Lucas slept peacefully next to the fire with his father watching over him and dreamed. The dreams lately had shifted. After learning a few skills and seeing the ruthlessness of the pirate captain, Lucas’ dreams had been normal for a few weeks. Tonight, a new dream began, one that was a completely different experience from what Lucas had seen with the Pirate King.

The dream began as the host opened the front door of his cottage. Just outside was a verdant forest teeming with life. Lucas could tell that his host had the herblore skill, and it must have been quite powerful since Lucas could see just the tip of a strange fruit at the limit of his vision buried in the dense undergrowth just off of the trail at what must have been 50 meters. In addition, Lucas could pinpoint exactly where lifeforms were in the vicinity of his new host. The sensation was strange, but compelling.

The host must not have been a tall man since Lucas’ vision was actually a little lower than with the pirate king. The point of view began to shift as his host began to walk along the small trail outside the door of the cottage and Lucas spent his time riding along with his host playing with the new sense that he had discovered. It was like he knew, at the back of his mind, where every creature for fifty meters or so was.

With some concentration, Lucas was able to focus on one of the presences around him and could tell that one of the many lifeforms was a squirrel. He could tell that it was satiated and excited because it scented a female who was ready to breed. The more he focused on the squirrel, the more he began to feel what the squirrel felt. He could feel the smooth bark of the tree under him, the cool water as it drank from the small bowl in a leaf, the air flying through its fur as it jumped from one branch in the dense canopy to another. Eventually the squirrel began to near the edge of his host’s [Perception] range and the sensation began to grow dull. As the squirrel left the range, Lucas found himself back behind the eyes of his mysterious new host.

Again, the jungle was alive around him and the many animals were simply a presence at the back of his mind. The sensation was easy to ignore, and Lucas guessed that his host must have an amazing [Willpower] in order to be able to push all of the distractions caused by the [Herblore] skill and by whatever skill allowed him to sense all of the life around him with such a high [Perception].

After thinking about it for another moment, Lucas was pretty sure that it was [Sense Life]. That would be the only name that made sense for the skill. His host wasn’t doing anything exciting, just walking through the jungle. The path ahead was remarkably free of growth and the journey to wherever they were going would be quick, Lucas was sure. Lucas put his attention back on the animals around him. This time he didn’t single out any one animal. Instead, he focused on the general sense he had of the animals around him. He tried to clear his thoughts like with his [Meditation] and slowly let everything except the sense of the animals leave his consciousness.

After several weeks of doing so in his dreams, Lucas was gaining a strong sense of how to break down and learn the abilities that his hosts had in the dreams. He felt kind of bad that people like his dad and mom couldn’t learn abilities so easily. He had tried to explain how to learn the navigate ability to his dad, but he was ultimately unsuccessful. His father had his own [Tracking] skill anyways.

His focus slowly shifted to the way that the ability perceived the various animals around his host. He started to focus on the edges of his host’s perception and, as a new life form came within range, he noticed that his host became aware of it almost immediately. Each time it happened, Lucas would focus on the feeling of his hosts mana. He knew that mana was the core to almost all abilities. He had heard his dad talk about people who used other energy to do things through the system, but to Lucas it just sounded like a different version of mana.

Ever so slowly, Lucas began to feel his hosts mana as it pulsed. Every time a new creature entered his host’s perception range there was a weight that seemed to settle on the mana in his host’s body. It wasn’t much but a small dip in the amount of mana circulating within the body occurred each time. As they walked through the incredibly open path in the jungle, more and more creatures came and went. Slowly, Lucas began to feel a super thin field of mana that surrounded them and had an understanding of exactly what the mana was doing. The field searched for specific criteria by using mana that had a different feel than mana normally had. The field was so thin it was like air. It didn’t have really any weight to it and it didn’t disturb the world around it, it simply looked for life. To Lucas, the mana reminded him of the smell of a summer shower on the grass at home or like the taste of beeling honey for the first time. It was life and vitality and energy.

Suddenly larger and larger creatures started to enter the field and Lucas came out of his stupor. He began to look for what had caused the change in the size of the creatures and realized that they were coming upon civilization, of a sort. Hidden within the foliage was a small village of tree houses. Interconnecting each of these small huts were bridges and ropes. A sound to their right where one of the larger presences was caused his host to turn. What he saw would have made Lucas scream in fright if he wasn’t trapped behind his host’s eyes.

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Coming out of the dense brush was a cross between a large monkey and a small man. He stood upright but was completely covered with fur. He head smaller ears than Lucas had ever seen on anyone and two teeth protruding from his lower jaw over his upper lip. He was wearing a rough loincloth and vest made from some leather. He had a spear in his right hand and a small rodent in his left. He didn’t seem surprised to see Lucas visitor at all. He made an odd salute with the spear, lowering the tip a bit, almost like the spear was bowing, before bringing the hand holding the spear to his chest with the spear at an angle.

“Peace be with you, Greenwalker. What brings you to our village today?” asked the ape man.

“And with you, friend hunter. I had an overwhelming urge to travel to the south today when I woke up. As I got closer to your village, the urge became stronger and stronger. Is there anybody in the village that may have need of my services today?” responded his host.

It took Lucas a moment to realize that the language they spoke wasn’t Common. In fact, it sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. Each of the speakers had spoken with oddly accented, almost musical words with lots of vowels.

“Young Bez’trice is heavy with child. Yesterday evening she fell into a stupor and has not responded. She burns hot to the touch and no remedy has lowered the heat of her body. This,” he gestured with the rodent in his hand, “was to be a sacrifice to the goddess Lethe, to assist with the healing process.”

“I wouldn’t want to interfere with a religious ceremony,” replied his host. “But, I will watch and stand by in case I am needed. I am skilled at healing, as you know.”

“Many thanks, druid. Please, follow me into the village. I ask that you stay your magic while traversing the village. Should the plants move suddenly, many families may find themselves without a home.”

“Of course, friend hunter,” replied the [Druid]. He turned, showing Lucas the wide, clear path behind him. With a wave of his hand and a brief expenditure of mana, the foliage seemed to melt down to cover the path, leaving pristine jungle that the most agile squirrel would have trouble navigating where before there was a path that three could tread abreast. If Lucas had had a voice, he would have used one of his father’s curse words. All this time he had been focusing on learning the skill to sense life when he could have been trying to learn how to make a highway in the jungle. A skill like that would make traversing the beast range a breeze.

The monkey man proceeded to walk into the village and the [Druid] followed along placidly. They approached a cluster of homes and approached one tiny hut that Lucas could tell had six or seven people jammed inside. They climbed the ladder hanging from the porch and their guide knocked on the door.

The door opened to show a room with four of the monkey people in it. There were only two chairs, both occupied, and two other young monkey men were crouched next against the wall. . Lucas wasn’t sure if they would even fit, but the hunter stepped in and approached a closed door without even speaking to the four others in the room. A quick rap with his spear showed a fifth monkey person. This one was coated with a silver, gray hair and had a face that was as wrinkled as a prune.

“About time you brought the sacrifice, Alt’ark,” said the older female. “Now we can begin the.” She stopped speaking suddenly as her eyes caught site of the [Druid]. “Why would you allow this heretic to come to this place!?!” She screamed. “You dare to bring this filth in front of me. I have warned you and the other hunters, any contact with this demon endangers your souls. Remove him from the house at once!”

“Gunta, we told you, the druid is a friend of the people and we will not treat him so. I’m the head hunter and the village chief himself has said he is welcome to come into any home anytime he wants. He followed me here as a courtesy. He didn’t have to wait for me to guide him, he had already been called by the Jungle Spirit to come help poor Bez’trice.”

“I tell you now, in front of these elders. The druid will be the death of the village. He brings bad magic to the people. The goddess has spoken, and Lethe said cast him out,” said the older primate.

“You may be a priestess of Lethe, but you have never seen the future before. You fear the loss of your power, which the druid has said he does not covet. He is a friend to the jungle and a friend to the people. Now, perform your magic to heal Bez’trice or move out of the way so the druid can do what he came here for.”

“So be it. I’ll perform the ritual and heal the girl. You will see, Lethe is more powerful than any [Druid] could imagine.”

With those ominous words hanging in the air and not one word spoken by his host, the three stepped into the room.