It was early morning as Caleb was crouched in a bush stalking a razer tongue toad. The sun had barely peaked over the horizon, casting light into the forest between the leaves. Caleb had been observing the toad hunt circling a small pond. Occasionally, it would flick its tongue out, and a creature would get dragged back, spasming. The toad was the size of a large suitcase, with warts covering its head and body. Its eyes moved independently of each other, scanning between trees and bushes. The toad gulped any prey it caught immediately.
Caleb had a standard rifle strapped to his back and wore light leather armor, which he was unused to. The leather armor wasn’t tailored to his proportions, making it uncomfortable. The standard rifle was heavier than an energy rifle because of the different components needed to make it work. He also had a pouch of ammunition strapped on his belt that sagged under the weight of the bullets.
Caleb took the rifle off his back and slowly shifted it towards the toad. It was near the edge of the pond, unmoving. Caleb drew a deep breath and held it as he aimed the gun at the toad. He fired, and the butt of the weapon drove into his shoulder. The bullet impacted the toad side, and fluid began leaking out of the hole. However, the toad immediately jumped away into the pond, leaving Caleb’s sight. Caleb heard an arrow zip by as it hit the water. A few moments later, the toad floated up to the top with the arrow sticking through its head.
“That was a good try, but you’ll have to be more accurate next time,” Grace stated. She walked out from behind a tree and strolled past the bush Caleb was hiding behind. “This was a young toad,” she pulled out of the water and held it up. “It looks like it was around two months old and small for its age.”
“They get bigger than that?” Caleb asked.
Grace nodded and responded, “The largest I’ve seen was taller than the trees surrounding us. The problem with hunting those is their ability to detect energy fluctuations in the air. The older these toads get, the better they get at reading it, making it capable of wiping out whole parties.”
Caleb’s face turned into a grimace as he wondered how dangerous these creatures were. Meanwhile, Grace opened the toad's mouth and cut the tongue out with speed and finesse. Storing it, she butchered the toad for meat before tossing the bones into the pond. Small fish swam up and started to pick at the bones' remains before they sank into the depths. Standing up from her work, she turned to Caleb. “Let's head back for now. I’m sure the others have gotten a decent haul by now, so we can call it quits here.” Caleb nodded and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He checked his pouch to make sure the bag was secured to his body.
Grace waited for him to finish, then began running toward the rendezvous spot. Caleb followed behind her, but as they ran, he slowly increased the energy flowing through his legs to keep up with her. When they left the forest, Caleb’s breathing was ragged, and he was drenched in sweat. If there was any more running, his body might have given out. In front of him lay hills sprawling out over the countryside as far as he could see. He walked to the nearest hill and collapsed before dozing off.
…
The others arrived and found Caleb asleep on the hill without a care. “Long night?” Chris asked.
Grace explained, “He was focused on improving his aim on non-energy fueled guns. He said he had to ‘be ready in case of emergencies’. In my opinion, if you're in a fight and your energy runs out, you're as good as dead.”
Chris replied, “If something gets close to you, you’re as good as dead Grace.” The group chuckled and began counting how many tongues they collected. Arthur stayed silent as he went to wake Caleb up.
…
Caleb sat up with a jolt, scanning his surroundings before relaxing. He saw the others sitting in a circle. Grace and Chris were tallying up the tongues, and Emilia had started a fire. Caleb’s face went pale as she began to put some of the toad meat on a stick to cook. Running over, he took the meat before she altered it beyond recognition.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
…
The group was sitting around a fire Caleb had made. Caleb had continued exploring his powers' limitations and found out that if he started a flame, it could burn ordinary items, and the flame would keep burning even if his conjured flame went out. Caleb also found that an illusion item could be shifted into a materialized object by pouring energy and solidifying it. It was still slow, but he thought it would be helpful later.
Everyone had been eating the cooked toad meat and discussed battle tactics for the upcoming fight against the monsters.
Arthur proposed, “We’ll fight in an arrowhead formation. Chris will lead the front with Grace and Emilia on the sides. Meanwhile, Caleb and I will provide support from the rear.”
“That's all well and good until we start the actual fighting; then, our entire lineup will be thrown off,” Chris responded.
They kept going back and forth, proposing different battle plans while Caleb sat back and observed. Emilia had continued teaching Caleb how to spot someone when concealing their energy for the handful of days they had been out hunting. He had begun observing the others and feeling the energy that came from them on their way to the forest. Honing in on this discovery, he had been able to start spotting Emilia when she had her energy concealed. Even though it was mostly gone, he could feel wisps of energy that escaped anytime she moved.
“Caleb!” Emilia shouted. Caleb jumped a little, realizing he had begun spacing out. The others looked with smirks on their faces before continuing the discussion.
“Caleb, would you be able to help us out by providing areas we should head first when we enter Etheria?” Grace asked. Caleb thought about it for a moment, then asked for a map. He began detailing where the bunkers in the city were and the fastest routes to get to them. He also noted essential buildings in the area that people might have been able to hold out against the monsters.
…
In the forest, a shadow moved to the edge of the tree line. Observing the group cautiously, it went further, lying close to the ground. It kept its energy wholly sealed as it approached so as not to be spotted.
It saw the group sleeping on top of the hill. However, one was still dismantling and reassembling a strange weapon the creature was unfamiliar with. It was long, and the firearm's body was brown. It had a handle area that the human would hold it at and point to in a circle. The strangest part of the weapon was the black cracks running along the entirety of it.
Once it had settled, the shadow saw the human and noticed it was the one it had been following. It stayed in the grass, observing the human gathering intel. The human seemed weak based on the creature's observations over the past few weeks. It was unsure how Amarok’s lackeys could have lost to him even with a weapon. He was slow and unable to engage in combat compared to the other humans always with him. The shadow was tempted to try and kill the human many times but was worried the other humans would find it. It could fight when needed, but against trained fighters, it would surely lose.
The shadow began inching closer to try and go through the human's belongings. However, it froze as the human spun around and pointed the rifle toward it. It stayed still and sealed itself from the world using its most advanced stealth techniques it could. The human kept approaching slowly near it before stopping. It looked in the area but then turned around and returned to the camp. Relieved, the shadow went back to what it was about to do. Just as it reached for one of the packs, an arrow embedded itself into the shadow's hand. Spinning in fear, it saw the other humans awake and making a beeline straight for it.
…
Caleb had been keeping watch since he didn’t need as much sleep as the others from all the mental training he constantly put himself through. He was dismantling a conjured version of the rifle to ensure he understood the components needed for use in combat. From what he learned from his training sessions, energy rifles were fast, versatile, and generally better in most cases. However, some creatures were resistant to energy attacks, making the weapon worse when facing off against them; in situations like that, a standard rifle made more sense to use. Caleb would try to test the gun, but he wasn’t sure how to dampen the sound and didn’t want to wake the others.
As he inspected the rifle, he returned to the thought he had earlier in the day about detecting Emilia's energy. During their sparring sessions, he realized that he could feel wisps of her energy whenever she had to move in to attack and could respond to that. He had begun testing to see if he could see it in the razer tongue toads, and he had seen several similar energy signatures. After long observations, he concluded that everyone had a unique energy signature that could be felt subtly. Chris’s energy was calm and easygoing. Grace’s was sharp and decisive. Arthur’s was solid and steady while being gentle all at once. Emilia’s was like a rolling thunderstorm that moved with quickness and death.
Snapping back to the present, he observed the others again while they slept to see what he could gleam. However, he noticed something when he focused his energy sense. It was dark and primarily imperceptible in any sense. It was a small thing about the size of a dog moving slowly toward their camp supplies. He began approaching it to investigate, but as he was halfway there, he stopped and thought about it.
‘If it's a monster, I wouldn’t want to face it alone,’ he spun around to wake the others up.
Waking Grace up first, he explained the situation and pointed toward the creature. However, she couldn’t see it even while focusing as hard as possible. Slightly annoyed, Caleb woke the others, and they all responded similarly. Getting worried he might be seeing things, Caleb whispered, “Ok, Grace, just shoot right there. Its main body is there. The arrow will pass harmlessly through the air and into the ground if it's nothing. If my hunch is wrong, I’ll pay for the next five meals you have.”
Grinning, thinking she would have free meals for a week, she aimed and fired. When the arrow punctured something, they all looked shocked except for Caleb, who yelled, “Go!” The group took off chasing the monster into the night.