The moment Perekrestok, or rather what was left of it, came into view an almost palpable wave of caution and anxiety fell over our group.

Tent and scraps of wooden homes were strewn about all through the area without any rhyme or reason, some larger bits digging deeply into the earth or - in one peculiar case - impaled into a nearby stone. And that was to say nothing of the sheer carnage of…well…I assumed it was human flesh given that some parts still had bits of clothing attached.

Credit where it was due, the hunters took it all in stride even if a couple of them looked a bit green around the gills. Ivan took next to no time at all sending people off in pairs to survey the damage, maybe even look for a stray survivor if that was even a possibility, and even took it upon himself to go with the two newer members. Man had way too much papa bear energy.

As for myself, I had the lovely job of keeping an eye on Vera. She was about as subdued as expected and hadn't even bothered looking up since we found the first mutilated body. Which, honestly? I probably should have been more freaked out over. Apparently twenty-first century media had dulled whatever reaction I was probably supposed to have…that or my mind was fucked.

Probably a bit of both, really.

Unfortunately there wasn't really any place that didn't have some kind of scene straight out of a SAW movie for her to look at, so I just kind of had to guide her along by hand while she watched the ground beneath us move. Girl had one hell of a grip too, way better than some of the people I use to know back in college in fact.

Despite the red flag that raised I kind of had to just wave it off. She very clearly hadn't made up her story about something fucking around in the area after all.

I just wasn't entirely sure it was Indrik was all, from what I gathered on the trip over the god of the western mountains was supposed to be some giant deer looking mother fucker and while the wreckage was impressive…no. No it honestly didn't look like something like that was the cause. Granted I wasn't exactly skilled when it came to figuring out tracks but, well, something that big should have left some kind of track yeah?

Instead all we had was a ton of blood, guts, and wrecked homes.

Casting a glance at the shivering girl reluctantly trudging along behind me I couldn't help but feel a bit bad that a part of me still didn't really believe her. Oh well, if I was wrong then I'd do something later to make up for my shittiness.

I gently tugged her along past another pair of bodies, both more or less intact save for the missing head of the one on top. The two corpses were kind of odd looking somehow though, like there was something missing…something…

Vera's hand clenched mine tighter and I realized with a jolt that I had just been staring at them for a few minutes without saying anything. "My bad." I knew she couldn't see the shaky smile I was giving her but I just couldn't help it. Smiling was kind of just a reflex for me when dealing with shit like this. She didn't respond, just giving me a slightly harder squeeze, and I took that as a sign to keep it moving - the thought of where the top body's arm lay slipping away from my mind as we restarted our march.

There had to be a spot somewhere without shit like that yeah? Somewhere we could just sit so she could collect herself. Just somewhere without blood would be nice. Then maybe I could start asking questions without feeling bad about it.

For instance, she said that her mother sent her packing when Indrik started going off, but after seeing the absolute state of the village after the fact? I had trouble believing that.

I chewed on my lower lip for the fortieth time since we'd arrived, just why the hell had I changed my mind about coming again? Right, Ivan asked me to. Why the fuck was I such a push-over? Right, my childhood.

My only solace was that I couldn't feel anything hiding away waiting for us, certainly nothing that screamed 'GOD' anyway. Though that also meant that Ivan and the rest weren't likely to find anyone ether, unfortunately. Granted we weren't really expecting to anyway but still, not good for morale.

Actually, thinking about it…I couldn't really feel anything could I? Not even the girl holding my hand like a life-line stood out even as I tried to focus on my radar. My brow furrowed and my pace slowed, why couldn't I feel anyone? We definitely should have still been within range to feel at least one of the hunters, let alone the powerhouse beside me so why-

Vera clenched my hand again and I jolted, the same shaky smile I'd always give in those situations stretching over my lips as they moved to utter an apology for stopping again. Why had I stopped walking? My head was kind of foggy too, come to think of it. My features dipped down into a frown as I tried to remember what I was thinking about before she squeezed, I had issues with my short-term memory but it was never that bad before so-

Another squeeze, a bit stronger this time.

I shook my head and kept walking past some more wreckage. It was a little weird just how much of it there was, considering that the village wasn't too terribly big. Bigger than ours for sure, but not enough for there to be as many large wood chucks as there was. Maybe Indrik knocked down some trees while he was fucking around?

That sounded at least a little bit more plausible, would also go a little bit further towards Vera's innocence if that was the case. I sighed a little at the thought, seemed I was going to have to do something nice for her after all. Maybe I could get Inessa to let me use her cooking area?

Come to think of it, I hadn't cooked in a good long while. I kinda missed it. Maybe while I was at it I could also cook for Ivan's family? Invite Maria's lover so I could tease the hell out of them? Yeah that sounded fun, but first we had to get ba-

Vera's hand yanked sharply away from mine with a harsh curse.

All at once I could feel everything again; the squirrel munching away on one of his stored nuts deep in the hollow of the tree near me, a couple of crows sitting nearby watching the three of us, Vera's now unleashed aura blasting away like the heat of an industrial furnace, and a very familiar presence sitting just behind me in the space where the girl once was.

A quick glance around revealed naught but forest surrounding us where before lay destruction and mutilation. Even as my thoughts returned, my suspicions reigniting and the reality of what was going on hitting me with the force of a freight train, all I could think of was how I had just gotten Aizen'd by someone a good two feet shorter than myself.

"Kadoc, what are you doing you oaf?! I almost had him." Vera's voice sounded a good octave deeper than it had before as she practically growled at 'Kadoc' while her energy seemed to lash out angrily. Girl had a helluva short temper apparently. "I'll give you one second to turn around and kill him, or else."

In response a voice so deep that I could feel my shins reverberating along side it calmly replied, "Then do what you must. I will not allow this chance to escape me again. Not when this may be the last." More energy began to gather in the man behind me, rising to meet the challenge his opponent represented.

It was at that point that I had decided enough was enough and turned around, honestly had no idea why I thought keeping my back to either of them was a smart move. Immediately my gaze found the muscled back of a man with the complexion of tree bark, his long green hair falling in vine-like clumps over his shoulders.

Mercifully he seemed to be wearing pants.

Which was good considering I was about stomach high on the dude.

Just beyond him was an older looking Vera glaring at my new meat shield with more anger than I had ever personally seen on a person, the woman's sharp teeth were bared as though ready to chew the shit out of both of our throats at the slightest hint of movement. Honestly it probably would have been hot if not for the fact that she was trying to kill me and was probably planning on doing the same to the others.

The air around us got thicker as she turned her attention to me and sneered, well fuck you too. "You're really going to throw away all that Lord Zapolyarny gave you for some pathetic godling? He doesn't even know how to use his element, and you expect him to save you from our lord's wrath?" The bluenette barked out a derisive laugh.

"Better a godling. Than a crazed fool."

Was I supposed to feel touched by that? Cause, not gonna lie, I kinda did.

Vera's mouth opened and then immediately shut as her angry scowl morphed into a thin line, her eyes still glaring absolute murder at the two of us. Slowly a blue glow formed on her elongated fingertips and a steady haze fell in between the mess of trees around us. "Fine. Be that way. I'm sure Lord Zapolyarny will find the head of a traitor to be a nice bonus prize anyway."

In an instant the hair on the back of my neck raised and my sensor alerted me to her signature suddenly appearing behind me. Ducking on instinct I swung my arms in front of my body defensively only to immediately find myself flying backwards into a tree with a loud crack.

Groggily I lifted my head from where I sat, arms somehow hurting more than my poor back, as I felt her get closer. Whatever she had done before to block me out didn't seem to be working nearly as well but I still couldn't really see her, oh well. At least I still kind of had an idea of where to shoot.

Unfortunately as I tried to free my bow from its resting place across my back the woman's face appeared a foot from mine with her clawed hand drawn back, poised to strike at my soft bits. Yet in the next instant she was replaced by a barely clothed leg surrounded by empty air, a loud 'boom' coming from off to my right. Not even a moment after that leg touched the dirt once more did it's owner rush forward towards the sound's source, the other leg snapping out in one solid motion in a direct path towards Vera's neck - only for the woman to vanish into mist the moment contact was made.

My sense pinged her not even a half second later right next to Kadoc, "LEFT!" Had to give him credit, the big fucker didn't even hesitate to snap his right leg out in a sloppy round house that left our foe careening backwards, her nose clearly broken even from where I stood. Kadoc wasted no time in pressing what little advantage he had, grabbing her still outstretched arm and pulling her close as his knee violently sank into her gut.

Sadly she once again vanished into mist and the green haired giant's fist fully closed around empty air. Why the fuck did my first real fight have to be against a knockoff Itachi?!

Fucking hit and run specialists.

Carefully I knocked an arrow as I tried to get a feel of where she was, a feeling of something odd welling up inside of me while the hair on my neck stood on end.

My eyes snapped left and within the time it took her to get close my arrow was already pointed directly at her, the woman's eyes going wide as the mist broke around her. Releasing the arrow as I had so many damned times the previous night I watched as she hastily broke away, my projectile barely missing at near point blank but still managing to carve a thin line past her still broken nose.

I heard her body roll to the ground before whatever illusion bullshit she was using once again took hold. It wouldn't help, I still knew where she was.

With a quickness I never knew I had my hand reached back for another arrow, flipped it around with as much dexterity as I could muster up and stabbed the shoddy arrowhead into the seemingly empty forest floor. I was immediately rewarded with a scream of pain and the mist around us snapping away as though it was never there. Laying there on the ground lay Vera glaring at me with my weapon of choice pinning her right shoulder.

And her other arm drawn back in a knife-hand strike, glowing blue claws at the ready.

Oh no.

Before she could get her fingers deep enough to have a thumb war with my frontal lobe a dark hand latched onto my face and flung me backwards, its owner slamming a foot down into a now empty space.

"FRONT!" The words left my lips before I could even register them forming, my partner immediately responding with a rising knee that blocked access to his abdomen. Her hand reappeared, with that same blue glow wrapped around the tips, with the nails partially dug into the upper portion of Kadoc's shin. As much as it looked like it hurt him, the man's face never changed as he reached for her once again.

Only to be interrupted by a loud 'BOOM' coming from the direction of the village, accompanied by a harsh rumbling of the earth and a wave of energy. An interruption Vera was all to ready to take advantage of as she once again vanished from sight, the rumbling fading away with her.

All around us her voice called out with a hint of smugness, "It seems that pathetic mountain god found the runaway and his group.~" The giggle she let out at that was so dementedly saccharine I was surprised she still had teeth left. "Maybe if I'm lucky he'll do my job for me and kill that traitor."

I stilled, my eyes going wide as the grin I never even knew I had fell in an instant. She meant Ivan and the hunters didn't she? Which meant…fuck!

My head snapped over to where I now knew the village ruins lay. I had to get over there, get them out of there before they- a lance of pain shot through my chest as I was once again launched backwards.

Rolling head over heels I eventually came to a stop, my knees scrapping against the cold dirt while I fought to control my momentum. Fuck that hurt! A quick glance at my chest showed a group of three shallow crescents carved into my sternum, only the middle one being deep enough to draw blood.

Which was dark blue...

I shook my head, this wasn't the time to think about shit like that, push it off for later! I was proved right almost instantly as Vera once again pinged off to my right, the ever so slight smell of copper hitting my nose as I barely managed to duck under another knife-hand. If she was right there then…

My empty right hand lashed upwards with me as I rose up, connecting with her chin and sending her head backwards in a snap of motion. In the next moment Kadoc joined the two of us, a spinning knee flinging Vera out of melee range.

His body tensed as if about to charge in once again until I reached up and clasped his shoulder, his fist raised only a moment after before he realized who was grabbing him. "Listen man, I know you can do some weird vanishing thing alright. I need you to go save Ivan." His pitch black iris-less eyes seeming to bore deeply into me, face as unmoving as it had been since the start of all this.

Kadoc's eyes rotated a bit in place, which I took as him looking around, before settling back to normal. "You will be alone." Touching, but I barely knew you mate.

"Yeah, and all I have to do is survive. I can do that much." My panic jumped as I felt another wave of that energy from before wash over us, shaking the illusion once more. They wouldn't last long with something like that. "Just. Just help me this once. Alright? Please, I'll do whatever you want later if we make it but go save them."

I saw something flicker over his face at that, the slightest twitch of his brow at most. Eventually he nodded and a bubble of joy sparked in me.

Another ping came far too soon as the blue-haired demon's nails raked against his cheek, the man only just barely avoiding full facial penetration at the last second. "You think I'll let you? No no, you all die here in the name of my lord!" Crazed smile on her face, Vera swung out her other arm aimed to pierce through Kadoc's stomach.

Only for me to swing my bow as hard as I could like a bat directly into her gut, the wind leaving her as she was tossed backwards.

"GO!" I yelled as I pulled an arrow into my dominant hand in reverse grip and charged on the oxygen challenged woman rolling around on the ground. Boy did I know how much that feeling sucked…

A quick glance over my shoulder showed me the dark skinned man fusing into one of the nearby trees, his eyes not once leaving mine as quickly became one with the bark. "Do not die." He mouthed before his body and signature vanished from my active range.

So that was how he did it? Well that was fucking coo- I ducked as quickly as my body would allow to the left as the space where my head once was was filled with a clawed hand and a peeved looking woman.

"Young and dumb? Oh well, it just means you'll die faster without that little traitor to take your hits for you."

In response I swung out with a sharp jab to her broken nose, meeting only mist as her body once again faded away along with the sounds of Indrik stomping in the distance.

Don't talk back, just survive. Focus on not dying.

Fuck. Ivan was so going to owe me if we lived!

—

I withheld another grimace as we once again failed to find another living soul.

Of course I knew exactly what we would find already, my elemental sight already showing me just how lacking the area truly was in terms of life. Still, I couldn't help but hope that I was wrong, if not for my own peace of mind then for that of young Vera who, despite my initial doubts about her and her strange energy, really was just a victim in all of this.

Someone so young should never have had to see such devastation.

My face set itself like stone as Pavel overturned the last of the fallen stones on our most recent discovery, revealing the mangled body of a mother clutching something small to her chest. What was once a child was nothing more than mush and bits of stone, her last protective act proving to have been for naught.

Truthfully it was a miracle Lord Indrik hadn't left more corpses just like it. It was a bit strange actually, just how little physical damage had been inflicted considering the god's size. Unfortunately the only person we could possibly question was not even present for the worst of the destruction.

Carefully pulling the fledgling hunter away from the cold bodies before us I signaled to the nearby Anja that we hadn't found anything, hopefully she would have better luck on her end.

My hand rose up to massage my tired eyes, maybe it was time for a break? We could go find Lord Kamu and Vera and see if they discovered something we hadn't. At the very least I would like to see how our Lord was dealing with everything, he seemed…agitated…when we arrived.

Yes, yes maybe it was time to-

An avalanche-like roar had us recoiling in fright as our bones began to rattle in sync with its timber.

My eyes quickly sought out the treeline, instantly spotting the growing mass of glorious golden energy even as the very ground began to quake. I felt myself grow pale as the realization of just what could be the source ran through my mind.

Lord Indrik was here.

With as much haste as I could I gave a sharp whistle, first a short tone then a longer one, and gathered the closest of my fledglings against myself, pressing our bodies deep against the ruined stone dwelling. The second we were out of sight the treeline exploded sending wooden shards and large trunks careening into the village outskirts.

Pavel whimpered under my arm and I quickly drew him closer in an attempt to quiet him while another earth shaking roar pulsed through the very stone under us. Normally I would have let him process things but there just wasn't time for that, not with an angry god literally screaming for blood!

The sounds of giant hooves thudding against the dirt and stone echoed out as the great lord of the mountains wandered around the area, his yelling calming into a quiet rage. It was clear he was hunting for something…people, I realized idly, he was looking for people he knew to be here.

At least if he was still looking that meant that none of my people had gotten caught yet, hopefully they had all gotten the signal and hid like they were supposed to.

After a while the footsteps went silent and the air stilled, all while I was trying to keep the young blond in my arms calm to the best of my abilities. Why had Lord Indrik stopped moving? He hadn't found anyone had he? No. If that were the case we would be hearing something at least.

Another few moments passed as I came to a decision. We needed to know what the situation was, we needed to know where the god was in relation to us and what he was doing.

Patting Pavel's shoulder I pressed a finger to my lips, the boy nodding hesitantly to my order, and slowly peeked over the edge of our patch of ruined building. Lord Indrik was simply standing there on the outer edge of what was once his people's home, eyes closed as he took in deep breaths through his beastly snout.

Despite how calm he appeared I could see just how chaotic his energy really was, the golden light of it boiled and jumped with every passing moment as though ready to tear into anything that so much as breathed wrongly in its presence. My brow scrunched in concern, what was he doing? He wasn't going to keep looking for us then?

Perhaps he had calmed down?

No, no I had seen that same look on Lord Kamu's face on the journey over. He always made it when he…when he…

My eyes widened in horror as the lord of the mountains' eyes lazily opened, the giant orbs filled with visible rage as they immediately focused on where we lay.

"PAVEL, RU-" Another bone shaking roar drowned my warning out as Indrik reared back and, with a mighty leap, cleared half the village within a blink.

Hoofed feet slammed into the ground not even three buildings away, a golden wave of pure energy ejecting itself from the god in all directions, and with it came great spikes of stone. Stone which pierced through the air with a vengeance, spearing through even its more passive brethren without effort.

My next sight was of that same wave of gold and grey slamming into our pathetic barrier and breaking it apart as though it were made of snow in a hale storm. Then all at once I felt pain washing over my body as we were overtaken and washed out deeper into what was once a thriving village.

Every inch of me felt as though I'd been thrown from the mountaintops and had hit every lip on the way down, it was pure agony. Yet still I remained conscious through it all, unwilling to give in the the pain lest it give our assaulter another opportunity. A quick check showed that Pavel hadn't fared quite so well, though he appeared much less injured than myself, the poor boy just didn't have my physical tolerance.

I frowned at his distant unconscious form, I couldn't carry him and outrun a god, not in these conditions.

Gritting my teeth I stood tall, finding the great beastly god already closing the distance he himself had created. My breathing was ragged as I cast one last glance at my charge, I wouldn't let him die like this.

So I ran in the direction of the woods, as far away from my hunters as I could realistically get with what little time I had.

Indrik's roar sounded out from behind me, much louder and angrier than ever before as he gave chase, thundering beats of hooves on dirt rhythmically pounding alongside my heart.

I had just reached the treeline when another golden wave passed over me, a roil of living stone following it and throwing me violently into the air where I was helpless to stop my eventual fall to the ground. Much to my growing dread the result of which was a very loud snapping of the bones in my left arm, as well as the pain of a twig impaling itself into my thigh.

The god slowed then, stalking forward as though it were ready to savor the moment bit by bit. Likely that was the case.

This was how I would die? Cornered and alone by a god like some frail rabbit? I cursed under my breath as blood from my split lip tinged my tongue.

"I'm sorry Maria, Luka…I'm sorry I won't be there to see your next winter." My voice choked a little as the realization hit me, my little ones were going to have to grow up with out me.

Lord Indrik's hoof rose slowly and I swore that I saw his muzzle somehow turn upwards into a grim grin. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he lowered the appendage, a large amount of golden energy focusing on where it would impact the ground. I knew just from the sight of it that I wouldn't survive the impact.

"I'll see you soon, Mila."

And then my world shifted.