After about a week of traveling between the canopy and the forest floor to the west, the two had set up a bit of a routine in their escape, treating every waking moment as if they were still in a high-speed chase as well- you could never be too careful, especially when it came to Thasclean hunters. Their roles were already set: the navigator and trapper was Hexlith, and the combatant and hunter was Pounnem.

  The goal, to be frank, was heavily reliant on Hexlith, and the times when he couldn’t pull through were when Pounnem would have to step up-something that was becoming more and more apparent, as they were far outside his marked range by now. This threw them into somewhat unknown land, albeit it was still Noor through and through! From the pines that shot high into the sky like arrowheads to the sprawling willow branches that intermingled throughout the entire canopy, there was quite the contrast in ecosystems between the top and bottom of the jungle. At the foot was where the larger beasts dwelled. Albeit, the large beasts of Noor-in comparison to the neighboring region of Tulok, at least- were extremely sleek in appearance; even if they were tall or long, they would forever be thin enough to slip through the trees at high speeds.

  A wonder to behold, especially when it came to the “Stilveride,” a glistening reptile with chromatic scales so reflective they looked like tiny little mirrors! There were tales of them zipping past hikers and the traveling Pio tribes so fast that they induced mirages of the travelers in their wake. This often tended to be the only reason these fellas ever got into any conflict, as on a plethora of occasions, they had zoomed past the wrong band of warriors, who got a liiiittle too hot-headed in the moment. Of course, facing off with one of these things was no easy task, and something Hexlith had the honor of saying he’d never had to deal with, as well… he had been brought to the brink by a fair share of Noor’s creatures before.

  One of the more notable of these was said to be descended from the fabled ‘Eyes of the Jungle,’ a creature-no… monster-that resembled something straight out of the Old Testament. An owl chimera of immense power, it was said to be the holder of one of the last known fragments of magic. Whether or not it possessed the fragment or was the fragment was a theory often contested in these lands! Yet what was known was that its offspring carried a certain amount of magic with them-something Hexlith had faced firsthand when he was first getting into his craft and, in fact, may have been his calling all along.

  “Eizavelle…” Hexlith murmured as the two glided from tree to tree, his right wing consistently lagging downward as they moved, forcing the Magkin to put extra effort into maintaining balance. Something Pounnem would have commented on if, perhaps, Hexlith hadn’t spouted one of the ONLY NAMES you weren’t supposed to in these lands. Her gaze shot over to him with more shock than anger, which he met instinctively, feeling that oh-so-heated gaze pinning down upon him. He was getting more used to it as the days passed, but it didn’t really make it any less unnerving when she was truly pissed at him. So, with a simple raising of his brow, he gestured his head in a downward nod to Pounnem, as if beckoning her to voice what she wanted to say.

  “Why the confidence?” For once, Pounnem found herself a little awestruck by Hexlith’s actions. It wasn’t as if she saw him as a coward-he certainly had to be brave in order to help her-but now? She was starting to be concerned that he might flat-out be crazy. “You know what saying its name entails, yes?”

  “That it’ll track us, mhm.” Hexlith replied calmly as they seamlessly traveled, the pace of the two having long since synchronized in their expedition. “It only really hunts when it’s looking for something that’s harmed its domain.”

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  There was a short pause after he spoke, and before she could get a word out, the Magkin felt a question encroaching that he couldn’t help but blurt out instinctively. “Why? Have you harmed Eizavelle’s domain recentl-”

  “-AGAIN with the name!?” Pounnem seemed clearly shaken by the mere mention of the thing, something that clearly couldn’t be said for the likes of Hexlith, who spoke it with the utmost confidence. Of course, for anyone who knew anything about Hexlith, they’d know well and sure why he was so confidently spewing the ‘Eyes of the Jungle’s name! It lay within what Hexlith is. Not in blood or bone, no, but in soul and spirit! A protector of the fauna that faced extinction day in and day out. To Eizavelle, Hexlith is seen as one of its kin.

  “Fair enough, I guess. You are Thasclean, after all-” Hexlith remarked in a somewhat snide tone, which was followed VERY quickly by a heartfelt laugh in an attempt to show her he was only messing with her. “Your old family made quite the enemy out of Eizavelle, as I’m sure you know, which is exactly why I didn’t feel comfortable taking the gamble on calling it out of hiding till now.”

  The Nephilim remained silent for about a minute until she finally spoke up. “You act like… Ei-They are some kind of pet that you can call at any waking moment. Even if you know it won’t harm us, how can you be so confident in that fact? Something could have changed. Its opinion of you could have sw-”

  “-Eizavelle doesn’t do opinions, it’s a force of nature.” Hexlith cut in, the Magkin clearly passionate about his knowledge of the creature- something he continued to explain. “Almost immediately after my first hunt, I was cornered by one of the Eyes’ offspring; Eizens, as I like to call ‘em. Anyhow, just as I thought it was the end for me, Eizavelle came from what felt like my very own shadow and turned the Eizen to ribbons.”

  “Okay… so-” Before Pounnem could question him, Hexlith continued, his right hand shifting back to move the falx’s holster to his lower back all the while. “-Turns out… the Eizen was infected by the outer mist, and in recognizing that, its creator moved to protect me rather than punish me for my actio-.”

  “So… it acted on the greater threat, huh? All the while demonstrating exactly what it could do to ya’ if you got on its bad side…” Pounnem was visibly shaken by the imagery of such a scene, yet the fact that Hexlith was still here, breathing, and as confident as he was about the situation brought her a large sum of solace.

  “If that’s how you wish to interpret it, sure. How I saw it at the time, though? And even now… was something that acted off laws and rules rather than instinct or any level of intellect for that matter- it was like a machine.” Hexlith strayed away from flat-out voicing the thing’s name aloud at this point, not only out of respect for Pounnem’s wishes and overall comfort but also because of what he was alluding to, something he felt the monster might dislike hearing.

  “Is that fear of Eizavelle I hear?” Pounnem proclaimed cockily as they sped up in pace, something Hexlith merely looked back at and snickered-much to the confusion of the Nephilim. “Huh? What?!”

  The snicker from Hexlith grew into a full cackle as she began questioning him, his head shaking lightly as he looked ahead and then snapped his head back toward her with a certain amount of smugness. “You said its name-”

  “-Dammit, Hexlith!”