"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Dennis in a nervous voice, forming tight fists as always when he was afraid.

They stood next to the river, as they had been following it for quite some time now. The raging river almost drowned their voices.

"It will be fine," said Alex in a raspy voice, void of any emotion. He looked at Dennis with empty eyes and turned around to lead their group ahead.

Andrew looked at Alex with worry written on his face. He patted Dennis on the shoulder and started walking again. Alex was walking so fast that they were starting to lag behind quite a bit.

"You know this isn’t a good idea." Dennis said next to him in an angry voice while trying to stare a hole in Alex's back. They had left the river behind them by now, walking deeper into a forest with dense undergrowth.

"And you know why I am doing this." Andrew answered in his usual calm voice. "He hasn’t spoken at all since Karen’s..." His voice choked for a moment before he could continue. "Since Karen’s disappearance. You know we have to engage him somehow. And if this is what it takes, then so be it. He is the strongest person in our group; he will keep us safe."

Dennis didn’t seem to agree with him. "Like Monica?" he spat out in an angry voice.

Andrew sighed in response. He didn’t know what to say. Monica had terrible wounds when Alex brought her back from their hunt. Her wounds would heal in time, but they didn’t know if she would ever be able to run again.

"This time, we are prepared for this." Andrew said and looked at the gear the group had prepared for them. It was plain wood that was formed to fit their arms, legs, and torsos. It was strapped to their bodies with a simple rope. They also had spears with stone tips and heavy wooden clubs.

Dennis swallowed down his comment on the questionable defensive qualities of the equipment.

"I honestly don’t know what we will find, but Alex seems to be convinced that it is somehow a… doorway to the inspectors. To Karen." Andrew said to Dennis, who now crunched up his face in guilt. Dennis nodded again and said no more.

After some more walking, they saw Alex waiting for them. He was holding his finger over his mouth, indicating that they should be quiet.

"What is it?" asked Andrew in a hushed voice as they came closer.

"Here is the part where the animals are going crazy. It isn’t far anymore. Follow me, don’t stray off, and for the damn creator's sake, don’t make a single sound." Alex spoke in a hushed voice and turned around again.

Andrew frowned when he started following him. A few of the people started the theory that this Creator the inspector talked about was actually a god. A god who sent the inspector to look out for them. That he gave Karen the honor to follow him for her achievement of being the first pregnant woman in the world. They started praying to him in the hope of getting out of this crazy situation they were in.

It seemed very problematic to hope for an unknown entity to get them out of their misery. And as far as Andrew knew, this Creator had probably put them in this situation in the first place. At least if he really was a god.

Strangely enough, Alex also participated in their prayer, even though the inspector kidnapped his lover. He never said what he prayed for, but it was very clear for everyone.

Putting these troubling thoughts aside, he started concentrating again. He didn’t want to step on some dry wood and get the attention of the crazed wildlife.

While they heard disturbing howls in their surroundings, they didn’t encounter anything. Andrew wasn’t quite sure if Alex was a very good guide or if they were just lucky.

They started to feel, with every step, why the animals had gone crazy. There was such an insane amount of ambient magic power around them. And this energy somehow entered them, making them feel extremely energized. Andrew felt like the energy would violently burst out of him if he didn’t do something.

But Alex had already warned them of this phenomenon. So Andrew and Dennis controlled themselves, also thanks to Andrew's emotion manipulation skill.

After some more walking, the forest ended abruptly. And in front of them, the ground was plain stone that led to a steep cliff. Dennis already wanted to go closer when Alex held him back.

"Look." He whispered and pointed at a part of the cliff some distance to their right.

"I can’t see anything." Said Denis, narrowing his eyes to slits in order to see better into the distance.

But Andrew saw it. No, he felt it. There was… something. He couldn’t explain it, but it seemed like the place where Alex pointed didn’t really fit there. It felt like space itself was somehow misplaced.

It was a very disturbing feeling. It was something that shouldn’t be possible. Like being controlled against your will.

Andrew now knew why Alex suspected the inspectors were behind this. It was just so alien, exactly like the inspector they encountered.

They moved closer to the spatial oddity while the sun started to set to their left. It would have been a beautiful sight, but Andrew was so focused on what was in front of him that he didn’t notice it.

When the sun reached the horizon, the last rays of sunshine lit up the spatial oddity. It started to shine brightly in thousands of colors. It was so bright that all three of them were momentarily blinded.

Without anyone saying anything, they all ran behind a big bush to hide themselves.

"Do you think they noticed us?" asked Alex. This time, he sounded slightly agitated. At least that was better than his empty, emotionless voice.

"We don’t even know if it’s them. Just wait and see. It doesn’t seem all that dangerous." Answered Andrew, who was still rubbing his eyes. He still barely saw anything.

"What was that?" asked Dennis in a frightened voice, while grabbing his spear tightly.

Alarmed, Alex and Andrew turned their heads to the spatial oddity. Right at this moment, the sun completely set and the iridescent glow of the oddity stopped.

But there was something lying on the ground. Or rather someone.

Alex jumped up and ran toward the person before Andrew and Dennis could hold him back. The only thing they could do was try to catch up to his inhuman speed.

"Wait Alex!" Andrew shouted to the man in front of him, throwing any caution to the wind. But he didn’t listen.

Alex had already arrived at the person's side and grabbed them by the throat. The big, furry cloak slid back in this motion, and they saw their heads. It seemed to be a woman. A woman with horns.

Alex let go of her immediately, stepping back with a frightened face.

The woman’s head hit the hard stone when Alex let her go, which woke her up.

Andrew and Dennis weren’t quite there yet, but they couldn’t go any closer. In closer proximity to the woman, there was such a foul stench that Dennis started gaging.

The woman got on her wobbling feet and looked around with unfocused eyes. Her eyes were glowing red in the last light of the setting sun. Her hair, skin, and whatever she was wearing were covered in so much dirt and blood that it made her look like a walking corpse. She looked like a monster straight out of a nightmare.

Her gaze landed on Alex, and she jumped into action faster than anything Andrew had ever seen. She sped to Alex, punched him unconscious, and bit him in the neck. She made a weird motion, like breathing something in. Then she let the poor man fall to the ground, where he lay motionless.

The monster woman sighed happily and patted her stomach. "So that’s how this works." She said in a content voice.

After rubbing her belly for some time, she looked at Alex again. "Oh shit, what have I done?" she screamed and grabbed her dirty head with her hands.

"Hey, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" she started shouting, while kicking the unmoving Alex with her feet.

"Stop!" screamed Denis, pointing his unsteady spear at her. His whole body was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

The woman turned around and looked at them with wide, open eyes. Her hands were still clasped around her head. And her right foot was frozen in motion, just before it could hit Alex again.

"Is there any chance that you haven’t seen all of this?" she asked with a bloody smile. Andrew had never seen a more horrifying sight than this.

Dennis thought the same, apparently, as he started shaking even more. Andrew pulled himself together, held his hands up, and took a step in the direction of the monster-woman.

"Sure, we haven’t seen anything. If we can just take the man lying there, we will leave. Right?" said Andrew, and he gave Dennis a slight kick.

"Yes, sure!" he answered in a high-pitched voice.

The woman looked at him for a moment and then buried her face in her hands. "Shit! I know you’re lying!" she screamed in an ashamed voice.

Andrew froze in place, not knowing if he would get knocked out next. He swallowed nervously and tried again. "Ok, you’re right; we have seen it. But we don’t want any trouble, alright? We will just leave and forget everything."

The woman looked straight into his eyes. "How about you forget about everything and also take me with you?"

Andrew’s and Denis' mouths gaped wide open at the shamelessness of this person.

"Please?" she said, trying to give them a cute smile.

"We can talk about it, but please just stop smiling." Andrew said he protected his eyes from the horrible sight.

After a moment, he dared to look again. What awaited him was the woman pointing her thumbs up and smiling as wide as possible without opening her mouth. That wasn’t better.

"Andrew." Denis hissed in a suppressed voice. "Have you gone mad? What are you doing right now? This… person is clearly insane! And dangerous!"

Andrew glanced at the woman to see if she heard anything, but she looked over at them with a curious expression.

"Just bear with it for a moment." Andrew hissed back and turned around with a kind smile.

"I’d really wish to help you, but… you attacked one of us. I cannot overlook that." He spoke cautiously. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that he thought that it would jump out of its place.

She looked to the ground and started explaining in an insecure tone. "I’m really sorry about that. I was dying of magic power depletion, and I just had to replenish myself." After this sentence, Andrew looked at Alex in alarm. But the woman hastily held her hands up. "Everything’s fine, it won’t kill him. He’ll just be out cold for a while. You could say I have a… special body."

That was quite clear for Andrew. But he wasn’t insane enough to comment on that.

"That might be true." He said to her while lowering his hands a little. "But how can I be sure that you’re not lying? That you won’t plan to attack us?"

The woman looked at him with clear and a little bit sad eyes. "I am really sorry. I wasn’t in my right mind. And I really, really just want to have someone to talk to. I’ve been alone since the beginning. Please let me come with you."

For a moment, Andrew was moved a little by the sad emotions he felt inside of her, until the woman spoke again. "And don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. If I wanted to, you’d be dead by now."

Andrew pressed his lips together. He tried hard to look past this weird and threatening comment.

He actually didn’t want to invite her to their caves. But the woman seemed a little insane. He didn’t know why, but he was pretty sure she would follow them if he refused. It would probably be safer to be on her good side. At least he hoped so.

"Alright." He said with a sigh. "But if you will come with us, we need to know more about each other. My name is Andrew. What about you?"

The woman stood up and beamed so brightly, that he could almost overlook the blood and dirt on her face.

"My name is Sarah."