“Give ‘em some time,” Stanley continued, oblivious to Celia’s hand lashing out like a snake “they’ll come arou-.”

“Uagh” Don interrupted him as he threw himself backwards to avoid the bronze dagger spinning towards his face. The dagger clanged off of a branch and went spinning away. Don lost his balance. Falling off of his perch, his mind seemed to shut off as he surrendered to instincts he didn’t know he had. He felt himself twist in the air and watched his hand snap out as something blurred in the corner of his eye and he swung just far enough to avoid being impaled on the jagged stump of a branch. He released his handhold with a shove which oriented him just right to get both his hands on the lowermost branch and with a groan of bending wood, he launched straight into a flat out run.

His mind reasserted itself and he glanced back as his skin prickled with adrenaline. He took in the scene in an instant. Stanley and Harry were just noticing his sudden appearance. Their surprised expressions would have been funny if they weren't hunting Don. but Jack was dashing towards him with a manic grin plastered on his face. A shadow of stubble, verging on actual hair darkened his scalp. He wore the same black cloak from the night they met but it was now caked in mud, it sported dozens of small holes and cuts and even a sizeable burn on one side. It flared out behind him as he leapt again, easily clearing the obstacles separating them. He charged headlong at Don while Celia followed a bit further behind as if she was waiting to see what happened next.

Don faced forward again and reactivated his Forest walk. That feeling of being one with the forest overcame Don. Even with enemies close on his heels he felt safe. He knew the rock he was about to land on wasn’t stable but he could still skip off of it if he kept moving straight to that root...

Pathways opened up to Don where before there was only a cluttered field of obstacles and dangers. He put on a spurt of speed before a searing pain tore into his side. Don lost a full 17 health and had to slow down until he could wrench the blood-smeared dagger out of his hip. It grated against his bone as he pulled, hurting worse than when the dagger went in. he lost a few more health and glared back at Celia who was smirking as she pulled another dagger from a pouch strapped to her thigh. Don could see a few more brass handles sticking from the pouch.

“I’m keeping this!” He shouted before dissolving the dagger into light and slipped out of the way when the next dagger whistled past him. On firm ground and expecting knives to come his way, they weren't too difficult to sidestep. That might change if she got closer though and the rest of the party was charging at him by this point. He turned and booked it, taking a more erratic path, winding between every tree he could put between himself and the dagger collector. This was also perfect cover for escape plan A.

Running up and down a river for two days gave Don plenty of time to think of what he would do if he ever met something strong like the forest ape again.

With all the time he spent practicing ‘manipulation’ and all the time he spent bleeding over the last few days, it was only natural that he tried to manipulate his own blood. His constant testing let him get a basic idea of the limits of the spell. He couldn’t do anything unless he had access to the substance he wanted to manipulate and he couldn’t make any more than there was in the area already. His blood was always present but without an open wound, it couldn't pass his skin. On the plus side however, it was very easy to shape and move, even easier than shadows. Now with the cut in his side, he was ready.

Blood gushed from the wound and flowed around Don. It gathered in a thin layer covering his body. Once he had taken all the illusory blood his body could provide, he dodged behind a tree and stopped. The blood continued running on Don’s path, dodging silently through the trees. There was a second when the back was open before it reformed and the illusion wasn't a perfect duplicate but hopefully, his pursuers were only catching glimpses of him in the gloomy forest. This couldn’t go on for long. His manipulation range was still capped at eight meters and his blood-double vanished after dodging behind a tree right at the edge of his range.

Bare moments later, Jack tore past Don’s hiding place, fury evident on his face and murder in his eyes. ‘Maybe this would work’ Don hoped. Two almond-shaped eyes dashed his hopes a second later.

Celia passed Don's hiding place, auburn hair whirling around her head like a red halo as her eyes focused on her target. Don instinctively lashed out with his fist at head height, attempting to closeline her with a backhanded swipe. She bent impossibly at the waist and Don's passing fist only brushed her nose. She didn’t see the other attack coming however and took a fist low in her side, knocking her a step back.

“So you want to play?” she asked in a mocking tone. She pulled a much larger and stronger looking dagger from a sheath behind her hip. She was clearly used to fighting with knives and settled into a familiar stance. The smaller bronze dagger was extended towards Don and she held the larger one behind the first in a reverse grip. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. “Don’t bore me now.” She said with an eager glint in her eye.

Don wanted no part of this but if he turned to run with Celia so close, he would get cut down. Without the option to retreat, he planted his feet wide and bellowed at his challenger. She winced momentarily at the display but when nothing else happened she actually sighed.

“Men” she shook her head and before Don realized what was happening the bronze dagger flashed towards his neck.

Don raised his left arm summoning his bracer. It didn't appear and the dagger meant for his neck slashed a deep cut in Don's forearm shaving off another 19 points of health. After that first lightning fast attack, Celia slowed considerably. Don turned and a stab meant for his shoulder cut nothing but air. He stepped back and a swipe aimed at this thigh missed its target. The aggressive swipe overbalanced Celia and Don stepped back in with a hard right punch towards her face. Celia sped up alarmingly. She knocked his arm roughly aside with her larger blade. It cut deeply into Don’s uninjured arm shaving off a solid 23 points of health this time. Don pulled away in shock as her bronze dagger flashed upwards past his chin. She fell back into her almost lazy assault as Don continued to dodge all of her strikes with surprising ease. Don narrowed his eyes, was she toying with him?

He looked at her face and noticed a furious snarl which seemed to tell a different story. Just then he heard a scrape from behind him. Days of training honed his response and he spun to the side in time avoid Jack’s leaping attack. He continued sailing past Don and got tangled in a nasty patch of briars.

His ineffective attack gave Celia an opening. Don heard "Flurry" called out loudly and turned just in time to take three impossibly fast slashes. Don's health plummeted to 44 HP as new lines of pain flared into existence across his chest.

Celia smirked, she clearly thought Don was at his limits but the demons unnaturally high Constitution meant he still had HP to burn. Don took advantage of her lowered guard and locked her in a bearhug. For the first time in the fight, Celia wore an expression besides smug assurance. With the energy of a panicked animal, she raked one of her daggers down Don's side. Don dropped to 31 health. He snapped his head back howling in pain as a long strip of his skin fell away and brought his forehead crashing back down into Celia's face.

The crunch of cartilage joined with the wet spray of blood to make a truly nauseating cocktail. He pushed Celia away. Her eyes were slightly crossed. She seemed incapable of chasing him for the moment and Jack was still tugging at his cloak which was beginning to rip. Stanley chose that moment to come stomping around a tree, dragging tangles of vegetation behind him. Harry was shouting from just behind the charging giant and Don decided it was time to say goodbye.

“The forest has taken me in,” Don shouted at his hunters before casting manipulate.

A wave of movement pulsed outwards from his feet as all the leaves within eight meters began to stir, the brown carpet of mostly decomposed plantlife surged.

With a tearing rip, Jack freed himself from the brambles and leapt towards Don. He was too late.

“You will never find me again” he said looking Jack directly in the manic eyes as the carpet of dead leaves burst into the air and the living leaves tore themselves from their branches to plummet like verdant rain. The air was soon a whirling maelstrom of vibrant green, burnt orange, and dirt brown. Focusing on his hearing, it was easy to dodge out of the way of Jack’s charge. Don heard him trip over a root and go sliding across the dirt. He also heard him spit the dirt out of his mouth and start screaming into the confusing storm of leaves.

"I'll fucking get you, Shepard! I'll never stop hunting you until I can grind you to paste under my boot! Keep running, we've got your sister. I'll make her pay every day you're hiding out here!"

Don wanted to tune him out. When he started screaming about hurting Sam, he couldn't help but turn back. This punk was about to learn a lesson. He took the time to guzzle down two full gourds of health potion. It was enough to restore sixty health over 100 seconds. He found a large stone using his tribe map and lifted it up high. Closing his eyes to the confusing maelstrom, Don focused on Jack's continued screaming and dropped the stone as hard as he could on top of the source of the insults.

Don was rewarded with a sharp crack followed by silence. The other hunters didn't let the silence last long. They called out to each other, gathering despite the illusion.

Using the tribe map again, Don found a tree through the illusion and climbed carefully upwards. Once he was settled, he refreshed his shadow cloak and forest walk He cast manipulate for hopefully the last time. The maelstrom faded from existence as Don used a new illusion to cover up the blood-trail leading to his tree with loose soil. The health potions still hadn't finished their work and he was still covered in wounds, each one seeping blood.

The trespassers were on guard, standing back to back, looking for Don. They spotted Jack and hurried over. He was lying face down in the dirt with a nasty red gash on the side of his head. A rivulet of blood ran down the side of his face. Stanley knelt down and turned Jack onto his back. He held a hand over his fallen comrade and said "mend". A white glow flowed from his fingers into the bleeding man. The wound closed but Jack remained senseless.

"How is it?" asked Harry

"He'll pull through but he's unconscious. I can't do anything about that yet. We'll have to wait for him to recover naturally" Stanley continued to examine Jack.

"Forget that twerp," Celia said from a short distance away "the demon can't have gone far" She was scanning left and right, trying to catch sight Don again.

"What do you want us to do? Leave Jack here, alone in the woods?" Stanley shot back at the mercenary.

"Why not? You're all immortal, aren't you? He was a fool for giving away his position. He was basically begging to get attacked taunting the demon like that. I'm surprised he's alive at all." Celia never stopped scanning her surroundings.

"That's cold Celia. I don't like the kid but I'm not about to leave him to get eaten by whatever comes along next."

Harry cut in "We weren't ready to deal with that demon today. We were expecting him to be half dead already. He's clearly doing a lot better than we thought. We will head back to town for now, get Jack patched up and come up with an actual plan."

"You want to leave just after we found him?" Celia asked incredulously.

"What are you complaining about? You'll still get paid" Harry pointed out.

"Hmph" Celia clearly itched to continue the hunt. "And what will you do if I kill this demon and take all the money for my own?"

"I'll kill you" There was no menace or threat in Harry's voice. He was simply stating facts.

Celia's eyes narrowed "You can't even touch me." She said, all the playfulness drained from her voice.

"Not today, maybe not even in a week or a month, but you know we are immortal. Even if you can beat me ninety-nine times out of a hundred right now, I'll keep getting stronger and coming back until you are dead." Harry's dispassionate speech got through to Celia and she aggressively sheathed her daggers.

"Fine, if he dies today I want fifty percent. None of you were any help. I spotted him, injured him, and poisoned him. All you did was shout a lot" Whatever she said she was clearly not 'fine' with leaving the hunt unfinished.

Stanley slung Jack over his shoulder and the foursome started backtracking through the woods, arguing about Celia's share.