Tread Lightly

We move forward carefully after red is spotted in the distance, staying low to the ground and quiet. Virgil uses several hand signs that they both had taught me recently; the loss of Cutting Words allows him to once again understand hand signals.

He puts his hand close to the ground, a motion that means stay down and follows it up with a side-facing palm that's up, a signal that means to be in a single file. Vernon and I follow the signs, and he ends it with a common symbol for silence, the finger in front of the lips.

Quietly and carefully, we approach whatever crimson thing lies in the dune. Once we get relatively close, Virgil gives us the signal to spread out, and we do. In a fan, we approach the thing in question and quickly realize it is a small hill made chiefly of blood and gore.

I hear Vernon beside me gag in sight of what lies before us. Several dead men and women are mashed together, limbs turned to mush, and bones to splinters. Blood is everywhere, guts are strewn left and right, and several are chewed through. The faces, well, the faces that still exist and aren't smashed beyond recognition, are twisted in agony.

It's a bit much of a sight even for me, who had his own spine severed by shrapnel, and oh, the smell. It is beyond terrible. I turn away from the sight, unwilling to subject myself to it.

But Virgil doesn't. The veteran of the supernatural for over a decade is used to these grizzly sights. He does a verbal walkthrough for Vernon and me, who step away from the scene, expecting neither of us to be able to view it.

"Looks like a group of… Maybe six to seven…. No, wait. Eight. There is another underneath the first few. Their wounds are rough, some of the worst I've ever seen. Kind of reminds me of how the Urayuli smashed through legions of people and monsters, just on a smaller scale.

These corpses also contain several pieces of dirt, sand, and quicksand. Only the Amikuk are known in these regions for manipulating ground and quicksand, but they are typically restricted to moving within. A powerful enough one could theoretically kill through earth manipulation, though. Maybe even use it to crush a human to this extent.

I'm thinking we either have a young Urayuli or an abnormally powerful Amikuk."

Vernon cuts in at this point, unable to keep listening.

"C'mon Virgil, do you have to be like that? Can we just move on? It's sick to investigate these poor fellows like this."

I rise to Virgil's defense, phrases from Edmund coming to mind.

"Virgil's smart in doing this, Vernon. Life gets messy, but we need information. If we don't know what's out here, we'll get ambushed like those Short Horned Serpents."

An affirmative grunt and explanation come from Virgil after my defense.

"Yup. Not just that, but this will help tell us how far away the break is. Demons commonly like to raise one or two Urayuli to do their dirty work; the simple-minded hairy fellows are weak to their call. A sign of a young one, probably a 4th or 5th Sigil, as they grow naturally to be 6th Sigils as long as they have plenty to kill and gain each Sigil from means that the break is nearby. Close enough that the Urayuli is let loose to have fun.

On the other hand, if it's an Amikuk, it's still a bad sign, but not as bad. It just means that where we are is under the domain of said Amikuk and that it's likely to attack us or eventually join the break with its pack.

So, we should do a bit more investigation. If it's an Amikuk, we should find and kill it quickly to stop the break from gaining another powerful beast amongst its horde. If it is an Urayuli, though, we run for our lives. As fast as possible."

Vernon finally comes around after the full description of why Virgil is shifting the dead bodies and searching through them.

"Fine. I guess that makes sense, but I still can't look at it. I'm not squeamish, you know that, but oh my. That is just too much."

His older brother is fine with Vernon's response and asks me to help him in his investigation.

"That's fine, you do the artifact inspections. We all got our strengths. It's why we move together; everyone has their own job. Wyatt, you think you can check to see if these people have any Sigils with your Chain Eyes? From the heat of the dead, it's only been five or six hours since the deaths. If they were 2nd or 3rd Sigil, their Ether might still hold together."

I take a moment and glance back at the bundle of gory gruesomeness. It affects me briefly, making my stomach queasy, but I break out after a few seconds after forcing myself to move. It doesn't feel good to look at, but I think I can bear it. After all, if I think about it, I've probably bled more than these people did.

"Yeah, just give me a sec' to get used to it. Typically it's my own blood, guts, and flesh that is everywhere."

The older man laughs but nods and continues digging through the bodies, looking for any sign to aid one of his two conclusions. Before he finds one, though, I steel my stomach enough to look at the disgusting sight. Then, I activate Chain Eyes, the most familiar stream of Ether I possess.

I use this augmented vision to peer at the bodies and only see hints of Ether at first, but deep within, where Virgil pointed out an eighth person, I see a hint of yellow. A 3rd Sigil. I let the man know while he continues to check bloody pockets, ripped shirts, and torn pants for clues.

"Uh… I see a single Sigiled, a 3rd Sigil at the very bottom, the one underneath the rest."

I'm sure what the fact a 3rd Sigil being killed could represent, but Virgil apparently does as he tries to move the bodies, but several bodies stacked on top of each other with limbs intercrossed are too heavy.

"You don't see anymore?"

"No."

"Okay, that's good. Well, mostly. If it was a Urayuli, even an adolescent one, it could have killed at least a dozen 3rd Sigils without much struggle. But an Amikuk, which is normally a 1st Sigiled, sometimes a 2nd, wouldn't be capable of killing even a single 3rd Sigil. An abnormal one could potentially, though, with its pack. I just wonder what its third Sigil would be. Help me turn over these bodies. If the bottom one has any visible wounds, I can figure this out a bit more."

I take a step closer to him and kneel down, putting my nose underneath my shirt and trying to make an idle chat to distract myself from the smell and squish of dead bodies.

“What Sigils do Amikuk have? Both normally and rarely."

Virgil responds to my attempt at distraction as we move bodies together. The experienced man speaks through all our movements to help keep my mind off the minced dead below our hands.

"The 1st Sigiled will be Shamans, capable of using roots, small segments of dirt, and balms to fight, recover, and escape. They aren't too dangerous as Shamans aren't known for combat, but even a rat bites when pushed to a corner. I've killed a decent number of these before."

Virgil stops momentarily in his speech as we are hit with a waft of exceedingly awful smell from the bodies. He recovers much faster than I.

"The rare 2nd Sigileds sometimes have another Shaman or a Swimmer Sigil. The former further increases their ability with roots, dirt, and medicine, making them partially intelligent, like a two or three-year-old. The latter allows them to swim through the dirt as one would water; the Sigil mutation is quite powerful for creatures that can hold their breath for a long period. I've killed one of these."

Again he pauses, this time in the effort of flipping over a body for investigation.

"I'm unsure what an anomaly would be as a 3d Sigil. Maybe another Shaman? That would partially explain the crushed and minced meat, but I feel there would be more dirt inside them. Another Swimmer is also a possibility, as there is quicksand between some of the corpses. A type of Amikuk that can trap others with quicksand would be deadly.

But there's always a chance it has something we haven't seen before. Another possibility is Soldier or Freak as its third because of the strength they both give…

Oh, look, I see something here. Hold this one up for me."

Virgil stops in the middle of his distraction for me to search the man's torn-apart and ripped-open upper right chest at the bottom of the pile of dead bodies. He pulls out a bloody scale that, underneath the carnage, looks tan, like one from a desert lizard.

Then he puts it up and shows it to me, following it with an explanation.

"This is a scale of an Amikuk; they look closer to large, scaled, sandy lizards than anything else. The 3rd Sigil here must have been fighting like hell to injure one so bad it stabbed him with a scale. They normally do everything they can to protect their scales. It's seen as beauty or something in their species. Look, there's also some flaked scale on this man's fingernails. Definitely an Amikuk. A Urayuli wouldn't have been injured in the slightest, killing this group."

Wow. The man went out fighting and even landed a good hit to make himself get killed like that. Respect. Sad that it seems his efforts were for nothing as the rest of his group were killed anyway.

But this discovery is promising. It means the break isn't as close as we thought, not within just a mile or two, but instead, a bit further. It also means we don't have to be wary of one of the massive hairy Urayuli. The impending doom seems to be pushed just a bit further back.

After Virgil shows me what he found within the man's corpse, we drop him back to the group and step back, viscera and gore all over the two of us from searching the bodies. At least he's completely covered with his outfit. I got human bits and pieces all over me.

The man speaks up and motions to the bodies.

"You want to bury them or burn them? Burning is probably better, but burying is more caring."

I take a look at them and imagine the work that would have to go into not only burying all eight but carrying each corpse to the whole that's dug for them. I don't think I'm heartless, but I don't know these people. The effort would likely be wasted when we can burn them instead.

"I'd rather burn them, as burying will take too long. We got a job to do."

Virgil agrees.

"Fair, Vernon–"

But Vernon doesn't.

"No, let's bury them. No one deserves to not be buried. Lessens the chance you'll go to the Underworld if we don't."

The older brother refutes his junior.

"We both know that's not true. Death takes our souls as long as nothing else did first. You just feel guilty. It's fine, I get it, but we don't have time. Just use Kindling. Only you know the skill."

I cut in before Vernon answers. As usual, I'm curious and missing vital knowledge.

"What's Kindling?"

Vernon responds as he huffs and walks to the mound of dead bodies.

"It's a way of emitting Ether that becomes a highly flammable liquid like oil. Anyone can learn it as it's not an affinity-based skill like Ignition, which creates flames. That's the one I use to attack things; really easy to learn when you have the Scholar Sigil and its elemental affinities or Priest and its heat. I braid the Ether to make it larger and pair it with Radiance to make it even more powerful."

Vernon raises a hand and shoots out a transparent liquid with hints of red and yellow bits in the center of it. Virgil compliments his brother as he does something he doesn't want to.

"See? As I said, Vernon is a master at Single Thread Ether. Being able to combine multiple skills like that while braiding? Extremely difficult. I can't do it at all."

After Vernon covers all the flesh, blood, viscera, and guts with Kindling, he steps back and motions at Virgil.

"C'mon. Light it up. No point in wasting Ether to light it up when we have matches."

Virgil agrees and pulls out a few matches before handing each of us one. Then, we stand in a triangle around the soon-to-be-ash pile of corpses. The veteran of many years offers a few words before we torch them after we light the matches.

"I know not who these men and women are, but they did not deserve this kind of death. I hope that you all accomplished that which you wanted to. That you said goodbye to your family. That you face Death with determination, not fear. Anyone willing to brave the wilds, regardless of affiliation, deserves respect, which I will give. There were signs you fellows were Hunters, but I'll at least follow your customs despite my dislike of your institution."

He ends his words with a phrase, one all three of us repeat at once and throw the lit matches into the Kindling. The phrase that Hunters deserve when they die. The token of respect that Edmund got.

"May the Devil weigh in your favor."

This sign of respect for Virgil makes Vernon a bit happier, the guilt about not being able to bury them or something else mostly gone.

We watch the fire instantly grow into an enormous pyre capable of burning these bodies to ash. We watch the fire crackle for several minutes and lick at the dead men and women below it. The terrible smell mostly disappears; now it just smells like burnt meat.

Virgil is the first to break the silence as he turns away from the fire, the reflection of the flame in his goggles fading.

"You braid that Kindling, Vernon? Seems to burn a lot faster than usual, thought you didn't want to waste Ether."

Vernon only replies with a few short words.

"Let's just go kill this lizard."

Virgil agrees with his angry brother and picks up the pack that he dropped to search the bodies.

"Agreed. Let's get a move. Wyatt, you ready?"

Shuffling my feet away from the pyre as it crackles behind me, I nod and call Dakota over, who is eating some food I left for him.

"Yeah, just got to get the kit."

The older brother laughs behind his mask, hood, and dark clothes that protect his now ghostly self from the sun.

"That ain't no baby fox no more, Wyatt. The little guy looks just about grown now. Another few days, and he'll be adult-sized."

I look at Dakota as I realize the truth of his words. The orange fox has grown considerably and almost unbelievably within just a little while. I don't know how to teach him, though. The little guy is quite cunning, the help during the fight with the Bakwa is a good example, but I don't know how to grow from that.

"Yeah, you're right. You got any ideas on how to train him?"

Neither of the brothers has much of an answer, but a few pieces of advice come as we walk. And while we do so, Vernon uses Radar to look for any signs of Amikuk below the ground alongside Virgil's sharp eyes scanning the dunes around us.

"If you want to keep him with you for a long time, I recommend you raise his Sigil as fast as possible. Best if he's always the same Sigil as you. Small animals like him are weaker than humans until about the 2nd or 3rd Sigil when they overcome the size difference with beastly traits."

That one came from Virgil, the expert in beasts.

"Try to help him attain some Sigils that lean toward intelligence like Scholar, Shaman, Augur, Mentalist, or Occultist. This will help him grow to understand human words. It's not fun to have a companion who doesn't listen to what you have to say very often."

This nudge at Virgil comes from his younger brother.

But together, they do have a single piece of advice that meets.

"Treat him like a person, with kindness and respect, and he'll be more likely to stay with you. If he ever gains sentience which some beasts do, especially those who spend a long time with humans, he will resent you for treating him like a pet. It's not a big deal now because he's still a baby, but soon it will be."

These pieces of advice help me shape how I will treat the little guy in the future, and I start it now. I let Dakota out from sitting in the open part of my backpack and have him walk alongside us. His larger body is now more capable of keeping up with us.

As we walk, I remember something else; the artifact from the progenitor Bakwa. The glassy eye. I bring it up to the two brothers as I hand it to Virgil.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about this because of the thrill of learning more about Ether. As we agreed upon, here's the Bakwa's artifact; you guys get all the loot from what we slay."

Virgil nods and takes it before tossing it to Vernon.

"Hold onto it for now, Vernon. We'll look at it after we take care of the Amikuk. We're running out of time. I can feel it."

I can feel an inner resonance with Virgil's words as I look westward where we are heading. A massive storm looms in the distance, slowly approaching. I shake it off and hurry in my steps as we push to find the Amikuk's burrow or prove that it was a Urayuli that killed those people.

We travel this way for several more hours until night begins to fall again, and when the rays of light from the sun disappear, Virgil doesn't take off his getup like I thought he would. He gives a simple reason for it.

"If, for some reason, I'm separated from my gear during the night, I'm a deadman by dawn. So, no, I won't be taking this off. Neither of you knows what having the warm sun literally burn you feels like."

After that, both Vernon and I stop asking him about it, despite how weird it is for him to be so covered. And shortly after that, we crest a large dune and see something below it.

We see a large inlet in the ground with scattered rocks and the occasional falling sand. Looks more like a cave than anything else, but it's in the middle of the Bonedunes.

I look at Virgil, and he nods.

"The Amikuk's den. Quite lucky, aren't we?"