Iunnet’s voyage took her down the Havandale River, southwest. It was about three days without delay in her voyage, and she had managed to maintain her food storage both by the leftovers of Juggie’s stew, but also by identifying edible plants around her surroundings -- a perk of her education back in the city of Myrddin.

Though exciting, the venture appeared miserably lonely for Iunnet. She had picked up a habit of talking to herself, from which her noticing gave discomfort. On the fourth day of her travels, she reached Allamak Pass.

Allamak Pass was a deeply entrenched snare of a location. Its formation seemed unusual, as though some piece of the plate beneath the earth had just cracked open, revealing a deep ravine surrounded by steep hills. The air was drier here, and the terrain far more rocky.

It was early morning and the birds had just started singing their songs. The tunes encapsulated Iunnet, for she had not heard the songs of these birds before. They echoed wisp-like calls that seemed to twitter and swift between the trees, as though spirits had taken refuge here.

Her approach was cautious, for she knew well from travelers beyond that this was a place for many agents of despair. Iunnet had no intention of crossing through the pass itself, but instead following it southwest along the edges of the ravine. The issue with this, first and foremost, were the ragged edges and cliffsides.

The countryside was littered with vertical anomalies; there were plenty of sharp rocks and long drops that were evidently hidden by the thick and low brush of the dry forest. Her steps were of utmost wariness.

As she waddled her way through the many boulders and stones that impeded her path, she had approached a fine view of the bottom of the ravine from above. The drop had to have been fifty meters or more, and a few streams had trickled their way down onto a deep aquifer shone by the morning sun that revealed a small island among the underwater lake.

As Iunnet hiked, she noticed a black blob in her peripheral. When she hoisted her body atop a particularly tall boulder, she was able to spy the object with much more detail.

Down below was a beast of great size and proportion. It appeared to be a large bear of some kind which was feasting on fish below. When Iunnet peered closer, she noticed that as the creature took each step, a patch of grass quickly grew beneath it, and that grass quickly populated the somewhat barren island it stood on. 

Iunnet furrowed her brows in ultimate confusion and muttered banter beneath her breath. What she had not expected, however, was for the creature to hear her, and so it lifted its head from the clear water below.

Upon its forehead was a starkly contrasting, white hollow triangle printed into its fur that pointed down to its snout, and a pair of heterochromatic eyes gleaming from the dim lighting below. These characteristics were not indicative of any fauna that Iunnet had learned back in Myrddin, and ultimately fearing her for her life, she quickly continued her trudge around the ravine to avoid any further confrontation.

What Iunnet had not expected was for the gigantic beast to simply catapult itself from the bottom of the deep ravine to where she had been standing only moments before. Her head swiveled to assess the threat, and in quick succession with wide eyes she immediately bolted for the nearest clearing as panic overtook her. “Oh god, what the fuck?!” she shouted in response.

Fumbling out from the brush, she made her way into the nearest clearing where a defunct road had punctured through it heading westward.. Iunnet quickly made her way towards the road and shifted on her heel to scan the area, but when she had turned, there was not a soul which pursued her. She furrowed her brows in confusion and suspicion, attempting to gauge any kind of shape that disrupted the wildlife among the treeline.

Iunnet had finally calmed somewhat when, inexplicably, hot air pressed down the back of her head and neck. Slowly, she turned her head to see the beast towering above her, standing on its hind legs to appear as a larger form. Iunnet froze in terror, if she moved, she’d likely die. If she did nothing, she would also likely die. For her, this was the end of the road -- both metaphorically and literally.

The beast and Iunnet made eye contact from either side of the road, until finally it fell onto its forelegs and was face to face with Iunnet. Its body was large enough to block this two-lane road, and dwarfed Iunnet in comparison to a much greater extent that Iunnet had realized before. There was an eerie and uncanny silence, and the creature closed its eyes and bowed its head to Iunnet.

Iunnet flinched, expecting this to be some kind of ruse for an attack, but instead it simply idled, as though prompting her to do something.

“W-What…?” Iunnet murmured, taking half a step back, “... what is this?”

Iunnet could not tell the intentions of this creature. This was not one she knew, nor was this behavior indicative of typical wildlife. Indeed, this creature -- Iunnet surmised -- held some form of higher intelligence or domestication. 

If Iunnet had tried to run, and if this beast truly wanted to harm her, she would already be dead. In this logic, Iunnet reluctantly lifted her arm and placed her palm softly over the coarse fur, directly in the center of the triangle printed on the animal’s head in some attempt to make communication. A voice echoed as though it were thunder among the clouds as she did this -- one which was feminine in nature, and spoke like an architect of the heavens:

“Time does not allow, nor disallow, but flow in a meaningless manner contrary to the category from which it is interpreted. You are here, in the now, with a job wherein you may never know.

“To relieve the riddles, there is not one, but many which hunt you for the purpose of self gain. But, you are a dignified entity: you have no master, and you are a slave to none except time. Will time work against you? I cannot say. I am but a purveyor of time, a master of elements, and a contractor of love. In doing so, I may contract you my love, if you are to return it in favor.”

Iunnet was now effectively talking to a bear, and she ruminated on this with vague detail. She had many questions, but how she wished to ask them was not yet ascertained, so she started with her utmost prioritizing one:
“You’re not going to kill me?”

“Unless you desire death,” it replied swiftly.

Iunnet, thankfully, did not, and she exhaled in relief. With that step and her edge extinguished, Iunnet continued: “Who are you? The Terrasque?”

“Related,” the beast explained, “but I am no more a being of this universe than you are. We are entities of a separate variety, cursed with inexperience but infinite knowledge. You may call me Wildebeest, but others may have separate titles for my demeanor.”

“Why are you here?” Iunnet asked, “You said I can contract your love. What for? Why do I need you?”

The beast opened its eyes and looked up towards Iunnet, though kept its head locked so as not to disrupt their connection. “Because you will die if you do not.”

Iunnet’s face burned a scowl from cheek to cheek. “You’ll kill me?”

“By letting you go, I will have killed you. Time is not so kind to your future, but time has never been kind at all.”

Iunnet inhaled deeply, soaking in the information as it came. This being was unlike anything she had experienced before, but if it were related to the Terrasque as it said, then that would effectively make this creature -- Wildebeest -- near godlike in composure. Iunnet had heard about the Tagonic entities which roamed the Deep Forests of Undata, including the Consumed, but to see one so far from the site itself was bizarre on its own.

Still, Iunnet respected the Terrasque perhaps more than her homeland, and if this were a being related then this was clearly some special calling. Why her, however, was a question left unanswered.

“Fine,” Iunnet said, looking up and down the street in paranoid distraction, “You can travel with me, so long as I get to ride you,” she quipped. 

Wildebeest lifted Iunnet by her waist and promptly sat her atop their own furry back. “Stagerd Concordia?” Wildebeest asked.

“Y-Yes…” Iunnet replied, unsure how Wildebeest knew Iunnet’s original destination. 

“Hold on,” Wildebeest said, and from there they launched down the road at incredible pace.