Book One – Chapter 5

A surge of dread gripped Yves as he climbed the slope, putting distance between himself and the crater. The earth beneath him continued to quake, the disturbing resonance of the creature’s never-ending roars and rampaging. Midnight followed and overtook him in the climb, her fur bristling in shared horror.

His energies, however potent and exposed, could never have summoned forth such a monstrous entity. This creature had lurked deep beneath the surface, possibly dormant, its tendrils or maws perhaps occasionally emerging to seize sustenance. It had sculpted the entire coastline, it had been the very terrain Yves had traversed for three years. The only anomaly this time, the sole novel element that had wandered the coast with him, the one singular entity that could truly stir the land with its grotesque malevolence, was the Vicha.

Somewhere along the vast coastline, the revolting cliff monstrosity had ensnared the Vicha — and now, the Vicha was consuming it.

Yves stood at the edge of the crater, his gaze fixed upon the distant cliff. His second sight strained against the grotesque spectacle unfolding before him. Tendrils, like veins, now covered the whole coastline, thrashing wildly. The ground continued to shake violently, forcing Yves to his knees as the monstrous form writhed and ascended from the depths, growing and growing and growing into a living mountain range with no end.

The dreadful roars of countless maws echoed its aggression, a discord that drowned out all other sounds. The creature fought desperately against an overwhelming force — the Vicha. Its viscous black mass gradually enveloped the behemoth. It crawled across its veins, scaled the massive body, and burrowed within, a relentless onslaught of consumption.