"...who's there..?" the weakened voice of Ismet escaped from his shattered body. He had slipped into a coma during the night and the medics predicted the worst for him.

Galeb, half asleep, was awoke by the unexpected voice. He rattled his C'dowe regaining his senses, "Wha? Ismet?"

Ismet grew a weak smile, "Good morning, Galeb. How is everybody?"

"Ismet! You're alive! We thought you were gone!"

The Grell of Aelo-Religion coughed a few words, "Not just yet, young one. Is everyone alright?"

"I wish I could say that, but there is good news. The Tuskageries have almost wiped out those monsters. We've won!"

"That's wonderful, Galeb," Ismet's eyes stared up placidly, "wonderful."

"Hold still, let me tell Kelemak you're awake. I'll be right back," Galeb R'ef stood up and began running out the door.

"You don't need to worry about that," the Grell wheezed, he knew there was no stopping the excited young Lorinthian, "be careful, Galeb." It was the last words he ever spoke.

After much resistance, Hamaer Ka'bal, Grell of Security, was persuaded to rest for some time. Aelo-Lorinthians and Tuskegarians both assured the Grell the worst was over and "victory" was inevitable. It was not easy for Hamaer to accept. He had been through too many twists recently to trust anything for sure. He was haunted by previous ambushes, revelations, failures, and betrayals. It seemed the war was over, but how could he be sure?

Nevertheless, the weak, wounded Grell instantly slipped off to sleep. He departed from the sentient world and his worries. Despite his plagued thoughts, Hamaer slept soundly. Uninterrupted by the cruelties of reality, he rested peacefully for the time being.

When he awoke it was dark out again. He realized he must have slept through the day. He stretched and rose from his bed. Stepping out of his shelter, Hamaer felt a new snowfall against his face and the bass whistle of the wind. That was all. He expected to hear voices of Lorinthians or humans either celebrating or mourning the earlier events. A fearful suspicion rose in him but quickly faded as he decided that it must be an odd hour and all Lorinthian were asleep as well and perhaps the Tuskagerians had already returned to their kingdom. But surely Captain Aroden would want to see him before he departed with his calvalry back to Tuskagua? Perhaps, he did not want to disturb the resting Grell. Yes, that must be it.

There would be some activity during this hour at the medical shelter, where the wounded required round the clock care. Hamaer set himself in the direction of the shelter. He crept around corners and alley ways, being silently considerate to the sleeping Lorinthians. When he came in view of the medical shelter he noticed something peculiar. Not a single light was visible, it was completely dark. Puzzled he ran the rest of the way and burst through the door.

Indeed it was dark inside, and emtpy. There was no nurse, nor were there patience to be cared for. All that remained was shambled furniture, as if the place had been suddenly evacuated or abandoned. He called out, but there was no answer. The Grell of Security pondered over the cause. Maybe the facility has been relocated to another shelter? Possible, but highly unlikely. The fearful suspicion once again rose in Hamaer Ka'bal, but this time it did not pass.

Tearing through the door the Grell raced outside, nearly slipping in the wet snow. The wind was howling a little louder, and the snow was coming down a little faster. The crimson Moon was in the sky again, but abnormally large. So large it nearly filled the sky, and event quite unnatural. Hamaer was too concerned to notice it though.

He plunged through the cloth doorway into the sleeping quarters, no longer concerned with being quiet so not to disturb anyone. He immediately stopped, petrified of what he saw inside. He whispered a curse as he stared around the room. As in the medical shelter, the sleeping quarters were also entirely empty. Not a single living thing was in the long hallway, where earlier he had seen dozens of Aelo-Lorinthians gathered. There were rows of unmade beds, some were even turned over. Where has everyone gone? Hamaer thought to himself.

Horrified, he turned back and returned outside. After a step or two he immediately noticed something new. In the distant darkness, several blue lights were blinking on. The number of pairs grew rapidly, hundreds of menacing eyes looked upon him. Hamaer did not move, he did not think, he only waited. The Dread Whispers crawled forward. They became close enough for Hamaer to see them. But this time something was horribly different. As they became visible he could see each one of them was carrying a mutilated and devoured body of an Aelo-Lorinthian or Tuskagerian. Some had only pieces while others carried entire corpses, but they all had something to carry, some prize to display. Hamaer Ka'bal was wracked by the morbid scene. All his companions were dead corpses lugged around by the Dread Whispers. Only he remained. As more approached him he noticed familiar faces staring blankly at him, Captain Aroden, the Galome. Then he saw more, his friends, Kelemak, Ismet, Galeb. He saw them all, even Gildur. All were dead, all had fallen against the Dread Whispers. Hamaer did not resist as the claws stretched out towards him also and he was consumed by hordes of gray monsters.

Hamaer Ka'bal awoke with such shock he nearly fell out of the bed. He looked around as if it were the first time he was able to. It was still sunrise, he had only been asleep a few minutes. He could hear voices outside of both Aelo-Lorinthian and Tuskegarian. No tragedy had occured, and he now intended to keep it that way. As if in a frenzy he grabbed his bladed rake and charged out the door. No one saw him run out towards the forboding darkness.

Captain Aroden, leader of the Tuskagua Calvalry, charged toward a formation of pikemen on his white stallion. They were gathered around an outer area of Serenity Hill. Strewn corpses of the vermin were randomly placed in the snow while the pikemen scowered the area for more.

"Did you destroy it? The second militia said they chased it into your formation." Aroden asked a random soldier.

The pikeman looked up at Aroden on his horse, "Destroy what sir? I do not know what you mean?"

"The king. The second militia said they chased it into this area. You did not finish it?"

"No sir. We thought your brigade took care of it."

A grim expression flooded over Aroden's face, "No. It still must be out here. If we do not destroy it then we have done nothing." Aroden paced his stallion in front of the soldiers. His gray and blue armor glittered in front of the sunrise. "All of you! Stop what you are doing and follow me now! Our work is far from over."

Brightened by the news of Ismet's health, Galeb R'ef flew excitedly through the shelters searching for the Grell of Astronomy, Kelemak. He finally encountered her in back room of the medical facility caring for the mortally wounded.

Galeb respectfully lowered his voice, containing his excitement, "Kelemak, Ismet has-"

The female Grell interrupted, "Yes, I know. Galeb have you seen Ka'bal?"

"Hamaer? No, not for some time now. Where is he?"

"I do not know. Nobody knows. I've been looking everywhere for him."

"He is not in his cabin?" Galeb forgot about his good news and became quite concerned.

"No, I checked there. I have looked everywhere. I am quite worried about him."

"Let's check back at his cabin, maybe he has returned there."

Kelemak shrugged, "I don't know where else to look." The two Aelo-Lorinthians walked outside of the facility.

The door behind Galeb R'ef and Kelemak shut as the two peered through the empty room. The room was dark and empty. A makeshift desk set undisturbed in a corner and a bed stood unmade in the center of the room. There was no sign of Hamaer Ka'bal.

"Where could he have gone?" Kelemak said pacing around the room, there was a small cry in the back of her voice.

Galeb noticed the unmade bed, it seemed like it was hastily evacuated. Such a thing was a little peculiar to Aelo-Lorinthians. The race was always very clean and tidy, even in a situation like this. They believed if everything was in perfect order then their Lorinthian minds could concentrate more clearly.

While Kelemak wandered across the room, Galeb turned back outside for another examination. Moments later Kelemak heard, "Kelemak, come look at this," she followed the voice outside.

The young Aelo-Lorinthian was kneeling on the ground examining the snow.

"What have you found Galeb?"

"There is an extremely faint lining of a foot print in the snow, it has nearly been filled by the snowfall. It must be Hamaer."

"Really?!" she said excitedly, "I had not noticed it when I checked here earlier, do you see any others?"

"No, just one pair. He was alone."

"Can we follow them?"

Galeb studied the snow carefully for a few moments, examining closely with his large, brown Aelo-Lorinthian eyes, "Yes, I think so. It leads this way," he pointed at dense conjunction of lifeless trees a hundred yards in the distance, "into the darkess."

"This cannot be good," said Kelemak, "I'm going to follow them."

"Shouldn't you get some company to go with you first? It is sure to be dangerous!"

"Yes, it is. That is why I don't have the time!" Kelemak started running through the snow in the direction of the dark area ahead.

"Kelemak wait!" The Grell of Astronomy did not respond to Galeb's cries and continued quickly through the snow. "Then I'm going with you!" Galeb R'ef took off after her.

Hamaer K'abal squinted his eyes to see past the dense trees. The light shed from the rising sun was not enough to provide the Lorinthian with guidance through the leafless, icey trees. He did not know why he had come to this place. After his omen he was somehow compelled to return to the battlefield. He could not deny that it was not a clear, sane plan to leave the shelters and rush here alone. But why had he come to this specific area? Hamaer Ka'bal did not know why.

There was something green glowingvery faintly a few feet away from the Grell on a branch of a tree. He could see it stand out amongst the darkness. A strange object, like a fruit, the seemed to be glowing, not near enough to notice during the daytime, barely noticeable now. Curiously, Hamaer approached the green glow and as he did this he could see more of them. When he did reach the luminous shape he could see hundreds others hanging from trees surrounding him.

Touching the peculiar, round apparatus he could feel a smooth, nearly slimey skin. It was green with speckled yellow dots which actually did the glowing. Hamaer was repulsed and quickly retracted his arm from it.

The senseless Lorinthian realized where he was. He had stumbled upon some kind of brood for the Dread Whispers where newly spawned pods were developing into new manifestations of evil. Soon these would hatch and a new batch of terror would sweep across the world. The haresstia ru venmazu had a back up plan after all.

"...you shall be with usss....Aelo-Lorinthian...all shall be with usssss"

Hamaer Ka'bal instinctively swung around. Once again, he was face to face with the king (or queen perhaps) of the Dread Whispers. This time, the great parasite looked quite different. It was still the same enormous, horned, black behemoth but it now looked like it had been dragged through the front lines of an army. It was dripping black blood everywhere, cuts and gashes covered the creature's body. A few of its spider-like legs were completely sliced off as well asa great portion of its left arm. The boney spikes that jutted out of its mane were chipped and broken. The cruel scowl it wore was mangled, but its red, piercing eyes still shone brightly. It even still had weapons and blades buried into its flesh. As it crept towards Hamaer, an axe that was jammed into its side slipped out and stuck in the snow with a crunch. It was beyond difficult to believe that this creature still lived, it was absolutely unnatural.

"...you have come to uss Lorinthian....you have chossssen to join usss, yesss?"

"N-no. We have defeated you, your horde has nearly been wiped out."

"..sssso it ssseeemss....you are misstaken Lorinthian," it hissed at Hamaer Ka'bal as it struggled to crawl forward, "..they are...expendable...I..created them....and as long as I...exist in thisss world...I can create more...."

Hamaer was mortified at the news. The beast was right. As long as it survived it could create more and do it all over again. As many times as it took. They would continue to respawn and dominate the world. These parasites truly cannot be stopped, they always have some last trick ready. Only by eliminating this king could the cycle of death end, but by the looks of the creature, that had already been attempted by the best.

"...take comfort that your sssacrifice will feed god's will....yours isss the lassst before we will become invincible...." the demon crept closer to Ka'bal, hissing and snarling.

Hamaer drew his weapon and stepped back, "Stay away from me!" The Grell swung at towering behemoth, ripping a blade across its face.

The enormous creature shrieked. It had not expected such defiant retalliation. With its right arm the battered creature struck out at the Hamaer, but the agile Lorinthian quickly ducked under the blow. Angered, the monster quickly lunged its gigantic head at him, snapping repeatedly with its jaws. Hamaer had to jump back to dodge him. Despite its size, the large Dread Whisper was unexpectedly swift, Hamaer could barely react. The Grell bumped into something, he had backed into a tree. It was simply too fast for Hamaer to plan anything, and he was now trapped directly in front of the furious beast. It opened its mouth wider, displaying countless sharp teeth pointing in every direction, then dived at the cornered Lorinthian. Without even thinking, Hamaer fell to the side and avoided the creature's lunge. It smashed its face into the trunk, hard. The trunk of the tree was crushed and the entire tree came down, crashing into the snow. Hamaer quickly stood back up. The king Dread Whisper took a moment to dislodge its maw from the tree and spit out wood and bark. The Grell used this moment to run away.

But Hamaer knew he could not outrun the swift Dread Whisper. So instead he found a dark place to hide. It was his only chance for the time being. He tried to quiet his rapid breathing so he would not be heard.

Captain Aroden tugged on the reigns of his horse, slowing her to a stop. The riders behind him did the same, wondering what the captain had planned next.

"What is it Captain?" asked a blue armored soldier, carrying a long bow and riding on a black horse.

"I thought I heard something, a crash of some sort," replied Aroden.

"I heard nothing, sir," the soldier commented. All the Tuskegarians waited patiently for their captain's next command.

Just then another soldier ran on foot towards the riders. Aroden turned and awaited his news.

"Captain! We have found no sign of the creature. It is possible it has already died somewhere," said the soldier.

"I would not be so sure."

"Also, the remaining Grell of the Aelo-Lorinthians have been reported missing."

"Oh? For how long?"

"Not too long. Their commander disappeared about an hour ago, while I was helping with the search the other was noticed to be missing also. We should try to find them."

"Absolutely. Thank you," Captain Aroden tugged again on the reigns and he was moving again at a quick steady pace. His riders followed.

The dark king growled softly, "...where have you gone..Lorinthian?.......I do not sssee you....but you are ssstill here..." The creature pulled its massive bulk forward along the snow with its remaining spider-like legs. It lurked around a tree, listening intently. "...I can hear...your breathe..." It moved itself toward a dense evergreen bush, hidden in the darkness. With one swift move it tore up the bush, but nothing was there. It then reached above and rattled the branches of the trees. Snow and icicles that rested on the branches fell to the ground, nothing else.

The black beast, growing impatient, crept further. "...your breathing....and I can hear....your heart issss beating....as I draw clossse.." Its enormous head rotated around. "..why do you ssstill resssist..usss?...Why cannot you ssee...that we the harestia ru venmazu...are righteousss....how much more convincing do you need?" The monster slowly stepped closer. "...you...you betray and murder your own kind..Lorinthiansss...how can you claim to be sssuperior?....Which of usss is truly...the sssavage?"

Hamaer Ka'bal could feel the great abomination creep closer to him. He had slipped under a tree root earlier. He shut his eyes hoping it would somehow make him invisible.

"...the risssing sun...will disscover you sssoon...if I do not firsssst.." It moved past a thick rooted, dark tree. Then it paused and turned back around. "...sssome where closse by...yesss...very clossssse.." Over its own hissing it heard something new, something else was moving in the area. The creature grew a sinister grin. It shut its own eyes and moved back into the darkness, becoming completely invisible. There, it waited to ambush.

It was not long before Kelemak unawarely stepped directly in front of the hidden horror. It reached out and snared the Lorinthian in its claws. The king Dread Whisper lifted Kelemak off the ground while she struggled against its grasp.

"...we are pleasssed...that you have come to usss...Lorinthian.." the hissing creature said to her face. Suddenly, Hamaer crawled out from under the root directly under the beast. With all his strength he thrust his sharp, spear-like weapon into its back left hide. The weapon slid into the beasts dark flesh a few feet and stuck there with the end handle jutting out. Black blooded squirted over the snow.

The furious monster howled so loud snow fell from the dense branches above. It dropped Kelemak and ferociously spun around. As it quickly turned, the handle of Hamaer's weapon, which remained buried into the beast's flesh, spun with it and thwacked Galeb R'ef, who had just entered upon the scene, in the head. Hamaer was under the giant, between its spider-like legs. He run underneath it and reappeared behind the confused monster next to Galeb who sat in the snow, dizzy from that last unexpected blow.

Hamaer quickly dragged Galeb up and started running. The Dread Whisper flew around again, sending the weapon handle swinging at Kelemak. But she was more agile than the young Lorinthan and grabbed onto the handle. The beast charged after Hamaer and Galeb through the trees like a bull while Kelemak held on to the handle and flew along behind the monster.

The dark lord of the harestia ru venmazu was outraged that these insects had managed to get the best of it. Consumed with rage, it tore through trees charging after Hamaer and Galeb. Through its rampage the creature did not even realize that Kelemak was flying along behind it, clutching onto the weapon. The female Grell managed to crawl on top of the beast's back as it crashed through the woods. Hamaer and Galeb ran quickly, twisting through narrow passages only they were small enough to fit through, trying to slow down the beast who had to smash down anything that its massive size could not fit through. Raging through the woods, crashing through trees with its horns, it still could not feel Kelemak shuffling around on its back.

With time to spare, Kelemak searched her arsenal for the perfect weapon. Seeing how every pointed object known to her had already been thrust into this monster that kept on going, a new technique would be needed. The Grell of Astronomy quickly untied a red scarf she was wearing. Then she grabbed a long, black horn for balance and climbed on top of its head. Only Kelemak was agile enough to accomplish this maneuver while the monster raced through the woods and branches flew over its head. She then draped the scarf over the Dread Whisper's sharp, red eyes.

The bewildered gargantua immediately ran into something, it could not see what exactly, probably a very thick tree trunk. Then it rolled around in the snow trying to stand, Kelemak quickly jumped off her ride before it could crush her under its massive bulk. Kelemak rejoined Hamaer and Galeb who were standing nearby. The three watched the blinded creature writhe around, crushing and smashing into things. Trees fell and icicles fell and crashed on the beast. A particularly large icicle fell from a gigantic oak tree and struck the creature in the back. Kelemak had an idea.

The three Aelo-Lorinthians had plenty of time to set it up, it nearly took a minute for the Dread Whisper king to remove the red scarf from its face and stand back up. By that time the Lorinthians were ready for him. The enormous horror, king parasite of the harestia ru venmazu, was not pleased, not at all. In fact, whatever foul mood it was in earlier was now dwarved in comparison to the infinite anger it carried. These simple, scrawny, weak, furry little people had beaten him more than any other enemy it faced over the centuries. In its lifetime it had brought down armies single-handedly, towering ogres, dragons, titanic abominations that lurked deep underground. None had faired so well as these insects buzzing around creating a nuisance. Still, it knew they could not win against it, but with so much shame and embarassment it received from this battle, it almost wished they had.

It looked around, searching for the bothersome insects. Then all three of them stepped from behind a tree and walked casually. They stopped inbetween two trees. The beast was so consumed with anger, it was not concerned at all with the strange behavior of the Aelo-Lorinthians.

"...your luck will not lassst Lorinthiansss....you shall be with usss...all shall be with usss..." it approached the three and the Lorinthians stepped back. As the king Dread Whisper came inbetween the two trees it felt a wire press against it. It was so furious it pushed against the wire, it could have easily stepped over it but it arrogantly did not want to give the Lorinthians any more satisfaction by concerning itself at all with their simple trap.

Moska Tiger whisker was very strong. Aelo-Lorinthians used it for many complex devices in the colony. Kelemak had used it in constructing the water transporting apparatus of Serenity Hill earlier. She had forgotten she still carried it until she had checked her arsenal for a weapon earlier. Moments ago, while the monster was struggling to stand, the three Aelo-Lorinthians had wrapped the wire around three gigantic oak trees and tied it in a knot that strengthened as forced was applied to it. The king Dread Whisper was in the middle of the three trees which formed a triangle around it. The wire was around the enormous trees as the sides of the triangle, the trees were the corners, while the monster was in the middle, surrounded by the wire.