For the first time in my life, I actually had a slight inclining why some people enjoyed reality TV. Using magical scrying to watch the Centaurs of the camp I had inundated with Miasma, fighting against the randomly appearing Nethersprites, scurrying about, trying to figure out the best ways to kill such foes, it was remarkably entertaining. There even was a small part of me that wondered if there was a way to make popcorn, but without corn, that idea was doomed from the start.

The best thing about the attacking Nethersprites was that they seemed to open holes and tears in the anti-scrying field of the camp, allowing me to take a much closer look, to the point that I had given nicknames to individual centaurs, based on their behaviour. There was the loud one, that seemed to bellow whenever he exerted himself, whether it was in training or in battle, another one seemed to like watching him, maybe some sort of lusty centaur lass, it was curious to watch. I had refrained from trying to scry the inside of his tent when the female entered late at night, there were some things I just did not want to know.

We hadn’t attacked them for four days now, not since we caused the area around their camp to become defiled, a decision the wolves and I had discussed quite heavily. To me, pushing them further would have been a mistake that most likely would have caused them to call in additional troops, fortifying their position and pushing on as soon as that had happened. Instead, they had been forced to deal with the mess I had created around them, one of their supply-groups had reached the camp, this one sizeable enough that attacking it would have caused casualties amongst the wolves, while risking that some of them got away.

Just as I was discussing with the wolves how to continue our attacks, something unexpected happened. I felt a surge of power, far away to the north-east but the power was so strong that I felt myself start to shake, despite the distance between us. Even without delving into the Astral River, I felt it surge, swell and rage, making me understand that something major had just happened. In the area around me, I felt strange surges as well, not threatening but something I had never felt before. Taking a deep breath, tasting the air on my tongue and in my nose, I was reminded of the taste the magic had in the Windswept Plains, when I had tried to get a deeper feeling for the magic contained in the wind.

I had no idea why the Astral River was behaving in the way it did or why the surges seemed to occur in the area around me, but I wanted to find out. I felt Lenore’s curiosity in her Hallow and, without really thinking, we joined our minds, using the Avatar-State to get the strongest connection we could. Shadowy, raven-black spectral wings appeared on our shoulders wrapping themselves protectively around us, as spectral claws and a beak appeared around my arms and in my face and instantly, our sensitivity spiked.

But even with the increased sensitivity, I merely felt that the magic of the plains was reaching towards us but when looking through the world with Lenore’s eyes, I realised that we were merely feeling the edges of what was happening. Most of the power we were feeling and tasting, it centered around the wolves that had accompanied us, even around the timberwolves that had come from further west, it enveloped them and slowly seeped into them but I couldn’t even begin to make sense of what I was seeing. What I was quite certain of was that the surge didn’t hurt the wolves, it seemed to strengthen them.

Just as I was about to carefully starting probing closer, a new surge caught my attention, this one not anchored to anything but occurring in front of me. I took a few steps back, just in case I was wrong, and called upon my magic, ready to defend myself, either by throwing up walls of ice or by conjuring up a shadow to devour magic. Both were spells I had considered as good defensive measures, one against non-physical attacks, the other against physical attacks.

Most of the tension left me when I realised that the magic was coalescing into the familiar form of a wolf, just a very large one. When I realised that it was a wolf I knew, the Leader of the Main-Den, Sirius, caution was completely replaced with curiosity. How did he manage to project an image out here, how did he even manage to find us? Was he able to track the wolves with me? If so, I wanted to know how, just in case it was something that might be abused. Just when I was about to launch into a barrage of questions, Lenore stopped me.

“Let him speak first, something major is going on. You can ask questions later.” she told me and I felt her agitation thanks to our shared connection, I even got agitated myself as my curiosity was reigned in a little.

“Greetings, Friends. I have to thank you, you managed doing what we might have failed to do.” the magical amalgamation that looked like Alpha Sirius said, his voice resonating in a strange manner. Part of me was drawn to study the method he used to communicate, it wasn’t an illusion, not really, calling it a magical avatar might be more accurate.

“We did as you asked, keeping the Centaurs occupied while keeping the wolves alive. I’ll assume that you are finished with whatever you wanted to do?” I asked, part of me wondering what rewards the quest would give us.

“Indeed. And, as I can feel the curiosity burning within you, I’ll even explain what we did.” he started and I could hear the amusement in his voice. He had me pegged quite well, I wanted to know what they had done, especially as we had been able to feel the remnant disturbance despite the distance between us.

“It was something I had considered for a while, something that every powerful being can accomplish, if they so choose. It is an innate skill for some of them, others need tools to do so, for me, it was innate but required me to bind myself, body, mind and soul, which is why you are talking to this image. I will never be able to leave the Den of the North Wind, not unless it is fully destroyed, our essence gone. You see, I turned it into a dungeon and all the wolves you met are now bound with me. We will never die but if we can still call ourselves alive? That I don’t know.” he explained, his voice pensive and slightly depressed.

I was taken aback for a moment, trying to comprehend what he had told me. A dungeon, like the glacial moraine or the Burial Mound, sure, that I could understand. But I had no idea what it meant for those bound to it, I understood that they couldn’t die, would only turn into the black sludge upon defeat, to be reborn anew once the dungeon was reset. What that meant for living being, I had no idea, to be trapped in an endless circle of pain and death, without the option to ever fully die? Wasn’t that what some religions described hell as?

But who was I to gainsay their Alpha, he had done what he thought best for his people. I only regretted the necessity that had driven him to this step and, despite questioning his wisdom, I buried those questions in my mind, to avoid marring our last meeting.

“You did what you needed to do.” I told him, carefully keeping my voice neutral. Around us, the wolves that had accompanied us started to fade, turning into the black sludge I had seen when dungeon monsters perished and part of me grieved for them. Would they still be the funny, snarky and sometimes playful beings after being bound to the dungeon? And if they were, would they remain as they were once they had been slaughtered dozens or hundreds of times, only to get their loot? What did happen to the cute puppies I had played with when we were at the den?

“We will make the centaurs pay for their greed.” Lenore told me in my mind, feeling what I was thinking.

“That we will. Now that our friends are safe, the gloves come off. If the centaurs want to push on, so be it, but we will get our pound of flesh.” I replied to her, directing all the unease and grief into anger at the centaurs for having forced our friends to do what they had done.

“For you, I have something special.” Sirius told us and a blue window opened in front of me.

Quest Completed! You completed the Quest: Buying Time - Pack of the North Wind You gained: 450.000 EXP

There were level-up notices, but I ignored them, focusing on Sirius.

“And take this as well, take it and go with the Blessing of the North Wind.” he continued and from his figure, four objects floated towards us, one for each of us. It looked like a fang, made from silver and dangling from a short chain, like an earring.

“Sadly, this is farewell. I hope you find what you are looking for in this world, Morgana.” he finished and the figure started to fade away, the magic it had been made of returning to the world.