Lykaon

Chapter 4: Calypso

POV: Calypso

I had tracked him here to Erebus forest. Why he had chosen this path, I had not a clue. His motives were still unclear to me and the longer I followed him, the more confusing he became. In Genisios he had decided to take along a boy, the villagers said his name was Jai. Perhaps Jai was a pawn in his game or maybe he served no greater purpose at all. As far as I could tell the duo was headed for Planao.

Planao was the largest city for a thousand miles; it's population numbered in the millions. Being as it was so large, it was a breeding ground for malicious activity. The Paladins and Sun Singers were the only things keeping it from complete chaos. Many of the king's soldiers were even corrupt, they didn't care about the lesser people in the city. If they were headed to Planao, it was only a matter of time before something went awry.

I saw something ahead of me; a body hanging from a tree limb. I ran toward it to investigate. It was not human, that was for sure. It's features were animalistic yet humanoid. The black blood dripping from the wound had not yet entirely dried. I looked around for anymore clues as to who had killed it as my eye caught the sight of two more bodies a few yards away. I walked toward the first and knelt down. There was no blood but as I examined the corpse, I realized the neck had clearly been snapped. The other one lay dead on it's stomach, a large knife wound near it's lower spine. The fact that only one had a knife wound led me to believe that the first two were killed by one person but the third was killed by another. It had to have been the two I'm following.

I stood from my kneeling position and stared around the forest once more. The outline of one more body lay much further from the rest. I sprinted over to it; what I saw was inexplicable. Multiple knife wounds covered the beast's body. I knelt down once more and grunted as I rolled it's heavy corpse over. Just as I had thought, more knife wounds. This form of attack seemed impossible, as if the monster had been stabbed from multiple directions at once. There was very little blood around the area, other than beneath the creature's body. There should be more blood.

I had learned something very valuable to my hunt. Not only was my original target dangerous, but so was the boy. Normally I would not make contact with any target but it was clear to me now that this was a rare and dangerous exception. There was something different about this one, he knew something, I just had to found out what.

*****

POV: Dakoda

Jai and I were exhausted from lack of sleep. Too cautious to even blink due to the fear of being attacked. We had been walking for what seemed like forever and had still not yet reached the edge of Erebus forest. Hardly able to keep our eyes open, we trudged on. I hoped Jai would be able to make it through without slipping into a slumber.

All of a sudden Jai stopped dead in his tracks and stared straight forward, unblinking, unmoving.

"Jai? What is it?" I asked worriedly.

He didn't look at me, keeping his unwavering gaze straight ahead, "They died here. This very spot. It was an unholy massacre of the innocents. Not one of them escaped Erebus, but not all of them were killed. No, some were taken to be...altered. By a man without a face, one who bends the laws of nature to create abominations. Anieri."

The final word Jai spoke hit me like lightning. I knew that word. What it meant was lost to me but it was unmistakable, I knew that word. "What are you talking about? What is Anieri?" Even just saying the word aloud seemed to cause the forest to tremble.

He said nothing in response. It was as if he was frozen in time. The look on his face was that of terror, causing a cold shiver to slither down my spine. I stepped toward him and shook him on the shoulder, "Jai, really. This isn't funny." No reply still. "Jai! Wake up! Jai! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"