The ground trembled violently as the creature below stirred from its ancient slumber. The maegis lost their footing, scrambling to their knees before staggering away, desperate to escape the unfolding nightmare.
Then, the earth cracked open even further.
The thing rose.
Its form was a grotesque mockery of nature – an eldritch horror that defied logic and reason. Even the briefest glimpse of it sent an unnatural chill through the spine, as though its very existence corroded sanity.
It was sleek yet impossibly vast, its sickly green bioluminescence casting an eerie, ghostly glow. The light flickered like a dying star, rendering its already spectral shape all the more otherworldly.
A myriad of eyes – ghastly, disembodied orbs – peered in every direction, each one pulsing with an unsettling awareness.
'Asreth have mercy on our souls,' Fladd breathed, his voice laced with terror and awe.
Spectral tendrils slithered outward, curling and unfurling like restless phantoms. With an unnatural grace, the creature lifted itself into the air, unbound by gravity. Its undulating body bore an uncanny resemblance to deep-sea leviathans, adorned with wispy, translucent fins and jagged, thorn-like spines.
Then, it unhinged its maw.
And from within – framed by rows upon rows of blade-like fangs – stared the colossal eye that had first struck terror into their hearts.
Caged behind its monstrous teeth, the eye gleamed with an unfathomable hunger, its pupil contracting as if selecting which soul to consume first.
Then it roared.
The air itself fractured under the force of its cry.
They felt it – not just in their ears, but in their very cores. The unnatural sound bypassed flesh and bone, striking straight into their souls.
Agony bloomed.
Blood erupted from their mouths, their noses, their ears – forced out as if their bodies rejected the horror's very presence.
'What is this thing?!' Riniock cried, his voice barely audible over the ringing in his skull. 'I've never – never seen anything like it!'
Niann did not respond. His blank, unfocused eyes were evidence that he had already been lost to the terror. Blood streaked his face, his breath shallow.
Siegmun, though standing, was no less shaken. His mind grasped for answers, but none came. Like the others, he had never seen such an abomination.
'That,' Talien rasped, spitting blood onto the sand, his hand clutching his chest as though to steady his very soul, 'is an emerser.'
Riniock repeated the name, his breath hitching. 'An…emerser?'
'Scourges of the Stellar Sea,' Talien murmured, dragging himself closer to them. His voice was raw, strained, yet firm with grim understanding. 'They devour astral bodies…warping into eldritch titans with too many eyes and no mercy.'
The high maegi reached the three, crouching beside them. The emerser had yet to fully shake off its haze.
'We need to move – fast,' Talien urged, his tone unusually grim. 'None of us can take this thing on. Even if the academy master and I fought together, we wouldn't stand a chance.'
Riniock coughed, wincing. 'If it's left unchecked, what kind of damage are we looking at?'
Talien fell silent, his expression darkening.
'…can no one stop it?'
'It would take the combined efforts of the academy's headmaster, Fladd, and myself just to suppress it. And even then, I'm not sure what could truly put it down.'
'Then what do we do?'
'We run.' Talien glanced at the others, assessing their conditions. 'You still seem lucid – help Niann. I'll get Siegmun up.'
Riniock gave a weak nod and forced himself to his feet, his abdomen flaring with pain. He swayed for a moment but steadied himself, pulling Niann up before following Talien, who had slung Siegmun's arm over his shoulder.
Then, the emerser snarled.
Its countless eyes flickered to life, one by one, as awareness returned to it. It shook its head, unsettlingly fluid in motion, as if waking from a nightmare.
They had no way of knowing which of them had drawn its attention.
But then its gaping maw turned towards them.
The realisation hit like a hammer.
Before it could strike however, a sudden commotion broke through the storm. A group of figures rushed onto the scene – they were Fladd's disciples. Not one or two teams, but four. A force of twelve acolytes, moving in formation.
'Master Fladd!' one of them called out.
The emerser's attention briskly snapped in the direction of the shout.
It scowled – or rather, its grotesque, shifting expression twisted into something resembling rage.
With a guttural growl, it surged forward.
It moved like a missile, cutting through the sandstorm, heading straight for the newcomers at high speed.
The Iksharis barely had time to react. Had it not been for the storm obscuring their vision, they might have noticed the creature's approach.
'Watch out!' Fladd shouted.
It was too late.
The emerser struck the first of them, its monstrous jaws snapping shut around an acolyte's body. The young mage's eyes rolled white as his soul was torn from him, ripped away in an instant.
On the creature's back, a new eye formed.
'It's evolving,' Talien muttered, horror creeping into his voice.
The emerser, caught in its reckless charge, failed to stop its own momentum – slamming headfirst into a nearby spire with a deafening crash.
'Now, Riniock!' Talien urged, pushing his battered body into a desperate sprint.
Riniock hesitated for only a moment before shaking his head and following close behind.
The Iksharis remained fixated on the emerser, too engrossed in the unfolding nightmare to notice their targets slipping away. Only Fladd caught sight of their retreat. His face twisted in fury.
Raising a hand, he summoned a fireball and hurled it towards them.
His target was Riniock.
Riniock ducked at the last second. The fireball seared past him – straight into Siegmun.
A sharp, agonised scream tore from Siegmun's throat. Flames licked at his robes, blackening the fabric and scorching deep into his back.
Fladd had acted out of frustration, but the moment the fire left his hand, he realised his mistake.
The emerser turned.
Its countless, unblinking eyes locked onto him. Fladd's stomach plummeted as cold dread took hold.
But the Gorleans did not stay to witness the Iksharis' fate. Seizing their chance, they turned and ran, vanishing into the howling sands. Behind them, the figures of Fladd, his disciples, and the monstrous emerser disappeared into the storm.
Hours later...the four of them stumbled to the gates of Ikshar, barely holding themselves together. The guards, seeing their injuries, blocked their path.
'What happened to you lot?' one asked, scrutinising them.
Talien, still composed despite his wounds, spun a lie with practiced ease. The guards exchanged glances, then shrugged. 'Get yourselves to the infirmary.'
They didn't need to be told twice.
Upon reaching the infirmary, Siegmun and Niann were placed onto beds, their wounds immediately tended to.
As for Riniock –
The moment he let himself breathe, the world spun. Darkness closed in and his eyes shut down.
He collapsed.