The morning mist still clung to the hills when Cael, Fen, Iris, and Sidney gathered outside the Enclave's crumbling gate, packs on their shoulders and weapons close at hand. The plan was simple: before their long journey to the capital, they needed to stock up on essence. Saturating their cores now would make the coming battles easier — or at least, survivable.
They huddled over a rough map drawn in the dirt, Cael tracing their path with a stick.
"We head east toward the ridge. Rell said there are plenty of beasts roaming those woods.""And if we're lucky," Fen added with a grin, "we might run into something a bit more... juicy."
Sidney smiled faintly, adjusting his gloves. "I'd say our luck's about to turn, one way or another."
The beast they sought wasn't just any stray creature. They needed a challenge — something between Tier II and Tier III on the strength scale.After the Great Godfall, scholars had divided the creatures into seven official tiers:
Tier I — Wild Beast: Common animals, unawakened and ordinary.
Tier II — Lesser Beast: Minor awakenings, slightly stronger than normal wildlife.
Tier III — Greater: Full essence users, often territorial and cunning.
Tier IV — Apex: Kings of a region. Rare and highly dangerous.
Tier V — Primordial: Near-mythical creatures, ancient and devastating.
Tier VI — Cataclysmic: Walking disasters, capable of wiping cities.
Tier VII — Calamity: Entities of legend; very existence bends reality.
Each tier was then split into seven categories based on their fighting style and attributes:
Predator, Brute, Mystic, Stalker, Guardian, Terror, and Sovereign.
Fen wiped his hands on his pants. "We want a Greater Beast, maybe a Predator or Stalker category. Anything bigger would just squash us."
They set off across the broken hills, moving in a loose line. The air smelled sharp with damp earth and old pine. Birds scattered at their approach. The farther they moved from the Enclave, the wilder the land became — trees gnarled and blackened, grass whispering with unseen things.
After nearly two hours of hiking, Iris halted abruptly, raising a hand.
"There," she said, pointing across a narrow gorge.
Down below, slinking through the shadows, was a hulking, reptilian figure. Greenish-black scales shimmered over powerful limbs, and a mouthful of serrated teeth snapped at the air. It moved low and quick, tail whipping behind it like a living whip.
"Mirefang," Sidney identified instantly, voice low.
Cael frowned. "Tier III, Predator category?"
Sidney nodded. "Deadly ambusher. Toxic blood. Quick as hell."
Fen grinned, drawing his axe. "Perfect."
They fanned out carefully, weapons drawn, adrenaline sharpening their senses. The Mirefang didn't seem to notice them — not yet.
Fen was the first to strike, hurling a broken piece of stone to distract it. As the beast spun with a guttural roar, Cael lunged from the side, blade flashing in a quick arc toward the creature's exposed ribs. The steel bounced harmlessly off the thick hide, but the blow caught its attention.
The Mirefang screeched and lunged, its speed horrifying. Cael barely rolled aside, feeling the beast's claws tear the air where he had just stood.
Iris darted forward, her fists wrapped in raw essence, hammering blows into the creature's flank. Each strike left shimmering afterimages, but the beast hardly slowed.
It was then that Sidney moved.
Without shouting, without even warning, he became a blur.
His feet skimmed the ground, every step oddly disjointed from reality — wrong somehow. The Mirefang snapped at where he had just been, missing entirely. It roared in confusion, its attacks arriving just a fraction too late or too early to ever touch Sidney.
Cael, watching carefully even as he fought, realized it.
"He's... bending the distance," he muttered under his breath.
Sidney wasn't invisible. He wasn't making clones. He was distorting the space around him — throwing off the creature's aim, its timing, its senses.
Sidney slid between the Mirefang's legs in a near-impossible move, slicing a dagger along its inner thigh where the scales were weakest. Blackish blood hissed onto the ground, burning the grass.
The beast bellowed in rage, but by now the tide had turned.
Cael struck low; Fen hammered high. Iris darted in and out, a wasp stinging relentlessly. Sidney moved like a ghost between realities.
At last, with a final coordinated attack, they brought the Mirefang down.It gave a broken gasp, shuddered... and died.
For a moment, there was only the sound of their own panting breath.
Then came the rush.
A surge of heat and light roared through Cael's body as the Mirefang's death unleashed a flood of raw essence. He staggered slightly, feeling it funnel into his core — a deep, humming pressure building inside his chest.
It was like drinking liquid fire and ice at once: pure vitality pouring into broken places, stitching together strength where before there had only been exhaustion.
Fen let out a breathless laugh, fists clenching at his sides. "That... felt good."
Iris simply nodded, her face pale but determined.
Even Sidney seemed shaken, though he masked it quickly.
They sat there a moment longer, letting the last ripples of the beast's essence fade through them, when the ground shook.
Not from their battle.
From something else.
A distant, rhythmic thunder.
They turned toward the Enclave — and saw smoke.
Without a word, they ran.
The world blurred past them in a mad sprint, every muscle screaming protest.
As they crested the final rise overlooking the Enclave, their hearts sank.
Black smoke rose from the broken gate. Figures in dark armor swarmed the courtyard, shouting orders, dragging people from hiding places. A clash of steel rang out faintly.
The Enclave — their fragile home — was under attack.
Cael's knuckles whitened around the hilt of his sword.
He could see Korr on the steps, fighting two armored figures at once, his blade a whirling silver arc.
And near the well, Rell stood, his old frame solid as an oak tree, staff crackling with raw force as he fought to defend the last of their people.
"They're raiders," Sidney said grimly, pulling his daggers free again. "Organized ones."
"Doesn't matter who they are," Cael growled, his core thrumming with newfound strength. "We're not letting them take this place."
Fen gave a wild grin, already charging ahead.
Iris sprinted beside him, her fists alight once more.
And Sidney moved like a ripple in the air, distortion blurring his edges as he melted into the chaos.
As they descended toward the burning Enclave, a single, terrible thought burned in Cael's mind:
This was only the beginning.