"Damnation!" Riley muttered, his breath coming out in ragged bursts as he navigated the winding alleys of Belfast. The fog that had enveloped the city was beginning to lift, but it did little to clear the turmoil in his mind.
He rounded a corner and burst into a street, the fog now thinning to reveal the darkened cityscape. His only desire was to reach a carriage and head back to the Blackout Company; he needed the captain's expertise more than ever.
He replayed the battle in his mind with relentless clarity. The creature he had encountered was unlike any Nexus Creature he had faced before.
It resembled a Danot in appearance, but it exhibited an unnervingly high level of intelligence and precision. Nexus Creatures typically acted on instinct, not strategy, and they certainly didn't retreat from a fight. But this one had, and it had evaded him with an agility that was almost human.
