The stone golem landed on top of the purple beast stallion, effectively turning it into paste and silencing it in a single move. It was roughly three meters tall, it had a thick and round humanoid frame and seemed to be composed entirely out of grey rocks. 

Its slam flipped the wagon over, tossing both Kael and Gerald into the air. Kael hit a tree in mid-toss and dropped to the ground with a dull thud, Gerald on the other hand managed to land on both his feet, immediately he triggered his deviation, and fled the scene with great speed.

Even dazed Kael’s senses screamed at him, prompting him to rise to his feet and run, barely managing to avoid a tree trunk the golem had flung at him. A large rock and then peices of the wagon soon followed, smashing into nearby trees but ultimately leaving Kael unharmed.

Kael run without bothering with trivial things like direction or duration. His instincts practically howled at him to put as much distance between him and the beast as possible and so he run. 

A while later Kael was propped against the trunk of random tree, resting. He had run till he had felt like his legs would give way beneath his feet and then run some more until they did. So he spent some time lying on the ground defenseless until finally he had felt some of his strength return to him, along with the fear of the dangers that undoubtedly hid beneath the leaves that coated the woodland's grounds. 

He quickly rose to feet, checked the surroundings for danger, first with his eyes but then he remembered his sense of smell was better finally he checked his mark for any movements. After ensuring his surroundings were safe to the best of his ability he leaned against a tree amd caught his breath while planning his next move.

Kael felt relief wash over him, it had been close but he was still alive. Not for long though, this was his first time outside Tenlight’s walls and he didn’t know the route to any human settlements. Gerald was supposed to be his guide but the damned runt had run at the first sign of trouble, the thought caused Kael’s hatred for Gerald to resurface he wanted to viciously rip the bastard apart and yet without him surviving this would be impossible. 

First however he had to find him, immediately the thought of using his newly heightened sense of smell came up but would it work, were there some requirements he needed to follow and what if the ability itself was capable of tracking down Gerald but he lacked the experience to use it. In the end it all came down to trying it out.

Kael waited for an hour or two and the he returned to what was left of their wagon. He did this by following the scent of vomit on his clothes, for some reason he didn't have a true scent, odd. From a distance he scouted the wagons remains, using a mixture of sight, smell and mark he was able to make sure the golem had left.

When Kael got to the site itself he stared at the remains of the dead horse. Most of it was still there, probably all of it he couldn't imagine the Golem eating it. It had attacked them because...? Kael quickly gave up on trying to understand the motives of a lump of rock, maybe if felt threatened, maybe it just liked to kill. Hopefully he wouldn't get the chance to find out. 

He had to make this quick, scavengers had avoided coming close to the corpse because of the Golem but it was gone they would be here soon. 

It was time to give tracking Gerald a try. He drew in a deep breath, face to the ground. Multiple scents assailed him at once and his mind filtered them with ridiculous ease, attaching mental images to the ones he recognized but asking questions about the ones he didn’t. Kael moved past the questions and images, zeroing in on the rather unique odor of alcohol, cum, urine and essence of Gerald. He had a trail. With a final glance at the former steed's carcass he set of, unable to avoiding pondering how easily that could have been him.

Kael made good time, even though or perhaps because he kept his pace slow, opting for endurance rather than speed. Gerald would have to tire eventually, stubbornly he pushed aside thoughts pertaining to matters like the massive headstart Gerald had or how Gerald's deviation gave him physical boosts Kael simply didn't have. If Gerald kept ahead of him then he would simply follow the scent to civilisation, if he didn't keep ahead? Then Kael would make him pay for leaving him behind.

'And if its a corpse?'

Kael increased his pace, trying to keep his mind focused on navigating, tracking and watching out for danger. Kael's synchronizing of his senses was not as good as he'd hoped. After a while he could tell his balance was suffering for it. 

'Maybe it's the fatigue. Gods I hope it's the fatigue' 

As Kael walked on he felt his mark twist, immediately he tensed up and started scanning his surroundings. It was a mere second later that it dawned on him to use his nose but it was enough. A fiery streak of red flew straight at him, Kael leapt out of the way as quickly as he could but he wasn't fast enough. Pain coursed through him, rushing from his ribs to the rest of his body like a river of lightning. 

“Ghaaarghaaahaa!” 

Rage and pain as one, Kael spun around searching for the culprit, when he found it his anger soared with new intensity, the source was a blow to his pride he didn’t know he had taken. A seemingly harmless sparrow with strange red plumage was perched on a branch, holding a piece of Kael’s flesh with its beak. It swallowed the piece without a care in the world, even as Kael stared at it with smoldering intensity. 

When it was done, it cocked it's head to get a better look at Kael. Kael felt his mark twist again, this time he was ready. The bird launched itself at him, a red blur. Kael stood his ground, if it struck him dead center he would definitely die. 

A sound much like sizzling oil was heard as the bird collided with the mass of black goo. In the next instant the tentacle had dissipated into nothingness leaving behind the wreck of a bird, it was a bloody mess. The oddity however was that rather than feel disgust at the sight Kael felt a strange sense of desire. The scent of its blood had him drooling, it smelt so good.

The memory of what happened after the tentacles tore through Rufus flashed in Kaels mind, thin translucent tubes had drained Rufus of his blood and Kael feltpleasure like he had never felt before. The mere memory of it had Kael salivating.

Sadly there didn't seem to be enough Despair in him to test it out. Did he dare risk carrying the body with him and drawing predators? Well seeing as he was bleeding, he might as well. Kael checked his injury at that point. It was shallow, barely bleeding, most of the damage had come from the burn.

'That's good?' he wondered.

He looked the thing's tiny body, bones twisted and disjoint. He really did it in, eh! This brought up another question, how exactly did a tentacle made of goo rip through flesh like it had it the past or snap bones like a stone wall. Shouldn’t the goo fall apart or something against the much tougher flesh? 

'I'll run tests when I recover more Despair... if I can get it to last long enough'

Kael set of again, carrying the bird's remains with him. When he finally caught up to Gerald, it was a full seven hours later, well into the night. Gerald sat beside a campfire with the carcass of some animal roasting above it. Kael would have been ravenous at the sight if he hadn’t gorged his white tubes on the bird and a fanged rabbit, he was now a firm believer that everything tastes better through a tube. 

Cuisine asides the trip was hell. He feet were blistered and sore from stepping on stones and the node on twigs. His muscles ached something terrible and it was only going to get worse after a night's sleep. The injury had been a real riot once the adrenaline faded. Yet despite it all he had done it. He tracked Gerald successfully.

Gerald was tense and alert, the embodiment of vigilance, which of course any sane man would be in his position. Kael watched him for a while considering handing in the punishment early however he gave up on the idea seeing as he couldn't sneak up on Gerald. The man was as jumpy as a mouse. 

It wasn’t as if Kael had any experience doing such things either. Change of plans, he would improvise by calmly approaching Gerald in plain sight. Gerald would not expect anything considering how stupid it would be for Kael to attack his only hope which was exactly why his plan was so dammed brilliant… nope no it wasn’t, it was plain stupid and it would most likely work, which was exactly why it was so stupid. 

As Kael approached Gerald looked up and then turned his attention back to the roast. Kael spoke up first 

“That is pretty stupid you know” 

“What is?” Gerald asked looking up. He seemed flustered. 

“The fire, the roast, the meat…” 

“ Oh… well the fire is definitely not stupid without it I would be in the dark but they would be right in their element, what I am trying to say is I know I can’t hide from them but I can make it harder for them to sneak up on me” 

Kael couldn’t fault the logic, after all it had defeated him. If Gerald had been shacked up in a hole somewhere sneaking up on him would have been so. much easier. 

“When it comes to my tasty friend, I know they will find me and when they come I would rather face them on a full stomach” 

The logic behind that statement on the hand had some serious problems. Then again Kael hadn’t been thinking straight himself, the combined fear, helplessness and exhaustion was getting to them. 

“Catch some sleep I’ll wake you up when it’s done” 

“I should probably do that” Gerald said “here take this” 

“What are these?” Kael asked taking a handful some small black objects from Gerald 

“Devilscoffee, a decntly potent Despaired variation of ordinary coffee. It will kill ordinary people if they keep using it but Deviants can go at least five days without rest on it” 

Kael sighed, he couldn’t harm Gerald and he knew it. Working as a team was the only way he stood an actual chance at survial. 

Staring at Gerald's peaceful sleeping form the thought seemed to almost cause him physical pain. He couldn't count the number of times Gerald had beaten, tortured and humiliated him simply for the fun of it. And then all this, leaving him to his fate when the Golem attacked, forcing him to traverse corrupted land alone! 

Forget punish or hurt, Kael just wanted to kill him. Yet he couldn't, Kael burrowed his face into his arms and in the light of the dancing flame, he wept.