The Last Dainv

Turning her head to the blazing flame on Yuri's axe, Mia immediately said, "Yuri, turn off the fire."

Yuri's nose wrinkled. "Look with your eyes. It's not burning anything. Only the shit I want to burn."

True enough, Mia noticed the flames that dropped onto the floorboards didn't burn the wood at all. Even when the monster burned, it only engulfed the monster, not anything else. Was it really fire or was it just an illusion?

Bernard grabbed the shovel by the wall and moved closer to the group. "Anyone know how to cast silence fields? Jessica? Yuri?"

"What the hell, man? That's sexist. None of us here are witches," Jessica said.

"We're all newbies here. Don't expect such shit," Yuri shot him a look.

Bernard snapped his head away from them. "Would've thought that the women that brought their skin care products were at least competent."

"Asshole." Jessica snorted.

Meanwhile, Andrew was already moving towards the sofa and cabinet that were slightly moved out of place. The monster had gone through the gap, so it wasn't fully open.

"Jacob, help?" Andrew looked at him.

Jacob snapped out of his daze, rushing over. Together, they lifted the cabinet and sofa back to their original position to cover the gap. The window was shattered, but if anything, the problem now was that they were in the living room, and there were 3 other entry points, and four if the bathroom was counted. It did have a small window that would be hard to go through as an adult.

If they didn't go to the basement, this might not have even happened.

Mia spoke up. "Going to the shed and basement was a bad idea. Who knows how many more fucking things we released?"

"Hey, don't fucking bring that up now."

"Seriously. That woman was the same silhouette I saw from the demon mirror in the shed!" Mia whispered harshly.

"And you didn't bother to say anything?"

"I thought it was just my eyes being blurry."

"In Aur, you should always call what you see, no matter if it's an illusion!"

"We're barely even Aurians yet, asshole."

"It doesn't matter! Your point is shit, regardless. Didn't you hear what I said earlier? If we do nothing, the proctors will send monsters anyway!"

"You don't know that!" Mia's voice rose, but she caught herself before it turned into a yell. "The instructions clearly said to stay in the cabin. That was the mission. The proctors might just be lazy assholes who don't actually care what we do as long as we survive the 72 hours."

"That's rookie talk." Bernard stepped closer, gripping his shovel with both hands now. "Once you start entering rifts, being passive is going to get you killed. You think monsters wait for you to make a decision? You think they care about your mission briefing?"

"And this is a recruitment test. What's your point?"

"The point was to treat it the same as a rift."

"Both of you, calm down." Andrew stepped between them, hands on both of them, trying to block them from each other. "There's no point in fighting. The things out there don't look like they're coming over here. We have a moment to breathe. Let's use it."

Mia glared at Bernard. Bernard glared back. And now Jessica joined in.

"And you." She pointed at Jacob, who flinched. "You closed your eyes during the attack. Just stood there with your eyes shut like a fucking child. That's one way to die in a rift."

"I panicked." Jacob forced a smile.

"Good. Now you'd be dead in a rift."

"I can heal myself..." Jacob mumbled.

Mia stepped in front of Jacob. "Leave him alone."

"Biased towards your friends much?" Jessica snorted.

"You're the one who didn't even try to use your skill on the monster," Mia glared at her.

Andrew grabbed Mia's shoulder and pulled her back. "Back off. Jessica's right." He looked at Jacob. "You can't freeze like that again. But that's enough fighting for now." His eyes swept across the group. "Everyone just shut up and focus on rule number two. Survi-"

Suddenly, a ringing music played in the room. Everyone turned to the source of the sound. On the counter of the kitchen was a music box playing its song. Its lid was popped up, and a ballerina figurine spun slowly. Within the music, the ticking gears could also be heard.

Everyone stopped what they were doing.

All their eyes turned to the things inside the fog through the gaps of the barricaded window.

Mia saw the silhouette. Its head jerked, limbs too, in an unnatural way. A slow, low groan echoed across the forest. When one groan ended, the other things inside the fog replied with their own groans, causing a rolling noise that circled the cabin. In some of those groans, by the end of their noise, the things would hiss as if trying to dislodge something from their throats.

And then their bodies started moving. Not walking, but more like a jerking kind of motion. Their limbs twitched. Spasmed. Loosening with each step they took. Arms bent against the joint, completely wrong. Legs kicked out sideways like it was even a maneuver to loosen the joint.

"Those aren't fucking zombies," Jacob mumbled.

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Bernard moved. He went directly for the music box on the counter in the kitchen. Taking the shovel up over his head, he smashed the music box in one strike. The music box shattered into several pieces as gears crashed against the wall and fridge, then skittered across the floor.

Though the deed was already done, and his smash might've even made it worse.

Mia hadn't noticed the music box before when she had cooked the night before. How did it even get there? Inanimate items couldn't possibly just move themselves. But she didn't know anymore. This was Aur, no longer her mundane world.

The groans outside grew louder. Bernard's smash had drew more attention as the things within the fog now turned their bodies toward the cabin.

"Those are fucking ghouls!" Jacob squealed.

Andrew braced for impact against the cabinet blocking the window. "Incoming!"

From the fog, the ghouls charged. Their jerky movements smoothed out, and now moved by crawling on the ground like human spiders. Swarming toward the broken window, barricaded by the sofa and cabinet, their groans turned into shouts. At least six of them converged on the broken window while one had gone off to the door, banging its limbs against whatever blocked its way.

Bernard thrust his hands forward. A purple forcefield materialized over the door again, reinforcing the place where it was taking the most beating.

Jacob, Jessica, and Andrew were already heaving their bodies against the window barricade. The ghouls on the other side continuously slammed into them. Each slam shook their bodies to the core.

Yuri stood at the centre. Her axe raised, blue flames still engulfing the blade and handle. Her eyes focused on either the door or the window. If anything got through, she'd strike immediately.

Bernard was beside her, shovel in hand. Sweat beaded and dripped from his temples. He maintained the forcefield as they were.

Mia stood frozen. They wouldn't just give them an impossible mission. There had to be an answer to all of this. But what? Her psychic attack could only stun them for a second, and each one took a lot of ether, making her feel slightly dizzy.

A scream suddenly pierced through the chaos from behind them.

It wasn't a human scream. It was something otherworldly that came from something that pierced needles into the back of their necks.

Mia's hands shot up to cover her ears, but it didn't help, and the needles still pricked at her skin.

Everyone else had the same reaction. All of them covered their ears. The only good thing that came out of this was that it also stunned the ghouls that were banging on their barricades.

And then the screaming stopped.

The ring of tinnitus lingered for a few seconds until Mia finally got her hearing back. At the same time, the ghouls once again started banging on their walls.

Looking back at where the scream had come from, Mia saw the face on the window just above the toilet.

It was a human face, except the skin was dark green and wrinkled, like she was at least 70 years old. The hair was in a tight bun, yet frizzed everywhere, making her look mad. She wore a net veil that didn't really hide her face, as well as a small hat, the kind that was worn at funerals.

"What the fuck is that?!" Mia shouted.

"Banshee!" Jacob managed to yell from his position. "Get the salt!"

"Salt?!"

"The kitchen! Salt shaker! Go!"

Mia sprinted toward the kitchen, nearly tripping over the debris from the broken music box. Her hands fumbled through the cupboards, but then she remembered the salt was beside the stove, as she had forgotten to clean up.

Running back with the salt shaker, she asked, "Now what?!"

"If it comes close, sprinkle it on the banshee!" Jacob shouted.

"But it's outside the cabin!"

"It's a ghost! It can go through the walls!"

"OK!"

A crash came from one of the bedrooms. Mia whirled to look through the hallway where it came from. A few more bangs, and the barricades that were put up in one of the bedrooms collapsed onto the floor. Finally, the ghoul only needed one punch against the door to burst through.

The ghoul sprinted from the bedroom, into the hallway, and toward the living room.

Mia cast a psychic wave at the ghoul. It stopped for 1 second. Before that second ended, a flaming axe tore through its neck, making it collapse down onto the floor.

"The bedroom's compromised!" Yuri shouted. "Make some noise at the front so they don't go through the bedroom!"

Jacob started screaming to catch the ghouls' attention, and it worked. More of the ghouls started funneling toward the living room door, yet that caused more issues. They were now getting pushed back.

"I'm trying my charm!" Jessica yelled. "But it's not working! These things don't have brains!"

A ghoul slammed against the barricade again. The cabinet shifted, and the gap widened so that almost a single ghoul could fit in. Jacob could barely hold on. His arms shook, his breath came in gasps. But more than physical exhaustion, Mia could see that his muscles were trembling not from the weight.

He was afraid.

"Jessica!" Jacob shouted. "Use it on me!"

"What?!"

"Your charm! Use it on me! Make me stop feeling scared!"

"I've never done that before!"

"Just do it!" Andrew yelled, beside Jacob, pressing himself against the sofa. "It's worth a try!"

Jessica nodded, staring directly into Jacob's eyes. A soft pink outline formed around Jacob as she concentrated, while her signature pulsed strongly enough that Mia could feel it.

Jacob's eyes momentarily went blank. His body stiffened. For half a second, the barricade jerked forward as his hold on it loosened.

Once his eyes were back, something fierce had awoken within Jacob. With a grunt that sounded more like a battle cry, he shoved against the cabinet, putting it back in place and closing the gap between it and the sofa.

Veins popped on his forehead and arms. His signature was blaring, meaning that he was healing himself while he overextended his body's capabilities.

"I'm not fucking closing my eyes anymore, bitches!" Jacob roared. "This time, I'm the one fucking the fear turkey!"

"What does that even mean?!" Jessica screamed.

"I don't know! It just felt right!"

Now that the problem was solved, they were still at a disadvantage. They can't keep this up for more than 24 hours. Sooner or later, their ether pools would dry up, and then it won't just be 1 dying, it'd be all of them.

She turned to Andrew. "Should we call Gale?"

Andrew was still braced against the door. "Might be worth it. Where is he right now?"

"I don't know."

"Then text him!"

Bernard's head snapped toward them. "Don't you dare. We have to survive on our own. We get our points docked if we call in for help."

"That's stupid!" Mia shouted back. "What if one of us dies?! Might as well take the hit on points than lose a person!"

"The whole point of this test is to test our survival skills at all costs!"

Another massive bang shook the living room window. The cabinet cracked. More ghouls had joined the assault. The group at the barricade was barely holding it in, even with Jacob's fear debuff gone.

There was a banshee behind them that could lunge at them at any time. And one of the bedrooms was compromised.

The walls were closing in. There was no point in listening to this military head.

Mia quickly pulled out her phone.

[Mia: Gale where are you right now???]

The response came immediately.

[Gale: portland maine eating lobsters with rachel and erin for science.]

[Gale: <image>]

[Gale: <image>]

[Gale: <image>]

[Gale: <image>]

The pictures that followed showed a table covered in bright red lobsters, a mountain of them. On the table was Rachel and a blue haired woman, also eating to their hearts' content. From the picture, it seemed like the blue haired woman was also eating the shells.

Snapping a quick picture of what was happening behind her, she quickly sent the picture to Gale and also sent him the location. She didn't bother typing.

[Gale: stay alive. im running now.]

Bernard saw her phone screen, and his face was in utter shock of what he just saw. "You actually called for backup. That's the unmanliest thing I've ever seen."

Mia shoved her phone back in her pocket. "Dying like a man doesn't sound good to me."

One more complication appeared, or maybe something that might save them. A new sound emerged from outside. The rhythmic thumping slowly grew closer and closer until it drowned out all the ghoulish groans.

But what they didn't expect was that this helicopter lowered itself to hover just a couple of inches above the ground. On it were what looked like soldiers in jumpsuits, except headless. The helicopter looked like it was torn apart, yet it was still running.

This was not something that was going to save them. It was also after them.

"Run to the basement!" Bernard shouted. "RUN. NOW!"