The creature didn't move at first.
It stood at the far end of the valley, half-shrouded by mist and morning light, as if undecided whether to step fully into the world. Long black strands—shadow, cloth, something between the two—trailed behind it, writhing slightly like living tendrils reacting to an unseen wind.
Its presence pressed against the camp like a slow-building wave.
Not crushing.Not violent.But undeniable.
Every instinct Elias possessed whispered that this was no beast.
It was something older.
Something that had not seen the sun in a very, very long time.
The guards stiffened.Ressa swore quietly.Arin lifted his spear, knuckles white.
The creature tilted its head.
And the shadows beneath every person in the camp elongated by a fraction. Barely noticeable—unless one was paying attention.
Elias noticed.
His shadow stretched further than the rest.
A hair longer.A breath deeper.A shade darker.
It felt like recognition.
He exhaled slowly.
Arin's voice was barely a whisper. "Elias… your shadow—"
"I know."
"What does it—"
Elias didn't answer. He stepped one pace forward.
Ressa grabbed his arm immediately. "No. Whatever that thing is, you're not walking toward it."
Elias looked down at her hand.
She removed it.
"Good," he said.
"That wasn't a request," she snapped.
"Then don't touch me."
Arin stepped between them. "Both of you—stop. Focus."
The creature began walking.
Its movement was slow, dragging, but deliberate. Each step left a faint dark imprint on the grass—like the earth itself recoiled from its touch. Its bony mask tilted up, revealing empty slits where eyes should have been.
And yet Elias felt it looking at him.
Ressa's voice turned sharp. "Archers! Aim!"
A row of bows rose.
"Wait," Arin said quickly. "We don't know if arrows even work on—"
"Fire!" Ressa shouted.
Arrows sliced through the air.
The creature didn't dodge.
It didn't need to.
Every arrow that neared its body slowed—unnaturally—like the air thickened around them. They dropped at its feet with soft, useless thuds.
The camp went silent.
Ressa stared. "What…?"
Arin whispered, "That's impossible."
Elias's heart beat once, heavy.
Time didn't slow for the arrows.
Momentum was taken.
Redirected.
Consumed.
Shadow displacement.Primitive, but effective.
Something within Elias answered with a faint pulse—like a dormant muscle remembering a long-forgotten movement.
His fingers tightened around the knife Arin had given him.
Ressa barked, "Mages! Form the ward!"
Three robed figures scrambled forward, kneeling around a half-finished formation etched into the ground. They placed runestones and began to channel mana into the carved lines.
Elias watched the lines hum weakly.
"This ward won't hold," he said.
Ressa spun toward him. "It was not a request for evaluation—"
"The grounding sigils are wrong," Elias cut in. "Mana will leak before the array forms properly. It will collapse."
Ressa's nostrils flared. "It's what we have. Unless you can do better?"
Elias stepped forward, crouched beside the formation, and without waiting for permission, dragged his finger along the earth—carving a missing line the mages had overlooked.
One mage sputtered, "You can't just—"
"Now it will hold for a moment," Elias said.
"A moment?" Ressa demanded.
"That's enough if you use it correctly."
The mages hurried to stabilize the formation. As they did, Arin leaned toward Elias.
"You know formations?"
"No," Elias said. "I understand structures."
"That's… the same thing."
Elias didn't answer.
The creature was close now—close enough that the camp's torches flickered in its presence.
Ressa stepped forward, gripping her blade.
"Everyone behind the ward!" she ordered.
The mages activated the formation.
Light surged upward, forming a translucent barrier of trembling mana.
The creature stopped three paces from it.
Then—
It raised its head.
As if smelling the air.
As if confirming something.
Elias felt the change instantly.
The creature wasn't hunting the camp.
It had no interest in the mages.None in Ressa.None in the guards.
Its attention was fixed entirely on him.
His shadow trembled.
Arin noticed. "Elias…"
The creature took a single step.
The ward cracked.
A spiderweb fracture raced across the barrier, mana unraveling like thread eaten away by rot.
The mages cried out. "We can't hold it—!"
The creature raised one elongated arm.
Elias moved before thinking.
Not toward the creature.
Toward the formation.
He pressed his palm to the ground, channeling the faintest trace of mana into the stabilizing sigils. The mages gasped as the lines brightened, briefly reinforcing the barrier.
"Hold it," Elias said.
"We're trying!" one mage shouted.
"You're panicking," Elias replied.
"Because something is about to kill us!"
"That," Elias said calmly, "is a distraction."
He pointed toward the creature.
It hadn't struck the barrier.
It was waiting.
Testing.
Measuring.
Not the ward.
Him.
Ressa's voice rose, "Elias, get away from the front—!"
The creature leaned forward.
The shadows clustered behind Elias snapped toward its direction—stretched thin, as if pulled by invisible threads.
Arin grabbed Elias's shoulder again.
"Don't," Elias said without turning. "You'll break the line."
Arin let go instantly.
Ressa swore.
The creature lifted its arm again—
Then stopped.
Completely.
Motionless.
The ground vibrated—barely, faintly—like a distant tremor.
Elias had felt this sensation only once before.
In Duskwood.
It was the subtle pulse of a greater force.
Something watching.
Something ancient.
The creature lowered its arm.
A chill spread through the air.
Arin whispered, "Why did it stop?"
Elias didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
But the creature's head tilted again, almost… curious.
It dragged its long fingers across the grass, tracing a crude shape—shakily, like a child learning to draw.
A circle.
Then a line through it.
A broken circle.
Elias's breath caught.
His core pulsed once, painfully—as if answering the symbol.
Arin stared. "What does that mean?"
Ressa whispered, "A rune? No… too primitive."
Primitive or not, Elias understood the intent.
"It's marking," Elias said. "Claiming territory."
"Claiming what territory?" Ressa demanded.
Elias met the creature's hidden gaze.
"…Mine."
The camp froze.
Ressa inhaled sharply. "Like hell."
The creature straightened.
Its shadows extended, touching the edges of the ward.
The barrier cracked a second time—louder.
The mages faltered.
"Elias!" Arin said. "If this breaks—"
"It won't," Elias said.
Because the creature wasn't attacking.
Its shadows curled back.
It stepped away.
One step.Then another.Retreating toward the ravine from which it came.
Everyone stared as it slowly descended back into the shadows of the valley—its form fading until only its distorted silhouette remained.
Then—
Gone.
Silence.
No breathing from the alpha.No clicking of Crawlers.The entire ravine fell dead quiet.
Ressa's voice broke the stillness. Low. Controlled.
"Someone explain," she said. "Now."
Arin looked at Elias.
The mages looked at Elias.
Half the camp looked at Elias.
Elias brushed dirt from his hand and stood.
"It was testing the camp," he said. "Testing the barrier. Testing threat levels."
"And you," Ressa said.
"Yes."
"And?" she pressed. "Why you?"
Elias didn't answer immediately.
Not because he wanted to hide something—but because the truth was too incomplete to articulate.
Finally, he said:
"…Because something in that ravine is connected to me."
The murmurs around them grew louder.
Ressa stared at him for several seconds.
Then she exhaled.
"Camp meeting," she said. "Twenty minutes."
People began dispersing.
Arin didn't move.
He watched Elias instead.
"Elias," he said slowly, "are you… safe?"
"Safety is relative."
"That isn't an answer."
"It's the one you're getting."
Arin rubbed his face. "Gods help me."
Elias turned to walk toward the outskirts of the camp. His chest ached heavily, the fracture resonating like tuned glass.
Whatever that creature was—it knew him.
Or the part of him that wasn't human.
Ressa called after him.
"Elias."
He paused.
"You're not leaving this camp," she said. "Not until we know what that thing wants."
Elias didn't turn.
"That thing," he said, "already knows where I am. If it wanted me, it would have taken me."
"That doesn't make me feel better," Ressa snapped.
"It wasn't meant to."
He kept walking.
Arin jogged up beside him. "Where are you going now?"
"To think."
"You can think here."
"No."
Arin sighed, falling into step.
"I'm going with you."
"You shouldn't."
Arin shrugged. "I'm not letting you wander off and get yourself killed."
Elias glanced at him. "…This situation is not suitable for jokes."
"Who's joking?" Arin said. "If you die, I'm stuck explaining to Ressa why the creepy forest boy disappeared."
Elias almost smiled.
Almost.
They walked together until they reached the furthest corner of the camp, where the wooden palisade met a lone boulder half-buried in the ground.
Elias sat.
Arin sat beside him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
The camp buzzed in the distance—shouts, arguments, fear barely held in check.
Finally, Arin said:
"Elias… are you sure you're not connected to that thing?"
"Yes," Elias said.
Pause.
Then:
"Not directly."
Arin sighed. "That's worse."
Elias leaned back against the boulder, eyes half closed.
His core pulsed again.
Dark.Slow.Waiting.
Something in the ravine had awakened.
And whatever it was—it wasn't finished with him.
Not even close.
:)