Chapter 25: Unholy Ability.
The Eidolon chief roared into the sky and shattered a nearby boulder with its hoof.
"Dieeeeeee".
It raged before bringing its head down and prepared itself to stampede forward, clearly intending on crushing everything and everyone in line of its massive antlers.
Andrea calmly sheathed her sword, she was proud, but not stupid, she knew she couldn’t take the Eidolon chief alone.
From a little pouch attached to her utility belt, she retrieved a little white glowing light that resembled a wisp, it was the dormant ability of one of their allies.
The Eidolon chief lunged forward, each thunderous step shaking the frozen ruins beneath its hooves. Andrea was already kneeling next to Damien, her hazel eyes swept over Yuri before stopping on Damien.
He found it a little awkward, especially since there was a giant fifteen foot tall, ram faced creature about to crush them.
"Hey there, not to seem ungrateful. But you really shouldn’t attempt a rescue without a secure escape plan".
Andrea remained composed.
"Who says I don’t have an escape plan?".
She said softly before her hand fell on his shoulders.
"Ooh, I’m liking where this is going, I’m gonna go ahead and tick out double suicide with a stranger from my bucket list".
The Eidolon chief was only a hair’s breadth away from crashing into Andrea’s white armour when several figures suddenly materialised out of thin air. They were already holding onto one another, while Claire’s hand remained firmly on Andrea’s shoulder.
The next moment, Damien felt the weight of his body disappear.
The sensation was strangely familiar. It reminded him of passing through the black nebulous gate, except this time the weightlessness lasted only an instant.
Then gravity returned.
Caught completely off guard, Damien pitched forward and landed face first in a pile of snow.
SIGH
"So this is my life now".
Damien grumbled before lifting his head from the frozen ground, he sucked in a long breath of air before nearly jumping away.
Standing next to him was a tall man with long black hair. Several tattoos ran across his face and arms, and judging by what Damien could see, probably the rest of his body as well.
"Hmm, who are you?"
"I’m Damien, who are you?".
The man didn’t pause.
"I’m Micah".
Damien nodded in satisfaction before realising Yuri was right next to him, she was still partially unconscious and couldn’t really move.
The others were here too, Seris was already helping Chad up, while the two red haired strangers seemed to be trying to kill each other.
"Shouldn’t someone do something about that, she’s really going at the poor guy".
"Don’t bother with those two, they’re siblings".
Damien glanced sideways.
Andrea had already knelt beside Yuri, slipping one arm beneath her shoulders as she prepared to carry her, but Damien suddenly stopped her.
"Don’t worry, Priesty will do it".
"Priesty?".
Without another word, black gas dripped from Damien’s body and Priesty manifested from it, the wounds on his body had mostly recovered, except he looked more menacing than when he was alive.
Growl
The air suddenly grew colder.
Andrea reacted first.
Steel hissed from its sheath as her sword flashed into her hand. Beside her, Micah instinctively stepped back. Despite looking like someone who belonged on the front lines, he wasn’t a fighter. His only option was to roll aside and brace himself for the clash he thought was about to happen.
"No, wait!" Seris suddenly shouted. "Priesty is our ally!"
Andrea’s blade stopped mid-swing.
An awkward silence followed as everyone stared at the creature, unsure whether to attack or lower their guard.
Only then did Andrea notice something was wrong.
Priesty didn’t resemble the other Eidolons.
Its eyes were nothing but hollow darkness where crimson irises should have been. Thick black mist drifted from its pitch-black fur, making its entire body seem less like flesh and more like miasma forced into the shape of a beast.
Only its white antlers remained unchanged, standing in sharp contrast to the darkness consuming the rest of its body.
Damien quickly got in-between Priesty and Andrea.
"Wait, this is Priesty, he’s a corpse reanimated by my dormant ability".
Ethan and Claire looked at each other but remained silent. They had witnessed many unique dormant abilities before, some so bizarre they defied common human understanding, yet none of them came close to this.
Raising the dead and enslaving them to the user’s will was everything unholy, and it inevitably raised another question. Could they really trust Damien to keep an ability like that under control? Death was commonplace in the Ruins of Humanity. People died every day, and none of them wanted to return as mindless slaves bound to another person’s will.
Andrea understood the gravity of the situation more than anyone, Damien was bound to be seen as a threat, regardless of whether he be friend, or foe.
"Next time, say something before you summon... What is it exactly?".
Damien put his hand down and relaxed, he couldn’t have Andrea destroying his last undead, doing so would have been no different from stripping him naked.
"He’s an Undead, his name is Priesty".
Seris looked away in shame. "Oh Damien. Why did you have to say that?".
Andrea was taken aback for a moment.
"He named the corpse?".
"Well then, since you have such a useful ally, I see no reason why we have to travel slow... We head straight back to the frozen wastelands".
Without sparing Damien a second glance, Andrea walked over to Micah and picked up one of the utility bags resting in the snow.
Their journey back to the Frozen Wastelands was still a long one. The farther north they travelled, the more unforgiving the weather became.
The wind carried a bitter chill that seeped through layers of clothing, while the endless blanket of snow stretched beyond the horizon, swallowing everything in the frozen forest.
Damien didn’t waste another second. Priesty silently lifted Yuri onto its back, and the two of them broke into a sprint after the retreating group.