Snippet #908431

Kerix was surrounded in darkness, his eyes immovably locked on a man standing a ways from him. He appeared to be in the light of something overhead, yet there was no light there, and his features were only minimally distinguishable from the other darkness surrounding them both. As the man waved, motioning for Kerix to come to him he felt a tugging as though he was being pulled away. Suddenly an image appeared as though he were looking through a window. It was apparently from the perspective of someone watching him as he crawled out from the shadows after he had killed the city supervisor. He felt a pressure squeeze him as the fear of being found out came to his mind, but the tugging continued with increased force as though he was being pulled in two directions. Seized with fear, Kerix realized someone knew he was there that night and could expose him. The image was gone as quickly as another replaced it: a particular spot in the city, and the path to get there. He looked towards the man again who spoke words while his mouth remained closed.

"Come to me, Lathan Dayle."

He felt the tugging continue, and then it was as if the other side had stopped pulling all together and he was being yanked forcefully in the one direction. Waking with a start, Kerix sat up as he breathed in quickly and deeply. Looking around he could see that he was in the barracks and the elf who had been standing over him now put one hand on the bed for balance. Though he felt as if his blood had been frozen and was still thawing throughout his body, Kerix swung his feet off the bed and stood, grabbing the elf by the shoulders.

"I don't know what you did," he said as he moved the man to a sitting position on the bed he just occupied. "But thank you. You need to sit for a second and catch your breath. I don't know how you feel, but you look like death warmed over."

Instinctively he reached his hand behind his back to find nothing, remembering that his knives had been used at the previous fight. "Stay here," he said quickly. "I will be right back."

Sprinting off, Kerix quickly oriented himself and returned to the spot where he had fought the thing. "How could he know my name," he thought to himself as he ran, still seized by the thing he could only described as a dream. As he rounded a corner and approached the scene he was stopped in his tracks when he saw nothing.

He had expected to see the creature, but it had vanished. As he walked to the spot where he fell and began collecting and sheathing his knives, Kerix noticed there weren't any tracks leading away from where the creature had been. He could see the spot on the ground where the thing had fallen, but there was nothing there except for two arrows and his larger and primary blade. It was as if the thing had simply ceased existing in the spot where it had lay. Whatever had happened, it was nothing that he could continue to undertake himself.

Kerix turned quickly and began his route towards the barracks again but soon realized that he had missed a turn, finding himself in a part of the castle grounds he did not recognize. Rather than turn back, he climbed a nearby wall in order to better determine where he was and where Samuel or the barracks might be. Instead, what he saw as he topped the wall was quite a chaotic scene. One of the black robed creatures leaned over a soldier that had fallen, his sword still protruding from its side as it held its hand to the side of the man's now deathly pale face as though it were leeching the life out of him. A second creature had been fighting with a a soldier who was now down and unmoving. Kerix watched as it stood and turned its eyes towards a female nearby who was watching the third. The third creature was beneath him, backed against the wall by the force of the blows from a tiger but still relentless in its own swings, connecting with the tiger repeatedly.

Thinking quickly, Kerix moved towards one of the larger stones on top of the wall and began to push it slightly; it would give. Letting out a quick whistle, the tiger looked up at Kerix as it fought and somehow understood the message. Shifting its back feet, it began to push the thing further down the wall towards Kerix as he began to push the stone. "Come on," he shouted as he pushed with all of his might.

As the stone made its final tip, Kerix was unprepared and instinctively grabbed it as it fell, riding the stone down as it landed on the things head crushing it to the ground. Kerix bounced wildly off the stone on to his back on the ground as the tiger quickly approached him and sniffed at his face. "Help the girl," he wheezed forcefully as he regained his breath and threw an arm in her direction. Looking over he could see the thing unmoving beneath the stone as a dark gray fluid ran from its smashed skull.

As he stood to his feet he saw the last creature stand, apparently having completed its feeding and turn to face the girl as well. Instantly he sprinted in her direction, hoping that help was on the way.