The orb pulsed softly in the dark.
Raif noticed it first, a flicker in the corner of his vision. He sat near the fire pit, the others scattered in sleep or silence, the embers crackling low. For a moment, he thought it was a trick of light. But when he turned, he saw the core glowing with a low, deliberate thrum.
He stood slowly. The pulse wasn't bright. It didn't cast shadows. But it was steady, like a heartbeat.
As he stepped closer, the shimmer resolved into white text suspended in the air above the orb.
[New Threat Detected: Aberrant Flora – Class: Sporeback Lurker]
[System Quest Issued: Investigate the Source of Aberrant Growth]
[Reward: +6 KE | Unknown Unlock Conditions]
Raif stared.
He didn't understand the name. "Sporeback Lurker" sounded made-up, like something Goss would say when trying to scare kids around a fire.
He glanced around. No sign of Kael or Rix.
A breath of wind rustled the edge of the clearing. Leaves trembled faintly. Raif didn't like it.
He moved to Eloin first, nudging his shoulder. "Wake up."
Eloin stirred, blinking groggily. "What is it?"
Raif pointed. "The orb's triggered. Something new."
Eloin rubbed his eyes, then read the message. His brow furrowed. "Flora? Like a plant?"
"I think so."
"Kael's still not back."
"I know."
They both turned toward the dark edge of the trees.
Moments later, Goss joined them. He hobbled over slowly, no longer leaning on the crutch Lira had made for him. She'd handed it back earlier in the evening, saying she didn't need it anymore. She still carried it sometimes, now gripped like a walking stick or a club.
Goss read the message and grunted. "Aberrant flora. That's new."
Raif frowned. "'Sporeback Lurker.' That's not something the jungle's thrown at us before."
Eloin stepped closer. "It's labelled as flora. So not an animal. A plant?"
Lira snorted. "Plants don't walk."
"Some do," Hennick muttered, chewing on a strip of bark. "Had a vine once near my paddock that climbed two fences in a season."
Naera, still crouched by the fire, looked up. "If the system calls it aberrant… it's not just a plant. It means it doesn't belong. It's warped."
Goss scratched his chin. "Could be why the trees are quiet tonight. Even they know to shut up."
Syl, perched with her back to a log, chimed in coolly. "We're guessing in the dark. Either someone goes looking, or we wait and see who doesn't come back."
"No one's leaving until sunrise," Raif said. "We wait. We stay ready."
Eloin nodded slowly. "The name... Sporeback. Maybe it spreads something?"
Naera's jaw tightened. "We don't know what it wants. That's the part that scares me."
Hennick glanced toward the edge of the trees. "Maybe it doesn't want anything. Maybe it just grows. That's worse."
"Great," Goss muttered. "Murder moss. Just what we needed."
Raif didn't smile. "Keep your weapons close tonight. I don't think this thing's far."
No one spoke after that. The jungle said nothing. But the silence pressed down like wet cloth.
"You ever seen anything like it?" Raif asked.
"No. But I've seen mushrooms grow teeth, so I'm not ruling anything out."
Lira approached from the perimeter, the stick in one hand, scorched black at one end from a fire-hardened tip. Her limp had faded into a slight hitch. She moved slow, but with purpose.
"They're late," she said simply.
Naera, crouched by the fire, looked up sharply. "Kael doesn't miss check-ins. If he's quiet, it means something's wrong."
Mira, beside her, added in a low voice, "Or something's listening."
The wind shifted again.
Everyone felt it, that tickle at the base of the neck, the prickle along the arms.
Hennick stood slowly from where he'd been reclining, cracking his knuckles. "Anyone else feel like we're being watched?"
No one answered. But no one disagreed.
The jungle didn't move. But something in it had changed.
Raif looked back to the orb.
The message still hovered.
And the pulse didn't stop.
Naera remained crouched by the fire, her eyes unfocused, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Mira sat nearby, watching her in profile. Her gaze flicked between Naera and the jungle, one hand curled loosely around the haft of her stave.
"I should've gone with them," Naera murmured.
Mira didn't move. "They're not fools."
"They've been gone too long."
"That doesn't mean they're dead."
Naera's hands tightened. "That's what people used to say right before they were."
Mira leaned forward slightly. "You want to run into the dark and make it three missing?"
Naera flinched, then shook her head. "I just want to know."
Across the clearing, Hennick was crouched over a pile of barkwolf bones, sorting the lengths by thickness and shape, not because they needed sorting, but because the task gave his hands purpose. Lira paced the perimeter, torchstick in hand, its scorched end drawing soft arcs through the air. Syl sharpened a knife from her perch, not looking up but not missing a word.
Eloin moved to the edge of the trees and stood there for a long moment, just listening.
Raif remained near the orb. He hadn't spoken since the last warning. His eyes hadn't left the treeline.
Then, just before dawn, the underbrush stirred.
Not loud. Not violent. Just a soft shifting, leaves brushing, a limb snapped underfoot.
Kael stepped into the clearing first. He was coated in spores, streaks of green across his arms and legs. Mud clung to his tunic. His expression was unreadable.
Behind him came Rix, slower, his hair tangled and face pale. He looked like he hadn't spoken in hours.
Mira and Naera stood at once. Goss reached for the club at his side. No one relaxed.
Kael raised one hand and knelt.
No one moved.
Naera took one step forward, then stopped herself. Mira was beside her, tense as a drawn bow. The firelight threw Kael's features into sharp relief, shadows across his cheekbones and collar. He looked unharmed, but his silence carried weight.
With a stick, he began to draw.
Lines. Shapes. A central mass. Crowned fronds. Limb-like stalks. Slitted, glowing eyes.
Naera's breath caught. "That's not a plant."
Rix stumbled to the fire and sat heavily, arms draped across his knees. His face was pale, lips dry.
"It wasn't hunting," he said. "Not like an animal. It didn't chase. It… adjusted. Grew."
He rubbed a hand across his face, then looked at Raif. "There were vines under the soil. We didn't see them until they moved. Kael yanked me clear."
Kael, still crouched, didn't look up. Instead, he drew again, a second creature. Similar, but not identical. Broader fronds. A bulkier trunk. The limbs were thicker, the crown splayed wider.
Then he drew a third. This one lean, more upright. Antler-like vines curled from its upper boughs. No fronds. Only bare-reaching limbs.
Raif knelt beside him slowly. "Variants?"
Kael gestured with two fingers to his temple, then outward in a fan.
"He's seen more," Naera translated, voice quiet.
Rix nodded grimly. "It wasn't alone. When we backed out… there were sounds. Not close. But constant. Like roots snapping in rhythm."
He went quiet then. Staring at the drawings Kael had etched into the dirt, his brow furrowed.
Raif stepped closer. "Take your time. Tell us what else you remember."
Rix dragged a hand through his hair, flakes of dried spore falling from his sleeve. "It didn't chase us. It didn't even react with urgency. It turned slowly, like a tree swaying, but every motion had purpose. Like it didn't need to run because it knew something we didn't."
Lira narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"
Rix exhaled. "I don't know. But it felt… aware. Maybe not intelligent the way we are, but tuned into something."
"Like a reflex?" Eloin offered. "Sensory triggers?"
Rix snapped his fingers, pointing briefly. "Maybe. But smarter. More... adaptive."
He tapped the dirt beside one of Kael's drawings. "When I breathed near it, one of those fronds twitched. Not randomly. It turned toward me like it noticed. Not sight, something else."
Syl crossed her arms. "Sound? Heat?"
"Maybe both. But it didn't feel automatic. It felt... deliberate."
Raif crouched beside the image. "What's your best guess?"
Rix was quiet again. Then: "They're not predators. Not really. They're processors. They respond to stimuli. Maybe they grow in response to us. Movement. Sound. Heat. They're part of the jungle, but more... responsive."
Mira frowned. "So what, we breathe too hard and we get overgrown?"
Rix gave a humourless laugh. "Wouldn't be the strangest thing this place has thrown at us."
Kael, still kneeling, drew a slow spiral in the dirt around the cluster of three creatures. Then tapped the edge of it.
Naera translated softly. "That wasn't the centre."
Raif stood. "Then where is?"
Kael didn't answer. Just stared at the trees.
Goss shifted on his seat. "You think they're networked? Like a fungal hive?"
"No," Rix said. "I think they're listening. And maybe learning."
Kael gestured again. This time he pointed toward the jungle, made a rising motion with one hand, then an expanding circle.
Naera translated. "They're spreading."
Mira swore under her breath.
Eloin moved closer, staring at the drawings. "I've never seen anything like that. Not even in the deeper reports."
Lira, torchstick resting against her shoulder, said nothing, but her eyes had locked onto the bark-plated limbs in Kael's sketches.
Syl, perched nearby, looked from the drawings to Kael, then Rix. "You're sure they didn't follow?"
Rix let out a tired breath. "I'm not sure of anything. Only that we stayed still for an hour, and the jungle moved further south."
Hennick stood, brushing soil from his hands. "You get the feeling it's not just about survival anymore?"
No one answered.
The orb pulsed again.
Still silent. Still watching.
The others began to drift from the fire, voices low, movements muted. Mira guided Naera toward her bedroll with a hand on her shoulder. Syl muttered something to Lira, who nodded once and took up a spot along the edge of the clearing. Goss lingered longest, eyeing the darkness as if it owed him an explanation.
But Raif stayed behind.
He crouched near the orb, watching the last flicker of light fade from the system message. The jungle was still again, but the quiet had changed. It no longer felt like peace.
He thought about the shapes Kael had drawn. About the words Rix had said. About how nothing in this place seemed to follow rules, only rhythms.
No one asked what they'd do if Kael and Rix hadn't returned.
No one asked what they'd do if they didn't come back next time.
That was Raif's job now, to make sure they didn't have to.