‘THE HELL ARE THEY?’ John shouted in his mind, almost involuntarily. Out of the woods had appeared about a dozen human looking hunters in simple cloth garb and with tanned skin. But they weren't quite as human as they appeared at first, they had fluffy ears and tails that complemented their hair with similar colors. Each had their own slightly different design, but they were all wolf based in origin. All of them had different fur colors that ranged wildly from yellow to black, and their shapes and sizes were just as varied, with barely any consistency. In an almost comedic moment the Gamer realized what they looked like, kemonomimis, and he half chuckled in his mind, his panic settling. Apart from that, they almost looked just like normal hunters, or at least the ones John had seen in nature documentaries. With them sporting various bows, swords and knives. He even saw one of them had a spear.

Hoping not to make them aggressive, John quickly dismissed his bolts. If he needed them back, they could be summoned just as quickly, but creating a fight would be worse than preparing for it.

The group approached him in measured steps, but in utter unison. When one took a step, the rest moved in just the same way and at the same time. On their faces were expressions of just as much confusion and fear as he had felt. Looks were thrown between them, but they did not speak. Silence prevailed in the forest until they were almost on top of him, all surrounding him in a perfect circle. Preparing for the possibility of an attack, John tried to keep them all in sight. Before he could think to summon Arcane Bolts once more, however, they all stopped in a split second.

“Who are you?” a serious but young voice asked him, one of the men among the group. He looked to be a teenager, around John’s age, but apart from that he was simply the one John had faced. When he moved his head to look around, the continued speech came from different lips, in the same tone and with no interruption. First, a woman spoke, “tell us now and you will not be harmed. We are the protectors of this place, we only wish to know you will do us and the forest no harm.”

“I am an explorer that found this forest. I was walking among the trees and was hoping to peacefully map it when I heard you approaching,” he returned, hoping his white lie was sufficient to fool them. Whatever manifestation of the wolf’s mind that these creatures represented could obviously be extremely dangerous.

“Good, then you will not cause harm, and I’m sure we can assist you with that. But more importantly you might even be able to help us in your own way,” the voice now came from an older man. John now noticed their eyes, which were all locked on him. They all had a strange spark and irises the color of the sea.

Once again in perfect sync, they all moved back and turned around. Step by step they walked into the forest in the direction of the moon, which was rising from the east and moving up across the sky in a motion far too fluid and swift to feel real. Only seconds later, they stopped once more and looked back at John, as if expecting him to follow them. Unsure if he had many other options, he did just that and walked after them into the depths of the forest.

John’s body was once again laying on the ground of the cave, he had passed out again

Bass was getting tired of it, but she still set his head on the smoothest stone she could find and laid him straight on his back. His breathing was regular this time, but it still worried her, he had too much of a habit of putting himself in danger. Especially since everyone there knew how dangerous a Mindscape could be. An uneasy silence had settled in, and that was almost unbearable for Bass. She hated the uncertainty. Despite her own discomfort, she noticed the wolf's more labored breathing, hopefully that was a good sign.

“We can’t keep waiting like this… You're wasting what precious time we have,” Matthew complained suddenly, his eyes locked onto John's body and Bass' own. He was sitting on the ground right next to the wolf, clearly watching it and the others. The ice mage kept shifting, which made it clear to her that was nervous. Being a rare sight from the cold noble, she wondered if it was the uncertainty or the wait.

Before she could respond, Yan did in her stead, “again… What do you suggest we do?” Yan asked, angrily. She was closer to Bass, waiting impatiently for something to happen, but clearly not as worried as before.

Charlotte was sitting quietly in the nearest corner closer to the exit than to the rest of them. Her gaze wasn't quite focused and her eyes looked glazed over, something was clearly distracting her.

“Kill the beast, that’s our only option,” Matthew stated with an almost authoritative tone.

“No,” Bass quickly refused, “even if we decide to try, which will probably kill John, you sure you can even kill it before it wakes up? I’m not going to let you take that bet when his life is riding on it,” that was her final word, and her tone made that very clear. Unlike her sure demeanor, the feeling in that cave changed, ever so slowly, as the wolf shifted slowly in its sleep.

As they walked through the forest, John noticed things in the corner of his eye. Something about the forest was wrong, he could feel it, and it was getting more wrong by the minute. The shadows got deeper, the sounds more strange, all of it was heading towards some sort of terrible crescendo. Even the hunters looked more worried now, and they had been utterly silent the whole time. It only made the Gamer feel ever more nervous. He had been asked for help, but he still didn’t know what it was. One thing he did know was that it must have been dangerous enough that the beast’s mind was fighting with itself.

It wasn’t long before their trek ended and the group stopped, just as the moon had reached the center of the sky. Almost like it had found its proper place, the moon had almost paused in its tracks smoothly, and the stars stopped moving around it. As if the whole darkness of night itself had frozen. That felt as unsettling as it was an amazing sight to behold.

“They’re coming,” the hunters all said at once, their tone utterly serious. By the loud sounds of metal and wood rubbing against leather told John they were drawing their weapons, one by one.

“Who?” John asked, anxious but somehow still curious.

“The wolves,” they all responded in a joint voice, and with just as much union, howls came from behind and in front of them. In the blink of an eye, tens of shadowy figures jumped out of the bushes, as opposed to the familiarity of the humans as John thought possible. Each of them was a twisted creature of shadow only barely shaped like a wolf, almost reminiscent of what he had seen in Graham’s mindscape.

Arrows quickly bolted through the air into the shadow creatures, breaking them apart at their base. Jumping into action, John threw two waves of Arcane Bolts at them as well. Only one hit, but it did destroy the shadow. Some of the other humans swung their weapons at the monsters, also destroying them. Each wolf was defeated swiftly, and soon enough they were all dead, but the humans did not sheath their weapons. There was still danger, the Gamer suspected.

He noticed something else as well, one of the hunters, the same young male with brown hair and fur that had spoken first, had collapsed on the ground. When John got closer he found the reason, a gaping black wound in his stomach. The first sign of individuality he had seen from them came with the man’s screams, they were his alone. John looked around, hoping to see the others come to help them, but there was no one rushing to the man’s aid, they all stood there, silently.

“Why aren’t you helping him?!” John asked, his voice clearly showing his distress.

“He’s already dead, the only mercy we can give him is a swift death,” they said, one of them stepping forward only to slit the injured one’s throat before John could react.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” his fear turned to anger as he sat down besides the now bleeding man, unsure how to help him. His blood was blue, and in a few seconds he was already gone.

“That’s how they start,” they all pointed towards the darkness of the forest.

“You mean he would have turned into one of these things?” just the thought was disgusting.

“This place is cursed with a plague, we must destroy it before it takes us all,” someone else had joined their small group. The first of the hunters that was capable of individuality. John hadn’t seen her among the confusion, but now that he looked she was clearly different from the rest. She was a woman in her thirties or forties, with clear marks of age on her face, and a blindfold over her eyes. As well as white ears and a tail, which stood out in the dark of the forest.

’This place is wrong, none of this should be happening, I know that. How can its Mindscape be tearing itself apart?’ John thought, unable to find the answer, but he did know one thing, ‘I need to help them fight it… Maybe I can still save them, at least.’

“What can I do?”

“You can come with us, the source of this is at the center of our village, our oracle sees it. We must go back there and destroy it before we all become like them,” they all said as one.

“Then I will help you, lead the way.”

After a while they arrived at their destination, a small village which was made up of various thatch and wood huts. Strangely, however, John saw no farms or gardens, only the huts and a large campfire in the middle of the area. It looked like the village subsisted entirely on hunting, and there was even a fletcher and a blacksmith to confirm that.

’I wonder if they hunt for food exclusively then… Well, I suppose they are wolves,’ the Gamer thought to himself, distracted from their actual business.

The hunters and John had gathered just outside of it, in a small clearing where they had a good view of most of the village. John took a spot behind a tree along with the oracle, as he was told to be very careful to not make even the slightest sound. It was clear they were wary of the shadow wolves that were spread around the village.

“Explorer, our lives are at stake!” the oracle stated in a whisper, her white ears standing on end in clear anger. She was the only one of them that could talk freely on her own. Or at least, the only one John knew could do it, as If any of the others could, they hadn’t shown it. He wondered why she was the exception, but their plan was more important at the minute.

She had pointed him towards their goal, and he now saw that the mass of shadowy wolves throughout the villages looked to focus on its defense.

It was a hole. A hole in the fabric of this world, as black as night and showing the stars beyond it. The center of it even showed the moon. When John used Observe on it all he got was an error message that was as simple as it was creepy. It felt like the sort of thing he’d see in a Lovecraft novel, not in real life, even when magic was real.

Tear in Mindscape could not be analyzed

It was disturbing how much and little that told him about that thing at the same time. Whatever had made it was probably not natural, he thought, but the lines of metaphor and truth in a Mindscape were blurry even with things he could understand.

“Are you even listening?” John heard the oracle whisper again, her tone frustrated.

“Sorry, I am distracted, but yes. Can you repeat that last part though?”

She had an annoyed look on her face, that if the situation wasn’t quite as tense, John might have said was made cute by her animal-like appearance, and she spoke again, “fine. As we said before, we will split up into two forks. Half of us will distract the shadows in the right flank and the other half will be on the left,” John had noticed the other hunter’s lips were mimicking those same words, “in the meanwhile you and the oracle will storm the central fire and the source,” that’s all they called it, even after John told them of his Observe error.

"Understood," John was listening this time.

"Alright then explorer, it's time for us all to move," they said, everyone but the oracle started moving a bit, clearly getting into position.

"There's no time to waste," the oracle stated, her tone serious, "we need to get into our position in the center of the village by the time they start their assault,"

"Let's go then," John replied immediately, and they both began silently walking in the direction of the village. There were only about a hundred meters between them and the fire, but it was still a stressful walk. As John constantly waited for the sounds of the assault to begin and was worried he would make a sound that would reveal them.

Something worse happened, however, a noise appeared, one far more sinister than the sounds of their movement through the forest. It was the sound of distant voices, saying something John couldn’t decipher, he could tell it was English, but the words escaped him. The closer they got to the village and the tear the louder they got, but John could still not understand them. Even stranger still was the actual sound, somewhere between snakes whispering and cult chanting, and still, they were real words, he was sure.

‘Maybe it’s not distance that’s the problem…’ John thought while he still had time to consider that. He wasn’t even sure the voices had any significance, but they still intrigued him.

A hand was placed in front of him to stop him, he noticed suddenly when he bumped into it. The oracle looked to him silently to draw his attention. When he went to look around again he saw they had reached the edge of the forest leading into the village. Almost in front of him the shadows had started to move for some unknown reason, and only about fifty of them now stood around the campfire and the tear above it.

“We need to wait here,” she said quietly, her hand still stretched in front of John.

“Yeah,” he responded, and so they waited, but they didn’t have to wait for very long.

Something was getting eerie about the cave, a certain sense of dread crept into Bass’ mind and there was still a sound she couldn’t put her finger on. It was almost like it was coming from the wolf. The sound of voices whispering, or at least that’s what she thought it was.

“What is that incessant noise!” Matthew got up from sitting on the ground in a single movement and half shouted, his tone showing his anger.

“So you hear it too?” Bass asked calmly in response, it was good to know she wasn’t crazy.

“Yes, of course I do,” he responded, and just after his words came the sound of claws moving across the ground, as the wolf moved one of its feet.

The charge started barely seconds later, John saw the torches the hunters still had on them being lit and carried through the village around them. Every single direction became full of light in moments. Arrows then flew through the air to the right and left of them, hitting a few of the shadows, and those at the center moved quickly outwards. They charged out to the humans carrying the torches, but John couldn’t see what happened there as his focus was on the oracle, who began moving quickly. He followed suit, they had to hurry as much as they could.

Running in, zigzagging past the walls and buildings, the oracle pulled out her bow and John summoned his Arcane Bolts. A volley from both were fired into the remaining shadows as they closed on the tear and the sounds of fighting grew around them. The monsters were silent but screams and the sound of the arrows and swords told him everything.

’Whatever they are, they’re dying, sacrificing their lives so we can succeed. We have to get there!’ John was determined. He hated even thinking of what was happening to them.

The main fire, which had been hidden by buildings on their run came into view again, and the sound had quieted somewhat. Unlike John, the oracle didn’t hesitate, and once they could see it again she moved towards the source. For a few long seconds, John stood there, watching her. He saw her stop, then walk a few more meters, then she suddenly collapsed to her knees.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH,” he heard her voice screaming out as she was only a few meters from the source. John saw her body shivering in pain, he rushed to her side, but something stopped him. The closer he got the slower his movements got, and she had started to move again before he could get to her.

“I have to get closer,” she said, her voice showing her pain. Her knees sliding roughly on the ground as she tried to struggle forwards.

“You’re injured! You should stop, I’ll get there, just tell me what to do!” John said, desperately. He moved forward at a still slower pace, but faster than she did and he had almost reached her.

’No one has to die anymore! I won’t let her die!’ he thought to himself, hoping he was right.

“And what will you do, explorer? This isn’t your fight. I asked you to help me, not do it instead of me!”

“Does that really matter? Who cares whether or not I’m part of this, I’m not just going to sit here and let a person die if I can stop it. NEVER, do you hear me!”

His movements quickened, but so did hers and they both almost raced to the tear. As soon as he got to her, he felt why she had been in pain. The same sort of dull pressure was on his mind as had been in Graham’s mindscape. John tried to help her up, offering his hand, and trying to prevent her from moving forward.

“Take my hand, and tell me what I need to do,” he asked, his tone soft. Not noticing the noise around him had stopped completely.

“Fine... “ she said, taking his hand and barely standing up, “you have to close the source, however you can,” she looked around as well, “and hurry… We’re all that’s left,” the sadness in her voice was clear as John saw what she meant. The shadows were closing in on them quickly. Every one of the hunters were gone, not even their bodies remained.

’Close it? How the hell am I going to do that? Wait… It’s the same pressure that I felt in Graham’s mind, if that’s true then that must mean some mind is the source of that, maybe I can find it if I use Psychic Connection in here…’

Then he felt them, the voices, coming from inside the tear. He reached out to them, unsure of what to do, or how to close it, but instead he found the voices. Now clear and concise, but with a terrifying message.

“Kill him! Kill the explorer! He must not interfere,” the voice said, a clearly human voice. Not in anger, or rage, but in clear and calm calculation. It made it that much more terrifying.

’So that’s the source, who the fuck is that? Never mind, that’s for later, how do I close it? Focus John…’ John panicked, but he knew that wasn’t the time to worry. There was no time for that. Instead, he thought of any way to close it, his mind utterly revolving around the word for a few simple moments, ‘can I use one of my abilities to close it? Probably not. Arcane Bolts and Arcane Barrier won’t work. Hell, who knows, they might tear it apart instead of closing it. Closing it, closing it…’

“Whatever you’re doing, keep going! The source is closing!” the oracle grabbed his shoulders with as much force as she could muster and grunted in pain. He looked to check and she was right, it had become just a tiny bit smaller.

’Wait… If I can affect my own spells with my will and my thoughts, who said I couldn’t affect other spells? CLOSE, YOU DAMNED PIECE OF WHATEVER YOU ARE. WHOWEVER MADE YOU WILL FEEL MY FUCKING WRATH ONCE I CLOSE THIS, THESE WERE REAL PEOPLE IT KILLED, THIS MINDSCAPE WAS REAL. I DON’T CARE IF THE ALPHA TRIED TO KILL US, I WILL SAVE IT, I WILL CLOSE THIS FUCKING TEAR!’ he thought, as strongly as he could, focusing on the tear, and it alone.

Slowly, it closed, but John felt his mind slipping away. The last thing he saw was one of the shadows jumping towards him, and the oracle moving to intercept. Before he could even realize, she was on the ground with a black wound.

When John opened his eyes, he was back in the cave. For a second he was angry, he thought he failed, and even if he didn’t, someone was going to pay for this. But instead, he focused on what he needed to know.

“What happened?” John said, slowly, slight anger in his tone.

“You lose consciousness too much, you know?” Bass said, her tone joking, and laughed, “no idea what happened in the wolf’s Mindscape, but she woke up, and didn’t kill us…” the smile on her face stopped, and the rest of the team were not positive either.

“She died,” Yan said with a grim tone, almost immediately, “a few moments after she woke up, and she gave us a message for you. She wanted us to tell you that the Shadow is coming.”