We didn't walk for long, maybe a dozen seconds, till we met the others. No sign of the little girl remained; a strange pile of black sludge took the place of her corpse.

If I looked close enough, I could see drag marks, but they quickly disappeared only a few feet away.

There were ten people in total, all of them wearing matching red cloaks. Amongst their flock, I saw iron on every hip or strapped to their backs. Blood marred their clothes, staining the black with bright red. Not a single one of them looked clean or untouched, several holes ripped into threads, revealing exposed skin or more cloth underneath.

Hunters, they're all hunters.

The woman, who I assumed was Adeline, stood with her arms out, chanting the same strange language that Devon used to activate the crystal. The air behaved weirdly around her head, and her clothes whipped around as if in a strong wind.

"Og til stiganna þarf ek ferð þinni, því veiðimaðr hefir komið aftur frá villtu veiðum." She shouted.

The winds howled across the trees and a flare of colourful light formed between her hands. It floated outward and then expanded as the fallen leaves and random bits of dust collected into a swirling maelstrom that exploded outward.

Bubbles of light began to expand till brown thorns thicker than my arm emerged from the ground and formed an archway. The light stuck to the edge of the arch and flattened till an actual portal appeared.

Then, rainbow light gave way to darkened black mixed with shades of orange and red. Eventually, the colours sharpened, and slowly an image formed of what looked like a lit cave with torches lining the walls.

Adeline slumped forward but managed to remain upright as she stared at the portal. Under her breath, I saw her muttering something incomprehensible with the shouting behind her.

More magic, more weirdness Is she a witch? Is that what the strange words are, incantations?

I wanted to ask questions, but I kept my tongue silent as I followed Devon toward a man holding back the crowd of hunters. He stood silent, unbothered by the mob growling and snarling.

Another man, big and tall, about three inches shy of Devon's height, looked to be the main aggressor of the group. With his fingers splayed out, I saw sharpened claws instead of nails. The hair on his arm stood straight, and he had a near-feral glint in his eyes.

When he spotted Devon approaching, he froze, his eyes darted towards Elias' covered body. His hands dropped away while his eyes widened to saucer plates. "No…Devon…tell me that's not…"

The rest of the hunters quieted down and turned to what the leader had spotted. They reacted differently, each of them processing what they saw. Most had looks of horror, while the others bared their teeth in anger.

The rare few, the two oldest-looking hunters of the group, shared a look between each other, their eyes sad but their mouths pressed thin. They showed no teeth or animalistic anger, simply a grim acceptance.

Suddenly, the man rushed forward, trying his best to barrel through the stoic man. He got maybe two feet before the stoic man placed his arm out and blocked the guy from moving further. The man struggled in the other man's grip, his body visibly straining to push through.

He didn't move an inch. His feet started to create a divot in the dirt, but no matter how he struggled, he could not move forward, yet that didn't stop him from pushing away dirt with each attempted step.

"Let me through, Kramer!" the man shouted at the stoic man blocking his path.

Kramer remained silent, but he did look back towards us.

No. Not us. He's looking to Devon. He wants permission.

Devon sighed and stopped next to Kramer. The angry man quit struggling as his face went through a whirlwind of emotions. Most notable was the anger that still existed even as his jaw slowly dropped open.

But beyond the anger, if you looked past the shock and fury, the sadness and loss in his eyes said it all. His eyes were hard, but they wavered, the red glint to them flashing in and out. "Devon… where's Elias?"

His words were a whisper that may as well have been a gunshot for how loud they sounded amongst the cold silence.

"You already know, Garret," Devon whispered back. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to mourn back at the Warren."

Kramer removed his arm and nodded to Devon before moving to where Adeline stood ready.

Garret stood still. He didn't move from his spot.

"Everyone! Gather up! The Portal closes in three ticks. Start crossing over." Devon pointed to the two older hunters. "Any other survivors?"

The older woman on the right jerked her thumb to where a familiar face had stayed hidden. It was the woman from before who had cried motionlessly during the ritual. She looked about the same, except black splatter marred her front, dirtying her appearance.

So she survived. That means we were the only two to survive.

That knowledge made me feel hollow.

Only two people... that's. Man, that sucks.

I noted the woman's emotionless face as she continued staring at the ground, her eyes blinking slowly.

Devon shook his head. "Two is better than what we hoped. Make sure she enters after you. She'll most likely pass out once she crosses through."

He turned to the other hunter, the man with the greying beard and mustache. "What about the cloaks? How many are useable?"

"Only two elder cloaks, poor condition. The rest were too torn up to be viable. We collected the scraps and kept them separate from the littles. For the little cloaks, we

have four," the older man replied. His voice had a gruffness that spoke of a harsh life.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Good. That's an amazing haul. She'll be happy."

I didn't know who she was, but from how my magical cloak made me feel safe, the cloaks from the demons held importance to these people. Why else would they be wearing them?

Without thinking, I pulled my cloak tighter, drawing the attention of the two older hunters. They gave me strange looks as their eyes examined me from head to toe.

Devon rescued me from further scrutiny by subtly nudging me forward back to the portal where the other hunters had begun walking through. Another hunter, one who kept his hood up, concealing his face, took the axe out of my arms and carried it through the portal.

Two hunters, Kramer included, helped move Garret along, nearly dragging the listless man.

I waited with Devon and Adeline as the others crossed over, leaving only us three and Elias' corpse behind.

"Time?" Devon asked.

"One click, any longer, and I'll pass out," Adeline replied, her voice heavy with exhaustion.

Devon nodded and turned to me. "Ki-Cain. When we cross over, Adeline here will take you. Don't speak to anyone, and don't do anything stupid. I'm sorry, and I know you want to rest, but that'll have to wait. For now, listen to what she says as if it were law."

Nodding, I tried to show I took his words seriously. "I understand."

"Good. Let's go. Be careful when you cross over. Keep your eyes shut and exhale before your head pushes through."

No further instructions were given as he walked through, his body distorting briefly before appearing on the portal's other side.

I glanced to where Adeline stood, and she motioned to the archway with a grimace.

Into the fray, once again.

It was a simple saying. The words strangely fit the situation and brought me a modicum of peace.

I stepped closer and felt a strange energy tugging at my skin. My cloak reacted, and I felt it tighten around me.

It provided a feeling of safety and trust. It was a strange thing to feel from a piece of clothing, but it was magic, so what did I know?

After exhaling and closing my eyes, I pushed through the energy and felt the world drop from beneath my feet.

Something tugged at me, and then another; soon, my entire body was being assaulted from all directions till another strange pulse of energy emanated from my cloak. I felt it grow and extend, and for a moment, the cloak felt bigger than it really was. The thing felt more like a cocoon than a piece of fabric on my shoulders.

The moment passed, and I felt my feet touch the ground. The assault on my body disappeared as I sucked in a deep breath.

"Strange, he seems fine," came a feminine voice.

I opened my eyes and found myself in the torch-lit cave. A woman with shocking neon-green hair hovered near me, a new face I didn't recognize. She grabbed me by the arm and firmly moved me to the side of the circle where the portal stood.

There was little point in resisting, so I complied and waited. A part of me wanted to be excited, but I couldn't bring myself to be.

Soon, Adeline stepped through and nearly collapsed to the floor. The portal behind her shrunk and disappeared with a loud pop. With the glow from the strange magical portal gone, the cave had only the torches lining the walls to provide light against the gloom.

The hunter next to me walked over and helped Adeline up before stepping away to offer her a drink.

Adeline sighed and accepted the offered flask of water given to her. "Thank you, Neina. Damn, the spell takes too much to run. And Devon really pushed it."

Neina patted Adeline on the shoulders and headed to a large wooden chair in the corner. A table stood next to the chair, supporting an open, dusty, and worn tome. "I saw Devon carrying a preserved. Do we know the story?"

Adeline went from drinking down her water to glaring at the woman. A disgusted look crossed her face before it faded, and she sighed. "At least pretend to care about others' feelings. Everyone's running hot right now, and you can't afford to make them angry."

Neina waved her off. She picked up the book before slouching into the chair with her legs resting on the armrests. "I'll win, or I'll lose. It's not like injuries matter much. Not to us."

"You need help."

Neina laughed. "Maybe." She briefly lowered the book to point to me. "What's with the kid? I don't remember his smell. He smells like Elias."

My smell? Right. Werewolves. I shouldn't be surprised.

"We don't know yet. Devon found him next to Elias. He's…" Adeline sighed heavily. "I'll tell you later after we get more information. For now, he's a pup; you can smell it on him. So be nice."

The look Neina gave me sent a chill down my spine.

"Fine. But pup?" She met my eyes, a yellow glint tinting her chocolate irises. "I expect a good story from you once you settled in. Your smell is too interesting to leave alone."

I clutched at my cloak, feeling marginally better after doing so.

Adeline placed both hands on my shoulder and forced me out of the cave and down the tunnel. "Ignore her for now. She'll at least wait till you come to her before messing with you."

"That's not comforting," I replied.

"Maybe not, but dwell on it later. Throw your hood up, and don't say a word. Most of the pack should be focused on Devon, but you never know."

"Is there a problem with me being here?"

Adeline looked like she wanted to say something, but instead, she shook her head and kept pushing me forward.

Without a reply, I followed her instructions and flipped the hood of my cloak up. The cloak felt like wearing reflective neon; the bright red was near impossible to miss, but with every other person I'd seen wearing the same thing, I had a decent chance of blending in.

But not olfactorily. I smell new.

We kept walking, passing different tunnels and side rooms. The Warrens were mostly empty, maybe a person every once in a while, but even they continued moving in one direction. Conveniently, it was a different direction than where Adeline was guiding me.

As we moved in the silent tunnels for over ten minutes, we were about to exit into a vast cavern when I was not-so-gently slammed into a wall with my mouth covered. Adeline dragged me backwards, her movements slow and stiff.

My anger bristled, and I wanted to know why my head sported a new bruise, but as I thought about it, I felt no pain. While I let Adeline drag me backwards and down a new path, I raised a hand to my temple where it had smashed into the hard stone, but I felt nothing, not even a wince of pain.

That's… weird.

Adeline didn't tackle me to the wall, but I had definitely heard a small crack when she did. Yet, as I felt around, the lack of a bruise told me otherwise.

But she definitely jerked me hard enough. There's no way.

Eventually, Adeline released the breath she had been holding and flipped me around. She knocked my hand aside and pushed my hair out of the way. Whatever she was looking for, it wasn't there, and she cracked a slight smile. "Your constitution is already doing its work, huh? Good. Sorry about that, but I couldn't let her see you."

I frowned, still somewhat annoyed by the rough treatment. "Who is she? And why can't she see me?"

"Don't worry about it. Devon can explain later. Now, come on, let's get moving. We're nearly there."

Feeling miffed but not enough to care, I continued my walk and followed her as she led me through more side tunnels.

The whole place was pretty expansive, and several side rooms or caves had curtains or large wooden doors blocking off the room's entrance.

At the end of the tunnel, Adeline stopped and placed her hand on the wall. She complained about something under her breath and moved her hand to a small indent.

"Afhjúpa," she said.

The stone lit up with hidden runes that glowed bright green. They flared once and then twinkled out of existence, leaving behind a blank wall. That lasted for only a moment as the stone faded and turned transparent. Once the stone wall had disappeared completely, it revealed a comfy-looking room the size of a small apartment. There were no torches inside this one, but instead, a small pool in the back corner of the room glowed with bright luminescent water, bathing the space in blue.

Adeline turned and held out her arms. "Be happy. Most pups aren't shown the hidden rooms till after their second year. Now get in."

I glanced her way, but she kept a tired smile on her face as she waved her hand forward.

Okay, either I'm about to be interrogated, or I get to hide away for a while and get a nice nap on that couch over there.

I stepped into the room, and Adeline entered behind me. As she crossed an unseen barrier, the stone wall appeared, almost like it had never disappeared.

She led me to the couch and forced me to sit down. Adeline stood standing, keeping her arms crossed as she regarded me from a few feet away.

"Now that we're alone," Adeline started as she snapped her fingers, and a stone chair rose from the ground. She sat down and crossed her legs, her arms placed on the sides with her claws digging into the stone. "Now, explain what happened to you and Elias. Lie to me, and I'll make sure you regret it."

Why couldn't I get a nap instead?