Evantra wracked her brain for her limited knowledge of rituals. Her attempts, if you could call them that, to mentally will into existence the [ritual of consumption] had been for nought.
She desperately searched the scant vestiges of her knowledge of the Veil.
Since the advent of the Veilsurges, Earth had been brought within the proximity of realms resembling those of fiction and myth. “Resembling”, because they didn’t conform exactly to humanity’s prior understanding of them.
The mists of Avalon.
The bloody halls Shang-ri la.
The Hanging Gardens, Demeter’s nightmare.
Duat, where death strides under a black sun.
Eden, the sorrow of angels.
And those were only a few of the ones she knew of.
She recalled watching videos of commentators speculating that something had weakened the figurative and perhaps literal veil between earth and other worlds. That much was obvious. But with their arrival, came the advent of Ghostcults. Those who worshipped the various realms and the creatures contained within them, never mind that said creatures were desperate for humanity’s blood.
Blood, that’s it.
The markings in the room in which I… “awakened”.
Maybe it’s worth a shot?
Evantra’s eyes fell on a shard of glass in one of the shattered cases next to her.
“This is so getting infected.”
But if I don’t hurry, infection will be the least of my worries.
She pressed her thumb against the jagged shard, watching as blood welled where her skin parted. She walked back to where the two “catalysts” were contained.
What now? Do I draw… a circle?
Evantra tried dripping her blood unto the catalysts and bit down a yell as a black flash emerged the moment that the drop came into contact with the first catalyst, the black claw.
Ghostslayer Rank: Fairy (Level 1)
Catalyst: [Darkstalker] (Level 1)
Darkstalker skills:
- [Skill locked]
- [Skill locked]
- [Skill locked]
First, I need to sacrifice blood, what’s next?
Immediately turning to the remaining catalyst, Evantra pressed on her wound, feeling a flash of pain as another drop fell onto the catalyst, evaporating in a hiss.
INSUFFICIENT LEVEL
Veilsouls required: 10
Great… the skills don’t come with the catalyst.
Looks like even the paranormal isn’t immune from the virtues of capitalism.
And I’m being level-gated. That, and it seems like I need whatever these “veilsouls” are to consume it.
I can’t waste any more time.
Evantra swiped the strange wooden cube, stowing it in her jean pocket. Consuming that would have to wait. Casting a cursory glance around the rest of the room, she wasn’t able to identify any other “catalysts” which she could absorb or swipe, so she hurried back through to the hallway she had entered from.
Gripping the Remington Ghoulkiller in her hands, Evantra stared in the direction of the lift column.
Unless I want to risk running into the teethlings outside the lift door, I’ll need to find another way to the floors above.
Evantra dashed into the office, her eyes scanning the walls fruitlessly. She ran across the corridor towards the room filled with rows of computers and the large, black screen against the wall. She felt a surge of relief when her eyes locked onto a sizeable vent a short distance above a row of consoles, situated against the wall.
Looks like I’ve found my way up.
---
As quietly as she could, Evantra removed the lid covering the vent in the floor above her. She had crawled past decades of dust, grime and bug corpses to finally emerge into the level above her.
The layout was similar to the floor with the lecture hall, and there were signs indicating the presence of stairs further down the corridors. The narrow hallways were intermittently encased in shadow from the flickering lights. Unlike the ones on the floor she had entered into, a number of the lights above her had been shattered and were inoperative, giving her surroundings an eerie visage.
She kept a brisk pace as she pushed forwards, keeping a keen ear out for the characteristic buzzing of the teethlings.
DARKSTALKER QUEST: OFFERING DETECTED
Difficulty: Level 2 [Fairy]
Description: Slay the teethling (razor variant)
“Motherf—”
Evantra bit down her curse, gritting her teeth at the sudden words that had appeared in her vision. A familiar buzzing noise emerged from around the corner of the corridor, and Evantra quickly ducked into one of the side rooms. She crouched behind the frosted glass, the shotgun raised before her. She rapidly rehearsed the steps for firing the weapon that she had haphazardly searched for on the net. Evantra also adjusted the loaded Colt Python that she had hastily stowed in the band of her jeans.
She held her breath as the buzzing drew closer, calming as the teethling that was likely the subject of her quest seemed to move past her.
It stopped.
Shit, it must have heard me.
It won’t be long before it searches the area.
Evantra lurched around the corner, hoping to catch the creature off-guard, raising the barrel of her weapon in its vague direction.
The “teethling” that she encountered was not like the others she had glimpsed. The creatures that comprised the swarm in the lecture hall were tiny, about the size of her palm. This teethling was about the length of her arm, and thin, black claws drooped from its fingers down to the ground below it, utterly disproportionate to its size.
“Razor variant”. That makes sense.
Just as the teethling fixed its eyes on her, Evantra held down the trigger for a mere second, bracing the shotgun against her shoulder. The Ghoulkiller flared to life, and true to its name, it tore apart the creature in front of her, variant or not.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The teethling dropped to the ground in pieces, its body utterly severed by the brief hail of metal that had torn apart its body. It took all she could to resist the urge of holding down the trigger for longer, but she knew that it would only serve to draw further attention towards her, and expend ammo she couldn’t afford to waste.
Level up: level 2 [Fairy]
DARKSTALKER QUEST COMPLETE
Difficulty: Level 2 [Fairy]
Description: Slay the teethling (razor variant)
Execute [ritual of consumption]?
Evantra’s eyes hovered over the corpse of the creature, and she forced her hand in front of her, her nail pressing into the wound she had previously inflicted. As the droplet of blood landed on the teethling, she saw a familiar black flash.
One moment, the corpse of the creature was there, and the next, it was gone.
Ghostslayer Rank: Fairy (Level 2)
Catalyst: [Darkstalker] (Level 1)
Darkstalker skills:
- [Razor claws]
- [Skill locked]
- [Skill locked]
Veilsouls: 1
So that’s how the system works. I obtain a catalyst which possesses some discrete skills. By completing quests and sacrificing Veilcreatures in rituals, I can unlock facets of the catalyst. Then there’s the matter of Veilsouls.
How do I activate the skill—
The moment that she willed it, [razor claws] activated, and she watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as the keratin of her nails darkened to an abyssal black, before shooting outwards in a split-second, growing into sleek claws which bore some similarity to the lengthy nails of the teethling, if a degree less disproportionate.
As she did, she could feel her heartbeat slow slightly, as if burdened by the effort of maintaining the skill. Resisting the urge to ruminate further, Evantra hefted the Remington and proceeded in the direction of the stairs.
There’s no way I didn’t give myself away with that gunshot.
True to her assumption, she heard a soft, familiar droning noise coming from above her. A buzzing that was steadily growing louder. Her dread was punctuated by gunfire that erupted from above her. The sound tore through the empty corridors of the lab, echoing in the stairwell before her.
No way… a Ghostslayer? It can’t be – there’s no way they would attend to a Veilsurge out in Wisptown.
Evantra surged up the stairs, her thighs burning as she headed straight for the sounds of gunfire above her. Flight after flight of stairs passed her by as Evantra pushed upwards, panting from the exertion.
After what felt like an eternity, Evantra finally reached the top floor – where she had first found Lucas. She saw a pack of teethlings hurtling down the corridor towards her, their beady red eyes fixed on her with ravenous hunger.
She raised the Remington Ghoulkiller and unloaded. The automatic shotgun flared to life once more. Unlike the previous times, she held the trigger down as she sprayed it in their direction, the recoil from the weapon throwing off her aim significantly.
It was a good thing it was a shotgun.
She watched as the pellets ground through the teethlings into a black mist of blood. Even so, one or two of them managed to survive her onslaught, weaving out of the metallic cone of destruction it had created, tearing straight towards her.
Evantra ran as she heard the gunfire burst to life once more.
She sprinted down the hallway in the direction of the lecture hall, where it was coming from.
Teethling corpses littered the ground in the lecture hall. Nowhere near the mass of shifting creatures she had seen circling in the lecture hall when she had first entered, but at least twice the size of the pack that she had just killed.
The remains of which, were still chasing her.
“Evantra!”
She let out a sigh of relief as she saw a small hand pop out from other the stage, where he had been before. Under it, alongside him, was presumably the officer who had entered the Veilsurge to find him. Evantra turned on her heel, raising her weapon towards the oncoming teethlings behind her, and pulled the trigger.
Click.
She had run clean dry out of ammo. The teethlings closed in on her, their tiny dagger-like claws and teeth tearing across her raised forearms.
“Get down, now!”
She lunged away, just as the police officer opened fire.
The teethlings that hounded her, dropped to the ground, finally dead.
“Get over here!”
Evantra shook her head, gesturing towards the door.
“We should get out while we can! The exit is just around the cor—”
Then her eyes widened as she heard the vast, droning noise closing in at a rapid pace. She saw slivers of glass at her feet vibrate at the approach. There was no doubt that it was the main body of the swarm she had encountered once before.
“Hurry!”
Shit, shit, shit.
Evantra rushed to the wooden stage and ducked through the gap.
The officer was dressed in a dark blue uniform, with what looked like a pistol in his grip. His upper body was caked in sweat, and a trimmed handlebar moustache twitched beneath his nose. She gave Lucas a quick once over, seeing that the boy had endured some cuts and gashes, but was very much alive. Along with his cat, Taco.
She let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t realised she had been holding in, quickly pulling the boy behind her, resting a hand on his reassuringly.
“Quiet,” the officer whispered.
The buzzing of the swarm echoed through the lecture hall as the mass of teethlings began to circle aimlessly, their anger and restlessness evident from the flashes of movement that Evantra glimpsed from under the stage.
The officer just held a finger to his lips, his eyes hovering on the hole in the stage facade. They remained still, and Evantra took care to ensure that every breath that she drew in was as silent as she could manage. The feeling of the Colt Python against her bare skin gave her a meagre degree of reassurance.
A light thud came from directly above her head, no doubt the sound of one of the teethlings landing on the surface of the stage. Immediately above where her head was positioned. Her hands encircled Lucas’ arms as the boy began to tremble.
They watched, as a single, inquisitive teethling made its way to the small hole in the stage through which they had climbed through.
Evantra closed her eyes, as her hand slowly enveloped the handle of the Colt Python revolver that she had thrust into her jeans.
The low, droning noise of the swarm was interrupted by an unfamiliar sound.
The steady click of boots on laboratory tiles.
The leisurely gait of someone utterly at ease, in a place of horror.
Like they were taking a calming stroll through a field of organic sunflowers, straight from Demeteria Agricorporation’s continental greenhouses.
Footsteps.
Beyond the outline of the singular teethling still perched on the hole in wooden stage, Evantra glimpsed a pair of black leather pants and stylish boots that fearlessly halted at the threshold of the lecture hall.
Then, she heard the strange thumps begin to echo on the roof above her. They were unlike the one she had heard before.
These were louder.
The sound of lifeless, teethling bodies dropping.
Killed, in silence.
Evantra watched as Lucas raised a single, outstretched finger towards the lecture hall before them, discernible through the small holes in the fa?ade of the wooden stage.
They watched as the bodies of the teethlings began to rain down onto the floor of the lecture hall. The pair of form-fitting leather pants began to draw closer to them, before halting right before the hole in the stage.
Evantra watched, as a singular pistol entered the hole. It was made from bright metal bordering on silver, and a flash illuminated the underside of stage, as it discharged, obliterating the singular teethling that had found its way underneath the stage.
The figure crouched, and they were met with a pair of glowing, golden eyes.
---
The Ghostslayer waited patiently for them to emerge from where they were hiding under the wooden stage.
She was a beautiful woman with dark blonde hair, dressed in a burgundy red sweater, black leather pants and an elegant black trench coat. The woman’s dark red lips turned into a smile as she winked at Evantra, a pair of twin golden irises meeting her own.
Evantra was no expert on cybernetics. Far from it, seeing as her parents had succeeded in their quest to preserve her innocence by keeping her ignorant of all the unholy advancements of the Ghouldark future.
Still, there were general rules to discerning their quality.
The closer they looked to the genuine article, the better the make.
Indistinguishable from mundane skin and flesh.
The woman paused as they exchanged a glance. Evantra was struck by a sensation of being stripped bare before the woman’s gaze. She likely was if those optics were of the quality she suspected.
She motioned to Lucas and the officer accompanying them.
“Why don’t you take the boy to his mother, officer. She’s at City Hall. The PIU evacuated her. We’ll meet you there shortly.”
As Evantra swallowed, she saw the woman’s eyes flick towards her throat, detecting the motion immediately.
“I’d like to have a chat with the young lady, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Evantra felt her hands tremble, where she had clasped them behind her back. She nodded reassuringly to Lucas, who cast a nervous glance back towards her, before the boy accompanied the officer out of the lecture hall towards the Veiltear.
Even as ignorant as she was, she recognised the Ghostslayer.
A face plastered on the glowing advertisements in the distance, on Nezha Corporation blimps that floated around Elsecaller city.
A legend amongst Ghostslayers.
Her preferred armaments were twin, whitemetal pistols that never failed to appear alongside her in the ads. Top of the line, custom-made by her employers, along with every single other part of her body.
Having recognised her, Evantra was also fully appraised of her rank.
Ghostslayer ranks were allocated according to the creature the Ghostslayer could kill with a degree of reliability or confidence. Of the creatures of the veil, there were two broad categories.
Those that weren’t ghosts, and those that were.
The ghosts occupied the highest ranks, commensurate with the threat they posed. It seems like her “levelling” system operated along the same method of classification. At the grand rank of level 2, she had been awarded the designation [fairy].
Of the more “mundane” creatures beneath ghosts… there was one that stood above all others.
A Ghostslayer capable of reliably killing angels was standing before her.
“Evantra Wraithmarked? Nice to meet you.”
Uriel, the Golden Dawn, graced her with a warm smile.
A Ghostslayer of [Seraphim] rank.