Rise From The Wraith

THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE

The emergency alarm continued to blare throughout the military outpost, shattering the brief sense of calm Kael had just begun to feel. He struggled to his feet despite the pain in his right leg. Outside the infirmary, the sound of hurried footsteps, soldiers shouting orders, and heavy metal doors being thrown open echoed through the corridors.

Kael had barely stepped out of the infirmary when a medical officer rushed past him. The man looked visibly panicked.

“All non-combat personnel must remain inside their assigned rooms! Do not leave until further orders!”

“What happened? Are the Wraiths attacking?” Kael called out, but the man was already running down the corridor without answering.

Kael grew even more confused. He knew he should have stayed in bed, but after losing four of his comrades in a single night, he could not bear the thought of sitting still while something might be happening outside. He limped toward the doorway and peered through the opening, hoping to find someone who could explain the situation.

“Kael!”

He turned and saw Lyra hurrying toward him. The files she had been carrying earlier were gone, and her expression was now serious, with a hint of panic.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“What's happen?”

“Get back inside and wait for an official announcement!”

“Lyra, I'm not a child,” Kael replied irritably.

“Then stop acting like one by trying to run around on an injured leg.”

Kael was about to argue, but a sudden announcement over the loudspeakers silenced them both.

“All combat personnel, report to the eastern gate immediately! The patrol team has returned with wounded personnel. Repeat, all combat personnel, report to the eastern gate immediately!”

Kael looked at Lyra.

“The patrol team?”

Lyra nodded slowly. “They just returned from the border region.”

“Were they attacked by Wraiths?”

“I don't know yet.”

Lyra helped him back toward his bed before hurrying to the main medical ward. Before leaving, however, she stopped and turned to look at him.

“Don't go anywhere. I'm serious this time.”

Kael simply nodded and waited until she disappeared from sight. A few seconds later, he heard the soldiers moving hurriedly outside the infirmary again. Curiosity gradually overpowered his better judgment, and he eventually decided to follow them, even though every step sent another wave of pain through his injured right leg.

When he reached the eastern gate, Kael saw several military vehicles entering the compound. One had long claw marks along its side, while its windshield was cracked and part of its door was dented. Soldiers rushed to help the wounded out of the vehicles as medical personnel hurried forward with stretchers.

Kael recognized one of the soldiers climbing out of the last vehicle. The man's face was pale, his uniform was stained with blood, and his left hand remained pressed against a wound in his abdomen.

“What happened?” Commander Alric asked.

The soldier struggled to speak between ragged breaths. “We were inspecting the northern route when we found traces of Wraith activity. At first, there was only one, but then several more appeared from the forest.”

“How many?”

“At least six.”

The soldiers standing nearby exchanged uneasy glances. Six Wraiths were no small threat, especially in an area that had long been considered relatively safe.

“Then how did you manage to get back here?” Commander Alric asked.

“They could have killed us,” the wounded soldier replied. “They were close enough to tear us apart one by one, but once we managed to get away, they stopped. Not a single one followed us back to the outpost.”

Commander Alric furrowed his brow. “Are you certain they didn't pursue you?”

“Yes, Sir. We kept watching the route behind us, but they never appeared again.”

“This is highly unusual. Wraiths rarely emerge during daylight, especially six of them at once. Hmm...” Commander Alric muttered, visibly troubled.

The soldier nodded, his face still pale. “Yes, Sir. That's what made it so strange. They simply stood between the trees, as if they were waiting for something. We were the ones who fired first.”

The area around them erupted into anxious murmurs. The soldiers seemed unable to make sense of what had happened. Kael felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he remembered the Wraith he had encountered inside the abandoned building—the creature that had every opportunity to kill him, yet had stopped with its claws only inches from his face.

“Did you see where they went?” Commander Alric asked.

The soldier nodded weakly.

“They moved east, toward the route leading to the outpost.”

Several soldiers immediately stiffened. Before anyone could ask another question, the wounded man grabbed the commander's arm with what little strength he had left.

“They're looking for someone...”

Kael froze.

“What?” Commander Alric asked.

The soldier swallowed hard, his eyes filled with a kind of fear Kael had never seen before.

“One of them kept staring at us. Then it said something that made no sense.”

“What did it say?”

The man drew a shallow breath before answering in a voice barely above a whisper.

“The creature said... that person is still alive.”

Kael felt as though his heart had stopped beating. A flood of questions rushed through his mind.

‘Who was it talking about? Was it me? And if so, why were they looking for me?’

The questions repeated themselves in his head, tangled with the memory of the Wraith's yellow eyes and the unsettling way the creature had seemed to recognize him.

“Kael?”

He flinched at the sound of Lyra's voice behind him. She had just emerged from the medical ward and immediately noticed how pale he looked.

“You should be in the infirmary,” she said, this time without a hint of anger.

Kael did not answer. His eyes remained fixed on the wounded soldier as the medical team carried him inside for treatment.

“Kael, what's wrong?”

He slowly turned toward Lyra.

“What if they really are looking for someone?”

Lyra frowned. “Who do you mean?”

Kael opened his mouth, but no answer came. He did not even know whether his suspicion made any sense or whether it was simply fear brought on by the loss of his comrades.

***

Night fell over the outpost as thick fog slowly crept from the forest toward the defensive perimeter. The soldiers stationed in the watchtowers scanned their surroundings cautiously when, without warning, a long, haunting howl rose from beyond the trees, making the hair on the back of their necks stand on end.

“What was that howl?!” one of the guards shouted, raising his weapon.

“That wasn't a wolf,” another guard replied, his face tense. “That was a Wraith.”

The soldiers immediately went on high alert. One of them grabbed a pair of binoculars and peered into the fog-covered forest, trying to determine where the terrifying sound had come from. But what he saw made his entire body go rigid.

Amid the darkness, dozens of pairs of glowing yellow eyes stared directly toward the outpost without moving an inch.

The soldier slowly lowered the binoculars. His face had gone pale, and his hands began to tremble.

“Oh no...” he whispered.

He looked back toward the dozens of eyes glimmering through the fog.

“Tonight is going to be a mess. A complete mess...”