The warm winds of the Second Layer made the glowing leaves fall. They looked like sunshine embers falling from the sky. Melanie kicked a pile that had bunched up around the base of a tree, and if not for her barking laugh it would have made a beautiful sight.

We were walking toward our designated Sun Stone chamber. A man named Regil was the leader miner for their group and helped Vit and Squad Sergeant Denev with learning the land.

Meanwhile I walked in the middle of the group, a few of the glowing leaves in my hand. Now that I had a fresh mind I could notice things I hadn’t been able to before. Such as the underside of the leaf not glowing, instead it was just the light peeking through the other half. There were also bumps on the underside. After popping the bumps like a pimple a clear slightly sticky fluid came out.

I waited, staring at my finger, for it to begin to glow, but it didn’t. After that I ran Senses through it, I couldn’t identify if it was poisonous or not, the only thing taste told me was that it was ever so slightly sweet. Feeling slightly defeated, I wiped the fluid off on a handkerchief.

The Sun Stone chamber we were heading toward had been covered by a tree for years before a hungry Ent knocked it out of the way to set down its roots. Still the location didn’t gather much notice until several Red Silk Spinners moved into the area as well.

“Oi,” the voice of the mining leader called back. “See that there?”

Looking to where the man was pointing I saw a long red strand hanging a few feet off the ground. Following it up I saw an expanse of red geometric designs covering the forest above. The silk strands were about as thick as my finger, and gave off a slight glow. As my gaze moved further down through the forest I saw more and more threads hanging down.

“This is the edge of the Red Silk Spinners’ territory. We estimate around eight of them are in this area along with at least one Ent.”

Regil picked up a stick from the ground and approached the dangling thread.

“Red Spinners themselves are not excessively dangerous. They are about as big as a medium sized dog, and they are not venomous. Its their webs you have to watch out for.”

He slapped the string with the stick, but nothing happened.

“They don’t react to plants or inorganic matter, however…”

Another miner tossed him a slab of uncooked meat. The man threw it to the hanging silk, and it was like a spool of thread being wound up. The thread stuck to the meat, curling around it and yanking it upwards to join the web above.

“They constrict animals, tightening the more one struggles. Six of the miners from this job have died up there. The threads are strong, like trying to saw through iron. Ents might be stronger, but they are slow and don’t like to chase. Look where the meat went.”

We all looked up and saw a large black shape tip toe on the glowing red threads. The golden light of the leaves shining on its carapace armor.

“They can feel the struggles of anything caught, it must have come quickly realizing there was no resistance.”

The Red Silk Spinner, flitted around lightly pressing the end of its leg to the silk threads. After a moment it opened its maw of teeth and pincers and vomited a deluge of yellow liquid onto the bundle of red silk. It loosened and the spider quickly gobbled up the piece of meat.

I stared at the webbing.

“I want some.”

“Huh?” Elina asked.

“Their silk. I want some. I want to know if it is Intent based, and how does it differentiate between organic and inorganic, and flora versus fauna. Do you think it would work on the Carvini Cabbage?”

Elina’s face scrunched up.

“What was the difference between flora and fauna again?”

I looked at her blankly.

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“Flora flower, fauna fawn.”

“Ah, thanks.”

I nodded.

“Well, we can get you some when we start hunting these things,” she said, putting on a smile of excitement.

It was good to see her smile. After the incident with the Skinwalker all of my team had been a bit down, even Vit. I was affected too, I think. I thought of the half-digested bones too and the happy family they belonged to, but I don’t know if that was because I wished I could have been in such a happy family or I mourned that their simple life was stolen from them.

We patrolled the area for the rest of the day, Taking note of the Blurtail nests and hunting ground for the Red Silk Spinners. The Ent was deeper into the area right above the Sun Stone chamber so we didn’t see it.

That night as my team ate around the fires in the miners camp I walked around the buildings. I wished I could say it was only due to my interest in the layout as architecture had become critical in my life, but it was more to get away from the hostile stares of the Forged Order members.

I didn’t know if it was because of the three Champions I teamed with in the Forest of Living Dreams, or the odd interaction I had with the soldier who stitched my shoulder. Maybe they just didn’t like me in general.

Thinking of my shoulder I rolled it a few times, the same man had taken the stitches out a few days before, but the wound still ached. The hand meanwhile was constantly in pain as we traveled due to all the movement.

I was standing on the side of the compound’s office, examining the spikes that pointed to the forest when I heard soft voices coming from inside.

“-to the north because of a disturbance in the area,” he heard Professor Liraca say.

Carefully I moved closer to the thin window high up on the wall.

“I don’t think that is a good idea. What if one of the students is in danger? We need Professor Alyci to be here just in case,” Mr. Rider said.

“We also need to make sure nothing too dangerous enters the forest. The Skinwalker was already too much for the students, and I can take care of overwatch,” Professor Liraca said.

“I agree,” Lord Cheshire said. “The most dangerous things on the Second Layer are not its native Nightmares, but the ones that come from below. Do you all remember the Raikie Incident?”

A brief silence took the conversation and I could imagine all of them nodding to the man.

“I can also have eyes in the forest so should anything happen I’ll focus on making sure the students are safe.”

It took me a moment to realize he meant he would forsake the miners’ lives to protect them. Dreamers were not an abundant group.

“That also leaves another two Dreamers not able to deal with the Ancient Ent,” Sergeant Brightstrike's voice said, a hint of disapproval in it. “Can you two deal with it alone?”

“No issue,” Professor Pure said. “The four of us taking it together was just a precaution, either Mr. Rider or myself could do it solo.”

“Good, I got word from above that the extraction team is ready to take the target Sun Stone once the Ancient Ent is dealt with.”

My mind latched onto the mention of an Ancient Ent. Most Ents as far as I knew only used physical attacks, with the occasional ability to use leaves as flying blades. Ancient Ents had real abilities, like being able to heal almost instantly, or influencing the surrounding plantlife. Their wood was harder than most metals and could even self-mend. It was one of the most expensive materials, and was rarely on the market. They could also have unique fruits, interesting leaves, roots used for medical ingredients, and all Ents had an organ that was believed to act as a brain for them.

A familiar itch crawled up my spine and down my arms. Skinwalkers, Ents, Red Silk Spinners, so many interesting creatures, so many unknown functions.

Their conversation changed to how the different teams were doing on their assignments. I left, giving an awkward nod to a nondescript drunk miner. Instead of going back to the group I went to my bunk and laid down entering my Dreamscape for some much needed maintenance.

My Dismantle Room had some fuzzy edges as the natural breakdown occurred and I spent some time sharpening up the detail. This was another lesson we were learning while down here, time management. We could not fight endless battles or trek countless miles. Dreamers needed to make sure their Mind Palaces were in tip-top shape.

As I honed the edge of a scalpel hanging on the wall I thought of ways to work around that issue. I had gotten to the point where I could almost add to my library while dissecting something. However I wasn’t even close to being able to craft and Dismantle at the same time. Dismantle used all of my senses as a base to use, which took all of my concentration guiding.

I needed to slowly ease into it, dissecting helped, but I couldn’t spend all day every day dissecting things yet.

I reaffirmed the patterns in the wooden desk when I got an idea. My Human book appeared in front of me a moment later. I filled these books with knowledge that I learned about, both through my own and others’ experiences. Of course the books were more than words on a page. They held physical manife`stations of the beings written inside, as well as displays of various organ systems.

I remembered my journal, the one I had eaten the pages of to stop the Cheshire kids from stealing. I recreated it in my Dreamscape so that wouldn’t happen anymore. What if I made a new journal, but instead of it being one for ideas it acted as a normal diary.

Then I could go about my day while writing in it. If I became proficient at it then I could add a sense, like sight or smell, to the diary. Perhaps one day the diary could act like a living memory, a fully immersive experience.

It was a good idea for passive crafting, one I would try out once we left the Second Layer.