Ashfall had been staring at the floor, his mind blank, when the sound reached him.
A faint tick-tick-tick echoed through the tunnel.
He turned his head slightly, and the others were already reacting. Even the ones who had spent days staring into nothing like lifeless puppets suddenly lifted their heads. Their eyes widened, not with hope, but with that dull kind of fear that comes when your body realizes something before your mind does.
The sound came from the left tunnel. Kael rose slowly from his "throne", the flickering firelight reflecting in his eyes like twin blades. Lyara stood behind him, tilting her head, her expression blank but alert.
Ashfall took a few steps closer to the edge of the light, curiosity pulling at him stronger than fear. The ticking grew louder, closer, and now it carried with it… something else. A hum, like a soft lullaby.
The others started whispering for the first time.
"Do you hear that?" one of them asked.
"It's a song…" another muttered, voice trembling.
Kael raised a hand for silence. His tone was calm, but the tendons in his neck were rigid.
"Stay still," he ordered. "Whatever that is... it's not human."
Ashfall snorted under his breath. "Thanks for the insight, genius."
The ticking drew closer still, echoing through their bones, until the shadows at the tunnel's end began to move. Not shift, but move.
Black shapes crawled along the ground, slick and soundless, like oil spreading across the stone. Tentacle-like appendages stretched forward, twisting and curling, almost feeling for the firelight ahead.
The sight hit Ashfall in the gut. As the tendrils neared the edge of the light, he saw what they were made of: tiny, malformed faces, each no larger than a coin, pressed together in black flesh. Some smiled, some cried, others screamed silently with mouths that didn't close.
"Minor Mythbornes…" Ashfall whispered. "Dozens of them."
The tentacles stopped the moment they reached the light's edge, recoiling slightly as if afraid of it. The humming continued though, drifting closer and softer.
Kael took a cautious step forward. "Identify yourself," he said, trying to sound commanding but failing to mask the edge in his voice. "If you can understand me, speak."
The lullaby didn't stop. Then, from the dark, a figure emerged: a woman, pale and ghostly, holding a small, wrapped bundle in her arms. The ticking… came from her. Each step she took echoed with that same steady rhythm, like the beating of a clock embedded in her chest.
Her song was calm. Too calm. Ashfall raised his silenced pistol without hesitation. "That's close enough."
Lyara glanced at him but didn't interfere this time. In fact, she gave a small nod almost encouraging. The thought of killing her and Kael crossed his mind, but he still didn't know Kael's ability and with the strange woman in front, he still needed them probably.
Kael motioned for everyone to get ready. "Weapons up," he commanded. "If she moves wrong, shoot."
The others obeyed, though three of them were visibly shaking. Only the old man beside Ashfall stayed steady, his expression grim and empty. Ashfall noticed Lyara's eyes flickering faintly, like light trapped behind glass. One by one, each trembling survivor's hand jerked, tightening around their weapon as if guided by invisible strings.
He narrowed his eyes. He watched her carefully and made a mental note. She could only do one thing at a time and that meant, right now, all her focus was on keeping them under control, but only one at a time.
Kael stepped forward again. "Hey," he said softly, the false warmth returning to his voice. "You can stop singing now. We're not here to hurt you. We can help–"
The woman didn't stop. Her eyes were closed, her voice cracked, and the melody turned sour. "Listen to me," Kael said louder, trying to approach.
A sharp sound followed—like meat tearing—and a massive black tentacle shot forward, smashing into the ground between them, cracking the stone floor. Kael froze, his fake smile faltering.
He stepped back carefully, raising both hands. "Alright. No closer. Got it."
Ashfall's grip on his gun tightened. His heart pounded against his ribs, every instinct screaming to shoot, but something about the way she held the baby made him hesitate.
Kael turned to Lyara, whispering something too low for Ashfall to hear. She nodded, her eyes dimming.
Then, the woman stopped humming. The silence that followed was heavy; like air before a storm.
She looked up. Her eyes were empty sockets filled with ticking clockwork.
"Because of you…" she said, her voice breaking into static. "…he's awake now."
A pulse of black light rippled through the tunnel. The baby in her arms began to move. Not like a child should, but twitching, spasming, the fabric stretching as something beneath it grew, pressed, and clawed.
Ashfall's throat went dry. "Oh, fuck me…"
The woman's body lifted off the ground. Her lower half unraveling into a mass of writhing tentacles that reached across the walls and ceiling. Her lullaby returned, but this time it was a shriek disguised as a song.
"OPEN FIRE!" Kael screamed.
The tunnel exploded in gunfire. Bullets tore through the dark, sparks flying as they hit stone. The Mythborne's arms whipped through the air, slamming one of the men clean off his feet and dragging him screaming into the shadows. The man's cries turned wet, then silent as his body was absorbed into the mass.
Ashfall fired three precise shots at the creature's head. One hit dead center, but it barely flinched. The wound oozed black liquid, which closed instantly like it had never been there.
"Doesn't work!" he shouted, ducking as a tentacle crashed into the ground beside him.
Kael's face twisted into something ugly; fear, rage, and something else: self-preservation.
He turned toward her, whispering, "I'm sorry."
Then he plunged his knife into her stomach.
Lyara gasped, her control shattering. The others froze mid-action, confusion flashing across their faces before panic took over. Kael stabbed again. "I'm sorry," he said louder this time, as if the words excused the act. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Ashfall stared in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Kael looked back at him with wild eyes. "Shut your dirty mouth."
Lyara collapsed, her body twitching. The glow in her eyes faded, and the men she had been controlling dropped their weapons. The Mythborne let out a guttural screech, louder than any machine Ashfall had ever heard.
Ashfall raised his gun again, but this time he wasn't aiming at the creature. He was aiming at Kael.
"You're insane," Ashfall hissed.
Kael didn't respond. He just smiled bloody, unbothered, and wrong. "Now you will see something, Ashfall," he said quietly. "Survival has a price. And I'm always willing to pay it."
The tentacles surged forward again, swallowing the firelight in one violent wave. The camp plunged into chaos: screams, gunfire, and the echo of a twisted lullaby fading into the dark.