Ike sat in the tree, waiting. He leaned his head back against the trunk and dozed a bit, one leg dangling from the branch. Loup lay below him, completely flat against the ground. Wisp lounged on a thick branch. From here, he couldn’t see if her eyes were open or not. Her boneless pose and general motionlessness suggested she was asleep, but then, spiders were ambush hunters. She had the instincts for it. She probably knew what to do.

He yawned. Peering off into the distance, he searched lazily for motion. The trees swayed. Nothing. Nothing but the wind in the leaves.

Maybe it doesn’t need to drink every day. I apparently don’t need to eat. I still get hungry, though, so I’m kinda wondering about that part.

Scraping echoed from afar. He sat up, startled back to wakefulness, and searched the swirling leaves for the source of the sound. Footsteps grew closer, and yet, he still saw nothing. Leaves shivered, and abruptly, he saw it. The thing moving wasn’t behind the leaves. It was the leaves themselves. The leaves, come to life.

Huh? Why would a leaf-based life form need to walk to a water hole to drink? Tree monsters would just put down roots, right? Ike wondered. He squinted at the shape, using all of his Sensory Enhancement to try and make sense of what he was seeing.

A long arm swept through the forest. Curled claws nearly as long as Ike’s entire body reached out slowly. They gripped the large trees and pulled, scraping against the tree. Shaggy green-stained fur drooped from the long, strangely-hinged arm. A round face with big round eyes appeared from behind the trees.

“What the hell,” Ike muttered, sitting up in his tree.

Another arm appeared. It latched around a closer tree and dragged the monster closer, ever so slowly.

“It’s a sloth,” Wisp said, matter-of-fact.

“It looks dangerous,” Ike said.

“They aren’t very fast. We can walk over to it, and waste less time. Pity about the web, though.”

“Is it…not dangerous?” Ike asked.

Wisp shrugged. “Not particularly. They’re very slow. If it gets you with the claws, it can gut you, but you have to be a special kind of stupid to stand still long enough for it to hit you.”

Ike turned. The sloth reached out another arm and dragged itself forward again. He pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah…”

She sighed. Standing up in her tree, she waved her hand. The web loosened itself from the trees and flew into her palm, miniaturizing as it flew over. “Waste of a web…I’ll use it later.” The miniature web landed in her hand. She flicked her wrist, and it vanished into a small black wristband.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is that?” Ike asked.

Wisp glanced at him, then held up her hand, showing him the wristband. “This?”

“Yeah. That. How’d the web go into it?” he asked.

“It’s a dimensional ring. It holds things,” Wisp said simply.

“Oh. Where can I get one?” Ike asked. It’d beat lugging around my day bag or my huge pack all the time.

Wisp shrugged. “I took mine off a dead man.”

“Ahhhh…” Ike gave her a suspicious look.

“I didn’t kill him,” she added, belatedly. “I grew up near a battlefield. Did a lot of scavenging as a little spiderling.”

“What was that like?” Ike asked.

“What, being a spiderling?”

He nodded. “Being a tiny spider. Before you became sentient and took on human form.”

She snorted. “I don’t remember that part. I remember becoming aware. And then, years later, Ranking up to Rank 3 and gaining a human form.”

Ike’s brows raised. “Do monsters need to be Rank 3 to gain human form?”

“I don’t know. I was. That’s all I can say. I was.”

Fair enough. Sentient monsters are few and far between. I can’t expect her to know everything about when monsters reach sentience.

Still, that could mean that Silver is at least Rank 3. I guess it makes sense, if he was hanging out with Orin and Cara, the other Rank 3s. It’s just that figuring it out and knowing it for sure are two very different things.

Wisp dusted off her butt. She nodded her head toward the sloth. “So… shall we?”

“You sure that thing has the ring in it?” Ike asked, glancing at Wisp.

“Yep. The thing reeks of it.”

Ike gave her a thumbs up. “Let’s do it.”

Loup stood up from the ground, already eager to get moving.

Ike pulled ahead of Wisp, who moved leisurely through the trees. Wisp doesn’t need the kill. She’s already high Rank. I need more kills to Rank up. I don’t know what happens if she’s too involved in the battle, but right now, I want all the energy from the kill that I can get.

He drew his sword. Loup ran alongside him. She glanced up at him.

“Go left. I’ll go right,” Ike said. Just because the monster was slow and un-threatening, didn’t mean they shouldn’t practice good hunting. This was an opportunity to try out their tactics before they really had to make them work.

Loup grumbled. She split off, following his call.

The two of them circled around the sloth. It clawed its way forward one tree at a time. Its big, round head turned slowly to look at them. Big, round eyes blinked at them.

Ike paused. It hasn’t attacked us or anything. I—

A huge arm, wider than he was tall, swept at him. Curved claws longer than his body and sharp as a razor darted toward him.

Eyes wide, he leaped into the air, barely dodging backward in time. The claws crushed into a tree and toppled it, sending it hurtling toward Ike. He kept backpedaling, his feet moving as fast as his body could go. I was deceived! I shouldn’t let my guard down. Not around monsters. Not ever.

On the other side of the sloth, Loup darted in. The beast turned, its previously slow head whipping around. Its other arm arced toward the wolf. Loup kicked off the ground and propelled herself toward it. Its claw chased after her. She landed on its back and dashed across toward Ike. Its arm slammed down as it ran out of energy, and it laid there like a lump once more, waiting for the next approach.

Ike backed away, thinking. Loup whirled around and came to a halt at his side. She crouched low, her eyes trained on the sloth, waiting for their charge.

It moves slow, then fast. Saves its energy for the surge. Then…I just have to attack it before it can start moving fast.

“Are you ready, girl?” Ike asked.

Loup rumbled.

“That’s the ticket.” Lightning flashed around Ike’s body. For one second, it washed him out to white, only for it to fade in the next second. Before the thunder hit, he dashed in, lightning and Loup at his heels.