The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood

Ch 5: Lost (Arctic Haze)

Wild blue lightning splintered through the sanguine clouds swirling above.

"Ah!" I scrambled to my feet, scouring my body for any hint of those slimy black tentacles.

Nothing...

"That swine is gone," Lor growled beside me. There was a small trail of blue blood leftover from the quickly healing cut on her cheek.

That was one aspect of the Zhaguai I was grateful for.

Now, if only they could refrain from constantly pushing the boundaries of their species' innate ability for rapid healing.

We were still in the ruined courtyard of Darbek Monastery but something felt off.

The air smelled strange and everything radiated in a dim shade of red.

As far as I could tell, we were alone in a pile of rubble and the freshly dismembered remnants of our slaughtered co-workers.

"What happened?" I turned to Lor.

"I'm not sure," Lor got up off the ground. "The last thing I remember was being strangled by that asshole Bold Step until I passed out."

"Why didn't he kill us?" I proposed the question more to myself.

My hands were completely stained pink and blue.

I wanted to retch, but I chewed the urge back.

"We must search for survivors," Lor reached for her compressed helmet clamped to her shoulder. The device sparked and failed to expand.

"It's too damaged," Lor re-clamped her broken helmet and tapped on her gauntlet. "And comms are down."

"I don't hear any heartbeats," I raised my ears to their apex to scour the horizon for any sign of movement. "Your Adjutant spoke of a cruiser being boarded. We should head to the airfield."

Lor's azalea-pink eyes settled on the trail of blood painted on the ground. It was Vina's.

Then the navy blue Forged warrior stepped over the gooey blue line without a word and began the long march toward the airfield on the other side of the monastery.

It was unsettling that the Graven had so abruptly halted their attack and what were those purple glowing lines worming all over the stones?

"Was that mountain always there?" I glanced at the mountain ridge encircling the valley. "I didn't think any of the peaks were so tall."

"I don't remember," Lor stared at my fidgeting hands while I unconsciously combed my hair.

I stopped immediately and forced my arms down.

Typical Zhaguai stoicism... Show strength above all else.

We all knew what we were signing up for...

I was initially excited to join this unit, as Lor was regarded as the most forward-thinking of Oru's High Council. However, in my enthusiasm, I forgot to recalibrate the notion of forward-thinking when it came to the Zhaguai.

The species excelled at precision and order but flopped flat on the floor when asked to perform any task unarmed.

"Lungs," my ears sprang up. "Someone is breathing, barely. Over here."

We sprinted to a toppled security tower.

There was a man, a razkur, pinned under a stone slab.

Lor failed to lift the weight with her bare claws.

"Move," I stepped in with a metal pole to apply leverage while Lor pulled him free.

It was one of Yrox's soldiers. His leg was twisted and fortunately, it wasn't by chance that Lor had a small medical field kit clipped to her belt.