The journey back up the valley is rather unremarkable for the most part. The animals which were chased away by the inferno that I used to destroy the vast majority of the vine-stranglers still haven’t returned. Plus, we save time by walking through the ash field again. Although the mouth of the upper cave isn’t actually within the vine-stranglers, it’s certainly quicker to cut through where they were to get to it.

All the samurans who haven’t yet already seen the remains of the ‘Forest of Death’ seem to be suitably impressed. I hear various murmurs among them, quiet clicks and grunts exclaiming about the ‘life-devourer’ which clearly raged here – and just as clearly was under control by how it left the trees around the area almost untouched.

I figure that it can only be to the good if they respect my abilities more – it might mean that they are more interested in trying out the changes that I wish to make.

River – since even if she’s changed significantly and got a new Pathwalker name, is still as much my friend as ever she was – approaches me with her equivalent of a frown.

Markus, is the Forest of Death truly destroyed? she asks me privately.

Why? I ask her silently in return.

Because I see something over there, she replies, indicating a distant dark patch against the pale grey of the ash. She has good reason to ask the question.

I didn’t destroy all of the trees, I admit. I discovered that the vine-strangler forest was actually a single organism with a certain amount of consciousness. We made a deal. As long as the forest holds to its side of things, I won’t finish what I started.

River looks a little troubled.

What if it threatens our village again?

Then I will destroy it fully, I answer quickly. But since one of the conditions is to reduce its growth speed significantly I hope that that won’t be an issue.

Except you’re not always going to be here…are you? she asks with a sense of trepidation coming through the link. I pause for a moment, eyeing her, before continuing to walk as the rest of the Bound around me start slowing too.

The thing is that I don’t think I’ve ever explicitly talked about this with River. With Kalanthia and Lathani, yes, but River? No. Though maybe I should – I might know now that I should be able to take some of my Bound at least with me, but I don’t know whether my most dedicated Companions would even want to leave the planet of their birth. Especially not one like River who is now a leader among her people.

How do you know that? I ask slowly first. River waves her tail in a shrug.

Little bits here or there, nothing clear. I only know that you are not here permanently. But I do not know how long you are intending to stay.

It’s not so much ‘intending’, and more conditions imposed by someone else, I say a little ruefully, then continue to explain exactly what happened to bring me to this world. So you see, I conclude, I will need to go in a little over two hundred days with whoever wants to come with me. I pause for a moment and eye her, even as we keep moving forwards quickly. Maybe spend some time thinking about whether you want to come with me or not. I don’t need an answer now – take some time over it and consider all the advantages and disadvantages. I will need to know a bit before the deadline so I know what to prepare to take with me, but there’s still a lot of time before then.

River accepts my words silently, not giving any visual indication of the emotional tumult I feel lies beneath the surface.

Still, she says a few moments later, that makes me question what will happen when you leave – if the Forest of Death decides to break its agreement with you because you are no longer here, then there is little we can do against that, she points out. Unless you are planning on taking it with you.

I grin.

Though that would be pretty badass, I think it would probably be a bad idea for several reasons, even assuming that the forest wanted to come and that it were even possible. But the village should never be as vulnerable to it as before – soon, everyone in the village will know how to create a fire. For all I know, one of the next few Pathwalkers may even end up being a Fire-shaper. So if the forest tried to take over like it did before, it would probably end up being destroyed in a fairly short amount of time.

Why keep it at all, though? It seems to unnecessarily complicate the situation.

I’m momentarily a little taken aback by her frankness – this new River shows very little of the deference that the old one always demonstrated. I wonder whether it’s something inherent to reaching Tier two, or merely because she is far more confident in herself and her place. Perhaps the lack of Dominate Bond compulsions to be obedient and protective are also having an effect.

Anyway, I find that I prefer it – just as I know I can trust that Bastet will tell me when I’m being an idiot. If River is honest with me I know I don’t have to worry about her agreeing to do something she doesn’t like just because I asked her to do it.

Because of the Pure Energy, I tell her after a moment. Did Bastet or one of the other samurans tell you what we found in the place where we killed the salamander?

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No, she replied curiously.

A pool of Pure Energy, I tell her, sending her an image of what I saw when I followed Bastet down to the edge of the tunnel. It shows the tunnel blocked by the oddly moving and sparkling Pure Energy liquid. It wasn’t up at the top of the tunnel, but was about two thirds there. Still, it was a clear indication that something has changed.

The whole area had been thick with Energy with my hourly consumption shooting up to over three hundred units. It was enough to push my progress towards my next level up by a few percent, though the call came in from River before we could be there for more than a few hours.

High as three hundred units per hour is, it’s not actually as much as I might have expected. Although I don’t remember exactly, I’m pretty sure that my previous Energy consumption when next to the Pure Energy pool had been over seven hundred units. However, that was in a confined cavern – perhaps that’s why. Or perhaps it’s the effect of the trees. After all, that was one of the reasons for keeping the vine-stranglers around – to stop other creatures coming and investigating the source of Energy.

The state of the vine-strangler entrance is the reason why we’re currently heading for the tunnel which we used to exit the area. After all, even if I previously survived touching Pure Energy, I highly doubt I’d survive swimming in it. Nor do I think it’s a good idea for anyone else to try, even if they’re tier ones who don’t seem to be as affected by Pure Energy as those with Cores.

Which leaves using the other entrance to find exactly why the Pure Energy, which used to be a small and isolated pool on the floor of the cavern full of Energy Hearts, is now filling more than half the tunnel to the surface.

It seems like River’s thoughts are moving along the same lines as mine.

Do you know why the situation has so changed? she asks. I hesitate and then shake my head.

I don’t know. But I remember what we saw in the tunnels, and what I discussed with Kalanthia after we returned. I can only conclude that, for some reason, a creature, probably the same one which tunnelled down to the Pure Energy in the first place, has blocked the flow of the Pure Energy stream, and this is probably the second time it’s done it. The first time created the Energy Hearts and then the other tunnel because of the pressure of the blocked Energy. This time, I guess that the Energy is not under the same sort of pressure, so it’s just slowly moving up the tunnel.

Abruptly, I wonder what will happen if the Pure Energy starts spilling over the edge of the tunnel. What if it starts coming into actual contact with the vine-stranglers, with the other creatures of the forest? Could this be the reason for the timer on the quest: that it would cause some irreversible changes if I don’t find a way of rectifying the situation before that happens?

Well, that’s why we’re going to investigate.

River and I exchange a few more thoughts, wondering what kind of creature might be waiting for us. She thinks that it’s likely the creature itself is blocking the way in order to get stronger by absorbing the Energy directly. Personally, I hope that’s not the case: based on my own experience of how difficult Pure Energy is to deal with, the thought of having to combat a beast which is able to absorb a much larger quantity of the substance fills me with trepidation.

I don’t have many better ideas, though, and River’s does make a lot of sense.

Fortunately – or perhaps unfortunately, depending – we are making good time. Not needing to fight, or even move with much care through the ashfield certainly helps us. Once we enter the forest again, we have to be a little more cautious. After all, we never know what kind of beasts might decide that they want to attack us.

Whether it’s the large group of us moving together, the high proportion of Tier twos, or that the forest still hasn’t gone back to normal, we remain unbothered. As the sun heads for the horizon, the cave mouth where we once fought a pack of lizogs comes into sight.

Being a cave, it’s invisible until we round a corner and, suddenly, it comes into sight. I think uncomfortably that it looks even more like a maw than it ever did before.

The Bound around me shift uneasily too, their stronger senses picking up on more information than mine are capable of. Bastet moves with her party to investigate the entrance to the tunnel even as the rest of my Bound array themselves around me, their various weapons at the ready.

There is danger here, Shrieks says grimly, the other Warriors sending their agreement, their eyes roving unceasingly around the little clearing and the trees beyond it.

What danger? I ask urgently. Shrieks flicks his tail.

I know not, he admits. It is nothing I have encountered before. But I sense that it is dangerous. Not too helpful, but I suppose that it does tell me one thing: something has definitely been this way – River didn’t react so badly the last time.

There are traces of passage, Bastet says, still investigating with her team. It is a large beast, bigger than any of us. And strong, very strong.

“Stronger than the danaris?” I ask.

Yes. Much.

Well, that’s not good news.

“How do you know?”

Traces of its presence. I can sense them now after Evolution. I could not before.

That’s a good point. Maybe I should ask some of the other Tier twos to investigate too – the more information we have, the better.

“Is it anywhere nearby?” I check first. Bastet hesitates.

I don’t think so. These traces are hours old. But it may return at any time.

“Then Joy, Shrieks, anyone who has good senses, can you check them out? See what you can find.”

The two samurans mentioned, along with Tarra, River and Murmur step forward, cautiously crossing the clearing to meet with Bastet and her team. They spend some time poking around the area, touching different areas with their claws. River and Shrieks even head a little into the tunnel – something that makes my stomach clench in fear.

Fortunately, they come out and beckon the rest of us over. I move with my Bound to meet them near the entrance to the cave.

“So?” I ask impatiently. “Did you find anything out?”

It’s strong, River replies grimly, Tarra, Joy and the two Warriors flicking their tails and their spikes flashing in grim agreement. Very strong. She hesitates. I suspect it has gone through a second Evolution. The other samurans start muttering. The rest of my Bound have different reactions – Lathani is curious more than anything, with the other Tier ones shifting uneasily but not seeming to have understood too much about the possible danger.

Conversely, I feel frozen. A Tier three?