Astrid and the Seshreyan stared each other down. Astrid edged closer to it and clenched her fists.

"Get out of here!" she said.

The beast raised and tilted its head. Astrid took a step back but still held its gaze. "Leave me alone," she said. "I don't… I don't want anything to do with you!"

The Seshreyan blinked collectively and suddenly opened its jaws wide and jerked forward. Astrid flinched and covered her head with her arms, threatened to be consumed by the Seshreyan right that moment.

That was enough observing. Carter aimed an arrow right between the creature’s eyes, pulled back, and let it soar. From what she could tell, it was a perfect shot, but inexplicably, it seemed to vanish just as it reached the monster’s head. Astrid hadn’t missed it, though. She whirled around and looked right at Carter.

“Carter!” she cried. “What are you doing here?!”

But before Carter could answer, the Seshreyan was at her. She gasped and rolled out of the way before it plowed into her previous position, kicking up a spray of snow and underbrush. Carter scrambled on four limbs to get further away from the hairy creature, the countless eyes of which seemed to deconstruct her every move. She twisted her arm to grab another arrow and rolled onto her back, her nerves too frayed and the ground too slippery for her to get in a better position before she haphazardly slung another arrow at the Seshreyan. It was already enraged and at this point she just wanted anything that would handicap it.

And though there was no lack of target, she still managed to miss, somehow. But now that she was closer she could see why, though she wasn’t sure if she could believe it. Just as the arrow had approached the Seshreyan’s body, the creature had become semi-transparent for a split second, such that Carter could see the outline of the trees behind it. It became opaque again as soon as the arrow had passed through, but it was almost as if it had briefly taken itself out of existence to make this happen. 

Carter was stunned. Such an ability couldn’t exist, could it? For a beast, no less! What was this thing? 

The Seshreyan turned its head to face her, tongue lolling open as though it were mocking her ineffectiveness. She searched for Astrid out of the corner of her eye and found her— she was standing as frozen as a glacier, eyes wide and hands over her mouth. 

Carter didn't know what to make of that, but she scowled and pushed herself to her feet as she broke into a run, circling around the Seshreyan until she spotted the arrow she had shot earlier sticking out of a crop of snow. Her scowl grew deeper as she realized she would have to accept the strange ability and find a workaround. 

Aha! It had only disappeared for a fraction of a second. If there was a duration afterwards where it couldn't use its ability, then maybe she could take advantage of it.

Carter adjusted direction slightly as she snatched up another arrow and locked it into her bow. She was heading straight towards the monster’s side now, which seemed to be looking on with interest. I’ll give you something to look at, Carter thought.

Suddenly she stopped, pounding her foot onto the ground and kicking up a large flurry of snow into the Seshreyan’s side. As she hoped, it phased out, not wanting to get snow or dirt into any of its precious eyes. As it did this, she aimed, opening her senses in order to detect the precise moment it phased in again so she could treat it to some sweet retribution.

That moment never came. The Seshreyan stayed transparent, and Carter watched its outline in horror as it wound up and surged at her, becoming solid again only at the last moment before impact. It forcefully knocked over Carter, breaking her arrow and a few of her ribs on the way down.

Carter was pinned down partially to the ground, but managed to raise an arm to protect her head from the creature’s bite. She suppressed a scream and her eyes unfocused from the surge of pain that came with the beast digging its teeth into her arm. Blood and saliva sprayed onto her face. She struggled to hold onto her consciousness. She couldn’t lose the arm. That could be problematic even with her immortality. 

She frantically raised her foot and withdrew her knife from the boot with her free arm. She felt the Seshreyan's middle paws claw one of her legs, and she tried to ignore it, stabbing blindly at the beast, and after two or three gashes it seemed to decide she wasn’t worth the trouble and pulled away from her, shaking its head.

Carter rolled over onto her stomach and tried to regain her footing on the ground. But, just within her eyesight, she could see the Seshreyan preparing to lunge again. She couldn't get up. Once again the limits of her own power had been tested, and once again there was no one to save her. There was nothing she could do now.  She closed her eyes to brace for impact.

But none came. She heard a sound like a gunshot, and opened her eyes to see the beast several feet away, smoke rising from a wound in its side. 

Astrid came running over, panting and brow creased. She crouched down and put her free hand under Carter's back, bringing her to a sitting position. Carter pulled away from her and winced from the stab of pain in her chest. She noticed the stick in Astrid’s hand. A wand?

“Can you stand?" Astrid asked. "We have to get away while we can.” She held out her hand to Carter, which was ignored. Carter was watching the blood from her arm and leg stain the snow around her red. She felt a shadow reaching over her.

"No…" She swallowed hard. "Listen, Astrid. That thing is invincible and gains ground fast. There's no way we can both escape. Just leave without me. I'll come back to life anyway and catch up with you."

Astrid's eyes widened. "No… I can't do that. Come on..." She grabbed Carter's uninjured arm and tugged to no avail.

"Don't be sentimental!" Carter snapped, pulling away. "Get out of here! This is what I'm supposed to do!" But some part of her wished she were wrong, and that this wasn't the path she would have to take.

Astrid looked like she was going to say something, but instead she turned her head to face the Seshreyan. It was racing towards them once more on its six powerful legs, jaw open wide. Astrid stepped forward quickly, blocking the monster's path to Carter with her body. As she raised the wand in her hand, loose strands of her hair raised also, flowing with magical power. Astrid mumbled some words under her breath and a ray of light emitted from her wand and encircled the beast' s neck like a collar. With this, it was frozen midair, a prisoner to time.

Astrid turned around to face a stunned Carter. She was breathing hard and sweat beaded on her face despite the cold. She smiled.

“I'll protect you. So, let's go,” Astrid said, and the immortal finally seemed to snap out of her reverie. She clutched her bow and knife in one hand and allowed herself to be helped up. She and Astrid broke into a slow, limping jog, which was all Carter could manage with her damaged leg and ribcage. 

But the Seshreyan wasn’t finished, not even close. Although its body was frozen and blood was still running down its snout in rivulets, it gave an earth-shattering cry which shook the trees and seemed to inspire the heavens to begin pelting snow upon them once again. Astrid stumbled and fell. Shadows extended from the dark beast and surrounded her like pillars.

When Carter stopped and looked back, she saw that Astrid had lifted herself up partially from the snow, and was clutching her head with her eyes screwed up with pain. Was she hurt?

“Faizah?” Carter took a few steps to approach her, with the intent of helping her up, but she collided with a sudden force and went flying backwards into the snow. Astrid’s eyes were open now, but they were a vacant white stare. She looked distressed. The deep shadows still surrounded her; they flowed and ebbed.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Sephia and Jacob had been rushing here and there, searching for Astrid, when suddenly they heard the Seshreyan's screech in the distance. Sephia immediately headed in that direction.

Jacob followed reluctantly. "Come on, Seph. You're supposed to run away from loud scary noises!"

Eventually they came across the Seshreyan, and Astrid with it. Carter was there too, a few feet in front of them, and turned to them as they emerged.

“Ah— there they are!” Jacob exclaimed. Sephia set her jaw and removed her gun from its holster. 

"Hold on—" Carter warned. "Bullets won't work on that thing. In fact, no weapons seem to work."

Really now? Sephia aimed and shot two bullets at the Seshreyan, who phased them out easily.

"I see…" Sephia said thoughtfully. She had never seen anything like it, but this was no time to be shocked. "Then why is it injured?" 

Carter explained that she had managed to land a few blows on the monster by inadvertently using herself as bait. Sephia bit her lip and replied, "It doesn't seem to be aggressive anymore. Maybe it's scared, but it might just be focusing its energy on something else."

Carter replied in between shaky breaths, "Wild guess maybe, but it could have something to do with Astrid. She's like, gone crazy."

"She's definitely in a trance," Jacob said. "I can't imagine she could pose any danger to anyone, but it's best if we try to get her out of here."

"Okay," said Sephia. "I will grab the ambassador and run towards the campsite. Noelle and your Majesty will leave the opposite way. Getting out of range of the Seshreyan— that should break the trance, no?"

"Not necessarily. But it's worth a shot," Jacob said.

"Then, on a count of three… one, two, three—!"

Jacob and Sephia charged forth in different directions. Carter limped after Jacob. But just as Jacob reached the perimeter of the clearing, a powerful force seemed to repel him backwards, sending him flying through the air before colliding with Carter.

Sephia was dashing towards Astrid. To her surprise, Astrid raised her arm, revealing her wand. It began to glow and Sephia ducked out of the way of the beam Astrid sent towards her.

What? Magic?!

 Astrid shot two more beams at her in quick succession. Sephia swerved left and right to avoid them and reached out to grab Astrid's wrist, twisting it so she dropped the wand with a cry of pain and fury. Sephia felt bad treating her so roughly, but it had to be done. With that in mind she tucked Astrid under her arm like a sack of potatoes and turned around to find Jacob and Carter several feet away, detangling themselves and struggling out of the snow.

That was weird. But first things first. Sephia jogged towards the perimeter of the clearing, Astrid wriggling under her arm. Sephia began to feel a resistance pushing her when she came to the edge. She gritted her teeth and pushed forward, and extended her free arm when she could advance no more. The force repelled her strongly and she was shoved away, her boots leaving a dragged imprint in the snow. Astrid laughed at the knight's failed attempt to escape, her voice rising to an unfamiliar cackle. Geez, Sephia thought. She really had to find a way to get everyone out of here so Astrid could go back to normal.

It seemed that her other two comrades had regained their bearings. 

"Sephia!" Jacob shouted as he and Carter made their way closer. "That monster is controlling Astrid and feeding off her magic energy! That must be why a magical barrier is up!"

Controlling… feeding… it didn't make total sense to Sephia. But if the ambassador was somehow the source of the problem, then it logically couldn't hurt to put her out of commission. Besides, her struggling was getting annoying.

Sephia flattened her hand and struck the edge of Astrid's neck with the side of her palm, aiming for her pressure point. Astrid went limp, falling unconscious.

The Seshreyan didn't seem to like that. All its multitude of eyes blinked, then narrowed as its gaze landed on Sephia. It leaped towards her suddenly, mouth open.

I guess it really wants the ambassador, even if the rest of us ended up escaping. Sephia used her free arm to whip her shield around to her front and block the Seshreyan's assault, standing firm against its monstrous strength. It recoiled and surged to her right, but she parried its advance with the shield yet again. It growled and shook its head in frustration, then charged again. This time it phased out and passed through both the shield and Sephia's body. Sephia shuddered at the cold, dark feeling this experience left her with, but she pinwheeled and slammed the shield into the beast's muzzle before it could successfully attack her from behind. It snarled at its failure, opened its mouth wider, gripped the shield between its teeth, and bent it into an unusable arrow shape. 

Goddamn, thought Sephia. It'll take half a month's pay to replace that! With all the strength she could muster, she dragged the shield out from between the monster's teeth and battered it in the jaw, using the new pointed tip as a piercing agent.

The monster howled and shuddered away. Sephia, Carter, and Jacob used this opening to at last retreat into the woods with Astrid. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

They hurried through the woods, trying to put as much distance between them and the Seshreyan as fast as possible. They didn't think they were being followed, but it was still nerve wracking. Carter tried to focus on their surroundings. The thick cloud her pain formed in her mind was hard to overcome, but she had to detect any further threats before they happened. She had to.

Her knees buckled suddenly and she gasped. Jacob, who was next to her, stopped her fall by putting out his arm. 

Then he shoved her to the ground and she landed on her back in the snow.

Her eyes spun and unfocused. She was going to hurt him. Now she was really going to hurt him. Just give her a second to breathe and then— 

Jacob's voice— "That's enough. Sephia, shoot her."

"Wait," Carter strangled out. "Don't shoot." 

There was a brief pause as she tried to sit up. Sephia's fuzzy form hovered above her. Just for a moment, then raised its arm and shot her. 

It was a pulse. A shocking pulse of pain that burst and spread, through the heart, through the body. Like an unwanted second heartbeat. And then, for the third time, there was the sickening separation of body and soul as all faded to black.

When Carter woke again, Jacob was crouched next to her. Her injuries were gone, but she still felt the post-revival haziness.

"Don't be angry," he said calmly. "Remember, you agreed to this. You die when I deem it necessary. Now get up."