I grin, looking up at the strange creature that somehow feels it is owed an explanation. A few ‘witty’ remarks come to mind, but the pain in my chest and my barely restored wounds make me reconsider.

“Fine.”

The Cathid lunges forward, slamming its jaws shut around around me just as I get some supporting bone in place to protect my back from further harm. It squeezes, but not tight enough to do any harm, instead choosing to whip around and dart into the forest. Lauren shouts my name, and hold my hand out to catch the dagger she throws to me. In one smooth motion, I snatch the dagger out of the air and jam it into the Cathid’s easily accessible eyeball. I almost lose my grip when the point doesn’t penetrate, but instead skitters off its surface, barely leaving a scratch. I stab again, this time hitting home in the area around the eye, but a sudden surge of nearby vines grabs the dagger away from me and bind my arms before I can get any more hits in. The Cathid hisses, but doesn’t loosen its grip on me.

“Cease your struggles. You will come with me, and you will answer. I deem your information too valuable to lose by enforcing idle threats. You will teach.”

“Fuck… yourself.” I barely manage to wheeze through the two words before another coughing fit takes me. The incompletely healed bones in my spine grind painfully against each other, and the threat of further injury keeps me from resisting very hard. The figure doesn’t react to me in any way, and while it busies itself with guiding the Cathid, I busy myself with completing the healing process.

With my Health back to (almost) normal, I’m regenerating Energy much faster, and the repairs go substantially faster than before. The pale yellow light still emanates from my blood, proof of the lingering poison. Not that it can bother me…

With my bones properly set and fortified, I feel confident enough to address the creature again, who alternates between glancing at me, scanning the area in its path, and checking back the way it came. It seems almost worried.

Suddenly, the Cathid loses its grip on the trees it’s climbing over and I slip from the oddly relaxed jaws. The tumble of bodies and bound hands make it almost impossible for me to land gracefully, but I quickly recover from my face down, dirt eating position after burning some Energy to rip apart my bonds. I grab my sword from my back just as the ground opens up below me, and writhing vines emerge to wrap around my legs. Energy burning isn’t sufficient to just tear them apart, nor is my sword particularly effective for cutting in that range, but I manage to start to free myself anyway, only to be met with yet more vines. The vines try to snake away my sword, but they’re fighting both me and the sword in this case, and my grip prevails.

Not that that technicality matters very much as the crushing weight of the plant matter overpowers even my maximum Energy burn levels of strength and forces me to the ground.

“Strong. Too strong. What are you, that you contain such strength? A creature that heals without magic and grows more powerful when threatened… truly you are a remarkable find. Are all of your kind like you?”

I grit my teeth, but give no answer. Its glance lingers for a moment on me before its eyes fall and it turns to address its mount.

“Cease your struggles. I require the remainder of my Mana to remedy this poison.”

“Why would I-”

“Because if not, we shall linger until I can reverse its effect. If we linger long, your allies will arrive, and I will be forced to maim or kill them. If the one is like you, then no matter, it will live. The other, a type of Carnine, has no such ability. Do as you wish with that information.”

I have to stop myself from crushing my teeth into powder in pure frustration, but I concede the point. If I can’t take him, even with Energy as a secret weapon, he’s unlikely to go down easily. He’s lucky to have avoided physical contact with me, or I would have given him a poison he couldn’t heal. Still a possibility for the Cathid, however… but I’ve never tried to take on something that much bigger than me. It might be a bad gamble, and even if orange Energy was enough, it would leave me with the impossible task of dominating the massive Cathid or Eliminating it, neither of which is feasible.

Damn. Damn!

The creature, heedless of my internal struggle, quickly walks to the paralyzed Cathid and presses a hand on it. A glow, soft and blue, first from its hand, moving to the Cathid. Its eyes glow a similar blue hue and I can see it muttering something. The Cathid flashes suddenly, blue, then green, before springing back into motion.

After testing its movement for a few moments, it wiggles in much the same way Kaythe does and rushes over to grab me again. Is this what Kaythe would have turned into, given time? Now he’s something new, but if he can still reach that size…

Kaythe would be a force to be reckoned with.

The beast grabs me, and we’re off again.

[Congratulations! Soul damage removed. +1 Energy]

“Predator! I was successful against the interloper! I am-... Predator? What?! Bring me out immediately, we shall take care of these… monsters?” Kaythe ranges from excited, to livid, to confused by the end of his little tirade.

“It’s ok Kaythe, I don’t think there’s anything we can do for now. This thing is way stronger than I am, but it doesn’t seem intent on killing me just yet, so we’ll sit tight and keep your presence a secret, at least for now.”

“Of course, Predator. Call on me the moment I am needed! I shall remain vigilant through your eyes until-”

“Better that you continue to fight that Salamander for now. I’ll notify you when you should start preparing, but I can handle this part.”

“Y-yes, of course! Whatever you require!”

With that, I feel his presence fade slightly as he manifests inside the illusory world within me.

I huff an exasperated sigh, not with him but with the fact that I’ve been taken prisoner by one enemy. Ok, technically two, but the point remains that it wasn’t even close. Magic is strong. Any hopes I had that I would be able to just power my way through the rest of the challenges with ever growing Energetic power are dashed with this experience. I need magic, weapons skills, and Energy to have a real leg up on enemies. I could mix Energy and weapons, so hopefully I can do something similar with magic.

Nothing more breaks up the monotony of the journey, and truly, it does get boring to travel even when you’re sitting in the jaws of a giant Cathid and being actively kidnapped. There’s a lot less excitement than one would expect, and the dread of the unknown only serves to make me more antsy and uncomfortable with how slowly the time is going. I want to try escaping again, but the creature…”What’s your name, by the way?”

“Name? Thetzeke.” -Anyway, this ‘Thetzeke’ made sure to encase me entirely in the weird vines it conjured from the ground. They’re less strong than when it’s focussed specifically on them (and dumping Mana into them, from what he said) but they would slow down any escape attempt enough to give him the chance to catch me. I’m also worried he’ll just smack me with another spine spear and render me paralyzed for the journey, which would be even worse.

For the time being, I note the gaps in Thetzeke’s armor, figure out what I’m going to say when it starts torturing me, and wonder helplessly at how the system allows a fucking eyeball to be armored enough to deflect a dagger!