Lance and Anna quickly get to work on digging up the flower while Reid closes his eyes to focus his senses once more. It wasn't long before Reid found the now familiar scent.
"Got one!"
A devilish grin takes over Lances face. "Hehehe, we're gonna be rich!"
And so the trio continued on in this fashion. Searching, tracking, digging, and repeat. Hours past as the party worked tirelessly to harvest as many flowers as possible.
"And that makes 12!" Anna announced, proud of the amazing work their team had done. Normally it would have taken two or three days to find this many Gilded Lily's, but Reid's senses were making light work of the task. "We probably only have time to look for a couple more before we go back. Do you smell any nearby?"
"Let me check." Reid closes his eyes and begins his search. He calmly looks left and right, sifting through the waves of scent.
His peaceful search is violently interrupted as a familiar, heavy, and sickening odor invades his nose. "We need to leave!!"
"O-Okay, what for?" Anna asks, tensing up.
"I smell blood over there." He points in the direction that would lead them deeper into the forest. "It's not that far away either." His serious tone is enough to convince Anna they should leave, Lance however…
"That means someone could be in danger! We need to go help them!" Lance, the reckless fool he is, takes off running.
"Stop! This forest is way too dangerous!" Reid shouts, but it's no use. Anna hesitates for a moment, looking between the two before heading off after Lance. Reid was now alone. In their excitement of hunting Gilded Lily's they had gone past the edge of the forest. While they weren't fully in the dangerous depths of the forest, they were well into monster territory. His legs felt like cinderblocks as he began to panic. Memories, worries, and fear all rushed through his mind.
"Are you going?" Amadeus asks but gets no answer. "It might be a bad idea to go but this is just as much your life as it is mine. I won't try to stop you if you want to help them. I'll be here to help you, whatever you choose."
Reid still couldn't decide. His literal death was not such an easy obstacle to overcome. That quickly changed when Reid smelled it. More blood, but with a new scent… meaning new victims. That's when he remembered their short time together. It was only a day, but it was the first time in his entire life anyone had accepted him. They didn't push him away or loathe him for simply existing. He didn't want to lose that, to go back to being looked at with disgust and hatred. With those thoughts in mind he took one shaky step forward.
"DAMMIT!" He shouted as his pace quickened until he found himself sprinting.
Reid didn't have to go far before he found the sources of blood. After cresting a large hill he looked down into a valley to see three people. The furthest was an unknown hunter, his silver mail armor was bloodied as he sat against a tree on the far side of the valley. From that distance Reid couldn't figure out if he was awake, or even alive. In the center were the familiar shapes of Lance and Anna. Anna was collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood while Lance, riddled with wounds, was barely be able to stand.
"LANCE!" Reid shouts as he runs toward his party. "What happened!" He approaches, spear drawn and ready for a fight.
Reid reaches his comrade as the other boy begins to break down. "A-Attacked, she tried to- and then- because of me…Dammit!" His legs give out as he falls to one knee while his greatsword clatters to the ground. "I'm sorry… so sorry." Tears begin to fall down his face as he collapses on the ground.
"DUCK!"
The boy reacted instantly to the warning, dropping down as a shadowy spear flies past the space his head had occupied a moment before. Reid quickly spins around with his spear outstretched, creating a wide arc with his weapon. A creature jumps back, not allowing the spear to make contact, as Reid and the beast lock eyes. The dark coated wolf was the same breed of creature that had hunted him down just one day prior.
The monster appeared malnourished, with its rib bones peeking out from under its fur, and a deep wound on its hind legs. This creature, usually an intelligent and cautious hunter, was desperate and hungry. The monster growls, irritated that its feast was interrupted once again.
Their stare down lasts only a second before the monster threw itself at Reid. The boy swings his spear with all his might but he's barely able to swat it away. His spear left nothing more than a scratch on the monster as it lunged again. Reid's young frame couldn't keep up with the speed and power of the monster, it took everything he had just to stay standing. On the fourth lunge of the wolf's furious assault, Reid finally lost his footing. The boy knew that he couldn't defend another.
The creature prepared another fatal attack, but as it lunged a glowing red rune appeared before it. No sooner than it appeared it transformed into a ball of fire. With the wolf already in motion it had no choice but to plow through the heat, it lowered its head and pushed through, being burned the whole way. With its head down it bowled the kid over. The angry and singed beast looked over at the boy, ready to pounce again when another rune appeared in front of it. The monster ran away just in time to escape the second ball of fire.
Reid jumped to his feet and extended his spear toward the now burned wolf. Their stare down began anew. With the burns it received the wolf could no longer consider him an annoying interruption to his meal, no, he was now a threat.
The pain had forced the wolf back to his senses as it began to slowly circle the boy, spreading shadows as it went. As it completed a lap Reid found himself surrounded on all sides by a wall of shadow. That's when the wolf vanished into the darkness, lurking, and waiting for its opportunity to strike.
"I can't track him anymore, soul sense lost him in that veil. We'll have to rely on your senses to find him."
"Got it." Reid replies out loud as he throws his head wrap to the ground and closes his eyes.
"If you can manage to immobilize him for two seconds I can cause some major damage to him."
"I don't know how I can do that, but I'll find a way. We're not dying here today!" The boy answers with unexpected resolve.
"Of course. Now allow me to demonstrate the results of my experiments."
⁘⁘⁘⁘
The shadow wolf cautiously circles its prey. Not only had it closed its eyes but now it was howling to itself. Such foolish prey was always quick to die, just like the red-haired fool and the blonde one who protected him.
As the wolf reached the boys blind spot it prepared to attack. It placed all it's weight onto a heavy paw front paw as it crouched down, preparing to lunge. His prey suddenly turned around, his shiny weapon rushing straight toward his head, as if he knew exactly where he was. He abandoned the lunge to dodge left but the spear was too quick, it sliced into his right eye. Rage and pain filled the beast as he rushed forward again. He bit down on the shaft of the spear and began to wrench it from the boy's hands. No matter the risk he needed to get that weapon away from his prey before going in for the kill.
That's when a glowing blue circle above and a glowing yellow circle below appeared simultaneously. The creature found itself drenched in water from above while below it, a bolt of electricity shot through its body. The shock overwhelmed the creature, stunning him and forcing him to let go of the spear, but the prey wasn't done. A glowing white circle appeared below him that caused all of the water on his body to freeze. He was instantly coated in frost and ice. He tried to back up, shaking his head in an attempt to remove the ice covering his last good eye, but his prey did not let their opportunity pass. The only thing he saw when he reopened his left eye was a spear rushing toward him. His final thought was a realization:
They were not some foolish prey, no. They were the hunter.
⁘⁘⁘⁘
Reid slowly pulls back his spear, watching carefully as the shadow wolf falls to the ground. Without hesitation he stabs once more, piercing the eye socket and reaching deep into the monsters' skull. He made sure the creature was, without any shadow of a doubt, truly dead.
A torrent of emotions welled up in his chest. From his first battle, his first kill, he felt joy, relief, fear, satisfaction, anxiety, and strength all at the same time. A cascade of unfamiliar emotions had him frozen in the moment. Thankfully Amadeus was there to pull him out of his daze.
"What are you spacing out for? Go check on your party!"
His words brought the boy back to reality as he returned his spear to his back and rushed over to Anna and Lance. With the looming danger gone Reid could see the true extent of their injuries. Lance was covered in numerous small cuts on his torso and arms with several deeper cuts on his legs. The gambeson had done well to lessen the damage he received. On his neck was a single, near fatal, cut. The nearly lethal wound was a single centimeter from his carotid artery.
Anna's situation was less obvious. He could see the blood flowing out from underneath her, but he had no idea from where. He didn't know what to do, but he knew he needed to do it fast.
Green runic circles, whose center consisted of two golden triangles pointing at each other with white lines connecting them to the outside ring, appeared underneath Lance and Anna. The circle burst open in a small flash of light. In its place were small specks of light, similar to dandelions, scattering about the space. The specks began to congregate around their wounds, acting as if they were drawn to them. The smaller wounds on lance began to close while his deeper cuts seemed to shrink in size. Around Anna, every single light was drawn straight into the wound on her back. Before he could react Reid found himself inside the mental plane. He was preparing to complain when Amadeus spoke first.
"I analyzed their bodies and the damage is far worse than I thought. We need to be quick. I have some medical expertise so I'll take care of it this time." He left no room for argument as he began to work.
He started by running over to the unknown hunter, who Reid now realized was already dead. He unceremoniously ripped a small bag off of their belt, causing his body to slump forward.
"Hey, show some respect for the dead!" Reid complained.
"No time, I need to focus on the living." He answers in a cold tone as he splays out the contents of the stolen bag. He quickly sifts through the items; a gathering tool, some rope, and a fire starter before finally finding the items he was looking for, two small vials. The first held a viscous cream colored balm while the second held a translucent red liquid. He quickly took the vials and ran back to Anna.
Due to the severity and life threatening nature of her injuries, he began with her treatment. He knelt down next to her and put his ear next to her mouth while looking across her body to check if she was still breathing. He placed his fingers on her wrist, trying to find a pulse but had no luck. He didn't know if it was due to his inexperience or from differences in beastfolk biology but it didn't matter for now, she was still breathing. That was good enough for Amadeus who gently flipped her over.
Her wound was a grizzly sight, three claw marks carved her from shoulder blade to hip. The middle cut was especially deep, going as far as to expose bone. It was a true testament to her durability that she was still alive. He acted quickly. First, he removed her drenched gambeson. Next he lifted her blouse, which was sticky with blood and clung to her body, over her head. Last he removed the strophium like cloth that wrapped around her chest, which was quite easy since it had already been severed by the wolf's fierce claws. Now nothing stood in the way of his treatment. Without delay he grabbed the vial of red liquid and popped the cap. Slowly and methodically, he poured it on her wound. He poured the first half onto the middle gash, which miraculously began to stitch itself back together. He split the final half between the outside gashes, closing them completely. He looks back to the main wound.
"This is still to much for the salve to deal with." He mutters to himself as he starts to look around. He spots Lance's greatsword and gets an idea. Amadeus grabs it and holds it in front of him while a red rune slowly forms at his front. As it activated a flame spilled forth, covering the sword and heating it immensely.
"What are you doing that for?" Reid asks in confusion.
"Cauterization. I'm not a medical doctor so my knowledge is lacking… this is the only solution I could think of. It will probably leave some nasty scarring, but at least she will be alive."
The metal continues to heat. Once it reaches a dull red glow he removes it from the flame. He gently lowers it onto her wound. It releases a horrible hissing sound as it burns the flesh and blood vessel, closing them off. The smell was incredibly nauseating to both Amadeus and Reid. His treatment wasn't complete, however, as he reached for the other vial and quickly uncapped it. He poured a small amount onto his hands and rubbed it onto the now burned flesh. The effects were immediate as the cream colored salve sunk into her skin, returning it to a somewhat normal state.
"I'm glad it worked out. If the alchemist's salve had been lower quality it wouldn't have healed the burn and we would have had a large risk of infection." Amadeus muttered to himself once again. "All that's left now is to wrap the wound. The only cloth we have that is long enough is your head wrap, is that fine?"
"Of course! Use whatever you need to help them." Reid answers back quickly.
Amadeus grabs the cloth before putting Anna on her side.
"Gaaah!" Reid shouts after accidently getting an unimpeded view of Anna's modest chest. In his shock he cut off his sensory connection to Amadeus. His face glowed a bright red as the image was now burned into his brain.
"Stop trying to distract me while I'm working." Amadeus was irritated by Reid's antics.
"I'm sorry… I'll need to apologize to you when this is over Anna."
Amadeus finishes wrapping her wound as he lowers her blouse and covers her with her gambeson to keep her warm and prevent hypothermia. With that done he switches up and moves on to Lance. Patch, the spell he used earlier, had healed most of his wounds and the few that were left on his legs weren't life threatening. He quickly repeated the same steps he had done with Anna, removing unnecessary clothing, put salve on all the wounds and redressed him. He didn't have any more bandages but the wounds appeared to close well enough from the salve that he wasn't concerned.
With medical treatment done, Amadeus walked back over to the dead hunter. He put a hand on their shoulder and pushes them back up, letting them rest against the tree once more. With the man sitting upright once again he began reaching under their collar. After feeling around for a moment he found a metallic chain sitting just underneath. He pulled the chain off carefully, on its end was a small bronze metal slate. He takes the slate into his hands and begins to read it off.
"Callus, D rank, no party listed. Rest in peace I suppose." He puts the guild card in his pocket, intending to turn it into the guild later.
After an unusual moment of respect, Amadeus returns to his normal indifferent demeanor. He rips the cloak off the man's body and grabs the rope, which is still splayed out on the ground, and heads back to his patients. Placing the duo onto the cloak, he uses the rope to transform it into a makeshift sled. With his preparations complete he takes one last look around the scene to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. As his eye scans past the monsters corpse something lustrous catches his eye.
"Is that…" He walks over to the unusual shine. Standing before the wolf he realized his instinct was correct. Peaking out from the wound in its head was a dark crystal with an odd black glow. He reached into the wound, using his full might to wrench on the crystal. It finally gave way, causing him to stumble back from the effort. Putting the dark crystal into his bag, he realized his work was done.
"I'll leave the rest to you. You just have to drag them back to safety. Be alert though, I used almost all my mana during the healing process. If anything else were to happen it will be entirely up to you to defend us."
The switch was sudden, but Reid took action immediately. He grabbed the rope and pulled with all his might, signaling the start of his long trek back.