Devyn's heart pounded in his chest, his breath coming in ragged gasps as Malakai dragged him through the crumbling subway tunnels.
The once-familiar underground labyrinth now felt more like a death trap, with every sound, every shadow sending a jolt of fear through him.
The floor beneath their feet vibrated with the distant rumble of collapsing infrastructure, and the air was thick with dust and the scent of damp concrete.
The deeper they went, the darker it became.
Emergency lights flickered, casting long, distorted shadows along the tunnel walls. But it wasn't the darkness or the crumbling walls that terrified Devyn the most, it was the noises.
Strange, guttural noises echoed from deep within the tunnels, wet slithering sounds, inhuman growls and the scuttling of claws against concrete. Devyn had heard those sounds in his visions, but now they were all too real.
"We need to move faster," Malakai muttered, his grip on Devyn's wrist tightening. His voice was tense, his usually calm demeanor strained by the urgency of the situation.
"I'm trying!" Devyn gasped, stumbling over a loose piece of debris. His legs were shaking, his body screaming for a break, but there was no time for that. They couldn't stop, not now.
Suddenly, a high-pitched screech echoed through the tunnel, reverberating off the walls. Devyn froze, his blood turning to ice as the screech was followed by a low, wet gurgle. He didn't need to see the creature to know it was coming for them.
"Stay back!" Malakai snapped, shoving Devyn toward the wall as a monstrous shape slithered out of the darkness.
The creature moved with unnatural speed, its body long and sinewy, covered in slick, glistening scales. Its eyes glowed a sickly yellow, and its mouth opened wide, revealing rows of needle-like teeth. The stench of rotting flesh filled the tunnel as it lunged toward Malakai with a deafening roar.
Malakai was ready.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Malakai sidestepped the creature's attack and, in one fluid motion, drew a blade from beneath his coat, a blade that shimmered with an otherworldly light. He moved like a shadow, dodging the creature's strikes with effortless precision.
The creature snapped its jaws, missing him by inches as Malakai drove the blade deep into its side.
A burst of purple blood sprayed from the wound, the creature thrashing wildly in pain, but Malakai didn't falter. He twisted the blade, then yanked it free, spinning just in time to dodge the creature's tail as it lashed out, smashing into the tunnel wall with a force that made the ground tremble.
Devyn pressed himself against the cold, damp wall, watching in stunned silence as Malakai fought.
The man was ruthless, every movement precise and calculated. He fought with an intensity that bordered on feral, yet there was a grace to his attacks that was almost mesmerizing. It was as if he had done this a thousand times before.
The creature screeched again, this time more desperate, but Malakai was relentless. He thrust his sword in its throat, and the creature collapsed to the ground in a heap, convulsing as its life drained from it.
Purple blood pooled around its corpse, its grotesque form twitching in its final moments.
The stench of decay filled the air, making Devyn gag, but Malakai didn't even blink. He yanked the blade free, with a growl of determination, he launched himself at the creatures that emerged from the shadows.
His blade sliced through the air in a blur of deadly precision.
The creatures snarled and hissed, their claws raking the air, but they couldn't touch him. Malakai weaved between them, cutting them down one by one, their purple blood splattering across the walls of the tunnel as they fell.
Devyn pressed himself against the wall, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had never seen anyone fight like this, so fierce, so controlled.
It was as if Malakai was made for this, as if these monsters were nothing more than pests to him. But as awe-inspiring as it was, the reality of the situation was starting to settle in: these things were real, and they were deadly.
Just as the last creature fell, another screech echoed from behind them, and Devyn's stomach dropped. More of them.
"They're not stopping," Devyn whispered, his voice trembling.
"They won't," Malakai said, his tone flat. "They'll keep coming until they're dead."
Devyn's breath caught in his throat. His legs wouldn't move, fear had paralyzed him. The creature shot out from the darkness, heading straight for him.
Twisted face of a creature snarled as it lunged at Devyn, its claws outstretched, ready to tear into him.
But before it could reach him, Malakai was there. He rushed forward, meeting the creature with a powerful strike. His blade sliced through its thick hide, purple blood splattering across the tunnel floor. The creature howled, but Malakai didn't give it a chance to recover. With a quick spin, he severed its head, the creature collapsing in a heap of twitching limbs.
Another creature charged, its massive jaws snapping as it lunged toward Devyn. He barely had time to react. Seems like the monsters are determined to get him.
"Devyn!" Malakai's voice cut through the chaos, but Devyn was too slow to move. The creature was almost on him, its jaws open wide, ready to tear him apart.
But before it could reach him, Malakai was there. He moved so fast that Devyn barely saw it happen. One second, the creature was inches from his face, and the next, Malakai's blade was buried in its chest. The creature let out a final, pitiful screech before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Devyn stumbled back, his legs shaking uncontrollably. He felt something warm and wet splatter across his face and chest. Purple and foul-smelling blood. Some of it even got into his mouth.
He gagged.
Ugh, oh God!" Devyn sputtered, spitting out the blood in a panic, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His stomach churned, and he retched, convinced the blood was poisonous, that it would start eating away at him any second.
"Oh God, oh God," he sputtered, his stomach churning.
"It's not poisonous," Malakai said, his voice calm despite the chaos.
Devyn wasn't reassured. He kept spitting, his entire body trembling as he tried to wipe the blood off his face. The stench was overwhelming, the taste bitter and metallic on his tongue.
Before he could protest further, Malakai grabbed his arm again, pulling him to his feet. "We have to keep moving," Malakai said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Devyn staggered forward, still spitting and coughing as Malakai dragged him through the tunnel.
His mind was spinning, fear and confusion crashing over him like waves. He had just watched Malakai fight off a horde of monsters with ease, but more than that, Malakai had saved him, again.
The thought made his chest tighten, torn between fear of what was happening and the strange, unsettling trust he was starting to feel toward Malakai.
His legs felt like jelly, but he forced himself to keep moving, knowing that stopping meant death. The tunnel stretched on, seemingly endless, the distant sounds of more creatures echoing from behind them.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they reached the end of the tunnel. Daylight filtered in through a narrow exit, a sliver of hope after the suffocating darkness.
Devyn's heart lifted. They were almost out.
But just as they reached the opening, Malakai stopped short, his grip on Devyn's arm tightening.
Devyn's heart sank as he followed Malakai's gaze.
Waiting for them just outside the subway entrance was an overwhelming force of creatures, larger, more grotesque than anything they had encountered in the tunnel. Their hulking bodies blocked the exit, their glowing eyes fixed on Devyn and Malakai, their growls low and menacing.
Malakai stopped, his body tense, his eyes scanning the monsters. There were too many of them, more than even Malakai could fight.
Now what?" Devyn whispered, his voice barely audible, the words trembling as they left his lips. "What do we do?"
Malakai didn't answer. His jaw clenched, his blade already in his hand.