As night dwelled within the skies, deep within the depths of the forest, which itself was within the bowels of a concrete jungle, there was a flickering light. It wasn't the dancing warmth of a campfire, not the ambient buzzing of a sparkle of fireflies. Instead it was the crackling of electricity as the overpowering stench of ozone filled the air.

Sitting at the base of a recently sprouted ancient oak tree, was a woman in her mid twenties. She had long, flowing black hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall of night, that slowly turned from black to grey the further down it got until it finally turned as white as ash at the very ends.

The only exception to this were streaks either side of her face, the deep blue dye already in the process of fading after all these weeks.

Flashes of pale blue light briefly illuminated her face within the veil of night, revealing her pale skin and three evenly spaced, deep crimson lines. Fresh scars drawn from above the left side of her mouth, down her cheek and across the length of her neck.

Her eyes were like an endless river of chocolate, swirling circles as they surrounded her pupils. Pupils that were not black, but a pale blue that glowed with the soft radiance of lightning streaking across the skies.

Astra held her hand up in front of her, lost in thought as she watched the sparks of electricity, arcing like Tesla coils, as it danced between her fingers. Fingers that had turned black as if they were covered in soot, with blackened scars cascading up her forearms like a storm of lightning. Her eyes traced over the scars, following each and every line as she reminisced about the first feeling on that fateful day. The moment on the train, just after she had bumped into that strange man.

He was probably dead by now. Most of them were.

[Are you okay?]

Clenching her fist, she cut off the light display as a small dog padded into sight, its body composed of countless points of light, like it was constructed of millions of living pixels.

As her guardian nuzzled against her leg, Astra flinched slightly on instinct, stopping herself from leaping away when she remembered that she couldn't harm the innocent looking creature.

Yet, even with that notion in her mind, she still hesitated a moment before finally giving in and giving it the scritches it was pining for.

"Yes Buddy, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

"Um… Boss?"

Quickly retracting her hand, Astra leapt to her feet and spun on her heels to face the man that had called for her. He was roughly in his late teens, at least that's what she assumed, dressed in ostentatious golden armour like a knight of old and had cerulean skin that was constantly glistening with water, as if he had dunked his head in a bucket just a few seconds prior. It was hard not to see it as sweat, however. He was currently giving her an odd look, not quite understanding why she had been petting the air a few moments before.

Clearing her throat, Astra put on her serious commander face and glowered sternly at the sweaty young man, which just made his forehead glisten even more.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Well…We uh…We have finished dressing down the kills. And… and the scout has reported that the beast has been diverted."

"Hmm, That's good at least. What was the result?"

"We managed to salvage two of the wolves we killed… Oh and… And half of another one Sir. I mean Ma'am!"

It was hard to think over how much noise his armour was making, rattling like cutlery in a blender with every movement and made worse by the fact he was trembling in his shiny little boots under the intensity of her glare. Personally, Astra didn't think she was that scary but constantly people her unnerved by her resting face, and the new scars didn't exactly help.

But it was especially bad for this young man. Perhaps it was especially terrifying to be a walking puddle clad in metal armour while standing near an electricity user. Or maybe he just had an especially stern mother, who's to say.

Letting out a frustrated sigh that made the boy flinch, she fixed the collar of the long, ankle length leather jacket she wore over top a scale mail shirt.

'It's all that damn bears fault.'

The creature had interrupted their hunt, tearing apart half of the wolf pack they had spent a day tracking and killing two of their members. As if that wasn't already bad enough, when it had killed the wolves it had shredded their stomachs and ruined the meat with the acid contained within.

Honestly, they were lucky it was only two members they lost. Since it was covered in earthen armour, it was a dreadful matchup for her abilities. They were just lucky that their scout had managed to lodge a few arrow shots in its back, enough to piss it off, and lead the enraged beast on a wild goose chase.

She had no worries that their scout would survive the solo mission, that girl was practically untouchable after all, only how long it would take them to lose it. But to hear that she managed to do it so soon was a silver lining on this dreadful hunt.

'This isn't enough… This might last us a few days, but we've got starving people back there. This won't do for a single meal. We'll have to resort to broths or soups again…'

Astra gnawed at her lip as she oversaw the grey haired man, the last remaining member of their hunting party, wrapping the meat in cloth and placing them into a small fist sized pouch. Despite the tiny size of the pouch, he would keep placing in meat and never coming close to filling it up. Each of them had such a magical item on their person, the gift of transportation some people chose to receive from the 'System'. Not every member here chose said item, but they all currently carried one, to make their job easier.

As the older man carved out the last viable chunk of meat with a steady hand, clearly well trained with the blade, both the one in his hand and the one hanging on his hip, Astra sighed again.

"Don't forget the organs and gather the fat trimmings too, as much as you can. Although I'd rather avoid it, we can use it to make pemmican."

It was a type of food she had learned about from a field trip when she was young, a food made up of a mixture of animal fat and meat. The last time she tried it it was like biting into a candle. Not the most enjoyable meal, but it would keep you alive. That's what they needed most right now above anything else.

"If you're going to make pemmican, you should mix in berries. Makes it taste better."

A voice came from above their heads as Astra heard a rustle from the tree above before something landed behind her with a thump. She didn't even have to glance over her shoulder to know who it was, there was only one person it could be. Their scout had returned.

"Since when did you care about how things taste?"

"Hmm, true… true… But if I'm going to live vicariously through you, then you need to be eating good things."

She wanted to chuckle at the response, but the sound of a branch cracking stole her attention. Whirling around to the source of the sound, sparks danced excitedly amongst Astra's fingers once again as she pointed her hand towards a nearby bush.

With narrowed eyes, she watched the bush like a hawk as it rustled and shook as something pushed its way through the foliage. She didn't dare to even blink, the glow of her pupils growing more intense as the energy arcing between her fingers screamed to be let loose. Her other hand was stuffed within her pocket, clenching a handful of batteries in a white knuckled fist.

Behind her, the rest of her group rushed into defensive positions as they drew their weapons from sheathes or summoned them from tattoos on their skin.

It was a tense few seconds, the rustling of the bush deafening, until the intruder finally made themselves known. A rotten corpse, the flesh still hanging off its bones, stumbled into their sight and gazed at them with clouded, lifeless eyes.

It didn't even have time to take another step before a bolt of lightning leapt from Astra's palm, lighting up the night as it streaked through the air and slammed into the chest of the zombie. The force of the bolt sent it flying backwards, a hole burnt into its chest causing the stench of burnt flesh to mix with the rotten odour it brought along with it.

Yet even with the zombie blasted away, the rustling within the treeline didn't stop. Five…ten…thirty… sixty tense seconds passed until finally another figure made itself known. Stepping out from behind a tree, with his hands raised in the air, was a man dressed like a plague doctor. With a feathered cloak and a bird shaped mask that completely shrouded his face in darkness, he slowly stepped into sight.

Only when the man was sure that they wouldn't blast him like they did with the zombie, did he finally speak.

"I'm not going to hurt you. The zombie was one of mine, I have others like it. But I also have a few other friends."

He took a few more seconds to let the information sink in and, only after Astra lowered her hand, did he gesture for his 'friends' to come out of hiding. A man who looked like he was made out of plastic, and a skinny one armed man with a strange bird sitting on his shoulder.

"Wait a minute… I know that guy!"

She heard an exclamation from behind her, glancing over her shoulder she could see the shocked and confused expression on the face of their slime girl scout.