When the team of five went over the ridge of the mountain, what lay in front of them was a basin, one they could not see clearly partially due to its long distance from where they were, and partially due to the clouds blocking their view.

The position of the basin seemed quite a lot deeper than the team’s starting place when they started ascending the mountain from the other side.

“Well, this is still the same as the map.” Tony Barnes laughed: “That’s a good sign at least.”

“Let’s go.” Professor Kapur let out an exhale in relief: “I know the reports say the way down is safer for some reason. But still, be careful.”

“Why don’t we use magic?” when the team started going down the slope, Dorothea Clarkson asked: “We don’t need to fly, but we could at least try something like creating a sled.”

“That might still be too wasteful of our powers. Just try gently lifting your bodies up and lighten the load on your bodies.” Josephine Wong said: “This basin is deep, the slope is also deep. With all the disrupting energy fields in this place, I don’t think a magical constructs like a sled, or shoes would last you very long.”

“Give it a try, a floating spell would be less affected by the energy fields around here.” Professor Kapur nodded: “Also - the energy fields seem to be less powerful and chaotic around here. This proves what the first team documented remained unchanged.”

“The rocks and sand - they’re different from what they were near the shore, and different from what they were near the swamps and tar lakes.” Glenda Grimes slid down the slope while the weight of her body was mostly lightened by her floating spell, which allowed her to focus more on analyzing the ground: “The density of the rocks seemed slightly higher though.”

“So is the case with the affinity of energy.” Tony Barnes grabbed a handful of rocks and sand in his hand. When he tried infusing them with his energy, golden light seeped out from the gaps between his fingers, and a buzzing sound was released by the sand and rocks.

“Be on alert. This means that it would be a safer place for both us and other creatures.” Dorothea Clarkson looked down on the basin, the clouds were blocking her view, but she was still trying, by concentrating her power on her eyes, which sharpened her eyes, allowing her to see further and more clearly.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I smell blood again.” about an hour and twenty minutes since they started descending from the ridge of the mountain, when they got quite close to the height of clouds that obscured their view, Dorothea Clarkson alerted the team again: “Something’s close.”

The team immediately readied themselves for an incoming fight and slowed down their steps. As they descended, there was more and more moisture in the air, and the visibility became worse and worse due to the mist and fog.

After a short while, the other team members, including Josephine Wong, also smelled blood in the air. And when Tony Barnes advanced forward to the head of the team in order to guard the mages, they started sensing the same kind of magical energy that remained on the body of the toad monster.

It did not take long before they saw where the smell of blood and the negative magical energy came from. It was another body, from another kind of giant monster - it was but a broken tail. Yet, from its length and girth, as well as the size of its scales and shells, they could easily tell that whatever creature that once had its tail must be tremendous in size as well.

This time, the magical energy that remained on the tail was more intense that it was on the body on the toad monster. So much so that it formed an aura of dark energy around it, like countless streams of dark smoke circling the tail.

“This is fresher.” Glenda Grimes was able to derive the conclusion by merely poking the aura with a long green energy blade: “Based on the chaotic energy fields and the intensity of this aura, I’d say this part was around a quarter or a third old as the toad. So, I’d say it’s much fresher.”

“No footprints.” Tony Barnes’ eye glowed in golden light: “But I can see droplets of blood everywhere, different in sizes but mostly fit a single pattern, so I would assume - ”

“It’s tossed here.” Josephine Wong and Glenda Grimes picked up what Tony Barnes was trying to say.

“It simply makes the most sense.” Tony Barnes nodded: “And from the patterns, it looks like it's tossed up here from below.”

“Fuck.” Dorothea Clarkson cursed: “So the thing that killed the toad and whatever this thing is, could still be down there.”

“Wait.” Professor Kapur walked up to a spot beside Tony Barnes and lowered her body: “This here - somebody did something here.”

“What?” the other team members rushed to Professor Kapur’s side.

Professor Kapur was looking at the mark of a large drop of blood. And different from other blood drops in the surrounding area, this mark had very smooth edges and had a weird shape. There were also small and barely noticeable scratch marks on the rock around it.

“Someone scraped some of the blood away.” Josephine Wong said: “This is clearly the work of an intelligent being. Which means someone else was also here.”

Professor Kapur sighed and went silent, then she started casting a spell on the mark of the blood. Faint white energy shadows started appearing around the mark, but they swiftly crumbled and dissipated before they could form any kind of meaningful shapes.

“They’re careful.” Professor Kapur sighed.

“Let’s hope they’re not hostile.” Glenda Grimes said.