Eline had been walking west for two hours while Alwyn, still resting on her back, kept high vigilance on their surroundings. They had been slowly getting closer to the Greyshard Range, and that translated into a more sparse vegetation. It was better for them, as they could easily see through the thin trees, but it also brought some downsides, such as the worsening weather, which was taking a toll on their bodies, and an earlier disappearance of the sun.
The ball of light, covered by a substantial layer of clouds, was currently looming over the steep slopes of the towering mountain range. The wind had just started picking up. It was almost time.
"We only have about an hour before it sets. I get it that we must kill the Revenant quickly, but it's useless to continue the search if we can't see anything."
Eline had to accept his compromise.
"You are right. We should start searching for a good spot to camp for the night."
But just as the two had decided to give up, Alwyn noticed something odd further up on their path.
"H-Hey… Look over there."
"What? I don't see anything other than trees."
"I know. Look at the ones on the right."
Eline took a moment to register what he had been pointing at.
"Hmm, quite odd."
A subtle detail had caught their attention, basically unnoticeable to a careless eye.
A hundred meters from them, right at the edge of their path, the top of a small group of trees had been damaged badly, a couple of them even had their trunks broken in half.
However, their dark green leaves were still intact, as if the damage had been caused only recently. It was not the work of nature, something else must have been involved.
As Eline got closer, more of the devastation entered their field of vision.
A small artificial clearance had been created there. Logs had been crushed by something massive, something heavy. The spot resembled the landing site of a flying creature.
The two remained still, speechless, staring at the fallen trees unable to comprehend what kind of creature could be responsible for such a havoc.
Sirens could not grow into specimens of that size, but Revenants did not look like their live counterparts. Their bodies morphed. That meant that the evolution that the siren had gone through had been a long and relevant one.
The changes it brought to its body could not be determined on the spot. The two needed more clues.
Facing an abomination of that caliber without making any preparations was not something they could even dream of achieving. It was a suicide.
So they started analyzing the area, looking for something that could aid them in identifying their opponent, down to even the most minuscule details.
The broken logs, the fallen branches, the weak rustling blades of grass, the leaves decorating the cold ground, the plastic soil that had the potential to trap traces even for days.
That was how they eventually found their only hint. Right at the center of the clearance, a crater of the size and shape of the Shard had been left engraved deep into the ground, suggesting that the Revenant had dropped the giant crystal during its flight.
The reason for that remained unknown.
And since the gem was nowhere to be found, the flying monstrosity had most likely retrieved it, causing the havoc of the surrounding area.
But unfortunately for them, no footprints had been left nearby.
The creature had not stepped on the ground for even a second.
When darkness started to descend, after an hour of research and analysis of the damages' pattern, their only lead was the direction that the beast had supposedly taken after fetching the stolen cargo.
West. They had to get even closer to the mountains.
Luck was not on their side. If the siren had really managed to reach the frozen peaks of the Greyshard Range, their chances of retrieving the cargo were near to zero, and the monster would eventually complete its evolution.
That was exactly what the Church wanted, since the monster would turn its wrath upon the elven territories beyond the mountains.
If they let such a creature free, its growth would be uncontrolled. It would become stronger with every race it wiped out, and the turn of the humans would sooner or later come as well.
"Let's stop here. We'll continue tomorrow."
And so, the two set up a makeshift camp for the night.