Gracefall Chapter 3: Overborn

Read chapter 3 of Gracefall by arsy on NovelPedia.

A loud crash of rubble came from the cemetery. Lucia and Ishkiel stared at each other, their eyes wide. Swiftly and silently, they both leaned over to look through the fence surrounding the cemetery. They could barely see anything, it was filled with smoke. Squinting their eyes as the smoke gradually began clearing, they could see that the fence on the right side of the cemetery was broken. It was as if a big creature had brute-forced its way through the fence. As the smoke cleared even further, they could see a figure standing in the smoke. It was one of the Pale Ones. The smoke had fully cleared, and they could now see what type of horror had crashed into the cemetery. There in the distance, they saw a creature with an elongated body, legs, claws, and teeth. It had red, crimson fur all over its body, and standing on all fours, it looked to be taller than both of them. Its features were similar to the thing that had grabbed her parents in the past. Ishkiel looked at the creature with great vigilance in his eyes before slowly looking back at Lucia. “It’s an Overborn! We have to be very careful…” Lucia turned to him in confusion. “An Overborn?” He paused for a brief moment before turning to her. “They’re Pales with mutations, they can sometimes be twice as strong as a normal Pale of its rank.” Looking back at the creature, Ishkiel put his hand beside his hip, as suddenly, a dark sword in a black, leather scabbard appeared around his waist. It was a relic. They could be obtained by killing monsters. However, killing a human could also grant you one. Placing his hand around the hilt of his black sword, he looked back at Lucia. “All right. Get ready, Lucia. We are going to kill this thing.” Lucia gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, waiting for the time to strike, as they cautiously watched the horrid wolf-like creature. It was slowly making its way to the light of the grace, which they could not allow to be taken by it. The grace hit a tree that stood in the middle of the cemetery, which it had engulfed in its light, waiting to be absorbed. The engulfed, radiant tree lit up the entire cemetery, like a gargantuan candle. A few moments passed, and the creature had its back turned to them as it was focused on the tree. This was the time to strike. They both swiftly unsheathed their blades from their scabbards before sprinting toward the monstrosity. The monster heard their footsteps and it began turning. As soon as it had turned around, Ishkiel lunged forward and pierced his blade into the creature’s side as he then dragged it across, giving it a large horizontal cut on its side. The creature staggered and growled. When it got back on its feet, the creature lunged toward Ishkiel, its mouth wide open. He swiftly jumped aside and thrust his blade into the other side of the monstrosity. However, as soon as he did, the creature abruptly turned and hit Ishkiel with its tail. Along with his sword, he was sent flying into one of the headstones, shattering it. The monster plodded toward him, until suddenly, Lucia had stabbed it in its side. She dragged her blade across its lengthy body, like Ishkiel had done. With yet another cut on its side, it began bleeding out. Growling, it turned to strike Lucia with its tail like before. However, Lucia had already begun jumping back after her attack, so she managed to evade it. Ishkiel groaned as he slowly got up, tiny pieces of the shattered headstone falling off his clothes. He saw Lucia fighting, and then began running toward her to help. After taking a step forward, he realized his ankle was hurt, so his running was comparatively slower. When the creature realized its attack had missed, it instantaneously began sprinting toward her, while simultaneously opening its mouth to reveal its long, sharp teeth as they inched closer toward Lucia. Glancing at her blade, she stood her ground and awaited the monster’s charge. ‘Come on, you crimson-furred freak!’ As it got close to her, she fiercely thrust h