We had a goal, however lofty, but to get there would take a serious amount of manhours, predominantly mine. And it started as all my problems seemed to start these days. The need for shelter, food, and water. Cogar had to be safe for a couple of days to mend his wounds, and time was an issue so that he could not spare much of it to focus on anything but his healing. That were his words anyway. I did not think him a liar or malicious, but I could not help but wonder if he sought to relax on my hard work for a few days. Then again, he had lost an arm and was healing it with Skills I could not begin to understand. This was not the time to be small-minded.

We had briefly spoken about our first steps. We needed a place to stay, sheltered enough to keep a fire going at all times. The fire would protect us from the smaller beasts of the Wyld, but neither Cogar nor me had any idea if that protection would extend to the likes of a spiritual White Beast. That was but the start. Once safe and with access to a campfire, we needed food. Lots of food. Cogar had not explained much, but I could puzzle together this riddle. I had watched him heal himself before, and he had used his body mass to fuel the regrowth of his arm. He had lost a good chunk of his hefty physique, and judging by the progress he had made, he would need lots of energy more, and that meant lots of food. The rest of his agenda was resting, recharging and meditation to use his Skills most efficiently. That meant that the collection of wood for the fire, water, and hunting was my job. But first, we had to find the shelter.

I was tempted to use the coin of the Wanderer. I was kind of lost here. Behind us the wooded hills and the marshlands in front of us, I could not really imagine what kind of shelter could protect us from a beast of legends. For a son of the mountains, it was hard to think of anything other but caves and small spaces enclosed by boulders or something like that. The coin had led me here and would have further led me down into the marshes. I neither wanted to lose the direction to whatever was in the marshes for me nor would I want to go there under these new circumstances. Hunting in the marshes sounded awful. The only thing I could imagine being worse was being hunted in the marshes.

But Cogar proved himself to be familiar with the wilderness, of course. He had spent his life not exactly here, because of the heart of the Wyld, but in similar areas and knew what to look out for. We marched back in a sweeping arc, collecting what firewood we found on the way. In the end, the task was clear. Find a source of water, such as the small river that fed into the swamp waters, and follow it back, until you find a place that is suitable.

We found such a place a few hours down the line. It was a rather steep hill that had groups of trees growing on its flanks. We chose a place on the flank of the hill dense with trees. Both hill and trees would obscure the smoke and light of the fire, and the trees were dense enough that a normal-sized bear would have trouble squeezing through. As was the case for Cogar and his massive frame, of course. We had very little room. We could sit with a fire in the middle, but just so. That little circle of trees would have to do. I could spend time improving the shelter against rain and wind as time went on, assuming I had time to spare after hunting and gathering.

Cogar began building one of his complex fires with the wood we had brought and I took a good long look towards the hill, to remember it in the case of losing it, and went out foraging.

Which was a disaster. Circumstance dictated to try as hard as I could, but the thought of me catching something with a hammer and a sentient chain was all but ridiculous. But I tried. I roamed out in circles, collecting wood and making a few runs to fill all waterskins, and returned to the wilderness again to search a little farther away. Hours passed by while I fruitlessly chased game that only existed in my imagination, or so it seemed. Every time I returned, the stack of firewood grew roughly an armful.

I gave it an honest try, but after hours and hours of useless sneaking about without even catching a glimpse of an animal, I called it quits. I did not return to the fire and Cogar, but stayed outside. There would be meat on the menu tonight. I just had to get it the hard way.

The sun went down and I finally got up. My good old Ravenbeak in my right hand, swinging idly back and forth. Zero was in my left, but I only gripped him loosely. He laid still, but I could feel him quiver in excitement and expectation.

I walked slowly around the trees I knew Cogar meditating behind. The light of the campfire just barely touched the ground outside here. I activated [Eyes to Pierce the Darkness] to scan my surroundings. Finally!

"Cogar, now!“ I yelled out. I had not planned to need much of his help, but this step was too handy and too useful to ignore it. Something answered from the other side of the trees and the ring of light, even though the light of the campfire was hindered by the trees, expanded outwards, as Cogar activated his little trick with the powder and his Skills from the safety of the hut.

The light raced to the bushes to my left and stopped there, but a surprised yelp of fear answered nonetheless, as the light burned in the eyes of a predator, until then sneaking towards me in an attempt to catch me unaware and outside of the protection of the fire.

I reacted quickly, swung Zero through the air with force, smashing him down on the bushes, trusting him to find the real enemy on his own. I heard a wet squelch and soon Zero buckled and danced in my hand, as he fought with his other end. It took some time, but then his free end wrapped around my wrist. The sign we had agreed upon that he had caught the target. I took a stable stance, gripped my end of the chain, and pulled.

I heard a combination of multiple yelps and growls, then the resistance was gone and something heavy smashed on the ground in the circle of light. It was a diffuse light and even situation at best, but what I saw was a tangled mess of furry limbs and the steel of zero glistening in the light, who had wrapped himself around as many legs as he could have with the space he had. Which were much more than 4. I dragged the thing, as tall as a horse, maybe an inch over the ground, soon realizing that I was not strong enough to do more than to topple it, and jumped forward instead, smashing my hammer with wild abandon into the bundle of limbs.

Squelching noises and cracking bones, wherever my hammer found purchase answered my assault. The red hot blood was flowing richly and I already thought to have it in the bag. Suddenly, there was a head, vaguely reminding me of a badger and a rat, and teeth clamping down at my vambraces, coming out of nowhere. I screamed in surprise, I had thought the front of the thing on the other side. [Stonehide]! Just as the metal of my vambraces squealed under the force of the bite, ragged stone erupted everywhere on my body to cover me. I heard the teeth of the thing breaking, as he ground them to splinters on the stone. I had to pump all my Mana into the stone, and even then I could feel the pressure on my arm and the flesh bruising, as he shook his head violently to tear me apart. In the scuffle, I had lost grip of Zero, who had used the moment to wrap himself around more of the thing, ever growing tighter.

I stumbled back as the [Stonehide] finally just exploded under the force of the bite. Luckily it was not my end, because the face of the thing had recoiled as well under the shower of sharp rocks exploding in his mouth. Now I knew what to look out for. But I did not find it.

The creature was some kind of mammal centipede with fur and claws, big as a horse but much longer. And it had limbs as legs on the ground, all kinds imaginable, hooves, paws, and claws, but it had an equal amount of extremities whirling above him. And there were multiple groups of eyes and teeth, even heads. At the front, at the back, and even on some of the limbs. What a fucking nightmare! My revulsion cost me precious seconds in which the thing thrashed on the ground trying to break the chain. But Zero held. And then there was Cogar, jumping out of his hiding place, cutting a limb with an overhand chop with his axe. The axe was too heavy to wield with one hand and finesse, but raising it and letting it smashing down was possible as had been demonstrated quite impressively. We had discussed beforehand that he should let me do it alone, but he obviously thought I needed the help and he was right.

This was so much more than I had bargained for. I don't know what I had expected. Mean wolfs with glowing eyes maybe? Or that the circle of protection would help us more? The creature feared the light but seemed in no way impeded by it. I jumped back into the fight, seeing my comrades locked in battle, and roared in defiance of the very existence of that thing. My hammer smashed bones once again. I wanted it to focus on me. Everything would be for naught if Cogar managed to get wounded again. If I could grab the attention of the thing, I could let the Wyldling do the killing while concentrating on making it out alive. And several mouths shut close in front of my face, snapping after me, while the whole body rolled over the ground, still not able to properly move thanks to Zero. I smashed one head to the side with a swing of the Ravenbeak, brain matter splashing on the ground, but there were more heads. One seemed to have needle-thin teeth because I felt them piercing my chain shirt and felt blood rushing down my torso. It began to throw me around, first shoving me off my feet, then slamming me down hard. My breath got pushed out of my body. It let go of me, trying to get something tastier than the steel of my armor. It opened wide, the long and scarily thin teeth, so many of them and in rows like the mouth of a lamprey, aimed for my head. Before I could scream and before the head impacted with me, I saw the head of an enormous axe smash in the ground with a thud.

It was like magic, at first there was a nightmare and then, thud, an axe. I stared at the weapon, then at Cogar who tried to free it from the ground, and finally, I heard the head landing on the ground somewhere to the side. It took a few more swings of both axe and hammer after that, but finally, the creature laid still. And dead, as far as I could tell. Lily agreed.

[Nightmare of the Wyld defeated! Reward: 11 EP]

"Holy Shit.“ I spat, leaning heavily on my hammer. "What the fuck is that thing.“

Cogar just stared at it with a similar look of distaste on his face. "I would never have thought the beasts of the Wyld to be ...this. Or I would never have agreed. It must be worse here, were the Wyld is stronger.“

I looked at him in disbelief. "You do not know about these things?“

"We know the night to be deadly. It is why we take very good care not to be far from a fire if night falls. But we never go out there. They don't come to the fire and we don't come to the darkness. We only know of the sounds. Of course, we have our stories and legends and an abomination like that I have never heard of.“

I studied the corpse with greater care. It was, as far as I could tell, an amalgamation of different beasts and animals, fused together to a nightmarish creature. There were pincers, claws, snouts, claws, hooves, beaks and so much more. That was the influence of the Wyld?

"Can you eat that?“ I asked Cogar

He shrugged and came to me to study the remains as well. "Looks like normal animals to me, but combined. But the Wyld will be strong in its flesh. I would not. But I have no choice. You though? Should not.“

"I would never have dreamt of it.“ I said. Suddenly I had a thought, and a mean giggle made his way out of my throat.

"What is funny?“ Cogar asked.

"I just thought of the absurd battles of the most hideous of creatures that must be fought at night between the creatures of the deeps and these nightmares“

Cogar tilted his head in thought. And nodded. "None of them will ever know if they are biting the front or the back of his enemy.“