Above the branches, far above the forest ground, was a different world. Muted sounds rustling through the leaves, interwoven branches and trunks, vines, and even platforms of plant matter grown so dense, it was impossible to tell what belonged to what.

Although we found paths up there, traveling still was an ordeal for my companions. We needed to swing, jump, and climb from time to time, and both Grim and Kara were no acrobats, although they were fit and never complained. We rested often, knowing that a mistake would mean to fall down and get swarmed by hungry grubs.

I felt bad for a while, as for me the world above the branches was as easy to walk as a smooth main street, but I soon shoved that notion aside. Mobility was my biggest strength, I needed not feel ashamed of it and rather use my strength to make up for the deficiencies of the others. I scouted the path, looked out for trouble, and did everything I could to ease the way for the other two.

Time was of the essence, after all.

In my heart, the anger of my brother in spirit, Cogar, ebbed and flowed, as I learned to somewhat suppress the effect. He was hunting still. Even fighting. I learned to be aware of the direction he was in. As it was northeast, as far as I knew, it somewhat helped to orient in the thicket of the world above the branches. Which was rarely needed as I could climb over the treetops and look for the mountains whenever the need arose.

There was a dangerous fauna up in the trees, as we discovered painfully, but that had to be expected in the Wyld. I cut a large snake in half, that had a fanged mouth on both ends of its body. There had been a more or less coordinated attack from a pack of screeching, hairy creatures with pale faces and long arms spitting acid on us from above until an arrow pinned on of them against a tree, and a nature spirit from Kara chased them away with a lashing from the cane-like arms formed out of twigs.

I got caught in a vine once, covered in a gooey substance sticking to my skin, which tried to drag me off the tree and into the blossom of a hanging flower below, filled to the brim with a viscous, golden liquid I had no interest of falling into. My companions cut me free, in the end.

No one slept much, that first night bound to a tree, as the sounds in the darkness of the nights were even scarier than at daytime. There were roars and hisses and the occasional pained screaming of an animal dying violently.

We made it through, heavy shadows under the eyes of my companions, and finally found something that stopped us dead in our tracks.

A naked human woman was lasciviously lying on a bed of flowers, baiting us with eyes promising us the world, her fingers inviting us with a coquettish gesture, while her full lips were opening and closing in barely hidden excitement.

I found my steps automatically across the branch, drawn in by those deep, green eyes and the sweet and dazing smell, muddy thoughts trying to reach the surface, but got drowned in desire and instinct instead.

Until an arrow hit the woman in the chest.

“I already met the love of my life.“ Grim spat and a second one found its mark.

Then, Kara came up from behind, as I was still stunned by the woman with two arrows in her naked breast without even flinching or bleeding, and pressed a cloth on my nose. The pungent and sharp smell of something herbally shot in my nose and made me instantly dizzy.

“It‘s spores of something. A smell in the air affecting your mind.“ She hissed.

Both of them pulled me back then, and the illusion shattered, leaving behind a lump of flesh with a toothed maw, crowned with porous mushrooms. Now I could see the blood flowing down where the arrows stuck, and the thing slithered back like pulled by a string.

“What? How?“ I yelled, still trying to grasp the situation and fighting the nauseous feeling in my stomach.

“Men!“ Kara scowled.

“Boys!“ Grim scowled at the same time. But he was already following the trail the thing had left, carefully leaning over to watch what was below the precipice.

“Would you look at that. “ He said, swallowing hard and even wiping his eyes.

And there it was, below us sprawled across...the whole stretch of the forest ground. The most bizarre creature I had ever seen. Yes, I had seen a lot. I had seen more bizarre creatures in my life than normal ones. But this...this mountain of living flesh, this embodiment of violent mutations and wild growth would forever take the cake. It was a Nightmare, in principle, but it must have been the mother, or the god, of all Nightmares. Countless beings melted into an amorphous big blob of appendages, teeth, and eyes, bloated bellies, horns, and noses, and all the rest of the body parts.

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And beatles...countless of insects and parts of those. Chitinous plates covering areas of the body, scythe arms, spider legs. Worms for legs. Centipedes for legs and tongues.

It was monstrous. So far beyond any believability, I could not make my brain accept what my eyes were seeing as reality. And that was just its body.

It had appendages, huge ones, like the long and thin legs of a spider growing out of the mass. At the end of those were different...feelers, reaching up to the treetops, to the world above the branches. One of them was the mouth that had tried to lure me with the vision of my desires, but there were other things. Claws with eyes, glowing balls, webbed hands, but the biggest of them all was a many jointed leg, thick as a tree and clawed, exactly like the print we had seen on the Stormplains, that stomped unto the ground and dragged the beast across the floor.

Thousands of mouths, tendrils, tentacles, hands, and claws grasped after the grubs the tremors lured to the surface in droves, instantly being devoured by this abomination. This was the being the queen of the insects feared, which killed her children. I...agreed.

There was no way this thing had a singular mind. It was a force of nature, a mindless machine of flesh and instincts. Just like the insects, but...worse. To my eye at least.

Shuddering in disgust and terror, we stumbled back from what we had seen, exchanging terrified glances. Kara‘s face was ashen, as she grabbed her club. “There is no fighting such a thing.“ She murmured.

“What even was that?“ Grim asked.

“Nightmare. Huge. Many of them in one.“ I said feeling rather stupid.

We fled. I am not ashamed to say it. The shock and the horror of the moment had been too overwhelming, we ran across the branches as fast as our feet would carry us.

We needed to be careful still, but we hurried on, for a day, until we rested once more.

Finally, we felt the smooth stone of the mountains under our feet again and fell to the ground relieved for the first time since witnessing the horror.

----------------------------------------

“It is the Wyld. I know it to be true. I have been changed by the Song until I learned to control it. Somehow these Nightmares, and especially the Weirderbeast, are like that but a thousand times worse.“ Kara said as we stared into the flames of our small campfire.

“Why the Nightmares? Where is the difference? Why do the rest of the living things change...in moderate amounts? The flying bunnies, the huge crocodiles, the Wyldlings...why are the Nightmares so much worse?“

“Hit me, if you must, but I will say it again. Balance.“ Grim said with a challenge.

“What does that even mean?“ I raised my voice in answer.

“Nature finds a way. Always. Even when forces of change and life are running rampant and a dragon bleeds his power into the world. It has created the Guardians to lock away the elements. Why not the Nightmares?“

“What are you saying?“ Kara looked up, suddenly wide awake. “Are you saying that the Weirderbeast is a Guardian as well?“

Grim shrugged. “I don‘t know shit. More so when it comes to the mountain of weird there.“

“It is not.“ I said. “That the system told me what they were is a miracle. But the Wyld, or the Song, or the energy of change and life, is not an element.“

“Wordplay.“ Grim snorted. “It is real. It might be nowhere else, but here, with these things and the Nightmares, it is as real as an element.“

“I still don‘t know what you are saying, Grim.“ Kara said again. “What balance?“

“Easy. Wyld changes the land and the creatures. Almost mighty enough to change the elements itself. But they get locked away. By the dragon, or the system, or the gods. Nightmares balance the Wyld, like a sponge. So that others can live.“

“In your scenario, are they benevolent then? Doing the rest of us a favor?“ I laughed. This was ridiculous.

“Doesn‘t work that way. Everything changes in the Wyld, but the Nightmares most of all. Many beasts in one. Because someone made them this way. Someone who wants balance.“

“And who would that be? What could be powerful enough to create something so mad and mighty, and even more importantly, why...“ I stopped. Something was ringing in the back of my head.

I looked at Kara. “Mad.“ I simply said and her eyes went wide.

“The Mad King? He would never do that to harmless creatures!“

“Think! He has locked away his madness in the trees he grows. He is a Twice-Born, his patron is a god of madness. He literally ripped the land asunder. It fits.“

“But...“ Now she stopped, thinking. “He was fighting the Wyld. He was even witness to its creation. It could be.“ She shrugged.

“He is a force of nature, madness, and chaos. It makes so much sense. These creatures are his.“

“What does that mean for us?“ Grim asked. “He is not here now, is he.“

I tilted my head in thought. “No, he is not. But I might be able to find him still. he is a Twice - Born, after all.“

“I do not know what that would change, though.“ Kara said. “He is weeks away and we have to somehow kill this thing.“

“Maybe.“ I said. “Couldn‘t hurt to try, though!“

Thus it was decided for me to try to contact the Mad King via the Fulcrum, and I spend just a couple of minutes to leave a note with the administrators and the notice board there, that I was looking for a way to contact him, hoping someone would reach out to me in time.

In the meantime we had much to do, as we still had to find a cavern of some sorts, leading down towards where the Guardian of earth was living. There was no reason to fight something beyond our current power without the hope of a plentiful reward, after all.

The Mad King. He had played me and used me, the last time we had met, and as far as I was concerned, the mad bastard still owed me for that.