"Why are we here, Euphemia?"

  Rook scanned all around him, finding nothing but shadows and plant life that blocked out much of the sun. Chirruping insects and the flapping of distant bird wings echoed. The boy tried to peer closer into the darkness of the woodland beyond, but his eyes gave him nothing for his efforts. The canoness ambled forward; her skirt hardly moving as she switched from looking at the horizon to staring at the ground, and vice versa. Two of her tiny spheres floated out of her sleeve. White dots of light, bright enough to light up the path ahead, hovered in front of the canoness.

  "It is best if I tell you my true reason for being on this journey."

  She knelt and looked at the earth before her. The soil, though damp, had growths that remained untouched and were only to be disturbed by two people passing through a tongue of the Old Wood. Euphemia looked to Rook and continued:

  "People said someone I hold dear is taken into these woods. Like you with your master, I'm here to find that man."

  Rook gave a blank stare. The occasional creaking of the trees kept him on his guard. Did she trust him too much to outright tell the reason for being here? He moved around in search of secrets that the shadows would reveal to them.

  "And why do you look at and touch the dirt?"

  "I've read a few accounts from constables. From trackers. I also think those mystery novels I read when I was younger helped." She tried to smile, though Euphemia's long face was having none of those pretensions. "Maybe there are tracks we can follow."

  "You're looking for a man, not a bear or a wild animal, right?"

  "You... may be right." Euphemia frowned before looking ahead. "Maybe I've thought too highly of my knowledge, or..."

  She shook her head and pressed forward. The Euphemia Rook knew was not like this, or maybe this was a discovery he made. He kept a hand in his coat, feeling for the ivory grip of his weapon.

  Dead leaves and damp twigs crumpled under Euphemia and Rook's feet. The sun's reach was hampered by the thick growth; trees were planted so close to each other that their roots formed an uneven carpet on the ground. They ventured deeper into the barrier of vegetation; Euphemia felt that they were going farther, but everything looked the same inside the Antikwald. The two stumbled upon an old road; their soles stepped on worn-out and uneven stone.

  What little solar streaks that managed to break through thinned out, leaving the two in a place of almost total darkness. Euphemia and Rook had no idea how far they had gone through the forest; only the strain felt on their legs gave a hint that they had been walking for hours.

  Not too far ahead was what seemed to be a broken-down castle. A third of the walls crumbled and revealed a neglected place that was still fighting with the forces of time and nature to stay intact. A part of the keep peeked from the dense forest cover; the silhouette of a conical tower rose above most of the trees. Euphemia pulled out a small map from her waist pouch. She read it under the light of her floating sphere.

  "If I am right, we are deep in the western area of the forest. We can see the Guilenfrau Castle ruins from where we stand."

  Rook's attention was not with Euphemia. He pulled out his revolvers with his thumbs cocking the hammers, ready.

  "Is there something wrong, Rook?"

  His head tracked the rustling bushes and the sound of fast-moving soles going against tree roots. Euphemia also felt that they were being surrounded – they were not the only ones roaming the forest.

  Figures were seen moving among the shadows, though Rook only sensed their presence.

  A gurgling snarl echoed in the woods. From the darkness sprang a crouching creature with claws for forelimbs. It lunged at the cleric, who was too frozen to move and was only afforded to cover her mouth from screaming. Rook did not waste time and leaped between the monster and his companion, kicking the creature's head and sending it back to the forest's shadow. Rook did not wait for her to snap out of her fright. He grabbed Euphemia's hand and urged her to run.

  "W-w-what is that?"

  "I don't know." Rook paced his strides, though Euphemia could barely keep up with his pace, nearly tripping in her attempts. "But it doesn't want us to be here."

  A clearing was seen ahead. Rook heard the sound of earth being kicked and the crunch of dying foliage. The pursuer wasn't alone – and it brought others to join in the hunt. There was a bald spot where a pillar of the sun stood. Whatever they were, the boy at least had a chance to fight them without the cover of darkness. What he had to worry about was being cornered. His grip on the cleric's arm was firm; he could only do so much for Euphemia, who was far from nimble as he.

  "Could... you..." Euphemia held to her chest; her lungs heaved deeply for air. "...my legs... may not be able... to keep up."

  "They're still coming. We have to get away from here." Rook aimed his pistol at the dark ahead of them. "Just stay behind me. I'll figure... out, I'll come up with something!"

  "There has to be... something I can do."

  Fast, crushing footsteps tipped and tapped on the forest floor. It was bewildering, for neither of the pursued knew what their predators were. Too small to be bears, yet too aggressive to be wolves. There was not a moment to spare to even look back; one mistake was needed for both of them to be overwhelmed.

  Ahead of them was a large outcrop that belonged to a jagged mass resembling a broken jaw. The rocks would protect their backs, Rook hoped. There was a crevice enough for a person to fit in. He would at least have Euphemia take the space, then worry about how many of these beasts he had to deal with.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Rook could taste the salt in his sweat; he could only imagine that much of the time inside the forest was spent fleeing from the faceless hunters. Soon, there wouldn't be space to keep the distance between them and the mysterious hunters. He let go of Euphemia, who was still panting from having to run with her agile companion.

  "Get inside!" he pointed at the gap in the stones.

  Euphemia threw herself in. She sat down, hunched between rocks, hands holding her head. She tried to recall that moment when one of them pounced on her. Jaws that resembled a bird's bill, yet with serrated rows of teeth. The gait of a great ape. A body covered in spikes. She gripped her face in an attempt to keep her eyelids from closing.

  The first claws pierced the soggy ground. It was slender, almost the boy's height at the shoulder. This beast was probably taller than even Euphemia had their hind legs had been fully extended. It slobbered before the boy; a whip-like tongue threw spit left and right.

  What made matters worse was that it wasn't alone.

  Rook stood in front, pulling out his gun. They were getting dangerously close. A warlike voice echoed inside Rook's mind. It had to be one of them.

  "A monster. I have never seen the likes of such in centuries. I have been waiting for a worthy challenge."

  It was a proud voice; someone who may have visited faraway lands to tell tales of adventures and misfortunes. Rook was reminded of the Altrecht incident upon sensing this entity inside of him.

  "You're not Metis, are you? This is not the time to be impressed by something out to kill me and my friend."

  "Now isn't the time for talk either. Jump out of its way."

  Rook leapt sideways just in time to see the creature's claw crush the ground; it was buried for a few moments before it was pulled out. Another monster shot out towards the boy. Rook slid out of its path close enough to see a set of sharp and ruddy teeth.

  "I remember now. These fell creatures hunt in groups. Your movements won't be enough if you want to overcome them."

  "You got anything that could kill them?" Rook was catching his breath in his attempts to jump over or lunge at the monster's paws.

  "No. The weapons you have are enough."

  "I worry about the bullets."

  "The blessing of Montju shall lead you to victory!"

  He remembered this energy that welled up in him. Perhaps it was this entity that gave Rook his nimbler reflexes back in Altrecht. His body moved ahead of thought: dodging swipes, kicking spines, firing clean shots into open maws. A monster's head burst with a single bullet. But more came. Always more, as if the forest itself was the enemy.

  There were at least a dozen of them that emerged from the clearing. Forelegs dug into the ground, stretching their bodies in their attempt to take down Rook in a massed strike.

  "No... no... You can't fight them all on your own." Euphemia whispered, the first threads of tears coursing down her face. "I... I..."

  A new wave of attacks began; some lunged at Rook, while the others charged at him. He managed to slide out of their path, raising his gun in the air to shoot one of the monsters in midair. A loud report, followed by the explosion of guts where the creature's head was. He was evading them, yet the forest revealed more of these creatures drawn to the boy's attempts at fending them off.

  "You should not have jumped in that direction, Boy," Montju spoke in irritation.

  As lithe as his movements were, it was impossible for Rook not to be overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the canoness watched her companion's plight. Frozen by the safety of the rocks, and even then, this earthen barrier would not keep the creatures away for long.

  "Please... please. Let me help him. Why... why?"

  Five carcasses lay on the clearing; blood, the color of old wine, soiled the ground. Rook had yet to be struck by the creatures' claws.

  But tumbling and kicking wouldn't keep them at bay for long, and bullets wouldn't last.

  "What good is this strength? This power? I can't save anyone. I can't save..." Euphemia held on to her hands, shaking as she watched the situation become more hopeless.

  Rook was running out of space; the monsters yielded half a turn for him. He blocked a claw with his gun and kicked one of the attackers out of the way.

  But more were raised his way: there was no time to dodge them all.

  Rook shielded his face with his arms, bracing for the pain of several cuts.

  Yet death was not in his fate, for now. A bright screen wrapped around his body; claws twice the length of fingers slid and pounded uselessly against the light. Rook sat in front of his killers, eyes rounded in shock.

  Those brilliant yet terrible pillars appeared again, much like the one Rook saw at Altrecht. Four of them descended upon the creatures. They stared at the beams, paralyzed at their glow until one of the creatures was vaporized upon contact. A chorus of high-pitched pulses and the confused utterances of the monsters that tried to swipe at the incinerating might of solid light.

  Euphemia pressed against the crevice while Rook stood three paces before her, a thin shield between her and the pack. Her spheres screamed with light, pillars tearing through flesh and root alike. She kept a firm face, though tears continued to fall. She drew closer to Rook, one minced step at a time. Her hands trembled, caught between trying to reach out to the boy and locking in each other's grip.

  He was yet to stand. Everything around him told the tale of destructive force. The smell of upturned earth, of smoke coming from what was left of foliage. Hardly any remains of the creatures were found; anything struck by Euphemia's power left nothing, not even dust. Those rays were brighter than the ones she used to bring down that armored fighting machine from before. Raw power that even its wielder was failing to comprehend.

  A new clearing was made in the aftermath; rock and soil fused into a steaming layer that carved an almost perfectly curved path. Only the remnants of trees suggested that the forest floor was undisturbed before the event that took place. The spheres remained overhead, singing in a unified hum as they awaited the will of their wielder.

  "Please tell me you're okay. I should not have let us..." She dropped to her knees beside Rook, covering her face as she wept. "I'm... forgive me."

  "I'm all right, Euphemia. You're going to be okay, right?"

  "Fool. I should directly intervene next time to show you how to truly fight. Do you intend to rely on your friend's power forever?" Montju's voice dug deep in Rook's mind.

  "Don't be too harsh on him. He's still a boy." Metis' voice spoke, at last.

  "Yes. Just a mere boy." The echoes of Montju's words left ripples in Rook's mind. "A boy who starts battles, yet he lets others win them for him."

  The monsters were long gone; there was no more opportunity to prove the second aspect wrong. His hand gripped his weapon tighter. He wondered if he could face the Master in his state when he needed Euphemia's help to stay alive.