Chapter 48: Growing Unease
"That’s... not blood," Riku stated quietly, carefully examining a bird’s wing without touching it directly. The colour was too uniform, the edges too defined, almost like a dye or a rash that had seeped into the very tissue. It felt inherently wrong.
A sudden wave of dizziness washed over Riku, a sharp, prickling sensation behind his eyes. He instinctively put a hand out to steady himself on a nearby tree trunk. For a fleeting moment, a small, almost translucent puff of reddish mist, like disturbed rust spores, seemed to coalesce above the back of his other hand before dissipating instantly into the air. He blinked, the sensation passing as quickly as it came, leaving a faint metallic taste in his mouth.
He had not really seen such a scar or felt such a feeling in his previous life, though he had days of experience in every class and had played through every content that the dev had created. In fact, he was the only one who had cleared every achievement in the game.
However, this only amplified his unease. He quickly clenched his fist. "Did you two feel that?" Riku asked, trying to keep his voice casual as he straightened up. "A bit of a dizzy spell? Or see anything... odd, just now?"
Lila frowned, looking at him with concern. "Dizzy? No, I did not feel anything. Are you ok?"
Eren shook his head. "Nothing here, Riku. Just the smell of these... things. Maybe that is getting to you" He gestured to the dead animals.
Riku forced a reassuring smile. "Yeah. must be these animals then. Or maybe I am just a bit dizzy?."
But the metallic tang lingered, and the image of that brief, crimson mist was unsettlingly vivid.
"See?" Eren said, pointing at the red rash once again and oblivious to Riku’s momentary lapse. "Never seen anything like it. It’s not poison berries; they usually cause foaming or fits. And no predator did this."