Tanuki and Six crawled their way into a cylinder-shaped passage. Veinlike roots spanned across the walls and thick tendrils blocked the way. The floor throbbed under their feet. The stench in the air was repulsive, the closest thing to it being an unkept butchery.

Tanuki observed the roots. They appeared organic but not in a plant-like way, rather as the insides of a living organism. The walls were coated with a thick substance that stuck to them like slime.

It took a lot not to gag. The whole place was disgusting.

“This must be the nest,” said Six while lighting the way.

“Wish we could just burn it and leave,” Tanuki added while fighting the urge to throw up.

Suddenly, a larger throb went through the roots and a bright red substance lit up the passage, just for a second as it travelled through. Tanuki chose to follow the light.

It led them deeper to the realm’s core. Eventually, they stumbled upon the end of the passage, where it turned into a drop to a sphere-shaped room. The energy of the veins travelled here. When another wave of red lit up the way, the entire room basked in crimson as two things revealed themselves to the pair. Firstly, the entire room was covered by throbbing roots. The second revelation was much more eerie. Attached to the roots, nestmen slept a deep sleep.

There was something else below, but he could not make out what it was, only that it looked like two enormous warts. He raised his index finger before his mouth and looked at Six. The guard repeated the same manoeuvre and followed.

Tanuki grabbed the rope Edgar gave him and attached it to a root to climb down into the room. He felt proud of how little fear he felt, not because of recklessness, but because… well… maybe he had no excuse. The thrill of the adventure and a possible fight pushed him forward.

He passed by a few sleeping monsters. Observing them up close, he realised just how horrifying they truly were. The best way he could describe them was as if a human experiment aimed at rearranging the skin and bones had gone wrong, turning the victims into eyeless, noseless, mouth-breathing beasts.

Somehow, the monstrous attribute of them made him all the more excited about the possibility of a fight. He would not need to hold back nor feel remorseful when he kills these things. After all, it would be self-defence, wouldn’t it?

“I’m going to kill all of you,” he thought with a grin, too focused on bloodlust to watch his footing. His feet slipped on the slimy root and kicked one of the nestmen. It woke up and made a choking bark in his direction, then stopped, as it noticed something unfamiliar.

Tanuki’s breathing was different than the other nestmen. He could hear that.

He reached above, trying to get a hold of the boy to make sure he was truly not one of them, which prompted him to get his sword and jab the blade straight at it. Due to the low light conditions, he missed the creature’s throat, stabbing it in the shoulder instead.

Chaos followed as the nestman let out an ear-piercing howl that echoed off the cavern walls. The rest of the hive woke up, some quickly clattering towards their injured mate.

There were at least twenty surrounding them and another dozen in the area. This was not a fight the two could win.

Tanuki had but a single second to think of a way out. They could not run. Nor could they fight so many. Perhaps there was a chance, but he would surely lose a limb if not more.

He had to think of something, but his mind was blank.

There was only one thing he could remember, something he theorised the first time the nestmen attacked him. Back then, he feared them so much, thinking they were stronger, that he tried to think outside the box for any disadvantage he could abuse against them.

He found salvation in a simple biological attribute of the monsters. Something that he first thought up to flee, but back then, he did not have the necessary equipment to execute this plan. Nor did he have them now, but he could improvise a possible solution.

Comparing his resourcefulness when he feared his opponents with that when he was out for blood, shame washed over Tanuki. His emotions controlled him, again, and not the other way around. It very nearly caused his downfall.

“I would deserve this loss,” he thought. “Thus, I am grateful for this second chance.”

He drew his sword and turned towards Six. He let go of the rope, but before he could fall, he quickly raised his staff like a baseball bat.

“Sorry!” he yelled and promptly bashed the bat into Six’s chest, hitting his chest piece before he fell into the swarm beneath.

The metal rang out like a gong, echoing through the cave’s every nook and cranny. Though it was loud enough to attract all the remaining nestmen, it was also great enough in volume to completely stagger all nearby entities, even including themselves.

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Tanuki suspected well. If the nestmen used sound to locate their prey, they must have been similar to bats, if not more disadvantaged given that they possessed no eyes. Such creatures’ hearing can be up to two hundred times more sensitive than that of humans. Though it benefits them when hunting in the dark, allowing echolocation to pursue their prey, it utterly shattered them when something loud exploded into their ears, made worse by the cave’s constant echo.

The nestmen choked and howled, further adding to the echoing. After a few seconds, the sound of Tanuki’s blow dissipated and the monsters’ screaming took the crown for the loudest noise.

Tanuki fell into a group, squashing one of the nestmen beneath himself while getting under the rest. They stomped over him, failing to notice as he quietly cried in fear. The legs of the creatures crashed down on him like knives, but he resisted their cuts.

The nestmen grew crazy as they deafened each other. One tried to claw at the other standing next to it, that one could not locate the source of the attack and stabbed another, and a group scuffle evolved. The monsters tore at each other, the pain birthing more screaming and more noise. It was a hellish cycle with but one destination.

Six was attacked, but only by a few and even those were oblivious to the fact he was an outsider. Though his weapon was barely sharp enough to cut through bone, he managed to slay two before a third sent him tumbling after Tanuki.

They fell close to each other. Tanuki noticed but said nothing, as he was too busy protecting his nape and head. Six did so too, and the shield on his back helped greatly with avoiding damage.

The fighting continued for half a minute. By the end, only a few were screaming, yet they continued to fight. Six raised his head to bring some light into the room, he could see the last two claw the skin off each other’s head. One tried to finish the other, but that one clawed back at its neck and cut its throat.

“Fighting over,” Six stood up and put out a hand to Tanuki.

He took a little longer to get up as he was shaken by the events. Still, he wiped his tears and regained most of his self-control before accepting Six’s hand.

The two stood a few meters away from the championing nestman. Blood and exposed muscle painted the creature red.

As the two stood up, it turned towards them, but it was too exhausted to initiate a full-powered attack. Instead, it simply crawled forward, one leg limping and the others barely standing.

Tanuki raised his staff to cast an acid spell but stopped midway through. He shook his head and drew the sword, waving away Six.

When the creature got close enough, he raised the blade and quickly beheaded it. No blood spurted out of the open neck wound, as most of its blood had already spilt. It died within seconds.

Six put away his sword.

“Well done! You really are the Great Hero,” he congratulated the boy, clapping faster than he spoke.

Tanuki nodded with a forced smile, then returned to the task at hand. Not counting all the corpses, there were only the two warts remaining in the room. Shining a light on them revealed a horrifying secret that left Tanuki shaken to his core.

“Humans?!” He shouted upon seeing their face.

Growing from the ground, connecting all the roots, two dry human husks stood as pillars. The roots ran up to their exposed abdomen, forming a long skirt as they all assaulted the same spot. Their faces were beyond recognisable as if they were made of burnt plasticine rather than flesh.

Tanuki poked them with his staff to see if they were alive. Them responding would have left a scar on his soul, but something surprising traumatised him instead. Tiny, mouse-size nestmen crawled out from the husk’s chest cavity.

The little spiders crawled away quickly, Tanuki screamed in terror and tried stomping them, Six following in his footsteps. They were too fast, too many. Before the other could have released any of the little things, Tanuki blasted it with double acid.

As it melted away, the roots opened into the air, gushing out a plant-like meaty substance. Its smell was disgusting, but Tanuki was too perturbed to care for it.

He raised the staff again to blast away the other corpse but stopped when he saw that it had moved. Somehow, horrifyingly, this one was still alive.

“H… h…” it struggled to gasp.

Tanuki’s voice trembled as he responded. “Hello?”

The man could not look up to meet his gaze. He fought out a word.

“E… Er… Ernesh?”

“No,” he would have said, but his tongue held back.

This man was going to die. He was already a corpse, but one gifted with a final moment of lucidity. It should not be moments of loneliness.

Tanuki took the gamble and said the only name he could.

“Eirikr?” Tears formed in his eyes, as he spoke again. “Brother? Is that you?”

The corpse struggled to gasp.

“I’m… I’m so… sorry…”

“Why would you say that brother?” He forced sweetness into his voice. “We are getting paid tonight, then we’re going home. Master said we did very well, he will give us a bonus! Isn’t that wonderful?”

The corpse took longer to answer. He fought for words, but his strength was fleeting.

“Is… is that… so?”

“Yes, brother! We will never have to worry about money again. We can buy all the food we want, drink the sweetest wine, and go wherever we please! Where would you want to go, brother?”

In his last moments, he could only say one word. But that one was all he needed.

“Home.”

Tanuki drew his blade.

- - -

Light surrounded him. He regained his senses as the salty ocean air crept up his nose. He blinked twice, then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

A slight breeze blew upon the wheatfield. He turned around, confused, then found a familiar voice in the wind.

“Eirikr! Over here, Eirikr!”

A small fishing ship hung out by the shore. On the deck sat two chests filled with gold and a young man waving.

He approached the ship, and his brother jumped out to hug him. They cried in each other’s embrace, then talked as they set sail for new lands.

“I want to go south and see the belly dancers,” the brother laughed.

“Pervert! We need to go home and buy medicine for Mother,” Eirikr replied.

“You always go on and on about family! It’s getting on my nerves. You should be more carefree, Brother!”

“Shut it! Someone has to watch out for you, otherwise you’d die the world’s most pathetic death. Remember that time with the walrus?”

Though he wanted to appear serious, his irritation made Ernesh laugh even harder. Deep down, he wanted to discipline him but rather humbled himself to join the laughter.

Ernesh wiped the happy tears from his eyes.

“Brother! At least when I’m with you, I know I’m not getting hurt. You keep me safe. Thank you.”

Eirikr felt a disturbance as he heard those words. It took him a moment, but when he understood, that ominous feeling fell below to the ocean floor.

In that moment, he was at peace. He smiled as they set off towards the sunset and he whispered quiet words into the wind.

“Thank you…”