Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 76

Chapter 751

The group was exhausted, but the two singers were clearly more tired than Iratus or Studium.

Iratus: "How about some names, ladies?"

The feline responded first.

Fraus: "Huh, oh right. Fraus of House Bloodmoon."

The mouse boy's eyes lit up.

Iratus: "Ho, we got someone famous."

Fraus: "Side house. Heck, my family wasn't anywhere near the wealth of the main family; if anything, we were somewhat poor."

The fox girl gave a yawn before answering herself.

Arcus: "Arcus."

Studium: "You two keep yawning; didn't you say that you guys got some time to live in that building?"

The fox boy regularly looked behind the group as well as looked around with the flashlight.

Fraus: "Only sometimes, and it has been a while since we actually got to stop. Normally when we end up back here, we would have lost the darn thing, but I think we were just too slow this time."

The group of four finally reached the bridge, and where the luminescence and light from many plants and bugs shrouded the bridge was the only thing shrouded in darkness, or rather barely touched by the dim light.

The group got on the path and walked up to the bridge until Studium used the flashlight to look over the bridge, and as he left the light over the bridge, a shimmering image of the ebony with the silver lantern came into view. The party stopped and the ebony, which should be able to see the group wasn't moving at all.

Iratus: "Okay, not that way."

---

Chapter 752

The group backed away, feet shuffling on the uneven ground, as they quickly put distance between themselves and the bridge. Still, the ebony figure remained frozen in place, standing motionless in the exact spot they'd first seen it. At that point, the four started to walk back down the path.

Studium: "Where will we go now?"

Iratus: "I don't think the mine would be a good idea, nor the little cabin."

Studium: "The destroyed castle can't give us the shelter we need either."

Fraus: "Our humble hideaway, of course. We have been chased there a few times already, and we got a lot of secret paths built into it."

Iratus shot her a look, his expression somewhere between amusement and frustration.

Iratus: "You two could have wandered over to our little hovel earlier. None of this would be happening if you had."

Arcus: "Give us a break. We can’t just walk up to strangers in this kind of world. And besides," she added with a glance back toward the bridge, "other than some strange smells, we had no idea there was a whole community across the river."

Studium looking at Iratus: "It is something like an hour just to get to their location."

Iratus: "More then that. Regardless, I was just so confused about strangers living so close for the past sixty-something days. How did we not notice each other?"

The group returned to the glass garden building which was still in its ruined state.

Fraus: "Since the creature always finds us at our home, we made some modifications to it. First, there’s an underground network that was originally used for irrigation. We turned it into a proper escape tunnel. It’s not much, but it’s kept us alive."

Arcus nodded in agreement, her footsteps soft against the overgrown stone pathway which faded into the grass as the group left

"We also have a sliding wall in one of the backrooms. In the garden area," he gestured toward the looming structure, "we’ll show you—it’s hidden behind a thicket that leads to the back of the building. Took a lot of work to make it blend in."

Fraus: "We also have various ladders to get around, and we even used to have a little patch of safety in there too until it eventually took out the walls."

Iratus: "Ebonies are generally determined beings. I assume there isn't much they can do if they put their minds to it."

---

Chapter 753

Inside of the glass garden building, Iratus and Studium were shown around, shown the escape tunnels as well as several ways to get ahead of a pursuer. Iratus and Studium stood at the entrance and tried to put up some barricades as the girls sealed up the room with a new hole in the wall and the two let the felinefolk hold onto the rife and ammo.

Studium: "What about those shadowy things over the river? Won't more crazy things happen?"

Iratus: "I'm certain this isn't the blackest day. Those shadow figures are strange, but if the walls are not bleeding and screaming in pain, then there won't be any supernatural shinanigans."

Studium: "Except for an invisible monster and shadowy figures."

Iratus: "If there is anything we can take away from Venatio's lessons, God rest her soul, is that everything in the Nexus Prime can be explained by science."

Studium: "Except there was a lot of unexplainable phenomena and monsters that even she couldn't understand."

Iratus: "She wasn't that kind of scientist. She was more of a, What alloy is this thing made of?"

Studium: "And understanding basic chemicals, medicine, blacksmithing, engineering, electronics, and a ton of other stuff. Her knowledge was worth an entire library."

Then Fraus and Arcus ran into the room.

Fraus: "We got a serious problem."

---

Chapter 754

The girls stumbled over their words, trying to explain things. When a sudden stiffness crept into Iratus. The mouse boy hsook his head and looked around with the others doing the same. Iratus could feel a definite chill in the air, and the darkness seemed to be moving in on the lights, bioluminescence, and whatnot, and it felt like the night got a whole lot darker.

Iratus saw something out of the corner of his eye, like a black smudge in his peripheral vision, and finally Iratus and the others managed to actually spot the creature. It was one of the shadow figures by the river, but this one was different; this one was taller than an even Iratus, its form gaunt yet imposing, with jagged, spindly limbs that appeared to twitch in and out of focus. It moved in unsettling, jerky motions, as though it flickered in and out of reality. The figure’s head was unnaturally elongated, but where its face should have been was only a blank void, a perfect, featureless expanse, and when Iratus looked at it, it was as if the room had become cold, and it took effort just to look away from that void.

Anytime Iratus tried to focus on the creature, it was gone in the blink of an eye, literally, and seemed to thrive in the corners of his vision, and Iratus could never fully see the creature as it seemed to always be slightly blurry.

Iratus pulled out his longsword.

Iratus, his voice slightly shaky: "Foolish abomination, you come at us alone and we will eat you alive!" 

Fraus: "Sin Lord of Falsehoods, we meet again."

Arcus: "Wait, the what of what now? What is that thing?"

Studium: "Well, at least it's not just us meeting Sin Lords."

Everyone was constantly looking around trying to get the creature in view, which made them look a bit silly on just how much they spun around trying to find the creature, but the feline seemed to be the only one watching the shadow figure and following its movements.

Fraus: "Ever wake up half-conscious, with a shadow hovering over you, and you can’t move? Here, that shadow is real. It’s pure malice."

Iratus: "Good to know. So… is it dangerous?"

Fraus: "It freezes you, but it doesn’t do the killing itself. It lets other things finish the job."

The feline got her fists up and left the rifle slung on her shoulder.

Fraus: "Shine your light on it, for light makes anything that is this monster to vanish."

Iratus: "But what about touching it?"

Fraus: "I don't know. You can try, but if it is here, then surely something dangerous must be nearby as well."

---

Chapter 755

Iratus kept spinning, his vision a blur of motion. His head throbbed with the effort of trying to catch the flickering figure, but each time he turned, it slipped out of view. His pulse hammered in his ears, drowning out the others’ frantic footsteps as they, too, whirled around in confusion.

The darkness at the edges of his vision pulled back. Relief washed over him for the briefest second—but it was followed by something worse. With a sneer, Iratus lashed out blindly, his blade meeting resistance with a loud metallic clang. The force jolted his sword away, and before he could react, the void-like face of the Sin Lord loomed closer. Iratus could see the void that was the creature's face coming closer, and he could swear it was getting bigger. Iratus shook his body and got his sword around and sliced through the shadow, making it disappear.

Iratus looked around and saw that everyone was gone and the barricades were ripped away from the entrance. Iratus shook his head and looked around again with nothing but confusion on his face.

Iratus: "Guys?"

Suddenly, a deep rumble shook the building. The sound was just loud enough for Iratus's ears to catch it. Without thinking, he sprinted toward the source of the sound. His leather-clad feet, like boots, thudded against the floor as he moved through the darkened and quiet halls. Every shadow seemed to lurch at him from the corners, and when ever a tendril came close to him, Iratus would take a step forward to attack it; only when ever he was close to the shifting and moving shadows, they returned to their original state.

Eventually, he skidded to a halt at a junction in the hall; the late night was starting to wear on his stamina. The rumbling had stopped. In the distance, he heard something—a faint scraping, like metal dragging along stone. Iratus hesitated as he tried to reach out with his senses.

Iratus: "Fraus? Arcus? Studium?"

He called their names, but his voice was swallowed by the empty corridors. Only the scraping sound responded, growing louder.

Iratus whispering: "Ebony?"

His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. The scraping was closer now. He could almost see the flicker of movement down the hall, but it was just beyond the reach of the faint light.

Iratus walked closer, but then from behind him he heard a voice, barely more than a whisper. "Iratus…"

He spun around, but there was nothing there—only more shadows, to which he could see, were watching him even though he could not see any eyes.

---

Chapter 756

Iratus continued down paths and hallways, always ending up in a new location, even though it seemed like he was running in circles. Sometimes Iratus would nearly fall over; his vision conveyed that everything was spinning slowly. He looked behind him to see the shadows close in; they are at a distance, but they took every chance they could get to inch ever closer to the mouse.

Iratus came all the way back to the entrance of the building, and he could see the shadows start to close in, just barely on the edges of his vision. Iratus ran to the door and saw it somehow closed, so he just gritted his teeth and ran full speed at the door and broke through the door, but on the other side was not the outside, and Iratus fell to the floor, rolling on the ground. He stood back up instantly and saw that he was back in the main area of the garden, the massive circular atrium.

Iratus didn't have time to process the information as the shadows were now aggressive as they devoured everything behind him, so Iratus took off running down another hallway to somewhere. The entire building was starting to lose its color and form as white was overtaking everything, like waking from a dream, and behind him, when ever he looked, were shadows and darkness, trying to reach out and absorb Iratus.

The mouse boy came to a door and opened it and slammed it right behind him, right on the shadows, which let out a loud thud and the grunting of, "Ow!" behind it.

Iratus: "Uh, hello?" Still walking backward.

The shadows poured out from the open areas all along the door, and Iratus continued to run away. He came into another room and slammed the door shut behind him, making the shadows slam into it, stopping them for a second. Iratus came into a third room and barely managed to slam this door too, as everything was spinning even faster now for him, destroying his equilibrium. Another thud against the door, and Iratus ran towards a set of stairs, and each step up was like he was moving against water. Once he was on the second floor, he was fine to run again.

His breath was giving out, his legs were tired, his entire vision told him everything was tilted back and forth rapidly, and the shadows were overtaking the white void in front of him. Reaching the railing, Iratus vaulted over, aiming for the ground below. But something pulled at him—like a weight too heavy to shake off—causing him to crash awkwardly, hitting the floor with a dull, painful thud.

---

Chapter 757

Iratus took a second to catch his breath and looked around. The white void was gone, and the familiar darkness of the night was back. He wasn't spinning, and the shadows were back to normal. Iratus stood back up and continued to look for threats, but it seemed that whatever happened, it was over and everything was back to normal.

Studium: "Iratus! Oh my silver, there you are."

Iratus: "What? What happened?"

Studium: "I've been trying to find you. You vanished when the ebony broke in. But after I got separated from the girls, I have been hearing you run all over the place."

Iratus: "Did you see me because I was lost in some sort of dream or something?"

Studium: "No, anytime it seemed like I was near you, I never saw you."

The two took only a few steps before the two girls came into view across the garden. Studium waved at them and kept walking, but Iratus had a relapse as shadows were coming from behind him, so he spun around and found instead the Sin Lord of Falsehoods, who stabbed him with a shodow that looked like a piece of metal.

Iratus lost all physical strength and slowly fell onto his back, the shadow still in him, so Iratus tried to grasp it, and he realized that he had no grip strength. Iratus tried to yell in anger, but nothing came out, but he was able to tilt his head up and look at the looming shadow figure.

Iratus tried to cry out, and nothing came out of his mouth, but then the sound of clanking chains ran out and a large bone club swiped through the shadow figure, which made it disappear. Iratus rapidly stood back up and watched as the ebony walked past him and towards the two girls.

Iratus: "Studium?"

But he saw the boy standing back up as well.

Studium: "Ow, what hit me?"

Iratus: "Hurry up! Come on!"

And the two quickly ran to intercept the ebony.

---

Chapter 758

Once Iratus was in front and now close up to the ebony, he could see the goat skin was quite damaged, most likely from the previous encounter. Studium held out his spear and struck the monster while Iratus moved onto the right side of the creature, which tried to fend him off with its lantern. Fraus moved slightly off to the side and readied a shot.

Fraus: "Kid, back up."

The fox boy tried to protest his age, but the movement and stress of combat prevented him from getting much out. Studium moved back, and even Iratus ran away, giving the girl a clear shot, which she took to blast apart some of the creature's torso.

Iratus and Studium went back into engaging with the ebony with the gunshot wound, not slowing it down. The fox boy managed to dive out from the ebony's attack while Iratus came in and stabbed at the creature. The ebony somehow swiftly took a step forward towards him and came in with the club, which Iratus ran away from and only just barely got nicked, but the strength was enough to send him down to the floor.

The ebony took a step closer to the mouse boy again and stopped as Arcus, the fox girl, came up to assist. From her torn-up dress were several pouches Iratus thought were just part of the outfit but actually had items in them. The gleam of light from the bioluminescence from bugs and plants reflected off of her multitude of throwing knives and blue eyes.

Arcus: "Why are we not fleeing?" She yelled.

The ebony moved towards the fox girl, and Studium continued to hold his spear to stop it.

Iratus: "Unless you have a better place to fight, I suggest we do what we can here."

Iratus took another stab at the creature before backing away and letting Arcus throw one throwing knife after another at it. She had many kinds of knives, with some having a sleek and streamlined shape. Another one had more weight concentrated toward the handle. Another one had a thick forward-weighted blade and many others. The girl was up close to the creature, which made it try to attack her several times.

Iratus: "Get further away."

Arcus: "I have to be this close to deal damage."

And the knives were sticking into the ebony perfectly.

Fraus: "Down!"

To which everyone ducked as another bullet slammed into the ebony, which actually made it freeze for about two seconds before it started to shake violently and it forcefully tried to run past everyone. Iratus moved to the creature's side and used his sword like a spear to try to hold it down, with Studium taking the other side to use his spear in the same manner. Arcus moved around and continued throwing her knives.

---

Chapter 759

Blood from the creature began to pool at Iratus's feet. The group attacked relentlessly until the ebony creature broke free, charging toward Fraus. She fired another shot before disappearing behind the foliage, darting through the sliding door. The others chased the ebony as it slammed into the wall, bashing its club against it with great force. Though it tore into the structure, it couldn’t act fast enough to stop the barrage of attacks from Iratus and the others. The monster threw Studium aside and struck the fox girl, sending her crashing to the ground. Her arms took the brunt of the blow.

The creature loomed over her, but Iratus intervened, absorbing a few of the ebony’s strikes as he held his ground. With a sudden shift, the monster leveraged its strength and hurled Iratus to the ground. Arcus scrambled to safety before rejoining the fight. The ebony had just tackled Studium to the ground, landing a heavy kick to the fox boy's ribs, leaving him stiff and barely able to roll.

The clink of chains echoed as the ebony backed away, disappearing into the dark crevasse among the dead trees. Just as Iratus stepped forward, a shot rang out, the bullet whizzing past his arm. He instinctively grabbed his arm as the shot hit the ebony, sending it tumbling backward and halting its escape.

Iratus and Studium, who had just gotten to his feet, stood over the ebony. Together, they plunged their weapons into the creature again and again, only stopping when exhaustion overtook them. Fraus and Arcus soon approached, surveying the fallen beast.

Fraus: "By silver, we actually killed it."

Arcus: "We ran from that thing for so long. Was it really this easy?"

Without a word, Iratus pulled out a knife and began severing the ebony's head.

Studium waddled over, clutching his side.

Studium: "That wasn’t easy at all."

---

Chapter 760

Iratus fiddled with the silver lantern, but the chains refused to release it.

Iratus: "Forget it. I'll do it later."

Fraus: "Is there a reason you want that lantern?"

Iratus: "For my ever-growing lantern collection."

Fraus laughed.

Iratus: "I’m serious. I’ve killed a lot of these things and collected...two lanterns. Wait, that’s it? Only two?"

Arcus rubbed her eyes, exhaustion heavy on her face.

Arcus: "We ran for so long. We can finally sleep."

Iratus: "Hey, don't go crying now."

Arcus: "I’m going to bed. I just want to sleep, okay?"

Iratus: "Wait, you might want to crash in our tower. We actually have beds and stuff."

Fraus: "We’ll stay here for the night, if that’s alright."

Studium: "And what about that shadow thing?"

Fraus: "If it’s still around, we’ll come find you. Between the two of us, we’ll sniff out where you live. Right across the river?"

Iratus: "Pretty much. It’s hard to miss, honestly."

After saying their goodbyes, Iratus and Studium headed back to their tower.

---

EPISDOE 76: END

---

Episode 76 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 16
Coverings: blonde fur, white gambeson (many repairs, some leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backpack, leather plate helmet, delicate gold chain with a small pendant shaped like a lion's glare, flashlight, bronze breastplate
Weapons: long sword, 3 knifes, short sword, hammer, 1 dagger
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 5 copper coins, 1 small silver bricks, 20 silver coins, 30 gold coins

Wounds: several bruises

Relevant Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, 2 glass jar, 12 bottles, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, a large barrel, writing material, 68 cloaks and other clothing materials, some fabrics, 4 carts, 4 stitched tents, skin drum, beautiful arts of tropical scenery, floatation devices, wildlife figures, lots of tropical clothing, gas generator, four flood lights

Armory: 32 short swords, 33 knifes, 19 daggers, 23 metal spears, 4 arming swords, 4 long swords, 2 extra gambeson, semi-automatic rifle (no ammo), 3 hunting traps, 5 snares, 12 backpacks, 3 katanas, 3 short katanas, crossbow, several pounds of C4
Aestus: gambeson, bronze breastplate, leather helmet, metal spear, 2 knives, short sword, bronze long sword.
Victoria: bronze breastplate, gambeson, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword, crossbow, 2 daggers, flashlight
Resonanita: steel breastplate, gambeson, metal helmet, metal spear, short sword, 1 knife, compound bow, flashlight
Ignis: bronze breastplate, gambeson, leather helmet, metal spear, crowbar, 1 knife

Treasure: 13 copper coins, 2 silver coins 12 iron coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art, bronze lantern, bronze idol, some jeweled trinkets, iron lantern

Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates, clay pots, and wooden chests), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools, glue, sandpaper), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans, makeshift grill), Library, Armory, Infirmary Room (surgery tools, first aid kit, plenty of medicine and equipment), Children's Quarters, Master Bedroom (proper bedding, sensual antfolk sculpture), Six Bedrooms (proper bedding), four portable solar panels

Outside Base: Butchering Hut (modern butchery kit, smoking rack), Tannery Hut, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area (fenced in), Tool Shed (fishing gear and supplies, trowel, woodcutting axe, woodworking tools, lots of rope, rope ladder, plows, hoes, sickles, rakes, shovels, scythes, chisels, anvils), Wooden Wall, Small Cabin (Venatio), Large Cabin (Winter Winds), Large Cabin (Dark Sky Family), 2x Gravestones, Rabbit Hutches.

Books: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet, sketch book (from warband), Bathhouse Reviewers (entire 80 book series), cards, Fractura's Notes, Tempestas's Notes, 12 survival guides, 3 technical manuals, 46 fiction novels, 11 encyclopedias, 4 dictionaries, 22 cookbooks, 2 gardening guides, 3 crafting books, 20 educational textbooks, 5 religious texts, 4 diaries, 12 children's books

Year 2, Day 183

---

TOWER FOLK:
Iratus of House Lionheart
mouse, male, blonde fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'6, age: 16, b day: 350
-
Victoria Mother of House Lionheart
raccoon, female, gray fur, black hair, brown eyes, 6'3, age: 16, b day: 5
-
Aestus of clan Riversinger
otter, female, red fur, red hair, blue eyes, 6'2, age: 16, b day: 99, (preg 188 days)
-
Ignis Yang
red panda, female, reddish-brown/white fur, black hair, golden eye, 6'4, age: 16, b day: 344, (preg 88 days)
-
Resonantia Diamond Heart Steel
shark, female, blue-gray hue skin, white hair, blue eyes, 6'5, age: 16, b day: 2, (preg 215 days)
---

CHILDREN:
Negligere Lionheart
shark, male, steel gray skin, white hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 2
-
Ruina Lionheart
otter, female, orange fur, vibrant orange hair, blue eyes, age: 1, b day: 330
-
Gula Lionheart
red panda, male, brown fur, dark brown hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 340
-
Tenacitas Lionheart
raccoon, female, silver fur, dark blonde hair, amber eyes, age: 1, b day: 345

Frustra Lionheart
raccoon, male, gray fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, age: 0, b day: 338
---

NEIGHBORS:
Echo
shark, male, gray skin with a white underbelly, black hair, black eyes, 6'8, age: 41, b day: 142

---

WINTER WINDS CLAN:
Studium of Winter Winds
fox, male, gray fur, black hair, blue eyes, 5'10, age 13, b day: 190

Fuligo Leaf Shadow
otter, female, black fur, blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'6, age 13, b day: 245, (preg 117 days)

Bellum of House War Knuckles
cheetah, female, blonde fur, blonde hair, blue eyes, 6'0, age 15, b day: 91, (preg 153 days)
---

DARK SKY FAMILY:
Salvos Dark Sky
wolf, male, black fur, white hair, copper eyes, 6'8, age 27, b day: 66

Leitmotif Schlange
snake, female, yellow and red scales, naga bodied, gold  eyes, age 24, b day: 229, (preg 228 days)

---

(farm)
UMBRA OCEAN FAMILY:
Procella Ocean Drinker
weasel , female, blonde fur, black hair, green eyes, 6'5, age 22, b day: 207, (preg 132 days)

Iter of Sanguinem Umbra
goat, male, white fur, blonde hair, brown eyes, 6'7, age 20, b day: 334
---

(farm)
THE COBALTS:
Commercium Jade Blue Cobalt
rabbit, male, white fur, black hair, gray eyes, 6'8, age: 25, b day: 221

-
Abrasione
hyena, female, tan fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'5, age: 20, b day: 4, (preg 271 days)

-
Kuxatura
hyena, male, tan fur, black hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 284

---

LAST MISTAKE
Deficio
lion, male, gray fur, rich gray hair, green eyes, 6'6, age: 47, b day: 111

Confodere Oculi Acuti
hyena, male, dark brown fur, black hair, gold eyes, 6'9, age 26, b day: 239

Malignitas of House Brokensand
feline, male, light black fur, light black hair, brown eyes (single eye), 6'7, age 29, b day: 343

Liora Woodleaf
deer, female, Light brown with white spots, blonde hair, hazel eyes, 5'9, age: 25, b day 323