The morning came easy. Not soft, not gentle, but steady, the kind of rhythm that came from repetition. Mist curled at the edges of the clearing, brushing low against the bark wood walls. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, dappling the ground in gold and green.
No one needed telling.
Eloin was already at the west post, driving the last brace into the mud-soaked earth with Goss close beside, muttering about angles and weight. Lira moved quietly along the southern fence line, running her hand along each binding. Her limp had faded. Now she walked with quiet purpose, stave in hand more for habit than support.
Hennick adjusted the slats on the drying rack. Beside him, Mira checked the airflow, moving with an eye for balance. She didn't speak much, but her hands were steady. Naera returned from the edge of camp with a handful of greens and the bulbous roots they'd marked as safe. She set them down with a nod.
Syl stepped out of the underbrush with a faint smirk and a snare in hand. A small bird, charcoal-feathered, sharp-beaked, hung limp from the cord. She swung it around like a trophy trying to get everyone's attention
"Finally," she said. "Feathers and fat. Not bark scrap."
Raif met her near the firepit. "How many traps this time?"
"Four set. Two sprung. One caught this." As she pats the side of the bird.
"It's a start." Raif reaches out to the bird as if making sure it was real and not an illusion. The sight of something like this has alluded him for a while now. Proper caught animals. Not a random mushroom on the side of the tree or a heart-wrenching battle.
She raised an eyebrow. "It's food."
The bird was already being cleaned by the time the final plank slotted into the wall. Goss stepped back and dusted off his palms. Eloin gave the post a last tap, then nodded toward Raif. His small sign of approval.
Raif turned to the orb, grasping a handful of mud and dirt.
It pulsed with that familiar clarity, and the system responded.
[Quest Complete: Secure the Perimeter]
[+8 KE]
[Trap Success Logged – Basic Snare]
[+1 KE]
[Structure Component Completed: Perimeter Fence]
[+1 KE]
[Total KE: 57 / 200]
Raif let out a slow breath, just enough for the others to notice. For the first time, silence felt like something they'd won. It wasn't the kind of silence that felt like a trap. It was the kind done in peace. One where safety felt guaranteed.
They didn't rest, not fully. The rhythm of survival carried on.
Syl and Hennick worked just beyond the clearing's edge, crouched low as they strung another snare trap between two bowed saplings. The sun filtered through the canopy in dappled spears of light, highlighting the tension in the cord. They both knew they needed more food. One bird was never going to be enough for all nine of them. If they wanted to sustain life, then they required many more.
"You ever try vine-loop triggers?" Hennick asked, wiping his brow with the back of his wrist.
Syl didn't glance up. "Tried it. Birds here are jumpy. They've seen things. Stuff on the ground scare them, but up high also scares them. They have to decide each moment whether to go down or to go up."
"Wouldn't doubt it. That last one practically scowled at me."
Syl smirked. "Means it was sizing you up. Probably insulted you in bird tongue."
"Joke's on it," Hennick said, tying off the last knot. "I insulted it first. Tongue's too fast for a bird to ever catch it."
They shared a short laugh, a rare sound out here.
Syl stepped back and adjusted the tension. "These vines are tighter than bark cord. Could snap a wrist."
"Then we aim for the ankles," Hennick said, tossing a loop around a branch. "Let 'em tumble into the fire pit. Saves us the trouble."
Their trap set, they moved on to the next location, scanning the canopy for droppings and scratches. Signs of roosts. Signs of return.
Near the western slope, Goss paused mid-stride, holding up a hand. Lira stopped beside him, stilling instinctively. Eloin shifted his grip on the pack he carried.
"Did you hear that?" Goss asked.
"No wind," Lira murmured. "But something snapped. Back near the ridge."
"Could've been a branch."
"Or not," Eloin said. His tone wasn't alarmed, just calm. Measured.
They stood still for a long moment. Listening.
Only the low hum of insects. The faint hiss of wind.
Then, again, a soft crack. Faint. Distant. Not the sharp snap of a dry twig, but a shift, as though weight had been pressed to something fibrous.
Goss turned slowly, eyes scanning the treeline. "Something's moving. Something out there."
Lira lifted her stave and angled it low. "Not an animal. Doesn't feel right."
Eloin didn't speak. He pointed toward the moss along the base of the nearest tree. "Still wet. No impressions. But something brushed the outer vines. See that?"
A curl of fern, bent unnaturally outward. Not crushed. Nudged.
Goss approached slowly and knelt beside it. "Something tall. Or careful. Is this the flora thing that the damned orb was talking about?"
"It might be… Why leave no sound but that?" Lira asked.
"To remind us we're being watched. Scum," Goss muttered.
They stayed there a moment longer, listening.
Still nothing.
Finally, Eloin said, "We head back. Circle around. If it's close, we don't lead it to camp."
Lira gave one last glance to the trees before turning. "Kael should sweep this line next. I'll let him know later."
"Kael sees everything," Goss said, rising to his feet. "If something's there, he'll know. In fact he might see it before it sees him. That boy is just as silence as those things."
They didn't speak again until they were back within sight of the wall.
But even then, all three of them kept glancing at the trees. The felt like they needed another set of eyes on their backs, watching behind them at all times. Shivers were sent down their spine each time something cracked or moved.
By midday, the firepit crackled with light smoke. Skewers of fresh meat hissed over the heat. Mira rotated the spits with a carved stick, gaze occasionally flicking to the trees.
The meal was quiet but warm. Bird meat crackled over coals. Strips of dried root were soaking in a carved trough, softening for chewing. Mira passed out the foraged roots, boiled just enough to loosen the skin. Goss tasted one and grimaced.
"This one's crunchier than the last. I think it was trying to become a rock."
Hennick shrugged, mouth full. "At least it's not smoked vine. That stuff tasted like tree regret."
Lira poked at her bird skewer. "Better than when we tried to boil moss. That went straight through half the camp."
Rix, half-listening, muttered, "Some of us have refined digestion."
"You choked for six hours," Goss said, jabbing a thumb in his direction. "I timed it."
Syl smirked as she fed another stick into the coals. "You're all soft. This is luxury compared to what I used to eat."
Mira glanced over, deadpan. "And what was that? Leaves and bravado?"
"Mostly bravado but sometimes there was a bit of fear and piss," Syl replied, unbothered.
Raif sat back on his heels, watching the group move, some talking, others working, some just sitting. And for a moment, he let himself feel something dangerously close to pride.
No one had cried out this morning. No one had needed to be told twice. They weren't flailing anymore. They were adapting. Growing.
It wasn't safety. But it was a kind of peace.
He didn't say it aloud, didn't even allow it to reach the surface, but somewhere inside, he let himself believe it:
We're going to make it… He told himself.
We're going to make it…
Later, as shadows stretched long across the clearing, Kael returned from a perimeter loop alone.
He paused by the outer wall. It was built, but it wasn't safe. Something in the soil made him still. He knelt, brushing a patch of moss away with silent fingers. His eyes peer deep, taking in what little light was around him.
A spiral. Not made, but grown, like the jungle had signed its name into the soil. A message, coiled and patient.
Kael pressed his fingers to the moss, then lifted them to his nose. Damp, but no rot. No natural curve.
He traced the spiral slowly, once, twice, then looked over his shoulder.
The others were laughing. Eating. Planning.
He raised a hand to signal, then stopped.
Not now.
They needed this moment.
Some things were better left unsaid, for now. Silence was fragile, and for once, they'd earned it.
He stood and dragged a line through the spiral with the side of his boot, wiping it from sight. Then turned back toward the firelight.
The jungle didn't always strike. Sometimes it waited. Watched.
So would he.
Raif watched him return but said nothing. Just nodded once, and so did Kael. Raif was about to ask him something but for some reason stopped himself. Just like Kael he felt like it wasn't the right time. Right now, it was better to relax. To breath. To feel… safe.
A luxury that shouldn't be here.
But it was.
It just won't last long.
So why not indulge while they can?
That was what everyone was thinking in the inside. A small period of peace. Like they were all just on a normal camping trip. One where bards would sing. Dancers would dance. Brothers would drink.
A dream of sorts.
At least here, it was.
The orb didn't glow. It simply sat.
Waiting.
Kael's eyes never left the trees.
Not tonight at least.