"Ambush!" Baruk Orthel, a soldier from the Aurora squad, shouted with authority. "Form a circle! Pedro identifies where the archers are! Alyssa, prepare the smoke grenades!" His voice mixes with the sound of arrows piercing the air.
Multiple arrows are fired from different directions and in random order; many miss their target, but two hit Marina Alybell's neck. Having been with the squad for four years, she longed to bring glory to her struggling family, but that would no longer be possible.
"Marina!! Alyssa, the grenades now!!" Baruk wields his double-headed spear deftly, blocking as many arrows as possible.
"Get ready and..." Alyssa Balta, Specialist in using the Halberd and support tools, serving the squad for seven years, throws four thin wooden spheres. "NOW!" The nine survivors of the team follow the command and run, dividing into three groups.
When the grenades hit the ground, they explode, releasing a cloud of dense, grayish smoke. Alyssa created this tactic to ensure the survival of at least one squad member to report the situation to central command.
The chaos of the ambush intensifies, with screams of people being injured or killed, and an unknown number of enemies hunting for their prey. Alyssa, accompanied by Umir Castek, a young recruit from the squad who joined last year, enters the forest surrounding the Hills. A dense arrangement of trees rarely visited by humans, the perfect place to hide in a situation like this.
"Miss Alyssa, where are we going?" He said, showing fear.
"I don't know yet, Umir, we need to follow what we've already trained, split up, and then try to get to camp."
"How did they know we were passing by?"
"They must have lookouts in the region, they are more organized than we expected. Now focus on surviving, don't let your guard down, and do your best."
"But what about the others..."
"There is no time to think about them, Umir! We have only one mission now: survive and deliver our report. If we fail in this mission, our lives will be in vain, and we will tarnish our regiment's honor!"
His head tilts down and focuses on running, his fears and negative thoughts grow by the minute. She knows that this experience is a huge shock for a beginner, but he has to learn the hard way, everyone does.
Three hours have passed since the ambush, fatigue has taken over the two soldiers.
"We will...stop here...and rest, Umir. I will stand guard while you rest. Within one hour, I will call you."
"Understood, Miss Alyssa." In extreme fatigue, he drops his body sitting next to a tree, his eyes are closed, and his breathing is labored.
Alyssa stays close to him to help him get up in case the enemy finds them, but now she focuses on keeping a close eye on any movement nearby.
The situation is not good, Alyssa thought. It will soon be dark, and the forest becomes a much more dangerous place for those who do not know it well. Keeping a torch to ward off hostile creatures would only serve to warn those who pursue them.
She worries about the other members of the squad and remembers Marina's body lying lifeless next to her.
An hour passes, and she wakes Umir, who reluctantly gets up he prepares to guard while she rests. Tired, sleep comes quickly, but after what seems like just a second of rest, she feels something heavy fall on her body.
Umir's corpse is lying on top of her, his eyes already lifeless, with an arrow that went through his skull. Surprised, she stands up, her heart racing, the enemy found them, and Umir probably spotted them too late.
Two arrows fly towards her, one hits Umir's lifeless body, and the other makes a small cut on her right arm. The combination of pain and panic due to the desperate situation makes her adrenaline rush through her veins.
Survive. That was the only thing on her mind; in a quick impulse, she ran in the direction from which one of the arrows came. The dense forest created an impressive darkness, but following her instincts, Alyssa quickly made a vertical cut in the air with her scythe.
The familiar sound of the scythe blade cutting the target, which in its final moments lets out a sound of anguish and despair for not being able to dodge the sudden attack. From prey to the hunter, Alyssa observed her surroundings, her pursuers were close by and alert due to her attack.
The unusual silence is terrifying, any careless movement could be the last in her life, and then...
Shushh
The sound of a bush shaking immediately made her run in that direction, and without thinking twice, she attacked with a diagonal cut.
"Aaaaaargh!" The intense pain of losing half of his arm made the bandit reveal his position. Another slash of the scythe makes the forest silent again.
With no time to rest, she needs to keep moving. Carefully, her steps are slow but precise, avoiding revealing her location to other possible enemies.
A plan begins to form; she will take her and Umir's backpacks, and with the supplies from both, she will be able to sustain herself for a few days even if she gets deeper into the dense forest.
As she approaches Umir's body, she looks at it with sadness. It is not the first time she has said goodbye to a squadmate in this way, but it is always sad to think about the lost potential due to the risks acquired with the profession.
She places her backpack on her back and Umir's on the front of her body and begins to go deeper into the forest, with silent and careful steps, she remains alert for any attack, but now the priority is to escape.
The night was eternal, with each step, the sensation of small needles piercing the feet and legs was a true torment. Unable to truly rest until she finds a relatively safe place, Alyssa stays awake due to her natural resilience.
After walking for more than six hours, almost completing a day without rest, a small trace of hope appears in a cave. Some animal dug it out and still lives in it, or it is abandoned. Alyssa approaches it as carefully as possible and notices that it appears empty.
Guided by extreme fatigue, she found a dry and possibly safe place, her body gave way to the ground. Nightmares filled her sleep, the image of Umir's lifeless body, the possibility of the same fate having befallen her other companions, and the responsibility of returning to central camp helped immensely with the stress that her mind and body were under, but there was hope.
A strange sound wakes her up, dizzy from sleeping, Alyssa slowly gets up and looks at her surroundings. The complete darkness did not allow her to see anything.
"How long was I sleeping?" She thought, realizing that the cave was still the same as when she arrived.
The strange sound got louder, and then two large golden eyes appeared and approached her. The heavy sound of breathing and grunting made her body move instinctively and stand as close as possible to the cave wall.
The large creature didn't notice her presence, which was a relief. The creature continued on its way to the deeper parts of the cave. The sound she heard before was coming from the back of the room, which seemed to be dragging something against the ceiling.
Leaving that cave was necessary; the presence of the creature exuded danger. Without wasting time, she moved slowly to leave the cave, and as she approached the exit, the strong smell of iron invaded her nostrils.
"Blood?" She asked herself.
The moon dimly illuminated the exit, and an image sent terror running down her spine. Several pieces of bodies were scattered across the floor, and a huge pool of blood spread across the entire ground.
What happened here wasn't a battle; it was a massacre, and the claw marks on the ground and trees show that the creature she encountered was responsible.
From the remains, she found some of the clothes used by the victim, which were similar to the bandits who attacked her the night before. If not for the creature, perhaps she would be dead at this moment, but at the same time, if not for the presence of her pursuers, she would have turned into that creature's food.
For two more long days, she wandered through the dense forest, and the difficulty of moving around and directing herself correctly worried her greatly. She needed to go to a higher place. Getting a map from her backpack, she decided to go to the hills, which was a risky move.
Without the protection of the trees, she would be exposed to ferocious creatures, but from a high point of view, she would have a better idea of where she is and how to proceed to the encampment.
For another day, she marched, stopping a few times for a brief rest. The stuffy air of the forest made her heavy clothes hotter and more uncomfortable.
Forcefully swallowing the rations she had, the lack of a good night's sleep was making her body reach its limit.
A hidden trail led her to the hills. Finally, the vegetation gradually diminished until only rocks and undergrowth were part of the surroundings. Her water reserves were close to the limit, she accelerated her march as much as she could, but soon realized this was an error.
Her heavy footsteps made many pebbles and small rocks slide down the hill and echo through the air. This caught the attention of a couple of Barghashees who were hunting nearby.
She wouldn't be able to run in her current physical condition. Fighting was the only viable option, and she wielded her scythe and left the backpacks she was carrying on the ground.
The largest Barghashee attacked her unsuccessfully, the scythe missed one of its front paws, and from behind, the other creature bit her ankle,e which made her lose her balance.
In desperation, she brandished the scythe in the air, piercing the creature's belly. Unable to celebrate the brief success, she felt the Bargashee's teeth sink into her right shoulder.
Alyssa let out a cry of pain. Her tired body and mind, she could only think about giving up.
"I...failed." She thought, without much strength to fight the creature.
Before losing consciousness, she could see figures higher up on the hill.
Everything then went dark.