The chase was on, and Ahanu had no doubt that he could catch up to whoever it was he was following. He kept an even pace as he moved through the driving rain, his breath steady with the sound of his footfall. The Rising Bear had faded into the distance now, and to his dismay the tracks he had been following had begun to vanish as well as the grass grew thicker. Before him however the grass was trampled in a similar trajectory to that which the tracks had followed, and with vigor renewed he changed his course to match. He looked up as he jogged, and the sun remained hidden from view behind the clouds above. It was now noon, and the plains he moved through were washed in a deep grey. His boots stained with mud again as the grass became shorter. A herd of bison lay in discomfort under a large tree nearby, its boughs sheltering them as he passed.

The track he followed led toward a steep hill. Slowing his approach he began to climb the side, and as he did so heard a noise that caused him to stop and listen hard. Trying his hardest to fade out the sound of the rain, he thought he could just make out the sound of what seemed to be a dog, yipping in pain. Furrowing his brow, he continued his ascension to the crest of the hill. He surveyed his surroundings from the top where he stood, and at the base of the hill spotted four figures locked in combat. To his very pleasant surprise, one of the figures was indeed Makatai Plainstrider, just as he’d hoped. His friend stood at the foot of the hill, his hair soaked in the showering rain and crouched low to the floor, panting hard. However, his joy was quickly replaced by panic as he realised that the sound he had heard earlier was not the sound of a dog but rather three very large plains wolves circling his dear friend.

“Makatai!” He shouted, beginning to charge down the hill to assist him. As he advanced Makatai lunged towards one of the wolves on his right, lashing at it with inhuman speed and raking his nails across its eyes, and Ahanu stopped in his tracks to watch. Blood sprayed from the wound and the beast jumped back, obviously blinded and whimpering in pain. Looking briefly at the wolf behind Makatai he noticed its light brown fur horribly slick with blood and its head barely hanging on to its body, nothing but a few tendons holding the two pieces together. He could barely believe his eyes. Had Makatai done that? His knife was still sheathed at his belt, knocking against his thigh as he fought. Meanwhile the shaman hacked at the second wolf with what appeared to be claws extending from his fingertips, shimmering gently.

The third, however, circled behind and leapt at the almost feral young man, leaving a glancing slash across his back. The second wolf taken care of, its face and neck shredded into chunks, Makatai span on his heel and struck low. His ethereal claws bit into its foreleg and it fell, face in the dirt. He was an executioner at the block as he raised his left hand high, quivering above the beasts throat, and then finally plunged it down and through. The animal stiffened, spasming and bucking as the lifeblood drained from its body, and then finally fell still, its body relaxing in death as it faded away.

Ahanu realised he had frozen still and so composed himself, calling out again to Makatai “Brother! That was incredible! Where on earth did you learn to do that? And those claws! How…” Before Ahanu could even finish his sentence, Makatai was streaking up the hill towards him Ahanu’s eyes widened and he barely had time to unsling his shield before those claws he had previously been enthralled by were flying towards him. Ahanu braced himself as his crazed friend slammed into his shield, an animalistic expression on his face unlike any he had ever seen Makatai make before. Gritting his teeth, he shoved him back and the pair faced off, hunter standing tall and shaman once again crouching low to the floor, ready to kick off towards him. Staring deep into Makatai’s eyes, he could see his pupils were tiny. Makatai snarled at him, canines too long and face more warped than a human should have been able to manage.

Pulling the tomahawk from his belt and once again raising his shield, he settled into a defensive stance. “What happened to you, brother?” Whispering under his breath, he spun the tomahawk in his hand so the blunt side faced Makatai instead. A second passed, with the two staring at each other tensely, and their battle began.

Makatai lunged for Ahanu again, but he was beginning to slow and Ahanu saw the rain mixing with blood cascading down his back. As Makatai rushed forward, Ahanu ducked swiftly under his flailing left arm and bashed him in the side of the head with the edge of his shield, trying not to put his full power into the blow. The wood and leather made a solid crack as it connected, sending Makatai careening off to the right. He howled like an injured beast, panting harder and harder, and movements becoming slacker and lazier. He sprung again towards the hunter, but there was no force at all behind his movements and he crunched into Ahanu’s raised knee. Ahanu winced as he looked down on Makatai’s motionless body and slowly put his tomahawk away, never taking his eyes off his friend who lay motionless in the mud, rain still driving hard and washing the blood away from him. He pulled out one of the bolas from his pouch and used it to tie Makatai’s hands, and then slung his unconscious body over his shoulder with a grunt. He trudged off into the rain, carrying his battered friend with him.

Makatai awoke to the sound of a fire spitting and cracking, his head pounding and body aching all over. Ever since he had met Noaidi, his head seemed to be doing a lot of hurting. He moved to sit up, only to promptly fall back against the tree trunk he was propped against upon discovering his hands were bound. He raised his head, feeling his neck crack as he did so, and the tall figure of Ahanu slowly swam into view sat across from him on the other side of the fire. “Morning, handsome.” Ahanu said quietly, poking at the little fire with a twig and looking down into it. He chuckled quietly to himself. “Or I suppose it should be good evening.” Their shadows flickered wildly, dancing together in the dark. and blending in with the deep black of their surroundings. Minimal moonlight penetrated the thicket where they sat together. Makatai’s face ached, and he desperately wanted to rub it but his hands were still restrained. Ahanu looked up from the fire now, noticing Makatai struggling. “Ahanu… what happened? What did I do? Let me go! Thank the ancestors you’re here. You can help me! We need to get moving! I-” Makatai was frantic, speaking hurriedly as he struggled in vain against the leather bindings of the bola. Ahanu saw a wild, terrified look in his eye and his heart ached to untie his friend. Instead, he didn’t move and interrupted Makatai’s rambling. “You’re going to explain to me exactly what has happened. Where is your tribe? Where are you going? What were those claws, and why did you attack me?” “I… I attacked you? Ahanu… I’m so sorry…” Makatai began to slip into despondency again, slumping against the tree trunk and staring vacantly into his lap. “Stay with me now, Makatai! Explain everything that happened! And quickly, you’re losing blood and I can’t heal you myself.” Mustering shreds of his courage together, Makatai lifted his head again and looked into his friend’s eyes. “Ok. Alright, let me start from the beginning.”

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Ahanu began to look visibly more and more confused as Makatai’s tale went on. Chief Noaidi? He had never heard of the Black Eagle tribe either. And Makatai was Ghostshifted? He had heard of the phenomenon before and knew about it fairly loosely. He supposed it must have had something to do with his prior behaviour. Then Makatai’s voice cracked a little as he delivered the terrifying news about the whereabouts of the tribe and the events that had transpired the night before, and he could see him clenching his fist tightly in the dark. Ahanu shifted round the campfire and slashed the rope that held Makatai’s arms back, and the young shaman pulled his dagger out and pressed it to his chest, the warm gold spilling from it as he chanted gently. His breathing became a little more regular and he relaxed, sitting back.

Ahanu let him proceed in peace, with the bruises slowly receding from Makatai’s face. He grunted in pain as his nose cracked back into place, but otherwise, he didn’t say a word. “Allow me to take over from here.” A gruff voice came from the left of Ahanu, and he turned to see a large individual sat on a log half-buried in the ground, two or so meters away. “Noaidi…” Makatai muttered under his breath. The hunter and the spirit looked at each other for a moment, before Ahanu spoke again. “So on what kind of errand were you sending my brother, spirit?” Ahanu spoke bluntly, making his mistrust for the chief clear with every word. “The kind where he would lose his mind fighting a pack of wild beasts and end up just like one of them? The kind where his best friend would have to step in to save him from insanity? Do you even have any idea where to start looking for Inadu?” “If you weren’t so hasty,” Noaidi replied icily, “I would have told you already. As it currently stands now, let me be clear: I have no ideas about where Inadu may be at this very moment. I do, however, know of a small hut he maintained in order to do research on the Otherworld, deep in Knightsbed Grove. If information on his current whereabouts would lie anywhere, or even anything that could give us an inkling on where to start looking, it would be there.”

Ahanu and Makatai looked at each other, and then back to the chief. “So what was that back there? Why did Makatai attack me?” “I… I’m not sure. The last I remember, I heard the cry of wolves nearby, and then I woke up here. I’m sorry, Ahanu.” He looked so downcast, nothing like the Makatai he had seen a mere two days prior. But he supposed all he had gone through in such a short time would have done that to anyone. “It’s no problem, brother. you were quite injured, so I was fine.” Ahanu laughed awkwardly before reading the room a little and quieting down, unsure of what he could say to make his friend feel any better.

“Makatai” The old chief addressed his counterpart, his voice a tone less stern than usual. “I know that you are worried about the wellbeing of your tribe. But we can’t afford to waste time here licking our wounds. What we saw at your settlement was merely the tip of the iceberg of what is no doubt to come, and to stand any chance of getting them back we need to find Inadu. Even before that, our ghostshift is far too weak to stand against anything like that again in its current state. If they had all come for us at once, there’s no chance I could stop them.” Makatai looked up at Noaidi, and nodded once. Resolve was starting to rise, bubbling in his stomach. There was no time for pain, not yet anyway. Those creatures had shown him that, at a bare minimum. Both worlds were so much bigger than he was, and he had known it before but the attack had really proved it to him. He had a direction now. And something to chase. He hadn’t cared before about Noaidi’s words, he truly hadn’t, but now he wanted more than anything to follow through on his wish. A flame lit in his gut, igniting his resolve and cutting clean through the despair. He wouldn’t do it for his wastrel father, nor the invasive Noaidi. He would find the root of the changing world and tear out its heart, rid it of its cancer in the name of his tribemates. The final image of his mother, total terror in her eyes, only served to turn the flame in his stomach into a white-hot jet of fire. He’d do it for Saddani, for Kotan, for his Mother, for everyone else swallowed up by the catastrophe. And to save all others the pain that he felt. That is why he would stand back up and fight.

“Ahanu. I have no right to ask this of you, but…” Ahanu laughed heartily, and stood up from where he had sat. “! Don’t worry. I’ll tag along for now. I’ll just have to apologise to Aitya when I get back… I’m sure we’ll find a messenger somewhere along the way anyway!” He reached out his hand to Makatai, who grabbed it and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. “Hopefully Inadu will still be somewhere here in Navaho! Or maybe he’ll be in Helios Reef? Oh, what a shame that would be. Going all the way to the reef would be terrible!” Ahanu smirked to himself, and Makatai thanked the ancestors that it was this unbreakably positive young man who had come after him. Save his mothers, there was no face he would rather have seen. As their conversation drew to a close and they moved to make camp for the night with what limited supplies they had, Noaidi smiled a conniving smile before vanishing again with the breeze.