According to the map, the first reported attack was at a farm about ten minutes north of Oakenford. A small homestead on the forest's edge where a farmer had lost most of his livestock in a single night.

  I spotted it from the air. A modest wooden house with a barn and several fenced areas for animals. Or what used to be fenced areas. From up here, I could see the damage. Broken posts, torn sections of fence, dark stains on the ground.

  "Down, Fei."

  He angled his wings and descended in a wide spiral. I felt Nox shift direction below, moving toward the farm to meet us.

  We landed in the yard between the house and barn.

  The place was quiet. Too quiet.

  I slid off Fei's back and looked around. The barn door hung crooked on its hinges, one side completely torn off. Claw marks gouged deep into the wood.

  "Stay alert," I whispered to both monsters.

  Nox emerged from the tree line, his ears forward and alert. He moved to my side, sniffing the air.

  The front door of the house opened. A man stepped out, middle-aged with gray streaking his beard. He looked thin, exhausted. His clothes were rumpled like he hadn't slept.

  "You from the guild?" he called out.

  "Yes. Vera Demecillo, C-rank." I walked closer but kept some distance. "You reported the attack?"

  "That's right. Morris. This is my farm." He gestured weakly at the destruction around us. "Or it was."

  "Can you tell me what happened?"

  He rubbed his face with both hands. "Three nights ago. I heard the animals screaming. By the time I grabbed my axe and got outside, it was already over." His voice shook slightly. "Whatever did this, it was fast.”

  "Did you see what attacked them?"

  He shook his head then looked at the barn

  "Just shadows, I found what was left of my livestock in there. Ripped apart. All of them."

  I walked toward the barn, Nox following close. The claw marks on the door were deep.

  Inside, the smell hit me first. Blood. The livestock were scattered across the barn floor. Cows, pigs, chickens. All torn apart like what Morris said.

  Nox sniffed around the barn, his hackles rising slightly.

  "Find anything?" Morris called from the doorway.

  "Tracks. Large ones." I pointed to prints in the blood-soaked dirt. Four-legged, clawed. Definitely some kind of predator, but I had no idea what species. Looks like a pack. Maybe five or six based on the different sizes."

  I followed the tracks to the back of the barn where a section of wall had been torn open. The wood was splintered outward, like something had forced its way out.

  "Did you hear anything after the attack?" I asked. "Which direction they went?"

  "North. Deeper into the forest." Morris pointed.

  I studied the tracks leading away from the barn. They headed north, clear as day.

  "Have there been any other attacks in the area?"

  "The Millers, about two miles east. Lost their sheep four nights ago. And the Blackwoods to the west reported something killing their chickens two nights ago." He wrung his hands. "We're all terrified. No one's sleeping. Some families are talking about abandoning their farms."

  I nodded. "I'll investigate. Track down whatever's doing this and stop it."

  "Thank you." Morris’s relief was visible. "Please be careful.”

  I left the farm with Nox, calling Fei down from where he'd been circling overhead. The tracks led north into the forest, clear and obvious.

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  The next farm was two miles east. The Millers' place.

  I found it in a similar condition. Broken fences, destroyed livestock, terrified owners. The husband and wife both told the same story.

  The third farm, the Blackwoods', was west of the first. Same pattern. Same story. Same tracks heading north.

  By the time I finished investigating all three sites, the sun was starting to dip toward the horizon. I stood at the edge of the forest, staring at the trail leading into the trees.

  Three attacks. Three different locations. But all the tracks went the same direction.

  Nox growled low beside me, his ears flat against his head.

  "You don't like this either, huh?"

  I didn't have much choice though. The quest was to find and eliminate the threat. The trail led north. So north was where I needed to go.

  "Come on," I said.

  The forest grew denser as we traveled north.

  Fei had to stay lower, weaving between trees rather than flying high above.

  The tracks remained clear. They didn't fade or branch off, just a straight path deeper into the woods.

  An hour in, Nox stopped suddenly. His whole body went rigid.

  "What is it?"

  He didn't respond, just stared ahead into the darkening forest. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl.

  Then Virel moved.

  I felt it shift inside me, spreading out beneath my skin. The sensation was unmistakable. Danger and it was close.

  Virel has the ability to sense danger and right now, it was screaming at me that something was very, very wrong.

  Three figures stepped into view, and my breath caught in my throat.

  They were tall at least eight feet, with emaciated bodies that looked like skin stretched over bone. Their limbs were too long, joints bending at wrong angles. Gray-white skin pulled tight over their frames, and their faces... their faces were skeletal, with sunken eyes that glowed with a sickly yellow light. And sprouting from their heads were massive antlers, twisted and gnarled like dead tree branches.

  Like Wendigos….

  The hell?

  They moved with an eerie, jerking motion, like marionettes being pulled by invisible strings. But despite the awkward movement, they spread out with perfect coordination, surrounding us from three sides.

  One of them opened its mouth and let out a shriek mixed with rapid clicking, like bones rattling together. The other two responded in kind, the forest filling with their horrible chorus.

  Nox backed up, pressing against my legs.

  The wendigos tilted their heads in unison, studying us with those glowing eyes. Then they moved.

  Virel didn't wait for my command. He surged out of me like a flood, black organic matter flowing across my skin in seconds. The armor formed, the familiar weight and power settling over me. Tendrils erupted from my back, and my hands shifted into claws.

  The first wendigo lunged with impossible speed, its elongated arms reaching for me. My tendril caught it mid-leap, wrapping around its torso. It was lighter than I expected, like there was almost nothing inside that skin. I slammed it into a tree. The impact should have killed it, but it just screamed and scrambled back to its feet.

  The second one came from the side, moving on all fours like a spider. Nox intercepted it, his jaws closing around one of its legs. The wendigo shrieked and kicked him away, sending the wolf tumbling.

  I met the third one head-on as it charged. My clawed hand struck its chest, punching through the papery skin. My hand went clean through its ribcage, but there was nothing inside. No organs, no blood. Just emptiness and cold.

  It grabbed my arm with its bony hands and pulled itself closer, its skeletal face inches from mine. Its breath reeked of rot and decay.

  I used my other hand to rip its head off. The body collapsed, but even as it fell, it was dissolving into black mist.

  The first wendigo was back up, charging again with that jerking run. I sent two tendrils through its chest and skull simultaneously. It dissolved like the first.

  The third one had recovered from Nox's attack and was circling us now, it wasn't attacking. It was just watching us and waiting.

  Then I felt it. That presence again. Something watching from deeper in the forest.

  The wendigo suddenly charged, but not at me. At Nox.

  My tendrils lashed out, catching it mid-stride and tearing it apart. It dissolved into mist before the pieces even hit the ground.

  Silence fell over the forest.

  I stood there, breathing hard, armor still active. Virel's senses were still screaming. The threat wasn't over.

  That presence was still there, about fifty yards away in the shadows. Watching. Observing.

  I turned toward it, tendrils raised. "Show yourself!"

  Nothing. Just darkness and trees.

  Then the presence vanished. Not like it had moved away. Just gone. Completely erased from existence.

  I waited, but nothing else came.

  Slowly, I let the armor recede, Virel flowing back into my skin. My heart was still racing.

  "Nox, you okay?"

  The wolf shook himself and moved to my side, still on high alert.

  Fei dropped down from the canopy, landing on a low branch.

  I looked at the spots where the wendigos had died. Not even the mist remained now. Just disturbed dirt and broken branches.

  My mind raced, piecing together what had just happened.

  But I didn't have time to finish the thought.

  Something moved behind me. Fast. Too fast.

  Pain exploded through my back before I could react. A blade punched through my chest, the tip erupting from between my ribs. Cold metal. Sharp. Precise.

  It had bypassed Virel and my armor completely and rather easily.

  My regeneration kicked in immediately. I felt the wound closing, flesh knitting back together, the pain receding to a dull throb. Within seconds, I could breathe again without choking on blood.

  I spun around, Virel surging back across my skin in an instant.

  A figure stood there, maybe ten feet away.

  My eyes widened.

  Morris. The farmer.

  He stood there calmly, holding a dagger that dripped with my blood. His whole demeanor had changed. The exhaustion was gone. The fear was gone. His eyes were cold, calculating.

  "Impressive regeneration." he said, his voice completely different from before.