The familiar landscape of the mountain stretched out endlessly, a vast expanse of nature's beauty sullied by the stench of death and the ever-present fear of looming doom.
The expedition had co to its final phases. Today was their last climb, their last visit, and hopefully the final hunt.
Kael had adorned his knightly robes, long smooth dark green fabric that seed light but imnsely durable.
On the right breast pocket of the robe was an insignia Stark recognized as the academy's symbol—a grimoire with a sword right behind it.
Jasmine and Eurus had also donned their academy uniforms—a dark blue double-breasted coat with a skirt and trouser respectively.
Save for a few adjustnts, it was the spitting image of the uniform he had seen Jade in on the first day they t.
'Jade…'
His mind went back to the conversation they had the night before.
Her question had put him in a difficult position. Resurrection, as far as the world knew, was impossible, yet, he had sohow co back to life.
He could not answer her based on a single unexplained anomaly such as himself, and yet he could not tell her.
It would either bring down her mood or give her a false feeling of hope, so without any real answer to her question, he ended up making a terrible mistake—
"Let's settle down here. We'll go over our plans once more." Kael said, bringing him out of his thoughts.
After clearing what would be their campsite, Stark sat on the grass, Jade sitting by his right and Jasmine by his left.
Kael's gaze landed on him, a bit more hostile than usual, before he pulled out a map from his bag.
Co to think of it, ever since he arrived, Kael seed to be angry about sothing Stark had no idea about.
Kael frowned before speaking. "For a regular person, climbing this mountain would normally take two days. But we are far from normal."
He pointed to a particular point on his map. "We are nearly at the top, hopefully by morning we would have made it."
Their speed was not the only reason they had scaled the mountain so fast.
They had already mapped out the best possible paths with good terrain and that were free of monsters.
Adding that to their periods of sprinting, it was no wonder that they had made so much progress.
"Rember, we are after the mimic and although I said they can't transform we can't be too sure. Anything that moves could potentially be our target."
"Then how do we tell it apart from the monsters?" Stark asked.
"Jasmine, give your bag." Kael instructed, and Jasmine unslung the bag and placed it in his hand.
Kael brought out three pendants from the bag and handed one to each of them. "These pendants will give you the ability to see through illusions."
"As long as it is a juvenile, you should see a swirling mist around the mimic no matter what form it takes."
As Jade took her amulet, her gaze moved between Kael and Eurus. "How co you two don't get one?"
"I am a beast master, I can tell the fake apart with a simple glance. As for Eurus, he can tell from their shadows."
Jade nodded and they all put on the necklaces.
"Alright, let's go."
They continued their hike up the mountain, with Stark in front of the group and Jade a few steps behind him.
By now the sun had given way to the moon, the day swapping for the cold, eerie night.
The forest was quiet, too quiet. Each sound echoed past the trees far too loudly for comfort, making it practically impossible to be stealthy.
On other days, they would be hearing the sound of crickets, the croaking of toads, and the roars of various nocturnal beasts.
But this ti, there was nothing—it was almost as though all the beasts had gone on strike. Even their group had unconsciously gone silent as well.
"Sothing is wrong…" Stark whispered, his voice low.
The sound of rushing footsteps suddenly reached his ears as five monsters burst out of the forest.
Whoosh!
With smooth movents and ruthless efficiency, Stark unsheathed his blade and slashed, slicing the monster apart.
Then the second one screeched, its claws reaching for his face. Stark knocked its hands to the side with the poml of his sword, then a misty aura surrounded his fist.
Crack!
The monster's head caved, the skull cracking on impact and its body falling lifeless to the ground.
By his side, Jade had already t the others, using a crystal sword to masterfully rip them apart.
The fight was brief, lasting no longer than five minutes, but at the end of it he was left with even more questions.
The way they fought… it almost seed desperate.
Jade walked up to him, swinging her sword to fling off the blood on it.
"Those monsters weren't after us, they were running away from sothing." She said, glancing at Kael as he walked up to them.
Adjusting his glasses, he stared down at the corpses and frowned.
"These are small fry, they would probably be frightened by their own shadows. Then again, sothing is definitely off." He turned to Eurus. "Maybe we shoul—"
Kael paused as Eurus suddenly raised a finger to silence him.
"What is wrong, Kura?" Jasmine asked.
To everyone's surprise, he grabbed the back of his blindfold and pulled it off, revealing his eyes.
They were like an endless void, bearing a color darker than obsidian, and with a slight, almost glassy gleam.
The shadows all around them darkened slightly, becoming far more profound as Eurus' personality took a strange turn.
His jitteriness vanished, his posture straightened, and an air of cold confidence surrounded him.
"There is sothing wrong with the shadows on the mountain." Eurus said plainly.
"What do you an?" Jasmine nervously glanced down at the corpses before looking back at him.
"It's like they are constantly changing—it's unnatural."
Kael smiled and unslung his glaive from his back. "Constantly changing?" It was clear what sorts of creatures would cast such a troubleso shadow.
"It looks like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough—lead the way."
Then he discreetly glanced at Stark who, as per agreent, was at the front of their formation.
Whatever was coming, no matter how terrible, would et him first before the others…
'When you dance with death—how much of yourself will you reveal?' He mused.
He couldn't wait to find out, to see the man behind the mask.
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