Elemental Cats

Although the rats had quickly retreated into the wasteland after failing to stop Toz and his cats, the ruckus they caused still didn't go unnoticed. The vast mass of rats traveling along the horizon looked like a storm cloud on the ground from afar. It initially had nearby explorers start falling back when they saw it, but when it disappeared into thin air, the more adventurous people chose to investigate.

There weren't many who were that close to the wasteland, to begin with, and only a small group of three continued all the way to the edge of the grasslands, where they saw the vast wasteland stretch out.

"Isn't the grassy plains supposed to go on for much further than this, Din?" A red-haired young woman said. She was dressed in leather armor and had a sword strapped to her side. The other two in her group seemed to act differently toward her.

"The map I got a hold of says it's supposed to be a few more days before there's a change in scenery. The merchant at the guild said it was updated less than a few weeks ago. Either he scammed me, we don't know how to follow a map, or the wasteland moved."

A tall, skinny man with long hair in a ponytail and with glasses said in response to his leader's question. His light robes indicated he didn't get involved with close combat.

"Hmm, do you think you got scammed?"

"By a merchant trusted by the guild? No."

"How long have we been able to read maps for?"

"Long enough not to make rookie mistakes."

"What about the wasteland? Do you think it moved by itself?"

"Based on the deterioration of the ground and how the grass is dying as we speak, I don't think it's impossible."

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The two continued investigating the border between grass and death while they discussed their conclusion. Following behind them, a bulky, silent man with a nervous countenance glanced around fitfully. His comrades seemed used to the sight and let him be in charge of keeping watch over the surroundings.

They hadn't forgotten the grey cloud covering the horizon. If it could disappear that quickly, it might reappear even quicker. If that cloud turned out to be something troublesome and they were standing around right next to it without a care when it shows up again, it would be best to know as fast as possible in order to make a quick getaway.

Amanda, Din, and Charlie had been exploring the area around Yellow Sparks almost since the portal was established and were familiar with the area and surrounding nature even if they hadn't been in this particular spot before. They got along well despite meeting in the town, and they worked well together during their first exploration so they decided to stick together.

Amanda had family in the town, Charlie was anxious most of the time, and Din was satisfied with following Amanda's lead as she stayed in place, at least for now, despite everyone being at the third level. Although they had lately talked about either finding a new area to explore or going separate ways. Even if they got along well and all that, if they had different ambitions in life it would obviously lead to them disbanding their group.

Charlie was working hard to overcome his nervousness and fear, and staying in one place where he felt comfortable didn't suit that goal.

Amanda wanted to stay close to her family and make sure they wouldn't end up in trouble when so close to a mostly unexplored frontier.

Din had started exploring this area since he was bored, and he enjoyed Amanda's and Charlie's company, but just like everyone who becomes an explorer, he wanted to explore. And going around and around in the same places for safety reasons wasn't that explorative.

Together they decided to assess their feelings after one last tour, and that's when they discovered the wasteland, and how it didn't fit with their map. They were farther out, in an area they hadn't been in before to compensate for always playing it safe earlier. And it seemed to have paid off as they discovered something worth exploring.

Although the wasteland was on the map, it didn't look too safe, especially when taking into account that a lot of the explorers are first or second level.

Since their strength and experience in the nearby wilderness had made them into a group trusted by the other explorers in the branch, they also carried some responsibility. That was especially true for Amanda since her sister was the branch office manager. They cared for their own lives, especially Charlie, but they chose to honor that responsibility and properly investigate both the wasteland and the grey cloud.

They walked back and forth along the boundary. They saw a few rats pop out of tunnels a few times but thought nothing of it since finding fearless critters in the wild was par for the course, and they had seen small rabbits and the like several times in the grass.

Eventually, as it neared dusk and they got closer to the river flowing out into the wasteland they decided to set camp for the night and continue investigating tomorrow morning before returning to the guild and making a report.

As they headed away from the wasteland to put some distance between it and themselves they saw a trail of blood in the grass, coming from the wasteland. The trail lead through a large area of trampled grass. They could see the grass had been pressed down, but not by what. They followed the trail of blood carefully to the other side of the squashed-down grass.

Amanda had drawn her sword, Din's eyes were glowing, and Charlie's muscles were trembling. If the muscles were trembling from fear or because of something else, was impossible to tell.

They realized that they might have discovered a clue to the grey cloud that vanished around here somewhere.

At the tip of the cone-shaped depression in the grass, at the end of the bloody trail, they found a massive lead to their investigation. An entire body, riddled with wounds and covered in blood.

When Amanda flipped over the corpse with her sword to get a better look at it, eight tiny legs flopped out of the coat's front, and a ball of blood-matted hair fell off the head.

She jumped back with her sword at the ready, anticipating a surprise attack from the beast who had hidden inside a human corpse. But after the legs dangled limply she realized they looked more like cat legs, and when the coat slid open and revealed two cats, nearly as badly injured as the human she put away her sword and got closer.

It wasn't a corpse taken over by some weird beast, it was an extremely injured explorer and his cats, that despite the massive blood loss somehow remained alive. His pulse was so weak it almost felt like a hope-induced hallucination more than the pulse of a living human.

Amanda brought out one of her precious potions and splashed some of it on the young man's wounds and the cats, and poured some onto their lips hoping they could swallow it down. Then she started carefully applying first aid and bandaging the wounds she could do that to, without them opening up and letting out what little blood remained in their bodies. Though that didn't work so well on the orange cat since for some reason it didn't bleed, its wounds shimmered and its body seemed almost on the verge of fading away.

Din looked around the area with his shining eyes, especially in the direction of the wasteland while Charlie approached the tiny dark ball of matted hair that turned out to be a third cat.

He cradled the tiny cat gently in his hands as he brought it to Amanda for a small splash of her potion.

Although none of them had beast-type inclinations they were aware of how dearly mages with beasts treated them, and based on the injuries on the young man and how the coat had protected the cats from the worst of it, he cared deeply for the cats. If they saved only him and neglected the cats he might resent them instead of being grateful.

Although they save him as part of their responsibility and as fellow explorers, the young man in front of them was the only one who could tell them about the wasteland, and from what they had seen, the dangers lurking within.

If the young man healed and woke up to find out his beloved cats were gone because the ones who saved him, let them die, he might lead them to their deaths.

Although Charlie wanted to save the cats because of his kind heart, Amanda had a little bit more to think about when making decisions as the group leader.

Since they didn't know the full extent of the injuries they decided to set up camp right next to the injured man and cats, so they wouldn't move him and inadvertently worsen his wounds. Charlie stayed behind while Amanda went to get more water to clean their injuries and Din started backtracking the trail Toz had left behind.