Eska's heart pounds as she looks around for somewhere to hide, but the room offers no refuge. Two tunnels lead out from the cavernous space, and debris is scattered across the floor.
Among the rubble, she spots a crushed wendigo beneath a large chunk of the collapsed ceiling.
Three wendigos emerge from the tunnels, their movements slow and deliberate as they close in on her.
Eska backs against a wall, trying to buy herself time. Ok. Ok, ok, relax, she thinks to herself, repeating the words like a mantra until her focus sharpens.
She takes a deep breath, forcing herself to calm, even as the creatures approach.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she exhales slowly, her muscles loosening and her heart slowing. The sounds in the cave grow distorted, becoming sluggish and low-pitched as if time itself is dragging.
Eska opens her eyes, her vision clear and focused.
She raises her right hand, letting her blood flow out in a thin, rigid form before it pulses, sharpening into a deadly edge.
The blood solidifies into a curved reddened blade, gleaming in the dim light of the cave from a few scattered glowing mushrooms on the floor and walls.
One wendigo charges, leaping at her with claws outstretched.
It seems slower now, moving as if through water. Eska leans back to dodge, wincing as the pain in her back flares up. With a swift motion, she swings her blade across its chest, the weapon splitting its flesh.
Her arm crosses her field of vision, from her left shoulder to her right, feeling the resistance of the strike.
The friction against the humid air sends a sharp pain through her arm, which begins to darken. A burning sensation spreads across her arm, intensifying with each passing moment.
Time begins to return to its normal pace, and with it, the sharp pain in Eska's arm intensifies.
Her right arm moves beyond her control, the momentum spinning her a quarter turn before she stops herself. She glances down, her eyes widening at the sight of her steaming arm, the skin scorched and raw.
The wendigo hits the floor in two ragged halves, its body torn rather than cleanly cut.
Eska's blade is shattered, its fragments scattered across the ground. The remaining wendigos stagger momentarily as if struck by an invisible force, but they recover in an instant, their focus snapping back to her.
Eska spins toward the advancing creatures, her mind racing as she repairs her blade in a flash.
Without hesitation, she reinforces her left arm with a hardened layer of blood, bracing for their attacks. Both wendigos leap at her from different angles.
She uses her reinforced arm to deflect one, sending it sprawling to the side. Lunging forward, she lands a solid punch to its face, buying herself a moment.
The second wendigo closes in, its claws raking across her right cheek before she can block with her blade, slicing off several of its fingers.
Eska stumbles back, her face burning from the fresh wounds.
As she regains her footing, the halved wendigo on the floor makes a desperate lunge at her.
She twists away, dodging its swipe, then drives her blade into its neck. The impact shatters the weapon again, forcing her to repair it once more, as frustration flashes across her face.
Before she can fully regroup, the two other wendigos charge her. She instinctively creates a solid shield of blood with her left hand, but one of the creatures smashes through it with ease.
The shards scatter like glass, and the wendigo slips through the opening, catching Eska off guard as it closes in.
The wendigo's claw slashes from Eska's lower jaw to her cheek, and her eyes widen with sharp focus.
In a split second, she extends her hand open and crushes it into a fist. The shattered pieces of her blood shield reform, crushing the wendigo's torso as they embed themselves inside its body.
The creature collapses silently to the floor, lifeless.
Before Eska can react, a swipe from the last wendigo slithers behind her and cuts deep into her left leg, nearly cutting it in half, if not for the bone.
She gasps in pain, the sharp sting radiating through her body, and she leaps back, using her uninjured leg to gain some distance.
Her balance falters as she lands, but she forces herself to stay upright.
The remaining wendigo holds back, pacing as it sizes her up.
Eska grips her blade tighter. She stands her ground, but every shift, every breath reminds her of her injuries. She's slowing down.
And then, the thought creeps in.
Will she die here?
Her pulse pounds in her ears, each beat louder than the last. Did she make a mistake coming here?
Maybe the hunters would have survived. Maybe they would have found another way out. Maybe she was never needed at all.
Her fingers tighten around the hilt of her blade. Maybe this was a mistake.
A cold twist coils in her stomach. Her mother.
The thought grips her harder than the pain in her body. If she dies here, will she ever know? Will she be angry? Sad? Will she search for her? Or will she never find out?
Eska swallows hard. The idea of vanishing, of disappearing into the dark like she was never here, is worse than the wendigo circling her.
She grits her teeth, forcing the dread down. No. She can't let that happen. She won't die here. She refuses to.
Suddenly, a screech echoes from above, drawing her attention to the caved-in ceiling.
Her gaze snaps upward, locking onto a massive wendigo looming over the scene.
Its enormous frame dwarfs the others as it stares down at her. It begins climbing down, never breaking its unsettling focus on her as if, despite being blind, it sees her completely.
Eska breathes heavily, her body trembling under the weight of her injuries.
"Only three more," she mutters to herself. "You can do this. Fight through it."
Her focus narrows as the massive wendigo finally descends, standing tall and snarling, dwarfing any other wendigo she's seen before.
One of the smaller wendigos charges at her, but the larger creature intercepts it, mid-stride.
It grabs the smaller wendigo by the head and, with a sharp twist, snaps its neck. The smaller wendigo lets out a screech before falling silent, its lifeless body thrown unceremoniously near Eska's feet.
"W-what...?" Eska stammers, frozen in shock at the brutal display.
The moment of hesitation costs her as the massive beast lunges at her in a single leap. She raises her hand to block but her blood blade shatters upon impact. The wendigo's other hand swings at her waist, sending her flying into the wall with a scream of pain.
Before Eska can recover, the wendigo grabs her by the head, lifting her off the ground.
Its grip tightens, and Eska screams, but the sound is abruptly cut off. She crashes to the floor as the creature reels back, its eyes wide with confusion.
Its remaining arm flails as it seems to realize the other is missing.
From above, a figure drops through the doorway, landing with ease in front of Eska.
A humanoid, tailed creature stands tall, its presence overwhelming as she crushes the skull of the already-dead wendigo beneath her foot.
Without fear, the tailed being walks toward the feral beast, slowly circling it with predatory intent. The wendigo struggles to move, rage contorting its face, but Marina's calm dominance freezes it in place.
"Poor thing." A familiar voice breaks the silence, cold yet final. She grips the wendigo's neck, her fingers tightening with unrelenting force.
With ease, she closes her hand and in a splattering display, the creature's head separates from its shoulders, falling lifeless to the floor.
"Ma-rina?" Eska mutters, recognizing the voice.
The creature turns and kneels beside Eska, her expression softening.
"Don't worry, you'll be just fine sweetheart" she says with a warm smile.
Eska's pain fades as her eyes flutter shut, succumbing to unconsciousness.