At dawn Calen, Cassian, Baor and Lydia were standing if front of the city gate, waiting for the sign from the guardsman that they're clear to go.
"Our goal today is to kill at least three Stalkers to prevent them from multiplying too fast. Remember to leave the last blow for Calen, so he can strengthen the flame." Lydia announced.
Cassian learned about dozens of corrupted creatures yesterday, but Lydia also informed Calen about the ones they might encounter today.
Their target, Stalkers, were medium sized felines similar in appearance to lynxes. Their key characteristic was their camouflage abilities - the slower they moved the harder they were to notice, and when they stood still they were nearly invisible.
They weren't particularly dangerous, and didn't attack humans unless they felt threatened, the real reason why they had to be dealt with was their eventual evolution.
If a Stalker consumed enough corrupted creatures, it would go through a metamorphosis.
The monster would grow to size of a bear, and gain an additional pair of legs. It would be able to become truly invisible for short duration of time, and its steps would no longer produce any sounds.
The creature was called Prowler, and Greenheart has faced in only twice in it's entire history. It was only a few years after the invasion, and each time they've lost at least two dozen men to the beast.
Since then the druids hunt for Stalkers at least once a month.
Calen has taken Auren with him, since their prey wouldn't be able to hide from the gaze of the wyrm.
Even though they were going for a hunt, none of them had a weapon fit for such an activity - instead of bows and spears, Calen and Cassian were equipped with their swords.
Baor was barehanded, but judging by what Calen heard from his friend, he hardly needed one.
Lydia's weapon was quite curious though - it was a large single-edged battle axe, but it wasn't made of any conventional materials.
It looked like it was grown rather than forged, vines and gnarled branches twisting and intertwining with each other to form a deadly shape. Along the entire weapon green lines were visible, pulsating with power.
When they finally left the city and the gate closed behind them, the illusion came back, leaving them in complete silence.
"Alright folks, Ba will take lead and I will bring up the rear, stay close together and don't talk too loud. Any questions?" Lydia asked.
Calen held up his hand.
"If the Stalkers can become a threat in the future, why not kill all of them and be done with it?"
"Bold of you to assume that eliminating so many camouflaged creatures is a viable strategy."
"Well if we hunt for them then tracking all of them down it can't be impossible." Calen shrugged.
Lydia chuckled.
"Indeed, even if it would take a lot of resources it can be done - so why leave them be and just control the population, hmmm?" She looked at Cassian. "My brother thought you about quite a few creatures, care to guess what might be the reason?"
Cassian considered it for a bit, and then said:
"I think it serves as some sort of protection against bigger predators. It's much easier to deal with a lot of familiar and weak threats than with an unfamiliar and potentially stronger one."
Baor slapped him on the back, the force nearly toppling him over.
"Good insight kiddo!" Then he switched to a more serious tone. "Even the strongest abominations don't go into areas so heavily dominated by one species, so ironically the corrupted monsters provide us with great protection."
The Stalkers weren't the only beasts in the forest, but they were the apex predator, and everything else was their food.
"We have to go deeper into the forest to find Stalkers, come on."
It was very obvious when they entered the hunting grounds - the forest floor was littered with bones of various shapes and sizes, belonging to both the Stalkers and their prey.
Suddenly, Auren twitched and let out a low growl. His gaze was fixated on something between the trees.
"I think we got one." Calen whispered.
Instead of responding, Baor threw himself forward with inhuman speed, and pinned the nigh invisible beast to the ground.
"Quickly, finish it!" The large druid said.
The beast was trashing violently under his weight, revealing it's true form.
It was similar to a lynx, just like Lydia told him, but there were also significant differences. Instead of the usual tufts of hair at the bottom of its head, two great horns grew, and it was partially covered in plates made of bone-like substance.
Calen took out his sword and wrapped it in a weak flame, and decapitated the creature in one swing.
Baor stood up and opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes were drawn to the headless corpse.
On its side, a slash was visible, in a shape of four great claws.
"Well, shit." Lydia commented. "Be on your guard, we have a Prowler on our hands. On the bright side, it couldn't even kill a Stalker which means it transformed recently and is still relatively weak."
"How do we find it?" Calen asked.
"Since it got into a fight with this fella, and didn't win it's likely hiding in the cave near the center of the hunting grounds. Let's go, there's no time to waste."
While they were walking in the direction set by the druids, Cassian voiced his concerns:
"Each time Greenheart fought a Prowler, a lot of people died, why are you so sure that we can take it in with just the four of us? Weakened or not it's still extremely dangerous."
Baor was the one who answered.
"Times have changed, back then our Circle had only one official warrior, since the great tree was mostly a pilgrimage destination with no military presence. In terms of combat prowess, me and big sis are better than the entire circle back then.
Cassian didn't look convinced.
"What about us? You might be safe, but we're still fairly new to fighting corrupted abominations."
The large druid waved his hand dismissively.
"You'll be fine, you have nice equipment, and your friend can use the best weapon against those monsters."
While they were talking, they reached the cave that Lydia mentioned - it was a large uneven opening in the ground, filled with absolute darkness.
Without saying anything, Baor jumped inside and disappeared.
Before Cassian and Calen could follow him, Lydia stopped them:
"Ba might not feel that fall but you definitely will, wait a sec."
She took a handful of seeds out of her pocket and threw them on the ground, seconds later a net of thick vines descended into the darkness below.
Carefully, one by one, they lowered themselves into the opening. Baor was waiting for them at the bottom with crossed arms and a bored expression.
"Took you long enough. Calen will stay in the front with me, to light our way."
Calen lifted an eyebrow.
"Can't you just turn yourself into something that can see in the dark?"
The large druid scoffed.
"Of course I can, but how would that help you? Your doing this so the rest of you doesn't trip. Now hurry up, we have a monster to kill."
The cave turned out to be a complex net of underground chambers of varying sizes and shapes. Also, the Prowler wasn't the only thing down there - there were countless small critters running around the place.
Calen managed to kill a few of them along the way, but most run away the moment they saw the light.
"We're close to the main chamber, if the Prowler really came down here, it's in there. Ba, you know what to do." Lydia turned to Calen and Cassian. "Boys, once its attention is on us, try to look for an opening. Be careful, and look out for each other."
Baor rolled his shoulders and activated the enchantment on his body.
Cassian saw familiar horns and claws appear, but then the transformation kept going - the druids body covered in dark fur with a metallic tint, and his teeth turned into terrifying fangs. He grew in size significantly, and a second pair of arms grew from underneath the original one.
The only human feature that remained in the giant monstrous figure were the eyes, they were still as vibrantly green and human as before.
Baor let out a growl and went into the main chamber. Lydia held her axe in both arms and followed behind.
Calen and Cassian looked at each other, nodded, and carefully entered.
The chamber was full of half-eaten monsters and broken bones, and the stench was just as awful as the view.
It was also noticeably empty...
Or at least that's how it appeared, the moment they set foot in this hollow Auren left Calen's shoulder and grabbed on to his back, hiding from whatever was on the room.
Baor raised all his hands, and pounded the ground with all his might - the resulting cloud of dust revealed a large translucent shape at the end of the room
Their target was here.