Nicolae hummed to himself as he wandered north through the wilderness, brushing twigs and bushes out of the way as he pushed his way through a light forest under starry midnight skies. The warm, refreshing spring wind fluttered softly through his flaxen hair and pushed it from his wide, carefree eyes of sapphire blue, a color which seemed to mock the dark blue of night above him. With his heavy pulse rifle slung across his shoulder glinting silver and his free hand shoved deep inside his dark tan traveling cloak, he couldn't help but smile at what a beautiful night it was.
And that's when he heard it, an unnatural rustle in the underbrush, something that just didn't sound -right- when it brushed against the leaves. Nicolae immediately came to a stop and glanced over his shoulder, the hood folded down over his shoulders partially blocking the view behind him. Something rustled somewhere to his left, and a bolder noise came from his right. -Wels-. He couldn't smell them yet, they had wisely stayed downwind, but from their movements he could tell they were surrounding him.
Carefully lifting his rifle off his shoulder and letting it fall into his cupped right hand, a glimmer of light came from his left and he swung around, the rifle erupting into staccato thunder. The lightning fast hail of tracer bullets arced into the set of twin yellow lights that were the eyes of the nearest Wel, the hollowpoint rounds ripping the creature to pieces in less time than it took him to complete the spin he had begun. Rounding about to his left, his cloak sailed into the air behind him, his face illuminated by yellow flashes from the muzzle of the thundering cannon at his side.
The stream of luminous bullets sailed across his field of vision and a hideous shriek followed by a plume of blood marked another fallen Wel even as he heard the ragged, strangled war-cry of the others leaping behind him. Using his momentum, Nicolae threw himself at the ground while spinning left, his shoulder slamming into the ground and rolling onto his back as he arced the cannon up at the nearest flying shape. Feeling the whisper soft essence of Ether flow down his arms and into the rifle, Nicolae let his instincts take over and the barrel steadied itself at the nigh invisible shape arcing down at him. With a thunderous blast, the burst of tracer fire tore the Wel in half, streaks of light erupting from its back like fireflies from a blood rose in bloom.
Nicolae rolled aside, barely avoiding the mutated, decaying flesh as it slumped into the ground with a heavy thud. Just as he was about to close his eyes to relax, a revenant appeared above him, acidic drool dripping from between jagged silvery fangs. His cry was cut off in a strangle, the monster reaching down and grabbing him by the throat. Slowly it lifted him off the ground and its claws dug into the sides of his throat. Flailing like a fish out of water, he looked down with terror at the eyeless skeletal monstrosity that appeared to be -grinning- up at him. As it opened its jaws to cleave off a part of his body, he pushed the rifle barrel into its thigh and pulled the trigger, its shriek of agony almost drowning out the thundering roar. Tumbling backwards, Nicolae suddenly threw back his head and screamed as he felt white hot pain tearing up through his body as the monster drove its sickle-like claws into his leg, dragging him forward. Summoning his arm through sheer force of will to move he swung the barrel over and pushed it into the elbow joint, ripping it to shreds with a burst of fire. The creature shrieked for the final time as it leapt into the air, attempting to pin him with its body.
Far away in Nisan and Fort Jasper, a silvery-white arch arose from the tiny patch of forest, pulsing as it rose to its apex like a signal flare, and just as immediately was snuffed out.