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Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 6: In the Shadows of Kryckwood

Chapter 5

Regular nightmares are bad enough. How about encountering one while you're awake?

-Llox

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"So... what should we expect in this thing's territory?" Lykou warily asked as Algrytha walked them back through her garden. She'd managed to persuade them to stay the night when they got back, so they left most of their things in her home so they could travel more lightly and quickly.

"Y-yeah, what else am I gonna h-have nightmares about t-tonight?" Kuna added. He'd stalled a bit by eating slowly, but once they were both done, he knew there was no getting out of their little trek into the Wraith's turf.

"Dark. Lots'a dark. Sun don't penetrate the heart of the Great Wraith's domain, even on the rare days when the Kryck gets some gaps in the clouds. 'cept you'll still kinda be able to see, fer some reason. Just the strange nature'a his curse. 'n' it'll be chilly. Best bundle up," Algrytha explained. "Plenty'a bones, too. Careful ya don't trip on 'em or get too close- some hungry ghost might make use of 'em in a pinch. They prefer something with more meat left, but any bit of a former person'll work when they're crazed enough."

Kuna blanched at the description, then shuddered. "Fuck..."

"That's... g-good to know," Lykou said. He was trying to put on a brave face, but even he was growing more anxious about their situation. "I'm guessing there's no potions you could make to help?"

"None that'd be terribly useful 'n' wouldn't require a bunch of ingredients that don't grow around here. 'n' even if they did, that'd just take more time. The Kryck is bad enough durin' the day, ya really don't want to be headin' out there at night."

"How many, uh... ghouls are out there? Do you know?"

"Plenty. Just depends on how many in-tact bodies the ghosts can find. Bunch of 'em will prolly be in weak shape after all the years'a decay, but watch out. A few of 'em have been 'round long enough to have some twisted magic that warps the bodies they inhabit. Turns 'em inta real vicious, nasty shits."

"Oh g-great. W-walking dead things just w-weren't bad enough, I g-guess," Kuna interjected, holding himself and tightening the grip on the hatchet in his one hand.

Lykou rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. Tough or not, I'm sure we can handle any that come for us."

"Try to avoid fighting anything," Algrytha warned. "Best you can expect is ta temporarily inconvenience 'em."

The konuul frowned and nodded. "R-right..."

"Just keep your guard up and try to be quick 'n' quiet. Avoid notice if ya can," the witch advised, then gently prodded Kuna, making him let out a small, startled 'eep'. "Watch it with the magic, too. Tossin' around a bunch of life 'n' soul energy is a good way ta draw attention in there. They're always lookin' fer the stuff."

"N-noted," Kuna nervously replied.

"'n' any kind'a woody armor won't do ya much good against some'a their fangs," Algrytha suddenly added. "So don't bother with the bracers either. It'll just catch their attention."

The comment caught Lykou and Kuna off guard. But when they turned to ask her how she knew, she'd vanished, and they realized they were just outside the edge of her garden. They thought they could hear faint cackling in the distance for a moment, before it faded away.

"...oh she's d-definitely Sylthean," Kuna commented, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, I don't think there's any denying it now," Lykou agreed, slowly nodding. "...think we should bring it up when we get back?"

The sereva just stared back into the garden for a minute, as eerie feelings washed over him. "I... d-don't know. Maybe?" he finally responded.

Lykou stared into the garden briefly himself, then took a deep breath and turned back the direction they were headed. "Well... we'll worry about that later. Let's... get this over with."

Kuna gulped and started walking with him, sticking as close to the konuul as he could without actively getting in the way. "F-fuck I hope this goes quickly and s-smoothly."

"You and me both, Ku," Lykou said as they made their way through the ominous woods. "You and me both..."

*****

For a while, the boys trekked through the kind of forest they'd come to expect from the Kryck. Half-dead trees, strange flora, and hardly any animal life aside from the odd crow or half-starved squirrel. Occasionally they saw some wisps or shadow spirits in the distance, but fortunately they were never very close or along their path. Eventually, they passed a certain familiar looking gourd lantern hanging from a tree. The flame was out at the moment, however.

A short while later, things finally started to change. What little life they'd seen up until that point became increasingly rare. The trees were completely barren, and starting to look more twisted and deformed. Things around them were getting darker and grayer. The sickly grass gradually gave way to dry, dusty earth. Things got chillier despite the complete lack of any breeze.

Everything was still and quiet, leaving only the sounds of their breathing and soft footsteps to reverberate very faintly against the nearest trees. It was all Kuna could do to keep from panicking at any given moment and running back. Whenever possible, Lykou reached over and gave him a side-embrace to reassure him, despite feeling his own dread growing. He tried to keep up his composure for the sereva's sake, but the darkening forest was challenging his resolve. It felt like they were walking into a waking nightmare of some kind.

Eventually, they noticed ash, of all things, starting to coat the ground. There was no smell of smoke or any signs of a fire, but it mingled heavily with the dust that also coated the ground, eventually leading to a thin layer that was almost like grey, extra-fine snow. Random bones and bone fragments were becoming increasingly common, protruding from the ash and dust mixture. Most were at least partially buried in the ground, but some were more or laying out on the surface, only lightly coated in the ash. Some had what looked like chew marks on them- including a skull, which had a sizable chunk of its top broken away and missing.

They started to notice thin veils of something hanging from some of the tree limbs around them as well. The more they progressed, the more of it they seemed to encounter. They paused and shared a look when they came across a large curtain of it spanning between several trees. The konuul tried carefully prodding it with his spear, but it passed straight through as if it never even made contact. Upon inspection, they realized it was the strange ghost-slime they'd previously collected for the potion- a damn lot of it. The faint, ethereal glow it gave off was quite dim on a lot of it, which they interpreted as meaning it'd been there a long time.

Kuna shuddered, and they both embraced fully for a moment to try and calm one another's nerves. After pausing for a few minutes to collect themselves and drink some water from their respective containers, they pressed on.

The only areas of ground devoid of ash were occasional small pools of the water they'd learned to avoid touching, let alone drinking. Somehow, they did see a few bones laying in them- especially clean, smooth looking ones, though they had an odd discoloration to them. Kuna suddenly let out a gasp after letting his eyes drift up to the sky. Lykou similarly gawked in disbelief and unease when he looked up to see what the sereva was looking at.

The sky had not only further darkened, but turned a deep crimson color in all directions. The mixture of black, grey, and dark red made the clouds vaguely resemble some kind of sickly flesh. After staring at it for a minute, they both nervously pushed onward.

"...I f-feel like we're being w-watched," Lykou eventually whispered.

"A-as many ghosts as there p-probably are here, I'm n-not s-s-surprised," Kuna replied.

"C-can you sense anything?"

Kuna gulped and looked around anxiously. "O-obviously no life energy."

"W-what about... you know, s-soul energy?"

The sereva blinked and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I... haven't really tried s-sensing it outside myself, n-now that you mention it."

"Now m-might be a good time to try," Lykou suggested.

Kuna hugged himself again and looked around fearfully. "...I-I'm k-kind of afraid to t-t-try."

"M-maybe just a peek?" the konuul urged him. "W-would be better to know, just to be on the s-safe side."

"...f-fine I'll try. L-like I said though, c-can't promise anything," Kuna replied, then took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. He furrowed his brow and focused for a minute. When he eventually opened them again, he gulped and looked around nervously. "I... c-can't be sure. F-feels like m-maybe they're everywhere?"

"W-would kind of make sense. But... you're n-not sure though?"

Kuna gave a small shrug. "L-like I said, n-not used to f-feeling around for it outside m-myself."

"W-well hopefully they're m-more normal, non-hungry ghosts..."

"M-might just not have f-found a decent body to b-become a ghoul w-with yet."

Lykou looked around at the scattered, broken bones all around them. "...y-yeah. M-maybe."

They continued deeper into the eerie, sinister-looking forest. Kuna struggled to keep from having a panic attack on several occasions, half convinced he was walking into one of his awful nightmares again. He almost expected to turn and see something horrible had happened to Lykou and find himself plunged into blurry, warped memories of his youth.

Suddenly, Lykou paused and stopped Kuna as he squinted at the ground up ahead.

"W-what is it?" Kuna asked anxiously, keeping his voice as quiet as possible.

"That," the konuul whispered back, pointing at a small, shiny object barely sticking out of the ash. "You see it too, right?'

Kuna looked where the canid was pointing and squinted for a moment. "Oh... y-yeah, now I do. Y-you think it's the stone?"

Lykou looked around warily. "Y-yeah... maybe. Lets get a closer look, but s-stay on your guard."

"R-right..."

They cautiously approached the object, half expecting some terrifying monster to burst out of the shadows at them at any moment. Lykou carefully nudged it all the way out of the ash with his spear. When nothing happened, he bent down and picked it up to examine it. The object was definitely a polished stone of some kind. It was solid red, round, and shiny. There were numerous tiny, gold-colored symbols and swirling lines etched into it. "This has t-to be it."

"Don't know w-what else it could be," Kuna agreed, eyeing the object curiously. "I w-wonder what all the s-symbols are."

"S-spirit signs, Sylthean things, who knows?" Lykou mused. "Seems like there's n-no end to the number of strange symbols involved w-with magic."

"Well l-let's hurry and get out of here..."

"N-no arguments here," Lykou said, pocketing the stone before turning to head back the way they'd come from. Or at least trying. Suddenly, he realized every direction looked the same, and he started to question his direction. "Uh... this is the w-way we came from, right?"

"I... think so?" Kuna looked around and pressed close to the konuul as they nervously made their way back the way they hoped they'd come from. "F-fuck I hate this place... d-did it... change behind us or s-something?"

"I d-don't know," Lykou admitted. "I was s-so busy watching out for ghouls I didn't think to keep t-track of landmarks. N-nothing really stands out anyway though."

After a few minutes, Kuna stopped. "H-hang on, I'll just use m-my magic to guide us back the w-way we came. M-maybe link... back... to..."

The sereva trailed off and his eyes widened as he noticed the air rapidly cooling even more around them. Things seemed to get darker as well. Soon they could see their breath in the air in front of them.

"O-on second thought..."

"Y-yeah let's just keep w-walking straight," Lykou said, urging him along. "One w-way or another we'll f-find our way out of here. W-where we end up isn't important r-right now."

They picked up the pace, feeling a constant presence in the air around them. Maybe multiple presences. There was no doubt they weren't alone. Occasionally faint apparitions faded in and out of sight nearby. They were mostly fragments and hard to make out. Once in a while a face would appear briefly. At first, most looked confused or lost, but a few looked more wild and menacing.

Even as they sped up, frost started forming on everything, slowly overtaking them. They eventually broke into a sprint when it was obvious that something was chasing them. Kuna started subconsciously fiddling with one of his bracers, but Lykou took his hand and shook his head. "D-don't, remember?"

Kuna gulped and hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "R-right..."

Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks. It was as if a solid wall of darkness had manifested in front of them, hiding half the forest. It'd already been dim and dark, but like Algrytha had told them, they'd still been able to see their surroundings in shades of grey the whole time up until that point. But now they were faced with pitch black void up ahead.

And then... the face appeared. Large eyes seemingly made from dim glowing orange light, and a matching toothy grin, easily larger than both of them combined, appeared in the inky patch of darkness ahead of them. The shadows started to take on a three dimensional shape somehow, with a set of massive, clawed hands resting on the ground on either side of the face.

"Leaving so soooon?" the entity spoke in a deep, yet ethereal sounding voice. The words seemed to suck the warmth right out of the boys as they passed through their ears, sending primal chills down their spines as they stared in terror at the frightful being. "You just got here, what's the rush?"

"W-w-we w-were just p-p-passing through," Lykou managed to reply shakily, hoping that putting on a friendly smile, however forced, might at least buy them time to think of a way out of the situation. "S-sorry if w-we intruded on y-your t-t-territory or s-something..."

Kuna, meanwhile, just trembled and stared, wide-eyed and hyperventilating at the eldritch nightmare in front of them.

"Nonsense, nonsense!" the entity replied. "We love having guests! It's such a rare delight to have visitors with a... pulse."

"Uh... 'we'?" Lykou anxiously asked, only to have his question answered a moment later when faint pinpricks of glowing red and orange light began appearing in the darkness and coming closer. They turned out to be eyes- set inside a number of corpses with varying levels of decay. Some were particularly twisted looking, with long claws and fangs and tight, bulging muscles underneath torn skin and whatever bits of fur they might have left.

"My friends and I, of course!" the Wraith said. "Won't you join us for... dinner?"

Lykou nudged the fear-frozen sereva at his side, eventually snapping him out of his terror-paralysis enough to begin backing away. "S-sorry, w-we really n-need to be going..."

"Oh come now..." the dark and massive specter purred menacingly. Suddenly, Kuna yelped and started frantically tugging at his leg as a skeletal hand burst from the ground and grabbed his ankle. "...we insist!"

Lykou swiftly kicked the arm attached to the hand, shattering the bone and freeing the sereva- though the hand itself still managed to hang on temporarily. He then surprised the approaching ghouls and Wraith by kicking up a cloud of ash in their faces. He and Kuna then immediately bolted. They didn't know which way to run, they just knew to keep running. They could hear the ghouls scrabbling through the forest not far behind them, though fortunately the dead, awkward bodies were quickly losing ground.

That did little to assure them, though. There was a deep, echoing laughter that seemed to come from all directions at once. Every curtain of ectoplasm they passed through sent a chill down their spines- especially Kuna, who could actually touch it and had to keep flicking remnants off as some of it ended up sticking to him. The apparitions appeared more frequently around them, looking increasingly menacing, even clawing at them occasionally. Fortunately, their ghostly forms passed through them harmlessly- though it certainly felt uncomfortable and chilling every time it happened.

Soon, the claws weren't so intangible, though. A set of ghouls burst out of the ground and charged at them up ahead. With no time to veer away, Lykou raised his spear and stabbed it into one of their chests, while Kuna frantically swung his hatchet around to keep the other at bay. The one Lykou stabbed hissed and snarled incoherently, then pulled away, the stab wound glowing slightly with faint embers.

Lykou perked up slightly and stabbed it again, driving it back. "The tooth! They d-don't like fire!"

"Great!" Kuna replied in a strained tone, as he struggled to wrestle the other ghoul off of him. Several times, it came dangerously close to sinking its half-rotten teeth into his shoulder or arms. He tried using his magic despite Algrytha's warning, but he couldn't sense any living plant anywhere nearby to use. He yelped and grunted as the ghoul's claws managed to leave some nasty cuts and scratches in their little wrestling match.

After taking several more burning stabs at the one ghoul, Lykou whirled around and jabbed the one attacking Kuna in the ribs, causing it to hiss and back off slightly. With his hands free, Kuna immediately scrabbled for his bracers. "Ku, wait-!"

"F-fuck it!" Kuna said as he activated the woody armor. "I n-need s-s-something!"

Before Lykou could say anything else, the other ghoul was back on him again. He managed to kick it away and stabbed it in the one eye it had in tact, causing it to let out a twisted, loud wail of frustration and anger as it stumbled backwards, clawing at its face. At the same time, Kuna managed to land a solid hit with the hatchet in the other ghoul's arm, severing its weak flesh. But the swing left him vulnerable, and the undead wretch managed to rake its claws across his now-woody body, leaving sickly, deep red gashes across his neck.

Lykou quickly intervened and stabbed out the ghoul's eyes one after the other, while Kuna was reeling back in pain. With both ghouls blinded and scrabbling around aimlessly, he quickly pulled the sereva aside to check his wounds. "Y-you okay? D-doesn't look like it's h-healing like it n-normally would..."

"H-hurts like shit, too," the sereva said, fighting back tears. "C'mon, l-let's just-"

A burst of all-too-close laughter startled them and they turned to see a growing mass of darkness surging towards them through the woods. Without another word, they bolted past the blinded, angry ghouls and continued fleeing the approaching Wraith. They couldn't help but feel like they were being toyed with.

They ran and ran as fast and as long as they could. They were getting winded and Kuna was in pain, but they didn't dare stop. Soon, they spotted some familiar, faintly-glowing spirits in the distance. Lykou went to try and veer off to the side, but Kuna grabbed his free hand and urged him to continue forward. "Th-they m-might be helpful n-now!"

"Oh... r-right!" Lykou agreed. "D-don't let them get too close though!"

They ran towards the wisps, which soon took a distinct interest in them. A few got uncomfortably close to touching them as they ran past, and even started following them. But soon they slowed to a stop. Lykou and Kuna stopped a few dozen yards past them to catch their breath and looked back to see them seemingly latching onto a trio of ghouls that'd wandered out of the darkness. The ghouls flailed around briefly, then went limp after a moment as something seemed to be sucked out of them. It was an eerie, disturbing sight, but at least it was in their favor this time.

At least, it was at first. But suddenly, the wisps started backing away as a familiar massive shadow started approaching again, cloaking the rest of the forest behind it. The wisps scattered as soon as it got close.

"A... are they... r-running... away?" Lykou said, breathless and dumbfounded.

Kuna slowly nodded with a terrified expression. "W-we sh-"

Before he could finish the sentence, a shadowy claw lashed out of the darkness and snatched up one of the wisps that'd lingered a little to long. It flickered rapidly and twisted around in the massive specter's grasp. The Wraith, for his part, just laughed and slowly lifted the thing up. Then, he popped the spirit into his glowing vortex of a mouth, where it disappeared without a trace.

"...d-did he just...?!"

"RUN!" Kuna blurted out as he darted off, terrified out of his wits, with Lykou quickly darting along beside him. The booming laughter all around them certainly didn't help their nerves any. "Shitshitfuckfuckfuckfuck what the fuck what the fuck..."

Every so often, enormous claws of shadow, barely lit by a dim orange edge, lashed out at them, narrowly missing and making them change course. There was little doubt left that they were being toyed with. Frost was everywhere, and they felt chilled to the bone, both figuratively and literally. Increasingly terrifying-looking ghosts continued to surge out of the darkness at them. Loud howling and wailing accompanied some of them and echoed through the woods. The stench of death was growing increasingly prevalent.

Finally, they spotted a familiar faint glow hanging under a tree in the distance, suggesting they must be near the edge of the Wraith's territory. But just as they thought they were within reach of the end of their waking nightmare, a terrifyingly twisted ghoul charged out of the woods at them and knocked Lykou to the ground. Kuna rushed over to help him, only for the ghoul to snap around towards him, its upper half twisting almost a perfect 180 degrees to grab him and lift him up with shocking strength.

The ghoul's body looked surprisingly in-tact, albeit definitely twisted and distorted by some kind of dark magic. Its head had a long snout full of sharp teeth and its bulging eyes were completely alight with sinister orange light. Its claws dug into the sereva's arms as it held him up. As he thrashed around and grunted in terrified desperation, the ghoul pulled him in and sank its teeth down into his shoulder, causing him to stiffen and cry out in pain.

Then the world spun as the ghoul's legs were kicked out from under it. His terror temporarily replaced with anger and protective instinct, Lykou started savagely attacking the undead monster. He stabbed it in the eyes, then its ribs repeatedly until it released the whimpering sereva. The two become locked into a wrestling match of their own for a moment, but eventually Lykou managed to trip the ghoul again and start angrily stabbing and slicing at its limbs until it was a writhing, dismember mess on the ground.

With the ghoul at least temporarily disabled, he hurried back over to Kuna to check on his injuries. Despite the sereva's woody armor, he had a deep bite mark in his shoulder, which was fizzing with an angry substance of some kind. "Ku! S-stay with me Ku!" he desperately pleaded, helping the wincing, slightly delerious sereva to his feet. "Come on, w-we have to get out of here!"

But then the world got darker all around them. The Wraith's twisted face manifested in front of them and is claws hovered nearby in the air. "It's been a nice chase, but you've gone far enough. Don't worry, you'll grow to like unlife in a few decades, I promise!"

Lykou dragged Kuna back and waved his spear shakily at the face. "S-stay back!"

The Wraith burst into laughter. "Whatcha gonna stab, fleshy boy? Go on, give it a try," he said, then suddenly surged closer, his face hovering in a void just a few feet from the two. "I dare you."

The konuul desperately stabbed out with the spear. Unfortunately, as he somewhat expected, it passed right through the void, failing to make contact with anything. In fact, the faint glow of the pelenock tooth vanished completely the short time it was past the face. The Wraith laughed some more.

But then, after a few moments of shakily fumbling around, Kuna managed to pull something out of one of his pockets. He struggled to focus, then a brilliant light shined in his hand, illuminating their surroundings brightly and causing the Wraith to hiss and recoil. "What?! That's... how?!"

Lykou looked down to see the shaking sereva tightly gripping the crystal Whironui had given him. The crystal had been an impulse- Kuna didn't know what would happen, if anything. Fortunately, the impulse appeared to be paying off. "G... g-get us out of here Lykou..." he managed to murmur, clearly struggling to stay focused."H-hurry..."

The konuul nodded and lifted the sereva up, abandoning the spear on the ground next to the dropped hatchet in order to carry him away through the darkness. Kuna held the crystal up as best he could, lighting their path and keeping the Wraith at bay as they fled. With what little energy he could muster, he disabled his bracers, since all they seemed to be doing is weighing them down at the moment. Every time the Wraith got close, he seemed to recoil and struggle to close in, seemingly pained by the bright, sunny-yellow light. Even the other ghouls and apparitions that popped out of the dark woods around them flinched and shrank back when they came within a few yards of the bright object.

But it was clear they didn't have much time. The light started to flicker and Kuna's hand wavered as he clearly struggled to avoid fainting. Lykou tried talking to him as he quickly carried him through the woods, hoping that it'd help him stay conscious. But clearly whatever was in that bite was having a nasty effect on the poor, increasingly delerious sereva.

Eventually, Lykou started seeing more signs of life, and the sounds of the monsters chasing them faded away, though there were at least a few stubborn ghouls that continued following them well outside of what seemed to be the Wraith's territory. Suddenly, Kuna's hand released the crystal, causing it to land with a faint thump on the ground and go dark. Lykou frantically tried to shake the sereva awake, then turned just as a pair of ghouls charged at him. But when he was getting ready to face off against them, he was surprised to see them suddenly halt a few feet away, as if they'd slammed into an invisible wall. They snarled and glared at him, menacing at him from a distance. But there was clearly some kind of unseen barrier they didn't dare cross.

With a quick glance around, Lykou realized they'd ended up in the outskirts of the aberrant garden. He just hadn't noticed because everything was still fairly dark- apparently the sun had finally set for real. Fortunately, for once there were some gaps in the clouds, allowing a small amount of moonlight and starlight to shine on them. After shooting the ghouls a quick glare, he turned back to help Kuna up again. He tried to wake his friend, to no success. With tears leaking out of his eyes, he tried to pull him further into the garden. "ALGRYTHA!" he cried out, hoping the witch would show up. He didn't have time to go hunting around her strange garden, trying to find her or her house. He turned his attention back to his ailing, unconscious friend and let out a small whimper of his own. "Come on Ku, s-stay with me..."

*****

"Ghoul bites are nasty bus'ness, especially when they have this fizzy shit," Algrytha explained, carefully tending to Kuna's wounds as best she could with a cloth coated in some kind of concoction she whipped up quickly. "Good thing you got back when you did."

"Please tell me he'll be alright," Lykou pleaded, holding the unconscious sereva's hand. His friend had remained unconscious since they got to her house, occasionally mumbling and twitching in his sleep. Lykou hated to see him in such a state, especially given his pained expression.

"Well... I can keep him steady, but the elixir we gave him doesn't seem to be working as well as I'd expect," the witch commented thoughtfully.

"W-why not??"

"Hmm... I have a hunch, but I'm not sure," Algrytha said, then turned to him with a quizzical expression. "I know your friend here is adept with the mystical arts. What do you know about them?"

"W-well, I know it involves all these mystical energies that apparently flow through things and from the spirit world... like life energy and soul energy and so on. And apparently some people can sense them and learn to grab them with their mind and do stuff with them."

"And did he ever mention... essence?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah he did! In fact, just recently he gave me some of his t-" Lykou started to reply, then his expression fell. "Oh... oh shit, that's it, isn't it?? He must be low!"

"Mm, yes, that'd explain it," Algrytha said as she turned her attention back to the sereva. "If he hasn't had enough time to replenish what he transferred to you, then it's no wonder he's struggling more than usual even with my help."

"Is there some way I can give s-some back? I obviously don't need it right now..."

"You're not trained in the arts yourself, are you?"

"Well, no," Lykou said, frowning. "...wait, w-what about you? I know it's a lot to ask, but-"

"Sorry kiddo. Can't transfer it between two other people, just yerself and someone else," Algrytha explained. "And let's just say he and I... wouldn't be compatible."

Lykou stared at her for a moment in uncomfortable silence. "...because y-you're a... a Sylthean, aren't you?" he quietly said after some hesitation.

"Sylthean? What might that be?" the witch inquired in somewhat insincere-sounding innocent tone. She then waved it off. "Nevermind, no time fer babbling nonsense. There is another potion I could make that'll help fix yer friend up."

The konuul perked up. "Really?" he asked, then frowned again. "Let me guess, you need more ingredients from out in the forest?"

"Just one. Everythin' else is within reach here."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Guarded Agaric."

"...what?"

"A special mushroom that only grows in certain places... protected by the only ones that grow 'em. Y'see, I'm not the only gardener around here," the witch explained. "There's others livin' out south of the ruins with their own little odd patch. Pretty small, especially compared to what I've got, but full'a all kinds of mushrooms. Including the one ya need."

"...sooo...I just need to talk to the gardener and ask for one of the mushrooms?"

Algrytha laughed aloud and shook her head. "Yer too good-natured, ya know that? Ya can't bargain with them imps. They don't like anyone but themselves and they have a violent streak. They may be small, but they'll bite, scratch, and kick wherever they can reach, just fer lookin' at 'em wrong. Lot'a their garden is fed with blood, 'n' whatever corpses aren't being... used."

"Well fuck... how do I get one then?"

"Seems obvious ta me. Steal it, one way or another."

Lykou frowned. "Is there really no other way...? You sure there's not something I could do or say to convince them to just hand one over?"

Algrytha chuckled some more. "Like I said. Yer too sweet, kid. Ya can't reason with everyone," she said, then paused and thought for a moment. "...I suppose you could try'n trick 'em, somehow. Or scare 'em. They're feisty, but a bit superstitious. Show off a bit'a magic 'n' ya just might be able to intimidate 'em into cooperatin'."

"I can't do magic, though," Lykou said, throwing his hands up in frustration, then rubbed his head. "I have my bracers, but... I dunno, would that spook them?"

"Probably not on its own, no. Too obviously defensive. Need somethin' flashy." The witch focused on cleaning Kuna's wounds again, then turned and gave Lykou a quizzical look. "Given what you said you two went through out there, I'm surprised you even made it back alive. What'd ya use to get away?"

"Oh, Kuna used one of these magical crystal things we got on our last adventure," Lykou replied, pulling the sereva's crystal back out to show her. "I don't know why or how, but it somehow it scared them off, even the Wraith himself."

"That's mighty impressive. Not many things around that'll spook a spooky that nasty. What is it exactly?"

"A gift from an actual god, believe it or not. We each have one, but mine's in my pack. Guess we're pretty lucky he kept his in his robe pocket," the konuul explained. "If you think about the sunrise while holding it, it makes it glow real bright, like the sun."

"Ahhh, that'd do it alright. Nothing like divine light to sting a creature'a pure darkness 'n' chaos like that," Algrytha replied, then rubbed her chin. "Y'know, that almost might spook the little bastards, if ya present it right. Can it do anything else?"

"Well... it can make a breeze that surrounds you. And... something about color that we haven't really tried, now that I think about it."

"Well I think that's your best bet, if you can think up a decent ruse to make 'em think yer a powerful warlock or somethin'."

"Warlock...?" Lykou asked with a confused expression.

Algrytha waved him off with a chuckle. "Just one'a many words for different kinds'a magic users. You get the idea. Just make 'em think it's more dangerous crossin' ya than it's worth, 'n' ya might be able to get 'em to cough up a guarded agaric. Gotta be intimidatin' though. No tryin' ta bargain. They'll see that as a sign'a weakness."

The konuul sighed. "Of course they will," he replied with a frown. "Why can't people just be friendly..."

"Just the nature'a the world, Lykou."

"Right, well... guess I better get to it," Lykou got up and went over to where he and Kuna had set their bags, then dug through his pack.

"Goin' out there at night, hmm? You know, he should be stable for the night," the witch pointed out. "Would be safer to wait until morning."

"I'm not going to let him suffer any longer than necessary," the konuul stubbornly insisted as he pocketed his own crystal. As he was about to get up, he noticed something else laying in his bag- a certain smudged stone they'd both alternated holding onto for whatever reason throughout their journey. He looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, then plucked it out and carried it over to the table where the witch had set up a makeshift bed for Kuna. He took the sereva's hand in his, with the rock held between them, then leaned in and whispered in the sereva's ear, "Stay strong and hang on for me, Ku. I promise I'll be back with that mushroom, and we're going to get you better. And if there's any damn nightmares in there giving you trouble... just remember a part of me is right here with you. And I'll be there to kick their asses."

The konuul embraced Kuna for a moment, then tucked the stone into one of the inside pocket's of the sereva's robe, which he was still wearing, albeit with the top pulled down so that his shoulder could be tended to. Though he couldn't be sure, he thought he saw the briefest hint of a smile cross the sereva's face afterwards.

Algrytha smirked and watched the scene with some interest. "What was that ya just put in there?"

"It's... just a stone," Lykou said with a faint, sheepish smile. "Kind of a sentimental thing for us I guess. That's all."

"...if ya say so. Headin' out then?"

Lykou stood up and took a deep breath, then nodded as he checked to make sure his knife was still sheathed at his side. He wished he still had the spear, but at least he wasn't completely unarmed. "Yeah... I'll try and be fast," the konuul said, heading for the door. "You said they're south of the ruins?"

"Mhmm. Can ya tell yer directions right now though? No sun out, after all."

Lykou looked out the window and frowned. "Er..."

"I'm guessin' he was the one that helped you two navigate when ya didn't have the sun ta go by, hmm?"

The konuul nodded. "...yeah, unfortunately. Um..."

"Just head out the door, turn halfway to your left, then keep walkin' straight. Eventually you'll find a stream at the edge'a my garden. Reg'lar water, not ta worry- wouldn't recommend drinkin' from it though unless yer des'prate. Follow the stream 'till ya come to the bog, then follow around the edge'a the muck 'till ya find 'em. Can't miss 'em, they have some that glow at night, just like their beady little red eyes."

"R-right... thanks, I'll... be back as soon as I can."

"Worked out how yer gonna trick 'em?"

"I... have some ideas. I'll work out the details on the way."

"If ya say so. Good luck, Lykou. Careful out there."

"Thanks..."

Algrytha walked over to the window as he left and watched through it as he made his way through her garden. When he was out of sight, she walked back over to Kuna and carefully took a peek at the stone the konuul had been talking about. She squinted at it for a moment, before smirking and putting it back. She patted her unconscious guest lightly, then turned and walked back to her stool, where she sat down and chuckled quietly. "Dunno magic, hmm?" she muttered quietly to herself as she got comfortable. "Yer either a liar or don't know what you know."