Vafi froze in horror as the vile creature dashed towards her, a vortex of black smoke swirling around it. Axel, on the other hand, was quick to protect his daughter. He ripped his ax from his tool belt and flung it at the beast's head. It let out a pitiful groan as it fell to the ground and went limp. The black smoke dissipated, but the strange ooze remained, staining the dirt beneath the beast’s mouth.

Wriva breathed a shaky sigh of relief, and jolted a bit when she realized she had reflexively jumped in front of Vafi. She was holding her tight, as close as she could with her back protecting her friend's smaller body. When she let go, Vafi immediately began to spiral, breathing hard and fast, blood draining from her face.

"No no no it's ok," Wriva said, re-embracing her. "You're ok. We're ok."

Axel had walked over to ensure the beast was dead. Not one to mince words, he grunted, "It's dead for sure," before pulling his ax out of its skull with a sickening squelch.

"What was that?" Wriva trembled, adrenaline slowly ebbing from her body.

"I don't know,” he shrugged. “I've never seen anything like this. We need to speak with King Pan and Chrys…Now." He gently ushered Wriva away from his daughter, embracing her himself. She took a few steadying breaths.

"I'm ok."

He nodded, giving her one final squeeze before leading the way back to the main village, ax in hand.

—

They stopped by Chrys and Pan’s house, but were greeted by their only son, Raku, instead. “They went to the market with Anfer…you…what?” Was all he could stammer out before they turned on their heels and headed towards the market.

Wriva, Vafi, and Axel zipped along the path, deftly weaving their way through the market's denizens despite Wriva and Axel being some of the biggest fauns in the village. Axel found them first, and ushered them off the path, away from prying ears, Wriva and Vafi close behind.

“Are you alright? What’s going on?” Anfer tutted, worrying over his daughter.

“I’m fine. Dad, I'm fine.” She said tersely, entirely focused on what Axel was saying to Chrys and Pan. Anfer's face dropped.

Raku caught up with them in time to hear the bulk of it, muttering to himself, “No, sure, let’s leave Raku out of it, why not.” He put his misgivings aside when he heard what had happened. "What could that have been, mom?" He asked, turning to see Chrys deep in thought.

"I don't know, it doesn't sound the same as the demons my people deal with," her brow furrowed.

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"We should check the perimeter fences and place some traps around," Pan said definitively.

"We could–and check for more signs of these beasts in the meantime," Raku agreed. "I can lead the search."

"And me," Axel grunted.

"I'd be interested to take some samples if possible, I'll–" Anfer wavered, swaying on his feet.

"Dad?" Wriva asked worriedly. He staggered slightly before collapsing into the leaves. Wriva dropped to his side, trying to rouse him. "Dad!"

He slowly came to, and managed to stand with Pan's support. "Let's get you back to your place. Raku…get it set up–Chrys, be careful."

"If Axel's going I should go too…" Wriva trailed off, watching fretfully as Pan and her father stumbled down the path.

Chrys walked over, and placed her hands firmly on Wriva's shoulders. "He might need you."

Axel nodded in agreement.

Wriva nodded solemnly, and exchanged a nervous look with Vafi as she squeezed her arm, then quickly turned and followed Pan and her father.

—

They managed to get Axel as far as Pan's home, despite another fainting spell, and into bed. Wriva went downstairs to prepare an herbal tea which helped his breathing: joined halfway through the process by Pan.

"He's sleeping; it's fitful but it's sleep," Pan said, shaking his head and rubbing his face slowly.

"He keeps doing this. He looked unwell this morning," she shot Pan an unintentionally and unfairly dirty look, "What was he doing out with you?"

"We didn't know," Pan explained calmly, unaffected by her glare.

She sighed, and continued making the potion silently.

"He doesn't want you to worry."

"He doesn't want you to worry," she scoffed back. "He doesn't want anyone to worry. Not even himself."

"I think he just wants us to accept it. Chrys said it would kill him."

Wriva remained silent–the clinking of her stirring echoing. Pan grimaced and looked out the window. She finished the potion, and handed it to him wordlessly; he sighed, then took it to Anfer.

—

Hours later Anfer was awake and in good spirits–his only protest that they would not allow him to walk home. Raku returned from the scouting party shortly after; he burst into the guest room, frazzled and somewhat out of breath.

"I thought–" he gasped, panting, "I thought you'd be at Anfer's…"

"That's what I said," Anfer said, exasperated.

"Dad," Wriva groaned.

"What did you find?" Pan asked.

"It's not good," he said. "Mom took a hart to see if her people had any records of this, we need to send her a message." His face pulled into a frantic grimace.

"What happened?"

"We found another one of those…things. It was a rabbit though–it didn't run when we stumbled upon it. It stared at us until a tree cat thought to pounce on it. The cat bit into it and started gagging, then stumbled over, then that black stuff started oozing from its mouth." His face darkened as he spoke, and he shuffled nervously.

Pan patted his shoulder. "It'll be ok. We'll send a bird out for Chrys. If whatever this is is spreading, she might be the only one able to protect the village."

Wriva reached out for her father's hand; Anfer squeezed it tightly.