Passing through the serene Forest, the Dragonfire Guild's Ranger Captain halted before a chalk-white boulder. He saw his first arrow, lying amid the gray-yellow pine needles. His gaze crossed over there, through the woods beside the boulder, where tiny glimmers of red light flickered and faded out in the darkness, like the image of writhing worms.
At the forest's edge, there was a pool of blood, its speckled trail winding deeper into the Forest. The Ranger Captain sniffed the air, the thick scent of blood overwhelming his judgment.
Looks like I hit it, he thought, it must have been the second arrow.
He took a few steps forward and saw the second arrow. The shaft had been broken and discarded on the path, the arrowhead missing, with a smudged bloody handprint on it. Had it fled into the Forest? The Ranger Captain thought again, but it might also be hiding in the dark, like a cornered beast.
