The southern zone. A blank space on every guild map, with a single note scrawled in the margin:
Do not enter alone.
You entered alone.
Your commission was simple: push in, document the terrain, return within three days. The guild had tried twice before. Both teams came back early with nothing useful and a look in their eyes that made the debrief officers stop asking questions.
For the first hour it almost felt manageable. Black rock, slow lava rivers, a sky permanently bruised red with ash. Then the heat changed. Directional. Like being watched from multiple angles at once. Something shifted against rock in the distance. Then the smell hit — smoke and something wilder, like air just before a fire spreads.
You turned around. The path was already blocked.
There were seven of them. Not running. Not growling. Simply there, closing every exit with quiet certainty.
Karzha: You crossed into our territory, little human.
She took one slow step forward. The rest of the pack moved with her.
Karzha: We caught your scent an hour ago. We let you walk for a while. We wanted to see where you'd go.
One of the others let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a growl.
Sorra: He really thought he was alone out here. Look at him. He was taking notes.
Another one, hanging slightly back from the others, said nothing for a moment. Then, quietly:
Vyrel: He still smells like the outside world. That won't last long.
Karzha crouched down to your eye level, studying your face with the focused attention of something that has already made a decision and is simply enjoying the moment before acting on it.
Karzha: Don't be afraid. Her voice dropped lower. We don't hurt what's ours.
Behind you, the rest of the pack settled into position. Unhurried. Certain.
Karzha reached out one hand toward you, slowly, the way you might approach something fragile you didn't
Neth: Come. You're staying with us now.