Obed stood on a thick branch overlooking the path, his body tense and cold.

The night was quiet. Very, very quiet.

As quiet as a graveyard.

The slight buzz of enormous insects, quiet as killers, and just as deadly... Creatures evolved to silently latch onto and devour their prey.

Obed felt his breathing to a minimum to escape their detection.

He had learned from killers mired in the ways of blood and death. Of course, his teachers had been horrible people and had all died within the jaws of Abominations or under the blades of foes and friends.

Because of that, he'd learned not to trust silence in places like this.

Silence always meant something was stalking, watching, and deciding whether to stick a fang or a blade into your back.

Silence was the moment before violence, after all.

His good hand rested on the pommel of his short sword, the blade already drawn and held low against his leg. His broken arm hung in its makeshift sling, a constant reminder of his limitations.

Despite the night chill, a bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

Below, the path stretched through the darkness, barely visible even with the moonlight filtering through the canopy.

A soft, suppressed breath escaped from his lips like a sharp arrow.

Somewhere out there, Nero was supposed to be getting the Teargail Fungi with Lucy and Aisha. Granted, they hadn't been out there for too long. It had only been a few hours.

But there was a possibility...

That none of them would return. Because they were all dead.

Obed pushed that thought away and focused on his breathing. Slowly through the nose and then out through the mouth. Breath control was a must as it helped to keep the nerves calm right before an ambush.

He had slaughtered many men this way. Good and bad.

It had become second nature to him.

His dark eyes glinted like obsidian in the night. His gaze was that of a hunter, steady and controlled, just like he had been taught back when it had all began.

On those wretched streets.

His eyelids twitched as his eyes narrowed.

There was movement.

Obed's entire body went rigid, his eyes snapping to a section of the path about fifty yards away. Something was approaching, moving through the underbrush with the stealth of a nocturnal beast.

Obed dropped from the branch, landing in a crouch that sent a spike of pain through his injured stomach. He ignored it, his muscles coiling as he prepared to strike.

He waited as the suppressed footsteps grew closer.

He wore a dark frown on his face,

'Its not one of those things again, is it?'

He shook his head. Those things weren't subtle whatsoever.

He frowned. If it was not the Abomination, then what was it?

Those things didn't move with this kind of caution after all.

He also couldn't feel any killing intent, something Abominations leaked in waves.

Still, that didn't mean whatever was coming was friendly. If anything, the fact it could hide its killing intent meant it was most likely very dangerous.

Obed clenched his teeth as he prepared himself, his heart hammered in his chest, with each beat loud enough that he was almost certain whatever was approaching could hear it. His palm grew slick with sweat around the sword's grip. He adjusted his stance slightly, compensating for the loss of his off-hand.

The figure emerged from the darkness.

Obed exploded forward, his blade coming up in a strike aimed at the throat. With years of training and instinct guiding the movement, he displayed perfect form despite his injuries.

A hand shot out and caught his wrist, stopping the blade inches from flesh.

"Obed!"

The voice registered a split second before his brain processed the face.

Nero.

Obed blinked, his entire body going slack with shock. "Nero?"

The young man stared at him with wide eyes, still gripping Obed's wrist firmly. His face was covered in dried blood and dirt, his clothes torn and stained with substances Obed didn't want to identify. He looked like he'd crawled through the Seven Hells and back.

But he was alive.

Nero released Obed's wrist and took a step back, his expression shifting from alarm to confusion. "Obed. What was that all about?"

Obed lowered his sword slowly, his hands still shaking with adrenaline. He let out a long, tired sigh. Looking at Nero now, at the exhaustion written across the kid's face, Obed felt his own exhaustion come crashing down on him like a wave.

"It's nothing," he said, though his voice betrayed how much of a lie that was. "We've just been dealing with a few... intruders lately."

That was putting it mildly. Three attacks in just a few hours. While the damn things weren't the most terrifying Abominations in the forest, they were no less deadly. Obed, Geor and the other fighters had managed to drive them off, but it had cost them more than a few lives. Geor had taken a nasty cut across his shoulder as well and Obed's stomach wound had reopened during the last fight.

Things were getting worse and desperation was spreading through the refugee camp like a plague.

He paused for a moment, studying Nero's face. The kid looked like death warmed over, but there was something different about him. Something in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Still," Obed said, allowing himself a small smile. "I'm glad you're back."

Then he looked past Nero, frowning when he didn't see the others. "Where's the other two?"

Nero shook his head. "I told them to stay back while I scout ahead first."

Obed nodded. Smart. If there was danger, better for one person to walk into it than all three.

"Good. Then what about..." He trailed off, not wanting to ask directly. He feared that if he did, the reality that the entire trip had been for nothing would break his mind.

Nero's expression shifted, and for the first time since emerging from the darkness, he grinned.

"I got it."

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