God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The passage had opened into one of the largest underground chambers he had ever seen.

The ceiling stretched into darkness high above, and the walls curved away in all directions.

At the center of everything stood a colossal spire of black chitin, easily three hundred feet tall and perfectly cylindrical. Its surface was smooth as polished obsidian, marked with the same purple runes that covered the rest of the Colony. However, they were far more intricate and densely packed on this strange monolith.

The spire pulsed with a slow, steady rhythm, and with each pulse, the runes seemed to flared brighter.

"That’s it. That’s definitely what we are after." Cain said, feeling a faint pull from his enhanced senses.

Around the base of the spire, droves of creatures had gathered. They were not just ants; he could see massive bear-like beasts with chitinous armor plates, sleek feline beasts that prowled on six legs, furry rats with yellow teeth and eyes the size of horses, and things that even defied visual classification entirely.

Above them, flying bugs and creatures circled the upper reaches of the spire.

"Would you look at that," Evangeline whispered. "Is this place usually so well guarded?"

All of a sudden, the entire chamber came alive. Creatures poured from tunnels and alcoves Cain hadn’t even noticed, creating a living tide that surged toward them from all directions.

A pack of cannid creatures with glinting metallic spines sprinted at the forefront of the charge, their howls echoing off the curved walls. Behind them came gargantuan lumbering beasts with curved emerald tusks like sabers, while overhead, the flying creatures and bugs all dove down with talons and proboscis extended.

Looking at the intimidating horde charging from all directions, the incredible tide of bloodlust oozing from their mere presence, Cain couldn’t help but feel like this scene was all too familiar.

{Eidwyrm} carved through the first dog-creature that reached them, but immediately three more took its place.

A massive furry beast reared up on its hind legs, towering twelve feet tall with claws like daggers. Cain rolled under its swipe and brought his blade up, opening a gash across its chest. The creature helped as its mushed up organs fell from the open wound.

Evangeline’s shadows caught a beast mid-strike, just before it could hit him, wrapping around its limbs and slamming it into a group of approaching rodent-like Mutant Beasts. Still, regardless of the sheer density of the growing pile of corpses gathering around them, more creatures— perhaps a near endless tide of them, kept flooding in from everywhere.

"There’s no end to them, huh.." Evangeline called out, her shadows whipping through the air. Her eyes were immediately swallowed by an endless abyss of dark shadows.

A massive magic circle blossomed to existence behind her, flashing with a dangerous crimson hue. From the magic circle, a large pure of twisting veins grew forth.

It pulsed and spurted a deep, vicious blood energy.

Running her finger of her already blood-red lips, Evangeline was every bit as sinister as she was beautiful.

The massive blood vein shot out a geyser of blood pikes in every direction even as hundreds of shadowy tendrils wrapped around and locked countless beasts in place.

A chimera-like creature leaped at Cain from his blind spot. He got {Eidwyrm} up just in time, the blade catching the creature’s claws before they could rake across his face. Despite the force of the impact, he didn’t move an inch.

The blade flashed through the air as he made a clean cut right through the center of the beast.

Dashing forward, he kicked against the leg of an enormous beast, sending it crashing towards the ground. With a spinning hack, he sent its head crashing into the floor with a fountain of blood erupting behind him.

Cain’s eyes narrowed.

The creatures were herding them, he realized. Not trying to kill them outright, but instead trying to force them away from the base of the spire. Soon they’d have no other choice but to retreat back into an adjacent corridor. From there, they would simply be piled opon until they were buried under a mountain of bodied and smothered to death.

Another beast came charging at him, its massive tusks aimed at his midsection. He sidestepped and brought {Eidwyrm} down across its spine. There was a sickening crunch as it squealed and thrashed, trembling only a little while longer as blood oozed from all its orifices.

"The spire." Evangeline called to him over the chaos.

They were still dozens of meters away from the massive structure. At this rate, they’d be overwhelmed before they could even touch it.

Cain looked up at the circling flying creatures, then at the walls of beasts surrounding them. Then he made a decision that was either brilliant or suicidal. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Hold on to me," he told Evangeline.

"What are you—"

He grabbed her around the waist and leaped straight up, using his enhanced physical abilities to launch them both toward one of the flying creatures. A semi-ethereal entity floated within reach, its translucent body pulsing with pale light.

Cain’s boots connected with the creature’s topside, using it as a stepping stone to leap higher. The thiny shrieked and tried to wrap its tendrils around them, but they were already airborne again, arcing toward another flying beast.

This tried to bank away as they approached, but Evangeline’s shadows lashed out and caught its wing, pulling them close enough for Cain to grab hold.

The creature screeched and went into a diving spiral, but that was exactly what Cain wanted. They rode it down toward the spire’s base, jumping clear at the last moment to land hard on the black chitin surface.

The impact sent shockwaves through the structure, and for a moment the purple runes flared so bright they were painful to look at.

The creatures on the ground had regrouped and were charging toward the spire, but they moved more cautiously now, as if afraid to damage the otherworldly structure.

Just before he could do anything else, Cain felt an overwhelming feeling of danger wrap around his very soul. His eyes widened as he grabbed Evangeline by the waist and leapt back, swinging his sword in a wide arc right before he landed.

The heads of over a dozen beasts flew through the air right as his feet hit the ground.

Eyes narrowed dangerously, Cain couldn’t help but notice his forehead was covered with sweat completely.

’That was a close one. I almost died there.’

With an ugly grimace twisting his features, he turned his gaze up. Standing right in front of the spire of obsidian chitin, was Anathe, her expression colder than ice.

"Who knew I would have brought a little thief into my house. I am dissapointed, Cain."