“Where am I?” Alhen wondered out loud.

  He currently found himself inside a forest, thick vegetation caressing his skin.

  The leaves were multicolored, having a slight tint of orange, green, red, purple, and black.

  His gaze swept the place.

  Apart from some sharp vines right next to him, where he could cut himself, he didn’t seem to be in any imminent danger.

  The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on his bed, preparing himself mentally for the ordeal that would take place once he opened his eyes.

  ‘This must be a dream… right?’ he thought.

  For a few seconds, he stood still, observing the scenery around him.

  The moon hung in the sky, and for the first time, he looked at it without wearing his glasses.

  After a few seconds of staring at it, he realized how stupid it was for him to do even if this was a dream.

  ‘What if it had been real?’ He didn’t even want to think about it.

  Just to make sure, he slapped himself on the face, leaving a deep red imprint on his cheek.

  His eyes widened, and his heart picked up pace.

  He felt it. The pain was real.

  He broke eye contact with the moon, staring at the ground in horror.

  ‘Is this not a dream?!’ He thought, his mind racing about many possibilities about his situation.

  Before he could fall deep in thought, he heard a voice calling out for him.

  “Alhen,” a young boy’s voice rang out.

  His surprise didn’t stem from hearing a voice, but from hearing Henry’s voice.

  His mind blanked, and for a second, everything faded to the background.

  His feet picked up and frantically began running after the sound.

  His skin tore from the sharp vines, and the nature around tried everything in its power to slow him down.

  He thrashed around, falling to the ground multiple times as he slipped and his feet got tangled with the never-ending vines.

  He didn’t care, and despite the pain, he kept on running.

  A flicker of light entered his eyes; he could see it, a few more steps, and he would reach it.

  Right at the end, and just when he was about to step into the light, the nature around him moved quickly to intercept him.

  It held his body still, pulling him back with strength.

  Alhen gritted his teeth, not surrendering to the pressure.

  Even when he felt his bones strain and his skin tear, he kept pushing forward.

  “Graah!” With a final grunt, his body broke free and came to the other side.

  His body collapsed on the now scarce vegetation, landing face-first onto the black dirt below.

  ‘Crap! Did I overdo it?’ he thought to himself, feeling his body run out of strength.

  He raised his head to look at what was in front of him, and what he saw, he couldn’t believe.

  Henry, in the flesh, smiling at him with a smile that seemed to illuminate the space around him.

  “Henry!” Alhen shouted, emotion fueling the strength in his voice.

  Henry opened his mouth and said something… something important, he knew.

  He could see his lips move, but no sound escaped his mouth.

  “W-what? I didn’t hear you. Please repeat what you said,” Alhen pleaded, afraid of this moment coming to an end.

  Henry opened his mouth again, the same situation repeating itself.

  Before Alhen could ask him one more time what he meant, just as he feared, something shocked him awake.

  “Arghh!” A faint scream echoed deep within the village.

  Alhen opened his eyes in a flash, standing up before his brain could process the implied meaning of the sound.

  Sloan and Sierra had stood the moment they heard the scream in the middle of their rest.

  The siblings were the first to act, grabbing their thuls and rushing to see what was happening.

  Alhen quickly followed, grabbing his jacket and thuls beside him before rushing outside with the siblings.

  ‘Did I forget something?’ Alhen asked himself as he ran, holding his head from a splitting headache that threatened to leave him on the ground.

  He shook his head and shook those thoughts away; it wasn’t the time to be distracted.

  He heard a raspy, guttural scream coming from the village center.

  Multiple villagers rushed past him, running away from something.

  Rushing towards the noise, they arrived at the village center.

  Alhen looked around, trying to spot the cause of the commotion, when something hard fell from the sky and splattered at his side.

  “Splat!” Alhen was horrified to see a man with his limbs twisted in the wrong direction and his head missing, pooling blood on the ground.

  Similar sounds followed, watching a rain of bodies falling near his location.

  ‘What is happening?!’ Alhen questioned, searching for the siblings who had seemingly vanished.

  His eyes darted across the area, trying to locate them, and he caught them running towards something at great speeds, their thuls drawn with hungry-filled eyes.

  Looking at the direction of their charge, he finally saw it: a big, long-necked wiht.

  It had small, black spikes surrounding its body, sharp enough to cleave through bone and flesh like a hot knife through butter.

  It walked on four legs, with its head curved to its back.

  Its size surpassed that of the houses around it, making him surprised that he hadn’t seen it earlier, and it had no eyes.

  Alhen froze, as it was his first time looking at a creature this big and dangerous.

  Before the siblings had a chance to reach the wiht, it took some villagers with its mouth, killing them on the spot, and ran outside the walls.

  Alhen had no time to be surprised or doubt because of his fear.

  The siblings ran right after him, and if he continued to doubt himself, he would be left behind.

  He activated his sign and ran faster than normal.

  Sloan and Sierra followed the wiht closely, and Alhen struggled to follow their pace.

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  As they rushed to the wiht, a frown adorned his features.

  ‘Was that?..’ Alhen thought, remembering something that seemed like a sign on the wiht’s neck back in the village.

  It glowed a faint white, making him believe that they were dealing with a blessed wiht.

  Remembering how he fared against lesser wihts didn’t bring much comfort.

  Hopefully, with his new arm and the help of the siblings, this time it would go differently.

  They followed the wiht through the withered forest into a cave.

  The lush, grey, and red trees and the vegetation were gone, making way for what seemed to be its territory.

  The vegetation was completely dead, and the soil looked rougher.

  They stood outside with caution, not daring to enter it.

  “Alright, we need to be careful. It did not look like it spotted us, but it could be waiting inside to tear us apart,” Sloan said.

  “No, I say we go in and defeat it. It is only a lesser wiht, we can handle it even without a plan,” Sierra replied.

  Sloan sighed in irritation, looking at his sister as if she were stupid.

  “Remember last time when you said the exact same thing? We are not repeating that story; we need to make a plan,” Sloan said.

  “I don’t think it is a lesser wiht, I believe I saw a sign on its neck back at the village, it glowed faintly white,” Alhen interjected.

  Sierra looked at him discerningly, calculating the truthfulness of the statement.

  He held her probing gaze, and she eventually let it go.

  “So? What do you suggest we do, Sloan? There is only so much we can do with this amount of information,” Sierra asked.

  Alhen, looking at the pondering look on his group, thought about the situation for a second, then, having an idea, he voiced it with the siblings.

  “I will draw the wiht out, when I do, be ready to hunt it down,” he said with a calm exterior, though inside, he was shaking.

  ‘I need to get over this fear of wihts that I have developed, it’s not going to help me in the long run,’ Alhen convinced himself.

  “Are you crazy?!” Sloan yelled at him.

  “That is out of question; it will tear you to pieces in no time. If what you said is true, then it will be very dangerous. A blessed wiht is leagues above a lesser one,” he voiced out.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on fighting it. I’m just going to draw it out; I have my methods. When I do, please take care of it.”

  Both siblings eventually agreed to let him act as bait and draw out the wiht, but not before discussing a plan.

  “Alright, after Alhen draws the wiht out, what are we going to do?” Sierra asked.

  “The body seems to be well protected. We have to aim for the head, especially the back of it. If that does not work, then its weak spot will most likely be in its underbelly,” Sloan noted.

  “Before heading out to the cave, we have to make sure that the wiht can not smell you. Come here, I am going to cover you in that liquid from earlier; it should have lost its effect by now,” Sierra said, getting a white vial from her pouch.

  It would be a shame if just as he entered the cave, the wiht smelled him and their whole plan fell to pieces.

  She applied the liquid throughout Alhen’s clothes, leaving him ready for what he was about to do.

  After she finished, he smelled himself, making sure that the liquid had the intended effect.

  “Thank you,” Alhen gave his thanks and walked over to the cave after Sierra gave him a slight nod.

  As he walked inside, he could hear the sibling hurrying to their positions.

  He heard low rumbling sounds coming deep from within.

  Chills crawled from his lower spine to the back of his neck.

  “Crunch!” A loud sound echoed through the cave.

  Alhen could recognize that sound anywhere; it was the sound of bones breaking.

  ‘This should mean that the wiht is eating and probably distracted, I should hurry if I want to have any chance of doing what I’m supposed to do,’ he thought.

  The siblings had their eyes glued to his retreating figure, not daring to look away.

  It was only when Alhen’s figure fully disappeared that they moved.

  Alhen headed deeper into the cave with steady steps, but couldn’t completely hide the way his fingers were shaking.

  He stabilized his breathing, taking deep and silent breaths.

  The growling became louder the deeper he headed in, and the smell of decaying corpses assaulted his nose.

  He grimaced and slowed his steps, crouching and avoiding standing in the open.

  There was no light inside; he could barely see a thing.

  Illuminating the area at this moment sounded more like a death sentence in his situation.

  Alhen thought about what to do, and remembered something that happened in the sunken city while he ran away from the wihts.

  Alhen waited until he had the feeling that the wiht was near and activated his blessing.

  The usual black fog started entering his vision, and at the end of the cave, he could see the silhouette of a creature.

  This was thanks to his improved eyesight, which he hadn’t realized was a thing until he got to experience it running away for his life.

  Three bright spots of light were scattered across the wiht’s body, which he assumed were its weak points.

  The wiht didn’t look at him, focusing on eating its meal.

  It tore apart a man’s torso and gulped it down with speed.

  Further in front of him, he could see more corpses, bright red from being torn apart by the wiht’s sharp teeth.

  He crept closer, making sure not to be loud, not wanting to attract its attention right away.

  Before he distracted it, he wanted to make sure to leave him wounded, something that would give them an advantage in the upcoming confrontation.

  The closer he got, the more he felt that the wiht could kill him any second.

  It was a feeling in his chest that throbbed harder and harder.

  The feeling warned him of the danger coming from the most dangerous wiht which he had faced so far.

  His sign glowed, dim enough that it was barely noticeable.

  The fog started thickening in his vision and eventually became suffocating.

  It felt as if it had a tight grip around his neck and squeezed it tighter when he closed the distance with the wiht, like a survival instinct.

  He had neared it enough that his body started to become affected, but that didn’t stop him from slowly getting the revolver out of its holster and aiming it at the wiht.

  His mind was rushing with possible outcomes and nervousness, his body, however, was calm like a still lake.

  Alhen acted as slowly as possible, not wanting to attract attention.

  With his blessing activated, he could see the exact weak points of the creature.

  Just as Sierra had predicted, the back of the head was one of them; the underbelly glowed too.

  He wanted to shoot at the back of its head, with the problem being that the angle at his disposal didn’t allow him to get a clean shot at the creature.

  Getting closer to the wiht could give his presence away, and he didn’t want to risk it.

  Alhen waited patiently for the wiht to show its vulnerable spot in silence.

  His body stayed still like a predator before pouncing on its prey.

  Seeing that the wiht stayed in position, he carefully stalked away from the wall until he had a clear shot at the head.

  The wiht’s loud chewing and breathing gave him the noise he needed to remain undetected.

  Carefully aiming his revolver, he didn’t notice the small rock underneath his boots, which he cracked.

  It made a low sound, but was loud enough for the wiht to hear.

  “Kreh?!” His heart dropped, feeling as if he had been sentenced to death.

  ‘It’s now or never!’ he thought to himself.

  The wiht stood and looked at Alhen, who had pressed the trigger the moment its head entered sight and his revolver aligned with its weak spot.

  “Bang!” The bullet penetrated the skin, and the wiht screeched, but it didn't fall.

  Alhen’s hair stood on end as he avoided a slash in his direction, which he saw beforehand using his blessing.

  The wiht didn’t stop because of the pain; it instead chased after Alhen faster than ever before.

  His breathing turned erratic, and he felt death chasing him close from behind.

  He ran, barely avoiding the strikes of the wiht with the help of his blessing.

  A blessed wiht was no joke, it was only one, and he was struggling more than when he faced all of those wihts back in the sunken city.

  In front of him, the exit appeared, and Alhen ran even faster, surprising himself as he thought he’d reached his limit.

  He came out of the cave, but didn’t see the group of siblings, and the wiht started to become faster, which made it harder for him to dodge its attacks.

  Gritting his teeth, he hoped they hadn’t abandoned him; if that were the case, he wouldn’t know what to do.

  As the wiht came out of the cave right after Alhen, Sloan and Sierra fell on its head as soon as it became visible.

  Their thuls pierced the back of the head, making considerable damage, but the creature still oozed vitality.

  The wiht stopped dead in its tracks, thrashing around to shake the hunters off its head.

  The scales on its body hardened and elongated toward the siblings with deadly precision, surprising them both.

  Sloan reacted quickly, dismounting the wiht and avoiding injury, but Sierra had been slower.

  She had jumped when she noticed the attack, but it wasn’t enough.

  A cut made its way to her leg, and it started to become yellow in an instant.

  “Arghh!” She screamed in pain, falling to the ground with strength and hitting the back of her head.

  Alhen widened his eyes at the scene.

  Sierra’s body twitched with wide eyes, looking paralyzed, and a small amount of blood pooled from the injury in her head.

  “Sierra!” Sloan shouted.

  He gritted his teeth and sent a look towards Alhen.

  “Alhen! Please give Sierra the antidote.” Without further explanation, he threw a flask out of his jacket towards Alhen, who caught it.

  Alhen rushed towards Sierra, who struggled to move or utter a word.

  He closed the distance while he unbottled the vial, noticing that she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

  “Apply it directly into the wound, please,” Sierra finally let out, softly pleading.

  He did precisely that and carried her with his only arm somewhere away from the ongoing battle, using his blessing to aid him.

  Sloan had his sword thul in his hand, dancing around the wiht and trying to find an opening in its posture.

  After making sure that Sierra would be alright, Alhen dashed towards the confrontation.

  Activating the artifact on his missing arm, the familiar light blue arm appeared and took hold of extra bullets in his pocket.

  He quickly got out his revolver with his left hand and fired a shot at the wiht’s face.

  “Bang!” The bullet bounced, but he gained its attention. It snapped its head to look at him, opening its mouth widely.

  Making sure to take this chance, Sloan slid under the wiht before it could rush at Alhen and cleaved his sword on its stomach.

  He dragged it across its body and causing it to bleed massively.

  The Wiht screeched loudly, the sound making Alhen’s blood turn cold.

  Sloan had a look of surprise, shocked that it still hadn’t fallen due to its injuries.

  Sloan’s vision spun, the wiht rapidly turned around and lunged at him.

  “Slash!” Sloan’s chest tore open.

  Blood flowed like a waterfall, and he fell strengthlessly to the floor, leaving his bones exposed to the cold air.

  “Sloan!” Sierra screamed in horror.

  Alhen opened his eyes widely and looked at the scene in front of him, frozen in place.

  The wiht didn’t stop, however, and went for the finishing blow.

  Alhen snapped back to his senses before his mind could fully process what had just happened and the meaning behind it.

  He shot blindly at the wiht, hitting its underbelly and barely saving Sloan from being killed.

  It turned its attention to him, and now he had to fight against it alone.

  Despite the massive size of the wiht, and the deadliness it portrayed, Alhen stood firmly, looking at the creature with deadly precision.

  The hunt was on.