The winter winds were a pack of wolves howling in Kaara’s ears. Just like the wind, she could not see the monsters which lurked beyond the darkness. She could only see the effect they had. She could only feel their evil.

She was sent tumbling, deeper and deeper. She was a leaf in the wind. No matter what she tried to grab, or brace herself against, she was swept up and away all the same. Even the snow itself seemed to fight her influence. It was dark. She was aimless. There was no up, nor down. Only the hard ground from which she bounced and tossed around on.

Kaara was glad she wore such thick furs. If not only for the warmth they provided, but also for how they cushioned the impact of her tumble.

When she finally slammed into the wide trunk of an Ingen tree, she felt the air escape her lungs. She coughed, doubled over in the snow.

"Hello? Is someone there?!" A voice called out from the darkness around her. "Please help me! They're after me! No- Help! Hel…"

The voice was drowned out by the endless profane moaning of the wind in her ears.

Kaara put her light over to the source of the sound, but there was nothing. Her eyes locked onto small holes as they appeared in the snow. Kaara recognized the strange holes. They were tracks, and those tracks were coming right for her. They’re invisible.

She solidified the snow around the holes to slow it down. With each step away, Kaara sank into the snowdrifts and disappeared. She willed the snow to carry her away as fast as possible. Kaara’s heart was pounding. She could still remember what she saw before getting blown away by the wind. A poor soul lifted into the air by some sort of poltergeist and torn to shreds.

Someone else had been calling for help, but she had run away on instinct. She needed to find the others. Her friends were still out there. She huddled close to the trunk of the tree. It was cold. So very very cold.

What could she do? She couldn’t see these monsters, but she could feel them. She instinctively knew how many were around. Something in her bones called out to her, telling her they were outnumbered by a wide margin.

It was her fault.

She heard a branch break nearby. Kaara summoned her healing water to light the way, revealing a figure cloaked in black feathers. It was Corvio.

“Kaara!” He said, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”

Relief washed over Kaara, “The feeling’s mutual.” Kaara could not remember the last time she had talked with Corvio. He lived in one of the other branches of the clan, so this time of the year was the only time Kaara ever got to see him, “Do you know where Lioku and Orsika are?” he asked.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Kaara shook her head, “I don’t. Do you know where Arik and Rorik are?”

Corvio sighed, “Not at all. I guess that means we’re both stranded out here. Can you see in the dark?”

Kaara nodded, standing up, “I can.”

“Good. Then let’s start looking. I’ll need an extra pair of eyes. With any luck we can all make it through the night!”

It was not so cold anymore with someone else around. Kaara picked up her spear, “Let’s go, then!” She grinned, trotting close to his side, “Can you see the monsters?”

“I can, why? Are you not able to?”

Kaara shook her head, “Only the holes they make in the snow.”

“That’s probably because some of them are walking on stilted legs.”

“What do they look like?”

“Some have hands with long boney fingers, and they look like xiozians without tail. Kinda like some Noxa, but with antlers on their head.”

“Those sound like Oskuutor.”

“Oskuutor? I’ve not heard of those.”

“You haven’t? They’re monsters that steal the voice and faces of living creatures. They’ve got faces around their necks right?”

Corvio nodded grimly, “Yeah, they do.”

“Well all we need to beat them is a bell!”

“A bell?”

“Yup! The Silver Reaper beat the Oskuutor with just a bronze bell!”

Corvio clicked his tongue, “Even if a bell was all we’d need to kill one, where would we even find A bronze bell out here?”

Kaara smacked her palm, “If we could find Tulos or Vilka they could make us one!”

“I can only imagine what the other years were like when there weren’t any metal magic users…” Corvio muttered before grabbing Kaara by her shoulder, “They’re close.”

Kaara followed his pull to the trunk of a nearby tree.

“Help me! Help me!” A voice called out, “Help! It hurts! Stop!”

Corvio raised his arm to stop Kaara, shaking his head. The message was clear: that was not a real cry for help.

She could see how tightly Corvio was gripping his spear. She laid a comforting hand on it, “Breathe. It’s alright.”

Corvio inhaled, and let out a slow steady breath, “Thank you. I’ve noticed they can feel when I look at them, so I tried to keep them in my peripheral vision instead. It was a risk, but they don’t seem to have noticed us. Let’s keep moving-” His eyes locked onto something above her. He pressed his palm to Kaara’s chest and blasted her away with his wind. The snow was kicked up by a massive body landing right where Kaara had sat mere moments before.

“Found you! Found you!” The disembodied voice of a young child rang out.

Corvio stared up at the air, an unknowable fear in his eye as he grasped his spear and drove it forward.

Kaara could see black blood spill from the air.

“Brother! That hurts! You’re hurting me!”

Malaki were not supposed to understand their language. So how did this one know what to say? Was it actually in pain? Was it a xiozian that remembered its past life?

“Kaara! Help! Don’t listen to it! Kill it!” Corvio shouted, jabbing his spear into it again and again.

“No! Please! Don’t! Stop!”

Kaara hesitated. How did it know their language? Was this one different from the others? What if these things were sentient? Malaki were intelligent, so it only stood to reason one of them could be different from the others. What if they felt pain and fear too? Were the Malaki really monsters?