467 CHPT 467: The Anomaly, The Bat, and The Lordless Samurai…

Claude came clean….

He was a Night Runner… well established among the Bronze Ranks— if that was possible. The only reason they knew Maris….. and who knew what else. The students and everyone else was right. He had secrets. But he shared them with the group. With his friends. Maris said friends don't lie.

Isaac hoped that was the case. But as the night went onward, he couldn't help but consider the last portions of Aeron's Journal. The portions hidden behind hundreds of blank pages… as if he wanted no one to know of what he was writing. No one but those dedicated to understanding his story.

Sure, Ursula was no WereWolf….. and Claude wasn't either. But what if…. What if they were something else. Less of an accusation and more of a horrifying thought born from the psychotic WereWolf's notes….recollections of events.

"The man that reeks of Blood and Bats…. He's not only in the shadows offering me things like the moon stone that burns my skin and sharpens my teeth. He's also in my nightmares. Telling me things… warning me…. Not to get caught by the Scorned Ones. He says they're belonging to one's entirely unlike the Silver Cursed…. The Wendigos…. He says they're like me but better in every way and they'll enslave me— feed me to malice incarnate and ferocity Reborn. He says they are a beautiful synthesis of man and many beasts. To see a man so haunting show the physical tellings of fear makes me wary of this shadowy cabal….. but the explorer and experimenter in me is drawn nonetheless…"

A beautiful synthesis of man and many beast.

Isaac shivered at the memory of Claude with scales, sabered fangs and a wolves about. Many beasts indeed.

***

"RRRRRAHHHHH—CK!" Claude caught the Dire Rat lunging at Isaac by the jaws and threw it into the darkness beyond.

WOO!

The silvery glint of two frosted axes cleaved the creature in two and splashed Ursula's berserker armor in blood as she exited the shadows of the forest. The blood slithered and jumped off the surface of her armor, coating Maris' evergrowing sword.

Another pair came, spilling from the DarkWay entrance a mile out. Claude strapped them to the earth with his vines, giving Warren the easy headshots.

Loba bit their heads off for good measure as everyone else listened for any telltale signs of more coming.

For the first time in a few hours at least, calmness came to them. There was a time when Warren, Isaac and Maris were tired. Claude fixed that with some recently purchased Stamina Potions. But there were other things he'd failed to fix. Like Isaac…

He'd almost taken critical hits multiple times throughout the night. It was to the point that he forced himself to stay beside the Knight as a safety measure. That wasn't ideal and Ursula was only preaching to the choir in his mind.

A Dire Rat at his feet jolted. Claude stomped it into a paste before turning to Isaac and pressing him.

He grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly, the adrenaline and smells of blood covering the grounds collapsed any and all social wariness he may have once had.

"HEY— wake up, dude!" His armor was so hot it burned Claudes hands.

Isaac shook him off but found that he had no words.

In the dark of the wilderness he could feel the others watching him just as much as he saw the whites of their eyes.

"You are distracted, Isaac. You should be happy….we can get stronger." Maris said casually.

"Listen." Claude backed up off of Isaac, "You saw something…. Or read something. Whatever it is, it's still distracting you."

Isaac felt his pulse quicken.

"Let's say it's true— whatever you read."

Warren side eyed him, Maris didn't have a care in the world. Both of their reactions were two different levels of alarming.

"It still doesn't fucking matter right now!" Claude had to fight to keep his voice down, "We're here as a team to get stronger. Not to be distracted over rumors or the ramblings of a damn… shapeshifting schizophrenic!"

CRSHH!

He shot his hand out and used the forest to tangle and twist another trio of Dire Rats he found with his Natural Vision in the distance. Their smells of fear were strong…. tasty.

"Man…. I could be a Vampiric WereJaguar on magical steroids— it still doesn't matter because I am in control, and I owe this to you guys. It doesn't matter what you think about me right now. We need to focus up here or we die out there. To hell with everything else at least until the Tournament ends... I can't….. I'm not taking another death. Nothing has changed."

Isaac tapped his knuckle on his helmet and shrugged, "You're right. You're absolutely right….. I know better and I won't stop being everyone's shield over shit that isn't important in the now…. As crazy as that sounds to some, I get it. My bad, my bad."

"Weren't you the one that decided to work him us even after what the students were saying too?" Ursula asked playfully.

Isaac nodded, "Yea… yea that was me. Man we did some work back then."

"Doing a lot more now." Claude provided.

"You're right."

"Let's get to it." Claude held out a fist.

Isaac hesitated before bumping knuckles with him.

"We're wasting XP… let's move." Maris said in a rush.

Claude was prepared to follow when the winds began to blow. The smell of blood was so thick that he had to work to keep Ursula calm as her rage grew.

The chaotic sounds of the DarkWays a mile behind rode the winds like Skeleton Soldiers on Undead Steeds. Hollow and endless. Claude remembered his travels inside…..

"Isaac I need your fire." Claude began picking up the Dire Rat corpses everywhere he could. Slowly the others joined in, silent as they sensed his urgency.

After a few minutes a massive bleeding pile of corpses loomed. The morning Saturday sun was rising. It wasn't so dark anymore.

Claude looked over to Isaac who sent a torrent of red fire at the corpses.

"Why? Is this normal for Infested Areas? I don't remember reading we had to clean up…. Isn't that what the animals are for?" Warren asked as they stood around the fire.

"The DarkWays aren't too far behind us…. We spilled a lot of blood here and that means we can attract The BloodStarved….. at least I think. The suns almost up but I don't want to risk it when I don't have to."

Warren looked up at the sky and shivered.

Claude bumped shoulders with him and almost made him drop his bow, "Relax."

"What are the BloodStarved like?" Maris asked from the other side of the fire. It's blood red light from below sharpened her features and made her look like the best cliche scary story teller ever known.

"Fast Zombies with wings." Claude replied as a charred rat bone fell out of the fire and exploded into hissing black dust.

"But they are Vampire…" Maris looked down at her sword.

"Yea. Just been away from Blood for so long their bodies go into a sort of lizard brained state. A lot of the human functions shut down to save energy and Focus. They abandon the possibility to blend in. All instinct…. Hunger."

"Can they become normal..?" Maris asked.

Claude felt his hackles raise at the question. Before she could say anymore, he blinked. His world of blacks and green brightened under the moons lunar rays caught something. Nothing like the green outlines of Rabbits, Deer and Coyotes brimming with life energy. This was something dark…. Something almost blending in with the shadows, save for its thin networks of blood red wiring running through their gaunt shapes like a dying nervous system. But what stood out most was their full red eyes. Six pairs.

They leaped and bounded fast below ground less than a mile ahead of them, heading for the exit a mile behind them no doubt. Drawn to the blood….that or they were what had the Rats running in fear.

Either way. Claude silently motioned for them to go. Thankfully they didn't hesitate as he dropped to the ground and began thickening the forest and manipulating roots and plantlife to cover the DarkWay entrance they headed for. Good thing Arne reminded him to express the importance of knowing when to run while in Infested Areas. There was never a better time for it.

If he focused he could hear their screams, echoing and bouncing off the walls, giving them vision even in perfect darkness. They were coming. Trying at least.

Claude got up after Loba hissed and slightly nipped at him to hurry up. Then they were off, catching up with the others in seconds. Warren gave them all a backdraft that made running suddenly feel worlds easier.

In their shared swiftness Ursula spoke to him through their link.

"Do you want to stay back and fight? I think we can take six." Ursula said.

"No…. We just got Isaac's head back in the game. No reason to stir the pot. Plus…. They could belong to a Coven. BloodStarved are often sent down there to achieve balance….in a weird way. We just got the HellBreeders off of us. No need to swap them out for Vampires."

"Fair point." Ursula said.

and with that, they ran the rest of the way back to the City of SkyHaven. Sometimes Night Runs were that simple for Infested Area Clearers. You fight what you can…. Do some good where you can. And when things above your price range enter the area, you move. You move like your life depends on it, because it does. No flashy rewards, no treasure box. Just cleaning up what you can in the real world. If there was ever something to make Claude feel like what he was doing was right, it was that. And maybe with Rollan's guidance he could do the same for those like Ma…. Canis and Piet. That felt right too. As right as being able to give those closest to him the power to survive…

***

Saturday February 7th, 2241…

The sun was up, hidden behind the backdrop of forestry as they traveled the dirt roads into SkyHaven. Warren, Maris and Isaac had exhaustion written all over them. This was where Lupine energy was shown in his truest form. The thought— fear, of the Vampires faded the more the sun rose…. The closer to the city they got. So they didn't stop run until they got there.

Correction, until a team of Daylight Heroes entering the city blocked their path.

They slowed to a stop as the massive battle-bred Horses snorted and neighed at them and settled with walking the last mile.

"Damn!…." Warren said in between breaths, "You did this every weekend? I think my knees are going to blow out.."

"You'll adjust. I'm sure you just aren't used to working on no sleep." Claude replied as he sheathed the sword he borrowed from Isaac.

"The Night Run was successful." Maris said as she slowed to the back of the group to walk beside hum.

"It was. Maybe next time we can find some Goblins."

Maris didn't reply with emotionless enthusiasm. He looked over at her with a sniff. She was in her own thoughts. He could see it in the way she watched the ground.

"You good?"

"I am." Maris said quietly before adding, "Thank you for this. We should've been doing this for months when you guys disappeared. But now is better than never….. and thank you, for giving me the chance to fight— back at my village."

Claude nodded, "Of course that's what she's thinking about." He looked over at her, "Thanks for the back up."

Maris seemed different. And Warren all but cried as the gates into SkyHaven showed themselves.

Fwip...fwip...fwip….

Claude moved in a blur, getting behind Maris and unsheathing his sword. At the same time Loba planted herself in front of him hissing as Ursula joined them.

The Daylight Heroes behind them panicked as their horse was startled by the suddenness of it all. It had training and calmed in a second, but their attention was drawn.

"Hey what the hell is wrong with you all?" The group looked at them, facing the trail behind them with their heads to the sky.

They followed where the group was looking.

Just barely above the trees, diving in and out of the sky on massive pale blueish grey bat wings, a single BloodStaved Vampire approached. He was small, no larger or heavier than Warren, hair like dirty strings of gold that slithered and tangled its way down his fluid less cord-like muscled physique. As he got closer Claude realized it was a woman. The remnants of a black cloak covered her barely, the rest of her was covered in steaming holes where burning embers fluttered.

She was burning. Dying. Something about it was sad. But even more so odd, because the Vampire passed food…. Blood, miles ago. Yet there it was.

It hit the ground no more than a hundred feet away from them, rolling through the dirt and groggily getting to its feet.

Everyone was so transfixed by the bizarre phenomena that they didn't attack. Still stunned. Even as it tried to take a step towards them, only the shadows of the trees ended where it stood, the suns light expanded.

The Vampire didn't seem to care as it burst into flames. It screamed from the pain, but its eyes remained focused and its body held fast. It lifted an arm and pointed.

Claude thought it was him until he saw he moved out from behind him and stood next to him.

An arrow whistled through the air and slammed into its head, exploding it into ash. Maris continued to stare a while longer…

After a while they headed into the city, in a rush to get home and get the nightmares that were destined to come over with. They didn't talk much after what happened, neither did the Heroes ahead of them that kept looking back at Maris and the others in discomfort. When they finally separated and were on the way to the Aslan Estate, Claude felt a bit more relaxed…..

Then he found the newspaper stand was recently updated. As if their night wasn't crazy enough.

"Reports of Marshall Leon, Ronin, in The Levant Confirmed after one of his two sons is FOUND ALIVE!!"