[h3]The Hunter's Dream[/h3]
“I'm all right,” Torquil lied, ignoring the pain from injuries that were now taking their time to heal at a pace that was still many times faster than it would have been for a normal human, but incredibly slow for a Hunter. He tried to rest on his elbow to leverage himself up on his butt, but found that he was rather slippery from being drenched in a thick coat of blood and had to try twice before clumsily getting back on his feet. “Let's save the vial. I'll probably get restored when we leave the Dream anyway... and if we don't get healed leaving, I'll just hop back in and out again and get healed for free.”
Torquil blinked, deeply surprised with himself. Not only was what he had just said much more verbose and elaborate than pretty much anything he could recall ever saying, but it also had a degree of thought and cold rationality behind it that felt alien to him... or at least it felt that way. Did he truly have any idea who he had been before becoming a Hunter? Not only what life he had led, but what kind of person he had been? How much did it change a person to lose their memory like this... and how much could it change him to get those memories back?
[I]Those brown eyes... why are they important?[/I] he asked himself, but found that he shied away from the question rather than actually searching for an answer. He was terrified of what he might discover if he delved deeper into what he had lost. So maybe forgetting was not such a bad thing after all?

“Thank you, Philly! I'll go put it in my cane immediately!” Gerlinde squealed happily, snatching the gemstone offered to her and running straight to the workshop, clearly very familiar with how such stones worked.
The Shopkeeper and the doll was already there, of course, since they had both come running upon hearing the commotion out here. “The Shopkeeper has seen creatures like that in the Old Labyrinth before,” the doll told her. “They are an extremely dangerous kind of bloodwraith that can turn themselves invisible and inflict frenzy with their daggers... and yes, they are very, very familiar with frenzy.” The doll shot a sympathetic glance at the Shopkeeper. “All they have is a theory, but they think that the true, fundamental power of Old Blood is that of change itself. That is why humans who receive the Old Blood might at first just become stronger and healthier, but also have a tendency to eventually lose their humanity, most commonly to beasthood. Hunters and many beasts in particular have great powers of change and are able to spontaneously adapt their bodies as needed. They think that frenzy is that power gone wild; rampant, unshackled, chaotic change. It is... extremely difficult to ward oneself against, though taking sedatives can help keep it at bay.”
The whispers also responded to Ophelia's query: “[I]The creature was of the Interstice. It did not come here on behalf of anything, because it did not come here willingly at all. It was pulled from the Interstice by your companion. If he had left or been killed, it would likely not have been able to remain and been ejected from the Dream. It does not think that the creature had any connection to the Golden One.[/I]”

Looking down at himself grimly, Torquil sighed. “I'm getting rid of this armor,” he announced and started walking back up to the workshop. “I'll change to something more practical. Metal plates don't seem to help much anyway.”