Clumsy Beasts, You’ve Crossed The Line นิยาย & เรื่องราว

"Hold the line! The mages are charging for the second phase of magic." The beasts closed in once more, this time moving quicker. Their claw-like feet gouged the ground as they bolted forward, their jaws full of decaying, pointed teeth. The frontlines of Brunschière's defenders met the first wave, steel clashing against flesh as the town was plunged into pandemonium.

I was tangled with the wind, the invisible wall squeezing me tighter. The blackened clouds cracked, and deep reds covering the cracks in the sky had me shaking my head in disbelief. Where was Luci? Animals from the forest scattered on the beach, each one falling to the ground by an invisible force. They cried in pain as they tried to run away from the invisible entity holding them hostage.

I still can’t see his eyes, but I feel them–boring into me, as if he could peel back the layers of my skull and read my thoughts directly. “You broke the law,” he says slowly. “The sacred law.” The words land like thunder, even though I don’t know what they mean. My hands tremble. Somewhere deep inside, something shifts. A crack. A fracture. “I…. What law? What sacred law?” I whisper. He leans in. I can smell something on him now–ash, maybe. Earth. Something old. “The one spoken of only in whispers. The one no one, not even the elders dare to challenge. And yet…. You did.”

The Crossbearer. Fuck.

He grunts, but barely flinches. Then we’re gone again, slipping back before Montague can recover. Three on one. No space for mistakes. No time to breathe. Zanthe snarls, her claws itching beneath my skin. ‘Ready when you are.’

They moved with a disturbing grace, their bodies slithering across the uneven floor, their long, clawed fingers dragging against the ground. There were at least a dozen of them, and they were closing in. Panic clawed at him, threatening to overwhelm his senses. He stumbled back, his flashlight beam dancing wildly, trying to maintain some semblance of control, his mind racing to find an escape route. The creatures were fast, impossibly fast, their movements defying the laws of physics, or maybe any rules at all. They seemed to anticipate his every move, reacting to the slight tremor of the ground under his feet.

No turning back. We’d crossed a line. And there was no uncrossing it.

‘Compared to Adrian, I really am useless,’ he thought, suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy. The two monstrous beasts clashed violently again, their battle echoing through the air. Adrian concealed his presence as he crept closer. He knew he had to move in because the two beasts were gradually drifting apart. As he got nearer, he could feel their terrifying power, causing the very space around them to tremble.

Hybrids or not we were being chased by several beasts. Heavy dollops of rain began to plummet, cutting through the fog. The storm has begun. The grassy forest floor quickly becomes slicker, less trustworthy underfoot. Sybil's huge paws slip over fallen leaves forcing us to slow down. Then I hear a sickening crunch and a yelp of agony. It's got to be Briss. Shit upon crap upon shitbags of fuckery. Maybe he’s winning, taking an attacker down. There’s so many of them though I can only imagine he’s been surrounded.