“Hi! Are you alright?” My voice sounded deeper, lilting bleats on the a’s slightly of its own accord.

  Tear-streaked wool cheeks turned towards my voice. I was right, it was another child, who looked at me with eyes wide with fear. I saw their eyes dart across the various features of my body and saw something shift in the sheep-child’s gaze.

  It was the faintest flicker as the gaze transitioned from one of fear to larger, wetter eyes pleading for help, but for just a second the sheep looked hungry.

  “H— help me, please.” The small child whispered.

  It shook me, pulled me from contemplating the brief look of hunger and threw me into a memory from the day before. Another child, Cataryn, running into me, whispering the same request, worded slightly differently.

  “Are you being chased?” I asked, stepping closer.

  I felt potential with each step. This body was more physically capable than any other form I had taken. I felt like I could jump twenty feet up and land with perfect balance atop a higher landing — whether that was true or not remained to be proven.

  “N— no. I’m just lost.” The sheep fell into a fresh refrain of bleating cries. The child wore a tan shirt under coarsely woven overalls.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, crouching by the sheep, which looked up at me, sniffling and rubbing its eyes. An earthy, irony smell filled my nose for a moment before it was carried away on the late afternoon breeze.

  “Jeffrey,” the sheep said, “My family’s traveling from far away and I saw something. It was floating, it had the most prettiest blue wings. My Gamps called it a… bruttlefly?”

  “A butterfly?” I asked, unsure if it was some fantastical recreation of Veil that differed from butterflies.

  “Yeah!” Jeffrey sniffled again, nodding. “I saw one and chased it, wanted to catch it and show Gamps but… it was too fast for me. I looked around and…”

  He let out a low, bleating cry. “I don’t know where my family is.”

  New Quest! Help Jeffrey get Home. Home is where the heart is, right? We established that. Get Jeffrey the ‘Sheepboy’ home. Be careful, there are wolves about. Reward: Bonus Skill experience in Transform. Copper Hero Complex Chest x1

  Hero Complex Chest? What the hell? I cocked my head to the side, listening. The long ears that hung from either side of my head picked up a plethora of new sounds, mostly of a higher pitch. I focused on the sounds. I heard Jeffrey’s rapid heartbeat, the buzz and chitter of grassland insects, the whisper of the wind. No wolves.

  I accepted the quest and a notification appeared on my mini-map.

  “It’s alright Jeffrey,” I said, crouching down again. “Let’s get you back to your family.”

  “You can h— help me get back to my family?” he asked, looking up at me with large eyes.

  “Of course!” I thumped myself on the chest. “I am Chanter, Goatkin hero!”

  Jeffrey looked uncertain for a moment, but it faded in the blink of an eye, replaced with a wide smile. He was missing a few of his baby teeth. I assumed they were baby teeth. Sheep had baby teeth, right? Maybe sheep beastkin? I smiled back.

  “They said they were camping in a cave nearby,” he said, “I was too a’scared to go but with a hero — I think I can find the way for us.”

  “That’s very brave of you, Jeffrey.” He nodded solemnly, standing and looking around. “I can also help find the way if you need help.”

  “No it’s okay. It’s this way, my family’s this way.” He hopped down from the stone and began walking towards the forest in the distance.

  I followed Jeffrey towards the forest, thinking about how odd the situation was. His story just didn’t add up. His family was traveling, yet he knew the cave they were camping in? Was that a cultural thing with sheep beastkin?

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  “Thank you for helping me, I was so a’scared.” He had difficulty pronouncing the r’s on his words, which sounded more like ‘aw’.

  “Happy to help, where did you say your family is from?” We were entering the thicker part of the forest where the canopy began to encompass the sky. I glanced back at the fields behind, which seemed much brighter from within the shade of the forest.

  “Gamps and Gam-gam had a farm. We lived there, my family. I have lots of family. Brothers, sisters, cousins… the farm was attacked by raiders. They burned it and we had to run. There’s lots of family didn’t make it. We been running for weeks, looking for a new home.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I spoke softly. “That is so horrible.”

  “It’s okay, Gamps says theres greener grass over the hills, past the woods. We’re gonna built a farm there. Oh! My family is just ahead!”

  Jeffrey pointed at the base of a fallen tree. A sizeable portion of the forest floor had been torn free in a vertical clump of dirt and roots that stood at least ten feet high. A gaping hole of darkness loomed beneath the towering chunk of roots and dirt from the fallen tree.

  I looked down and thought of the giant spider I had smashed with the rock. What kind of horrors would Veil hide in such a place?

  And this sheep-boy’s family hid here? I guessed it might be defensible, or maybe scare off would be intruders on creepiness alone?

  I certainly didn’t want to go in there.

  “Are you sure this is where your family is camped?”

  Jeffrey sniffed at the air. “Yes! I can smell Gam-gam’s raw porridge. They must be having dinner!”

  I inhaled and forest smells assaulted my enhanced senses. I could differentiate between the different types of soil and vegetation in the surrounding area.

  The opening in the ground smelled off. Something, maybe rotten?

  The scent also carries that same iron smell I had caught briefly on the boy. Was it just a smell his family had? It reminded me of damp alleys and crumpled notes. Of blood.

  There was no scent of porridge that I could ascertain.

  I looked around, waiting for the quest to update. To show complete. Anything that would keep me from going in this terrifying earthy opening in the forest floor. Nada.

  “They would love to meet you! You should join us for supper!”

  “I uh—” I sighed. The darkness was fainter than it would be in my human form. My goatkin eyes seemed to catch the faintest glimmer of light, filling in the dark shadows with discernable gray shapes.

  Jeffrey walked into the cavern. The opening was old, and time had worn the edge to a gentle decline. He turned, his eyes reflecting the weak light of the forest.

  “It’s so yummy, let’s go!” He continued into the hole.

  “Hey, wait a second, it’s dark in there!” I called, pulling one of the torches from my inventory. Jeffrey stopped, just within the darkness of the hole. The way the light reflected off of his eyes was unsettling.

  “I can see fine! It’s okay! Let’s go!” he beckoned me from the dark.

  “I can’t see as good as you can, apparently, One moment while I figure out how this thing works.” I looked down at the torch in my hand.

  Simple Self-Lighting Torch (Basic)

  Provides illumination for 30 minutes. Simple torch for a simple adventurer! Flick the small wheel at the top of the torch and ignite the oiled tip. No assembly required!

  “Huh.” I saw a small wheel affixed near where the burning portion of the torch was affixed to the handle. I held the torch out with one hand and spun the wheel with my other hand. A small spray of sparks ignited the head of the torch.

  I was blinded for a moment at the sudden illumination. I blinked a few times, holding the torch up and away. I looked over and Jeffrey had moved out of the hole, standing very close.

  “Let’s go,” he bounced his head excitedly as he spoke, the torchlight reflecting off of his toothy smile. “I can’t wait to eat with my family. I’m so hungry. Let’s go!”

  He tugged at my arm. Every instinct in my body warned against following. I glanced at the quest screen once more. It hadn’t updated. I sighed, allowing the sheepkin to pull me into the tunnel.

  Torchlight illuminated the earthy chamber below. The uprooted soil opened into an underground cavern. The cavern was narrow and descended steadily with a flat rocky floor. The stones broke and continued leading down, a natural staircase of cavern stones worn nearly smooth over time.

  A centipede the size of my arm wriggled into the loamy soil along the cave wall ahead, fleeing the flickering torchlight. I shuddered. Jeffrey’s grip on my wrist tightened for a moment before tugging me further in.

  Our descent continued for a few minutes. The cavern tunnel widened and shrank as we went. Thankfully the cavern didn’t shrink much more than the size of a doorway, so I wasn’t force to crawl or drag my way along.

  “We’re almost there!” Jeffrey whispered, sniffing the air.

  His upper lip curled when he sniffed the air, which had been adorable in the sunlit meadow. Within the confines of the small cavern tunnel it was eerie and made my skin crawl.

  The rotten, bloody smell had strengthened as we delved deeper. My instincts, sequestered off safely in the back of my mind, continued screaming at me to get out of this cave.

  Jeffrey smiled, pulling me ahead, and I followed.