Evie looked above and beyond the forest canopy. The towering trees stretched into the sky, all fighting over the sun's rays. The light was finally beginning to fade as Ryke's long day was ending, and its even longer night would begin. She looked back down to the tall man walking in front of her. Hung over his shoulder was one of the Creatures they had pursued, unconscious.

"We've been out here for hours, the trail's gone cold. We have a hostage of our own, maybe they'll come looking for it."

They had followed the group into the forest, using the trail of greenish blood coming from the Creature Evie had wounded. The same Creature on Romulus' shoulder. They had eventually come upon it, alone, struggling to keep conscious. It couldn't focus enough to use its invisibility power. It had propped itself up on a tree, its sword in hand. It seemed to we waiting for its last stand, probably realizing it was only leading its pursuers back to its camp.

Its weakness was clearly caused by blood loss and wouldn't have lasted much longer. Romulus had effortlessly knocked the sword from its hand. Evie stayed back expanding her nullifying bubble and watching for others. The creature slumped down, probably expecting the end of its life. It stared up at Romulus as he stared back down, not knowing exactly what to do with the pitiful thing.

It finally slipped into unconsciousness as Romulus came to the decision to leave it alive. He cleaned and filled its wounds with disinfectant foam, and bandaged them before throwing the creature over his shoulder. They then continued on in the direction they had been traveling before.

All of this was much to Evie's protest.

"I'm pretty sure they left their comrade here as dead. If we show up with it, maybe they'll give Elena back in exchange."

"Will that be before or after they kill us in retaliation for killing one of their own? We're the reason it was out here dying alone in the forest in the first place."

Romulus looked back, a smirk on his face. "I only knocked one to the ground, you were the one that almost killed this poor thing, and butchered its friend. Maybe I'll offer you up for exchange as well. They'll definitely give me Elena then."

Evie glared at the back of his head. "You wanna try turning around and saying that again? Not sure I heard you right."

Romulus shook his head and continued walking. "Relax, it was a joke. I'm not letting those things take another of my party."

"Will you please not refer to me as your party?" Evie sighed.

Romulus shifted the dead weight hanging from his shoulder.

"I'll admit this thing is getting a bit heavy after carrying it for so long, even for me. Let's rest for a bit."

He gently sat the creature up against a tree and sat next to it. Trying to get as comfortable as possible, he took his axe and propped it up by his side, opposite the creature. He looked up at Evie, who refused to relax. She knew he didn't like the feeling of being without his power, but the Null bubble was necessary. She of course didn't want invisible assassins catching them by surprise.

"If you hate us adventurers so much, and the things that this planet was founded on, then why do you insist on living here? Why not stay on Alistair with the rest of the Nulls?"

The sound of the capital planet's name being said aloud made Evie wince as if in pain. It went unnoticed by Romulus, as she was faced away from him, peering into waning light around them.

"You know, when it gets dark, we're not going to be able to see anything. They're not going to need invisibility to sneak up on us. I'd much rather we keep moving instead of getting to know each other."

Evie didn't fully trust Romulus, so she thought it best to not give away too much about herself. She liked keeping her capabilities a secret. In truth, she would have no problems seeing in the dark thanks to her ocular implants. She liked having every bit of advantage over people that she could, and her enemies not knowing what she could do was a big part of that. Romulus may not be an enemy for now, but she wasn't sure what the future would hold.

They stayed and rested for about ten minutes. Romulus snacked on granola and chugged down a Stamina Potion™ while Evie stayed on high alert, ready for an impending fight. The trees of the forest were large, but grew far apart, making it fairly easy to see in every direction. She watched as some of the native Rykan wildlife scurried about. Much of the local flora and fauna looked much like what you'd find on Earth, but different enough to be entirely alien. It was almost like finding out about life that went extinct on Earth.

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Initial exploration and scans of each planet in the solar system searched for the type of signs you'd typically see based on human civilization, and Earth herself. Intelligent life at or near humanity's level was found on many planets in the solar system, but none so advanced was ever found on Ryke, despite being one of the most promising planets. It was then assumed that evolution simply hadn't gotten as far there yet.

All life in the solar system seemed to have some control over the dark energy around them. Plants used theirs more for growth and survival, and animals tended to have a variety of offensive and defensive abilities based on whether they were predators or prey.

Due to the nature of Rykan society, the more docile animals were referred to simply as Animals, whereas the more aggressive of which were called Monsters. Any advanced life such as Humans and Tarnans were called Beings. Much like Beings, some animals had varying abilities within their race. This was determined to be a precursor in evolution to becoming a Being, so they were dubbed Lesser Begins. It was rare to find, but those that existed in the solar system were mostly left to themselves to allow for continued evolution.

Not all Lesser Beings seemed to want to keep to themselves, and instead were aggressive toward Beings. Not caring for increased confusion, coupled with the irresistible need to categorize things into smaller subcategories, the aggressive Lesser Beings were then called Creatures. The naming scheme somehow grew in popularity, and quickly spread throughout the rest of the solar system.

Because of constant Monster attacks on outer villages, most Quests dealt with taking out a nest or herd of whichever Monster was currently the problem. Every once in a while there would be reports of growing camps of Creatures close enough to towns to be a problem. Creatures raiding towns weren't uncommon during the early years. More recently, the Adventuring Guild would organize Raids of their own when reports would start coming in about Creature sightings.

Raids on Creature camps would pay highly, and were reserved for Adventurers that had higher ranks in the Adventuring Guild. Evie preferred fighting people over animals, and usually only did so when she fully believed she was capable of winning. She only accepted quests as a final resort, so she had a low rank, and thus, was never qualified for Raids. Not that she cared.

"Hey, Rom..."

Romulus looked up from a notebook he was writing in. "Hmm?"

"Is it normal for there to be so few Animals this deep in the forest? And not just that, but we haven't even been attacked by a Monster."

Romulus began looking around.

"We've been in this forest for a while, and I've been on edge the entire time," Evie continued. "I've been expecting to be jumped by a Monster, if not one of those Creatures, but there's been nothin' but the three of us. I'm no adventurer but even I know we should have been attacked by something by now."

Romulus slipped his notebook inside his cuirass, and stood. "Now that you mention it, we definitely must be outside the relatively safe zone around the town by now."

"Nice awareness there, Mr. Orcbane." Elena spoke his adopted surname with contempt.

"Hmph. I never said anything about having great awareness. It should be obvious I'm the brawn, Elena is the brains."

Evie rolled her eyes at the cliché. She continued watching the Animals around her. There weren't many to be seen, but what were, were both grazing for food and watching back cautiously. Evie would even admit, internally at least, that some were even pretty damn cute.

Evie turned to Romulus "I think we should..."

He already had the Creature over his shoulder, and his axe on his back. "I agree, it isn't making me feel any better either."

Evie handed him one of the swords they had looted. "I know they're not your style, but you should probably keep one in hand just in case."

Romulus nodded at her and took the sword, keeping it out in his free hand.

They began walking.

The farther they walked, Evie noticed, the less Animals she would see. Seeing the way Romulus looked around, he noticed as well.

"Yeah, now that I think about it," Romulus said, "I definitely remember seeing more Animals around when we first entered the forest."

Evie suddenly stopped. "Wait!"

Romulus almost tripped, startled at the urgency in her voice, and turned giving her an alarmed look. She was crouched.

"What is it?"

"The Dark Energy over there feels... I don't know... off."

Romulus crouched low in the tall grass. He followed her gaze behind and to the left of him, but there was nothing to be seen. It looked no different from the rest of the forest.

Evie sounded almost afraid. "We've seen less and less Animals as we've walked. Now, over there, there's none at all."

Romulus moved slowly over to the nearest tree, and laid the Creature down flat. Evie came up close to him.

"Can your bubble reach that far?" Romulus asked.

Although she'd want to keep her limitations a secret, she thought it best to let him know, given the circumstances. "That's maybe half a kilometer, no way."

They both heard a sound come from beside them. They looked. The Creature seemed to be waking.

"Not now..." Evie said in a quiet groan.

The creature began making noises. They weren't sure if it was talking, mumbling, or just making random noises. Evie moved close. Its half closed eyes flew open at the sight of her, and went silent. It bared its teeth, but Evie wasn't sure the context.

Its eyes checked the surroundings, sniffed at the air, then stared deep into Evie's eyes. Its mouth moved.

"Home."