The sun hung low in the sky, slowly painting the world in hues of orange and yellow as the day creeped towards its end. But that just meant that it would soon be time to return to his den.

  Water came first, though, and the large stream running through the nearby clearing was the perfect place to get a drink before returning home for the night. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t even have to fight for it this time. The wounds to his side were still healing from the last time he’d fought over the stream’s precious supply.

  Lumbering into the clearing, he was pleased to see that there weren’t any others within the area, no one to fight off and no one to keep him from getting a refreshing drink. The water always tasted so much better when he had it all to himself.

  The water itself was crystal clear and refreshing, exactly what he needed after a long day of foraging and fighting. Maybe tomorrow he’d stake a more permanent claim to the stream. It would keep him from having to scare off all of the smaller pests each time he went for a drink.

  Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to a small shape walking into the clearing. As if taunting him, he saw a little fox of all things trying to sneak its way towards the stream, as if he hadn’t already made it clear that it was his for the time. As the fox crept closer, it was clear that it needed to be dealt with.

  He pulled away from the life-giving water and turned fully to the fox, snorting and staring the small thing down. But rather than run away, it stared back at him, small body tensing. And then it took a step closer, challenging him! He saw red and charged. He’d trample the small creature and leave it to rot and die in the dirt.

  The fox darted away as he charged it, but he was much too fast. As it nearly got to the edge of the clearing, he finally caught up. He rammed into the fox, intending to gore it, only to be stunned as he felt no impact. He passed straight through the fox and kept going, seeing the tree far too late. He rammed headfirst into the thick tree, cracking the trunk and sending the whole thing careening to the forest floor with a loud crash.

  The impact left him stunned, though, and he staggered as he tried to regain his footing. He never had the chance to find that fox, though. The last thing he saw was a quick flash of silver before something hit him and the world went dark.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “That was awesome! You took that boar out in a single shot!”

  Lucas smiled as he listened to Fay cheering him on at his side.

  “It wasn’t that hard. The shot wasn’t too far away, and it was pretty dumb like you said,” He replied while slinging his bow across his back.

  “Lucas, Direboars are pretty tough. They’re strong, fast, and it takes a lot to stop them once they get going. They’re not super dangerous, but they can still kill you. And you made it look easy,” Fay pointed out as the two wandered into the clearing.

  “But it was dumb,” Lucas pointed out with a grin.

  A wave of his hand created a little copy of Dusk that ran around Fay’s legs and made the blonde giggle. The real fox on his shoulder snorted and smacked Lucas in the face with her tail a moment later. Grumbling, he allowed the illusion to fade and Fay openly laughed at Dusk’s smug expression.

  “Yes, it was dumb,” She agreed between giggles. “The idea to use an illusion was really smart. Though, I don’t think that Dusk liked you using her as bait.”

  “Oh no, she’s mad that I used an illusion instead of letting her do it herself,” He corrected, with said fox nodding in agreement to confirm his claims. “But I didn’t expect it to actually take that whole tree out, though!” Lucas commented.

  “I mean, I told you they pick up a lot of speed. It’s not my fault you didn’t believe me.”

  While Lucas kept watch, Fay went to work carving into the boar. They could have stuffed the whole corpse into Lucas’ bag of holding, but they already had a fair bit of food, so Fay decided to just take enough to give them a few fresh meals and some extra to lure out their real targets. The rest would be left for the animals in the area to feast on.

  The Direboar was as big as a lion, so there was a lot of meat, far more than either of them really needed or wanted. With the long, sharp tusks jutting from its mouth, and the rough, dense hide, the creature was far more dangerous than any normal boar Lucas was used to.

  “You really make this look easy,” Lucas said as he watched Fay work.

  Her hands were steady as her sharp new knives cut through flesh and muscle with ease. Skin and hide were cut away while meat was separated from bone. What would have taken Lucas multiple minutes, Fay managed to do in just two.

  “Dad and I used to go hunting a ton back while he was still a hunter. I told him that I wanted to be a hunter like him, so he took me out on trips to show me how to hunt, how to fight. He taught me so much, like the sort of beasts in the area and how to fight them. But when mom and dad opened up their shop, the trips became less frequent. And not long after that, I got my magic and I started to do the hunting trips myself.”

  There were some heavy emotions that Lucas could hear in his best friend’s voice as she recalled the past. He debated whether or not to say anything and potentially pry, but he missed the opportunity when Fay finished up with the boar.

  “The sun’s setting, so we should probably set up camp soon,” Fay said as she dunked the cuts of meat in the flowing stream to clean off some of the blood.

  “We should make some distance, first,” Lucas pointed out. “Not a good idea to stay here.”

  “You’re right. Come on, we can go for another thirty minutes then set up camp,” Fay said as she stuffed the relatively clean cuts of meat into her own bag.

  “Try to keep up,” She teased playfully as she shot a wink Lucas’ way before dashing off deeper into the forest.

  “Hey!” He shouted after her, sprinting to try and catch up to Fay. “No fair!”

  Laughter was his only answer as Lucas pushed himself to move faster so he could try and catch up with the speedy blonde.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Once the sun had begun to set, Lucas and Fay had settled down to set up camp for the night. While Lucas set up the tent, Fay gathered wood for a fire. Dusk even contributed as she helped dig a small pit for the campfire. Once Fay had gathered enough, Lucas got the fire going while the blonde went to set up the wardstones.

  Those had been interesting to learn about. Fay had told him more about them along the way and explained that they acted as a sort of alarm system for those out in the wilds.

  “You set the smaller wardstones around the perimeter of your camp,” She’d explained. “Then you channel a bit of your mana into the larger wardstone, which links them all together. If anything crosses the boundary that you set up, the wardstones make a loud noise to startle the intruder and wake you up.”

  Lucas watched as Fay half buried each wardstone into the ground at the edges of the clearing they settled in for the night. The main stone she kept with her as she returned back to the tent. By that point, Lucas had the campfire going strong, the blaze warming up the cooling night air.

  “Here,” She said as she handed him the larger, rune-covered stone. “Channel a bit of your mana into this. This way the wardstones will recognize you and me in case we need to step outside.”

  “Makes sense,” He said as he channeled a small trickle of his mana into the stone. The runes across its surface flashed for a moment, and then Lucas could suddenly feel the location of each of the smaller stones.

  “You sure are good at setting up a tent,” Fay commented as she pulled out two of the boar steaks she’d grabbed earlier.

  The bags of holding became far more valuable in Lucas’ eyes as he watched Fay pull out a pan from her own bag, along with a variety of herbs and spices that she quickly applied to the meat.

  “I know a bit,” Lucas replied playfully. Though his tone became more melancholy as he continued. “My dad and I used to go camping all the time when I was younger, pretty much every weekend if we could manage it. When I got old enough we started to hunt on those camping trips too. Caught our own food, even if mom made sure we had extra before we left for the trip.”

  While one of her hands held the pan over the campfire, Fay’s other hand reached out and rested on Lucas’.

  “You really miss them, don’t you?” She asked softly.

  “How could I not?” He replied. “I left without a word to either of them on my birthday. They probably freaked out. Hell, they probably still are freaking out even if they got my letter.”

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  Fay’s hand squeezed around his and he looked over to see her concerned face.

  “I’m sorry. I should have let you go back. I wasn’t thinking at the time and just pulled you along.”

  “Hey. Don’t do that,” He shook his head. “If you let me go back then, I either would have never come back, or I would have gotten myself killed the next time I tried to go through. I miss my family, but I can’t imagine never being able to see this world again.”

  Lucas gazed up at the sky as the moonlight filtering in through the gap in the trees. “Do I wish that I’d gone back and left my family a note? Yeah, I really should’ve done that. But I wasn’t really making the best choices back then.”

  “Back then?” Fay butted in with a grin.

  Lucas laughed and bumped his shoulder against the blonde. “I’m not that bad!”

  “You asked my dad to basically beat you up every night,” She shot back.

  “That’s not-“

  “You call Granny Wren ‘old lady’.”

  “But she’s fine wi-“

  “You went and asked Sasha to start beating you up too.”

  “Hey! I can at least beat her!” When Fay just gave him a blank stare, Lucas folded. “Eventually… Probably.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Fay began to giggle. Those giggles soon turned into laughter and Lucas found himself joining in a moment later.

  “Let’s just agree that you don’t make the brightest choices, ok?”

  “If I say yes, do I get some of that boar steak?” Lucas asked, practically salivating at the delicious smelling meat cooking in the pan.

  “Yes, yes you do,” She replied smugly.

  “Fine. You’re right and I’m wrong.”

  Fay giggled again as she pulled the pan away from the fire. The boar meat looked and smelled delicious, and both he and Fay were soon happily digging into their dinner. Lucas made sure to cut off some pieces to feed a very eager Dusk, who happily snatched each and every piece she was offered. Fay, meanwhile, pulled out some small cubes of meat that she offered to Dove as the small hawk perched on her shoulder.

  “So,” Lucas spoke up as he finished up his meal, washing it down with some water. “How far away are we?”

  “Let’s see,” Fay mumbled as she pulled out her map once again. “We made good time today, so we should be able to get to the minor territory by tomorrow evening. It’s probably best if we camp just outside the territory and then hunt the following morning.”

  “Sleeping in wolf infested woods or non-wolf infested woods? That’s a pretty tough choice,” Lucas joked, getting another bump to his shoulder in return.

  “C’mon. We should head to bed and get some sleep,” Fay called out as she headed towards the tent. “You’re going to love these sleeping bags. One of the best things that dad ever bought.”

  “What’s so special about them?” Lucas asked as he followed.

  “They’re enchanted to always be the perfect temperature. Keeps you warm when it’s cold out and cool when it’s hot.”

  “Say no more!”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The forest was a blur as he sprinted. Dodging and weaving between trees while ducking under limbs and branches, he kept up as much speed as he could. Behind him, he could hear the familiar, haunting howls and the sound of paws pounding upon the ground.

  Just his luck that he would get completely lost within the woods. All he could do was keep running and hope to outrun the terrifying beast hot on his heels.

  He was losing ground and he knew it. The wolf was just better at weaving through the trees to follow him while Lucas was losing his already small lead. It wouldn’t be long until the beast caught up to him.

  “Get down!”

  Lucas didn’t hesitate. He didn’t question it or waste a second wondering what was going on. If there was anyone that he trusted fully it was Fay. And when her voice cried out and gave him an order, he followed it.

  Lucas dropped, diving down to the ground as his body crashed into the grass and leaves below. He managed to twist and look back in time to see a familiar looking knife cleave through the air, burying itself to the hilt in the head of a large Direwolf only a dozen feet back from him.

  The beast collapsed and slid to a stop mere feet away from Lucas, and he heaved a massive sigh of relief. When he heard leaves crunching up ahead, he looked up to see Fay stepping out from the forest.

  “Are you ok?” She asked, clearly concerned.

  “I’m alright,” He agreed. “Just tired. Thanks for the save.”

  “I’ve always got your back, Lucas.”

  Lucas slowly staggered to his feet, his body sore from all the running he’d been doing. “Come on, let’s head back to-“

  As he looked back up towards Fay, his eyes widened in terror as he spotted the acidic green eyes looming behind the blonde. The Direwolf hadn’t been alone, it had been part of a pack. And as more and more eyes glinted in the darkness, Lucas watched as they lunged towards Fay.

  She noticed too late, spinning around in time to drive one of her blades into the throat of the first beast. But then the rest closed in.

  Lucas tried to reach her, but his body wouldn’t move. He was forced to watch as the wolves attacked. He reached out, desperately wishing he could save her as Fay fell to the ground and a pair of jaws ripped into her neck.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “NO!!!”

  The shout shattered the silence of the night, sending birds that had been peacefully resting flying into the air.

  Within the tent that they’d been sleeping in, Lucas jolted upright, his chest heaving and tears streaming down his cheeks as he abruptly awoke.

  “Lucas!”

  He could faintly hear someone calling his name, but it sounded like they were underwater. The sound of his heart pounding was all that he could hear, muffling everything else.

  “Lucas! Look at me!”

  A pair of hands gently gripped his cheeks and Lucas found himself staring into a pair of familiar, beautiful green eyes. Even in the grey tones that the world was shaded in at night for him, Lucas would always recognize those eyes. The worry and panic that he saw in those eyes helped to ground him, as did the warm hands pressed to his face.

  “It’s ok. Everything is ok.”

  Fay’s voice cut through the fog in his mind, and Lucas realized that the person he was looking at was Fay. But that was impossible, he’d just watched her die right in front of him.

  “You… You died,” He croaked out, his throat scratchy and raw as he spoke.

  Those bright green eyes widened, and Fay quickly pulled Lucas into a tight hug, her warm body pressing against his. But that didn’t make sense, dead bodies weren’t meant to be warm.

  “It was just a nightmare. I’m right here, Lucas. I’m not dead, I’m right here,” She whispered.

  The fog in his mind cleared fully and Lucas sagged into Fay’s touch as a sob shook his body. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his arms wrapped tightly around her, terrified that if he let go she would disappear. And all the while, Fay hugged him close, repeating those same soft words again and again.

  Lucas didn’t know how long it took, but eventually the tears stopped flowing and his body stopped shaking. Fay pulled away slightly, still holding him as her concerned eyes met his reddened gaze.

  “Are you ok?” She asked.

  “Yes. No… I don’t know,” He weakly mumbled.

  “Lucas, what happened?”

  He hesitated, debating whether he should even talk about what he’d seen in his latest nightmare. It was the worst one he’d had yet. Up until now, they’d all been focused on him and only him getting attacked. But the latest nightmare didn’t target him, it targeted Fay and it had terrified Lucas to his core.

  “I was being chased,” Lucas softly spoke. “Through the woods. I was lost, couldn’t escape. Then you showed up and you took the wolf out like it was nothing. But then-“

  Lucas felt the lump in his throat, and he struggled to get the next words out. Fay saw him struggling and grabbed his hand in hers, squeezing tight.

  “What happened?” She gently repeated.

  “There were more of them,” He choked out. “And they attacked you. I couldn’t get to you, and I watched them kill you.”

  Fay hugged him tight once more and Lucas fell into her arms. If he’d had any more tears left, he would have been crying once again.

  “I couldn’t do anything,” He whispered.

  “It wasn’t real, Lucas,” Fay replied. Her voice was soft but firm as her arms squeezed around him. “It was only a nightmare and it’ll never happen. You have your weapons and you can fight. And I won’t die to some Direwolves.”

  It took another few minutes for Fay to eventually let Lucas go. When he took the chance to check his watch, he was embarrassed once he realized that it was just past two in the morning.

  “Sorry for waking you up,” He sheepishly apologized.

  “You don’t have to apologize for anything,” Fay replied as she went to lay back down in her sleeping bag, the soft black material warm against the cool night air.

  Lucas knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, though, not after such an intense nightmare. So, after a few seconds, he slipped out of his sleeping bag and started to make his way to the tent’s entrance.

  Before he could get far, Fay’s hand clamped down around his wrist. He turned back to see her staring at him in the dark, her eyes narrowed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m gonna go keep watch or something. I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep,” He replied.

  Fay’s gaze softened, but she didn’t release his arm.

  “No, you’re not,” She said.

  “What?”

  “You need sleep, Lucas,” She argued.

  “I don’t do well sleeping after a nightmare, Fay,” Lucas tried to point out.

  With his darkvision, Lucas could see Fay’s cheeks gain a bit of color. Then her grip on his wrist tightened and she pulled him back. At that point, Lucas was too drained to even try to resist the blonde as she pulled him back down.

  “There was one time,” She pointed out as she forced Lucas to lay back down in his sleeping bag. But rather than move away, she pressed in closer and Lucas felt his own cheeks heating up as the blonde leaned into him and rested her head against his chest.

  “What are you doing?” He sputtered.

  “You didn’t have nightmares the other night when we dozed off like this. So…” She trailed off as she wrapped an arm around his waist. “So, I’m hoping it’ll let you sleep peacefully again.”

  “I… You…”

  There wasn’t really much that Lucas could think to say. Fay wasn’t wrong, either. The other night when they dozed off on the roof was the most restful sleep he’d gotten in weeks. And as embarrassed and flustered as he was, Lucas was too tired to put up any real fight.

  “Ok,” He finally whispered, forcing his body to relax.

  Fay’s presence at his side was a comfort, a constant reminder that his nightmare wasn’t real and that the blonde was still alive and right at his side. The warmth of her body and the sleeping bags they were using helped him relax even further, and soon Lucas found his eyes growing heavy as sleep claimed him once more.

  This time, there were no nightmares.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~