Chapter 13 Witness

Isaac lazily watched the members of the caravan as they unpacked bedrolls and other camping supplies. A few campfires were lit around a small alcove in the treeline that the wagons had nestled into for the night.

Lenna was up and about, looking around each wagon and the surrounding area with newfound energy now that she could actually see without squinting at everything. The members of the caravan seemed to be used to adventurers and their oddities so they paid Lenna little mind and just continued to go about their business.

Isaac had chosen a high but sturdy-looking branch on a tree overlooking the encampment as his watchpost and had his one leg hanging limply off of it while he embraced the feeling of nightfall. The cool night air was a bit more crisp than the last time he was on the surface under the moonlight but it was far from unpleasant. His armor was warm and the night breeze was soft, as the crescent moon started its ascent in the east. Unbeknownst to everyone below him, a figure arrived to rest on the branch as well.

“How’s the view?” Isaac asked his interlocutor.

“It is new.” Shamesh said from beside him. Isaac’s shadowcloak kept him entirely concealed from everyone save for the dark mage himself. “The moon is very vibrant. Much more so than I imagined.”

“What does it look like to your eyes?” Isaac asked his retainer, his bone golem shadow, the being forged of shadow, bone, dragon, wizard, and death.

“They are incredible.” Shamesh replied. “Two halves of one whole that are constantly at war. One ever losing yet neither ever achieving true victory.” Shamesh turned his gaze away from the celestial object to look at his master and creator. “You should witness them as well, my Lord.”

Isaac nodded and turned to look at the moon. As he did so, pure black death flames blazed through his mana pathways around and through his eyes. The world plunged into darkness as light ceased to be a metric of which to see for the dark mage. Two blazing forms took up his entire vision the moment his eyes and the death flames began working together. One was a massive orb that seemed to be devouring the brilliant blazing crescent. It was somehow clear that the crescent was only losing for but a moment in the grand scheme of their endless war. Lua’s majestic brilliance would not be defied for long and Dri’El’s ruthless grasp on their shared domain would not last forever. Both seemed to heave and ho, back and forth, with Lua losing a little more each time but it was such a small amount that it was barely noticeable. Even while Lua appeared to be losing her duel with Dri’El she seemed to be building in strength for her return as her power seemed to ever so slowly rise in density as her territory was lost.

“You were right.” Isaac told his retainer. “I am glad that I got to see this.”

Shamesh gave a slight bow. “I cannot imagine how bright the sun is if even the halves of the moon are so blinding.”

Isaac shook his head. “You shouldn’t look at the sun.” He warned his retainer. “You’ll hurt your eyes.”

Shamesh bowed slightly again. “I will keep that in mind, my Lord.”

Stolen story; please report.

Isaac nodded and looked down at the camp below them. He easily picked out Lenna’s radiant form as her soul’s power and magical density far outweighed everyone around her. He noticed a few others that were a dull white as opposed to the common, barely visible, gray of most common folk. It didn’t surprise him that there were some with classes and levels mixed in with the rest of the wagon drivers, life on the road was hard after all. One never knew when they would need to find their own food or fight off a wild animal.

An entire caravan of people without levels or classes could sneak through many places on Primatia without drawing too much attention to themselves but having just one person with a noticeable amount of personal power would immediately open the monsters of the area’s eyes to their presence. Things like class, level, magical density and volume, and the number of magic items, all seemed to draw the attention of the smarter and more powerful foes that lurked around in the shadows of the world.

Usually it was still far too risky for caravans to travel without protection because predators got hungry and seemed to be able to tell who could put up a fight against them to some degree. How that expressed itself was that the predators would go after those with classes and levels first, in order to strip away the protection of their meals, but if there was no such protection, then they might not even notice the bipedal proverbial rabbits hopping through their territory unless they directly stumbled upon them. As far as any of the scholars who had written some of the books in the Adventurers’ Guild Library could tell, monsters and beasts did not gain levels but somehow got more sustenance out of food with a higher mana density. They were also, slightly but to a noticeable amount, more predisposed to feel aggression towards people with classes. Druids and Rangers often possessed a natural affinity with animals or magic, which could help but the very noticeable disparity between the predators versus prey seemed to indicate a natural aversion that predators had against mortals with classes.

A noise pulled Isaac away from his musings and he turned to see a softly glowing form stalking towards the edge of the camp. There was still a decent amount of hustle and bustle as food was cooked and given out. The form seemed to hold its ground and hunker down to wait. “Wolf?” Isaac asked his retainer who was more used to seeing with only death flames as sensory organs.

Shamesh looked down and eyed the creature. “I cannot be positive, but I believe it is, yes, my Lord.” Shamesh replied after a moment.

“Keep an eye out for more. If it is just one hungry dog then we don’t have anything to worry about.” Isaac instructed him. Shamesh bowed slightly in acknowledgement of his order and started to look deeper into the forest from their perch. “I’m surprised it didn’t spot us.” Isaac commented. “I guess it’s true that most don’t think to look up. I doubt wolves have any natural predators inside the forest canopy.”

“Nothing that could be run from, as I understand it, my Lord.” Shamesh replied. “I believe I see another wolf.”

Isaac followed Shamesh’s gesturing finger to see another form skulking through the brush. “The moment one of them makes a move on the caravan, end it as quietly and with as little destruction or collateral damage as possible. I would like to be able to sell the hides too if we can.” Isaac instructed his retainer.

“As you wish, my Lord.” Shamesh spoke and seemed to lock onto the one closest to camp with his eyes.

—

Ellie had just been handed a bowl of pork stew made with only the cheapest of ingredients and non-perishables. It was guaranteed not to be that tasty but it would be filling enough, and it was edible, so she had long ago stopped complaining about how bland it was. The cook was simply the man who was least likely to make the food inedible so it was only to be expected. She blew on the spoonful of stew that was held up to her mouth as she listened to the fires crackle and the leaves rustle. A twig snapped in the brush somewhere and then it was silent again. That wasn’t a good sign. Scampering in the dark was fine, there were plenty of nocturnal critters that were easily spooked by people or simply liked to play. One lone crack meant that something had taken a poorly placed step and was now waiting to see if anyone had noticed.

Ellie turned to see Lenna pause as she was about to take her helmet off. It seemed that she had heard the noise too. A few moments of silence later and there was another twig snapping. Brush rustled and then there was a crash and a thud as a lifeless wolf tumbled out into the open. At that moment, the entire caravan seemed to freeze in place as everyone wondered what was going on. The wolf looked perfectly fine except for the fact that it was laying on its side, unbreathing. She heard Lenna sigh and then turned to see the knightly woman take off her helmet. Silver hair cascaded down her purple stone colored skin in a mess and her silver eyes soon found Ellie’s.

“Isaac has it handled.” Lenna assured her. “Eat, a few strays are no reason to let a good meal get cold.”

Ellie nodded slowly and then did as she was told as sounds of sprinting wolves radiated out of the dense brush going in the opposite direction of the campsite. Only come morning would she learn that the wolf, and another like it, had been killed with a ruptured heart with no other signs of damage. Another wolf had been killed via a clean break to the neck and yet another had been suffocated to death without any signs of struggle.