The miasma moved almost like the water of Lake Mirae, lapping against the edges of the shore.
It was mere feet from the bottom edge of the outer perimeter.
It couldn't be typical for it to be this close, even if this was high tide. Low tide would only be the difference of a few yards. Any strong wave would be enough to reach the perimeter with it like this, and the winds were still brutally strong.
The conversation between Zevrial and Instructor Garcien returned unbidden to my mind. When the miasma tide recedes, they'd said. It had to recede back farther than this, right?
A chilling plausibility occurred to me. The look they'd shared between them had been conspiratory. They'd known. Just like I knew now, too.
The miasma tide wouldn’t recede far enough out to explain how close it was.
The miasma was rising.
Fear sank icy nails into the pit of my stomach.
There wasn’t time to linger on the thought, the space between the inner and outer perimeter walls was small. We were fast approaching the gap in the outer perimeter wall.
Puddles of miasma glistened on the ground as we approached. I kept a healthy distance from any sand that appeared too shiny. Any contact with miasma would eat throughmy flesh a lot faster than a Sanguir or Shredder. It would kill me faster, too.
Then I actually looked at a Sanguir.
They were even more grotesque than the picture my imagination had conjured.
Slick meaty organs were visibly moving through their translucent veiny skin. Festering meat glimpsed through smoky quartz made flesh. Sharp bloodied denticles of teeth formed a triangular shape visible on the underside of each rounded head. Five sunken hollows rimmed the front of their head; eye sockets, I assumed. A slimy trail of scum shadowed behind them as they moved.
The wet suckling and slurping noise their bodies made as they lurched forward was horrifying.
There were dozens of them.
I stood frozen for a second, shock, revulsion, and fear warring for supremacy.
Zevrial was already running toward two of the creatures through the open stone doorway, knife drawn. He moved like a living weapon, fluid as he sliced and stabbed his way through. Blood spattered him as he cut them down.
There were ten of us fighting, since five people were fixing the perimeter, against easily forty Sanguirs. I ran the numbers in my head. We needed to kill at least four leeches each.
Veridiana and Georlan rushed beyond the outer perimeter, joining the fray.
A big part of me didn't want to go past the boundary of the outer perimeter, or anywhere near those things. But that was fear talking, and I needed to be brave. For my family, and everyone else who lived beyond the inner perimeter.
Stiffening my spine, I ran toward the nearest Sanguir, off by itself on the side beyond the colored sand of a resin-trap. Pulling out the primitive dagger I'd been given, I jerked my armout as I bent to slash at it. It turned toward me, slick body crunched as if preparing to spring.
I panicked at the movement, shifting my wrist to put the knife between the leech and myself at the last second. It made a horrible squealing noise as it launched itself at me—and impaled itself on the blade. The impact rocked me back; the bodies of these creatures were incredibly dense.
Blood, ooze, and spittle sprayed out from the Sanguir, drenching the dagger in the thick viscous fluid. It reeked and I gagged.
Falling back on my ass, I watched for any remaining signs of life in its putrid pumpkin-sized body as it twitched its final death throes.
Disgust curled my lip as I tried to dislodge it from the knife without touching it. I dragged its sticky body and the blade across the sand, hoping to separate them.
“Watch out Lisia!” Someone called behind me. I turned and saw three Sanguirs squirming toward me from different directions. Eyes wide, I threw caution aside and grabbed the squishy backside of the deceased leech, tearing it off the knife and throwing its carcass toward one of the others.
Two of them pivoted, heading straight for the remains. The third creature was still coming straight for me. I tried to shake some of the blood off the dagger and my hands, with limited success. It was moving faster, almost close enough to launch itself at me.
Everyone was screaming, and I couldn’t distinguish if it was in warnings, fear, or pain.
I swung around to face the Sanguir, noticing two more crawling toward me out of the miasma. The blood from the first one was drawing more of them.
A quick glance to the side revealed that I wasn't the only one experiencing this growing problem, more Sanguirs werecrawling out of the miasma toward the others as well. This was an endurance fight, with more blood exacerbating the situation for us the longer it dragged on. It would have been nice to get my new Skinscript before coming here.
