Once more Anya fell upon damp forest floor. She was shivering an covered in snow. The first pill had taken her to a mountain, the second one here — the Bleedwood. She checked her belt and ensured everything had remained with her during the jump between instances. The pouches had been soaked through, and some of the pills had began to dissolve into one another. Over her shoulder was a heavy leather bag locked tight with a metal latch. She inspected the five brightly coloured squares mounted along its top face. Upon each square was a symbol, each one correlating to a different sense respectively: An eye, a nose, an ear, a hand, and a tongue. Above the squares were embroidered the words: PERCEPTION ANCHOR CASE - TRAVELLERS FOUNDATION. Below was a blank space meant for writing on — Kite had told her that this would be where her future identification as a member of the Travellers Foundation would be marked.

  She had been tasked with making a delivery to a nearby Foundation base. She did not know what was contained within the case. She retrieved a partially soggy note from her pocket and read it over:

  Follow the coin as if north, don’t wander far.

  Also, if you find any Bronze Berries grab those too. Don’t eat them.

  She pocketed the note and grabbed the small coin it had been wrapped around. The coin was silvery in colour and inscribed with hundreds of small runic markings. She placed it on her thumb and flicked it into the air. It flew off to the left.

  She picked up the coin and attempted to flick it again, this time with the back to the direction it previously veered. The coin flew into her face and hit her on the chin. She recoiled and pocket the coin again.

  The two compasses she had been given — one from the spear peoples in the city and one from the Foundation were both acting erratically. Averaging their movements in her head she determined that the coin was trying to direct her due west, and she began walking.

  As the compasses were difficult to use, she would occasionally flip the coin from time to time to direct her course. The forest was cloaked in a thick red-tinged fog, with rows upon rows of identical tree trunks. The trees themselves were slick with blood that oozed from their bark, the smell of the blood also filling the air.

  She walked for some time, almost feeling as if she was standing still amongst the endless trees. Eventually however, from through the fog she saw what looked to be a faint source of light. The flicked the coin, the light was only a slight deviation from her current path. Reaching into a pouch, she took a Perception Pill and waited to see if the light would disappear. It persisted.

  As she approached the light, it was revealed to be small campfire — alone in the woods. There were no tents or any other sign of a camp to be seen. She sat next to the fire in hopes that it would dry out some of her still damp clothes.

  The fire writhed, it moved and crackled unnaturally. A shape began to form within the flames, that of a vaguely humanoid figure. It appeared to stand, rising to almost twice Anya’s height before crashing forward into the ground. From an apparent mouth several coughs of smoke billowed as the creature of flame let out a ghostly wheezing cough.

  Anya quickly shuffled back, her hand rushed to the grip of her pistol. Suddenly the creature lurched at her. She drew her weapon and unloaded several rounds into the flames. Each one passed straight through, leaving a trail of blue light hurtling through the fog.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  She was now face to face with the creature. Despite the roaring fire directly ahead of her, the creature’s body let out only the a gentle tingling heat. It moved away, allowing Anya proper time to stand up.

  The creature was now fully separated from the campfire, which now burned with only a small golden flame. The creature lifted an arm, with a misshapen hand it pointed out to the fog, and began walking in that direction.

  Anya watched it walk away, before it suddenly stopped, turned around, and then beckoned for her to follow. She checked her coin. The creature was beckoning her away from the guidance of the coin. She decided to follow for a time.

  They had not walked long until it was apparent what the figure of flame was taking her to. In a small clearing of trees, there was a large bright metallic berry. The fog had dissipated around it, and it glowed in the moonlight from overhead.

  Anya stepped into the fog-less shaft and looked upwards. There were no stars in the sky of the Bleedwood.

  Leaning down the berry, she ran a hand over its surface and felt the ripples of its skin. The outer surface of the berry was comprised of a hard bronze. It was about the size of her palm.

  “Thank you,” she said to the creature. She knelt down by the berry and took a knife from her belt ready to harvest the plant.

  “Hello.”

  The sudden voice made Anya jump. She looked up to see a woman standing over her. She cut the berry loose and grabbed it as she stepped back from the clearing. Turning around, she saw the flame creature had recoiled to a significantly smaller size.

  “Shoo,” the woman said with a flick of her wrist.

  The creature stepped away, disappearing into the fog back towards the campfire. Anya placed a hand on her gun.

  “They steal the things that they help you to find.” The woman explained.

  “Who are you?”

  The woman tilted her head.

  “Right, names. Sorry. What are you doing out here?”

  “Just passing through.”

  “What?”

  The stepped towards Anya, Anya took a step back.

  “Do you know what those berries are for?”

  Anya shook her head.

  “May I?” The woman gestured for the berry.

  Anya threw the berry gently over to her, the woman caught it swiftly with a lone hand in the air. She placed her thumbs against its skin, and cracked it open. A short burst of flame came from inside the berry, before the woman pulled out a small pellet of metal.

  “You can shape these. Its very easy.” She walked over to Anya and held out the pellet for her to take. “Here, I’m sure that’ll be easier to carry.”

  Anya reached her arm out to take the ball of metal, when the woman suddenly grabbed her wrist. She looked Anya dead in the eyes, as the bronze held in her palms was shaped into a needle that came bursting through Anya’s hand.

  She screamed and recoiled as the woman burst out laughing — her outbursts echo-less. With her unharmed hand Anya drew her pistol and fired a round directly into the woman’s skull.

  The woman stood with a hole in her forehead, still staring down Anya. Anya fired another round, then another, and she soon saw that the woman was hollow.

  The hollow person in front of her began to warp. Her limbs lengthened, her skin turned an oily red. She grew taller, her face deformed to the shape of some kind of animal skull - yet with human eyes persisting.

  Anya released magazine from her gun and clutched the weapon in her teeth. She took a new magazine from her belt and rammed it into the weapon, the impact causing it to move and scraped across her teeth.

  She retrieved the pistol from her mouth and aimed it at the malformed entity in front of her. As the monster lurched forward she unloaded every round in the magazine. The beast dropped dead at her feet, its head lying on its side, with pristine human eyes staring back up at her.