Ralph watched over Lj while Talia continued the barrage of questions. She ended up falling asleep, but I couldn't seem to go back. The nightmare from the night before still very much present in my mind. Because of that dream, Lj lay crumbled in a cave with no clues as to when he'll awake. Ralph closed up the cave, fearful that the archer would try to track us. We had enough berries for a few days, and deep in the cave lay a natural spring. All in all, the cave could act as a fortress in a siege. It took Lj till the middle of the next day to awaken again. When he did, it was filled with hugs from Talia and promises of never leaving her. When we made eye contact, there was some unheard message of gratitude. This gesture made me feel uncomfortable considering why we had been out there to begin with. It took awhile before all of us settled back into just trying to decide our next move.

"Ralph, I think we should go check out that area in the day time."

The look of worry on his face almost made me regret proposing the idea. I was a little worried he would downright deny the idea like I was an idiot.

"That's not a bad idea. Of course Lj would have to stay here with Talia but do you think you could remember the way back?"

I give him a nod and he stands with a groan Lj pulls him aside and starts whispering. Talia approaches me and hands me what looks like a clump of moss.

"Cama, she wanted to say that she was sorry for being rude. And asks that you take this with you, as a good luck charm."

She beams a bright smile at the middle manned apology. I tussle her hair and try and replicate the same smile.

"Well thank both of you, and I hope you can let her know I will carry it every step of the way."

After looking around I found a water skin and managed to squeeze the moss in. I wrapped the water skin around my neck by its rope and tapped it twice.

"I'll make sure nothing happens to it I promise."

"Cama, you don't protect it, it's there to protect you."

She rolls her eyes at this as if it was supposed to be implied. I lift the water skin to eye level to try and see if it's still glowing. To my surprise it is, radiating an ambient green that it had on the walls. I tuck it back down on its string and give her a curious look.

"Well... Make sure she knows that I forgive her. And keep your dad safe, you can trust the big guy with me."

She nods and runs off to say bye to Ralph before we headed out. When all the goodbyes and promises of safe returns were done, we started down the trail. The sky was cloudy today leaving the thicket a little darker. The walk down to the spot where we breached was no more than five minutes. Ralph mostly wanted me to elaborate on various aspects of the encounter. When Lj was hit where was I, why had the archer not shot me. At first it seemed almost accusing, as if it was suspicious I returned safe. Thankfully that conversation was cut off by spotting the arrow. I motioned for Ralph to cross the thicket with me. The other side was only a little more open then the thicket. The trees thinned out after ten feet showing none of the bodies I had seen before.

"Cama, what the hell is going on, you're the one who said there were bodies."

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I shook my head at him before a glint catches my eye and I motion for him to shush. I approach the glint and see that it's a pool of blood. Seemingly the only pool of blood left from the night before. After hovering my hand over the blood, the screen on my forearm activated. I forgot to include Ralph and Lj in on my recent discovery until I needed to.

Race: Unknown

Class: Unknown

Level: 3

For the first time it doesn't show what race the blood is from. This makes me uneasy, so uneasy that I draw my blades and hand one to Ralph. Deciding to test if my theory of the screens being universal is true, I tell Ralph to hover his hand over the blood. With delight I see the same screen along his forearm, he all but tears his own arm off.

"Ralph it's okay, it's not gonna hurt you or anything. It looks like a tool or something to help us identify certain things. I haven't tested it on much else besides human corpses though I suppose."

"Cama whatever the hell is going on, I want no part of it. You said there was HUMAN bodies, if something died here it wasn't human and it was strong. I say we go back to the village and get weapons like you did."

That was an agreement that had not been made by the group. Every trip to the village was dangerous, and there was no guarantee the door would open again.

"Ralph, that archer from last night has to be going somewhere. If so they might have answers to some of our questions. "

A thoughtful expression crossed his face before he scowled.

"Fine, just try and remember where the arrows were coming from."

I backtracked to the path me and Lj had taken the night before. It took me awhile to try and find where I thought the archer fired from. I ended up finding a silver ring, with a trail of footprints to follow nearby . At first it was fairly easy but as we went deeper the signs got more rare. A twig that got stepped on here or some brush that seemed recently disturbed. After an hour we completely lose the tracks and our bearings. We circle the tracks over, and over with the same result. As if the guy vanished, we checked the nearby trees but all of which would have been too far of a jump. But the fact that the race is unknown bothers me, what if the archer is a type of flying creature. I release that thought almost immediately, if he could fly why would he have walked so far beforehand.

"Cama you might wanna check this out."

I head over to where Ralph is looking and the object of attention is strange. It looks like the ground in this specific area has taller grass and brighter flowers. But the weird part, it does it in an almost perfect square. If we hadn't been looking for something out of order we wouldn't have found it. With one hand I grab a few flowers and pull on the mound. To my surprise it pops free with very little effort on my end. It looks as if this area of grass was fake, the bottom of the hatch being made of rock. A stone tunnel fell away for ten feet before coming to the floor. Ralph and I eye each other, he sticks a finger to his lips and walks ten feet away. When I get to him he angles his body at an angle that must be uncomfortable. Leaning back with his hips almost completely turned, he whispers something I almost don't catch.

"We're being watched, to my right."

Without being too obvious I look to Ralph's right and see nothing. Taking his word for it I speak a little louder than usual, hoping the audience is there.

"Well that tunnel or cave, whatever it is, too dangerous we should return back to the others."

Ralph agrees and gives a faux laugh that I hope can be mistaken as genuine.

"You're telling me, when you opened it I thought something was gonna come out."

We continue his laughing till we're out of earshot then sneak to the other end of the tree line. Ralph puts his hand over my mouth when I begin to talk. He shoots his eyes to the trapdoor we have seen. As if coming out of thin air a man with a bow across his back. He looks wearily at the area he thinks we left from, with a shrug he opens the door and enters. We wait there for 10 minutes until it's clear he won't be coming out anytime soon. Ralph and I don't say a word as he leads us towards the thicket. I could see how hard it was for him to not go and beat the man where he stands. But he wasn't there the night before, he doesn't understand the unnatural shots. How in a split second he had fired a shot at a branch I threw in the dark. Whoever this archer was, I'm not confident that even all of us could take him down.