Swivelling our heads in unison, we looked upstream towards the source of the noise. The river and dense foliage seemed to muffle the sound, however I finally spotted a sharp moving blur through the trees, moving in and out of view. It’s movements were much louder than last time, which was probably why I thought it was closer than it was.
“Hang on, is that…”
The whispered query was left hanging in the air by Sarra, but we all understood the rest. I stared back into Shiara’s eyes, confirming our feelings, and I could see fear reflected in her irises…I glanced back around the tree. Good, the group of mutant spearfish had also noticed the fast approaching presence. Well, with the scary aura it was releasing, there would be no way they wouldn’t. The group also seemed to be having their animal instincts riled up, as they started pawing the ground with their limbs.
“Let’s move now. While they’re distracted.” I peeked around the tree again, the splintered bark reminding me of the deadly magic shooting moments ago. The monsters were totally distracted, but for assurance I motioned to Shiara with my fingers. 3, 2, 1, go! Waving my hand forward, I crept forward quickly while maintaining a crouch. Using a fallen trunk as cover, we quickly converged with Sarra behind a tree further in. I looked back again. The mutant spearfish seemed to have already forgotten us and had their bladed tail facing us, each blade with a crescent shaped hole in the middle. I could barely pick up a low pitch growl that they were emanating as they sidled up and bunched together. I spoke without turning away.
“Hey, we should get-“
BZZZZZZ!
-ouch. The buzzing had yet again increased in volumed as a stream of bright light flowed from behind the trees towards the frightened spearfish. Barely registering the breath of flame, the river rose unnaturally in a giant wave, crashing down on the flame, releasing a bunch of steam. It was an awe-inspiring fight, but we couldn’t stick around any longer. Watching the fight, the mystery attacker was more than likely the Dragon Flyire from before, defending its territory from what it saw as invaders. If so, this battle would be between parties with a guardian monster equivalent strength. Normally, the party with an elemental advantage would win, but considering the spearfish’s clear inexperience to combat on land, it would be an easy victory for the Dragon Flyire. The dull pain in my shoulder stopped me from further analysis. I tapped on the two other distracted shoulders, and motioned to leave. There was no point trying to converse currently, and the faster we got away the better. The noise had become as loud as crowded city fanfares, with every animal, plant and more likely monster in the vicinity aware of the current battle; the giant flashes of light in the night a bright beacon.
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Dropping the fish that was bleeding ruby blood from a giant hole in its chest, I passed the other Flying-Piranha to Sarra who had lost one of hers. I then unslung the bow before nocking an arrow to the string. I checked the quiver, counting the arrows. There were only seven more left. The battle was still ongoing as heatwaves and explosions were constantly being felt, but it wouldn’t last much longer, and once a battle of this size stopped, all the predators would come in. Nocturnal predators were notorious for being strong, violent, and dangerous. The adults use to tell the kids all the time as a warning ‘The night is for hunting. If you are not the hunter, you will become the hunted’ I felt a shiver up my spine. It was cold, it was scary, and I was thinking about my past. Thinking back, it was a surprise that I hadn’t reacted more, but that meant I was confronting my past, something that I had been trying to run from. Never mind that, focus, focus…1*
Readjusting myself, I scanned the surrounding up ahead, and proceeded to cautiously walk on. I wanted to truly leave the battleground and it’s surroundings before holing up. The worst situation would be deciding to hole up here and getting hit by a stray magic attack. I did NOT want to wake up as the tree I’m sleeping on collapses. I could still feel the heat waves from here, so we needed to go further in.
The jungle floor was nearly pitch black as the canopy above blocked out the majority of the blue and white moonlight. Occasional patches of light could be seen in the distance, but for the most part, I could barely see Shiara’s and Sarratina’s faces. Instead I tried to focus more on my other senses. I could feel the cold wind brushing against my skin. I could feel the directions that seemed to lack noise or wind, a likely indication of denser vegetation. And I could hear the ragged breathing of my two travel companions behind me. I could feel the feather arrow brushing against the tips of my fingers. I could hear the explosive fight for territory between the monsters. I could hear the-
“Ahh!...ouch.”
“You ok?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine… Just tripped over something. Wait, I dropped the fish and I can’t see it. Where’d it go? How did-“
“SHHHHH! Just forget it, and pay attention to your surroundings. Try to stick close to me and follow in my footsteps.” The flashes of light still occurred intermittently, but they were becoming sparser and sparser. “It sounds like the fight’s dying down and most of the spearfish have died. Be on guard, predators may be coming our way.” People often associated the evil with being stupid, but monsters were actually quite intelligent; half the high ranking monsters in this jungle were probably smarter than Shiara.
“Hey, we’re not stupid.” Did Shiara just read my mind? “No need to tell us the obvious. It’s just hard to follow you in here. How is it so dark? It’s almost like we are inside a giant cave…” Or not…-hang on, what was that?! I flick my head to the right looking for the colour. There.
“Uh… Vixen, you see that as well right?”
“Yes, you’re not hallucinating.”
A pair of bright yellow fluorescent eyes stared at us unblinkingly from inside a nearby shrub quietly observing us.