Crazy girl

Omen stood on the edge of the group formation, his dark green combat suit blending into the jade forest's oppressive gloom. The thick black boots crunched softly against the damp earth as his eyes traced the twisted, gnarled trees stretching into the dimming sky.

Ahead of him, Cale—their leader—paused in a small clearing surrounded by sparse shrubs, his face stern but calm. The forest swallowed most sounds, leaving only the faint crackle of dried leaves underfoot and the occasional distant screech of a creature too far off to identify.

"The night is drawing nearer," Cale's voice broke the silence. "Let's camp here for tonight." Everyone accepted this…except Rufus.

"What if we were to camp here tonight as you say and then sleep off, only to find a mutated soul beast, feeding on the intestines of our soul forms and recreating the greatest torture ever existing--"

Cale cut him off, his tone dismissive but not unkind. "We'll rotate our sleeping time to prevent that from happening, Rufus. Don't fret." Cale's lips curled into a smile "So, Nico, why don't you go for the fir—"

Cale's words trailed off as he turned to face Nico.

Nico stood slightly apart from the group. She was giggling softly to herself, her head tilted down as she licked the edge of her throwing knife with a slow motion. Cale felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he watched her.

Cale hesitated, his smile fading as his gaze fixed on Nico's knife. "Oh, never mind," he muttered, clearly reconsidering asking her to take the first watch.

"Omen, if you don't mind, how about you take the first watch?"

Omen lifted his head slowly, meeting Cale's gaze with cold, emotionless eyes. He gave a silent nod in response, his face giving nothing away.

Cale sighed audibly; his breath heavy with relief "Thanks, Rookie. Make sure you wake us up if you hear anything weird," Cale muttered, turning away as quickly as he could, eager to retreat to the safety of his sleeping bag.

Omen watched him go, his mind cold and detached. He glanced at the sky, the deepening twilight casting long shadows over the forest floor.

Later that night Omen rose from the ground, his eyes scanning the perimeter, he took a glance at his teammates and realized the sudden life signature belonged to one of them. He turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on Nico. She stirred, rising from her sleeping bag, her dark hair hanging loosely around her face. The girl stretched lazily, her throwing knife already in hand, the blade gleaming even in the faint light. Her tired eyes scanned the area, and a mischievous grin twisted her lips when she spotted Omen sitting alone.

He knew that grin. It was the precursor to trouble.

"Go back to sleep, Nico," Omen said plainly, his voice flat as his eyes fixed on her, calm but knowing.

Nico's smile only widened, her expression lighting up with wild excitement. In one swift motion, her arm flung forward, and the knife hurtled toward him, its blade spinning through the air. Omen reacted instantly, rolling to the side with fluid grace. The knife embedded itself deeply into the ground where he had been sitting moments earlier, its hilt quivering slightly from the force of the throw.

"Tell me, Omen," Nico said, her voice full of unrestrained glee, "do you have some kind of precognition skill? How far does it go? What are the limits!" Her sudden laughter filled the clearing, loud and echoing in the otherwise dead silence of the forest.

Omen stood, dusting off his knees as he shot her an icy glare. The amusement in her eyes gleamed dangerously. The sharp sound was entirely out of place here, jarring against the dark, oppressive atmosphere of the forest.

And it wasn't just the boys who were startled awake by Nico's noise. Deep within the suffocating darkness of the jade forest, something stirred.

Omen's gaze snapped toward the trees. His instincts screamed at him—'hundreds of eyes', glimmering like faint stars within the black void of the forest, blinked open. Silent, watching, waiting. The creatures of the night were no longer resting.

Cale's hand fumbled for his sword, eyes squinting in confusion as he struggled to process what had just happened. Rufus, still half-asleep, looked between Nico and Omen, trying to figure out what had awoken him, oblivious to the growing menace in the darkness. Nico, however, remained unfazed. She was still grinning, Cale's voice cracked with alarm as he whipped around to face Nico, the tension in his eyes unmistakable.

"What the hell have you done, Rico?" His voice was sharp, panic barely contained as his gaze flickered from the crazy girl to the dark forest beyond.

"Why are you panicking?" Nico said as she tilted her head, her lips curling into a playful, innocent smile, completely ignorant of the chaos she had unleashed.

Omen however was still focused on the forest, he stood by the edge of the clearing, his body perfectly still, his eyes narrowed and locked on the shadows shifting in the forest.

"What do you see, Rookie?" Cale's voice softened with an edge of desperation, pleading for an answer. His hand gripped his sword tightly, fingers trembling slightly.

Omen didn't respond right away. His cold gaze slid from the darkness of the forest and fell on Nico, a slight smirk twisting the corners of his lips. The expression wasn't one of amusement—it was dark, tinged with something far more dangerous.

"You have doomed us all you crazy girl" he said, his voice low and gravelly, the words slipping from his mouth like poison. "Looks like we need to run, Cale." His eyes shifted back to the forest. "Mountain wolves are approaching. And these guys… are fast."

Cale's face drained of colour, his body tensing as he processed the words. Mountain wolves—he'd heard enough stories of their relentless brutality to know what that meant. He opened his mouth to respond, but Omen cut him off.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't only the wolves she disturbed." Omen's gaze flicked back to Nico, who was watching them with a smug expression, still oblivious to the depth of what she had done. "The nearest soul beasts have also drawn their attention to us. What say you?"