“Heads up!”

A lance of searing indigo heat blew past Tomb’s head. He didn’t have time to react before a tree behind him cracked and splintered with the force of the blaze.

“Um, the fuck was that?”

“Sorry, the light from your bird made it hard to aim.”

Tomb shook himself and glared at a smirking beast of a man several paces away.

“I’m not our target, Dem.”

Dem let his rueful smile hold a little before his face turned serious. He quickly scanned the shadowy woods ahead. A black and purple cross-patterned jacket, dark, wrapped cloth covering his legs, and dark gray skin with sapphire blue eyes contributed to him unfairly blending in with the surrounding landscape.

He’s full of shit.

Tomb shook himself and returned to a poised stance. His breathing changed, his eyes closed…

In, out.

Slowly, they opened. Two yellow irises with perfectly circular pupils flared in the dark tree shade. His eyes were constantly moving. Searching, seeing other than what was around him. The shadow of an avian crossed from above the treetops. It started circling some distance ahead.

Bird my ass, it wasn’t even near me.

“Two spaces right, they're moving. Maybe… thirty paces away. Two females and a child. One is limping slightly, there might be a blood trail nearby.” His eyes constantly shifted during the report.

“Got it, taking point.”

The two hunters slowly rotated positions, Dem forcing the lead while the Tomb followed in his shadow. Ahead, flashes of red and white fur could be seen moving among the brushwood.

Dem ran with unnatural grace for his size, swiftly covering distance while changing direction between trunks. After several minutes of pursuit, he held up two fingers, their sides touching. At the signal, Tomb stopped several paces behind him.

Dem shifted his stance and began to slowly kneel, stopping when his knees barely scraped the ground. From his right pant leg, he pulled off a circular twist of bone and wood, a hand span of empty space contained within. His eyes brightened, and the area within the circle warped. A low hum accompanied by the shifting wrongness of that space grew as the weapon began sucking in the light of the surrounding area. He pulled his head back slightly, then brought it forward just as the space within the circle collapsed. With a sharp crack a beam of pure energy shot out, lighting up the forest. Five quick pulses followed the initial volley. Dem continually adjusted his aim, the forest sighing after each shot.

Tomb observed all of this from high above. He could see the lances of energy hit, the red creatures falling with eternal certainty. He could see Dem cut off his energy source. And his own body, slightly hidden in Dem’s shadow.

“Clean hit, All three. No major movements, though one may be convulsing a little”, Tomb commented.

“Noted, then it's time to clean.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Dem slowly approached the site of their kill. Tomb stopped. The bird overhead preforming wider and wider spirals, scanning more area with each pass.

Dem crept until he was a certain distance away from the corpses and waited, watching for any signs of life. After a moment he pulled out a light contraption of metal and string. It appeared mundane, and with a trigger pull he shot three quick bursts of cold metal into each beast. One lurched a little, then was still. Dem gave another signal to a half-attentive Tomb, then decided better of it.

“I’m heading in.”

Cautiously, he approached the game, stopping a short distance away. Verifying they were dead, his hand opened to reveal a rune carved stone. Blue and white mist rose from the engravings, the dagger-like curve of metal fully covered in sweeping patterns. Dem positioned the sharp end of the runic stone toward the beast and plunged it in warm flesh. After being stabbed, each body jerked, then went limp. Even the bugs that had been touching them convulsed and froze, white hoar frost forming on the exposed skin.

“That’s 16, right? Not bad. Poor suckers didn’t even see it coming.”

Tomb blinked, his eyes returning to their natural, triple-pupil state. At the same moment, the avian above began deforming mid-air. The magical puppet had morphed into a pile of lifeless sticks and foliage by the time it hit the ground. Tomb had taken less time than he expected to imitate the wildlife on Rotworld. The hours spent meditating, listening, and adjusting to the soul of Rotworld’s forests had been a surprisingly comforting experience. He spent every spare moment he could strengthening that connection.

The two went to work dressing the carcasses. Dem focused on the kill, his hands removing each piece of gut and organ with veteran efficiency.

Tomb meticulously prepared a pit surrounded by rock and stone, the edges cleared of any flammable undergrowth. He carefully positioned the youngest of the creatures within the ditch, cutting a runic pattern of blood over its heart and head. He then cut a small strand of his hair with a fresh knife, throwing it onto the corpse. When the hair met blood it caught fire, indigo smoke rising from the sacrifice. He lowered himself to the ground, knees tucked beneath him as he watched in silence.

Dem stood nearby with a bemused expression, but didn’t comment. Until after a moment, then he spoke.

“You know, you won’t be doing whatever that is in Wild Space.”

“I know. There are rule exceptions for cases such as this.”

Dem raised an eyebrow.

“I also never took you for the pious type.”

Tomb gave a self-deprecating smile at the comment.

“I’m not, just feeling a bit nostalgic after having lived a few months on Rotworld.”

“Your homeworld was as bad as this dump? What was the point of coming here then?”

Tomb ignored the comment. Dem was intentionally bringing up the past. When they first met he thought Dem’s actions were malicious at first. But soon realized the bull was the only one who would make the effort to talk with a reclused Tomb. He cared, in his own sort of way. Dem was smarter than he acted. Tomb had to constantly remind himself not to let his guard down around the man, but wasn’t too worried about Dem’s personality. Except when he pulled something crazy.

“...Say, what was that earlier?”

“Hmm, say what?”

Tomb’s eye twitched a little.

“You know you won’t be doing whatever that was, in Wild Space.”

Dem gave a toothy smile, whites gleaming in the midday light.

He waited for a moment, seeing if his silence would get a reaction from Tomb. When nothing happened, he gave a half snort and changed gears.

“So, you seem comfortable using the outside in a sentence.”

Tomb’s face scrunched at the remark.

Wild space, I’m still getting over that.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing how you deal with your first trip. Always the worst, but once you get there, you’ll find it's not so bad. Besides, Ky’s meticulous about where she drops us.”

“Say, does it ever get old, dealing with the time dilation aspect? Do you regret it?”

Dem went quiet for a few moments. He could be surprisingly perspective at times. Mainly when he chose to be.

“No, life outside of obscurity can be dangerous. We may be semi-famous here, but there’s still a disconnect with the villagers, since we end up experiencing age differently than they do. That has its own perks, and we're not alone when we travel.”

“Hmm. Say, I’ve been meaning to ask, how long have you been going on these excursions?

“Uhh, this would be my… fifth? Yeah. My fifth time.”

“And you're fine, going into Wild Space? with an Awetich?”

Dem unconsciously dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Nothing’s happened yet. And Yuri’s there. I suppose that’s the only reason any of us do it. She wants to go and takes responsibility for that fact. If she wasn’t around, I don’t think I would feel safe with… her. Ky does strange things sometimes. It’s best not to bring it up around other guild members.”

“Right, got it. You sure seem confident in Yuri’s abilities.”

“Ha! Wait till you see her in action. Veteran heavy mana users are a real treat to have around. Nothing like the light and medium classes you and I hold. Though your scouting abilities are kind of broken. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got all the “high expectations” speeches before coming here.” It wasn’t lost on Tomb that Dem was prying again.

He went quiet for a moment, then smiled.

“If only my family had that much faith in my abilities.”

“Ha, what the snots back home would think now that you're traveling to the outside!”

“...Yeah, they wouldn’t believe it…”, then, barely audible, “but not for the reason you think.”