It was a million miles from the outcome she had envisioned, she knew - and not that she actually had any kind of tangible idea of how everything would come to a head - but it was the one she got, and by the gods she was going to go with it. Looking at Barrett now, his silhouette barely distinguishable in the oppressive darkness of the infinite tunnel, she felt a knot in her very soul. He had been right about not turning out exactly as she had wanted and admittedly, she'd pictured some ghostly precession of archers and wildsmen descending onto the mountain, felling the beast under the lake and absconding with whatever grim trophy they could derive from its body. The hunter in her dream was one of action and few words, and Barrett...well, she didn't know what Barrett was. At first he was a government stooge, the kind that came all the way out into the mountains only when something affected them, and then he was the bravest human she'd ever come across, unflinching in the insanity of their situation that was slowly also dawning on her.

And now? Miori had no idea what to think of the man. Every sentence he had said had shifted the essence of what he was, slowly creeping towards territory that ten years ago, she would have never found herself in. Today she was smack dab within.

"Why did you change you mind?" she finally asked the shape in front of her.

"About what?" Barrett's reply was curt and more importantly, tinged with annoyance. She could tell he preferred being alone, at least most of the time. They had that in common.

"Letting me follow you."

"Easier than to convince you to turn tail and run."

"That's not in my blood."

"So it seems."

"And that isn't an answer."

"I am more concerned with what will happen once we reach the end of this path."

"How do you know it'll end? It could just keep us walking until we drop."

"If it has to rely on the thing under the lake, it is on its last legs. Whatever it is will tire soon."

"How many times have you done this before?"

Barrett didn't reply.

"I haven't had a real conversation in maybe nine years. Would prefer not to be alone with my thoughts right now."

"My family was killed. I could not let others come to harm the same way. That's all there is to it."

"That's all it takes to free yourself from the Wild Hunt?"

"I had...help." His pace audibly slowed. "Who did you have?"

The breath caught in her throat. "W-what?"

"Nobody starts out as a killer. It's not a leap to believe you were set on this path because you had to do something that changed you. Most of the time it's losing someone. Without them you began to spiral. I wonder why the village exiled you?"

Despite not being able to see, she still looked away. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It's not magic."

She frowned. "What?"

"This thing we are heading towards. It isn't magical."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I talked to your elders. The big owl. He was utterly unconcerned about what's happening around here."

She sighed, the microscopic crystals in her frosty breath reflecting off what little ambient light there was before evaporating. "It is not a healthy attitude. They care only for the village, not what lies beyond the borders of the realm."

"Because they are unaffected," Barrett said. "If this phenomenon was magical, then in the last decade there would have been incidents. But the realm renders its contents intangible. Your elder does nothing because he's unconcerned about humans. So...were they human?"

"Yes." The word escaped her lips before she even realised what even happened.

"That makes sense. What was their name?"

"I-I uh-"

She suddenly felt Barrett's hand extend backwards as he stopped, signalling at her to be quiet with an open palm. She blinked. There was now enough light to see the individual fingers on Barrett's hand, which could only mean-

"We're here," he grumbled. "I need you to stay right here. If anything happens-"

"What do I do?"

"I don't know. But since you came this far I suppose you can figure it out." He turned to look at her, and the way most of his features were swallowed by shadow in the light ahead just made him seem even more ambivalent. "Do you trust me?"

She didn't answer.

"Just stay here," he repeated and walked into the light.

She waited until she couldn't see him anymore, and inched forwards in the tunnel. As the crystals of her eyes reshaped themselves and adjusted to the brightness, she realised this was where the cave opened up, and flattened herself against the wall before the entrance. Beyond, she watched as Barrett headed over the narrow stone bridge that crossed a massive moon pool, stepping onto a large island at the far end of the cave where the trunk of a thick tree stood. It was unlike the pines and conifers she had lived among for most of her life; the bark was the wrong colour for any season, the trunk was far too wide, and the branches up above sprouted no leaves or needles, many tapering instead into bright, glowing bulbs that provided the light they had been seeing, courtesy of the high ceiling. Most concerningly, however, were the roots that punched through solid rock where the tree stood, wrapping around a half-dozen human bodies, each on their knees with their head bowed, as if in prayer.

Barrett leaned closer to the tree, his hands touching something Miori couldn't see at her distance. He mumbled to himself, and then took a step back to look upwards. "I know you can hear me!" he bellowed.

Miori shuddered. She was immune to the cold, but whatever this was coming out from the man who had been so surprisingly gentle in their earlier interaction.

"Talk to me!" he shouted again. "Why whisper to them but not face me!? What kind of coward are you!?" He drew his sidearm, something Miori was sure was a bigger gun that had been cut down. "You're not a god! I've killed gods." He raised the weapon at the tree. "What good are worshippers you cannot use!?"

For a moment, there was no reply. Then the cavern itself shook, and a bitter wind blasted down from the ceiling above. Miori pressed herself harder against the wall, lest the gale strip the snow off of her.

You...DARE!

The voice that boomed out from the entity was carried in the wind. It was exactly as all of the humans had described, or at least the ones she had found before they fully succumbed to the madness. This was the source. A tremendous pressure, one she had almost forgotten about since the very first time, built up inside of her. The cause of all the insane wanderers she had to put down, the thing that made him lose his mind and forced her to-

"That all you got!?" Barrett shouted against the wind. His hair and coat were blown back, but he stood still in its midst, taking its full force.

The wind stopped suddenly, and the lights seemed to glow brighter, as if to see Barrett clearer. Miori leaned closer, trying to get a better look.

What...are...you... The voice seemed calmer this time, or at the very least, exhausted.

Barrett sighed, his posture visibly drooping. He made a shrugging gesture, waving his gun. "Someone who had hope," he said. "I was really, really hoping that this was a big misunderstanding. Because I can forgive ignorance. I really can." He gestured to the bodies entangled in the roots. "But you know what you're doing. And you cannot keep doing it."

A loud moan came with the returning wind, though not as powerful as the first bout. She sensed anger, frustration, and...relief?

"One chance!" Barrett declared. "You all get one chance. After that you are dead."

Get...OUT!

Without another word, he lifted the gun and fired twice, rifle rounds  biting into the bark of the large tree. In response the cave howled again, and the water darkened. He only got one more shot off before the claw of the beast below burst out of the moon pool, closed around him and dragged him beneath the surface.

It had happened so quickly that Miori didn't realise she was standing now in the mouth of the cave, mouth agape, staring at the spot where Barrett had just been.

You...YOU!

She didn't wait to properly introduce herself to the evil tree. It probably knew exactly who she was anyway, and standing around to find out what it had in store for her would have been asking to be seriously hurt, perhaps even more so than Barrett currently. Instead she stepped onto the bridge close to where the claw had come from, and dove.

The water, which would have been bone-chilling to most humans, made little difference to her aside from the extra effort she needed to keep herself from dissolving. Its molecules pulled at her skin, but she yanked them back into crystalline structures which would hold fast, and focused on the liquid behind her.

Why would you? she thought. Once, she had done something she thought impossible. The purest action she could afford given the circumstances, and it had ruined her. It had been a long and difficult process to truly cast it as the right thing to do...and not at all like what she had just seen. No, Barrett was unflinching, uncompromising but in the best way possible. He was something she never thought she would witness again in however long she would continue to exist.

As little as she believed it herself, he was a good man.

The water behind her expanded into ice, the force of it propelling her faster, down into the depths. She reached out towards Barrett and the monster that had him in its clutches, getting closer by the moment. This was her chance. If humans could choose to do the right thing...then maybe it got easier. Maybe there was hope for her yet.