"What do they sound like?"

Fane jolted in response to the unexpected question. Everything had been quiet for the last couple of hours as he sat watch here at the entrance to the cave. The last thing he expected to hear was the questioning voice of a child.

Looking to his side, he found the owner of the voice, a little girl. Light brown hair fell around her shoulders as she tilted her head to the side. Bright blue eyes brimmed with innocence and an intense curiosity. They were so vibrant and lively... nothing like Fane's eyes, not that the child could see them.

The only "eyes" the child could look into would be the four shiny, black camera lenses mounted into the front of his helmet. They were positioned in a trapezoidal formation, the two lower cameras being a bit closer together than the others. The use of cameras in place of a visor made the helmet seem more durable, as if it were designed at great cost for maximized protection.

The helmet was strangely dark, its outline blending into the blackness of the cave. However, you could still make it out since the paint was worn. The dancing light of a nearby lantern caught in the silvery scrapes and gashes on the helmet's surface, highlighting the marks of battle experience.

The armor on his body matched the materials of his helmet, the black surface also blending in with the dark. The hard parts fit into a lower layer which was seemingly made from a tough, padded fabric. There were certainly weak points in the armor since it was designed for stealth and mobiltiy, but all his vitals were covered well.

Lastly, he wore a tattered cloak which stirred gently with the night breeze. There were numerous tears and holes, suggesting a number of close encounters with dangerous forces. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it had been stained with blood many times.

Overall, Fane's appearance had to be unsettling. Yet, this curious child wasn't afraid.

Fane turned to look behind himself, glancing at the civilian's camp which had been set up a bit further into the cave. The people were mostly sleeping, only a handful of lanterns remaining lit... It was clear the child had slipped away from her parents while they slept, probably because she knew they would never allow her to speak with a like him.

"The voices..."

Fane returned his gaze to the child as she repeated the question.

"What do the voices sound like?"

The two stared at each other in silence as rain pattered quietly outside the cave. After a moment, Fane couldn't help but sigh.

The "voices" were one of many things obscured by rumors, making it sound like all the were plagued with some breed of schizophrenia. But he couldn't blame them for thinking that way. It wasn't easy to explain the concept of artificial intelligence to the people of this world.

// ţ̶͒ḥ̴̕ȓ̴̞ę̷̉a̴̩͝t̶̨̋

In that very moment, the "voice" in question just so happened to speak in Fane's mind. It didn't speak with a clear, robotic voice like one would expect from an AI. Instead, it rumbled softly with the cadence of foreign sounds. It was as if something inhuman had made its best attempt at synthesizing human voice, but succeeded only in partial whispers. It existed only at the very edge of what one might consider audible sound, yet it spoke directly to the mind. If you weren't careful, you could miss it entirely.

Taking these into account, the best description for it would be...

"... like distant thunder." 

The child's eyebrows furrowed tighter when Fane finally gave his response.

A storm was brewing, one that Fane had been monitoring since its distant approach first broke the horizon. Dark clouds had swept in, silently looming overhead. Though flashes of lightning illuminated patches of the sky, the air remained quiet. The little girl concentrated intently, straining to detect the thunder that had yet to rumble, hoping to imagine a voice with such qualities.

Fane, on the other hand, could no longer put off the AI's warning. Its infrequent speech lent weight to every word... even though it spoke in some unknown language... Yet, that particular sound was familiar. He'd heard it before, enough times to understand its meaning.

He pulled the cloak's hood over his helmet, rifle in hand, and strode outside to confront the approaching threat. The patter of raindrops began to drum more heavily against the earth, an ominous prelude for what was to come.

A large, flat rock lay not far from the cave's entrance. Fane knelt on it, peering out over the lower slopes of the mountain. The darkness veiled his surroundings, and the wind stirred the trees, obscuring his view. His eyes were sharp, yet nothing unusual caught his attention.

With a thought, he accessed his AI's spatial inventory and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He held them up to the two lower cameras on his helmet, amplifying the view range over a portion of his vision. He swept his gaze over the rocks and trees below, meticulously scanning for the threat... but found none.

He began to second guess if he had heard the AI correctly. Surely, that was the sound it made when something dangerous was nearby. Unless there was a similar sound that-

A shriek erupted from the cave behind him, cutting his thoughts short.

Fane's heart dropped.

Turning, he bolted back to the cave as fast as possible, rain blowing past him as he ran.

Dashing into the cave, Fane found the little girl safe, but visibly startled by the shriek. As he looked toward the rear of the cave, he noticed a flurry of activity. People scattered, trying to get away from something. Fane surged further in, hoping to eliminate the threat before the damage was done.

Upon reaching the scene, Fane witnessed a man seizing on the ground, his shirt torn open to reveal a writhing mass of red tendrils protruding from his torso. The twisted structure resembled plant roots, yet it pulsated with a sickening, fleshy texture. As the man's screams pierced the air, the creature burrowed deeper, its greedy tendrils simultaneously reaching outward in search of new hosts.

Fane reacted instantly, giving no time to hesitation. He immediately raised his rifle and pulled the trigger four times. The first three rounds tore through the parasite while the last was used to put the host out of his misery.

The blast from the rifle temporarily deafened everyone besides Fane. For them, the world just suddenly fell silent. The civilians watched in soundless horror as three explosions impacted the chest of the writhing man and a fourth blew a gory hole through his head, painting the ground behind him with a voluminous splash of red. The creature in the man's chest thrashed for a few seconds before falling still, dying with its host.

A few seconds later, the civilians finally began to hear a high-pitched ringing sound. Noise was gradually making its way back to their ears, the women and children's terrified cries slowly becoming audible again.

The red, fleshy tentacles of the killed parasite withered as if it was bring drained of it's essence. The creature's color dimmed from bloody red to ashen gray. Before long, it crumbled to dust, leaving behind only the shattered remains of a large gem burrowed into a cavity in the dead man's chest. It was now in pieces from Fane's attack, but he could tell it clearly wasn't just some precious stone.

There were carvings throughout the gem's fragments, and not only on its surface. The gem had veins and arteries of its own. There was a pattern to it, enough so that it reminded him of circuits, albeit more organic ones.

While the civilians tried to overcome their newest trauma, Fane stood still. His eyes scrutinized the shattered gem with grim recognition.

There were many unpredictable creatures native to this world, but this wasn't one of them. This was the work of an enemy. And if one of these gems made it into the camp, there could be another.

Fane turned away with purpose. He needed to ensure there weren't any more monsters here.

His next task was clear in his mind until he turned around...

When he turned, he found the child staring blankly at the corpse.