"Bryce!" Jacob yelled as he ran towards the falling ranger, but he lost sight of him in a moment, hearing some faint, disturbing noise far ahead. Running with all his might, The persistent ranger eventually made it to the cliff side where he last saw Bryce, only to find the tall ranger pinned down by the same large monster from before, trying to choke the man who had his eyes shut tightly.
Jacob lost no time in pulling out a heavy, piercing arrow and shooting it right through the chest of the creature but despite the sound of the metal stabbing its flesh, it wasn't dead yet.
Trying to escape the grasp of the monster, Bryce built up all his strength and used the support of his legs and arms to throw it off of himself. Tripping as it felt the pain of the arrow stabbing its chest, the monster fell backwards. The roars that surrounded the atmosphere were horrible. Not noticing the blond ranger in the heat of the moment, Bryce took a running start at the monster and slashed its eyes with his saxe knife. Before it could fight back, Jacob sent another arrow flying at its head and finished the job.
Panting, Bryce laid his back on the endless looking cliff and took a few sips of water that Jacob handed him from his own waterskin.
"You alright?" Said the blond ranger as he took back the leather bag that seemed to be lightened a lot.
"Yeah, a little better now." Bryce replied, panting. "Just what was that thing? It threw one gaze at me and my legs froze." He asked in disbelief. This new monster, on top of all the Wargals, was simply too much for a person used to deal with actual people.
"I have a guess, it makes no sense, though." Jacob answered as he caressed his beard. "My Ma used to tell me the tales of the Kalkara, ever heard of that?"
"The Kalkara? No, I haven't." Bryce uttered curiously. "What is this 'Kalkara' your mother spoke of then?"
"Apparently, if you gaze into a Kalkara's eyes, you gradually turn into stone and eventually die, still stiff as a rock." The blond ranger briefly explained.
"That sounds... horrible. I'd say it's just a fairy tale but..." Bryce said as he gave one last breath and got back up taking strength from the ground and the cliff.
"But it's the closest explanation we got." Jacob completed his sentence.
"Yeah... Let's go find where the Kalkara come from, then." Bryce got back in business.
"Wait a sec, why did you come down here!?" Jacob almost yelled out as the question sparked up in his mind.
"Well, I pulled the rope up and it came out in pieces. What else do I need as a reason?" Bryce asked in a serious tone.
"Could have waited for me to return, y'know." Jacob said as he started walking towards the dark void in the rift, turning his back to the collapsed boulders.
"I was just worried, so I came. Is that a problem?" The tall ranger uttered, somewhat offended.
"Nah, I'm glad you're here, to be honest. Those wild dogs were getting far too tedious." Jacob waved his hand nonchalantly as his eyes scanned the cliffs and the bottom of the rift, searching for a trace of the beasts.
"This place is downright frightening..." Bryce said as he looked around with glaring eyes.
The rocky cliffs were barely visible in the pitch dark rift. While the eyes of the rangers were used to the dark, it was apparent that the night was near. The only source of light being from the sky above, it was their only way of knowing the time.
"It's getting dark already, huh..." Jacob said, looking up. "Maybe we should set up a small camp or something."
"Yeah, might be for the best." Bryce agreed. "These creatures have no trace around anywhere here. How uncanny."
"You tell me! It's as if something is erasing their footsteps from behind." Jacob nodded in agreement.
Just as he said that, he saw a small movement in the higher cliff to their right, something akin to a cape waving in the sky, just for a moment.
Jacob tapped Bryce on the arm and silently tracked the movement of the robe, trying to notice the figure in the dark.
"Anyway, we should set up that camp now." He acted as if he had seen nothing in order to avoid the suspicion of their stalker. Bryce nodded and crouched as if to take something out of a bag, but actually, there wasn't anything in front of him. Jacob kneeled down to 'help' him as he silently eyed the mysterious figure in periods, refusing to let it go.
Suddenly, the moving figure moved its hand on its mouth and whistled ominously.
"Bryce." Jacob said calmly, giving the tall ranger a command. He nodded and quickly took out his bow, loaded it with an arrow and shot it within a few seconds. The stalker was apparently not so used to maneuvering as the arrow hit the robe and pinned it on the cliff, piercing the rock slightly.
"Aha, gotcha!" Jacob smiled devilishly. However, as he took swift steps to capture the robed person, Bryce stopped him by touching his shoulder, pointing at the path that lead towards the hiding spot of the enemy.
Suddenly, a cacophony of loud noises came from the footsteps of the intruding monsters, right from the spot where the stalker once stood.
"Argh, come on!" Jacob yelled in fury.
Among the monsters, Bryce could make out at least one Kalkara among the usual Wargals. There were so many that it looked like a sea of wild hounds was crashing upon the rangers like a wave.
"Come on, let's flee!" Bryce said as they bolted off. The robed person was long out of sight.
"I can't believe we let that wench escape!" Jacob ranted as they kept running.
"Well, let's hope they return the favor." Bryce said as he started panting from sprinting. The wound on his stomach was slowing him down, starting to hurt again.
The rift was like a prison cell, enclosing them from both sides with the rocky cliffs and having nowhere to run but straight forward.
Looking at Bryce's condition, Jacob eyed the cliffs on the side with precision until he saw one that had a chunk sticking out that could be climbed on and signaled Bryce.
"We can't keep running forwards forever." The blond ranger said in rush.
"Right, let's do it." Bryce agreed.
Moving even faster, the two of them climbed the rather big lump of rocks on the cliff. They needed to move with precision but also with haste, as they could see the Wargals trying to climb up the rocks as well. They were failing miserably, but this didn't guarantee that a large pile of them wouldn't be able to surpass the height of the spot.
Finally managing to get on top of the rocks, the two of them released a tired breath.
"It's sad that we couldn't bring Pfeil and Thunder with us." Bryce said as he was panting from what he thought was a mixture of stress and the climbing.
"Right? They'd be scattering like a pile of dust." Jacob nodded. "Why do they hate horses, anyway?" He questioned as he briefly looked up into the surface, as if he was asking the question to the horses.
"Alright, that's enough rest." Bryce let out a final, decisive breath before taking out his bow and slowly shooting the monsters that managed to climb high enough to be a threat. Jacob behind him took out his saxe knife to search for any Wargals or Kalkara that reached the cliff, but he couldn't see any. The monsters were getting furious as they either failed to climb or got shot trying. The fury on the red, glowing eyes of the Wargals was frightening as they made howling sounds from the bottom of the rift.
"Are you able to hold them, Bryce?" Jacob asked as his back was turned away from the struggling ranger.
"This isn't good, I'm running out of arrows." Bryce replied in dread as he shot one arrow after another. He could hold the horde away for only so long until the arrows in the quiver were depleted.
The shadowy figures jumping at them like sharks got more furious as Bryce shot them down, even when he aimed at the eyes, a Wargal would take another's place a moment after it fell.
Five arrows... Four arrows... Three... Bryce suddenly felt like a source of noise was missing from the atmosphere. Focusing more on it, he noticed that Jacob's noises were long gone. After shooting his final arrow, he looked behind for a moment and froze in shock.
The blond ranger was on the floor, standing as still as a rock as he involuntarily gazed at the crimson eyes of the large, bear-like monster.
It was a Kalkara.
Throwing his bow aside in a second, Bryce lunged at the Kalkara with his knife and yelled at it to take its attention. The furry monster turned his face towards him and gazed with his eyes, but Bryce shifted his gaze downwards at the last moment.
"B-bryce..." Jacob could hardly speak, being able to move his arms, but not the rest of his body. It felt like his limbs weren't there as he laid almost lifeless on the ground. Still, as long as his arms could move, there had to be something he could do.
Bryce was struggling while fighting with the beast as he had to attack swiftly, defend himself, keep the Wargals at bay and look away from the paralysing crimson stare at the same time. With each strike, he felt himself weakening as the immense force of the strikes coming from the sharp clawed monster forced him back towards the Wargals.
"Bryce... push it... push it towards me!" Jacob said slowly. Nodding, Bryce closed his eyes and took strength from the steady ground and both of his legs to jump at the monster and push it with all of his power. As the claws of the Kalkara and Bryce's knife met, a spark flew out of the two weapons clashing, scaring it in an abnormal way, as if it was afraid of light or fire. The frightened monster let out a shriek as it lost its balance and Jacob threw the two of his strikers bound together at its feet right after, watching as the metal tangled on its leg made the shocked monster fall all the way down the rift.
"Heh, gotcha!" Jacob smirked in triumph.
"It seemed afraid of the sparks for some reason." Bryce thought out loud as he swiftly returned to the edge of the rocky platform, ready to confront any Wargals who managed to climb over. However, when he turned his back, he saw the spot filled to the brim with the ferocious creatures.
"Gah! Stay back!" He yelled as he swung his dagger threateningly but the monsters were far too bloodthirsty to act carefully.
With a sudden thought, Bryce took out his throwing knife and held it on his free hand, using it with the saxe knife to produce sparks, making the Wargals step back in visible fear.
"First the horses, and now this? These furballs are quite the scaredy cats, aren't they?" Jacob laughed nervously as the long haired ranger fended the beasts off one step at a time.
After the monsters gave up on their target once confronted by a wave of sparks and left, the rangers took a large sigh of relief.
"That's it for me, the knives are busted." Said Bryce as he held them in his hands. Trying to survive, he had misused the knives in a frenzy. He could have used his flintstone instead, but it would take the slightest moment to take it out instead of the throwing knife, which could cost both of them their lives. As he stared at the slightly dulled weapons, he realized that they were still sharp, but definitely not enough to cut through the fur of the frightening monsters of the rift.
"Are we gonna camp here as well? Get a move on, Bryce!" Jacob snapped him back to reality with an impatient voice.
"Sorry, let's get you down there." Bryce smiled as he took out the rope, tying it up on the paralyzed ranger.
He held the rope as he slowly made Jacob's limp body descend, then climbed down himself once the blond ranger made it to ground.
"Can you move?" Bryce asked as he untied his friend.
"At a snail's pace? Maybe." Jacob replied jokingly.
"Alright then, we have no choice." Bryce sighed and picked Jacob up, carrying him on his back. "I haven't done this since Mary. Hope my back doesn't get all stiff." He said as if complaining.
"Oh, come on. You aren't even that old." Jacob snapped back.
"At this rate, I'll grow that old by the time we make it to the surface." Bryce laughed as he walked slowly. The journey was going to take longer than he thought.