Faye and Gavan stepped over another broken fence. They had followed the Steader’s request to check the southern edge of the Steading for signs of their unwelcome visitors, as that was where the Primalists had been attacking from before vanishing.

Faye looked across the field. It was just as empty as the last two.

“I’m not convinced they’re still out here,” she said.

Gavan shook his head. “I agree. They might know the attack on the town failed?”

Faye hummed. “That’s what we can hope for, at least,” she replied. “Because that might mean they’re too afraid to come back.”

“Could be why they poisoned the food rather.”

Faye nodded.

It made sense, they knew they would not be able to stay with their main force and leader dead but had not wanted to leave the so-called heathens alive so had poisoned the food stores in a last-ditch middle finger to the Steader and her people.

It was enough to boil Faye’s blood, but without the Primalists there to fight, there was little she could do about it.

“Well, I suggest we—” Gavan began, but his words were cut off with a strangled cry as something slammed into him from the side. He went down in a heap, crying out and clutching himself.

Faye immediately drew her sword and slashed at whatever creature had just slammed into the mage. She managed to elicit a strange yelp from it, which merged into a bark and growl.

“Gavan!” she cried. The creature spun around and started running in a circle around Faye; she had to twirl on her back foot to keep it in sight. “Gavan, get up.”

“I feel sick.”

Faye gritted her teeth. The creature charged in, its mangy, mottled fur parting to reveal its teeth as it tried to bite her.

She slashed out again, but the creature was fast and avoided the blow. It yelped again. It sounded, and looked, somewhat like a wild dog. But it had the wrong shape hind legs for that, they were bent more than a dogs’ were. It gave it a strange hopping, lurching movement that belied its true speed.

Faye used her [Mana Sense] on it. The sense of its power was weak, so she wanted to check what mana it was using, if any. To her surprise, it was almost like the creature was devoid of mana.

“Gavan?” she called, once again. The mage groaned and she heard him struggle to his feet. “Are you alright? Did it bite you?”

“No,” he let out in between groans, “it hit me between the legs.”

Faye blinked and paused, which was a mistake. The dog-like creature came charging in again, but this time as she stepped forward to meet its attack it slipped by her and tried to go for Gavan again. Not wanting to let the vulnerable made suffer another attack to his dignity, Faye enveloped her sword in mana and ignited it.

As soon as the steel of her sword lit up in flames, the creature’s head snapped around to Faye. It almost tumbled over in its attempts to reverse directions. It trot-hopped around before coming charging in for Faye’s weapon hand. Its slavering jaws wide open to encompass her fist.

She lashed out with the pommel, striking the beast in the snout, and when it flinched back, she whipped the sword down in a vicious cut. The strike did not connect fully because the beast was too fast, but the flames licked at its fur as it passed, and the creature yelped again.

“Stop pretending you’re hurt and leave then!” Faye shouted after the thing.

But the creature would not stop staring at her flaming sword. She waved it left to right and its eyes never left the burning metal.

So, Faye extinguished the flames.

The howl the creature let out rang out, loud and clear. But, just as the howl seemed to get to the top of its volume, it was cut off with a heavy thunk. Gavan had cast his ice shard at the beast and impaled it through the throat.

It keeled over.

“Gods,” Gavan gasped, “I hope that was the only one.”

“What was it?!” she asked, looking around wildly for other mysterious dog-things coming out of nowhere.

“To be honest,” Gavan said, panting and still bending over, “it looked like a dog.”

Faye gave the man a look, which he could not actually see so she followed it up with, “Uh huh, right, a dog.”

“No, seriously,” Gavan said. “But there was something wrong with it.”

Faye rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. I know that it hit you in the unmentionables, but does it really affect your brain that much?”

Gavan looked up with a wince. “You’ve never been hit between the legs before. You don’t know.”

She shook her head. “Of course there was something wrong with the thing, it just charged at you. What dog would do that?”

“A mana-starved one.”

She waited for the mage to explain, which he did, slowly, over the next few minutes.

“All life in the world absorbs and uses mana, to one degree or another. The problem is, for most animals absorbing mana is not, strictly, a natural thing. That includes humanity, by the way. We’ve found a way to use it, harness it, but it’s not as if we are inherently magical beings — unlike those sprites from way back, or monsters.”

“Monsters are magical?” she asked.

“Aye, of course. Their whole physical make-up is different to ordinary life. There are things in monster bodies that should not exist, yet do. That can only be down to the mana. Now, imagine what happens if an animal that has gotten used to absorbing, even using, mana suddenly cannot access it anymore.”

Faye looked out at the field again as she thought. To suddenly be without mana…

“It wouldn’t be pleasant,” she said, “but would it really produce… that?”

Gavan shrugged. “Not sure. It’s a wild theory.”

Faye scoffed. “You sounded like you knew what you were talking about for a minute.”

He grinned. “Good. I need the practice.”

“Well, if your family jewels are okay, let’s head back to the Steading. There’s nothing out here from the Primalists. Their signature mana is nowhere to be found.”

Gavan muttered something, which Faye did not quite catch but what she did hear made her smile.

“You’re right, I think you are being a wuss. Now, let’s get moving.”

“I still feel sick,” he moaned as they went. Faye was still laughing at him, but in part was concerned. What Gavan had said about the mana was probably a major problem for humans, too.

“What causes mana-starvation, and why is it that we’re so comfortable with something so obviously dangerous to human life?”

Gavan was walking behind Faye, so she stopped a few seconds for him to catch up so she did not have to look over her should all the time.

“Truthfully, mana-starvation is extremely hard to achieve. It’s not natural. You have to do it to a creature. There is mana in the literal air we breathe, it’s hard not to find it. So, for any creature to get mana-starvation is a purposeful, long-term goal of a sick and twisted individual.”

Faye hummed. She would agree with that term. For anyone to do that to an animal on purpose… she shuddered.

“Of course, you have already seen that mana poisoning can be just as adverse as mana starvation. Whilst I agree that from where you’re standing, mana seems incredibly dangerous. But, honestly, it’s only dangerous for bodies that are changed from one state to another too fast. Now that you are a higher level, your attributes will protect you from adverse effects, anyway.”

Faye frowned. “But if I go somewhere without mana…”

Gavan shrugged. “Next to impossible, as I said, but if you did… you would eventually enter a state of mana starvation. I’m not sure how level impacts that. It could lessen the effects as your body gets stronger, or it could worsen the effects as your body absorbs more mana to increase in level.”

Staring around at the coarse grass of the fields, growing wild and untamed because the Steader’s animals had not been grazing on it as they should have been, Faye wondered if that meant she would never physically be able to go home.

Do I want to go home? she wondered, not for the first time. There was little there for her, now. Her auntie, true. Her friends. The club, her instructor. But, no, there was nothing huge for her back home. Part of her was saddened by that but there had been a sort of natural closure of her time back home. The death of her mother had started the process of her mentally withdrawing from the world around her.

It just so happened that she accidentally found herself physically withdrawing from the world, too.

“Are you okay?” Gavan asked.

She glanced over to see his concerned face looking back.

“Yes, yeah don’t worry about me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t make the connection until after I had said it…”

She smiled at him, she truly was not annoyed with him for it and she told him so. He shrugged and said that it did not change that he was sorry for saying it carelessly.

They spent the rest of the walk back to the main compound of the Steading in companionable silence. It was never uncomfortable to be quiet around the mage, who was generally quiet himself — especially around new people.

The Steading itself soon came back into view. The workers were in the yard, moving things around, of sweeping. But each movement was listless and slow. They had so little hope left.

Faye paused to watch them, before the workers noticed they had returned.

“It’s for people like this,” Gavan said, “that we do what we do. Adventurers are the ones that solve problems like theirs.”

“Just doesn’t feel like enough,” she said. “We can’t solve their problems with a sword, really. They need food, not blood.”

Gavan simply nodded. “I know.”

They started walking again. The workers were clustering together in the yard. Faye could not hear what they were talking about until suddenly, one of them started screaming.

Faye’s head snapped up, eyes wide.

One of the women was backing away from the group, clutching at her ear, screaming shrilly. The others had entered into a melee. One of the men, a scrawny man, was in the centre of the fracas, screaming and lurching from left to right, trying to free himself from the clutches of those around him.

Without waiting another moment, Faye launched into a sprint. Gavan came after but much slower. She kept one hand on her sword hilt as she ran, making sure that it did not swing into her legs as she ran full pelt towards the workers.

The woman that had staggered away from the group was kneeling on the floor, wailing. As Faye got closer, she saw that the woman’s hands and arms were covered in blood, as was the side of her face.

The man in the centre of the workers was enraged, screaming at the top of his lungs, and trying to get at the woman before him. The others were all shouting themselves hoarse to try and calm him down.

Some of the other workers from the Steading had appeared, gathering at the outskirts of the brawl, unsure what to do. Steader Einnua emerged a moment later. She pointed at the wailing female worker, and someone peeled off from behind the Steader to go tend to the woman.

“What happened?!” the Steader shouted.

“I have no idea!” Faye replied. “It was all peaceful one second and the next, pandemonium!”

She had not drawn her sword. The people struggling against the enraged worker were covering almost every inch of the man’s body with their own, dragging him backward. He was making awful straining sounds as he tried to launch himself at the woman.

“Get her out of here,” the Steader said, though not unkindly. “Quickly, now.”

“Any idea what this is?” Faye called. When the Steader shook her head, Faye grimaced. She activated [Mana Sense] to look at the man, just in case.

As the skill flickered to life in her eyes, she immediately knew what was wrong. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to solve the problem. She turned and looked at the panting mage beside her.

“His mana,” she said, low for only Gavan to hear, “it’s gone. All of it.”

Gavan scowled and looked up with concentration. A moment later, his eyes widened, and he stared at her.

“Just like the dog.”

“This isn’t a coincidence. What can we do for him?”

Gavan shook his head, slowly. “This is beyond my ability. We need to get him calmed down. Check the others, quickly. Start with the Steader.”

Faye nodded, leaving Gavan to approach the group of struggling workers. She approached the Steader, keeping [Mana Sense] active. She was fairly sure, even from this distance, that the older woman was fine. But she wanted to make sure. It would be disastrous for these people for their leader to go off the handle like that.

The motes of mana that infused the Steader were strong, though few in number. The Steader noticed Faye’s attention and turned to her.

“Something the matter?” she asked.

“I’m checking your mana levels,” Faye replied. “Can I assume you don’t use magic regularly, Steader?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed, but shortly she nodded. “Correct. What does that have to do with this?”

“A theory,” she said. “Your man there is devoid of mana.”

The Steader sucked in a breath. “That’s impossible.”

Faye shrugged. “I’m not sure about the mechanics of the condition, but we saw a… a dog that seemed to be in the same condition to the south.”

The Steader’s gaze hardened. “Those damned cultists!”

“Perhaps.”

“There is no ‘perhaps’ about it, Adventurer. Those cultists have poisoned my people. My animals!”

Faye waved a hand. There was no time to debate who was responsible. “That’s something we can solve later. Right now, we need somewhere for inflicted individuals to go.”

The Steader gestured behind the Steading’s main building. “Each worker’s family has a dwelling on the other side of the yard. But they aren’t secure. We don’t have anything like that.”

Faye looked around, looking at the stable-like stalls. “What about in there?”

The Steader looked and shrugged. “Secure, but not for anyone with hands. We would need to bind them. Adan!”

The man appeared a moment later, his eyes wide as he watched the struggle in the middle of the yard.

“Gather the others, we need everyone, everyone, understand? Send for lengths of rope. We’re going to bind him so he’s not a danger.”

Adan nodded and he ran off. Others were coming from the Steading and from the various buildings nearby. The Steader called them all to her as she saw them. Faye knew it was a good idea to have everyone in the same place, but if someone else got berserk like that, it would be harder to separate them…

She let her [Mana Sense] skill flow over the forms of the people around her. There were diverse colours of mana in each person, stronger in some than others. But though there were a few with little mana clinging to them, it was still strong and looked hale.

Until she turned her gaze on a young girl, a teenager from the looks of her. She had just appeared from around the corner of the Steading, from the direction of the family dwellings. She was small and slight, with long brown hair that was only loosely collected at the nape of her neck. She was nervous, judging by the way she was holding onto her own elbows.

But it was the fact that only the barest glimmer of mana clung to her frame that alarmed Faye the most.

She stepped beside the Steader.

“Steader, that girl there. What is her name?”

“That’s Celli, why?”

As they were watching her, Faye saw that the mana was dimming. She spun on the spot and looked for Gavan.

“Gavan!” she shouted.

He immediately turned. She gestured and pointed. “Celli! Put your hand up in the air!”

The young girl started, apparently shocked that Faye had known her name, but sure enough she put up her hand.

“Healing, now!” Faye yelled.

Fortunately, Gavan was good enough to cast first and ask questions later. The glow of the healing spell alighted on Celli’s head, surrounding her in a pale nimbus for a moment before it vanished.

Mana infused her body for a moment, and Faye almost sighed in relief, but seconds later it drained away as if down a sinkhole.

“Celli! Come here.”

The teenager looked scared by now. Faye had not only known her name but had asked for magic to be cast on her, and now was trying to get her to approach. Faye saw the cogs turning in the teenager’s mind.

Her stomach clenched. There was no time for this.

“Adventurer…” the Steader began, but she could not finish the sentence. Faye was about to move forward, but the light of the mana in Celli’s body winked out at that exact moment.

Faye found herself frozen to the spot.

Celli had grown still. An older woman, possibly her mother, had approached by now and was asking the girl something in a low voice.

“Wait,” Faye started to say, “she—”

The young girl was slight of frame, but when she turned and scratched down the woman’s face with her nails it was with enough force to rip gouges in her skin. Unlike in some battles, the sound and chaos started up immediately.

Workers scattered in every direction, their family members running back for the safety of their homes. Faye dashed forward, toward Celli.

The teen was on top of the woman she had clawed in the face and was pummelling her with her closed fists, screaming the whole while. A cool light engulfed the woman on the ground, who was also screaming. Gavan was still casting.

Faye wasted no time in rushing in. She ducked her shoulder as she got close and tackled Celli off the other woman. The impact caused the air in Celli’s lungs to evacuate. She stopped screaming for a moment, but it only lasted as long as it took for her to inhale again.

Her nails, covered in blood and the skin scrapings of the other woman, came for Faye’s face, too. Fortunately, Faye’s stats seemed to be much higher than the woman’s and Celli’s nails did nothing but leave faint red marks.

By then, momentum had left Faye sprawled on top of Celli. She manoeuvred around to sit on top of the younger girls’ upper body. She trapped Celli’s arms under her knees. The teen struggled, but Faye was more than strong enough to keep her pinned with the advantage of leverage and weight.

She looked up into the bewildered faces of the Steader and her people.

“Would be great if we had that rope right about now…”