Silently Asana crouched beneath the shadows of the dense bamboo trees. Willing herself to blend into the darkness of the night and hoped the moon wouldn’t betray her position. Nothing stirred save the sound of her own heartbeat and the occasional flutter of wings above.
Then it came, leaves cracking on the ground nearby, so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. Instinctively she held her breath and peeked through the cracks between the bamboo. A large form was stalking around the other side. A full grown tiger. Lean and powerful, with fangs and claws to match. It moved cautiously, sniffing the air as it edged closer to her hiding spot.
Damn it all, she thought in annoyance. How was it still tracking her? That is one determined cat…or a seriously hungry one. Either way, she wasn’t about to take that on in a fight. Not here and not at night. The only weapon on her was a small utility knife. Hardly useful at all, a last resort.
Slowly Asana reached down and picked up a decent sized stone. She tested the weight in her palm for a few moments then tossed it with all her strength in a random direction. It clattered loudly off a tree, causing the tiger to let out a growl and pounce after it. She took the opportunity to leave and carefully dashed away. That wouldn’t fool it for very long. If she could just find a shelter or civilization somewhere…
She ran for a few minutes then almost without warning the trees parted and a pandaren house come into view. Smoke poured from the chimney and the windows lit with warm golden light, but the curtains were drawn. Thank you! Without hesitation she vaulted over the fence into the yard and immediately slammed her knee into something hard and stone-like. She had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out and alerting everything nearby.
She whispered a curse while rubbing her leg then looked at what hit her. It wasn’t a rock, it was…a pandaren child! Wait, no…a statue? Interested, she knelt down for a closer inspection. The statue was carved from jade in the likeness of a young boy cub. She ran her fingers over the smooth green gemstone. Amazing, it was so lifelike…almost eerily so. Every contour of the face and body was perfect to the most minute details. Even the slightly horrified expression the kid wore. How lovely. What master artisan could have crafted such a thing? It was very surreal.
Asana looked up at the rest of the yard and gaped in surprise to find more statues just like it everywhere. There were dozens of them! Males, females, children and adults alike. All strewn around randomly like some warped expression of yard decoration. It was a little freaky in her opinion. Keeping her eyes and ears pricked for movement, she stood up and strolled through the yard to explore out of curiosity. Behind the house were even more of them surrounding a shallow pond. A few were even displayed on towering pedestals.
The more she looked, the more uneasy it made her. Partly due to the sheer quantity of them, but also because each one looked frightened for some reason. Why would they be carved that way? All thoughts of knocking on the door to see who lived here were already fading. This goes beyond just normal hobbies and quirks and breaches into extreme levels of strangeness. Even by her standards.
She knelt down before another statue, this one of a little girl. Like all of the others it was refined to insane levels of detail. Even the folds of her clothing were animated perfectly. The girl wore a small medallion emblazoned with a symbol Asana couldn’t read. Yet she recognized it. Why did she recognize it? Searching her memories flashed another image in mind. A different girl back at Dawn’s Blossom who also wore a similar necklace…Xia! Ah, that’s right.
“I miss my sister…I hope they find her soon,” Xia had said to her just days ago as they played in the streets of the lively town.
Asana looked at her inquisitively, “I heard another story like that from someone else. Do people disappear around here often?” she asked probing for information.
The little cub shook her head and skipped a rock across the water in the pond. It bounced only once before sinking. “Sometimes. It’s easy to get lost out there. There’s lots of trees and big animals. Sometimes the adults find them or they come home on their own. And sometimes they don’t…they say there’s a witch in the woods who gets them…” The girl paused with tears welling her eyes.
A witch, eh? Interesting. Asana reached down and patted her head. “It’s alright, little one. I’m sure they’ll find her soon. Also you suck at skipping rocks, let me teach you how a master does it.”
She snapped out of the memory and glanced at the statues again. A new darker realization hitting her about why these were so lifelike and why there were so many stories of disappearances in recent years. She shot a wary look towards the cottage, but again it was quiet within. If someone was inside did they already know she was here? Could she have tripped wards of some kind by entering the yard? Hmm…best not to chance it. But this couldn’t be ignored.
An idea came to her, the beginnings of a plan. But it would take a little time to prepare. Grinning to herself, she jumped over the fence and vanished back into the night-shrouded forest. The “witch” was going to get an unpleasant greeting.
