A Zoologist’s Guide to Surviving Magical Creatures

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. "Tampered? How?"

Agnos's face darkened, the usual calmness replaced by something colder, something I hadn't seen in him before.

"Must be the magical artifact. It must have been used on him for another purpose. Something powerful. Something... dangerous."

Baku's moaning intensified, and I stepped forward again, but Agnos stopped me with a sharp glance.

"Don't," he said firmly. "Let him work through it."

I hesitated, but then I looked at Baku again—he was trembling, clearly caught in some kind of mental wringer that I couldn't even begin to understand.

I looked back at Agnos, hoping for some kind of answer that could ease the knot in my chest.

"There's only one artifact that could do something like this," Agnos continued, his voice tight. "And it belongs to one of the servants of the Unknown Gods."

My mind raced to catch up with the implications of what Agnos was saying.

"You mean from another Unknown God?" I echoed, trying to make sense of it.

"Who... who were they?"

Agnos stayed silent.

I blinked, startled by the lack of response.

I had expected—no, needed—a bit more than that.

My gaze darted between him and Baku, who was still clutching his head as though trying to hold his brain together.

The air between us thickened with unanswered questions, with things Agnos wasn't telling me.

And it felt... off.

Like the world was shifting just out of view, and there was no way to stop it.

"Who was it?" I pressed, my voice firmer now, my frustration starting to creep in.

"Who was the servant of that Unknown God?"

Still, Agnos remained silent.

Baku's pain continued to escalate.

His body trembled violently, and I could feel the ripple of discomfort in the air—like it was spreading through the space around us.

Every second that passed without an answer made me feel more like a helpless bystander in someone else's nightmare.

I stood there, watching this unfold, my thoughts racing.

Who would go to such lengths to cover their tracks?

And what about the human who had somehow known about the fragment?

Was this all connected?

Agnos turned to me, his expression grim.

"We're dealing with something far more complex than we thought, Carl. This isn't just about fragments anymore—it's about the forces trying to control them."

Agnos snapped at Baku, his tone sharp and commanding.

"Control yourself, Baku. Do you still remember who you are?"

The words seemed to cut through the chaos. Slowly, Baku began to calm down, his erratic breathing evening out as Agnos's firm presence anchored him.

The Baku, now recovered, visibly distressed, sat back down.

"I run a Dream Therapy Clinic. I help people work through nightmares. But I... I don't know what happened when I tried to remember the incident. I have no recollection of who would have done this except that it's a human."

Agnos was silent for a long time before finally speaking.

"We'll get to the bottom of this. But right now, I need you to focus. Get back to work. We're leaving now."

As the conversation hung in the air, a faint chime echoed through the clinic.

The Baku straightened, forcing a small smile. "Before you go, might I offer some tea? Lullabloom blend. It helps with clarity and focus."

My eyes lit up with curiosity.

"Lullabloom? Interesting."

I glanced at Agnos, trying to sound casual.

"You don't mind, do you? I mean, I'm kind of thirsty, you know..." I reasoned, hoping he wouldn't argue.

Agnos didn't seem to care much. He waved his little purple paw dismissively, a clear sign of his indifference. I smiled, taking that as approval.

When I accepted the steaming cup, the warmth seeped into my hands, instantly soothing my frayed nerves. It felt like a small comfort in the middle of all the chaos.

But as I sipped, my thoughts churned.

Who was this human that dared to meddle with fragments?

And what kind of power could erase memories from a dream specialist's records?

I couldn't shake the feeling that we had just uncovered a much darker web than I had expected. Something—or someone—was orchestrating this, and the truth was slipping further and further from our reach.

As we left the clinic, Agnos spoke, his voice low.

"We're running out of time. This detour was supposed to give us answers, but now we have even more questions."

"Hate to sound like a music on loop, but who was that human? Do you know?" I muttered as we trudged back down the path. "And more importantly, why did the recording just vanish into thin air?"

Agnos didn't answer immediately. But when he did, his voice was colder than I had ever heard it. "The answers lie within the fragments. But there are some truths... even I am not ready to face."

And with that, I realized—this journey wasn't just about fragments anymore. It was about uncovering a conspiracy much larger than I could imagine.

And I had no idea who was behind it all.

Not yet.

My thoughts buzzed like a hive of angry hornets. There was too much to process, too much swirling around in my head.

The fragments, the guardians, the cryptic human who'd crossed paths with the sixth one.

I'd barely begun to digest everything Agnos had told me, but there was one thing gnawing at the edge of my mind, demanding attention.

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

Turning to Agnos, who had been walking beside me in a brooding silence, I asked, "So… why do you care so much about who tried to take the fragment?"

My voice was steady, but inside, my curiosity was spilling over.

"I mean, we already have the fragment, right?"

Agnos didn't answer immediately. His golden eyes were distant, his tail flicking nervously as it always did when he was lost in thought.

For a moment, I almost thought he hadn't heard me.

But then he spoke, his voice low, almost as if he was speaking more to himself than to me.

"It's not about the fragment itself," he began, his eyes flickering to the ground as if the answer was buried in the earth beneath our feet.

"It's about what happens when the fragment is consumed. You see, when I ate my fragment, the power inside it didn't just become mine. It multiplied, yes, but something else happened. There's a trace left behind. A trace of the creator's will."

I blinked, taken aback.

My feet faltered for a moment, but I quickly recovered, keeping pace.

"The creator's will? What do you mean?"

Agnos slowed his steps, and I could see the weight of something—fear, maybe?—pressing down on him.

His expression turned grim as he faced me.

"The creator, Carl," he said, his voice heavy, "the one who originally gave me and the others our powers, the one that made the fragments... when I consumed mine, I felt their will—a connection, like a calling in my mind. It's a tether, a bond to the one who crafted all of this."

He swept a hand through the air, encompassing the land around us as if it were all part of the puzzle.

I swallowed hard, a knot forming in my throat.

"So, it's like you're linked to the creator now? That sounds... like a good thing, right? A powerful thing?"

His golden eyes darkened, the shadows of his thoughts clouding his usually calm demeanor.

He shook his head slowly, and the heaviness in his voice grew.

"That's what I thought too. But it wasn't pure. The will I felt—it was tampered with. It was as if someone had twisted it, corrupted it. The creator's intentions, the pure purpose of the fragments… it's all wrong now."

I felt the breath catch in my chest.

I hadn't expected that. The power of the fragments, the connection to the creator—it was supposed to be sacred, wasn't it?

"Tampered with? But why? Why would anyone mess with that?"

Agnos's voice dropped lower, his eyes flicking around us like he was afraid someone might be listening in.

"That's why I need to know who tried to take the sixth fragment. Whoever it was... they were involved in changing the creator's will. They're part of something bigger, Carl. Something that's been manipulating the fragments for their own purposes."

The air around us seemed to thicken with the weight of his words, and I felt a chill crawl up my spine.

The realization hit me like a tidal wave—these fragments weren't just powerful relics to be hoarded. They were pieces of something much larger.

Someone had twisted the creator's will, and that wasn't just some petty theft.

This was manipulation on a scale I hadn't even begun to fathom.

"So… whoever took the fragment and didn't absorb it properly—they didn't just fail to take it. They corrupted it, didn't they?" I murmured, piecing it together.

The fragments weren't just dangerous because of their power.

They were dangerous because of what could be done to them—what had already been done.

Agnos nodded, his usual stoic expression now replaced by a fierce determination.

"Exactly. And whoever did that... they're playing a dangerous game. They're messing with forces they don't fully understand. And I won't rest until I figure out who's behind it all."