The Rebirth Of The Beast Tamer

Rhoam stomped on a hoof. The ground split in a hairline crack, while glowing faint orange as if it remembered Iron holt's fires.

Darius stepped back, wiping his brow with the back of his gauntlet. "That is it and next time that you will charge, you will carry more than steel.

You will carry ghosts." His lips twisted into something close to a grin. "And they will run screaming from you, not the other way around."

Rhoam lowered his massive head, pressing briefly against his tamer's shoulder. Darius froze, then gave the beast a solid thump back, with metal clanging on the armor.

By the time the work was done, the night had fallen and maybe the Hollow had simply smothered the day.

Either way, darkness stretched around them, which was broken only by the fire they lit between the stones.

The Crest sat together, with weapons at their sides, the silence was thick but not empty. They did not need to speak, each knew what the other carried.

The beasts remained where they had been all along watching. Xerion's coils looped around the camp's edge like living walls.

Salaris perched above with wings outspread, shadow-light drifted like a faint halo and Rhoam sat firm at the rear, with armor gleaming with spectral lines, a breathing bulwark.

Together they formed a circle, silent was their guardians while their tamers rested. It was not planned but it was instinct.

And for the first time since they set their eyes on the Hollow, Kelvin felt something that was not fear and it was not safety either but it was close.

They were not just walking into the Hollow with sharpened steel, they were walking in with each other.

The Hollow did not wait for them to step closer. It came to them first. From the fissures below, shapes dragged themselves into the half-light.

At first, they looked like shadows that was crawling along the ground, but when they reached the base of the ridge the truth showed itself and half-rotted bodies was stitched by black ichor, bone shards sticked out of their flesh like broken weapons.

Kelvin's grip was tightened on the glaive, the weapon vibrated faintly as if it knew what was coming.

Xerion's coils was tightened behind him as the serpent's scales glinted with void-flame. "Scouts," Xerion hissed through their bond. "The Hollow sends them to test us."

Lyra already had her bow in hand, her movements was smooth, almost a ritual. Salaris's wings was shifted, it's feathers were shimmering between silver moonlight and abyssal glow.

Darius cracked his knuckles against Rhoam's armored hide, the beast was snorting flame through its maw and ready to charge. The first wave came as a crawling tide.

Kelvin stepped forward first. His spear swept in a wide arc, as green fire was spitting from the embedded fang. Xerion wove his essence into the strike, and the glaive screamed with void energy as it cut through the first line of husks.

They exploded into black ichor and shards of brittle bone, dissolving in the air like dust caught in a storm. "Push them back!" Kelvin roared.

Xerion surged forward, with its body weaving through the battlefield like liquid shadow. Wherever his coils struck, zombies are shattered, their twisted spines was breaking with loud cracks.

With each lunge, void-flame burst outward and left glowing marks on the ground that burned long after the husks fell. But the Hollow did not stop.

For every one they cut down, three more dragged themselves from the fissures, clawing over the corpses of their kin. Lyra's voice cut through the chaos. "On your left!"

She loosed three arrows in quick succession. Salaris's aura wrapped them mid-flight, turning them into streaks of shadowed light.

They tore through a cluster of husks, pinning them together in a burning arc before detonating in silence. The blast left only smoldering skeletons behind.

Lyra exhaled sharply, her palms were already red where the bowstring seared her skin. She ignored the sting, drew again and fired. Salaris's wings pulsed with energy, feeding each shot with more of that eerie silver-black glow.

"Keep them from surrounding!" she called out, her tone was steady but her jaw was tight. Darius let out a war cry that was more like a growl. "Rhoam, move forward!"

The beast obeyed him instantly. With a thunderous step, Rhoam plowed into the swarm, his armor glowed as the soulshard fragments pulsed.

Every impact sent shockwaves through the husks, scattering them like straw in the wind. Rhoam's maw spewed fire, the flames licked across the battlefield, leaving husks writhing in their own shadows.

Darius followed close behind, slamming his gauntleted fists into anything Rhoam missed. Every strike echoed with the flame-echoes of Ironholt, with bursts of heat and fire punching through bone and ichor alike.

But the Hollow didn't yield. They came climbing, crawling and dragging themselves forward with broken limbs. Some moved on all fours, spines jutting like weapons. Others fused together mid-charge, two or three husks merged into one grotesque figure with too many arms and too many mouths.

One of the fused beasts lunged for Kelvin, its bone-shard claws was raised. The glaive trembled violently as Kelvin swung, Xerion's power forced the blade to cut deeper than steel should.

The monster split in half with a shriek, its pieces was dissolving before they hit the ground. But Kelvin staggered, his wrists burning from the recoil. The weapon felt heavier each time he swung.

"Kelvin... your weapon!" Lyra's sharp voice was carried over the chaos. She could see it, the trembling edge, the way the void-fire licked uncontrolled along the glaive's shaft.

"I can still manage!" he barked back, forcing another strike that carved a crescent of fire through the swarm. Xerion's coils wrapped the glaive mid-swing, stabilizing the wild flow for a heartbeat. The synergy was held but barely.

Lyra's hands was shook with the burn of her bowstring. Still, she drew and loosed, Salaris hovered above her with wings spread wide.

Every shot became sharper and faster, while slicing through the lines of husks as if it was cutting stitches loose. But the cost was there, the bowstring began to glow faintly with strain, and the flesh of her fingertips blistered.

Darius slammed his fist into the ground, a shockwave rippled outward as Rhoam spun in a blazing charge and clearing space for the Crest.

He was breathing heavily now, sweat was running under his armor. Rhoam's plates glowed dangerously hot, where edges smoking the soul shards pulsed brightly.

"They are endless!" Darius shouted. "The Hollow is pouring them out faster than we can cut them down!" Kelvin did not argue. He felt it too, the strain, the weight, the gnawing presence of the Hollow itself was pressing against them like a living will.

Then came the second rush. The ground split open near the ridge. From the fissure crawled not just husks, but a larger beast which was half the size of Rhoam, stitched from several corpses, their skulls were fused into one grotesque helm.

Their moans shook the air and the smaller husks seemed to rally behind them. Kelvin grit his teeth, glaive raised though his arms screamed. "Xerion.... release a full surge!"

The serpent answered. His void essence poured fully into the glaive and the blade erupted with black-green fire. Kelvin swung, and the strike carved through the first abomination's chest, cleaving it in two.

But the glaive's vibration almost tore the weapon from his hands and his shoulders went numb from the shock.

Lyra and Salaris focused on the second. Arrows streaked like comets, shadow-light detonations pierced the monster's legs. It fell to its knees, it was still clawing forward with multiple arms.

Salaris swooped low with wings slicing across its neck in a blur of abyssal light. The head toppled, dissolving before it hit the dirt.

Darius and Rhoam charged the third together. Rhoam slammed it aside with a calculated strike, Darius followed with a burning punch that exploded against its spine.

The abomination shattered and flames consumed its ichor-soaked body. The battlefield fell silent for a breath. Then the wind shifted, carrying the moans of the Hollow again.

Kelvin's glaive trembled violently before he forced it still, planting it into the ground. His palms were raw where the haft had burned him.

Lyra flexed her blistered fingers, with her bow lowered but shaking in her grasp. Rhoam panted heavily, smoke wa still rising from his armor, and Darius leaned against him and chest heaving.

They had won the first clash, but it did not feel like victory. Below them, dozens of corpses smoldered, burning as they collapsed into the glowing fissures. Yet the Hollow moaned louder, as if it was acknowledging them and as if, it was amused by their determination.

Kelvin wiped sweat from his brow, his voice was low but steady. "That… was just the beginning." Xerion's eyes glowed faintly in the dark. "The Hollow has seen us and now it will answer."