Howls sounded in the night as Liv slowly stood, watching the darkness. Suddenly, they cut off, as if they had realized as one that being silent was a good idea. Liv looked up at the sky, the stars above doing nothing to illuminate the area, the night darker than it should be. Liv looked over at the altar, which seemed to be the cause, based on the aura it now had.

  Liv went into 'ultra stealth mode', channeling wind to soften her steps and contain her smell, shadow to cloak her further in the darkness of the night, and star to illuminate the area ahead of her without revealing her own location. She quickly looked around for immediate threats and strode toward the village, as it was the fastest way out. Then Liv paused, thinking of the absurdly powerful noble who was also in that direction.

  She turned on her heel. These beasts weren't certain death, but possible death. It was better than dying to the noble. Liv increased her speed as much as possible while maintaining her stealth, and started running out of the mountains. She jumped over a suspicious hole in the ground, staying as high as possible to avoid any complications with whatever lived inside. Liv debated using lightning to speed up further, but discredited the idea, as it would be far too visible, even in this artificial darkness.

  She looked up at the sky, noting that, for whatever reason, she knew exactly what time was simulated. Right now, the altar had decided to make it midnight. Soon, it would change the time to twilight, which was surprisingly accurate for a magical table. It would likely skip dawn and the day though.

  Liv pushed her muscles to their limit, running right past a hulking form, hoping it didn't notice her. She wasn't willing to waste time. If twilight came about, the amount of light in the area would increase significantly. Even if the hunters relied on senses other than sight, they would have a greater chance of catching her during twilight.

  Liv suddenly heard a noise behind her, and twisted slightly, for a split second, before snapping straight again. The beast she had passed was behind her. How did it know she was here? Heat detection? Tremor sense?

  Pushing her mind off these useless thoughts, Liv focused on running. Faster. She soon reached the three-fourths point, marked by the fact that she could barely see the other side in the distance. Dodging crags and small peaks jutting through the darkness, visible through the starlight for a split second before disappearing, Liv made quick progress, but the beast behind her was slightly faster, slowly catching up. Liv's muscles burned as she went faster, pushing herself to the limit. Being food was not an option.

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  The beast lumbered closer, determined to prove her wrong, when it suddenly stepped on a peak and fell behind, most likely injured. Yes!, Liv thought, slightly slowing down to preserve her energy. Then she heard an incredibly loud roar behind her. She started sprinting faster, glancing behind her. Nothing was there, but she still ran. Another beast appeared in the darkness behind her, its features visible. It was, however, bigger than the previous one. Far bigger. It was also eating the previous beast, or one of similar shape, with the beast hanging out of its mouth. It looked at Liv, zeroing in on her, and somehow sped up, matching her top speed with ease. Its mouth flew down, ready to pick her up as its paws blocked all methods of escape.

  It got closer, as suddenly, it disappeared. Liv kept running, wondering why it had happened. Then she got her answer.

  An ear-rending roar echoed behind her.

  Liv ran faster than she ever had in her life, giving up on stealth and flooding herself with lightning to go as fast as possible. The beast still caught up, looking down at her. Liv's brain whirred. How do they know where I am? If they had eyes, I should be able to see them in the night. They don't seem to use smell, or hearing, because one found me while I was cloaked from both. Tremorsense is off the page, as they track too accurately for that. Heat detection is also far to inaccurate, with me holding in much of my heat along with the smell, as the air didn't get a chance to pass it off somewhere else. So, it must be,

  Liv deactivated her lightning and let her body, without any augments, run, as she retracted her energy as far as it could go.

  The beast behind her, seemingly interested in her for her energy pool, suddenly peeled off and ran into the darkness.

  The rest of the run was in peace, as Liv made sure to not use energy, running slowly but surely as she got to the border. Some of the beasts had seen and followed her, probably with another sense, as the people who had gone into this area without energy had also died.

  Soon, Liv broke out of the artificial night, seeing the sun once again. She was out of the mountains, and behind her, the land suddenly grew dark, the altar not trying for subtlety as it covered the entire mountain range except for a few of the paths through in darkness. Liv walked back to the path, activating energy once again and running.

  Behind her, the altars of wind, ice, and shadow all formed a bond with each other, invisible to all but the gods, and those stronger than the gods.

  Jay looked down at Liv's work, smiling. She would grow to be strong. As he had defeated the parasites and had even stood against the Final Invasion, Liv had the potential to defend against the new threats popping up all over the place. There were some things he was simply too strong to handle, and these two girls would make a nice addition to the team.

  After some proper training, of course. Heroes always had a training arc.