It was sudden, and came without warning, but such was the way of violence.

  I moved almost as fast as my eyes dilated, ducking the hand reaching for my skull as it clamped shut, sending a bang echoing through the forest. I heard the bearded hunter let out a string of curses and weapons being drawn all while trying to get my bearings.

  A fist of perfect ivory swung for my face and it screamed death into my ears. I had to bend backwards to avoid it, and was pushed to the ground by the wind of its passing. A blade larger than my body swept above and crashed into something that sounded like stone, sending the thing stumbling, granting me blessed space.

  I firmed my footing, and stared at the monster that attacked us.

  It was a caricature of a person, taking the shape of a human with none of the features. Bone white and faceless, there was a large chip on its stomach where I assumed Loklan struck it. It was splayed on the ground, and rose slowly with a weight I could just barely feel, even this far away. Loklan didn’t engage with the Dollman.

  “Gren, hammers. Now!” he shouted instead.

  The scarred hunter gave a curt nod and unlatched the hammers on his hips, not his main weapon. That glory belonged to the warbow hugging his body tight, I wondered how he was going to fight with that in the way.

  “Kerro, Aira, distract the bastard.”

  The bearded hunter dashed forward, short sword in hand, and engaged with the DollMan as Aira went to flank it. Throughout all this I’d been watching the chip of white stone regenerate. It moved with impossible dexterity, not constraining itself to the human form's limitations, twisting in ways that neither stone nor flesh should be capable of. Aira and Kerro took turns kiting the monster as Loklan walked around, a menacing presence that directed the monster towards Gren.

  Where there was grace in the movements of the two hunters, there was none to be found in the DollMan. It was chaos incarnate as it swung whichever limb was closest. Wild and uncoordinated. But there was intelligence behind the blows, despite the lack of technique.

  Aira and Kerro barely dodged certain death on multiple occasions, and the leather holding tight to their bodies ripped in multiple places where the Dollman was closest to ending their lives.

  I winced at the sound of steel striking stone, my sensibilities as a smith screamed at their liberal use of blades against the monster. Why did only Gren carry hammers? Or do they just not care for the weapons in their grasp?

  Those were going to need to be replaced upon their return to the city, I wasn't sure any smith could manage to repair such damage without re-forging the whole blade.

  An amateur to combat might see this sight and say they were winning, but my eyes could recognize the struggle of my mentor. Suddenly being so focused on dodging for her style didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

  Not when a single strike could shatter any defence.

  Grass was pushed by mild winds generated by each strike the Dollman delivered, and I could hear the cutting of air as though it were right beside me. But most disturbing were the whispers told by its form.

  They were wrong, like mercury was mixed with water and put in a wineskin. Insanity so clear that even I could tell the intent behind every motion. What would my mother see, if she were here?

  How did I miss this thing until it almost popped my head? Was it even possible to hide your contribution to the World? I didn’t know, Asna implied that it wasn’t, but the dichotomy was too stark for it to be anything other than some method to hide.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  A technique designed for elves, and it chose to attack me first despite me being no true threat even if I could read its motions. That seemed like too many coincidences strung together.

  Was someone trying to kill me? Why?

  Gren dashed forward, bringing his hammers down on the DollMans head, and the sound of cracking stone erupted as a perfect hand of clean porcelain ripped off a portion of the man's face. Gren barely reacted, just taking a step back as the muscles of his lower jaw and the molars of his right cheek are exposed to the world.

  The blood slid off the moving statue's body like oil to water, leaving no evidence of its violence. Then it continued the dance of madness, this time adding Gren to its repertoire of dangers to avoid.

  The fight was slow from there, a variation of either Loklan or Gren delivering crushing blows while Kerro and Aira harried the thing as minor annoyances. It didn’t seem capable of prioritising, treating the two gladius wielders as equal to the gargantuan blade and hammers. Curious, Aira didn’t extrapolate much on dollmen, only that they were usually passive. The fact that this one almost killed me out of nowhere was highly unusual.

  Highly unusual indeed. Fuck, someone was definitely after me.

  It’s also another addition to my repertoire of near death experiences, and the first time I’d been targeted.

  Maybe I was being paranoid?

  Think about it later, when it wasn’t a danger to do so.

  Armour seemed like a suggestion to the porcelain bringer of death, ripping through leather as though it were paper. But other than the skin missing from Gren’s face, it didn’t manage so much as a scratch.

  It overextended, and Loklan punished with a grand swing of a grand blade and-

  The arm is severed, jagged edges of stone separating, and the dollman let out something like a whine to the World. They didn’t hear it obviously, else they might be surprised by the fact it made a pure noise rather than communication of intention.

  Gren stuck the thing more often, but it was Loklan’s strikes that dealt the real damage. I didn’t know how he could wield such a ginormous blade so fluidly for an extended period like he had, must be some kind of beastman thing.

  The fight was decided when the dollman lost a leg, losing another avenue of motion or attack.

  Then its head crumbled, and a jewel the size of my palm and perfectly spherical rolled out from the ruins as it fell. It was a glowing aquamarine, bewitching in its majesty. There, in the jewel, was a story.

  There was an eye with three pupils staring at me, they rotated clockwise on an iris of vibrant gold with bands of black creating a strange image. The gaze was so alien, like fractals rather than proper pupils. A complex weave of something to present the image of an eye but was so much more. Like a whisper of something greater, a call for tired souls to rest. They rotate, and each rotation is hypnotizing in its motions.

  It greeted me, and I tilted my head in confusion. The eye’s lid crinkled in delight and gave me the approximation of a nod before…it disappeared.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Aira panted from beside me.

  I jumped a little, much to the woman’s amusement, and offered a nod. “It is.”

  “The mages will pay plenty for it as well,” Aira smiled. “Those things are known for increasing their capabilities, which ones? Who knows. Magical society has a tendency towards secrecy.”

  “Can I have it?” I blurted out before I could think better of it.

  Everyone turned to stare at me, and I stared at the ground in embarrassment. But…no, I lifted my head and stared into each with a determined gaze.I needed this, whatever it was, something inside was screaming that truth to the depths of my soul.

  “I’ll pay,” I said.

  “You secretly holding ten gold around, kid? Because that’s the minimum it would take for us to part with this. Besides, this thing is only useful to mages.” Kerro snorted.

  I stared at the man hard, and he gave me a frown. There’s one argument that could tide them over, but it’s a risk. A risk I was willing to take from the sheer pressure vibrating off the DollMan’s core.

  Aira was giving me a look that was almost sympathetic, but she didn’t seem willing to part with the thing either.

  “I-”

  “You know a mage,” Loklan interrupted, and I clamped my mouth shut. I turned to stare at him with wide eyes.

  “Don’t give me that look, I can piece things together. Going to sell it to them and take some of the profits for yourself? Smart, and cunning. Good. Twelve gold, for us and whatever extra you can keep yourself, how does that sound?”

  My eyes went wide, this wasn’t—

  Loklan walked up to ,e and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth now. I won’t give you a better offer.”

  I stared at him, then nodded.

  His smile was a thing that didn’t reach his eyes and he gave me a nod of his own.