The campfire flickered as the lone source of light for miles in any direction, casting long, shaky shadows of the tall grass and the tree near which they camped. Iris was some distance away, atop a large pillar of rock. There were other rock formations like this scattered throughout the plains, tall and oblong shapes that awkwardly jutted out of the ground at almost vertical angles. Eli had instructed her not to go far, but she couldn't resist the urge to teleport up to the top of the nearest pillar.
The plains expanded in all directions around her, giving way to the boundless fields of tall grass to the east and the craggy desert from whence they'd come to the west. Purple and orange light from the moon overhead faintly illuminated the plains, but barely enough to make out even the looming shapes of the other pillars in the distance. She sat cross legged on the tip of the pillar, gazing up at the sky full of stars.
Her mind wandered through disjointed memories of the last few days. Some came like vivid flashes, others as faint recollections of events. She pulled the broken pocket watch from her bag and stared at it in the moonlight, thinking how silly it was that a stranger's broken watch was one of her strongest reminders of the last day of her old life. That thought sent a stroke of pain through her chest as she realized that's what all this really meant. The power that had brought her here wouldn't come off cooldown for an entire month, and then she'd need to almost die in order to activate it without even having a way to point it back home. If she could travel home the old fashioned way, how long would that take? How would the journey change her, and what would be waiting for her when she returned? Her old life was gone, and there was little to do about it but mourn.
She looked back across the plains at the campfire in the distance, wondering what kind of life she might build. She could see herself spending quite some time with her new companions, which was a good thing considering she didn't have much of a choice right now, but would they even want to keep her around after they reached the city? Would they want her to compete in the Grand Hunt with them? Could she even survive something like that at her level?
Movement caught her eye. So faint in the dark that she struggled to discern if she'd imagined it. Then another shape moved, something large and hulking creeping along the perimeter of the campfire's light. In one motion she rose to her feet, leapt from the stone pillar and teleported to the ground below. She landed in a crouch, adrenaline flooding her veins, and yelled out as she rapidly blipped towards the fire.
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"Look out!" Iris's yell echoed across the quiet plains.
Eli shot to his feet, staff in hand. Victoria fell in close beside him with grey mucus-slicked eyes while Titus summoned six floating spears of shimmering light evenly spaced in the air around the camp. Autumn groaned and rolled off her mat and onto her feet, pulling a summoned stone hand axe from beneath the ground.
The spears of light brightly illuminated a large radius around the camp, revealing two large, four-legged figures prowling in the dark. The first one pounced, two giant paws the size of a person's head lined with sharp claws came around either side of Titus as it landed. He reacted with a burst of crackling light that sent the beast flying back the way it had come. Before it landed he was already rushing after it.
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"Stay close!" Eli shouted, just before he loosed a blast of fire towards the second creature. The ball of flames erupted on impact with the ground as the beast deftly leapt aside, setting fire to patches of dry grass. He kept his aim, panning the staff across the shadowy edge of the light where the creature crept.
"Two degrees left," Victoria said, seemingly staring into the distance at nothing.
Eli pivoted his aim almost imperceptibly and released another blast. A deep whine could be heard as the fireball hit the creature in its hindquarters, the burst of light revealing its form.
"Panthers!" Eli shouted, using his massive mana pool to release several more consecutive blasts as he followed the dark form of the creature sprinting through the night as it encircled their camp.
Autumn had already dropped her small hand axe, instead summoning a round stone shield and a matching mace. She sprinted to Titus, who was standing directly under one of his floating spears of light and twisting in place to search for the beast he had chased. Autumn took her place at his back, peering over her shield with her mace poised to swing.
The light above audibly crackled, and a quick bolt of light shot out into the darkness like miniature lightning. Titus summoned another spear of light in his hand and hurled it at that direction. The instant the spear left his hand it jolted forward along its trajectory and exploded into splinters of crackling light. He had missed the creature but was confident he had at least thwarted an attack.
Autumn stomped her foot towards the edge of the light, erupting a jagged wall of stone from the ground several feet away just as the panther leapt towards her from the darkness. It effortlessly twisted in the air to kick off the wall, sprinting back into the grass just outside of the light before circling back immediately for another pounce. Autumn ducked behind her shield as she blocked a swiping paw that left deep gouges in the stone shield. Another paw swiped, aimed for her head.
Titus spun and wrapped himself around Autumn, presenting his heavily armored back to the attack. The claws sheered through the metal like cloth and ripped through the skin of his back as he bit back a scream of pain. He continued his spin, picking up Autumn and swinging her towards the beast. Her mace crunched into its jaw as it tried to bite, the momentum of the strike sent it tumbling to the ground. Titus placed Autumn on her feet and summoned a light spear in his hands, this time leveling it at the creature as it climbed back to its feet.
The other panther charged at Eli and Victoria, dodging side to side to avoid each blast of fire that Eli released. Just before it leapt to pounce, a shrill screech filled the night air as the griffin swooped low and dug her talons into the panther's body, hoisting it off the ground before kicking downwards to throw it into the dirt with a thump. Victoria quickly targeted it with three separate negative effect cards as Eli charged a blast strong enough that it threatened to explode the staff into splinters. The fireball hit the panther square in its torso, pushing it back and engulfing it in flames. The sick smell of burning fur filled the air alongside the horrific cries of the panther.
Autumn's mace slammed into her opponent's face again, this time one of its paws reached past the shield, curved around and raked sharp claws down the length of her upper arm. She screamed out, dropping the shield as she fell to one knee. The panther twisted back for another swipe. Titus reached his hands to the sky and jerked them towards the ground, bringing the light spear hovering above them down to impale straight through the beast's body, but this did not stop the swiping claws aimed for Autumn's face.
Instead the paw stopped just short of its target, the claws only an inch from Autumn's eyes as they gleamed erratically in the flickering light. Between Autumn and the panther's outstretched leg was Iris, holding up Autumn's stone shield against the attack. Iris stared into the dying eyes of the creature as its mouth of huge, jagged fangs hung open inches from her face. The spear of light impaling the creature disappeared, and it slumped to the ground.