My own eyes were unable see the enemies that were spread out in the grass around me. I knew that they were there only because the Companion had shared its memories with me, revealing the area around us in an incredibly detailed bird’s-eye-view. I could see the creatures hiding, but it seemed unlikely that they would continue to wait for long.

I would need to strike as fast and as lethally as possible, before the creatures had a chance to launch their own attack. I closed my eyes, trying to build an image in my mind that contained the location of each of the bulbs and their direction and distance relative to myself.

As I reviewed the memories, I could see myself standing on a small bald hill, like an island sticking up above waves of grass. Spores had spread out to fill the air around me with a blue haze as they danced upon eddies of wind that whirled them into tight spirals and dizzying patterns.

Below the haze, eight lines of rippling grass encircled me. Each row was rushing towards me from a different direction. Only the unusual pattern of movement showed that anything was wrong. Nothing could be seen within the ripples and they created no noise as they sped through the grass, parting it slightly behind them.

The Companion was showing me its memories from moments before I was attacked – seven of the ripples came to a sudden stop and the grass began to weave together before growing into tall bulbs that appeared directly behind where the ripples had ended.

The eighth ripple did not stop, instead exploding into motion as claws and matted fur crashed into me from behind.

My inattention had led me to not only become surrounded, but also sucker punched by what was obviously an attack meant to test my defenses. The intelligence and coordination this showed terrified me. If humankind lost our only advantage over beasts, then what hope did we have to thrive in this new environment?

The rat-plant thing that had attacked me proved that they were capable of incredible levels of stealth as well as debilitating sneak attacks. I wasn’t sure I could handle the remaining monsters if they were able to get the drop on me. So far, they had remained hidden, but it had only been a scant few seconds since the first attack had ended.

I would need to either attack all seven at the same time or find a way to defend against their immediate counter attack. I hated being on the defensive as it always felt like a losing strategy. Luckily, the Companion had its own ideas about how we should handle the situation.

Whatever the Companion might be, it was not subtle. It had shared with me images detailing its plan to take out the creatures, though calling it a plan might be giving it too much credit. I sighed as I mentally agreed with the Companion, giving it my permission to act.

Now was not the time to reign in its blood lust, or its twisted sense of humor.

The Companion turned into a cloud of black and red smoke that flickered with its own internal light. The sun still shone in a clear blue sky above a field of rolling green and spinning sapphire, and yet for a moment it was is if all color was drained from the world save for that infernal red glimmer.

I snapped out of the moment as I heard the familiar sounds of bones cracking. The slain rat-plant creature had slowly begun to rise from the ground with slow, twisting motions. It looked unnatural, as if strings attached the creature to a sinister puppeteer.

At first, the creature’s stance was unsteady, and it wobbled upon weak knees and its head jerked back and forth in erratic, spine-cracking motions. The limbs quickly stiffened as the Companion brought the corpse under its control, and the creature gave out a roar as it charged forward and disappeared into the grass.

As this was happening I activated the arcane shield spell and then filled everything around me with illusionary smoke that I sent deep into the grass, trying to fill the void between each blade. The Companion would be unaffected by the illusion, but the plant-animal creatures would hopefully be blinded.

I also hoped to play upon the creature’s natural fear of fire.

My ability to give these shadow illusions ‘realness’ allowed the smoke to take on a viscous quality that would cling to anything it touched, hampering their movements.

I felt the companion reach its first target, sharp fangs bit into cold flesh as vines wrapped around limbs. My mind was full of confusing images shared through my link with the Companion, and I could sense the metallic taste of blood as it slid across the companion’s tongue. Apparently, the strips of flesh it had torn from the body of its current host had not been enough to satisfy its appetite.

As soon as the Companion met the first enemy I followed the plan and opened the Eye of Madness, choosing to use it as a group depuff rather than focusing it on a single object. I could feel a physical eye appear in the middle of my forehead, closed but slowly opening.

As the eye snapped open I was filled with images of fire, my eyes stung, and I could taste smoke as it sought to invade my lungs. I coughed, grabbing at my throat as if I could not breathe. I looked around to see an inferno had consumed the grassland around me. Screams rose up like the howls of the earth itself – rising from beneath my feet in a deep rumble.

I was lost in the illusion for a moment, but I would not allow myself to succumb to my own attack. I pushed the images away, using every shred of willpower I had left. As reality returned the rumbling screech rising from the ground crashed into me, sending my hands up to my ears.

The earth shook, not in a steady rhythm, but in large, violent jerks as if explosions were being set off deep below. The grass began to sway and stretch out in every direction as if reaching for something. I could feel the pain, each blade of grass a single nerve that exploded in agony as fire consumed it. My own nerves cried out in sympathy and I sank to my knees as I fought back against the pain.

The eye upon my forehead threatened to close, but I forced it to remain open. I needed only a few more moments…

My pain resistance did little to block the illusory pain as my muscles clenched and my vision began to swim, my sight filled up with bright white dots. I held out, feeding the pain into my anger – allowing my rage to grow rather than succumb to the weakness.

I stood and looked out over the grassy field once more. I had it, the location of each creature was blazoned into my mind. The Companion transformed once more as a kingfisher exploded into the air. The beak and claws of the bird effortlessly tore through each skull as easily as it had torn into the skull of the first rat.

My concern did not lessen, however, as I was drawn into a greater connection – a link between each of the slain monsters. Deep beneath me was … something, roots growing up from it until they burst from the ground. The grass around me was one organism, everything connected by a labyrinth of roots and controlled by a single mind.

My third eye was slowly drawn downwards, and I fell to my knees. I could feel myself slowly losing my grip on reality. It was becoming harder to tell who I was, the man or the plant beneath his feet, and the feeling of my nerves burning soon became unbearable.

I let the third eye disappear, and I slowly stood once more. I felt a dull ache in my chest, and my breathing was heavy and came in uncontrolled gasps broken up by deep coughs that rattled my chest. At the same time, I could feel the earth beginning to quiet and as I looked out I saw the grass, or at least what looked like grass, go still.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the grass began to sink into the ground, leaving behind a plain of dirt filled with small holes and littered with corpses. It was like standing on a giant scalp and watching strands of hair being sucked back into the skin – incredibly unsettling.

The newly bare earth revealed seven bodies laid out around me in an almost a perfect circle. Each corpse had either a large bulb or a red and gold flower growing from its back, and thick tendrils of plant matter growing into its flesh. They were not all the same creature, however.

I saw two more of the mutant rats, now dead and broken. Among the dead were also what looked like a giant praying mantis, a horse and some kid of dog that had grown as large as a sedan and was covered in thick cords of bulging and asymmetric musculature. The remaining two bodies were too mutilated to recognize, other than being able to tell that they had been some kind of quadruped.

I didn’t truly understand what kind of creature I was up against, but it seemed clear it was retreating. It was impossible to say for how long it would do so. A panicked and cornered creature the size of an entire golf course was not something I felt ready to take on directly. As effective as the Eye of Madness had been, it would have diminishing returns and was nearly as debilitating to myself as it was to any potential enemy.

The companion was in its avian form, once more feasting on carrion while showing no distinction between flesh and plant. It seemed to be absorbing eldritch energy directly from the air and I could see no benefit to its meal. Any additional energy it absorbed from the meat would be almost unnoticeable.

The battle hadn’t done much for me either, as I had gained only a single level in Eye of Madness as well as roughly enough XP to progress ten percent towards my next class level. I didn’t stick around to examine these gains, however, instead choosing to escape while I still had the chance.

I put as much distance between the site of the battle as I could and quickly eliminated most of the distance across the golf course. The black tar of a nearby road soon came into view, and I poured everything I had into the sprint as if I was in the final stretches of a race.

I quickly reached my destination, but what I found there almost made me want to turn around and take my chances with the sentient golf course.

The road was cracked and overgrown and had the empty shells of cars littering its length. Across the street I saw a large building with a green roof, now caved in and spilling bricks and green shingles into the street.

The more important detail was the large metallic box as large as a single-story house and supported by wheels as high as I was tall. It was angular and sleek, and painted with white lines and alien letters. Three large turrets stood atop its roof, and many smaller guns lined its sides.

Standing atop the vehicle, still halfway inside a hatch, was a familiar face.

“I see you’ve managed to survive, Mr. Finn,” said the machine voice of Sebbit’s translator.