“W-where are all the monsters?”

“That is a very good qhuestion. I see flora in abundance but no fauna whatsoever. Perhaps this an indikhation that we should not be here either.”

“But w-what choice do we have? The melovai is g-getting close, and there’s still a whole swarm of higrads back there. We can’t evade one w-while fighting the other.”

Gloe was looking behind them. “Some of them are stopping. All in the same general area.”

“Perhaps they know something we do not. Despite the riskh I believe we should turn around. This environment engenders unease.”

“Did the melovai s-stop?”

“No. In fact I think it might have sped up a bit.”

“We will detour east, get out of this area, then cut back north.” She strode off determinedly. Oresus cast a concerned look behind them and hurried after her. Shrugging, Gloe strolled casually in the rear, whistling cheerfully.

“Please s-stop that.”

“Why? It’s not like they don’t already know where we are.”

“At least whistle a song from this world instead of…”

“This one I learned from a sojourner?” he finished her sentence, earning a glare.

“Let us proceed qhuickhly and silently.”

And they did. For a time. “W-what’s that smell?”

“I…khannot tell. It is very distrakhting, is it not? I feel as if I am just on the khusp of identifying it, and then it eludes me.”

“It’s all around us. Not coming from any direction. That’s weird.”

“B-but what is it? It seems so f-familiar, but I can’t remember!”

“We ought to…to khontinue to exhit. We khan identify it later…when we are safe.” She looked around, then continued in a slightly chagrined tone. “Somehow I have lost trackh of direkhtion. Which way is east?”

“Ummmm…” they all looked around muzzily for a bit. “T-there. T-that’s the sun, right? And it rises in the east…and it’s m-morning. So we f-follow that.”

“Ah. That makhes sense.” They set off once again.

Gloe felt very strange. As if he were floating. His extremities felt oddly detached, almost weightless. Each step felt like an astronaut on the moon, as if he pushed off and glided forward, but looking down at his feet he could see he was doing no such thing. So why did it feel like he was?

Time seemed to be crawling even as he drifted forwards. Idly he wondered what was going on. He didn’t find his circumstances particularly pleasant but methods of removing himself from them somehow failed to present themselves. The only thing he could do was trudge forward, east, until they got out.

Hadn’t the sun already risen today though? He thought about that for a moment. He did remember resting in a treetop last night. He’d woken the other two just before dawn to give them time to get ready. Melovai seemed to be strictly diurnal. Right? Right.

Well the sun couldn’t rise twice in one day. Could it? That seemed odd. Was he dreaming? He shook himself. Nothing changed. He remembered that he hadn’t been sleeping since they’d entered the deep wyld. But if he wasn’t sleeping…he had to be dreaming. His head was quite fuzzy but he was fairly certain the sun was only allowed to rise once per day. It was a rule or something.

He needed to wake up. Wake up. He twitched as he continued to drift along in the others’ wake. Wake up! He hit himself in the head but nothing happened. Again, still no result. Perhaps he wasn’t asleep, but he felt so odd. He bickered with himself and struggled but there was no result. He just kept swanning along.

He stumbled slightly. That was strange too. That almost never happened anymore unless he was moving too fast. He stared down at the ground. There were no rocks. Why was the grass so short if there wasn’t anything here to eat it? The terrain was almost perfectly suited to traversal. This was a weird place, not even counting the smell.

The smell? He’d completely forgotten about the smell. He tried to focus on it again but couldn’t detect it anymore, although the air did feel super stuffy. He spat and worked his jaw, trying to get the cloying taste out of his mouth. Maybe he should just stop breathing for a while. He decided to just try it for a bit.

Naturally holding his breath hurt after a while. His regeneration staved off the damage from lack of oxygen for a time, but that didn’t make the experience pleasant. Still it was something he did every once in a while. Being able to stay underwater indefinitely had proven very useful in the past and it wasn’t a skill he wanted to lose. Nor did he want to lose the nerve to use it. It felt extremely unnatural, so he had to force himself to keep it an option.

Already he could feel the effect on his brain as his regeneration had to heal the damage from oxygen deprivation…wait, no. That cloudiness felt very different. He scowled. What exactly was going on here?

Looking around skeptically he realized the three were slowly plodding over an implausibly bare hill, moving erratically towards a deep valley. But why? Casting about he saw a glowing light in the sky ahead of them. That wasn’t the sun. It was overcast today. So what was it?

Even without breathing it the air seemed off to him. He trotted forward a bit and looked at Oresus’ face. His tongue was lolling. He seemed to be barely conscious. Emokha’s mandibles were likewise drooping, and she was moving with none of her customary grace.

Well shit. He waved a hand through the air, the movement allowed him to detect the tiny particles floating there. Why hadn’t whatever was doing this capitalized already? Looking for an answer his eye was caught by tiny dots behind him. A melovai, with hydra tigers prowling in its wake.

They were bait. Something was keeping them alive until they had lured in as many pursuers as possible. It was going for maximum victims.

It would probably act soon though. Most of the hydra tigers must have already made a decision one way or another. He needed to wake the other two up and…how was he going to explain the situation to them without breathing? That ruled out talking, and they were not in any shape to understand sign language.

Drumming his fingers on his chest he thought rapidly. He really didn’t have a lot of options. Needs must. Brute force and raw instinct it was.

Stepping alongside Emokha he took carefully hold of her. Then he threw her straight up, as hard as he could. Caught completely off-guard she went up like a dart, hissing and gasping. Even in a daze her instincts took over, and her wings came into play shortly. He could hear her sputtering up there as she hovered in place, trying to ascertain what was going on.

No time to wait though. Hopefully that would buy her some time. He threw Oresus over his shoulder despite the other’s confused protests, then he ran.

It was not fun. His regeneration had gotten a lot better over the years but the damage incurred from oxygen deprivation was incredibly comprehensive. It affected the vast majority of his cells in short order. It was almost like soaking in acid or something. He could heal enough to keep the effects from being immediately fatal but damage continued to accrue. Physical exertion only exacerbated the effects.

Hopefully he could make it clear before…well shit. Again. He leapt in the air as a nearby tree lashed out at him, barely clearing the grasping branches. Another tree swung around, its trunk flexing implausibly. He darted around it to the right, but it immediately came around again. The whole route to the east was forested. He wasn’t going to be able to get clear.

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He dodged and evaded as long as he could, still trying to go forward. His hope was he might be able to see the edge of the area and throw Oresus clear at least, but it was not to be. Eventually everything caught up with him and he was too slow to duck under an incoming blow. It clipped him and he spun out of control, losing his grip on Oresus, who tumbled free.

And didn’t seem to enjoy the experience. “W-what?” Sitting up he tried in vain to shake the haze from his head, then focused on the closest thing. “T-tree? S-stupid tree. I’ll show y-you.” He fumbled behind him, then his hand came out with a spear. He threw it at the tree. It bounced clear, seemingly enraging him. “Think you’re so g-good?” He threw another spear, then a third and fourth. All had no effect. Gloe tried frantically to get back to his friend but the trees were relentless and he couldn’t break through.

The obvious futility of Oresus’ efforts was unable to penetrate his mental fog, so he just kept picking up and throwing spears at the tree that had drawn his ire. After a few more throws there were none in reach, but he still had some hooked to his pack so he threw them too. The last one was his sole remaining fire spear. That one didn’t bounce.

As flames ran rampant over the tree it lashed about frantically in all directions. The earth itself screamed. Gloe redoubled his efforts to get at Oresus but every tree in the area was flailing madly. It was all he could do to keep from being crushed. In desperation he finally ran straight at the burning tree. He wasn’t able to imbue the ground here so he launched himself bodily at one of the branches. The fire spread to him rapidly but he was able to snap a flaming brand off and he used it to share Oresus’ gift with the blockers. A quick roll put out his own flames and ignited the grass.

Shaking uncontrollably from compounded damage he dragged a bludgeoned Oresus clear, trying to stay ahead of the burn, both the one all around and the growing inferno inside. He was too slow. There was a dot high up in the sky. Emokha. She was clear, and the fire had attracted her attention. Using the last of his strength he sent Oresus hurtling straight up. Then the red of the flames and black of oblivion took him.

...

A burning lance of light punched through the front of his face and landed in the back of his skull. He tried to close his eyes but it was a vain effort. Finally he brought an arm up to protect himself, or at least tried to. His right wouldn’t respond so he tried his left, getting some relief at last. From that at least. Moving his arm hurt.

Actually, everything hurt. A lot. Without his ability it would have been unbearable. As it was he was extremely discomfited. It had been a long time since he had such comprehensive pain.

“I think h-he’s awake.”

He hadn’t even been able to detect the bouncing motion until it stopped and he was set down. “What is your khondition?”

“Ah eel ike it.” Peering out from under his shielding arm he tried to take stock of himself. He was covered in horrific burns. Everywhere. Ah, that probably explained it. His eyelids and lips were probably damaged. At least his brain seemed to be functioning normally again. “At aaen?”

“As you no doubt surmised the stupefying haze only rose so high. Once you threw me khlear my mind began to khlear as well. The fire attrakhted my attention and I was able to khatch Oresus when you threw him khlear, but I lost trackh of you while kharrying him to safety.”

“The fire spread very qhuickly and fiercely, so it moved past you rapidly. We found you in the ashes, barely alive. We wanted to stop and let you rest but…”

“…the m-melovai are terrifying. Whatever that thing w-was, it was attacking the melovai when we left. But…”

“…the khreature seemed unfazed. Despite all those tree-likhe protrusions strikhing it repeatedly it was simply roaring and khounter-attackhing. We fled. We attempted to set a more permanent khamp when night fell but in the morning a melovai drew near. We khannot tell if it is the same one or another, but we were forced to flee.”

“We tried to l-lead it away from you so you could heal, but it went straight for the tree you were in.” He looked down. “I’m s-sorry.”

“Own orrie. Ot or aul.”

“Anyway, j-just rest and heal. We’ll k-keep running. And thank y-you.”

“O orrie.” Gloe tried to smile, remembered that he couldn’t and satisfied himself with an oddly twitching nod. Then he detached.

...

Trying to keep track of things while detached was difficult. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember things as such. It was just that without any sensory data or access to his brain it was like trying to accomplish precise tasks in a dream. Everything was oddly simple, nuanced, binary and hazy, all at once. He always lost time while detached.

Still, it only took an occasional moment of clarity to keep things moving along. He’d chosen his healing priorities before detaching, so he used those instances of unusual focus to follow the schema. Eventually he realized everything on the list was no longer drawing. Still a long way to go otherwise, but it was good enough for now. Time to wake up.

It was night. He blinked at the moonlight. Eyelids, check. He tried to sit up but was unable. That was strange, he was fairly certain he had…oh, he was just tied in place. He carefully loosened the rope. Left arm and hand, check. Wiggling free he stood up. Legs, check. He took a look around.

Clothes…yeah, no. He pulled free the blanket they’d carefully wrapped around him. Skin was hit or miss too. Right arm still badly scorched but it would heal. He took a few practice steps. Movement was possible. He was still in a lot of pain, and without his ability he would have been in shock, paralyzed by agony. With it though he was moderately functional.

Taking a better look around he smiled to himself. Lips, check. Springing lightly from branch to branch he dropped next to Oresus, shocking him out of his fierce wrestling bout with sleep. “Hey, I’ll keep watch for a while. You look knocked out. Get some sleep.”

“Z-zekhow!” He nearly fell off his perch, catching himself both physically and in terms of volume. “Y-you’re awake” he added, much more quietly this time.

“Yeah, I’m more or less functional again. Get some sleep. You look just about done in.”

“N-no, you’re still not healed. You n-need the rest more.”

“If a monster attacks and you have to protect me how is it going to work if you fall asleep in the middle of the fight? You know I can heal as we go as long as I’m ambulatory. Sleep.”

The defiance slowly flowed out of his face. “I don’t want to, b-but you’re right. I’m not k-keeping very good watch. Didn’t even s-see you get up.”

“I appreciate all you’ve done, now sleep. You’ve earned it.” He looked up at the moon. The night was still young. “I’ll let Emokha sleep too. She probably needs it just as much.”

“Thank y-you.” Oresus slowly crawled towards a nook in the branches.

Gloe watched him go, smiling at his glacial progress and unsteady movements. They must have pushed themselves to their limits to keep him safe. He had good friends.

...

“So the tree-things were beating on it and it just didn’t care?”

“Well…they were knocking it d-down, but it would just get right back up and start ripping them out of the ground.”

“Said ground was bleeding by the way. I wonder just how large that khreature truly was?”

“The p-point is the melovai didn’t seem injured at all. We r-really don’t want to fight one.”

“Hmm. That’s interesting. That might explain something I’ve been wondering about. Have you two noticed it’s been a series of different melovai chasing us? They have different colorations and such.”

“I have been pondering that as well, when cirkhumstances permitted. However if the khreatures are borderline invulnerable that raises more questions for me, not answers.”

“Well that’s because you’ve never observed the phoenix toad in its natural environment. They likewise are borderline invulnerable, albeit for different reasons. That means they can’t fight conventionally for dominance, but they’re still extremely territorial. What they do is annoy their rival until one moves on. Perhaps melovai are similar.”

“That c-could make sense. We are consistently a b-bit faster than them. If they’re not sure if they can c-catch us it might not be worth angering their neighbor.”

“Yet each time we enter a new territory the owner immediately begins to pursue us. Are they khommunikhating or is each one somehow able to detekht us as soon as we draw near?”

“Probably the l-latter, right? If they were t-talking we’d hear them or something. Plus if they w-were that smart they’d consider working together to pin us.”

“We’re not big enough for a decent meal, so they must want our life energy. My guess is they can either detect that or shroud. Given their incredible defense leveling up could make them extremely formidable. I’m not sure if they’re smart enough to know that though. Maybe it’s just instinct?”

“Regardless, we must akhcept the possibility that we will not be free of pursuit for the remainder of this journey.”

“Which really pisses me off, because it means we can’t stop long enough to tan hides. Just because I can go barefoot doesn’t mean I want to” Gloe said sourly.

“I’m s-sorry about your gear Zekhow.”

“It’s not your fault, and I don’t really mind. At least you saved my pry bars so I’m not unarmed.” He sighed. “I mean, I like having stuff, but I’m usually ready to start over. It’s just frustrating having to wait to do so. I spent so long learning the skills to make my own clothes and stuff, and I can’t even use them.”

“Perhaps you should exhplain that to the melovai back there” Emokha said slyly.

“Oh hey, good idea!” Before they could stop him he bounded back a few trees. “Hey guy! I’m gonna report you for stalking if you don’t quit following us! I need to make new clothes, so lay off! Stop being such a dick!”

It seemed there would be no response, then a bellowing roar came resounding back. Gloe shrugged as he rejoined his companions. “What an asshole.”

“Qhuite.”

“Y-yeah.” Oddly enough both of them were looking beside rather than behind them.