Pentad of Un

Chapter 10 - Luss

(Please note: This chapter contains some sensitive content regarding death. Reader discretion advised.)

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     Luss rolled over on his makeshift bed, unable to get comfortable.

     As was customary after the choosing of groups, the five members in each group were to get used to the circumstances of traveling together by camping together—wherever they wanted—for the night before setting out.

     Adif, the elf girl, had volunteered the spot near the bizarre shack-treehouse combination as their camping site, and no one had any better suggestions.

     They had already gone and given farewells to their parents, meeting back at the chosen campsite afterwards.

     For that moment, Luss felt some solidarity with Shayrow—the dhampyr. Both he and Luss headed to the site right away and waited for the others to return.

     "What's your reason?" Luss asked him.

     "The family I've got left doesn't live nearby," Shayrow said. "What about you?"

     "I was such an ugly baby that my parents offed themselves."

     Shayrow's eyes widened in shock.

     "I'm kidding!" Luss uneasily grinned. "Sheesh! Don't you got a sense of humor?"

     "I don't think death is a particularly amusing topic," Shayrow coolly replied. "Please don't joke about it."

     Luss turned his palms up and backed off. He didn't say another word to Shayrow for the rest of the evening.

     And now Luss was lying on a soft patch of grass that he'd been lucky enough to find, cursing himself for attending the choosing of groups in the first place. He honestly hadn't thought that he'd get put in a group.

     Jelro—the merfling—was stretched out with his animal friends lying around him or draped over him. Shayrow would have been completely unnoticeable in the dark if it weren't for his snoring.

     Luss rolled over again, curling up with his arms hugged against himself.

     He could tell that Jelro and Kestek weren't completely convinced by his act, but at least Jelro didn't seem to want to argue.

     For the entire time since they had met, up until the group settled down to sleep, Kestek had kept looking towards Luss, probably waiting for him to do something that would give him away.

     But Luss knew all his weak points and how to cover them.

     He was never going to make another mistake like that.

     Never again.

     Luss turned over on his back, staring up at the stars. He could hear the owl softly hooting and the bat unsteadily circling the area.

     Oddly enough, Jelro's posse of animal friends was presenting Luss with a problem that he had never faced before. Something inside of him was reaching for the animals, trying to communicate with them, but Luss knew doing that would ruin everything in the blink of an eye.

     After a few more minutes, Luss gave up trying to sleep and quietly crawled away from the clearing. He crept into the shadows of the trees, considering the many possibilities of the night.

     But then he smelled smoke.

     Oh no.

     Luss had two fears—cold iron, and fire.