Chương 14: Night Watch

The quest disappeared from Thomas's vision. Gareth broke the silence first.

"Did everyone see that?" Several people answered at once. Amy said yes. Margaret swore under her breath. Someone near the rear of the chapel asked what would happen if they failed. Nobody answered. Chloe stayed beside the prototype, her fingers resting near the slide.

"Maintain an active mana source until dawn," she read aloud.

"It wants us to keep this running for the rest of the night."

"That frame barely survived a minute," Marcus said.

"The tape failed. I've replaced it." Chloe nudged the discarded strip aside with her screwdriver. Marcus walked over and crouched beside the prototype. Heat still rose from the metal bracket.

"How long can you keep it active?" Chloe rubbed her forehead with the heel of her uninjured hand.

"Continuously? I have no idea. The insulation could soften, or the slide could warp. The mana keeps settling into the same path. I need to check the bracket between activations."

"So we cycle it."

"Maybe. The wording says maintain an active source. The core remains active when the light is down to an ember, but I don't know whether the System agrees." Thomas went over the objective in his head.

"An active source. Nothing about full output. We could cycle it while the core stays at an ember." He would have preferred to debate the wording somewhere farther from the barricade. Chloe picked up the screwdriver and tapped the rubber-wrapped handle.

"Fifty seconds. I want ten seconds in reserve in case the slide sticks." Marcus stood and looked around the chapel.

"Fifty seconds active, four minutes cooling. Thomas watches the mana. Chloe watches the device. We stop and reassess if anything sudden happens""And if we can't keep it going?" Amy asked. Marcus looked at her.

"We keep everyone alive. Any quests come after that." Chloe bent over the ceramic again. She scraped at one edge, checked it, then scraped harder. Thomas left her to it. Marcus moved to the barricade. The cabinet and chairs had kept the chapel hidden more than defended. One hard impact would shift the entire pile. A low gap remained beneath the cabinet where the floor dipped toward the corridor. Marcus pointed at it.

"Will, I want you here. If anything pushes from the other side, we can brace the cabinet. Keep your feet clear of the gap." Will picked up his length of timber.

"Tell me where you want the end." Marcus helped him wedge it between the cabinet and a floor joint. They tested the angle together, and the cabinet scraped inward before catching. Eleanor stepped around them and faced the rest of the chapel.

"Anyone who can sleep should do it now. We'll rotate the watch. You'll be woken if we need you." Nobody laid down however. Eleanor rubbed her eyes, then lowered her hand.

"Try, please. Even if you can't sleep, get your weight off your feet." One of the parents sat down, bringing their already asleep daughter with them. Others began to follow their example. Margaret began directing people toward the chapel walls. She moved the children and their parents farthest from the entrance, then made two men shift the water and food away from the centre aisle. When one of them started asking where she wanted each bag, she took it from him and shoved it into place herself.

"Food here. Water beside it. Keep flammables clear of the torches." Priya stayed with the wounded and Amy tried to stand beside her.

"You're sleeping first," Priya told her.

"I can help if something comes through."

"I know. I need you rested when it does." Amy glanced at the entrance.

"You'll wake me?"

"Yes, I promise." Amy lowered herself beside Daniel, keeping her shoes on. Marcus pointed toward Gareth.

"You can pass water and reinforce the barricade if Will asks. Stay off the injured arm." Gareth looked at the pry bar beside him.

"I can still swing with the other one."

"Pass the water, Gareth. Will needs both hands free." Gareth looked toward Will, then pushed the pry bar away with his foot. Thomas remained near the wall where the last pulse had travelled. Marcus came over once everyone else had started moving.

"You stay awake for the first set of cycles," he said.

"If those things below get close enough to place, tell me before they reach the door." Thomas rubbed his palm against his trousers, weariness evident in his tone.

"I don't know how much warning I can give you."

"Whatever you have. Even if you're unsure."

"What if I'm wrong?"

"Then we've woken people for nothing." Marcus glanced at the sleeping children.

"I can live with that." Chloe had finished inspecting the prototype. She flexed her burned hand, hissed, and switched the screwdriver to the other.

"The slide is clear. The ceramic hasn't cracked. The outer bracket is still warmer than I want, but it's cooling." Margaret brought her a cup of water. Chloe drank half without looking up, entirely focused on the light in front of her.

"You need to eat too," Margaret said.

"I need both hands."

"Just put it in your mouth and be done with it." Chloe accepted a ration bar and held it between her teeth while she adjusted the frame. Margaret stayed until she took an actual bite. Chloe chewed, caught her eye, and managed a small, guilty smile. Marcus waited beside the entrance.

"Ready?" Chloe swallowed.

"Atleast as ready as this thing is likely to get." Thomas placed his palm against the wall. Mana Control sharpened the different pressures around him: his own reserve, the dense core inside Chloe's housing, the low accumulation within the chapel stone.

"Go." Chloe pushed the slide inward. Blue-black light spread across the floor. It reached the barricade, the supplies, and the nearest rows of people along the walls. Several who had been trying to sleep opened their eyes again. Mana entered the stone beneath the prototype. The path moved downward and divided through the old foundations.

"Same route," Thomas said.

"It's moving toward the lower castle." Marcus stood beside Will, watching the gaps in the barricade.

"Anything following?"

"Nothing yet." Chloe counted quietly, testing the ceramic with her good hand as the bracket warmed.

"Heat is building slower than the last test." Thomas felt the first distant change in the lower route.

"There's movement." Will leaned more weight onto the timber. Marcus asked, "One?"

"I can't separate them yet."

"Direction?"

"Toward the pulse." Chloe reached forty-five and wrapped her fingers around the slide.

"Five seconds." Thomas couldn't count them yet, but the pressure was growing.

"Shut it down." She pulled. The light withdrew into the core. The mana trail lingered through the castle while the device cooled, and the presences below continued along it for several seconds.

"They slowed," Thomas said.

"I still feel them." Marcus looked at Chloe.

"How long?"

"Three minutes to let the mana disperse from the frame. Four would be better." Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"We wait four." The chapel grew quiet enough that Thomas could hear the metal frame ticking as it cooled. Margaret walked among the people assigned to the later watches. She made them drink, checked that the children had settled, and pulled a blanket over Amy after the girl fell asleep sitting upright. Eleanor sat beside one of the frightened visitors and went through the watch arrangements with him twice because he kept forgetting where he was meant to stand if the barricade moved.

Thomas kept his hand against the wall. The presences faded when the last of the pulse dispersed. One remained clearer than the others. It drifted through the lower stone, lost the route, found it again, then stopped somewhere beyond his reach. Chloe checked the bracket at four minutes.

"Ready." They ran the prototype again. The second cycle drew the creatures faster. Thomas felt three this time. They moved through the lower castle in uneven starts, pausing where the pulse weakened and gathering speed when another activation renewed it. On the third cycle, a scraping sound carried through the corridor. Marcus raised his hand. Conversations stopped one by one. The scrape came again. Claws dragged over stone, paused, then resumed closer to the chapel.

Thomas followed the matching pressure through the wall.

"It's one of them. Maybe two behind it."

"What are they?" Marcus asked.

"They feel like the barghests, except the mana is spread thinner. The ones we fought had cores holding the whole body together. These barely have anything at their centre." Chloe kept one hand on the slide.

"Something left over from them?"

"Could be." A second scrape answered from farther down the corridor. Will repositioned the timber against his shoulder. Marcus pointed toward the low gap, and Will drew his boots back without speaking. Chloe looked at the count written beside the prototype.

"Fifty seconds."

"Off," Marcus said. The chapel fell into fire-lit shadows. The scraping stopped. Thomas felt the leading creature hesitate outside the chapel. It had followed the active mana as far as the entrance, then lost the trail when Chloe shut the light down. A wet sniff sounded beyond the barricade. Will glanced toward Thomas.

"It's at the door," Thomas said. Marcus pointed left. Will shifted to brace the cabinet at an angle. Marcus took the right side, holding the broken display rail across his body. Thomas drew the spearhead from his pocket and summoned the echo. Gold spread along the old iron. The shaft formed in his hands and lit the entrance brighter than the fading core. The creature outside growled. For a moment Thomas was back on the visitor centre floor, holding those jaws away from his face. Something struck the lower cabinet.

The furniture shifted inward and stopped against Will's timber. A woman near the wall cried out. Amy jerked awake. Eleanor caught her eye, pointed at Daniel's leg, and helped her move it clear of the aisle. Another impact drove the cabinet back an inch. Will leaned into the support. His boots slipped over the stone before catching. Smoke seeped through the gap beneath the cabinet. A narrow muzzle followed, jaws scraping against the floor as the creature tried to force its head inside.

Will kicked before he could pull his foot back. The jaw snapped shut near his boot. Its head twisted sideways, and one foreleg slipped through beside it. The creature resembled the barghests Thomas had fought earlier, though its body lacked their weight. Black vapour drifted between visible ribs. Its shoulders narrowed and widened as the smoke struggled to keep a stable shape. Thomas drove the spear down behind its foreleg. The old iron passed through vapour and struck something firmer beneath it.

The creature jerked against the shaft, screaming into the stone floor. Its claws raked at Will's boot.

"Light," Thomas called. Chloe looked toward Marcus.

"Turn it on." She pushed the slide inward. Blue-black light filled the chapel and washed over the creature. Its vaporous body contracted. Grey flesh showed through the smoke along its ribs and throat. Thomas shifted the spearpoint and thrust again. The old iron entered the exposed shadowy flesh. The creature came apart beneath the barricade. Smoke poured backwards into the corridor and left a small black shard on the floor inside the chapel. Its faint pulse lasted a few seconds before going dark.

Another creature slammed against the cabinet. Will grunted and drove his shoulder into the timber. Marcus thrust the display rail through the gap, caught something outside, and pulled back before claws could close around it. Thomas angled his spear toward the right side of the barricade. A second head squeezed between the cabinet and the wall, teeth snapping around the rail. Marcus pushed its jaw upward.

"Now." Thomas thrust through the exposed throat. Gold flared through the creature's skull. The head collapsed, and the smoke outside scattered along the floor.

"Slide out," Marcus said. Chloe shut down the prototype. Her hand stayed close to the frame while she checked the heat.

"Two minutes before the next activation. The bracket is cooling faster now. Like the item is adapting to its use." The screwdriver rattled against the ceramic. Chloe set it down before it slipped. Priya pointed at Will's boot.

"Did anything get through?" He turned his foot, inspecting the torn leather.

"Don't think so."

"Check your sock when you can." Marcus listened at the barricade. Scraping continued outside, moving away and returning as the creatures searched for the vanished signal.

"We hold the gap until Chloe is ready." The next several hours ran together. Some activations brought nothing close enough to hear. Others brought claws scraping along the corridor. They let the housing cool, listened, and fought when something reached the barricade. Chloe adjusted the slide by smaller amounts and began shutting it down as soon as Thomas felt the leading pressure reach the chapel route. Marcus and Will reinforced the lowest gap with another chair and strips of cloth.

Thomas dismissed the spear between attacks to ease the ache beneath his sternum. During quieter cooling periods he dozed against a folded jacket, waking whenever Chloe's tools clinked. Margaret brought water forward after each fight. She had Gareth pass it because he could reach Will without crossing the open floor. When the cloth around the timber slipped, she found another strip before Marcus finished asking for it. Eleanor moved through the chapel whenever people became restless.

She reassigned two men who kept drifting toward the entrance and sat with a boy whose breathing became ragged every time the creatures screamed. She spoke with him until his breathing slowed, then returned to the supplies when someone knocked over a bottle of water. Priya cleaned a cut across Marcus's hand while he continued watching the door. Amy treated Will's bruised shoulder after the fifth impact and then fell asleep again with someone else's blood drying on her sleeve.

Thomas used the maintenance log whenever the corridor quieted. Core-light reaches lower route in approximately twenty seconds. Creatures slow when output ends. They continue following residual mana. Blue-black light disrupts their unstable body structure. He crossed out "unstable" after looking at the next creature and wrote "incomplete" above it. Chloe read the notes while the prototype cooled.

"The pulse is reaching them faster each time."

"They're closer."

"Yes, but it's getting through the stone faster too." She checked the bracket and wiped sweat from her forehead with her wrist.

"The slide is beginning to drag. I can keep using it, but if the ceramic shifts, the shutoff could take longer."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know. A second. Three. It depends on where it catches." Thomas looked toward the barricade.

"Tell Marcus."

"I am telling you because he is holding a chair against a monster." Marcus had heard anyway.

"Next quiet period, we replace the spacer." Chloe looked at the parts spread beside her.

"I can't grip it properly with this hand." Priya crossed the room and crouched beside her.

"Then let me hold it. Show me where." Chloe passed her the pliers.

"Here. Keep it steady." Priya closed the jaws around the bracket and waited for Chloe's nod. They replaced the ceramic while the light remained off. Thomas kept one hand on the wall and reported each movement he could distinguish. Marcus stood over Chloe with the rail ready, and Will held the cabinet in place. The closest creature reached the outer corridor as Chloe tightened the last fitting.

"Done," she said.

"I think." Marcus did not ask for more certainty.

"Activate." By the time the sky outside the narrow chapel window began to pale, Thomas had stopped trying to guess how many remnants remained in the lower castle. They had killed seven. More still moved beyond his range whenever the prototype came on. The next presence carried enough weight that he noticed it before Chloe activated the lamp. Thomas straightened from the wall.

"There's a larger one coming." Marcus looked at him.

"How far?"

"Close. It followed the residue from the last cycle." Chloe's hand hovered over the slide.

"Do I turn it on now?"

"Wait," Thomas said. Marcus glanced at him but let the decision stand. Thomas followed the pressure through the stone. The creature approached the chapel in slow, deliberate movements. Its body held more mana than the others, and the pattern inside it matched the original barghests more closely.

"Will, lower the timber," Thomas said.

"It's going to hit near the floor." Will shifted the brace down. Marcus moved to the other side of the cabinet.

"Chloe, give us the light when it reaches the door. Keep it low if you can."

"The slide doesn't have settings. It has guesses."

"Use the smaller guess." She adjusted her grip. The creature struck. The lower chair broke, and the cabinet lurched inward. Will caught it with the timber before the gap opened fully. Black smoke pushed through near his boots.

"Now," Thomas said. Chloe activated the core-light. A long head drove through the gap. The creature's shoulders jammed behind the cabinet while its claws tore at the chair remains. Blue-black light stripped smoke from its muzzle, exposing grey muscle and teeth. Thomas thrust at the eye. The creature jerked aside, and the spearpoint scored across its face. Marcus drove the display rail down across one foreleg.

"Hold it there!"

"I'm trying," Will said. The cabinet slid another inch. Margaret had come forward with the water. She dropped it and shouted, "Will, I'm behind you. Hold the damned thing." Will's head turned enough to find her voice. His boots stopped sliding. The pressure around him changed. Thomas felt Homestead Defender settle through Will's stance and into the barricade he held. The cabinet shook under the creature's weight, but it stayed in place. Thomas stepped closer.

"Marcus, push the head right." Marcus shifted the rail and drove the creature's jaw against the cabinet edge.

"Chloe, more light."

"I'm already near the safe limit."

"Five seconds." She pushed the slide farther. The prototype's hum climbed. Blue-black light brightened across the floor, and smoke peeled away from the creature's throat. Thomas drove the spear into the opening beneath its jaw. The point struck bone, glanced, then caught behind it. He adjusted his grip and pushed with his shoulder behind the shaft. The creature snapped at the golden wood. Its teeth passed through the outer glow and closed around the firmer echo beneath.

Pain pulled through Thomas's arms and into his chest as the spear strained. He held the shape together. The iron spearhead had been built for this movement: force gathered through a shaft, narrowed into a point, carried past reach and teeth. Thomas kept that structure in mind and shoved again. The point broke through. Gold spread through the creature's skull. Its claws scraped once across the floor, then the body collapsed backwards. Smoke filled the gap and poured into the corridor.

"Off," Chloe said. Her voice cracked on the word. She dragged the slide out with both hands. The light dropped. Smoke rose from the rubber around the handle. Priya was already moving toward her. Marcus kept the display rail aimed through the gap. Will remained braced against the cabinet, breathing hard. Margaret touched the back of his shirt and said something Thomas could not hear. No more creatures came. They waited through the rest of the cooling period.

Chloe refused to activate the prototype again until she replaced the scorched rubber, and Marcus agreed. The light from the chapel window grew stronger as they listened to the lower corridors. The System appeared when the first strip of daylight reached the prototype. ┌────────────────────────────┐ Event Quest Complete: Hold the Light Primary Objective Complete.

Personal Contribution Recognised: Mana monitoring, Threat detection, Refuge defence coordination Attribute Increased: Presence +1 Chance to awaken refuge-related skills increased. └────────────────────────────┘ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ You have reached Level 6. Your assigned attributes have been increased. You have gained five unassigned attribute points. └──────────────────────────────┘ Warmth spread through Thomas's chest and settled behind his ribs.

His knees weakened once the sensation passed, and he sat on the floor before they could give out completely.

"It wouldn't move," Chloe murmured as Priya unwrapped her hand.

"I know. Let me see," Priya said. Marcus and Will pulled the broken chair away from the barricade. Margaret found the cup she had dropped and checked how much water remained. Thomas dragged the maintenance log closer and wrote across the next clean page. Seven smaller creatures destroyed. One larger. Core-light cycling held through dawn. Replace lower barricade before nightfall. The prototype needs a new handle, more insulation, and longer cooling time after combat output.

His pencil caught on the paper after the last word and tore a small hole through the page. Thomas stared at it for a moment, put the pencil down, and leaned back against the chapel wall.