Silver moonlight bathed a barren hilltop where silence reigned. The air was still and cold as if the world was holding its breath. Even the occasional creak of the snow covered trees and the skittering of small animals had ceased.

Maura stayed under cover and studied the sky. She knew her mantra well:

Haste is the enemy.

There was not a cloud to be seen, just the glory of the full moon which hung suspended in a field of a billion stars.

She had to drag her mind to task several times, as the view of the sky was breathtaking. The night air was so clear that she could see the sweep of the galaxy and the glow of cosmic dust among the twinkling pinpricks of light. She didn’t notice any moving spots of darkness that might herald a threat; there was nothing she could sense that might be looking for a meal.

Maura completed one last sweep of the sky, a quick scan of her immediate surroundings, and sensed for any anomalies in the local manasphere.

It was either clear, or any lurking ambushers were masters.

Regardless; it’s time to move. She’s been waiting for a night like this for a week. The large boulder she placed at the highest point four days ago stands ready.

Maura held her huge monster bone spear loose, ready, and parallel to the ground as she stalked slowly out into the open. She moved while hunched over with her light grey and brown furs blending her silhouette with the stone and ice.

She placed each foot on a bare patch of rock and kept her steps liquid and slow. Any loud noises like the crunch of snow or ice would be heard from a long distance from atop the tall hill. Her soft leather soles and fur covered leggings glide silently with her smooth movements. Her headdress with its mask covered her hair and eyes. She should be almost impossible to make out against the ground.

Soon enough, Maura found herself at her boulder. She checked the sky again, especially where she couldn’t have seen from under cover, and then began to climb.

In a few moments, she’s up. Standing tall atop the boulder she could see for miles in every direction. Maura could almost imagine she’s flying, with the land flowing down and away from her as far as she can see. The forest was calm and covered in snow, the air was so clear that the mountains miles to the east were visible against the night sky.

She began to scan the horizon, sweeping her eyes from north to south along the mountains. There were some low areas of wispy fog here and there, but the pristine wilderness was exposed for the most part.

Between the clear night and the powerful moonlight, there were few things that could hide from her sharp eyes. There were other hills that blocked portions of the horizon, but the one Maura was on was the highest in the area and allowed her to see far.

And then she found what she had been looking for. She didn’t believe her eyes for several long moments. Between a break of two smaller forested mounds was an anomaly. She stayed completely still as she studied what her eyes had caught. They were far from here, but visible. They’re real.

Pinpricks of light.

Tiny pillars of smoke.

People.

It must be!

Maura’s breath caught in her throat as she was transfixed by the sight. Her eyes teared up as a feeling swelled in her chest like it wanted to explode out into the sky with a scream of triumph. She had been hoping for this moment for so long and now that it is here, she doesn’t even know how to feel. Which is a pretty common situation for her, actually.

The confusing emotions finally snapped her out of her fixation and she quickly scans the skies and her local area while her mantra plays through her mind. She realized her shroud had slipped a bit and tightened it up again. Standing where she was, her aura might be noticed for miles from certain monsters.

This could be bad. Monsters always attack when you’re distracted, idiot! Maura scolded herself.

Her lack of composure was an expected reaction from finally finding something she had been searching for almost five years to locate. She still didn’t really believe it. It might be some mirage or a fight between strange monsters. I didn’t look like that, but she knew better than to get her hopes up. Shaking herself she focused on her task, as she knew that her situation could now be a dangerous one.

She scanned the horizon again, just in case she might have missed another sign, but the only lights she could see before hills obscured her sightline was the one. It must be ten or so miles southeast of her location. She quickly studied the topography looking for any breaks or anomalies in the forest canopy like rivers, cliffs, or roads might create but nothing stood out other than the river she has been following for the last four months.

She had been standing on the boulder for too long. Being out in the open like this was just asking for karma to swoop in - usually with sharp claws and powerful magic. Time to move.

Maura smoothly crawled down the side of her boulder and began to retrace her steps. She almost made it back into the cover of the trees before she heard a gentle fwoosh of air behind her.

Cursing internally, she leapt into a dive to the right while holding her spear so that she would roll over it. Just as she got back to her feet something large and feathered cracked into the rock where she had been standing.

Wasting no time, Maura planted her feet and thrust her spear toward the new enemy but missed as it turned unexpectedly fast towards her. The gray and white feathers of the monster’s wing slammed into her body with surprising strength and hardness, knocking Maura onto her back as her eyes reflexively flashed with an emerald glow.

She could see the monster in full now in the quick burst of light, and it’s a classically ugly specimen.

Standing easily three times her height; large wings were attached to a small torso, all covered in ghostly grey and white feathers. The head was a twisted canine-esque thing that had fur of the same color, glowing golden eyes, and an extended maw with a hundred needle sharp teeth. The talons at the end of powerful legs were massive and almost glimmered in the cloud of ice that its impact had raised.

Like the most deadly of predators, it was totally silent as it lifted one talon to slash toward Maura while a burst of mana began to swirl the air around it, concentrating in the wings.

Maura let go of her spear and quickly rolled backwards as she began to mold her own mana and whispered a chant. With the beast already sending tremors into the manasphere there is no point holding her own spells back.

She barely got far enough away to miss the first strike and the monster followed up quickly with a second.

Her brow was scrunched in concentration and resignation as she planted her feet and raised her left arm to block the strike while sweeping her right arm down vertically and releasing her mana before the monster could activate whatever ability it was preparing.

The vicious talon slammed into her arm and the monster let out a bark of surprise as its momentum was completely halted by the tiny thing that it had expected to cleave in half.

There was a flash of silver light and a high chime as her mana flashed and the monster’s bark morphed into a scream as its left wing was sliced off at the shoulder.

It tried to pull back, but Maura was faster. She grabbed the right leg that was sunk into her left arm and twisted her arm and body violently. The brittle bones in the bird-thing’s ankle snapped and it lost its balance to flop to the ground in a spreading pool of blood while its remaining wing flapped all over.

Maura dashed forward to retrieve her spear with her working hand then jumped high to get leverage before falling back down and stabbing the hardened monster bone spear through the monster’s chest and a few inches into the stone below. The spear is more than three times as tall as Maura at around fourteen feet, so the monster was pinned well now that it was sunk into the stone.

Maura jumped back and began another chant for her air spell as she circled the downed beast. She aimed at the monster’s neck as it struggled to free itself. A few more seconds, a second bright flash, and the monster fell silent and still.

The hilltop was engulfed in a deceptive calm, the only noises were Maura’s quick breathing and the dripping of fluids.

This is bad. She thought to herself while scanning and listening to everything around her. Her left arm was throbbing in agony and hung limply at her side, with golden fluid dripping to the ground where it quickly lost its light.

Before she did anything else she needed to get her spear out of the creature, but it’ll be awkward with only a single working arm. The fight had probably attracted attention from something else nearby, as they always do - especially when magic is involved, so she was working on borrowed time already.

Cursing mentally, she hopped back onto the creature, grabbed her spear as far down as she could while crouching, and pulled up with her legs spread far, trying to distribute weight. Her right foot cracked something inside the monster and began to push into the carcass, but her left leg was closer to a strong bone and the rocky ground released the spear with a muffled pop.

It took a few awkward pulls to get the spear completely out of the carcass, then she hastened to jump off and head towards cover. As she was jogging, she used her spear tip to stab into the severed wing and drag it under the canopy with her.

Chances were some aerial monster would feast on the meat in the open, but if she could get the wing under the trees it probably wouldn’t be dragged off too far so she should be able to come back and harvest it later. The strong and pale feathers would be perfect to sew into her cloak.

After a quick dash under the canopy, she left the wing behind and found a hollow in some roots of a non-dangerous looking tree to kneel down in and deal with her arm.

Maura laid her spear down within quick grabbing distance, then fumbled with the strap attached above her elbow for situations like this and pulled it tight to block her blood flow. Once the tourniquet was secure, she began releasing leather straps wrapped around her tummy for occasions exactly like this one. They were strong, flexible, a few inches wide and easy to wrap one-handed. She’s had to use similar straps many times before.

Using the tree for leverage she grit her teeth against the pain and quickly wrapped the three gashes in her arm over top of her furs and destroyed bracer with enough pressure to keep her glowing blood from leaking further. She then picked up her spear and used the snow and dirt to rub it clean of any remaining blood.

She could already hear some movement coming up the hill and a flap or two in the sky so it was time to get out of here.

Her glowing emerald eyes dimmed as she pulled her aura in tightly again. She focused a little on keeping a light breeze flowing from her feet to far above her in order to hide her scent before silently stalking back down the hillside at a diagonal from the smelly carcass.

She moved with slow deliberation between bushes and near trees, avoiding plants that had a mana signature or looked like they could be able to move. The cold air stung in her chest as the scents of the forest surrounded her.

She had to stop and change direction frequently as she headed towards her hidden base. The wilds that she had trekked through for the past five years were overflowing with monsters of all kinds, even plants could be monstrous! She had plenty of experience at this point avoiding confrontation, and the noises of a fight over an easy meal were drawing attention away from her.

As a ghost, she flickered through the wilderness.