Day: 3635 (blood moon)

Days Left: 1845

Lives Saved: 19

Corinna knew it best not to count the hours, minutes, seconds until the blood moon was over; it just made everything go slower. Instead, she practised using her monster mask's powers, even after years of possessing it, she still hoped that one day she would have complete control and be able to stand still, to sleep in this form. So far, she could sit down for a record of thirty seconds before she had to move to prevent the floor from charring. This specific cell, Corinna had designed for herself, more so designed to not burn up in flames or melt under the intense heat that her form gave it constantly than to keep her locked inside, in fact, her cell was not locked, made to look like it had been for those who did not know its secrets, it was just a safe space for her to be in during blood moons as opposed to burning the whole city down just by walking through it.

Corinna closed her eyes, and her the blue light coursing through her body dimmed, the spectral of stars fading into almost nothing as she enjoyed the brief moment of stillness, and then the light returned and she felt the heat within her spread back, the floor beneath her warming up. She sighed silently, trying not work herself up into anger from the situation, she had been doing this for years and yet it never got easy. She rose to her feet, shuffled a few steps before sitting down and resting. A few more moments of these and she would return to just pacing or sketching something into the metal boards hanging from the walls; already she had made several lists for the upcoming months, not that she hadn't already done so, but it was always satisfying to make new lists.

The celestial winced as the monster in the cell next to her jolted back awake, lashing and hissing at being contained. Fortunately, Corinna in this form was not much of a target for the naga, perhaps because she wasn't really made out of anything organic, but light and magic itself, at least theorised by Princess Alfreda. Though any monsters that go berserk during blood moons would be aggressive and chase after any other nearby monsters, in some cases, they were only truly agitated by those who they could feed on, and the celestial wasn't a desirable snack considering her composition. So, the naga would sleep through the majority of the blood moon so long as she did not sense anyone nearby other than Corinna. Occasionally, the monster would thrash around when bored however the naga's current behaviour was a concern. Ivette, the naga mask's holder, let out an awful shriek as she slashed her claws against the metal door to no avail this specific cell designed by Corinna to withstand the monster. Corinna composed herself, knowing that she herself was not immune to the blood moons effects entirely if she was met with aggression or agitation. However, Ivette continued to writhe, never slacking in her attempt to break free. And then Corinna heard it, the sound of footsteps coming from above, on the surface, so many it was like a thunderous herd.

What was happening out there? There shouldn't be that much movement so far inside the city. Had it been breached? Were those civilians running for safety? Soldiers recreating? An invasion?

Before Corinna could act, there was a large crash from upstairs; it was the door, the heavy thick hunk of metal and wood and stone with a complicated lock that Corinna had designed herself to keep those underground contained, but it had been destroyed from the other side. How was that possible? Why? As if by answer, there was a desperate rush of bodies that rushed down the steps, tramping over each other falling, tripping from the excitement as they charged at the cell containing Ivette. They lashed out, throwing their bodies at the door as Ivette did the same on the other side, all of them hungry and salivating in anticipation.

Zombies. They were zombies.

But these were not the slow and dumb undead creatures Corinna had seen, the ones she had deemed safe to keep locked up instead of immediately dealt with; these were vicious and violent things, quick moving and unrelenting. What had the blood moon done to them? What had happened to the city? To the people?

The zombies seemed only interested in getting to the naga, and were completely indifferent to Corinna's presence in the facility. Was she safe? She wasn't exactly made out of anything they could eat in this form, it would hurt them if they dared even touch her. Taking this calculated risk, Corinna opened her door, standing before the horde of zombies. Even the loud noise of the door clanking against its hinges barely stirred the undead from their sights on their meal.

Corinna thought back on her conversation with Henry, the theories on how Bruno's mask worked. Were these people lost causes or would anyone who was turned be instantly cured upon the mask's destruction? She looked to Ivette's cell, hearing her thrash around inside. She couldn't take that chance, to lose Ivette. A dear friend for so many years as well as being essential to The Warren. And the rest... Corinna glanced to the zombies, of monsters she did not recognise, it was just unfortunate that they chose this target.

The celestial burst into a blinding light using it to propel herself forward as she slammed into the horde, pushing them away from the cell door; due to the extreme heat, the undead flesh burned and the zombies howled as they were pushed away from their meal, barely reacting to the pain or the celestial's existence.

Corinna knew that she wouldn't be able to restrain all of them and not for long, and that she needed to find out what was happening. If there was already this many more infected that had gotten free, what was the rest of the city like? She debated for a brief moment, whether to kill all of them in order to protect Ivette, then opted for breaking all of their legs, and arms if necessary, none of them now strong enough to break down the door, at least she hoped, it all depended for how long it would take her to locate Bruno and destroy his mask. 

With that situation dealt with temporarily, the celestial flew up the stairs and returned to the surface, seeing the scarlet moon hanging in the red sky, she trembled upon seeing it, shaking off its influence in her panicked state. Concentrating her power, the celestial broke into a beam of light and ascended into the sky, far above her whole city. She almost faltered in her focus as she saw the numerous signal flares indicating that there had been an attack so far into the city; the zombies, not any invasion from the refugee camps outside of the walls. Corinna had built defences within the city for any sky-based attacks, there were still some defences from years ago when the city was smaller that focused on ground troops, however never did she imagine something like this; they were not prepared. She descended onto a roof, keeping her light dim so she could run across it as she recharged before taking off again and exploring the city, seeing the countless houses that had been broken into, and the hordes of undead either roaring around slowly, or chasing after a target. Corinna quickly dealt with the zombies, crippling their legs as she flew past, and their target managed to safely run into a nearby house and hide. But what horrified Corinna the most, that scared her was the fact that there was a breach in the wall. From above in the sky, she watched as the monsters, sane in mind and not infected, rallied together, taking advantage of the situation to take the city, not knowing what was truly going on as they only saw less guards, only to be surprised and ill prepared as a horde of zombies charged at them. It wasn't just the Warren that had been infected; the refugee camps were slowly turning. A few ravens, a part of Talon, had been infected also, still capable of flight even when infected and dove down, easily finding new targets, even attacking the other ravens that had not been affected.

Why?

Why didn't she just deal with Bruno then and there? She should have forcibly taken his mask off; he was already dead, why would it matter if he would wind up deformed because of the forced transformation? If this was the cost for not doing so? She should have known this would have happened, no she did, but how did this happen when she had been so careful? They should not have been able to get out of those cell alone; it took a whole horde for the door to the underground facility that she was in. Who was it? Who messed up? Who sabotaged all of her work? Who was to blame?

Corinna rolled back her shoulders, gritting her teeth as she composed herself. One problem at a time. She needed to find Bruno and destroy his mask and then deal with the aftermath and repairs. She would not let The Warren fall.

*

Henry was relieved as he saw Rin still alive and well when her and Lieutenant Alfreda headed their way, guided by Talon, the two ravens, one person split into several reunited, though with how long Talon had been transformed, they were struggling to utter any words, and there were brief moments when they acted like any ordinary bird, before remembering that they were in fact human. Lili frowned in concern and hushed some words of encouragement, that they would destroy the mask and Talon should return back to normal and transform into a human again instead of being stuck as a multitude of birds for eternity.

"Is it confirmed the location of the original?" asked Alfreda.

Both of the two Talons nodded, then shook their heads, rattled, squirming.

"Talon, what's wrong?" asked Lili.

"I- I- I-" Talon struggled with the words. "All the others... Just us two left." Talon bowed their head.

"The others are infected?" Kai breathed.

"Has the city been breached?" Henry asked but those in the know, the guards; Lili, Talon, Alfreda, and Kai did not answer. Henry shared a look of concern with Sumit and Rin.

"We need to reach the mask," Lili said firmly. "Talon has not been able to locate Bruno so it must mean that he is still inside the containment facility."

"Which is swarming with infected," added Alfreda. "They are blocking the way, they are somehow drawn to the place even though everyone in that area should already have been turned."

"Perhaps they can sense that Bruno is there?" suggested Kai. "They're protecting the mask holder?"

They all looked to Henry for his input.

"Maybe" Henry said with little confidence. "There have been masks that do that, those under the monster's control naturally defend their controller, though usually, they would have limit of how many they can enthral, or a limit to how much control they have. But something on this scale... That already seems too much power, so unbalanced. It would make more sense if they had no compulsion to protect Bruno at all; there appears no sign that any of the infected think about protecting each other-"

"Regardless, they're there," said Alfreda, interjecting before Henry went on too long of a rant on his theories. She looked to Lili, Sumit, and Talon. "You three- you four," she corrected, unsure how to count Talon when they had split themselves into multiple birds. "Ought to find somewhere safe. The rest of us are immune-"

"Not happening," said Lili firmly, sizing up the fire demon. "Do not make me pull rank; we do not have the time to argue on this. Sumit and myself have been fine so far,"

"The smell is wearing off," Kai piped up, cowering under the glare he received from Lili. "The zombies will be after you soon."

"Then I will play bait," Lili said casually. "Draw the horde away so you can-"

"Absolutely not," Alfreda laughed. "What if you get bitten?"

"Henry says that everyone should be cured once the mask is destroyed."

They both looked to Henry.

"Well," Henry began. "In theory as that is what more commonly-"

"You will sit this out," ordered Alfreda to Lili, despite being her subordinate.

The humanoid tiger stared down the fire demon. "I do not take orders from-"

There was a resounding scream, followed by others, along with the sound of thunderous rushing footsteps.

Survivors, and they were coming from the direction of the containment facility.

All arguments from before were swiftly dismissed with a single look as Lili and Alfreda made no hesitation to run after the sound of people in danger, the others not far behind them.

Henry saw the entrance to the underground Abyss plant farm, hidden as an unassuming building, the horde of zombies nearby. There were countless of them, but why? Everyone looked around and could not find the origin of the scream, of any sign of survivors. Had they just missed them? The zombies were acting strange themselves; usually when there were no targets nearby, they would act as they would normally would when it wasn't a blood moon being slow and lumbering creatures, barely reacting to anything, however these ones were clawing at the ground fruitlessly, though a few of the larger and stronger monsters that had been infected were making sizable dents into the streets.

"The containment facility is nearby," said Kai. "Perhaps they're trying to get to Bruno?"

Henry shook his head. Though it was indeed nearby, the area where the zombies were taking the most interest in was no directly above Bruno's cell, it would be nowhere near. "Is there anything down there?" he asked, looking more to Lili and Alfreda who were closer to Corinna and had higher status.

Lili and Alfreda shook their heads.

"Just farms," replied Lili. "Though I don't think they cover this much space, not that I think it does..." She frowned.

"Do you think zombies like Abyss fruit?" Kai shrugged, after confirming with the two Talons, who surveyed the area, that there were no survivors.

"If that's the case..." Lili began, her eyes catching sight of a couple of infected who stopped scratching at the ground and instead headed towards the entrance to the farm. "Then we need to defend this area!"

The others followed suit as Lili charged towards the infected, knocking them back with her shield as they attempted to barge into the heavy door guarding the farm. Other infected seemed to change tactics too, giving up on the assault on the ground and charging towards the door and Lili and the others fought back.

"We can't let them get to the farm!" The tiger gritted her teeth, narrowly avoiding getting bitten, she slashed the infected's jaw open, forbidding them to bite. "But we need to destroy the mask!"

"I'll go!" cried Henry, having borrowed one of Lili's spare swords and was nowhere near as competent at using it as the rest of the group. "I can get past them, and I'm not much help here."

"I'll go with him," Kai offered, struggling to hold his own at close quarters, with only one hand free as his other hand had a bow permanently fused to it.

Rin was about to offer too but Alfreda stopped her.

"If things go worse, we need someone to flee and find help," said Alfreda, pushing back a wave of zombies. She glanced at the Talons, who were keeping themselves away, in no condition to help fight as they were easy prey when in little numbers.

Rin winced, reluctant but had to remind herself that Kai and Henry would be fine, they were immune; it was Sumit, Lili, and Talon who were a concern and they needed all the protection they could get, even if Rin was rusty after so many years of not having to fight.

Sumit and Alfreda made an opening for Henry and Kai to get past the horde and escape for the underground containment facility.

*

Kai had to force himself not to look behind at the others, and repeatedly told himself that they would be fine; that group contained some of the best fighters there were in the Abyss and the majority of them were immune against the zombie virus. He just hoped that the infected wouldn't get past. The whole city was already in such chaos with the invasion, having their food supply wrecked would just make repairs and recovery more difficult; no in fact it would ruin the city. The food packets from the drop-offs was nowhere near enough to feed the populace, they relied so much on Ivette's farms and Kai really hope that the rumours about multiple secret underground farms was true should that one be destroyed.

The containment facility was nearby, and fortunately there were only a few zombies hanging around the area now. They immediately became interested in Talon, the infected jumping and trying to catch the raven but Talon was flying up too high. Talon guided the zombies away from the entrance, not that they posed much threat as both Kai and Henry in their monster forms were made of substances that zombies weren't entirely eager to munch on. Even still, Kai and Henry took a moment of pause, of caution.

"What are we going to do?" Kai initially signed to Henry, before remembering that the man was still learning and whispered it instead. "Just forcibly take his mask off?"

Henry grimaced, then looked to Kai's bow. "You can control people with that arrow of yours, yes?"

"Just one person, but yes."

"What can you make them do? Do you think you can make them take off their mask themselves? So they won't be deformed? Safely?"

Kai paused. "I don't know," he replied. "I can get them to attack people, or run away, I haven't tried much else." He felt stupid. Why hadn't he thought to use it like that? He always felt it was an invasive ability and only used it against people who tried to hurt others. But to control someone to take off their mask... If he could do that, then how many battles could he have won, how many lives he would have saved if he had just done that. "Could I do that? Is that possible? We can save Bruno?"

Henry hesitated. "Bruno is unfortunately already dead, but at the very least, we may be able to get to transform safely, so that he doesn't come back wrong.

Kai shivered, the nausea rising in his throat as he remembered Bryce. He was not there to witness Corinna taking Bryce's mask off, but he saw the deformed thing Bryce became as a result of it, the deformed flesh, the misplaced facial features, the horrifying fusing of metal and human skin, how he struggled to breath. Kai never once thought that Bryce didn't deserve it, after he dared attack Corinna, what he could have done to her if she hadn't chosen to retaliate, but Bruno did not deserve such a fate, or whoever Bruno was now; a man without memories and his first memory being unable to breath, his organs in the wrong places just like Bryce.

"We should try, at the very least," Kai said finally.

"I do not now for certain if it is possible," said Henry firmly. "There have been masks capable of that but they are rare, and Bruno's case may be unique; he is technically dead, his mind at least, I was not able to access it."

Kai nodded, ensuring that he did not put all of his hopes on it working, but he wold never forgive himself for trying at least, to help Bruno. Forcibly taking off his mask was just to be a last resort.

Both agreed on the plan, nodding, about to head to the broken down door of the entrance to the underground containment facility, when a burst of light zoomed across the sky, descending and disappearing into the facility.

"What the fuck was that!" Henry panicked, gripping his sword.

"Corinna..." Kai breathed, before breaking into a sprint after her, Henry following closely behind.