I strain my hearing, reaching out as far as I can with it. Sight might fail me, but if my Cathid wants to be found, I will definitely hear it.

The barrage of sound is almost unbearable, and it’s through force of will alone that I suffer the onslaught. Crackling… no, that’s a dry bush. A clack? No, too muted, probably a rock hitting something. Crawling? Too small. Just some insect. But there’s something else, hidden under this layer of sounds. A small, rhythmic beat. It’s coming from the direction of the monster camp, but not within the monster camp… somewhere close, but that general direction.

Wordlessly, I follow it, and the steady footfalls behind me confirm that Rav is still willing to back me up, despite my heading. I don’t know how he ended up the way he is, but the loyalty is greatly appreciated. Small things matter so much when you have nothing.

The strange sound leads me on a five minute walk, in which we manage to avoid the detection of another small band of Carnine. Although the sound never really increases in intensity, I know I’m headed in the right direction. As I crest a seemingly normal hill, the sound immediately switches to behind me. Confused, I crest the hill again, and the sound is pointing in the original direction. No idea whether it’s up or down, the sound seems to be two-dimensional in orientation.

“Uh… this is it. This is where Kaythe is.” I say, pointing at the top of the hill, but even as I say it, I know that things aren’t adding up. If Kaythe had just burrowed in the ground, we would probably see a hole somewhere nearby. If it had burrowed all the way here… it’s a tiny creature, there’s no way it could dig that fast. And why is it underground anyway?

“Kaythe! Are you here!” I shout, and to my great surprise, I hear a frantic *Clack* (Here!) in response. Kaythe repeats the clack over and over, and the acoustics of it also don’t make sense. It doesn’t sound muffled, like something below the ground would, and it sounds like its coming from the side of the hill. I beckon Rav to follow, whose expression hasn’t moved from a mild, happy ambivalence, and carefully approach the source of the sound… that seems to just be another, normal side of the hill. Frustrated, I continue forward, intent on climbing this side of the hill and just digging my way through if I need to, but my plans are immediately flipped on their head as my first step down involves my foot passing through the ground and me falling face first down a fair distance, whilst yelling in surprise and no fear at all, until a sudden impact silences me, filling my mouth with dirt as the force drives the air from my lungs.

“Anthony? My friend, where have you gone?” Rav actually manages to sound worried for the first time since I’ve met him, and while I’d love to tell him I’m alive, my attempts at breathing are met with sullen resistance from my lungs to do anything. Gaping emptily, I try to force air into my stubborn lungs by swallowing it, but that does nothing more than make a strange sound. Panic builds in my chest, and I look around frantically, trying to make sure I’m safe enough to use Energy, when a small groan escapes my lips. The tiniest puff of air makes its way into my starving lungs.

Without even enough breath to curse, I hold very still as every miniscule breath grows in size, little by little, until I’m gasping huge lungfulls and praising every god I’ve entirely forgotten the names of.

During my brief brush with death, Rav has continued calling out to me, getting more and more concerned as my responses are not forthcoming, and it seems he came to investigate first hand, as he trips through the base of what must be a very impressive illusion. An illusion obscuring the entrance to a rather large cave called “The Barrows” if the notification that popped up upon my less than stellar entry is anything to go by. Kaythe had, at some point during my difficulties, climbed on top of me and was doing its best to help in much the same way as a dog. Having no capacity to do anything, but moving around a lot and clacking. The noise and the sudden loss of balance had Rav convinced I was being attacked, and he quickly recovered his balance and assumed a fighting position, eyes and hand glowing blue, but his face quickly broke from the mold of stoic determination into a joyful grin.

“I see you have been victorious in your quest. Were you too overcome with happiness to respond to my calls?” He asked through a smile that held less guile than a newborn.

I cough lightly, “I-” I cut off as I find speaking rather difficult, despite the fact that I can now breathe. My voice sounds strained and weak, so instead I hold up one finger and manage a sort of grumble. Rav chuckles and proceeds to look around the cave entrance, studying both the illusion that hid it as well as the structure of the cave itself. In the meantime, Kaythe fills me in on why it ran off and brought me here.

Now, I don’t speak cathid, but the weird, mental connection we have now lets me pick up that Kaythe is instinctively attracted to caves. Cool, dark places in general really. And it has a very sensitive smelling organ that can detect most common fungus and molds that live in such a place. It knew it would be of no use in the fight, so it came to find the cave. A combination of wanting some shade after being outside all day and figuring the information would be useful to me.

Kaythe is the best scout, I swear.

“I’m good.” I manage to force out, weakly, “Fell right on my chest, knocked the wind out of me, my parents, and my unborn children. Took a bit to get it back.”

Rav nods. “I figured as much, but I was worried you were unconscious and that whatever had laid this trap had gotten to you. It’s good to see that it was just your companion waiting for you down here. This illusion is very impressive, but I lack the skill to examine it thoroughly.” Rav continues, his eyes burning blue as he studies the faint image of grass growing over us, “It even moves in response to the environment… most impressive. Not even these eyes can see through it… it masks its own Mana… Amazing.”

Well, I guess if there’s going to be magic in this world, there’s going to be all kinds of magic. This is both exciting and unnerving. Frankly, if there was some giant monster or many smaller ambush predators down here, I would have fucking died. No question. Especially if I, as previously, did not know such a thing was even possible here. It’s nearly impossible to fight a weapon you don’t know exists…

Kinda like Energy. That would explain why none of the monsters I kill with it have any real defence, just an automatic response. A double edged sword where information is the key to victory.

The more tricks I have to call on that enemies don’t have, or better, don’t know exist, the more likely I can stay alive. Always be underestimated.

Which means, I would benefit greatly from understanding this illusion magic. In pursuit of that knowledge, I ask the main question on my mind:

“How is it maintaining itself without a caster?”