Hyde was in fact spending time with his new love: the kauri tree.

Ever since the day when Brunner used his Spell for the first time, and empowered his lands, Hyde had been able to sense something different. Almost like an energy rising from the soil; the soil nurturing the forest all around, granting it power despite its dormant state.

The feel of it came over him as he sighted the tree, but when he would have expected it to fade with the day after the Spell had ended; instead it grew stronger.

Hyde knew then that he needed to stay around for a while.

Magic beasts had a sense for these things, a hunger.

He learned with time that it was not the kauri itself he was sensing.

After having spent weeks–a warmer day arrived at last–it was not yet spring, but the warmth was enough to melt the snow for several hours, as rain came down from above.

The resulting mulch was a reminder of home for the young adult mosswolf. One he had never known.

Hyde went down to the kauri and lay as if in ambush, blending into the wet soil that could be found among the roots.

A pig in mud was not half as happy as Hyde was then. So why was he not satisfied?

The hunger increased, even as he swam to the very trunk of the tree. It smelled richly of pungent clay and oaken compost. But there was a musty tone of something else; something animal.

Despite massive trepidation Hyde decided this was a mystery worth solving: his paws worked through the watery mulch, finding an opening for him to use to dive down beneath a particularly large root.

He started actually swimming. There was no end to the loose soil; he went deeper but soon started fearing that he would be forced to return for breath.

It was impossible to see or feel if he was near to anything, the mulch could have been an ocean. His body fought for him to relax, when suddenly a reflex Hyde did not know his body possessed seemed to kick in.

His lungs filled up, despite his airways remaining locked. He could feel the intrinsic magic of his body working, reacting to the environment that fit so perfectly with his affinity. It made use of it and thrived on it, in a way Hyde had never experienced.

Despite his attempts to focus on the mission it brought home how far from his true land he had been born. It was the first time Hyde’s intelligence made him feel sad for losing something he never had. So, there are downsides.

When Hyde had been diving for more than twenty minutes–not in a straight line but struggling past solid earth and roots to find a path downward–he finally sensed a new smell that had gradually been lost behind him.

Air.

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He burst out of a pool of wet soil to emerge in what felt like a rocky cavern. The darkness was deep, but not total to his yellow eyes. It was impossible to tell how many feet of dirt was packed above him however, and the way back to the ground suddenly did not seem as obvious as it had whilst heading downward.

But on the other paw, his hunger was finally starting to mellow, it felt like the very air held exactly what his body had been craving.

Hyde let out a sudden bark-howl, figuring that the sound might give him a sense of the size of wherever he was. It turned out to be a tunnel, and when he headed away from the pool he soon discovered there was a path available.

Within minutes the darkness started to lighten, it seemed like the tunnel was coming to its end.

As he approached the wide opening carefully, a strange noise suddenly reached his drying ears. It sounded like rustling, yipping and yowling.

So far from home and all alone Hyde decided to sneak a peek– and be ready to bolt for the surface–at even the slightest sign of some dangerous creature. Could come back later, with Harold, probably. Can [Druids] regenerate past drowning?

The sight that finally greeted the greedy mosswolf was one he would not have expected in his wildest imaginings. The cavern was hundreds of meters long and wide, and had glowing mushrooms and mosses and flowers covering the dirt and rocks.

Hyde could hear a loud underground river on the other side of the cavernous dwelling–and right there with its back turned, just a few meters ahead of him–and one over there, and there; and all the way to the other end, was a creature of some kind.

Hundreds of them.

Livia would have described them as weirdly patterned raccoons, with oversized hindquarters. Hyde saw them frolicking–some were eating–and dozens of them could be found in writhing piles, all mating.

They must have found their way down here ages ago and discovered a paradise for themselves, breeding for generations.

Each one smelled saturated with magic.

If Livia could see one of the smaller ones she would have called it the cutest thing since baby chimps.

All Hyde saw was ambrosia being served on a platter.

Sorry Roldy, you might not be seeing me for a while.

When the wolf burst from his cover the magic critters reacted slower than any animal that was used to fearing for its life.

When they finally did see what was happening, Hyde had already killed seven, and their bunny legs could not start racing fast enough. He caught another dozen due to how their stress made their legs fail to gain purchase, and by then he had meals for days.

The stressed animals burrowed down in their too shallow homes which they had dug more out of inherited instinct than any real sense for preservation; and watched the monster stalking their garden of Eden.

Hyde did not know it, but he was feeling like a dragon.