Author’s warning: Read before bed at your own risk.

The night passed slowly. Frey jumped at every noise while Doevm slept like a baby. When morning came, Frey’s eyes had bags under them. Every time he blinked; he would get a wave of fatigue. He pulled out some jerky, munched on it. Ashtehar joined in with a wide smile. He started the fire up again with more firewood and cooked more meat from his spatial ring. “Didn’t sleep well?”

“Not at all,” Frey groaned. “I kept hearing noises all night.”

“Noises?” Ashtehar couldn’t help but glance back at his tent. “I guess I’ll have to take watch. There are many creatures in the night. Just remember to stay in your tent and I bet you’ll be fine.” The driver and Doevm joined them shortly after.

“Where’s Oliver?” Doevm asked.

“He’s back in the tent getting dressed.” Ashtehar grinned. “He didn’t sleep well, and it always take him a long time to get that white robe over himself. I’ll go check on him.” As he left, Frey looked at his footprints, but realized they were on solid rock. Yesterday, the creature had washed itself. Its footprints were just spots of water from its feet. Frey finished his breakfast, brought his stuff into the carriage, and fell asleep.

…

“Did you hear anything last night?” Doevm asked the driver out of boredom.

“I just drive the carriage.” The driver replied. “I’m not paid to be curious. I’m paid to get you guys to the front lines.”

‘You did see it.’ Doevm went deep into thought. He scrolled through all his knowledge on magical beasts and phenomenon. Nothing explained the creature from last night. Nothing matched its description. ‘I can’t be sure what it is, but I sure as hell don’t want to find out. Frey, you’re getting a little too curious about things. Did you pick that up from investigating me? I’m sure you’ve spied on me at least once.’

“I’m awake.” Oliver yawned as he made his way out of the tent. Ashtehar followed behind. “Where’s Frey?” He asked, scratching under his robe.

“He went to sleep; he had a rough night.” Doevm prodded the boy. “He kept hearing noises. Can you believe that? We think it was the raiders.”

Oliver’s hood swiveled to see Ashtehar’s glare. He coughed: “Oh, raiders, that’s bad. We should keep moving. I’m sure after we get out of here the noises will stop.” He shrugged. As he reached for some meat cooking over the pit, Doevm reached for it as well. As their hands touched, he felt something smooth and uneven meet his hands. Oliver recoiled: “I’m sorry,” he bowed his head.

“No problem.” Doevm dug his teeth into the meat. “No harm done. That reaction was a little extreme though. You didn’t have to jump back. Do you think my hands are that dirty?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Oliver apologized again and grabbed another piece of meat.”

“It’s no problem.” Doevm laughed. “Just make sure you’re more careful next time.” He stuffed his breakfast down and packed everything up. “I’m going to go take a piss.” He announced to the group as he went back down the path.

Most of the blood had dried and turned the same color as the rock, but he could still follow it. It took him five minutes to track it down to the source, a bunch of rat corpses. The flesh had been stripped off. Doevm guessed predators had a small feast last night. There was, however, still a pile of bones.

He picked one of the more complete skeletons up and moved it between his fingers. The main body remained in one piece, but the limbs and extremities either turned to dust or fell off. Doevm stuffed only a few into his spatial ring. He didn’t want to risk the other two getting more suspicious after his warning. Returning to the camp, they set off on another boring day of travel.

Frey slept through most of it. Doevm shoved him off the bench onto the floor.

“I knew he had it in him to sleep on solid ground.” Ashtehar laughed. “He’s sleeping like a log. I wish Oliver could sleep still. He’s always mumbling and talking to himself. Sometimes he even sleepwalks! It’s ridiculous.”

“I bet.” Doevm kept looking at Oliver. ‘Frey’s right, I should be able to see his face, but it’s blocked by something. I can’t unseal my mana and see what it is either. Ashtehar would sense me the second I did.’ He couldn’t do anything, so he waited.

The carriage stopped where a small forest met a river. “I think we should stop here.” Ashtehar got out of the carriage.

“Are you sure?” The driver asked. “This isn’t the best spot to camp. Usually people and predators congregate around rivers as wide as this one.”

“I’m sure,” Ashtehar carried the unconscious Frey deep into the woods. Everyone followed behind. The driver had to disguise the carriage close to the road because it couldn’t navigate so deep inside. The horses were brought along, but they looked uneasy. Ashtehar and the driver had to tug them both along by the reigns. “This spot is perfect.” It was a clearing with thick vegetation stretching all around them. Ashtehar dumped Frey at Doevm’s side of the camp.

“Alright, I’ll get started on our tent.” Doevm said. As he set his and Frey’s spot up, he stole glances at the others. Ashtehar did all the work while Oliver just stood there. Even when Oliver was accidentally bumped around, he didn’t react. The driver tied up the horses and went back to the carriage to guard it from thieves.

Night fell, and Frey opened his eyes. This time, the sky was clear. Light from the full moon shown down through the gaps in the tree branches over his head. He moved his large body quietly out of the tent. He could guess that he had been asleep since the night, and that this was their new campsite. When he looked at the other tent, a trail of demented footsteps walked out of it. He smiled, picked up his spear, and tracked the creature. It went deep into the forest along the riverbanks. It must’ve gotten careful because it was a ten-minute walk before Frey saw it.

The river stopped and collected into a large lake. Hunching over the side of it was a humanoid creature with pale flesh. What Frey thought were its horns were misaligned bone fragments that hadn’t the chance to heal properly. A knife flashed several times and large amounts of blood contaminated the lake. The creature screamed and rolled around. The dirt was kicked up and the dagger dropped from its hands. A bright light flashed, and it calmed down. It got back up, the dagger flashed, and more blood spilled into the lake. It kept repeating this as Frey stared at it in both disbelief and curiosity.

“Two gallons.” The creature mumbled. “That’s not enough.” The dagger flashed and one of its hands fell off. He picked it up. A bright light flashed, and his hand was fastened back into place. “Two gallons and thirty ounces.” Another bright light flashed. “Tendons are reattached.” Near Frey, a twig snapped. The creature turned around, letting him see its hideously bruised and scarred face. It’s nose and ears were permanently disfigured and smashed. Frey held his breath and sunk himself deeper into the vegetation. The creature squinted but got bored after a few minutes. It went back to its cycle of pain.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it.” Ashtehar whispered. Frey wiped around to see a massive war monk hiding behind him. “Oliver has gone through so much pain to get where he is. I couldn’t be prouder.”

“W-What is he doing?” Frey barely breathed.

“He’s practicing his healing magic, isn’t it obvious?” Ashtehar smiled. “Just the way I taught him. I broke him repeatedly, and he fixed himself back up. He usually practices on other things, but we ran out of subjects.”

Frey thought back to the rat. It hadn’t died and come back to life. It was on the brink of death and forced to live on in pure agony.

“Watch.”

To Frey’s horror, Ashtehar stood up and approached Oliver, who bowed: “Master, I ran out of rats, so I kept practicing on myself.” Ashtehar picked him up and slammed him on the sand. Frey heard so many bones break at once. He closed his eyes. Oliver’s broken figure on the sand was etched into his memory. Then he heard more snaps like the ones from last night. He reluctantly looked at Oliver again.

The creature changed and morphed itself. Flesh crawled like a butterfly in its cocoon trying to break free. Bones clicked back into place and blood dripped out of his body. Oliver stood up covered in his own blood. He wiped everything off in the lake. He was back to normal.

“Thank you master.” Oliver bowed. “Please continue to help me train.” Ashtehar broke him. Oliver howled and screamed. After a light flashed, he was back to normal. “Thank you, I’m running a little low on mana, so I think that’s enough.”

“You’re running low or you’re out of mana?” Ashtehar smiled as he punched Oliver in the face. The smashed nose popped like a blister. Oliver held his nose as it tried to reform, but it only turned back into a smashed state. It was still bleeding.

“I’m out of mana.” Oliver collapsed.

“Get up.” Ashtehar kicked Oliver in his deformed ribcage. Oliver coughed and got up. “You’re not done until I say we’re done.”