Jack stepped back until he was in the centre of the little bunker room. He tried to think about what to do next. He could always just wait for Monty, the room seemed pretty sturdy and it had survived a spiky death ball exploding right next to it.

  On the other hand he had just seen the Rift Guardian turn to mist and phase through a spear. While none of the wolves they had run into so far had done that, was he willing to bet they couldn’t or that they couldn’t find another way in?

  Probably not, he was safe for the moment but he could hear them slowly tightening their circle as they padded closer. They were spread out and there was no way he would be able to target them all. He only had four chances and then he was back to just shockwave and hope.

  Part of the fear he had felt when he first entered the rift was gone, whether pushed away by the ring or numbed by recent exposures to life-threatening situations he wasn't sure. Guess now's as good a time as any, gotta try to get a lot of them in one spot Jack thought.

  He walked over to the small opening to his right and peered through the one without the orb.

  “Here doggy, doggy, doggy, who wants to play fetch?” Jack shouted a few times as he tried to entice them to gather in one area.

  It sort of worked, a few of them stopped their pacing and started to move towards the sharp spears on the bunker, chomping and sniffing at them as they tried to get closer. Jack took his chance and put his hand through the opening and into the hole inside the orb, he activated his [Shockwave] and released.

  Again his ears rang and his hand tingled, as he pulled it back into the bunker and looked out to survey the damage. He had been a little excited and hadn’t managed to keep the shape as tight as he wanted, the damage was impressive but much less focused than last time.

  With the number of creatures around him that didn’t matter but as he looked out he felt a pang of almost involuntary regret. He loved dogs, and even though they had been trying to eat him the scene before him was still difficult to take in.

  He could see at least six of the creatures that had been impaled and were pinned to the ground, a number of them missing significant portions of their bodies. The area was strewn with wood splinters and a number of the spears closest to the opening he had used were broken or pointed away.

  The ringing in his ears faded and was replaced by a deep growling sound that was coming from very close to him. He looked down to see a snout pointed up at him, directly below him on the other side of the wall. It launched up at him and he fell backwards onto his ass. He did not scream like a little girl.

  Jack scrambled backwards as a snout poked into the hole his hand had just been in. Growls all around him set his panic off as his heart raced. He wasn’t ready for this, why did Monty leave him?

  Jack took a breath and tried to calm himself. He was safe in the bunker, it might look like wood but it was strong enough to withstand an explosion right next to it. The creature clamped its jaws around the edge of the opening.

  Jack wasn't sure if it was just his mind playing tricks on him or not, but he heard a crack as it bit down. It opened its jaws and fell to the ground. Jack stared at the tooth marks in the wall as there was a howl behind him.

  The teeth had penetrated into the wood. There was a crack starting to web its way towards the edge of the opening. Maybe he wasn’t as safe in here as he thought.

  He jumped to his feet, if he couldn't trust the structure he had to act now. He turned and moved to the opening with the death ball behind him.He stuck his hand through and into the ball as he heard a low rumble out in front of him as he channeled another [Shockwave]. The orb exploded and the threatening sounds in front of him stopped, replaced with pained yelps.

  Jack turned around as a set of jaws once again clamped down on the opening. As they pulled away this time, a small chunk of wood fell away with them. Jack froze. He felt overwhelmed, there was so much stimulus around him and his mind wasn’t able to process it all.

  He tried to reel his thoughts in and come up with a plan. He had to hold out for Monty.

  Shit, shit, shit I can’t let it keep breaking that opening. I don't know how many of them are left, if they were spread out evenly there still had to be ten left? Should I use the other orbs and just hope for the best? What if they spread out again and the orb doesn’t get anyone. No, I have to save the orbs until I can bait them to that side.

  Jack's thoughts raced, he stared as the creature's maw appeared once more, latching on to the same spot, now pulling itself in a little further.

  No, if it keeps taking chunks off it might get through before Monty gets here. Get out of my bunker!

  Jack thought to himself as he held up his palm, doing the only thing he could think of to get the creature away from the bunker. He focused as hard as he could knowing he would have to keep the shape as tight as possible. He even curved his hand hoping that might help.

  He channeled a cycle of mana instead of purging it manually like he had been doing and activated his [Shockwave] once more. He had been trying to keep this one as tight as possible to just blast its head out of the opening. He partially succeeded.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The blast was much more concentrated than normal, but it still expanded as it left his body. By the time it crossed the small distance and impacted the jaw of the beast it had expanded enough to impact a basketball-sized area around the opening.

  The structure was strong, but while it might have been strengthened from impacts on the exterior it did not seem to be the case for the interior. Or maybe the ball of death and the creature chomping at the opening weakened it. Jack would never know, what he did know was that the opening wasn't so small anymore.

  A jagged hole the size of a dinner plate was now left in the wall. The wolf-like creature was gone, but through the opening he spotted several more looking at the new opening. A chorus of howls erupted as they raced forward towards the opening.

  Motherfu... what can I do, what can I do. Damn it!

  Jack held his hand out as another cycle completed in his body and he tried once again to keep the shape as tight as possible. He released another shockwave as one of the beasts leapt towards the opening.

  The blast was still bigger than the opening, ripping out a few small sections as it shot past. The one that leapt forward was thrown backwards and Jack lost sight of it as it slammed into the ground. Two more of the approaching creatures yelped as they were thrown sideways and the broken sections of wall pierced into them.

  Jack stared through the larger opening. His body was shaking as fear fought with adrenaline inside him.

  He could see another creature slowly prowling around, now more cautious but determined to approach. From the sides of the bunker he could hear howls and the sound of feet moving towards the side with the opening.

  He stepped towards the opening to try to get a closer look around.

  Ok, I can do this. I won't run out of mana, I can just keep blasting them back. Hopefully they get injured on something or decide to run away. Think of it like simulated practice. No stress, focus on the skill.

  He didn’t wait for the wolf to approach, he held out his hand as he walked to the hole, now wide enough for one of them to fit through. He put his hand into the opening as the creature started to sprint towards it, its agile approach avoiding the splinters and shards of wood embedded in the ground.

  He released his mana and blasted it backwards, its agility meaning nothing as it was flung through the air and shredded itself on the cheese-grater-like floor, eventually coming to a stop as its momentum left it impaled on one of the larger spikes.

  He barely had time to register his revulsion at the scene as he glanced to his right and another beast approached. He pointed his hand at it and another pulse of force shot out and blasted it backwards, there was less debris on this side and it rolled into the dark in a tangle of limbs with a crunching sound as it hit the ground.

  He heard a sound to his left and without even looking he set a blast in that direction, no longer trying to keep the shape tight. He heard a yelp and a wet crunching sound as it disappeared into the distance; he hoped it collided with a tree.

  He took a moment to look around the opening. There were bodies torn and shredded all around him, and the ground had chunks of soil with divots missing and wood embedded all around. It looked as if a bomb had gone off, which it kind of had.

  He pushed thoughts about the destruction to the back of his mind as a creature approached from the darkness, slowly to begin with and then it sped up as it came closer. He heard a sound to his left and took a second to glance that way as he saw another one loping towards him.

  There was no way he could get them both with the one blast right now, they were too far apart. They were both approaching rapidly and he had to make a decision soon, he wouldn't have enough time to blast them both.

  He panicked and blasted the closest one, sending it skittering away along the ground as it tore through the splintered floor. The second creature pounced directly at Jack's outstretched hand; he threw himself backwards into the bunker and just missed having his digits chomped.

  There was a loud thud as the beast collided with the wall. Jack was lucky it had been aiming for his hand and not his body, its leap sent it past the opening rather than through it.

  He shifted back into the bunker further from the opening, he was exhausted, his legs were shaking. That had to be most of them, right?

  He waited until the creature tried to jump into the opening again before he sent out another blast. This one hit it as it was coming through the hole sending it ricocheting off the edge of the jagged opening. Part of it caught and tore another chunk off the wall.

  Jack sat and stared, only now realising he was almost hyperventilating. He tried to slow his breathing. His eyes kept darting at the slightest hint of movement, as his breathing evened out, sound returned to the world.

  He heard some pained yelps, but there was no sound of anything moving. He started to calm down and reminded himself that the sound was not a puppy in pain, these evil death hounds tried to kill him. His eyes caught a hint of movement on the edge of the darkness.

  The body of one of the death wolves was dragging itself forward. Its hind legs were a tangled crushed mess but it still dragged itself forward. Its eyes held a look that snapped Jack out of his spiral, this creature was in pain beyond anything Jack could imagine. Its body was torn and broken but it couldn’t stop itself from moving towards him.

  No animal Jack knew would do that, to be in that much pain and still be driven to aggressively approach the source of that pain, this wasn’t something that was ‘Natural’ to Jack. As sad as it was, seeing this poor injured creature struggle towards him with aggression and violent intent in its eyes was the final piece of the puzzle that clicked home the reality of his situation.

  These creatures might look like something he knew, they might sound like something he knew. But they weren't, they were alien, created from mana. In a short time, whether it was ten minutes or an hour, they would simply dissolve back into mana.

  The danger was real, their aggression was real and the damage they could do was real. He glanced around the destroyed bunker and field outside him.

  Why? Why were they so aggressive ? Are they always like this?

  Jack gingerly got to his feet and walked toward the opening; he stuck his hand out towards the injured creature approaching him, he felt sorry for it, no matter what it was he didn’t want it to suffer. He released another shockwave and it was blasted back into the darkness.

  Jack had to repeat that action four more times before it stopped returning, likely dead or unable to move anymore.

  Jack thought back to Monty’s story about the rift break near his home planet, he felt he understood his motivation just a little more than before. His respect for Monty was growing. He just hoped Monty was ok and would be back soon. He propped himself back against the wall opposite the opening, slowed his breathing and waited.

  I honestly started writing this story just for me so I could get experience doing it. The thought of anyone reading it or enjoying it is wild to me and I am happy you are here on the journey with me.

  I am pretty proud of the last few chapters and I think this one and the next are probably some of my best writing so far, happy for you guys to be the judges though.