Borna behind me stepped on a branch. It crunched, shattering into ashes. I turned my head slightly in his direction, and he spread his arms. Ahead came a hoarse and harsh growl and a series of wheezes from a predator sniffing for prey. He roared, already more clearly guarding his territory. I had a few guesses as to who might be inside. All that remained was to confirm or deny them.
I crouched down carefully and looked at the floor. There were claw marks on it. "The predator was huge, and not so long ago it had dragged some large prey into its lair…" I put a drop of blood on my tongue that was clearly visible on the stone, "a young deer, by the looks of it." I ran my hand over it and examined it, "Hmm. The layer of dust has been wiped away, as if it had been swept with a broom." No creature matched the description.
The cage with the crystal dropped to the floor, and it went out almost immediately. If rumors are to be believed, there is another crystal, a light crystal that can dispel darkness without taking payment in the form of life force. Thunderbirds, the Rukhs, decorate their nests with it. It also stands on the ancient lighthouses in every big city. The capital city is named after him – Amberlight the Great. He is the light of Titan Jodcheim enough to dispel the darkness. It's also known as the blood of the Son of Light. You ask why I don't use it? We are forbidden to possess it. The crystal is inaccessible to hunters because they have fought the peculiar contagion that reigns on the other side of the mountains, and in five years have absorbed dangerous concentrations of it. Therefore, it is forbidden for the killers of the cold to possess it. After their service, each hunter is released into the lands of the living to use their experience to fight the weaker spawn of the blight. In all my time here among the living, I have never seen such a jewel.
All my assumptions fell apart. And I was wondering what kind of people were here, when the unexpected answer came to me: "What unusual footprints. Madness! They're not extinct after all, are they? Yes, that would answer all questions! It can't be! And is it really an owl bear? It makes sense. The male carries food to the egg-laying female. He hunts in the forest, and the crypt is a very good and protected place to nest. It's late evening. The male owl bear has just gone hunting. We seem to have missed him."
Taking a couple flasks of paralyzing smoke from my bag, I tossed them inside, "In a closed room, the smoke should put everyone inside to sleep. The female owl bear, if it's really her, can't see us yet, which means she won't be aggressive."
"We have a few minutes. After that, the predator will wake up," Borna wanted to rush forward, grabbing his club, but I held his elbow.
"You can rejoice, you have a family of owl bears here," I shared with him, and a rare slight smile went unnoticed beneath my milchemist mask.
"What is there to be happy about, Mr. Hunter?" the puzzled guide inquired. He still looked worried.
"They eat all the small creatures in the area, kill the cold ones, and shun humans. There's a whole nest of them out there, go put up your relic," I explained my joy and let go of his hand.
"Milsdar, we need the crypt, you know? We can't survive here without it. You know what happens if the bodies of the dead are left in the village," the woodcutter explained his logic to me. I gloomed.
