Tragedy Repeated(Tarot Please)

[Jaeden Kincade]

85th day of Summer, 510 A.V.

Jaeden moved through the forest, the days starting to grow shorter, and the air less humid. Leaves were starting to show hints of discoloration, noting that the fall season wasn’t far off. Jaeden had been walking for the better part of the day, searching for signs that hinted he was on the right path. Over the years, he had found it a little bit easier to track down wherever his former Mentor, Olevar, was. Whether this was due to Olevar getting older, or Jaeden just becoming better while in the wild, he wasn’t sure.

Jaeden had spotted a snare close to a mile back that bore a hint of Olevar’s touch to it. From there he simply followed Olevar’s tracks around the forest. They were still hard to follow, even without Olevar trying to cover them. It had taken Jaeden close to two bells just to follow them as far as he had so far. Fortunately for Jaeden, he soon spotted smoked gingerly rising from a camp fire. His strides moved him forward at a quicker pace now, moving around various foliage that barred his path until the camp itself came into view. “Olevar?” Jaeden called out, moving towards the camp. “You around?”

Jaeden’s foot fell for another step, hearing that familiar crunch echo out under his heal. “Shyke.” Jaeden said in a depressed voice as he was suddenly hoisted up into the air by his ankle. He swung in the air slightly, has body hanging limply in the air by a rope as he had, once again, stepped into Olevar’s parameter traps he had set around his camp. A slow sigh escaped his lips as he began hearing footsteps approaching him from behind.

Jaeden’s gaze followed the figure as it stepped in front of him. The man that stood before him there was Olevar, only he looked much older. His body was smaller than that of the hunter he trained under, the skin of his face wrinkled, his hair mostly grey now, with barely any traces of the color it once held. A smile appeared on Olevar’s face as he looked down to Jaeden. “Still missing those traps, eh Jaeden my boy?” Olevar said, a slight chuckle escaping his lips.

“Must you always greet me this way?” Jaeden said, tilting his head slightly to try and view Olevar with a more up-right perspective.

“No,” Olevar said, pulling his longsword from it’s sheath before a slow swing cut the rope just above Jaeden‘s foot, sending him to the ground with a thud. “All you have to do is not step in the traps.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jaeden said, loosening the rope from his ankle before standing. Jaeden then looked to Olevar as he fiddled with his sword for a moment, struggling to get it back into it’s sheath. His arms then reached around his mentor, embracing him in a light hug. “It’s good to see you again.”

Olevar gave a slow smile, patting Jaeden along his back for a moment. He then drew back, quirking a brow as he looked over Jaeden’s frame for a moment. “Something’s different about you, I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Olevar said as he tilted his head slightly. “You seem to have some sort of allure though.”

“Oh that,” Jaeden said as he pointed a thumb towards his back. “Nikali marked me in the spring. Wait a second, why are you suddenly desiring to hit me?”

“Why?” Olevar said grumbling as he began moving back to camp. “You’re marked by a Goddess, the one of Lust no less, and you’re asking me why I want to hit you?”

“Well, there’s a little more to it than that.” Jaeden said as he slowly began following Olevar. “It’s no real stroll through the garden, being a slave to other people’s desires you know?”

“Why’d she mark you anyhow?” Olevar asked, sitting himself down along a log that rested near camp.

“Something about a destiny or great calling, you don’t want to hear about it anyways. I can tell.” Jaeden said, sitting himself next to Olevar.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’d rather hear about how it’s become a benefit.” Olevar said with a chuckle. “Even with the whole bit about being a slave to someone’s desire, your appeal must have helped you with the fairer sex.”

Jaeden gave a slow shrug. “Yeah, I suppose. I work in the Soothing Waters at Syliras on the side now.” Jaeden said as he picked up a random stick and began poking the fire with it. “It’s become a little, well, tiring. Not only am I at a whim to the desires of several Syliras’ widows, but to the staff there as well. Hunting the large beasts of the forest takes less energy. I guess I needed a bit of a break.” Jaeden’s eyes then went wide as he looked to Olevar suddenly. Then, with a sigh, he slowly leaned his face out, exposing his chin to Olevar before his Mentor’s fist slammed into it, forcing a slight sting to rise as his head was turned.

“Ow.” Olevar said as he began rubbing his knuckles. Olevar then looked to Jaeden, shaking his head slightly. “You’re a dumbass, you know that. If I weren’t so introverted I’d be dying to be in the city, having women come and pay me for touching them.”

Jaeden didn’t reply, but rather watched as Olevar nursed the sting in his knuckles. He noted how much older he looked than even the year before. Finally, his eyes traveled over to the bow that rested next to Olevar. Woodland Wrath. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a crooked tree branch one might use as a walking stick. Jaeden knew it’s real power, however, as well as the price for that power. It stared him in the face, plain as day, sitting along the log next to him. Olevar himself was only, at most, in his forties. However, his appearance was more akin to a man nearing his mid seventies, possibly close to eighty. So many years lost, all due to a bow. “How many times was Wrath damaged over this past year?” Jaeden simply asked.

“Don’t start playing the pity card with me, boy!” Olevar scolded, shooting a gaze at Jaeden which caused Jaeden to still feel slightly powerless under it. “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I accepted it from Caiyha. She explained to me how any damage to it would use my life to repair itself. I knew this, but I still accepted. As well, I could have returned it to the earth and her at any time as well, but you don’t decline a Goddess’ generosity, nor do you throw it away so easily. If I had the ability to do it all over again, I’d make the same choices I did back then. She may not have branded me, but she gave me something just as invaluable. I have no regrets.”

Jaeden gave a slow nod, cupping his hands together as he looked over at Olevar. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for such.” Jaeden then said, looking to Olevar again.

“You want to apologize properly, go hunt us down something to eat.” Olevar said, tossing another branch along the fire. “Treat this old man to dinner. A deer will do.”

Jaeden gave a soft smile to Olevar, a man he had been viewing for over a decade as not just a mentor, but as a father, a family. The only family he had left. “I can do that.” Jaeden simply said, pushing himself into a stand. “I saw some tracks not a great distance away.”

“Yeah, I saw them to, just didn’t feel like walking too far today.” Olevar replied. “You’re young though. Shouldn’t take you as long to track down, provided the bathhouse hasn’t dulled your skills.”

Jaeden gave a slow chuckle, looking back to Olevar. “I should be back in a bell or two. Try not to fall asleep in that time, old man.” Jaeden said, smirking slightly.

“Careful with the monikers, I may not be able to shoot one of your legs off with Woodland Wrath due to your mark, but I can still cut it off with my sword.” Olevar said, growling slightly with a bit of grumpiness in his voice.

“I’ll be back.” Jaeden said, making his way out of camp as he unsung his composite longbow.

“I’ll be here, waiting.” Olevar simply replied.


__________________________

True to his word, Jaeden was returning to camp about two bells later, a adolescent deer laying limp over his shoulder. “Olevar, get your spices out.” Jaeden said, a excitement in his voice as he kept moving towards camp.

Then, Jaeden’s motions came to sudden halt, his eyes spotting torn up earth and scattered tracks over the area. His eyes darted over to a nearby tree, seeing gouges cut into the bark, marks normally made by an edged weapon. His breath then stopped for a moment as his heart skipped a beat, spotting something else much more concerning. The deer was suddenly dropped to the ground, landing with a loud thud as Jaeden’s hand reached for the hilt of his sword, pulling it free from it’s sheath. He rushed forward a few steps, falling to his knees along the ground. His left hand dropped his own composite longbow to the ground as he slowly reached out, grasping the long wooden stick along the ground that held a familiar shape to it. It was Woodland Wrath, but it’s surface was now black, and several gouges lined it’s surface.

Jaeden’s eyes then widened, as the bow gifted to Olevar suddenly withered away in his hand, crumbling to pieces as it dropped to the ground. Such could mean only one thing, and Jaeden’s heart and breathing raced as he looked over the cluttered pieces of the once powerful bow laying along the ground. “No.” Jaeden almost whispered in disbelief as his hand grabbed his own bow again. He suddenly rose to his feet as he began running towards camp. He had to see it with his own eyes.

[Tarot]

There are limits to what the human mind can take before it folds onto itself and refuses to acknowledge the true nature of reality. The mind works by recalling familiar patterns and adapting them to the circumstances; when the senses leave the reassuring path of charted phenomena, then the mind might just answer with disbelief, denial or even madness. Perhaps this would be Jaeden's case, as well. Woodland's Wrath crumbled miserably in the man's hand, and it was already rotting and returning to Caiyha's embrace by the time he made a mad rush for his mentor's camp. Familiar patterns were already creaking, with no birds chirping and no live creatures to be seen in an area that should normally be teeming with such things. There was only the noise of Jaeden's hard breathing and his footfalls on the grass, the camp closing in and bobbing up and down with each stride. He found Olevar near his tent. Jaeden's mind, still clinging on to its precious patterns, told him it was Olevar. All that flesh had, surely enough, been Olevar in the recent past. Not anymore. Olevar was dead; more than dead, killed; more than killed, annihilated. There were exactly sixty human slices - no less and no more - lying upon a bed of still fresh blood. Fifty-nine horizontal cuts, approximately one inch apart, perfectly parallel to each other. From the first slice of the upper skull to the last layer of the feet, each segment was lying on the grass about one inch apart, thus doubling the height the body had had in life. The cross section of Olevar's body was perfectly visible, with the entrails perfectly cut and preserved. The handiwork was so perfect, one could seamlessly reconstruct the entire body by putting the slices back together. All patterns crumbled here. No sword, blade or claw could have made this - the power of a cleaver with the elegance of a papercut. The mathematical precision of the cuts as well as the fact that they appeared to be simultaneous did not belong to humans; did not belong to anything that should have a right to exist. There were bloody tracks though, a faint blood trail leading away from the corpse. It was compatible with someone walking barefoot in a perfectly straight line leading West.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s eyes widened and his skin paled slightly as his gaze fell to the scene. Even the most silent of ambient noises in the forest seemed to fade out from his hearing as he only managed to hear the shocked thump of his own heart. His hands hung lazily at his sides, his bow practically dangling from his finger tips as an exhaled breath seemed to echo in his ears between the beats of his heart. The tip of his feet dragged along the ground, leaving small trails along the dirt in their wake as Jaeden continued to inch forward towards the mutilated corpse of his former mentor.

He dropped to his knees, a mere foot from the body now, his bow dropping to rest along the ground beside him as the blood began to seep through the fabric of his pants. All the while, he stared at Olevar’s eyes, as the colored hues stared with emptiness up into the sky, unmoving and lifeless like a void. As he did so, flashes on his past with Olevar began to flash across his eyes. Waking up as a starved young orphan, seeing his smile and an offering of food. Training with him and seeing the his strong figure looking over him with a hint of nurturing mixed sternness in his face. The casual conversation held over a dinner as a camp fire kept them warm during the winter. His worry and anger given to slavers who tried to steal Jaeden away. An amused expression and jokes levied at Jaeden’s expense over his first time with a woman. His face full of pride and acceptance when Jaeden had finally managed to track him down for his final test. Finally, Olevar’s old face from not more than a couple bells ago, still full of the fire that he had yet content at the same time, flashed across Jaeden’s vision.

All of them showed the life of Olevar that Jaeden had spent with the man. He was Jaeden’s mentor. For all intents and purposes, he was Jaeden’s second father. Now, there would be no new images of him to add to Jaeden’s memory, save the one that tragically overshadowed all the others, so much that it caused Jaeden’s face to wince. His brow knotted up, his eyes watered and his mouth bore gritted teeth as his body became wracked with emotional pain. Sorry, anger and depression flooded Jaeden’s body all at once as his hands gripped his stomach. It felt like someone had just plunged their fist into Jaeden’s abdomen and grabbed his gut, twisting it around over and over again. Jaeden doubled over before falling to his side along the ground. Sobs began to echo from his mouth as his body shuddered and his tears began to water the ground. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before his sobs had stopped, and rage boiled up from the pits of his knotted stomach. He let out a scream which echoed out over the forest area, and then he fell completely silent.

His body still sluggish, Jaeden pushed himself off the ground, the side of his body covered in Olevar’s blood as it began to dry along the skin of his arm first. A few steps were taken over toward his pack, unfastening a couple of straps along it’s side to free the woodman’s axe. He then walked over to an open patch of ground, staring at it blankly for a moment before a hissing exhale saw him swinging the axe into the ground as he began digging a grave. Each time the axe was swung, he imagined a blade plunging into a faceless foe responsible for it. About a bell would pass before he had dug out a grave that was six feet long, and at least three feet deep, the dug up earth piled to the side. The next task would prove even more difficult, as Jaeden broke down Olevar’s tent and began wrapping up his mentor’s remains within the laid out tent. The rope from the tent itself was used to tie the rolled up fabric coffin before it was dragged over to the grave and laid with a gentle care within. Finally, Jaeden took Olevar’s sword, pack and other belongings, laying them along top of Olevar’s remains before he began filling the grave with the dirt once again.

He wanted to say goodbye, he wanted to tell Olevar how much he had meant to him, but Jaeden could bring himself to speak the words out loud. He felt they would be somehow empty, so long as the one responsible was still out there. So Jaeden remained silent, as he continued to push the dirt into the grave, packing it down slightly as it began to pile up. When he had finally finish, Jaeden marked the grave with a long thick branch, stabbed into the ground with Olevar’s name carved into the surface. He slowly knelt down to one knee then, his hand pressing along the soft earth of the grave and began to whisper a silent prayer to Caiyha and her children to watch over Olevar’s final place of rest until his return, and keep it safe from grave robbers as well as spare it from the scavenger animals.

Jaeden then slowly rose to his feet once again, his face now contorted in anger as he moved with heavy steps moving towards his bow, picking it up off the ground. A prayer of apology was then given to Caiyha for not making use of the deer he was bringing back to camp, and was then offered to her children in return for the safeguarding of Olevar’s grave. Jaeden’s gaze then fell to the bloody tracks leading away from camp as he slowly began walking with purpose following them. For Jaeden had other prey to hunt now, and it was a hunt he took with deadly serious intent.

[Tarot]

The trail went on in a perfectly straight line that no-one had bothered to cover or conceal in any way. The path - or perhaps it should be called a trajectory given its geometric perfection - led Jaeden through the woods. He had no difficulty whatsoever pursuing his target, and indeed, his tracking talents were totally wasted in this particular hunt. His prey did not care about being found, apparently. It must have been walking at a steady pace, though, as it took Jaeden several bells to make a significant dent in the killer's head start. Throughout the chase, more of the uncanny cuts showed here and there if one was careful enough to notice; sometimes the eggs in a nest had been sliced in half, or perfect squares of the carpet of grass had been trimmed to a uniform height. There was an obsession there, for regularity, for geometry, and for looking inside things. The animals of the wild were avoiding the trail left by Jaeden's prey, too. Caiyha's creatures stayed well-hidden and off the path, making his chase a rather lonely one. Even Syina took to playing hide-and-seek with the clouds, casting a grey shade upon the woods. A light breeze eventually brought the subtle scent of dried blood to the man's nostrils. Not long thereafter, the forest opened up in a large glade, and for the first time Jaeden got a glimpse of his target's back in the distance - or what was presumably his target. There was a naked human body walking in the middle of the glade. It was lean and muscled like a male, though somewhat underweight, but with the tapered hips of a female, giving the body an androgynous feel. It had no hair on its head nor body. It just kept walking, one step after another, as if marching in a platoon. In Jaeden's experience, someone navigating the wilderness should be constantly on the lookout, checking the environment for threats and hostiles. This being, however, wasn't even moving its head to look left or right. Onward it went, in a perfectly straight line, making no amount of noise at all. By the time the man made it to the edge of the glade, the figure was within range of his bow, and probably his voice as well.

[Jaeden Kincade]

A frown crossed Jaeden’s features as he followed the trail. Whatever was responsible for Olevar’s death had no fear, or at least no care, about anyone possibly pursuing it. The blood that trailed along the forest earth, the impressions left in the ground, the strait trail. There was no light stepping, no covering of it’s tracks, just what seemed to be a strait forward walk. If anything, it angered Jaeden a little, knowing that whatever was responsible for killing his former mentor and desecrating his remains, did not seem to have any feelings in the slightest about it, one way or another.

The further he moved along the trail, more evidence was seen , lending weight to an obsessive compulsion as Jaeden observed the egg from a birds nest and the carpet of grass trimmed. Whatever was responsible, was teetering with insanity, if not already fully there, to commit such acts with no regard to what it was doing such to. At the dangerous end of that insanity, however, laid a high intelligence which Jaeden was barely able to acknowledge past his own desire to punish whatever it was. Whatever this creature touched, whatever it cut, was always done in perfectly geometrical fashion, such to a length that those who worked designing and constructing buildings would be amazed at the precision, artists might me left in awe over the delicate nature involved. It was a danger not entirely lost on Jaeden, realizing that the compulsion would lead to facing a calculating individual, someone with high focus for performing the same acts that was done to Olevar, and a highly driven desire to see it done.

Jaeden’s gaze shifted to the area that surrounded him and the trail itself, noticing that all of the animals of the forest avoided stepping across the path, even after the individual had passed by. The lack of animal tracks found on the bloody trail itself as well suggested they avoided it as the individual approached as well. It was normal for most animals to avoid human’s all together, but the animals this time made it especially clear that they wanted avoid this individual at all costs, their senses catching a danger on another level that Jaeden would likely never be able to himself. In the end, it didn’t matter to Jaeden. Whatever was doing this had killed Olevar, and while revenge may have been the major contributing factor in Jaeden’s pursuit, prevention of future acts played a small role. In the end, considering all the evidence that Jaeden had encountered so far, Olevar would not be the only victim. It’s compulsion seemed to cause it to be indiscriminate, and while Jaeden wouldn’t begrudge it the life of any Slaver it came across, there was the chance that simple travelers would be caught in it’s path, and rendered to small, even cut slices.

After several bells had passed, Jaeden had managed to close the distance as the strong odor of dried blood flirted more notoriously with his nostrils. His eyes narrowed as he came to a large open glade, his heart beginning to beat faster as he spotted the individual leaving the trail. It was humanoid, though it’s gender could not me rightly determined by Jaeden at first glance, which in itself was a feat in Jaeden’s eyes, considering his extensive experience with the fairer sex. No visible hair could be seen, further adding to the origin of it’s gender, and point in fact, it’s race entirely. In the end, it didn’t matter to Jaeden, as he stepped away from the path it left itself, slowly beginning to circle to it’s left as he pulled an arrow from his quiver.

Nocking the arrow into his string, the ringing question of “Why” echoed in his head. Why Olevar, of all people? Why him? He was already close to dying due to Woodland Wrath, so why not let the old man die peacefully in the Forest he had embraced? In the end, however, Jaeden knew from what he had seen already of this creature’s habits, that there would be no logical reason as to why. Instead, after closing a slight more distance, Jaeden dropped to a knee and raised his bow. A slow exhale was released as he slowly drew the string to his bow back, leveling the tip of the arrow towards the back of the guilty party. He tried his best to slow his heart rate, to fight back his rage and simply concentrate on the shot. Finally, with a final slow exhale, Jaeden loosened the grips his fingers had a long the bow and let the arrow fly, aiming for the easy shot along the center of the creature’s back, hoping that the shot would possibly cripple it, if not outright kill it.

[Tarot]

There was but one thing left to do, and Jaeden did it. The whole thing had a surreal feel to it, the forest standing still as the man nocked his arrow and took aim at the creature. Even though he was by no means an expert, Jaeden knew this shot would be quite easy, with a man-sized target in plain sight, unobstructed, advancing slowly in a straight line and well within range of his bow. He had hit more difficult marks during his training. Still, the necessity to aim true and the notion that he was about to kill in cold blood caused the man to take his time with the shot. If the creature had noticed his approach, it gave no sign of it whatsoever; it seemed fully absorbed in its own inner world. Finally, Jaeden released the arrow, which flew true to its target with a menacing hiss. It embedded itself squarely in the center of the creature's back, making it stagger as dark blood seeped from the wound. The being attempted to turn around to face the direction of the ranged threat, and Jaeden could see that it was nothing like a human, or even one of the races he knew. The face was elongated, deathly pale and had no mouth; the eyes were fully black and round like those of a fish. The arms looked too long for a human being, and the shoulders too bony. And while the body was closer to a male in build, the genitalia were definitely female. The creature's skin began to crack and shed in large patches as it faced Jaeden. Underneath was something dark and shiny that might have passed off as fur to the casual observer, but wasn't. No, under the being's skin there was more skin, black and marble-like, but with long black filaments coiled around its limbs and quickly extending all around the creature like some medusa from the deep sea. They were so thin, Jaeden could only see them because of their shininess as the rays of the sun passed through them while they danced wildly in the air. With a sickening snapping sound, the wounded creature's filaments lashed out in Jaeden's direction, extending way past their apparent length. It was clear, now, what had made all those perfect instantaneous cuts. It was also clear that Jaeden was the intended target of more of those cuts.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s eyes widened for a moment, as black blood oozed out of the wound of the creature. As it slowly began to turn, his eyes then narrowed, a frown crossing his features as large patches of skin began to flake away and fall off, revealing the marble like skin underneath. When coil like filaments began to whip around wildly as cracking noises echoed out as they moved around, Jaeden gave a large exhaled, starting to back away as he pulled another arrow from his quiver. “This is either going to be a real long day, or a real short one.” Jaeden grumbled under his breath as he quickly drew back the arrow, firing it through the air at the creature.

His aim was relaxed, not concentrated. In all likely hood, he didn’t expect the arrow to hit, but rather he fired the arrow as a test shot, seeing how likely it would be for the arrow to get through with the coils that lashed around, and if it did, how hard the creature’s skin was. He continued to back away as he watched the arrows path for a moment. Once seeing the results, Jaeden then simply turned and ran. Despite how confident he had been in his sword skills, the unpredictability of what the creature was attacking with, couple with their reach, and Jaeden likely would have been sliced in half several times over before he would be able to get in close enough to strike at it with his sword. He just had to hope he was faster than it was on his feet, and try to be tactical.

Jaeden gave a glance over his shoulder, thinking quickly as he tried to evolve a plan. His eyes then caught one of the creatures compulsive displays ahead. His sword was slowly drawn as he looked over his shoulder again, seeing if the creature was falling behind, keeping up with him, or closing the distance. As he neared the neatly squared grass the creature had cut along the ground, his sword was then swiped along the top of the grass, trimming some of it, and throwing off it’s perfect square and height. “How obsessed are you?” Jaeden whispered slightly as he continued to run, making another slice with his sword along the grass, starting a patch for the creature to possibly finish.

[Tarot]

The second arrow hit the creature in the shoulder, where it embedded itself in the dark flesh. The thing staggered, but did not fall, and overall did not even seem to care too much. 'Careless' did sum up its behavior ever since it had killed Olevar. Careless in not covering its tracks. Careless in leaving behind explicit signs of its passage. Careless in doing nothing to prevent or dodge incoming attacks. Careless in acting exactly like Jaeden expected it to. The man turned away and run, with the creature following at its own shambling pace. The filaments mowed the grass where he had been standing a few moments earlier, but did not manage to cut Jaeden himself before retracting. He was faster, at least right now, and the creature was following him mindlessly into the woods, where the filaments would hopefully be less of a threat. Here in the forest, he was arguably in his element whereas the creature was just a cumbersome walking set of blades. Surely Jaeden must have been thinking, as he prepared his diversion, how Olevar could possibly have fallen to this being. Things were not adding up - even in his weakened state, his mentor had been a master of wilderness survival. Had he been taken by surprise, or was there something more? Why had he been killed in the first place? Jaeden could observe the creature's reaction as he made his running retreat. It stopped by the square he had altered and stared at it for a long moment before the filaments shot out and perfected the figure, reverting it to a square, albeit larger. It did the same to the next mark Jaeden made with his sword, turning it into a perfect spiral. The filaments were capable of incredible finesse, much like drawing an ellipse with the gardener's method, only several magnitudes better. While it poured its undivided attention on the geometric figures, it had neglected to even pull out Jaeden's arrows from its flesh. Talk about priorities.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s frown crossed over his features, twice he had hit this thing with his bow, and yet even with two arrows sticking out from it, it barely seemed to increase in danger. It was slow, and easily distracted. Had Olevar been sleeping when this creature approached. One loosed arrow, especially with Olevar’s aim, from Woodland Wrath likely would have been enough to put this creature down. Had he missed something in his grief and rage? Another set of tracks? Some small bit of a clue that would lead to another?

Jaeden quickly shook his head as he stabbed his sword into the ground for a moment, pulling another arrow from his quiver. He dropped to a knee then, drawing the arrow back as he raised the bow up into the air for a moment, waiting for the creature to come into range. “Should I kill this thing?” Jaeden’s mind started to ponder. “Even if I manage to kill it without sustaining any injury, would that put Olevar’s murder to rest? If I allowed it to live, would it even lead me back to another guilty party?”

Jaeden soon let such thoughts slip from his mind as the creature soon began shambling into range of his bow. He lowered his bow a little, letting another exhale escape his lips before finally loosing the arrow as it flew on it’s arching path through the air. He hopped for a leg shot this time, thinking to slow the creature down some more. After loosing the arrow, he grumbled once again, regardless of the shot’s accuracy. The questions in his head still remained and he had to be sure now that he didn’t miss anything. He stood up strait again, pulling his sword free from the earth as he turned once again and began to run.

Strike after strike was given to odd places along the ground various foliage of the forest as he ran, silently praying for Caiyha’s forgiveness in the use of her creation as a means of distracting and the further damage the creature would do. “I’ve got to make sure.” Jaeden thought to himself as he hoped a possible leg wound and more distractions to the creatures obsessive nature would allow him time to further look over Olevar’s camp sight for any signs of a second perpetrator. Perhaps he was getting overconfident. There was a chance he had not yet seen what kind of true threat this creature could present so far. It had been easy to track the first time, however, he could do it again. He had to be sure.

[Tarot]

Jaeden loosed one more arrow on the creature. This time it did not hit exactly where he'd hoped, but it still found its mark in the flank. Just like before, the creature staggered upon being hit, but made no attempt at dislodging the arrow, just randomly lashing out with its deadly filaments and cutting some foliage in the process. And just like before, the distraction of interrupting its patterns seemed to work and buy the human some time in his fighting retreat. Eventually, he backtracked all the way to Olevar's campsite. He seemed to have distanced his opponent in the process. It had fallen behind as it wasted time inspecting the sword cuts Jaeden had left on the path. The camp was still exactly as the man remembered leaving it. It really was a poor mausoleum to Olevar, though he probably wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It still smelled like the blood that had been spilled here not too long ago. Jaeden searched and searched again, looking for signs that he might have neglected the first time around, blinded by grief and anger. No matter how hard he looked, however, he was forced to admit he couldn't find any trace that could not attributed to Olevar himself. It would perhaps dawn on him that the creature had left an obvious trail as it left the scene, but there were no signs of its arrival at the camp. It was like the old story of the fox that saw no footprints coming out of the lion's cave, except the other way around. Just as soon as Jaeden made such as alarming discovery, the faint rustling of a bush drew his attention to the edge of the camp. There stood the creature, its skin cracking open and being shed. It had caught up with him in a matter of seconds. And the body underneath was utterly unharmed. It stared at Jaeden with its mouthless excuse for a face, filaments dancing lazily in the air. The man's mind was pierced by a thought too sudden and alien to have been his. "Expectation. Desire for Person-with-bow to teach more. Assumption that Person-with-bow must have more to teach than just 'revenge'. Reminiscence that Person-with-bow-of-power had more to teach. Consideration that Person-with-bow has been underperforming. Hypothesis that Person-with-Bow has exhausted its reservoir of potential. Curiosity to inspect its inner form." And whatever this meant, it could not possibly mean anything good.