Even expecting it, even looking for him, Levani could feel herself almost jump when Kallo spoke, his voice low and rhythmic, the name for her a gentle reassurance across her senses, no longer the hiss of a serpent, but her body was stanced for something worse. Every pore on her body was a bump along her flesh, a reaction to something that was unseen, that disturbed her on a level that she did not understand, which only served to frighten her more. A terrible dread wracked her, and she could not fathom why, feeling it tremble along her fingers, resonating with the wood of the staff that she clutched beneath her palm. Its runes glow fervently, as deep and as vibrant as the forest after a rain, assuring her its power.<i>Her</i>power. Beneath the skin of the world, she could see the veins and tendrils of energy that crossed, feeding from her, breathing into her, connecting her and the man that stood at the ready, his gaze sharply on her, considering, caring, strong. It was a buoy in the moment, where her hackles had raised as primally as if she’d been in her true fur, finding herself the one being stalked.<br/><br/>Though she did not doubt her senses, or the silence of Asdenni that had swallowed them whole, Levani allowed the moment of peace to sink in, to reconfigure herself in the face of uncertainty. It had become apparent that Kallo had not slept, as he often seemed to do little of, and he had not become aware of any immediate threats. The network of power that she was connected to was not thrashing violently, the trees in the slight distance not screaming and fighting to be away from something unknown. She could take a breath, strained and agonized as it was, that hard lump calcified, lodged in her throat, but it was a breath nonetheless, giving her center. Giving her time.<br/><br/>“Give me a moment,” she asked now, quietly, her tone less urgent. Levani moved around their small campsite, which was hardly even that, gathering things where they had been placed. Rolling up the pelts and folding them, menial tasks that seemed benial in the panic of her waking moments, but if one looked close enough, they could see that she was listening, concentrating, focusing on what was beyond what she saw. When she finished cleaning up, kicking dust over obvious tracks, an unnecessary task that however felt soothing in its simplicity, she handed Kallo the pack as she had before. The last several days, there had been little huffing over it, considering her appreciation of the speed at which she could move Asdenni, unhindered, unbothered by added weight. She did this distractedly, however, gold gaze sliding upon the forest, upon the base of the cliffs.<br/><br/>Though watched, Levani took a deep breath in, her nostrils flaring slightly as she smelled the air. Her senses were not as keen in this human flesh, but they were more than ordinary, and she allowed its faults to siphon knowledge of the moment. For some time she did this, paused, watching, until her nose burned with an acrid aroma and she recoiled, back of her hand pressed hard as though to stop it. “This way,” she spoke now, barely a whisper, moving quickly diagonal from the cliff face, her boots crunching quietly against the scattering of rocks. She did not look back, but she trusted Kallo’s oath, to watch her back in the truest sense, so she moved purposefully and quickly, her eyes wary to every shadow of the wood.<br/><br/>Walking between rock and tree, grazing the lip of the forest, Levani trekked across the treacherous stone paths, leading Kallo with a sharp confidence. The more that they moved, the more that she could feel it, something as a thorn in her own heart. It was growing, in pain, and in familiarity, until she was almost sure what it was, unable to speak it, too breathless. There was almost no uncertainty to its identity, though she wanted in her soul to doubt it, to be ignorant of it.<br/><br/>The more that they traveled, the higher Levani could feel the hairs rise on the base of her neck, until the earth moved as though to shift from beneath them. She paused, withholding her breath, listening. Something screeched and the forest groaned, a tree splintering and toppling, collapsing against the rock face beneath their small path, which was leading them back down into the crevice. A dark figure moved from the fallen giant’s feet, with eyes a spiteful red, searching for them, nostrils flared as though to smell the blood from their veins.<br/><br/>From what the black did not obscure, the<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F564x%2F06%2Ff6%2Feb%2F06f6eb9ad8d98bbf9452dbc10506b854.jpg&amp;hash=39ca735a0c4b2c52584b427cc02fc6b4" href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/06/f6/eb/06f6eb9ad8d98bbf9452dbc10506b854.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">beast’s</a>flesh appeared hewn from stone and the spines of the cliffs. Its mouth was entirely teeth, gnashing and frothing along dark gums, a bloodied tongue lifting as it cried out, centuries of agony beneath that ragged voice. A familiar voice, one that Levani had heard bark and chuff at her as she wove her small body between its legs, tripping up the ancient beast, avoiding thick claws that sought to cease her mischievous meddling. It dwarfed some of the trees, larger than it had been in her youth, making her wonder if it had been hiding in the rocks all those years that she had sought it, and the others like it. When she searched Asdenni to see how many creations of the Watchers the black had taken.<br/><br/>Looking back at her, with a sanguine gaze, it made no show if it had any recollection of her. If it had searched as well, or hidden from the start, bearing a coward’s fate between its shoulders, running from its fate. Wouldn’t the gods of the wood have saved it as well, if it had fought the way that she had? Watching the plague squirm over its granite hide, she knew that she could not know. She could not think about it. It could not be as any different as the others were.<br/><br/>“Don’t bother with anything other than its belly,” Levani spoke to Kallo, voice raised over the shrill shrieks of other black creatures, small, dumb beasts of the forest, which emerged from the shadows, beneath the monster’s feet. They were scrambling up the rocks, pattering towards the path. She freed her dagger from her thigh, muscles braced to face them, but her golden eyes were distracted, fighting with something within. “It’s only vulnerable there,” she amended, glancing at him.