Snap. Crack… The sound of snapping branches was becoming more frequent and closer. Our backs were facing each other with only a breath's width of distance, and that made me hope that space was enough for her not to hear my drumming heart.

  …

  The silence made me tighten my grip on my knives.

  "They're surrounding us," Reilya spoke, her voice calm. "Two at our sides and one on each front-"

  A smile, white and sharp, appeared as if the air grew teeth and the world turned silent, other than the beat of my heart.

  Faster and slower. My heart beat faster, and the world became slower, a familiar stimulus coursed through me, and yet it was stronger than anything I felt before. I breathed, and the air was colder. Fresher and carrying the smell of mint.

  Those in front were bait.

  "Chester!" Her words were dull in my ears, and my body moved on its own. Turning left, another white smile was dashing toward me, its white-scaled body shimmering into visibility before pouncing, and my head turned back in front; the other one was also just about to pounce.

  Crash! They fell in mid-air as if gravity was suddenly doubled, screeching and scrambling to stand a few feet before me.

  "Chester now!" My body moved before Reilya could finish. Holding my knife high and hammering it down onto the skull of the first, the spiral blade pierced through their scales like paper, and cracked through their skull as if it were ice. Their eyes cried a muted red before they even turned to me.

  Leaving my blade stuck on their skull, I sprinted to the next, and it hissed with eyes of fear and confusion. It raised a claw before stumbling forward and serving its head. The trailing point edge of my blade wetly-fully sheathed into their eye, and a breath left me before sheathing my wrist further into it. Inside was cold, and they went limp a second later.

  My head turned to the last pair, but they were gone, turned to burning mounds, and my eyes turned to Reilya. Steam hazed her form, and as she turned her head at me, my body stiffened.

  "You alright?" Their voice remained the same, and yet for a second, I was unsure.

  "I'm fine," I answered, pulling out my hand and knife with a squelching pop. Looking at my hand clutching the handle, even through my gloves, I could see and feel that my fingers were wrong. Twisted and possibly broken, strangely, it did not hurt but rather felt dull.

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  Inhaling and exhaling, my knife fell as I pried my fingers open and pulled them back into their place. The smell of burnt meat was faint, but it was sharper than my impromptu fix.

  "I'm fine," I repeated, and our eyes met again. And again, from her face, it was clear that she did not accept my answer.

  "…Alright then, just don't push yourself too much."

  "I won't." I felt more alive than ever before, but from what I have experienced, I knew this feeling was only temporary. "Let's go."

  "Aren't you forgetting something?" Turning my neck back. Railya offered my trailing point knife back to me, handle first, and with her head turned to my first kill. "Are you really ok?"

  "…I just need some rest," I answered, and they nodded with an understanding smile. I took my knife and pocketed it before walking back to my first kill.

  My memories of how I managed to kill such a beast were hazy and blurred, even though it was very recent. A juvenile white basilisk, significantly smaller and weaker than its adult counterpart, but they were still bigger than a lion, leaner, and yet somehow more muscular.

  Crouching and placing my feet on their flat, spear-like head. Grabbing the handle of my blade and pulled with all my strength, but it remained fully fused to the carcass. I pulled again and twisted. A squelching crack before it was free. Dripping with blood mixed with other fluids, scanning the blade, the twisted tip was chipped, and I sighed and flicked the blade clean before returning it to my coat.

  "Let's go," I said, and Reilya nodded and followed, walking beside me, and for a while we stayed silent.

  "How do you know where it is?" They finally asked, and my hand went inside my coat to answer.

  "This," I said, and pulled out a compass. Obsidian black and perfectly square, its unique feature was that it had two faces, one with normal markings and design, while the other was bare and had one bright blue needle.

  Looking at the compass, our direction was off by a couple of degrees. We turned left.

  "Isn't that just your compass?" She asked with a knowing tone. She was right and also wrong.

  "It was, but the lord had it modified… I have no idea how, but the needle always points to the cabin." My own answer sounded hollow to my ears, but it seemed to satisfy her, and a comfortable silence fell between us until we had reached our destination.

  After hours, it appeared suddenly through fading trees, a two story wooden cabin in the middle of a village-sized clearing surrounded by flowering fields of green. It was a picture of spring trapped within the heart of winter. And for a while, we were left standing on its border.

  "Were really here..." Her voice sounded distant. "We're really here." She said, placing an arm around my shoulder, then pulled.

  I could not breathe; my entire body felt like it was being crushed, and it oddly felt nice

  "Chester, we're actually here!" Excitement was clear in her voice. "Haha, it's finally over!"

  "It is," I murmured before finally relenting and wrapping my arms around her.

  "Come on, don't be like that, you should sound more alive!" It almost made me chuckle.

  Almost.

  It did.

  "Ok, ok." The airiness of my voice was unfamiliar to my ear, and she loosened her grip around me.

  "It's finally over," Her voice softened. "No more running, we're finally home."