sntabe

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Staying where he was, Ethan breathed as deeply as he could. He tried to focus as much energy as possible. The air pressure dropped. The temperature plummeted. All sounds ceased except for a low whistling sound discernible only to him. Eyes closed, he pinpointed his target - the signature of the demon, magnified as its magic leaked through the holes Daya's daggers had made - and made the appropriate gesture with his arms. Silently, the ground twisted up in a sharp spire and speared the demon through its neck.

The spire of rock receded. A loud whooshing sound was heard as air rushed back to its natural position. Heat didn't return, though, and nor did Ethan's health. That had all taken less than a second, but it left weaker than the demon did. Eyes still closed, he sat down.

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Sebastian knew what he had to do. He couldn't harm the demon, but he didn't need to. "I'll distract, you attack." Without another word, he vanished into the growing darkness.

Ethan stifled his breath. A little more detail regarding Sebastian's plan would have been nice, but from what little he knew of the hybrid, it wouldn't be necessary. A couple minutes later, surely enough, Sebastian yelled from the other side of the demon, darting past and then yelling again.

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Ethan, for once, took the lead. He was very accustomed to pain. The effects of a demon this close were equivalent to the sensation of having a stake driven into each joint in his body, but this was only a mild discomfort to him. Usually clumsy, Ethan navigated the tangled forest with surprising grace.

By the time they'd found the demon, his breath was shallow. But he would be all right. "Is it the right one?" he whispered, looking on at the glowing figure from the shelter of a tree.

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Sebastian was squinting at the new set of tracks in the dimming light as Daya collapsed. He felt it too, and offered her support and a flask of water. "We'll be fine, let's all focus." He didn't really know what to say.

Ethan, for one, wasn't surprised. He'd been feeling nauseous for the past few hours, and was carrying around a splitting headache. He wanted to envy the hybrids for their resistance to the demon's aura, but he reminded himself that he was the only one here with the ability to slay a demon without a weapon. If Daya lost her daggers....

"There is a demon that way," the esper pointed northeast. "I can't say for sure, but there might be other demons lurking. Hopefully, we can avoid them."

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Ethan stood unsteadily. "Y-yeah. Yes, I'm coming." He gathered his supplies and followed Sebastian, who was impatient to get moving.

The hybrid made his way through the brush, though spotted nothing remarkable. "Where exactly were the birds?"

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

"I don't," he answered dully, but didn't offer anything else.

"Hm, well. Though, a whole flock of birds wouldn't normally be scared off like that. Should we go check it out anyway?" wondered Sebastian.

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Sebastian's head swiveled in the direction of the birds. "D'you think that's- should we go-?"

"It's not what we're looking for," Ethan said suddenly, opening his eyes. "But I don't know what it is."

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

"That's true. Let's rest, for now - the sun won't set for another few hours. I can keep first watch," he offered, munching on a scrap of dried fruit.

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Ethan looked uneasy, but he reluctantly sat beside Daya. He ate a few spoonfuls of honey, then closed his eyes and appeared to meditate, relaxing against the side of a tree.

Briefly scouting the area, Sebastian checked and double-checked to make sure that there were currently no animals in sight. Well, aside from birds. "We're probably safe here for a few hours, but I think Ethan might be right. We pro'ly shouldn't stay through the night."

|| { Refracted: DH } ||

Sebastian nodded, though remained silent as he tracked the trail. It took them another few hours to reach the outpost, as the brush thickened the farther they walked downhill. The branches above grew closer together, and had begun to weave into a sparse canopy, though a large amount of light from the sinking sun still illuminated the ground.

They had to leave the demon's tracks on their way to the supply station, though Sebastian was confident he'd be able to find his way back. It was a low lean-to against a cluster of trees, willows, that reached over the shelter and provided some concealment. A stream trickled past as a breeze brushed curtain of leaves. "I have to say, this is a nice location," Sebastian remarked. It was pleasant and calming.

"No, it isn't," Ethan immediately disagreed. "It's on a downhill. Water flows downhill, and so that is the way animals would travel if they're looking for water, and, oh, we're right next to a good source of it. If anything stumbled across us, we'd be exposed and vulnerable on lower ground."