Courage came to a sliding halt and spun brandishing a goblin blade, he threw a knee out towards the boar taking a snout to the knee, which pierced his kneecap but he turned into a blur as he nodded his hat backwards while falling forward. A blur of his blade replaced his tackled hunch, which took the short sword right across the snout of the boar blinding it. He then appeared on the floor next to the rampaging boar holding his knee.

  He grabbed his knee quickly “SHIIIIITTT FUCK DAMNIT AGGGGH!” The blind boar turned and ran towards the sound of his voice. Reilly went to step forward, but Bam rushed forward. Only to see Courage wield the blade forward and stab it into the mouth and out the side of the boar's head.

  Lance’s world was spinning, he felt nauseous like he'd drunk too much liquor, his eyes darting side to side as he tried to capture the rest of the combat unfurl before him. He managed to sit up against the tree and glimpse Courage slay the new boar through broken peripherals. He closed his eyes, he could feel the cold trickle of blood from his mouth, jaw broken presumably, running down his neck. He reached his hand up feeling for his face. His hand met the long tear of the burlap fabric, he ran his fingers along its folds and inward. There was too much space in here, no jaw to feel, what he assumed was where his face should be was now his entire hand. He gasped and opened his eyes, his heart beat loudly in his chest.

  Courage stood up on one leg. Reilly and Bam rushed forward to lift him.

  “ shit , *Ssssh*” Courage sucked through gritted teeth, looking down. “ Listen, I know this looks bad, but it's intentional. I need to confirm something. Bring me close enough for a cage, then back away slowly. What happens next is all on me.” Reilly made a motion to grab her wand ready to cast a bliss, only to be met with Courage pushing her hand back down, “ After”

  Lances D.I activated, and the battlefield froze. His vision blurred like lines of static across an old television briefly whilst the figures of the wolves, bear, and companions, all turned to a stark blood red. “ They’re all so scrumptious looking, Give me one I’ll help you agaiiiiiin” His eyes throbbed in pain like he'd been poked in them. He felt a fearful chill run down his spine sending goosebumps across every limb. The voice he’d heard was like his own, but twisted, coarse and dark. He’d felt its origin, somewhere deep inside the sac hood, like from the backside of a cave. The battlefield and his vision came back to normal, and he pulled his hand away from his mouth, out of that empty darkness. He felt a pull as the stitches slowly stitched together but not fully. His mouth now a thumb length wider on his right side. He covered it fearfully while an unbearable truth he could not share made its way forward to the front of his memories.

  Courage limped but grabbed the boar by the tusk and dragged it towards the bear. He plopped it down in front of the bear knocking his hat back with a flick. Then he merely sat to his butt forcefully a full 5 feet from the Bear, who by this point seemed barely coherent, its roars softened to that of whimpers under panted breath.

  “Psychic Cage”

  A crackling purple ether surged from his palm into his head and down across his body, which once covered popped like a bubble and expanded to the size of eight feet, barely containing the bear who was pressed forward to its belly. It snarled and looked up only to see the boar, and up further at Courage who smiled and pointed to eat.

  “Go on, I brought him for you. I went ahead and even got myself on your level, I aint making a move at all mate. Believe me. We came to help see.” He said, then pointing to the remaining wolves across the floor of the cage. “Be a good boy and eat up” Courage received a prompt. And so he waited. He really hoped this bear wouldn't bound forward, he got a small buffer of health, He was now in competition for leadership.

  The bear sniffed at the air, looking around the cage at the dead prey in front of it. For a moment it gained some clarity, a smidgen of hope. A brief peace. It calmed itself and felt itself overwhelm with a sense of dread, it was dying. It shook its head, trying to stand only for its legs to fail it, falling face first into the boar.

  “Shit!” The buffer bar began to dwindle, he’d seen this before, the telltale sign of an animal dying. Courage internally yelled, “ Hold on just a little more. Why after all this trouble, please! Come on, EAT DAMNIT!”

  “Rai BLISS NOW!” He yelled out. Reilly used her remaining mana only to give Courage a patch up, the bear gained no health. The bar began to dwindle further. Courage limped forward on his hands and knees towards the bear while the bar ran to zero. He landed his hand on the bear's ears, tears streaming down his face. He felt the bear begin to stir, but with a final exhale the bear passed away. He pet its face gently as the cage began to shrink inwards. As the cage closed in he received another prompt.

  Bear level 6 tamed….Companion deceased. Totem created.

  The cage closed in and he felt a jolt, a shock from his head to his toes. He spasmed and fell backwards twitching on the ground. Reilly ran in grabbing him quickly. Bam turned towards Lance who could now be seen against a tree to the backside of the clearing. He bolted towards him only now realizing his state, the flickering red hue across his form.

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  “NO! STAY BACK!” Lance yelled. Peeling Reilly from looking down on the seizing Courage, Bam stopped on a dime. “Just throw me a wolf I’ll be fine” Bam looked back at Reilly questioning the request to which she nodded. Bam leaned forward and grabbed the wolf Lance had skewered with the poker.

  As he hefted it up, “ Are you okay? I'm sorry for all this confusion this plan went sideways really f-”

  “BAM shut the FUCK UP, AND GIVE ME THE DOG..”

  Bam stopped moving forward and just dropped the wolf where he was, he couldn't throw it but it was closer now, he clicked his teeth and walked back towards Reilly. He knew what Lance was gonna do, shoot he’d done it himself. Eaten his emotions away.

  Once his back turned Lance crawled forward slowly head down. Fighting against a feeling of dread, the scratchy voice in his head, screaming and clawing its way forward. He pushed it down, focusing on the beat of his heart. He neared the wolf. A wave of calm came over him only to be broken by the voice once again. “THE HEART no THE LIVER, Give me..” The chill ran down his back again, fear drove his hand into the gash he’d created with the poker. He swirled his hands, digging, moving organs in a way he didn't know he knew, until he felt the slimy texture of a liver. He squeezed and yanked it free, stabbing his other hand through the other hole in its ribcage. The heart was grabbed with raw tenacity, both hands pulled free of the corpse, and quickly to his mouth. Reilly looked on in a sense of curiosity and confusion. She’d never seen Lance so upset, she was past the disgust it took for him to rush into a dead creature pulling pieces for meals. It was his demeanor, she could understand the anger. He wanted them safe and this turned into a disaster for Lance. Courage lay in her arm nearing the end of whatever seizure was taking place that she presumed a backlash of his skill. Bam paced with his hands on his head worried, the rush of adrenaline waning in him. A minute passed and Lance was done eating.

  He sat back with bloodied hands, blood dripping from his mouth. No taste. He pushed back in in search of the gem, it was gone. He burped in response to the realization, yet only he knew, it wasn't his burp. Bam turned back to helping now, he moved to the other bodies of wolves and activated his Wild paw again, digging for the gems. Reilly lay courage on the ground and proceeded towards the boar and bear. Lance took a deep breath and sighed.

  “ Staying right here is probably not a good idea, make this quick. What's up with Courage?” Lance walked over to his unconscious friend. His knee obviously out of place. “Aw mann.. Bam can” he looked over again noticing the quiver in Bam's stance as he bent over the last wolf. “No its fine, I'll do it. Full speed ahead. 3 minutes. Grab whatever you want me to cook and put it in Reilly's bag.” Lance quickly cut a few parts from a few of the animals but left most of it in haste.

  Lance walked under strain as he held Courage on his back. Luckily the group had planned this path forward and knew where to go. Soon enough the trees began to become more separated by wider paths and larger tree crowns, the foliage and shrubbery thinning in unison. The trees finally appeared in front of them, and beyond a few hundred feet another camp along a new trail that broke through the forest. The deep crimson trees gave everyone a sense of success, matching the description Wellyn had given them, they’d made it. Only Lance saw them as something different. While looking at them the color purple bled into the red. Piecing together what Wellyn had said to do with the ingredients, the color purple was finally understood. Not just an ingredient, a reagent. They pushed on to the campsite igniting the checkpoint beacon. Lance sighed, setting Courage down, who was still unconscious.

  “ Bam thanks for gathering the leaves you were talking about, please grab whatever is really close to this checkpoint I’ll harvest some bark and sap then we’ll go back.” Lance said, breaking the silence that stretched from the last battle, everyone was barely holding on.

  Lance approached a tree a few feet from the checkpoint. It’s trunk as wide as his outstretched arms. He touched the hard grainy bark that swirled like the crest of waves over each other, lighter shades of red between the folds. He would have thought the bark was designed like a painting if not that the difference of the swirls was anything but uniform, but it hid a unique pattern that when looking quickly over the bark gave a sense of familiar strokes. Admiring the tree had to wait, but Lance couldn't help it, only stopping after seeing Bam return to the checkpoint with another arm full of what he referred to as tea leaves, plopping down clearly exhausted. Lance took out his axe and shaved at the bark, barely scratching off shaving that curled over on themselves like cinnamon sticks. Wellyn had warned him that gathering the shavings would be difficult, but the outermost layers were the softest, an interesting contrast to their age. The trees leaves above barely moved in the slight breeze, defiant of their appearance, with their sturdy stems and concave circular fan. The edges held a serrated edge, but they were soft to the touch and fuzzy like a peach. Lance searched like a dog for any sap, but came up empty save for one thumb sized nodule that seemed to come from what appeared to be a hole eaten out by some kind of insect. He only guessed that because the floor beneath that spot had a small cocoon dry and empty, he grabbed it to give to King curious and opted to take a few more rolls of bark.

  A few minutes later the group entered their respective legacy spaces, though Courage entered with Lance, who even received another tavern quest for dragging an unconscious ally out via checkpoint. He disregarded the message dragging Courage up the stairs and passed a confused Wellyn. Lance merely grunted with a thumbs up, which made Wellyn curtly nod and run into the kitchen. Lance dropped Courage on the cork padded floor of his training room and waited. A minute later Courage sat up with dreary eyes squinting, looking at Lance like he was a setting sun.

  “ Done sleeping man? You alright?” Lance said, looking not much better with the dried blood on his hood and hands.

  “ Ah.. uh, yeah but.” Courage said, looking down at his knee. “ I just had to go and get a limp, I hope I can still….” he thought.

  “ Good, sorry about the bear man, told you that was not the time though. We barely made it out of there. I got the stuff for the.. Drink. You chill out here and come down when you’re ready. Bam found this stick, for balance.” He said as he tossed over a sturdy branch.

  Courage nodded and Lance quickly made his way back down towards the kitchen, passing a shivering Reilly who sat at the bar and Bam who for once was quiet, leaning against the wall deadpan staring at the ceiling with a sweat across his forehead.

  “ Guess it's time to broaden my horizons..” Lance sighed internally, feeling wholly out of his depth with what he was about to do in the kitchen.