Bjorn had one final look back at the cave before exiting. Freja seemed to be taking everything in stride; she wanted to live and Bjorn also didn’t want the young woman to die. He didn’t know how much of his concern was genuine and how much came from the familiar bond but it didn’t matter. Something about Freja resonated with him beyond the influence of the bond. He couldn’t help but wonder if he had a daughter in his previous life. He can’t remember her if he did but there was something there.

He was surprised at how well she was holding up. She was from a noble house, a lady of class, but she seemed to have dedicated herself to survival no matter what. He imagined anyone else her age and in her position would have broken down and been paralyzed with grief, but not her.

He marched out, flicking his tongue to taste for any predators nearby. Once the coast was clear he continued on his journey. This time he wanted to take a different route to the swamp to avoid the wolves' territory. He still had at least seven hours before he could use his magic again which left fleeing his only option.

Several of the plants he was looking for grew in grassland not dark forest so he would take a long detour around the woodland following the tall grass. He felt more confident in it since he could hide if necessary. He had to use scent and the familiar bond constantly pointing to Freja to keep himself from getting lost in the tall gently swaying grass.

“Freja’s wind magic has gotten much stronger, did you notice?” Failsafe asked absently.

“It was an improvement from what we saw at the academy,” Bjorn agreed as he flicked his tongue and altered his course slightly. “Why bring it up suddenly?”

“Well, I think she may have finally realized what our magic did to her,” Failsafe stated. “While the familiar contract is helping stabilize her magic, what her body copied from me is organizing it in a way that is helping her with control.”

“Yeah, and as she grows in magic we do too,” Bjorn added. “The more her mana is refined and amplified the more we get from her. She also seems to be okay with the fact that I can understand her.”

“I’m pretty sure she may think that you are a True of some kind. I mean, I would too if I were her,” Failsafe said. “I thought she was going to freak out or think she was going insane. She might be in shock so maybe try not to do anything too mind shattering around her.”

“Well, as soon as we get enough magic and I can talk, we’ll clear all that up,” Bjorn responded. “And she isn’t human so maybe they are more resistant to mental trauma.”

“What if you are a True? We’re going to unlock a small fragment of your memories soon. What if we find out this creature you reincarnated as is one,” Failsafe stated thoughtfully. “When you’re a few hundred years older you will literally be one of the most powerful entities in this plane. Freja will be too, if she lives that long. Or rather, if you keep the familiar contract. Both of you might be pulled into the Higher Planes.”

“That’s thinking so far ahead it doesn’t even matter,” Bjorn said. “Right now we need to focus on getting out of this forest alive. The shadow wolves will expand their territory now that the troll is dead, and we’re at least a week or two away from being able to leave.”

“Right-right. I’m just excited about being that powerful. I have a vague image of you before you died, but you would have been limited by the fact that you were mortal. Being a True would mean not only will we inevitably reach that level of power again, but we’ll grow far beyond it.”

“If I am one that would make you obsolete. I will live forever so why have a reincarnation system?” Bjorn asked as he flicked his tongue, tasting the air for the direction of the water. “See, it’s better to think about what we have going on right now.”

“Oh, right…” Failsafe thought about it for a long while. “That just means I get to hang out with you forever then, so that’s okay.”

“Hmm, isn’t this one of the flowers.” Bjorn stopped and saw a cluster of yellow flowering weeds in the grassland. “This is it, right?”

“It matches the description of the dorma plant. We need to get the bulbs of this one.” Failsafe agreed.

Bjorn dug up the plant’s bulbs which weren’t too deep under the surface but he quickly found that he is not the best at digging. It wasn’t a problem since the bulbs were only a few inches in the soil but he knew he would have a harder time with fleron root when he got to the swampy area. He could easily place things in the bag Freja had tied to him.

He continued traveling further out and away from the forest when he stumbled across more of the dorma and even a few of the shade caps.

“All we need for the herbal potion now is the fleron roots.” Bjorn said. “Before heading towards the swamp let's go out a little more.”

***

After a while Bjorn picked up the scent of smoke. There were also the faint taste of people, other’s of Freja’s species. The grass was too high for Bjorn to see them but he could make out the direction thanks to the scent. More people meant he could get Freja the help she needed. He pushed his way through the grass until it finally broke into a pasture.

Bjorn stopped and lowered himself to the ground as the new scent hit him like a bucket of cold water. It was the all too familiar scent of death and it permeated everything. There was a small village not too far away on the other side of the pasture that contained the rotting corpses of long deceased bovines. There was a single fire burning in the village, but there wasn’t any sign of life.

The homes were simple wood and thatch and there weren’t many that Bjorn could see. There was a strange magic being carried in the wind that set off alarms in Bjorn’s animal instincts. The magic even seemed to be in the ground causing plants to grow faster. They accelerated to the point that even in the short time Bjorn had been there he saw a single sprout grow into a sapling at the edge of the village.

“Well, that’s ominous.” Bjorn said.

“And we have to go too.” Failsafe sighed.

“Why, I don’t think we should.” Bjorn responded. “Look at that place it is giving me bad vibes.”

“Look at the walls of that first house. You see what I see, right?” Failsafe said.

Bjorn saw the green moss growing at an accelerated rate on the side of one of the houses. With the exponential growth of plant life there were bound to be the mushrooms they needed in some dark crevice in the village. Honestly, Bjorn's bad feeling didn’t subside at the discovery. Maybe if he saw a single person and not just a field of hundreds of dead cows he would feel better about going there. As it stood it seemed more and more like a dumb idea.

“We’ll come back if we need to. We haven’t checked the forest for the moss or the mushrooms.” His eyes lingered on the carcases. “Hopefully we don’t have to come back here.”

***

Bjorn was on his second trip back to the swamp, taking the longer route around the shadow wolves’ territory. He had the goal of hunting a few snakes and lizards since they would leave the water in fear of him. He also needed to find the last of the ingredients for Freja’s health potions and antibiotics. The first two ingredients luckily grew in the grassland, but the last three he needed grew closer to water sources and shade. They stopped at every mushroom they found and closely examined it but had no luck, the same with the moss.

The water came into view and Bjorn immediately went to fill the beaker, thankfully this one had a lid and he could put it back in the bag. As he approached the water he could see reptiles avoiding him and tasted fear in the air. He would have to focus on that later, when it was time to hunt.

Fleron was a small blue-green flowering plant with feathery leaves. He needed to dig some up for its roots.

The first time he was there he was so on edge he hadn’t even had the time to appreciate the beauty of the wetland. Now that he wasn't being chased he could really use his heightened senses and keen awareness to experience the world in a whole new way. While he kept a constant lookout for the taste of shadow wolves’ magic, he also came across a vast array of natural scents and tastes.

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The muddy ground gave a little under the weight of his paws, and a break in the trees allowed the area to glow with a myriad of greens and browns. A few trees grew out of the water; life magics seeped out from their branches into the ambiance of the air. Moss grew in drapes across the ancient woodland though none of it was what he was looking for, and a sense of untouched nature threatened to cause Bjorn to drop his guard and just take it all in.

After climbing over the gnarled roots of an ancient tree he finally came across the first plant that looked similar to the image Freja had shown him. His journey took him dangerously close to the shadow wolf territory, but he didn’t have a choice. As soon as he collected the plants he would swim back so they couldn’t track his scent if they tried.

***

Bjorn knew that digging up the fleron root was going to be a pain and he was right. Digging already sucked without having to contend with the mud and water trying to rebury his progress as soon as he made it. He was working diligently to uncover his third fleron cluster; each of them had been a hassle to claw up from the mud. The roots of the plant were connected to a bulb the size of a green onion, and they grew in small clusters of about four or five. Worst still he had to keep a constant look out for any signs of the shadow wolves. He’d been at the swamp for three hours and he still had to hunt something before going back to the creepy village to collect the moss.

“All that’s left is to find something we can catch really quick,” Bjorn said mentally to Failsafe as he placed the fleron cluster in the bag. “This is going well.”

“What did you have in mind?” Failsafe asked. “I’ve been keeping an eye on several snakes and lizards.”

“We’ll kill a few snakes,” Bjorn said thoughtfully as he turned to look at the sky. “We should be able to carry them easily enough. We need to hurry though; it’ll be getting late by the time we return.”

Failsafe easily guided Bjorn to the scent of the snakes, the magic construct being well attuned to Bjorn’s senses. The coiled up brown serpent was almost invisible amongst the dead vegetation and fallen leaves. If not for the strong taste of fear in the air Bjorn would have missed the creature altogether. As he approached the snake opened its mouth, revealing its fangs in an attempt to dissuade him from getting any closer. Of course it didn’t work, and the snake continued to coil in preparation for a strike.

In the blink of an eye the snake lunged forward, only for Bjorn to catch it mid-strike between his jaws and bite down on its head. The iron tang of blood mixed in his mouth, and the snake hung limp. He found the taste oddly pleasant, even more so than the cooked meat they’d fed him at the academy. Something about the fresh kill and blood spoke to his instincts. Nevertheless, he needed to catch a few more and would eat a couple before returning.

***

Bjorn found himself hiding at the edge of what he assumed was once a thriving village. There was still a single faint spire of smoke flowing up from some unseen fire in the middle of the village. The place was barely recognizable even from just a few hours ago. Nature had reclaimed the village, new growth had spread rapidly and tore up the roads and crawled up buildings. The air was thick with the stench of decay, so potent that he could taste it at the back of his throat—a mingling of rot and something darker lurking just out of sight.

The pasture was a macabre mix of bone and rotten flesh from the cattle that had inexplicably died en masse. The carcasses of livestock strewn about, bloated and festering. Flies buzzed around the putrid remains, their droning the only sound in the oppressive silence. There was no sign of the villagers, not a single soul. No other animal went near the village and even the normal carrion feeders had not come to eat the feast of dead flesh which made Bjorn want to turn around all the more.

“We’ll get in, get the moss, look for any sign of the mushrooms and get out.” Bjorn said to himself.

“And not die!” Failsafe added.

Bjorn sighed, he was trying not to think about death. “Yeah, buddy, of course. And not die. Top of the list.”

He slowly walked towards the village, staying as slow to the ground as he possibly could. The closer he got the more he could taste the nature magic suffusing the area. It was everywhere in the ground, air and especially the plants. It didn’t seem benign or malevolent, just a presence, like it was part of the world just twisted in some strange way.

He could tell that it wasn’t natural, the ambiance of the world had a neutral flavor to his scenes. This was the work of something or someone and Bjorn didn’t want to find out what. After what felt like an eternity of crawling a few feet, stopping, listening and tasting for changes in the environment, he finally reached the wall with the moss.

“That's it,” Failsafe whispered, despite only Bjorn being able to hear him.

“Okay now for the mushrooms.” Bjorn responded just as softly in his head. “Let's look for a cellar or something.”

Bjorn scraped some of the moss down off the wall as quietly as he could. Then stuffed it into his bag with a sigh of relief. Once he was done he listened out for any changes. After he decided it was safe, he crawled along the house sticking as close to the shadows as he could. The new growth around the village made sneaking harder as he had to push his way through brush that grew through the dirt road and tall grasses everywhere else.

After a few minutes of sticking to mainly the outskirts of the village he finally decided to go deeper. There weren’t many houses in the village but he did find a stable that had a cellar door. He opened it just enough to get inside and disappeared into the darkness.

There were no lights inside but he could see in the dark so there wasn’t any issue.The space was humid and bursting at the seams with fungus thanks to the odd magic causing things to grow so rapidly. Bjorn and Failsafe had to very carefully identify each mushroom they found in comparison to the description Freja read and picture she showed them. Luckily, Failsafe had a perfect memory which made finding the right ones easy.

They escaped the cellar and were on their way out of the village when Bjorn heard movement. He quickly looked around using all of his senses to determine if he had been spotted and he needed to run. Then he heard the sound again, the sound of something being dragged. Bjorn crouched low behind a thick bush, his breath shallow as his heart beat quickly in his chest. Then a creature slowly meandered from one of the houses.

Bjorn didn’t know what he was looking at, it, whatever it could be, was collecting the dismembered corpses of the villagers. The grotesque humanoid creature was a mockery of life despite the life giving nature magic flowing from it like a waterfall. The creature itself was barely held together by the very magic that seemed to pulse with each shuddering step it took. Its once-mossy robes, now tattered and filthy, clung to a body that was more wood than flesh.

One antler jutted from its skull, not quite the same type of antler as Freja’s race, the other snapped off, leaving only a jagged stump. Its face was a patchwork of living wood and decayed flesh, with parts of its skull visible where the skin had rotted away. The creature’s right arm and left leg were crude prosthetics, fashioned from twisted living branches that creaked with every movement. Meanwhile its torso was a mess of splintered wood and festering wounds. It leaned heavily on a gnarled staff, each step accompanied by the sickening sound of old wounds tearing open, fresh blood seeping through the makeshift repairs.

Its free arm was dragging the top half of a long dead man. Blood stained the path the creature walked in a crimson wash. Bjorn mistakenly looked up to see where it was going when he saw what had happened to the villagers. Bodies were strung up in the trees held in place with vines and branches as their blood fed the plants below.

“Bjorn! What in the Infernal Planes are you doing? Run run run!” Failsafe screamed getting louder with each word.

Bjorn snapped out of his stupor and looked down at the creature. It had stopped walking and turned its head around to stare him in the eyes. The creature raised its staff and began chanting a spell, its voice a horrifying facsimile of a human male. Bjorn turned and ran right as roots spiked out of the ground where he had been a moment before. He didn’t turn around to see if he was being followed instead he pulled on the single point of mana he had and unleashed Poison Puff to make sure he couldn’t be followed.

Bjorn spent a few hours in the forest looking out for any signs of being hunted before deciding to return to Freja. He didn’t know what that creature was but it had killed a village of people and strung them up like decorations. He was going to stay as far from there as possible. The cave was in sight and night was approaching fast. The rot of the troll and the ever-increasing flock of vultures meant not much had changed. The last sprinkling of light faded as they reached the cave mouth.

“So we aren’t going to talk about that, right?” Failsafe said.

“No-no we are not.” Bjorn agreed. “We got what we needed. So, Freja heals herself and we get out of this Infernal Plane cursed forest as soon as possible.”

“Do we even know if Freja eats meat?” Failsafe asked as they entered the cave, glad to change the conversation. “I mean she does have antlers like a deer, what if she’s vegetarian?”

“You have a point. I don’t know. Well, if we bring her animal corpses she’ll either cook and eat them, or send us to find something she can eat,” Bjorn responded, thinking back and realizing he’d never seen her eat before.

Freja was asleep when he arrived, but the sound of his claws clacking against the rock floor roused her. The fire was little more than embers but the stack of firewood had decreased. Freja must have been using wind hands to keep it going. She greeted Bjorn with a pained but genuine smile and inquired about the trip. He presented her with the bag on his back which was full of all the ingredients and three snake corpses. She examined the roots while Bjorn placed the water near the embers and replaced the wood, restarting the fire.

“Bjorn, did you kill these with your venom?” Freja asked, looking at the snakes.

Bjorn shook his head and continued to stoke the fire when he heard crunching behind him. He looked, and to his surprise Freja was eating one of the snakes raw, scales and all. He’d never noticed before but her teeth weren’t that of a herbivore or really even an omnivore. They were sharp and she had eight canine teeth, four top and four bottom to drive the point home. Freja’s species was most certainly not vegetarians. She seemed more comfortable eating the snake raw than he did.

Failsafe said mentally to Bjorn, “I think we know what she eats now.”

Freja picked up the second snake and opened her mouth, ready to bite when she noticed Bjorn watching her. She lowered it, slightly embarrassed.

“What?” she asked as she looked between Bjorn and the snake. “Were these for you?”