Lucas stared with widened eyes, he glanced to his side and saw the same expression on his teammates; fear.
What they saw in front of them could not be described by normal words, it was an abomination, one too extreme for a couple of Unmarked to face off against.
Lucas stared at it for a while, his body telling him one thing. Run away.
The Cursed Creature looked like the combination of a Raven and a Lion, almost looking like a Griffin, with a Raven's head, a Lion's torso, its two front legs being that of a bird and the two hind legs being that of a Lion.
These abominable combinations were known as Dreadforms. They were what the weakest rank of Cursed Creatures turned to, the Aberrants became Dreadforms and as it stood they stood no chance against it.
The creature screeched, its voice completely paralyzing each and every one of them with fear.
Lucas was the first to get his senses back, he had to run away, to get as far away from this thing as possible or he'll die. He had thought he was ready for death the moment he was chosen by the Writ but now, he didn't know anymore. All he knew was that he needed to run away.
He looked towards Deborah, people from huge clans like hers always gave their kids artifacts in preparation for their Impositions, he knew she had something hidden and then it happened.
The creature lunged forward, aiming for Lucas's head but its claws just barely missed him. He fell backwards to the floor in shock, his heart almost jumping out of his mouth.
'I almost died,' he told himself. He didn't know what to do. He turned around but the creature was already standing behind him. He started crawling backwards with his face full of fear, this abominable creature wanted him dead.
It slashed at him with its claws but each and every attack narrowly missed. That was when a flash of light shone from behind him, the creature looked up, Lucas sighed and then immediately turned around. He saw Deborah throwing a weapon to David, it was a longsword with a curved tip.
David held the sword forward, his hands shaking, he attacked the creature. His movements were precise and almost perfect.
Almost…
The Griffin lunged forward, David held the sword in front of himself to block the attack but the strength of the creature was more than his and so he was sent flying backwards.
Then they all heard someone's fingers snap, the creature was covered in flames. It screamed and screamed, causing the ground to shake and rumble. Lucas turned slightly to the left and saw Karl continuously snap his fingers to keep the flames going.
'Well, the benefits of having a great faculty,' Lucas hid himself behind and observed the battle. The creature continued to scream as it stumbled around, even rolling on the floor but the flames did not cease.
David jumped forward for an attack, the creature lunged at him. Its claws hit the blade of the sword, cutting a bunch of them off. He jumped backwards and took on a battle stance once more holding the sword in front of himself.
The flash of light shone once again, Deborah summoned another artifact. A crossbow and arrows.
'They seem to be connected seeing as they appeared together,' Lucas thought from his hiding place. He stared ahead taking note of everything that had happened in the battle.
Deborah aimed the crossbow at the giant abomination and fired, but to no one's surprise it barely did anything.
The tips of the arrows broke the moment they connected with its skin, even the longsword David was given was of no use at all. Its blade just slid off the Griffin's skin as it landed.
David lunged forward for another attack, stabbing at its skin, but the sword wasn't able to penetrate. Lucas moved out of where he hid and went to a hiding spot that was closer to the ongoing battle.
From the corner of his eye, Karl took notice of him but he didn't have time for that as he continually snapped his fingers to keep the flames burning.
'Seeing as he hasn't stopped snapping, it seems he needs to keep doing that to maintain the flames.' Lucas turned his attention to Deborah who still shot arrows at it with her crossbow. He could see its elegant design even more now.
It rested on her hands perfectly, it looked like what was crafted by the hands of a master craftsman. It seemed powerful, a weapon made for royalty, nobles and glorious hunters but for this battle it was doing absolutely nothing.
'This is at most a Branded artifact.'
Artifacts were ranked the same way humans and Cursed Creatures were, although artifacts tend to follow the path that humans do. Lucas noted that it was just of Branded rank.
'This isn't working.' Streams of sweat trodden down Lucas's face, his brows furrowed as his frustration and fear increased.
David attacked once more, his attacks had become sluggish and as it was before they weren't doing any damage. If it wasn't for Karl's flames keeping the creature at bay then they would have been dead.
Would have…
Karl suddenly stopped snapping, he knelt on one knee. His chest heaving, sweat pouring down his face.
Then they all turned in a certain direction. The flames were out and what it had kept at bay was now standing close, its stare instilling the concept of fear within them.
Run away. Run away. Run away. Run away.
Lucas's cells screamed at him to leave the vicinity immediately, but fear rooted him in the place where he hid.
It walked up to them, its eyes flaming. It lunged at Karl and hit the spot where he stood with its claws. Dust sprang up and covered the area, when it settled there was nobody there.
Karl and Lucas lay on the ground both breathing heavily.
'Why did I do that? Did I just save this guy? What about running away and saving myself?,' Lucas asked himself, he turned to Karl and saw him sprawled out on the floor.
Then his body started burning brightly, Lucas almost gasped as he saw what was going on. The flames were healing him, healing his soul. Karl clenched his teeth as the flames burned his soul.
'That's to get back the Ruin he expended.' A huge paw swung at Lucas's face but it missed.
'He might get hit if he remains here.' He jumped up and then moved to where Karl lay. He held the self-healing Karl by one foot and then tossed him far to the side just before it attacked again, still missing once more.
Lucas looked up at the creature, his eyes still full of fear. It stared at him for a while as if noticing that it could not harm him. It turned around and went for the others.
It stood in front of Deborah, she kept on firing her arrows at it, aiming for places like its wings but the arrows couldn't penetrate it. Her hands suddenly dropped, all manner of defiance and hope instantly lost as she prepared for death.
"Aim for its eyes!" Lucas screamed. Deborah as if shaken back into reality she raised the crossbow yet again and shot two arrows in quick succession. They pierced its eyes and it screamed, its horrific voice making them shudder.
Blood and water splattered onto the ground as the creative's eyes were destroyed.
'Now it has no way of seeing us. But knowing something like this all its senses are enhanced.' Lucas crept away and went to the place where its claws had fallen previously. He picked one up and held it close.
He looked up and saw that Karl was back on his feet, sweating profusely. He aimed at the creature again and then snapped his fingers once more, keeping up the tempo as its soul burned.
David ran at it, jumping on its head. He raised his sword above his head and then plunged down deeper into its eyes.
'Isn't that lethal to him?'
Soul Flame burns the souls of the target and whatever it touches as long as what it's touching has a soul. David has a soul and that's what Lucas was afraid of, he directed his gaze to Karl, who stared at David as he dragged his sword out again and jumped to the floor.
He was grinning until it happened, he coughed up blood, his sword clanged as it fell to the ground. He held his chest and Lucas could see he was burning inside. The more Karl snapped his fingers, the more David burned.
"Karl stop!" Lucas screamed at the top of his voice as he ran towards David, he stood close to him as he rolled around in pain and anguish.
Karl gritted his teeth, he opened his mouth:
"If we want to survive, sacrifices must be made."
Lucas glared at him for a while and then ran at the creature. He screamed before sidestepping:
"Stop the flames!"
Karl contemplated for a while and then stopped snapping his fingers. He ran over to where David lay and started healing him.
Lucas ran at the creature, sidestepping at various junctures. It turned its head in the direction of the running footsteps, but they switched positions at every moment. It lunged forward, Lucas dodged to the side.
'It wasn't going to miss.'
Then he remembered what the Writ said, as long as he was running away then reality would make sure he escapes. Right now he wasn't running away, he was running towards something.
He thought back to what Karl said the first time he had asked him to stop the flames;
'If we want to survive, sacrifices must be made.'
He thought to himself:.
'If it had been me on the floor, injured. Would I have been left for dead?'
Fear gripped him, he had to run away from everything, from Cursed Creatures and from humans alike.
It lunged at him again but this time he was too late to dodge. It missed, narrowly.
He rolled underneath it and then raised the claw upward to its neck. He stabbed it and then dragged it all the way down to its abdomen.
Blood spurred out, covering the entirety of Lucas's body. Its innards fell out and then it stumbled backwards and fell.
Lucas lay down, covered in blood and breathing heavily. The sweet voice he had heard at the beginning came back
[You have slain a Dreadforms, Ravencroft]