Things had started to go wrong in the astral space when Barbou quietly slipped away. At first it was thought something happened to him and a search was carried out, until they discovered that he had slipped away before the seals were in place. This had come as a surprise both to the EOA and the bulk of the traitorous Network personnel. They had aligned themselves with Barbou in the expectation that he would be leading them during their time inside the dimensional space.
The EOA realised that he had left after interrogating one of the pairs monitoring the seal. They were only iron-rankers and Barbou had not provided them with any direction beyond sealing the aperture behind him after he left.
In the wake of unified leadership, the remaining people split into influence factions that filled the power vacuum. The EOA and bronze-rank Network personnel united to cow the iron-rankers and the normals, many of whom wanted to leave the dimensional space and surrender to the Network. It was not a good start, given that the goal was to settle in for months, if not years before events outside brought the dimensional space into play.
Word started coming in that something had been spotted moving in the shadows, in more than one location. Since no one had been able to pin down whatever it was, it was assumed to be a stealth-type category two monster. Once they realised that there was more than one of them, the group sent out people to find and stop them. The direct manifestation of monsters in the dimensional space was a threat they couldn’t afford to ignore.
“It appears to be working,” Shade said. “They’ve split into smaller search groups.”
“Alright,” Jason said. “Keep track of Farrah while I thin out the herd. Once she’s isolated enough, let me know and I’ll move in.”
They didn’t see the shadowy arm move up from below the ledge. They only noticed something amiss as one of the category ones was pulled over the edge, plummeting down into the fog with a scream. One of his companions ran to the edge to look, even as the category two leader yelled out a warning. The reckless man was yanked off as well, following the first into the fog below.
The three remaining Network operatives clumped together in the middle of the room, eyeing the edge without approaching. They maintained a watch in the other directions, guns at the ready, and immediately spotted a figure stepping into a doorway from which the door had long since rotted away. It was only vaguely humanoid in shape, wrapped in bloody, ragged cloth. They opened fire with their enchanted weapons immediately. The bullets hammered into the cloth but were absorbed to minimal effect.
They could sense the category-two strength from the entity. As it moved into the room, the leader threw out a concussive sphere of compressed air that struck the creature and blasted it apart, far more easily than anticipated. It exploded outright, gobbets of flesh scattering through the room. Moments later, they realised that the chunks of flesh were not the remains of the strange creature but a swarm of leeches. Leeches that were now clinging to the walls, floor, and ceiling on the side of the room that held the exits.
Beams of blue and orange light, as if from some futuristic energy weapon, cut down the normal and iron-rankers as they fled. Trailing behind them was a nebulous entity, the orbs floating around it the source of the deadly beams. It barely shimmered at the occasional magic bullet passing through it as the fleeing victims desperately fired behind them in retreat.
Four of the EOA’s elite converted were moving through the remains of a once-vast castle. They discovered a strange entity stalking them through the shadows, only visible as what looked like a cluster of distant stars in the night sky.
The category-two guns Barbou had given them had no effect. The bullets did not pass through the entity to strike the wall behind but stopped dead, silent until they fell harmlessly to the floor. The entity tracked them as they moved, disappearing from one shadow and appearing in the next.
“It won’t come out of the dark,” one of them said. “Just stay away from the shadows.”
“Look around, genius. It’s all goddamn shadows.”
“It’s not even attacking,” a third one said. “Maybe we should just ignore it.”
“We’re literally here to find whatever monster was sneaking around in the shadows,” the last one said. “Now that’s done, how is ignoring the thing an appropriate next step?”
“Well, shooting it didn’t do anything,” the third one said. “I’m not the one who assigned all the guys with vision tattoos in the other groups.”
“So, what do we do?” the second one said.
“Uh, guys? Where did it go?”
They looked around, realising that every shadow was empty. After the starlight entity had been dogging them so closely, its sudden absence was disconcerting. Then they heard a scream from nearby.
The EOA member stumbled over the edge, plunging down with a scream.
“Bitch!” his companion said, swinging a backhand blow at Farrah. She had just shouldered the man off the side of the building. Her hands were cuffed, but she used her bound arms to intercept the strike and entangle his. She then slung him into a fireman’s carry and tossed him off the side after his fellow.
She had picked her moment well. They were leading her through what she assumed was an astral space, given the unusual environment. There were more precarious narrow spaces than not and she had played docile prisoner until one of them got sloppy and moved too close to an edge. She was now free, but the keys to her cuffs and manacles had gone over the edge with the two men.
A group of EOA and Network operatives found each other, both having lost members. Many had their flesh blackening with rot.
“You have healers, right?” one of the EOA asked.
“He took out the healers first.”
“He?”
“It had a man’s voice when it chanted those creepy spells. It’s an essence user. Probably the one Barbou warned us about.”
“Essence user, nothing. It’s some kind of shadow monster.”
“Shadows don’t use huge scary knives. It looked like a sacrificial dagger and I will not be anyone’s sacrifice.”
“It’s just a guy. I’m sure I hit him with my barbed spear power. That must have hurt.”
“It did,” came a cold voice. There was a resonating quality to it that immediately arrested the attention and sent a chill down the spine.
“You’re Asano, aren’t you?” the man with the spear power asked. He was one of those marked with blackened flesh. “If we can make you bleed, we can make you die.”
“You wouldn’t be the first. Your blood is not yours to keep, but mine on which to feast.”