Rolling hills and plains ended in sheer cliffs and valleys of fissures, impossible and random due to alien geology no one understood. Geysers spouted here and there, not common but not rare enough to completely let your guard down. A shower of boiling hot liquid and noxious steam would do more than ruin your day. In all, the land looked like an acne-riddled face of chiseled edges. The huge sun was setting along one horizon, burning red, as two moons of varying size crowded into the sky. Daylight still reigned, for now.

A man in green-tan robes stood looking into the underside of a cliff, where the top spilled over dangerously yet didn't fall down. A chunk was carved out of the side. Inside, there was a sort of bunker half-covered by a veil of sheer material. The veil did not even half-cover the exposed portion of the bunker now, as it was rent by gashes all over. Inside, spilling over the tables of maps and crates of goods, were bodies in different states of dismemberment. Blood pooled in the dirt.

The robed man stared inside.

A rider and her mount were traversing the very same cliff. Dessa slunk forward, her glistening body seeming to melt its way down the cliff-side as she descended. Webbed, surprisingly delicate feet grasped sheer rock and made almost no sound at all. Sef was seated on her back, strapped into a light saddle designed to keep her secure on some of Dessa's more daring climbs and leaps.

Dessa showed signs of agitation - something Sef trusted to mean they weren't alone - hence their careful, measured descend to the outpost where they planned to restock on supplies.

Joachim leaned on a walking staff and watched the interior of the outpost. One of his arms, exposed from the ragged tears in his robe, glistened pitch black with strange bubbles of solid amber trapped in the tar-like surface. Inside of the outpost, something grunted and knocked over a chair. It straightened it's spikey head, reptilian scales and long tusk-like teeth, turning sharply towards where Joachim stood.

The ranger shifted, though not in fear of the beast. Joachim glanced around warily, for Grint had just informed him they'd been happened upon by something.

Four flat feet and a very heavy tail dropped to the earth with a solid plop. Dessa pivoted to face the figure standing by the entrance of the outpost and drew back her lips to expose several rows of needle-like, curved teeth dripping with foul smelling saliva. Sef had her spear raised and ready to toss while her other hand was raised ahead of her like a shield. A pale blue light that moved oddly like smoke seemed to emanate from her palm.

"Identify yourself," she said when she recognized the figure to be that of a man, not one of the beasts from the wilds.

The ranger turned his head to the side, looking up at the strange thing the woman rode on. It was certainly different to his Grint. And though he backed up a step, he was really quite glad to see the woman riding on the back of it. Even if she was threatening to throw a spear at him. It meant that she was a ranger, too.

"I am Joachim." He identified himself, rather softly and calmly, raising his black arm to keep the light of the setting sun out of his eyes. "A ranger, and I've just gotten here, too. Who are you?"

Just then, the hulking figure of Grint, Joachim's hybrid animal companion, burst from the bunker with all the grace of a hurricane. It placed itself between it's master and the others, baring thick dagger-like teeth in reply to Dessa.

Seemingly unperturbed by the hulking, muscled beast, Sef pulled slightly at the collar around Dessa's neck and made a movement with one of her heels. The lizard hybrid shook her ugly head with some annoyance, but stood down and sheathed her teeth.

"Sef," was her reply. There was little need to elaborate further. Rangers were the only ones known to tame animals from the wilds. "I came for supplies, but I'd be open to sharing." Her eyes narrowed when she looked passed the fierce looking Grint at the torn entrance to the outpost. "Is that smell you?" she asked.

Joachim didn't bother to tell Grint to back off in return. It held it's posture until confrontation seemed completely unlikely, and then it simply lost interest altogether. Wandering off, it sniffed at some scuffs in the dirt. It's ranger didn't pay it any more mind.

"Sef." He spoke softly, tasting her name delicately.

Lowering the hood of his partially camouflaged robe, Joachim plucked at his armpit and then shook his head. "No, not me, I smell like dirt and sweat, and saliva." He gave slight glance to Grint, then he turned to the side to show the bunker. "You probably smell death. Take a look. You'll find plenty of it inside. Still some supplies left, though."

A chill ran across Sef's skin, and it had nothing to do with the disappearance of the sun. "Was this your handiwork?" she asked bluntly, urging Dessa forwards past the Ranger. Using the tip of her spear and some light from her bracelet she was able to look inside and find the carnage of which he spoke. The corners of her mouth tightened but she showed no other signs of emotion.

Turning back to Joachim, she let the spear hang at her side. She wasn't about to lower her guard yet and made no secret of it. She knew this man by reputation only, and recognized him more by his appearance than his name.

"Mine?" He asked, looking to Grint as though sharing some sort of snatch of telepathic conversation. His voice picked up, indignantly. "Why would I kill an outpost of rangers? I found it like this."

Grint came winding it's way towards them all, curling around with the instinct desire to flank other beings of uncertain allegiance. Stalk. Everywhere the spiky thing went, it seemed to stalk with a malevolent desire for violence. Then, at other times, it seemed as aloof and stupid as a child frolicking in filth. "Surely you know what caused this, Sef." Joachim said, pointing his unmarred arm to the bunker. "The monsters were drawn to them. They sense life. They track it down and end it. You've seen them, haven't you?"

A shrug of her shoulders. "There's more danger in this world than those that wear their intent on their faces," she said, motioning to Grint where he paced. Dessa was tensed underneath her, uncomfortable with the close proximity of another animal. She liked company even less than her rider.

A second shrug. "But perhaps you didn't. Perhaps the creatures are still nearby." A sniff of the air. "This happened some time ago, but it's getting dark. Perhaps finding some shelter for the night would be best."

The ranger calmed down and thought about her words. He didn't bother to restrain Grint immediately, again leaving him largely to his own devices. However, Joachim did notice the other animal's distress about everything. For that reason, more than any other, he waved his hand and made a harsh shhh-ing noise. The beast got the message immediately, pausing in mid-stride and pulled back. It's little thorny tail tucked down as it wandered away.

"There's sense in what you say." He said. "The question is, where? I don't really have a problem sleeping with the dead, but it could attract some attention. There are a lot of free meals inside there. Do you know somewhere better?"

"I've been in the area before," Sef replied after some thought. "There's a series of caves on the shore a mile or two out from here. They should be safe unless something else made them its home first, of course." She glanced at the outpost entrance and added seemingly in afterthought. "We can return tomorrow to collect their things."

Patting the skin just underneath one of Dessa's shoulders, she drew her back and faced in the direction of the ocean. The smell of it immediately rid her nose of the awful and familiar stench of death. "If you stay, good luck."

The great lizard jumped into motion with a whip of her tail and with little more than the scrabbling of rock on rock they blended into the night.

"Stay?" He asked the air after she'd left, softly pondering. Then he looked to Grint curiously, in silence. Once or twice he looked over to the outpost. Then he shook his head. "You can't eat them, they were our comrades, Grint. It's called manners. We must leave now."

Without asking again, Joachim turned and followed the path of the female ranger. He used his walking stick heavily, his blackened arm hanging at his other side. After some thought, Grint reluctantly followed him. They moved as a pair rather than as a rider and mount, Grint walking at Joachim's heel, but they made good enough time.

It was dark by the time they reached the water's edge. Whether the beach of a lake or an ocean, Joachim had little idea. The moons above reflected on the water, riches of silver and gold. He told Grint to track down Sef, and followed.

It wouldn't have been hard for them to find Sef, but Dessa was nowhere in sight. The smell of something burning wafted up from the shoreline, winding a trail right down to the water's edge. The entrance to the cave the Ranger had spoken of would have been impossible to find in the dark but for the faint glow of firelight filtering out to reflect on the waves. They crashed against a low cliff which rose up out of the sandy beach, and inside of it lay the cave system. One would have to get a little wet to reach them, but it was a reasonably safe spot to spend the night.

Inside the entrance was a low, narrow tunnel which made a sharp right before it widened out into a larger alcove with tunnels leading in two more directions. Sef sat in the center of it and tended to a small fire. A large, finned creature sat next to her, already gutted and prepared for cooking.

Grint, as it so happened, was just fat enough to not be able to squeeze into the narrow tunnel leading in from the shore. This was surprising, as one of his best traits was being a compact and efficient ball of carnage. Ranger and beast parted ways there, leaving Grint to prowl the coast for something to eat. Though he did not show it, Joachim was always nervous about being separated.

Carrying his walking staff, he came into the intersection where Sef sat. In his robe, ripped around the edges, he had an eery way of moving in the shadows of flickering firelight. "Hello again." He greeted. "I know who you are, now. I should've noticed sooner, but this place drove it home. You've got a very interesting animal friend."

"And I know who you are," Sef replied without looking up. Skewering the fish, she made a makeshift grill from bigger sticks and let it roast over the fire. A mouthwatering smell immediately filled the small space and her stomach growled hungrily. They'd been traveling hard for the last few days and there was little time to stop and hunt, hence what she'd hoped would be a quick stop at the outpost.

Moving around picking up slimy fish guts and washing her hands with water from a small metal container which stood by the entrance, she continued; "You accepted the elder's task as well, yes? That's why you're out here on the edge of it all?"

Joachim merely stood out of the way, resting his hands on his staff. The light danced on the shiny bits in his strange arm. "That is correct." He answered softly, so that the small echoes in the cave were like whispers. "If not us, then who?"

That was a motto not unfamiliar to the rangers, but most especially to him. It was something of a mantra. Helios was dangerous and their society was fragile, even before this calamity that had come upon them. If not for the rangers, the planet would have reclaimed it's land centuries ago. "I wonder how many are still alive." He said, sliding down the wall to sit cross-legged. "What if we have made it the furthest, alive?"

Sef sat down on a thin but surprisingly springy blanket that doubled as her bed, pillow and heat. Dessa was a big animal and carried her weight well, but they had to travel as light as possible. She wasn't made for travel over long distances and extra weight tired her out even quicker. Stretching out with her back to the cave wall, she let her bare toes warm by the fire. The bottom of her leggings were wet from the trip up to the cave entrance.

"I believe we have," she said eventually. "I've seen no one else on the road and Dessa and I took the quickest route here." Playing with the metal bracelet encircling her left wrist, she shrugged. "This is the furthest I've ever been out. By all the stories told by my elders and theirs, what we're looking for waits further south still, beyond the long mountains."

Even inside the cave, Joachim could feel this slight tug that drew him towards the south. It was the natural sense of direction that couldn't be taught or really learned, an internal compass that pointed the way as surely as a piece of magnetized iron in a cup of water. A ranger didn't get too far if he was wandering in circles all day. Even one extra hour out there in the wilderness could be one too many. Danger was everywhere.

Joachim stubbornly resisted looking at his arm, and forced himself not to try and hide it beneath his robe. It was a struggle. "The same stories my grandmother told." He agreed faintly. "She spoke of it as a graveyard, with sadness in her eyes. South, past the long mountains, into the valley of sweat. Insects as big as your head that will feed on your blood while you sleep. Heat that suffocates you. Living trees that reach the moon. Ground that tries to swallow you whole..." He trailed off, then looked up at Sef. "She did have a habit of exaggerating, though."

Sef's low, not very happy laugh echoed through the cave and down its tunnels. She shook her head and smiled bitterly. "Then my father's father must have been exaggerating too, because he told the same stories when he'd had too much spirits. Said he saw drawings by his great-grandfather showing beasts bigger than houses that flew through the air and snatched people from the ground."

She threw a twig into the fire with a little more force than it required and seemed annoyed. "Of course that's where we're going. Of course."