Chapter 26: A Starry Night (1)

"Huh? When did I fall asleep?" Lucius whispered, yawning as he stretched his limbs. He remained lying on his back for a moment, silently staring at the clear night sky. It was a moonless night, but the sky shone brightly, as if the stars were burning. A choir of burning eyes... watching him... more eyes than he had ever seen before... more stars than the sands in the Sahara.

~The Sahara...~he thought to himself, memories of his past life attacking him in sudden flashes.

~~~

"Fuck! Someone outted us!"

"Meh, this was a suicide mission to begin with... it always is. Isn't that right, Captain?"

A group of five special operatives stood behind a single man, each of them covered in tactical gear the color of desert sand. As they spoke, the sound of engines roaring plagued the night, as if playing a hymn to their final moments.

For a moment, the man stood there silently, staring at a hole in the ceiling of his tent. He had never seen stars shine so brightly before... watching him, it was as if they were... ~burning eyes,~ he thought finally, gripping the gun in his hand.

"Kill anything that moves... kill everything," the man said finally, dropping the visor of his helmet over his face.

*Gunshots*

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

"Captain! Wake up!"

~~~

"Huh? I zoned out?" said Lucius, snapping back to reality. Alpha stood over him, a worried expression on his face.

"What's going on?" Lucius asked as he stood up.

"I heard voices in the forest. It sounded like they were heading this way."

"Where?" Lucius asked, looking around alertly.

"Everywhere."

~Already? Why now?~ he thought to himself, before quickly responding.

"Wake everyone up, silently. Start with those that were trained... basic emergency procedure, you'll stay here until I give word," Lucius instructed, waking Ghost up as he said this, "what are you still waiting for, go," he ordered, turning back to the still frozen Alpha.

"Huh, Luc-" Lucius covered Ghost's mouth before she could even finish, before explaining to her what was going on.

"You listen to what I say and you don't ask questions. Understood?" he said after he was done explaining the situation, to which he got a nod in response.

"You're coming with me to act as a relay. When I give the signal, you'll run back and tell Alpha to move forward. I'll make an opening for you guys and you'll run further up the river," he continued, before moving past her towards the forest.

"What ab-"

"No questions," he interrupted, before running ahead, Ghost following him soon after.

~She's still making so much noise... and she's sort of clumsy,~ he thought to himself as he stalked through the forest. He could now hear the voices that Alpha had told him about, he could hear about four of them, maybe more, but he couldn't be sure until he got a proper visual.

Once he was within a few meters from them, he stopped abruptly and held out his hand in a 'stop' gesture. Ghost seemed to understand what he was trying to say, and hid behind a shrub, blending in with its leaves.

~There they are,~ he thought silently, watching the shroom-beings from behind a shrub.

"He thinks us weak? Why do we have to attack lesser beings during the night?" one of the shroom-beings said as they walked towards the camp.

"It is embarrassing, but we obey. If you have problems with it, you can challenge him after this," one of his comrades replied.

"The weak have no say," another added.

Lucius looked around, making sure that there were no other hostiles close by.

~So he divided them into groups of four?~ he deduced, before stalking behind another shrub to position himself behind them. The whole time he kept a visual on Ghost, making sure she could still see him.

~Hmm, that one,~ he thought after watching them for a moment. One of the shroom-beings in the group seemed to be waddling behind the rest and was not adding anything to their conversations. He quickly ripped a big chunk of leaf from the shrub he was hiding behind, before moving closer to the shroom-beings.

Slowly, and carefully he snuck in closer, his movements not making so much as a sound before finally trailing right next to them.

"Did you guys hear that?" the outlying shroom-being said, stopping to look around.

~Did I mess up?~ Lucius thought to himself, staying as still as possible.

The other shroom-beings continued their banter, ignoring the question. After several seconds of looking around, the shroom-being figured that it was wrong, and tried to turn back and catch up with its group. But just before, Lucius appeared behind it, stuffing the chuck of leaf into its maw before dragging it into the bushes.

Though it was caught by surprise initially, it quickly began trying to escape, and instinctively, Lucius smashed his fist into its head, knocking it out.

~Hmm? that works?~ he thought to himself, before heading on to the main group.

"Huh, where is the other one?" one of the shroom-beings asked, finally realizing that one of their comrades was missing.

"Eh? He probably strayed off, maybe he found something nice to eat," one of its comrades joked, passing it off as a minor matter before carrying on with whatever they were talking about.

"He isn't the type. That one is usually quiet, and he isn't so willful to disobey 𝘏𝘐𝘔," the first shroom-being insisted.

"If you are so worried, you can go look for him. I, on the other hand, will be the first in line to feast," the other replied before laughing.

"We are not allowed to split up, you know that 𝘏𝘌 was adamant about it," the other shroom-being said, walking in front of his comrade.

"This again? I told you I don't care what 𝘏𝘌 wants. Now you can go look for that weakling who wandered off on his own, or continue with us to where the feasting is. But I will not delay filling my innards because of some idiot," the other shroom-being replied, pushing past the first.