When Cogar finally emerged from the hut again, the sky still had not changed. I had problems tracking the time without the leading light of the sun, but I had rested from my earlier endeavors and was already considering skinning and cooking the reptile. A few hours had passed at least. The threat of the creatures of the deep flooding the lands of the living was increasing with every hour the sun was not up. That was if my worst assumptions about the neverending numbers of ink-creatures of darkness were real. Even the huge creature of mystery I had seen in the silent city might be able to walk the earth under these circumstances, and what would happen then?

Cogar looked distressed and his hands wandered through his hair while he bit his lips absently. With remarkably sharp teeth. When did that happen? Did he always have canines that distinctive? And his hair was just…more. It was not quite a mane, but he had changed. I figured now was not the time to break the news to him.

“I am not sure if I have reached them. Because I am the fucking [Fire Keeper] of Clan Bear and am nowhere near their fucking fire to keep it.” He swore.

“They won’t be surprised. They have been fighting them for days and days. If they even are still fighting at all. Calm down!”

“I am calm!” he roared at me with unprecedented anger “If I wasn’t away from my clan for no fucking reason, I wouldn’t have that problem now, would I?”

“Why don’t you go ahead and kill that white stinking beast and go home then? Or go and die with the rest of them, sneaking levels and experience while the big boys are busy sacrificing my people?” I screamed at him.

“You spirits-cursed human with your stupid coin and your vows led me right to the heart of the Wyld. I would never have met a White Beast if not for your insolence or idiocy!”

We were in a full-on screaming match now, fists balled, heads red, and tempers rising.

“You better calm the fuck down right now, you cow. Or you end up saying something you might regret.”

“Like what? Is that a threat? You are not even a man in your rotten country, and I eat those for breakfast!”

In the end, I do not know who threw the first punch. Might very well have been me. I clipped his jaw with my knuckles, drawing blood on his face and my hands. At the same time, his fist impacted with my stomach, throwing me backwards retching and coughing. We both stumbled backwards, looking at each other in stunned silence, but burning anger rolling up through our veins. It was inevitable. We had been cordial, even friendly with one another. But we had been enemies from the start, and I had kind of kidnapped him after saving his life. I would describe our relationship as complicated. Gods, at this moment I wanted nothing more than to kick his stupid horns off his stupid face.

He went for me first, fist raised, swinging wildly even with the stump of his arm. I was no fist-fighter, but I was no boy anymore either. I had my experience with a few struggles and I had my Core Skills. And while his strength and maybe resilience were still superior to mine, whether he had a Skill or was just that strong, to begin with I did not know, I had the advantage in speed and agility. That is why Twice-Born was so strong in general. A [Warrior] class might grant [Improved Strength] or something similar, or a [Ranger] might get an agility Skill that would make its owner superhuman in that specific area of expertise. But Twice-Born could just buy those and be slightly superhuman in any field and have an edge to most opponents in at least some physical aspect. But it came down to real skill, as in most cases. He was a beast unarmed, no pun intended, practiced and dangerous. I was a noble that never had to fight with his fists, save for the time I spent in the Abyss. And I wouldn’t say that had improved my skills at pugilism.

He dished out more than he took, but he took a beating wherever I could land a punch or kick. But it was clear who would win in the end, if we really went at it. We were exhausted first, long after the initial anger had been pummeled out of us. We stared at each other for a few seconds, wiping the blood from our faces. Neither one of us was still whole-heartedly in the mood to beat the other one up. It felt so stupid in hindsight.

“Stay back.” He finally said gravely, turned on his heel, and marched out of the camp, just grabbing his axe on the way out.

I followed him of course. It was night now, for however long, and I could sneak at night with the best of them thanks to my Skills. I held my distance though, just so I could still see him with [Eyes to Pierce the Darkness]. I wanted to watch him. I was angry and hurt, but I would not risk it all by letting him get eaten by a crocodile or what have you. He still had not recovered his hand, he still was not back at full fighting strength. So, I swallowed pride and resentment of the moment and watched him as best as I could from the safety of the hill and foliage.

Thankfully, he just wanted to let off steam. He went to the river to wash his bloody face and then investigated the footprints and other marks left by the beast. He had some kind of light in his hand, that I could not quite make out at that distance. Then I turned and sprinted back to the fire as I noticed my mistake. It was night! I reached the safety of the campfire without any incident, it only had been a couple of dozen steps, but in my emotional turbulence, I had not thought to consider the dangers that stalked the night here in the Wyld. I did not want to meet another Nightmare. Cogar must have had another light with him with the same protective properties as the campfire. Was it just light? A part of a campfire? What was the magic involved here?

Damn him! He even had the mind to tell me to stay back. That could have been dangerous. So, he had a way to work at night while I was confined to the campfire now? I did not expect him to be back for a while, and I knew him to be a decent survivalist, so I took the gambit to enter meditation for a couple of hours after I had found myself a snug and secure place at the fire and after roasting a chunk of crocodile leg while I was at it.

I opened my eyes to the beauty of my Demesne. All was good here. Well, almost everything.

“Hey, Lily!” I greeted her.

“Hannibal.” She said. “I am kind of concerned about how you handle interpersonal relationships. I mean it is the first person you met since I've known you, and I do not quite know If that is your standard practice, but it seems to me you should not fight allies?”

“It is all good. It had to get out of our systems. I had it coming for a long time.”

“Well, you were lucky, both of you. The vow was completed yesterday morning, so you did not break it.”

I nodded. “Let us not do this right now, I am on a break from that stupid Wyldling. You said something about gates in your last notification?”

“Right! The probe you sent out has a possible connection you can consider establishing. A place called the Fulcrum. The impression I got from the probe and the communicated rules is that the place values its neutrality above all. That means that there is no moral agenda or exclusivity to what you might call good, evil or whatever.”

“Do you think it is what we are looking for?”

“I am a creature of the Wanderer ultimately, created by his power. And as such, I hold similar ideals. And he is a god that does not care for good or evil. Only freedom of choice. And he would choose such a place. Because you can barter with everyone there. More choice will lead to more everything for you. More buyers for things to sell, and remember that you might have things to sell that would be strictly forbidden to move in another place.”

“That does not make me feel good. It is anarchy over there? Or is it a place with laws?”

“It is a place where barter is held higher than anything else. If you go back on your word or cheat or violate the trade agreements, you will be barred and hunted. And greed is a force that will hold most entities in check.”

“Before I do anything, let us talk over the security issues once again. What do I have to fear and what can I do about it?”

“When you are there you are there with the body you have now. Which you can change as you wish by the way, even if it is a bit hard to imagine yourself to be something you are not. But if you want to disguise yourself, put on a mask or something and you are good to go. You will be exposed to all kinds of powerful entities. There is no telling what they can or cannot do to you. I advise refraining from searching for more trouble. The will of the visitors to trade should be enough to protect you from the worst. But it is a dangerous place.”

“What about here? My Demesne? You said that once I am open to Limbo, I have to consider attackers.”

“Well, you know that this is a problem. You can throw essence at it right now and enable me to defend it. But what if an attacker has more power? Then you would have wasted everything. Ask yourself the question: What do you have to lose? What secret do you wish to keep to yourself, that could be discovered here?”

I really thought about it. There were the imprisoned souls of the betrayers, my Skills, paradigms and portfolio, the souls, and my history in form of the tree and the lights. All things I wasn’t too keen on letting others know about. And I had my essence, shards, and the unused Skills in my skill book to lose, I reckoned. But the plan was to sell or spent all of those as quickly as possible, which was a big part of the reason to go to a place of barter in the first place.

My best defense was insignificance. Maybe I could find something to buy that would allow me to protect my Demesne. But then again, I would need other things first.

“Lily, what is the bare minimum I have to spend to give you a metaphysical body? I know you won’t be able to fight much off, but maybe you can talk or negotiate or something?”

“I guess that’s possible. I need a 100 Ep minimum for the body. Give me 50 extra for a weapon, so I can at least fight off or even destroy probes. If they can’t find you, they can’t rob you. Maybe I can buy you some time to find a real solution. That would be 127 Essence with your unity of 65%.”

“Done.” I said and willed the amount to her little form. I could see no change, but she tested out her weapon immediately and shot a thin light blue stream of energy out of her bright center.

“That feels good! I won’t let you down, Hannibal.”

“I really need you to come through for me here, Lily.”

“You will not regret it.”

“Thanks, Lily. So that makes my total…”

“You still have 634 raw Essence and 275 Shards.”

“That just has to be enough for something to help us.”

“Oh, I assure you, that you have enough raw essence for one or two upgrades. The challenge is finding something worthwhile.”

It was finally time. I watched my gate open up in front of me, darkness and space warping behind it, as I willed it to make the connection permanent that my little probe had scouted out. Stars danced and specks of light shot through the space behind the door before the vision stabilized and I could see a little circular room, only outfitted with a few cushions on the floor and a door made out of wood. The whole image flickered and seemed to be projected from very far away. I willed a simple mask of smooth, dark wood to existence, to cover my facial features and wrapped myself in my cloak, hood up.

I took a deep breath. Time to put on the social pants. I could only hope I had not forgotten too much of the long hours of boring lessons I had to go through in my youth. I stepped through the portal and one gut-wrenching feeling later emerged in the trading hub that was the Fulcrum.