"Stop!" Valerie hissed, holding up her hand to halt the group just as Elise was in the middle of the third ghost story.

They all turned silent, watching Valerie with caution as she sniffed at the air after a brief change in the wind.

"What is it? What do you smell?" Lucy asked, her newly empowered aura starting to leak out of her pores and gathered it around herself.

"Did Timmy fall down the well?" Jason added with a smirk and a chuckle, earning him a hateful glare from Valerie.

"Blood." She explained, "Something died here recently. A few things actually... Are you sure that we are the only ones that know about this?" She asked, directing the question to Ren.

"I’m sure. No one knew about these creatures until they started to wreak havoc in the towns, and we’re not close enough to the town for that. It should still be growing in size... It’s possible that it might not be alone.

I can’t say for certain." Ren answered through gritted teeth, once again hating himself for his interference so early on in his journey. If he hadn’t tried to give himself more time, he wouldn’t have caused this butterfly effect and changed so much.

If only he could go back time again and change that, do it right this time. No wait... that’s what got him into this situation in the first place! Aargh! Damn you time travel!

Valerie took over leading the back, constantly sniffing at the air as she led them like a bloodhound. Her senses were massively heightened after her transformation, so much so that they walked for nearly another mile before the others started to get a whiff of what Valerie could smell. But by that time, the stench of blood was not the only thing in the air.

There was the putrid stench of rotten flesh and even stranger, the clinging smell of flowers.

Following their noses, they eventually came to the edge of the quarry. Stopping at the edge, they crouched down and observed the situation within the massive pits confines with shock and confusion.

The bottom of the quarry was filled with grass and foliage, which should not have existed in this decade long dead forest. However it seemed like the foliage itself understood that, as there was not a hint of greenery amongst it.

The grass was a deep purple, with beads of a thick and disgusting liquid dripping from the grass blades, like dew drops of poison. Blackened trees rose from the ground, their trunks contracting and expanding, as if they were breathing, as they let out low creaking groans with every movement.

These breathing trees had branches like curled, decayed fingers. With horrifying flowers that bloomed like mouths screaming in agony and with fruits that curled the very air with the rancid smell they gave off.

It was these fruits that were responsible for the rotten flesh stench, because that was what they were made of. Apples that were somehow crafted and grown from rotten flesh, surrounded by blood covered skin to give them their lovely red shine. A shine that was still dripping off of them.

Amongst these trees and atop that grass, prowled a Thunder Fang. A Tiger with yellow fur and white stripes, which were shaped like lightning bolts. Small crackles of lightning leapt between these stripes as it moved silently, stepping away from the gaping tear in reality behind it.

"Is that what we are here for? I’m sure we can handle that." Elise asked, analysing the tiger closely whilst Trivian tried his best not to puke beside her. Everything about this sight turned his stomach, and it wasn’t just from the smell or the ’fruit’. To his very core, all of this was simply wrong and his body was rebelling at its presence.

"No..." Ren answered with a mutter, his voice devoid of emotion as his eyes held a distant look, "That thing is."

The party frowned, following his finger as he pointed across the quarry to the far wall. It seemed as if he was pointing to nothing, when it moved.

It was just a pair of eyes, moving independently from one another. The eyes seemed to be glued to the wall itself, before the wall moved, or more accurately, the creature that was perfectly disguised at the wall did.

Long limbs moved in ways they shouldn’t, growing and shrinking with every step like they were elastic rather than solid, while its clawed fingers dug into the stone. It moved completely silently, despite being the size of an elephant - not including its impossible limbs - as the faint outline that they could make out had the vague shape of a lizard.

The eyes that were moving were not located on the head, instead one of them was on the back of its hand while the other was on its shoulder. It made it even more impossible to keep track of the creature, as the moment it paused its movements its appearance changed to once again perfectly blend in with the wall.

At the bottom of the quarry, the Thunder Fang had noticed the party, however it failed to notice the true danger. Although the party could hardly blame it, for when the thing finally lunged, it did not do so from the place they had last seen it.

A hand burst from the ground without a sound, slamming down onto the Lightning Fang just as it began to charge towards the party. The Lightning Fang stopped dead, which was an unfortunate figure of speech.

Because despite the half a metre long, pencil thin claws speared through its neck, shoulder, hip and paw. The Thunder Fang was still alive, struggling against the horror that had it pinned down as it tried not to choke on its own blood.

A mistake, as it would have been a much more pleasant death.

The creature, which had moved so close to the Thunder Fang without the party actually seeing it do so despite them staring right at it, peeled itself from the ground. It’s body had been pressed flat against the ground, not even disturbing the grass, and was letting out sickening cracks and crunches as it regained its third dimension.

The thing dragged the Thunder Fang towards it, the tiger still struggling within its grasp, before it opened its mouth. The mouth opened in four different directions, making it look like a flower of razor teeth, as a bulge travelled up the creature’s throat.

With a single heave, it vomited a strange black liquid onto the tigers head, which immediately started to roar as the liquid sizzled on its fur. It was a roar that would have been threatening in any other circumstances, considering that it sounded like crashing thunder and carried on for miles.

But in this circumstances, it was the pleading and desperate roar of a dying creature. The Thunder Fang’s head rapidly melted. It’s flesh peeling away to reveal the skull underneath with an empty, ever staring eye-socket as the eyeball had been dissolved into nothingness.

Small droplets of the acid ran down the Thunder Fang’s body, which was somehow still struggling and wriggling, as it sizzled and rapidly melted everything that it came into contact with. It was only when the thing finally lunged forwards and clamped its jaws around the Lightning Fangs bone white head, that it finally stopped struggling and was allowed to die.

***

"No way... That thing is what we are supposed to fight?!" Elise hissed, her voice trembling as she stumbled away from the quarry ledge in horror. Even at the distance they were at, they could still hear the disgusting crunching of its latest snack.

"We’re going to die... We’re definitely going to die... How in the hell are we supposed to fight that thing?! Look at it! It’s huge and horrifying and-"

WHAP!

Elise stopped her ramblings after a quick, sharp slap hit across her cheeks. Her panic quite literally getting slapped out of her. She blinked rapidly whilst her brain tried to reboot itself and remind itself why it was feeling like that.

But before she could, Valerie lowered her slapping hand and grabbed Elise by the shoulders. She looked deep in her eyes, making sure that Elise was looking back.

"Listen to me. Listen to my voice. You are going to calm down, and you are going to be fine. So long as we stick together, keep our cool, and don’t be panicking idiots. We will be fine."

Elise nodded softly, letting out a soft whimper as she lost herself in Valerie’s eyes. Her heart still thundered in her chest, but the fear dragged itself back down and bottled itself up to a useful degree. Just enough to keep her on her toes, not enough to make her freak out.

Valerie smiled at her, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder, before she stepped back over to the edge and looked down at the otherwordly horror.

"Quick thinking on the hypnotism." Ren whispered with a knowing smirk and a nod, however Valerie simply gave him a strange glance.

"Didn’t have to. Just talked to her like a normal person. You should try it sometime."

Ren scrunched up his face in annoyance and leaned back, grumbling to himself that his social skills were fine. Typical for this group’s level of delusion.