“I’m pretty sure I came here by accident, seeing as how I had no idea where he was before you told me. The last thing I remember before I woke up in that small clearing was falling asleep in the Under Library.” Andy yelled back at the deer.
“Perhaps you didn’t intend to come here, but someone intended it. Come follow me. There are no lasting places of safety for one such as you in this place, but I can provide you a small respite while we discuss your fate. Though be warned, I am not confident you will be able to ever leave the primal forest.” The deer motioned for Andy to follow him.
Andy followed the deer back into the forest, and while he had several questions, every attempt at one was met with a hushing sound from the deer. It appeared the creature wanted silence until they reached their destination. Instead of getting his curiosity sated, he instead looked around as they walked. The birds overhead had stopped fleeing now that he was with the deer, and instead, all seemed to watch him intently. He got the feeling none of them wanted him here.
Finally, after a long, unpleasant march, the deer led them into a small cave. Andy was surprised to find the interior dimly lit. The source of the light appeared to be some mushrooms growing in the corner. The deer sat down, strangely human-like, in front of the entrance.
“The longer you remain here, the greater our danger becomes. I am risking my eternal dream by helping you, but I sense no desire to conquer within you, so it is a risk I am willing to take.” The deer finally broke the silence.
“Why aren’t I welcome here? What makes this primal forest so different than any of the other strange places I’ve been?” Andy sat down himself, though he noticed despite the day’s marches he wasn’t feeling any fatigue at all.
“You have mana channels. Within you pulsates a mana core. This is the antithesis of the primal dreams. As for what makes this place so different? Do you really not understand that you are in the heart of the abyss? You, as a being possessing refined mana, have somehow found yourself in the eternal dreams of the infinite potential and expression of raw mana. You mentioned having gone to sleep in the Under Library. Is this the strange citadel that exists at the edge of the great abyss?” The deer’s form had started shifting as it spoke, and by the time it reached the final question, it now resembled a giant badger.
“I don’t know, maybe. I know it exists partially in the abyss in order to feed the infinite growth needed for the archives.” Andy answered.
“Well, then, I have a partial answer for how you came to be here. That citadel has been slowly losing pieces forever. I believe you were in one of the pieces that jettisoned recently, and by some amazing feat of luck, instead of ceasing to exist or being consumed by some horrible beast, you somehow passed through the primal membrane and found yourself here. Were you alone?” It now looked like a large grey wolf.
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“No, there were seven others with me. Argh!” Andy suddenly screamed in pain as his hand flickered in and out of existence. Sparks ignited from his fingertips when the hand finally settled back into a physical form. His mana channels felt like someone had poured lava through them. “What the fuck was that?”
“Mana cascade, and while incredibly painful, it is likely the least of your dangers. We are going to need to find your friends before anything more insidious does. You won’t be able to leave here unless you do so with everyone you brought. The problem is they are not within the forest, and I am unfamiliar with the terrain of the other primals.” The wolf turned and stared out of the entrance to the cave at something.
“What is it?” Andy asked.
“Both a large problem and potential solution. One of the dreams has come to consume you. If we can defeat it, we may be able to use its essence to jump you across the primals. That is a big if, though.” The shapeshifting creature answered.
Andy could see a whirling form of shadow and light now. It had nearly reached his newfound ally. The form morphed in front of his eyes, settling into a large cockroach. Andy shuddered. He had always found them disgusting.
“I smell something interesting. Allow me to pass, and I will give you the scraps. Oppose me, and I will tear you from existence, and never again will you taste the freedom of the forest.” The cockroach creature hissed the words out slowly.
“Andy, if you would be so kind as to channel some of your mana into my form, we may both survive this yet. It will be extremely unpleasant, and I am sorry for that.” It had shifted back into the familiar form of the deer.
Andy obeyed and pushed the mana as best he could out of his hand into the air between himself and the deer. He watched as his hand flickered again, and the feeling of burning returned, but the mana arc made it to the deer. The contact seemed to be turning the deer jet black, and its antlers sparked.
“Goodbye, master nightmare. Your help in this journey will be appreciated. Zoz thanks you.” Andy saw the cockroach's face turn into something resembling terror as the energy burst from the deer's antlers through the cockroach and out into the world beyond the cave.
The cockroach sparked and fizzled briefly before returning to a much more diminished vortex, only to be immediately inhaled by the now entirely jet-back deer. “Good, that worked. Now we do something that has never been done here before.”
“What’s that? And are you Zoz? Is that your name?” Andy asked, a bit lost on what entirely had just happened.
“I am Zoz, and we shall start a small fire in this cave. You will need to meditate deeply on it until you can find the threads of at least one of your friends. I would recommend starting your focus on the one you are closest to. I will pour the energy I have gathered into the thread and try to push us across it.” Zoz explained.
“Okay, I think I know just who to start with.” Andy smiled. It turned out there was a use for having a weird temporal duplicate of yourself sometimes.