From the moment Alucard first saw the distant mountain range, something inside him tightened.
It felt as if a cold hand had wrapped around his heart and squeezed.
A primal instinct screamed at him.
Run.
Run as fast as possible.
Run without looking back.
Run even if it meant diving into the sea and swimming until his muscles tore apart.
Except there was no sea anymore.
Still, the urge remained.
No one else seemed affected.
By the time the cohort descended from the stone giant and set foot on solid ground, Alucard's anxiety had only worsened.
He tried to distract himself.
When he saw Sunny gliding down from above with his new insect wings, drifting gently through the air, he forced out a weak chuckle.
"She was a fairy."
The joke landed like a corpse.
No one reacted.
Alucard laughed awkwardly to himself, but his thoughts were scattered. His chest felt tight, his senses stretched painfully thin.
He couldn't focus.
Everyone noticed.
Kai approached him cautiously and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Al… what's wrong? Are you okay?"
Alucard jerked away instantly.
"Yeah. I am. Ugh… I'm just feeling a little under the weather, that's all."
Effie snorted.
"What, did you finally realize you're in over your head?" she said with a grin. "The stone giant went that way. You can still chase him if you hurry."
Alucard shot her a glare but said nothing.
Instead, he kept staring into the distant fog.
Waiting.
For something.
Eventually the cohort decided to rest for the night.
Everyone settled down.
Everyone except Alucard.
He stood like a statue at the edge of their camp, eyes fixed on the fog-covered horizon.
Eventually Sunny approached him.
They were both assigned to night watch.
"What's got you so frightened all of a sudden?" Sunny asked.
Alucard didn't turn around.
Instead, he tried to lean into the teasing.
"Whoa. Did you just say frightened? Who taught you those big-boy words?"
Sunny scoffed.
"Just because I'm not a spoiled brat like you doesn't mean I'm stupid."
"Spell it."
Sunny blinked.
"Spell what?"
"Frightened."
Sunny scratched the back of his neck.
"…F-R-E-G-H-T-N-D."
Alucard didn't even notice whether it was correct or not.
His eyes were still locked on the fog.
Sunny watched him for a moment.
Then he shrugged and gave up trying to talk to him.
---
Morning came.
Alucard was still staring into the fog.
His tension had infected the rest of the group. Everyone was on edge.
So when they spotted a Nightmare Creature, they immediately prepared for battle.
Until they realized the creature was already dead.
Everyone approached the corpse to inspect it.
Everyone except Alucard.
His scowl only deepened.
Finally, Nephis spoke.
"Why are you staring into the distance?"
Alucard looked at her in confusion.
"…Can't you hear it?"
Now everyone looked confused.
"Hear what?" Kai asked.
Alucard pointed toward the fog.
"I don't know how to explain it… but it sounds like a whale dying. Actually—no. It sounds like a lot of whales crying. Not just one."
The group exchanged glances.
Effie suddenly slapped him on the back.
"You seriously need sleep," she said, awkwardly laughing. "You've been acting weird all day."
Alucard sighed and rubbed his temple.
"Yeah… maybe you're right."
But his face betrayed him.
He didn't believe that for a second.
Then Cassie suddenly shouted.
"We have to run! Quickly!"
Alucard threw his hands in the air.
"Finally! Someone else hears it!"
Cassie shook her head urgently.
"Not whatever you were talking about! The fog! It's descending! If it touches us, we'll be in very serious trouble!"
Nephis immediately looked to Sunny and Kai.
They nodded.
They began searching for mining tunnels that led underground.
Meanwhile, Alucard was still staring into the fog.
Then he heard it again.
A deep, mournful cry.
"WOOOOOOOAAAAAAOOO."
This time it was close enough to shake the ground beneath their feet.
And somehow—
Somehow he understood it.
"Are you prepared for death?"
Alucard's blood froze.
That question sent a chill through his entire body.
Suddenly, he found the entrance to a mine before anyone else could even react to the fact he was gone.(I like to imagine he left a smoke cloud in the shape of himself like in those old looney toons cartoon's)
Just before he dove inside, he looked back.
And saw it.
From the fog, a colossal shape emerged.
At first it looked like a moving mountain.
Then it kept growing.
And growing.
And growing.
It was a whale.
But not like any whale that had ever existed.
Its body floated through the air like a drifting continent, its enormous skeletal frame visible through torn flesh and rotting tissue. Entire ecosystems clung to its decaying hide—forests of parasitic coral, writhing barnacle-like monsters, and dangling tendrils that glowed with pale bioluminescence.
Its vast corpse stretched across the sky.
If someone placed it beside NQSC, it would have rivaled the entire city in size if it was not way larger.
Seven enormous fins spread like torn wings, slowly beating the air.
Each movement displaced clouds.
Despite the fact that it moved slowly, Alucard knew that was only because of the unimaginable distance between them.
The creature was unimaginably colossal.
A flying whalefall.
And its hollow skull turned slightly—
Toward him.
That was enough.
Alucard sprinted into the mine like his life depended on it.
Because it probably did.
Moments later the rest of the cohort rushed inside as well.
Alucard collapsed against the tunnel wall, completely out of breath. His muscles trembled violently.
"What the fuck was that thing?!" he gasped.
Sunny frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Alucard stared at him.
"That giant fucking whale flying out of the fog! Did you seriously not see that?!"
Sunny blinked.
"…No."
Alucard's eye twitched.
"I'm not lying," Sunny added.
Alucard grabbed his head.
"Great."
He sighed heavily.
"Fantastic."
He threw his arms in the air.
"So now I'm schizophrenic. Amazing. Love that for me."
Muttering angrily to himself, he began walking deeper into the mine.
Nephis called after him.
"Slow down. Stay close to the group."
He waved dismissively.
"Oh please. What's the worst that could—"
He stopped.
Looked around.
"…Wait."
Nothing happened.
He blinked.
"…Nothing happened?"
---
A few minutes later they continued walking through the tunnels.
Sunny suddenly stopped near a wall.
"I wonder what this says."
Alucard turned his head.
Strange carvings were etched into the stone.
"Huh," he said. "You can't read that?"
Sunny frowned.
"No. It's just random lines. Wait… you can read it?"
Alucard nodded slowly.
"Bits and pieces. The writing is awful though. I think they misspelled 'evil' as 'envil' in one spot."
Sunny's eyes lit up.
"Okay. Tell me everything you can."
Alucard leaned closer to the carvings.
"Alright… it says…"
He traced the symbols with his finger.
"At first our people lived peacefully under our kind king. But when the king went mad, his cruel son took the prower."
Sunny blinked.
"Prower?"
Alucard shrugged.
"It says prower. Don't blame the messenger."
Sunny pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Just keep going."
Alucard continued reading.
"Okay… it says the new king made a deal with—"
He paused.
"There's a chunk missing here where the name should be."
Sunny sighed.
"Continue."
"Right… after making the deal, the king became extremely powerful… and even crueler."
Alucard's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Oh wow. Okay. That's… yeah."
"What?" Sunny asked suspiciously.
Alucard coughed.
"Well apparently he made a rule that before any man was allowed to marry, the king had to sleep with the bride first."
Sunny stared at him.
"You're joking."
"I swear it says that," Alucard replied innocently. "Do you want me to keep reading or are you going to interrupt me again?"
Sunny gestured for him to continue.
"Right. So eventually the king grew kinder and regretful of his actions. It says that period became the Golden Age."
He paused again.
"But then everything went to shit."
Sunny leaned closer.
"What happened?"
"The king betrayed them," Alucard said slowly. "He tricked the people into killing an Angel."
Sunny's expression darkened.
"And because of that," Alucard continued, "the light of the sun vanished from this land."
He traced the last lines.
"The people imprisoned the king after that."
Then he frowned.
"The rest just repeats the same sentence over and over."
Sunny frowned.
"What sentence?"
Alucard read it aloud.
"That treacherous bastard…"
He paused again where the carving was damaged.
"…[ ], the child of corruption who spreads corruption."