The group walked another mile, Caen and Zeris harvesting kromroots while Affen and Hez fought off the odd one-tail. No packs had assaulted them since they'd slain the first.

Caen wore his backpack behind him and Ellu's basket in front of him while dragging two heavy sacks of shadeling corpses.

Zeris herself was struggling with two sacks of fentils and kromroots. “Regretting this yet?” she muttered.

Caen chuckled. “Not even a little.” Today was shaping up to be the best day of his life by an entire mile.

His headache had cleared up in minutes. It wasn't yet willpower fatigue, which was a relief.

It bothered him that his own soul structure was no longer visible to him as it had been the first time Soul-sense activated. And he couldn't help feeling that this was tied to the temporary boost to his Spirit-healing affinity. How would he even begin to recreate that initial effect?

Caen used his new senses on himself, or at least he tried to. It didn't work. It felt as though there was nothing to perceive. Nothing to connect with. Several more attempts yielded no useful results, so he pivoted to something else. He focused on trying to deactivate the ability, Soul-sense, without needing to look away from the person he was sensing. Whenever he used Soul-sense, he could feel his being unfurling or expanding outwards. And in a similar manner, looking away ended the connection and caused his being to sort of fold in on itself. This reminded him of his spirit tendrils.

This time, as he looked away from Zeris, he paid attention to the way his existence compressed back into a denser whole. He connected to her again. And when he attempted to end the connection without looking away, he felt some resistance. It was almost like trying to move a muscle he didn't have conscious control over.

He worked at the problem for a bit longer, repeatedly ending the connection by looking away and doing his best to pay attention each time to the way his existence folded in on itself. Soul-sense assaulted him with numerous sensations, making it unsurprisingly difficult to narrow down on any specific one. Nevertheless, Caen was eventually able to reproduce the effect of ending the connection without turning his gaze away from the person he was connected to.

He kept using the ability on Zeris to determine how quickly he could activate and deactivate it. ‘Not very’ was the answer. It was uncomfortable having to push through the resistance each time, and it slowed him down significantly, but he was still able to connect and disconnect in rapid succession.

Zeris glanced at him sidelong as they worked on a patch of fentils. “Okay, that's getting really annoying,” she said.

“Does it feel any different than earlier?” he asked. “I think I've gotten the hang of flickering it.”

“Well, now it's constantly

interrupting the movements of my spirit. More distracting than restricting, though. Like a child poking my shoulder while I'm trying to study. My spirit tendrils keep jolting unless I willfully ignore the distraction.”

“Can you tell that I’m the one causing this?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not without you pointing it out, no. Just feels like something strange is happening to me. It’s a little nerve-racking, actually.”

After hearing this, Caen went on to flicker Soul-sense on other members of the party. Besides Zeris, who knew what to look out for, Affen was the only one who reacted.

“Hey, stop fidgeting so much,” Hez scolded. “You're making me nervous.”

“I feel an itch,” Affen said. He was still in werewolf mixform. “Like something is watching us. You won't understand; it's a predator thing. You humans are oblivious.”

Hez snorted, rolling her eyes.

Caen continued testing Soul-sense till the ache in his head grew unbearable. He cut off his connection and massaged his temples. His willpower felt strained, and the tinge of fatigue from earlier had become more prominent.

Affen's snout twitched. “Two-tails,” he announced grimly.

The air audibly crackled above Binam's palm as he began preparing a spell.

A two-tailed shadeling stalked from behind a charred boulder. It was surrounded by a large pack of one-tails, and the size difference was very apparent between them. Where the one-tailed shadelings were about two and a half feet tall and the width of a regular wolf, the two-tailed shadeling was double that in size. Its two shadowy tails swirled about like ink on water. This was the most horrifying thing about higher shadelings. They could split off one tail and form it into a perfect clone of themselves that retained strength, speed, and grace equivalent to theirs.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Caen focused on the two-tailed creature and flickered his new senses at it.

The shadeling spasmed. The next moment, Binam struck the pack with arcs of lightning. Several of them scattered away, but the two-tails was caught in the blast.

Affen pounced on the creature and, after a quick tussle, bit off its jugular.

The one-tailed shadelings began to fan out. Hez cleaved through them with her shortswords, which she still held in reverse grip.

One shadeling made it past Binam, but Ellu slapped it aside with a hardened clump of sand, which she'd pulled out from the basket hanging from her shoulder. Dari pushed the creature back a few paces with a flowing gust of wind, and Binam looked back to finish it off with a few lightning bolts. He returned his attention to the rest of the pack.

Beside Caen, Zeris fingered the pouch concealing her holster. She looked tense. Caen, too, was on high alert. They were leaving a trail of miasma while hauling even more along with them. He glanced at the sacks of shadeling corpses.

“We should keep these sacks well away from us whenever the party stops,” he said to Zeris.

“Agreed,” she replied without taking her eyes off the fight in front of them.

Caen kept one hand on the pommel of his sword and the other close enough to one of his holsters. Just in case. His sword was strapped to his side, and his bandolier and utility belt were chock-full of combat supplies.

He held back on using Soul-sense on the one-tails to hinder them. Binam and his companions didn't seem like they were struggling, and Caen's head was starting to ache again.

Up ahead, another two-tailed shadeling joined the fray. One of the tails dancing behind it split off instantly and began pulsing in the air, growing into something. The shadeling itself, eerily silent, closed in on Binam, dodging every attack he hurled at it.

Gritting his teeth, Caen flickered Soul-sense once at the creature. It stumbled, but recovered very quickly. However, the pulsing mass of shadow behind it fell apart, flowing back into its place beside the other tail.

Caen blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that to happen.

Affen rushed at it, but a trio of one-tails blocked his path. In the seconds it took him to tear through them, Binam bathed the shadeling in lightning.

Affen ended the creature as soon as Binam's spell wore off. A yard away, Hez cut the last one-tails in half.

“Whoo!” Binam bellowed, cracking his neck. “Now, wasn't that a rush!”

Ellu, who'd been standing back with Dari, sniffed disdainfully and walked over to a separate portion of shrubs. She snapped her fingers. “Gatherer girl! Bring me my basket.”

Zeris glared at the woman's back for a moment before hauling the basket over to her. There was some marshy soil in the basket, and Ellu had been transplanting some flowers directly into it.

Caen glanced around. “We should get moving,” he said to the hearing of the group. “We’ve spent too long here, and we have enough miasma to attract even more packs.”

“Didn't you just see that?” Binam asked. “We're unstoppable. And what about all these spoils? Two two-tails? We're not leaving here till I've stuffed them into sacks. Actually, in fact,” he rubbed his nose and scanned the group, a grin forming on his face.

Out the corner of his eye, Caen noticed Affen, still in mixform, moving closer to where Ellu and Zeris stood. Hez, too, seemed to be approaching them with a casualness that seemed a bit too forced.

“We’re robbing you,” Binam finished. He gestured at Ellu. “I know you brought those spatial artifacts in here with you.”

Dari glanced at him, wide-eyed. The man seemed shocked.

Ellu looked up from where she knelt by the bushes. “What nonsense are you spouting?”

Caen and Zeris locked eyes, a quick understanding passing between them. Zeris began walking backwards.

“Ah ah ah,” Binam said, wagging a finger at her. “You stay right there. Everybody, hold still. Okay? I don't plan to harm anyone. We'll just put you out of commission for a bit and take your stuff. Heck, we’ll even carry you out through the Aperture ourselves!”

Dari sputtered, flabbergasted.

“I paid you!” Ellu screamed, stamping her foot on the ground. “You can't get away with this. I won't let you.”

“Oh, by the time you wake up, I'll be long gone, sweetheart.”

“Just take the stuff and leave us behind,” Zeris said, sneaking a hand into her pouch. “My cousin and I won't follow for a long while after you've gone through the Aperture.”

Binam recoiled in apparent surprise. “Wait, you could speak Thermish all along? Huh. Doesn't matter. I can't trust that you won't start chasing us the moment we have our backs turned. Also, I'll be able to pull some goodwill from the Watchers if I drag your unconscious bodies out of the Plane. Easier to deny whatever charges Ellu here throws at us.” He lifted a hand, fingers twitching, and a spark of lightning danced above his palms. “This won't even hurt. You'll feel a tickle, and next thing you know, you'll be back at the Lodge. Honestly, I—”

Ellu screamed. Sand and soil erupted out of the basket on her shoulder and the larger one on the floor beside Zeris. Two limbs of earth were propelled towards Binam with no regard for fine control.

Binam ducked out of the way, surprisingly agile. He rolled up to his feet and flung an arc of thick lightning at Ellu.

Dari deflected it to the side with apparent effort.

Caen was already reaching for the sacks of shadeling parts.

Affen bounded towards the group like a chugging train.

Zeris took out her gun and shot Binam.