'I'm starving.'
Its breath came in ragged pants, its legs burning from the endless chase. Their prey was just ahead. Soon, he and his packmates would return home, carrying dinner for the young ones. There was no thought spared for the creature they pursued, no curiosity about its circumstance nor its reason for being here. None of that mattered. Not when the scent of blood filled their nostrils, not when the hunger gnawed so fiercely at their gut. It's maw salivated at the thought of tearing apart flesh.
Twinges of pain pulsed through its paws, sharp cuts stung against the moist earth.
His brothers followed close behind, their pace faltering; they were tiring. But they couldn't slow now. With one foot in front of the other, he and his brothers let the momentum of the chase propel them forward. 'Just a little longer.' The prey's scent grew stronger, the sound of snapping branches and rustling leaves grew closer.
Dense thickets surrounded them, sharp brambles tearing at their fur. They barely noticed, however, their thick coats shielding them. Their prey, however, was not so fortunate. It left a trail of crimson droplets.
Just a little longer. A little closer. They had more strength left than their prey. It was weaker, more wounded.
They were the hunters.
But the young Brackling had yet to understand the cruelty of the hunt. Every prey, no matter how small or frail, fought back.
Snap.
He winced, instinctively lowering himself. The chase had ended. The sound of thrashing brambles had stopped. Their prey was no longer running.
Slowly, carefully, he crept forward. Then, something underfoot. A small lump. Then a jolt. Before he could react, he was yanked violently into the air. The world spun, his vision blurring as he began to thrash. His brothers' howls filled the air, one by one turning to screeches, then silence. He dangled, suspended. Trembling. A presence loomed before him. Not an animal.
Not prey.
A creature unlike any of the other beasts that inhabited the forest. It had no fur to shield it from the cold, no fangs to tear flesh, no claws to slash its enemies. And yet, its face filled him with a terror so deep, so primal, he realized that he was the prey. But it was too late.
A flash of silver, then Searing pain. His blood drained, hot and slow, spilling into the ground from which he came. Time stretched, with each second carving the scene into his mind. The weight of his body. The scent of iron. The cold air biting at his skin. And then as his breathing became shallow.
The hunt ended.
***
Crackle Crack Crack. The sound of fire filled the clearing.
"You did a good job setting those traps."
A boy sat close to a small fire, its heat warding off the bitter cold that surrounded him. He wiped the blood off his dagger with a rag made from worn leather.
"It's because you're such a good teacher." His sister, seated beside him, carefully tended the wound on his shoulder, wrapping it in bandages with gentle hands.
Her words brought a faint smile to his usually stoic face. He tilted his head back, gazing up at the dense canopy above. Typically, one could tell when darkfall was beginning to arrive by watching the stars fade. However, the forest ceiling was too thick to see the sky.
Theo and his sister had lived in these woods for as long as they could remember. The forest's vegetation was thick, and those born here often went their whole lives without ever seeing the sky.
But he had seen it once.
It had been a cold night, much like this one. But unlike now, there had been no warmth from a fire. Instead, warmth had come from the hands holding his, his mother's on one side, his sister's on the other. That night, their mother had taken them beyond the village to a place they had never been before. And for just a little while, the branches above had parted, revealing the sky. It was beautiful. The sky was unlike anything he had ever seen, a swirling blend of violet and blue with streaks of crimson twisting and flowing together.
And the stars…
They shone so brightly, their light was the only thing that illuminated the surrounding darkness. His mother had often told them stories of an even greater light that resided in the sky, a star so big it illuminated the entire forest. Though they had never seen it, she spoke of it with reverence. She called it the sun.
A beautiful name.
Even now, when he looked upward, even when the sky was hidden from view, it reminded him of her. It made him feel like she was still with them, like she was sitting right beside him. But as all memories do, this one had begun to fade from his mind.
'I need to focus.'
With a deep exhale, Theo pushed aside the warmth of his memories and cleared his mind. His gaze shifted to the canopy and, in particular, the hanging bioluminescent vines. Their glow would not last forever. Like the stars, their light eventually faded; everything was engulfed in darkness eventually.
The bracklings hung by their hindquarters from the rope traps. Four-legged, furry beasts that Stelle once called cute, though he never saw it. They were a reliable food source; their meat was tough but surprisingly tasty.
Their emerald-colored pelts provided excellent camouflage as cloaks, and their slick fur offered good insulation against the cold. However, they were large, each about the size of Theo himself.
Carrying one would be worth the effort, but they didn't have the means to carry all three of them. Theo clenched his jaw. He had been the one to slay them; it was his responsibility.
Stelle spoke first, her voice soft, "We should get moving soon."
"Yeah. Start packing up, I'll begin the extraction."
Stelle pulled hard on the bandages, sending a sharp sting through his shoulder.
"Ow ow ow… what's wrong?" Theo turned to her and raised a brow.
"You promised to let me carve the cores out." She pouted.
He sighed. "I said you could help me practice, then showed you how to do it." He retorted, though Stelle's expression moved an inch, "My gloves wouldn't fit you anyway."
"Fiiine." Stelle tied a knot in the bandage on his shoulder and got up to move to their sacks and assortment of items on the other side of the campfire.
The extraction process was a delicate procedure. While the cores themselves were durable, the crystallum inside was fragile. They shattered easily, which made them easy to stick to clothing and be inhaled. Once the material comes into contact with human skin, the adverse effects of the substances' distorting properties are severe, often leading to death.
'Better get to work then.'
He pushed himself to his feet and turned toward the Bracklings. Theo started by cutting the first Brackling down from the rope. The core was nestled deep within the chest cavity, next to the heart.
It was easier to work with the beast lying flat rather than suspended. Too many times, he'd drenched himself in guts trying to carve them midair. To which, Stelle would without fail complain about his smell the next day.
He made a precise incision just below the ribcage, peeling back the hide. The beast's insides glistened in the dim light.
"Stelle, I need my gloves and some light."
"Roger."
She rummaged through their rucksack and quickly handed him the gloves, then, retrieving the lantern, she crouched down next to him, holding it above the corpse.
"You finished packing?" Theo asked, sliding on the worn leather gloves.
"Yup! Good to go."
Reaching into the Brackling's belly, Theo carefully shifted the entrails aside. The core was encased in the upper cavity, near the heart. He used his knife to cut away the diaphragm between the two sections, then reached in deeper.
His fingers brushed against something smooth and solid. The core was always easy to find as its exterior felt like bone.
With his other hand, he sliced through the fleshy attachments that suspended it. With a twist, he pulled it free.
"Cloth."
Stelle placed a clean rag in his outstretched hand. He wiped the blood from his arms and then the core itself. He slipped the core into the satchel at his side and moved on to the next Brackling.
Having retrieved the cores of two of the Bracklings, he untied the third one from the trap. It had been the last one he'd killed; he could remember the dilation of its eyes as it realised its life was coming to an end. "I'll do my best to put you to good use." With that, he hoisted the creature over himself, resting its body on his upper back.
Sparing one last glance at the Bracklings, Theo tightened his grip around the legs of the beast he carried.
They had what they needed for now. It was time to move.