As Theli woke up, a dull ache radiated from her back. Sleeping curled up on the lumpy couch had taken its toll. She groaned softly, her limbs stiff, and stretched out before dragging herself upright with a muttered complaint. Shuffling off the makeshift blanket, she trudged up the creaky stairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
She paused outside a door and gave it a soft knock, her knuckles tapping lightly against the old wood.
"Gyles, are you awake?" Theli asked, tucking her hands into her pockets as she waited for a response.
After a beat, the door creaked open. Gyles stood there, her eyes heavy with sleep and hair tousled wildly. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"I'm ready to go," Gyles muttered, her voice thick with grogginess.
The two girls headed downstairs without another word, stepping quietly to avoid waking anything else that might still lurk in the shadows of the cabin. After gathering their things, they exited into the morning gloom, a chill breeze brushing against their fur and skin.
The cobblestone road crunched under their feet as they walked deeper into the village. Theli's nose wrinkled the moment they passed the first row of buildings.
Black, sticky ink-like substance coated the walls and splattered across doors and windows. More disturbingly, the dark stains were mixed with streaks and pools of dried, rusty-red blood. A lot of it.
Theli stopped in her tracks. "Jeez... where the hell did all this blood come from? No human can produce this much, right?"
Gyles glanced around grimly, arms folding over her chest. "Actually, one body holds about five liters... but yeah, even that doesn't explain this." She motioned to the sheer volume staining the street. "Besides, we're not human anymore. Who knows how much we bleed now?"
They walked on in uneasy silence, passing more homes-each one more ruined and stained than the last. Eventually, the cobblestone road ended, giving way to a dirt path that snaked through the edge of a forest. Trees loomed ahead, tall and dense, their trunks vanishing into a mist that hovered low over the undergrowth.
"This is bad," Gyles said, stopping just before the first tree line.
"How so?" Theli asked, shifting uneasily.
"If we go out there, we'll be surrounded by forest. We don't know how far it stretches-or if there's anything living on the other side. Could take days to find a settlement. And out there... no shelter, no food, no lights. Just us." Gyles paused, staring at the trail ahead. "We'd have to hunt, make camp. And we're not exactly survival experts."
Theli crossed her arms. "Yeah, well, staying here isn't an option either. That roar from earlier... I don't like our odds if we run into whatever made it."
"Ugh. So many cons, so few pros," Gyles groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. "What do you think we should do?"
"Huh? Why are you asking me?"
"Because I need a second opinion," Gyles said, glancing sideways. "I already know what I'm doing. Just wanna see if we're on the same page."
Theli let out a breath. "Alright. I say we take the forest path. We both have night vision, don't we? So, the dark's not a problem. And hunting... well, I've got a big sword. It's not ideal, but at least I can swing it if something tries to eat us."
Gyles smirked. "Ding ding, right answer. If you'd picked the village, I would've left you behind."
Theli frowned. "You're joking... right?"
Gyles gave her a teasing wink. "Mostly. Let's go-whatever's behind us, I don't wanna meet it."
With that, they stepped off the cobblestone and into the thick forest, the path narrowing as branches overhead tangled together, dimming the sunlight.
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As we moved deeper into the woods, I couldn't help but notice how calm I felt. I mean, I should be panicking, right? New world, new body, monsters everywhere-and yet... nothing. No panic. No fear. Just quiet. Maybe too quiet.
I glanced up at the towering trees, their trunks thicker than any I'd ever seen. I hadn't had a single moment to process since meeting Gyles. Since waking up here. How are we even going to eat? Hunt?
"So, Theli," Gyles said, breaking the silence.
"Huh? Yeah?"
"What was your life like before all this? Before you got pulled into this place?"
"Oh. I was just a normal high school girl," I said, a little embarrassed. "Finished my homework, went out for a walk, and then... bam. Some kind of portal opened beneath my feet. I fell in."
Gyles gave a humorless chuckle. "Figures."
"What about you?" I asked. "What were you doing before?"
She sighed like I'd just asked her to recite calculus. "Nothing. Just... trying to make it."
Then I remembered something. "Didn't you say you were... homeless?" The moment the words left my mouth, I winced and slapped a hand over it. "Sorry-that came out wrong."
Gyles stiffened. Her hands curled into fists, shoulders tense. Her voice was low when she replied, "I don't want to talk about it."
I nodded quickly. "Right. Got it."
We walked in silence after that. I found myself wondering if anyone from that village had survived. There weren't any bodies, which made it worse somehow. I looked up at the sky, watching the orange glow of sunset start to filter through the trees. How long had we been walking?
Eventually, I turned to Gyles. "Hey, it's getting dark. Maybe we should stop and set up camp?"
She nodded and picked a nearby clearing with decent cover from above. We dropped our gear and sat on the cold ground. As I settled, Gyles knelt beside her shield.
"Hey, you two demons," she muttered to it. "Any chance either of you know fire magic? Or are you just freeloaders?"
She glanced back at me. "Hey, Theli, mind gathering some sticks while I figure out if this shield's worth the metal it's made of?"
I nodded and got up, wandering the edges of our little clearing. As I bent to gather a bundle of dry twigs, something caught my eye-a slick glistening on the ground.
Black ink.
It was faint at first, just a smear along the base of a tree, but as I looked around, I saw more-dripping from a nearby trunk like tar.
A chill ran down my spine. That hadn't been there before.
(SLASH)
I barely had time to react. I threw up my arms to protect my face as something lashed out of the trees. Burning pain tore across my forearms, hot blood gushing from the deep gouges in my skin. I screamed and crashed to the ground, gasping, eyes wide.
Standing over me was a monster.
Its limbs were too long. it's maw wide and dripping with saliva, filled with razor-sharp teeth. It stood upright like a man, but its legs were bent and crooked like a dog's, the black ink that composed its skin sliding off in globs, sizzling where it touched the earth.
"What the hell is that!?" Gyles shouted from the clearing, shield up, eyes blazing with fear and fury.
The monster let out a guttural roar and charged.