There's an exit about 30 meters to the right of this dent in the cave, when I shout anything, run towards there. Run and don't stop until I catch up to you, no matter what you hear. Keep running and look for an exit there.

Andrew was confused by the writing. He knew they were above a lake, by the waterfall, but this description didn't make any sense.

He stood up slowly, Camilo had left the bag on the floor, and was now breathing slowly, trying to calm down, his bow ready at his hands, and an arrow already notched there. It was unnerving to see Camilo with murder in his eyes.

Camilo shot an arrow, before Andrew could say anything, and darted through the opening as soon as it hit, leaving him alone in there. He approached the cave's exit running, once he did, he heard Camilo's steps, but there should be a fall on the outside, not something to run.

"RUN! GO AWAY! RUN!" Camilo was yelling, and the cave's echo made it seem it was coming from everywhere at the same time.

He heard Camilo's voice and poked his head out; he then saw it and almost heard the book hit the floor.

In a small drop in front of him, after a small ledge outside of this small cave, Andrew saw a bigger cave, with an open ceiling that let some moonlight come in. It seemed there was a blizzard coming, as this moonlight was quickly obscured as soon as he noticed it. in the center of the bigger cave, stood a gigantic creature, about 6 meters high, a humanoid figure stood there, trying to catch Camilo with an overgrown hand and something resembling a tentacle that came from its hip area. It had feathers on its back, dyed in a black that Andrew thought should be impossible, it had one leg and something similar to a bone coming out from his back, which seemed to keep it standing while it tried to come closer to Camilo.

Andrew saw Camilo running around it, dodging, jumping, and cursing loudly at the creature, all while his brain struggled to understand the very definition of monster that was standing near him, focused on catching Camilo, possibly to eat him.

Camilo shot an arrow towards the tentacle but running did a number on his aim and the arrow came higher, hitting it somewhere resembling a neck. The creature screamed in a high-pitched tone, loud enough to stop Camilo to cover his ears and to snap Andrew out of his numbness. He ran back into the dent and towards the wall he came from, hoping that whatever brought him here would bring him back.

That idiot! Camilo cursed him mentally, he had 6 arrows in his hand and the creature was far too big to be stopped just with that.

Surroundings. Stop it.

Don't let it catch Andrew.

Duck!

His last thought came interrupting him, to avoid the tentacle from grabbing him. The best option he had was to push the big bone that provided it with support, but he had to get closer and that was the last thing he wanted.

"THROW THE QUIVER IF YOU HEAR ME!"

He knew it was a waste, Andrew was probably too scared to think straight, so he kept dodging, trying to get some distance between them. He was out of the arm reach, but the tentacle seemed infinite, it kept reaching out no matter how far he went, and the cave space didn't give him room to outmaneuver it.

With very few options to follow, and having it focused on himself, he got to the opening he had told Andrew they could use to escape and ran inside it. The tentacle followed him close, but he could aim while running in the narrow space. He shot it once, twice in close space, hitting it whenever it got too close and making it wince, giving him time to turn around and examine the next route. The tentacle seeped some clear liquid with a sweet smell, but Camilo could only think that it was toxic due to his old age paranoia.

Camilo was a few hundred meters inside these tunnels when the tentacle stopped moving and started retreating. Confused, he paused for a second, but heard a screech from the creature, as if it had been attacked by him once again. Camilo got a cold sweat, so he started running back into the cave. There was only one else inside that cave. Running back, he saw the creature coming closer to a frozen Andrew, who was holding the whole bag in his arms.

He's gotta hide!

The tentacle!

He's gotta run.

He won't get far with the bag.

Its bone is exposed.

"RUN!" he shouted, shooting again towards the creature's back. "FUCKING RUN, ANDREW!"

The creature ignored him and kept going towards Andrew.

The tentacle was already reaching out towards him and Andrew didn't budge.

Camilo ran as fast as he could, but time seemed to stretch on forever.

Camilo prayed to Kiltha to be fast enough and strong enough.

Camilo had an idea but didn't have time to even finish it through.

He closed his eyes and held onto his bow, he put his shoulders low and his head to his side and, with a thud, came to stop at the bone, cracking it, without making the beast flinch.

Since the beast ignored him, he started kicking the bone as hard as he could, he put his hands into every crack and pulled to make it bigger, until the bone itself started cracking. His desperate attack was accompanied by incoherent yelling. Camilo was desperate to get this monster's attention. Due to this unusual frenzy from its prey, the creature tried to turn to face him. This action, born of impulse, only put more weight into the already fragile bone, finally breaking it and making itself fall to the ground.

Camilo ran to the side to avoid the collapsing creature and its head almost crushes him. Since this was far from over for Camilo, his impulse didn't stop at that. He climbed atop it's face and shot an arrow into some liquid that seemed to act like its eye. He shot once again and a final time before the creature stopped squirming.

Camilo gasped for air on top of it. All of his workouts, all of his relentless training had helped, but he was tired. Way more tired than he had expected to be after just his first fight. This would be a long trip, and a dangerous one, if he couldn't do much more than this.

As he gasped out for air, he reached towards the liquid to touch it. It was cold and gooey but didn't seem to do anything other than allowing it to see. He reached deeper into it, the gross feeling enveloping most of his arm, and took his three arrows back, pulled them out and readied one just in case. He walked backwards in a slow pace, eventually making his way towards Andrew without taking his eyes off the creature until he bumped with him.

He snapped his fingers in front of a dazed Andrew, the lights were on, but it almost seemed he himself wasn't there.

Camilo took him by the arm and dragged him towards the exit. They walked in silence while Camilo checked every curve and hole before moving in. During all of this, Andrew just walked in a daze, almost out of himself. They spent 20 minutes walking before coming into another exit, much to Camilo's relief; worried they would have to come back and look for another way out of the cave, and to find out if the beast could heal itself.

Camilo stepped out and came back in immediately, there was a blizzard outside and he was underdressed for it. Only now, after having run around carrying around Andrew, he took a moment to breathe and rest. Andrew just stood there, seeing into nothingness all the time, shaking. From fear or cold, Camilo didn't know, but after a while of pondering, he stood up again and slapped him across the face.

"What is wrong with you?!" Andrew barked at him, he dropped the bag and touched his face right where it had been hit. His reflexes had been good enough of a response, for Camilo's standards.

"What is wrong with you?!" Camilo replied back calmly, even while Andrew approached him menacingly, "I told you exactly what to do and you just stood there like a, a, I don't know, something that stands"

"What?"

"You almost died, Andrew. Because you didn't listen." Camilo paused to let it sink in but repeated it for emphasis "you almost die."

Andrew grew weak in his knees and fell to the ground. "I almost died…" he seemed about to go into the same daze again, but pulled his hands onto his hair, almost pulling it "why would you bring me here?! I couldn't get back! I tried and tried and tried and there was nothing! You left me there alone with that thing! That thing was going to eat me!"

"Oh, grow up" Camilo argued while crouching to get the bag, he opened it and started taking some clothes out, "It wasn't going to eat you, it didn't have a mouth"

"That's not the point! What am I doing here? I want to go home!" Andrew kept shaking uncontrollably on the ground, before getting covered with a big and thick fabric "what's this?"

"it's something I got made for this weather" Camilo said as he was already putting something similar on. It looked like a robe with a hood, covered with some sort of fur on the inside, apparently for better warming. It was pretty thick so Camilo was almost lost into it once he wore it, "put it on, it's cold out there…"

"I am not going out there! What do we do if there are more of those things out there?"

"Listen, Andrew. You're being really difficult right now. I told you a lot of times to go back before you followed me into this world. Did I say you were gonna die?"

"Yeah but—"

"Then suck it up, at least for now. Sorry Andrew, but, at least right now, we have to keep moving. I don't know what that creature is, so it's always possible for it to be immortal, or to have good regeneration, so let's NOT find out if it does, okay? Or do you wanna stay and see if it's still angry when it wakes up?"

A dead silence filled the cave while Andrew seemed to lose color on his dark skin. Camilo continued rummaging through his bag until he managed to get a few more arrows out.

"There's a knife in the pocket of those clothes, don't cling to it while we're outside. Do what I tell you and maybe you won't have to use it on anything if we don't get in even more troubles."

Andrew looked back to the place they came from. It was horrible to even think that the monster was still alive, but it all had been a blur, so he could not argue against that. He stood up and started putting the robe on. Since he was taller than Camilo, it fit him better but still covered his body enough to keep the cold out. He saw the knife inside the breast pocket, on the inside of his robe. It was far bigger than he thought it would be, the blade and handle were almost the size of his forearm but was still small enough to be held with one hand. When he was ready, he turned to see Camilo on his knees and with his face laying in the ground.

"I dedicate this injustice I've committed to you, oh Kiltha, lady of death, lady of justice. To be judged and deemed necessary or unnecessary. And to dispense to me any punishment I deserve if it were the case. Please guide me to avoid death and follow justice, so that this doesn't happen again."

Camilo stood up and dusted himself. As he did, he made a curve in the air with his index and thumb before turning to Andrew and grabbing his bow again. It looked to Andrew like it was some sort of rite he was performing but was shocked enough to not interrupt.

"Look." He said, perhaps a bit tired from doing this, "Whatever we find out there, good or bad, at least run. If you stand there, doing nothing but being a giant-ass target, you'll be a burden"

"Please, Camilo, just stop, tell me what are we going to do?" Andrew pleaded, he didn't like Camilo's attitude with him right now, but it looked like he was the only one he had to even get a chance to survive, "How do I go back? Where are we? I'm getting cold, are you sure we can't stay here?"

Camilo looked at him. He was so scared. Of course he was, it was reasonable for him to act like that. Camilo was scared as well, but he, at least, knew what could happen when he started this trip.

"okay… we'll stay here until the blizzard stops, but if we hear anything, we move. I don't care if there are stones raining, we leave. For now, I'll go out for a second—"

"No! Don't leave me!"

"Andrew, we need food. We need fire. So, unless you have a way of doing that without getting out, I'm all ears."

"Don't you have anything in your bag?"

"It's a bag, not a magic pocket. Who do you think I am, Dora the Explorer?" Camilo took a deep breath, he remembered Lingster do the same when they met and that almost made him smile, oh, how the tables have turned, he thought, "Look Andrew—"

"You have magic, right? You can do it!" Andrew climbed onto Camilo, tripping him and making him lie on the cold floor "we can also go back that way!"

"Andrew! Breathe, count backward from one thousand… 'kay? calm down" Camilo put his hands softly on the big shoulders of the man, he counted a few times to help him relax "you taught me this, remember?"

"Yeah… I'm better now" Andrew stood up and helped Camilo to get up as well "I am… sorry you had to see that"

"I'm not. It's the most emotion you've shown me in a while. It's good… now, we're in a barn in china, and we don't know anything or anyone, what should we do?"

Andrew looked at him with a puzzled expression until their earlier talk clicked in his head "oh! I-I don't know… we do need food and fire, but food can wait. No, we have to walk, right? Then… we have to… hunt"

"Good, good!" Camilo smiled widely, glad he'd gotten his psychiatrist back on track, "Are you against hunting? Or are you vegan? We can go together, or you can wait for me. What do you wanna do?"

"I don't like hunting, but… I guess if I have to, I will. Can we go together?"

"Sure. But you need to—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do anything you say if it doesn't get me killed"

"Whoa there, buddy. Be careful what you say, you can get in problems for that. Now, take your shoes off, and put on your hood"

Camilo put his bow down, stretching his fingers and then started digging again through the bag, putting some pots out before taking leather boots and gloves "You have big feet, you'll have to wear these barefoot. I have three pairs more in case you get numb. Tell me when you feel your fingers numbing"

"Give me another pair, please." Andrew grunted a while, wearing the tight shoes, "You have gloves too? What do I do? I haven't hunted in years, and never with a bow."

"Oh, you are not touching my bow." Camilo threw the gloves onto Andrew's lap "Listen, walk close to me, for now, we'll just get wood and try to burn it. We can also look for small game, but on the side. How do you feel?"

"Like a stuffed bear. This is too thick"

"That's what she said." Camilo winked at Andrew, trying to motivate him, but only got a scowl from him "spoilsport. Any questions?"

"Do you know what we can eat? Where do we go?"

"I feel a portal… maybe a few of them, a few hundred miles that way" Camilo pointed towards the interior of the cave, and then shook his head "but it feels way too hot compared to here. If we're not too accustomed to this cold when we get there we could try it, but it would be better to try any of the other… six? that are further away, they feel more alive"

"How do you feel it? Can we trust that feeling?"

"Well, we got here, didn't we? About the food, we don't know what to eat, we can watch what the 'prey' in this place is, but we have to take a risk when we eat for the first time. There's also a chance that we can't eat anything in this world or some of the others, so… keep your fingers crossed, okay? You didn't eat before we came so we have about a day of walking without food before you start feeling really bad about it"

"I can't walk a whole day! And even less in the cold!"

"You haven't even gone out of the cave"

Silence grew in the small cave, it grew colder by the second since the blizzard was now in front of them, and it was getting painful to stand still. Camilo looked to the outside and thought about staying until it stopped, but he was in a hurry and they weren't sure if the beast was able to come back and attack them. He felt sorry for Andrew, but he kept thinking it was the same with him years ago, and he had to endure it until they were some place safe.

"Look, Andrew, let's walk and see if we can find wood for the time being. We'll stop after we get it and I'll go and find food while you warm up."

Camilo helped Andrew get up and patted him in the back to raise his spirit, then, he took him by the hand and both of them went out into the thick of the blizzard. Camilo knew the temperature was under zero, but he didn't dare tell this to Andrew, especially since it wasn't accurate. The wind was blowing strong enough to force him to cover his face and force his way through. The amount of snow coming with the wind was, however, minimal, and this would help them to keep some of the heat while they found cover.

They didn't have too much visibility, only about 20 meters or so, which was good to disguise them from predators, but also made them more likely to get too close to them without noticing it. Camilo rushed ahead, some years before he'd climbed mountains in better climate conditions but with more snow, and so he had experience with his movements, on the contrary, Andrew was slow and clumsy, he had bad footing and the wind often made him stumble when it changed direction.

They walked with the mountain wall about 8 meters to their right side, in hopes of reducing the chance of a surprise, but found no trees in their surroundings, so they focused on finding another cave to enter and rest for a bit. The wind made it more exhausting to walk than Camilo had anticipated, and, even if he could force himself to walk until tired or until the time limit he usually counted mentally until frostbite set in – a horrible pain he had experienced healing it made him more cautious, years ago – he didn't know if Andrew would stand with such a task, so he stopped here and there to let him take a breath or sit. Usually taking a couple of minutes to run a wider perimeter searching for trees and coming back before Andrew worried.

Andrew had the hood shut tightly in place with his hand, leaving just enough space for his nose and eyes to breathe and see, but he felt the cold sting in his bones. They were far from where they started, and Camilo didn't even seem to break a sweat, but Andrew could only think of his own pain. Maybe it had been that, since Camilo kept moving while he sat for a while to take a breather, he was in a better state than his, but Camilo definitely didn't show being tired at all.

It was now almost 25 minutes of walking according to Camilo's count and the storm was finally slowing down. The wind was less harsh than before, and this gave Andrew a bit more of freedom to move. They had come close to some bushes, stripped of their leaves from the winds, and Camilo was taking as much wood as he could, to compensate for how thin they were.

Andrew helped with another bush while his hands shook far more than they had ever done before. He dropped what he had collected so far, because of this and when he started picking them up he found some small eggs. The eggs were a bit clear, letting a bit of light come through their shells, but without really showing the insides. It was a total of 9 eggs he'd found, and he dropped everything else to show Camilo.

Camilo took one of them, a bit rounder and bigger than a chicken's and squished it a bit. It didn't look completely edible to him, but it was better than having nothing. He frowned at the egg for a moment but told Andrew to hold onto the rest of them, leaving him to gather the rest of the wood. Absentmindedly, Camilo let go of the 9th egg, and they kept going on.

15 minutes more and Camilo was now constantly asking Andrew about his hands and feet, if they were numb, if they hurt somewhere, if it had any issue moving them. They finally found another opening in the wall of the mountain after Camilo's incessant asking, but this one was less deep, and so, they would receive more wind if they didn't cover the entrance. It would also make it more difficult for them to heat up, since the wind would blow the fire away. Camilo sat Andrew down and left again running. Andrew didn't feel numbness in his extremities, but Camilo told him it would be dangerous to keep getting colder before he darted away from this new cave, making a mental note of the location and leaving Andrew alone again.

Camilo ran and ran as fast as he could, there wasn't much more vegetation aside the bushes, and most of it were succulent plants – their leaves thick and filled with water or other substances – not very sturdy to make a barrier from the wind. He stumbled upon a few thicker pieces of wood, about 10 centimeters thick once he was about to give up. These would not be enough for a fence to protect them against animals, but it was enough to make a barrier with some fabric, and useful as lumber, both of which were a higher priority for now. Once he got them, he started making his way back, hoping not to have taken too much time.

While all that happened, Andrew had made a ball of himself, covered in bed sheets. Trying to keep the heat that quickly evaded him while he waited for Camilo to come back. He, after a while of rolling around, saw a big bird land on the ground, apparently, examining what they left behind as tracks, from moving among the snow. Focusing on the bird again, it seemed as if the wind didn't dare to touch it. It seemed majestic, even with its dull colors, it had gray-tinted, blue feathers in its head, and the rest of the body had feathers in a dark green, also tainted with gray, making it look as if it was withering, or close to dying. It was some sort of owl, but it's unusual colors made Andrew confused. It looked cute, from where Andrew was sitting, as a curious small animal, interested in prints it probably never saw before. Without any warning, Andrew sneezed, the cold getting into his nose, and this made the bird take notice of him. The bird came closer to Andrew without taking its big black eyes from him. it seemed to Andrew that it was curious about him, after all, this was another world, it could be that humans didn't exist here, and it was curious. Andrew could feel his own color starting to dull as the bird approached and seemed to be of the size of a big bear, only seeming small due to the distance.