Nightblade (Darkest night)

" I'm starving!" Wulfric hissed.

Several days had passed since Lucian and Cassius had scavenged meat from the three-eyed wolf's corpse.

The meat from the gigantic beast had taken them several days, but eventually, they had consumed every last morsel that Lucian and Cassius had scavenged from the fallen wolf.

The trio was left with little choice but to venture out to hunt for their next meal.

The large burrow had been their safe refuge for so long, sheltering them from countless terrifying Tenebrian creatures.

But now it had become their prison.

Lucian decisively stood up.

" Then there's no other choice, we'll have to go out and try to find something to eat. We can't continue like this."

Lucian continually snuck out with Cassius to get water from the strange river that flowed some distance away from the burrow.

Cassius stood up, joining him.

Samantha got up as well.

" I'm not staying behind this time, I also need to learn how to fend for myself. How do you expect me to fend for myself if anything happens to either of you?"

Lucian pierced her with a serious look, then took off his glasses, inspecting them for dirt.

" You make a good point, Samantha."

He put his glasses back on, fixing her with a serious gaze.

"But if we do this, you follow my instructions, we need you to be focused. You need to be ready to move at the slightest sign of danger."

Samantha nodded.

" Very well then, let's move out."

The trio swiftly crept out of the burrow.

Lucian moved out first, checking their surroundings for unseen enemies.

After ensuring there were no creatures in sight, he signalled to Cassius and Samantha.

" Come on, let's go."

They moved swiftly and quietly.

Cassius acted as the scout, moving ahead of the other two.

With his sense of smell greatly enhanced by his Talented ability, he could easily make out both prey and predator in the distance.

He steered them clear of the more dangerous paths, stopping every time they almost ran into troublesome beasts.

" If this continues, how are we supposed to get a beast we can kill?"

Most of the Tenebrian creatures they had encountered were too large and fierce.

Between the three of them, only Lucian and Cassius knew how to fight.

From their conversations, Cassius realized that Samantha had only recently started learning about combat.

In case they went into an all-out fight, they most likely wouldn't get out of the encounter unscathed.

In the worst-case scenario, there was also a very high chance of one of them dying.

Cassius grimaced at a memory that surfaced at that point, turning to face the distant mountains.

" What rotten luck!"

Behind them, the tall mountain range loomed, like an impenetrable wall, barring any way forward.

The dark peaks were covered in ghostly fog that couldn't be pierced with Cassius' enhanced sight.

Its jagged slopes stood proudly, almost majestically unyielding in the face of the rising sun.

Lucian and Cassius had long given up on trying to scale the mountains after the first attempt.

And for good reason, the harrowing creatures that dwelt within the mountain range were far more monstrous than any of them had anticipated.

Previously they had tried to climb the mountain with Cassius scouting ahead for any anomalies but they'd quickly stopped after making a horrifying discovery.

The mountain was barren, with very few signs of life.

Then came the jarring discovery.

Cassius and Lucian had only started their ascent when they happened upon the mangled and broken corpse of the prowler.

The large creature's back was turned at an unnatural angle, clearly snapped in half by some inconceivable terror.

One of its two heads had been gruesomely torn off, with brute force from the looks of it.

Large chunks of meat were missing from its torso, and its entrails hung out in a horrendous bundle jutting grotesquely from its belly.

Judging from the smell, its body had only started decomposing recently, the pungent, sickly sweet scent of death still lingering in the air.

" What kind of a creature could have even done this?"

Cassius asked in disbelief.

A slight chill ran down his spine, his heart racing instinctively.

This was Cassius' first time seeing the growler in person, having only heard about it from Lucian, but seeing the creature in the flesh was a surreal experience.

" What kind of monster is this?"

Even in death, the Tenebrian creature was unbelievably massive.

The prowler's maw was large enough to devour him in one bite.

Lucian stared at the dead prowler with a solemn expression.

He had witnessed the enormous creature's uncanny intelligence and chilling lethality firsthand.

And yet, unnervingly and disturbingly so, the deadly creature was dead.

Brutally ripped apart and broken almost beyond recognition.

" Hey, Cassius," he spoke quietly, "let's get out of here."

Lucian and Cassius were definitely no match for whatever creature was capable of effortlessly perpetrating such violence.

From the killing ground, it appeared the prowler had been killed then hurled to the spot after it's death.

Even in death, the prowler had taught Lucian yet another valuable lesson.

" No matter how powerful you become, there will always be someone or something more powerful than you."

In the end, they had left the prowler without taking any of its meat, just in case whatever had killed it, tracked the scent to the underground burrow.

And that was how they'd completely scraped the idea of scaling the mountains.

During one of the nights, Lucian explained some of the theories he had come up with to Cassius and Emily.

He had a few hunches about the region of Tenebris they had ended up being sent to.

Luckily for them, Cassius knew how to make fire with the few bushes and and wood they'd been able to gather.

Lucian went into detail about his thoughts as Cassius slowly roasted the last of the meat from the wolf.

" From what I can tell, the part of Tenebris we got sent to is completely unmapped."

Cassius frowned slightly, the flames reflecting in his russet eyes.

"What do you mean it's unmapped?"

The mouth watering aroma of the meat wafted through the enclosed space of the burrow.

In the middle of Lucian's explanation, a loud grumble resounded through the burrow.

Samantha sat with her knees folded up to her chest, her eyes darting between the smoking skewers and Lucian.

Her long, brown hair was slightly unkempt, flowing messily down her shoulders.

Lucian cast the meat a furtive glance, then shot her an amused look before continuing.

" The Brotherhood of Shadows has colonized a few parts of Tenebris. Aspirants are usually taken to these parts of Tenebris. Obviously, the risks are less since the instructors can intervene if things get out of hand."

Lucian paused for his words to sink in before continuing.

" Those regions have human fortresses in them. Aspirants from the Great Houses are educated on what to expect; you could say it gives them an unfair advantage, in which case, you're absolutely right. The world is an unfair place after all."

Cassius nodded in agreement.

" So what you're saying is you don't know where we ended up?" Samantha asked quietly.

Lucian nodded.

A somber silence filled the burrow, only interrupted from time to time by the sizzling fat and crackling of the wood.

" Is the meat ready yet?" Samantha asked after a few moments.

" I'm really famished, and who knows, this could be my last meal."

Lucian chuckled lightly, then Cassius joined in until it became full-blown laughter.

" Hey, quiet, are you both crazy? You're going to attract whatever hungry beasts are lurking around outside."

Lucian wiped away the tears that had formed.

" I'm sorry. However, it's surprising to see you being the cautious one. You're usually the loudest."

Cassius grinned.

" But you're right, I'm quite famished too."

Cassius quickly divided the meat skewers among them, and they all greedily dug in.

" Ah, it's hot, hot!" Samantha shrieked, blowing lightly on the meat.

The sound of hearty laughter filled the burrow.

That had been a few days back.

But now things had changed.

Their food supply had run out, and they had to brave the horrors of Tenebris to get more food.

Soon they arrived at the wide expanse of the large river.

Lucian looked at the large flowing river with apprehension.

Cassius stood at the banks with arms folded across his chest.

On the other side of the mysterious river, barren ground stretched as far as the eye could see.

In the distance, a ghostly forest stretched out for miles, covering the land.

The very existence of the river itself was a paradox. The river flowed from nowhere, bringing with it life to the almost barren land.

The long, stretching river had no connection with the mountain; therefore, it wasn't a result of ice melting from the mountain top.

"It probably passes underground and pops up here, but from where?" Lucian pondered in puzzlement.

A cold breeze stirred, skimming the turbulent water of the river.

Samantha shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself.

Lucian scanned their surroundings warily for any sign of movement.

After a few moments, his stance relaxed.

The first part of their small mission was done.

The next part was not easier in anyway.

" Now to get ourselves something to eat without getting killed in the process"