The forest at night was a completely different place. The shadows intertwined in ways that seemed to have a life of their own, demonstrating an intelligence and a purpose. Every sound, every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig made Konstantino's heart race in ways he desperately tried to control.
"Stay close," Joren murmured, his nervous eyes scanning the surrounding darkness. The carpenter held his spear with slightly trembling hands, the torch in his other hand creating dancing circles of light that made the shadows seem to move even when they were still.
Konstant nodded silently, gripping his bow until his knuckles turned white. He had a quiver on his back with twelve arrows it wasn't many, but it was all he had managed to grab in a hurry. Raid was at his side, holding a vegetation cutting sickle with both hands and visibly shaking.
"Luna!" Joren called out, his voice controlled but projecting through the darkness. "Tam! Davos! If you can hear me, answer!"
Silence. Only the ghostly whisper of the wind in the treetops and the occasional rustle of small nocturnal animals.
Konstant stopped abruptly, raising a hand. "Wait."
Joren and Raid froze immediately. "What is it?" the carpenter whispered, anxiety sharpening his voice.
"Just listen." Konstant closed his eyes, concentrating completely on the sounds around him. It was a habit he had acquired during the six months he had spent alone: when you cannot trust your eyes in the darkness, you learn to trust your other senses in ways you never imagined possible.
And something was deeply wrong.
The normal sounds of the forest were there wind, leaves, the occasional rustling. But something critical was missing. There were no night bird calls. No chirping of insects. No movement of larger animals in the dry leaves on the ground.
Deathly silence, Konstant thought, feeling a chill run down his spine. Like when large predators pass by.
"Konstant?" Raid whispered, his voice thin and trembling. "I... I feel something."
Konstant opened his eyes and looked at him. Raid was pale far paler than normal even in the faint torchlight. His eyes were fixed on some point among the trees to the right, but when Konstant followed his gaze, he saw nothing but impenetrable shadows.
"What do you feel?" Konstant asked quietly, deliberately keeping his tone calm.
"I don't know." Raid gripped the sickle tighter, his hands shaking so violently the metal vibrated. "It's like... like something is watching me. Sizing me up. But I can't see anything. I just... feel it."
Joren looked around nervously, his gaze darting between the trees without finding anything concrete. "It could just be nerves. We're all scared and"
"No," Konstant cut him off, keeping his voice low but absolutely firm. "He's right. Something is very wrong. Where are we exactly?"
Joren looked around, trying to orient himself by the torch's limited light, frustration and fear building on his face. "I think we're near Krathar territory. See those marks on the trees?" He pointed to deep, deliberate scratches on a nearby trunk. "They mark their areas like this. Always."
Konstant's stomach sank heavily. He knew the Krathar well; Gareth and Luna had shown him months ago. Large herbivores, the size of moose, with bony plates covering their backs like natural armor. Peaceful under normal circumstances, but violently territorial. If they were in their territory, but there was no sign of the animals...
"Something scared them off," Konstant said, his voice coming out tenser than he intended. "Something big enough, dangerous enough, to make even the Krathar flee their own territory."
"Shit," Joren whispered, his eyes widening with terrible understanding. "Do you think"
A sound brutally cut off his words.
Distant, but absolutely unmistakable.
A roar.
Konstant couldn't remember anything like it from everything he had ever heard, not even in the six months he spent in the forest on Earth or the nearly one year in Excelsior. It was a sound too deep, resonating at frequencies that made his teeth ache and his stomach churn violently. The kind of sound that came from a throat something that should never have existed in this world.
The three of them froze completely, not even daring to breathe.
"What was that?" Raid whispered, his voice almost inaudible, broken by fear.
Joren was visibly pale, the torch shaking dangerously in his hand. "I don't... that's not..."
Another roar, closer this time. Then another, from a completely different direction.
Konstant's blood ran cold in his veins. That was not a solitary sound. It was a conversation. A call and response between hunters. The cruel, simple reality imposed itself: it wasn't one enemy. It was a group. They were outnumbered and the entire forest seemed to be moving against them.
"We need to go back," Joren said suddenly, his voice a note higher. "Now. We need to get back to the village."
"Wait," Konstant said, raising his hand again. Something inside him some primitive instinct was screaming that sudden movement would be a fatal mistake. "Don't run yet. If they are intelligent predators, running will make them chase us. It will trigger their hunting instincts."
"But we can't just stay here!" Joren hissed desperately.
"I know. But we have to move slowly. Very slowly. Quietly." Konstant looked around carefully, trying to assess all their limited options. "Raid, do you still feel that sensation?"
Raid nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the shadows to the right. "It's... it's much stronger now. As if it's approaching quickly."
"From the right?"
"Yes. And..." Raid hesitated, then pointed vaguely to the left with his trembling hand. "There too. I think. I'm not sure, but I think so."
Surrounded, Konstant thought, but forced himself to maintain external calm even as panic grew inside. Panicking wouldn't help anyone. "Joren, let's move. Slowly. Towards the village. Keep your backs to each other. Triangular formation."
They began to walk with extreme care, forming a small defensive triangle, each facing a different direction. Konstant had his bow ready, an arrow already nocked though not drawn he didn't want to waste energy holding the tension. Joren held the torch high with one hand, his spear with the other. Raid gripped the sickle with a force that made his arms tremble.
Thirty seconds of tense walking. One minute. Two minutes that felt like an eternity.
The silence was oppressive, broken only by the sound of their own accelerated breathing and the occasional rustle when their feet found dry leaves.
It was Raid who saw it first.
"Eyes," he whispered, his voice completely strangled. "There are... there are eyes. Over there. Looking at us."
Konstant turned his head carefully in the direction Raid was looking. And he saw them.
Two points of intense red light in the darkness between the trees. Not the natural reflection of an animal's eyes catching the torchlight this was completely different. They were bright on their own, like living embers, perfectly circular and fixed directly on them with predatory intensity.
"Don't move," Konstant whispered with all the authority he could muster. "No one moves an inch."
The red eyes remained still for a painfully long moment. Then they began to move.
Not approaching directly.
Circling.
As if the creature was methodically assessing them, looking for the best angle of attack, identifying the weakest member of the group.
"Joren," Konstant said, keeping his voice as calm as possible even with his heart hammering. "When I say, you raise the torch high and swing it. It will give us more light and maybe, just maybe, startle the thing."
"And if it doesn't?" Joren asked, but was already positioning the torch for the movement.
"Then I shoot and we hope to hit something vital. Raid, you stay ready with that sickle. If I miss, or if it doesn't stop the creature, you use the sickle. Don't think. Just swing with all your might. Understood?"
Raid didn't respond with words just a strangled sound that could have been agreement or a repressed sob.
The eyes continued circling slowly. They were definitely closer now Konstant could begin to distinguish a vague shape in the shadows around them. Something big. Low to the ground. Quadruped, but with proportions completely wrong for any animal he knew.
"Now!" Konstant ordered.
Joren raised the torch in a wide, dramatic arc, swinging it in broad motions. The light expanded explosively, pushing the shadows back
And revealed the creature in horrible detail.
Konstant felt his blood literally run cold in his veins.
Its silhouette was a perverse distortion of a wolf's, with elongated limbs that articulated at logic defying angles, and skin that seemed made of wet stone and solidified darkness. But what made Konstant's stomach clench was the gaze. Those red eyes didn't shine with the simple hunger of a predator. They glittered with a calculating intelligence, studying them not as prey, but as pieces in a cruel game. It was a gaze that promised not just death, but a conscious and terrifying end.
The creature let out a sound something between a growl and a sharp shriek that made Konstant's bones ache.
"By the gods," Joren whispered, terror finally breaking his voice. "What is that?"
Konstant didn't need to answer. The creature's posture, the way it moved with supernatural patience, said it all. It wasn't hunting for food. It was hunting for pleasure.
Shadow Grusk, a distant, clinical part of Konstant's brain automatically supplied the information. Gareth mentioned them once. Briefly. Abyssal hunters, and he was their prey. They shouldn't be here. The barriers should keep them out.
The creature took a deliberate step forward. Then another. Its movements were spasmodic, uncoordinated, as if it was testing the terrain or testing its prey.
"Raid," Konstant said low, drawing the bowstring with a smooth, controlled motion. "If I shoot and don't kill it, you run immediately. Understood? Don't question it. Just get back to the village as fast as you can."
"But"
"NO DISCUSSION!" Konstant stated with such intensity it surprised even himself.
The creature tilted its head that disturbingly human movement for something so monstrous and alien. As if it was considering its options, weighing cost and benefit.
Konstant aimed carefully. The torchlight wasn't ideal, and the creature was moving slightly from side to side, but he had a reasonable angle. Center of mass, where Gareth had taught him thousands of times. Where you have the best chance of hitting something vital even with poor lighting.
His finger found the string. He took a deep breath, holding the air. He began to draw, and the world exploded into chaotic motion.
Not the creature in front of them another, from a completely different and unexpected direction.
"LOOK OUT!" Joren screamed with all his might, turning desperately.
Konstant had only a fleeting impression, an image burned into his mind like a photograph of another dark form exploding from the shadows to the left. Low and incredibly fast, too fast to track.
The second creature collided with Joren before any of them could even begin to react.
The impact was absolutely brutal. Joren was thrown backward like a rag doll, and the torch flew from his hands, spinning through the air in a dramatic arc before landing a few meters away. Still lit, it illuminated the scene from a horrible, distorted angle, making everything look like a nightmare.
The creature was on him instantly, claws tearing, jaws opening impossibly wide.
"JOREN!" Konstant shouted.
Joren screamed a sound of pure pain mixed with terror as he managed to raise his spear horizontally at the last second, blocking the jaws that desperately tried to reach his throat. But the creature's claws were methodically tearing his right arm, cutting through his shirt as if it were paper, leaving deep lines of vivid red.
Konstant turned quickly, aiming at the second creature, but he didn't have a clean shot: Joren was directly in the line of fire, moving erratically.
"RAID!" he shouted desperately. "HELP HIM!"
But when he looked, Raid was completely frozen. Absolutely paralyzed. Standing in the exact same spot, eyes wide and fixed on the first creature, the one that was still circling, the sickle hanging completely limp in his trembling hands.
Konstant experienced a feeling of absolute shock, accompanied by a sinking sensation in his stomach. He's in shock. He won't be able to move.
There was no time for more thought. Joren was quickly losing the fight the creature was too strong, too heavy, its jaws slowly forcing their way through the wooden spear he held with decreasing strength.
Konstant dropped the bow completely useless at this close range and drew the only other weapon he had: the hunting knife Gareth had given him months ago, firmly strapped to his belt.
And he ran.
He didn't think strategically. He didn't plan a move. He just acted on pure survival and protective instinct.
Three explosive steps brought him to the struggle. He leaped without hesitation, throwing all his weight and momentum against the creature's flank, the knife descending in a desperate arc, aiming for anything vital.
The blade penetrated. Not deeply, as the creature's skin was surprisingly tougher than it looked, almost like toughened leather, but enough. Black, viscous blood gushed from the wound, spreading its rotten smell through the air and making the creature let out a sharp shriek that literally pierced Konstant's eardrums.
It immediately backed away from Joren, turning to face this new threat with frightening speed.
And Konstant saw its eyes.
Those glowing red eyes fixed directly on him, and for the first time, he saw genuine recognition there. Not animal intelligence. Recognition of something specific. As if the creature knew exactly what he was.
The mark, he realized with an absolute horror that spread like poison. It can sense my mark. Aldric warned us. He said they specifically hunt Mystics. That we are like beacons to them.
The creature lunged, completely ignoring Joren now. All its focused attention, all its predatory intent, directed exclusively at Konstant.
"RUN!" Joren shouted from where he was trying to get up with obvious difficulty. His right arm hung at a strange and clearly painful angle, blood dripping from multiple deep cuts. "CHILDREN, GET BACK TO THE VILLAGE! I'LL HOLD THEM OFF!"
Konstant turned to run, reaching Raid with the intention of dragging him
And stopped completely.
There was obvious movement in the trees ahead. No. Something large was emerging from the shadows, materializing like a nightmare, completely blocking the path back to the village.
The first creature. The one that had been patiently circling.
Now they were completely surrounded.
Two creatures. One behind, one in front. Joren badly wounded. Raid paralyzed. And Konstant with only a knife stained with black blood.
We are going to die here, the logical and terribly cold part of his brain informed him with absolute certainty. The odds are literally impossible. There is no way out.
"RAID!" Konstant screamed, his voice coming out much louder and more desperate than he ever intended. "RAID, GRAB THE SICKLE! NOW! I NEED YOU TO REACT!"
But Raid didn't move a millimeter. He was completely locked in place, his eyes jumping uncontrollably between the two creatures, his body shaking so violently it seemed he was having convulsions, but unable to process the command to move.
The creature behind them, the one he had wounded, lunged first.
Konstant barely had time to turn before it was literally on top of him.
The impact threw him to the ground with such force that all the air was forced from his lungs in a painful whoosh. His head hit the hard ground hard enough to make stars explode in his vision, and the world began to spin.
The creature was on him instantly.
He felt the crushing weight far heavier than anything of that size should be, as if its bones were made of solid stone. He felt the claws piercing his shirt, tearing the skin beneath in lines of pure fire. He felt the nauseating smell, sweet and rotten simultaneously, like decomposed fruit intimately mixed with spoiled meat.
And he felt the hot, moist, fetid breath as the creature lowered its head, jaws opening impossibly wide, going straight for his exposed and vulnerable neck.
Not like this, a distant voice in his mind screamed with everything it had. I can't die like this. Not here. Not now.