Desmond picked up the pace after practicing with bardsong enough he could execute some basic Spikes on himself without feeling sick. He still had no idea what direction he was travelling in, but he kept moving in the direction the moss was pointing until he encountered a road.

Roads are good. Roads lead to civilisation.

He'd managed to bag a couple of bunnies. Raw meat wasn't enjoyable fare, but it didn't make him feel sick. He supposed that was one good thing about his heritage. Instincts long shunned in polite society were coming in incredibly useful in the wilderness.

As Desmond passed through a section of road overshadowed by foliage, a voice rang out behind him.

"Hold, sir. Your money or your life!"

Desmond turned around slowly, hands in his coat pocket. One hand closed around his gun, and the other around his jigger.

A youth stood there with a crossbow trained on him. Desmond's pace quickened.

He's just a kid. He doesn't want to fire that thing. I've just got to calm him down...

Desmond hooked into the deep blue and began to hum softly, trying to make it sound like a nervous habit, as he started up accompaniment on his jigger at low volume. As he felt the energy build up he broke off humming.

"I've no money, son. I'm not from around these parts. I'm just an itinerant minstrel looking to make his way."

"Everybody's got something," grunted the kid. "I'll have it or I'll have your hide. Your choice."

The robber sounded doubtful. Devoid of confidence. Just the sort of mindset receptive to emotional manipulation. Carefully, ready to leap if it didn't work, Desmond tried to Spike the kid's lethargy.

The kid yelped in alarm and pulled the trigger. The Song made his movement just sluggish enough that the bolt missed Desmond, slicing open a gash in his cheek as it whizzed by.

Desmond touched his face in shock. As he looked at his own blood on his fingers, long-suppressed instincts surged to the fore as, for the first time in his life, Desmond went Feral.

Gun forgotten, Desmond leaped at the kid who was now laboriously trying to reload his crossbow. Snarling, he closed his fingers around the would-be robber's neck, squeezing with all his might. His fingertips tingled as buried instincts tried to extend claws that Desmond didn't have, claws that had been surgically removed during infancy for his own safety.

"Kn'thrak take you!" growled Desmond as he throttled the now-limp body of a boy of no more than sixteen. "You and all of your harakh-eating kin!"

Desmond had never killed a man before. In the back of his mind, the voice of reason wailed in dismay. It was like he'd lost control of his own body to a creature that reveled in blood.

But only for a short time. As the boy's corpse slid to the ground, the bloodlust faded and Desmond's mind returned to normal.

Holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek holy drek

Well, sort of normal.

Desmond knew his time was limited. He sure as drek didn't want to get caught by the swinging dicks hovering over a dead body while holding this much Brilliance. Quickly, he searched the lad's corpse and nicked a tiny bag of odd looking coins and some dried meat, and then headed back into the woods. He walked for about a half hour in the direction opposite the moss growth, then took a course perpendicular to it. He hoped that the moss would point out the way back to the road at a juncture far enough away from the boy's corpse that he wouldn't be associated with it when it was found.

Once he felt he was far enough away from the corpse, he slumped at the base of a tree, exhausted and shaking with reaction. He needed Brilliance more than ever. He took a tab and closed his eyes.

It wasn't until just before he fell asleep that Desmond thought to wonder why the boy from this world had looked and spoken perfect Nexan.