An intruder

The feeling of disgust and dread only grew stronger with the approach of that thing. I didn't know what it was but I refused to consider it as an actual creature. When I thought about it, the thing might happen to be an abomination. Abominations were said to have tainted mana and strong auras that can influence creatures in their vicinity. Although… I don't think abominations can have a body as young as this one.

It was steadily walking closer to my hiding place, holding a strange red shiny item in its hand. Its green eyes were looking slightly above the item as if it could see something I could not. It held the bow in its other hand.

I started to recognise parts of it – the bow, shoes, poaches and an overly large and old backpack on its back. I knew that I had never seen those things before, just like I had never seen a human. But a part of me seemed to remember. A part that seemed to remember all of those strange dreams I had.

The shiny thing was named 'pendant' and it was usually worn on a string or a delicate chain around a neck. This one appeared to be made out of slivery metal and had a large red gem placed in its middle. This gem was giving off a faint glow that seemed to flow out of it like smoke.

My muscles were growing even more tense than they already were and my heart sped up even more. Not sure how that was possible, but I could no longer even tell apart the individual beats. I felt like I was supposed to remember or think about something at that moment, but the threat moving closer to me was more concerning.

The think stopped just a few steps away from the edge of the bush and took a good look at it. Even if I was sure that it couldn't see me there, I held my breath.

It knew. Dear stars above, it knew.

Was it better to run at it and hope it gets confused, or turn and try to run in the opposite direction? How fast could it react? What magic could it use? If I ran long enough, will I lose it? What if it finds me again?

I was no runner like Toik was. I could keep up with him when we ran short distances or in a difficult terrain, but I quickly lost when it came to sprinting for a prolonged amount of time. I also didn't have the endurance for a longer run like mother did, nor was I built to fight it head on. Whenever it came to wrestling with my siblings, I relied on my ability to dodge, hide and get to places they couldn't even dream of reaching. Unless I had surprise on my side, there was no way I could fight it.

"Where is it?" it said as its green eyes searched under the bush. It seemed confused and took a quick look at the pendant again, before squirting in my general direction. It's eyes, however, never truly focused on me.

I was stunned into silence. Not that I was making any noise before, but if I was, I would stop.

I understood it. I understood what it said.

The sound that came from it was a complete gibberish to me, but a part of me recognised this strange bird song as a language. One of human languages, to be precise. How? I had no idea.

The creatures of the forest all spoke the beast tongue. Beasts and monsters all knew and spoke in this very language between themselves, no matter their origin. We didn't use specific sounds, but instead a combination of clicks, body language and our own typical sounds to say something. This all was supported by a tiny amount of mana or energy, though. And that is why we could understand each other almost perfectly despite being different species. There were many varieties to the beast tongue, but we all understood it and spoke it. Even some animals could learn how to mimic it enough to communicate.

Maybe that's why human language seemed so strange to me. They didn't use their own natural connection to energy to communicate with each other and instead created a complicated system of differently affected parts of their voice.

There was even a memory in the back of my mind that held information about more human languages that sounded completely different to each other and humans who spoke them couldn't understand the other unless they learned it. And the learning could take years.

So how could I understand it despite hearing a human-like creature speak for the first time? I had no answer to the question.

Back to the thing, it was clear that it couldn't actually see me. That fact didn't help to ease my nerves though. If it couldn't see me, how could it know that I was here? Was it perhaps looking for something else?

My eyes grew wide when I smelt something similar to a thunderstorm in the air. It was the exact scent that was typical for Toik and a smell that I noticed when I was looking for my next meal. Electricity. A lightning running in the air and charging it up with its energy.

I turned and ran before the thing could try and send a lightning bolt into me. The thorns dug into my skin as I ran, but no blood was left on them when I left. The few red droplets that ran down my fur were quickly turned into black fog thanks to my element and joined the thin cloud tightly clinging to my body.

The Black mist ate the blood that escaped my wounds and helped the tiny scratches close and heal quicker. It was supposed to make me almost impossible to track, but the moment I sprinted from my hiding place, the thing started to follow. I think I startled it for a bit there, but its cold green eyes were now focused back on the red gem inside the pendant as it ran after me.

I heard how earth and dead leaves shifted as it ran, creating more sound that it was supposed to make. I think it was using wind magic to keep up with me. Two elements? Was in normal for humans at such young age?

I sprinted with all I had but the thing just wouldn't give up. It was just barely fast enough for me to noc completely lose it between the bushes and trees and even when I tried to lead it into a batch of rather thorny and sticky vines, the thing merely used it's air magic to momentarily glide above them.

When I finally rounded a rather big tree I swiftly climbed up, hiding in its higher branches. I stilled and hastily tried to calm my breathing and heart.

The sun falling on my fur through the freshly grown leaves was spreading its warm through my dark grey fur and feathers. I might be grey, but I still blended into my surroundings pretty well even without the use of my element. Mother once said that my fur may look grey to me all the time, but it actually took on slightly different shades of my vicinity, blending me in, no matter if I was actually trying to hide, or not.

The feathers on my back and tail relaxed and started to gently sway to the breeze along with the leaves. There was no way the thing can find me like this.

I still heard its footsteps closing it and when I spotted it, it was frequently checking the pendant while running. Why was it checking it? Was it perhaps the pendant that found me and not the thing itself? Can items do that?!

I closed my eyes and slightly relaxed my body, concentrating on releasing more of my element. I felt a gentle brushing of the Black mist against my coat as it slowly enveloped not only me, but also part of my surroundings. The fog now felt more solid as it clung to my feathers and fur. I also felt my element somewhat shift inside me.

I didn't know what has happened exactly, but I sure did hope that I was now hidden from both the thing and its item.

I heard it rush towards me and then stop by the tree. There was a short pause in its movements, before it started to circle around the tree base. I think I heard it mutter a curse.

My breathing was quiet and steady, but my heartbeat was still pretty fast. The stench of death and something disgusting returned and I had a strong need to throw up whatever was left inside of me. Just what was it? I was sure I had never encountered this type of scent before today, and yet it seemed strangely familiar.

I knew it was searching and couldn't see me. Maybe my element really did something that blocked whatever ability it had. Maybe all I needed to do was stay here for a while longer and it would give up.

As it moved around, the smell it had had turned stronger around me. I tried to make my element block any scents from getting close to my head but the stench only grew stronger and more prominent when all other scents disappeared. It was as if it wasn't even a real smell.

Now that it was stronger, I noticed that it was actually a mix of several different scents instead of only one that was coming from it. It was a combination I had never heard of, nor one that I knew.

A part of it was slowly rotting away. I had no idea what it was before it started to decompose, but it did not resemble anything I knew of. It wasn't meat or plant that was rotting – it was something else entirely.

There was also something that smelt like a fresh kill. A severed path of life, if you will. This scent only appeared shortly after a life ended and one could only smell it if they were right next to the creature that died. I could smell the separation of the bond that held the body to this world. The path that the body was meant to be walking on has ended and it was now supposed to be lying on its end, not walking around.

I could also smell the scent that definitely belonged to a creature and from the stories that I heard; it was typically human.

And then there was the last part in the mix. The part that reeked of death and something so unnatural that I felt my whole body try and reject it.

It was NOT supposed to be here. Something in that scent was setting me on edge and making me want to end this existence at once. It was also the part that was so disgustingly familiar...

I lost all of my concentration when a strange feeling suddenly spread through my body. I heard a quick movement from bellow the moment my element seeped back into my body, but my mind was far too occupied to notice the incoming attack.

A part of that thing was not from here and a part of it was missing at the same time. The reason why it felt so familiar? It had something inside of its head that was not meant to be there.

An intruder.