Every step closer to it brought fresh waves of its scent. Whatever it was, its dream energy was stronger than the whales.

Hesitation played in Abe’s thoughts. He was still in poor condition but was strong enough to use his abilities and deathly energy if his outer shell held up.

Not only that, but trying to hijack a ship might bring him to blows with the inhabitants of this place, and even if this section of the Vale was weak in energy, the fact that they could defend their home no doubt meant they were stronger than he was. And he had little doubt that the giant tree was some kind of monster rivaling or even surpassing Miss Nia.

He felt he had little choice but to fight his doubts away. At least this beast, regardless of how strong it might be, was alone. And that seemed like the best odds he was going to get.

The thick bush and undergrowth grew more vibrant as he continued toward the beast, with flowers of all colors and tropical leaves filling every space. Even the animals seemed to flock to this area, with birds, rodents, and even purple-looking deer-like animals twitching their heads at Abe from a distance in increasing numbers.

Whatever this beast was, it was apparently quite popular. There were no skulls and bones littering the ground—instead, this beast had flowers, berries, and fruits.

He felt Mor’kel’s skin shudder with pleasure as he continued through the vibrant growth.

You don’t know this beast, do you? Just to let you know, I’m going to kill it and eat its brains, so if you have any objections, I recommend you make them now.

Only silence followed. He had hoped maybe his threats would awaken the mushroom, and Mor’kel might advise him on a safer route to surviving this place, but with the sporeling’s voice silenced, he felt there was no other option.

Fine, we’re doing this then.

A swampy marsh broke the thick coverage of trees ahead. He took the driest path he could spot, but a little moisture in his boots was of little concern when he missed the occasional step.

Ahead, several stagnant ponds were separated by land bridges with swamp flies and insects buzzing around.

And then he saw it, surrounded by rays of light piercing through the canopy above. If not for its hulking size, it would look almost angelic as flower petals slowly fell from the canopy above. The beast was a towering, bear-like furred thing. Except it looked pleasant. No gnarly fangs or claws were jutting out; no, it looked peaceful. Soft, panda-like eyes were gently closed. A high-pitched, whizzing snort floated like a lullaby from its smiling mouth beneath a button nose.

“What the fuck are you supposed to be?” Abe muttered as he stepped closer.

Gradually, its eyes stretched open, and it yawned. To Abe’s surprise, the flowers around him opened further to expose their pollen centers. The beast shook but, despite its size, did so with tremendous grace, bending neither a leaf nor a flower in the process.

“I can hardly believe my eyes. Mor’kel, is that you I see entering my grove? Is something a matter, old friend? Your scent has changed,” the beast’s voice sounded deep and heavy yet passionate as it sniffed the air.

“I ah-” Abe stopped himself. He remembered that Mor’kel hadn’t spoken when they met.

“Vocal cords?” The beast twisted its head curiously. “Is it that you evolved during your adventures, old friend?”

“Ah, yeah, yeah,” Abe coughed. “Yes, that’s it. I evolved.”

“What marvelous news you bring me; this deserves a celebration. You must have been trying for a hundred years or perhaps longer. I apologize, old friend, for being off. So often I drift into sleep; keeping track of time is rather difficult.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. No worries, ah-” Abe nodded with a forced grin.

What the hell is this creature’s name?

“Thank you for being understanding, as always,” the giant beast said, shifting its enormous mass upright. “I will call others to this celebration. Your evolution must be shared with our brethren, especially when it is so unorthodox and peculiar. Perhaps you will move past the sporekings and become a spore emperor worthy of sharing a table with the great lord himself.”

“It’s fine, really; I’m tired,” Abe waved. “You know, I just got back. Trying to hang low for a while. Get my barrings and all that.”

Shit, I can’t let this thing call the inhabitants of this place here.

“Oh?” The beast’s fuzzy brow arched. “Don’t tell me the great Mor’kel has also lost his appetite for celebration. I have yet to meet a spore that partied like the great Mor’kel, and I hope never to.”

“No, ah, I still love partying, yep,” Abe grimaced.

“Really? Then let us call them here and celebrate to the fullest.”

“Ah… but what about you and I?” Abe stuttered as he searched for an excuse. “With a party, it might be hard to catch up. Wouldn’t it be best to share a few words between ourselves first?”

“My goodness, you’re right. I’m getting ahead of myself, dear friend. It has been so long, but a party would surely make it difficult to catch up. Let us share tales of the last century before we call the others here.”

“Great,” Abe nodded and smiled. One crisis has been averted for now.

“And what’s that?” the beast narrowed its eyes and leaned forward. “New weapons as well?”

“Oh, these?” Abe placed a hand on both the holster and sheath at his side. “Yeah, I stumbled upon them during my adventures. They came in handy.”

“Interesting. Perhaps I have gotten too comfortable here. Maybe I should go on an adventure,” a large clawed paw rose to scratch at the beast’s chin. “I imagine you saw all kinds of things out there. I’m a little jealous. The last three hundred years stuck here in this forest have dulled me. It seems that even paradise can grow boring.”

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“Yeah, great idea. Who knows what you’ll find.”

What should I do? Should I just shoot the thing and see what happens? What if it alarms the people it plans to invite to this celebration?

“Please, take a seat, Mor’kel. I cannot wait to hear more of your travels,” the beast said, rearranging its furry frame into a cozy seated position. “I never imagined to see a spore carrying weapons like those. Such tales must be riveting.”

“Sure,” he cleared his throat. “So,” Abe began to recount the battle with the whales and dwarven skeletons, doing his best to remain light on details about himself. With every added detail, he watched the beast’s form relax.

There’s definitely no glory in this, but survival comes first.

Abe threw his arms up theoretically, reenacting combat scenes to the giant beast’s pleasure and unclipping the holster. Taking the revolver, he flung it around as he pretended to battle imaginary skeletons.

“Oh my, oh my,” the beast hummed in delight.

He then began loading the pistol with the normal bullets held in his jacket pocket, and he explained how to hunt down the undead sharks.

It’s now or never, he groaned and swung around in a fluid motion.

The beast’s eyes widened as Abe pointed the revolver at its face, and its brow twisted curiously. And then he squeezed the trigger, and the echoing boom sent a blast hurling toward its face.

Fur and blood burst into the air, and the beast recoiled at the damage, but before it could recover, Abe fired repeatedly until the pin clicked harmlessly.

Blood spurted from the recoiling beast, and its paws rose to protect its face, but Abe wasn’t done. He dropped the revolver and leaped towards the heap of fur as he drew his sword.

An echoing roar screamed out from the beast, almost blowing Abe off course.

He was within meters of his target, sword aimed at its fur, but a paw lined with foot-long claws shot out for his chest. It was too slow, and Abe swung down and cut through fur and flesh. Ignoring the pain, the paw continued toward Abe’s chest, slamming into him with the weight of a truck and sending him flying across the forest floor, skimming across a pool of water like a rock, and crashing into a tree.

The claws had cut inch-deep wounds across his new body, but they had failed to pierce through Mor’kel’s flesh—which was already repairing itself.

He knew the bullets had gravely wounded the beast, but if its attacks made it through Mor’kel’s flesh, he wouldn’t last long.

Grunting, Abe shook his head and aimed his sword at the beast.

“What is the meaning of this, Mor’kel?” the beast snarled. “Has some evil possessed you? Is that what I smell?”

“You could say that,” Abe grunted as he cracked his neck.

“You will suffer for your crimes, evil. Mor’kel was a great friend, and I shall see that his body be put to proper rest.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

The beast’s roar shook the forest, and its fangs glistened as its lip curled back, “Die evil!”

Yep, I’ve really gone and done it now.

The beast bounced into a charge and dove toward Abe, claws first.

Bouncing back, Abe managed to avoid the initial leap, but the beast was faster than its imposing size suggested, and follow-up attacks came hard and fast, slamming against his sword as he desperately attempted to block the relentless barrage.

Wounds began to cut across Mor’kel’s skin as he failed to block everything coming his way. He needed to find a means to back the beast up and quickly.

Skidding backward as another strike made it through his defenses, Abe was forced into retreating. He ran back through the trees, charging for tighter gatherings of them to slow the bulky beast.

The cramped space between the trees was clearly not its preferred terrain. The beast roared as trees blocked its view of Abe and growled as it discarded its care for the forest and cut the trees down with its massive claws.

Oh, shit, Abe grunted and slid through tightly lined trees, which were torn apart a second later.

He thought about escaping for a moment. No matter how fast the beast could cut the trees down, he could run faster, and there was no way it could catch him in the forest. But what about the spores and other creatures living in this domain? If he became the hunted in a world like this, it would almost certainly result in his death.

Passing through another line of trees, he looked back over his shoulder at the raging beast. Perhaps he could turn his surroundings into a weapon to use against the giant beast.

Diving forward, he crawled through into the root system of a cluster of tightly packed mangroves, their impressively thick trunks causing issue even for the giant beast, as its claws didn’t cut straight through them.

Think, think, think, you idiot!

The beast’s claws came digging into the roots, and the furry flesh within a meter of Abe, and a grin creased his face.

His hand shot forward and he commanded Mor’kel’s flesh to retreat from his claws as he dug them into the beast’s hand.

It didn’t seem to care much above the tiny wounds caused by Abe’s claws at first, but the great beast shuddered as the worms squirmed into its veins.

“You’re mine now, motherfucker!”

But it jerked back, flinging itself away from the tree. The worms attempted to hang on, but as their distance increased, they snapped away and retreated back into Abe.

Pulling himself to the edge of the root system, Abe eyed the staggering beast. It might have survived his attack, but it was clear that between the toxins and bullet wounds, it was struggling.

Rolling out from his protection, Abe bounced to his feet and growled as he charged the beast.

Its paws were still heavy, and he knew they could do a lot of damage regardless of how much he had weakened the creature, but as it slowed and staggered, he could avoid the incoming strikes as he charged forward easily.

He wanted to infect it with the worms again, but he needed to remain mobile, so he chose the less damaging attacks, dashing past it and cutting it with his sword.

The beast turned, slamming down against the swamp at his back.

Damn it, this will take a while. He eyed the thin wounds spilling blood into its fur.

Fuck it, once I feed, I’ll heal up. But if I drag this on, I might run out of energy before the big bastard does.

Dashing from side to side, Abe dodged several paw strikes as he ran toward the beast again, forcing the worm energy into his legs as he neared.

The burst of energy sent him hurling through the air toward the bear’s face. He watched its massive eyes widen as he closed in, dropping his sword and reaching for it with both clawed hands, ready to strike.

Tumbling forward, he crashed into the mountain of fur and dug his claws into its flesh. The worms trilled in excitement as they wiggled free and into the giant’s veins, filling it with paralyzing toxins.

The beast thrashed and shook, slamming into nearby trees and eliciting grunts from Abe as he felt his body bone crushed by the heavy slams. Still, he didn’t retreat or break from his attack and instead allowed the worms to retract their energy from his body and funnel all of it into inflicting the most possible damage on the bear.

The giant creature began to seize and convulse, falling backward into a heap as its mouth foamed.

“Feed,” Abe growled as he felt the life drain from the giant. “Take its life,” he sneered, bloodied lips trembling. The worms complied.

“Mor’kel, I have failed you,” the beast moaned. “This evil was too much for an old beast. Sorry, my friend.”

A weak slither of empathy passed through Abe, or maybe it was guilt for betraying Mor’kel. Either way, he hadn’t wanted to betray the entity that had saved him from death, but what choice had he made? This feed might mean the difference between life and death, and he hadn’t come this far to accept his fate.

Even before the last tethers of life had faded from the giant beast, he could smell the intoxicating scent of its brain like the most inviting meal imaginable.

His mouth salivated; the smell alone strengthened his broken body, and he clawed along the bloodied fur to his prize.

The bear’s lips still trembled, whispers of something, like the escaping dreams of a dying creature tumbling from its mouth. Bu

“Don’t feel so bad. Your death will give another life. It’s just the way it is, no hard feelings.”

He gripped at the fur covering its skull and began to rip it away, tearing flesh and revealing ivory as he reached his prize.