“That one.” Mia burst in. We had been walking into the forest for at least an hour now. I stopped to inspect a broken branch with strands of cloth hanging from it. I sniffed the strands. My smell continued to shock me with how acute it had become. All of my senses were dialed up. It was almost euphoric. My large ears twitched at the sound of scuttling critters. Some instinct from my past life was warning me not to lose myself to this illusion but I was beginning to love it. I was a beast; I had the mass of an upright walking bison. I caught myself more than once marveling at the twitch of my heavy bicep when I swung my arms. “Are you even listening to me?” Mia shocked me away from staring at my chest.

“Someone is full of himself.” Tootsie whizzed about just out of reach.

“What the phantom cloak thing?” I asked, trying to remember the last skill I had read off the list. We had through a countless number of them with me reading to her what I was seeing under the description. I had gotten so bored I wasn’t even listening to myself talk anymore I was simply on autopilot.

“Yes, and after that, you need to stick with upgrading and perfecting your current skills for a while. Better to be a master at a few than a novice of many.”

“Why are you even listening to her advice?” Tootsie whined. “Is she your guide or am I?”

“Why do I need to be camouflaged? I can just stampede through a threat if I pick the bulwark skill.”

“Some creatures here you will never be strong enough to smash through. Sometimes you just need to hide. Trust me.” Mia stopped and looked behind us.

“She is just trying to make you into a big coward. Like an elephant with a mouse. Get the big guns. Smash skulls. That's why I got you the jacket.” Tootsie hovered by my ear. I swatted her away. I pondered Mia’s words a moment, shrugged, selected the Phantom Cloak skill, and sank all my soul points into it to progress it to stage two.

“Should I try it?”

“Pug.” She turned back to me.

“I really hate that name. I couldn’t think of my name and this little buzzard was ringing in my ears. Ow! Did you just sting me?” I rubbed my cheek.

“Call me a buzzard again.” Tootsie crossed her arms and hovered high enough that I couldn’t grab her out of the air.

“Check your map,” Mia commanded.

I pulled out the map and looked at it. Most of it was blacked out aside from whatever we had uncovered in walking. The strange part was the revealed path was a circle with no discernable origin. It was as if we had just started in the forest without coming from the beach and then walked in a perfect circle. “What is this Tootsie?” I growled.

Tootsie looked just as baffled as I did. She flew up higher to look around.

“It is a trap.” Mia sank down sitting on her heels.

“Should I use the cloak?” I scanned the trees my fist clenched.

“Too late.” Mia extended her claws. “We are already being hunted. Don’t you feel the pull at your veins? They are calling to us.”

“What are they?” I asked whispering now.

“The Shade,” Mia whispered back.

“Seriously, the Shade?” Tootsie zipped back excited. “Wow, I’ve never seen one. This is gonna be crazy.” She clapped her hands.

“What are the Shade?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Like Vampires,” Tootsie exclaimed, “only better.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. Then I spotted scratches on a tree trunk. I walked over to inspect. They were deep gashes about as far apart as the span of my hand and about as deep as I could plunge a finger. A drop of dew landed on my shoulder and I brushed it off with the palm of my hand as I spotted something slither up the backside of the tree.

Mia screamed and I turned to see her feet dangling about thirty feet in the air. Something rippled over her. It was large and blackened pewter in color. There was a smell like burned hair and Mia was gone. I should say I ran after her. I did not. I froze and a chill ran up my spine. Something was dragging a sharp nail up my spine. Breath splashed across my back that smelled of rot. Tootsie dropped from the air to the ground at my feet and gawked up far above my head. Her jaw hung open and she appeared to have stopped breathing. Her face went white and tears formed in her eyes as a roar above me shook the air. I couldn’t look, couldn’t breathe. There was a heaviness to the air around me and a cold draft ran up my legs. My toes curled down into the soil, the only part of me with the sense to resist what was coming.

From the side of my eye, I watched as long burnt pewter fingers curved over my shoulder. Shiny black talons sank into my dense chest muscle then slipped between my ribs. Another hand sank its hooks into my side and dug down for purchase in my organs. Warm blood oozed out of the wounds. “Fight!” My mind screamed but I only trembled. Two clawed feet wrapped around my thighs. The claws tore the tendons from my knee caps with a loud pop. I collapsed and the creature bore me up. Then whatever held me lifted me high into the air and I felt a warm mouth wrap around the back of my head. Teeth sank deep into the top of my skull and the back of my upper neck. More barbed teeth buried themselves into the sides of my temples. I gasped and convulsed. Tremors ravaged my body. Then I felt a pressure building in my skull as the dark monster sucked the lifeblood from my brain. My eyes felt as if they would pop out. The creature pulled my body against his chest and finally I was free to scream. I screamed with full lungs and passed out when I emptied them.