#catchlight

It took alot to call Adam Walker and his cadre hunting buddies back into town from hunting Alghouls, Redcaps, and other scourges out in the hinterlands, but a black ocean and people sprouting with eyeballs all over their bodies definitely qualified. One of the sacred duties of Hunters was to ensure that the supernatural world’s secrecy was maintained. The status quo between humanity and the paranormal was a fragile balance, one Adam often had to enforce using copious amounts of Nepenthe-filled syringes. 

But sometimes the balance just absolutely shat itself and imploded. Containment was a lost cause and it just came down to finding some way to make the madness stop. 

Adam had inquired with older Hunters and hit up various contacts in the grimier side in White Crest’s paranormal world. Bribes, promises, threats, and tacit agreements had thus far yielded very little to go on. Antedilvuian myths and mummerings about the Troubles come again were interesting, but not exactly helpful in the “how does it fucking stop” deparment. 

So it was that Adam had followed this trail of breadcrumbs out in the Outskirts where witnesses reported a beacon of unearthly light that was only visible when your eyes were closed. The shadows of late evening were deepening in the forest as Adam made his way through towards the beacon, M4 carbine slung over his shoulder and pausing at various points to close his eyes and reorient on the pillar of light. 

-

The eyeball was still in Winston’s hand and they were still very far from thrilled about that fact. It was the visions, they had gone from just monsters to everything else and Winston had found themselves drawn to the Outskirts of the town. The plan wasn’t a great one. They’d pulled on a jacket and shoes and grabbed their phone before heading out into the night. They just knew that they had to be there and as they drove they found themselves following a pillar of light that they could see with their third eye but nothing else. Winston parked a little way of and began their trek towards the light once there was no more road to follow. They were making their way there when they spotted a figure with what looked like an assault rifle on his shoulder. Doing their best to act natural, Winston held their hand behind their back so that Adam wouldn’t spot the eye and gave them a weak smile. “Nice night for a … walk … right?” 

-

Adam had been raised with a singular raison d'etre for his life, the protection of humanity. Thus when he crossed path with a human being dangerously close to the epicenter of some paranormal phenomena, the Hunter’s features creased in concern. His chestnut eyes scanned the horizon back from whence they’d both come, taking in the waning crepuscular rays of evening as they dimmed to frail strands peeking through the forest canopy. 

It’d be a setback to have to turn back so close to the objective, but Adam couldn’t in good conscience let a civilian draw so close to supernatural danger. If that meant this night was a bust and he drove this person home, so be it. “Afraid that's a no go my dude,” Adam said. “It's pretty dangerous out here at the moment, there’s been an accident up ahead,” said the young man whose kevlar tactical jacket and fatigues were an odd uniform for a ‘civil servant.’ “You should head back into town” 

-

Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston flashed Adam a quick smile and looked them over. “Listen, you’re clearly not WCPD because I know literally everyone that works there from the janitor to the captain,” working there helped with that, “I don’t see a badge or an identification being displayed so it’s a pretty good chance that you’re not any other sort of agency.” Winston took a deep breath, doing their best to pretend that they were authoritative in this situation and not completely terrified of the assault rifle that could riddle them with bloody holes. “I need to get over to the ‘accident’ up ahead, because there’s important information that I really need. I don’t want to argue or whatever and you’re more then welcome to come, but I’m … I’m going okay?” Winston tried to sound tough, they doubted they did. 

-

Adam stood on the rugged forest path, sizing his interlocutor up for a time. It was clear they were determined to go through with this and while the Hunter’s mutant strength made manhandling them back into town possible, it’d likely be a pointless effort that was more trouble than it was worth. Guess that meant accompanying this person into the anomaly and trying to make sure they made it back out intact. 

Definitely wasn’t Adam’s favorite arrangement, but with ancient demonic forces on the rise there wasn’t really the luxury of time. 

He nodded assent and offered a hand to the stranger. “Name’s Adam, and no, I’m not anyone with any cred,” he admitted with a chuckle. The young man started the trek towards the invisible luminosity, evidently having accepted that company just going to be a thing. “Who’re you?” 

-

“Winston, Dane.” Winston replied, “Cool to meet you I guess, Adam right?” Winston looked them up and down. Muscular. Armed too. Which was good if this guy was going to join Winston in their little trek which by the looks of things they seemed determined to do. They looked at their path and began down it, slowly and carefully. The strange light that you could only see when you closed your eyes might have been helpful, but it was still completely dark otherwise and Winston did not need to twist their ankle at a time like this. “I’m out here doing research,” Winston explained quickly, “obviously you’ve noticed all of the weird stuff that is going on around town. You know, you’d have to be living under a rock to miss it. But then again some people aren’t the most observant, I guess that because you’re here you’ve come for a similar reason?” 

-

Adam nodded acknowledgement, not seeing purpose for further obfuscation when it was clear Winston knew what was going on. He had no idea what the unseen light truly entailed, but keeping Winston in the dark on details seemed counterproductive if they were going to help each other. “I’m trying to find the connection between the increases in paranormal phenomena and a disease some of the locals have come down with that causes eye-looking tumors on the skin.” The Hunter noticed his non-mutant companion was struggling in the dimming twilight. Adam reached back into his pack and rummaging around before pulling out a rescue flashlight from amongst the more deadly equipment therein. Offering it to Winston, Adam forged ahead over roots and gullies that dipped into dense brush. 

“I’ve been tracking leads to see if there is some way to cure them and purify the water in the harbor. Since witnesses report that the light thing in these woods flares up whenever the sun goes dark, I want to check it out and compare notes with friends that are looking into other stuff around town.” 

-

Accepting the flashlight, Winston flashed Adam a grateful smile. “Oh don’t worry,” Winston replied with a laugh, “I am not convinced that they are just eye looking tumors and not just eyes.” Winston had an eye on their hand and although the way that they had received it had been very different, Winston however wasn’t about to admit to having  a weird-eye-hand. “Friends that are looking into other stuff around town? Have you started a supernatural-super-friends group?” Winston wanted to join honestly. If there were people trying to fix this so that Winston didn’t have to fly by the seat of their pants all of the time then that would truly be ideal. “I suspect that they’re all tied into the giant squid demon that is currently sat at the bottom of the lake, or the cult that appears to worship it … either way, investigate the strange light that flares up when the sun goes down?” Winston smirked, “I can help with that for sure.”

-

Adam turned back to give Wintson a long look, crooking a sandy eyebrow as his companion revealed that he knew more then the Hunter ever anticipated. “Born into it technically,” Adam admitted. “But it’s widened over these past few months as more and more people get sucked into the paranormal craziness. I’d prefer more secrecy about the demonic incursion...alot more secrecy,” the Hunter continued with a sigh that suggested perhaps the rather swashbuckling approach Blanche and others in the Scooby Gang took with supernatural secrecy did not sit well with Adam sometimes. “But supernatural awareness is always higher in an area with thin dimensional barriers like this. Doesn’t help that we may be having a repeat of Dead Sunday, in which case we’re totally fucked together regardless. So, y’know YOLO.”  

On that cheery note Adam led their party of two to a wooded hill covered in gnarled trees whose branches curled like grasping claws around large quartz boulders. Closing his eyes, Adam reoriented on the Unseen Light’s last vantage point. “Happy to have you along Winston...honestly any help is appreciated when the stakes are this high,” he said with a warm smile before turning back to blindly regard the small valley their vantage point overlooked. “Not to pry, but got any skills I should know about for the investigation? Also, are you comfortable with a weapon? I’ve got some sidearms if you are.” The hunter nodded to the incline that descended into a far densely wooded section. “I’m asking now because once we go down and close in on the anomaly. Weird shit will probably start to happen.” 

“It’s my duty to protect you,” the Hunter said without bothering to explain why. “But it’ll be easier if I know what you’re capable of and all that” 

-

“Born into it?” Winston replied with a raised eyebrow. They weren’t sure if Adam was implying what they thought he was, but that sounded like he definitely wasn’t entirely human. Which made Winston wonder what he could be. He didn’t seem like fae and he looked too tanned to be a vampire, but that didn’t really help Winston with anything. There was still so much more to learn. “I think that everyone in town would prefer more secrecy, mostly because those that are ignorant of the existence of the supernatural aren’t exactly the type to take it well if it were forcefully revealed to them.” Winston wasn’t worried about word about the supernatural getting out, everyone was clearly so oblivious to it that even if there was a giant demon swinging a flag saying that the supernatural was real people would still think that it was just cosplay. “Yeah, defo, yolo is really the response I want to something called … Dead sunday?” Winston wasn’t sure that they wanted to know. 

Winston stuck their hands in their pocket as they walked. They’d brought a few prototypes that they had been working on. Magical grenades that did different things, the spider bot and a few other very early prototypes. “I don’t want a gun,” Winston replied immediately, “I don’t … no guns. I’ve got …” Winston wasn’t sure that they wanted to really explain everything to Adam, although the longer this went on the more sure that Winston was that Adam was a Hunter. “I’ve got my own stuff that I can use to look out for us and I’ve got … other things that I can do if the worst comes to the worst.”

-

“My family have been paranormal investigators for a while,” Adam replied, technically telling the truth in a manner of speaking. “Dead Sunday was a colonial shitstorm alot like this,” was Adam’s attempt to summarize a rather complicated event whose aftermath had established both the Silver Bullet and the Hunter presence in White Crest. “Humanity lost...hard.” 

Winston’s assessment of his combat capacity as literally “stuff” and “things,” was hardly reassuring from a tactical point of view. 

“Alright man, watch your step,” Adam said as he began descending down into the wooded valley of Unseen Light, feet displacing rocks and soil as he eased his way along the trailess side of the incline. 

-

Raising an eyebrow thoughtfully in response to Adam’s reply, Winston wished that they could make the same claim. “Well, I’ll let you take the lead since you’re so much more experienced apparently,” Winston was being sincere. They were still really new to this and they were always happy to follow someone else’s lead if it meant that it kept them alive. Winston followed after them closely, their third eye blinking in the light that only it could see. In fact, right now Winston was wondering if the third eye was entirely accurate, because they were pretty sure that there was a squid like creature who’s tentacles were going to smack into them. 

Winston flew backwards with a thud, their back cracking with a painful crunch as their shoulder collided with a root, but when they looked around there was nothing there. “What the hell?” 

-

“Sorry...look, I didn’t mean it like that, you asked…,” Adam began, misinterpreting Winston’s statement as salty sarcasm. However that particular line of miscommunication born of tension was rendered moot as Winston was abruptly knocked back by some unseen force, hitting one of the many thick roots that formed vein-like patterns across the forest floor with an audible crack that made Adam instinctively wince. In the instantaneous reflex born of training, Adam drew a Sig Sauer service pistol from its holster and closed the distance to Winston, scanning for any movement in the darkness while he offered a free-hand to help Winston up. 

Yet the forest was absolutely quiet. The Hunter’s enhanced senses couldn’t even hear any ambient animals noises in the brush. The local fauna knew something was wrong. 

There came a feeling of frigid heat down Adam’s spine, and eerie hot-cold feeling as his Hunter clairvoyance picked up the approach of a paranormal creature. The sensation grew to painful intensity throughout Adam’s body as the inhuman presence grew nearer and nearer. 

But there was still nothing, not even the crack of a twig. 

“I can sense something here,” Adam mummurred to his companion, not really caring about revealing his abilities with a threat so close. “It might be glamored, just a sec.” The Hunter retrieved a grey metallic sphere emblazoned with a severed celtic knot from his pack. There came a mechanical click as Adam flicked a trigger on the Dispellate and wound up into a baseball pitch that hurled the grenade towards where the unnatural presence emanated strongest. 

A low hiss of released vacuum sealant was followed by a faintly luminous silver smoke that billowed through the air. Tendrils of the Dispellate’s alchemical cocktail of anti-illusion vapors spread amongst the branches like an argent fog. But though Adam’s aim had hit the area of that strange presence dead-on, nothing materialized. 

“Well uh..shit,” Adam huffed with a frustrated but rueful chuckle. “You ok? I’m not sure wha...gah motherfu.” The Hunter’s rumination was out in an outburst of pained cursing as deep gashes cut straight through his tactical kevlar from thin air, the impact knocking Adam to his knees as blood blossomed down his side. 

-

Winston was really getting sick and tired of fighting things that they could so clearly tell were well out of their league. It wasn’t that they weren’t capable. But this thing could either materialise and disappear from thin air or it was stopping them from seeing it somehow. Wracking their brain, Winston tried to come up with a solution to their current predicament but with less luck then they would like. It occurred to them that having a third eye should’ve been helpful in this situation but they were more preoccupied by the blood. They remonstrated with themselves for not having learned healing magic more thoroughly before standing to their feet. “I think - what if this thing is like the light and we can only see it with our … other eyes.” Winston pulled the bandage from their hand and closed their eyes, a blurry and distorted vision of the dark clearing came into view and Winston was distressed to see a truly eldritch horror in place. “Close your eyes,” Winston said, summoning magic, this was going to be a fight and they really weren’t sure that they would win. 

-

Doing as he was bidden, Adam closed his eyes. 

The Medusozoa creature was luminous and might’ve even been called angelic if the sunray-like spray of its tendrils were not bristling with stingers and barbs. It appeared as if several immense Lion’s Mane jellyfish had merged with one another, drifting on currents of light rather than water. The central mass of the numinous demon was a pulsating and translucent mesoglea within which shone orbs that seemed to be made of stella plasma or solidified light. They churned and writhed within the creature as if they were some kind of organs, an alien anatomy composed of celestial phenomena rather than flesh and blood. Its tendrils swayed and undulated like a thick field of white-golden vines that snaked around trees and stones. Each of tentacles seemed graceful and soft as gossamer, yet the surgical wounds bleeding down Adam’s side proved the thorn-like nematocysts bristling along those tendrils could slice through flesh and kevlar effortlessly. 

Adam opened his eyes again experimentally. Just as Winston had surmised, the grove in front of Adam was completely empty and dark, devoid of the immense predator and the surreal sourceless light.

“Good call…” But when Adam glanced to Winston, they seemed to be in the midst of concentration. A real combat situation only gave seconds to think, and it was clear that those tendrils were snaking back to take another lunge. Adam had no clue what Winston was doing, but it didn’t matter because they’d be impaled standing still like that. 

In the split second afforded to him, Adam decided he needed to draw the eldritch thing’s attention and either give Winston a chance to retreat or hopefully prove that the “stuff and things” they’d mentioned earlier wasn’t just empty bluster. 

With the alacrity of oft-repeated reflex, the Hunter closed his eyes and unshouldered the rifle. Sprinting away from Winston along the grove’s edge, Adam sent cracking bursts of gunfire towards the nearest shining tendrils. The whip-like recoil signaled that, even though it was unclear if any real damage had been done, Adam’d at least gotten the thing’s attention. Trying to fight back the growing pain in his side, Adam continued to engage in a guerrilla battle of firing short barrages before running like hell as lancing tendrils eviscerated the spot where he’d just been seconds ago. 

-

It was a giant jellyfish demon. Fuck. Winston had already been incredibly disappointed with the fact that their main enemy was a giant kraken thing or demon or whatever, calling it Squidward made it a little less terrifying to deal with but that didn’t mean that Winston liked this anymore. It’s luminous body seemed to radiate light when Winston looked at it through the eye in their hand and Winston kept their normal eyes closed. 

Adam seemed to be back up and moving and with the amount of blood that he had lost Winston was amazed that they were still going. But they weren’t about to let anything happen to their new friend if they could help it and as the creature shot tentacles in every direction, Winston summoned as much power as they possibly could and focussed on providing some kind of protective barrier. Between themselves and Adam and this thing. 

For a second, Winston held their breath, hoping and praying that this wasn’t one spell that they would inevitably mess up. 

The tentacles surged forward, invisible light flooding the clearing. Winston could see the luminous barbs and thorns pulsing towards them, getting closer with every second. Then they stopped, as if an invisible force was holding them in place. “Fucking shoot the thing,” Winston grunted as the tentacles drew back and slammed against Winston’s barriers. 

“Oh fuck,” Winston grunted with exertion as sweat began to pour down their face and a small trickle of blood pooled at the corner of their left nostril, “this things fucking strong.” 

-

In retrospect, as he looked at the myriad lanced tendrils poised above him many Swords of Damocles, Adam would note that Winston had just saved his life. Adam was superhuman yes, but not immortal. The bloodloss had been progressively slowed his reactions times down while the luminous demon’s unceasing barrage of piercing tendrils had been tearing apart the trees and stones just behind him. But sprinting and firing the rifle only made his wound bleed faster, There’d come a point where the numbness spreading up the young soldier’s side had caught up with him. Spines and shining stingers came down in a rain of blades from all directions. 

But just before Adam was torn to shreds by all these living plasma cutters, they all just...stopped. 

Adam’s sight darted from the horde of bright death stopped in midair, before opening his brown eyes to look over to Winston, who strained against some unseen burden as a rivulet of blood slid down their face. 

Was Winston a Spellcaster? Were they a Medium with crazy Jean Grey psychic powers? Adam really had no idea, and didn’t have time to spare the matter any thought. 

Adam used the precious seconds to retrieve one of the grenades he hadn’t had time to arm while running. He didn’t carry ordinances like these into town as the risk of civilian collateral was too high. But coming out here Adam hadn’t known what to expect, and like many Hunters, Adam reacted to unknown variables by scaling up the firepower. Unlike the harmless Dispellates he also carried, this particular explosive much resembled the standard issue M67 fragmentation grenade, though the United States Military would've looked askance at the bizarre materials and esoterica that comprised its payload. 

The Hunter wound up into a pitcher's throw that sent the grenade sailing towards the demon’s central bulbous mass. Cold iron shrapnel blossomed from an explosion silver fire, the gleaming metal glittering starkly against the creature’s bioluminescence. Adam moved with the alacrity of training and pretanatural reflexes, sending spheres of jagged death sailing towards the creature in a steady rhythm until he hadn’t any more left. For a few seconds the far side of the grove was a confusion of shredded gelatinous flesh, smoke, and a crisscrossing hail of sagittal cold iron. 

The following silence lasted until the tangled, hemorrhaging masses of luminous gelatin rose from where they’d lain lifeless on the ground like dandelion seeds taking to the air, each new being bulging as glimmering new celestial sphere-organs underwent cellular mitosis in their center. 

“Hey...uh, Winston, think we need to get the fuck outta Dodge.” 

-

Fuck. This thing was strong. Winston could feel the blood slowly trickling further and further down their face. It didn’t take long for it to reach the edge of their chin and drip slowly onto the leaves below their feet. The exertion that it required for Winston to hold this thing in place was staggering and they knew they wouldn’t be able to do it for long. 

Even now, as they struggled against its immense strength, Winston could feel their own failing. 

They were way more then out gunned here. It felt like they had brought a knife to a gun fight and Winston knew that at such a violent disadvantage there was very little they could do but eventually lose this fight. 

Fortunately Adam had brought grenades to the gun fight, and as the explosions rocked the ethereal creature that they’d encountered, Winston couldn’t help but recoil as they let their magic fade away and staggered slightly. 

Reaching up and wiping the blood from their chin, Winston blinked a few times somewhat obliviously. They could see Adam saying words, but it was taking them a little too long to translate those words from sounds to semantic meaning. 

“I agree!” they stammered as their feet finally remembered what they were meant to do and began backing away from this, they would have to find their answers somewhere else, “Let’s run. Running seems like a really fucking good idea.” 

-

Adam wasn’t capable of much magic beyond the alchemical processes for monster venom antidotes and warding sigils to hold off your average Ghostbusters bullshit, a combination of sketchy science and religious ritual that kind of went hand in hand with the Hunter gig. However he did know that sorcery on any scale always came with a price. 

Now, Adam wasn’t sure what the cosmic exchange rate for “Saving a dumbass from a giant invisible demon” currently was. But looking at the state Winston was in right now, Adam guessed he owed them way more than some beers and a “thanks bruh.”

He offered Winston a shoulder to throw their arm over to aid in walking if they cared to. Either way, Adam tried to forge ahead up the wooded hill they came down, trying to leave the valley of unseen light and its rejuvenating bloom of newborn Medusozoa demons behind. Unfortunately he had to keep his eyes open to actually see the precarious trail and its maze of stones and roots, during which time he couldn’t see what the invisible entities were up to. Between mounting injuries and having to close his eyes occasionally to keep track of the enemy, progress up the hilltop going at the agonizing pace of a dream, where you want to run, but are stuck in a slippery slow-motion. 

Part of surviving as a Hunter is an instinct for when the monsters have been a bit too quiet and heinous shenanigans were incoming. Sure enough, the distinct lack of being impaled during the last few minutes made Adam suspicious that something was up. Paranoia was rewarded with catching sight of one of the newborn shining creatures beginning to pulsate unsettlingly as its biolomunience built to a feverish incandescence. The Hunter’s mutant senses felt the energy discharge begin before he saw it. 

“Hit the deck!” 

Adam threw himself, and hopefully Winston too, flat against the dirt of the rabbit trail. A beam of pure concentrated photons lanced overhead, boring through nearby boulders like a knife through butter and scissoring through some trees ahead. The wood burst into eerie multicolored flames that burned bright but gave off no heat. 

As a test, Adam opened his eyes and had his suspicions confirmed. The prismatic flames were completely invisible to the naked eye. Branches and roots were blackening and charring without any visible source of conflagration. “Shit shit, c’mon let's go this way, can’t let the fire cut us off,” Adam said to Winston, huffed with exertion as he tried to find an alternate route through otherworldly flames and demonic photon beams. 

-

Hands still covered in their own blood from wiping it off of their face, Winston allowed Adam to lead them away from the demon that was fucking with them. They were going to start making signs for themselves. Things that said things like “Don’t go into that dark hallway on your own,” “don’t walk down that dark alleyway without your friends,” and “don’t fuck with giant floating jellyfish demons you have no chance of beating in a fair fight.” 

They were barely away from the original scene of battle when Winston spotted the beam incoming. Fortunately Adam had spotted it even before they had. “Fuck, ow.” Winston grunted as they hit the dirt and rolled away from the laser beam. 

“Thanks for that,” Winston said as they spat out blood and gravel, scrambling to their feet they followed Adam through the forest. 

Reaching into their bag, Winston pulled out a lightbulb that they had heavily edited and enchanted. Winding it back, they hurled it at the Medusozoa Demon and watched the light bulb sail through the air before smashing against the jellyfishes’ cap. 

A second later there was an electrical discharge as the micro-emp grenade that they had been testing exploded with a bright flash of electrical energy. 

“I don’t know if that helped,” Winston replied honestly as they turned on their heel and raced after Adam, blood still pouring -- though more slowly -- down their face. “But we should definitely run faster and not stay to find out.”

-

Adam didn’t need to be twice and tried to hussle it over the hill. There were tense moments as beams streaked after them, sending that strange multicolored flames cascading through the trees in brief conflagrations the naked eye couldn’t perceive. However whatever crazy discharge ordinance Winston had let loose seemed to have wounded or at the very least disoriented their closest pursuer, and their very painful trek amongst jagged stones, thick brush, and eldritch energies finally crested over the hill. 

Eventually Adam signalled for a stop after they’d put some distance between themselves and the valley where that strange light that only flared when the sun's eyes closed had first been sighted. “Just a sec Winston...wanna check something.” 

Trying to push the pain in his side away, the Hunter closed his eyes and leaned a nearby tree. Adam let his Hunter sense drift, clearing his mind of distracting thoughts as best he could. After a minute a dim impression surfaced.  Adam waited, but those presences in his Hunter senses didn’t draw any more intense or draw near the hill they’d just cleared. Eventually the clairvoyant feeling of the demons faded as they drifted beyond his range. 

Whether the valley was their ‘territory’ or those creatures maybe couldn’t even exist outside that unseen light, Adam couldn’t really say. But those were questions for later.