He awoke in a daze, eyes blinking vigorously in an attempt to take in his surroundings. He was lying on his side, cushioned by moss growing around the base of the tree.

“Where am I?” He asked himself puzzled, memory blanketed by thick fog.

A butterfly hovered gracefully over top of his head. He stared at it, watching it go around and around flying in an almost perfect circle. His eyes tracked it perfectly, as he focused on it more he noticed something rather strange. His brows furrowed as he studied it, confused. The animal was faintly glowing red, he’d never seen a butterfly do that before. As a matter of fact he’d never see any animal glow like that before, except for…

“Lycaon!” He said hastily, shooting upwards from his lying position.

The events from earlier all coming back to him like a flood. He shot a glance over to his right, the lifeless body of the Bear Tribe member solidifying his memories into reality.

Another name forced itself to the front of his mind. “Reculan!” He said the same as Lycaon.

Twisting his body around opposite of the corpse, he saw Reculan. Lying up against the tree, still unconscious, where he’d last seen him. Malicade quickly strode over and checked his pulse, letting out a sigh of relief upon finding it was normal. The bandage remained wrapped tightly, no hint of bleeding showing on the outer side.

Now that he’d affirmed his friend was alright he sank back down, the events from earlier in the day beginning to have their full weight realized by the young man. He’d met the God whom he’d worshipped his entire life, and, who in the matter of mere moments had died in his arms after saving his life.

“What does it all mean?” He asked himself aloud, thinking back to Lycaon’s dying words. Tears slowly began to trickle down his cheeks, yet his face didn’t distort in agony or sadness. He felt numb inside and out.

A gust of wind blew across the clearing, sending a wavelike pattern across the tall grass which helped to calm Malicade. The stream of tears turned into only a trickle.

He peered up into the sky.

"Strange." He thought.

The sky itself was plenty bright, however the sun wasn't anywhere to be found. There were no lengthened shadows or red tint to any trees or flowers that would signal sunset or sunrise.

He squinted up through the canopy of trees, still unable to locate the sun. High up in the sky however, the moon was peeking its way overhead into a gap in the tree cover.

His eyes went wide with shock, causing everything to seem even brighter. He recoiled in shock, smacking his head against the tree with a hollow thunk. He grimaced at the pain, attention still focused on the ever increasingly strange series of events unfolding before him.

A burst of movement in his peripheral vision snatched his attention. It darted around quickly in no particular pattern, zig zagging left and right. He realized it was nothing more than a small insect, just like the butterfly it was highlighted red. His eyes effortlessly followed it, never seeming to lose track of it no matter how fast it flew. The harder he focused, the slower it appeared to move. He quickly lost interest, switching his attention back to what he deemed more pressing concerns, like why the sky appeared bright as day with the only thing illuminating it being the moon and stars.

Stars

The sky was full of them, twinkling in a constant never ending wave. With the stars and moon out that meant it had to be night time, but Malicade had never known the sky to be so bright at night. Even during a full moon it never reached this level, and the moon was much nearer to being new than full. Perhaps in the Eastern Plains he’d been told about from the village elders it could be, but certainly not in the heart of the forest.

“Something’s not right.” He thought to himself.

Although, nothing about the previous day had been. It had been botched right from that start.

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The moon was directly overhead now, casting deep and lengthy shadows from the trees, but even those were much brighter to Malicade than they should be. He stood up, stretching his aching muscles as he did. It was time to head back.

“Everyone in the village must be worried sick.” He thought, shooting a glance at Reculan’s unconscious body, realizing he was gonna have to carry him back.

“At least you weigh less than a buck.” He said with a chuckle in an attempt to lighten his spirits, stooping down to grab his friend. He swung him over top both his shoulders and began what he knew was gonna be a taxing journey home. Luckily, Reculan weighed a lot less than he was originally anticipating.

“At least that’s a welcome surprise.” He thought.

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Shortly after Malicade left the clearing he realized that if it wasn't for the extra lighting he probably would’ve gotten lost. He’d strayed far from the region of the forest he knew and was essentially in no man’s land. He thought back to what the bear tribesman had said when he first arrived.

“In our territory.”

If what he said was true, then Malicade truly had no idea where they were at. He’d never been to the edge of their own side of the territory line, let alone across it. Very few people had minus those tasked with patrolling the borderline. It was illegal to cross over into bear territory unless in the most absolute of emergencies, which Malicade was now praying his reasonings for doing it counted under.

He kept traveling North, hoping to find a landmark or area he recognized.

The moon had sunk off to his left now, its top just barely visible over the treetops, soon the first red rays of the sun would begin peaking over the horizon to his right. At this time of year the sun was typically fully above the edge of the horizon before the moon set, daybreak was close he knew.

Much to his surprise, carrying Reculan didn’t slow him down nearly as much as he was anticipating, nor did it fatigue him as much as he expected. Even after what Malicade assumed to be over an hour, his legs still felt fresh and showed no signs of needing rest. That being so, he still was unsure of where he was at and knew the odds of him making it back to the village before dawn were slim if not none. Deciding it was best to wait until then before continuing further, better lighting meant better chances of spotting something familiar to him. It would also give Reculan a chance to rest without being jarred around constantly as Malicade walked, and with any luck regain consciousness.

Malicade began searching for a suitable spot to rest, spotting a fallen tree some distance to his left. This time of year there was little chance of rain or heavy winds, but a barrier against any wind that happened to pick up was a welcome one. It would also act to help block off one direction in which predators could attack from or unwanted observers could see them.

Malicade shrugged Reculan from his shoulders carefully and laid him on the ground gently on his back. Night’s were rather warm this time of year so a fire wouldn’t be necessary, especially since they would only be there for a couple hours while they waited for the sun to rise. He was also unsure how close to the territory line they still were, deciding the risk of drawing another Bear Tribesman outweighed the potential benefits a small fire would bring. Nevertheless he still removed the blanket he carried in his satchel and covered Reculan with it, no sense in forcing him to try and ward off any night chill that was present while he was fighting desperately for his life. A thought that Malicade wished had come to him earlier, deciding that when it was time to set out again he’d leave the blanket wrapped around him in the early morning hours while the sun was still doing away with the night time chill.

He removed his shirt, bundled it into a ball and placed it under his friend’s head as a pillow, hoping any ounce of comfort he could bring him would ease his recovery.

“I’m sorry.” Malicade said, knowing Reculan wasn’t awake to hear it.

A gust of wind blew through the area, barely strong enough to shake the tree branches, yet surprisingly cold. Malicade shivered all through his body, bringing his arms close into his chest.

His chest began tingling, almost as if something were crawling all over him. He swatted at his chest but quickly noticed nothing was there, except for much more hair than he ever remembered having. He was confused, but waved it aside, figuring he was just imagining things. No longer hiking through the dense forest, Malicade realized just how tired he was. The day had certainly taken its toll on him. He checked around the immediate area and seeing no cause for alarm he decided he could risk sleeping until sunrise, knowing there was still much ground to cover between the village and where they were. Using his satchel as a pillow, he drifted off into sleep.

They were being watched. Malicade sensed rather than saw or heard it. His eyes shot open rapidly, the hairs on the back of his neck standing firm. There was something out there stalking them, just out of sight. He strained his ears but heard nothing. Much to his surprise however, his nose caught a whiff of something off to his right. The oder was rather musty, and he detected a faint hint of blood radiating from it as well. Unable to decipher what could be causing it, Malicade decided the presence of something or someone reeking of blood was a cause for alarm. His sword was lying next to him on the ground, but there was no way for him to draw it without alerting his stalker.

He quickly jumped up from his position on the ground, ripping his sword from its scabbard as he did, and turning to face whatever was hiding in the shadows. As his feet hit the ground, so too did those of his uninvited visitor. Their four paws landing gracefully on top of the fallen tree Malicade had positioned Reculan next to. Its ears pressed down against its head, teeth baring at the sword in Malicade’s grip.