Night on the Sulfur Plains was unlike any night Jack had known.
There was no moon here, no stars. Only a dense, oppressive blackness that pressed against the skin like a second layer of grime. The air grew colder as the last of the sunless light faded, yet the ground remained warm — almost unnaturally so, like something alive breathed beneath the surface.
Jack and Lena trailed the convoy from a safe distance. The armored truck rumbled slowly across the cracked earth, its headlights cutting weakly through the mist. Around it, half a dozen armed men walked on foot, rifles slung lazily, their eyes scanning the shadows.
> "They're moving slow," Lena whispered, crouched low behind a jagged rock formation. "We'll catch up too soon."
Jack shook his head, his own eyes fixed on the convoy's rear.
> "They're not moving slow," he murmured. "They're being careful."
> "Careful of what?"
Jack didn't answer. He had a feeling he knew — and the sound that echoed moments later confirmed it.
A deep, resonant rumble, like a distant heartbeat... but coming from below.
Lena looked at him, eyes wide.
> "What was that?"
Jack's mouth was dry.
> "We're standing on it."
> "On what?"
The ground shivered faintly under their feet. Cracks spread across the hardened surface, sulfur smoke leaking like the breath of a sick giant.
> "This valley isn't just cracked rock," Jack whispered. "It's alive."
Another sound followed — a low, guttural groan, rising from the depths, making the very air vibrate. Then... silence. As if the land itself was listening.
The convoy ahead stopped.
One of the men gestured wildly, urging the others to shut off the truck's engine. Lights dimmed. Weapons were drawn.
Jack grabbed Lena's arm.
> "Stay down. Don't move."
She obeyed, flattening herself against the ground. The soil was hot, almost too hot, as if embers burned just beneath the surface.
Then it happened.
Without warning, the earth ahead of the convoy collapsed inward with a thunderous roar. Dust and smoke billowed up, and from the depths of the sinkhole, something massive stirred.
Jack barely made out the shape through the haze — a colossal figure, worm-like, its body covered in blackened, armor-like scales. Dozens of thin, pale limbs jutted out along its sides, twitching like the legs of a centipede. But it was its head — if it could be called that — that froze Jack's blood.
A gaping maw, ringed with jagged teeth, opened with a sound like metal grinding on bone.
The creature let out a shriek, a piercing, unnatural sound that seemed to shake the very sky.
Lena whimpered beside him, covering her ears.
The convoy's men opened fire immediately, bullets sparking off the creature's armored hide. The worm writhed, limbs slashing through the air, catching two men and tossing them like broken dolls.
> "What... what is that?" Lena whispered.
Jack's voice was tight.
> "A Burrower. Some call them Soil Reapers. They live under places like this... only come up when they hear something big moving."
> "Why didn't you tell me?!"
> "Because I thought they were extinct!"
The Burrower lunged again, crushing the armored truck's front half with a sickening crunch. Screams echoed, quickly swallowed by the night.
Jack knew they had two choices — stay hidden and wait for the creature to move on... or risk slipping closer while it was distracted.
But then, amidst the chaos, Jack's eyes caught a figure moving — not a mercenary, but someone else, sprinting across the battlefield.
A scout.
Slender, fast, cloaked in light armor. The figure darted between rocks, heading away from the fight, eastward.
> "That's a Citadel scout," Jack muttered.
> "How do you know?"
> "Because they're running while everyone else is dying."
Jack stood, decision made.
> "We follow the scout."
> "What about the Burrower?!"
> "We don't make noise. We don't get noticed."
He extended a hand to Lena.
> "Come on. This is the closest we've been to the Citadel."
Lena hesitated, then grabbed his hand, pulling herself up.
They moved low, bodies close to the earth, slipping past the carnage. The screams, the gunfire — it all became background noise. Ahead, the scout was a ghost in the dark, but Jack burned the silhouette into his mind.
He wouldn't lose them.
And all the while, beneath their feet, the ground continued to breathe... as if the land itself was watching.
-----------