Chapter 8

Eska stops on her tracks, her eyes widened, slightly shaking in surprise. "Access to my brain? What, What can you do with that?"

"Everything." The mimic explains. "I can take complete control of your body and mind. Mimic you." Eska seems stunned by this response. Her face changes to a more serious one as she begins walking towards the road again. The wind brushes past her. She looks up, watching the leaves and branches move as the wind pushes them.

"Why haven't you?" Eska asks, more calm now as she gives it a thought.

"Because your body, mind and soul are needed for our goals to succeed. Because you need my soul to be complete. You don't need to worry about me, I am here to help and nothing more. You will remain you, until the end."

"What is your name, Demon?"

"As a demon, I am Seech. As a human. Marina. As I am now, simply a Mimic. You may call me what you like."

"Seech." is all Eska says.

Eska seems satisfied for now. She walks for a few hours, catching a few animals on the way and gathering some wild pants as well. She places the herbs in the bag she carries on her side, the smaller animals she ties them to a rope and carries them over her shoulder. She is proficient with her bloodcraft now. Before yesterday she was able to create small items such as a dagger and she had to keep them close to her. But after what happened with Seech and the soldiers, she is able to manipulate it with much more proficiency. She can create whips, and even launch hardened and sharp pieces. Though her control is limited by a few feet in length, to a trained hunter like her this is enough when lacking weapons and tools.

The forest is thick around this part but not enough to cover the sun, there is still light around. The trees aren't that far apart, but she is used to this forest. She has a hunter's sense and can easily spot and hear threats and useful resources around her. This includes a battle happening not far from her location. 

She rushes to the source of the noise, quietly moving through the bushes. Up ahead in front of her she can see movement. There seems to be a few people in combat gear. Three people each wearing metal armor, leather and robes. They seem to be battling a group of creatures, at least seven of them. The creatures are about three feet tall, thin and completely lacking hair. Their muscles can be seen on their skin, almost seeming sinewy. Their skin is dusky gray with a few black and dark green spots. They all have small but sharp horns on their heads, while their eyes are completely enveloped in black, almost like they are missing. Their sharp teeth show as they grin at the hunters. Their claws seem small compared to other predators, but they are agile enough to be jumping from tree to tree and holding onto them with ease.

The hunters are back to back trying to cover their blindspots, but this doesn't work. One of the creatures appears from above and grabs a hold of the heavily armored one. The hunter panics and as he tries to shake the creature off he walks into the bigger group. The creatures don't hesitate a single second and jump on top of the man. The man in leather approaches, trying to help but he is repelled by one of the creatures as it swipes with its claws.

His screams of pain echo through the forest as the creatures scratch and stab at the openings between the armor openings. Piece by piece his armor is stripped away quickly replaced by red and in seconds the man gargles on his own blood before falling silent.

Five human corpses now litter the ground. Eska can see the remaining hunters panicking as the creatures move towards them slowly. She sees this as an opportunity, she draws blood from her arm and creates an impossibly thin blade. She makes her way around and behind the creatures as they take their time with their easy prey.

As soon as one of the creatures is in range she quickly pounces. She wastes no movement or space between each of the creatures. In a single swift move she punctures across the neck of three of them and jumps back into the tree line. A gargling scream comes out of the three creatures, attempting to cover their newly discovered wounds but unable to stop the blood from rushing out of their bodies. The other four look around in panic, screaming at the forest in confusion.

Eska finds the next spot, she climbs onto the tree and quickly jumps down, cutting the throat of one of them and pushing another to the ground before vanishing into the trees once more. The creatures seem more alert now and their faces are full of rage. One of them speaks, "Show yourself!" In a screechy and piercing voice but Eska ignores them. The group huddles together trying to cover each other's backs, mimicking what the group did before. 

Suddenly a shout comes from the leftover hunters, taking the attention of the surprised creatures but a bright light takes them by surprise, blinding them in the process. They cover their eyes from the bright light and scream in pain. The leather armored hunter rushes to the creatures and swings his short sword at one of the creature's neck, while the robed woman brings down her staff on another. The bludgeoned creature falls to the floor in pain and the other hunter finishes it off before it can recover.

They look at the last remaining creature but it is already bleeding, Eska standing behind it. With one swing of her bloodblade, the creature loses its head and falls dead. 

The hunters look at her with wide eyes, nearly letting tears out. They prepare a nervous smile and approach her. The armored man extends his hand towards her "Thank you miss! We would have died back there without your help" Eska stares at him in silence for a few seconds, looks down at his hand then towards him. She speaks in a serious tone "I don't think I've seen those before."

The man looks down at his hand and pulls it back nervously, not sure what to say. He looks back at the robed woman in confusion, as if he didn't know what to say. She begins speaking towards her "A goblin subtype? Maybe imps. The city has yet to classify it. Other hunters have run into them twice now, well... Three times now." The woman looks around a bit scared from her previous encounter, then continues. "They are stronger, and more agile than the others. They also seem to have an affinity for ambushes and stealth. If it wasn't for Crell, we would have all died in the first attack." She pauses, looking down in regret. "Unfortunately his experience wasn't enough."

Eska remains silent as she watches the woman speak. The leather man places his hand on her shoulder "We can't change what happened, but we can avenge it." The woman nods to him with a sad smile before seeing the blood on his body. She urges him to sit. She holds her staff on one hand and with her other hand she touches the wound. Her staff begins to give off a slight green glow as well as the palm of her hand. She talks to him as the glow seems to comfort his pain. "You should have said something, you know this takes time!"

"It's barely a scratch" He replies with a soft laugh while trying to remain still for her healing magic to work properly. Eska watches the display of magic in awe, "I haven't seen that before."

The priestess looks up at Eska in a bit of confusion. "Our lord gave us this gift a decade ago. 'In preparation of what is to come' he said. Many of us were blessed to act as healers. It isn't much unlike our magic, some children have already shown signs of possessing the gift too." Eska's curiosity is peaked, she wants to ask more but she decides against it. After all, she needs to continue her trip.

She bids farewell to the hunters and begins to make her way out of the death pit, though she is stopped by the leather armored man. "Wait! You should come with us. We are headed back to the city after we collect a few of our people's belongings and some proof that these things appeared again. We would really appreciate your combat expertise and we can reward you once we are back at the Hunters' Core." He says in a rush as if his words were on fire. Eska looks back at him, "Hunters' Core?"

The woman answers Eska, almost knowing she would ask the question. "A defense division in the city. They manage and distribute jobs around hunters for resource gathering and beast eliminations. Those in the Hunters' Core are called Hunters."

Eska remains silent, her hand rubs her chin as she is deep in thought then she speaks. "I'll wait for a bit and decide while you finish your gathering."

They seem pleased for now with the answer, the man lets out a sigh of relief as the woman continues her healing.

Eska's voice speaks to her once more. "It is... Disappointing to say the least, how far magic has fallen. Magic was granted by someone? Magic is not granted, it is earned. Learned. It is a good choice to use them as guides to the city though, but be careful of the woman. She already knows something is up from your lack of knowledge."