Kai's mouth hung slightly open as he returned the stare from the carnivorous bird.
"Is it going to..." Kai stumbled over his words.
Without magic, dealing with an enemy like that seemed impossible.
"No, you don't need to worry. We're not much of a meal, or even worth toying with, for many of the bigger predators here," Orlin said beside him, not looking at the scene. "You just have to worry about the little ones. Will strip the flesh from your bones in minutes, some of them."
"Okay…" Kai muttered, a bit pale.
The bird picked at the flesh of the wolf, devouring it fur, hide, and all.
They moved on.
The terrain shifted. What was once luminous trees gave way to gnarled stumps and toppled remnants of structures swallowed by time. Wooden beams, now black with rot, leaned in on themselves like corpses in collapse. What looked like roofs, had caved in centuries ago, and what might have once been homes were now sunken pits filled with wet mulch and skeletal vines.
