The trip to the forest didn’t take too long. With the help of a few portals, they arrived at the training area that Delph had shown them. The sun had already finished its ascent and had started to trek back down along the horizon.

“Do you have any idea what kind of monsters are in the forest?” Damien asked, squinting at the trees. They were dense, but not so much that he couldn’t see through them. Their leaves had enough space between them to allow a small amount of light to trickle down from the canopy.

“Not exactly,” Sylph said. “But they’re clearly hunted often, so I doubt they’re going to be much more dangerous than anything we’ve already fought. Probably wolves or bears, although I hope not. Those don’t taste good.”

“You say that as if you’ve tried them.”

“I have,” Sylph said. “Meat is meat when you’re starving, but I’d much rather find a deer.”

“I don’t know how I managed to forget that you’ve lived in the forest,” Damien said, reddening. “I don’t suppose you know how to navigate one? I was originally planning on marking the trees we passed, but I feel like that would be a bit destructive.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll remember the path we take,” Sylph said, leading him into the forest. The grass and sticks crunched under Damien’s feet as they walked. Sylph didn’t make a single noise. She shot him an annoyed glance.

“Try not to step on the brittle stuff. It’ll scare away any prey.”

“I’m trying,” Damien muttered, squinting down at the ground and trying to pick his footsteps more carefully. The added effort resulted in a slight reduction of noise, but he still sounded like a horse throwing a tantrum compared to Sylph.

They continued deeper into the forest. The air grew damp and chilly as the sun lowered, casting their surroundings into shadows. The trees rustled from a slight breeze, but there was no sign of anything to eat.

“It’s very quiet,” Damien observed in hushed tones. “Aside from us, I mean.”

“Aside from you,” Sylph replied with a smirk. “And it is. I hear the bugs, but that’s about it. There should have been some birds or small animals somewhere, but I haven’t even heard anything running away from your tromping.”

“Do you think this is the wrong forest?”

“I don’t think there’s another forest in the area,” Sylph replied. “Not close to the campus at least. This should be it.”

“Then where is everything? There can’t be a shortage of things to hunt here, or everyone would be going hungry.”

Sylph frowned. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s possible that the animals here are very skittish because of all the hunting that happens, but that just doesn’t seem right. We should have heard running or the like. It’s like everything is avoiding the area we’re in entirely.”

Henry gave Damien a sharp mental prod. “On your right. Mage armor.”

Damien hardened the right half of his mage armor, raising a hand before his head defensively just as a large black form slammed into him. He staggered back, barely keeping his feet under him as thick claws raked down his armor in a shower of sparks.

The large panther that had just attacked him let out a yowl, baring oversized teeth at them and hopping back several feet before slinking back into the shadows surrounding them.

Damien shook himself off and a gravity sphere sprung into each of his hands. A greenish black blade formed in Sylph’s hands and scanned the forest.

“I think I know why it was silent,” Damien said. “I’m not sure we were the ones hunting from the start.”

“Evidently the rest of the forest is smarter than we are,” Sylph said dryly.

Nearly a minute passed before the creature struck again. It blurred out from the trees behind them, making a beeline for Sylph. Damien caught sight out of it from the corner of his eye and threw one of his gravity spheres.

The panther shot past it and lunged at Sylph. She twisted out of the way as its claws sailed just inches past her. The sphere went off a moment later with a loud crack, catching the tip of the creature’s tail in the detonation.

With a yowl, the monster darted away from them. Sylph flicked the blade in her hand at it. The flickering energy pierced through the air and scored a thin line across the beast’s dark fur before thudding into a tree. The panther vanished back into the shadows.

“This thing is fast,” Damien said. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to hit it with many of my spells unless we somehow keep it in one place.”

“We’ll play it by ear,” Sylph said, a new blade forming in her hands. “Can you act as bait?”

Damien nodded. Sylph flickered and faded away, melting into the background and disappearing from sight. He couldn’t even feel her leave. It was as if she’d vanished. Damien swallowed and formed another gravity sphere in his hand, spinning in a slow circle.

The panther lunged out at him right as he turned past it, letting out a loud yowl. Damien instantly raised his hands to protect his face and hardened his armor. The black blur slammed into him and they both tumbled across the ground.

Damien’s concentration broke for an instant and both gravity spheres fizzled, fading away harmlessly. He didn’t have a time to summon them again as the furious creature clawed at him, trying to break through the armor.

For a moment, the panther locked eyes with Damien. His skin prickled at its cold, unfeeling gaze. It was nothing compared to Henry, but it was also different. The eldritch creature was terrifying in so many ways that it was almost impossible to understand. The panther, on the other hand, was incredibly clear. It was hungry, and Damien smelled like food.

As it raised a paw to take another swipe at him, the panther suddenly staggered to the side. Its dark eyes grew murky as it fell forward. Damien barely managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed.

Sylph stood above them, her blade buried in the back of the creature’s skull. It faded away and helped Damien to his feet, brushing some of the dirt and grass off the back of his coat.

“You okay?” Sylph asked.

“I think so,” Damien said, nudging the corpse with his foot. “That worked better than I thought it would have. This thing was fast, but not particularly smart.”

“Lucky us,” Sylph agreed. “How are we supposed to get this back to our room, though? It looks like it weighs at least two times as much as I do.”

“You want to eat this?” Damien asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Something tells me everything in the forest is going to try to kill us,” Sylph said. “Do you really think Blackmist would make it easy?”

“You’re right. They probably put the damn thing here themselves,” Damien said. He knelt beside the beast and slipped his shoulder under its front legs, heaving it upwards. It felt like carrying a dozen sacks of potatoes, but it rose.

“Time for a workout,” Damien grunted. Sylph sighed and walked behind him, supporting the back half on her shoulder as they started back through the woods.

Damien was thoroughly lost, but luckily Sylph knew exactly where they were. The two emerged from the woods a short while later. By the time they arrived at the portal, they’d both been completely soaked in sweat.

A few of the passing students, most of them Year Ones, openly stared at the duo as they staggered through campus with the corpse over their shoulders. The entire journey took nearly as long as it took to find the panther in the first place, and the sun had already started to set by the time they got back to their room.

“We’ve got a problem,” Sylph said. “Do you really want to cut up a body inside our room? It’s not going to smell good.”

“Damn,” Damien said, straining to keep the creature aloft. “What if we just did it out here?”

Sylph shrugged, so the two of them unceremoniously dumped the body on the ground. Damien shook his hands off and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of a sleeve. Sylph rolled up one of her pant legs and pulled out a dagger.

She brought it down into the jaguar, carving its skin open with precise strikes. Damien watched in awe as she moved along the beast, skinning it effortlessly. She removed the organs, tossing them to the side.

The smell wasn’t exactly appetizing. Blood mixed with unidentified bodily fluids from the internal organs wasn’t exactly a recipe for a growling stomach, but it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected either.

As Sylph worked, Mark stepped out from within his room. His arm was wrapped in heavy bandages that went all the way up his shoulder and reached part of his neck.

“Smells good,” Mark said, licking his lips and glancing down at the jaguar. “Where’d you get that?”

“The forest,” Damien said. “We hunted it. Well, Sylph did. I was kind of just bait.”

“A job is a job,” Mark replied, shrugging. “Doesn’t matter how you do it so long as it gets finished.”

“What happened to your arm?” Damien asked, nodding at it.

“Had a quest that involved some fighting,” Mark said. “My target didn’t want to die, so I had to help it out.”

There was something about Mark’s posture that unnerved Damien. It was almost familiar. A sudden thought struck him as he realized what he recognized. Mark’s eyes, while a light brown instead of pitch black, matched those of the panther perfectly. It wasn’t the color or the shape, but the cold, calculating hunger that filled his gaze.

Henry? Just what is Mark?

“Haven’t bothered checking,” Henry said. “An anomaly for humans, I suppose. You’ll come to realize that, given the grand scheme of things, anomalies don’t always end up all that interesting. His magical energy or power don’t seem to be all that much higher than I’d expect. He’s a killer, though. Much like the girl.”

Should we be worried?

“If he hasn’t bothered you yet, I doubt he’ll start now. Whatever he is, it’s not on my radar. I suppose I could find out if you’re really curious. It’ll cost you another trip to the library, though.”

Fine. Tomorrow.

Henry chuckled at Damien’s annoyed tone and faded back. Sylph finished carving the jaguar a few minutes later, piling the useable meat in a large stack on top of the skin. Mark was practically salivating at the sight.

“Do you want some?” Sylph asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You look like you’re about to eat it raw.”

“Happily,” Mark said, grabbing a cut of meat from the pile. “Thanks for the meal. Appreciate it.”

He spun and headed back into his room. Damien and Sylph exchanged a glance. They shrugged at the same time, then dragged the pile of meat through their room and into the kitchen. Once it was there, Damien flicked the stove on to the highest heat and set the pan down on top of it.

“Is there oil in that starter kit thing?” Damien asked, grabbing a cut of the meat. He’d seen his mom cook steak a few times, so it probably wouldn’t be all that hard to copy her. It might have been a few years ago, but he was pretty sure it just involved putting the meat in the pan and turning it over a few times.

“Here.” Sylph handed him a bottle.

Damien popped the top off and poured some of it into the hot pan. It quickly coated the surface. Sylph offered him their spices and Damien shook them over the meat. Some parts got a lot more seasoning than others, so he tried to brush it out more evenly with his fingers before giving up and tossing it into the pan.

It let out a loud crackle and splattered. Damien waved the smoke away as Sylph watched the pan doubtfully.

“That doesn’t look quite right.”

“I’m pretty sure that this is what my mom did,” Damien said. “Like… fifty percent sure.”

“That’s not a very high number.”

“Well, do you want to cook it?” Damien asked, crossing his arms. The pan splattered threateningly behind him.

“No, it’s all yours,” Sylph said, smirking.

Damien nodded smugly, then returned to watching the steak. After a few minutes, the smell of cooked meat filled the room, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite good. Less fortunately, the room had also been completely filled with smoke.

He coughed, waving it away and realizing that they’d failed to buy a spatula right about when he needed to flip the meat. After a desperate search, Damien grabbed the knife and flipped the meat with that instead.

The bottom was slightly burnt, but it wasn’t horrible. A few minutes later, Damien slid the finished meat onto a plate, coughing as the smoke made his eyes water.

“We need ventilation,” Sylph said, holding her shirt over her nose.

“Just eat outside!” Damien said, grabbing a handful of utensils and shutting the stove off. They darted out of the room, waving the smoke away the entire time.

They propped the door open once they got outside, allowing some of the smoke to filter out of their room. Damien and Sylph glanced down at the large steak in the plate. It was a bit splotchy, with some spots that were borderline burnt and others that looked almost normal.

“Well, I’ve certainly eaten worse,” Sylph said, cutting a chunk of it off and popping it into her mouth. She chewed for a few moments, then swallowed. “It’s not bad, actually. Much better than raw.”

“Well, that’s something,” Damien said, cutting himself a piece as well. The meat was chewy and clearly overcooked, but a bit of the flavor he’d been going for was there. It wasn’t going to win any contests, but it was edible.

They finished the rest of their meal in silence. The view from the plateau of the campus below them was beautiful, although the bloodstain on the ground wasn’t helping anything. Interestingly enough, the panther’s entrails had vanished.

The two finished their meal and headed back into their considerably less smoky room. It still smelled a bit burnt, but it wasn’t impossible to breathe anymore.

They took one look at the dirty pan, then glanced at each other.

“Problem for tomorrow?” Damien suggested.

“Read my mind,” Sylph said. She knelt beside the rest of the meat, wrapping it with the panther’s skin. “Can you put a cold rune on this or something?”

Damien nodded, grabbing a stick of chalk from his travel bag and drawing out a rune circle. Once he’d finished, it hummed to life with faint blue light. They set it in the corner of the room and set about getting ready for bed.

The meal hadn’t been huge, but it was very filling. He yawned, getting into bed and closing his eyes as the embrace of sleep slowly took him into its arms.