"No sign of him…" Isabella muttered as she looked around with narrowed eyes.
"He cannot have gotten far after how badly we injured him," Tark murred beside her.
Isabella was a young woman with ash blond hair, which she had tied into a short ponytail. She wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt made of thick fabric, thick enough to protect her from thorns and similar hazards, but light enough so it would not restrict her movement. Tark was a man not much older than her, wearing a long brown coat that was already torn into rags. His brown hair stuck out in all directions.
"You can't know that! Have you ever seen a Reil like that creature? We do not know what it is capable of," Isabella replied. "I mean, by the holy one, it killed twelve of us before we were finally able to drive it away. We are the last survivors, and even we barely made it." She pointed at a deep wound that stretched across her chest, which must have been caused by three long, sharp claws.
This time, Tark did not respond. Instead, he absentmindedly touched the stump where his hand had been just a few days ago. A lifeless metal replica was now attached to it, moving with a squeaking sound.
The two humans belonged to an elite squad of the human kingdom of Isar. They had been specially trained to quickly and effectively identify and eliminate enemies of the empire. Each squad consisted of fourteen different mages. They were something like the secret weapon of the government. Unnoticeable, precise, and powerful. But this time, the squad that Isabella and Tark belonged to, squad B13, had suffered a heavy loss.
For nearly three months, they had been tracking the traces of an unknown creature that seemed to move across the entire land. The only traces it ever left behind were whispers and rumors scattered here and there. A dark creature, more beast than human, moving on all fours across rooftops. Stalking.
All too often, the squad was on the verge of giving up, believing it was all just baseless rumors, and yet new leads kept turning up, forcing them to keep going. After a long hunt, they had their first encounter in Purtal, a city not far from here. A bloody battle broke out between the two, with many innocent people caught in the crossfire. There, the creature managed to kill six of them before escaping while injured.
Immediately, the rest of B13 followed, fearing failure and unwilling to leave their fallen comrades unavenged. After that, they had two more encounters with the creature. One took place deep in the forest, where they suffered two more losses.
The final encounter happened in Tissling, a small village nearby. Even though they finally managed to seriously injure the creature by cutting off its front leg, they lost two more comrades. Still, Isabella and Tark knew the creature was close to death, and so they did not give up. They chased the Reil deep into the forest behind Tissling, but to their utter dismay, they soon lost all trace of the beast, as if it had been swallowed up by the earth itself.
Even so, they did not lose hope. With only short breaks in between, they searched day and night. They combed through the forest, hoping to find even the smallest trace, but without success.
Isabella let out a heavy sigh. "Let's stop here for today. We will continue tomorrow."
Tark only growled in frustration, but he did not argue. Together, they turned around to head back to the village when, suddenly a faint rustling sound could be heard behind them. Immediately, they spun around, ready to attack at the first sign of danger. For several heartbeats, they stood completely still, holding their breath. Their eyes darted from tree to tree. Too often, the creature had used the cover of darkness to attack them. Now they didn't dare let their guard down even for a moment. They hadn't even had time to relax when two strangers emerged from the underbrush with another loud rustling sound.
One of them was a tall and handsome man with a friendly smile. He had full red hair and could not have been older than thirty. His blue eyes shone warmly. He wore a simple gray shirt that showed many signs of wear and stains from food. Beside him walked a smaller and younger man who was so thin that one could think he had spent the last years in a cave. This impression was strengthened by his skin. While his companion was darkly tanned, the young man's skin was as pale as paper. One might fear that he would burn immediately in the sun. He wore a torn black shirt, long, dirty pants, and no shoes. The two men immediately gave the impression of being very poor, yet neither Isabella nor Tark took their eyes off them.
The two newcomers also stopped immediately. The pale man stepped back slightly in fear, while the taller one took a protective step forward. "I did not expect to meet other humans here," he uttered in a firm, deep voice
Automatically, the remaining members of the special unit focused on the tall man, who gave a far more confident impression than his companion.
Without saying anything, Tark took a small stone out of his pocket. It had five jagged edges and looked more like a sponge than a stone. Still, Eleanor caught it immediately. He briefly looked at the stone, then at Tark.
Without protesting a word, he stabbed one of the spikes directly into the palm of his hand. Red blood flowed from the wound and onto the stone, which absorbed the liquid greedily. Then he handed the stone to his companion. The man took it carefully. When he stabbed himself in the hand, he flinched slightly, but then also let blood run across its surface. The stone absorbed it as well before he threw it back to Tark.
Tark examined the stone, whose surface had turned into a bright white color. He checked it carefully. If either of them had not been human, the surface would have shown brown or black spots, but this proved that both men were one hundred percent human. In a world like Noira, which was in constant conflict, methods of gathering information had naturally developed. This stone was only one of many precautions, since there had already been cases of shapeshifters.
Of course, just because the two were human did not mean that Tark and Isabella could trust them without reservation. While betrayal among the three races was rare, it had happened before. And it was too much of a coincidence that the two strangers had appeared exactly at the place where they were searching for the Reil.
"Who are you?" Tark asked once he was satisfied with the result of the stone.
The tall man watched him carefully. "Just two travelers who got lost in the woods."
"Where do you come from?" Isabella asked cautiously. "Better yet, where are you going?"
The stranger frowned at her. "With all due respect, I don't think that's any of your concern."
The pale man carefully nudged his companion. "Maybe they can help us," he whispered urgently.
"Help with what?" Tark asked, now curious.
The two men looked at each other and seemed to have a silent discussion. After a moment, the tall man gave in. With a sigh, he said, "We come from Shergien and were actually on our way to Purtal, but we got separated from our group in a storm. We wanted to meet again in Tissling…" He hesitated briefly. "But it could be that we got lost."
The pale man coughed lightly. "We definitely got lost. We have been wandering through the forest for three days now… and I am pretty sure we have already passed that stone three times." He pointed at a noticeable rock sticking out of the ground.
The tall man let his shoulders drop in defeat. "You are right." He looked at Tark and Isabella with a crooked smile. "You would not happen to know in which direction a small village named Tissling is, would you?"
Tark laughed heartily and seemed to lose all caution. Isabella also smiled slightly. After the exhausting weeks they had gone through, the clumsiness of the two young men was almost relieving. "Luckily for you, we were just about to head back there," Tark said with a friendly smile. "But first…" He flicked his wrist. A small metal spear shot forward, directly toward the pale young man. "What in the name of the holy!" the tall man cursed as the other one fell back in shock, but the spear stopped just centimeters in front of his face.
"W… what was that supposed to be?" the man on the ground asked. His friend angrily grabbed the spear out of the air, but immediately cut himself on it.
Tark waved his hand, and the spear fell to the ground. "I am sorry, you two, but you can never be too careful."
After helping his comrade to his feet once again, he looked at Tark with respect.
"So you're a mage, huh? No wonder you're out here alone in the woods!"
Tark nodded but did not elaborate. Their special unit was secret and was not to be discussed with civilians. The man did not press further, as mages were not rare in Noira. "Why are you out here?" the tall man finally asked, looking at Isabella.
"We are searching for someone," she answered truthfully. "You have not happened to meet anyone or seen any traces, have you?"
The man tilted his head slightly. "Other than our own, no. I don't want to overstep, but who exactly are you looking for in this forsaken forest?"
Isabella sighed in disappointment. "It doesn't matter; we had no luck anyway. Oh, we are being so rude. We haven't even introduced ourselves. My name is Isabella, and my one-handed friend here is called Tark."
The man grinned widely. "This here is my little brother, Nero, and you can just call me Eleanor. I have to admit, I really think a higher power made sure we met here!"