focus on helping take down the huge nightmare. With the potential of friendly fire diminished, the two arena fighters started working on whittling down their group of enemies.
Zahra slipped through the crowd of nightmares, slashing at exposed flesh and tendons and landing crushing blows on any that lacked those physical traits, all from the safety of her power's perception filter. At any point that she felt the fiends were becoming too aware of her existence, she would blink her power on and off to disorient them.
As Zahra was crippling and confusing them, it was easy for Veil to wipe out the nightmares one by one with her own power. Each time one would fall to the ground covered in wounds that appeared out of nowhere, she would send a volley of plasma balls to turn it into a smoldering carcass.
In time, night fell as the nightmare horde dwindled down to nothing. With the satisfying sound of the massive nightmare collapsing in the sand one final time, the group let out a collective cheer before turning to the more sobering results of the fight.
—
In the end, three of the scouts had ended up dead, and three of them had been taken back to the convoy camp to have their wounds treated. The members of House Ardeo solemnly carried their fallen brethren back to camp, sparing few words as they did. Only Chanda felt a need to speak as the group made their return.
"I feel as though I've failed you, Mistress Tenebri," she began with her head held low. "I was certain that between the ten of us, we would be able to handle any threat. But for something like this to happen…"
"Don't hold it against yourself, dear," Adelin said, using her power to rest a shadow claw on Chanda's shoulder. "It was an ambush that I'm sure none of us could have seen coming. Certainly not in such numbers at the very least. Still, I think it would be best for all of us if we sent some of our fighters out with the scouting parties going forward."
"Are you sure about that? This was a failure on House Ardeo's part, after all."
"One that I didn't help with by ordering our fighters to stay at the camp. As the leading Daughter of Serapis on this contract, I bear the responsibility to see everyone return home safely. The fact that I failed to do that for three of your House members weighs on me just as heavily as it does on you. But I can at least promise you I will not make that same mistake again."
Chanda looked up and gave Adelin a faint smile. "Thank you, Mistress Tenebri. Even with everything that happened, I believe that you being here for us is truly a blessing from Serapis."
Adelin returned a smile of her own to Chanda, then turned to look at the rest of the group. Each of the other House Ardeo members were carrying one of their deceased allies, and none of them looked particularly eager to make conversation. Despite Chanda's reassuring words, Adelin could only imagine what her subordinates would have to say about everything, and her imagination made their silence feel all the more damning.
With a sigh, she turned her attention to the rest of the group. Veil, Zahra, and Evan had started the return to camp just as somber as the others, but eventually they started up a conversation with each other. Now, they seemed to be in higher spirits, though the fallen House Ardeo members only a few feet away from them kept the mood from getting too light.
Evan in particular had an inscrutable expression on his face. It's easy enough to know why, Adelin thought. Between seeing nightmares for the first time and however he feels about House Ardeo, it only makes sense that he has a lot to think about… At least Veil seems to be doing well despite everything. I imagine Zahra has a lot to do with that…
But for everyone else, the loss of those three lives will likely do little good for their morale… Serapis, I only hope the rest of this contract will go more smoothly…
As Adelin lost herself in thought, the group eventually made its way back to the convoy camp. Upon their return, all attention was drawn to them, and soon enough she was swarmed with questions from everyone who probably only heard about what happened from whatever Arc had told them.
The next few hours were spent with Adelin running herself ragged dealing with the camp's questions and comments. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the group's negativity came from House Mut's members, mostly because they played no role in the contract's first fight against the nightmares. The assurance that they would be on call to help with scouting missions going forward helped a little with that though, and eventually they ran out of energy to argue any more.
The members of Houses Ardeo and Safak were much less frustrating for Adelin to deal with. Some of the Ardeo members' comments and concerns were handled by Chanda, and Zahra being involved in the fight was enough to keep most of House Safak from getting too vocal about their lack of involvement in it.
Only the members of House Tenebri seemed to avoid pressuring their Mistress with any questions, a fact for which Adelin was silently grateful. In time, the camp as a whole ran out of questions just as Adelin ran out of energy to answer them. Running purely on fumes, she retreated to her private groundcar to sleep the rest of the night away.
As she made her way into the luxury vehicle, Sef greeted Adelin with a knowing smile and a gentle embrace. She returned a faint smile of her own before giving him a kiss as well.
"You've had a long night, my love," Sef said, holding Adelin close.
"Indeed I have, Sef. I'm sure you already know what happened with the scouting party. We have Serapis to thank that the casualties were kept to a minimum, but…"
Adelin let out a deep sigh, the kind she knew only her husband was used to hearing.
"Sef, dear, do you think I made a mistake with this contract? I thought we would be able to handle anything, but now three members of House Ardeo are-"
Adelin paused as Sef embraced her even tighter.
"S-Sef?"
"The loss of their lives is tragic," Sef whispered, "but your life was the one I was the most afraid for. You… you had no trouble dealing with those nightmares, right?"
"I… N-no, I had no trouble…"
"Then I can thank Serapis with all my heart that things turned out well. If we lost you… If I lost you…"
"But it didn't turn out well… the others…"
"You can't blame yourself for what happened, Adelin. They knew the risks when they agreed to take part in the contract. Right now, doing the best that you can do is all that matters. The fact that you were out there, helping to avenge them is proof that you've been doing exactly that."
"The best that I can do…" Adelin looked up at Sef and gave him another kiss. "You're right, Sef. This contract… we'll see it through to the end. It's what Serapis would want from us. But as for right now, I could use some sleep, and there's only one person in the entire Dreamworld who I'd want to share that rest with."
Adelin gave Sef a warm smile, and the two of them shared another passionate kiss. With that, they broke from their embrace, only to embrace again once they rested on the bedding Sef had prepared on the floor of the groundcar. For the rest of the night, the two of them shared each others' warmth as they drifted into a comfortable slumber.
—
When they awoke the next day, Sef offered to take Adelin's place making sure everything was prepared for the convoy camp to set out again. The fact that she had readily agreed was a testament to how tired she must have been, a fact that Sef kept in his mind as he went from groundcar to groundcar checking the camp's preparations.
House Mut's groundcars were the first ones Sef looked over, mostly just to get the experience of being near them out of the way. The members of his former House greeted him with a mix of familiarity and jeering, which he took in stride, up until he reached the groundcar of the one person he was dreading having to deal with.
"Walker Priya," he said, barely putting any effort into hiding the venom in his voice, "are you and your slaves ready to head out?"
Priya gave Sef a glare in response. "Ready as we need to be, Sef. Especially if it means more sitting on our asses while the other Houses get all the action!"
"You're still continuing your streak of irreverence, I see. I'm aware that you're upset about yesterday, Walker, but as I recall, House Mut didn't send any help to the scouting party, even after hearing Hand Chanda's pleas for assistance."
"Bah, details! Just make sure we get some action while we're out here, 'Master Tenebri.' Wouldn't be right if we ended up joining in on this contract for nothing, after all!"
Sef gave Priya only the slightest of nods before leaving to check on the rest of the groundcars. With his former House out of the way, he returned to the few groundcars owned by the House he called his own. As Sef returned to House Tenebri's section of the camp, he paused as he noticed a group in front of the groundcar that had been stocked with scrolls.
"…Probably gonna be even harder going forward," Zahra said as Veil, Nuha, and the Andurunan slaves listened intently. "You know, if that ambush was anything to go by. You all sure you're ready for it?"
Veil nodded. "Yeah. They won't be able to take us by surprise again, right? Mistress Adelin said we'll be sending bigger scouting parties now, so we should be fine!"
"I hope so, that first fight was something else," Evan said. "And with what happened to those Ardeo guys, I mean, it just sucks when anyone has to die…"
"At least the others seem to be doing better now. I'm just glad I was able to help them get out of there."
"Hey, be honest, Arc, you didn't want to have to deal with those nightmares either, did you?" Asma asked. "Not that I can blame you, from everything I've been hearing!"
Arc shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not even really sure what I could've done besides evacuating the injured…"
Nuha gave Arc a faint smile. "At least you were able to do something… While you were out there helping, Asma and I just ended up sitting around hoping everything would be alright…"
"Ah, yeah, sorry about that by the way. Evan and Arc just stuck out to me as power users, and I didn't have a lot of time to see if anyone else would be able to help…"
Asma smiled. "Hey, it's okay, Zahra. Next time, though, I plan to be on one of those scouting missions! Can't let you power users be the only ones who have to fight nightmares after all!"
"Yeah!" Evan said, giving Asma a one-armed hug. "Next time, you can join in, and then we can all get traumatized together!"
As Evan and Asma shared a laugh, Sef noticed Nuha fidgeting in place. She backed away from the group slowly as Veil started speaking again, and without anyone else noticing, she left. As she slipped behind the groundcar, Sef used his power to follow her. Once Nuha had made it a good distance away, he teleported a few feet in front of her, briefly startling her.
"Oh! M-Master Sef! I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"I suppose that's fair. I was checking the convoy's preparations for Adelin, and I overheard your conversation with the others. You seem troubled, Servant Nuha."
"Well, I guess I am, kind of… But I shouldn't bother you with that, Master. You probably have a lot to take care of already…"
"I do, but one of the things Adelin tasked me with was handling everything just as she would. And I know she wouldn't be content leaving one of House Tenebri's members with doubts in their mind. So go ahead, tell me what's been troubling you."
"Oh, well, since the attack on the scouting party, I've been feeling kind of useless. I don't have a blessing from Serapis, and the most I've been able to do so far is teaching other people about nightmares… I… I just feel like it's not enough…"
"I see. I suppose that makes sense, but I wonder. How well do you suppose Tenebri Veil and Slaves Evan and Arc would have done in that fight if you hadn't taught them anything about nightmares?"
"I… I've wondered about that, actually. Just how much good are my lessons doing, anyway? From what I heard, none of the nightmares that appeared are ones that I even taught all that much about!"
"Perhaps, but suppose that Veil and the others had no information to go off of. We fear things that we don't understand, and even the slightest bits of information can help ease that fear. If they had no knowledge of nightmares to start with, it may well be possible that they would have been too afraid to even try to help."
"O-okay, but what if-"
"And even if that's not the case," Sef continued, laying a hand on Nuha's shoulder, "you are still here, doing what you can. It may not be very much in your eyes, but even just being here to support those of us who can fight is enough."
Sef looked down at the Servant girl with a calm smile on his face. Nuha looked back up into Sef's eyes for a moment before speaking up again.
"Yeah… I think you're right, Master Sef. I just have to do what I can, right?" After waiting to see him nod, Nuha continued. "Then, for now, maybe I can help you take care of the preparations!"
"Hm, yes, I suppose I could use someone to help with that. And as it turns out, you've already been spared the worst of it. I've already checked over House Mut's groundcars, so all that remains are our own, as well as the Ardeo and Safak ones. Now then, if you would follow me, we can get right to it."
Nuha nodded, and with that, she followed Sef as he made the rest of his rounds. The House Tenebri groundcars were already prepared well in advance, so little time was wasted checking over them. House Safak was similarly well-prepared to head out, as was expected, and the members of House Ardeo invited the two of them to join in their morning prayers before finishing their inspections.
With everything managed, Sef thanked Nuha for her help and returned to the private groundcar to meet up with Adelin. Once she had been informed that everything was ready, she ordered the convoy to move out, headed northwest. With an undeniably strong trail to go off of, the entire group steeled themselves for even more conflict with the nightmares.
—
The convoy continued traveling for a few more days, following the nightmares' trail closely. As Mistress Adelin had ordered, the scouting parties now went out with groups of fighters backing them up. The extra security proved invaluable as nightmare attacks on the scouts became more frequent.
Fortunately, with the extra preparation, the scouting parties were also much more secure. The fears of any further casualties were quickly put to rest as the various fighters were able to test their mettle against the groups of nightmares that attempted to attack the scouts.
Kamal, who had otherwise been sullen throughout the contract, took sadistic pleasure in his new occasional role fighting for the scouting parties. His preferred method of fighting involved chilling and slowing hordes of nightmares with his power and following up with brutal whip strikes. The few times Veil saw her former master in action, she thanked Serapis that he rarely tended to use his power otherwise.
Much like her fellow Walker, Priya also reveled in the carnage she was now able to wreak against the nightmares. Her seemingly reckless rushing attacks with her small army of slaves proved to be effective at taking down nightmares without much trouble, a fact that she was all too eager to gloat about whenever she got a chance.
One night at the convoy camp, Veil had the misfortune of being one of the ones who had to listen to Priya's gloating, having been assigned to a recently returned scouting party along with her, Asma, and Kamal. As the four of them warmed themselves around the fire, Priya and Kamal ended up getting into a conversation that Veil was silently loathing that she had to hear.
"I'm just saying," Priya said in between gulps of beer, "you want anything good out of your slaves? You gotta really make them afraid of pissing you off! The same way they're afraid of pissing Serapis off!"
"Pretty sure I already do that," Kamal said, "and they still manage to fuck everything up! Honestly, how hard can it be to grow a few different crops without mixing them up?"
Veil grimaced, recalling Kamal's various inscrutable orders regarding crop rotation and proper fertilizer use. Pretty sure everything you've ever said about it is something only you understand…
"Kamal, buddy, you can't expect slaves to get shit like that! Now, I know you get how farming works, but that's just because you're a Walker! No dumbass slave's gonna know how all that shit works!"
Sitting just to her side, Veil could see Asma clenching her fists. Veil silently gave thanks to Serapis that the two Walkers couldn't see her do so from behind the fire.
"You hearing this shit, Veil?" Asma whispered. "Like she thinks blindly obeying orders is all we're good for…"
Veil nodded and responded with a whisper of her own. "Yeah, and honestly I'm not surprised she thinks that either…"
"Her and Kamal… I can't stand people like them… Ones who boss people around and expect them to obey without question… Half the reason I left Anduruna in the first place…"
"You mean you weren't exiled?"
"No, in fact you could say I was part of the exiling problem. But after what happened with Evan and Arc, I had to get out because I couldn't really stand being a part of that anymore…"
"What do you mean, 'part of the problem?' What exactly did you do back in Anduruna?"
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. I worked as a Saf-"
Kamal let out a hearty laugh, interrupting Asma. "Serapis above, though! Never thought I'd meet someone from House Mut who really gets it, but here we are! You with those slaves you made into living weapons, and me, the guy who can hardly manage to get his own slaves to use a hoe right!"
"You know, I could probably teach you a thing or two about how I do it. Maybe since you're a guy," Priya said, resting her hand on Kamal's thigh, "you just need a lady's touch, a little help from Serapis's favored gender to help you learn how to get your slaves working right…"
Veil felt the bile rising in her throat as she watched Priya push herself even closer to Kamal. Serapis, please please please don't let this happen. Anyone but these two…
"Huh, you think so? Never really thought of myself as the type for that. I'm an old man for one, not even sure how much older I am than you!"
"Oh, Kamal buddy, don't tell this to anyone, but I age real gracefully. I know I don't look it, but I'm really…"
Priya whispered something in Kamal's ear.
"No shit… Really? You barely look a day over-" Kamal paused, and went stiff. "You feel that? I swear to Serapis, something just changed in the air. Something that gave me a bad chill."
"Probably Serapis trying to keep them apart," Asma said under her breath, earning a muted chuckle from Veil.
Priya gave Kamal a confused look. "Feel what? It was probably just the wind."
Kamal rose, and his halo whirred into existence. "No, I'm serious. Something's wrong. I know the difference between natural cold and power-made cold, and what I felt sure as hell wasn't natural."
A frigid breeze blew through the camp, nearly putting the fire out as it did. Everyone shuddered as they felt the gust passing among them.
"Something like this… it could only be…"
As Kamal spoke, everyone started moving to arm themselves, predicting exactly what he would say next. Veil activated her power, flaring out her frills and summoning plasma balls to orbit around herself. Asma grabbed her shields from off of the ground, rapidly fastening them to her body with practiced motions. Priya let out a shrill whistle, and a few of her slaves started approaching the fire. Kamal himself reached for the whip at his belt, unfurling it with a flick of his wrist.
As another chilling blast of wind shook the nearby groundcars and completely doused the fire, Kamal shouted to alert the camp of what everyone in the group had already figured out.
"Nightmares! They're attacking the camp!"
Kamal turned his gaze to the sky with a defiant look on his face. As Veil turned her own gaze to follow his, she could barely see the outline of a colossal creature in the dark of the night sky. All of a sudden, what had initially appeared to be stars dotting the nightmare's body slowly started blinking out, and Veil felt a wind that chilled her to her bones coming from what she only now understood was the monster's gaping maw.