• The entire town of Verona was gone. Had been for 4 years. Those who survived the blast and the following tsunami had up and gone by now - all except for the town's guild leader, Jude. He wanted to wait it out, to see if anyone would come back to rebuild.

    They didn't, and apparently wouldn't.

    The guild leader, an archer, was raised in what was once a coastal metropolis of sorts, but he had mastered all sorts of survivalist skills - the jungle beyond Verona had only become overgrown in the past 2 years, but even before the "Rupture," the Verlassenwald was still a dangerous area. The guild was practically the guardsmen of Verona - for over 400 years, the Verona Guards, as it was formally titled, was the shining example of the kingdom of Caina. With no more guild members to stave off the beasts, however, the forest's natives resumed taking control.

    The archer knew what to kill for food and how to kill the rest. The residents called him crazy for spending half of his family inheritance on survival kit supplies and ammunition for his longbow. Most of his critics were dead now, but Jude was laughing.

    The sun was setting. Another day, another lonely night. Another reason to be proud of his skills

    He spotted a visitor on the shoreline. A large crustacean with the appearance of a crawfish. He nocked his arrow and aimed without drawing. His master and former guild leader had trained him to aim without using the arrow as a guide - turned out to be a good tactic, so not to unnecessarily stretch the bow string. He drew back the string and released.

    A crunch.

    He smiled.

    The "big crawdaddy," as Jude called their species, had stopped moving. He would feast tonight, with some of the local vegetation safe for eating as sides. Of course, he'd need to grab spices to make a boil, but he would also need to move fast. The other "big daddies" would be coming soon after evening tide. They always did, in swarms. A dangerous enemy. Jude knew not to try fighting them in groups, especially since his spare dagger and short sword were back at his shelter.

    He hauled his kill back to the shelter and into the pot. He had to be quick. The Animated residing in the jungle loved to come out at night. They were mercifully lacking in intelligence, and Jude always knew how to hide, so any encounters were few and far between. But what they lacked in intelligence, these Animated compensated with brute strength. Only a waste of arrows would kill one of these Lovecraftian beasts, as Jude's former comrade and teacher, Alain, once called them before the latter left for safer grounds.