The morning was spent running about the bustling markets of Stock.

The last time Watcher had taken me shopping, I'd expected markets, as I was accustomed to. Instead, he'd shown me the few shops which were likely to carry a dagger. This time, I needed far more than a simple dagger before I set off with Keeper to the Skypiercer Tree.

The markets were more of a proclivity than a place, as they (supposedly) popped up whenever demand grew loud enough for the villagers to hear it, seeping in through their front doors. It called the swathes of similarly dressed out to the streets, where tents, caravans, and tables were placed any and everywhere that could fit product.

Stuck between a blanket laid out with toys for village children and a maze of thick-woven rugs that made up another storefront, was a gruff man bartering for an extra copper star off a new pair of shoes. He and the sharp woman behind the stand passed the baton back and forth in a perfect game of words. Eventually, the woman conceded right as the man managed an upper hand, his wrinkled fingers scratching proudly at the back of his unkempt hair.

These were not the only two to barter, though. The entire market functioned like this, in a fiery back and forth of arguments, each ending sooner than I'd ever seen them end back home. The markets in the village of Stock moved like a storm.

Unfortunately, buying with Watcher was far less entertaining. Each owner of a table, stand, or storefront would give the same plead not to charge the man a penny, and he would finally win them over with two or three wooden squares.

The list of purchases included: A plain hemp tunic as a replacement to my shredded clothing. A peculiar container, it was shaped like a globe and meant to roll behind you, attached to your hips by rope. An assortment of medicines and local green leaves that Watcher insisted I bring along. A fire starter. A spool of fine rope, stronger and thinner than any I'd seen before, along with it: a number of hooks and grapples. A larger pack that sat on my hip for the items which did not fit in my pouches. And finally, another short sword to satisfy Watcher and Keeper's demands. However, the blade Watcher had picked out was plain and fit nicely in a scabbard flat on my back, so I held less complaints of it than the previously bejeweled one.

The last stop was at a butcher's shop, where Watcher had asked them to save another batch of blood. The smell still sent my head into a buzz, but nowhere near that of the day before. Yesterday's meal had appeased me, and I only experienced a faint carnal desire while walking amongst the market crowds. We filled my new rolling container with enough sanguine liquid to last me a few days, and on the way back to Watcher's, I accustomed myself to walking with it attached to my hips.

I'd also considered sneaking off to retrieve the hidden dagger box but decided it best to leave the thing there. Should I lose it while traveling, it would be the same as losing the knife forever.

With that, Watcher and I returned to his home where Keeper had planned to take me to the tree. But that's not exactly how it went.

"Hello? Keeper?" I walked into the empty foyer, spotting a letter and a pouch on the bench.

"I believe they were left for you," Watcher said.

Inside the pouch was what I could now recognize as money. Some of the wooden squares Watcher used, a few bronze stars I'd spotted exchanging hands about the market and one pure white marble. Inside the letter, there was a note along with a folded piece of cloth-like paper. The note read: We meet at the Skypiercer Tree in five nights' time. I have left early to fulfill a previous commitment. Attached is Maker's map of The Realm. Safe travels, The Keeper of Dreams.

It was the first letter she'd signed her name.

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I fell in love with Maker's map immediately. Specifically, the warm red dot that lay on its strange silk-like surface. As I moved, the red dot followed, and soon, while I dared not ask how it worked, I understood that it did indeed work. All the map required of me was to walk that brilliant red dot towards the symbol of a tree marked Skypiercer.

And as joyous as Maker's map had proven, the globe of blood dragging behind my waist was an effective antidote to that joy. Between the tree and the village were three distinct regions, separated primarily by color, but also by the pictographs that covered them. Unknown to me was a red region without a name and then a yellow one, marked as The Forgotten Dunes. First though, and so far most aggravating, came the Forest of Green. On a trail, the globe hadn't irked me too much. On occasion, I had to tug at the ropes when it caught on a rock, ditch, or tree root, but for the most part, it rolled smooth.

The true problem arose when the trail ran thin. The easiest way forwards was the underbrush, and I gave up on dragging the container near instantly. After standing around for a bit, staring at the map for any signs of a trail that led outside the Forest of Green, and generally feeling sorry for myself, I came up with an idea.

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I tipped the heavy blood-filled globe onto its side and unscrewed its cap, wafting the scent over my nose. My bloodlust soon had me vibrating and my shadowed arm sprouted out from my empty shoulder. I heaved the weight up into my two arms and attacked the underbrush head-on.

It was around this time that the thought occurred to me. My arm, I can reattach it like my lower body. If I can find it. Oh gods, I hope it isn't rotten. And my first detour commenced.

I tried working out which way to head for the clearing, but the more I looked at the map, the more I grew confused. From Keeper's home to the clearing in which we fought the Maulers, the green shape only took up a small portion of the space on the page. Based on the speed the red dot moved, it would've only taken a couple of hours to make it from one side of the forest to the other, and yet, I'd walked with Keeper for hours to get from her home to the ruins on that first night.

Either way, I backtracked without too much of a problem and quickly found the trail that led to the clearing. Not long after that, the uptorn trees from my, let's say, 'disagreement' with Keeper and Watcher. But once I finally arrived at the massive stone overhang, I knew something was amiss.

The trek had taken far less time than it should have. While part of my mind considered the possibility that I'd simply walked quicker with rest and food in my belly, my suspicions bothered me too deeply to outright ignore them. Without any sort of proof though, I could only place the thought away in some recess of my mind, ready to dust off when needed.

In stark contrast to the green that surrounded it, the clearing's upturned earth sat muddy and brown, even more so in the daylight. The tree that pierced my shoulder had been shattered by the Mauler, but the indent it left in the ground was still there. A crescent in the earth gave an impression of the force required to rip my arm clean from its socket, and a cold shiver raced over my body. Reminder to never again lose a limb.

The naïve hope that a stray arm would lay right where it had been severed, in perfect condition or otherwise slightly squished, had begun to fade. Instead, I ran the possibilities for what might've eaten, taken, buried, or destroyed the appendage. Keeper hadn't mentioned anything, and if she'd have been slightly less worn-out, I might've suspected her of tampering with it. Similarly, considering the Maulers' rarity, I hadn't expected it to be them either. The Realm was still too much of a mystery for me to make any confident guesses, and that's why it should be concerning when I say that I was confident where my arm had gone.

This was no mere guess, either. I knew where it was. Right in front of me, actually. My severed arm, dangling from the frayed sleeve of my robe, in a tree. And while that might have been a blessing in most scenarios, in this one, it only struck horror. At the base of the tree, a high pitched, cackling laughter rang out, and blurry, mist-like creatures encircled it. I guessed three or four of them, but it was difficult to make the distinction between one Chaser and the other through their vague outlines. Especially as they swirled around the tree.

The pack of Nightmares stopped as soon as they noticed me retreating to the cover of the woods. The sky dimmed from its pale blue, replaced by a deep purple glow that lit my surroundings. Then, a storm of screeches erupted and three shapes broke off in different directions. Hunting like wolves, are we?

I fiddled with the ropes at my hips, detaching the clunky container, and slipped the bone dagger from its sheathe with my shadowed arm. I pointed it straight at the figure sprinting directly at me, and when I took my eyes off it to check where the other two had gone, the one on my left crashed into me. Its vague mass wrapped around me again, but this time, it hadn't gotten a decent grip. I wriggled the hand that held my knife out from its hold and pried it between us, stabbing into where I guessed its body was, near my stomach.

It squealed and leapt off from me, landing unevenly, with a blurry drip of blood coming off it. Then, the one charging from in front jumped at me. But now that I'd gotten more comfortable with their speed, I concentrated on one word: Consume.

I snatched the Nightmare's body into my jaws, straight out of the air. The taste of blood only barely touched my tongue before a familiar surge of energy flowed through me. Time to test out a new ability.

A tingling warmth travelled up my body, and somehow, the world around me started feeling closer than it had a moment ago. As if the boundaries of my body held less importance, and the line where I began or ended blurred. But the sensation was not limited to the physical earth or air, so too did I sense it with both past and future. The shackles of my responsibilities disappeared, along with any regrets or doubts from the past. My mind broke freely into the present.

The third Chaser sailed into me, and when it did, I could barely distinguish between the both of us. We rolled across a patch of grass, and I almost felt myself falling asleep. There was no concern or worry, only the warm embrace of this creature. A stinging sensation shot out from what could've been either of my legs, or my hip, and in that pain I learned the difference between myself and others. I would never hurt myself, and that pain was crushing me. I slipped from its grasp easily but couldn't find my dagger, let alone my arm, so I slipped out from the warm tingling and back into a solid sense of being.

The dagger was still in my hand, and with the rushing return of stress and concern, I punched the blade in front of me, sliding it into the vague creature's core. It burst into ash, and silence returned to the clearing. The other Chaser I'd stabbed looked to have died while I was rolling around with its friend, since a second pile of ash had spread out in front of me.

My stomach grumbled, and the sudden onslaught of hunger gripped my attention. I hurried back to the container of blood, and while I was opening it up, the deep purple hue that had colored everything faded away. Even so, the ground wasn't that much brighter.

When I peered up to the sky above me, it had shifted to one that belonged to dawn. I pinched my nose and squeezed my eyes shut, but the fake sky didn't want to change back. Wasn't it midday a moment ago?