ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 33: Out of the Breach

My own eyes were unable see the enemies that were spread out in the grass around me. I knew that they were there only because the Companion had shared its memories with me, revealing the area around us in an incredibly detailed bird's-eye-view. I could see the creatures hiding, but it seemed unlikely that they would continue to wait for long.

I would need to strike as fast and as lethally as possible, before the creatures had a chance to launch their own attack. I closed my eyes, trying to build an image in my mind that contained the location of each of the bulbs and their direction and distance relative to myself.

As I reviewed the memories, I could see myself standing on a small bald hill, like an island sticking up above waves of grass. Spores had spread out to fill the air around me with a blue haze as they danced upon eddies of wind that whirled them into tight spirals and dizzying patterns.

Below the haze, eight lines of rippling grass encircled me. Each row was rushing towards me from a different direction. Only the unusual pattern of movement showed that anything was wrong. Nothing could be seen within the ripples and they created no noise as they sped through the grass, parting it slightly behind them.

The Companion was showing me its memories from moments before I was attacked – seven of the ripples came to a sudden stop and the grass began to weave together before growing into tall bulbs that appeared directly behind where the ripples had ended.

The eighth ripple did not stop, instead exploding into motion as claws and matted fur crashed into me from behind.

My inattention had led me to not only become surrounded, but also sucker punched by what was obviously an attack meant to test my defenses. The intelligence and coordination this showed terrified me. If humankind lost our only advantage over beasts, then what hope did we have to thrive in this new environment?

The rat-plant thing that had attacked me proved that they were capable of incredible levels of stealth as well as debilitating sneak attacks. I wasn't sure I could handle the remaining monsters if they were able to get the drop on me. So far, they had remained hidden, but it had only been a scant few seconds since the first attack had ended.

I would need to either attack all seven at the same time or find a way to defend against their immediate counter attack. I hated being on the defensive as it always felt like a losing strategy. Luckily, the Companion had its own ideas about how we should handle the situation.

Whatever the Companion might be, it was not subtle. It had shared with me images detailing its plan to take out the creatures, though calling it a plan might be giving it too much credit. I sighed as I mentally agreed with the Companion, giving it my permission to act.

Now was not the time to reign in its blood lust, or its twisted sense of humor.

The Companion turned into a cloud of black and red smoke that flickered with its own internal light. The sun still shone in a clear blue sky above a field of rolling green and spinning sapphire, and yet for a moment it was is if all color was drained from the world save for that infernal red glimmer.

I snapped out of the moment as I heard the familiar sounds of bones cracking. The slain rat-plant creature had slowly begun to rise from the ground with slow, twisting motions. It looked unnatural, as if strings attached the creature to a sinister puppeteer.

At first, the creature's stance was unsteady, and it wobbled upon weak knees and its head jerked back and forth in erratic, spine-cracking motions. The limbs quickly stiffened as the Companion brought the corpse under its control, and the creature gave out a roar as it charged forward and disappeared into the grass.

As this was happening I activated the arcane shield spell and then filled everything around me with illusionary smoke that I sent deep into the grass, trying to fill the void between each blade. The Companion would be unaffected by the illusion, but the plant-animal creatures would hopefully be blinded.