I awoke with a start. The sun was still beneath the horizon. Checking my phone, which miraculously still had 15% charge, I saw that it was almost 3 am. Annoyed, I rolled over, shifting, trying to get comfortable again.

It didn’t work. With a groan, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and checked around the camp. Most everyone was asleep still, but there were a few that remained, quietly poking at their fires. Everything seemed fine.

Standing with a huff, I decided to do a bit of scouting. Hopefully, a short flight and a bit of movement would get me tired enough to sleep again.

I could have just jumped into the air and flown off, but as I moved to the outside of camp, I saw some of Mom’s supplies that we had brought out. There, on top, was a large survival knife. I almost passed it by but had a strange nervousness bubbling in my chest.

I picked up the tool, taking a closer look. It rested in a long sheath that could be fashioned easily to a belt, with a snap holding the handle secure. The knife itself was pretty long, with around a foot of blade and another seven inches of ergonomic grip.

Knife in hand, the nervous feeling subsided. I guess the darkness and the stress of the day were taking their toll.

Taking flight, I looked out over the city at night. Without any light pollution, there were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen before. I moved quickly, air whipping past my ears and sending my hair into a frenzy, as I flew over the land.

Before I knew it, I was hovering over the new patch of forest now tucked behind the Garica’s store. The forest vaguely followed a path to the river, cutting a massive triangle into the city. Here and there, I could see the occasional roof poking between the trees.

The woods here were eerie; haunting blue lights floated across the ground, and a mist crept between the trees like a living thing. The dichotomy between what used to be downtown Austin and this enchanted forest was something that would take a long time to get used to. I continued flying over the trees, enjoying the sensation of freedom and speed, when somewhere beneath me, a scream pierced the night.

My hand clenched around the handle of the knife until I started to feel pain.

The scream sounded again. This time I could place the direction. Before I understood what I was doing, I rushed beneath the forest canopy, and into the gloom. I touched down in a small clearing, near where the sound must have come from.

“Stop! Please, someone! Anyone! Help!”

I could see two flashlights, beams bouncing around the woods, as two figures rushed through the woods after a third. It was the third one who was screaming. As quietly as I could manage, I crept forwards, knife placed before me.

With a shriek, the person running from the other two collapsed on the ground. They, no she must have tripped over something. As she fell, the flashlights centered on her person, and the others approached.

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The girl, a cheetah beastkin who looked to be somewhere in her twenties, was terrified beyond words. As one of the pursuers rushed towards her, I felt myself standing. I heard the crackle of electricity, and suddenly the woods were filled with searing blue light. All eyes turned towards me as my knife cloaked itself in thrumming power.

I had unconsciously activated my racial skill.

The pursuers were dressed in shabby clothes, covered in dark stains and tears. They were both some kind of beastkin, one, a woman, with ears that looked like they belonged to a bear, and the other, a man, with scales covering parts of his face. Both of them wielded clubs fashioned from bits of furniture with nails or what appeared to be jagged bits of glass on them.

Even stranger, the pursuers were covered in runes painted in dark crimson, the shapes scattered across their bodies. Over both of their faces was a strange trident shape, placed so that the crest of the U crossed their foreheads with the legs trailing past their eyes, and the final point covering their noses and mouths. Their eyes seemed to glow with a sickly red light as they snarled at me, brandishing their deadly instruments.

“What the hell is going on here?!? What are you two doing?!”

The two just slowly stepped apart from each other, continuing to snarl and continued to wave around their clubs.

The girl on the ground looked at me with big, pleading eyes, before calling out.

“You can’t reason with them! Something is wrong with them!”

I could tell she was right. There was barely any life behind their eyes, only naked greed, and anger. What was going on?

Before I could process my next steps, the girl lunged at me. I panicked, jerking back. She flew through the distance between us in an instant, bringing her club down right where my head was.

I lashed out with my searing knife, half on accident. The metal cut through the meat of her arm like it wasn’t even there, forcing her back, clutching a grisly wound. Without pause, the man attacked and rushed forwards.

“UNWORTHY! DIE!”

With a sweeping horizontal blow, he bashed me in the side, sending shooting pain through my torso.

As he reeled back to strike my head, I grit my teeth and rushed forwards. Crouching low, I came up under his blow and plunged my knife through his ribs right under the armpit.

He fell backward, coughing up crimson. As he collapsed on the forest floor, red blood that glowed with sinister energy pooled beneath him, seeping from his snarling lips and the wound in his side.

Before I could comprehend my actions, the other attacker moved towards me from behind. I could feel her muscles start to contract as she prepared a vicious strike. Before she could act though, I twisted around and grabbed the club from her hands, wrenching it from her fingers.

I was stronger.

Even now, injured, alone, and weaponless, she still snarled at me. With an inhuman bellow, she charged forwards. Her hands shifted as she moved, fingernails turning into pointed claws, which she plunged into my torso.

My breath was forced from my chest from the impact, and I fell onto my back, the bear beastkin still attached to my chest. Flailing around, I brought the knife up, plunging it into her stomach. All the while, I fought against the abject agony I was feeling. Muscles working overtime, I plunged the knife into her again.

Once.

Twice.

Three Times.

Again.

AGAIN.

“AAAAAARGGGGG! Just FUCKING STOP!!” I shouted, screaming into her twisted face. Her mad eyes tore into mine, face twisted in a rictus growl.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she collapsed, all strength leaving her body. I forced her off, throwing the corpse to my side so I could stand. With a sickening squelch, her claws tore from my skin, leaving burning agony in their wake.

I looked across the clearing at the rapidly cooling corpses, undercut by the gentle sobs of the cheetah beastkin the crazy people had been pursuing.

What the hell was going on?