SPIRIT BLOOD

Chapter 5

The closer they got to the Rupture, the more certain Lira became that their group was indeed being stalked.

Arin stayed on Arden's arm. Shari kept sniffing the air, her body lower to the ground than usual as she moved through the grass. Even if their spirits hadn't been acting weird, Lira would have known something was out there. It was a feeling, a tingling in her left shoulder that woke her up in the middle of the night in the deep woods. The part of her that marked her bond to Shari could sense more than just her bondmate--but only if the spirit was powerful enough.

Lira ran a few steps forward to walk beside Arden. "This spirit is at least a primal. A strong one, too."

"How do you know that?" he asked in a quiet voice. Their group had long since stopped talking. Even soft words felt far too loud, too exposed.

"Spend enough time around them, and you start learning when they're nearby," murmured Lira.

Arden gave her a look, then shook his head. "Where the hell have you been to get familiar with primal spirits?"

"I'll tell you if you live through this."

"Comforting as always, Lira."

They fell back into silence until they reached the heart of this Wild lands.

Unlike the rest of the Wilds, the heart was different. In direct, constant exposure to the Rupture, the vegetation became almost a translucent, glowing blue, fading into a softer white light at their edges. Shari and Arin were almost perfectly camouflaged, distinguishable only by their slightly more solidified form given by their human bonds.

Then there was the Rupture itself.

In comparison to the ethereal, soft beauty around it, the Rupture was an ugly gash in whatever fabric usually kept the two realms apart. Crisp, jagged lightning flickered at the edges of its dark silvery centre--a flat, almost mirrored void that echoed the physical world around it. No one was entirely sure if the reflection truly showed what was on the other side in the spirit realm, and those that did venture in never came out again.

Lira stopped some ten metres from the Rupture, Arden beside her. The rest of the group spread out around the clearing. Shari wandered around, sniffing at everything and anything while Arin stood guard on her back.

"Bigger than usual," said Arden, looking over the Rupture. It was almost twice his height and half as wide, partially buried in the ground. Wind gusted around them, like the Rupture itself was trying to suck them in. "Not a good sign."

"Something came through," guessed Lira, looking around.

Something felt... wrong. When a Rupture first opened, it caused a small explosion of physical space, spirit energy, and about six other things Lira had never been able to remember that didn't combine well. The result was that anything within ten metres got disintegrated, leaving nothing but a small, barren crater of melted stone and dirt below the Rupture. The crater was usually smooth. Solid. Borderline dangerous with how easy it was to slip down the slope and fall into the Rupture.

Not this one. Great hunks of rock had been ripped from the stone she expected to be smooth. Large claws had gouged the dirt. Multiple bushes had been ripped from the ground and left to clumsily grow back into each other.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" asked Arden, reaching down to run his finger across one of the larger claw marks.

"Not often," said Lira. She flicked her gaze to the fighter, who was currently kicking at the ground by the base of one of the nearby trees with his buddy. "Only when poachers were involved."