The next three days were a haze of running, fighting, swinging through the trees, then resting for a few short moments before starting again. He'd discovered that he didn't need sleep anymore - the desire for it a remnant of his old body and mind. The discovery excited him at first - no need for rest meant a higher chance of finishing this trial in time! Three days later and he'd come to discover that the body needed sleep for more than just recovery - it broke the world into pieces. One for rest, one for action. One for fighting and killing and running, one for recovering physically and emotionally. It's not like it was a big discovery, but he was feeling the importance of it now. His feet dragged and his mind was getting harder and harder to keep focused. Not for any physical reasons, just because of the toll that days of non-stop fighting and searching had brought him. He was tired, he was frustrated - but most of all he was bored. Zavier never did well with being bored.

He called up the display of creatures in this area: 49/301.

He called up the time left next: 3 days, 4 hours, 57 minutes.

His health was at 67% and wasn't ticking up fast enough to let him heal before facing the guardian. He'd started his hunting with the biggest first, wanting to get them out of the way while as healthy as possible. It had been a success, the remaining groups being made up by groups of 12. He'd come to realize that this area followed a specific pattern: Treants were individuals, the spiders were always in groups of eight, the Dire Wolves in groups of six, and the Will-o'-Wisps in groups of 12. It made it a lot easier to pick his targets.

Unfortunately the Wisps were giving him trouble. They were too spread out and the final four groups didn't seem tied to specific regions. He didn't know if these groups never had been, or if this trial was ramping up the difficulty as he got closer to the end, but whichever it was it was driving him insane. He had been chasing a group for half a day now, sending out his Identify orbs in constant streams to keep up with their movements, but they always outpaced him. I'll never catch them at this rate. Pretty damned tricky, System, to make the easiest ones to kill the hardest to catch.

He plopped down to the ground in an irritable slump. "I'm done running and chasing. This is pointless." He sat thus, mind going blank, random songs playing in his head. Without realizing his head began dipping to his chest. He awoke with a snort of panic, eyes scanning the area around him with fear. Damn it! Don't do that!

A thought occurred to him. He had always slept on tough problems, letting his mind work out the details without the interruptions and distractions of the rest of his senses. He didn't technically need sleep, but did he really, truly not need it at all? He lifted his gaze to the branches far above him - as wide as a twin bed. "Fuck it, time for a nap." With the support of his chains he pulled himself higher than he had before, stopping as the branches started to thin. He knew that he had killed everything truly dangerous, but those were famous last words. He wanted to be out of reach of anything that might have snuck past his orbs.

He nestled into the crook of a branch and wrapped his chain around the tree and his chest, lashing himself in place. He gave a few experimental tugs and leans to make sure it wouldn't release and send him hurtling to his death, then rested his head back against the trunk. Within seconds he was yawning, and his head dropped to his chest soon after. A slight buzzing filled the air around him for a moment as something took advantage of his sleep to examine him more closely before fading away.

Zavier awoke with a start, eyes looking around wildly and patting himself all over to look for injuries. He wiped drool from his chin and scrubbed crusty bits from his eyes before checking the timer. 2 days, 16 hours, 3 minutes.

"Fuck!" He'd slept for 12 hours! The time limit pressed heavily onto him as he unspooled his chain and lowered himself to the ground. "No time. There's no time!" He moved in random directions, not sure which direction to go first. Then an idea struck him.

"Oh, thank you, gods of sleep!" He sat on the ground cross-legged, pulling out his pen to put his new idea to work.

Two hours later his creation was complete. The problem was that he couldn't catch the Wisps - but his orbs could. He'd already modified their code once, so why not again? The Wisps were weak to energy bursts and his pen had had plenty of time to build up a charge again. For hours he'd focused on creating a packet of energy located within the shell of their original programming. He'd lost more than a few eyebrows and singed many fingers in the process, but he'd managed to build small Wisp-seeking missiles. With a grin of excitement he sent 12 of them off to the closest group and waited.

Less than an hour later he jumped up, pumping his fist in the air with excitement. He'd felt the spells disappear and seen the number of creatures left drop by the same amount. "Okay, now THIS is something I can work with!" He sent a normal orb off to find the final creature, spending the hours it took for it to return building the last of the missiles. Once he had a location of what he could only assume was the guardian he shot the remaining missiles off. Creating so many had been a strain on his mind, and he'd had to remake a few that exploded in place, but practice makes perfect and Zavier was diligent with practice.

He didn't know how long they'd take but he knew it would be a while. He'd never even gotten close to the other groups, all of them spreading out in ever-further directions. He hummed to himself as he started walking towards the center of the woods. He had a habit of singing 90's and 2000's rap songs to himself, inserting himself in the lyrics. It drove Tess crazy to no end, but she laughed anyway. "Big pimpin', slaying trees. Big Zavier, earning XP…" It would take him the rest of the day to get there but, finally, he could see a way to beat this challenge.

There was no dawn in this place, but Zavier reckoned it would be early morning based on the time left. He had just a bit under two days left to complete the challenge. Two of his groups of Wisp missiles had done their job and he could see that there were only 13 creatures left in the woods. He was confident they'd find them in time, the real question was whether or not he'd be able to defeat what was ahead.

"I'm a muthafuckin' Starboy…" he hummed absently to himself, his song stuttering to a stop as his path was blocked. He was there - he could feel it. The ring of trees around this place were older and even more massive than anything he'd seen thus far, the gaps between their trunks almost too tight for him to fit through. Peeking through the space between the trees he couldn't see what was in there, only a lot of underbrush and a small hill in the middle. On top of the hill was a tuft of thick grass that, Zavier suspected, was hiding the guardian. He sent one more orb forward and got confirmation as it bobbed over the hilltop before returning to him. Whatever it was, it hadn't reacted to the spell.

"Welp, well done is better than well said. Nothing left but to do the damned thing." He squeezed through the trees and stepped into the clearing, chains ready and senses on high alert. When nothing came for him he walked carefully through the underbrush, trying to make as little noise as possible. He reached the bottom of the hill without incident, doing a slow turn to make sure nothing had changed behind him. The unbroken circle of trees stood sentinel and nothing was in this copse but him and whatever was on top of the hill.

Zavier nodded to himself, tensed himself for action, and took off up the hill at a sprint. It only took seconds for him to reach the peak and Zavier leapt, flying over the patch of grass, chains flashing towards whatever was inside.

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He looked down as he cleared it and cried out a shout of alarm before spinning his body, pulling his chains back. They lashed just to the side of the thing in the grass, blades of grass blowing upwards as they were severed. He fell to the other side of the hill in a tumble, rolling to the bottom.

He was on his feet in an instant, spinning around to see if anything was coming for him. When he realized nothing was he turned back to the hill with a confused look on his face. "Did I see what I thought I saw?"

He stalked up the hill slowly, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings. There was no way that thing was the guardian - something else must be here. He was at the tuft of grass now, pushing it gingerly aside with the tips of his chains. It parted and he confirmed that what he'd seen really was what was there.

There, lying snugly in a bed of grass, was a puppy-sized animal that looked to be a mashup of a bear and an owl.

"Holy shit, are you an ACTUAL Owlbear? Like, the real thing?" Black eyes opened at his voice and it looked at him, a high-pitched attempt at a snarl coming from the beak that served as its mouth. The small roar was interrupted by a yawn as it stretched its body. Zavier resisted the urge to give it tummy scratches.

"You really are an Owlbear! The pictures of the adults were always terrifying, but you guys are adorable as babies! Where are your parents?" He looked around again in worry, but no one-ton horrors were rushing his way. The owlbear had decided that he wasn't a threat and was now making small growling and hissing sounds that were more playful than threatening. Zavier reached down and rubbed its belly, the owlbear cooing lightly as it squirmed with pleasure. It's large eyes blinked and it reached clawed arms towards him.

"Aww, you want to be picked up!" Zavier loved animals as much as he loved people and he obliged instantly. "I'm going to call you Owly. Bearly just sounds too weird." He held it tight, stroking the soft feathers on its back as it nestled its head against his shoulder. He sat down with it in the grass, joy filling his heart for the first time in longer than he could remember. Owly nibbled on his fingers, swiped playfully at his hands, and even bobbled around on its two hind legs. It made small roaring sounds as it rushed him, hooting laughing sounds coming from it every time Zavier caught it and pushed it backwards gently or flipped it on its back to tickle its stomach.

"That's it," he said. "You're coming with me. It will be the Adventures of Zavier and Owly!" He didn't think the owlbear cub could understand him, but it looked excited as he pulled it onto his back and wrapped its arms around his neck. Owly was perfectly suited for hanging from trees and he was the world's most adorable backpack, nibbling at Zavier's hair as he whistled his way through the woods.

The return to the edge of the forest took the better part of two days and Zavier breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the border of trees come into view. His final Wisp missiles had done their job, there was nothing left here but Zavier and Owly.

Zavier and Owly.

A thought struck Zavier. A horrifying, cruel, evil, painful thought. He paused before stepping up to the border trees, checking the display of animals in the woods. He checked it again, then a third time. He set Owly down and walked away, the owlbear crying out in alarm and toddling after him. He sent an orb out, watching with growing dread as it homed in on Owly. He sprinted a few paces in another direction and repeated the action, then again. Three points to triangulate, all of them saying the same thing.

"Oh fuck you. Fuck you straight to hell you fucking evil bastards." He raised his face to the sky. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCKS!"

Owly stopped when he yelled, huge eyes wide with fear. Small chirping sounds came from it and Zavier walked back, dropping to his knees in front of the creature. He tried to choke out words but they caught in his throat. He picked Owly up, holding him tight as he walked towards the entrance. "Fuck this and fuck your experience. I'm taking him with me."

As he approached the edge of the woods an expected warning appeared in his vision.

Warning! You are attempting to leave the challenge before completing it. Stepping outside of the woods will forfeit all experience gained. Not killing the guardian within the time allotted will forfeit all experience.

"I don't give a shit you sadistic fuck! We're leaving and you can keep your damned experience! I don't need it and it's not worth this!" He took another step forward then stopped. Another thought occurred to him, one he hoped and prayed harder than he ever had in his life wasn't accurate.

"Hey," he said to the air. "I know you haven't been real talkative so far, but this is important. The most important thing I've asked so far. What happens if I try to take Owly out of here?"

There was a pregnant pause and Zavier sighed, knowing no answer would come. "Well, I guess I'll take my cha-" his train of thought was interrupted by a System message.

Creatures within a zone trial are not permitted to leave. Leaving the zone will result in their destruction.

"Okay, okay. This is going to hurt like hell but I guess there's really no other option." He set Owly down, kissed him on his feathered forehead, and looked him in his eyes. "You need to go back home, buddy. You can't come with me. Maybe your parents will come back, but you can't come."

It stared at him with wide eyes, then reached out to be picked up. Zavier gently pushed its arms down, tears making his vision blurry. "No, buddy, I'm sorry. It can't happen. I have to leave you here." Zavier turned to walk away, only to feel two small, clawed arms wrap around his leg.

"Damn. Damn. Damn. Okay, we need to do this another way." He picked Owly up and sprinted away from the border. He checked the timer and saw that he had less than 30 minutes remaining. He would get Owly 5 minutes away - that should give him enough time to sprint back and get away. The adorable little thing was too slow to catch him.

He reached a random spot between random trees and set Owly down. He gave him a final kiss on the head, followed up by a quick scratch. "I'm sorry, buddy, I truly am. I don't want you to die."

Zavier turned and sprinted away, Owly's cries lending his feet wings.

He was at the border in a minute, pausing to take a deep breath before stepping out. Without warning another message flashed in his vision.

Additional information required: Leaving the trial without completing it will force the destruction of all creatures within the zone.

Zavier gasped and his heart thumped heavily. "What? WHAT? What kind of bullshit rule is that? That makes no sense! Just let him live! Keep the experience, I don't care! He doesn't need to die!" He stood there, panting, unsure what to do. The next message rocked him to his core.

Zavier, this is your trial. You must complete it or die, there are no other options.

He was bent at the waist, retching bile into the underbrush. "I can't do this. I can't. It's too much. He doesn't deserve this. Is there some sort of deal we can make? I will do whatever you ask, just please don't make me do this. It's wrong. On every level, it's wrong."

Are you strong enough to survive what is coming? Will you be strong enough for them?

He knew. The bastard knew he had a family. Zavier hadn't forgotten about them, but they'd fallen to the back of his mind during his non-stop fight for survival. He was here for them - to become strong enough to protect them. His heart wrenched in his chest and he knew that if his body hadn't been changed by The System he'd be at risk of a heart attack.

"Whoever you are - whatever you are - I'm going to kill you. I'm going to tear you to pieces, then slice those pieces up and crush them into oblivion. You have made an enemy today and I promise you, on the life of everyone I hold dear, that I am coming to collect."

There was no message this time, only the sound of a frightened and confused owlbear cub toddling its way through the underbrush towards him.

Tears poured down Zavier's cheeks as he created as many missiles as he could. He sobbed, a retching, ugly cry, as he sent them zipping off behind him. There was a high pitched squeal of fear and the sounds of dozens of explosions.

Congratulations! You have completed The Evernight Woods zone trial! Experience will be issued upon leaving the zone.

Zavier hated himself. Hated who he had become, hated what was happening to them all, and, most of all, hated how excited he'd been to enter this trial. It had all been fun and games - just a way to test his strength and help him grow.

But no, he didn't hate himself most of all. He hated Them - whoever it was behind the messages. He would find them and kill them all.

His tears stopped, his back straightened, and his heart grew a little colder. Without looking backwards he stepped through the treeline and into the beautiful spring day.

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