Public Release: Feb. 26th, 2019 - 17:00 pm EST

I found the caravan stopped in the middle of a wide passage with numerous tunnels, cliffs, and caves leading into it. Most of the knights had weapons drawn and were watching the darkness around them, all of them on edge. The two Inspectors from Barbory were standing together, off their mounts, each with their backs to each other. They were mumbling to each other and seemed to be the most afraid.

I noticed, at that moment, that two of the escort knights were missing. A long trail of blood lead away from the caravan into one of the caves by the side, alongside the marks of a man being dragged. Cat-like paw prints were left in their wake.

“Tsavo,” said one of the Inspectors, his voice cracking a bit.

I immediately drove [Mana Sense] as hard as I could, but I didn’t detect anything. Nothing at all. The area around us felt completely empty, devoid of any living things.

A shiver went up my spine. From one of the cave tunnels I spotted a pair of eyes staring out, their pupils slit vertically like a predator's.

I couldn’t sense the creature at all with [Mana Sense] even as I stared into its eyes.

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath and used my speed to get past the Inspector’s line of sight. The breeze I left in my wake made them jump. I wasn’t sorry.

I found Sal around behind the carriage, near the start of the blood trails. I sighed in relief seeing him there, but my sigh caught itself in my throat when I noticed his arm was clawed up, with three long slashes running from his elbow to his hand.

“Sal!” I yelled as I ran to him, pushing aside several of the escorts. It was the first time I showed myself since we reached the Fort, and a few of the knights jumped at my sudden appearance.

They all seemed on edge, and I could guess the reason at this point.

“Calliope,” said Sal as he looked up at me with a strained smile. “The guides are calling these creatures Tsavo, and I can’t sense them at all with [Map]. I'm struggling to see parts of The Pass with my skill at all.”

“I can’t sense them either with my [Mana Sense],” I replied.

“I think these creatures specialize in ambush predation. They got two of our knights already…” his voice trailed off at the end as I compressed his wound with the bandages a maid handed me.

“Shut up for now,” I said. I looked over my shoulder and noticed one of the Barbory Inspectors pointing at me and whispering in a hushed tone to his partner, but his fear of the cat-like predators probably stopped him from taking any action.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” I said. My joke didn’t draw any laughs, only hard stares.

“Isn’t she supposed to be strong?” Whispered one knight from a bit away. He probably didn’t realize I could hear him.

“She took down a World Dragon, from what I’ve heard,” another replied.

“Then why hasn’t she been helping us fight the monsters in The Pass?”

-

I realized why I was receiving harsh stares. It wasn’t because of my cat joke (though that probably didn’t help).

They didn’t realize just how much I was doing in the dark, in secrecy, all to keep those bastard Inspectors from seeing me.

I activated [Mana Sense] again, desperately searching the vicinity for anything, any clue as to the beasts location, but the only thing I could sense was a magic signal being sent out from the two Barbory Inspectors, no doubt some kind of wireless method of communication to their home country. They were reporting on my appearance even as we were under seige...

It angered me. I wanted to snap at them, to ask them ‘Don’t you have better things to worry about, right now?’

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But I held my tongue. I held myself back. That was the corruption trying to snap out, not me. I wasn’t like that. I didn’t like them but I wouldn't actually hurt them... Would I?

My thoughts were derailed when I caught movement from the corner of my eye. I jumped forward, my body screaming at me from the sudden stress of it all, and my fist caught the side of a lion-like monster hard, knocking it away from the soldier it had been pouncing at. The beast’s back claws swung around as it spun mid-air and caught me across the left eye, and I couldn’t hold back a scream. How long had it been since I was injured? Just how powerful were these manaless creatures!?

I could feel my eye start to regenerate, but it was healing slow, as if some poison were in the wound. I held one hand up to my face, covering the shredded flesh of my face. I felt blood drip down over the heel of my palm where it fell to the rock below.

“They’re coming again!” I yelled, my voice braver than I felt at that moment. My right knee was shaking. If I had been just a moment slower then that knight would have died. I didn't know if I could keep all of the men here safe. I was their protector and I couldn't keep them safe.

I jumped on top of the carriage and crouched low, taking a stance that would let me jump in any direction. I started spinning around, keeping my one good eye moving. I couldn’t hear the beasts at all and I couldn’t sense their mana. The only tell of the attack, like earlier, was a brief flash of movement.

“Everyone get in a circle around the carriage. Pull the horses inside!” Sal’s voice commanded from below. I wanted to give him a ‘thumbs up’, to congratulate him on taking charge, but I couldn’t afford to lose focus. His idea to centralize everyone would make it easier for me to defend the group as a whole.

I noticed too late that the two Inspectors from Barbory weren’t coming towards the carriage. They stayed out in the open, back to back, refusing to move.

“Shit! You two, get over here now!” My voice thundered in the dark cavern, but they didn’t move. I saw the familiar flash of movement and I got ready to jump at them, to keep them alive…

But then I noticed another flash to my right. I turned my head in time to see more of the Tsavo coming towards the carriage group.

I didn’t have time to save both the Barbory Inspectors and the Escort Knights. I could only react to one in time. The monsters were tremendously quick.

I made my choice in a snap.

I turned right and slammed down hard on top of the pouncing creatures. For the first time since the whole scenario started, I got a good look at them. They had the body of a lion and the head of a dinosaur, almost like a raptor. Scales and fur intertwined an a sick amalgamation, a mockery of nature. Spurts of feathers were growing along their necklines, almost like a mane.

They had claws and teeth like knives, long and sharp and deadly. On those claws I could see purple spots dripping with malice.

Two screams echoed from where the Barbory men were. I didn’t look in their direction. I couldn’t save them anymore. They chose not to come to the carriage. They chose their own path in this Pass.

“Hiyaaah!” Sal’s voice boomed from the other side of the carriage and the ground trembled. I quickly jumped back on top and found him holding off two of the creatures. He wasn’t disadvantaged too badly. I think his earlier injury was due to being unprepared. The creatures seemed like mostly ambush predators. They were fast, but if you knew their attacks were coming even someone at Sal's level could hold them off.

'Tsavo.' I thought of the name of the monsters and found it familiar, for some reason. It felt like a reference on the fringe of my memory, something from my last life. Then I thought of the actions of the men from Barbory. I remembered the Inspectors whispering from before. They knew these creatures were here, and they didn’t tell the rest of the caravan. They lead us forward into this territory despite knowing of these monsters that even I struggled to stop.

The Inspectors' deaths were deserved. We would fare better without them sabotaging us. I could now act in the open instead of in secret, and it meant I could better protect everyone.

“Sal, I’m going to light up the area with my sword!” My voice boomed.

“Do it!” He yelled back.

I held Belial’s Blade up in the air and filled with to the brim with mana. My body ached, my eye still hadn’t healed, and I was covered in dirt and blood. I felt my energy turn into the element of fire, and a tremendous heat bloomed overhead, overflowing with an orange light.

The flickering flames revealed the area around us and, subsequently, the monsters. There were over 30 of them, all stalking about us with their cat-like demeanors. The moment the light touched them, though, they scattered off into the caves alongside the walls in the distance. I could see the reflection of my flaming sword in their eyes as they watched on from the darkness. They were like ghosts.

“Start moving! I’ll keep the light up!” I commanded.

“You heard her, get the horses hitched up and let’s ride!” Sal’s voice followed mine.

“What about the way? Without the Pathfinders how will we get out!” One of the knights asked, his voice full of worry and panic.

“It doesn’t matter! We just need to get out of this Tsavo nest!” yelled Sal, his voice cracking like glass. I could hear the pain in his voice. The injury on his arm looked severe, and the bandages had come undone in the chaos.

We started moving forward. When we passed by where the two Inspectors stood, we found nothing but bloodstains on the ground. I looked over to Sal and could see his grim expression. He was wearing his heart on his sleeve. He was probably thinking that even if they were enemies, they were our guides. Personally, I didn't care too much about them being gone.

The only thing I regretted was not stealing their maps when I had the chance.