The forest breathed.
Every branch, every leaf, every breath of fog seemed alive — whispering, pulsing with hunger. The mist twisted around them, shapes moving where no shape should be.
Kael's eyes darted through the haze, heart pounding in sync with the faint echoes. One dead Wendigo lay at his feet, black mist leaking from the severed neck, dissolving into the soil like smoke.
Then came the whispers.
Not sound — not truly. Thoughts pressed into his mind like claws scratching at the inside of his skull.
"Hunger. You smell of the old blood. Of the chosen."
Kael flinched, gripping his sword tighter. "Form up!"
Rin, Lira, and Taro closed in behind him, backs to one another, blades drawn. The fog trembled — and then the Wendigos came.
Dozens of them. Crawling from the trees, dropping from branches, their forms half-human, half-nightmare. Limbs too long, faces stretched, eyes glowing faintly white in the dark. Their teeth glistened like glass shards.
Taro froze. "There's too many—"
"Focus!" Kael's voice cut through the panic.
The first one lunged — Kael sidestepped, slicing its arm clean through. The next slammed into Rin, who met it head-on, roaring as he drove his blade through its chest.
Lira moved with clinical precision, dual knives flashing, severing tendons and nerves before the creatures could fully strike. Each motion was clean, mechanical.
But for every Wendigo that fell, two more emerged.
"Kael!" Rin shouted. "We're surrounded!"
"I see them!"
Kael's breath came sharp, his instincts screaming. The Wendigos weren't attacking blindly — they were herding them. Pushing them deeper into the forest. Toward something.
Then the ground trembled.
A hollow thud echoed through the trees, followed by another. And another.
Something massive was moving beneath the earth.
"Move!" Kael barked. "Into the clearing!"
They broke formation, sprinting through the mist as claws slashed at their heels. Taro stumbled, a Wendigo pinning him down — its jaws wide, breath rancid.
Kael turned, blade flashing. A single strike — clean, silent — and the creature fell apart before it even realized it was dead. He grabbed Taro's arm, pulling him to his feet.
"You alright?"
Taro nodded shakily, eyes wide. "Y-Yeah… thanks."
Before Kael could respond, the earth split open.
Roots tore through the soil, massive and twisted like veins, pulsing with black light. From within the crevice rose a figure — larger than any Wendigo they'd seen. Its body was half-fused to the roots, ribs exposed, face crowned with bone antlers. Its voice was a whisper that didn't belong to sound.
"Children of fire… you tread upon sacred ground."
Rin cursed. "What the hell is that?!"
Lira's voice trembled for the first time. "An Alpha… a superior Wendigo. They command the ferals."
Kael stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "Then this must be their lair."
The Alpha's gaze locked onto him — or through him. "You… carry the scent of the curse."
Kael's stomach twisted. For a moment, his vision blurred — a flash of a memory, red eyes staring through the dark, a voice calling his name from beneath the bed.
He shook it off, gritting his teeth. "Ash Unit — formation Delta. We bring it down."
Rin grinned, spinning his sword. "Finally, some fun."
---
The Alpha moved with deceptive speed. Its claws sliced through the air, carving trenches into the earth. Rin barely dodged, countering with a vertical strike that sparked against bone.
Lira flanked, knives glancing off the creature's ribs, drawing black ichor that hissed as it hit the ground.
Taro channeled every ounce of focus, his blade humming faintly — Wind Path: Gale Cut.
The strike tore through the fog, slicing one of the Alpha's arms clean off.
The creature roared — a sound that made the trees shake.
"Nice hit!" Rin shouted.
But the victory was short-lived. The severed arm regenerated — flesh bubbling, twisting back into place.
"Regeneration," Lira warned. "Too fast for standard blades. We need to decapitate or destroy the heart!"
Kael took a deep breath, centering his stance. His body remembered every lesson his mentor drilled into him — balance, flow, intent.
He moved.
His sword glowed faintly under the moonlight — no magic, just sheer precision. He ducked under a swipe, rolled across the roots, and slashed across the creature's abdomen.
The Alpha howled, swinging wildly — one claw grazed Kael's shoulder, tearing fabric and flesh. He hissed, staggering but refusing to fall.
Rin leapt in, striking down with all his strength, his sword embedding into the creature's back. "Now, Kael!"
Kael's eyes burned. Time slowed — the world narrowing to the creature's exposed neck.
He jumped, twisting midair — blade raised — and brought it down in one clean arc.
The Alpha's head separated from its body, black blood spraying into the mist. Its roar died into a gurgle, and then silence swallowed the forest.
The remaining Wendigos froze — their white eyes flickering. Then, as if a signal had been cut, they retreated, melting back into the fog.
Kael landed heavily, panting. Blood dripped down his arm.
Rin wrenched his blade free. "Holy hell… we actually did it."
Lira approached the corpse cautiously, scanning the black ichor. "No… it's not over."
Taro frowned. "What do you mean?"
She pointed to the pulsing roots still buried in the ground. "These aren't natural. They're connected — a network. This Alpha wasn't alone. It was being controlled."
Kael's breath caught. The whisper from earlier still lingered in his skull. "You smell of the chosen."
He turned toward the darkness beyond the clearing. For a brief moment, he thought he saw a figure — tall, thin, wearing a mask of bone — watching from afar.
Then it was gone.
---
Later, the team camped at the edge of the forest. The fire burned low, their breaths misting in the cold air.
Rin stared into the flames. "That thing could've wiped us out. If that's what a 'low-level' mission looks like, we're screwed."
Lira responded softly, "This wasn't a low-level nest. It was an anomaly. Something is gathering them."
Taro was quiet, sharpening his blade with trembling hands.
Kael sat apart, bandaging his shoulder. His eyes were distant, fixed on the trees.
He could still hear the whispers. Not from the Alpha — deeper, older.
"My children have found you, Kael Verrin."
His hand tightened around the feather insignia.
For the first time since becoming a hunter, Kael felt something worse than fear — recognition.