His emotions burned in his chest like a roaring sun on a summer's day. How terrifyingly powerful such a power was in the hands of a born killer would have sent shivers down Damian's spine if he wasn't too distracted by the mass of roots and vines ahead of him. The mass of sleepers were desperately attempting to fight off the creature with all manner of aspects and memories yet very few seemed to have any effect on the monster.
Damian watched as numerous sleepers were effortlessly crushed by the overwhelming might of their enemy as their blood stained the grass red as the sounds of bones being turned to dust reverberated over the plateau, one by one their numbers were dropping and if nothing changed soon then the entire camp would be consumed by daybreak.
His eyes focused on the headline sleeper at the head of the defencive formation, Prophet had taken up the responsibility of the defensive line, batting away the roots with his divine blade as it dug shallow cuts across the oaken surface but it wasn't enough, exhaustion and fatigue were already starting to weigh heavy in his movements, something needed to change and fast.
Firing shot after shot from his Warbow Damian tried to his best to deter the roots from snatching away frightened sleepers wherever he could, causing little damage overall but enough to be a minor inconvenience, he watched as countless memories broke away into ethereal sparks as the bodies of their former users were dragged away to be devoured wishing he could have done more to save them.
Suddenly the front of the formation roared to life as a brilliant light radiated from the ground, the muddied ground solidified and cracked as golden flames ejected from the ground, Prophet had plunged his blade deep into the ground all the way to its blackened guard, kneeling yet never letting go of his blade. The ground shattered as it burned away as jets of golden flame rose higher and higher engulfing the area in terrible light.
Suddenly blind from the sudden change Damian cursed as he waited for his vision to readjust, his keen eyes both a blessing and a curse,as he was forced to look away a booming voice echoed from the frontlines, the voice was course as if it hadn't been spoken in a long time,
'RETREAT!'
The sleepers didn't need to be told twice as the remaining survivors of the massacre ran away from the display of power by one of their courageous leaders, Damian grabbed Jasper's unconscious form after helping Jest to his feet, and ran like his life depended on it. They ran and ran for as long and as far as they could until eventually a lilac line formed over the horizon as a new dawn emerged in the verdant hell.
The remaining sleepers had little time to rest after the daylight bloomed over the horizon, as the myriad of tired souls rested near the waters edge it wasn't long before some disappeared, never to be seen again, it was only after a handful disappeared that Mechanic realised what was going on, order the sleepers to get away from the water immediately as he prepared for the new wave of attacks.
After some time they managed to beat back the assaulting force from the river, Damian was tired, so damn tired, he had long ran out of arrows instead picking up the fallen supplies of former sleepers to help in the brawl, the creatures had been strange translucent creatures with long tendrils and ever changing bodies much like jellyfish though Damian had never seen one in person. They could paralyze anyone they came into contact with and corrode their melt their flesh away in mere seconds.
In the end the mechanic had managed to kill nearly two dozen of these creatures alone causing his armor to become rusted and damaged and his trusty javelin was destroyed, turned to rust by the strange powers of them, the creatures were called, [River Mauruder], an awakened Monster who seemed all to common in the river. Apparently some of the sleepers had clashed with these creatures before so it was easy for their leader to strike them down once told where to strike.
Sitting on a large rock Damian held a soul shard in his hand looking down on it before crushing it in his fist, they would need all available strength in order to get out of here alive, each person was given their fair share of shards from the skirmish where possible, with priority to those who had actively killed a few of the creatures though most of the shards were lost to the bottomless river.
Some believed this to be unfair, that no matter their contributes that everyone deserved the chance to survive and that the ones who were already strong should provide for the weak so they can become strong themselves, the stronger sleepers rejected this idea, believing that them gaining either greater strength would benefit everyone else and that just making the weak stronger was less effective than making themselves stronger first.
It was a complex issue with no clear solution in the end, at first the two sides stayed away from each other hoping to let the conflict settle down and yet underneath it all Damian could feel the tensions bubbling under the surface just waiting to explode.
A few days past with the tension growing ever stronger with each passing hour,they had once again built up a camp, this one much less permanent than the last, with everyone ready to leave at a moments notice incase the tangled mess of roots and vines decided to feast on them once again, unexpected to anyone was the fact that just the day after the terrible fight, Prophet and a small handful of other sleepers had managed to return from the fight alive and reconvene with the rest.
They were severely injured, with their minds barely clinging onto the last semblance of life, some passed later that day from their injuries but a few had managed to make way on recovery, according to them Prophets display had managed to disorientate the creature long enough for them to attempt a desperate escape, those who were too close to the creature had been forced to fight it off until their bodies failed, it was only when the sun peered over the horizon did the creature retreat back into the woods.
Prophet left no time for himself to recover over the last few days however, immediately after he returned he and his fellow leader got into a heated argument over the direction the camp should head, with mechanics wanting to explore the castle, citing it as the only manmade structure they had seen whilst the latter wanted to travel downstream towards the unknown.
The camp was torn between the leaders as it was clear what what be happening soon enough, the camp would split into two and the fragile way of life they had formed for themselves would come to an end, Damian didn't know which side to choose, it was a tough choice to say the least, he could either follow prophet downstream and spend who knows how long in this accursed place yet be granted security in knowing that they would succeed in the end given Prophets desire to travel that way. Or take a bigger risk with mechanics and travel to the castle, the time it would take to reach their objective would be significantly shorter and there was a better chance of survival but no guarantee of being able to leave this place.
It was a hard choice and one he would have to decide soon as they had nearly completed construction of a small fleet of boats to take both groups their separate ways.