The forest beyond the village was dense and tangled with growth.
Grub ducked beneath low-hanging branches as he moved through the undergrowth, his eyes scanning the forest floor meticulously. Every few steps he pointed out a plant he recognized from Orobas's lessons or from his own research, angling his path to avoid the ones he knew were dangerous. Behind him, Luthiel crashed through the brush with considerably less grace, her puffy dress snagging on thorns and her mitten-like hands swatting at branches that swung back into her face.
"Watch the red vines on your left," Grub called without turning.
A yelp and a ripping sound told him she had not heeded his warning.
The search continued deeper into the forest. The village noises gradually faded until all that remained was the rustling of leaves and distant birdsong.
They spotted plenty of insects buzzing through the undergrowth, but creatures that small produced so little Nihil on death that absorbing it would be like trying to fill a bathtub with a single raindrop. He also spotted several small animals scurrying through the brush. A squirrel-like creature with too many tails, rodents, and a colorful lizard that watched him from a branch with suspicious intelligence.
Any of them could have been killed in seconds. But that was precisely the problem.
Between Luthiel's words and his own growing reluctance, hunting felt wrong. He needed something already dead. Fresh enough that the Nihil hadn't dispersed yet, but already gone.
Thi scowled as she shoved through a particularly stubborn wall of ferns. "Damn it, Bug. Finding a dead animal isn't going to be easy around here. The Guardians spend most of their time hunting and extracting dangerous creatures from the surrounding area." She snapped a branch out of her way. "That's their primary job. Keeping the perimeter clean."
Grub nodded. He had wondered how a village this small avoided the kinds of predators he had encountered in the wilderness. The giant grub, the Draemons, the Ungul Bear. Creatures like those should have been a constant threat to any settlement. But Anwansi had existed for years without being overrun. The Guardians' patrol routes and hunting operations explained part of it. Morrigan's raw presence likely explained the rest. Most predators had enough survival instinct to avoid territory claimed by something that could erase them.
They pushed deeper as the canopy thickened above, filtering the morning light into scattered columns that illuminated patches of moss and stone. The air was cooler here, carrying the earthy scent of decaying leaves and damp bark.
Then Grub spotted something pale through the trees. He pushed through a wall of brush and found it lying in a small clearing. A young white stag. Its body lay on its side against a mossy rock, its legs folded beneath it at an unnatural angle. The creature's coat was a striking ivory that seemed almost luminous even in death, while its short antlers were barely developed.
These animals were common around Anwansi but rare elsewhere in Aethrys. Orobas had mentioned them during one of his lessons and Grub had documented them in his notes afterward. These were graceful creatures and fast as well. They were usually difficult for predators to catch.
Something caught this one, however. If I had to guess it was likely due to its young age.
Grub crouched beside the body and studied the injuries. Massive claw marks raked across its flank, deep enough to expose the muscle beneath the hide. The wounds were ragged and brutal, seemingly delivered with a force that suggested a creature that was large and powerful. Blood had pooled beneath the body but was still wet.
The kill must be recent.
As Grub noted the blood he looked up and saw something hovering just above the stag's body, barely visible in the dappled light, was a faint wisp of black smoke. The remnants of its departing life, transforming into Nihil and beginning to scatter.
Grub reached out toward the smoke.
His hand hovered inches away. A knot tightened in his stomach as the familiar concerns surfaced. The growing fear of what his maladroit had meant had crumpled his resolve.
When you have, you don't feel.
A small part of him wanted to pull away. To avoid it entirely. But he needed the Nihil. So he pushed the hesitation down and touched the black smoke. Immediately the darkness surged into his arm.
The Nihil flowed into him like cold water through a crack. A chill rippled through his body as the familiar weight settled back into his chest, extremely faint but present. As the cold sensation got comfortable inside him, his vision dimmed by a fraction. The greens of the forest seemed slightly less vibrant than they had just a moment ago.
The amount wasn't much. Barely anything compared to what he used to carry. But it was enough for the plan.
Luthiel finally bulldozed through the last stretch of foliage and stumbled into the clearing. Her crimson eyes landed on the stag and widened.
"Wow, you actually found one, Bug." She stepped closer and looked down at the carcass. "And holy shit, it's even a White Stag. What happened to it?"
"Some predator got it." Grub stood and studied the surrounding trees. The bark on a nearby trunk bore deep gouges at roughly shoulder height. The underbrush on the far side of the clearing was flattened, as though something heavy had charged through recently. "Whatever killed it is large. Those claw marks are deep and wide."
His eyes narrowed as he scanned the shadows between the trees.
"This stag died recently, Luthiel. Very recently." He turned to face her, his expression serious. "Whatever did this is close. I would bet it's watching us right now."
Thi instantly went rigid. Her crimson eyes sharpened as her body shifted into a combat-ready stance, feet apart, weight centered, fists half-raised. She scanned the tree line with predatory focus.
Then something shifted behind her eyes.
The crimson slowly faded as golden light bloomed in its place. Thi's messy red-streaked hair smoothed into neatly braided blonde. Her aggressive posture dissolved into a softer, less certain, and decidedly more alarmed position.
Lu looked down at her own hands and frowned deeply.
"Oh no. Why did I have to take control now?"
Grub cursed internally. The worst possible timing for an involuntary switch. Thi's combat instincts would have been invaluable if something emerged from the trees. Lu's strengths lay elsewhere entirely.
"Stay on high alert," he said firmly, positioning himself between Luthiel and the darker section of the forest.
A twig snapped somewhere in the undergrowth, causing both of them to freeze. The sound was soon followed by a low, guttural growl that resonated through the ground beneath their feet, vibrating in Grub's chest like a second pulse.
Grub lowered into a fighting stance. His Anima stirred faintly in response to the perceived danger, the green warmth flickering to life across his knuckles without conscious effort as though his body was learning faster than his mind.
The growling deepened and branches cracked in a rhythmic succession. Something massive was moving through the forest toward them, displacing brush and saplings as it approached.
Then it emerged.
Grub immediately recognized it.
"Well."
His expression darkened.
"That's unfortunate."
Six limbs carried its enormous body into the clearing with predatory patience. Each clawed foot left deep impressions in the soft earth. A bone mask covered its snout, cracked and scarred from old battles, and two thick horns curved forward from the crown of its skull like battering rams. Matted fur covered its hulking frame in layers of brown and gray, and its small dark eyes fixed on the two intruders standing over its kill with an intelligence that was anything but mindless.
Grub's jaw tightened. He recognized the species immediately from his encounter in the cave near the Lacert settlement. The same six-limbed build, the same bone mask, the same overwhelming physical presence.
But this one was bigger. Considerably bigger. The one he had fought before had been large enough to fill a cave tunnel. This creature could have used that one as a pillow.
Luthiel jumped backward, her golden eyes stretching wide. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah." Grub's voice was low and steady despite the hammering in his chest. "It's an Ungul Bear. And this one is bigger than the last one I fought."
"You've fought one of these before?"
"In a cave. Near the Lacert settlement." He kept his eyes locked on the beast's movements. "I only killed it because it fell off a cliff."
Lu gulped audibly before the bear charged.
It crossed the clearing in three massive strides, the ground shaking with each impact of its six legs. Grub channeled Anima reinforcement into his fists and arms, feeling the warm shimmer coat his knuckles as he planted his feet and met the charge head on.
His fist connected with the bone mask. The impact rang through his entire skeleton and sent a jolt of pain racing up his arm, but the bear's momentum halted. Its massive skull rocked backward and its front legs skidded in the dirt, but only for a moment.
One of its enormous paws quickly swiped at Grub's chest with claws the length of kitchen knives. Grub twisted sideways and the claws raked the air inches from his ribs. He grabbed the extended paw with both hands and tried to hold on, digging his feet into the earth for leverage. Abruptly, another paw came from the opposite side and smashed into the side of his head.
Grub gritted his teeth and the grip on the first paw held through sheer stubbornness as his skull rang like a bell. The bear roared directly into his face, its hot breath washing over him in a putrid wave.
Then a beam of golden light pierced the bear's shoulder.
Luthiel stood several paces behind Grub, one mitten-like hand extended, her golden eyes squinted in concentration. A thin, focused stream of Anima had lanced from her fingertip and burned into the beast's flesh, leaving a scorched wound that smoked faintly.
"Oh."
Luthiel's face went white.
"Oh no."
The Ungul Bear bellowed in fury. Its body twisted violently and hurled Grub sideways. The skinny Sky-Fallen flew through the air and crashed back-first into a tree trunk. The impact drove every molecule of air from his lungs and his vision went white for a sickening instant.
When it cleared, the bear had turned away from him entirely. It was facing Luthiel.
Lu's golden eyes went wide with terror. The bear snarled and lunged, and she did the only thing her aspect knew how to do in this situation. She ran.
The Ungul Bear charged after her, its six legs tearing through the underbrush as it pursued the fleeing doll girl into the dense forest. Branches snapped and saplings splintered in its wake. Within seconds both of them had vanished into the green tangle, leaving only a trail of destruction and the echo of Lu's screaming.
Grub peeled himself off the tree trunk. His back throbbed and his vision pulsed at the edges, but nothing felt broken. He steadied himself against the bark and looked in the direction they had gone.
"Dammit."
He already had what he needed for the plan. The Nihil from the stag sat cold and faint in his chest. He could walk away right now, head back to the village, and let the Guardians handle the bear.
But Luthiel was out there, Lu was out there. The gentlest, kindest, most defenseless version of his friend, being chased through a forest by beast that could kill her in a single swipe.
Grub pushed off the tree and ran.
Her screams rang through the trees ahead of him, growing fainter with distance. He followed the trail of broken branches and claw marks in the earth, his legs burning as he sprinted through the undergrowth.