I don't think I actually needed to bait Iosefka into killing me like that. Sure, it was painful. Dying always was. But the panic I'd seen in her eyes had been worth it. If she'd refused to kill me, I would've focused on the mark in the back of my mind and reawoken in the dream.

In retrospect, I probably should have done that instead of goading her into killing me. Now Iosefka had my echoes. If she reacted the same way the Cleric Beast did, then I was going to be in trouble when I went to kill her for good.

That didn't matter right now.

I pounded on the hardwood door. "Taylor!" I waited three seconds, then started pounding again. "Taylor!" The door opened, making me miss it and stumble forward, almost tripping over the small girl hiding behind it. After finding my balance, I fell to my knees and wrapped little Taylor in my arm.

My bugs had told me she was there, but I didn't have enough right now to track her every move.

"Wrraagh!" The brute that like sneaking up on people around here was promptly blinded by a swarm that was half the density of my normal one. In my haste to get here, I hadn't dedicated the time I normally spent to meandering about and just adding bugs to the swarm. That being said, what I had was enough to blind this brute, and I was keeping track of it as I released little Taylor and checked her health.

Physically, she was fine barring scuffed knees at the worst. No bleeding. Mentally, the red eyes and disheveled hair suggested things were different.

"You're alive, auntie." Taylor said. "I was s-so scared you would leave… as well."

"Can't." I looked her in the eye. Then I tapped my belt. "Vial?"

"Do you want it back?" Taylor was keeping hers in her pocket, which I noticed when she reached for it. I stayed her hand. "Oh. Okay."

I cupped her chin and gently made her look at me as the brute charged into another wall outside of my range. He came back quickly and was promptly blinded again.

"Are you well?" I ventured.

All I got was a confused look. The brute came close again and Taylor yelped.

I pushed little Taylor indoors and pushed the door partially closed. "Wait." I drew my pistol and turned to the brute. Before doing anything I waited for Taylor to close the door, then I let the brute see me. He had this habit of charging at where I thought I was with his brick raised high and ready to pulverise.

I had this habit of tricking him into charging at a wall, giving him a concussion, then finishing him off with my axe.

Brute dealt with, I went back inside with Taylor and started communicating with her again. It took a long while, but I got her to understand the extended sentence 'I am going to find you somewhere safe, but I need to explore to find it.'

I didn't leave right away, of course. I'd like to think I made my mom proud when I ran little Taylor through all the letters of the alphabet, and then some words I could use to communicate things quickly. Taylor's head was spinning by the end of it, so I went to the kitchen and cooked up some meat and veggies using the old technology in the house. It took a little while to figure out, but I got it done.

That's when I realised I hadn't eaten since waking up in the dream for the first time. Even that had been days after my last meal. Yet I just wasn't hungry. Taylor made a face at my cooking when I presented it, so I made a face at her and we both ate. Not at the table, in a corner because all this built to a breaking point for Taylor and she hid to cry while I was cooking.

I didn't let her stay alone like that for long. My bugs delivered the music box to her while I tended to the meat.

A long time after that I stood to leave. A tiny hand on my coat made me pause.

"Please don't go." Little Taylor's voice was breathy and so, so quiet.

I crouched down in front of her and tugged her ear. Then I accepted the paper and quill my bugs were offering and wrote down two words for Taylor. While she was focused on that, I ruffled her hair, making her protest, then swept away from the house. Before I went, I topped up the incense in the window, using the last of what was there.

I had a good idea for a first place to look. Somewhere that the beasts wouldn't go.

In the house behind me, Taylor finished reading the message I left and hugged the paper to her chest.

Stay strong.

~drip~drip~drip~

*e**nd ***

The chapel was as I left it. The state of disrepair was unchanged, there were a lot of unnerving statues still around, but that wasn't what I was looking for. First, the scent of incense was overpowering. I spied lanterns by each door, save for the one that was closed. That took a little longer to take in since the vast majority of my swarm hadn't been able to follow me inside.

The second thing I was looking for was the source of the sound I heard when I was leaving. My investigation quickly revealed a man sequestered away in a corner where he was wasting away. He was draped in tattered red cloth that seemed to have more substance than he did.

I said, "Hello." and he raised his head, the hood raising up like a snake.

"Hello." Another voice sounded from above me. It wasn't the squalid man.

I spun and looked up, gun already drawn. There was a second floor to the chapel, just a balcony that didn't have any readily apparent way to access it. The speaker was sitting on the stone railing of the balcony, and was resting their elbows on their knees as they looked down at me.

His face was half obscured by a scarf that wrapped his lower face, and a trifold hat covered everything else that wasn't his eyes. A long white feather curled back over the hat which, when coupled with the cape over one of his shoulders, gave a bombastic flair to the otherwise utilitarian outfit he was wearing.

It was all close fitting leather, with sheets of metal covering the parts of him that weren't needed for mobility, like his shins and forearms. On his back was a humongous sword that had no right being used as a weapon.

Point towards him being a parahuman. Specifically a brute, given by how thin his frame was and how lightly he was sitting there with that on his back. I backed away from both persons in the room, but didn't point the gun at the one up top just yet.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Teilgean." He responded. "If I may ask for your name in return, one armed hunter?"

"Who's there?" The man on the floor asked, looking around. "Who's talking?"

I gave the man on the railing another appraising look. His attire fit in with the other hunters I had met so far, but he was actually understanding me. Why?

"It's just me, chapel dweller." Teilgean spoke to the person kneeling on the floor. "Welcoming a guest, is all."

"Oh, honestly?" The… chapel dweller asked eagerly. They looked in my direction but missed. Blind? "Are you a hunter?"

"Yes." I answered cautiously.

"If you are, then please, if you find anyone still with their wits about them in your hunt, could you tell 'em that this here Oedon Chapel is safe haven for any and all. The incense wards off the beasts, you see. But you already knew that, didn't you. Hee hee…"

I looked up at the hunter on the balcony.

"He asks that of all hunters that pass through here and actually stop to talk." Teilgean explained. "Just you this night, I think."

"It's too perfect." I said. "The last time I was told somewhere was safe, the person I sent there was transformed into a creature I haven't encountered before."

Teilgean leaned back a little in surprise. "You made it into Iosefka's?"

"You know about Iosefka?"

"Well hold on now." Teilgean returned to his relaxed posture and gestured with a hand, palm flat and pointed at the ground. A calm down gesture. "You still haven't introduced yourself. I'm not going to go spouting my mouth to anyone I'm not sure is on the up and up."

"If you know about Iosefka, and you're not doing anything about it, then I'm not sure you're on the up and up." I told him, aiming my gun. "And the name's Taylor."

He paused. "Well, it is very nice to meet you Taylor." Teilgean nodded with the greeting, completely disregarding my weapon. "What was it you were asking about Iosefka?"

"You know her?"

"I have had dealings with her, yes."

"And?"

"She's a lovely lady who told me to leave her alone." Teilgean shrugged. "She had several patients that she didn't want to risk contaminating."

"The Iosefka you talked to was one of the blue creatures I found." I said pointedly. Teilgean froze, almost comically. "You already admitted to knowing about them. Tell me what you know."

Teilgean hummed. "Well, what you know is pretty similar to what I know at this point. Iosefka is in need of bodies to experiment on, and so asks the hunters that knock on her door for assistance. Those unfortunate enough to be sent her way are… experimented on."

I narrowed my eyes. "You knew that and did nothing about it?"

"I was hoping this first meeting of ours could go a little more cordially." Teilgean sighed when I kept my eyes hard. "Iosefka's place is a fortress. That door is sustained by unholy magics that keep it closed. You can't knock it down, I've tried."

"How hard have you tried?" I questioned.

Teilgean's eyes unfocused and looked at something far away. "Quite hard."

That didn't exactly excuse anything, but it was a step towards Teilgean being seen as neutral in my eyes. Right now he was suspicious, a stranger that had popped up out of nowhere, shown a disturbing amount of knowledge, and presumably wanted something. He was also… talking to me.

"Why are you able to understand me?" I asked, breaking the awkward quiet and lowering my gun.

Teilgean seemed a little taken aback. "I'm just talking to you, aren't I?"

I floundered for a bit. "Yes, but how? The chapel dweller, as you called them, can't. Next to no one can understand me."

Teilgean frowned and looked at the chapel dweller. "Have you been following this conversation?"

The chapel dweller gave a shy chuckle. "I've been trying. A lot of the words you two are using are going over my head."

Teilgean glanced at me. "How strange." He looked back to the chapel dweller. "The hunter accepted your offer, I think."

"That's wonderful! Hee hee…"

"I haven't agreed to anything yet." I said quickly enough that I was talking over the chapel dweller.

"This unfortunate one has been cursed with altruism." Teilgean told me morosely. "He only wants to help people, yet he has an appearance so wretched that most would not approach him. Still, his soul remains kind."

"Good for him." I deadpanned. "If I took your word for it, I would help him help others. Which I'll hold off on, since I don't trust you."

"Then how about this? I point you towards something that you will find immeasurably helpful. You look like you could do with a hand, and all it will take from you is time. If I fail to assist you to a reasonable extent you can continue to disregard my words. But if you admit that I have helped you, then you can trust me insofar as my claim that this place is safe, moon scented hunter."

I considered his words carefully.

"If you end up not liking my assistance, I'm sure you'll kill me anyway." Teilgean shrugged.

The first question I asked ended up being, "Why did you call me that?"

"Call you what?"

"Moon scented hunter."

"Because you smell like the moon." Teilgean answered like it was obvious. "You should dream?"

"I dream." I conceded after some consideration. "Does it really smell?"

Teilgean bobbed his head trying to think up a reasonable answer.

"Actually, I don't want to know." I decided. It was already a given that I didn't smell good with all the blood and gunpowder. That would just be adding to it. "Just what exactly is it you're selling me?"

Teilgean stood on the balcony, displaying a supernatural disregard for the weight on his back. "I've already told you, you look like you could do with a hand. You've been doing fine without it, but I imagine that situation you're in is just slowing you down." Teilgean's body flickered, like he was moving in every direction at once for a brief moment, then vanished.

The closed door in the chapel was pushed open a moment later. Teilgean was behind the door, visibly straining as he pushed the heavy thing.

I waited until he caught his breath. "You're a cape?" Brute/Mover classifications from the looks of it. A grab bag cape? Teleportation and strength wasn't something I had encountered put together like that before, and I'd encountered a lot of powers over the years.

Teilgean looked up at me, then his gaze drifted to his left shoulder. He flamboyantly gestured at it. "I do wear a cape, yes."

I shook my head and waited for him to continue his pitch.

"Strange question." Teilgean commented, then shook his head. He gestured down the hallway he just opened up. "Through here is an elevator. It'll take you to a tower that you should spend some time exploring. Use the dream to make sure you explore it thoroughly. You'll find several somethings that will be of use to you."

"Such as?"

"Something for the arm." Teilgean gestured at my stump, nearly making contact since he was so close to me now. "The moon's presence is stronger there than it is for the rest of you. I presume the dream is trying to project a more complete you? It'll also grant you a significant insight to one of your fellow dreamers."

"You mean Gehrman." I checked.

Teilgean sighed. "Yes, you could ruin the mystery from the get go. It's not like it was supposed to be a surprise or anything."

I looked past him down the corridor. It ended after a dozen or so feet and turned off to the right. "It's interesting you figured out the projection."

"I have something of a talent for them." Teilgean shrugged. "But yes, if the dream is trying to make something, it'll flail and fail if it doesn't have an anchor. Several things could be an anchor, so that's up to you. That's all I have for you."

"Why?" I asked. Teilgean looked at me, surprised. "You're going out of your way to help me. Why?"

Teilgean hummed, considering what to say. "I wouldn't really call myself a hunter. Not anymore, and I'm aware that I still wear the clothes. I spend my time nowadays… caretaking hunters that need to be taken care of."

I crossed my arms, but failed because of my stump. In the end, I rested my gun on my other shoulder to communicate how unamused I was.

"That's caretaking in the loosest sense, just so you know. I'll put it this way. If a hunter needs to reach something and they're travelling an insurmountable path, I'll point out an alternative. If a hunter needs a hand," He grinned shamelessly, it reached his eyes. "I'll point out viable options."

"What about taking care of problems?" I asked, thinking of Gascoigne.

Tielgean's face darkened. "The hunter of hunters holds that responsibility. Dark work, that."

"And who is the hunter of hunters?"

"You must have met the Crow by now." Teilgean said. Something in my face told him he was right. "Yes, you have. Her work is more dangerous than yours at times. Offer assistance where you can, but never pity her. Empathise, but do not sympathise."

"You sound like a therapist."

A hint of a smile flashed across Teilgean's face, visible even with the vast majority of it covered. "I'm afraid I'm just a caretaker of sorts. And I possibly haven't been properly honest with you."

I waited. "You going to explain?"

"Just considering the wording… Your encounter with the Cleric Beast was enthralling. I was impressed, but I couldn't help but note the lack of an arm. I'm interested in how effective you might be with a fourth limb, that's why I'm helping you."

I gave him another once over with a raised eyebrow. Teilgean, now that he was standing, had a very relaxed air about him. His upper body shifted forwards and back as he spoke and gestured. His posture didn't match a trained warrior or hunter as he claimed to have once been, and it didn't match the big fucking sword on his back either.

He had also watched my fight with the Cleric Beast, but hadn't assisted even though I was fighting a pretty fucking insurmountable opponent. Maybe that was the norm for hunters. The ability to try and try again despite death meant that impossible didn't really mean the same thing.

Then he had used the term Cleric Beast to describe the Cleric Beast… Had I been calling it that before? I wasn't about to ask this guy.

"We'll see if I thank you." I said at length.

"I hope you will." He confessed. Teilgean turned to the chapel dweller. "I'm leaving now."

"Please return shortly." The chapel dweller responded. "If you encounter anyone, please tell them of this place."

"I will." Teilgean waved, and then turned away. "I'll see you again before the dawn, Taylor."

I made to say goodbye but he used his power again and disaperated.

With a new direction that I still wasn't sold on, I looked down the hallway Teilgean had opened. If he was to be trusted, then everything was to be gained from exploring like he suggested. If he wasn't, then I'd die, which didn't have any consequences anymore. I mused how useful this ability would have been back in Brockton Bay. Hell, the end of the world.

Since there was nothing but inconvenience to worry about, I decided to humour Teilgean's advice and explore this way first.

The tower that the elevator took me to was filled with Yharnamites. I killed them along with the brute that had somehow joined them all up there. They brought out some new tricks, like flamethrowers, which I promptly disabled by jamming with a hastily gathered swarm. Overall, ascending the tower was pretty easy.

There was an ornate chest up there which held a disproportionately small ornate sword hilt, not unlike the one that came from the Cleric Beast. I picked it up and kept going until my exploration was stopped by a door not unlike the one Teilgean the Near had opened for me. Inspecting it revealed that it was locked and I didn't have the key. That's when I started exploring down the tower.

Teilgean's advice proved hard to follow, since below a certain point all the floors in the tower just ceased to be. There must have been a hundred feet where the floors had been destroyed, leaving behind a circular drop that was only interrupted by mostly broken landings and circular paths leading around and down the sides.

The part where I 'used my dream' to explore involved aiming for landings that were only accessible from above and jumping. Sometimes from very far above. More than once I died trying to access a landing that was attached to a set of stairs leading away from the tower, which pissed me off. But I kept at it and eventually made it.

Doll's theory about blood echoes being deposited near the point of death proved to mean the spot where I had jumped. They took the form of an endlessly coalescing puddle of that purple mist about half a foot over the ground. The rush I got from the fall was exhilarating, and each impact was painful. There were always a few moments where I watched dark mist welcome me, and in those moments all I could think about was the pain. It was the one thing that prevented me from devaluing my life entirely and acting with complete disregard to my body.

Regardless, I followed the staircase and came to yet another door, this time unlocked. I pushed it open and walked out to the garden of the dream. The hunter's workshop was there at the top of the hill like it always was, but it was even more decrepit.

Significant insight into Gehrman? Yeah, you could say that.