The sky was an unearthly green. The familiar blue was faded and blurred behind it. The summer breeze was no longer a welcome cool, instead now a heavy humid draft of blistering heat. The light was dull here, filtering through a murky haze. The whole world was silent, not a single whisper. Although the air was weighed down, fallen leaves floated a foot above the ground. They barely swirled in the breeze, as if drugged. Birds frozen in mid-flight hung in the air, completely still, never falling. The walked past a herd of deer; frozen in time and gazing out with glazed eyes. 

 They kept silent, afraid that a single word will wake this muted world; forth bearing chaos. Even Sidney felt his unspoken fear, her skin slick with sweat and pale. Humans could enter Intervals unharmed, but other races couldn’t if they did they would be frozen in time. Since she was a half-elf, with feverish symptoms she could enter. 

 After a time of walking, Sean stopped everyone. The gnarled oaks cradled a large empty space between them. There twined branches, forming a natural ceiling, which let very few threads of light enter. 

 “This’ll be a good spot to build the trap.” Muttered Sean, as he pulled out a different set of Elsh rune stones, Praeva stones. He set them up at the base of the trees in the area.  Sean closed his eyes and muttered an incantation in Elleve, the language of the Elves of Elsh. “Praeva dev wesc Rivv.” ‘Protection from the harms of the Rift.’  In response, the stones flashed a bright silver, before dimming to a pulsating glow. No Rift Creature could pass the barrier. They were safe, so long they remained within. 

 They spent the rest of the day and the next, digging. They used their rune enchanted swords to cut through tree roots. They ate some of their rations, made no fire, barely spoke, and slept within the barrier. When all was said and done, they had dug a pit roughly six feet deep, four feet wide, and five feet long. They set up the spikes so that they were protruding out of the ground, they’re tips gleaming in the light like the fangs to a twisted grin. They set up a rope above the pit so that one could swing across if needed. 

 It would be misleading to say that Sidney was excited to play her part, as the bait. But like all the times before she was excited to prove herself to Sean, though mostly Jack. He was the closest thing she had to a caring sibling. 

 Her job was simple: Fight her nausea, take an Elsh Runestone of Guiin, use it to locate the Demora, lead it to the trap, where Jack and Sean, with the barrier down, will be lying in wait to kill it. That was it. They did everything else. 

 She stretched and paced, warming up her muscles. She pranced over to Jack, who was checking his crossbow. 

 “Heyo, Big Bro.” Jack glared, then sighed. His expression softened slightly. “Good luck.”

 “You too. Don’t get caught. Don’t call me that again.” With the last sentence, his voice raised slightly.

 “Okay, lover boy.” Smirked Sidney. Jack rolled his eyes and pulled his hood over. Jack muttered angrily in annoyance, while some unwanted thoughts and queries ran rampant in his mind. “See you later… big bro.”

 Sidney bid Sean a ‘good luck’ and ‘see you soon’ before jogging off.  

~

Waiting was a curse. Especially when your nerves only wanted to jump at every sound and flee from bundled up pressure. But the only sound was you and your companions breathing. Jack hated these waiting hours the most.    

 He sat hunched in the bushes near the covered pit trap, with a loaded crossbow in his lap, and spear at his side. A few feet away sat Sean, who also had a spear and crossbow. 

 Jack looked down in the grass. A cricket was frozen mid-leap. A running lizard behind it, frozen midstep. The lizard’s mouth was open wide, exposing rows of tiny teeth, its pink tongue coiled upon itself. Life is frozen. Everything just stopped. 

 “You think Sidney is okay?” whisper-shouted Jack. Sean glanced at his apprentice and rubbed his stubble. 

 “Yeah, she’s fast. Her name should be fleetfoot, not Sidney.”

 “I mean it shouldn’t take her this long to find the Nameless. She’s half elf, Rift Creatures are drawn to elven scents.”

 “Yeah… not so much humans, cause our species originated from Rift magic… Elven blood must smell like an irresistible treat.”

 “You are not helping.” Hissed Jack. Sean just shrugged and they went back to silence. 

 Then after several taunt minutes of silence, the stifling silence broke. 

 There was a roar in the distance. It wasn’t the roar of a great cat or bear. It was the chalky reverberating sound of a dry roar. As if it was caught in the back of the throat of the animal, as it screamed its lungs out in untempered rage.  

 There were crashes through the underbrush. Sidney burst into the clearing. Her hair streaming behind her. Her body slick with sweat, controlled panic was written on her face. Her green eyes were wide with determination and fear. Her arms and legs pumping back and forth, running for her life. 

 The Demora was behind her. 

 It was a monster. The terror of life. The creature that will strike fear into the monster that comes in the night, to steal your skin, eat your bones, drink your blood, and devour your soul. But not because it was holy, but because it was the spawn of death itself. 

 The Démora was the size of a small horse. It had the build of a greyhound. Its skin was pale and chalky; stretched over taunt sinewy muscle and sharp jutting bones. Its legs were long and overly lanky. Each paw had four extensive finger-like claws, that tore into the ground with each step; slowing it down. The hornless head was all sharp angles, and a powerful bone-crushing jaw, crammed with protruding yellow teeth. Two large murky white eyes were studded, like gems, beneath its brow. A long spiky whiplike tail, easily measuring five feet, lashed out behind it. 

 Sidney leaped. Her hand flew out before her as she grabbed the rope and swung across. She landed on the other side, running. 

 The Nameless tried to follow. SNAP!

The Monster fell in. 

Another chalky roar rippled through the air. Sean leaped to the side of the pit and at the writhing creature, he thrust his spear in. Jack followed suit. 

 The wooden spikes impaled through the Demora’s side, and soft underbelly. Steaming and bubbling around the wood, red blood gushed from the wounds. Its tail whipped about wildly; beating the sides of the pit. Tearing and scratching at the dirt walls. 

 Sidney panted as she stood at the edge of the pit and watched. 

 A weird cracking sound filled the air. 

 “Jack! Crossbow!” Shouted Sean, as he stabbed the monster. “Dang it!” Sean’s spear snapped. The Demora’s blood had eaten through the shaft. The spearhead lay uselessly in the pit at the monster’s feet. 

 Jack grabbed his crossbow. He lifted it, aimed, and paused. The wooden stakes broke, the odor of burning blood and acid choked away the air. Jack released the trigger. 

The rune inscribed bolt missed. 

The beast thrashed and thrashed. It’s boiling blood filled the bottom of the pit, making the air sting, and creating a hissing muddy soup. The wooden stakes were being eaten away. The Demora freed itself from the impalings through the ribs and gut. Boiling blood spewing from the fatal wounds. And Jack found himself looking in the monster’s eyes. 

 Jack couldn't move. Cold sensations made his skin prickle, and with icy clogging his lungs couldnt expand to take in breath. Like a red hot poker bearing into his chest, his heart came to a sludging halt. He was both freezing, burning, and dying as he was held paralyzed beneath the monster’s gaze. 

  The Demora’s haunches folded in upon themselves, like that of a cat before it pounced. Jack saw the way the creature’s soulless eyes drifted. And he was released from the deadly paralyisis. Before time acted, he knew what was going to happen. But he couldn’t scream a warning.