The terrifying monster let out another shrill bleat-scream as it swiped at Sepeti. A foul wind swept Sepeti off his feet as he ducked away from the attack. He spat and spluttered as the rank, viscous liquid that was pouring off of the huge monster crept into his mouth.

“Shit,” he groaned as he rolled out of the way of another errant swipe. The monster wobbled on its feet like it wasn’t used to standing up right. Or rather, like it wasn’t used to standing at all. A resounding boom shook the area as the monster swept itself off its feet with its missed strike and landed with a wet plop on its back.

It screamed again, tongue flailing between its large buck teeth.

“Meat!” it screamed as it struggled back onto its feet. “Meat!”

Sepeti waded through the slowly growing mud. Whatever the viscous liquid was, it was really good at making very cakey mud out of all the loose sand and dirt. He frantically searched for a shadow to jump to. Anything would do. A wisp of a shadow from a far off cloud or an ant's tiny silhouette, anything that would get him away from this nightmare creature.

The monster looked like a gigantic cross between a sheep and a goat with a humanoid upper body. All four of its limbs ended with hooves but the top pair appeared to have segmented parts that were supposed to be fingers. Something about the way it looked just felt wrong. It’s matted gray fur hung in long, locked strips. They waved about as it moved, flinging the weird viscous liquid about in every direction. It’s narrow head was constantly pointed upward as if it were completely unable to move its head in a normal manner.

Another horrifying bleat shook the air as it stretched all of its considerable mass and flopped toward Sepeti’s running form. Sepeti pumped his arms and ran with his mouth open. The monster's mottled muscular forelimb slammed down a few feet to his right. He stumbled but kept his balance, legs churning. The arm swept horizontally and slapped Sepeti before he could react.

Sepeti tumbled through the air. His chest ached as he forgot how to breathe for a second. He didn’t know which way was up, all he knew was that he was flying through the air. Pain bloomed as he bounced off a sand dune. He let out a faint yelp as he fell, end over end, down the sandy slope. All he could think about was how happy he was to see shadows again. And how relieved he was to not be able to see the monstrous goat thing anymore. He skidded along the slope for a few seconds before his muddled brain kicked into action and he melded into the dunes shadow. The trail he’d left suddenly ended as he disappeared.

A shrill bleat cracked the whooshing silence as the monster's large head peered over the disturbed dune. Its bloodshot eyes flitted back and forth as it appeared to be searching for him. It screamed then moved to reach over the dune. Something crackled as a barrier became momentarily visible. It appeared to be latticed and ornate, glowing blue and orange with energy. The monster screamed yet again as it punched the barrier. Nothing happened. It headbutted the barrier and was flung backward, back into the middle of its muddy habitat.

Sepeti peeled caked mud off of himself as he grumpily plodded into the hastily made base camp. He passed the instructors and the other examinees, ignoring them as he sloughed the liquid off of his torso. Stupid goat thing just had to cover him in its weird mucus and mud.

“What happened to you?” Willa said as she suddenly fell into step next to him. “You look like something used you to pick their nose. You smell like something wiped their ass on you, though.”

She pinched her nose and waved a hand while making a face. Sepeti wasn’t sure if she was trying to be cute or funny, but she failed to be either. Sure, she was conventionally good looking. Handsome, even. But he had no time for that bullshit. He had to research the stupid shadowless monster and get himself cleaned up. He began to realize just how rank he was. Damned monster hadn’t even done him the courtesy of nearly drowning him in something odorless.

Sepeti frowned as he remembered that some of the mucus-y liquid had gotten in his mouth. A foul taste sprung to life in his mouth and he had to hold back the urge to throw up.

“Stupid monster,” he mumbled as he ducked into a tent the Collective had set up for the examinees to use. He beelined toward the back of the large tent where there was a small area designated as a changing room. It didn’t matter to him whether Willa would follow him there or not. She was a grown enough woman, if she wanted to see a naked man that badly then she would just be making a fool out of herself.

Before he even got in the changing area, Sepeti had already stripped down and was holding the flask over his head. The cool water flowed, healing some of his aches and pains and washing away the stench and mud. He had a feeling this would happen a few times over the course of the next few hours.

“You know,” Willa’s voice floated in through the small opening that led into the tent at large. The woman was relentless. It seemed she wasn’t put off by being in the presence of a naked man, even if they were slightly hidden behind a flimsy canvas flap. “Even if you stink like crazy, it’s probably better for you to leave the stench attached to you. Since you’ll be hunting and all. The monsters have advanced olfactory organs. They can smell a clean person from miles away.”

Sepeti grunted, fighting the urge to answer the know-it-all. Sure, she was giving him some sound advice. Advice that made a lot of sense. But he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d swayed his opinion one way or another. He was irritated and he just wanted to be petty.

The young woman continued to prattle on even without his answering her. Her words fell on deaf ears as Sepeti let the water splash off of him. He thought about the strange monster and quickly came to the decision that it would be best for him to avoid it for the duration of the exam. Something that negated his greatest trump card wasn’t something he wanted to be taking on. Not right now, anyway.

Willa was still talking when he stepped out of the changing room, completely naked and dripping. Whether she noticed his nudity wasn’t readily apparent as she continued filling him in on the success her team had had so far. Sepeti pulled his spare clothes on and continued to let her words flow in one ear and out the other.

“...a’s such a good researcher. Honestly, I think she might be more suited for the archivist gig but she seems deadset on becoming a Hunter.”

“Who?” Sepeti asked as he tucked his dirty clothes into a spare canvas bag before throwing it into his inventory. “And why’re you telling me all this random shit?”

“Malia, obviously,” Willa rolled her eyes at him. He noticed how oddly large they were. Her eyes were huge. They looked like there was some sort of magnifying effect cast on them. Was she using magic to obfuscate her eyes? “The woman is practically a genius. And, since you guys are obviously friends, I thought hearing about her would interest you. Seeing as she’s in my group, it only seems right that I speak to you about her, leader to leader.”

“Ok, what about her?” Sepeti felt she was trying to get at something. He just wasn’t sure what.

“I think someone needs to talk her out of becoming a frontline Hunter. She has the skills but her more useful skillset lays in the archival sector of the Collective rather than the frontline hunting sector.”

“Sector?” Sepeti was getting more and more confused. “What the hell are you talking about? And why can’t you just talk to her instead of trying to come to me?”

“I think she’ll listen to you if you were to persuade her to change her course. Give her a nudge in the right direction. And, it’ll open up spots for the rest of us who truly belong on the frontline.”

The gears in Sepeti’s mind churned and he finally caught up, picking up what she was putting down. He snorted as he said “You’re a sneaky little bitch.”

“I’m a lot of things,” Willa said as she fluttered her weirdly large eyes at him. “But a ‘little bitch’ is not one of them. I’m just a pragmatist. I want to make sure that everyone I choose and bring along with me on my journey is up to snuff. I like to think that I’m destined for greatness and this is but the first step along that golden path. If I have to make some moves to ensure that my path stays smooth, then I’ll make those moves.”

“Whatever,” Sepeti said over his shoulder as he turned to exit the tent. “Why don’t you just let her fail out? If you make her sit out any group activities then she won’t get any passing marks. Or better yet, kick her out of your group. You seem good at coming up with bullshit, get to it.”

“I can’t do that.” Willa grabbed his shoulder and suddenly everything about her was hard. She didn’t exert much pressure on his shoulder but every fiber of his being wanted to fight. In this moment, she was dangerous. “It’ll make things harder for me. Just do me this favor. Please?”

Her voice was saccharine sweet but her eyes said something else. She struck Sepeti as someone who was used to getting what they wanted.

He shrugged her hand off as he kept his annoyance in check.

“No.”

Sepeti walked away and he could feel the heat of the woman's gaze boring into his back. He didn’t have time to waste on stupid party politics. He may have a lingering fondness for young Malia but it wasn’t enough for him to drop everything and go have a sit down with her. At the most, he’d probably just drop by and see her before he headed out again. If he remembered.

“How’s it going, Mr. Sepeti?” Ms. Lina asked in her sing-songy voice. It sounded sweet but it grated against his ears as she leaned over the research table. “Whatcha lookin’ for?”

She was using a weird accent that really didn’t fit her. Or maybe it fit her more than trying to speak properly. He wasn’t sure yet. And he still wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act toward the flighty woman. If there was anyone in the immediate vicinity who freaked him out, it was her.

Sepeti grunted out of sheer force of habit. He coughed as he caught himself.

“It’s all right. Just need to do some research on a monster I ran into.” As he spoke, he pulled his sack of trophies out of his inventory and laid them out. “Can I get these tallied please?”

“Look at you, being real nice and proper like,” Ms. Lina chided as she waved at one of her assistants. “Tally Mr. Sepeti’s current score and update the board.”

For whatever reason, Sepeti’s neck and ears burned as he immediately buried himself in the provided reading material. He flipped through, searching hurriedly for the shadowless goat. He’d already guessed that the monstrosity was a titled monster so he was cross referencing the titles provided on the hunting list. He could feel Ms. Lina watching him do his research and it made him feel self-conscious.

Why couldn’t she find someone else to torment?

“Oh, you ran into one of our little titled babies? Well gosh, your luck just sucks, don’t it?” She chuckled as she reached over and plucked one of the many books from the pile on the table. “Give me a description and I’ll help you find it. Make things easier for you since you’re the only solo hunter.”

She spat those last two words. She was obviously still mad about being forced to allow a solo hunter in her exam.

“You don’t have to help me, I got it,” Sepeti said quietly, face still burning as he turned the pages of the book as fast as he possibly could.

Why the hell was he feeling so flustered? This wasn’t his first rodeo. This wasn’t his first time having to perform in front of a woman who both outranked him and overpowered him. So why the hell was he feeling this way?

It had to be the damned host body acting up again. Stupid invalid of a host. Stupid shut-in.

“Now now, don’t go looking a gift horse in the mouth. Give me the description. I’m sure I can find it for you. I know all of these babies by heart. I was the one who caught most of them.”

“Fine,” Sepeti sighed, still refusing to look up from the book. It was so stupid that his host body seemed to have a crush on the duplicitous woman. It angered him but he had to enforce control. “It was a huge goat thing. Shaggy matted fur. It was standing on its hindlegs and had to have been at least nine feet tall. Maybe taller. It came out of nowhere and when it appeared all the shadows disappeared.”

Ms. Lina frowned and shut her book with a loud clap. “That’s not right. That one shouldn’t be a part of this exam. Where’d you run into it?”

Sepeti tried to keep his gaze on the books but felt some invisible force pull his face up until he was looking the instructor in the eye. Gone was her usual wistful, flighty look. Her brows drew a severe line across her face as she snapped her fingers at her assistants. They glided next to her and all three leaned in. One of the masked assistants pulled out a map, forbidden to the examinees as cartographical exploration was also being scored during the exam.

“We are here,” Ms . Lina said as she pointed at a spot. Sepeti stared blankly at the map and realized he had no clue of how to make heads or tails of the damned thing. He’d never had to use one of these old things before.

“Here, maybe,” Sepeti said as he pointed at an empty portion of the map not too far from where Ms. Lina had indicated.

“That’s over thirty miles away from here. How’d you get there and back in such a short time?” The one asking the question was one of the assistants. Their robotic voices were still disconcerting but he was able to tell a slight difference between the two now.

“What? Really?” Sepeti took his finger off and sheepishly looked away. “I don’t actually know how to read or measure distance on a map. So I can’t say for sure where I ran into it.”

The assistant clicked their tongue, the first time either of them had shown any modicum of emotion in the past two days.

“That’s ok,” Ms. Lina said, sounding like a slightly disappointed teacher. “Do you remember the heading at least?”

Nope. Sepeti didn’t remember shit. All he remembered was his leisurely shadow cruise, being forced out by the monster, and his headlong escape. It was purely coincidence that he even got back to the camp. He’d found the perimeter of Extuahal-Tol and followed it until he recognized something.

He stayed quiet. He didn’t want to reveal any more of his ineptitude. He closed his eyes and focused. The useless mapping skill Boba had given him popped up. The only good thing about the damned skill was that it passively tracked his movements. Large swaths of the desert in the immediate vicinity had been highlighted. It seemed that his area of discovery had grown since he’d last checked on the skill. There were even some handy upgrades to the skill, such as a compass and elevations being marked. Icons also littered the map as he realized that these were all points of interest he had visited during his initial foray. One of those points had a large, angry looking black cross sitting on an area that looked odd on his map. The area had been discovered but it was still grayed out. As he stared at the area, numbers appeared next to an X, a Y, and a Z.

Sepeti had a feeling these were important. If they weren’t important, then why were they showing up on his useless skill?

He pulled one of the many pens he’d taken from Gran’s room out of his inventory and hastily scribbled the numbers on the map. One of the assistants yelped when they realized what he was doing and was about to stop him but was ordered not to by Ms. Lina.

“I think that’s where it is,” Sepeti said after writing the three sets of numbers. They made no sense to him but he was sure someone like Ms. Lina and her assistants, who were definitely much smarter than he was, could make out what the hell it was.

The three looked at the numbers and whispered something between themselves. Then Ms. Lina snatched the pen out of Sepeti’s hand and circled a point on the map that wasn’t anywhere near where he’d initially indicated. It was much closer to the makeshift campsite. Not that he could tell how far it actually was based on the map, he was just guessing.

“One of you go let the Collective know. We will do our best to steer the aspirants away from that area, for now. Mr. Sepeti, we thank you for your information. Please do your best to stay away from that area. That is a monster none of our examiness can handle, in a group or on their own.” Ms. Lina turned and walked away as one of her assistants seemed to shimmer before disappearing.

What the hell was up with these people and disappearing in such a cool way?

Sepeti looked around and made eye contact with Willa. The woman in black made a weird face as she turned and walked away as well. He was sure she’d been eavesdropping the whole time. Hopefully she didn’t get any ideas in her head about going out to hunt the monstrosity.

He blankly took the book he had been flipping through and set off. He wasn’t sure where he was going but he felt he didn’t want to be in the camp. Things were going to get troublesome and he’d probably get swept up in them if he stuck around.

As he tucked the book into his inventory he noticed that the board had been updated. He was now sitting in the Eighth spot. He summoned the map, which he was now able to do without closing his eyes, and chose one of the furthest icons. As soon as he was out of sight of the camp, he jumped into a shadow and began surfing along.

Turns out, following a map isn’t all that easy. Even when it’s tailor made for you and shows which way you’re heading, you can still get lost and end up in places that you aren’t supposed to be.

Sepeti scrambled up the side of the steep sand dune, legs churning as he clawed at the muddy sand to help boost him forward. How the hell had he ended up here, of all places? What the hell was wrong with him?

“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Willa screamed as she ran away from the giant goat monster. She was sent rolling forward as its hoof-hand thing barely missed her. Globs of fetid liquid splashed all over the sand, turning everything into mud.

The constant thwip of bowstrings loosing arrows barely registered over the monsters maddened screaming.

“Someone harden the mud!” Malia yelled as she waded through hip-level muddy sand. “Cast a thin ice layer over the top repeatedly so we can get footholds!”

Whoever she was yelling at responded as the top layer of the scummy mud flash froze. It broke apart instantly before it was frozen again. Over and over, the top layer was frozen and broken and frozen again until the mud turned into an odd slurry mixture that was a little easier to navigate.

Sepeti wasn’t sure how that had worked but he was happy it had as he continued to climb the steep dune. He reached the top, glanced over his shoulder, and threw himself over the opposing edge.

He wasn’t going to waste breath letting those idiots know that there seemed to be some sort of barrier that kept the monster tethered to the place. They seemed all too eager to fight the damned thing. Whatever they’d been thinking, they obviously hadn’t done much thinking at all.

As he tumbled down the sand, body limp so he wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself, the monster let out another roar. The dune exploded and muddied sand flooded out. It got in his mouth yet again and Sepeti choked as he angrily skidded to a halt.

The world spun but he fought it. His mouth was full of gritty sand and viscous mud. It was nasty but it somehow kept him anchored as he felt the tugging of unconsciousness pulling at the corners of his mind.

“Get outta there!” someone yelled as they dragged themselves past him. As his vision cleared, Sepeti realized it was Helena carrying Willa . The brawny woman had blood streaming down the side of her face. Her clothes were in tatters. “Get outta there!”

Her booming voice cut through the desert wind before it was drowned out by the monster's roaring bleat.

“Who?” Sepeti spluttered after washing his mouth out. “Who’s still in there?”

“Malia!” Helena yelled. Blood leaked from the woman’s ears so Sepeti wasn’t sure if she could even hear him. “Malia! Get outta there!”

The woman didn’t even look at Sepeti. She continued screaming for Malia while dragging Willa’s unconscious body further and further away.

Fast approaching footsteps pulled his attention back toward where the monster was. Running, stumbling really, away from the middle of the blast zone was a bloodied Niklaus. He clutched at his left side and Sepeti noticed that the man’s arm was missing. Tears ran down the broad shouldered man’s face as he wailed loudly, running and stumbling away from the monster.

Something took hold of Sepeti and he pushed himself to his feet. A dizzy spell came and went as he began to push his way toward the epicenter.

“Malia!” he croaked. “Malia!”

The giant monster, still moving as oddly as the first time he’d encountered it, let its head loll to one side as it turned to face him. It raised its hoof-fist and chomped down on something caught between its fat fingers. Blood sprayed as entrails fell around its feet.

“Meat,” it grumbled as it chewed on a human leg.