I could only watch in horror as a black mass rose from the snow, the beast no longer resembled what It once was. Its limbs were broken and twisted, and its spine curved unnaturally but it seemed completely unaffected and only continued snickering. I knew it was too good to be true, that beast would never let me reach salvation, but I was so close now, I can’t give up just yet. I started to kick out with my free leg with all the force I could muster but besides muffled thuds, they had no effect. I brought my hand up and struck out, but it had the same effect.

I struggled and twisted but its grip was inescapable, I can’t give up now, not this close. I opened my mouth and yelled for help which… actually worked, almost immediately a commotion came from the camp causing the beast’s head to snap up and tilt, almost like a dog dose. It rose up and let my ankle go before revealing a horrid smile that dripped with blackish blood, it sat there so still that it was unnerving. Footsteps woke me from my trance, and I looked back to find to my relief that my team was here to help. My mind returned to worry quickly though, and I turned back to the beast only to find that nothing was there. I was unnerved but didn’t really care, I had finally returned to camp, that beast be damned.

POV shift---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I opened my eyes and got up in a panic, something loud had awoken me, but I don’t know what. I lunged and grabbed my sword before looking behind me to see that Alex was also up and moving. I carefully peeked outside and saw nothing so I pushed aside the flaps and grabbed my shield, I didn’t have my chain mail undercoat on, but I did have a gambeson coat on which should be plenty. I brought my shield up and carefully looked around but didn’t see anything, not even the two watchmen. Damn, something happened I know it, I brought my fingers up and sent out a shrill whistle, but I heard no response from the two missing men.

I looked back and signaled Alex to go see if the other tents are awake before checking on the whole reason we are out here Aria. I found her awake and mumbling about something, I wasn’t hopeful that she would tell me anything, we were certainly not on the best terms, but I was still going to try.

“Hey, you, did you see what happened here?” she gave me a dismissive look, “Now, now, don’t be like that, I’m just doing my job, it’s nothing personal.”

“It's personal to me you invertebrate, you chased me for days and now you're leading me to my death,” she spat with no small amount of anger.

Ouch, that hurt. Well… we did tie her to a tree and left her to freeze while we slept in tents though, so I guess we kind of deserve this attitude. I decided to leave it there, I don’t think I’m gonna get anything out of her.

I turned back and saw that everyone was ready for battle, so I was about to debrief them on the situation when a scream exploded out from the tree line beside me. I froze from shock, but I soon snapped into action followed by the rest. We charged in Ferdinand leading with his kite shield and spear while Rolaf took up the rear with bow ready. Soon we came across the source, a broken and battered man laid twitching and moaning. His skin was pale and had several mortal wounds littering his body but when I saw a tattoo of a sword covering his left shoulder I shuddered, this man was one of our own.

I waved over Fredrick and he instantly saw the tattoo as well underneath the tattered remains of the man’s gambeson. He quickly grabbed the man under his remaining arm and placed him over his shoulders. We quickly retreated, whatever did this to the man was probably still out there. When we made it, back Fredrick took the man to his tent and stood guard while making plans.

…….

After a few gruelingly slow hours Fredrick finally came out and walked straight to me,

“It's not looking good, he is all kinds of messed up but he is somehow currently stable,” he wiped the sweat off his brow and gave a drawn-out sigh, “It is very unlikely that he will make it but I can probably keep him stable long enough to get information. But right now, he is completely incoherent.”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose while in thought, this is a very bad situation, an unknown enemy, a missing person, and we found the second missing person in an unrecognizable mess. I looked up to the moon and started to plan for our escape but nothing concrete came to me, we were surrounded on all sides by huge amounts of forest with an unknown enemy that somehow caused the disappearance of two people without alerting anyone.

…….

I sat there while listlessly starring into the smoldering fire when the sound of screaming coming from within the camp causing everyone to rush to the source, Ferdinand’s tent. Alex arrived first but when he opened the flap, he was sent flying back with a new set of claw marks ripping through his gut. I was horrified, did the creature sneak in. I waved over Apelica and we approached with swords ready. Slowly, ever so slowly we approached the back flap to find out what was going on. As we approached a low pitch whine became noticeable and soon, I could identify the noise, crying. Unnerved I slowly lowered myself down to peer through and what I saw caused my blood to freeze. There, sitting over Fredrick sat the man viciously tearing into his gut, eating frantically. I could hear the wet tearing of teeth to flesh and the low sobs of a broken man but with every bite, he only increased in speed.