People fear many things. The dark. Insects. Animals. The depths of the ocean. Death, hunger, sickness. But in this age, the thing people feared most could be summed up in a single word: Creatures.
It was early morning.
The corridor was still dark. The sun hadn't cleared the rooftops yet, and the thin light coming through the windows wasn't enough to do much of anything. Eren shouldered his pack and ran his hands over it --- sword, pistol, ammunition. The Temple Staff was in place. The Conduit Bracer sat snug on his wrist. The Moon Charms were cold and heavy under his collar.
He checked again.
Is it enough?
It was what he had.
He opened the door. Dean was already in the corridor, adjusting the clasp on his armor, not looking up.
"You're late."
"I just walked out the door."
"You're late."
Eren didn't answer. From the far end of the corridor, Rowan came jogging --- his pack was sliding off one shoulder, his staff swinging out to the other side, his face somewhere in the middle of waking up.
"I'm here, I'm here." He stopped, caught his breath. "Nobody left yet?"
"Not yet." Mira stepped out from a corner. She looked like she'd been standing there for hours.
The four of them stood in the corridor. Sounds drifted up from inside the academy --- other teams, other preparations. Everyone was heading to the same place.
Eren looked down the stairwell. There was something in his chest --- not anticipation, not fear. He couldn't name it. It was just there.
"Let's go." Dean walked.
The others followed.
The harbor was busy.
Safe Haven's southern port was usually quiet --- merchant ships, a few fishing boats, cargo transfers. Today was different. Candidates had gathered along the dock, packs on their backs, weapons at their belts, the same expression on every face. Nobody could have described exactly what it was, but everyone was wearing it.
A man stood waiting by the ship.
He was around forty, maybe a little more. His hair was cut short. A thin scar crossed above his right eyebrow. His eyes moved down the rows, one by one, not staying anywhere long. He wore a hunter's uniform, but wore it differently --- the uniform had fit itself to him, not the other way around. There was no one around him. He wasn't waiting for anything either. He was just standing there, and that was enough.
"Attention."
His voice wasn't loud. But the dock went quiet.
"Officer Hunter Abdul Voss." He scanned the candidates --- the rows, the faces, the weapons. "I'm the head supervisor for this exam. I know all of your names, I've read your files, I've looked at what you're carrying." A pause. "For most of you, this exam will be harder than you expect. Not because you're lacking --- the island's situation is different this year. Don't ask questions. Follow instructions. Stay with your team."
Rowan whispered: "Not reassuring."
"Shut up." Dean didn't even glance at him.
Rowan shut up.
Abdul continued: "The ship will stop two kilometers offshore. The rocks don't allow closer approach. You'll cross by rowboat from there. One week on the island. Stay alive." He paused. "That's all."
A brief silence. A blonde candidate from another team raised a hand.
"What's the exam objective?"
"Staying alive." Abdul looked at him. The hand went down. "Board the ship."
The sea was not calm.
Not small waves --- waves that broke at shoulder height, that threw the ship from side to side. The deck was wet, ropes pulled and slackened, and far off, clouds moved low. Eren made his way to the bow. The wind hit him in the face.
Mira came and stood beside him.
"Have you ever been on a ship before?" She looked out at the water. "I have. Once." She said it and moved on. That was the end of it.
Eren didn't ask.
Rowan came shuffling up from behind, gripping the railing, his face a shade paler than usual. "I wonder if you can cure seasickness with magic. Always been curious."
"You can't." Dean passed them, ducked into the forward cabin, and closed the door.
Rowan leaned against the railing. "Could be a decent person if he weren't so serious."
Eren laughed. Involuntarily, brief, but real.
Rowan looked surprised --- then laughed too.
Mira watched them both. She didn't say anything. But some of the tension in her face let go.
The ship moved on.
The island was wrapped in mist.
It was visible from a distance --- dark green, rocky shoreline, the peaks buried somewhere deep in forest. When the ship stopped two kilometers out, the captain simply pointed at the water. The rocks were just below the surface. You wouldn't see them if you weren't looking.
They climbed into the rowboats.
Abdul took the last boat, kept the oar to himself, and rowed.
As they neared the shore, Eren noticed something.
The sound of the waves was wrong. The rhythm was off. Something was moving beneath them. Something large.
What ---
The water exploded.
The color came first --- deep blue, wet and shining. Then the mouth. No head, just the mouth, teeth in rows, steam pouring from between them. A long body, coiling and stretching, like a snake but not a snake --- no scales, the skin was smooth, muscles rolling along the surface.
Then came the boiling water.
"RIGHT!" Abdul shouted.
The boat didn't capsize --- but it was close. The scalding water hit the surface just beside them, the sea frothed and steamed. Eren grabbed the oar and pulled right, Mira pulled left, the boat swung around.
A second one surfaced.
From the left, smaller, but the heat was already building in its throat.
"Temple Staff." Abdul's voice was flat. "Now."
Eren pulled the staff from his pack, stood up, tried to drive it into something solid --- water. No ground.
Needs a surface, it won't work ---
"Throw it at the rock."
There was a rock outcropping to the right, half-submerged. Eren hurled the staff. It drove into the rock face. A five-meter barrier opened up from the waterline.
The boiling water slammed into it. Spread. Didn't get through.
"Move!" Abdul pulled the oar hard. "The rock won't hold still."
They rowed. The shore was getting closer. The creatures had gone deep --- they'd be back, but not yet.
The boat ground into the sand.
Eren jumped out, his feet sinking into wet sand. He looked back --- Mira, Rowan, Dean, all climbing out. Abdul was last. He didn't bother with the boat. He looked at the other groups. Fourteen candidates, all ashore.
He turned toward the forest.
"Get inside. Set up camp before dark."
The forest was harsh.
The trees were dense, the ground wet and slippery, the light thin. Outside, there was sun. Inside, you wouldn't know it --- shadow everywhere, constant and unchanged.
Team 3 broke off from the others. They found a clearing to the north --- open ground between the trees, reasonably open overhead.
"Here." Dean dropped his pack and scanned the area, checking the trees, reading the wind. "Defensible. It'll do."
"We're making camp?" Rowan said.
"Looks like it."
Mira had already started --- trap materials were out of her pack. "Setting traps on the west side. It's exposed there."
"Fire and cover, I'll handle it." Eren reached into his bag.
Rowan hesitated. "There's a lot of moisture here --- I can probably do something with it."
Dean sat down, leaned against a tree, crossed his arms. "Then do it."
"And you?" Eren said.
"Listening." He closed his eyes. "While you work, I'm reading the area."
Eren wanted to say something. He let it go.
They got to work.
A trench was dug. A fire was lit. Traps were set. While Mira worked the west side, Rowan drew moisture from the north and tried a ward spell --- it didn't hold, he tried again, it held --- a thin layer, invisible, but if something passed through it, you'd feel it. A small spell. An apprentice spell. But it was there.
Rowan stared at his hands. "It worked."
"Good work." Eren finished the trench and stood, rolling out his back.
Rowan looked up. Something passed across his face.
"Thank you."
Dean spoke without opening his eyes. "Move the trap southwest, Mira. There's a fallen tree there --- creatures are drawn to breaks."
Mira turned and looked southwest.
There was a fallen tree.
Without a word, she moved the trap.
Evening came down.
Night 1
The fire burned low. They'd kept it small --- a big fire could be seen from too far away. Small, controlled.
It was Mira's watch.
Eren couldn't sleep. He lay on his back and looked at what stars he could see through the trees. There was wind, light, carrying the sounds of the forest. Birds. Rustling leaves.
Are those sounds normal?
He didn't know. He'd never spent a night in a forest like this before. He didn't know yet what normal sounded like here, and what didn't.
Then the sounds changed.
A snap. Small, dry. Mira was on her feet before it finished, arrow already at the string. Eren rose in silence, drew his sword.
It came from the west.
Dean had gotten up at some point --- nobody had seen when. He was just there, his hand resting on his sword's grip, not drawing.
Mira woke Rowan. Slow, quiet.
They waited.
The trap closed.
Thrashing, metal on metal, then silence. It hadn't run. It was still in the trap.
Mira went first. Eren followed.
Something was in the trap --- dog-sized, but not a dog. The leg count was wrong: six, joints bent backwards. No head --- just a flat plane at shoulder height with a mouth in the middle, opening and closing.
Mira drew back and released.
The creature stopped.
"What is that?" Rowan whispered from behind.
"Small undead." Dean crouched, studied it, stood. "Recently turned. A week at most. Not alone, though."
"How many?"
"No idea. But if one comes, the rest follow."
Mira had a second arrow ready.
Rowan gripped his staff.
Three more came. Small, slow --- one wasn't dangerous. But the three came from different directions at the same time. Eren split one down the middle --- it was neither bone nor flesh, something in between. Mira, two arrows, two creatures. Dean launched the last one into a tree. Done.
All of them breathing.
"Is that all of them?" Rowan asked.
"For tonight." Mira pulled her arrow free. "Probably."
Dean went back to the trench and sat down. "Keep the watch going."
It went on.
Day 2
When morning came, Eren didn't want to hand off the watch.
Sleep hadn't come, didn't look like it was coming either. Something was turning over in his head, hadn't settled yet. He looked at the forest. The light had changed --- from night-grey to morning-grey, same color but different weight.
Mira sat down beside him, biting into a ration bar.
"How many times have you slept outside before?" Eren asked.
"This?" She thought about it. "Three times. Four. Lost count."
"Could you sleep? Most of those times?"
"Most of them."
"Tell me how."
"Stop counting." She put the bar away. "What's here right now. What you can hear right now. No further than that."
Simple. Whether it worked was a separate question.
But he tried.
Wind. Trees moving. Water somewhere --- a small stream, he'd heard it last night but never found the source. Birds starting up, slowly.
Something in his chest loosened a little.
"Thanks."
Mira didn't answer. But she gave a small nod.
The day was spent exploring.
There were no rules --- stay alive, one week. Nothing else had been said. They crossed paths with other teams at a distance, brief acknowledgments. Raphael's team was somewhere to the east.
Mira found the castle.
The island wasn't small --- four kilometers across, maybe. The trees thickened toward the center. From the western heights, through the tree line, a structure was visible.
Eren looked at it.
Not white --- grey, old. One tower, its top broken off. The windows were dark. The outer wall had either collapsed or never been built.
Who built this? How long has it been here?
"Ignore it." Dean was beside him. He wasn't looking at the castle.
"I was just curious."
"I know." He turned and walked. "Ignore it for now."
Eren looked one more time. Then turned away.
* * *
That evening, Mira wanted to set a new trap.
"The north side is open." She pointed to a tall tree. "A rope trap from up there. It'll slow down anything large."
"That's very high." Rowan looked at the tree.
"I can climb it."
"Sure, but ---"
"I can climb it."
Nobody argued.
She climbed.
The first ten meters were fine --- the branches were dense, plenty to hold onto. At fifteen, the tree narrowed. Mira slowed down, placed her feet carefully. She was tying the rope when she leaned right, grabbed a branch, found her balance.
The branch cracked.
Mira grabbed for something.
She fell.
Not the full fifteen meters --- she hit a branch four meters down, spun off it, hit the ground from two meters up.
Nobody spoke.
Eren ran over. Mira was trying to get up --- she got up, but she was holding her right wrist. Her face was pale.
"My wrist."
Eren crouched and checked. It was swelling. "Not broken. But close."
"I can still use it."
"Not today you can't."
Mira looked at him. She started to say something. Didn't.
"Tomorrow."
"Maybe tomorrow."
Dean had already pulled a bandage from his pack. He walked over, held it out, walked away. Two seconds. Nothing else.
But it was enough.
Mira wrapped her wrist. "I'll finish the trap tomorrow."
"Alright." Eren held out a hand. She took it and stood. "You're staying by the fire tonight."
She accepted that, even if she didn't want to.
The forest was going dark.
Night 2
Rowan's spell triggered first.
No sound --- the small crystal on his wrist lit up red. The moisture ward had been broken.
"North." Rowan whispered. "More than one."
Dean was up, sword drawn. Eren raised his pistol.
They came.
Different from the night before. Human-sized, but nothing else about them was human. Their walk was broken, tilting side to side, feet dragging. No eyes --- just empty hollows where eyes should have been. Their mouths made sound --- it resembled a human voice but wasn't, like something that had cracked somewhere in the middle.
Six of them.
"Rowan!" Eren called.
Rowan raised his staff. "Cataracta!"
The water column was small but fast. It hit the first two, sent them stumbling, knocked them down. Rowan's breath cut short --- that was the cost.
"That's enough!" Eren stepped forward. The pistol came up. Three shots --- three creatures went down. The bullets weren't silver, they'd get back up, but he'd bought time.
Dean was already in the middle of it.
Sword split one, split another, turned, split a third. No flourishes, no wasted steps --- just work. A creature fell, tried to get up, Dean split it again.
The fifth and sixth came for Eren.
Mira drew her bow with her right hand anyway. The arrow caught one in the shoulder, spun it around. Eren closed with the sword.
Done.
Silence.
"Is that all of them?" Rowan had crouched down, leaning on his staff.
"For tonight." Mira pulled the arrow free. "Hopefully."
Dean crouched over one of the creatures, studied it, stood, turned to Eren.
"The island isn't clean." His voice was flat. "These were turned recently. There's a source nearby."
Eren looked west.
The castle wasn't visible --- it was buried in darkness and trees. But it was there.
Dean was looking in the same direction.
Neither of them said anything.
Rowan rebuilt the fire. Small, controlled. The shadows pulled back.
The night went on.