Episode 1.2

No, Jiao Tu realized. The mist did not shroud the enemy. It was the enemy.

One of the mist-tendrils wrapped around the tail of a fleeing ratling. Blood-red welts formed wherever the mist gripped. The ratling let out a high-pitched squeal of pain. That was a mistake.

Faster than Jiao Tu’s eyes could follow, two tendrils shot into the poor creature’s mouth and down its throat. Even though muffled, the ratling’s cries grew unbearable to the ears. The lagomorph could see something writhing inside the victim. He swallowed bile and looked away, though he could guess the ratling’s fate by the wet, bursting squelch that soon followed.

Improvised metal weapons clattered to the floor as the ratlings scurried away. Jiao Tu fled from the mist monster as well, checking to make sure that he did not take the same course as any of the gang members. The corridors in this section of the Below wound around like a warren designed by a drunkard. The footfalls of the fleeing ratlings grew fainter and fainter. He heard a couple more screams, then nothing.

He slowed after a moment. He could hear nothing but thrumming systems and the faster thudding of his own heart. The unique scent of the monster and the stench of the poor ratling’s burst bowels still clogged Jiao Tu’s nostrils. He did not think anyone or anything was close to him, but he kept moving, just in case.

What was that thing? he wondered as he walked. He knew the classic texts, had read the list of Beastkin and the list of Beasts That Were and Will Be. He knew the sutras chanted by the Builder’s cult, save for the most secret. What was more, he knew the tales told by the small folk, the myths and legends of the farmers and villagers that kept the world spinning. These sources all had their monsters, but none with a description that matched the mist-creature.

It was new, then. Or perhaps something so old that it had been left off even the most ancient list, had been forgotten from even the oldest stories. Either option was a bad omen: the re-awakening of forgotten monsters or the birth of new ones.

He had seen radiation burns like the wounds on the ratling’s tail, but never ones that had been caused so quickly. A mist cloud could kill you, but this was more than a passive poisoning. The thing had moved with deliberate intent. It had wanted to kill the ratling, and in the messiest way possible. And the ratlings had seen it before, or at least knew of its existence. 

He shook his head. Without more knowledge of his opponent, Jiao Tu had no way to combat it. His sword would offer no protection. He could only strive to carry out his contract and hope he would not cross the path of the monster again.

He adjusted the cloth over his nose. Back to it, then. He looked at the maze of pipes and conduits above him. Though the indicators on many had faded, he could just make out the markings on the rest. There. That symbol should lead his to one of the Engineering barracks. He would gather what information he could from there.

A hissing sigh. Jiao Tu whirled around, his paw on the hilt of his sword. Nothing. But that hiss had been eerily similar to the sound just before the mist-monster appeared. There was no vent steam at all in this corridor, nowhere for the creature to hide. He glanced up again, trying to orient his mental map of the Below to the conduit-work sigils. That was when the deck plating dropped out from under him.