"Wake up."

It took every fiber of Pale's being not to lash out with her combat knife as someone gently nudged her awake. Her eyes shot open, and one hand fell to the fixed blade sheathed at her waist, but she held herself back upon seeing those familiar blue eyes and flowing golden hair.

Cynthia stood over her, and flinched when she saw Pale's hand fall to her knife. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Pale gave a gruff exhale, then pulled her hand away from the hilt of her blade.

"...You startled me," she offered. "Believe me, I still have no intentions of hurting you. But next time, assuming there is a next time, do yourself a favor and exercise a bit more caution when you wake me up. There are exactly two people in this entire world I trust enough to let them shake me awake, and you aren't one of them."

Cynthia blinked, slightly taken aback by what Pale was saying, but after a moment, she nodded. "...Okay. The rest of us are already awake. You're the last one up."

Pale shook her head as she rose to her feet, then stretched her arms out, feeling her joints crack and pop as she did so, a satisfied groan escaping her as she shook off the night's rust. In the months she'd been inhabiting this avatar, she'd grown used to some of the quirks of having a physical body, but every now and again, something took her by surprise. The first was just how satisfying it could be simply to stretch out after waking up from a long night's rest.

Another was just how hungry humans got even after just a few hours between meals.

Her stomach grumbled, and everyone turned to look at her in surprise. Pale was nonplussed; instead, she hefted her rifle, then motioned towards the mouth of the cave.

"I'm going to go get some food," she said. "Kayla, were you planning to tag along?"

To Pale's surprise, Kayla shook her head. "Sorry, Pale. I'm still feeling a little tired from last night's fight with the Amalgamation. I'd prefer to rest here for a bit, if you wouldn't mind."

Pale blinked, taken aback by Kayla's words, but after a moment, she nodded. "...Very well. I wasn't planning to go far, just into the forest to see if I could hunt something suitable for the four of us."

Cal perked up at that. "You're going hunting?"

"I just said that."

"Well, yeah, but it doesn't hurt to confirm it. Anyway, Cynthia and I saw some deer last night, before we ran into you both. With any luck, there'll be some still wandering nearby."

"Is it far?" Pale asked.

Cal shook his head. "Nah. Only about twenty minutes by walk, I think, and that's if we take our time. I can go with you if you'd like, show you exactly where we last saw them."

"Thanks, but-"

"That's a good idea," Kayla interrupted. Pale turned her once more, her eyes narrowing, but Kayla didn't seem to care at all. That surprised Pale a bit – in the past, Kayla would have acquiesced to her based on that kind of glare alone. Granted, that was before they'd gotten more comfortable with each other.

Kayla spoke again, interrupting Pale's thoughts. "Cal, you should go with her. Don't worry about taking a deer down yourself, Pale can handle that so long as you watch her back."

"You can count on me," Cal said. He motioned for Pale to follow after him. "Come on, I'll take you there."

Pale continued to stare at Kayla for a moment, though it didn't last long before Cynthia cleared her throat.

"U-um… what do you need me to do?"

That snapped Pale out of it. She shook her head, then turned towards Cynthia. "Watch Kayla," she commanded. "Someone needs to be here and keep an eye on her until she's fully recovered. After dealing with that thing last night, I wouldn't trust anyone to be left alone, at least until we've confirmed that there aren't any more out there."

Cynthia nodded. Pale was about to turn around when someone reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

"You coming or what?" Cal asked.

Pale grit her teeth, but said nothing as she turned around and followed Cal outside of the cave and into the crimson forest.

Whatever was on Kayla's mind that had led her to splitting the group like this, she wasn't sure, but it had her concerned.

XXX

"You feeling alright?"

"Fine," Pale snapped as her and Cal trudged through the forest, pushing their way through foliage and underbrush. "Why do you ask?"

Just up ahead, a few steps in front of her, Cal shrugged. "Well, it's just… you're being very quiet. I'm not used to traveling with someone who's so reserved; Cynthia is a lot more talkative."

Pale said nothing in response. After a few moments, Cal added, "That was your cue to ask how we know each other."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I don't care," Pale said bluntly. "At this point, you're still my competition, and with any luck, I won't be at the Luminarium for very long."

"You won't?" Cal asked, surprised. "You're really going to go through all this trouble to get entry for you and your friend, but then leave so soon into the school year? There a reason for that?"

"Classified."

"What's that mean?"

"It means I can't tell you."

"Why?"

"Because if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Cal fell silent at that. Pale exhaled a small sigh of relief that he seemed to have finally stopped talking.

Unfortunately, it only lasted for a few seconds.

"...So, did you mean that literally, or-"

"Do you have an off switch?" she demanded.

"What are you, my mother? She says the same thing…" Cal shook his head. "Anyway, we're traveling together, so you'll just have to deal with my quirks and my talkative nature until we're back at the cave."

"Talk too much and I'm liable to sew your mouth shut."

"You won't do that."

"Don't test me. I have a set of medical sutures in my first-aid kit, and I know how to use them."

Cal just waved her off nonchalantly. "So, how did you and… Kayla, was it? How'd you two meet? And moreover, how'd you get here? We don't get very many beastkin around these parts, so something tells me you're both pretty far from home."

"None of your business."

"I'm just curious, is all. I'll even cut you a deal – answer those questions for me and I'll leave you alone."

"Why do you care so much?" Pale questioned.

Again, Cal shrugged. "I just like meeting people, I guess. Kinda the opposite of Cynthia, really – she's fine enough talking to people, but she's not quite the social butterfly I am, and in any case, she's content to stick close to me, anyway. So, how about it? Does my offer sound-"

"I stumbled upon Kayla's village while it was in the midst of being sacked by barbarians from the far north," Pale interrupted, already impatient. "I saved her life, and the two of us began traveling together to try and get her father back from the barbarians that had enslaved him. We fought our way across the sea, to where the barbarians hailed from, but in the end, we couldn't save him. In the absence of anything else to do and with nowhere else to go, we both decided gaining entry to the Luminarium was the best option. And now we're here, stuck with you and Cynthia in this underground forest, trying not to die. Does that answer your questions?"

Cal looked back at her over his shoulder, his eyes wide with surprise. "...What was that about fighting your way across the sea?" Pale glowered at him, and he held up a hand in surrender. "Alright, alright, I get it – sensitive information, and all… and yeah, it did. Thanks for that, I guess."

"A deal's a deal," Pale reminded him.

"I'm aware, thank you; being the son of a man with a thriving business empire tends to teach one to respect deals. But yeah, you've got a point."

And with that, Cal fell mercifully silent. Pale let out a small sigh of relief as the two of them continued to walk on through the forest.

The end of their entry exam couldn't come soon enough, as far as she was concerned.

XXX

"Just up ahead," Cal said, coming to a stop. Pale stopped a few feet behind him; it had only been a few minutes since he'd voluntarily stopped speaking, which was entirely several minutes too short as far as she was concerned, but given how hungry she was, Pale was willing to look past that.

She gently pushed her way past Cal, then sank down to one knee as she brought her rifle up to her shoulder and flipped the magnifier into place behind her weapon's holographic sight. Currently, they were both at the edge of a large clearing, which by her estimate measured about a hundred yards across. On the other end, there were several large deer, padding along and eating grass. Pale didn't waste any time; she took aim at the nearest one, centering the reticle of her weapon's optic right on where its spine met its skull, and gently squeezed the trigger.

A split-second later, the noise of the suppressed gunshot washed over the clearing. The other deer took off running at the sudden sound, and Pale put her weapon on safe before rising back up to both feet, still peering through her weapon's optic to examine the aftermath of the shot. Sure enough, the deer she'd targeted was now lying motionless on the ground, blood and spinal fluid trickling out of a small hole at the base of its skull.

Pale motioned for Cal to follow her. "Come on," she said. "I'll need your help to get it back to the cave."

"S-sure…" Cal muttered. "Gods… that weapon is unreal… and those things are common where you're from, I'm guessing?"

Pale didn't dignify his answer with a response, instead stepping out from behind the treeline and carefully jogging over to where the fallen deer was lying. As she approached the freshly-killed animal, however, something struck her, and she came to a stop, holding a fist up into the air to signal for Cal to pause. He did so, coming to a rest just a few feet behind her.

"What is-" That was as far as he got before the stench hit him, too. Instantly, his brow furrowed, and he began to gag. "Oh, Gods…! What in the three hells is that?"

"Carrion," Pale answered, her eyes narrowing. "Stay here."

"Wait, what are you-"

He never got a chance to finish, as Pale took off running through the underbrush, following the scent as best as she could. As she sprinted, the stench grew stronger, eventually becoming overpowering as she reached the mouth of a darkened cave.

And just outside the cave, she could see the mutilated bodies of what had to be around a dozen other initiates, all of them in various states of ruination.

On a hunch, Pale shouldered her rifle, sweeping the magnifier off to the side before thumbing on the weapon-mounted light affixed to its handguard. Instantly, the flashlight cut through the darkness, revealing even more carnage within – another dozen-or-so bodies, though it was hard to tell given the state they were in. Thankfully, the cave seemed devoid of life, though it wasn't hard to tell why.

Footsteps behind her signaled Cal's arrival, followed by the sound of retching and dry-heaving as he took in the scene around him.

"G-Gods…" he managed to gasp out. "What is this place…?"

"One of the Amalgamation's other lairs, I presume," Pale answered.

That got Cal's attention. Instantly, he stood up straight, one hand going to his crossbow as he looked around in a panic. Pale, meanwhile, shook her head.

"Relax," she said, "I don't think there's another one around here."

"How can you be so sure?" Cal ventured.

"I can't, but I suspect that if there were more than one, we'd already be dead."

Cal went white as a ghost at that news, though he quickly turned green as Pale bent down to inspect one of the bodies. Sure enough, the corpse boasted similar injuries to the ones they'd found at the other cave, where they'd first encountered the Amalgamation.

"What are you doing?!" Cal hissed. "You're desecrating-"

"Yes," Pale interrupted, "I am. But in my defense, it's not like she'll be needing it anymore."

"What are you-"

Pale cut him off once more by merely holding up a white-bound tome, which had been in the unfortunate initiate's bag underneath her body. Cal's eyes went wide at the sight of it.

"I suggest you start looking for more, yourself," Pale advised. "Because I won't be doing it for you. But if that's too morbid, then I'm more than happy to collect just as many of them as Kayla and I need to pass, and you and Cynthia can find yours some other way."

Cal didn't argue. Instead, he tentatively stepped over to another body, this one of a young man who'd lost both his legs and half his face, with the remaining half still frozen in an expression of primal fear, and gave a shudder before flipping the body over and beginning to rifle through his bags. Pale, for her part, did the same.

With any luck, not only would they both have breakfast taken care of now, but also their need to find more tomes.