The light spread just a little. It touches the edges of some of the crates. It lit up ropes and the boards beneath her feet.
What she was searching for couldn't just be a shadow, but it could be afraid of light or fire.
She wasn't trying to scare it off, but rather to contain it somehow. Capturing it without killing it would have been the best.
Something in front of her seemed to bend the light of the mana softly.
She narrowed her eyes and moved ahead slowly.
The distortion of the light flickered and once did so strongly.
And the feeling that she had disappeared. It was gone.
Sonder remained still for a few seconds longer.
Waiting.
But it didn't return.
"Was it below?" She asked herself in her thoughts.
It wasn't.
She shifted her grip on the staff and turned.
It didn't just shift around to reappear somewhere close. It didn't seem to be on this part of the ship anymore, which wasn't a good sign.
She sent her senses to other parts of the ship, lower than this one.
Places that passengers didn't go and the crew rarely went to.
Places where things could exist without being seen.
Sonder's magic moved deeper into the hold.
Toward where things became less tended.
Nothing.
But it had to be somewhere. It was here. Whatever it was.
That much she knew. There was an unnatural presence on ship ship, other than her.
And then she heard something. Above her, and it was loud enough that everyone below deck could hear it.
It was a shout, a yell of clear panic.
Sonder moved without hesitation and ran up the stairs back to the deck.
She had no care for silence or stealth.
Up on the deck, a sailor was screaming.
He was on the ground, dragged across the deck, his hands clawing at the wood as something pulled him backward.
Sonder's eyes locked onto the thing that dragged him.
At first, it almost looked like a man.
It was tall and, on closer inspection, beastly.
It had wings, but not feathered ones. They went from its shoulders to the lower spine.
They were stretched and ragged.
Membranes pulled thin between jagged, bone-like supports.
The creature dragged the sailor with one arm, effortlessly.
Its hands were clawed.
The sailor turned while being dragged and kicked the creature.
He struggled with all his might.
"Hel-!" He yelled, but the word broke as he was yanked harder. "Help!"
His yelling altered all the other sailors that were on guard.
But none were close enough.
None were moving in fast enough.
Or brave enough.
The creature stopped.
Its head turned.
Slowly.
Toward Sonder.