Heroes of Nexus (Chapter 6) (Patreon)

I really pushed myself to get this one out. It was pretty exhausting, writing 2k words in a day. Doubly so if I want there to be any level of quality control. It's definitely not something I can do on a weekday.

Anyway, the title changed. It's a bit simpler, so I might stick with it. Who knows.

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Making his way down the secluded footpath, Al felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. His wounds had taken their toll, and the healing as well. Somehow, he persisted until now, but willpower could only accomplish so much. Sooner or later, the human body reached its limits.

Grabbing the sturdier branches to keep himself upright, he stumbled forward one step at a time. Al didn’t know how much longer he could go on. If the portal didn’t appear soon, he’d really be in dire straits.

Counting every step with single-minded focus, he pushed onward, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He had to believe it was close. That his game-knowledge wouldn’t let him down.

Five paces.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

Thirty.

When his determination flagged, feeling like he simply couldn’t keep going, Al spotted a structure through the vegetation. Big, grey and rectangular, it looked like a doorframe carved from solid stone.

It was like a gift from heaven; a prayer answered.

Relief surging in his chest, he picked up the pace, limply dragging his feet over the forest floor. His body protested and groaned, every muscle aching, and every nerve twitching. He almost lost his balance, but a burst of energy came out of nowhere, propelling him forward.

Al didn’t even know how he covered the last stretch. He’d practically blacked out, walking one moment and the next, standing in front of the monolith. His eyes regaining a hint of clarity, he shook himself from his trance. It wasn’t the time to be spacing out. He needed to get out of here.

Steadying himself, he reached out a hand, stretching it toward the ancient, rough-looking stone. His palm laid flat against it, feeling the deep grains, the weathering of ten thousand years.

Nothing happened.

His heart dropped into his stomach. In the game, the portal had activated as soon as the hero approached. As far as he knew, there was no trick, nor a mechanism of any sort. If he couldn’t get it to work-…

Without warning, a gust of wind appeared, expanding outwards in a ripple. It whipped branches, shook trunks and tossed leaves into the air. If Al hadn’t been leaning with his weight against the stone, he would’ve been blown clean off his feet.

There was an indescribable sound, something he felt more than heard—a low droning, just outside his range of hearing. Like a bolt of lightning, ultraviolet sparks flashed in the center of the archway. Something ignited there, a small black dot, revolving at incredible speeds.

In the blink of an eye, the vortex expanded outward, reversing the air-current. Dirt, leaves, grass, twigs and a collection of other debris was sucked in, disappearing into the rippling black-violet portal.

When a series of messages appeared, alerting him of the nexus point’s activation, he barely noticed. Just standing there, staring into an expanse of endless stars and galaxies, Al got a sense of unfathomable distance. Like standing on the threshold of infinity.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he readied himself to take the next step. He didn’t know what his purpose was for being summoned, whether it was intended or just an accident, but it didn’t matter. If he wanted to survive, there was no way but forward.

Yet, in that moment, something compelled him to look over his shoulder. It was a strange, almost irresistible feeling. A silent siren’s call.

With the portal droning behind him, Al’s neck swiveled around, like a puppet on strings.

He was met with the sight of dappled woods, their slowly swaying branches stirred by the wind. He saw the starry sky above, like a sheet of dyed cloth, decorated with so many stars. And the haunting, silvery moon, like the crown jewel in the heavenly treasury.

It was breathtaking, despite the circumstances. Or perhaps because of them. The beauty and danger together, an interplay that stirred Al deep to his bones.

But all was not as it seemed. Something appeared out of place.

At first, he wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, conjuring up illusions. It wouldn’t be unusual in this kind of situation. Looking through the lens of exhaustion and fear, could he really trust his own eyes?

Or perhaps, it was the opposite.

Was he attempting to distort the truth? Was reality so terrifying he’d rather lie to himself, believe it was all a hallucination?

Al couldn’t make sense of it, though he looked right at it.

The… thing Al saw was the head of a horse, peeking at him from behind a tree trunk.

Black as night, a messy mane hung over its face. Only one eye was exposed, staring at him—a featureless, white orb.

Blinking once, Al looked out of the corner of his eye, checking the other side of the trunk.

No neck. No torso. No legs. No rump.

Where was its body?

Fear settled in his gut, a cold and clammy sensation. A numbness seeped into his limbs, robbing them of feeling.

He unconsciously retreated a step, his back all but touching the portal. He didn’t know what the thing was, or if it had been following him. However, he didn’t care. He was more than happy to live in ignorance if it meant living.

Just as he was about to jump through, the horse… spoke. Its voice was like that of a young boy, pitiful and pleading.

“…h-help.”

The fear in Al’s gut bloomed like a deadly flower, its roots spreading through his body.

In moments, his limbs had completely seized up, like someone experiencing palsy.

He tried to move, but found he couldn’t budge an inch.

The horse spoke again. Its voice was spine-chilling, like something out of a nightmare.

“P-please. Please help m-me.”

It continued staring at Al, as if wanting to see how he'd react.

When he remained unmoving—incapacitated as someone with sleep paralysis—it did.

A hand came around the edge of the trunk, black as the rest of it. It had long, gangly fingers with far too many digits. Then, a torso, covered in long shaggy hair, the same as its mane. Hooved, digitigrade legs, stepped into the open.

It was tall. Far taller than a human. It had been crouching, hiding itself behind the tree.

Its eyes, which had been blank as a piece of porcelain, suddenly changed. Something receded, almost like a secondary eyelid, revealing two horizontal, slitted pupils.

“It hurts. I’m s-so scared.”

Overcome by a sense of crisis, Al bit down on his tongue, blood filling his mouth. Some semblance of feeling returned to his limbs. He tried to hurl himself into the portal, but his movements were glacial.

Despite being terrified out of his mind, he had enough sense left to realize the truth—this wasn’t normal. The monster was doing something to him.

Without breaking eye-contact with him, the thing took a step closer. It held something in its one arm—a dirty, blood-stained figure.

At first, Al didn’t realize what it was. However, a second look revealed the truth. It was a body.

It was a child.

“Daddy. M-mommy.”

Its sinister-looking fingers were wrapped their one arm, twisted into an unnatural angle. Broken bone protruded from the elbow joint, slick with blood, dripping droplets onto the soil. A homp of flesh had been taken out as well, leaving a hideously gruesome wound.

Whoever they were, for their own sake, Al had desperately wished they were long dead.

But that wasn’t the case.

The child’s eyes were open, their features frozen in a hair-raising expression. Comatose from shock, pain and terror, drool and saliva trailed down their face, soaking the hem of their shirt.

Dragging the child over the forest floor, the creature took another step. Then one more. And another.

Opening its jaw, it exposed rows of sharp teeth—unnatural in its equestrian face. A long tongue slithered out of its mouth, black and covered in barbs. Its breath was hot and humid, smelling of bloody meat.

Al didn’t understand why this was happening. Where did this weird monster come from? There wasn’t anything like it on this level!

It was so unfair.

Ah, he was so tired. So tired of all this bullshit. Everything in his old life and this new one. Why was everything always outside his control?

Fuck all of it. He didn’t even care. Maybe this time, he could go to sleep without waking up again-…

[Updating mission log…]

[Secondary objective added.]

[You’ve encountered another survivor.]

[Rescue them from the Wi-nteko-wa’s clutches.]

[Your contribution points will update accordingly.]

[This mission will expire in five minutes.]

The series of messages rapidly flashed in front of Al’s eyes before disappearing. Below, next to the ten-hour timer, a new one appeared, ticking down from five minutes. This one was a bloody red color, practically burned into his eyes.

He wanted to laugh. Save the child? He couldn’t even save himself! What was he supposed to do when he couldn’t even move-…?

Al’s eyes widened. He didn’t know how it happened, but the strange paralysis was gone, having disappeared as quickly as it came!

Carefully twitching his fingers, he realized he was free. He could escape!

And yet, he found his eyes involuntarily travelling toward the child.

He was an uncaring person by nature, but he didn’t know if he had it in him to abandon the kid to a fate gruesome beyond imagining. Maybe if they hadn’t appeared in front of him, he wouldn’t have cared. But now, he couldn’t help wondering if there was something he could do.

Clenching his fist involuntarily, he realized he was still holding on to the old knife. From the beginning, he hadn’t let go of it, having feared the worst. However, in the face of an eight-foot-tall monstrosity, it was practically a toothpick.

Thoughts raced through Al’s mind, but no matter how he parsed it, there was no solution. Right now, he could barely remain upright. Forget fighting. Even if he was healthy, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

Seeing him remain unmoving, the monster crept closer. It appeared unusually cautious, but Al quickly realized what it was afraid of—the portal behind him.

Maybe that was it. But how could he use it to his advantage?

There was no way to draw the creature inside. The weight difference between them was too big, and he was too exhausted in any case. A physical struggle was off the table.

Was there really no solution? Did he have no choice but to abandon the child?

The monster was already in front of him. Slowly, it extended its other hand, reaching for Al’s arm.

Clenching his jaw, he pushed his fear down as far as it would go. It was now or never. He was going to slash at the thing’s eyes. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t. He’d give it a shot regardless.

However, before the creature could grab him, and before he could retaliate, something unexpected happened.

In the distance, from the direction of Crow’s Rest, a volley of loud ‘cracks’ suddenly sounded.

Al’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Having heard it before—up close and very personal—there was no way he wouldn’t recognize them.

Gunshots.

The monster was likewise caught of guard, its slitted pupils involuntarily flicking toward that direction.

It was only a brief distraction, but for Al, that was more than enough.

Siezing the opportunity, he lurched forward, swinging his knife in an overhead slash.

As he started his attack, the creature sensed it with preternatural instinct.

Pulling its head back, it clawed at Al’s face with wickedly-long, evil-looking nails.

Unable to dodge, he could only move his head, feeling the razor-sharp edges tear open his neck and chest. His flesh severed and parted, blood spurting into the air.

However, he wasn’t discouraged. His feint had worked.

The knife rose and fell, striking not at the monster, but at the child in its grip.

Having been dragged around like a doll for god knew how long, their elbow was entirely broken and dislocated. The monster had also taken a bite out of their arm. At this point, only a string of flesh and sinew connected upper to lower.

Though it was in bad shape, the thin, shaven-down edge was sharp as a piece of glass. It connected, slicing clean through the flap of skin.

Its job now done, Al abandoned the weapon, his one hand grabbing a fistful of the child’s hair, and the other their collar. With all his might, he hurled himself backward into the portal, pulling the kid in after him.

Still holding the severed arm in one claw, the monster leapt after them.

For a moment, it seemed as if they were doomed, unable to escape its tremendous speed. However, when it drew close to the portal, it froze in its tracks, muscles twitching under its hairy hide. Obviously fearful, it came no closer.

Al didn’t break eye contact with it. Not until he was beyond the portal, falling into a sea of stars, holding the child tightly to his chest.

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