The night in Valdarin was supposed to be ordinary.
Lanterns hung from iron hooks along the narrow streets, casting warm yellow light across the stone roads. The last merchants were closing their shops, dragging wooden shutters over their windows while counting the day's coins. Somewhere near the center of the city, laughter spilled out from a tavern where a group of traders had clearly decided to spend more than they earned.
For most people in Valdarin, this was the quiet hour before sleep.
But not everyone slept easily.
At the northern gate, Thomas Reed leaned against the wooden guard post with a tired sigh.
Thomas had once been a soldier.
Ten years ago he had marched with the border army during the eastern skirmishes. Back then his armor had been polished steel and his sword had been sharp enough to shave with. Now he wore a thick leather coat, carried a dull spear, and spent most nights standing beside a gate that almost never saw trouble.
He scratched his beard and glanced down the empty road outside the walls.
"Another peaceful night," he muttered.
Beside him, the younger guard on duty—Lukas—shifted his weight nervously.
Lukas was barely twenty.
Still new to the city guard.
Still new enough to think every rustling bush might hide bandits.
"You shouldn't say that," Lukas said quietly.
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"Say what?"
"That it's peaceful."
Thomas snorted.
"Kid, this city hasn't seen real trouble in fifteen years."
Lukas glanced toward the dark forest beyond the walls.
"That forest out there says otherwise."
Thomas followed his gaze.
The eastern forest stretched endlessly beneath the moonlight, a dark ocean of trees rolling across the horizon.
He shrugged.
"Forest has always been creepy."
"That doesn't mean something's out there tonight."
Lukas opened his mouth to respond—
Then stopped.
His head tilted slightly.
"Did you hear that?"
Thomas frowned.
"Hear what?"
Lukas stepped closer to the edge of the gate and peered into the darkness beyond the walls.
"I thought I heard something moving."
Thomas groaned.
"Probably a deer."
"No," Lukas said quietly.
"It sounded… heavier."
Thomas sighed and grabbed his spear.
"Fine. Let's take a look so you can calm your nerves."
He stepped past the gate archway and onto the dirt road leading into the forest.
The night air outside the walls was colder.
Sharper.
Thomas frowned slightly.
"…Feels colder than usual."
Lukas followed a few steps behind him.
The two guards stood there listening.
At first there was nothing.
Just the wind brushing softly through the distant trees.
Then—
A sound.
Step.
Drag.
Step.
Drag.
Both men froze.
Thomas slowly turned his head toward the forest.
"That's not a deer."
Lukas gripped his spear tighter.
"Should we call the others?"
Thomas shook his head.
"Let's see what it is first."
The sound grew closer.
Branches shifted.
Something moved between the trees.
Then a shape stepped into the moonlight.
At first it looked like a man.
Tall.
Thin.
Moving slowly toward the gate.
Thomas relaxed slightly.
"See?" he muttered.
"Just some drunk fool from the taverns."
But Lukas did not relax.
Something about the figure felt wrong.
"Sir… look at its arms."
Thomas looked again.
His expression changed.
The arms were too long.
Far too long.
The figure stepped closer.
Moonlight revealed gray skin stretched across thin bones.
And black eyes.
Two empty voids staring directly at them.
Lukas whispered.
"…What is that?"
Thomas did not answer.
Because the creature suddenly ran.
---
The speed was terrifying.
The creature crossed half the distance to the gate in seconds.
Thomas barely had time to raise his spear.
"Back!"
The spear thrust forward.
The metal tip pierced the creature's chest.
For a moment Thomas thought the fight was over.
But instead of blood…
Black mist burst from the wound.
The creature did not stop.
Its clawed hand slammed into Thomas's chest.
The impact threw the guard backward into the stone gate wall.
His spear fell from his hands.
Lukas shouted.
"Thomas!"
He lunged forward, thrusting his spear toward the creature's neck.
The weapon struck.
But again—
No blood.
Only black smoke.
The creature's arm swung.
The claws sliced across Lukas's shoulder.
The young guard screamed as he fell to the ground.
Thomas struggled to stand.
"What… is this thing…?"
The creature turned its black eyes toward him.
Then slowly opened its mouth.
Rows of thin teeth gleamed in the lantern light.
Thomas realized something horrifying.
This thing wasn't attacking randomly.
It was studying them.
Learning.
"Lukas," Thomas said hoarsely.
"…Run."
But Lukas couldn't.
The creature stepped forward.
And the night in Valdarin
For a moment after Thomas spoke, the night seemed to freeze.
The lantern above the gate swayed gently in the wind, its weak flame flickering against the stone wall. Shadows stretched across the road like long fingers reaching outward into the darkness.
Lukas lay on the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder, his breath coming in short, panicked bursts.
The creature stood between them.
Perfectly still.
Its black eyes moved slowly from Lukas… to Thomas… and back again.
Thomas had seen men die before.
He had watched soldiers fall beside him during the border wars. He had seen the aftermath of raids, villages burned and bodies left where they fell.
But this…
This was different.
Because whatever stood before them was not human.
And it was not behaving like any beast he had ever encountered.
The creature tilted its head slightly, studying Thomas as if he were a puzzle that needed solving.
Then it stepped forward.
Thomas grabbed the broken spear shaft lying beside him and forced himself to stand.
His chest ached where the creature had struck him, but adrenaline pushed the pain aside.
"Come on then," he muttered.
"If you want me, you'll have to work for it."
The creature moved again.
Faster this time.
Thomas barely managed to raise the spear shaft before the creature's claws struck.
The wood splintered instantly.
The force knocked Thomas backward, slamming him against the gate wall again.
Pain exploded through his ribs.
He collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Behind him, Lukas struggled to crawl toward the open gate.
"Help!" the young guard shouted hoarsely.
"Guards! Help!"
His voice echoed down the street beyond the gate.
Inside the city, lights began to appear in nearby windows.
Someone shouted in confusion.
Boots pounded against stone as two more guards rushed toward the gate from the nearby watch post.
"What's happening?"
The first guard stopped abruptly when he saw the creature.
"…What in the gods is that?"
The creature turned its head slowly toward the new arrivals.
Thomas forced himself upright again.
"Don't just stand there!" he rasped.
"Kill it!"
The guards raised their spears.
Three weapons thrust forward at once.
This time the creature could not avoid them all.
Two spearheads pierced its torso.
A third stabbed into its shoulder.
For the first time the creature staggered.
Black mist poured from the wounds like smoke escaping a burning house.
But still…
No blood.
The creature looked down at the weapons embedded in its body.
Then slowly reached up and grabbed one of the shafts.
The wood snapped like dry twigs.
The guard holding it stared in disbelief.
"Oh no…"
The creature lunged.
Its clawed hand struck the man across the throat.
The sound of tearing flesh filled the air.
The guard collapsed instantly.
The second guard screamed and stumbled backward.
The creature turned toward him.
But before it could attack again—
A crossbow bolt slammed into its back.
The creature jerked.
It turned.
At the end of the street, four more guards were running toward the gate, weapons drawn.
One of them lowered his crossbow.
"Shoot it again!"
Two more bolts flew.
One struck the creature's arm.
Another pierced its chest.
Black mist burst outward.
The creature staggered.
Thomas saw his chance.
He grabbed the fallen spear beside him and drove it forward with all the strength he had left.
The blade punched through the creature's throat.
For several seconds nothing happened.
Then the creature collapsed.
Its body twitched violently.
The black mist pouring from its wounds grew thicker.
Thicker…
Until the entire corpse seemed to dissolve into smoke.
Within moments…
Nothing remained.
The guards stood frozen.
One of them whispered.
"…Where did it go?"
Thomas bent over, hands on his knees, struggling to breathe.
"I don't know," he said hoarsely.
"But that thing wasn't natural."
The crossbowman approached cautiously.
"There's something here."
He knelt where the creature had fallen.
In the center of the dirt road, something small remained.
A dark crystal.
No larger than a coin.
But it pulsed faintly with a strange black light.
The guard picked it up.
The moment his fingers touched the surface—
The crystal trembled.
Thomas's head snapped up.
"Drop it!"
But it was too late.
The crystal shattered.
Black mist burst outward like an explosion.
The guards stumbled back, coughing.
And from the darkness beyond the gate…
New sounds began to echo.
Step.
Drag.
Step.
Drag.
Thomas slowly turned toward the forest.
His heart sank.
Shapes were emerging from the trees.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens.
Gray figures moving slowly toward the gate beneath the moonlight.
One of the younger guards whispered in terror.
"…There's more."
Thomas wiped blood from his mouth and forced himself upright.
His ribs screamed in protest.
But he grabbed another spear anyway.
"Ring the alarm bell," he said quietly.
The guard beside him hesitated.
"That will wake the whole city."
Thomas looked toward the approaching shapes.
"That's the idea."
The alarm bell began to ring.
Its heavy iron sound thundered across the sleeping streets of Valdarin.
Lanterns lit in windows.
Doors opened.
People stepped outside in confusion.
And beneath the broken sky above the city…
The first wave of creatures began their march toward the walls.