It didn't take Lira long to reach the edge of the town.

She stopped only at a hopeful market stall setting up by the road to purchase a few bits of fruit. It'd been months since she'd even seen an apple, let alone tasted one. Anything that colourful in the deep woods was usually poisonous.

She took three out of the basket and placed what she thought was a reasonable amount of coin on the bench as the shopkeep and his assistants simply stared at her. Without Shari nearby, Lira knew they'd assume she was a poacher, heading into the newly formed Wilds to try her luck.

She'd stopped wasting her energy on what people thought a long time ago. Instead, she just gave them a smirk with a jerk of her head before stashing two apples in her pack and continuing on.

Lira bit into her apple, held in her right hand just in case Shari did get out of range, and fixed her gaze on the blue glow of the horizon. The girl from the inn kept shoving her way back into her thoughts despite Lira's attempts to keep her out. If Shari hadn't singled the girl out, Lira wouldn't have given her a second thought. It wasn't the first time someone had thrown themselves at her feet, begging for something. It wouldn't be the last.

I didn't even get her name, thought Lira, taking another bite of the apple. She let it sit on her tongue, savouring the taste for a moment before she swallowed. She glanced back over her shoulder, still not finding any sign of Shari. Maybe the spirit was still sitting in the doorway of the inn, tail swishing as she waited for Lira to return and apologise.

Not her problem. She had a rupture to close, and then it was back into the forest for the next few months.

"Over here! Spirit hunter, I'm here!"

With a frown, Lira glanced around, wondering who was yelling.

She caught sight of a woman, slightly shorter than she was with black, glossy hair left loose over her shoulders. The woman was dressed mostly practically, if a little strangely. Her tunic and pants left small, intentional windows of bare skin open across her forearms, sternum, sides, and thighs. She carried no weapons except a small dagger that hung loose from her hip.

"My apologies," said the woman, giving a respectful bow. "I almost didn't recognise you without your beast." She straightened up, beaming at Lira. "I'm so glad that you decided to accept my offer. The sovereign spirit has truly blessed me."

Lira took another bite of her apple. "I didn't accept any offer."

The woman hesitated but quickly followed it up with a nod. "Well, perhaps you've come to learn more, which is understandable." She gestured behind her to the small shack she'd come from. "If you'd like to come inside, I'd be happy to explain our cause. I'm sure you can understand that I had to be quick while writing my letter last night. I was afraid I might miss you and--"

"You left that letter?" said Lira. "Dear Esteemed Spirit Hunter?"

"I--yes," said the woman. "Was that not why you arrived here today? I specified this as the meeting place, shortly after sunrise. The serving girl assured me that you would receive the letter, but perhaps she failed to--"

"Oh no, that serving girl did her job just fine, and she isn't the problem I have here." Lira stepped closer, only now noticing the brooch of a crying woman collecting tears in a cup pinned to the woman's chest. She sneered. "How many damned letters is your group going to send me before you realise that I'm not interested in whatever little crusade you've got planned? Are there no other spirit hunters you can bother harassing instead?"

"My sisters ask all spirit hunters we find to join our cause," said the woman, refusing to budge an inch as her hand crept onto the hilt of her dagger. "A polite refusal would have been a far more appropriate response than this childish outburst."

"Oh, I've tried polite refusal before," said Lira. "I got harassed for two days by some idiot who couldn't figure out that no meant no. Are all of you that stupid, or was she special?"

"You're lucky I don't punish you for your disrespect, girl."

"And you're lucky that I don't let Shari eat you for making me read that same, stupid letter for the millionth time. So for now, we'll call it even."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "I don't see your spirit beast around now."

Lira just gave her an unfriendly smile. "You don't need to see her to feel her claws in your back, but it's bold of you to assume I need her to deal with you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Of course not," said Lira, stepping away and sketching a mocking bow. "It's a promise."

The woman drew her dagger, its tip pressing into the exposed skin on her thigh. "I don't believe I gave you permission to walk away from me, spirit hunter."

"Tell you what," said Lira, turning around. "If you can call me by my name, right here and now, I'll give you five minutes to convince me."

"You'll be coming with me whether you like it or not," snapped the woman. "I--"

She cut off, as behind her, Shari growled.

The woman whirled around to face Shari, who snarled and bared the full length of her gleaming fangs. The woman lowered her dagger--a smart choice, given it wasn't even spiritsteel.

"I can see we're at a disagreement," said the woman, keeping her dagger pressed to her thigh. Her voice became sweet enough to make Lira gag. "I do apologise for my outburst. I can be overzealous with my efforts to further my cause. Hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive me; I was only trying to help this world's future."

Lira snorted. "Yeah, okay. You and everyone else that's saving the world, one letter at a time. Feel free to actually do something yourself next time instead of wasting my time." She jerked her head towards Shari. "C'mon, we have a job to do."

Lira kept walking, quickly leaving the road and its town behind as she headed into the forest. Shari fell into step behind her, her pale blue glow lighting up the trees and bushes around them.

The silence of the forest was calming. Familiar. Lighter than the woods she usually lost herself in for months, with a hum in the air that announced a nearby Wilds. The weight that'd been settled in her chest since she'd entered the town last night was lifting.

"Though you were gonna ditch me for a moment," murmured Lira, giving Shari a small scratch behind the ear. Shari purred in response, which got a smile out of Lira. "I know, you haven't left me yet, but I still worry sometimes. Couldn't really blame you."

Shari flicked an ear and nudged Lira's leg with her tail.

"The girl is better where we left her," said Lira. "Though if you wanna go back and take a bite out of that other woman, I'll be more than happy to turn around right now."

Shari bared her teeth in response and shook her head.

"Yeah, yeah. Priorities and all. Doesn't mean I can't imagine otherwise."

Shari bounded forward a few steps, crouching down in front of Lira, who took the hint and unslung her bow. She climbed on Shari's back with ease, flinging her cloak out over Shari's tail, and with that, they were off.

Even if Lira had been blind, she'd have felt the moment that they crossed into Wild lands.

When a Rupture between the physical and spirit realms appeared, the realms bled into each other at an alarming rate. Though Lira didn't know what that meant within the spirit realm, in the physical world, it meant everything that couldn't run got flooded with spirit energy and changed.

It was like entering a dream state where nature was dialled up to fifteen out of ten. The air itself shimmered with magic. The grass was flowered, thick, and lush. Almost every plant exploded with growth, becoming thick and leafy in a matter of hours of being exposed, no longer entirely brown and green but a chaotic rainbow of vibrant, iridescent colours.

Some species always reacted the same way to spirit energy, others were more of a wild card. Some turned sentient and tried to eat you as you walked past. Others cured debilitating diseases or made elixirs that boosted physical attributes far past the usual limit, but those were rare and usually close to the original Rupture point.

It was easy to see why poaching had become such a profitable profession, even for those who didn't dare to try and trap the spirits who would make this Wilds their home.

Lira kept a lookout for traps as Shari ran. Despite being an extremely young Wilds, barely a few days old with its founding Rupture still open and leaking, it wouldn't surprise her if a few brave poachers had ventured in already. Most waited until it was safer, the Rupture closed and the larger, more dangerous spirits that'd come through cleared out, but not all. Though Wild lands lasted a few years after their Rupture closed, slowly reverting back to whatever they'd originally been, they were most potent with the biggest prizes at their formation.

Lira considered hanging around in these Wilds for a month or two, just long enough to... deter any ambitious poachers who decided to try their luck but quickly decided against it. Poachers weren't the only ones who came to Wild lands. She'd close the Rupture, make sure no major spirits had wandered through it only to get stuck, and get out of here as soon as she could.

They reached the ravine quickly.

Shari stopped some ten metres from the edge and crouched to let Lira off, who swung her leg over and slid off with a well practiced movement. The ravine didn't look too deep, but the sides were slippery from the water and it was far too wide for Shari to jump safely with Lira on her back--which meant it was time for plan B.

"Find me some vine?" Lira asked Shari, who immediately darted off into the trees.

Lira shrugged her cloak over one shoulder to keep it out of the way as she quickly strung her bow. The sleek spiritsteel arms sang as she ran her fingers down them, giving it an appreciative tap before fishing around in her quiver for the arrow she wanted.

Her arrows were special. They were spiritsteel, just like the rest of her weapons. She'd had them for years, ever since they'd been custom made for her by the guild. Unlike any other spirit hunter, however, she'd modified hers.

Lira found the arrow she was looking for--a slightly longer shaft with a bit of regular steel before the fletching at the ends, and two inactive blood seals carefully etched onto its head.

Shari came bounding back with a long length of vine in her mouth. Lira took it and stabbed the arrowhead through the vine. Now part of the Wilds, the vine couldn't be harmed by anything that wasn't spiritsteel--which meant the regular steel before the fletching couldn't cut it further, no matter how much it was pulled. Just to be sure, Lira wrapped a little more of the vine around the arrow, tied it off, and cut the excess with her knife.

That done, she pricked her thumb on a strategically placed spike on her bow, squeezed it to get a bead of blood, and swiped it over the seal on the arrowhead.

It was a far more complicated seal than those she usually used, more a combination of several seals than anything singular. She'd spent weeks studying to get it just right, but the effort was worth it. It'd help keep the arrow true despite the extra weight and drag of the vine, and once the arrow struck, the seal would ensure the arrow didn't come out until the seal broke, or it ran out.

With the seal active and giving off a ruby glow, Lira knocked the arrow, aimed at a sturdy looking tree on the other side of the ravine, and fired. The arrow struck home, and after a few test pulls, stayed there. Lira gave her bow to Shari, who took it in her mouth and darted up into the trees, no doubt having found her own way across.

Lira tied off the end of the vine to a nearby tree branch. The tree's bark, a weird, purple-ish colour with a pastel rainbow of leaves, immediately began growing around the vine, adopting it into its bark like it'd been there all along.

Wild lands were awe-inspiringly terrifying sometimes.

With an escape route secured, Lira grabbed as high as she could on the vine and swung across. Her boots hit the rocky side of the ravine with a thud, sending a shower of rocks down to the bottom. With the strength in her left arm, she quickly hauled herself up, all the way into the tree where her arrow sat.

One leg either side of a branch, she cancelled the blood seal, removed her arrow, and pulled the vine taut before tying it off the same way she had on the other side. That done, she jumped down the branches like an uneven staircase, swinging off the final one to land beside Shari, waiting at the bottom of the trunk.

Lira took her bow, and together, they continued towards the Rupture.

The closer they got to the Rupture, the more intense everything became. Lira began to spot a few smaller spirits among the trees, their pale blue bodies more a flicker of light than anything solid. An increasing number of plants tried to take a bite out of her but were quickly dealt with, whether by knife, claw, or both. Shari sniffed out a small pool with the tell-tale turquoise glow of healing water, where Lira refilled the special flask she always kept on her. The air swirled around them, alive and breathing, tasting their scent as it marked every one of their movements.

It wasn't until Shari hesitated, one paw lifted and held midair that Lira knew something was wrong.

She stayed silent, keeping half an eye on Shari as she glanced around, staying low in the grass. Her own instincts were sharp, but inside the Wilds, this close to a direct door into the spirit realm, Shari's were on a whole other level.

After sniffing the air, Shari caught Lira's eye. The big spirit cat tilted her head, angling an ear towards the left.

Lira cupped a hand around her own ear, which was when she heard it.

Voices.

They weren't alone in the Wilds.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Is Lira angry at everyone except Shari? Yes. Does Shari love her anyway? Also yes. 

I'm gonna throw Spirit Blood on Webnovel and see if I can figure out that site. If you happen to have an account/can be bothered, would be appreciated <3 

If anyone has any other recommendations about places to post books like Wattpad, pls let me know <3