Soul of a Human

Dino and the Ice-kin chief met a few more times. Dino tried to convince him to reinforce the deal, but with the only concrete source of the seeming truth being the untrustworthy Shadow-kin, he got nowhere. The Ice-kin chief didn't ignore the threat of the possible First but also didn't completely acknowledge it. While Dino had his political problems, the out-and-about Mor was looking at quite a different one himself.

"Do you know them?" Jorgen asked Titania.

"No, " the woman said. If you also don't know them, then it must mean that they are not from either of our villages."

Elly got down and rifled through the corpses of the unknown Ice-kin hunter team while trying to figure out what had killed them. Their team had stumbled over them as they were looking for their real target. The now-dead hunter team consisted of only men, and seemingly everyone was of some kind of attacker variant.

"I think they are from the Icicle village," Elly stated after looking over their possessions. "The equipment fits, at least from what my mother told me."

"What killed them?" Mor asked.

"I don't know." Elly said, "It looks like they were pierced and crushed, but with their corpses still there, whatever got them didn't eat them."

°Are there herbivore monstrosities? Like hippos.° The human asked.

°Herbivore? Hippo?° Mor asked.

°Right...° The human sighed. °Herbivore means plant-eating, and a hippo is a very dangerous animal in my world. It eats fruits and leaves but is also very aggressive.°

°I understand. Well, monstrosities live of magic, and living beings have much more of it.° Mor said.

°Because your life force is basically magic, right?° The human interrupted.

°Yes, that's why every monstrosity we know eats people or other monstrosities.° Mor continued.

°Then could it be other contestants?° The human asked.

°No. That's dishonorable, and no one would do something like that.° Mor denied it, thinking about how much the Ice-kin liked being honorable.

"Do you see any other tracks? Something like traces of combat?" Jorgen asked his girlfriend.

"Yes, but nothing a monstrosity would leave," Elly said.

"Another team?" Titania asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think so. It is not the Ice-kin way." Elly said, confirming Mor's guess.

"Should I call someone?" Mor asked.

"No. We don't know what caused that, and that spell could attract other monstrosities, right?" Elly said.

"Yes, it is pretty strong magic upfront," Mor confirmed.

"Also, shouting so loud that the people of the fortress will hear you might shatter our eardrums," Titania stated, after which Mor gave her a shocked look.

°I forgot she was here!° He complained.

°How?! She's like two meters tall and made of muscles!° The human asked, incredulous.

Mor cleared his throat. "You're right. The danger does not rectify the gain, " he said, glossing over Titania.

"But we should at least burn them," Jorgen said. "Leaving them like this is not something they deserve."

Elly nodded, then removed some of the personal items from the corpses as Titania, Jorgen, and Mor prepared a bonfire big enough to burn them. However, when they moved the bodies, it was the human who recognized something.

°Wait. See there!°

°What?° Mor asked, then saw what the human had pointed out.

"Elly! Come and look at that." He called her over.

The scout girl rushed over and looked at what Mor had found, letting out a sharp breath. Then, she took a closer look at the weapons of the dead hunters.

"It's a piece of the spear tip. They killed each other?" She asked, incredulous.

"But why?" Mor asked.

°If it's not a falling out of the team, then it can only be one thing.° The human said.

"Illusion magic," Mor growled.

"Illusion magic?" Elly asked.

"Yes, you remember those raptor things? They used the same kind of magic but to another effect." Mor explained, and Elly frowned at the memory.

"Let's check our surroundings again before we burn the bodies and then get away as fast as possible," Mor said, and Elly agreed.

The four hunters rechecked their surroundings but couldn't make out any tracks of a monstrosity close to them, so they went on with their plan, even if the mysteries of the dead Ice-kin was not cleared. However, they had neither the time nor the expertise to investigate it to its final conclusion. Instead, Mor used a tiny bit of fire magic to light the bonfire, and the team quickly left the scene, not wanting to get caught by this possible monstrosity.

However, just as they went in a random direction, Elly flinched and motioned everyone to hide.

"I heard something." She whispered, and everyone else listened hard.

"Me too," Jorgen said quietly, and Titania nodded.

Mor was the only one who heard nothing, which was unusual.

°Do you hear something?° Mor asked.

°Nope.° The human said.

"Mor, get ready," Jorgen whispered, slowly loosening his sword. His face was a mixture of excitement and fear, but Mor could see his friend's strong conviction.

On the other hand, Elly raised three fingers and motioned them to launch a surprise attack. Confusing Mor even more.

"What's going on?" He asked, and Elly's eyes grew wide.

She quickly held back Jorgen and motioned for a silent retreat, which they accomplished with a grumbling Jorgen. After they moved a bit, Elly nodded and addressed the team.

"It's obviously a mutated one." She said.

Getting another confused look from Mor, a confused he shared with the human.

"What? I don't understand." Mor said.

"How did you not see it?" Jorgen asked, and Titania nodded.

"No, I did not! What are you talking about!" Mor complained.

"The howler!" Jorgen said as if it would explain anything.

"I'll explain," Elly said. "Where we hid, there was a howler close to us, but if you couldn't see it, that means it has illusion powers, hiding from one of the team."

"That doesn't make sense," Mor stated.

°Yeah, this sounds like a strong illusion, meaning we should be the least affected.° The human said.

"The raptor's camouflage was a minor illusion. Something of this magnitude needs a strong way into your mind, and I'm especially resistant to it," Mor explained.

"So what? Are you saying we were the ones influenced?" Elly asked, and Mor nodded.

"Well, no matter, let's just ignore it and get away from here." Elly decided.

With this decision made, the young hunter team left the area, leaving whatever made those illusions behind, if the howler really just was an illusion. However, no one wanted to go back and check. Well, no one but Jorgen. The rest convinced him that a mutated howler would be even harder to beat, and the danger was too great. They did, however, need to promise that they wouldn't run from a "normal" howler, which was the plan anyway.