Two more shapes detached from the canyon walls, their pale, translucent skin shimmering as they phased in and out of the oily fog. They moved with a terrifying, liquid grace, their elongated claws clicking against the stone.
Aden didn't move to help. He stood fifty paces ahead, his back to the caravan, his sapphire eyes fixed on the deeper darkness of the gorge. He could feel the pulse of the Abyss ahead—something larger, something older than mere scavengers.
"Eren, left flank! Lorelei, cover the rear!"
Aden's voice wasn't a shout; it was a vibration that settled into their bones.
Lorelei's spectral form flared into a brilliant, haunting violet. She didn't use a blade. She simply raised her hands, and the shadows around the trailing wagon began to solidify, twisting into ethereal thorns that impaled a Creeper as it tried to leap from a ledge. The creature thrashed, its pale blood sizzling against her energy, before dissolving into grey ash.
