Night fell on the quiet village. The borders were surrounded by large wooden spikes that had been erected throughout the day as a barrier to the forest.
The fear of a human attack was much worse than the lumbering giants that roamed the land.
A small group of stealthy combatants inched their way out of the confines, paying special attention to the noises they made.
The people were on high alert after the child's death.
They finally made their way out into the forest and stayed as stealthy as possible for a few hundred paces before talking.
“Any scents sticking out to you?” Egosum whispered back to his guide.
“Yeah, the forest is much more lively at night. We will need to be more selective about what we pick. A lot of the stuff that wanders around will be much stronger than during the day.”
The quiet forest that surrounded the village had been replaced by a much more violent and lively one only a short walk from its borders.
“What will be a good size and kind of easy to take out? I have never used a weapon before and I want some practice before we go after anything of real challenge. Can’t let my hubris get the better of me again.”
Thunkar lifted his nose to the air and took a few deep breaths. His nostrils flared as he picked apart the mess of smells.
“I think I got something that fits your criteria. A blipper is nearby. Should be pretty easy. They only really come out at night. They rely more on camouflage than anything. My smell should be able to get us close and you can use your sight to pick it out.”
“So a straightforward hunt?” Egosum confirmed his goal with the boy.
“Yeah, as straightforward as they come. Nothing should go wrong.” The beastman tempted fate with his words as the group let silence take hold of the air only for it to be interrupted by a cacophony of noise by some unknown beast in the distance.
The tension was high amongst them after the last hunt’s near-catastrophic failure.
They walked through the woods with more care than before as crashes from wild beasts sounded off nearby.
It was the complete opposite of the daytime where meat was scarce.
As they neared the site Thunkar identified the blipper was at, a loud crash nearby startled them to attention.
The fear for whatever creature was coming amounted to nothing as they waited in place. The boy sighed as he let the stress leave his body.
“Come on, it is just up ahead.” The group finally made it to the spot and looked around for their target.
The trail was devoid of movement, but Thunkar was certain it was nearby. The noisy nature around them did wonders to fray their concentration.
The moon above the was as bright as Egosum had ever seen. It poured droves of mana onto the world like an endless fountain. The trees and plants nearby sucked it up like it was a desert in desperate need of rain.
He did a double take as he panned his vision across the landscape. A glaringly bland spot of land stuck out like a sore thumb. The mana flooded the area with life but disappeared into nothing in a single spot.
“Are you sure it is here?” Cinera whispered to the boy as she looked around. He took a few deep breaths as he confirmed it.
“Yeah, it is definitely here. Shouldnt be too far away. Normally they just walk along the paths unless they know something is nearby. They just up and disappear if they catch wild of a predator, but I can still smell it close.”
“What should he look for?” She looked back at the toad who was frozen in place.
“They are kind of rat-like. The top is a cryptic array of colors while the legs are short and stubby.”
Egosum moved his body to get a different angle of the anomalous area. The world seemed to warp the light around in a strange way. The colors were slightly smeared and the ground was devoid of the mana that should have saturated it.
He stopped his Qi sight and looked at the place. The distortions and smudging were much less noticeable. The area was identical to everything around in color and texture. The more he looked with his normal vision, the more confused he became.
His body yelled at him that he should ignore it but his mind was certain that something was there.
“The smell is drifting away. I think it is gone or something ate it earlier. I’ll look for something else to-” He was cut off as the toad caught everyone’s attention with a wave of his hand.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“What is that? It feels strangely empty right there.” The group turned their heads in the direction he pointed but overlooked the area completely.
“It is empty. Nothing strange about that.” Thunkar went back to smelling the air.
Cinera looked closer but eventually turned away after looking at the exact spot he saw the void. The expression she had became blank for a few seconds before looking back to the beastman.
The only one left staring was Coyotl. The frog refused to look away from the spot as his piercing black eyes bore a hole through the patch of non-descript dirt.
Egosum nearly dropped his concern himself when Coyotl lunged at the spot in an uncharacteristic show of violence.
The frog flew through the air with commendable speed as he perfectly landed on the patch of earth.
The three onlookers watched as he tried to stuff something in his mouth to no avail. The leaves that covered the place remained unmoving despite the commotion the frog made in the area.
Egosum readied the hook in his right hand as he followed his mute friend's lead.
He leapt toward the place with his weapon at the ready and sunk it deep inside the ground.
As if a bomb had gone off, the place exploded into motion. The pair felt themselves get bumped into the air slightly as Coyotl plopped onto the soft dirt below, but Egosum stayed secured with his weapon.
“What the hell!” The boy shouted out as a creature sprouted out from the ground and went blasting through the underbrush in the distance.
“Meep!” The loud call made him flinch as he looked at the weird scene.
“Well, I guess he was right about the spot.” Cinera trotted along the place she saw Egosum get kidnapped to.
The group chased after their friend that was taken on a joy ride through the danger-filled forest.
-
Egosum flopped around on the creature's back as the beast bolted through the underbrush with surprising vigor. The claw hook was buried deep into the beast's back and refused to be dislodged despite the bucking and thrashing.
He held on for dear life as it burst out of a clearing and ran for the side of a large cliff that stood in the middle of the forest. Egosum looked up at it as they approached and balked at what he saw.
The entire thing was devoid of mana just like the beast was and gave him the same confusing feeling as they got closer and closer by the second.
He forced his eyes off of the anomaly and held them tightly shut as he braced for impact. The creature below him ran straight for the side and didn’t slow down in the slightest.
Expecting to be thrown from the body, he gripped the hook with both hands and sucked in air to cushion the hit. His dao of touch enhanced his dexterity and altered his hands more each day.
The impact never came as the bumps and wind flew by him like nothing was wrong. He opened his eyes and looked around.
The cliffside was nowhere to be seen. The scenery of blue forest and moonlit skies were replaced with the pitch-black darkness of a cave. It sprinted through the place with reckless abandon, smashing into walls, jumping up ledges, and falling over small cliffs.
It eventually began to run in small circles around the cave when it began to slow down as he felt it taking in extremely labored breaths. It finally came to a stop and fell over as it passed out from a combination of blood loss and exhaustion.
Egosum hopped off the beast and looked at it for the first time with any clarity.
His Qi sight flared to life as he cut through the darkness. It showed its awkward body off in its full glory. Whatever caused its body to disappear from it before was finally gone.
Its legs were thin and had scales while its forelimbs were small and consisted of four thumbs that all met in the center like fleshy flowers. Its body was long and flat for most of its length with only a large bulging stomach to break up the sleek design.
It moved under his gaze like it held some living beast inside.
The face consisted of long telescopic eyes hanging down to the ground where it lay.
“You are one ugly bitch.” Egosum insulted the creature and listened as his voice echoed throughout the cave many times over. He switched out weapons and thrusted the spike deep into the beast's head.
It barely flinched at the hit and leaked its remaining fluids out onto the ground.
Despite the lack of a heartbeat, its stomach continued to thrash around with a mind of its own.
He poked at it with his spear and watched it squirm in protest.
The bump bounced around slightly and raged in protest. He swore he could even hear it hiss at the intrusion. One more jab and he broke the flesh, splitting the beast open with relative ease.
A hairy rat-like creature came barreling out of the stomach and went flying to the cavern to get away from the toad and his previous predator.
With the strange disturbance gone, he looked back to his surroundings to figure out where the creature had led him.
The cave he found himself in was not much different than the other cave he fell into. The Ground was clay-like in texture and was moist to the touch. His toe pads sunk into it with ease and the tracks of innumerable beasts were plainly visible under his Qi sight.
They all appeared to be from the same creature as they matched each other perfectly. He turned to look at the strange creature's feet and realized they were identical.
His mind raced as he thought about the implications. Either this thing had lived in the cave for a very long time or there was a lot more than he was ready to handle.
The footprints went in every direction imaginable, with no rhyme or reason behind the pattern that he could make out. His Qi sight let him see the cave with clarity that surprised even him, yet he failed to find the exit.
He looked to follow the beast's tracks out to the forest he knew instead of the mysterious cave only to quickly lose which impressions belonged to the it. The erratic circles it ran in quickly became impossible to follow as he traced it as far back as possible.
The ground was flat as far as he could see without any indication of where the exit might be.
‘Great, stuck in a cave with no clue where the exit is. I guess I will just follow one side until I find the exit or feel like I have traveled too far.’
Egosum looked for the closest wall and began his journey. The prints he left were deep and easily distinguishable, perfect for following back out.