Dreiki considered himself uncharacteristically lucky. Not just to have found the two strongest Tibur in the chaos to hide behind, but also to keep them from creating Oskuutor that could not be beaten. If the two of them had been allowed to keep fighting without realizing what the monsters were doing, there was no telling the damage it could have caused.

Dreiki blew his whistle one more time. Ezo had not come back yet, and neither had Luna. They had taken refuge inside the trunk of an Ingen tree thanks to Sancta’s magic. It would have been possible for them to hide in here all night if they wanted to. The Ingen tree’s stoney trunk offered protection, and its soul masked their own within. Even the Oskuutor, who seemed to be sensitive to souls, had walked right past them without looking back.

Unfortunately, this was only a temporary hiding place for them while they attempted to calm Corvio.

“You’re safe now, Corvio, just relax,” Tadios said.

“No! They know! They know my thoughts! They can hear us in here. We’ll be fished out like termites!”

“This aint like you. What happened out there? Were you with Kaara?”

“There were so many of them. They rounded us up like cattle, and-” Corvio choked up, “I ran, and they chased. They knew I couldn’t escape, so they followed. They let me believe I was safe. They knew! They knew! They spoke with their voices.”

“Whose voices?”

“The adults' voices! Lioku and Orsika too! They got Kaara’s voice… everyone…”

A dead silence, broken only by Corvio’s whimpering, overtook them.

“Haven’t you noticed it? Every night, there are less and less hunters! They come back in pieces. That wind magic was from our own hunters!” Corvio rambled, “This isn’t a ceremony for us. It’s appeasement! We’re being sacrificed, so they can live! That’s all this is.”

“You’re talkin’ crazy, Corvio,” Tadios said, “Those things can absorb the magic that’s casted on them, so they probably took some hits from someone like L’Maya and saved it for this moment.”

“Then why wouldn’t L’Maya just kill them?! She either knows how to kill them, or she doesn’t, right? Same with the other adults! They should have killed the Malaki instead of letting them hunt us with such numbers. No matter how you try to justify this ‘ceremony’ they’re still feeding us to those monsters!”

“We know what we signed up for.” Tadios said.

“We did not! The only reason some still live now is because they seek to torture us before we die. The Malaki know not to kill us down to our third, that’s why they capture us and torment us until we break! Until they can root themselves in our heads and speak in the voices of those they’ve killed! You don’t understand it at all Tadios! You’re strong, you can just run and hide, but for the rest of us-”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Tadios pushed Corvio to the wall, “You think I don’t know what they do?! You think I ain’t afraid too? I’ve lived this reality for a lot longer than you have and don’t you dare forget it!”

“Tadios…” Arik said.

“No, I’m done with all this whinin’ from him! Corvio, you know they’re bein’ tortured, and you know they’re still alive. You know they’re tryin’ to get in your head so you break down like this, and you’re doin’ everythin’ they want you to!”

“What else am I to do then?” Corvio shouted over him, “The more we fight them, the stronger they become! They steal the voices of those they kill, and they speak with voices of the adults. They can kill fully fledged hunters! They have double our numbers, so they toy with us and break us in half to share! You wanna know where Kaara is? Probably hanging by her intestines next to her effigy without a face!” Corvio laughed, clutching his head, “That’s why those effigies don’t have faces! I get it now!” Corvio grinned, “But we’ll survive here! We just need to stay here for the next few hours, and ignore all the voices. All the screams!”

Dreiki felt a deep hollow pit in his gut. Had they really been too late to help them?

Think of what the enemy wants you to assume. Then consider why they want you to assume it.

His mothers words. Another lesson he had not understood when it was first taught to him. Now it made sense. What did he know? These Malaki were intelligent. They could think of strategies, ambushes, and create traps. They tortured for the sake of fun. They did not like to be seen. They were impossible to kill, even when they were reduced to ash. Whatever magic they used to harm them was inevitably absorbed and stolen. They had the ability to create puppets out of the ones they stole the faces of.

Their heads also appeared to be mimicry. When he had tried to send a fireball down one’s throat, it had stopped as if its throat was not connected to anything.

“I can’t believe they’re gone…” Arik muttered, “That can’t be true.”

“It is! I’ve heard their voices. I have!”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not! Listen to my heart Arika! She’s dead along with everyone else!”

A lie was only a lie if the one telling it knew they were not telling the truth. Corvio seemed to believe what he was saying, but what was the assumption he was making?

Then it hit him. What did Corvio assume? What did the Oskuutors want him to assume? Dreiki thought back to his encounters with the Oskuutor thus far. They had only mimicked a voice once, and it had been for someone Arik used to know. Someone they had puppeted around. In the very beginning, the Oskuutor pulled the face from someone. It had made a display of it. Perhaps to demoralize them, but perhaps also to lure them.

But would the malaki not also realize that new puppet would be useless for luring them? Why did they display their intentions so easily? Why did Corvio believe them to be dead based on their voices being stolen?

What did the Malaki need to do in order to mimic one’s voice?

“How are you certain they steal the voices of the ones they kill?” Dreiki asked.