Dawn and her parents sat before the fire place, replete with a good meal and enjoying the heat of the fire while the rain came down hard in the darkness outside.

She had just told them about her first incursion into the lost city, her encounter with the memory spell in the library and her first sight of the demons. Her parents were listening to her with bated breath.

Suddenly a notification popped up.

You have leveled up Mental Resistance +1

Dawn shook her head, confused, pulled out of her story abruptly.

“Dawn, is something the matter?” her mother asked. “Tell us more about this awful monsters. How did you escape from them?”

Pleased with Elaine’s interest in her story, Dawn forgot all about the notification and eagerly continued her narrative.

She was just describing her first encounter with the Kharlins and the rather unfriendly reception at their village when the next notification popped up.

You have leveled up Mental Resistance +1

‘What is it with these notifications? ‘ She thought rather indignantly. Of course she should be pleased about any growth in her skills, but telling stories to her parents shouldn’t level anything.

This time, she found it rather difficult to continue her tale and her parents had to call out to her several times until she could concentrate enough to go on.

But, she had hardly started her story up again, when the next notification disturbed her concentration.

You have leveled up Mental Resistance +1

This time she stood up, despite the protests of Cord and Elaine.

“Something’s not right.” She told them firmly.

“I shouldn’t get any notification about leveling up Mental Resistance.”

And now that she thought about it, this whole situation seemed fake.

When had Cord ever taken the time to patiently listen to her? No, her parents wouldn’t have been glad about her learning sword-fighting and her having adventures in the wilderness. And they certainly wouldn’t feel admiration for her achievements, meager as they were.

They wanted her to marry, she remembered. And to have children and care for the household of her husband.

Like a curtain had lifted from the scene, the cozy little house lit up by the fire started to grey out now. Simultaneously a burning sensation crept up her arms and legs, until she was shifting uncomfortably on her feet. She was tempted to sit down again.

Maybe she should just ignore the wrongness and enjoy the company of her parents some more. It would be so very easy to feel warm and loved again, to bathe in their attention and admiration. Did it really matter if it all was just an illusion?

With a start she kept herself from sitting down again.

No, that wasn’t the right way.

She made a concentrated effort to remind herself of what was important to her. She had to fight the demons. Yes, that was right. She had been in the camp with the Kharlins, the rangers and Ankou. And the cubs! She had to protect the cubs, she had given her promise to Ankou.

No, she had no time for comfortable illusions, no matter how tempting they appeared.

The greyed-out version of her home disappeared, leaving a black void behind. The burning in her extremities strengthened, until she felt as if she was on fire. The sensation shot further up her spine and she started to scream, overwhelmed by the pain.

Dawn opened her eyes to pandemonium.

Grinna was shaking her vigorously.

“Dawn, wake up!”

All around her the Kharlins were calling out and fighting something in the dark, long glowing tendrils lashing out against them.

She hurt abominably, the burning sensation hadn’t abated even after she had awoken from her strange dream. Her mouth was dry as the desert, and she had to strain to keep her eyes open.

Dawn fought against the pain and croaked out a faint. “What?”

“Thank all the gods, you’re finally awake.” Grinna stopped her shaking and backed up a step.

“Can you heal yourself? Are you able to stay awake?" She asked urgently.

Dawn nodded weakly.

“I have to help the others kill this abomination. Don’t fall asleep again!” she admonished and waded into the melee.

Dawn fumbled around in the recesses of her mind, fighting against the pain and finally cobbled enough of her thoughts together to activate Nurture. A welcome cooling sensation emanated from her midst, the pain fading slightly.

Frowning, she cast Nurture again.

When had she been hurt so severely? She hadn’t fought any beast. Had she had an accident? Her mind was still not working soundly.

She turned her head and observed Grinna and the Kharlins fighting the glowing tendrils, once again noting that Grinna was in a class of her own when it came to battle. It all looked so very easy for her. Like a stately dance with monsters.

She smiled faintly at her own absurd thoughts, then grimaced as the burning sensation came back. Befuddled, she once again cast Nurture. Surely, she must be healed by now. And what was she doing here, lying on the ground in the dirt?

She tried to sit up, surprised by her weakness. As she looked at her arms, she saw a grey twine dangling down. What was this? She tried to brush the thread away, then realized with a shudder that it disappeared inside her wrist. Frantically, she pulled on it, heedless of the pain it caused her.

Out! She had to get it out!

Her wrist started to bleed as she pulled more of the material from her arm. Finally, the end came out with a gentle plop.

Horrified, she looked at the long dangling thread, then at her other arm, only to find the same cord emanating from her wrist there.

She started to pull on this one until it came out, too. Now both her wrists were bleeding. She flung the offensive tendrils far away and healed herself once more.

The Kharlins and Grinna had kept fighting all this time. Now, looking up, she saw the huge blossom on the fir tree again, its beautiful colours standing out from the background by a soft illumination.

The long glowing tendrils the whole company was fighting against obviously had their source in the flower. It was in a rather more bedraggled state now, pierced by several arrows and as she looked on, one more deadly precise arrow hit the center of the blossom, causing the glow of the big leaves to fade and the tendrils to fall down, lifeless. Apparently, the last arrow had finally killed it.

The sounds of the fight died down slowly and Grinna appeared next to Dawn once more, crouching down at her side.

“Whew, this was quite a wake-up call.” The ranger commented drily, as she looked her over.

“How do you feel?”

“Weak, horror-stricken and disgusted.” Dawn retorted with a shudder.

“What in the abyss was that thing?”

“That was a dreamkiller, I’m sorry to say.” Grinna replied. “My very first time encountering one. Though I could have lived very well all my life without meeting that abomination.”

She twisted her lips in a lopsided smile.

“They have a collection of illustrations of all kind of monsters at the rangers, complete with despriptions of their abilities, you know. I have seen pictures of a dreamkiller before. But I never knew anyone who had encountered it. And I certainly didn’t expect to meet one myself. It was surprisingly hard to kill.” She stated.

“I didn’t even realize I was under attack.” Dawn said, shamefaced.

“That’s the insidious thing about dreamkillers. They attack you with a combination of a paralyzing agent in their fragrance and a hypnotic effect from their glow. If you don’t know what you’re dealing with, you’re sleeping before you ever had a chance to fight back.” Grinna shrugged helplessly.

“You have to thank Nestor for your rescue. He was doing a round of the island when he stumbled over you lying on the ground before a huge glowing flower. He chose to call out for help first, not knowing what he was dealing with exactly. And that was for the best, otherwise he might have succumbed to the monster as well." she paused, then went on.

"I was rather afraid we had lost you already. I was trying to wake you up for quite a while there, without any reaction from you.”

“It was very strange,” Dawn said.

“I had such a beautiful dream about being home with my family. They were openly proud of me and listening to me attentively. My mother had made my favourite meal and my brother wanted to learn sword fighting from me. It all seemed very lifelike.

The only thing that spoiled the illusion were these notifications about leveling up Mental Resistance that came up several times out of the blue. Even when I grew finally aware that it was all fake, I almost didn’t want to wake up.”

“Better that you did wake.” Grinna stood and held out her hand to help Dawn rise up from the ground as well. “Otherwise, the flower would have digested you, with you all unaware in your dreams. They are rather aptly named.”

“I never before thought that a monster could be beautiful,” Dawn said. “But that’s exactly what it was. A lovely looking monstrosity.”

Uneasy, she checked the surroundings.

“You don’t think there are any more of them around here?” she asked, shivering slightly.

“No, they are said to be loners.” Grinna reassured her. “They are covering a rather large area with their tendrils. I’m sure that was the only one on the island.”

Dawn let out an uneven breath.

“Just when I feel a measure of safety, along comes something like that dreamkiller and reminds me again that the wilderness is deadly. I foolishly thought nothing would be able to hurt me in the company of you, Ankou and the Kharlins.”

Grinna laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“All safety is an illusion in the end. You could be killed by an accident in your home village, as well. Don’t let the fear get to you.”

Dawn laughed uncertainly.

“At least I got to level up my Mental Resistance some more. That rose up rather fast in my dream, I got several notifications. Nevertheless, this is the second time I got influenced quite easily by someone or something else. It’s not a comfortable feeling to be played with at the whim of others, let me tell you.” She fell silent, leaving an awkward pause.

Grinna shrugged helplessly.

“I understand. But there is no easy remedy. The only thing you can do against it, is to invest some points in your Willpower stat as you level up. That will help you resist the influence of others.”

“I will certainly keep that in mind.” Dawn said emphatically.

She looked around herself. The Kharlins had mostly disappeared. A few were still standing together talking over the fight and poking at the remnants of the plant. No doubt most had returned to their tents to grab as much sleep as they could for the rest of the night.

Nestor was still there, talking quietly with Niko while Teren was a silent presence in the background, standing next to the fir tree.

“Where is Ankou?” she asked. She hadn’t seen him fighting against the monstrous flower.

“He had a rather hard time keeping the cubs away from the fight.” Grinna told her.

“They woke up in the commotion at the start and left the tent before he was really aware what was happening. When they saw the glowing tendrils lashing around, they thought them wonderful playthings.”

[I had rather forgotten how hard it is to keep cubs safe from themselves.] Ankou’s dry mental voice reached her from behind as he came up and stood beside her. [They sleep now. Finally.]

“As long as they are safe everything is well.” Dawn said, laying a soft hand on his glossy fur.

“And on that note, I think I’ll go back to our tent as well. I feel rather tired and wrung out. Though I’m a bit afraid of dreaming now. And cold.” she shivered once more.

“Sleep well.” Grinna said. She had taken out her sword and was earnestly cleaning it with a piece of cloth.

“I have to take up the watch from Nestor in a little while, so it’s not worth it trying to get to sleep for me now.”

Dawn nodded and went over to Nestor.

"Thank you for saving me," she said a bit awkwardly.

A smile appeared on his face. "Glad to be returning the favour," he replied simply.

"But keep away from these plant monsters in future, will you? That one is going to feature prominently in my nightmares, I'm certain."

"Tell me about it." Dawn retorted, shaking herself.

She returned to the campsite with Ankou. As she lay in her bedroll, still shivering und somehow quite unable to get warm enough, she called up her status. Maybe that would keep her mind away from the monster who had attacked her so insidiously.

Status screen Name Dawn Trakam Path Nature's shadow Level 11 Exp 2735/2800 HP 120/120 HP Regen 1.2 HP/Min MP 180/180 MP Regen 13 MP/Min SP 120/120 SP Regen 12 SP/Min Stats Strength 11 Willpower 11 Vitality 12 Perception 20 Endurance 12 Intelligence 18 Agility 20 Wisdom 13 Dexterity 10 Charisma 7 Class Skills Nurture Level 10 Specialization Poison's bane Shadow Play Level 9 Dark Sight Level 9 Alchemy Level 4 Call The Lightning Level 2 General skills Cleaning Level 2 Analyze Level 2 Sewing Level 3 Hunting Level 1 Climbing Level 3 Trapping Level 1 Knife fighting Level 3 Cooking Level 4 Sword fighting Level 6 Swimming Level 3 Bow fighting Level 3 Runic magic Level 3 Mental resistance Level 6 Fishing Level 1 Poison resistance Level 5 Stone shaping Level 2 Control Level 2 Fire resistance Level 3

Her skill levels had gone up some, but the experience gain from those was rather small compared to that from fighting monsters.

“Still, only a few exp left before level 12.” She murmured sleepily. That was good.

Ankou was a solid presence against her legs and Echo and Chaos were resting peacefully against her back. Slowly, Dawn started to warm up and drifted into sleep.