Somehow, we had done it. Every single Reltleon was loaded onto the transports—all two thousand three-hundred and twelve of them. I didn't even care how far off Glunderlin's census data had actually been, because we had done it. we had even gone above and beyond that. The City had been entirely stripped. More still, we had even managed to take every crop, garden, and tree with us. All that was left were the empty buildings. They would remain as a gift to the Cactomen, the last living reminder of Smithtown.

"How long until Cecile is ready with the livestock?" Pryte asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"I'll check," I said as I pulled up a chat window.

Dave: Maud, where is Cecile at over there? Pryte is getting antsy.

Maud: He says he's about ready. He also says that as soon as he does this, we will have about 8 hours at most to get back to Earth.

Dave: What happens if we don't make it in that time?

Maud: Uh, he says, he will start losing the animals, and he isn't entirely sure what that means.

Dave: Got it. Okay, I'll check with Pryte if we are ready to go and get the bus over to you guys as soon as we are.

Maud: Thanks :)

"Cecile is nearly ready, so we can probably go pick the brothers up. Is there anything else we need to do?" I asked, wanting to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. I didn't think I did, but it was entirely possible given how rushed this all had been.

"Not really, are you ready to fight off whatever is waiting on the inside?" Pryte asked.

I wasn't, at least I didn't think I was. That didn't mean I wasn't going to do it. I just very much wasn't looking forward to it at all. The plan was to open the gate, deal with whatever came out, if anything, then Elody and I would clear the initial way so we could move the transports in. In theory, we'd be picked up by the bus leading the way and clear any further path as needed. I was more concerned about the brothers than I was myself, though.

"As much as I can be. I'm worried about the rear, just leaving Cecile and Elicec there, especially with Cecile not able to fight for the trip, seems like a giant problem," I said, not for the first time. We had this discussion a dozen times, and I already knew the answer Pryte was going to give me.

"We don't have the manpower for anything else. Right now, we have to operate under Yorela being the expert here, and trust me, she is. We may not be what we once were, but I'd still trust her with my life." Pryte's reply, while close to what I had been expecting, included a few more personal details than he had shared previously. He had been pretty tight-lipped on his former relationship with the other librarian up until now.

"Yeah, I know. Alright, I'm going to head to the gate and grab Beta. Gamma, will you be able to take care of my internals while also manifested with Pryte in the last transport?" I asked, accepting that there wasn't much else we could do to prepare.

"Likely, but I am not Corey. I will need to practice more for this in the future if we ever swap again. I very much want to practice more," Gamma replied.

"With the way things continue to go, we will all get more practice. Gamma, you're with Pryte, go grab the brothers," I said, with a return nod from Pryte as I headed for our way out. The line of transports stretched down the street three vehicles thick, all packed with people and supplies, just waiting for our final order to leave their city.

Elody was waiting with her fellow former librarians inside the Traveler's Gate building, near where the gate would shortly be opened. Unlike when I had first met them all, the differences between how all three of them carried themselves were incredibly obvious now. Elody seemed calm and patient, nearly all the time. Yorela was the stark opposite, looking ready to pounce given half a reason, and Quarilyn seemed a bit nervous in her surroundings.

"Does this mean it's finally time to get ourselves killed?" Yorela asked as I approached them.

"Do you really expect us all to die at this?" Elody countered, sounding annoyed, dispelling my earlier image of her.

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"I honestly don't know, and as much as you may want to be the all-knowing Elody, you don't either." Yorela stopped speaking for a second, breathed loudly, and then continued with a less aggressive tone. "Let me be clear here El, I respect you a lot, that's why I'm trying to make it crystal clear as possible how much shit we are about to walk into. I don't think any of you really get it."

"We don't, Yor. You're right there. Chaotic space, especially the deeper abyss, are something all of us know very little about, and I'm glad to have you here with us, but we don't have much of a choice, and you know that as well as any of us do," Elody said, gently but firmly as a chat window popped up.

Gamma: We have the brothers. Cecile says we need to leave immediately. I also wish to fight the horrors.

Beta: Grab me. I want to fight for the empire too!

Dave: Got it. I'll let everyone up here know, and we can prepare the way.

"The brothers have been picked up, so it's now or never," I said as I closed the chat window.

"Alright, I want you two on the bus, the moment we have the gate cleared, send out Glunderlin," Elody said, both ladies nodded agreement.

The argument was over. Now we just needed to make a path to get the fleet inside the highway, and Glunderlin needed to grab the Traveler core the moment the end of the fleet reached him and join the brothers. We only had a few minutes from the time they left the gate before it closed, but that should be enough for what we need.

"You ready for this?" I asked Elody once the other two were on the bus.

"No. Yorela has a strong point, but I promise I will not back down," she replied. I couldn't detect a hint of fear in her voice.

"That's more than I have any right to ask for," I said as I removed Beta from where I had left them, placing them back into the box cutter. "Alright, Traveler, open the gate. We are as ready as we can be."

While the dark blue magical energies filled the large archway, I released Alpha from my storage. They quickly joined Beta in flanking Elody and me. Nothing immediately tried to come through. I had no idea if that was a good sign or not. Beside me, Elody nodded her head, and we both took several steps forward.

I understood why people preferred to use vehicles to travel through the gates the instant I passed across the threshold. An icy feeling shot through me, overwhelming any defenses I had against it. Luckily, the feeling vanished the moment I stepped through on the other side. Elody's shudder told me she had just had a similar experience.

In front of us stood only one of the horrors. Several cracks were visible in its chest bones. That likely meant it was the one Alpha and Beta had forced back. I quickly sent a message to Gamma with my plans.

Dave: I'm going to do exactly what I did before. This time, though, break me out of it the second it's taken enough damage that we can safely get the fleet through. We don't need to waste time destroying it. Alpha, Beta, stay with me.

Gamma: Okay.

"Elody, I'm about to trigger my Berserk ability again. Gamma has orders to break me out of it as soon as possible. Once this thing goes down, we move the fleet through," I called to her.

"I'll focus on keeping you healed then," she replied, one of her books appearing in front of her upper eyes.

Just like the last time we had fought one of these monstrosities, I triggered the same chain of mana skills as before, ending with the feeling of a complete sense of purpose. My teeth clenched as the creature made of bones stepped toward us. Why did it dare still stand in my presence? How dare it? The anger in those thoughts flooded my senses and pushed me forward.

Its arm caught me in the left shoulder just as I managed to slam my own right shoulder into its frame. The arm that hit me exploded into shards as the form of Alpha zoomed around me. I saw my hands reach up and rip free one of its bones before I started clubbing it with it over and over. The slashes that ran down my back this time vanished nearly instantly, likely the work of Elody.

It was slightly easier to process what was happening around me this time than it had been before. I still couldn't fully pull myself back from the rage that drove my swings on, but I now felt almost more like an outside observer using my eyes. Rapid scenes flashed into a part of my brain that hadn't been entirely clouded over by the driving force this time.

Despite that fact, when the time came for me to stop my onslaught, I still wasn't able to do so myself. I knew Gamma had given me a few seconds longer than needed to try on my own, and I appreciated it, but still, I had been unable to accomplish it. In the future, I needed to fix that. Gamma's cutting off the mana orb from my core did the trick. I was again in full control.

I turned to yell for Elody, but spotted her already heading back through the portal. She must have picked up on the end of my ability. Moments later, the bus came through, leading the fleet behind it.

"Get yer ass onboard!" Mel yelled from the open door as it slowly came near me. I hopped on, followed by Alpha and Beta. All we had to do now was get this convoy home.

What are the horrors of the deep regions of chaotic space? What monsters lurk beyond? From the darkest depths beyond even the abyssal space, in places even daring explorers fear to tread, exist horrors beyond comprehension. But don't think that these things stay put there. Sometimes they find their way into the Spiral itself. Have you ever been on the verge of sleep and heard something whisper your name? Or perhaps you saw eyes looking back at you during a dark thunderstorm. Or even worse, have you ventured into a blackened ice storm only to see a shadow form coalesce from the falling ice? If you did, then dear reader, you know the fear that comes from the darkness beyond.

Another 117 Scary Stories for Sleepovers by S. M. Grime

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