Stannir stood at the end of the pass and looked over the swamplands in front of him. He shook his head in amazement and looked up at the sun.
"The sun feels amazing. I never thought that the swamplands would be this big. I can't even see the other side from up here."
"Yes. The sky's blue and the sun is visible. I'm sure the further away from the mountains we go, the clearer the sky becomes."
"I'm looking forward to it. I wonder what we'll see as travel the south?"
"I'm also looking forward to it. Shouldn't we start moving instead of just standing here at the mouth of the pass?"
Stannir nodded and took a step forward towards the swamp. He let out a long breath. "This is the furthest I've ever been from the north…" He looked at Salina with a smile. "Let's go."
They walked down out of the pass towards the edges of the swamp. AS they approached the swamp Stannir covered his nose and cursed. "I never knew the swamplands would smell this bad."
"Lucky for me… I can't smell it. How bad is it?"
"It smells like rotting flesh."
"Glad I'm not smelling it then. We need to get through this. Remember what those treasure hunters said. Stay close to the ruins."
Stannir nodded as he looked at the swamplands. "Yes. I remember. I can't see any ruins yet. Can you?"
"Not yet. Maybe we have to go further into the swamp before we see any ruins?"
"Squish… Squish"
Stannir started to walk in the swamp watching as his feet sunk into the soft ground. He cursed as he lifted his foot. "This is going to be slow and tiring…" He looked up ahead of him. "Salina do you feel that?"
"Yes… That is the energy that they were talking about… If we get too close it'll explode."
Stannir nodded and looked around him for firmer ground. "There's beasts in the swamp. At least we won't go hungry. Better than the things we've been eating so far."
"Ummm… I have a request. Can we get closer to that energy ahead of us? I want to have a look at it."
Stannir stopped walking and looked at Salina. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. As long as we don't get to close it shouldn't react to us."
Stannir looked in the distance and nodded. "Maybe we can see a ruin or at least some beasts around that area."
"What is it with men and food? Fine… Head in that direction."
He followed where Salina pointed and walked slowly through the swamp towards the source of energy. As he got closer to the source, he could feel pulses sweep through him.
"Salina… It's emitting energy. What is it?"
"Hmm."
"Salina… What is it? Are you sure that it's the gas that they warned us about?"
He frowned when he noticed Salina's frown and shook his head taking another step forward. He stopped and lowered his body slightly. "There seems to be more of those pulses. Could it be a beast?"
"Maybe… Let's wait and see what happens a moment." Stannir nodded and closed his eyes feeling the pulses of energy push at him. He clenched his jaw. "It's moving this way… It's a beast, and I think that's how it hunts."
"Yes… I think you're right. Since it's coming this way. Let's get ready and become the hunter."
Stannir nodded and watched his hands as gloves formed over them. He smiled and stretched his arms. He looked at his feet and frowned. "Being unable to move around too much is going to be a problem… But they should also have the same problem as well."
"Splash… Splash."
Stannir felt the pulse change and moved his body as something flew past him and landed in the spot he was standing. He turned and looked at the sharp bone that was sinking into the ground and frowned. "Maybe they don't have the same problem."
"You need to concentrate… They're coming closer."
Stannir nodded and looked around him cursing. "Just soft ground everywhere. I have to keep moving or one of those bone spikes will be coming for me."
"Splash. Splash. Splash… Splash."
Stannir jumped and dodged as more bone spikes landed around him. He took a breath and watched as a small group of beasts came into view. "I've never seen these types of beasts before…" He ducked as a bone spike flew above him. "It seems that they aren't alone."
He looked up and saw large flying insects with protruding bone spikes aiming at him. "They're working together. They must be hungry…"
"How are you going to deal with them?"
Stannir smiled and looked up at the large flying insects again. "First the air."
He clenched his fist and punched the air smiling as a fireball exploded into one of the insects.
"Bang!"
He took a slow step back as the large explosion wiped out several of the insects. He frowned for a moment. "I didn��t think that the fireball would cause that much damage…"
"They must have been eating on the energy causing their body to be weak to your attacks… Still be careful."
Stannir nodded and released another fireball at the insects and watched as they all exploded into large fireballs. He turned and looked at the large beasts heading in his direction. "It's like they're swimming."
"Yes… They also have some serious teeth and scaled armor. How are you going to deal with them?"
"They can't have scales on their bellies. I'll aim for that." He slowly walked towards them as he watched them approach. "They have a long tail… They look like land dragons without the long legs and long neck."
Stannir glanced in Salina's direction. "What's a dragon?"
"An ancient beast. They were very strong and fearsome."
Stannir nodded and looked at his hands as a long spear formed. "If they're similar to the insect swarm, then a single stab in their belly should cause a similar thing."
He braced himself and pointed his staff at the closest beast. He cursed as it increased its speed and opened its large mouth at him. HE took a step forward and stabbed the spear into its mouth.
"Boom!"
He smiled and looked at the next beast starting to circle him. "My guess was right. Hopefully I can get some meat from these things. They look strong."
He spun his spear around and lunged at the next beast aiming for its small eyes.
"Boom!"
"Another one down…" He took a step forward stabbing into the final beast.
"Boom!"
Stannir stood up and looked around. He then closed his eyes seeing. "I can't feel any other pulses around. It looks like these were the ones in the area."
He walked to the remains of one of the beasts and smiled. "They've got a lot of meat on them… Now I need to find some ruins so I can cook them."
"Rrrrrroarrrr."
He stopped and looked around. "Salina what was that?"
"There's something out there that can either smell the blood of the beasts or the energy that's seeping out of their bodies. Whatever it is we need to move out of here quick."
Stannir nodded. "That roar has probably called in more of it's type." He grabbed the tail of one of the beasts and pulled it behind him as he increased his speed walking further into the swamp.
"Rrrrroarrr!"
He looked behind him and frowned. "It's getting closer to where we were. There also seems to be more then one of them as well. Hopefully they'll be content with the meat back there."
"Look up ahead… There's a ruin. There must be solid ground around here. Head there."
Stannir nodded and changed his direction to where Salina was pointing and once again increasing his pace.
"Rrrrrooarrr!"
He cursed. "It seems whatever it is. They've either finished back there or they've finished and on their way to us."
"Forget about them. Focus on getting to the solid ground. At least there we'll have a fighting chance against whatever is behind us."
Stannir nodded and clenched his jaw using all his strength to move forward. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with one hand and the other held the tail firmly.
He smiled as he felt the ground becoming firmer under his feet. "Almost… there…" He took deep breaths as he swung the beast in the air in front of him and watched it land with a thud on the firmer ground. He looked at the sky. "It was clear before. Now it's cloudy. Salina is it going to start raining soon?"
"Yes… it looks like it… Hopefully the rain will cause the beasts following us to lose our trail."
He stood on the firm ground and looked behind him frowning.
"Rrrroarrr! Rrrroarrr! Rrrroaarr!"
"Looks like there're three of them on our tail."
He looked around at the ruins. "At least this time I have some ground that I can use. If it's the same as the previous beasts, we'll be able to get rid of them faster."
"Are you sure they're the same?"
Stannir shrugged his shoulders and dragged the body of the beast towards an area protected by the ruins and started a fire. "At least here the ruins will keep us dry from the rain."
"That solves one problem, but it doesn't solve our other problem."
"Rrrroarrr!"
Stannir stood up and looked out into the swamp where the sound came from and a long sword formed in his hands. He looked at Salina with a smile. "I'm ready if they decide to attack. If they don't then I'll let them be."
"Do you see that?"
Stannir cracked his neck as he looked over the swamp. "Are those glowing things the beasts?" He frowned. "They aren't the same as the previous ones."
"Beasts shouldn't be glowing like that… What are they?"
He watched as the three strange beasts crawled out of the swamp and stood on four legs staring at him. He lowered himself and prepared as the four glowing beasts stood growling in front of him.
"It seems something has happened to them. Beasts shouldn't be glowing at all especially that color."
"Grrrrrrrrrr."
He watched as the beats moved towards him in different directions with wide eyes. "They communicate with each other… Different then all the beasts we've faced."
He swung his swords around him with a smile. "Yet everything has the same weakness. They all bleed when cut."
Stannir watched the three beasts as they lunged towards him at the same time and he swung his swords releasing a wave of flame that shot towards one of them while slicing at the beast going for his arm and leg. His sword slicing through the two beasts with ease causing them to fall onto the ground in a heap.
"Two down… One to go."
He stared into the eyes of the final beast as it bared its teeth at him growling. He took a step forward with his swords slicing the air. "Let's see how smart you are."
"Aaaahhhhhh!"
He ran towards the beast and slashed the air as it raised its claws at him cutting it in half. Stannir panted letting the long swords fade and looked down at the corpse in front of him in confusion. He crouched down and inspected it.
"Salina what is that? It looks like a fire battery, but it's green instead of red."
He looked at Salina and saw her shocked face and felt his heart skip a beat. "What is it?"
"That is a soul battery… Someone has done something very wrong."
"A soul battery? What does it do?"
"Nothing… Just know that it isn't a good thing… You should go cook your meat. We need to get through this swamp as fast as we can."
Stannir looked at Salina with a concerned look on his face. He looked down at the green battery and put it in his pocket. "If you're not going to tell me. I'll ask someone who knows."