Tread Lightly

Weary but recovering, I travel with this mostly merry band of refugees for several days on the road without any incident, and only a single pleasant surprise occurred. The group of vagrants seems to be quite resilient even after their hometowns were destroyed. Still, I guess near the borderlands, even a usually safe section, people grow up tough. They play cards, joke, laugh, and learn.

Earl spends the first day after I gave him the manual constantly reading, and I take that next day to rest while the others just continue with our travel northeastward. Not honestly what I'd wish as I'd instead go straight north into Bonedunes, but it beats walking by a mile.

Instead, we take a meandering path towards Bonedunes, the territory that rests on the edge of Tornridge. And more specifically, Earl found an approach to a small town called Harmony Town, where we could relax.

Earl also said that we should be outpacing the creatures from the break, so the town there should be safe, at least for a little while. None of us know how far this outbreak from the borderlands will reach, but something deep inside tells me it's not gonna end anytime soon.

So, while we travel, I try to rest, but I force myself to get up and use Leonard's shotgun to go hunt after my single day of vacation. Of course, I am careful not to waste any ammo. Still, it will be much easier to try and take something mobile down with a gun than just my daggers or rapier. Because few animals will try and fight you, only those that believe they can kill you will. And I'm in no shape to fight any of those. Not just that, but we are now far from the Andreis forest, so it's much safer to hunt in the small surrounding woods or meadows.

My first hunt for them ends with a bit of surprise. While the rest of the group took a short rest and let the horse relax, I went off and found a burrow of some unknown creature. At first, I thought it was a rabbit warren, but quickly my thoughts changed. It's much too big. Probably a fox or badger den.

I take a moment to practice my still stagnant and weak Ether while outside the den. At this point, my Ether can enter any part of my head without severe pain or nausea. And I learned something new in my last battle: Ether circulation in the brain can have a positive effect. So this might be true for most other things.

This logic leads me to move a tiny bit of Ether into my ears, hoping it might enhance my hearing. At first, when the Ether first starts to move, I don't feel any change. Nothing sounds noticeably different. But after a moment or two, I detect something new. I can hear things just a little bit further than I used to be able to do. For example, I can hear leaves moving in the wind much further than I used to be able to. And if I really focus, I can hear distant shouts and laughter from the others.

The apparent improvement makes me push the Ether just a step higher in flow speed while being extremely careful not to let any go below my head and enter my neck. This new pace of Ether flow quickly allows me to discern its difference from the previous one. I can almost distinguish the words within the faraway shouts and whose laughter is whose.

After confirming the enhancement but unwilling to push the Ether much further to not exacerbate my condition, I place my ear on the ground, listening. I listen for a full minute before I hear movement within the den. Finally, I hear two separate creatures move. Still unable to tell what they are.

So, I wait. I wait for something to leave the den. After I wait for about an hour, the quiet noises from the hole stop and slowly grow quieter similar to something slowly stepping away. Did they fall asleep? It's possible, but my gut gives me doubt. It's midday. If the creatures were nocturnal, they would never have made any noise inside the den. Just peacefully slept. So, they must have another way out of their shelter.

I look around, searching for disturbed earth, and find another hole next to a tree. With that discovery, I catch a glimpse of red fur. I found them! As quickly as I can, still weakened by hunger and sickness, I get up and move around the tree, searching for a fox with the shotgun. As long as I can get one, it'll feed us for a little bit.

Unable to find a fox on the ground, I search with my ears. Finally, I hear quiet nails scratching upon bark above me. Quickly I turn up, and I see it. A duo of red foxes moving on top of the branch of a tree in this small forest.

I take aim. I'm not an outstanding shot by any means, but with a shotgun, I'm confident in hitting at least one. While I take aim, just before I squeeze the trigger, the foxes discover me. Instantly they attempt to dart away in opposite directions. I track the one on the left of the tree branch that's a tad bit slower and pull the trigger. A considerable noise shakes the woods and me from the gunpowder in the firearm.

The shot landed, causing the fox to fly off the branch onto the leafy ground. I walk over to it and see that it's dead. I utterly destroyed its head. I mean, it was a twelve gauge, after all. I'm lucky it was far enough that there was any left to eat. I put the bloody fox into the sack that Elizabeth gave me and reloaded the single-barrel shotgun before I went back to the den. Maybe the foxes left some food? Of course, a recently dead squirrel wouldn't hurt.

Once I return to the den, I stick my arm into it now that I'm sure nothing can threaten me inside. The other fox went scurrying away into the distance. I feel something warm and soft within the den at the tips of my fingers. Curious, I grab it and pull it out.

What exits the den both surprises me and makes me a bit sad. It's a baby red fox, a kit, I believe they are called. Too young to actually have a red coat instead having a dark gray one. So small, soft, and fragile, just quietly sleeping. Unbothered by me even touching it. I take a moment to look at the fox in my sack to determine its gender. It's a female. That's why it was moving slower. It had just recently given birth.

I sit for a moment in silence to pay my respects. The father probably won't return after his mate was recently killed and his kits are touched by human hands. Loathing being the reason for such a young animal to not have parents, I reach back into the den to see if there are more. There is. I continue and pull out four more foxes, five in total.

Holding them together in my arms, I notice how cute they all are sleeping. So small, so frail. Like weak candles. Little bundles of fur. Innocent and unknowing of what just occurred to them. Their lives have forever changed simply due to my being in the area.

I pick them up and bring them back to the group, careful not to wake them with my noise or movement. No idea, though, how the crack of the shotgun didn't wake them.

When I reach the group at the wagon, I see them all sitting around the grass talking. The little guy Lonnie is the first to notice me and the critters in my hands. He comes running over, curious about what I have in my hands.

"What are those? Are they puppies?!?"

I shake my head as the others come walking over, except for Esther, who also comes running at me, asking a thousand and one questions. I try to calm them down as Elizabeth and Earl look at me weirdly for bringing back these animals.

"These are kits, baby red foxes. I killed their mother to feed us and didn't want them to die. So, I took them. But, don't worry, I'll take care of them myself; you guys don't have to do anything."

Elizabeth looks at first saddened by the news I killed a new mother but soon cheers up like her usual self I've quickly come to know. She reaches out and beckons for me to give her them.

"Who're you kidding? You can barely take care of yourself, mister, 'I have a seizure and go comatose every night.'. So I'll help take care of them. I doubt you know how to take care of animals anyway. I helped my family raise cattle, pigs, and chickens. So a few foxes shouldn't be too bad."

I wasn't expecting that. She's always way too cheerful. I hand her the little kits before turning to Leonard, taking the sack with the dead mother fox, and offering it to him.

"Can you cut this one up? Maybe make a small pelt out of it?"

He looks at me like I'm talking nonsense.

"I can get the meat from it, yeah. But I have no clue how to make pelts."

Oh. I thought he did. He cut up all that wolf meat I ate, right? I just assumed he was a butcher or trapper or something. Okay, well then, I hope he can just cut it up.

"So, can you just get the meat from it? It should hold us over for the next day or so. And then I'll go hunting again tomorrow."

He nods and goes over to the wagon. I gave him my old hunting knife to use previously. I need both of my daggers in case a fight arises. They are my best weapons for close-quarters combat by far. I think I might give the rapier to Earl once he gets a Sigil. I don't know when that'll be, but I did promise to help him.

I watch as Elizabeth takes the kits into the back of the wagons, with Lonnie and Esther trailing after she asks questions about the foxes. Finally, Earl and I are left standing out from the wagon. He looks at me.

"You know the fox you killed would probably feed us for over a week if you weren't here? Your appetite is only growing the longer you hold onto that artifact. It won't be easy to care for all those foxes. Most, if not all, will die. Foxes that young can't see or hear. We will have to do everything for them for several weeks, if not months."

I nod without even turning to him. Earlier, he read through the passages that delved deep into artifacts and told me how the longer one uses an artifact, the more dangerous its side effects and abilities become. I've been almost constantly holding onto the Bloody Palm, letting it restore my body rapidly in exchange for the extreme hunger it inflicts upon me. There aren't many other choices; I need to recover fast. Who knows if or when more threats will appear?

"Yeah, I know, Earl. I'll just have to do what I can. Hopefully, I will make up for it. C'mon, let's get on the wagon. The horse has had several hours to rest. And I'm hungry."

Earl laughs at me jovially.

"Aren't you always Wyatt? I ain't known you for long, but if I didn't know better, I'd think you were a zombie or some other monster that feasts for flesh."

I laugh back awkwardly. That description hit a bit too close to home. I really felt like that when I was alone in the forest. Just searching for a way out and food. We return to the wagon and continue after a few minutes of chatting with the others.

And so we have an excellent time for the rest of the week. I spend most of it between hunting to fill my ever-increasing stomach, treating my catastrophic Ether saturation, and tending to the baby foxes. It feels great. My body truly starts to recover from my starvation. The Bloody Palm just funneled calories, nutrients, and other substances into my body and caused me to quickly regain my lost mass.

By the end of the week, before we reach Harmony Town, our destination, I've gained probably close to fifteen pounds back. Still not quite back to my usual hundred and thirty or so, I am now around back to ninety or so pounds. No longer feeling lethargic all the time and weak.

The most important part of the week is how far my treatment of my acute Ether saturation has gone. The side effects like sudden hypothermia and hyperthermia are slowly lessening, only occurring now during medium to heavy exercise or treatment.

Now, I can move my Ether into the top of my chest, shoulders, and most of my right arm, ending near my wrist. Earl and I think that once I can flow Ether out of my hand, I can activate the Bloody Palm in case someone is hurt. This would make me not rely on the passive hunger and healing it gives when held close.

So, I feel remarkably recovered as we step out of the wagon and walk the last mile or so to Harmony Town, which is in the distance. It's rude to enter a town while in a wagon. Most like to see the face of who joins. That, and the dust that now suffused where we are, stepping into the Bonedunes, is all over the wagon, making it uncomfortable to sit.

While we walk, Lonnie and Esther each hold onto two baby foxes and pet them. They both named two foxes and the last one, the one that I first grabbed from the den, lays down in the wagon alone. I haven't named it yet. I was unwilling to let them name it, but I still don't have a name. Eventually, I'll think of one for it, though.

As we approach the town, Leonard and Elizabeth talk about farming stuff. Something about the best way to herd cattle. I don't pay too much attention as I am busy looking at the town. But, even from this far away, my gut just tells me something is wrong.

I don't see any movement. No dust swirling in the air from footsteps, no humanoid figures that should be visible from even this far.

When we get closer, I hush the noisy couple and tell Earl to keep the two kids quiet. They all listen to me but look at me weirdly. I look closer, using my new techniques using Ether that I've slowly been practicing with. I put a small swirl of Ether into my right eye, and the faraway town is more straightforward and easier to see.

Harmony Town is far, far too quiet and idle. Earl said that Harmony Town should have two to three hundred residents from the map, with two Hunters stationed in the vicinity. I see absolutely nothing to indicate this. Only empty roads and dust-covered buildings. I alert the others in my group.

"Guys. Something's not right. The town is empty. Should we still enter?"

Elizabeth and Leonard look shocked and a little confused, while Earl looks incredibly perplexed, not understanding. He speaks up first.

"What do you mean empty? How can there be no one? A couple hundred used to live here. Is there not even a vagrant in the streets?"

I try to clear up his confusion, but I'm frustrated. He always seems to ask if I'm right. Like he never wants to be the wrong one.

"There's literally no one Earl. Maybe someone is hiding in the buildings, but that seems unlikely with the lack of footprints in the dirt. Doesn't matter how many used to be here. It's a ghost town now."

The next to speak is Elizabeth.

"We should go in, right? I mean, like you said, there might be someone. That, and I could use a night's sleep in a bed. There is a chance there's even food in a pantry or something. I say we go. We are still ahead of the breach, so it should be fine to take a little break."

Leonard agrees with her, like usual, but surprisingly, Earl also agrees. His reason is that he wants to see what happened to the missing people of Harmony Town. I sigh but eventually settle. My gut just tells me something wrong is gonna happen. I'll just have to do my best to prevent it.

And so, we walk into this deserted ghost town quietly, just observing our surroundings. The only noise in the whole village is the wind, the dust, and our wagon's wheels rolling. I'm constantly on high alert as we walk through, looking for an inn or large saloon to stay in. Finally, a door swings open on the jail to the side of us as I reflexively point the shotgun at it.

It takes just a single glance for me to notice that the wind opened it as it swings back and forth naturally. Several of these kinds of instances happen as we travel the town, but eventually, Earl spots a small inn that we all head to. The door is a swing-open style wooden door and flaps as we enter. I sit by the entrance at one of the tables with the fox I took from the wagon as everyone else disperses and does their own thing.

The place has large, rounded wooden beams that keep its second floor, the floor with rooms, above my head. Just about everything in the building seems to be covered by a layer of dust and dirt. As if no one has been here for weeks. Or even months.

Towards the back, behind the bar, is a staircase that heads to the second floor and a door into the kitchen even further behind that. So again, it's a relatively small place.

Elizabeth goes looking for nice rooms to sleep in, Leonard goes searching for food and ammo for his shotgun, Earl scavenges for bandages or alcohol to help with wounds, and the two little ones sit at the bar with their baby foxes, trying to feed them food that is much too big for the trim kits.

Still suspicious of the town, I turn away from them and look toward the outside, sitting at the front of the building with the shotgun on the table. My baby fox sleeps beside the gun. Eventually, we gather again for dinner, and at the end of the meal, I promise everyone that I'll stay up through the night and protect them just in case. All they need to do is yell if they are worried. Then, they all go to do their own things as I stay in the main room for the evening.

My eyes don't leave the entrance, a terrible sensation rising in my gut as the night creeps along.