Wes and Archie, intending to make contact with the 'Shadow voice', head out of Frontier Town until they hear from Betel. Betel is not confident they can communicate with the Shadow entity, but attempts to call out to them nonetheless. A telepathic ripple goes out into the darkness... and they detect some kind of Shadow being in the area.

There's a sound from the nearby thickets.

Archie throws a rock into the trees, and it strikes true against the 'mon hiding there. Swearing in pain, a Midnight Lycanroc emerges, claims to be 'the Wolf' and challenges the duo to get lost. Wes and Archie stand their ground and question the Wolf, who then reveals his actual name as 'Seth Lycas'. Wes has an immediate existential crisis as he tries to rationalise how this guy can have the same surname as him; after some flailing argument, Seth realises that he and Wes are parallel versions of each other. Seth insists that he is the superior, more accomplished Lycas, taunts Wes about being in over his head, and demands to know how the Wayfarers arrived on Forlas.

Seth grows more and more visibly Shadowed, and his temperament becomes steadily more erratic. He reacts especially badly to Archie's insistence that the Wayfarers can help him by doing things he can't. The argument escalates, and when Wes refuses to agree to stay out of Seth's way, Seth attacks Wes with Shadow energy.

Wes spits in Seth's eyes, Archie jumps him, and after a vicious reprisal, they escape. They return, injured, to Frontier Town.

INFORMATION LEARNED:

The Wolf, aka Seth Lycas, is a version of Wes from a parallel world. He was not summoned like the Wayfarers.

Seth is Shadowed, or at least wields Shadow, but is still more or less in control of his faculties. He seems to become paranoid, aggressive, and deeply prideful when he uses this power.

Seth became involved in Forlas through his encounters with Cipher in his world's Orre, and takes instructions from 'him' – the Shadow voice who speaks to Wayfarers in their dreams.

Seth didn't have much knowledge of the Wayfarers. He made a demand in the strongest possible terms for them to keep their distance.

It remains unknown what Seth was doing in the outskirts to begin with.

- Jackie Cat