The morning mist clung low to Greyhawk's cobblestone streets, swirling around Elias's boots as he headed toward the Hunter's Hall. The town was quieter than the previous day—quieter, but tense in a way he hadn't noticed before. Hunters spoke in hushed tones. Merchants closed their shutters earlier than usual. A pair of guards muttered something about missing patrols.
Something was shifting beneath the surface of the town.
Elias felt it immediately.
His shadow did too—it stretched a little farther behind him, sensing the air, analyzing the movement of people.
When he entered the hall, heads turned his way. Whispering followed him.
"That's the new kid…"
"Killed a Rank C alone…"
"He and Arin hunted together yesterday."
"He's moving way too fast for a Copper…"
He ignored them and approached the counter.
Before he could say anything, the clerk raised a hand. "Hold on, Elias. Before missions, you need to hear this."
Elias paused.
She lowered her voice. "Three hunters went missing last night. East woods again. Same area you and Arin were in."
He felt Arin approaching before he heard him. A calm, steady presence that contrasted sharply with the anxiety building in the hall.
Arin stepped beside him. "Heard the news?"
Elias nodded. "They found the bodies?"
"No." Arin frowned. "Just blood. And this."
He held up a broken arrow, snapped in half and stained darker than natural blood. Something about it radiated a wrongness—a feeling he'd sensed deep in Duskwood more than once.
Corruption.
The clerk leaned closer. "The Guild is considering shutting down missions east of Greyhawk until they understand what's happening."
Elias studied the arrow. "This isn't normal corruption."
Arin shook his head. "It's spreading."
The clerk grimaced. "And if it continues, the town will send for a team from Stellaris Academy or one of the major guilds."
That name made Elias pause.
Stellaris Academy.
A place he needed to reach eventually. A place with answers. With teachers who might understand what lurked inside him.
Arin noticed the shift in his expression. "Thinking of applying?"
"Eventually."
"Well," Arin smirked, "don't die before that."
Elias didn't reply.
The clerk cleared her throat and tapped a new mission slip. "You two should avoid the east today. Maybe take something simpler."
But Elias already knew he wouldn't.
Before he could speak, Arin crossed his arms. "We'll look into it."
The clerk's eyes widened. "Are you insane? I said this might kill Bronze hunters!"
"We won't engage directly," Arin said. "Just investigate. Bring back information."
She looked at Elias desperately. "Please tell him no."
Elias shook his head. "Information is valuable."
The clerk groaned loudly. "Why are all the talented ones suicidal?"
But she stamped the slip anyway.
Arin grabbed it with a grin. "We'll be careful."
Elias followed him out of the hall.
"You didn't argue," Arin said, sounding pleased.
"You were correct."
"I usually am," Arin said smugly. Then: "Besides… you didn't want to avoid the woods."
Elias remained silent.
Arin laughed. "I knew it."
They left Greyhawk before the sun rose high. Fog blanketed the fields, rolling between trees like pale fingers. The eastern forest waited ahead, darker than yesterday. Quiet. Too quiet.
Elias placed his hand on the dagger at his side. Arin loosened his sword in its sheath.
"Something's wrong," Arin murmured. "The forest feels… damp. Heavier."
Elias nodded. "Mana density increased."
"Corruption?"
"Yes."
They stepped deeper into the trees.
At first, nothing moved. No birds. No insects. Even the leaves seemed still, as if the forest was holding its breath.
Then something crunched under Elias's boot.
Bone.
A cracked rib, cleaned too neatly—no flesh left. Arin crouched beside it.
"This isn't a Stalker kill," he said. "Too precise. Too intentional."
"The hunter was stripped."
Arin looked up sharply. "Stripped? By what?"
Elias didn't answer.
The forest suddenly grew colder.
Arin straightened, hand tightening around his hilt. "Elias."
He saw it too.
A trail of dark residue smeared across the bark of a massive oak. Not blood—something thicker, almost tar-like, pulsing faintly with mana.
Elias touched it lightly. The substance trembled under his fingertip.
Corruption—and more than that. A whisper of something older. Stronger.
Arin stared. "You're touching that with your bare hand?"
"It's stable."
"For now," Arin muttered.
Elias stood, scanning the trees. "The hunters who disappeared… they followed this trail."
"So we follow it too," Arin said.
Elias stopped him with a hand on the arm.
Arin blinked. "What is it?"
"There's movement. More than one. Surrounding us."
Arin's stance shifted instantly, calm but focused. "How many?"
"Four. No—five."
Arin whistled under his breath. "We're not Bronze, Elias."
"Neither were they."
"…Fair point."
Branches rustled.
A corrupted deer burst from the fog—eyes glowing, ribs protruding unnaturally through its skin. It charged.
Arin leaped aside and slashed its flank. Elias moved under its legs, dragging his dagger through its tendon. The beast collapsed, shrieking.
Before they could finish it, two smaller beasts rushed from the left—foxlike creatures with elongated teeth.
Arin kicked one away. Elias caught the other with a slash across the jaw.
The forest exploded with motion as a massive shape slammed into the ground behind them.
A corrupted bear.
Rank B.
Elias's muscles tensed.
Arin cursed. "Nope. Definitely not Bronze-level safe."
The bear roared, shaking the fog. Its massive paw struck the ground, leaving cracks in the dirt. Elias stepped back, adjusting his stance. His shadow shifted under him, coiling like a living rope.
"We retreat," Elias said.
Arin exhaled. "Finally something we agree on."
The bear charged.
Elias ducked, dragging Arin with him just as the monster swiped through a tree trunk, splintering it cleanly. Arin jumped to the side, rolling as another corrupted fox lunged for him. Elias intercepted, slashing its neck.
The bear roared again.
Arin yelled, "Run!"
Elias didn't need convincing.
But as they sprinted through the trees, the fog thickened unnaturally. Something pulsed through the air. A presence. A weight.
Not the bear.
Something deeper.
Something old.
For a moment, Elias felt a faint ringing in his ears. His vision flickered—
—runic symbols appeared faintly in the air, shimmering silver like thin strands of broken moonlight.
A fragment.
A fragment of a Law.
His steps faltered.
Arin grabbed him. "Elias! Focus!"
The vision snapped away.
The bear crashed through the fog behind them, but the smaller beasts—foxes, twisted deer—stopped pursuing. As if something pulled them back.
Elias felt the tug too.
A force calling to corrupted creatures.
A force with intent.
"We're leaving!" Arin shouted.
They sprinted until the fog thinned and daylight returned. The sound of the forest normalized—birds chirping, insects buzzing—as if nothing had happened.
Arin finally stopped, gasping for breath. "Okay… okay… what in the world was THAT?"
Elias didn't answer immediately.
The memory of the runic symbols still flickered in his mind.
A fragment of a Law still existed here.
And something was trying to awaken it.
Arin wiped sweat from his brow. "Elias. Seriously. What happened back there? You froze."
Elias finally spoke. "I saw something."
"Something… good or bad?"
"I don't know."
Arin stared at him. "…You're not going back there alone."
Elias met his gaze.
Arin wasn't asking.
He was declaring it.
The forest wind brushed between them, carrying the lingering scent of corruption.
"We need to warn the Guild," Arin said.
Elias nodded slowly.
But deep inside, he knew warning the Guild might not be enough.
Something had awakened in those woods.
And it had noticed him.
Greyhawk fell silent when they returned. Hunters gathered in front of the hall. The Guild Master—a grizzled man with a scar across his left eye—stood waiting. His presence alone quieted the crowd.
"You two," he barked. "Inside. Now."
They followed him.
He closed the office door behind them with a heavy thud.
"Report," he demanded.
Arin explained everything—the beasts, the fog, the corruption spreading, the Rank B bear.
But when he mentioned the strange pull of mana, the Guild Master stiffened.
"And you?" he asked Elias.
Elias held his gaze. "Something old is waking."
The room went still.
The Guild Master exhaled slowly. "I'll send a request to Stellaris Academy. This… is bigger than us."
Arin shot Elias a worried glance.
He didn't return it.
The Guild Master leaned forward. "Until then, neither of you go near the eastern woods."
Elias didn't answer.
He already knew he would.
On the walk back to the inn, Arin kicked a stone across the road. "We're going back, aren't we?"
Elias didn't respond.
Arin groaned. "Of course we are…"
But he didn't walk away.
He walked beside him.
Loyal.
Unasked for.
Unwanted.
Yet comforting.
A danger Elias didn't know how to handle.
:)