Darkness Named

by Riley S. Keene

  What did it want? How could she escape it?

  Was she supposed to fight it?

  The giant feet at the edge of her ring of light turned away. Tanisha was relieved for a brief moment, however the sound that followed was more terrifying than the roar.

  From the darkness was a splintering crack, and gravel flew out of the darkness like shrapnel, scattering across the ground. A second later, there was another crash followed by more gravel.

  It was smashing her structures.

  That gravel was the remains of the stone walls she’d used to build her storage shed.

  The storage shed that housed the last three days worth of work she’d poured into her upcoming hunt for Otekah.

  Tanisha shouted. The sound that ripped from her throat was the yip of a small, angry dog, pestering a larger mongrel who stole its dinner bowl. She felt so tiny staring at these giant feet, but she couldn’t allow the creature to destroy her storage chests.

  If she could just get aggro on it, she could kite it around until morning.

  But it didn’t turn.

  There was another soul-crushing crack and more gravel.

  Tanisha waved her torch at it, like a scientist with a flare. “Hey! HEY!” She didn’t want to approach it if she didn’t have to.

  But the creature continued to ignore her.

  She had to do something! If it was smashing her walls, then she only had a moment before it found her chests. What would happen to the supplies within? They were her ticket out of here! Maybe the supplies would just make a mess all over the ground and she could collect them after, but what if they were destroyed?

  Tanisha didn’t care about the structures themselves—she was planning on leaving them anyway—but the supplies were necessary for her survival. She couldn’t risk them.

  With a prayer and a wordless shout, Tanisha rushed the creature. Her chair galloped forward in a lunge as she leaned into the charge.

  The creature was just so huge. She could see a bit of lighter brown fur to it as she got closer, but she couldn’t actually see any more of it. Tanisha took the hand holding her hammer off the chair and aimed at the creature. She was planning on just hitting it somewhere around the shin and running past. If she could draw it away from her valuable stockpile, she might have a chance to save her efforts.

  Her hammer passed through the creature with that familiar tug of resistance, and a little red thirteen popped up from the strike.

  The air around her changed. It was like the feeling of being watched—where the hair on the back of her neck tingled—but all over her body. She suddenly felt vulnerable and exposed in a terrifying way. Her chair was able to take four steps away from the giant leg she’d struck when there was a whoosh of air from the creature’s incoming counterattack.

  It amused her that she thought she’d be able to get out of reach.

  Just because something was large didn’t mean it couldn’t move with speed.

  A flash of black fur passed through her chest, and it was tipped with claws that looked to be over a foot long each. The pain came hot on its heels. She screamed. It felt as if her skin was being ripped off. Like she was one of those lambs in the doctored “ethical” animal protection videos.

  Despite the horrendous pain, the attack only knocked less than a quarter of the HP off her bar. It didn’t matter. The pain terrified her. She didn’t want to get hit again for any reason.

  She hadn’t anticipated the giant creature’s speed or reach, but she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Tanisha kept moving until she heard its giant stomping footsteps behind her. At least that part of the plan was working? If it was chasing her, then it wasn’t destroying her valuable stockpiles. Or, worse, finding Shinji.

  Tanisha risked a glance over her shoulder. While its feet were still the only part of it she could see within the ring of light around her, she caught sight of a pair of green orbs floating a terrifying distance above them in the dark—the creature’s eyes reflecting the light of her torch in the pitch black night.

  She didn’t know how to proceed. The thing was huge—bigger than anything she’d fought so far. It was even bigger than most of the non-Zeni bosses she’d faced in dARkness: Online. There was no way to anticipate how much health such a thing could have. It was obviously going to be more than a blackened bear—since it was about three times the size of one—and if it was a boss monster, it’s HP was likely at least three times the size as well.

  It took her over an hour to straight up take down a bear with a hammer.

  She didn’t want to be whittling away at this creature, especially with such a hard attack radius to dodge, for an entire day.

  Questions ran through her head once more: what was it? Why was it here? What could she do about it?

  No answers appeared out of the air, but there was a rush of wind as another swipe of its paws cleaved the air. Tanisha thought, for an absolutely terrifying instant, that she’d be struck again. But the attack must have been just short of her back. She wanted to sigh in relief, but she had to keep moving. If her only focus could be staying away from it for now, it would be enough. Keeping her distance would give her the time to figure out a long-term solution.

  The clock was ticking, though. Her stability bar was draining steadily. Tanisha wasn’t sure if it was an effect of the giant creature itself, or if this was due to her terror regarding its painful strike. It could have also been the darkness around her, just like on her first nights. She still held her torch, and so she should have been fine, but there were a giant pair of feet following her and luminous eyes glaring at her out of the dark.

  “I need light,” she whispered to herself.

  Behind her, the giant creature roared again, the unnatural sound like a response to her words. Maybe it didn’t like the light, and was trying to discourage her? Maybe that would get rid of it?

  Or maybe it just hated the sound of her voice.

  Regardless, Tanisha looped back around towards her campfire.

  It was going to be a challenge to get the fire started. She just didn’t have enough hands. Putting down her torch wasn’t an option, because she remembered what happened against the Stick Folk when her torch had hit the ground. But she also had to keep her chair moving, or the beast was going to catch her.

  Decision made, Tanisha dropped her hammer into her lap and got her inventory open with one hand, while her torch-holding hand was kept to the side of her chair. As before, directing the chair with only one arm slowed it down, but she hoped it would be fast enough.

  She muscled a log out of her inventory and into her lap. It was bulky, and her hands shook. But she was able to keep it still, which was a miracle in itself.

  There was a whoosh of air behind her, and she was endlessly grateful when it wasn’t followed by pain ripping across every inch of her skin.

  Tanisha didn’t know exactly what direction she was going, so she just arched her path around to the right, leading the pursuing beast in a big circle until she could get her bearings. It was the corner of her little sleeping hut that came into view first. With it, Tanisha knew where she was. She followed the wall around to the front of the building.

  Behind her, there was a splintering crash. She glanced over her shoulder to see the creature’s enormous feet smashing through the corner of the building instead of stepping around it. From inside, there was a too-human scream.

  “Shinji! To me! Come to me!”

  As she circled around to the entrance, Shinji fled out the door. He was down on all fours, with his fur sticking out in all directions to make himself look bigger. If the situation wasn’t so dire, she might have laughed. He looked ridiculous. But there was no time, and the hysterical laughter wouldn’t be appropriate. He scattered away from the creature, and that was good.

  Tanisha returned her focus to the task at hand and urged her chair to the firepit. She dropped the log on the construction but was already moving away before it caught. The log seemed to understand her urgency and th
e fire flared to life.

  She almost wished it hadn’t.

  The enormous creature was roughly humanoid, in the same way Shinji was, and it was covered in black and brown fur. Its face, limbs, and chest were a deep black, but the top half of its head was almost a blonde, sandy color, and its shoulders were chocolate brown. She could see tufts of lighter hair along its side. But really, she was distracted greatly by the enormous pearly-white fangs in its snout. Drool dribbled from the corner of the maw, but was forced in a spray through those teeth as it roared again. The terrifying sound cut through to her heart.

  What the firelight also illuminated—in a way that was almost more terrifying than the creature itself—was a red bar above its head, floating in the air.

  It marked it as a boss monster.

  She had spawned this. Something she’d done had caused this creature to appear, and now its victory over her would be righteous and total.

  The bar had a little label right above the center of it, giving the terrifying beast a name. Even though she’d never seen a creature like this one in dARkness: Online, the name was already known to her.

  Carcajou.

  Chapter 37

  Beneath the panic, her gamer brain took over.

  The presence of the health bar calmed that part of her, even as the creature’s monstrous size and unnatural scream shut down the rest of her rational thoughts.

  If there was a health bar, it meant it wasn’t an Uber or Zeni. Those would have been far beyond her capacity to handle. No health bar would have meant GG. One way or another. But it was just a regular boss monster. Even if she had to take it on strategically, in a fight that would span hours or even all day, it was still something that could be accomplished with her high-quality hammer. It was still possible.

  Tanisha focused on the gamer instincts. Everything else was screaming to run and hide, or drop to the ground and play dead. But in order to respond in any other way, she needed to be a gamer. To treat this like a boss fight.

  “Shinji!” Tanisha shouted, trying to locate the furry creature. “To me! Come here!”

  She expected the mustelan to run like an animal, since he was down on all fours anyway. But instead he took off like a sprinter at a block. He ran towards her, leaping into the air from nearly fifteen feet away, and collided with her chest. In his fear, he had apparently forgotten his distaste of the mech. Tanisha almost smirked at the appropriateness of his name.

  But she had hairier problems to deal with.

  The gamer part of her brain wanted to fight the lumbering creature. It was the source of the compass. But it was also an enormous threat to her, Shinji, and their camp. Still, combat was likely the most direct way to handle that threat. She was also as prepared as she was going to be. Her wood armor was still equipped, and she had a smattering of supplies in her inventory, including her high-quality hammer. There was also the chest of torches and jerky nearby, which could carry her through the night and into the next, if it took that long.

  But fighting a boss monster was not a task to be taken lightly, especially with an under-leveled weapon. Her hammer skill was pretty high, all things considered, but being a tool instead of a weapon meant that it wasn’t even the equivalent of a Level 0 sword or spear.

  Fighting needed to be a last resort. If she could take the beast on, she would, but she would need to be prepared for it. Her torches and food were in chests, not in her inventory. And the beast was upon her now, denying her the time to catch her breath and gather the resources she needed.

  As if to punctuate that point, the carcajou charged forward, its enormous claws swiping the ground in a repeated attack. She had to turn and run away from its seeking claws as Shinji’s fuzzy form tucked in against her chest. Behind her, the scraping crunch of claws on the ground was deafening—one strike after another—and the fear of the ripping pain she felt from its first strike drove her onward.

  The logic-driven part of her gamer brain came to a conclusion: the boss had aggroed on her base structures. That’s where it was going when it spawned, and the first thing it attacked was her storage shed. It had actually taken her attacking it to change its target. In theory, that meant it had spawned because of those structures. If she could lead it away from her base, though, it would eventually leash, and return to the spot where it had aggroed her base. It might even run all the way back to its spawn point. Either way, it would give her time, and let her gather whatever she needed. Or, if she was lucky, avoid it entirely.

  The swipes behind her stopped, and she heard the beast roar again. At her side, Shinji curled against her with a whimper.

  With a quick glance back, Tanisha could see the creature stomping towards her again. It crossed from the edge of her campfire’s ring of light, and into the smaller one she was casting from her torch. She remembered how long the blackened bear had chased her, and grimaced at the black curtain of night that encircled her. She only hoped it wouldn’t take that long.

  Tanisha headed towards the grasslands. The flat terrain would be better for both judging distance and for seeing where the monster went when it de-aggroed. And there was way less of a risk of her or Shinji face-planting into a tree.

  It was only a minute or so later when the stomping behind her stopped. Tanisha halted her chair and turned around, waiting to see if the creature was really giving up. She inched forward, towards it, and stopped when she was able to see its furry black feet again. There was a momentary worry that it might aggro back onto her, but Tanisha was more terrified that it would get out of her sight and she’d never see it again until it was too late. What if, when it wasn’t aggressive, its steps were nearly silent? It could vanish into the night only to appear from an inconvenient direction and attack her again? No. It was preferable to need to run for another minute or ten to leash it.

  The creature stood still, wavering far above her. Tanisha imagined its AI routines were running through its options before reaching the leashed state. Or, perhaps, it was just part of the boss pathing to be resistant to leashing. If she intended to fight it, running for a little too long wouldn’t undo all her work. That would be nice. But either way, she almost jumped when the creature started moving again.

  Since she could only see its feet, it shocked her to hear the snarling, sawing scream split the night once more. It turned and started to stomp away from her, but the footsteps were still loud and angry. “Maybe that’s just the way it walks?”

  But no. She could see what direction it was traveling in. Because she could still see the ring of light from her campfire in the distance.

  The carcajou wasn’t heading back to its pathing.

  Her base had earned its aggression again, and it was going to pick up right where it left off.

  “Hey!” she yelled, charging in behind it. “Get away from there!”

  Without hesitation she smacked it with her hammer. She then urged her chair to run in a tight circle around the creature. There was no way she could out run its reach, but she could dodge the cone of attack. A giant claw hit the ground behind her, and Tanisha took off running back out into the grasslands. She flinched when the wind of a second attack buffeted her from behind.

  Tanisha tried not to panic. She didn’t want to set her chair off at a fuel-draining sprint, but Shinji’s trembling form made it a fight against her protective instincts rather than fear. But maybe there was a chance. If she could get enough distance, leash it properly, it wouldn’t go back to her camp.

  But a minute later, she was staring at its black furry feet after it stopped chasing her, but before it turned and headed back for her base.

  Tanisha shook her head. That was it. There was no turning it from its goal. It was possible that there was some range far, far away from her camp that would be a great enough distance that it would lose aggro, but without more torches, she didn’t want to bank on getting that far away from her camp. Traveling through the dark towards a distant pool of light did not sound like fun at all.

  She aggroe
d it a third time. Circled it until she had dodged the counter attack. Fled back into the darkness. She needed to get the creature as far away from her camp as possible. If she could beat it back to her supplies, she might have a chance at this.

  As soon as it stopped, Tanisha whirled the chair around and immediately directed it towards her campfire. She directed it to really hurry. The extra speed would wear down her fuel supply, but she had a pair of pots that were already fermented and waiting. They had been for her trek, but this was a little more urgent.

  Shinji squeezed tightly to her ribs with a squeak as the chair put on real speed, but it wasn’t enough to hurt. Not like she could blame the little guy. This was turning out to be a horrible night.

  “Faster, faster,” Tanisha muttered to herself when she heard the carcajou’s roar behind her. “Faster would be better…”

  Her torch was starting to flicker as she arrived back at her storage shed. She still needed the extra light, since she had stupidly built the storage chests outside of the campfire’s radius. It was because of this that she went to the chest with the torches first. She put her hammer in her lap, threw open the chest, and pulled out a fresh torch. The guttering one was flung to the side. She then opened her inventory and started shoving torches into a stack quickly.

  “One, two, three, four…” She counted them off as she went, breathless, even though her chair had done all the running.

  Tanisha heard the carcajou roar again. It was terrifyingly close, too close, since she was still just grabbing torches.

  “What am I doing?!” She stared at her inventory. There were already thirty torches there, not including the lit one in her hand. “I don’t need this many! I’m losing it here!”

  She slammed the chest closed and moved on to the next. Her next stop was food, and she opened the chest full of meat. She started shoving the jerky into her inventory, pausing only to ram one into her cheek and offering another to Shinji. The little creature took it from her and seemed to relax slightly as he gnawed on it.