Abysswalker: Burning Blood

He knew that day would come, because it wasn't the first time. Silver Ash, closed the door on the floor after making sure Elira and Lyanna were already inside. Four months he had built that underground room for moments like this.

"Whatever you hear, never open this door, understood!" Ash was in a hurry, he didn't want that door to be seen.

"Come with us! What good does it do for you to stay outside!" Elira couldn't hold back her tears. Below her, Lyanna, their 10-year-old daughter just stood there without fully understanding what was happening.

"I'll come for you, I promise!" a kiss on the forehead and the door shut tight.

Ash covered the door with a carpet just as part of the roof suddenly burst open. Roof tiles and pieces of wood rained down as the six-legged creature tried to force its way inside.

Ash ran, dodging the falling debris and grabbed a small axe lying near the fireplace. The creature was the size of a full-grown bear, its heavy body landed right in front of him, making the wooden floor creak.

"Heaa!" Ash swung the axe, but the creature casually swung its hand and the axe just fell away.

A second later Ash was suddenly thrown through the window by the swing of the creature's tail. His body hit the ground and rolled, Ash quickly got back up knowing the attack wouldn't stop just like that.

"Arrggh!"

"Help!"

"Run!"

Outside the situation was no less chaotic, people screamed, houses were destroyed and burning, the creatures were everywhere. Ash was too busy looking for cover while holding his aching chest, with no time to count how many there were.

A wooden crate in front of his neighbor's house became his shelter. The quiet and peaceful village of Pinedale now looked like a battlefield. Ash kept staring at his house, hoping the creatures wouldn't find his wife and daughter.

"Help!"

Mrs. Milena, the village chief's wife who often baked cookies for Lyanna, was grasping at the empty ground beneath her as her plump body was lifted up. One of her legs was already inside the creature's bite.

Another creature came and grabbed the upper part of her body. Ash's eyes went wide and he turned his face away as the two creatures pulled Mrs. Milena's body in opposite directions.

"Damn it, Mrs. Milena!" Ash gripped the wooden board covering him tightly, his body couldn't stop shaking as death was so plainly close to him.

"HELP, ASH!"

Ash turned, it was Martin, the man who usually accompanied him to gather firewood. Just like Mrs. Milena, one of his legs was already inside the creature's bite.

His eyes widened, Ash looked around, searching for something stronger than an axe. A pitchfork leaning beside a cart became his best option.

"Hold on Martin!" Ash ran, grabbed the pitchfork and immediately thrust it into the creature's side. Ash was stunned when the three sharp tines couldn't even scratch the creature's skin. It was like stabbing into thick old tree bark.

The creature flung Martin into the air and quickly another creature snatched him. Chunks of flesh, pieces of organs, and thick blood instantly rained down onto Ash's body.

"Martin! agh,"

Sharp pain suddenly stabbed as razor teeth sank into Ash's left arm and side. Another creature attacked from behind and lifted Ash high into the air.

"AARRGHH!"

Pain, panic, the pitchfork slipped from his hands. From above, he could see the creature that had flung Martin getting ready. It bent its four hind legs, its jaw full of sharp teeth stretched open.

Ash stared up at the sky, the sun blinding his eyes. Time seemed to slow down, his heartbeat rang clearly and his breath felt hot in his throat.

"Am I going to die?" he thought.

Ash turned his gaze, "Elira, Lyanna ...." Ash could see 3 creatures surrounding his house, two visible through the windows and one crawling on the roof.

"AAAHH!"

Elira's voice rang out loud and clear, as if jolting Ash awake. The cross-shaped pendant with one side longer than the other snapped right off Ash's neck.

"Bastard!" with that thing in his hand, Ash immediately drove it into the eye of the creature gripping him. His body dropped just as the creature that had flung Martin earlier was already leaping through the air with its jaws snapping shut.

Quickly, fighting through the pain, Ash grabbed the pitchfork and thrust it upward right at the underside of the creature's jaw. The strike hit clean, red blood poured out soaking his body.

Ash immediately ran toward his house, hoping he could still save Elira and Lyanna, but suddenly his body was sent flying, "uaghhh!"

Another creature came from the side with a powerful headbutt using a skull hard as stone. Ash's body, weighing nearly 100 kilograms, was sent flying like a small rock and slammed into a wooden wall.

"UHUKK!" Blood came from his mouth, and flowed from the wounds on his arm and side of his chest. Ash lay weak on the ground, his vision almost completely dark.

On the edge of consciousness, Ash stared at the creature that had attacked him, nearly twice the size of the other creatures. It walked calmly with no other creature trying to take Ash from it, as if it were the leader of the pack.

Unlike the others, there were gleaming scales covering its skin. As it walked, the scales bloomed and closed then shifted as if communicating. The other creatures around it responded by moving away, going after the remaining villagers.

"Damn it, Elira, Lyanna!" Ash tried to get up, forcing both his legs and arms to move.

There was something else different about that creature, a faint blue light was visible beneath its scales, in the area from its neck down to its chest as all six of its legs stepped forward. Ash raised the pitchfork still lying nearby.

But that thing didn't help him at all. One swing of its hand and Ash was thrown again, his body hit the ground and rolled, smashing through a wooden crate. The creature ran after him, slamming Ash back in another direction.

Crashing into wooden walls, smashing through a cart and tumbling across the ground, Ash had truly reached his limit.

Weak, dying, Ash stared at his house again, Elira's voice was no longer heard from there.

His chest was tight, from the attacks and also from his mind wandering to the worst possible places. Now Elira's offer to stay with him had become his regret. He should have stayed with his wife and daughter.

Suddenly Ash's eyes went wide, Elira was running with Lyanna in her arms, heading toward the small shed behind the house. Two creatures were chasing behind her.

"Elira!"

Ash shifted his gaze to the big one now running toward him. He had to settle things with that big one before he could save his wife.

Not far from him, a sword lay beside the severed corpse of a guard soldier. With whatever strength he had left, Ash grabbed the sword and drew it, just as the creature with the same blue light on its neck landed with its mouth open and fangs ready to tear.

"ARRGGHH!"

The big one's eyes went wide, its fangs sank into Ash's shoulder, but his sword also sank deep beneath the creature's jaw, driving through the base of its tongue and into its skull.

Dark blue blood poured out heavily, the creature had no chance to fight back.

"Eat this!"

Dark blue blood flowed over Ash's body, bathing him in blood.

At that moment all the other creatures suddenly stopped and looked toward him. Ash was already on the edge of consciousness, he kept staring at the small shed where Elira and Lyanna were hiding.

Slowly his vision went dark, his body no longer listened to his commands.

***