─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"What the fuck's a surgewolf?" Aleveah asked.

"Holy shit. Werewolves are outside?" Reisha blurted, horrified.

"Shhhh. For the love of the gods."

They were interrupted by thuds from the door. Once that stopped, deep sniffing came from the gap under it. They heard beasts outside chuffing and licking their nostrils. Corvus looked at his family and mouthed, "Don't speak." Finally, a beast outside howled, mighty and deep. It bellowed in song for more of his companions. Corvus slowly rose to his feet and began suiting up in his armor.

One final groggy note escaped the surgebeast's throat before its song stopped, and they heard a thump. The family heard gurgling, and blood flowed under the door's gap into the living area toward their feet. They heard distant thudding, which reminded Corvus of arrows through a dummy during practice. It sounded like the beasts were taking blows outside as they whimpered and hurried away.

"Stay here," Corvus instructed, mainly to his daughter. She was known to be bold.

As he approached the door, he heard distant wooshing noises and saw light dance from under it. After fumbling a few times, he finally managed to unbar the door and open it. The wizard stood in the distance, brandishing a massive fireball above his head. Occasionally, it shot out smaller balls like comets toward the enemies. Two demon hunters were also in the distance, standing back-to-back. One hunter had a sprained arm and was kneeling to use his lower body to balance his tall bow. The other hunter had a broken leg and rested it on his companion's shoulder. It was a practiced position, and they executed it well, acting as one unit.

The impact noises he had heard after the first hit the door were the demon hunters pelting the demonic wolves with arrows. Corvus now saw the wolf-beasts standing much taller than himself all around him. None alive were at the doorway anymore. Some a distance away were still getting hit as they ran off. Others were dead, impaled by the same projectiles.

The barbarian stepped over a corpse near his doorway. An axe was left stuck in his door at a tilt, which had been thrown and cut that surgewolf's jugular. Its hand still twitched until Corvus smashed its brains in with his cudgel to finish the job. Then, he turned and looked in the direction the axe had been thrown from. The image of his brother, Reshmond, emerged from a plume of black smoke. Corvus allowed a smile to creep on his face despite his dangerous surroundings.

"Get your ass into action," Reshmond encouraged his younger brother while jogging to him. 

Corvus noticed the rough bandage wrapped across his sibling's chest. He was bleeding through, but it barely phased him. 

"And where's the rest of the family?" Reshmond finished, panting.

"Tucked away ins-"

The response was cut short by a resounding roar from behind Reshmond. An armored surgebear ran past them toward the wizard from the forest's shadows on his hind legs. Its eyes were glowing a fiery black from the blackened power it held. Hergalvath, the wizard, was still performing his spell completely unsuspecting. While running, the bear raised back an arm to end him, but right before the impact, three large daggers were thrown in succession at the beast before the bear could swipe. One went through a knee, which dropped the bear to a kneel, and the two others penetrated the bear's neck and skull. Reisha, from the cottage rooftop, had hit her target before another Seeker was lost.

"Well, they were tucked away inside. Aleveah better still be," Corvus remarked.

He quickly checked to see if his daughter was still behind the cabin door. She was, and he instructed her to bar it shut again from the inside. Reisha dropped from the roof and approached Hergalvath. That was her husband and brother-in-law's queue to do the same. They met up with the demon hunters to surround the wizard. The other seekers knew he couldn't be distracted from his enchantments, or he'd have to start over.

Suddenly, the outcries and howls of beasts echoed all around them. The howling kept getting louder until the sounds muffled out everything. Corvus and Reisha started to fear for their daughter but could only communicate through body language. The wizard's incantations grew louder. The group knew what Hergalvath was conjuring up - he was about to produce a shield around them that used the fiery ball as an energy source. 

Seeing her husband's worry, Reisha looked at Corvus nervously and gave him a nod of approval. Knowing what was at stake, Corvus made a break for the house. He followed the urge to save his daughter and bring her into the forming circle of enchantment. They were about to be overrun, and he had little time to act as the enchantment was almost complete.

Reisha started to follow, but Reshmond stopped her verbally. There was no use in losing them all if it came to that. Corvus pounded on the door and instructed Aleveah to respond. Soon after, she ran with Corvus toward the circle, led by his hand. As they sprinted back, the wails of monsters grew more prevalent. Then, suddenly, an unexpected beast came through the fog toward them. Corvus, in mid-run and unprepared, braced for the worst.

Next to him and Aleveah, a horse buckled back and neighed. It was Dr. Sangoda who had led their horse from the stable on horseback. More horses emerged from the woods, running toward their owners in the circle. He had freed the Seeker's horses, and all had followed him by verbal commands. After Corvus recognized his steed, without question, he helped Aleveah saddle up and got on.

With a nod, he thanked the witch doctor, and they rode toward the circle. Sangoda led the way, but as they were about to breach the magical shield barrier, a blood portal opened to the right of Corvus' horse, mid-gallop. A long, pale hand with black nails came through and grabbed Aleveah by the arm. The horse lost its balance slightly as a rider was torn from its back.

The wizard witnessed the chaos but could not stop his enchantment, or he'd have to start over, which they could not afford to do. The magic had to be recited at the right tone and speed. It ended just as Corvus fell from the horse and rolled into the circle of Seekers. His horse also made it before the magical shield solidified, falling on its front legs but quickly righting itself.

Corvus coughed as a thin cloud of dirt subsided. Silence settled as the group realized they had just witnessed his daughter disappear through a bloody portal with a sickly arm. Corvus turned around, angrily yelling. When he saw his comrades ' faces, he had already guessed what had transpired during his thrashing. Not knowing what took her or what to do, he sprinted for a wall of the shield that had just formed around them. He smashed into it without bracing, and a surge of energy from the wall sent his body flying. This shield wall kept people in and out of it until dismantled by enchantment, the same way it was created. He had known that, but it didn't prevent him from testing the theory.

Beasts ran into the domed walls around them and were flung backward by the shield's defensive energy. The Seekers, the witch doctor, and their horses were within the magical protective barrier walls. All members of the group were now mounted except for Corvus. His horse was left jogging slowly in a circle, waiting for instruction. The two demon hunters dismounted and helped Corvus to his feet. He was silently sobbing while he heard his wife hysterically wailing in the background. Reisha steered her horse aimlessly around, pleading for Aleveah to return.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the beasts stopped crashing into the exterior shield wall. They finally accepted they weren't getting anywhere once three surgebears tried to tear through the walls at three equally distant points around the dome. Roars echoed through the woods as the beast crowd backed away from the circle about 10ft. Then, silence befell them, and they bowed their heads. It was then that the Seekers truly realized how surrounded they were. There were no gaps in the gathering, and there must've been hundreds of rows of beasts.

A blood portal opened above them about a hundred feet in the sky. They could see the scene clearly through the shield dome as a pale vampire flew forth from the portal, grasping Aleveah by the forearm. Her body dangled while she kicked her feet and screamed. The Vampire's body wasn't visible under his black leather robe, which had red trimmings and winged cuffs. His wings were large and dragon-like, stretching 10ft on either side of him. Hints of crimson blended with black glowed on the membrane of his wings as light from the Blood Moon showed through. Crimson streams, which were the vampire's veins, were seen over his hands, up his neck, and through his wings. The observing Seekers saw that the Lord's eyes were jet black, and he was bald with pointed ears.

While his robust wings flapped slowly, the sounds of them filled the air. The feeling and look of horror befell the team as they stared up at the demonic being through the black sky. His hand clenched around his victim's arm as his long, black nails nearly cut his palm in the process. For a moment, Corvus and Reisha only looked up, helpless and horrified.

"All from the village of Rendroven, heed my name. I am Calcreavix," the vampiric Lord said in an eerie, beastly tone. 

Aleveah screamed and squirmed in his grasp once he spoke. In response, he looked down and kicked a foot, which met her lower chin. The blow knocked her out, and she was left silently dangling. Corvus and Reisha rode up to the side of the dome nearest the vampire, yelling relentlessly. He responded by sending a surge of power toward the dome with his free hand. 

Black lightning outstretched from his fingertips to a singular point, hitting the magical barrier. The shield was losing its transparency in black waves outstretching from the point of impact. The Seekers struggled to maintain the composure of their horses as they dispersed in fear. Horses and the mounted members of the group worked not to collide with each other. Corvus had to dodge some close calls.

Finally, the vampire allowed the surging to cease. The shield slowly unblurred to its original transparency and color as the ripples stopped. The Seekers, now all on horseback, came to the closest side of the dome to inspect their enemy. The parents of his victim struggled to maintain their now fierce-looking composure as he slowly flew down to hover away from the barrier a few feet. He was now eye-to-eye with the Seekers.

"When I said all from Rendroven, I only meant you," he said, referring to the group. "I fear we've killed the rest of your village."

"Unhand my daughter, you decrepit, lanky demon," Reisha snapped.

"That's no way to talk to your Dark Lord," he said with a snarl. "Now, tell me, where is my brother? You seem to have larger, well-built buildings here. And you no longer shit on the ground? Am I in a different part of your world?"

After some silence, he continued, "You have developed armor for your mounts," he muttered while observing them up and down. "No. No, it cannot be." He looked up at the constellations.

"Your brother?" the demon hunter, Truloc, questioned while approaching closer. "You mean the other vampire that was killed 2,500 years ago?"

"Killed?" Calcreavix shot a look of harrowing anger toward Truloc. "You spawn of apes killed my beloved sibling? No. I shall conquer this land and lay you to waste. I will finish what my brother has started and open more portals for my other brethren to help conquer the lands on this ball of dirt. In the interim, I'm keeping this one." He looked down at Aleveah.

"Consider it collateral for not killing the rest of you," he continued. "You band of magic monkeys don't know what you wield. Powers from my dimension littered into yours from relics scattered by weak members from my planet. Our Lords overtook them, and when they knew they were losing, they scattered these truths here in the form of artifacts with instructions to stop us, hoping we wouldn't find them. But our Lords sent our own relics through in the mix to stir confusion and even to wake us into this world. Now, your world is a consequence of our own."

After a moment, his face hardened, and he continued. "Although we know of this world and can see it from ours through dimensional mirrors, biologicals cannot physically pass through; a portal has to be opened on the other side. We could only send objects here through portals on our side. It can be nothing living, but the laws of magic are different here in this dimension. If a portal is opened here, biologicals from our dimension can pass through. Hidden as a relic, a human unknowingly set me free through a portal. And at every Blood Moon, I shall chant rituals that give me strength through a stronger connection between our planets. And soon, my Seekers, what you seek will be in plain view for all to worship."

Then, he disappeared through a new blood portal he tore open to his side, stealing away his victim while his crowd watched helplessly.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───