Adrian’s breath caught in his throat. The rabbit’s head hit the moss with a dull thud, blood spilling across the white petals, staining them a deep red. His chest locked, every muscle frozen.

  Alex stumbled back a step, eyes wide. “What the fuck—” his voice cracked, too loud in the silence. He slapped a hand over his mouth, as if afraid the sound itself might draw attention.

  Adrian couldn’t move. Couldn’t blink. The warmth the rabbit had stirred inside him vanished in an instant, leaving only a cold emptiness spreading through his chest. He felt pulled toward it, protective even, but now he realized that pull wasn’t his. It had been something else. Something wrong.

  Beside him, Alex’s breathing quickened, ragged and sharp. His hand gripped the SMG under his cloak so tightly his knuckles whitened. He looked to Adrian for words, for direction, but found only that same frozen stare.

  The silence pressed down on them. No birds. No wind. Just the slow drip of blood onto the roots.

  Adrian finally managed to whisper, hoarse, “Stay still.”

  The silence lingered, too thick, too unnatural.

  Adrian’s gaze snapped to the crimson-leafed tree. Something shifted at its base, not a sound, just a ripple in the air, like a heat haze. His breath caught. The shape bent and straightened with the bark, almost invisible, until it began to move.

  A leg slid forward, too thin, too sharp. Another followed. The distortion peeled back like water rolling off glass, and a form emerged from the shadows.

  Alex’s grip on the SMG rattled faintly. “Adrian…”

  The thing stepped fully into view. Black, wet-looking, its carapace gleamed like oil under the faint light. Mandibles clacked, twitching, and its arms, razor scythes, dragged lightly against the bark, sending a hiss into the silence.

  Adrian’s chest tightened. His instincts screamed to run, but his body wouldn’t listen.

  Adrian’s lungs burned. He realized he hadn’t breathed.

  Alex took a step back. His boot snapped a twig.

  The creature’s head jerked, mandibles clacking, and for a heartbeat, Adrian felt its eyes lock on them, black voids that seemed to pierce straight through.

  His whole body screamed to run.

  But his legs refused to move.

  "Adrian. Move back slowly," Alex said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  Adrian inhaled, chest tight, eyes locked on the creature. He took a tentative step back. His hand slid under his cloak, fingers brushing the grip of his weapon. Another step.

  Cold sweat ran down his temples, slicking the back of his neck, heart hammering as if it might tear free from his chest. Every nerve screamed, warning him of the predator in front of him.

  Another step. Another heartbeat. The creature didn’t flinch. It simply watched.

  It doesn’t take us as a threat, Adrian thought.

  The realization cut through the fog of fear that had frozen him in place. His chest still pounded, and cold sweat trickled down his spine, but the paralysis loosened. He could move. He had to move.

  Another step. He grabbed the grip of his gun. A faint clink-clatter came from behind him.

  The creature tilted its head ever so slightly. A cold chill raced down Adrian’s spine. He froze.

  “Move. I got you covered,” Alex said, his voice trembling.

  Adrian swallowed. Alex's voice broke the hold. He gave the smallest nod, breath still ragged, grip tightening on his gun.

  He took another step backwards.

  Adrian tightened his fingers around the grip, sliding his thumb over the safety. With slow movement, he took the gun from behind his cloak.

  The creature’s limbs twitched.

  “DIVE!” Alex shouted.

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  Adrian didn’t think. He threw himself to the left, hitting the ground hard.

  The SMG barked in short bursts. Bullets tore through the creature’s limbs and abdomen, dark blood splattering. The creature screeched, flailing, staggering backward, disoriented by the sudden, relentless assault.

  Adrian didn’t wait; he acted. Lying flat on the moss, his back pressed to the cold earth, he brought up his gun, aiming squarely at the creature’s chest, and squeezed the trigger.

  Dark blood sprayed across roots and leaves. A few bullets struck at odd angles, sparks flying where metal met the thick carapace, and one ricocheted off, pinging against a nearby branch.

  His finger didn’t leave the trigger until it finally clicked.

  By that time, the creature lay on the ground, riddled with holes.

  “Fuck,” Alex muttered, then let out a shaky laugh. “That… was close.”

  Adrian glanced at him. Alex was laughing, but his hands trembled as he swapped the magazine in his SMG.

  Adrian did the same, though awkwardly, pressed against the moss at a weird angle, fumbling with his own weapon.

  “It’s dead,” Alex said, nodding toward the body. Then he fired a few more rounds into its head. “Now it’s definitely dead,” he added, smirking.

  “Shit… what the fuck just happened?” Adrian muttered, still on his back, face pale.

  Alex lowered the gun and extended a hand. “Fuck if I know,” he said.

  Adrian took it, letting Alex pull him to his feet.

  The creature lay sprawled on the forest floor, riddled with holes. Adrian squinted at it, trying to make sense of what had just attacked them. Up close, the closest thing he could compare it to was a mantis, if mantis were two meters tall, its black carapace gleaming like spilled oil.

  Alex kicked it lightly with his boot. “Yup,” he said, voice low. “Dead.”

  "If that thing saw us as threats, we’d be dead," Adrian commented, still catching his breath.

  "Yeah," Alex said, shaking his head, "we got lucky."

  "We need to get out of the forest," Adrian said, voice tense. "If there are more creatures like this… we’re dead. Dead."

  "You got that right," Alex replied.

  He set his bag down, rifling through it before pulling out a small box of bullets. He started packing up his empty mag with methodical precision. Adrian did the same, hands still trembling slightly from the adrenaline.

  "What the fuck did the rabbit do to us?" Adrian muttered, still staring at the spot where it had fallen.

  "It messed with my mind, that’s for sure," Alex replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Alex added, "I wanted to see dragons and elves… not this shit."

  Adrian let out a bitter laugh.

  Adrian wiped a smear of dark blood from his cheek, staring down at the creature. Luminara was right, he thought, without the simulations, now they would be dead.

  Alex got up and scooped the rabbit into his hands. “Well… we’re grilling it,” he said with a crooked grin.

  “It’s the least it can do, after the shit we went through,” Adrian muttered, laughing.

  “New rule,” Alex said, still grinning, “shoot rabbits on sight.”

  “I second that.”

  Adrian took out the compass and confirmed the direction they needed to go. They started walking, each step careful.

  This time, every shadow made them flinch. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig, made them tense. They scanned the forest constantly, eyes darting to anything that might conceal, white flowers, crimson leaves.

  The air felt heavier, the silence thicker, as if the forest itself was holding its breath. Adrian’s grip on his gun never loosened, and Alex mirrored him, moving in a loose, protective formation.

  Even with the creature dead behind them, neither of them could shake the feeling that the forest wasn’t done testing them.

  "If the mantis-thing hadn’t killed the rabbit, god knows what would’ve happened to us," Adrian continued. "I mean… if the mantis wasn’t camouflaged, we’d have been fighting it just to protect the rabbit."

  "Yeah… scary shit," Alex muttered.

  "That thing was scarier," Adrian added, voice low. "We were just following it blindly, the only thought in my head… to protect it."

  "Yeah," Alex agreed. "At least with the mantis-thing we had a chance to turn our fate around."

  Adrian’s eyes narrowed. "If we even glimpse another one… fire. No hesitation."

  "We need to find shelter before night falls," Adrian said, voice tense. "I don’t want to see what creatures roam at night. Fuck that."

  Alex nodded, scanning the forest around them. "Yeah…"

  Adrian and Alex moved carefully through the forest, eyes scanning every shadow. A small bird with streaks of white and crimson flitted past, pausing briefly to watch them before disappearing into the trees.

  Alex let out a low, humorless laugh. “If we had more ammo, I’d be killing everything in sight,” he muttered, glancing around. “Starting with that flying asshole.”

  They pressed on, stepping over gnarled roots and ducking under low-hanging branches, the forest thick around them. Small movements caught their eyes, a lizard-like creature scuttling across a mossy log, a cluster of insects buzzing and vanishing before they could get a good look, something large and dark moving just beyond the treeline. Nothing lingered long enough to identify, but every glimpse tightened their chests with unease.

  The path wound on, narrowing between dense trees and rocky outcrops. Sunlight dappled the ground in fleeting patterns, giving the forest a strange, shifting light. Finally, after what felt like hours, they reached a slope where the trees thinned, revealing a rocky hill.

  On the side of the hill, they found a cave, its mouth framed by jagged stone and creeping vines. Adrian and Alex paused at the edge, breathing shallow, weapons at the ready, staring into the black. They lingered there, weighing the risk of stepping inside.

  "After you," Alex said with a smirk.