The cart moved slowly but surely, pulled along by the horses. Cai sat at the very front edge of the cart, his back against the coach box. The other Scorpions sat there, listening as Cai gave instructions for the journey ahead.

"Elias, follow us in the trees," he said, turning toward him. "Keep an ey-"

"I know," Elias interrupted, jumping out of the cart and into one of the trees. The leaves barely made a sound as he landed.

"Okay, Momo, I want you to cast your barrier spell around the cart for the day."

"Got it," Momo replied, raising her wand from her lap and standing up. She closed her eyes and threw the wand into the air. Time seemed to freeze around the cart for a moment as the wand flew around it, gliding through the wind in the pattern of a star. "From unseen forces and perilous strife, let a shield be woven, guarding our life," she chanted. After the spell, Momo fell back to her seat, her wand landing in her lap, and sweat dripping from her forehead.

Cai started back up again, looking at Sable, but she interrupted him. "Cai, we get it. You ask us to do the same thing every time."

He looked flustered and put down his journal. "So?"

"So... everyone here knows what they have to do," Sable sighed, pointing at herself and the rest of the group. "You want me to meditate and prepare to frenzy, Isabelle to communicate with the plants and animals, and you want Talon to rest and try to relax."

The group nodded along, looking toward Cai, who slouched, dropping his gaze to the ground, feeling a slight sense of defeat. Seeing that they all started their various actions, Isabelle communicated with the trees, whose leaves rustled in response. The birds and squirrels in the area became much more vocal as well, her face bright as if she were having a delightful conversation. Sable grabbed her shield and put her face in her hands, resting on the handle, snoring as an orange glow shrouded her shield and heavy armor. All the while, Talon walked over and sat down next to Cai. He patted Cai's shoulder and pulled out a deck of cards, inviting Cai to play along with him.

"Have to keep your strategic skills sharp. How about a game of Wizard's Wager?"

Cai got out of his slouch, grabbing the deck and shuffling it.

🗡🗡🗡

The month passed, and the group ended up doing the same routine day after day, only switching things up slightly each day. The tension levels were low, but the boredom levels were high. Cai was scribbling in his journal and mumbling something to himself. Everyone else was doing their assigned activities, except for Sable, who was napping in her shield instead of meditating.

"Bandits!" Elias yelled telepathically. Suddenly, everyone's heads snapped up, turning toward the front.

"Oh, by god's grace, finally," Sable stood up and, with a click of a button, metal spikes shot up into the front of the shield. She rubbed the back of her hand on one of them, slicing it open. An intense glow of orange aura shot up around her.

"Hold on, we don't even know their positions," Cai tried to protest, but she jumped out of the cart in front of them.

"Fuck, I guess we're doing this," Momo grabbed her wand. The barrier around the cart shimmered and weakened as a point of magic focused on the tip of the wand. Sweat dripped down Cai's face when Talon walked up behind him and slapped him on the back. He grabbed Cai's sword off the bench and shoved it into his arms, looking him in the eyes.

"You're the leader of this party and part of the front line," Talon's eyes took off the headband covering his eyes, and they turned a deep pink. "I'll keep an eye out. Go fight with your men."

Cai clicked his tongue, unsheathing his sword, and stepped past the driver, who put his head down in the coachbox. Jumping out from the trees and other various foliage, fifteen people wearing dark clothing pulled out numerous weapons. Walking in right behind the group of bandits was a larger individual holding a battle axe dragging it in the dirt, wearing a suit of knight's armor. Shouting directions to his party members, Cai walked up to the front of his group, pointing his sword at the larger bandit. A radiant holy symbol engraved into the sword glowed, cracking it. The sword shattered, and a bright piece of sharp sword-like light took its place.

"This is your chance to surrender," Cai said, sweat still dripping from his forehead.

"Funny, I don't remember asking for mercy," the bandit raised his great axe from the ground picking up dirt along with it, and held it out in front of him.

Cai sighed and gripped his sword with the other hand as well, "So be it then, Scorpions, rip them to pieces."

As the last word of his sentence was finished, daggers and magic flew toward the bandits. Sable charged forward, her shield held at head height, the metal spikes gleaming in the sunlight. She pulled her sword off her back, the blade singing as it cut through the air. Mayhem spread across the road as arrows and daggers whizzed by, their metallic tips glinting in the light. Slightly further back, Talon was shouting toward the group, his voice booming over the chaos, directing where attacks were coming from. "Elias, left flank! Momo, cover Isabelle!"

Isabelle's shadow grew into a large green mist, from which a monstrous spider emerged, its body covered in bristling hairs. The spider lunged, its fangs sinking into the arm of a bandit with a sickening crunch. The bandit screamed, his arm severed cleanly, blood spraying as he fell to the ground. Elias hopped out of a tree, his daggers flashing as he sliced down the back of a bandit. The bandit arched in pain, collapsing to the ground as Elias vanished back into the foliage, leaving only the rustling of leaves to mark his passage.

Momo, with her wand, pointed, shot out a point of magic, the beam piercing holes through bandits. The barrier around the cart shimmered and weakened, its magic draining into Momo's wand, amplifying her spells. Cai and the larger bandit were clashing weapons back and forth, their blades meeting with a resounding clang. Sparks flew as steel met steel, each strike echoing through the air. The radiant holy symbol engraved into Cai's sword glowed, cracking the blade. The sword shattered, and a bright piece of sharp sword-like light took its place.

The bandits fought back, their sheer numbers overwhelming the party. They flanked each of the Scorpions, except for Cai and Talon, their attacks relentless and brutal. Momo's arms were slashed, deep cuts forcing her to drop her wand. She scowled, casting her spells verbally, her voice strained but determined. Sable's shield trembled under the barrage, blood seeping from her wounds as the orange glow flickered and dimmed.

Elias found himself pinned to the ground, his daggers spent. He fought with his bare hands, dodging and striking, but the bandits closed in, their blades flashing dangerously close. Isabelle's spider was surrounded, its legs hacked off by a flurry of sword attacks. The creature thrashed, but it was no match for the onslaught, leaving Isabelle exposed and vulnerable.

Talon's eyes reverted to their natural brown color, his face pale. He fell to his knees, his eyes darting back and forth. With a sigh, he laid down in the cart, closed his eyes, and whispered, "Spectrala, I pray for your forgiveness as I do this again. Grant me this power one last time to protect my friends." His eyes turned bright green, and with a gasp of air, his body turned pale and his breath went silent.

In an instant, the eyes of the bandits turned green all at once. They turned on each other, their weapons clashing as they fought amongst themselves. The Scorpions seized the opportunity, running back toward Talon as the rest of the bandits were finished off, except for one. Talon's eyes turned back once again, fully unconscious this time, and his breathing returned to him, heavier.

"Is he okay?" Cai screamed back toward the party.

"For the most part!" Momo yelled back.

"I would pray for you and your men's graceful travel to the afterlife, but it's funny," Cai pulled his sword back, laughing, he swung it at the larger man, "I don't remember you asking for mercy."

The bandit stumbled back, his hand gushing in blood, and two fingers were cut off. Gripping the great axe with just one hand now he swung wildly, creating shallow cuts across Cai's body as he stepped out of the way each time seemingly with little effort. The bandit kept swinging, wider and wider each time eventually not even hitting enough to make shallow cuts. Cai watched as he dropped the great axe to the ground, no longer able to fight. Cai walked over, the bandit did his best to stumble away but tripped over his own feet and fell onto the ground looking up at Cai.

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"Remember, I gave you the chance," Cai raised his sword and cut the man's head off.

Rushing back to the party he looked down at Talon, lifting him into one of the seats. Cai put Talon's headband back over his eyes and took out his waterskin to splash him awake. Before he could do that though he stopped himself.

"Fuck don't touch him!" Cai motioned to the party.

Suddenly, Talon fell over, his headband slipping off his eyes. His eyes were now a dark, hazy blue with no pupils.

Talon's eyes flickered open to a haze of blue, disoriented and confused. He was standing in the forest, a little ways off from a campsite. As he walked, he saw corpses hanging from the trees—about to puke, he looked and saw that the rest of the "Scorpions" were there too, sitting on tree stumps, laughing, and telling stories. Talon walked over to himself and tapped his shoulder; he didn't even flinch. He turned back to watch as Sable and Elias got up to set up the tents, the rest still chatting around the fire.

He looked down at his hands and then back up at himself, a slight smile escaping. "Guess this means we completed the mission with no problem," he snickered to himself, looking on at the scene before him. Elias and Sable had begun to walk off into the forest, Talon following suit. Peeking around the corner, he saw them both kissing and laughing with one another. Rather quickly he turned back away, his face twisting up in playful disgust. "We knew you idiots," he rolled his eyes, smiling once more.

But the vision didn't pass. Slowly, this feeling of dread mounting in his stomach, Talon started to pace back and forth around the campsite, his mind racing. He snuck around trees, turning every corner, and even started walking in the direction of the other campsite.

Several minutes later, a strange, red fog began slowly to fill the forest, chilling Talon's very blood and covering his body with gooseflesh. The fear gripped him, and he ran back to his friends. Though the wind was razing his face and there was cold sweat all over his body, it seemed like he was never running fast enough. Just as he was reaching the campsite, he heard Sable scream, but before he could make his way back to them, he again jerked awake, lying on the bottom of the cart once more with his friends standing over him.

"You alright, Talon?" Elias extended his hand and pulled him to his feet. Talon managed a bit of a weary smile and then tugged the headband down over his eyes again, sitting down, and brushing the disheveled hair out of his face. The rest of them stared at him with a hint of confusion on each of their faces.

"Talon?" Cai said, sitting down beside him.

"Oh, yes, I'm alright," he said yawning, stretching his arms. "Just another one of those vague visions; nothing serious to worry about this time."

They all looked at each other and shrugged then sat. The driver whipped his horses again, this navigating the cart around the bodies of the dead. Elias jumped out quickly, taking the weapons and gold off of each of them, and jumped back on the cart.

"Another job well done," Elias said, flipping each of them the variety of coins to land right on their laps.

"Let's just get to the campsite and we can celebrate," Cai said, stretching his legs and pulling back open his journal.

"And have the finest tavern ale that gold can get!" Sable yelled, raising her shield above her and smacking the button that retracted the spikes back into it.

It was as if someone had plucked a nightmare out of the darkness and preserved it, freezing the instant in time. Grotesque—the bodies that hung from trees, hanged by their feet, a sword cleaved into the victim's torso, and congealed blood dripping onto the ground—even onto the very sound that sent a shiver down Sable's spine. The cart jerked to a stop.

Cai and Elias circled the campsite, their eyes scanning each minute detail with great scrutiny. Sable did her best to follow suit, though her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Momo stepped forward, her gaze fixed on the sword lodged into the victim's body. A moment of silence later, they turned to one another.

"Momo, can you determine whose sword this is?" Cai asked, pointing up toward the body.

"Of course," said Momo, turning toward the tree. Elias chopped down the body, his sword swishing through the rope easily, while Momo drew a circle of magic in the earth. The leaves rustled in the wind as if in protest of the disturbance. When they were done with all the intricacies of the circle, they laid the sword in the center of it.

"By the light of the full moon and strength of my will, let the Witching Eye show me what is still concealed," Momo chanted in a light and soothing tone. The wind in the vicinity began to howl as it tore the autumn leaves off the trees. Momo's garment filled with stars and her eyes went bright purple, as the form of a crescent moon appeared in both of them.

It sent chills up the spines of the whole group to think this girl was the owner of the sword plunged into her. Colors drained from their faces as they all pushed back into the cart, trying to get as much distance between them and the horror as possible. The woods whispered around them as they rode away, silently witnessing the terror that had taken place.

"Let's go ask the villagers," Cai whispered as the others nodded in assent.

The cart rattled into town; the thudding of horses' hooves was the only sound that broke an eerie silence. The streets were deserted, as though the town itself had been abandoned. Ryke brought the cart to a stop and tended to the horses while Cai and the others approached the only open establishment: the tavern.

As they entered, the lack of patrons was palpable. The only being in sight was the barkeep, who sat alone reading a book. Sable stepped forward and greeted him with a smile. "Good evening, sir. We were hoping to ask you a few questions."

Setting aside his book, slowly rising from his seat, the bartender reached under the counter and pulled out six glasses, filling each with ale. A page marker was placed in the book, and then set aside; the party took seats. "I suppose you're here about the murders?" he asked, taking a swig of his drink.

Sable's smile faded as she replied, "Yes, that's correct. What can you tell us?"

With a tired sigh, the bartender finally sat back down. After downing his drink, he looked at them gravely. "I would suggest you leave," he said firmly.

The party members reassured him that this was not an option, and after a moment of hesitation, the barkeep relented. He poured himself another drink and, downing a glass or two between sentences with heavy swigs, began to speak.

With every word, another shade paler the faces of the party become as glasses were left untasted. The telling from the barkeep was haunting; it chilled them to the bone.

As they emerged from the tavern, it was with heavy minds and thoughts because of the horrific details they had just been told. Moving through the silent streets of the town, the only sounds they could hear were their footsteps against the stillness. Suddenly, a creaking door slammed shut, and turning, they saw a figure emerge from one of the houses.

A man with a huge backpack walked silently toward the edge of town. The party, desperate for answers, went up to him. "Excuse us, sir," Cai called out, tapping the man's shoulder.

With a heavy sigh, the man turned toward them; his face twisted in annoyance. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Where is everyone?" Cai gestured toward the empty street.

"In their homes, where they belong," he answered shortly, facing again the direction in which he was going. "I have no time for your questions."

The man vanished over the horizon, with the party only now returning to their cart in a deep haze of contemplation. Sable was insistent they should go, but the other two were firm to find out what lay behind these murders. Cai jotted down a few items in his journal and was working on a new plan.

"Back to the campsite, it's time we rest, then we kill a killer," Cai hopped back onto the cart as the group followed along.