I awaken slowly as though dragging my consciousness out of a murky, oily pit of tar. I am sitting on dry land, my whole body soaked to the skin, weighed down by about fifteen pounds of wet fur. There is meat and bone and organ tissue and skin in both of my hands and also in my mouth. I’m absently shovelling more and more into my mouth, even though my stomach is full to the point of bursting and I feel sick.

Ah. I feel hungover.

It’s like someone beat my head in with a sledgehammer and proceeded to invert the whole thing, making the skull shards poke into my mangled brain. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a headache this bad, but that might be because I was simply that drunk. Either way, I kind of want to die.

“SSNZ.”

Ah. I sneezed. Okay, I definitely have a cold or something. Fever prickles through my body. If I wasn’t soaked to the bone with river water, I’d probably be soaked with sweat instead.

Alright, for a start, let's just stop eating for a moment so that I can collect my thoughts. First up, where in the hell am I? Last I remember the deer threw the both of us in the river, and then I decided to go all vampire just to check if that might work, and… And now, I seem to be back in the forest. Why? How? I was at death’s door!

The sky seems to be turning grey, so morning can’t be too far off. Either way-,

I blink at the sight before me. The little girl blinks back at me.

Her hair is drenched and her little white gown is soaked. A perplexed emotion falls on my inhuman face and she smiles at me.

I glance down at my body and find it equally drenched in river water and blood and guts. It’s not a pretty sight, and certainly not one I imagine a little girl might enjoy looking at. And yet, I can’t bring myself to make any movement. I’m paralyzed, bolted to the forest floor. At the same time, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her before. Though only briefly.

As I sit hunched and confused, she stands up, waves at me and begins to run off.

“Gnah!”

I cry out and jump to my feet, moving towards her. She turns to me. A ray of the red morning sun breaks through the treetops and shoots straight through her. As though she isn’t there at all.

Myling(B+): The vengeful spirit of an unbaptized newborn killed by its mother. Can often be found lingering where its body was buried. Unpredictable in mood and desires, it can often be heard screaming or singing in mourning.

I freeze.

She waves again and runs away, disappearing like a fading dream.

What the fuck was that?...

Did she save me from the river?... No, she-, she couldn’t, right? She wouldn’t. According to the kid, she is-, it was…

A vengeful spirit of some sort. Like the Lyktgubbe. But spirits aren’t human. If they were human, they wouldn’t be doing immoral shit like murdering people. Not that murdering people is wrong or anything. That’s all up to interpretation, but still.

Then again, the description of Mossling did say something similar, right? Specifically, the spirit part.

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In all honesty, I have no idea how any of that works. Best I can do is give a guess. An amauteur one at best, but a guess nonetheless.

In this particular case…

I think evil spirits are bad fucking news and I should stay away from them at all cost. Even if they seem like humans. Even if they happen to have the form of a little girl innocently wandering the woods. Even if they apparently save me from the depths of a river, wanting nothing in return. Even then… They must be avoided.

I look around. The sun is rising yet again. If I’m lucky, strange creatures like the Lyktgubbe and this little girl only come out at night. But that doesn’t mean I’m safe just because it’s day. For once, I’d like to actually keep my prey and eat it myself, so I’ll need to bring it someplace others can’t get it. My first thought is of the treetops, but even if I could drag it all the way up there, I sort of doubt that any of those scrawny branches could hold its immense weight.

That leaves me with only a select numbers of options left.

Now, if I was a bear or wolf, how would I protect my prey while I wasn’t eating it? Well, if I was a wolf I’d just have the rest of the pack eat it, but if I was a bear, I would probably hide it in a deep hole while also making sure to mark my territory to frighten off other bears and predators.

Digging a hole will probably take it a while, as for marking my territory…

I look down at my sharp-clawed hands.

Yeah, I think I can mark, alright.

My territory won’t be especially big or anything, but that isn’t too important to me. The important thing is that I include the river in my territory. See, I still want to go down to the lake. Realistically, that’s where I’ve got the best chances of finding a human settlement. I probably won’t be accepted as I am now, but that can all change if my next evolution works out alright.

Considering that the spirits of actual formerly-alive humans linger in this forest, that would suggest pretty directly that there is some settlement nearby.

Once I’ve found it, I’ll just have to bid my time and approach. The only issues that might arise is that my speaking Swedish is kind of fucked, I might not look completely human, and also…

I can’t be sure that this is even Earth to begin with. For one, I don’t think trolls, mosslings and evil spirits existed where I came from.

Secondly, even if they did, would the spirit of a modern human seriously take the form of a man carrying a lantern? I doubt it.

These are the thoughts that run through my head while I discreetly survey the nearby area, trying to make out the best diameters. There aren’t too many traces of anyone else being around here, so I guess that explains how the deer could afford being so careless.

Once I’ve found a few good trees, I begin the somewhat arduous process of climbing each and placing a scratchy mark at about the height where a wolf or bear might see it. The mark is, in all honesty, just my own name written in all-caps. Hey, I’m not a creative man, I just do what I’m told!

All in all, I make five such markings all around the deer carcass and the little river. Once I finish the final one, I’m greeted with a message from the kid.

Normal Skill Mark gained

...Mark? As in the name or as in the act of marking? I’ll assume it’s the latter.

On that note, I can remember seeing some other stuff just before I blacked out…

Lilltroll(E) Lv.12/30 Stage: Juvenile Health: 38/39

State: Sick

Strength: 10(+1, -5) Dexterity: 6(-3) Grit: 8(+0,8, -4)

Racial Skills: Absorb, Strong Body, Tail Lv.5, Lesser Hamnskifte Lv.3, Lesser Regeneration Lv.3 Normal Skills: Stab Lv.6, Stomp Lv.2, Choke Lv.4, Lizard’s Tail, Claws Lv.4, Sharp Teeth Lv.6, Mark Titles: Oknytt, Bloodthirsty, Natural Deviant, Hunter

Most of my things increased, but there are actually two new skills here, one of them being a title. Well, kid, give it to me in order.

Normal Skill Mark: Mark an area to encircle territory. The stronger the user, the more effective the mark.

In other words, the skill barely does anything, is that it? I wonder if the kid just lists things I would’ve learnt anyway.

Title Hunter: Future hunts have an increased chance of succeeding

Bastard, are you saying my last hunt was a failure?! It would’ve gone better if you’d actually done something useful for once!

One of these days I’ll just stop listening to you, you know? It just won’t be needed. Ah, I look forward to that day…

But for now, I’d better start digging a deep hole to store the deer in. Sure, it’s gonna get dirty and all, but do I care? No. Well, maybe a little, but certainly not enough.

I start digging.