The purple light from the main tower flooded into Orions living room and kitchen. He had a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that gave him complete view of the main tower and the undying abyss behind it.
It was unsettling.
"The undying void…shearing light."
Those were the other words he remembered from his dream the night before. He had discovered what moss and bone was in reference to, and the undying void seemed obvious enough. But shearing light ?
It was clear that the light was strange, both in its design and origin, but what made it shearing? The light had made it into his apartment, yet nothing seemed to be happening. Orion came to the conclusion that something would only happen if he stepped outside.
It seemed like a pretty good reason to stay inside.
Orion turned towards the door to his apartment. It was only about twelve paces away, and there was hardly any moss in that corner of the apartment. If he could get there without alerting the Shambler, he could probably leave without too much problem.
But then he remembered what the vision had told him. It specified that he need to defeat the Moss Shambler in order to get his gift. He still had no idea what the gift was, but the idea was still clear.
If he wanted out of this situation, the beast had to die.
Orion sat on the island, watching the Shambler. It was moving now, if only slightly. It took small steps in any direction, letting the moss grow more in whatever area it wanted to search.
Orion was gaining a good understanding of how the moss operated. From the island, he could see the limits of the moss' growth. When it moved in one direction, it would retract in others.
The density of moss also played a role in how far it could spread. If it was denser, the moss wouldn't go as far. And if it was less dense, it could go further, but it would leave holes that prey could step between.
There was balance the Shambler had to find. Making the moss dense enough to avoid leaving holes that could be used against it, while still stretching its search far enough to pinpoint its preys position.
Unfortunately, the Shambler was extremely adept at this hunting style.
The moss had started growing into the kitchen. None of it had made it onto the island yet, but Orions movements were still restricted. The rest of the kitchen was cut off from him. There were areas on the ground he could step between, but he didn't want to risk the Shambler suddenly sending more moss to the kitchen and having his position discovered.
Additionally, he considered jumping to the other counter. But the idea of slipping and falling on the ground was a little too intimidating. If it were to happen, Orion would be entirely helpless against the Shambler.
Orion suddenly winced. He had wrapped his wound with a towel after cleaning it, but that did nothing to help the pain. It was the worst thing he had ever felt. He found it difficult to think at points, so distracting and painful was the cut on his calf. He had to resist the urge to look at it, he knew it would only make it hurt more.
If he wanted access to the rest of the kitchen, he would need to get the moss out of the area. Orion began looking around the island. There was nothing heavy to throw, so he would need to improvise. He turned to the sink.
The tap was rhythmically dripping, forming a small puddle in the sink that was slowly being drained. Orion got an idea.
He flipped the sink on, and then cupped his hands underneath the stream. Once they were overflowing with water. He stood up and approached the edge of the island.
The Shambler was standing maybe four paces from the kitchens entrance. It had been moving towards the kitchen slowly, and all the moss had followed.
Except for a small branch which had stayed by the living room.
Orion stepped up to the edge of the island, brought his hands back, and flung the cupped water across the room. It landed on the living room branch, and the Shambler launched itself across the room.
It stopped suddenly and swung wildly at the air. Orion watched, confused. The beast seemed nearly panicked. Almost all the moss had left the kitchen in search of whatever had landed over in the living room. It seemed like a very intense reaction. The same thing hadn't happened when Orion had thrown the alarm clock.
So why now?
Orion turned back to the dripping water in the sink, and his eyes widened. He watched as every droplet would explode upon impact with the sink, and send out dozens of smaller droplets in every direction.
"That's it! When the water landed, it sent out droplets- hundreds of droplets! These droplets all landed on the moss and confused the system. It made the Shambler believe there were several targets because it was picking up multiple signals!"
Finally, something he could work with. Orion cupped more water, and approached the edge again. He tossed the water, and this time tried to spray it out in a wide arch. The water turned into a volley of thousands of droplets. Each one landing at a different point, giving a different signal.
The Shambler turned wildly, swinging and looking around frantically. At this point, all the moss had left the kitchen, and a dense carpet of moss surrounded the Shambler.
Orion smiled before turning to the rest of the kitchen and sliding off the island. The beast was distracted, but he still wanted to act quickly. He searched through his pantry and grabbed several cans of soup. He then opened a cupboard and grabbed a large plastic cup. He would be able to store more water in the cup, and he could use the soup cans as other projectiles in case of emergencies.
Lastly, he turned to his cutlery. He needed a weapon. Opening a large drawer, he found what he had really been wanting.
A butchers knife. He had won it at some company party. It wasn't a great prize for him- Orion hardly cooked his own meals, but he decided to keep the gift regardless. It looked cool, and maybe someday he would need it.
Granted, Orion always figured if he did need it, it wouldn't be to fight against a strange skeleton monster which had taken over his apartment. But he was greatful to his past self for not throwing it out.
Orion quickly hoped back on the island, now fully prepared. He exhaled, only then realizing he had been holding his breath. He turned to the beast, and got to thinking.
"I have a weapon, but I don't actually know how much damage I can do. If we assume the skeleton has the same strength as a human skeleton, than it should be pretty easy to break through with my knife."
"However, I think there's plenty of reason to assume it's far more durable than a basic human skeleton. The only way to test that theory would be to go up and hit it, and that would probably end up with me dead."
"I need a weak spot."
Orion watched the Shambler for several minutes, analyzing how it moved and conducted itself. Another scream came from below Orion. He felt fear grip his heart for only a moment before he pushed it down. If he wanted to help those people, he needed to get out of here.
He watched for a moment longer, and then it clicked.
Orion grabbed a can of soup and threw it at the Shambler. It smashed into the beasts head. The can slammed into the ground, dented by the impact with the Shamblers skull. The moment it landed on the ground, the Shambler rampaged. It swung wildly in the direction the can landed.
Orion grabbed another can, and threw it at the beasts neck. The can bounced off and landed on the ground. But this time, it was unharmed by the impact with the Shambler.
The neck had more padding, far more padding. That must've been the weak spot. Orion had figured that the joints and connective areas of the skeleton would be the weakest, and what was the spine but a row of connective pieces?
The beast didn't need to worry about padding the middle of the spine as much because it could use its ribcage to stop attacks. But the neck had no protection, so it had a denser moss blanket to compensate.
However that blanket didn't cover it from below. He would need to get under the beast, and attack the neck. Was that even possible?
Orion watched the Shambler again. It was still attacking the area that the second can had landed at. Orion began to smile as he watched the beast.
"Well isn't that just perfect."
The cans of soup and the alarm clock had all become the targets of the Shambler, and yet the beast hadn't actually hit any of the items on the ground.
Because it didn't swing down.
The Shambler automatically took any input from the moss as a creature stepping on the moss. From there, it would attack above where the signal had actually come from. It was aiming for the body, trying to cleave through organs and kill quickly.
It had probably only attacked Orions leg because it was desperate and that was the only thing it could reach.
Orion stood, knife in hand, and grinned.
It was time to kill a monster.