Emerging from the thick shrubbery, it was small-bodied, roughly the size of a large dog. Its hide was dark brown-grey; it had long ears that curled backwards, and four hooked claws on each limb.
The Codex reacted instantly.
[F-RANK AETHREN DETECTED: HOOKCLAW (YOUNG)]
[HOSTILITY: DEFENSIVE]
[THREAT LEVEL: LOW]
[LIKELY BEHAVIOUR: GNARLING/SHORT CHARGE/RETREAT]
The Hookclaw lowered itself; a faint blue Aether pulse appeared along its spine.
Taron shifted in front of me. "Want me to take this?"
"No, it's fine. I'll handle this."
Raising one hand, I released a spell beside the Hookclaw. "Ventus: Cutting Draft."
The Cutting Draft struck the ground with enough force to carve a narrow notch in the soil, forcing the Aethren to jump aside.
Its hiss made Taron look at me, confused. "You missed."
"I know," I said.
"You don't usually miss. That isn't what you do."
I released another Cutting Draft, this time striking a tree trunk behind the Hookclaw. The tree bark split and fell, sending the Hookclaw spinning.
Stepping forward, I cast one more Cutting Draft, this time cutting across the ground in front of the Hookclaw's feet. Finally, the Aethren recoiled and fled into the trees.
'Three attempts at threatening it, three freaking directions it turned, but luckily there was no direct injury.'
A brief silence followed as I looked at Taron, and he looked at me.
I raised my eyebrows slightly. 'You see?'
Taron shook his head. "Why do you always have to make everything so complicated?"
"It worked."
"My way would've been much quicker."
"Oh, yeah, and how so?"
"Easy. I would've killed it with my magic."
"That's not the strategy we're using."
"It can be."
"... Do you not feel any remorse killing a creature that resembles a dog so closely?
Taron hesitated.
"What's a dog?"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"You— you don't know what a dog is— you know what, never mind. Let's continue moving."
Taron hurried forward. "Hey! Don't just move on from what we were talking about; I wanna know what a dog is!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After almost an hour of scouring this damned reservoir, we finally found the Sunset Jackal, or rather, Taron did.
"Hey, look. You notice the tree bark 30 metres ahead of us. It has—"
"Territorial scratches," I said, cutting in.
Fortunately, our current position was slightly elevated so that we could see the Aethren clearly, but it couldn't see us as well.
Several tree trunks had long diagonal scratches carved into them, not random carvings, either. They were all at the same height, with the same pattern.
Then the Codex pulsed.
[AETHER TRACE DETECTED]
We crouched behind a cluster of bushes, which overlooked a shallow pocket between the trees.
'There. That's it.'
The Sunset Jackal moved through the clearest part of the several trees it had marked.
It was a little larger than a grey wolf, but built along the same lean lines, high-legged, narrow-bodied, and light enough to look made for speed rather than brute force. Its fur held the colours of dying sunlight: dark rust ran along its spine and faded into gold-orange around its shoulders and neck, so even standing still it looked like dusk had settled across its back.
Swaying side to side slowly, its tail hovered just above the ground. Its ears rotated constantly, and I could feel faint traces of Aether radiating from its fur coat.
Taron whispered. "Pretty."
"You wanna kill this one too."
"... Ok, I can appreciate I was a bit hasty with the last one, but you're acting like just because something is beautiful means it shouldn't be killed. Some things need to be eliminated for the sake of survival."
"It was an F-rank..."
"SO? Ah, who cares? Let's just get this stupid token."
Near the centre of its territory stood a fallen tree, with two exposed roots wedged between it and a gold token.
Our first retrieval target.
I watched.
The Jackal walked past the fallen tree, then continued toward the northern edge of its territory.
It stopped. Sniffed, then returned to its resting spot, which seemed to be behind a cluster of rocks.
I began to count.
It emerged again forty-three seconds later.
Same route.
We waited.
Again.
Forty-six seconds.
And again.
Forty-four.
"Pst. Taron, it looks like it does the same movement, but in circles," I whispered.
Taron nodded. "Yeah, it looks like that's how it patrols its territory."
"And it keeps favouring the eastern side."
"I think it's following the direction of the wind," he said.
I glanced at him.
"The breeze is coming from the west. It checks downwind more often."
I didn't really understand what Taron was saying, or how he knew it, but I thought it best to note it.
Then, suddenly, a branch cracked somewhere in the distance. It was sharp and sudden, but loud enough to make the Sunset Jackal react.
Its entire posture changed. Its head rose, its shoulders stiffened, then it took three steps toward the sound before stopping.
I looked at Taron.
He looked at me.
We both had a lightbulb moment.
"Sharp sounds!" we whispered at once.
I hated and loved how satisfying that was.
I drew a quick line on the map. "We need to distract it west."
Taron pointed. "Yeah, then I move from here."
"You should wait until it passes the sunken trunk."
"Hm? Why?"
"Moving after will make it harder to see."
Taron looked offended.
"Hey. My visual acuity is more than good enough for this."
"I'm talking about the Jackal."
"Oh."
I stared at him.
He grinned.
The plan was simple, which made me nervous.
I moved back a few metres through the trees.
Taron positioned himself closer to the token.
I waited.
The Jackal resumed its patrol.
North.
East.
West.
I picked up a dead branch from the ground and chucked it away from the Jackal and Taron.
"Ventus: Draft Twist," I whispered.
The branch snapped loudly against a tree on the far western side of the area; the crack in the distance made the Jackal whip around and charge toward the sound.
Taron swiftly moved.
Much faster than I could.
'How is he able to move that quickly?'
A thick, bright green physical form of Aether formed around his feet as he crossed the clearing. He stood low and silent.
The Jackal disappeared behind the western trees. Taron had finally reached the roots of trees that encased the Jackal's resting place. He grabbed the token and started to turn away, but froze.
The Jackal had stopped.
Its ears had moved.
I saw the problem before Taron could.
The direction of the wind. It changed.
The Jackal turned its head toward Taron.
'Damn.'
I flicked two fingers.
A small, narrow Draft Twist caught another hanging branch twenty metres farther west and ripped it free.
Crack, but louder.
The Jackal spun again.
Taron disappeared from the clearing.
Three seconds later he crashed into the shrubs beside me.
Token in hand.
He held it up triumphantly.
"Phew. I got it."
"You almost didn't."
"But I did."
"You were nearly Jackal food."
"But I wasn't."
"Because I adjusted for the wind."
"And for that... I love you."
"Please don't ever say that to me again."
Taron laughed.
The examination band pulsed.
->Token Objective Confirmed<-
The band flashed on its own, drawing Taron's attention.
"Looks like we got some credit."
I allowed myself to smile a little.
First objective completed.
'No injury, no combat needed, no unnecessary force used. Ha! I just bet Professor Anlor is looking on— from wherever he was looking from, absolutely seething.'
The thought was surprisingly pleasant.
We packed the token and continued toward the next marked location.
Several minutes passed.
Then the Codex pulsed.
[MILD AETHERIC FLUCTUATION DETECTED]
I slowed.
'What do you mean? From where?'
[DIRECTIONAL PATTERN: INCONSISTENT]
[UNABLE TO DETECT LOCATION]
'You think it's coming from Aethren in the forest?'
[POSSIBLE]
A pause settled between the Codex and me.
[ANOMALOUS CHARACTERISTICS DETECTED]
My attention quickly attached to the Codex. 'What kind of anomaly?'
[TRACE SIGNATURE RESEMBLES BIOLOGICAL AETHER OUTPUT]
[CONSISTENCY: ARTIFICIALITY CANNOT BE EXCLUDED]
I frowned. "Artificial? What are you talking about, Codex?"
"What's wrong, Kael?" Taron asked, several steps ahead.
I looked around.
The forest appeared normal.
"You planning on coming?"
"Yeah," I said.
I followed soon after, but I couldn't shake the odd feeling.
Continuous mild pulses of Aether were being sent through the forest.
Faint.
Way too faint for me to sense on my own.
Luckily, the Codex kept catching every bit of it. It was as if something was sending tiny ripples of magical energy through the reservoir.
After another five minutes of walking, the forest changed, audibly, or rather... in the lack of it.
I stopped. "Wait one second, Taron."
Taron took two more steps, then turned around. "What's wrong? Why are we stopping?"
I didn't answer immediately.
I didn't know what to say, but I had to tell Taron about this feeling I'd had for the past five minutes.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. It's just that—"
The crickets ceased their chirping.
No rustling remained beneath the chaparral.
No cries came from the small squirrels nesting in the tree branches.
There was nothing.
Then a flock of birds broke out from the marquee fifty metres ahead.
Dozens of them flew toward us—no, past us, away from something.
Small bursts of F-rank Aethren emerged from the undergrowth to our right. They moved fast, as if in a hurry.
None of them even attempted to acknowledge us. They all ran in the opposite direction from the path marked on our map.
Taron's expression was unsettled. "What the hell is going on?"
His humour had disappeared.
I watched the trees ahead.
The Codex pulsed again, trying to explain what was happening.
[MULTIPLE BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES RETREATING]
[BEHAVIOURAL CONSISTENCY: THREAT AVOIDANCE]
My hand tightened around the map.
The next token was ahead, and so was whatever everything else was fleeing from.
Taron stepped beside me.
"Uhhh, Kael?"
I stared into the suddenly silent forest.
"Something feels terribly wrong."