The moment that Marcus realized that the wendigo was looking at where he was, he allowed his mind to go blank and made sure that his eyes were not focused on anything in particular.

He knew that the wendigo could not actually see him in the normal sense while he was in his ghost form as it would have certainly reacted earlier since he was moving around out in the open. 

What Marcus figured alerted the wendigo to his presence was his unrestrained aversion when he first spotted the monster.

Most creatures at high levels could sense when any sort of strong emotions were being directed towards them, and Marcus had been too unsettled to completely restrain himself.

‘I’m just part of the air. I’m just part of the air.’ Marcus chanted in his head.

His hope was that if he masked his presence again that the wendigo would lose interest in him and go back to whatever it was doing.

Of course, if Marcus thought he could defeat or restrain it with a hundred percent certainty he would have made his move. Yet one look at the wendigo told him that it was not to be trifled with. If he went all-out, he did not think he would lose, but he also did not think he could beat it. That was just the feeling he got from his instincts.

Unfortunately, Marcus’ wish did not come true, and the wendigo was now noticeably warier. This was not a monster that lacked intelligence but was a cruel and cunning hunter.

It continued to stare at where Marcus was standing for what felt like an eternity, before it suddenly slashed one of its claws into the air in front of it.

The motion may have seemed pointless at first, but Marcus nearly lost his concentration when he felt several invisible wind blades pass through him.

Thankfully they were not imbued with spiritual energy and continued on their trajectory without causing him any harm. Still had he simply been invisible that attack would have sliced off both of his arms and cut him in half at the waist.

After looking around and sniffing the air a few times the wendigo decided that whatever it had noticed must have moved on.

Nevertheless, its hunt had been interrupted and some part of it must have felt that continuing was not in its best interest.

With a great leap backwards, it disappeared back into the fog and outside of Marcus’ field of perception.

For several minutes Marcus continued to entirely erase his presence. Just in case the wendigo was still watching the area he was in.

  ‘That should be long enough.’ Marcus thought, letting out an internal sigh.

He thought he had understood what sort of monster they were up against, but this wendigo was more terrifying than he could have imagined.

However, while it had retreated before he could get Mrazivý and Miguel’s assistance, the encounter had not been entirely fruitless. He had found out quite a bit about this wendigo in the short time it was within his view.

Knowing that he was not likely to find the wendigo again tonight, turned around and head back towards the camp. He needed to tell Mrazivý and Miguel what he had found out.

Quickly he made his way back towards where they were and noticed that Mrazivý had just gotten up and was speaking to Miguel.

At first Marcus thought that they were just having a quick discussion about their shift change, but the serious expression on Mrazivý’s face told him otherwise.

‘Is something the matter?’ Marcus asked, using his telepathy.

Socked by the sudden voice in their heads, Mrazivý and Miguel turned towards Marcus who was now within ten meters of them.

Naturally both Mrazivý and Miguel relaxed when they realized it was Marcus who was speaking to them, but each of them had drawn their weapons and were faced towards Marcus.

‘Yes, the wendigo invaded my dream. Though when I asked Miguel, it sounds like it did not use its howl this time.’ 

Hearing Mrazivý’s response, Marcus lost his cool a bit and began bombarding her with questions about her condition. Even though this plan was his idea, hearing that his wife had been attacked in her dreams put him on edge. He could not help but be concerned for her.

‘Calm down Marcus, I am fine. Since I already knew about its ability to mess with my dreams, I was able to resist it for the most part.’

Mrazivý then explained that while she slept, she began having a vivid dream where she was lost in the woods and low on food. 

She was not alone in this dream, though, but with her were some of her closest family members, plus Miguel.

‘But you’re saying I wasn’t there?’ Marcus asked, sounding a bit hurt.

‘No, you weren’t there. The wendigo was trying to instill some sort of cannibalistic hunger in me and force me to attack those I cared about and eat them in the dream. I imagine that Miguel was there as well since he is the only that is actually psychically with me right now. As for why you did not show up, I believe it is because I know that you are not flesh in blood. No matter how strong the illusion the wendigo was trying to present to me in my dreams, there was no way it could make me believe I could eat you. Also, if you were there, I know that you would have saved me. As the dream was being manipulated by that monster, it would never allow you to appear even though you’re the person I care about he most.’ 

After Mrazivý explained this, she told Marcus how her dream went down.

Since she quickly figured out that it was the work of the wendigo, she resisted with all her might and tried to break the spell.

Thanks to her resilience, she managed to go against the compulsion to prey upon those around her to feed the gnawing hunger she was feeling in her dream.

‘Once I got a handle on the dream, I followed the power connecting me back to the wendigo to its source and found it creeping on the edge of the dream and watching. Its form was very similar to the description you told me about before. Still, I was not ready for how horrifying it was.’ Mrazivý said with a shudder.

She then told Marcus about how it smiled at her when it noticed her looking at it. The wendigo was not upset that she had fought back against its nightmare ability and was instead happy to have a strong subject to break.

  At least, that was the impression Mrazivý got from it.

‘Soon after the dream began to dissipate around me, and I woke up. I checked my status afterwards and thankfully found that I had not been hit with Wendigo Psychosis again. However, my sleep was certainly not restful, and I feel a bit fatigued. If this were to go on for several weeks, I am not sure I could hold out.’ Mrazivý said, giving her assessment of the situation.