Everyone was immediately on guard.
To Liora's left, Selene's mutations emerged, her fingers sharpening, while Aiden spun his spear and leveled it, ready.
The design was simple compared to his old ornate spear, gone was the "Spear of the Seven Hunts" and in its place, a simple spear you would find wielded by a guard of a town.
To Liora's right, Thalia's strings lowered from her fingertips, Jax dropped into a pose ready to lunge, and the plants around Beatris began to surge.
The three glowing balls near Beatris's head all grabbed onto the hair on her neck like they were expecting her to lunge.
Liora let the wind swirl in her hands, ready to fire as the figure stood ahead of them, silent.
Their shadow was oddly wide.
Then Liora saw their mouth moving as if to say something.
Almost on cue, the silence shattered.
The sound of wind swirling in Liora's hands and Jax's growl could be heard again.
And in turn, they could hear the girl.
"Hush now, darling, go to bed.
The rabbits stir where shadows spread.
Long black ears and little feet,
they wake up hungry and ready to eat."
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Jax yelled.
His and Beatris's hackles were raised as they stood on the toes of their paws, ready to charge or flee at the drop of a hat.
"If someone falls or disappears,
the rabbits twitch their velvet ears.
They drag the proof where none can see,
below the roots of willow trees."
The rabbit girl continued as she staggered forward with a heavy limp.
She seemed to be heading for them.
Not the A.T.V.
Not the campfire.
Them.
The small rabbits around her began jumping and bouncing at her feet, as if excited for what was about to happen.
She leaned forward.
Like she was ready to dash toward them.
Everyone tensed.
Then she kept leaning forward.
More.
Then even more.
Everyone stared with blank expressions as she fell face-first onto the ground.
A loud gurgle came from her stomach as the rabbits around her dispersed.
They all stood there for a moment, unsure what to do.
Then Beatris sat down and let out the breath she had been holding.
The tension left the group in a heap.
Liora yelled, "By the hells, girl, don't scare us like that. Especially with the creepy rhyming crap."
She lowered her hands slightly.
"Are you okay?"
"Hungry," came the girl's muffled soft voice, her face still planted in the dirt.
Aiden and Selene walked over, helping her up as she winced.
Aiden, their resident medic, began looking at her leg. He lifted the dress enough to see a nasty break, the leg twisted and bits of bone sticking out through either side.
"How in the world did you walk on this?" Aiden asked.
He turned toward Thalia as if to say something, but she cut him off.
"Two Amrans and a Cofrail with the mortar and pestle. I know."
"Grab two more Cofrail and a cloth," Aiden said. "It needs something to help it set."
Thalia nodded and began rummaging through Aiden's bag as he turned back to the girl.
"With your leg like that, I'm going to have to pull to set the bone right," Aiden said. "It will hurt quite a bit. We don't really have anything to numb the pain."
"T-There's no need," the girl said. "My brother will be here soon. He's in charge of patching me up when this happens."
Everyone exchanged looks.
Jax sat down beside the rock they had gathered around.
"You say that like this is normal," Jax said. "What exactly happened?"
The girl was silent for a moment.
Then she shifted and winced slightly.
"Well," she said, "a few years ago, I unlocked my class and accidentally cursed my brother. The rabbits began to show up because of my soul skill, and now every couple of weeks, I start wandering and doing different things."
She glanced down.
"Seems this time they just wanted me to kill a boar monster."
Everyone glanced toward Selene, their resident soul-skill-with-flaws holder.
Selene gave a knowing look.
"If you want, I can fly out and try to find your brother," Liora offered, taking note of her current energy. "What does he look like?"
A voice behind them made her pause.
"No nweed. I jwust awwived. How is shwe? Did she hwurt anyone while she was bewing contwowed?"
Everyone turned.
The same confused expression passed over their faces.
Who talks like that?
At first, there did not seem to be anyone there.
Then Liora looked down and froze, her eyes growing wide.
Standing there, no taller than a foot, was a small halfblood rabbit.
He wore an adorable little vest with a tiny satchel at his side. His feet and head were a bit too large, making him absurdly cute. His face still had baby fat as he walked over, every step making a faint but audible squeaking noise like a chew toy.
Yet the thing that stuck out most to Liora was the fact that she had seen this little rabbit before.
She had seen him dozens of times, in fact.
Be it by accident or some strange joke of the universe, this little rabbit was a spitting image of the Little Fuzz plushie line.
Growing up, Liora had been obsessed with them.
Their softness.
The little plush cheeks.
The cute cotton tail.
"Pwut me dwown!" the little rabbit yelled. "Swomeone stwop her!"
Liora realized she was holding him in a hug, just like she had done at home with her stuffed animals.
She quickly let him go.
A small feeling like vertigo washed through her.
Then a notification appeared.
You have interacted with Phobic Arsenal: Polyphobia Lost Pets.
Your interaction with an artifact of *@BS& has affected you.
Your time in rest will be affected by *@GS&.
You have achieved something grand.
Animosity from the Fifth Dimension.
Your class is ready to evolve.
Sigilwright (D)
Enchantment Engineer (D)
Jetstream (C)