Journey Through the Underdark (Eric EarthScorn Book 1) by Alston Sleet

Author:Alston Sleet [Sleet, Alston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Staring in a sort of sick fascination, Eric watched the creatures that were once humans stumbling along a pathway through the mushroom-filled cavern. Every once and a while, they would veer away and attack with flailing fists and grunts of rage. The horror stories said that the undead would transmit their affliction through bites, but none of them tried to bite. As he watched he could see an odd pulsing sphere of magic within each creature. The pulses were swirling tentacles of sorcery which would burst out of the sphere and then strike objects surrounding the creature. To Eric's confusion, the magic was repulsed by other living things, and it seemed to pass right through non-living things like stones.

It was like less an attack and more like a flailing hand searching ahead of the creature. The magic would lash out nearly half the length of the cavern. When it touched upon one of the few remaining large animals, the undead would respond with violence, swerving to the target and destroying it. To Eric's horror, the length of the tentacles and the path the creatures were on would easily reach his hiding spot. All he could do was stay hunker down, hoping that the seeking appendage would miss him as the creatures passed.

Just to be prepared, Eric asked Sasha to scout an escape route if the undead attacked. Suddenly, Eric was even more envious at her ability to fade into the darkness.

"Stay silent, stay hidden. I will find our escape," Sasha sent to him as she drifted into the dark.

The four creatures were surrounded by multiple magical tentacles whipping around in the front, on each side, and behind the group. The odd magical pattern was the one strung between them. Their were lines of magical force that connected the four in bright, clear lines with a shimmer of shining silver and the taste of frozen air. If that were the extent of it, Eric would have just been disgusted. His real fascination was the line of pulsing blue, which seemed to draw out of a hovering orb that linked the creatures. That connection seemed to reach far into the distance.

As the creatures approached, Eric's stomach churned as he tried to breath only through his mouth to avoid the stench. One was female, or had been at one time, her yellow hair stringy and pressed down by a metal helmet clamped to her head. The other three were wearing similar headware and were dressed in everyday cloth clothing with peasant-style wood sole shoes. Each of the metal helmets had wide leather straps and had a light stone mounted on the front. The combination of the metal and magical light stone helmet with the threadbare and fraying peasant clothes was an odd sight. All this and the creatures were a sickly white with a slight green undertone.

At their closest approach, the smell rolled out of them with the sickly sweet scent of rotting meat.

The group passed Eric's hiding space with only one of the tentacles coming close enough to be a real concern.

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