The Stalkers found him at midday. Dante moved through a canyon of crystalline formations when the light began to shift in ways that had nothing to do with the sun. Shadows flickered at the edge of his vision, there and gone so quickly he might have imagined them, but he didn't.
'Pack hunters,' he thought, his hand moving to his sword without conscious thought. 'Four, maybe five. Using the light refraction to mask their approach.'
The Crystalline Stalkers were predators that evolved to exploit their environment. In direct light, their bodies became nearly invisible, the crystalline structure of their hide refracting photons around them like water flowing past a stone. Only in shadow did they become visible, their forms resolving into something like wolves made of living glass which made the Crystalline Wastes, with its scattered shadows and brilliant light, perfect hunting grounds.
'Right side. Twenty meters.'
