Prowling enemies

The alchemist yawned as he peeled the crusty mucus from his eyes. The hut that he had repurposed as a laboratory had only one window, so even with the sun out he had to use candles to light the interior. He carefully searched through shelves upon which numerous vials of liquids, herbs and other ingredients were arranged until he had found what he was looking for.

It was a glass container that hosted a pair of eyeballs and a heart, submerged in cloudy, green liquid. The organs would be preserved, but not for very long, he had estimated that he would have about two days to make use of them. He lifted the container to the light and looked through it for a moment's time, after which he positioned it on the table to the inside-most corner of the room. He had arranged all the instruments as neatly as possible, two burners, multiple other vials of many shapes and distillation equipment which was steadily dripping its translucent content into an other glass beaker. The preparations were complete and he now simply had to be patient for his final ingredient to arrive.

On the side of the table lay a journal with a tag that read "Ephes R.".

Inside the forest by the side of the mountain four speechless individuals had gathered around a bear's carcass. Mes was studying the traces of the fight between the animal and its opponent while Hazsho and the two swordsmen kept watch, or at least were supposed to.

"C-Corruption?", one of the young men spoke.

"Be quiet!" murmured the voice of the other.

The sight was horrible, bite marks could be seen all over the abdomen and the soft pinkish innards had slipped through and created a small pool of tissue and blood. Among the blood and the entrails there was a black viscous substance that wiggled around as if it was alive, like a worm, slowly burrowing into pieces of flesh. Mes recognised it instantly, what was the telltale sign of dark mana otherwise referred to as corruption.

Corrupted beings were rare to come across in this region, something strong enough to kill such a tough opponent was even further reason to be worried.

"A part of the the bear was cut, bitten open. The footprints behind it are long and thin, probably humanoid." Her voice tore through the silence with focused intensity.

"A humanoid?" Hazsho asked in surprise.

It had been bad enough that they discovered corruption, even worse now that they suspected the presence of a corrupted human. Humanoids were generally more dangerous than other monsters, they tended to work in groups and were more intelligent. In the worst case, if the corrupted were a human, it would try to use tricks, traps and weapons.

"Even so, we're getting the reward for this, right bro?", inquired one of the young men indecisively to his partner.

"I don't really think-"

"Yes, we are! And we're talking the reward of whoever leaves as well!" Mes was interrupted by the swordsman's partner, who immediately jumped for the opportunity to raise his gain.

They clearly didn't understand how dangerous this request had become. Or maybe their situation was similar to hers and they just couldn't let this go, for simple people like her the reward for this request was more than she could've made in years. It was a chance for a better future and she understood what not taking it could mean. But for her, money wasn't everything and she also had her brothers to take care of.

Hazsho looked disappointed, he couldn't see why these people would so readily put their lives on the line for what he considered some pieces of metal. The situation had obviously exceeded the amount of payment that they were promised, to him the most logical course of action was to abandon the objective and notify others of the corrupted's existence.

"Then, you can have the reward for this request all for yourselves."

They concluded the matter as civilised as it could be done. To begin with, none of them really cared for or even knew each other at all, but from Mes' perspective being alive was much more important than the silver. She didn't only have her hopes and dreams, she had to take care of her family and that came above all else.

On the way back to the village Hazsho asked her if there was a local priest in charge that could cleanse the corruption, but there wasn't any. The nearest temple was in a village on the other side of the mountain.

So the first thing they did once they reached the village was to notify the inhabitants of the potential danger and to prepare to evacuate. Hazsho would let the Alchemist know as well, and Mes would gather her brothers and their belongings and depart before the end of the day.

At first, the twins protested, but after seeing the neighbours all frantic they complied. The small family and two other people would ride out with the merchant that lived in the house next to theirs, mainly because they had two horses and a wares' wagon that could carry them, which would make the journey much quicker.

They had agreed that they would ride together until the city of Wior. The journey was to take approximately eight days with the increased weight. As compensation Mes would hunt animals on their stops and guard during the night. She didn't want it to happen like this, in a disorienting frenzy of chaos and imminence. She had hardly enough coins to rent a small room in the city and once there she would have to find work to sustain her family. But she feared for her brothers and it was the only way. They had all heard stories of horror and destruction that followed the wake of the corrupted, the fear of events from the past had long since outlived the countries from which it hailed. But unfortunately, not all were convinced to leave their whole lives behind and start from scratch. They didn't know, how could they? Nowadays it was way too safe, humans had learned from mistakes of the past and they could 'take care of it', Mes' late father had told her. Science, magic and even miracles, humans were capable of anything. She hoped he was right, but now she could only pray that the village would not have to require any of that. Of course, she still hated it, an isolated, backwater, lonely place, where one could never have enough of anything. But she had no such feelings for its inhabitants.

The twins were asleep, leaning into each other they looked so peaceful. Their pointy ears moved back and forth at the slightest of noises. The beastfolk, humans with animal-like ears, nails or tails, famous for their keen senses and their extraordinary physical abilities. Right when the sun was about to set, they stopped and set up a tent over the wagon to keep out the cold of the night. Five people in total would have to cram together in a very tight space, although that would help keep them warm.

The two brothers had been part of a bandit group that had dispersed due to the unrelenting pursuit of the authorities. They had migrated to the outermost of the developed territories in order to lay low for a while. In the village next to this one they had heard of the job that was put up by the alchemist and wandered all the way by foot only to be met with such terrible luck. They had exchanged vile descriptions of the two that had quit, but both of them were almost thankful to have had the chance to gain twice as much of a reward.

"Now that that thing is dead, there won't be anything to stop us from taking the, what was it called?"

"Moonleaf, remember it grows in dark places. In any case, maybe we should head back and start the search again tomorrow." It was way past noon, and if they wanted to make it to a safe area before dark they had to return with haste.

"Well-" one of them started, but didn't manage to finish. He let out a scream of pain, alerting his companion, who speedily turned around at the sense of danger.

But he was too late, his brother had been attacked from the back by an undead. It bit into the side of his throat and steadily turned its head to direct its hollow eye-sockets straight at him. Then, *crunch*.

He was dead, his most cherished friend had just died. The thing that had murdered him now let him go and licked its torn lips as it opened its mouth. Unhurried and steadily, it let out a low growl that clumsily formed a word. "Blood..."

"YOU", he shouted at it and ran with his sword bared, ready in a piercing stance. It slid inside the soft decaying flesh with little resistance. In the state of shock, he didn't notice the undead had grasped his arms with its rigid, claw-like hands.

The horror he was witnessing was worse than anything he had seen before. It now moved its body closer, letting the blade run through its body completely, then it let out an ear-piercing sound.

The swordsman grappled away from the grip of the monster and created some distance between them. But the corpse did not try to pursue him, its movements were sluggish, and so he ran, he ran with all his might, not daring to look behind.