Scene- The Black Maw
The Traveler stopped.
The dead continued moving around him.
But something else had entered the mountain.
A presence.
Heavy.
Alive.
It moved through the air.
The Traveler slowly raised his head.
He couldn't see it.
But he could sense it.
Something was circling above them.
Then—
a sound.
Caw.
Every corpse stopped.
The Traveler's head tilted.
Another cry.
Closer.
The elder sister looked upward.
Her face changed.
"No..."
A black crow descended through the crimson sky.
Small.
Almost ordinary.
It landed upon a dead tree.
Its feathers were completely black.
Its eyes reflected the Blood Moon.
The Traveler stared toward it.
Then the bird opened its beak.
The air changed.
The tiny creature's body began expanding.
Bones shifted.
Wings stretched.
Its legs lengthened.
Its feathers spread outward like blades.
The body grew.
Larger.
Larger.
Larger.
Until the crow became a monstrous black bird towering above the mountain.
Its wings unfolded.
The wind exploded outward.
Dead bodies were thrown across the flowers.
The elder sister backed away.
"The Black Maw."
The Traveler turned toward her.
"You know it?"
She nodded.
Her face had gone pale.
"It's not a bird."
The creature opened its enormous beak.
A glow appeared deep inside its throat.
Orange.
Then white.
The elder sister shouted—
"Move!"
The beast fired.
A stream of burning energy erupted from its mouth.
The mountain lit up.
The blast swept across the dead.
Bodies caught in it disappeared into flame.
The resurrected corpses struggled.
But unlike the spider—
they didn't regenerate fast enough.
The black bird continued firing.
The dead burned.
The red moon reflected through the flames.
The Traveler sensed the attack before it reached him.
He moved.
The blast passed beside him.
Heat tore across his clothes.
He rolled.
Rose.
And immediately sensed another attack.
He moved again.
The beast's mouth opened.
Another blast.
The Traveler vanished sideways.
The ground behind him erupted.
The elder sister ran.
The bird turned toward her.
The Traveler immediately shifted direction.
He sensed the creature's attention.
He moved between them.
The bird's head followed.
Its eyes locked onto him.
The Traveler raised his fists.
He couldn't see the monster.
But he could feel its presence.
The bird spread its enormous wings.
The air shook.
Then—
Arafial's voice returned.
Cold.
Distant.
Almost amused.
"Now you're beginning to see."
The Traveler froze for half a second.
Arafial's voice vanished.
The beast attacked.
The Traveler moved.
The fire passed over his shoulder.
He felt the heat.
He kept moving.
The elder sister shouted from behind him.
"Don't fight it!"
The Traveler stopped.
She pointed toward the creature.
"It hunts during the Blood Moon."
The monster screamed.
She continued.
"It burns the dead so they cannot regenerate."
The Traveler understood.
The dead weren't the target.
The creature was controlling the battlefield.
The elder sister's voice shook.
"And if it sees a living person..."
She looked at the Traveler.
"...it burns them too."
The bird opened its mouth.
The glow returned.
The Traveler lowered his stance.
The elder sister whispered,
"Traveler..."
The fire erupted.
He charged toward it.