Later that evening both Elias and Tessa had decided to split up and mingle with the other village-folk. Elias had noticed something in Tess throughout their endless dances that had gotten to him. For some reason she had seemed almost; sad. "What have you done now…" he thought.
Despite the lingering feeling that he had somehow upset her, she had stayed true to her playful nature and left with a tease, "Best not let them think something is going on between us," she had said before she had finally slipped away into the crowd.
Elias was filled with a myriad of emotions: concern over however he had managed to upset her, unease that had seeped back into the forefront of his mind and joy: the dances had left him in a good mood, one he truly hadn't expected after the events of the morning.
Mingling with other villagers he swapped stories and jokes as the festivities continued into complete darkness. The energy within the square was something they only witnessed during the festival, everyone coming together to honour and celebrate those who had passed and those who lived on.
Hours passed with much the same, he spotted Tess across the square once or twice and they would wave or exchange glances. Each time he had thought whether it would be too soon, or come across as to eager to reunite with her. As the night approached midnight he felt a subtle and familiar sense of tiredness settle over him and he decided to nestle into one of the wooden tables for a small while. Taking in the dancing, drinking and merriment around him.
As he stretched across the bench a cold shiver ran down his spine. The unease thumping within his mind.
It's time.
"What?!" he spat, his eyes opening wide as he glanced around, "What was that?!" he continued in his thoughts as a number of villagers around had immediately turned to face him. The same voice as earlier, in the forest.
The atmosphere around him began to shift unnaturally and he frowned as he rubbed his chest. A cold wind gusted through the air and a sudden silence embraced the square as the music faltered mis-song. Elias looked around; the musicians had stopped playing and the villagers had grown quiet.
A shiver ran down his spine and his eyes shot to the edge of the square, his instincts urging him to stay alert—"For what?!" he thought.
One thing was for sure, the peace of the evening was over. Just as soon as complete silence seemed to settle over the square, it broke with a low, otherworldly growl.
His heart thumped—or, was it his chest.
Unease thrust through his spirit as he leapt to his feet, scanning the crowd, searching for anything amiss. His hand had instinctively grasped at the hilt of his gathering knife; he was glad he had forgotten to remove it—although he knew it would be little more than a distraction for anything larger than a badger.
As whispers crept across the villagers, he heard the strange growl repeat, louder this time. It was quickly followed by a startled cry from a woman on the edge of the square.
Elia's pulse quickened as he looked in her direction, her gaze locked onto the darkness beyond the square's warmly lit torches. He felt his chest thump and a flash of crimson shot across his vision. Something was coming.
He strained to see past the orange glow at the edges of the square, "What the hell…?" he muttered as he tried to rationalise his erratic spirit and the events unfolding before them. A sense of dread and foreboding crept into his stomach as the painful memories from earlier spat across his mind.
He looked around, sweeping the area, trying to spot Tessa in the growing chaos. Then, suddenly, the torches near the edge of the square began to flicker and one by one, they went out.
"Shit!" Elias grimaced as he moved from the table towards the centre of the square. "What's coming? Come on… What is it?!"
Panic had begun to take root in the crowd as voices rose and people began to back away from the now-darkening edges. Another growl emerged from beyond and as it did, a figure stumbled forward from the shadows. A young man Elias had recognised from earlier than evening—his eyes widened, the mans face was twisted in fear, his eyes glassy and he was—he was covered in blood, from head to toe, both his hands grasped around a dark red hole in his stomach, wormlike flesh spilling between his fingers as his guts threatened to escape his body.
Gasping, the man choked out, "They're coming," he stumbled a step, "From the fores—" a spray of blood cut off his words as a long blade-like claws ripped through the torso of the man leaving two halves falling to the floor.
They all screamed.
Collectively the entire square erupted into screams, terror, running. Some clutched at the children, animals bolted and people ran in all directions. The image of his mother flashed into his mind. The ominous words from earlier ran through him once more.
It's Time.
The nightmare he'd hoped never to experience again came back like it was only yesterday. The visions in the forest, they made sense now. It was happening again.
"No," He thought, "No, no, NO!"
Tears immediately swelled in his eyes as his mouth fell open at the sight before him. Less than a second passed from the dismembered corpse hitting the floor and the emergence of the creatures.
Aberrations.
A grotesque figure emerged from the shadows, its form barely resembling a man, its limbed stretched out in unnatural angles and its body marked with mottled purple and dark red blotches on its skin. Eyes glowing with an eerie crimson light—it was fixed on the gathering, unblinking.
Before Elias could move, the creature let out a guttural roar that cut across the fleeing villagers like a blade. People stumbled as they fled in terror and the cries and screams erupted around him.
More figures emerged alongside the first, all equally as grotesque, some with pores the size of a brick, oozing a red-pus-like substance down their decrepit skin.
All at once, they moved. The creatures sprang forward with a speed he'd only seen once before; they ignored all obstacles as if they were little more than parchment in the way of a horse. They thrust and swang with their disproportionate forms, their claws embedding and maiming the nearest villagers.
"Get out! Run!" He gasped, voice raw as he stood watching the horror before him, but it was too late, the aberrations moved faster than anyone could react. Death followed the claws, along with pools of dark red and mangled limbs flying through the air. Aberrations bit down into the flesh of men, women and children alike.
"Fuck… FUCK!" he thought as tears swam down his face and his stomach turned, he felt sick. He turned as the creatures continued their relentless approach. Mutilated arms and legs littering the ground and his eyes met the lifeless gaze of dozens of decapitated—and now soulless people.
Vomit came as quickly as the Aberrations moved as he upended the contents of his stomach, all the while his mind screamed at him "MOVE! ELIAS, FUCKING MOVE!"
Frantically, he urged himself to move. Elias desperately wanted to intervene, but his training seemed woefully inadequate to face such terrors and his instincts screamed for him to run. He could do nothing, these weren't just wild beasts, they were abominations, imbued with the power of the corrupted cosmos. He could sense it in the air, oppressive energy that only those attuned to the system might feel—it was enhanced in the corrupted, it was how he felt that fateful night.
Elias had no access to innate abilities, he had no skills, no stats and no titles. He knew these Aberrations were awakened, they had to be at least Tier one—stronger, faster and imbued with power that he could not yet fully comprehend. It did nothing for those that were Awakened to have just the power of the System either, even they stood no chance against these creatures of death.
"This is bad" he breathed, his jaw clenched as his body finally moved. His heart pounding in realisation. He ran, with all that he had, he ran.
Elias made it out of the square and found himself braced against the wall of the bakery a hundred meters of so out from the square. He was trying to regain his composure, the memories he'd experienced earlier combined with the trauma of five years ago mixed with the events of the present. He couldn't stop shaking, his face was wet with tears and sick. Images of the mutilated villagers flashed into his mind—they were brutal. He realised how much of what he had seen had been repressed. He had shut out so much of the blood. The pain. The screaming.
"Come on, Elias, come on. Survive." He said as he helplessly tried to shake himself.
Elias stumbled away from the wall in a daze, he pushed himself towards his home—"Find Jacob, Find Tess—Then run." He closed off the intrusion of the ferocious screams coming from all directions and he focussed on the task at hand.
Just as soon as he had left the sanctuary of the bakery wall, he heard a voice crying out—it was close, "Help!"
Elias turned off to the side, just down a dirt path he saw the source, a small girl huddled against the wall of a shop, "Mira?!" he called out.
Her face was frozen in terror as he followed her gaze, an aberration advanced towards her. Emotions swelled within him, his chest and heart thumped as one.
The corpses of those in the square seared into his vision as he steeled his incoherent mind.
"I can't let her die too."