It was Will's first morning in the Nightmare. After his talk with Grandma and her insane plan to defeat the Golem, they didn't really talk much. Each focused on cooking their precious food and tired from the hard day. They laid in their own beds, acting as if they were alone in the room. As night fell and the shadows grew longer, Coal finally moved and dragged the massive boulder to cover the entrance, leaving a gap at the top of the rock allowing some light and air to move in freely. If he wanted to escape from this place without Coal, they would probably be trapped, he realized. Coal silently walks over to the glowing hole in the center and his eyes meet Will's. He gives him the smallest nod before covering the hole, drowning the cave in darkness.
In the morning, Will woke up startled by the sound of Coal moving the massive boulder, opening the entrance. He was having a nightmare seeing that man's face stare at him, staring at him with those defiant eyes. How could a person be that unflinching even with what was happening to him. Shaking the sleep and nightmare from his head. Will stretches and gets up.
"Since the last quota was yesterday, it'll be a few days before the next order is started. You have some free time till then. Got any plans?" Grandma was already up leaning against the entrance, chewing on a piece of yesterday's bounty. Will ponders for a few moments. There were a few things he wanted to do. If he could study the runes a bit, maybe the spell would give him something related to them. He needed to figure out how his aspect worked. He also needed to figure out how to help the Salamander. If their plan was to use it to fight the Tyrant, then he needed to make sure it stayed alive. Grandma had no idea how hurt the thing was, if it died. It would be an understatement of the century to say they would be royally fucked. One of those things needed his attention the most.
"Yeah, I think I should go make sure the Salamander can survive long enough to give the Golem a second round." He ties the fur sack, now cleaned and dried. It had one of the fangs, two of the teeth, and a few pieces of meat that would be his lunch and dinner if he came back late, along with a few more pieces. "Will it be safe to leave some of our food here?" He didn't want all he went through to, in the end, sit at the bottom of someone else's stomach.
"No no no." She wags her finger at him like a naughty child. " We'll close the mouth of the cave. No one but him can move the rock." She assures him that his food and items would be safe. "Plus, no one has pebbles big enough to try to steal from me. Or him" Gesturing to Coal with a crooked thumb and a big mischievous smile on her face, asking for someone to test her guard dog.
Walking back to the center of the crater. The remnants of the carnage that played out here just yesterday are gone. Not even traces of blood left on the ground, much less any bits of meat. They part ways not long after reaching their destination.
"I've got some things I need to do to prep for our plan. Try not to get in too much trouble. If you need anything, just make it back to the cave. We'll be nearby." She sees him off. Walking slowly side by side with the Giant, talking his ear off as he silently stares ahead. Who knows if she could even hear her that high up.
Will traces his steps to the back of the furnace. It loomed over him, its runes pulsing like a heartbeat, thrumming with power even with its exhausted strength from forging The Smith's vile creation. He approaches the part of the crater that houses the vast number of cages filled with captured Abominations. Getting a better look at different cages, he could see all kinds of creatures in them. More smokey spiders, a pair of wolves similar in size to one from yesterday. He could see massive boars with flames billowing freely on their back with tusks the size of Grandma. They could easily rip him and the cages to shreds if it wasn't chained down and impossible for it to move.
With so many creatures nearby, his aspect is going crazy, siphoning a slight amount from them all, equalling much more than he could take from one. Not as potent as what he got from the Tyrant but similar. Last time, he had moved too quickly to notice any of these changes. It wasn't like he got double his strength or anything, but it was a noticeable increase. He would have to test it later.
Arriving at the front of the Salamander, he looks inside the cage. It was noticeably cooler, it was emanating much less heat than when he first met it. It opened one eye weakly. Sparing him a glance before huffing, He closes them again. The last time he was here, the bowl the golem made was his key to opening the door. He had attempted to recall the runes, and he could probably write them out fairly accurately. They would just be some drawings. No power in them.
Walking around the cage, getting a good look at the state of the Salamander, Will realizes that it was worse than he thought. The bleeding from its wounds seemed to slow. Not because they were closed, but because it didn't seem like it had much left to give. The purple streaks on its back and side felt more empty, nearly devoid of life and strength. Standing on the side closest to its mouth, he crouches down talking to it.
"Granny has an insane plan. Apparently you're kinda strong. You gave that Abomination a run for its money the last time you fought, but it doesn't look like you're gonna last long enough to get a rematch." Will knew how insane it might've seemed to be talking to a murderous killing machine like a big dog but eased his nerves. "I've never seen a nice Nightmare Creature but you did let me close because of my Aspect and Attribute. It does talk about connections to them and kinship, so maybe she was right. I might be able to get you to help us fight it." Will brings out a piece of meat. Since it was Granny's plan, she allowed him to take part of her share so he wasn't losing most of his share for this. The instant he reveals the meat, both of its eyes shoot open.
Bang! The Salamander fights against its restraints to move closer to the smell of food. Taking a surprised step back, Will wasn't expecting it to have any energy left. Trying to remain calm, Will speaks to it again.
"Relax, big guy. I'm gonna hand it over. Just don't take my hand with it" Will gently tosses the meat towards it, and the Salamander snaps it out of the air in one bite and swallows it, barely chewing. A low deep rumble emanates from it, followed by a hiss with its mouth open ever so slightly. "Yeah, yeah. You only get one more though. Grandma got a lot because no one would mess with Coal, but we still don't have enough to splurge." He takes a smaller piece and tosses it up to it. The Salamander snaps it once more and swallows this smaller piece whole. Once more opening its mouth and hissing seemingly in content. It looks at him, its eyes flickering with recognition, realizing he was the person who came near it yesterday.
Will is careful not to make direct eye contact. Slightly out of fear, but also because his aim was to build some trust with it not to seem like a challenger. After the Salamander observes him seemingly satisfied by his actions, it rests its head once more. Its breathing slows after just a few seconds, fast asleep. Hopefully with some food and nutrients it would begin to regain its strength. In the meantime, he needed to figure out a way of getting inside the cage and learn how to help it recover from its wounds.
For now he's done everything he could. Without a key and a way to help it recover, there was nothing much else he could do. Walking around to each of the cages, Will wanted to gauge how much the combination Attribute and Aspect together affected the Nightmare Creatures.
From what he could tell when it came to true singular predators like the boars and the Salamander, they just tolerated him. If he came too close they would still snarl at him ready to attack if they were restrained. Around him were mostly animal-like creatures, so he had no idea what more humanoid Abominations would react to him.
He noticed a difference in the pack like creatures though. They seemed to believe that he was one of them at least for a few moments. The wolves would react to him indifferently. One of them even wagged its tail for a moment when he approached their cages, which was curious.
Then he realized it wasn't happy. It did recognize him as a packmate but its eyes never left his jugular. Ready to attack its packmate the instant it would ever need to kill him. Whenever he read about the creatures, they acted like monsters. They either were killing each other or killing the humans they could find. He never expected these kinds of behaviors from them. Maybe it was because of his odd origins or his abilities, but it left him a bit stumped. Leaving that for exploration later since his aspect could change after he finishes the First Nightmare. He decided to do some tests just to see how much of a boost he gets from his attribute Essence Siphon.
Getting far enough from the cages, he waited for the feeling of power the essence gave him slowly ebb away to nothing. He had gathered some rocks of various sizes , one of them he could barely push over by the time he was running dry.
Time to find out how powerful (or weak) his abilities were in the first nightmare.