With the grim reality of Hammer Falls behind them, but the unknown dangers of the Black Pools ahead, the team resumed their journey south along the riverbank. Jett confirmed it was their only viable path for now, the fastest way to put distance between themselves and the main goblin force presumed to be moving through the woods to their west. The pace was cautious but steady, senses strained against the backdrop of Tallenwood’s returning, yet still subdued, wildlife sounds.

  Perhaps half an hour into their trek, a new strangeness began to assert itself. The air grew cold. Not the damp chill near the water, but a biting, unnatural dryness that felt utterly wrong for the season. William saw his breath plume, then Julia’s, then Caspian’s. He pulled his cloak tighter, EMMA automatically logging the anomaly. Environmental shift detected. Ambient temperature dropping below seasonal baseline.

  Then came the frost. It started subtly on shaded moss, then spread with uncanny speed, silvering ferns, outlining leaves in delicate crystalline patterns, even creeping onto the dark, damp stones near the river's edge. It glittered eerily in the dappled forest light.

  “By the heavens…” Caspian breathed, stopping to stare at a perfectly frosted spiderweb. “This is impossible. Mid-spring? There’s no meteorological explanation!”

  William activated EMMA’s environmental scanners, pushing a little mana. MP: 130/136. Mapping thermal differential… Localized hypothermic zone confirmed. Extent: Appears to follow river corridor, width indeterminate. Energy signature analysis: Faint, dispersed negative energy detected. Origin point: Unclear, seems ambient within zone. No concentrated magical source identified.

  Julia knelt, touching a frosted leaf. “It resists,” she murmured, attempting a tiny heating cantrip. The frost sizzled slightly but reformed almost instantly. “Whatever is causing this has significant power behind it, ambiently affecting the area rather than a focused spell. The scale required…” She shook her head, troubled.

  Roland tested the hilt of his sword; it was bitingly cold to the touch. “Does it affect tracking, Jett?” he asked pragmatically. “And this kind of unnatural cold… does it suggest undead?”

  Jett examined the ground. “Hardens some soil, tracks clearer there. Obscures scent slightly on frosted rock. As for undead…” He sniffed the air. “No decay. Not yet. Just… cold. And wrong.”

  They continued, the biting chill seeping into their bones, the silence punctuated only by the crunch of their boots on unexpectedly frosted leaves. The wrongness intensified the ever-present tension.

  Suddenly, Jett froze, hand raised sharply. He pointed towards a dense patch of frosted flowers fifty yards ahead. Something had moved. A flicker, too large for a squirrel, too low for a deer. Roland’s hand went to his sword. Julia gathered mana. William focused EMMA’s visual enhancers. Detecting movement… thermal signature low… intermittent motion… Jett crept forward silently, bow ready. He peered through the bushes, then relaxed fractionally, waving them forward with a slight headshake. Pushing through the leaves, they saw the cause, not goblins, but a patch of ground where the frost had melted completely away in strange, steaming patches, likely due to small geothermal vents beneath the surface, creating shifting shadows that mimicked movement. False positive, William logged. Threat assessment revised: Low. Environmental anomaly noted. But the brief spike of adrenaline left them all feeling more exposed, their nerves stretched tighter in the unnaturally cold, silent woods.

  They pressed on for another hour, the frost gradually becoming less pervasive, though the air remained unnaturally chill. Rounding a bend where the river widened slightly, pooling before narrowing again downstream, Jett halted them once more. This time, his gesture was not cautionary, but grimly pointed towards the bank just ahead.

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  Sprawled awkwardly, well above the current water line, lay a carcass. Large, skeletal, with ragged strips of hide and sinew still clinging to massive bones. It had been picked clean, but not by time or normal scavengers. The bones themselves looked almost scoured, some snapped cleanly, indicating immense force. Its placement was utterly wrong – nothing could have washed ashore here, this high up, in this condition.

  William felt a cold fist clench in his stomach. The size, the shape of the visible skull… EMMA, scan bio-residue. Cross-reference database entry 'JETT-PROCURED-01'.

  EMMA’s response was instant. Scan complete. Residual organic matter analysis… Positive ID Match Confirmed: 'JETT-PROCURED-01' (Wild Boar). Discrepancy Alert! Original disposal vector = River Current (Post-Hammer Falls Apex). Current Location = East Riverbank (Elevation +2.1m Above Current Waterline). Probability of natural deposition via current/flood dynamics: <0.01%. Hypothesis: External Entity Intervention - Certainty: 99.8%. Additional Analysis: Bone damage inconsistent with typical predator marks (goblin or wolf). Indicates extreme crushing/tearing force. Method of relocation from river to bank: Unknown.

  “It's...” William’s voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. “It's the boar. Our boar.”

  The words hung in the cold air. Julia gasped, covering her mouth. Caspian stumbled back, eyes wide with horror. Jett had an arrow nocked, scanning the dark water, the opposite bank, the trees. Roland swore, low and viciously, sword drawn fully now.

  This wasn't a random kill. This wasn't natural. This was a message. A display. Something had plucked their offering, or perhaps just the convenient carcass, from the river miles upstream, after the impassable rapids, hauled it bodily onto the bank, stripped it bare with terrifying efficiency, and left it here.

  William felt a surge of nausea mixed with analytical horror. Revisiting Herbert’s warning. Probability of large, powerful aquatic/amphibious entity downstream: Upgraded to High. He thought of his quiet offering. Appeasement protocol effectiveness: Likely zero. Potential unintended consequence: Attracted hostile attention? Analyse carcass state further… Tool marks? No. Teeth marks? Indeterminate scale, immense power. Intelligence level of entity: Sufficient for deliberate placement/potential warning display. Conclusion: Avoid Black Pools region at all costs.

  Silence stretched, thick with fear and the implications of the grisly display.

  “Status?” Roland finally demanded, his voice tight, eyes never leaving the tree line. “Jett, anything approaching?”

  “Nothing immediate,” Jett reported, still scanning. “No tracks here but the drag marks leading from the water. Whatever did this… wasn't clumsy.”

  “This changes the assessment significantly,” Julia said, her voice strained. “This implies power, perhaps intelligence, operating in the river ahead. Far beyond a simple beast.”

  Caspian swallowed hard. “River guardians… spirits… ancient things… stories often depict them as fiercely territorial, leaving… warnings… for trespassers.”

  William voiced the conclusion forming in all their minds. “The entity Herbert warned about is almost certainly real. And powerful. And likely resides in or near the Black Pools downstream. Continuing along the river seems… statistically unwise.”

  Roland nodded grimly, processing this new, terrifying data point. For a moment, William saw the commander weigh their options, plunge back into the relatively unknown dangers of the deep woods to bypass the river entirely, or continue along the bank, hoping to skirt the creature's domain while still making southward progress?

  “We can't afford a deep forest detour now,” Roland decided, his voice hard. “Too slow, too uncertain, Jett can't navigate blind indefinitely. We stick to the riverbank, well back from the water's edge where possible. We move faster now, daylight is burning. Eyes open, weapons ready. Assume we are being watched.” He glared at the boar carcass. “And hope that whatever left this prefers the water.” He gave a sharp signal. “Move out!”

  They left the chilling tableau behind, pushing onward with renewed urgency, the earlier exhaustion momentarily burned away by fresh fear. The unnatural chill lingered in the air, the silence of the woods felt deeper, more menacing, and the dark water of the river beside them now seemed to hide more than just submerged rocks. It hid teeth.