The forest never truly settled.
The quiet stretched too long between sounds, like something beneath the ground decided when life was allowed to continue. Jace remained on the ridge, unmoving, MARA resting steady in his hands, barrel angled low as he watched the settlement below through gaps in the silver-veined leaves. Smoke curled from chimneys. And figures moved in patterns he was starting to understand their routine, rhythm and life.
A flicker of motion broke the pattern. Something smaller and lower.
Jace adjusted slightly, careful not to compress the moss beneath him. The cub, grey-furred and unsteady, had wandered past the unseen edge of the settlement, crossing into the forest without hesitation. Too far. Jace didn't move, after all kids wandered. But that didn't mean anything—
MARA shifted.
Not physically—but the weight in his hands changed. A faint warmth spread along the grip, subtle but present, like a pressure without force. His focus tightened on the cub. He frowned slightly, dismissing it as nerves, but his eyes didn't leave. The cub stumbled over a root, caught itself, and kept going. No one had noticed its absence yet—
Then Jace felt it.
An all too familiar pressure through his boots, both faint and wrong. He went still. Another pulse followed, this one deeper, and closer. His gaze dropped to the ground around the cub. The moss wasn't still. It only looked that way. He now knew something beneath it moved with intent.
That... Thing.
The cub took another step, as Jace's jaw tightened. If it kept moving, it would die.
Still, he stayed where he was, silent, watching. Another pulse rolled beneath the forest floor—slow, searching. The cub froze, its instincts finally catching what its mind couldn't.
Good. Stay still.
MARA pulsed again—stronger now. The warmth climbed into his palm, steady, insistent. Not panic. Not fear.
Forward.
Jace exhaled slowly. 'Not my problem.' Jace's mind whispered, a cold rationale. Unknown species. Unknown outcome. Confrontation was illogical.
The cub made a small sound—high, uncertain—and turned toward the settlement. No one came.
Same size.
The thought slipped through anyway.
Same sound.
Just like Ramirez's daughter.
The ground pulsed again. Closer. The ripple beneath the surface tightened, locking towards its prey.
MARA shifted again. This time there was no mistaking it. Though MARA didn't visibly move, something in it leaned. Toward the cub.
This time Jace moved.
Not fast. Not sudden. Controlled. Each step placed carefully, weight spread, minimizing pressure. MARA came up slightly, ready but not aimed. His left hand moved grabbing a good-sized stone from the moss coated floor.
The ground pulsed again more aggressively as the moss behind the cub lifted slightly.
Too close.
Jace tossed the stone, sending it skidding across a root several yards to the side. It struck with a sharp crack.
The forest answered immediately. The ground surged toward the sound, soil lifting, roots bending as that Thing committed.
Jace moved.
Faster now, though still controlled.
The cub saw him but didn't run. It was too frightened to react as Jace dropped low, grabbing it cleanly, one hand securing its torso while the other covered its mouth before it could cry out. It struggled once, then froze.
The ground pulsed again behind them, the mound moved away from wrong direction, already correcting its path towards them.
Jace shifted immediately, angling downhill toward the creek. Hard ground. Water. Break the signal.
Each step was deliberate. No stomping. No wasted motion. The cub trembled in his grip as another tremor rolled through the forest. Gaining on them. The moss ahead bulged upward, cutting across his path. He wasn't going to make it this time—unless...
Jace tightened his grip on MARA.
One round.
He pivoted just enough, bringing the rifle to his shoulder. No hesitation as compressed his finger, firing a 3-round burst.
The rounds cracked through the forest—sharp, violent, completely alien. The round struck a root off-angle, splintering wood and driving a chaotic burst of vibration into the ground.
The shifting mound reacted instantly. The soil above it surged toward the impact, collapsing inward with violent force.
Jace moved. Down the slope. Into the creek, its cold-water surging around his boots as he stepped onto stone, the current swallowing the smaller vibrations of his movement. He dropped lower, keeping the cub tight against his chest.
The ground at the bank heaved, then stopped. A mound formed at the edge, pulsing once as if testing a boundary, one it couldn't cross cleanly.
Jace didn't move, didn't even breathe as the mound shifted left. Then right. Searching.
After a long moment, it sank back into the earth and the forest stilled once more.
But the tension didn't leave.
Jace climbed the opposite bank carefully, keeping his weight controlled as he pulled himself onto solid ground. The cub shifted in his arms—alive.
Then he heard movement, his head snapping toward the settlement. Figures were already moving through the trees, fast. Not panic, a response rather.
They'd heard the shot.
Jace straightened slightly, adjusting his grip on the cub. MARA lowered—but not fully.
The first figure broke through the treeline—furred, armed, eyes locking onto him instantly. More followed, spreading out, forming a loose perimeter with practiced precision.
Then something else moved; Low. Fluid. Wrong.
A figure slid forward through the underbrush, its lower body coiling instead of stepping. Scales caught faint light as it moved with unnatural grace, closing distance without sound.
Jace's eyes narrowed on the cause of the movement, a humanoid upper body, lean and controlled, but from the waist down was a long, scaled tail coiled beneath it, muscle shifting in a smooth, deliberate tension. Its posture was upright, balanced—predatory, as if primed for an ambush
He felt it—not as pressure, not as sound, but as something off. The creature's posture changed—
Then it moved, faster than a blur, not like a strike—rather a flicker.
Something sharp brushed his forearm. Teeth—he barely registered the prick, but a lightning shock snapped his focus even as the cub slipped from his grip, scrambling away toward the others. A second later, his muscles locked. Not gradual nor creeping. Immediate.
His grip tightened without command, fingers refusing to release or adjust. Jace's breath hitched once as his body stopped responding. MARA shifted in his hands—warm, reactive—but even that couldn't break it.
Jace tried to move, but to no avail as weapons were trained on him. No one rushed. No one panicked. They just watched as a second pulse hit, this one stronger, forcing his legs to give out.
He dropped to one knee. Then the other. He was still conscious—still aware, though his body wasn't listening anymore.
The scaled figure approached slowly, stopping just outside his reach, its eyes fixed on him—studying, measuring. And around them, the others tightened the perimeter, both silent and controlled.
Jace forced a slow breath, steady despite it all cause for the first time since waking in this world—he wasn't alone.
And for the first time...
He wasn't in control.