Three of them have stopped on spot, staring at the unexpected obstacle. One that never should have been there, and was not natural in any way.

“The island will not let us go that easily… that must be Vrigherqhuaihon’s tricks… have to be…”

Joe turned to shaking Pat.

“What’d you do to anger gods like that, piss on their shrine?…”

He tried to calm the nervousness in his voice. It wasn’t working.

Out of three of them, only Irfan regained some resemblance of calmness, and even that was only partially working, as he was nervously glancing around with his eyes.

“Maybe I can climb over…” He hesitated.

Joe wasn't really sure, how it was possible to climb over this wall of trees. Trees, that were lying on their sides, stacked on top of each other, and were forming an arc above their heads.

“You will risk that?”

Irfan didn’t answer. He walked up to the wall. He put his hand on the tree, and suddenly, his fingers released a curved claw.

“Wait, you can do that?! Just like cats?!” Seemed like Pat was happy to find a distraction.

Irfan shrugged. Joseph decided to needle the doctor for a bit.

“Haven’t you read anatomy books during studies? Were you that bad of a student to forget a basic fact?”

Pat turned his head to him, trying to burn Joe on spot his eyes.

“I very much remember my books, Mister Silver Brain. I never saw any arid do it right in front of me. And what now, Great Explorer of Trash Holes, you’ve read one piece of paper and now you are smarter than the universe?”

“You are putting words in my mouth, mate. I’ve never admitted to being smarter than anyone, and universe especially. But I did remember that little fact when I read a book a couple of hours ago.”

The doctor snapped his fingers.

“A couple of hours ago? I’ve read them ages ago, and I still remember all of them! Can you name any of 281 bones in rhevalian’s body?!”

“I have no need for such specific knowledge. I only need to know where to shoot to disable one such creature.”

“And knowledge of bones you consider useless for that task? Why, exactly?! Do pray tell me, maybe my degree was useless all this time since there is apparently All-Knowing Joseph, The Killer of Cats, who knows exactly where to tap to defeat a big wall of meat like Xander?!”

“Rhevalian are not cats.”

Pat chuckled.

“Now you are just nitpicking. They have some similarities, like pillows on their fingers and much stronger lower legs.”

“...Wait, they do?”

“Of course they do! Next time you see our precious quartermaster, just keep attention. There is also a part-”

“Aaaargh!!”

A loud scream startled them both. Irfan fell to the ground, swearing and holding two fingers on his left hand. Thick black smoke was rising into the air from them.

“Hold on, I got it! Joe, a hand!”

They both quickly wrapped Irfan’s damaged fingers with bandages, saturated with an extract. This one was used to lessen pain, and allow a living tissue to regrow quicker afterward. Joe managed to sneak a glance at Irfan’s injuries. The skin on his fingers was burned off almost to the bone. Charred edges were literally liquefied, streaming down arid's hand.

“What happened, mate?!”

Irfan was heavily breathing. Then he wiped his forehead and slowly got up from the ground.

“No idea… I was climbing, then black smoke came from underneath my claws and touched my fingers. I felt them burn and let go…”

Joe looked up.

“Well, good thing you haven’t climbed far… So trees are dangerous and deadly, we have no way back and we don’t know what is going on. Should we return to the mansion and figure something out?”

Irfan slowly nodded. Pat frowned.

“I suppose we don’t have much of a choice… Maybe we could blast the wall into oblivion with your bombs, but I’m afraid of whatever is inside these trees. This substance seems to be extremely toxic if even a bit of exposure does so much damage to a body.”

Joe agreed. While hostile forest wouldn't look out of place in an obscure horror movie, part of his mind was fired up, asking for more. If anything, he felt a tiny bit excited about exploring this unknown territory, with a dangerous entity on their toes.

Even if the said entity didn't like them at all.

It was also helping to lessen the pain from losing an argument from before…

*****

A motor carriage, true to its name, looked like someone sliced one carriage cabin in half, moved its doors, added a back wall, and slapped all of it on top of a metal frame, calling it a day. The back part of the vehicle itself, used for transportation, had a small lever to open a tailgate.

The engine in front of it attracted Joseph's attention. It had openings every 8-10 centimeters on the sides and the top, where he noticed some sort of glass - or crystal, or gem - he wasn’t sure what kind of material it was. Whatever it was named, the material was shining, even though there was almost no sunlight in the sky.

Meanwhile, Pat was rummaging in the cabin.

“Eh, no crank, no keys, nothing… Clean as Roth’s Medbay. Doesn’t look damaged… Leather on the wheel is worn out, but not too badly… calling it sufficient, overall…”

“What about fuel?”

Pat looked behind his shoulder with a pale face, like he had just seen a ghost.

“What fuel?!”

“The usual?.. Gasoline, petrol, oil?..”

“No idea, what you are on about.” He jumped down on the ground. “This beast needs no stinking fuel, it runs on Dissonance!”

“It runs on what?!”

The quartet of dumbfounded eyes told him that this was a question, an answer to which even kids should’ve known.

“Right, I forgot you got some brain damage. Empire vehicles use Dissonance and convert it to electricity… I see you, I know you and I know what you want to ask - don’t. I have no idea. Ask our mechanics or our favourite cat, if he still remembers…”

Joseph looked at the engine again.

“So these… glass things are for this… Dissonance?”

“You would be correct. These are crystals, they are called 'fouder'. They gather light inside of them and can keep it for a very long time. They are also used to gather Dissonance.”

“Wait. So Dissonance is just light?” Irfan interjected.

Pat scratched his chin.

“I have no idea… probably? I have never studied Dissonance in-depth during my Capital days. I was a medical student, remember? I only know the bare-bones basics of how this works. I did have a car, but I never was the one to fix it…”

“Well, it’s safe to say then that it has similar properties to light. But we are getting off track. So, this truck is useless for now?”

Pat nodded.

“It needs a crank to fire it up. We would have to search those buildings over there for it, I’d guess.”

Irfan carefully weighed their options.

“Brick shack is closed. That leaves white one and mansion… wait, what is that?”

He pointed behind the concrete two-story building.

It was difficult to notice, but further away, behind the small hill, there were some other barely visible rectangular buildings. Joe counted three of them, others were hiding behind the top of the hill.

“There is a road leading there as well.”

Irfan cracked his neck.

“Mansion looks destroyed. I suggest the white one.”

They approached the building. Nothing stood out enough for Joe to guess its intended purpose. It didn't even suffer that much damage - just some ash on the walls and a couple of burns. The second floor had windows, barred by iron bars.

Joseph pulled and pushed the door in. No luck.

“Locked as well… wanna try to climb and check windows?”

His companions weighted their chances.

“I could try, but my fingers still feel like burning…”

“I’m just a doctor, not a monkey.”

Joseph looked over the wall, trying to figure out the way up.

“I need some help…” He turned over to Irfan. “Can you push me up there?”

The hunter nodded. He walked over to the wall and held his hands out together, covering his injured fingers. Joseph stepped back, prepared himself, and dashed ahead, stepping on Irfan’s hand and pushing himself off at the same time. Irfan lifted his hands, throwing Joe up.

He managed to hang onto the window grate. Joe climbed to the top of the grate and put his legs in between bars.

“What’s up there?” Pat was calling him from below.

“A room. Two bunk beds, a closet, a couple of drawers, some tools like hammers, a dirty pickaxe, then some clothes… basic shirts and trousers, nothing fancy. I see no expensive things or uniforms.”

Joseph estimated the distance between windows. It was longer than his hand could reach, and he wasn’t sure if he could grab it even if he jumped.

“Ah, screw it…”

He pushed himself off with his left leg. His fingers barely reached iron bars, frantically grabbing onto them. He was now swinging on one hand, wincing from the sharp pain in his shoulder.

“Quite a jump! Wasn’t very smart, but very heroic. I give you the highest grade for theatrics, and one fail in brainpower!”

Joseph frowned. He managed to force his left hand to reach the grate and pulled himself up.

“Similar thing here… I see no difference. Maybe pickaxe and hammers are missing, but that’s it.”

Irfan waved him to get down. Joseph did just that.

“So, what do he have? Just one mansion and possibly something like workers' barracks?” Pat asked his companions, while Joseph was still wincing while stretching his shoulders.

The rat-faced doctor was left without an answer, as his companions were now looking at the direction of the mansion.

The wind intensified, carrying away displaced ash and dust from the square. Joseph covered his face with the hand, as black leaves flew past them en masse, forming a long black line on the white stone.

A warning? Or just a coincidence?

“You know,” Pat whispered, “I was never really a devout follower of the gods… Always thought of them as some unnecessary louts who are sitting in the sky and watch me shitting in a gutter… But now I feel like praying, and don’t know to whom…”

“Pull yourself together!” Both Joseph and Irfan said in unison, gripping his shoulders. Pat jumped, swearing bloody murder.

Joe crossed the line first. The wind intensified, pushing him to the side, but he kept walking forward. Irfan and Pat joined him shortly after, with the mighty hunter shielding the scared doctor with his body.

As they were crossing the line where gates were supposed to be, Irfan stopped to check the hinges.

“Joe, look.”

Joe nodded and crouched to inspect a lower hinge.

“Same here. Whatever did this has a strength of a monster. They were ripped straight out.”

Irfan scratched his chin.

“Doesn’t look like a work of a human to me. It was done without any carefulness, only pure brutality, and savageness, quick and easy. A mark of a wild animal, a very strong one.”

Joe stood up.

“Any ideas?” Irfan only shook his head in response to that.

“Some, but until we get more clues, I will not figure it out.”

The once beautiful garden, filled with flowers and trees, was now a poster image for this island itself. Not that Joseph didn't like these black flowers, but gray pieces of bark and dry leaves, branches, scattered ash, and piles of junk were destroying every last bit of enjoyment. Their slow steps were accompanied by the muffled sound of crunching.

The mansion was standing in front of them, dark and stoic, unimpressed by all the carnage it must have seen. Someone broke down the doors and pushed them inside, leaving them hanging on lower hinges. There, near the entrance to the mansion, they found their first proof that people were still on the island.

Just not in one piece.

“That’s a body.”

“A half of a body.” Joe corrected.

With the familiar black-red uniform. The person was missing its bottom part. It had been there for so long, it completely dried out. No worms, maggots, bugs, or flies on it either.

“Strange… it wasn’t eaten by anything." Arid crouched. "No holes on the body. The lower half was torn off by an animal with claws, or very sharp and long fangs.”

“How do you know?” Pat leaned closer to the body.

Irfan pointed at the ruined uniform.

“See this? Long trails on both clothes and body. Now I’m sure it was claws. Cut from left to right, diagonally. There is no lower half around?”