Etsu regretted the fact that she could do no such thing as create a decoy of themselves or any other sort of illusion that might throw these shadows off. The thought crossed her mind for a second, and she was about to ask Eld if he could do anything similar--but a decoy was probably not in their repertoire of approachable tactics. These things might not respond very well to it at all, anyways.

Nonetheless, there was little she could do but follow Eld's lead. It was the same as before, when the bandits of Theleaus were out for blood between Galaens and Hillcrest. Observant as she was, Etsu was not particularly experienced in battle; she caught on quick, much quicker than the average person, but . . .

Etsu stuck close to Eld's backside, naginata held before her, insistent on keeping distance between she and the canine like shadow before her.

The shadows did not assault. They circled, they paced, but not in the same means as the last group. The two before Eld split ways; one paced to the left and the other to the right, strafing, flanking and the most literal of senses, and waiting to attack. The shadow before Etsu, however, set itself from one side to the other, strafing left and right, drawing her attention and immediate caution . . .

"Watch out," Eld warned, "mine are moving around to the sides." Etsu needed to know, just in case one of the creatures tried to go after her instead of him. He didn't plan on letting them get that far to the side, but he didn't want her to be completely unprepared if they tried to bypass him and attack her directly.

Fortunately, despite the difference in sizes between the types their intelligence and instincts seemed to remain similar; he could reasonably guess what they would do based on the actions of the ones before.

So when he took a step forward to attack one of the creatures, it was a feint, intended to make the creature back off and more importantly make the other one think he was leaving himself open. He had little doubt the second creature would leap and try to take advantage of the perceived opening, either by attacking him directly or going around him to attack Etsu. When it did, it would find sharp steel rather than flesh between its teeth...

Etsu nervously eyed the beast before her. She could barely see any details of its body, the moving, living, breathing shadow. Its existence confounded her. She was not nearly as versed in these things, all the brands of monsters, as Eld was. Unlike him, this was her first time, her first few months, in a world they called "Real."



As expected, one of the three creatures, one which now stood in direct proximity of Eld and Etsu, attempted to draw first blood in this new battle, running for Etsu without further hesitation.

But when Eld went to strike it . . .

The beast leaped back. A feint of its own. Of their own. Eld stabbed the scythe into the ground, temporarily leaving himself open--open for an attack for his back, with bared claws and teeth, in an attempt to hang off him, claws and fangs to sink into his skin, much easier to pierce with than the last batch of shadows, and rip and tear with wild abandon, perhaps to ground Eldridge, perhaps to rend life from his body.

Perhaps he would have seen through the feint, but as he went to attack he was distracted by a voice, though he couldn't pinpoint where its source. It was only for a moment, but it was long enough to ensure that he buried his scythe into the ground instead of the creature. These ones, it seemed, were quite a bit smarter than the previous type.

"Who's there?" he shouted to the area; if someone else was here, there was a good chance they were also in grave danger.

Just as he was. Fortunately, the scythe being stuck into the ground merely took the weapon away; he was far from helpless without it. Maintaining his grip on the handle, he used it to brace himself as he shifted his weight back, jumped, and kicked in a wide arc. He doubted he could stop the creature cold, so his best option was to knock it off course and prevent it from landing on him.

"There are more!" Etsu cried, as if answering Eld's question.

Which was the truth, really. She figured Eld was calling out to someone in the woods or her, which would've all made sense.



Eld prevented the creature from sinking its claws and teeth into his hide, fortunately. He managed to get the front of his foot into the side of the wolf like animal's chest, knocking the living shadow off course and onto the ground. It hit with its side first and rolled onto its spine, momentarily stunned.

But that left the other--the second shadow which gave Eld no quarter. It was just as he was landing the blow, breaking the first creature's ribs with his foot, that it recovered from its own feint and charged ahead, to attempt passing by the scythe and grabbing onto Eld's knee with its entire maw.

"What?!" That wasn't the response he'd been expecting. It was useful information, granted, but not what he'd meant. "No, I mean a person; can't you hear them?" Generally speaking, Etsu had better senses than him; if he'd been able to hear a voice, she probably did too. But then again, perhaps not if she was focused on the creature in front of her.

As he knocked the first creature aside, Eld continued his spin and landed in a crouch just in front of the second one as it passed the scythe. Not having enough time to get out of the way, he did the only thing he could think of--he pounded his fist into the top of the creature's head as it tried to bite him hopefully at least closing its mouth and if he was fortunate perhaps even driving into the ground.

"How many more?" He knew that Etsu probably couldn't give him an exact count in these circumstances, but an estimate of what they were up against would nevertheless help.

With luck, both creatures would be stunned long enough for him to retrieve the scythe; good though he was without a weapon, it was proving hard to keep these beasts down without a blade.

Voice? No? She hadn't heard anything in the forest outside of howls and constantly shifting brush. If there'd been any voices out there, Eld was hearing them better than Etsu was--and as single track minded as she could get sometimes, she was still the most sensible person of them. In the most literal senses, of course. If it was a matter of observation, she most often picked it up before anyone else.

So, could Eld have heard something that she did not? Well, it was possible, but not likely. Chances were he was hearing things in the heat of battle.

Etsu didn't ask. It wasn't important enough right now. Maybe later. Maybe when they didn't have monsters at them, seeking their flesh and blood in all little bits. They just needed to take care of these things, get to Hillcrest, and get back to Galaens as soon as humanly possible.

Fortunately for Eld, he had his moment: the creatures were both downed and stunned, leaving him the opportunity to close the battle.

Etsu didn't respond, so Eld could only assume she was preoccupied with the beast in front of her. Fortunately the tide had shifted; with both the creatures that tried to attack him stunned, he managed to free the scythe from its earthly confines. With two easy strokes the creatures were turned into the black mist he was quickly becoming familiar with.

Taking a quick glance around in case more of them came out of the forest, he turned towards Etsu, ready to help her with the remaining creature if she needed it.

Nearly the same time as Eld took care of his two problems, Etsu had dispatched with hers. The familiar black cloud these creatures turned to upon death burst forth before her, and she paused at length, even after the clouds dissipated from the presence of Eld and she both.

"We should run," was all Etsu said when she turned to face Eld.

Advice which she took, herself, almost immediately. Etsu broke into a run, as fast as her tired body allowed her to. She rushed, she pushed, and she leaped, all despite--perhaps even in spite of--her body's current weakness. Really, at this point, she just wanted to crawl into a ball in the side of the road and die. Mostly everything ached. The walk was long, and now they were exerting themselves so much. She sincerely doubted her ability to keep on going with this. Not everyone could be like Eld or Remmy or any of those other crazies.

Etsu certainly wasn't. Skilled though she was, she was no Remmy. She was actually capable of being hurt. She was actually capable of getting tired.

For a moment after Etsu took off, Eld hesitated, afraid they were leaving someone behind. But he didn't hear the voice any more, and he was fairly certain Etsu hadn't heard it at all. Was I just imagining it?

But he knew to stay behind and check would be suicide. He could hold his own in combat, but if her reaction was any indication there were far more creatures in the woods than either of them could handle.

So he took off on Etsu's heels. He wanted to find Remmy and get back; he was fairly certain he'd be fine, but that didn't change the irrational need to make sure with his own eyes that he was fine.

As they ran, it became increasingly evident to Etsu that her assumption about the odds was just as accurate as she thought. She became acutely aware of the darkness spilling into the path behind them. It was tough not to check behind her, and she had to force herself to keep looking forward, but it was for the best. If she had seen so soon the ever growing amount of red eyes gathering in pursuit, she might have felt the urge to just lose all hope right then and there. It took her a few seconds before she was willing to check.



Etsu cursed under her breath repeatedly. The numbers they were up against here were extraordinary. Dozens? More than that? She couldn't even begin to count how many pairs of scarlet eyes there were back there, back down the path from them, stalking on with a want of their flesh and bones.

A horde of creatures that were gaining on them a little faster than Etsu was comfortable with. After checking behind her once, she concluded that it was about time that she worked her legs a bit harder. She tried to run faster, but her body was already beyond tired, and she didn't think this could go on forever. If no other alternative was presented, she'd have no choice but to come up with one herself.

Eld focused on Etsu ahead of him; truthfully, he probably could have passed her, as his own injuries weren't affecting him as much as hers were. But that wasn't really an option to him; if it came down to it, he'd tell her to find Remmy and attempt to hold off the enemies himself.

When he heard the girl's voice again, he knew something odd was going on--once more Etsu showed no signs of hearing it, and it seemed unlikely that a girl could be running along with them without either of them noticing.

He'd managed to avoid looking back thus far, but when Etsu did he couldn't help but glance over his own shoulder. Lovely. There were far more of them than should have been reasonably possible. Where did these things come from? He was now certain they were not normal predators of the area.

"Etsu, no matter what happens, you have to make it to Hillcrest and find Remmy, okay?"

What do you want?!

That was a horrible idea. Etsu had no intentions of allowing that to happen. Just a glance behind her proved how bad an idea it was. Seconds passing left them with a dozen or more shadows leaping into progressively gathering darkness. Etsu looked back to Eld and shook her head sharply. That wasn't going to happen. They'd just have to go with a different route. Presently, there was no way they could just outright defeat all of these creatures. There were too many of them. Too dense in number. They couldn't even tell one from another.

"No, not a chance," she declared.

But what else could they do? It took her only a few moments to come up with a plan. She fumbled to slide her naginata into its holster behind her back, before running closer to Eld.

". . . you are going to have to help me walk," she declared outright.

There it was again, the voice. It was clear that Etsu didn't hear it, and even more clear that this person was probably not physically present, as he was hearing her just as clearly as he had before they started moving. Which left him with only one conclusion: the voice was in his head. He was relatively certain he wasn't crazy, but generally hearing voices that others couldn't wasn't a good sign...

He wasn't terribly surprised at Etsu's reaction, but they didn't have a whole lot of options, and it was better that one of them make it to Hillcrest than neither of them. Still, he'd take anything that let them both survive, and he hoped she felt the same way, because she wasn't going to like what he was about to do.

"I have a better idea, but you're going to have to swallow your pride." Catching up to her, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her as carefully as the situation allowed. They weren't going to be able to move very fast if he had to help her walk, but she was light enough that he wasn't much slowed down if he just carried her.

"N-no, I won't be able to, then," Etsu protested.

It wasn't so much pride, though. A little bit, yes. She liked Eld perfectly fine; he was practically one of her best friends, but she wasn't too keen on the idea of him outright carrying her. Besides, if her idea worked, it'd be completely unnecessary. It was all a matter of actually trying it. If this didn't work, then okay, carrying her would become absolutely necessary to get away.

"Just help me walk," she commanded. It was a bit blunt, but any idea to saving both of their hides right now just needed to be implemented with minimal protesting.

She ran closer to Eld until she wasn't quite running so much as jogging tiredly. She did all she could to get him to put his arm around her shoulder, as she needed the help walking almost immediately. Amongst her powers of perception, she had a somewhat more incredible ability: an energy. It always put off a strong light and carried a powerful punch whenever she wanted or needed it to. This she could cast at any time, but it all took concentration, and she needed to be touching the ground to lay the veritable mine she intended for these shadows . . .