There came the day when the vicious beasts no longer had names that anyone knew. At least, not anyone nearby. Without a name, without anyone who knew anything about them, these monsters became much more difficult to kill when they got in the way.

“If we come across another slaughtered town…”

Toiréasa didn’t have to finish her sentence, Saoirse knew how it would end. It felt like they had been away from home for so long, tracking down the origins of these changes, this destruction. This swampland used to be a grassy field, according to the maps, according to the last people they had talked to. Some still believed it was grass. The change hadn’t happened slowly.

“-did you see that?”

Saoirse first looked at Toiréasa before following her line of sight. First it looked like a body. Then it tried to move.

Someone was, despite all odds, alive.