The road leading to the neighboring village was quiet. A few passing merchants or travelers in the last two days are not uncommon, but the numbers have been dropping more lately. The leaves under my feet crunch, the autumn leaves covering the road in hues of reds, yellows, and browns. The trees bow together, making this road feel like a tunnel. Even with the leaves falling off, it mostly blocks the sun. Light creeps in where bald patches in the canvas appear, giving some needed lighting to the area. I sigh and state,
"The village shouldn't be more than a mile or two out; if we keep up, we will be there in around 30 minutes."
Lucius seems to ignore me as he looks out to the woods, intent on something I cannot see. My familiars sniff the air before growling; as I look out into the dark abyss of woods surrounding us, I can barely make out anything but what I can only describe as a miasma of sorts, darting between trees but staying out of the light. I can barely keep up with it. Between its speed and the brightness here creating too much contrast with the darkness beyond, it's nearly impossible for me to track.
Startled, I recognize the lively woods have gone dead silent, and the birds, insects, and other wildlife have fallen mute as if anticipating its arrival. Looking at Lucius, I ask,
"Is this a Specter, a wraith? Or possibly, no, it can't be a Revenant. You didn't kill anyone out here, right?"
He snorts lightly.
"Not these woods, too close to a populated area. I'm much more subtle than that."
I watched it for a while before realizing it was refusing to move into the light, almost taunting us toward the shadows. The only two creatures I know that would do this are wraiths and wrights. Wraiths are much more intelligent and organized, but why here?
"Do you see it? It's a pattern, and the way it avoids the light?"
I ask Lucius; he laughs mockingly.
"Scared of a little light? Come out here and fight us, you coward! Spirit or not, I'll kill you myself."
I look at him, knowing he has no silver weapons to fight a ghost and minimal magic ability to fight it off.
"You are an idiot,"
I say, laughing nervously. If this is a wraith and it does decide to attack, he will die if I can't keep him safe. Even in the light, its spectral weapons are dangerous and can kill someone as well as any other weapon can. I need to act now; If I don't, it will keep us here till nightfall before attacking. My familiars ready themselves before I channel my spell, shooting fire towards the last place it manifested, only to dissipate before it reached it. Aurora is hiding behind me, shooting a magical projectile at the new location just for it to move to a new one again. Its bluish-white fur is standing up as it misses. Eclipse jumps in front of us as the spector moves toward us. He uses his magical projectile to cause it to back off. This continued for a few moments before Lucius, being his normally bullheaded self, charged the enemy. In a blink of an eye, the adversary was upon him; I fired a spell at the location only to watch Lucius be swiped by the hand of the advisory. The spell did land home, and without so much as a sound, it dissipated again, leaving a short-lived trail of miasma while it fled from our location.
"Lucius!"
I run to him, pulling out one of the crystals from our village to light the area better and inspect his wound. Past the gushing blood, I notice three deep claw wounds penetrate his stomach,
"Damnit, you fool, what the hell were you thinking?"
I begin to channel my magic into a healing incantation.
"I saw how much you kept missing and thought, Oh, he wants someone close and personal."
The incantation only stopped the blood from pouring out, making it a slow trickle. Something is wrong; this spell should have sealed it. Did it imbue magic into that attack?
"We need to get you to the village now."
I helped him to his feet. Lucius stumbled, barely able to keep his footing, nearly causing me to drop him.
"Too bad there isn't a spell to make me lighter, huh?"
Lucius says between raspy breaths,
"Shut up, you idiot. We need to hurry. It might come back, and if it does, we will be in serious trouble. We won't make it before dark, but I still want to get as far from here as possible."
Moving through the forest was gruesome. Between the fear of Lucius's gasps, the bleeding, and the constant noises from the woods, fear gripped me. Would he die here? I can't lose someone else, not again, not after my last companion. It took us twenty minutes to clear the woods and begin to see the valley. The village could be seen in the distance, and the farmlands of the outskirts of the village seemed run-down but still in use. Although one or two looked abandoned, the land itself is in use. I take one more look at the woods behind us. As the night begins to consume the world, the woods become the embodiment of darkness, impenetrable to see a few inches behind you. We make our slow descent to the village. As the night creeps upon the land as a whole, we follow the light of my familiars to lead us and the lights from the village in the distance to get us there.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to the village walls. The guards greet us and immediately show concern and distrust when they see Lucius being injured.
"What the hell happened to him?"
One of the guards asked.
"He was attacked by what I can only assume was a wraith. Please, is there an alchemist or local mage who can help him?
The wound won't heal from my magic. Something is wrong."
The guards look at each other, confused and skeptical.
"Please! He might not survive at this rate."
The guard sighs before pointing me down the street.
"Our alchemist is a child and knows nothing really and might cause more harm than not, but if you take the right road past the tavern, the jester has a home there where he botches many of his patients."
Without a second thought, I start down the right path, holding onto Lucius for dear life.
"We are going to get you to help soon. Just hang on."
seeing the alchemist sign over near the home, Eclipse burst the door open with his elemental magic. As I rush Lucius in, a young man no older than 17 runs into the room, terrified and screaming
"Who are you, people? What are you doing in my-"
He stops when he sees the wounds on Lucius
"By the gods, what happened to him?"
