ESKARINA

We arrived at a small cottage in the woods within the outskirts of The Imperial City.

My stomach churned as the sight of corpses,blood and entrails filled my vision. Bile filled the back of my throat and I found myself struggling to swallow my spit. I gulped down more vomit than saliva as the carriage came to a halt.

As soon as we stopped,Tyrese threw open the door,stepped out and hurled up his lunch. He coughed and wheezed projectile-like vomit as Amaani and I slowly stepped around him. Instead of hard earth,we found ourselves standing atop a ground comprising of entrail's,blood and piss.

Nova and Elena stepped out behind us,their carriage stopping. Unlike us,the two seemed almost right at home amongst the corpses. Elena drew her sword and looked at Nova.

"I'll look around the area,see if there are any survivors."

Nova gave a stern nod,then turned to face us.

"Listen up,we have to search for survivors. Look around,find anyone whose breathing,moving,anything resembling life."

"No way" Tyrese coughed as he wiped his mouth. "I am not going anywhere near those fucking bodies man! There's flies and it stinks and-"

"Stop bitching and get to work" Nova ordered before he walked away.

He stepped over the bodies,his eye's darting from side to side. Elena knelt into the muck and gore like it was nothing,ignoring the fact that she was staining the white emblem of the empire on her armour.

She carefully studied the body,then moved the head slightly. When she did,the entire head toppled right off the corpses neck.

I couldn't anymore. I hurled up my entire lunch,with Amaani doing the same thing.

After about a minute of hurling,we stopped,raising our heads to meet Nova's death stare.

Elena walked in front of him,her posture one of pure dominance.

"Look,you guys can sit here throwing up as much as you want. But when we get back,that's it. You're off the unit. You came into this hunting unit to hunt Revenants didn't you? Well take a good look. This is the type of damage these fuckers can dish out. You want to stay in this unit? Suck it up and search for survivors"

"But there clearly aren't any gods damned survivors!"

"Coming from someone who hasn't even looked yet" Nova interjected. "Leave them Elena. They're of no use to us. The target has hostages. We need to find a lead. Eskarina,Amaani,with me. We'll check the cottage. Elena,Tyrese,you two stay outside."

I took a breath before I followed Nova,with Amaani hesitating before she followed closely behind me. We stepped over corpses,with the sound of flies buzzing round their dead bodies filling our ears.

Nova kicked down the door of the cottage,with the door swinging open with such force that it smacked the window behind it,shattering the glass. We stepped inside to find a more violent image. There was a young child who was crucified,tied to the wall by rope,stripped naked. A young boy whose guts and insides dangled from his body.

I heard Amaani gasp behind me as she saw the body. I was in too much shock to even react.

The boy's head hung low,his faces riddled with bruises and cuts. Nova approached and observed the boys body,scanning it in his entirety.

"Boy's skull is caved in. Immense blunt force trauma to the head. Broken ribs..."

Nova knelt down to view the boy's pelvis.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Amaani demanded.

Nova looked back at us,pointing to the boy's pelvis. "His junk is missing. Ripped off. Probably could be our Revenants prefered limb."

"You're telling me we're fighting a Revenant who eats cock?" I asked.

Nova shrugged. "Could be...that or he tortured the poor boy."

Nova's eye's went lower,to the entrail's on the floor which was still loosely connected to the boy's dead body.

"Strange...his liver is missing."

Nova stood up and looked round. "Not our only victim..."

We followed Nova into another room,where a trail of blood ran across the floor,leading to the corpse of a woman. Her face was almost completely ruined.

"Someone kicked her with such force the front of her skull caved in,most likely pierced her brain,killed her instantly...body was dragged here."

"But why?" I asked.

"Whoever's doing this could be trying to throw us of their scent?" Amaani asked.

"A good assessment. You're probably right."

Nova once more knelt in front of the woman's corpse,examining a large gaping wound in her stomach.

Then without warning,Nova stuck his hand inside the woman's gut.

I choked hard and tried to keep my composure as best I could,with Amaani battling to do the same.

"Wha-what the fuck are you doing?!" Amaani asked.

Nova removed his hand from her stomach,now dripping with blood.

"Just as I expected,liver's missing just like the child. Rules out testacles as his preferred organ to feed on. This Revenant has a taste for liver."

Nova ran his finger along the woman's stomach,just above the wound. "Long,deep cut,sliced straight through the flesh with little to no effort at all. However,no blade made this...cuts are too ravenous,too...primal. Like claws ripped open her stomach. Same goes for the boy in the front."

Amaani walked toward the window sill and placed her finger against the window frame. "Nova,there's blood here."

Both Nova and I arrived at the window frame,looking down to view Amaani's discovery.

"Blood's arranged in a strange pattern..." I said.

"It's a bootprint. Someone jumped out of this window." Amaani added.

"Let's sum up what we know. Boy in the front was tortured,been dead for at least twelve hours, woman's been dead for longer. Corpses in the front are fresh,blood's still wet,died a few hours ago at best. This Revenant uses sharp claws as his base weapon...their deadly enough to rip through flesh and sinew like a knife through warm butter. We need to be careful. Let's return to Elena and Tyrese,see if they learned anything."

I didn't argue. I was out of the little house before Nova or Amaani. I spotted Elena and Tyrese standing by the Carriages. Tyrese sat strangely,somehow he sat in mid air,balancing his entire body on his tail. He spoke to Elena,who appeared to show no interest whatsoever,staring up into space and giving short nods,pretending as if she was listening.

Walking towards them,I was brought to a sudden halt as I fell over. I fell face first into the bloody ground below me and pushed myself up. Looking behind me I found a pale hand covered in blood gripping my foot.

In a small fit of panic I kicked out,screaming as I kicked the hand as hard as I could. It's grip refused to loosen no matter how hard I kicked.

I felt two strong hands hoist me up off of the floor and up to my feet.

"Eskarina! Calm down!" Elena said as she shook me violently.

"I'm okay! Stop fucking shaking me!"

I wrestled Elena's arm off of me whilst Nova reached down and pulled a body off of another soldier who was trapped beneath him.

"H-Help me."

Nova knelt down beside him. "Where did the Revenant go?"

"That's what you ask him? Where the fucking Revenant went?! We need to help him!"

"The mission comes first." Nova said,keeping his eye's on the wounded soldier. "I'll ask again,where did the Revenant go?"

"All happened so fast"

"I didn't ask how everything happened idiot. I want to know where the Revenant is."

"I...I heard the back window break. I think he left that way...there were other screams as well,he told them to shut up and follow."

Nova reached down and drew his sword from it's sheathe,then drove it into the soldiers' throat. He twisted the blade,with the soldiers blood splurting out before he pushed it deeper. The soldier stopped moving,breathed his last,then he was gone.

"What the fuck was that about?!" Tyrese asked. "He was a comrade!"

"His spinal chord was severed. He was bleeding to death. We couldn't save him even if we tried. Better to kill him,end his life quickly than leave him to die."

"We could've saved him!" I said,with Amaani and Tyrese both adding on to my point.

Elena never said a word.

"SILENCE!" Nova yelled. "Unless you want to be next,all of you shut your mouths. Keep it that way. You're annoying me."

Out of the corner of my eye,I saw Amaani's ear twitch,once,twice,thrice.

Her head then swung left,with my own following not long after. We all spotted a figure running away,dashing through the woods and trying his damndest to escape. Before I knew it,Nova was hot on his tail.

All of us were still standing around,trying to process what was going on,even Elena was still confused.

Soon after,we broke out into full sprint,all of us racing after Nova.

The stranger and Nova ran at incredibly fast speeds, darting through and over fallen logs,brush and small ravines. We followed as closely as we could,trying our best to keep up. Our hours of obstacle course training seemed to pay off,as we were all racing through the woods almost as fast as Nova and the stranger.

"How the fuck is he so fast?!" Amaani asked as she lept over a log.

"He's a revenant! They're much faster than an average human" Elena answered.

"I was talking about Nova!"

"Excessive physical training,which you guys constantly refuse to do."

Suddenly,the stranger vanished,in a cloud of black smoke,his body dissipated into nothing right in front of Nova.

Nova drew his sword and looked round,with all of us catching up to him.

"Everyone back to back,now!"

I nooked an arrow and pulled back the bowstring,readying my bow to fire at a moments notice. Tyrese drew his dual swords,Amaani pulled out her knives and Elena raised her shield and unsheathed her sword.

We were all ready,in a complete circle now,covering all angles and possible attack points.

In a flash,the stranger reappeared directly in front of me. I let loose my arrow without a second though,which strangely went right through his head,his head dissipating into smoke for an instant before he grabbed me and threw me to the ground. Everyone turned round. Before I knew what was going on,The stranger's fingers had changed into razor sharp claws,now held dangerously close to my neck.

"Back! Back or the girl dies!"

Everyone stopped. Nova and the stranger stared at one another,their eye's locked together.

"Weapon's drop them!"

Without hesitating,everyone dropped their weapons. All except for Nova.

"I said drop them!"

Nova sheathed his sword and slowly took it off of his hips. He then held it high for everyone to see beforee he dropped it. As the sheathed blade fell,All eye's followed. In a flash of black,Nova drew the sword from its scabbard as it fell and slashed the Revenants claws right off from its hands.

I heard it scream out in pain as Nova sprinted past me and rammed his boot into the Revenants chest. The Revenants grip vanished from my body.

I saw Nova fly past me,slamming into a tree with such force that almost all the wind in his lungs were knocked out. I heard him struggling to breathe,which was soon drowned out by Elena's cries. She ran at the Revenant,bashing her shield against it's head. The Revenant slashed at Elena's head with it's only remaining hand. She barely avoided it,ducking at the last moment,with its claw clipping off some of her hair. She sliced at it's stomach,leaving a small cut which had little effect on the beast.

Amaani lept onto the Revenant's back,stabbing one of her knives into its back and the other into it's shoulder. The Revenant roared,like an animal,leaping back and slamming Amaani into a boulder,forcing Amaani to release her grip.

I picked up my bow and fired at the Revenant and once more,the arrow went through his body,which began to smoke up again as the arrow head was about to pierce his skin. The arrow hit Amaani's shoulder instead,pinning her to the boulder. She screamt in pain as the Revenant kicked her stomach,cutting her screams short. Tyrese tried his luck next. He was much faster than Elena and the rest of us,his fighting style was also quite unique. He bounced round on his tail,dodging the Revenants attacks with ease. He slashed at its legs and arms,almost landing every strike he threw at the Revenant.

The Revenant,unable to land any strikes seemed to get agitated and feinted a strike. Tyrese lept into the air,fooled by the Revenants feint and paying the price as he was punched mid air by a strong right hook to his gut. He flew back,rolling on the ground.

The Revenant turned to me finally and began walking towards me. He raised his claw and brought it downward. I blocked it away with my bow,with my bow shattering in two as I fell back.

I took an arrow from my quiver and jabbed it into his kneecap before I crawled away. He roared in pain and limped toward me before Nova tackled him. Both now rolled on the floor,fighting for dominance. The Revenant won the struggle,throwing a strong right down against Nova's jaw.

He placed one hand into the other's palm and brought it down hard. Nova moved his head to the side,with the Revenants blow impacting against the earth. Nova slammed his head against the Revenants nose,knocking him off for a time as Nova kicked him away. The Revenant stood,his nose busted and bleeding.

He limped forward Nova then rocketed a left cross towards Nova. Nova moved to the side,grabbing the Revenants wrist and pulling him forward before he bashed his elbow against the Revenants. I heard the sickening sound of bone snapping. The Revenants arm became disfigured,hanging awkwardly beside his body. Nova slammed his palm against the Revenants face,forcing him back.

The Revenant grabbed the arrow in his knee cap and tore it off,pulling out the arrow head as he slashed it toward Nova. The arrow head sliced Nova's right eye and he screamt out in pain,retaliating by bashing his foot into the Revenants kneecap. The Revenant growled and stabbed the arrowhead into Nova's stomach. Again,Nova's cries filled the air as he threw an elbow against the Revenants forehead.

The Revenant fell back,spinning round as he did so,landing on his stomach.

Nova looked round,picked up a sharp rock then swung it against the Revenants skull. Nova threw the rock against the Revenants head and turned him round. Nova pressed his thumbs into the Revenants eyelid's,pushing through his skin and reaching the jelly of his eyeballs. Nova applied more pressure,pushing his fingers into his eye's,with the goo and jelly of the Revenants eye's spilling out onto his fingers. The Revenants screams were defeaning as Nova pushed his fingers a little deeper before he stopped.

"Where's the two hostages you had with you?!" Nova asked,his hazel eye's glowing with a dangerous rage.

Blood ran from the Revenants eye sockets,which were now black and empty.

"Where?!" Nova yelled.

The Revenant laughed softly. "Last I checked they were ploughing your Mother"

Nova dragged the Revenant toward a tree branch and pulled him upward.

"Tell me." He demanded.

"Fuck off."

He slowly began pushing the Revenants head toward the branch,with his eye inching closer and closer toward the branch.

The branch penetrated his left eye socket slowly,with every passing second it got closer and closer to his brain. His screams were deafening as he tried to fight against Nova's strength but to no avail.

"Okay! Okay I'll talk! I'll talk!" The Revenant yelled.

He sobbed softly,his body was trembling but I couldn't tell whether it was from pain or fear.

"They're at a hut."

Nova pushed his head further and his screams became infinitley louder. "Give me specifics."

"Northeast! Northeast! The hut is northeast of here. You'll find them there!"

"Thank you kindly" Nova said.

Nova proceeded to shove the Revenants head straight through the branch,with the branch impaling his skull and piercing through his brain. Nova left his limp,lifeless body to hang there.

Elena walked up to Nova,who kept his right eye closed,which bled profusely.

"Where the fuck were you?" Nova asked,his breathing fast.

"I was enjoying the fight. You seemed to have everything under control." Elena said with a weak smile.

Nova sighed and picked up his sword from the floor. He was covered in mud and blood. His gaze fell on me. "You need to learn how to fight in close combat. Or else you'll end up dead."

Elena's smile faded away. She pulled out the arrow head which rested inside of Nova's gut and pressure on it.

"You're hurt" she said,her voice ripe with concern.

"I'll be fine. Worse it'll do is leave a nasty scar. Two more to add to the collection."

Elena tried to touch Nova's eye however he quickly pulled away before she could even touch it.

"I'll be fine."

"Nova you could go blind in that eye,it could get infecte-"

"I said I'll be fine Elena. Get everyone up. Tend to the wounded. I'll meet you at the hut."

Nova left without another word.

Elena dropped her head. Almost as if she were dissapointed in herself. She helped me to my feet,along with everyone else.

"Suck it up. We need to catch up with Nova."

Elena's voice was shaky,distorted and she sniffed constantly as if she was fighting back tears.

Tired,exhausted and beaten,we made our way toward the hut,where we heard screaming. Despite our exhaustion,we all somehow mustered up the strength to leg it into the small hut. We found Nova arguing with a group of soldiers. He stood in front of a young boy and his mother who clutched him tightly against her chest.

Her eye's were pitch black and she had teeth like daggers. She held her son closer as she yelled at us,a distorted inhuman yell of warning which told us to keep away.

"They are Revenants Nova!"

The soldier yelled.

"They are VICTIMS! They do not deserve to die. Revenant or no they deserve to live."

Amaani suddenly drew her daggers and charged the mother and child. Nova suddenly appeared in front of her in a flash,twisting her arm and knocking the daggers out of her hands.

"What the fuck Nova?!" Amaani asked.

"No one,is to harm a hair on these two. That's an order"

"To the abyss with your orders!" The soldier said as he drew his sword.

Elena walked up to the soldier and bashed her shield against his nose. He stumbled a bit as Elena stood at Nova's side.

"Stand down soldier. Your Commander gave you an order. You're to follow it."

She looked at Amaani over her shoulder,her voice now stern and intimidating just as it was before. "That goes for Nova's unit as well. He's your commanding officer. Insubordination will not be tolerated."

Nova approached the two Revenants whose faces,despite being utterly terrifying,were covered in bruises and marks.

"It's okay. It's over now. You're safe now" Nova said.

The duo's faces shifted back to a normal human and they huddled closely together.

Nova stood and faced Elena. "Bring them with us to the carriage. Our mission here was a success."

Nova left once again,without uttering another word and we all followed suit. I could hear the other soldiers cussing Nova behind us as we brought the mother and child with us.

My team and I dragged ourselves back to the carriages,plonking down on the soft leather seats as we began making our way back to the imperial city,groaning at every bump in the road.