Organ music filled the sanctuary, while sunlight brought it to life. Frederick stood at a pew with Amara and the kids. His blue button-up polo matched her knee-high dress. Although the church didn’t have a strict dress code, he liked wearing nice clothes for worship, and he and Amara taught their kids to do the same.

Pastor Isaac stepped up to the podium. “Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the St. Luke Community Church. We're glad you all chose to spend your Sunday mornings with us.”

The worship music continued. Frederick listened while soaking in the familiar environment. After converting, he went to church as many Sundays as he could. They provided a break from daily stress and a chance to reconnect with his faith.

Given the chaotic and dangerous past week, he needed it.

Then, the meet and greet session began. Frederick chatted with people nearby while shaking hands. Normally, he left his row to connect with newer visitors, but he stayed to watch the kids while Amara caught up with her friends. Once Caleb and Debby got older, they could wander around and mingle. In the meantime, Frederick and Amara traded who watched over them.

As Frederick shook hands with a visiting middle-aged man and his wife, a chill ran down his spine, and his neck hair rose.

He froze and whipped his head around. From the couple’s stares, they hadn’t detected anything unusual. Everyone else conversed with no signs of apprehension.

Frederick brushed off his unusual reaction with a smile and saying that he remembered something he needed to tell his wife. Although the couple bought his excuse, the bizarre change stuck with Frederick as he sat and waited for the service to continue.

“Hey, honey,” Amara whispered. “Is everything okay? Your hand is shaking.”

Frederick grabbed his knee. “I’m fine. It’s probably the coffee. They put out an extra strong variety this time.”

Despite frowning, she nodded and faced forward.

Frederick did the same and listened to Pastor Isaac sharing the latest church news. As an added measure, he grabbed the notepad in front of him and jotted down the dates of upcoming events. The simple task locked him into the present, and he forgot about the strangeness of the past week until another chill traveled down his spine with greater intensity.

“What’s wrong?” Amara whispered.

He wanted to insist everything was fine, but even he knew his lie wouldn’t have convinced a casual acquaintance, much less his wife. Fortunately, he spotted the people in the front pew passing the donation bucket around. He gestured for Amara to track it and pretended to check his wallet. By the time she turned back, he’d come up with a cover story.

“Shoot. I forgot to grab cash,” Frederick said. “Sorry, honey. I’ll get some from the car.”

“You don’t have to.” Amara grabbed her purse. “I’ll cover us this time.”

A jolt traveled through him, and he doubled down. “You don’t have to. You already covered the donation last week. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Eventually, she said, “Don’t take too long.”

Her words stuck with Frederick as he headed outside. Rows of cars filled the parking lot, but nobody lingered. He climbed into his car, but instead of grabbing the emergency cash hidden in the glove compartment, he closed his eyes. As a familiar warmth formed behind his eyelids, an aerial image of the church property filled his mind. Although he didn’t see any activity in the vicinity, that didn’t mean nothing was going on.

Countless aural trails weaved through and around the parking lot. From how they resembled faint glowing threads of varying colors, they represented where people walked to and from church. When he didn’t find anything that would set off his sense of danger, Frederick reached further to the field behind the church. He didn’t visit that side of the property that often, but he recognized the knee-high grass, pond, and treeline on the horizon.

Distant movement caught his attention, and when he located the source, he gasped. Birds and small animals flitted between the trees.

Most of them looked normal, but a few gave off unusual energy trails that stood out even from far away. A large bird flying above the canopies left billowing light plumes in its wake that drifted with the breeze. Meanwhile, a rabbit on the ground was picking up traces of the other wildlife’s trails and merging it with its own, making its aura shine with many different colors. 

When Frederick opened his eyes and looked toward the woods, he couldn’t even see the trees with the church in the way. The rational part of him questioned how much of this was real, but past experience suggested he wasn’t making these visions up.

Unfortunately, though these fantastic creatures intrigued Frederick, none of them explained the sheer amount of dread he felt earlier. As such, he closed his eyes and searched the vicinity again.

Frigid air encased him. While unsettling on its own, the effect unnerved Frederick even more since he sat in his warm car, which had baked in the summer sun for thirty minutes.

Any doubts as to where it came from disappeared when he did one last scan of the area and spotted the black splotches surrounding the pond. His stomach churned as memories from two nights ago returned. Although the monster encounter could’ve ended worse, it still reminded Frederick of how dangerous the astral realm could be.

Then, he remembered how quickly the monster trails that night had faded. With their dark and viscous qualities standing out in the green forest, the explanation hit Frederick.

Someone left them recently, meaning more shadowy beasts prowled the area.

Five pairs of glowing eyes within the tallgrass confirmed his suspicions.

They emerged from the grass and stood in a line at the pond's edge. One monster paced the lake's perimeter, fading in and out of view. The rest split into pairs. The first headed into the woods, their noses to the ground and their hackles raised.

Before long, various screams filled the once peaceful forest. Instead of hearing them like normal, they echoed through Frederick’s mind and made him shudder. The various energy trails emitting from the fantastic creatures disappeared, and the surrounding sunlight dimmed. Even without seeing any remains, Frederick could predict their final fates.

In contrast, the other two shadow beasts stayed in place and glanced around. Their lack of aim gave the impression that they didn’t know why they’d traveled to this spot, which would’ve relieved Frederick if not for the question of why they came here of all places.

Despite his growing discomfort, he tried to reason with himself that what he’d witnessed didn’t differ from what he’d watched on the nature channel. Sure, it got ugly sometimes, but that was how nature worked.

Their heads snapped to the side, and they began stalking toward the church, which overflowed with various aural energies.

Frederick’s heart stopped. Then, his fists clenched, and he raced out of his car toward the back lawn. Lian Hai’s remarks about how these shadow beasts targeted more powerful entities replayed in his mind, but they disappeared when he recalled the small critters they had hunted. Failing that, he recalled her insistence on how she didn’t know everything, and that could include the these monsters' behaviors.

Plus, he didn’t want to leave it up to chance that they wouldn’t harm anyone.

Frederick rounded the corner and scanned the lawn. As expected, he didn’t see anyone, but chilly dread filled him when he stared at certain patches of grass. He was about to charge over but refrained. 

First, he didn’t know if he could conjure enough power to injure these monsters, much less kill them. His attempt to use them to fight the Cloaked Figure last night had failed. Second, if stronger power lured these monsters in, a fight could attract the other three monsters, and he didn’t want to face that many at once. 

Despite his qualms at a head-on confrontation, he hated the thought of pretending they didn’t exist. He could go inside and warn everyone to leave, but he feared that they wouldn’t believe him, or everyone leaving at once would just attract more attention. Pressure formed behind his eyes, and he rubbed his forehead while racking his brain for more solutions.

How could he get the monsters to leave the church of their own accord?

Various memories of Lian Hai and the Cloaked Figure flashed across his mind’s eye. A plan followed soon after.

Taking a deep breath, Frederick stilled his racing heart and mind as best as he could. A glance at himself through his spectral vision showed that his aura had shrunk to near invisible levels.

Meanwhile, the church shined bright with various color energy trails. Despite their brightness, they all stayed limited on one layer. The shadowy beasts stalked closer to the building, phasing in and out of reality as they went, and would continue to do so as long as the church posed the biggest distraction. 

Frederick crouched in the grass so it concealed him. With his eyes still closed, he focused inside for signs of familiar warmth.

His still racing heart and heaving lungs covered up most sensations, but eventually, a faint trickle of energy began to form. The chill from earlier returned as well, but he ignored it and honed in on the sensation, imagining the power welling up inside. A second glance at himself showed his aura was swelling around him. Unlike the energy from the church, it didn’t stay in just one layer.

Finally, he imagined his power exploding in a quick flash.

In his spectral vision, the area around him illuminated in searing blue light. It disappeared a second later, but the spectacle had caused the beasts to turn away from the church and prowl the nearby grass. Frederick’s triumph at luring them away vanished when he remembered that they now hunted him. He dropped to his stomach, army crawled toward the pond, and focused on suppressing his aura as much as he could.

Stay calm and focused. The thought repeated in his head like a mantra. They’re depending on you.

Occasionally, he stopped to monitor where the shadow beasts were. They raced among the tallgrass, teleporting between the physical and astral plane every so often, and alternated between watching the church and hunting him.

Tracking their movements, Frederick noticed that they had a second or two of disorientation when switching layers or tasks. Using this knowledge, he timed his aural bursts for when they did either, knowing this would distract them without giving away his location.

After a long and strenuous crawl, Frederick reached the closer edge of the lake. The lone shadow beast no longer patrolled the perimeter, and he saw why when he spotted the carcasses of natural and fantastic creatures piled on the other end. A few of them twitched, and Frederick’s stomach clenched at the thought that some were not quite dead.

He clamped down on his emotions and focused. Getting upset would lead to his aura flaring out of control, which would kill him and endanger everyone else. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how much he could help the half-dead creatures, but he could at least avenge their deaths. With one hand raised, he imagined the multi-colored rabbit jumping up.

It didn’t move for several seconds. Then, its leg twitched, and its body dragged along the ground in sporadic jerks.

This accomplishment, though miniscule, filled Frederick with pride. Said pride disappeared when burning pain filled his hand. Grimacing, he grabbed his wrist and focused on dragging the rabbit to the lake. If the shadowy beasts had traveled all this way to kill it, it must’ve held value.

His assessment turned out accurate, for when the three shadowy beasts saw their prey apparently escaping, they sprinted toward it at full speed.

Frederick tried to move the rabbit corpse faster, not wanting them to see his ruse. He dragged it to the edge of the lake, but the monsters were gaining, and the excruciating pain in his hand shut down his hopes of getting any more power. As a last-ditch effort, he lifted the rabbit corpse off the ground.

The first shadow beast ground to a half in front of it. The two behind were halfway through switching back to the physical plane and didn’t see their ally. As such, they barreled straight into it, sending all three into the lake. When they didn’t emerge, Frederick collapsed with a sigh. Three down. Two more to go.

A deep growl rumbled behind him. 

Frederick whipped around in time to see the first monster lunging. He rolled to the side, and it flew past him into the lake. Unfortunately, stinging white-hot pain on the side of his face indicated that it had landed a hit. From how the second monster eyed him but didn’t approach, it showed it wouldn’t fall prey to his usual trick.

Frederick tried to summon more power, but his hands burned without any energy to show for. He didn’t brings weapons, and his one ally was nowhere to be found. As a last resort, he stood with his back to the lake and his fists raised, prepared to fight for his life.

“Frederick!”