The Night That Never Ends*

** Chapter 8: Blackola's banquet ***(POV AYMAN AL-SARAAVWI)*The road to Blackwater was covered by a dense and greenish mist, as if the air itself was rotting. Ayman drove the stolen jeep with the headlights pointed to the emptiness, the static -tuned radio. It was then that he heard the first *beat *.

*** Thump. Thump. Thump. *** It didn't come from the engine. Came from the forest.

He looked at the rearview mirror. On the fog, a silhouette dragged himself -*too high to be human*, with disproportionate shoulders and a head that shook as if the neck was broken. Ayman accelerated, but the beat intensified, accompanied by a metallic creak.

*** Thump. Thump. Thump. *** When the creature emerged from the mist, Ayman almost lost control of the steering wheel.

** Blackola. ** Two and a half meters height. Body deformed by swollen muscles, cracked skin exposing black veins. The head was that of a dead rabbit - blurry, torn ears hanging like rags, and the rotten muzzle, revealing sharp human teeth. In his hands, a rusty ax studded with symbols that emitted a purple glow. But the worst was the ** smell **: a toxic vapor exuded from his mouth, leaving rotor traces in the air.

* "Ayman…"* Blackola dragged the ax on the asphalt, sparks flying. * "I taste your tongue… sweet as a corpse honey."* Ayman accelerated as much, but Blackola ran like an animal, jumping over the jeep. The ceiling kneaded with the impact. The ax blade crossed the metal, stopping centimeters from Ayman's face.

* "You are the banquet's main course!"* Blackola laughed, spitting a cloud of green gas.

Ayman diverted to a secondary path, entering a twisted tree forest. Blackola's poison burned his eyes, distorting his vision. He abandoned the jeep and ran to a nearby cabin while the creature howled:*"I'm going to chew your eyes… frying your liver… and using your bones like sticks for my teeth!"*--- ** The bone cabin ** inside the cabin, Ayman found traps. The place was a macabre altar: lined animal skulls, vials with human tongues in formaldehyde, and on the walls, symbols of the iron circle -*a broken chain involving a crossed triangular eye*. In the center, a short wave radio.

An intermittent transmission echoed: *"Ayman… Blackola is a *Devouring reaper *. Your ax invokes spirits of victims… Don't fight alone. Find the*dry source*… the water that silences the dead… "*was Molly. His voice was interspersed, as if he were in another dimension.

Blackola broke into the door. *"Kitchen chief arrived!"*Your ax shone, and the metal emerged ** Spirits ** - Children with melted faces, women with open bellies, all grabbing Ayman.

* "I tried every part of them,"* Blackola whispered, approaching. *"But you… you are *special *. The devourer hates his pure soul… it makes it*delicious*. "*Ayman kicked a formaldehyde bottle in the creature's eyes. Blackola shouted temporarily blind, and Ayman escaped through the rear window.

--- ** The dry source ** The forest led it to a dry stream, a bed covered with white bones. According to Molly's message, the water that flowed there had purifying properties -*but now it was dead*. Blackola chased him, invoking more spirits with ax blows on the floor.

* "It's no use running, dish!"* The creature advanced, cutting trees like twigs.

Ayman found a hidden cave behind a petrified waterfall. Inside, ancient inscriptions showed rituals to arrest reapers: * "The dries source wakes up with non -corrupted blood." * * Blood not corrupted. * Yours.

Without hesitation, Ayman cut his palm and pressed it against the stream bed. The soil trembled, and from the cracks gushed ** black water ** - not purifying, but*hungry*. She wrapped Blackola, dragging him underground.

*"No! I am the boss! "* He struck the water with the ax, releasing panic spirits.

Ayman ran, but a giant bone hand emerged from the source, grabbing his leg. It was Blackola, half decomposed by black water, still obsessive: * "Just one… Bite…" * A shot echoed. Blackola's rabbit head shattered, and the creature collapsed. Behind Ayman, a figure with a hunting rifle and an emblem of the iron circle in the chest -*an indigenous woman with cold look*.

* "Water does not destroy reapers," she said. *"It only falls asleep. Blackola will return. And he doesn't forget a dish he fled. "*--- ** The iron circle ** Woman introduced herself as ** kara **, one of the circle leaders. She led Ayman to an underground hiding place in Blackwater, where survivors monitored project hospitals. On the walls, pictures of other reapers:- * A man with a pig and chainsaw head hunting in the eastern Europe. *- * A tentacles with tentacles in his belly, in an Asian hospital. *- * Blackola, into a photo of the 1950s, still human… until the devourer turned him into what is. *"Vorstaan turned them into guardians. Each one obsessed with a body part… a metaphor of what they lost. " * *" What about Blackola? " *" He was a cook who survived cannibalizing others in a hospital on fire. The devourer amplified his…*Palate*. "*Kara handed Ayman a bottle of water from the dry source. *"This will weaken them, not kill. To end Blackola, you need his ax. He invokes the spirits he devoured… including those who can help you find Molly. "*--- ** Blackola's revenge ** that night, while Ayman slept, the vines of the hideout shattered. Blackola was there, rebuilt -*her head was now a mixture of rabbit and human*, with tongues sewn on her neck.

* "You owe me a banquet,"* he growled, summoning spirits with an ax blow. *"And today… the menu is*liver with eyes*!"*Ayman grabbed the water bottle and threw it into the creature. Blackola Upou, giving Kara time to shoot her arm. The ax fell, and Ayman took him.

By touching the gun, ** voices ** invaded your mind -*Blackola's victims, including Molly*. She appeared as a fragmented spirit: *"The ax can open portals… Use it in the Sanatorium of the Mosts. I'm there… in*between*. "*Blackola backed down to the mist, promising:*" I'll be back… and I will take your plate to the great banquet*of the devourer! "*With the ax in his hands, Ayman knew what he needed to do. The iron circle led him to the rubble of the Sanatorium of the Mosts, where the air smelled the burned flesh and tears.

** End of Chapter 8. ** --- ** Note: ** Blackola introduces a visceral and folkloric horror, mixing elements of Slasher Movies with the supernatural mythology of history. His obsession with specific parts of Ayman's body reflects the theme of "consumption" of the devourer, while the ax that invokes spirits deepens the connection between living and dead. The alliance with the Iron Circle and the revelation of the "Great Banquet" prepare the final confrontation in Entre, where Molly awaits as a key piece for the project Phoenix.