“If we don’t head back now, we’re sleepin’ out here,” Theria said.

  “Indeed.” Oras took a glance at the sky, tinging ever so subtly orange, “We will be sleeping out here.”

  This mission was supposed to be short and Oras had just gotten a reason to wrap it up even quicker. Disappointing as it might be to the townsfolk, he was not going to waste his time sitting in a hall and telling stories to children, not even for free meals.

  They continued looking around until it became too dark to entertain further venturing. “Alright, let’s find a- Red Eye!”

  Celia and Theria whirled around, facing the creature Oras was staring at. The large wolf had attempted to sneak up on them. Its grey fur blended in well with the diminishing light, but it clearly was used to hunting prey with less acute vision - or it was not yet accustomed to the life as a singular hunter that its condition forced it into.

  The wolf’s eyes glowed an unnatural crimson, a supernatural light that was weak and yet unmistakable present. Foaming drool dripped from its open mouth. It just barely contained its urge to jump them, muscles strained as it waited for its chance.

  [Wolf (Red-Eyed) AI Picture]

  There was no way out of this, outside of it or them dying.

  The leader of the party went for an immediate attack, barrelling past his women. While they still readied their weapons, his hands were already clutching the knuckledusters. The metal was cool against his skin in one moment, then heated to the temperature of his pumping blood. Oras drew his arm back and then swung downwards with all his might.

  The coiled muscles of the wolf pushed the creature away to the side. An adult wolf of this size was expected to be fast, but the Red Eyed monster was a cut even above that. Oras put his guard up, expected a counterattack, but the wolf was not committing yet.

  The reason for this whizzed past Oras in the same second. An arrow cut through the distance. Prepared, the wolf managed to minimize the damage from the projectile, blocking its tip with the thickest part of its skull. Blood, too thin and bright, poured from the wound in a steady rivulet.

  Immediately, the wolf launched itself at Oras. The explosive motion caught the Dragonblood by surprise. He had to thank his combat instincts, that he put his armoured forearm in the part of the open maw. The jaw of the beast crunched down on reinforced leather in place of his throat. Sharp canines pieced through leather as bones creaked under the impact.

  Oras let out a pained hiss. The creature had drawn blood and through his broken skin, the adventurer felt his lifeforce drain into the wolf. Red eyes flared, the gash on the monster’s head narrowed, almost closing.

  Relief glinted in the creature’s eyes - immediately followed by surprise. A curved blade had pieced deep into the side of its stomach, connecting the arm of a gorgeous doll to the organs of the monster. A miserable welp echoed from its throat. Celia stared with golden-eyed disdain.

  The wolf released Oras’ arm, to tilt to the side. The mantis blade cut open more of the creature, filling the air with the stench of blood and intestines. Red poured from the grievous wound like fluid out of a pierced waterskin. Where it met the ground, the glow of the viscera became all the more apparent, rising crimson from the green.

  The wolf recovered. It growled. There was only one path forward for the creature now: to harvest the party for their lifeforce and to heal itself in the process. It locked entirely onto Oras, tapping forwards.

  An arrow struck the creature right in the left eye. The remaining pupil widened in surprise, then the entire creature tensed for the last time. It took a tumbling step, fell onto its side, and laid there, motionless.

  Theria shot a second arrow into the carcass, just to make sure it wasn’t faking it. Only after, did the look of intense concentration on her face make room for concern. “How bad is it?”

  “Bad but not terrible,” Oras responded. Celia helped him get off the vambrace and to inspect the injuries from the bite. On both the top and bottom, the longest fangs of the creature had punctured his skin. Each hole in his flesh was connected to rapidly manifesting bludgeoning marks. The other teeth had not managed to make it through the vambrace, but the force of the bite was felt all the same.

  Celia grabbed one of their waterskins. She poured its contents over the wounds, cleaning them as best she could.

  Oras tested his hand, while moving as little as possible. All of his fingers were still responding and he could circle his wrist with some pain. “Nothing important got hit. I likely need to rest it for a few days at least,” he said. It would not be healed fully in just a few days, but far enough that it wouldn’t actively bother him.

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  “That’s good then,” Theria sighed. “Nice stab, Celia.”

  “I took the given opportunity.” The doll woman bandaged up Oras’ arm as best she could with the limited supplies they had. Once she was done, she beheld the dead wolf. “You called out Red Eye… what is this?

  “You don’t know? That must mean it wasn’t a problem during the Precursor times. How interesting.” Oras placed his arm on the low branch of a tree, to keep it elevated while his wounds sealed up. “Sometimes animals, predators predominantly, are infected with a lesser form of vampirism. We call it Red Eye, because it turns their eyes red.”

  “It’s very esoteric, super creative,” Theria drawled.

  “Is it infectious?” Celia asked.

  “Only animal to animal, which is why pack animals, like wolves, kick out anyone infected immediately.” Oras felt sorry for the animal. It didn’t have a choice in its life and now it was dead. “The disease makes the creatures sturdier and lets them regenerate off of the blood of sapient beings. It also makes it unbearable to them to be out in the sun and drives them mad with a thirst for that blood.”

  “And this is a regular occurrence?” Celia asked.

  “Regular enough.” Theria scanned their perimeter one more time. “Just one of the many dangers of our world.”

  “Could this have been what agitated the capybaras?”

  “Nah, capys are super stupid animals. They wouldn’t know to avoid a Red Eye,” Theria explained. “Plus, we’re too deep in the jungle for the territories to overlap.”

  “Indeed,” Oras groaned and got up. When he lowered his arm, the rush of blood to it made it throb. The pain grew more bothersome as the adrenaline faded. “Let’s find a place for the night.”

  __________________________________________________________________

  Livday, 23rd of Octavius, 11th year of the Stringless Era

  Oras pulled the last bit of improvised bandage off and inspected the wound. His forearm was marred with two strips of purple and four red dots. When he tried to make a fist, the motion felt stiff. Pain made his face twitch. ‘This will bother me all day.’

  “Everything alright?” Theria asked.

  “It’s not inflamed, so as right as I could ask it to be,” Oras responded and rose. “Just the standard injury an adventurer has to live with.”

  “Unless they can afford health potions,” Celia remarked.

  “Unless they can afford health potions,” Oras agreed. He stretched. A satisfying pop later, he felt all loosened up. He had been their last lookout shift for the night. It had given him time to think. “We’re going back to the river.”

  “Givin’ up on fighting our way through here?”

  “Yes,” Oras put it to a single word. The jungle was too dense to be combed effectively and extremely uncomfortable to be in. Perhaps they would have to come back to the jungle later, but first they could exhaust their less difficult options.

  The compass was worth its weight in gold in a situation like this. Nothing about the environment would have let Oras navigate properly. Without the pointing of the magnetic needle, they would have been marching randomly until they found something by pure luck or got a good enough look at the sun to use it to navigate.

  When they broke through the underbrush and stepped into the air cooled by the river, it was like stepping into a different world. They all breathed easier. Carefully, they descended to the level of the river and began their search for a spot to cross back to the south side.

  “Look.” Celia pointed at a herd of capybara. The brown-furred rodents were hurriedly paddling to the shore, sprinting away from the river as soon as they could. “Is that natural behaviour?”

  “No, it is not,” Oras said. “Let’s hurry upstream.”

  They moved as quickly as the environment let them. Neither noses nor eyes could pick up whatever it was that had the capybaras so upset, but there certainly was something. The animals were conspicuously absent - until they weren’t.

  “Now that’s confusing,” Theria drawled. The three of them stood on a small earthen outcropping, overlooking easily thirty capybaras, most of them young, just chilling on a sandbank inside the river. They were half submerged, blinked slowly, and chewed any edible plants that drifted by them.

  Oras took in every detail he could of the landscape. What was different here compared to the previous segment of the river? The trees were the same, as was the lay of the land. The river was shallow on that sandbank, but deep as usual around it. A rivulet fed into the river from the northwest.

  “That must be our answer,” Oras said and pointed at the small tributary. “Whatever is in the water is getting carried downstream from where this rivulet feeds into the Wil.”

  “Could be,” Theria agreed.

  Oras jumped down. His feet splashed in the shallow water of the shore. The leather of his boots was tested and found sufficient for the task, keeping his feet dry. As three, they made it to the rivulet, then followed it up the slope.

  The steady, if small, stream of water had washed away all dirt in its path over the many years. Large rocks formed falls, small rocks formed the gravel bed, and roots and rocks formed the sides of the rivulet. The trio constantly kept an eye out for anything as they advanced.

  “That looks promisin’,” Theria drawled.

  What her keen eyes saw, Oras needed another minute to get close enough to spot. By the rivulet stood a house. It blended in with the environment, the cobblestone walls covered in moss and the roof more garden than slate. If it weren’t for the expensive glass windows reflecting the sunlight, Oras might have missed it until he was right next to it.

  “Did the priest tell us about any cabins in the woods?” Theria asked.

  “He did not,” Oras responded. “Which is odd… did we wander this far off that they wouldn’t have it on their map?”

  They stepped out of the rivulet and up to the house. A little stone path had been laid between the stream and the entrance. “Anyone there?” Theria shouted. No response.

  Oras stepped forwards and banged on the door. Still, no response.

  “What now?” Celia asked.