This story is happening several days or weeks after the group left Minalva's village. If you want to be in the mood, I was listenning to this during the writting of the story : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PtYti417I It happened early in the morning. A strange fog, seeming to coming from nowhere, started to rise from the ground. After only few minutes, Marina, Delphine, Minalva and Romatzo was unable to see less than few meters beyond them. This sudden mist made them all moved instinctively to their weapons. Almost immediately after, the sharpened senses of Minalva made her scream "SOMETHING'S COMING !". She had barely time to finish her sentence, that hell was deferling upon them. In the first assault Romatzo and Minalva were separated from Marina and Delphine. The mist was so thick that they were unable to see what exactly was attacking them. But the creatures were tall, taller than Marina. And massive, with sharp claws. Minalva, despite the dense fog, was able to hit the creatures with her arrows, by using all her sences to doing that. Romatzo unable to see the creatures before they were on him, was dodging and blocking at the last second. But his counter-attacks was usually efficient, cutting limbs and slicing the fleshes with his powerful axe. It was impossible to Minalva and Romatzo to see how were Delphine and Marina, but the sounds of their fight was an indication of how intense it was. The fight had begun for only few minutes, but it felt like hours, and both Romatzo and Minalva started to be very tired. They managed to kill several of their opponents since the beginning of the battle. The ears of Minalva was saying to her they were only few of them left. Probably three. But the mist, although less dense now, was still empeching them to see how exactly looks their enemies. Sensing a monster approaching, Minalva raised rapidly her hand to take another arrow in her quiver, for discovering it was empty. During the rage of the battle she forgot to count her arrows, letting her defenseless on the moment. That beginner mistake allowed the creature to get closer and to strike her. She jumped back, but not soon enough to be completely out of reach. The monster slashed her right leg with its claws, and instantly, raised its second arm to strike again. Romatzo, seeing that, pushed her away and took the blow instead of her. Because of his little size, the hit that should have tear the chest of Minalva, hit him right in the head. The shock was so strong it folded the metal of his helmet, and despite the hardness of a dwarf head, put him unconscious, revealing how powerful the creatures were. Minalva, rising up with her dagger in hand, used her ears to locate the creature's heart, and plunged her dagger in it. Putting all her rage and remaining strength in it. The creature fail on the ground in a rale, scattering blood on her. Minalva, exhausted and breathing heavily, went to join unconscious Romatzo. Despite at least two creatures still alive, she kneel closed to him and put his head on her left thigh. Then, she heard the creatures approaching. It's at that moment that a sudden breeze raised and dissipated the remaining of the fog, revealing all the monstrosity of the creatures. Minalva never saw creatures like that. They were effectively huge, with some kind of worm head with six eyes and tentacles on the top of the head. Their opened mouths letting appeared longs and glowing teeth. One of Minalva's arrows was plunged in the eye of one this being, but it doesn't seams to bother it. Their gooey and shining skins were covered with pustules. Their bellies were swollen, and their limbs were long and ended up with extremely sharp claws. But a lot more than their appearances, it was what was emanating of them that was really terrifying. During the heat of the battle, this escaped to Minalva, but now, it was hitting her with full strength. They were creatures of pure evil. These "being" were alive but there was no life in their eyes, only the will to kill, to lacerate and destroy the flesh. And an incredibly strong aura of despair was penetrating everyone watching them. The aura emanating from them was of the same kind that the one coming from "The Egg of Gornhoth". Minalva, who fought so bravely earlier was now terrified. One of the strong points of wood elves is their strong natural instinct, allowing them to prevent many dangers and to feel deeply things. But this strong instinct can also be a weakness. Because now, wounded and exhausted, her whole body screamed to her to flee. Until recently she was still hearing the sound of the struggling of Marina and Delphine, but now, she wasn't hearing any sound. Only the grunts of the two demons. With Romatzo unconscious on her leg, she was, as far as she knew, the only one left. The two monsters approached to them. Struggling with all her being to not ran away, she took the axe of Romatzo in her right hand, and raise it in front of her. Her left hand, who was holding her dagger, was put in front of her unconscious friend in a protective gesture. She said to the creatures: "Aëlva nish !" (Do not approaching !) She was so scared she doesn't even realised she was talking in elvish and not in common language anymore. And her imprecation sounded more like a begging than to an order. But, despite all her internal struggling, she was still stood, waiting for the end. __________________________________________ Thank you for watching and/or reading. I hope I didn't made to much mistakes.