Arcturus slowly rose to his feet as the shadows coalesced before his very eyes. Up from the inky darkness he had narrowly avoided came a creature that surely could only exist in nightmare, towering over the handful of men and piercing his ears with a blood curdling screech. The final toll of the bell had proven even more dreadful than he could have imagined.

As he stared up into those horrid, glowing eyes, the young man found himself wondering more and more if he had simply woken up to a vivid dream. Such a creature could not truly exist in reality, could it? Arcturus did not feel as if he were dreaming. Everything was too detailed, too consistent, yet he could not help but doubt his senses. It was impossible to tell when one was dreaming after all.

It mattered little, however. Dream or otherwise, the horror staring them down surely seemed real enough, and Arcturus could not risk assuming that his mind was merely deceiving him. Terror was driving his feet slowly backwards, his polished boots taking small, unconscious steps to back away from the threat that stood before them. That wouldn't do.

Planting his heels, Arcturus shifted the hilt of his sword back into his hand, his piercing blue eyes glancing momentarily in the direction of the door. They couldn't maintain their defense with this [i]thing[/i] behind their lines. Sucking in a deep breath, he forced himself to meet the inky monster's hateful gaze, his piercing blue eyes hardening as that unnatural feeling of lustful rage once again bubbled up within him.

[i]"Look alive!"[/i] The officer's voice suddenly boomed forth from his lungs, his commanding tone and foreign accent shouting in defiant response to the horror's scream. Where mere moments before he had been backing away, now Arcturus stepped forward, raising the point of his saber towards the being's chest. "We must kill it as quickly as possible! There is no other recourse!" He continued, although he himself did not attack. Instead he sought to occupy the enemy's attention by placing himself front and center. A direct answer to the nightmarish creature's challenge.