Chapter 12: Predator

I feel their eyes on me as they watch me. They hold no form and they can’t reach me here, but they watch me. A bright light covers their view, and a single white feather floats to the ground in front of me.

“Find it.”

My eyes open wide, the memory of her last words echoing through my mind.

I sit up in my bed. The pale moonlight of the night coming in from the open window is the only thing illuminating the room. There’s movement in the shadows next to my bed, and I turn to see Shar looking at me in her bird form.

“Are you alright Leo?” She asks, her voice soft.

I smile slightly, doing my best to hide my real thoughts. “Just a bad dream.”

I get up, putting new clothes on and attaching my sword to my waist.

Shar tilts her head, moving almost like a real bird. “Where are you going?” She asks. She hops off the post of the bed, turning into her cat form.

“I need some fresh air.” I answer, throwing a cloak over my shoulders to help with the chill air coming through the open window.

Shar follows me as I leave the room and head downstairs. A lone woman cleans the tavern downstairs, the snores of one of the drunken customers being her only companion. Otherwise, the place is empty, being closer to morning than night.

I leave the tavern without any purpose in my walk, simply meandering as I go through the empty streets of the frontier town.

The dream felt real, and stays fresh in my mind. It doesn’t disappear as dreams usually do.

“Find it.”

Find what? I suspect I know the answer lies in the map we found in Angel Kolas’s hands. But what exactly is at the end of the map? What is so important for me to find? I know that it was more than just a dream, and the imagery of the angel’s feather doesn’t escape me. I glance at my title, marking me as an Acolyte of Sehara. Could it finally be having some effect? Has mana settled down enough to allow the angels to interact with our world?

Shar hisses as a cloaked person moves towards me, breaking me from my thoughts. I put my hand on my sword and the person in the cloak raises their hand, backing away slowly.

I watch him leave, realizing that in my wandering, I had entered a shadier part of town. Not exactly the slums, but not the safest place to be at night.

A yell for help that is immediately cut off matches my thoughts. I look in the direction it came from, briefly considering ignoring it. I shake my head, and break into a run towards the noise. “Shar, scout ahead!” I call out.

She obliges, turning into her crow form and taking to the sky.

I hold my defensive talisman tightly in my hand as I keep the other ready on my sword. I turn into the alleyway where I’d heard the noise. My feet skid to a stop as I arrive at a brick wall. Someone sits slumped over at the wall, blood pooling underneath them.

“Behind you!” Shar calls.

I jump forward, rolling across the ground and back to my feet. I turn around, feeling a slight stinging sensation coming from the back of my neck. I put my hand there, bringing it back in front of me to see a small amount of blood.

Someone steps out of the shadows, their gait slow but sharp. They are hard to make out in the pale light of the moon, but I can see their fingers ending in sharp claws, drops of blood falling from them to the dirty alleyway floor.

The person brings a claw up to their lips, licking the blood off of it. Then they smile wider than should be possible, revealing a mouth full of sharp, predatory teeth.

My hand tightens around the defensive talisman as I draw my sword from its sheath.

“OH, Oh, you do taste lovely.” The person says, watching me with sharp eyes.

Shar lands on the windowsill next to me, her voice reaching me. “Species: Undead. General class: Predator. I would recommend against close combat.”

“Oooh. What are you? Not a bird at all, no no, not a bird at all.” The undead says. The creature’s claws flex out as it looks back and forth from me to the creature.

I look behind me out of the corner of my eye, seeing that the person slumped over is still breathing. “Shar. Go find help, I’ll try to hold him off as long as I can.”

“Don’t die.” Shar says, jumping off the windowsill to fly through the air.

The creature watches her fly off, before turning to me with a wide smile. The undead disappears, and I instantly activate the defensive talisman.

The shield immediately breaks and I’m thrown into the wall, my bones shaking from the impact. The defensive talisman turns to dust in my hands.

“Oooh, so you lived? You are stronger than I thought.” The undead creature says from where I was standing just a moment ago.

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I gasp for breath as I stand up slowly, my body aching from the impact with the wall.

The undead creature slowly approaches me. Its eyes stare at me, reminding me of a dragon looking at its prey.

I manipulate my mana through my body, making sure to keep my hands hidden against the wall as I activate my newest class ability.

Summon Legend Spirit.

My mana leaves my body at an astonishing rate as glowing hazel runes spread from the wall behind me, covering the ground in front of me.

The creature steps back, wary of the runes at its feet.

“Who do you seek?” A different voice answers me this time, her voice eager and surprisingly happy. Her voice’s power echoes through the small alleyway, causing the undead creature to take another step back.

“I seek the legend, Knight Baynor, follower of Angel Alvarana, hunter of the necromancer.” My voice is weak, my air having just been knocked out of me.

“He chooses to answer your call.”

The last of my mana leaves me as the runes in front of me brighten. A form gathers out of white light on top of the runes. He is covered in white armor, his helmet held in his left hand. In his right hand, he holds a spear covered in runes. His hair is brown, cut short, and his sharp brown eyes match mine before turning to the undead predator who is now backing away slowly. Baynor is taller than I thought he’d be, nearly a foot taller than me.