Mira stopped in her tracks, her breath shallow, her eyes steaming with confusion, mist shattering the illusion that she was actually looking forward – its starling opaqueness made sure that she couldn't see much. It wasn't the perpetual blindness that unsettled her though.
It was doubt. The owl had been leading her, certainly, but she wasn't sure anymore, whether it was leading her somewhere.
She had seen the same creepy tree twice. The same one with dark gnarled branches that twisted too irregularly to hold itself up. Its forlorn aura was a bit standout among its equally creepy peers. She could still see it in her mind vividly.
At first she thought nothing of it. It was easy to mistake something for another, especially with the shifting nature of the forest and the fact that almost all trees tried their best to be as unsettling as the one she had seen. But now, the resurfacing image was too accurate to ignore. It struck her mind like cold water on a marble stone. The realisation of the nature of the events finally clicked.
The owl had been leading her in circles.
It had used it keen perception to slowly lead her to the same place over and over, using the forest's flowing character to mask its actions. And now here she was, at a crossroad, standing in the middle of a forest that seemed to have no end, with its space interlocking against itself...or maybe that was just the mist.
Realization hit her like a stone sickle. She had been fooled, with her playing a key part in it. Or yet again, was she wrong? Had the tree really been the same one? Either way, what could she do?
It was either her being in a spider web conspiracy, or her being in a dilemma concerning Pluto's whereabouts.
She felt a sickening knot gurgle in her stomach. The owl was her guide, her only way forward, and without it she was alone and hopeless. But if it guided her to nowhere's end, she couldn't tell which was worse.
The forest was hostile from the beginning, but the compression had only elevated morbid matters. Every step could be her last, and her only weapon was information. Information only the owl could provide, because her and every other person here, was too naive to say anything for certain.
She found herself questioning, whether what it had said had matched its words later on, whether there was any loophole it had failed to cover that she could use to get some factuality.
It was an uncomfortable feeling no doubt, but what was worse was the fact that there's was no turning back now.
The owl flew ahead, uncaring about her silent hesitation. She sighed, she just had to wait, and watch how things would play out.
***
The glint of distrust and desperate madness was still in all their eyes as they stared down the corpse of the beast they had just killed.
The kill had been as long and brutal as they had expected, not because of the lethality of the predator, but because they had lost their edge. They hadn't had much of it to begin with, but in a place like this, any lost advantage was felt more than it should have.
Still, they managed to make it work. They cooperation was nothing commendable and their movements were too sluggish to be classified as strikes, but they fought together with grim efficiency.
The creature laid that they feet, its blood pooling slowly into a darker than black puddle. But its strange anatomy couldn't capture their attention.
The core could. The centre of its life and the incentive for their despicable acts.
It had slipped out of the beast's sternum and showcased itself alluringly, daring the onlookers to do their worst.
Ronan's hand twitched with a primal hunger, his fixated eyes roaring with the need to be fed. He looked mad.
Khalifa noticed the look. Something had to be said or done to prevent him from committing undesirable actions. She was just as hungry as he was, but her will was superior.
"One is not divisible by three," she said sharply, her voice cutting through the silence. Silence was just too often here. "We'll keep the core, and no once takes until its divisible by three."
Ronan opened his mouth to protest, he had a much better way to settle things, but knowing Khalifa well enough, he shut up.
"Fine," he muttered. "Three cores."
The third member didn't speak, which was equivalent to agreeing. His face was masked with indifference, but the cold tint in it didn't escape anyone's eyes.
They had all agreed, but tension still rained and seemed to amplify the more they stared at the soft glowing core. No one moved yet, but every muscle wound round their bones, waiting for what they hoped would not come, so they could spring into action.
***
Annoyance had sipped into Saul expression. They had been in search for Mira for a while now and there was nothing to give hope. No signs that could lead them anywhere, and searching in the blind like this, could really do wonders to his mood. Not just in a positive way.
"Nothing," he muttered with a hoarse voice. His outburst had scared Pluto but he didn't show it. He turned to Pluto.
"This is pointless, we're wasting our time."
Pluto sighed. "What would you rather do then?"
Saul frowned, but Pluto was too busy to see it. He was conducting his usual thermal surveillance, checking for heat signatures that were too bright to be normal. Luckily, there was nothing unusual.
His mark had calmed down a bit, not much, but noticeable. The predators were still coming, but they had just been able to run faster. Saul's fast hands had also helped, always killing the predators the moment he saw them, thereby lessening the traffic of hunters.
He had done a good job, but he was nearing his wit's end. His composure could no longer hide his coarse breathing, his indifference failing against fatigue.
Pluto looked at him again. "Finding Mira is our best chance of survival. As much as you would hate to admit it, neither of us are in good shape to continue fighting. I may be worse off now, but pushing yourself like this will grind you to a halt."
Saul eyes flickered with annoyance. It was rare to meet a pest as persistent as Pluto was. It wasn't just irritation alone, tiredness also took its fair share of his emotions.
"Like I said earlier, I can keep going as long as I need to," Saul growled.
"Go ahead and try, I believe you," Pluto's voice was drapped with sarcasm, a smirk almost finding his face. It didn't.
Saul frowned even harder. He gripped his blade tighter, trying to find solace in the one thing he knew how to do best –murder. But even that thing was slipping from his hands a little too quickly. He wasn't invincible, and knowing that only proved Pluto right even more.
He couldn't just rely on his strength alone. The forest was too gruesome to allow that. He would need strategy and alliances.
But before Pluto could say anything else, Saul suddenly veered off course, increasing his running speed exponentially.
"Why are you –?"
Before Pluto could finish his question, Saul had already turned into motion. He took on a lone entrant, a young man whose stature seemed too free to be real, at least if he was aware of the dangers that plagued ever corner. It was the first person Pluto had seen that could have been younger than he was.
They engaged without words, entertaining the presence that watched from above the veil of mist.
The fight was too short to describe, ending in seconds after Saul had veered off course. He moved like a shadow in at a different frame rate from his opponent.
His blade struck twice and the boy was down. Saul loomed over him, ready to finish the kill.
But then–
The boy groaned. Not just out of pain, but as retaliation. It was damp and almost soundless, carrying heavy weight as it travelled. It hit Saul like a hammer, not once, but as if a thousand times to every inch of him.
He staggered back, coughing up blood as pressure seemed to consume him. He groaned back, but in a powerless way, as he fell to his knees.
Pluto's eyes widened.
"Saul!"
The boy was weakened and bleeding, but still alive. He scrambled to his feet, trying and failing numerously in the short moment. He was dazed but determined.
Pluto didn't wait for Saul to command. He didn't hesitate or let his thoughts buy time. He leaped forward, ignoring the pang in his shoulder as he grabbed Saul and pulled him back. The pressure had faded, but the damage didn't.
The young man hadn't paralyzed him, but was inches close to doing so.
"Retreat!" Saul gasped with a voice that sounded like a breath. Just speaking threatened to crumble his organs.
Pluto obliged before he thought about what he had obliged to. He lifted Saul to his feet and made a hasty redraw. The young man just watched, neither running nor chasing.
***
Frustration had become the order of her day. She had been searching for hours and was no closer to finding Pluto. The more she searched for him, the more she seemed to lose her sense of direction.
She felt herself breaking down too. She was hunger, tired and beat down, yet she tried to hold it all together. And that created tension within her, tension that broke more than it held.
Then, as if the forest had conspired against her, she stumbled across another predator. It was small, unprotected, but fast. Its sharp teeth and claws didn't help matters either.
She fought it off the best she could. It was needless to say all the things draining strength did to her. It just made the battle a lot harder.
Her old wounds, her new ones and fear all gnawed at her physically and mentally. She wanted to cry but she didn't. She had no choice but to stay silent. Survival depended on it.
She eventually killed the beast, the owl watching without intervening. She took the core and absorbed the energy, but the fumes it gave to her was all but enough to keep her going.
***
In another corner of the forest, a lone entrant stood quietly behind a rotting tree. It smelled a lot, but he had to endure. He was watching a beast.
This one was unusually not made of vines and roots. It was flesh and bone – a real beast, a predator in the truest sense. It looked like a tiger, but unlike any he had ever seen. It was twice the size of regular ones, with a sleek and muscular body designed for battle. It eyes weren't just wild, they were feral.
The entrant hesitated, fearing the abnormality in it more than he did its supposed power. Something about it was just wrong. Its presence reeked of predatory instincts. It moved in a way pre-telling that anything it met would die a horrible death.
It didn't fit into the usual niche of deadly creatures. The entrant didn't want to attack it, but in the end necessity won out.
The entrant stepped forward, and as his feet touched dried leaves, the beast turned and locked onto him.
And the hunt began.