Just then, another chill nearly roots me to the ground. I glance to my left just in time to see another blur barreling in my direction.
“Another one!” I gasp.
I summon a protective barrier just in time for the creature to crash into it head-first. It screams as it hits my magic, falling to the ground, where it lays there for a moment, stunned still. I can finally get a good look at our attackers.
I instantly wish I hadn’t.
It’s a wendigo, alright, but it’s more monstrous and terrifying than even the eyewitness paintings suggest. Paintings don’t do them justice. It stands on two legs as a human would, but they have the hip bones and extra-long arms of a deer. It’s covered in matted, thin fur that’s turned black with rot. I can count every one of its human-like ribs, and its bony hands and feet are covered with only a papery-thin layer of skin. Its back is hunched, and its face is not that of a human, but the skull of a buck, with its horns scarred and gnarled like tree roots. The skin I can see between the patches of fur is a sickly gray, like that of a corrupted corpse.
To say that it is the thing of nightmares is the understatement of a lifetime. A scream tears from my throat before I can even stop myself, and I backpedal as fast as I can, screaming again when I run into Aurelio.
“Alessia, what are you doing?” he shouts.
“Get off me!”
I turn tail and take off at a sprint into the forest, feeling the shadows press in on all sides as I run. The darkness grows until it becomes suffocating. I can hear Aurelio’s shouts behind me, as well as the pounding footsteps of an unnatural gate, like an injured deer. I scream again as the shriek of the wendigo sounds close behind me.
It's chasing me! What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!
I push myself to run even faster, enhancing myself with the magic techniques I’ve practiced all my life. Still, the creature grunts and shrieks as it chases me, gaining on me with every second I try to run away. I can’t make myself turn around. My vision is going white, and my mind is going blank. I don’t know how to think. I forget how to fight. I don’t even remember how to use magic at this point. All I see is a future of death if I turn around now.
“ALESSIA, DUCK!”
I nearly trip over my own feet. Aurelio’s voice pierces my ears and my thick skull just in time for me to blindly dive into the forest floor, covering my head. Right as I hit the ground, I hear the shk! of something heavy striking flesh, and then there’s a huge THUD as a body hits the ground. I feel the vibration in the soil as it hits.
Summoning an ounce of courage, I dare to finally turn around, and the sight that greets me is…well, as gruesome as I expected.
The wendigo’s been pierced through the chest by Aurelio’s dagger. Its eye sockets remain empty as ever as it stares up at the stars, blood trickling from its wound. Aurelio still holds his second dagger in hand as he approaches the monster, his attention never wavering from its form.
“Alessia, can you use appraisal magic?” he asks.
“Ye—Yes,” I stammer.
I raise my arms, casting an appraisal charm in a ten-foot radius around the body. The magic radiates from my body in waves, then shimmers as it returns to me. The information comes rushing back in quick succession with each wave of returning magic.
“It’s dead. You’re safe to approach,” I say, panting.
I sit back against a nearby tree, clutching my aching chest. My stomach feels queasy enough to be sick. It doesn’t help that Aurelio is already cutting into the body to retrieve the magic crystals.
Scratch that. I’m going to be sick.
I throw up beside the tree, my whole body shaking so violently, I can barely hold myself up. I fall back against the tree trunk, pulling out my water pouch to rinse my mouth out.
“Alessia, are you alright?”
I look up just as Aurelio leaves the wendigo’s body. A messy trio of magic crystals sits in his now scarlet-stained hands. I feel like I’m going to be sick all over again.
“Aurelio…please get those out of my sight,” I whimper.
He frowns for a moment, then his face lights up as understanding dawns on him. He looks down at the magic crystals, looks back up at me, and points to my water pouch.
“Can I borrow that?”
I toss it to him, and he pours it all over the crystals, then rinses off his hands to drain the rest of the pouch. He presents the magic crystals to me, which now shine brightly.
“A reward for your performance,” he says.
“Don’t patronize me,” I snap.
