Nightmare Mythos

Tak—!

It felt like the time slowed down.

For Jeremiah to pull off his ridiculous position as he used his spear as a pole to balance himself to avoid the two attacks coming at his back but to stare at the incoming at his chest felt all useless by the end of it.

He could pull of different kinds of maneuver and actions but doing it again in his position was even too hard for him. No matter how flexible he was, he was still incapable of some things.

As his eyes were wide open, Jeremiah instantly realized that the moment the black liquid touched him, he would instantly die.

Even if he survived it, he would be incapacitated enough to be unable to move to the best of his ability. It will bring the cohort in more danger.

The time remained unchanging.

Tak—!

Just the moment the black liquid came to his chest, Jeremiah felt a touch at his back.

In an instant, he was pulled by an influence that felt so forceful and desperate.

"Sir, snap back!"

Jeremiah couldn't help but stare blankly at the student of the academy who made an effort to come to his place as he continued being dragged while grabbing his spear in the process.

Cesar tightly held at his clothes and continued dragging him away from the incoming shadow puppets even though he was damn heavy. Not only he's larger and heavier, Jeremiah is older as well.

But Cesar was incapable of doing this kind of task.

Whoosh—!

Cesar neatly evaded a black liquid coming at his face while still holding Jeremiah, who was starting to come to his senses.

A second later, Jeremiah stood up before getting the spear from Cesar's clutch and immediately went his way to defend the incoming attack aiming to eliminate Cesar.

"Pull!"

Once the steer was clear and there was nothing to block that would endanger them, both Jeremiah and Cesar felt their abdomen tightening before being reeled in from the tether that Klaus had connected from the two.

"Ugh!"

Even though he heard beforehand how the tether works even at great distances from Klaus, it was a different feeling when experiencing the action itself.

'Tight!'

Cesar felt pressed at his abs but as soon as he tried to focus his attention, Jeremiah suddenly spoke to him on the side.

"Thank you, kid,"

Cesar couldn't help but feel strange at that reply that made him frown, "Sir, we have no time for useless chatter. Thank me when we escape here, please?"

Jeremiah blinked blankly at his response before chuckling, "Sure,"

Soon, the reeling of the tether came to an end as both of them regrouped with the rest and resumed their running.

Nearby, they saw Klaus fending off a couple of puppets on his side while starting to suffer minor injuries he received from them. The moment he saw them, the three steered clear of their rear before sprinting.

"You took long your time there, Jer!"

Receiving an earful from Klaus, Jeremiah merely shrugged and replied, "I almost got into trouble but no biggie."

Klaus took a moment of breath before adding, "Have you used your first facet? You know, your ability Purge?"

Before Cesar even made a face as his tone suggested something grave, Jeremiah cleared the air by replying immediately.

"Not yet. Hopefully, not until we are away from this place,"

Feeling something along with those words, Cesar couldn't help but ask, "What does Klaus mean by that? What will happen if you used your first facet?"

Jeremiah scratched the back of his just as he was about to answer before the three of them heard Erin shouting in the front.

"I'm running out of gas, Jeremiah! I may have the largest essence tank in our group but I'm dangerously running out! I need to hop on your back too, Cesar!"

Already on that formation of the cohort, the three began to move. Jeremiah remained in his position at the back as he was the main fender of the cohort. This time, Klaus went to replace Erin, who was backing down and matching the pace Cesar was doing.

"Quentin!" Cesar shouted before he saw Erin jumping onto his back which made him grumble for a brief moment.

He was already having a hard time and now he was going to piggyback someone, making his situation worse. Even so, the only thing he could do was grit his teeth and continue sprinting.

"Am I heavy?"

"No, sir!"

"Good!"

Erin then looked ahead, "Once I run out of essence to keep channeling the bug wall, the attacks that some of the shadows might, wording, might pass by us but I will be faster than them. This is just a reminder so Amar, Quentin, Klaus, you ready?!"

With Amar nodding, Quentin positioning himself in the middle of the cohort, and Klaus throwing an 'ok sign', everyone patiently waited.

"Just go, go, go!" Jeremiah shouted in desperation as his spears were unable to do direct attack from the puppets, their pressure mounting each time.

They have to do something about it.

Amar stretched his hand towards Erin before muttering under his lips with a bite, "Exchange!"

Using his first support facet [Exchange] where he had the ability to swap the thing he desired from his mind without any trouble, this time he was choosing essence exchange to Erin, who immediately received a boost of essence as if he wasn't lacking about it earlier.

"Now!"

Suddenly, Erin's control over his beelice bugs vanished. The barrage of abilities that only he could perceive from earlier started to extinguish the bugs in just a couple of seconds before they got exposed.

Yet just as they were about to get surrounded by the puppets, Erin threw a piece of camouflage-like gum in the air before raising both of his hands as if trying to chant a spell.

"Amplify Size!"

Klaus saw five of the puppets lunging towards them before the camouflage gum covered him, leaving the shadows confused. The ones targeting Amar and Quentin also wanted to get a piece of them before they also got covered by the same disguised gum.

Whoosh—!

Grunting, Jeremiah swerved his spear perpendicularly so that no puppets would get on his back before dashing forward and letting himself conceal to the gum's ability.

As they ran forward, they passed through the shadows that went on their way, completely leaving them even more confused.

Though they never wavered. All they did was relentlessly run.

By the time the puppets knew what was going on as they motionlessly stood in their place, the cohort managed to cross half of the gargantuan candelabra's body.

…

Facet's Archive (Book's Given Description… and something that came from me. I'm the author after all :)

Jeremiah: Had a long tattoo on his arm up to the side of his cheek. Like to pull pranks.

-Purge: ??

-Nullification: Has the ability to nullify abilities momentarily. 'Unable to channel' to use the ability before casting and not 'vanished' an ability being cast.

Klaus: A tall man with striking features.

-Tether: Can connect through one or two people. The user has the ability to 'reel' another tethered being using just a tiny amount of essence even with grade distances.

-Clairaudience: could acquire information by paranormal auditory means.