Mutasm sat on the cold and hard ground of the cave. A crackling fire of green and purple swayed rhythmically in front of him, large enough to keep the entire area warm. Little light entered from the stormy weather of this night. The wind whistled as it was wont to do, trees blowing in its currents, and the leaves danced to its song. The moon was covered by thick and black clouds, reminiscent of smog or ash from a volcano than those of storms. It made no sense to him, then again little made sense to Mutasm in this world.

To keep the cold out, he had hung one of Hope's blankets from one side of the cave to the other; on the edges of the reflective surfaces. It stopped most of the cold winds and falling droplets of rain. Anything that made it past either fell short of reaching them or was blocked out by the heat of the fire. To add to the gloomy atmosphere of the night, the animals of the forest were going berserk. Multitudes of howls, rumbling roars, and growls filled the night. Something was happening, and Mutasm did not want any part to do with it. What made him more disconcerted was all that noise seemed to be very close to the cave. If he had been a touch crazier, than he already was, he would have thought they were gathering in front of the ledge. Of course, he was by far too afraid to go look. And the illusion should be enough to keep them out, he hoped.

“You could do this, Mutasm. Grit your teeth and be a man,” he quietly whispered to himself. Hope was asleep, covered in layers of blankets. And he, wanting to get some shut-eye in the night was determined to keep her that way. Breathing in and out heavily, Mutasm raised the red blade of the whittling knife from the fire. Closing his eyes, he raised his right arm up and brought the hot knife close to the wound on his side; close enough that he felt the heat radiating off of it. It has been three days since that horrific day, and Mutasm had yet to cauterize it. After washing it, he had become too afraid of the pain to literally burn it shut.

He also couldn't eat any meat from the rabbit. His conscience had begun to play games with him. The thought of eating it after seeing what he had made him feel evil and cruel. That day, broken as he had been, he walked into the cave with the clean meat, hide, and horn. Preparing a bit of meat, he placed it on a fire that took him quite a bit to start with his shaky hands. Almost giving up, it was a relief to his damaged mind when the first sparks came.

Setting the meat on the fire, the colors had begun to change. Instead of the purple, green, and dirty brown, Mutasm had been used to, a red fire with bright gold highlighting the outermost part came. Confused, Mutasm waited for a while, until with a massive whomph, the fire expanded, almost doubling in size for a moment before returning to its previous state. That had Mutasm jumping back and muttering a million curses under his breath so Little Hope would not be startled or more importantly to him, learn any of the things he had exclaimed.

Once the fire had calmed down, the golden highlights crawled towards the center and on the ashes that had been set. An orb of a gold form rotating clockwise at a fast pace. Mesmerized, Mutasm stared at the moving images, the gold began to morph to awkward shapes, until finally a single image stuck. That made his heart catch. “Oh God,” he quietly said to himself. In front of him, within the fire, colored completely golden was an image of the rabbit as a baby. Large eyes, droopy ears and the inability to move.

It took a while for the meat to cook properly, but as it hit perfection, the scene that had Mutasm bewitched finally finished. Small tears slowly crawled their way down his cheek. “Why is everything so hard? Why can't I just eat my meat?” Said Mutasm after having watched the entire life of the animal pass by in a golden flare. Smelling the juicy meat, and oblivious to Mutasm's inner struggle, Hope finally woke up. With a cute and high pitched growl from her stomach, she sat up and extending her hands she gave a tiny cry, begging Mutasm to pick her up. Unable to stop himself, he had picked her up and feed her the meat he so badly wanted to eat, but couldn't because of a heavy conscience.

“Do it! Do it!” said Mutasm to himself in a muffled voice. Biting on a rope he had made, he pressed the red blade on the wound. Bending his body away from the edge - though it helped little in getting away - he groaned from the pain that lanced through his entire right side. He let it continue longer until he was sure the wound had been completely cauterized. Finished, he let the blade fall from his hand. Looking back at Hope's fenced area, he thankfully found her still soundly asleep.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he reached out to pull on a rope tied to the unicorn horn he had gotten from the corpse of the rabbit. The bulge was as unusual as normal, shining like a night light he had back home. Nostalgic, he pulled it close enough to him. The past few days had been an excellent time for making this. With absolutely no desire to walk out of the cave, and enough food to last them a month - maybe more - he had no reason to. So, for hours on end, he had worked on sharpening the longhorn, he guessed with everything, including the bulge and the seven-inch area after the bulge it had come out to be a really nice short sword he could use.

Picking up the knife he had dropped, he pressed on the area he had added some on the rabbits hide onto. Having tied it to the bottom of the entire horn - after the bulge - he learned that it somehow stopped the shocks from passing on to him. It made for a comfortable handle to his superweapon. Pressing the knife there, he continued to finish wrapping it, a small smile appearing on his face. These small accomplishments might not have seemed much, but to him, they were enormous moral boosts. Maybe everything isn't trying its best to go wrong.

It took a while, but he finally finished the handle. Picking it up with his hands wearily, he walked a bit further away and swung it around. For a good five minutes, he kept swinging the bone sword, trying to get a feel for the weapon. “Tomorrow I am going to finish sharpening you,” said Mutasm as he caressed the blade a millimeter from actually touching it. From that far, he could feel a buzzing of energy that begged for release; a comfortable feeling in tiny doses.

Putting it back in its place, he decided it was time to go to sleep. Shambling his way past the fire, he walked to Hope's little fenced area. Picking her and her blankets up, he sat down near the fire for warmth. Cradling her on his lap, he closed his eyes to get some sleep sitting up. The world blurred and he finally back to black oblivion he so desperately wanted.

Groaning, Mutasm covered his eyes from a bright light that seemed impossible to get rid of. Opening one eye, he looked about in the blackness of the cave. The fire had died out, and only hot embers and ash remained. Slowly as his eye's blurriness went away, he noticed a pulse of green from the entrance of the cave. Blocked out by the blanket he had hanged up, only the far outlines made it through. And even those barely made it to him.

“What is going on?” Said Mutasm as the animals’ roaring and howling seemed even louder than before. With a sudden glaring flash of green, the light solidified into one non-pulsing shine. Covering his eyes and Hope's, it had become so strong, it passed through the blanket. Something was wrong, so very wrong with this scene. Was the entire forest covered in the light? Or was it something that just happened. As he continued to think about it, a sudden wind that ripped the blanket from its outpost blasted its way into the cave. Covering Hope with his back faced towards the wind, Mutasm's mind began running countless possibilities, yet he could not even find one that sounded realistic.

A low groaning sound erupted from the entrance like a hulking tree had begun to tear near the base; falling down to its death. Louder and louder it became until Hope woke up with a startle that broke Mutasm's heart. “It's going to be okay,” he lied, not really sure if he was trying to convince the little girl or himself. A feminine voice screamed from out there. Looking back, Mutasm gulped and eyes dilated in fear. Mouth open wide, the owner of the scream was clear to him. With hands spread out, head tilted up - mouth open wide, showing sharp little green teeth - and legs straight, she was the source of the green light. It tore its way from her body like an aura made physical. Her toes were barely touching the floor of the ledge; floating without strings.

As her scream continued, she slowly began to move towards the illusion. Mutasm hoped it would solidify and prevent her from coming any closer. This was worse than the few nightmares he has ever had. The pure shock the woman had caused was greater than anything else he had ever experienced. The moment of truth came as the illusion began to fluctuate; waves running across its surface. But with a pop, a hole opened up large enough that she can pass through. Holding Hope closer to him, the green light started to get dimmer, and the creature completely passed the illusion; it closed after her like nothing happened.

Hope's little whimpers broke him off of his stupor, he had been holding her too tightly. Releasing his grip a bit, he slid his knees towards the blade he had made. Grabbing the covered handle, he sat back on to his bottom, his left hand holding Hope and the other with the bone sword pointing at the creature. He saw Hope's head turn around to stare at the monster. And she began growling cute growls that would have had him gushing over her if the situation was any different.

Eventually, enough light from the woman was gone for him to make out details. She was made entirely of twisting vines and branches. Completely green, the only thing not that color was the gnarled crown of purple and brown branches on her head. Her eyes were hollow, and a pulsing orb of green sat in the middle of her chest between her cleavage. Mouth open, she had sharp green teeth. Her fingertips and toes looked sharp enough to cut through metal. That belief was reinforced as her toes touch the floor from her floating position. A grating sound similar to nails on a board caused Mutasm to cringe, and Hope to whimper in irritation and distress.

The Child! Give me the Child!

A voice screamed in Mutasm's mind. Demanding it follow its commands. He felt a physical force affecting him, but it was passive at best. Shaking his head, he looked up at the screaming woman who had her hands extended in front of her. He knew it was her who demanded it, and that his life was at stake. Yet, through it all, he denied her. He did not need to speak any words nor think them at all. No, his fear stricken face hardened a bit after hearing her. Hope had become to sole reason for him to continue living this pitiful excuse of a life. And he would be damned if he ever gave her to such monsters.

The Child! I demand the Child! Giver her to me!

Pulling Hope closer to him, he swung the bone sword in warning. The fear in his body leaving as an adrenaline high took its place. “N-Never,” stuttered Mutasm in reply. As he swung his sword one more time, the being stopped moving and landed on her feet. Her screaming stopped as she began to wave her hand. A force unseen pulled the bone sword from his hands and towards hers.

With her actual voice, she said, “Foolish creature, haveth you no thought? Using the remnants of mine children against me? Does thou's mind falter from the fear? I control everything in mine forest and are but a guest. Shall thou deny my hospitality and protection? Or thee gift I had given thou, in the form of a krotálisma filled critter.” Her voice was sickly sweet but had an undertone of absolute power and authority. Mutasm did not move, his face remained the same, unwilling to relent no matter what.

The creature of nature stood there for a long time, just staring into his eyes. And he unwilling to lose at all. But slowly, her legs began to shake, and a drunken look passed her face. “Oh! The sacrifice,” it moaned in absolute bliss. “Two in a decade,” it continued as it fell to its knees breathing heavily. Its hollow eyes became crescents of joy as her mouth lolled open a bit. “Feed me more,” it said in an erotic whisper. “Give me power,” with a massive shudder that left Mutasm confused and very weirded out, the being fell to its hands. Completely out of breath and in a state of relief.