Chapter 35 - Precious Moments (Patreon)

 “Why does nobody want me to help anymore?” I grumbled, arms crossed, standing by Christopher. 

The Trailblazers were acting on their own. They mowed down monsters and demons alike, mostly in the Feral and Savage Tiers. We hadn’t seen another Blighted Tier monster since the Orrukyn. It was surprising, honestly, given what we’d assumed. There were still a bunch of Feral and Savage Tier monsters in the forest. It was like they’d migrated, for some reason.

But we didn’t have time to dwell on it. As soon as we got to a certain point in the forest, past where we found the dead adventurers, the number of starving monsters increased to levels I’d never seen before. It was like they’d been trapped. 

“I wanna help,” I whined. “This is soooo boring!”

“They’ve got this handled,” said Christopher. “Besides, it was collectively agreed that we should save you for Blighted Tier monsters and higher, given what we saw earlier.”

“Me being amazing?”

“Yes, amazing. And, though not your fault, it makes people feel…inadequate,” muttered Christopher.

“No need to talk about our sex life, Christopher,” I teased. “There are people around. It’s embarrassing.”

He deadpanned. “Ha…do you want to go there? Someone came to check on us because you–”

“Oh, they’re done!” I said, my face burning red. I stepped away from Christopher quickly. “All I have to do is stand and watch! Volunteers are great!”

“Haaaa, I’ll have to remember that trick,” said Christopher. I could almost hear him smiling behind me. 

The Trailblazers were harvesting mana stones and recapping with each other. 

“I think I was drifting a little to the left as we fought,” said Christopher to Barcus.

“Yeah, I saw that,” confirmed Barcus. “We all need to shout more. Keep each other in check,” he told everyone. “We’ve been working together for a long time, but it doesn’t hurt to confirm when possible. Make sure we’re all in check.”

Tart was checking Bydon over for cuts. “Roger, good sir,” she said to Barcus. She gestured for Bydon to turn around and he did. After a few more moments, she said, “I don’t think anything made it through your aura.”

“Thought so. Good to confirm,” said Bydon, grateful. “I can feel my mana levels growing weaker as we move through the forest.”

“Yes, you four have been killing nonstop like the professionals you are,” said Gai. He was sifting through the bodies, having not helped at all, picking out the mana stones the monsters had dropped. “And with this one, we’re looking at forty-two Crude crystals, twenty-seven Refined crystals, and one Polished crystal. Total take-home in coins is probably, hmm, 7,500, give or take. Some nice pocket change. Ha, you could eat meat all year and still have some leftover.” He shoved everything he collected into his codex.

Tart looked my way for confirmation. “He’ll split that when we get back, right?”

I smiled. “If he knows what’s good for him.”

“Please, don’t think I’d steal such a paltry sum,” said Gai, almost bored. “If you could see the amount of coins I have in my codex, you’d throw up.”

“He’s lying. That’s a lot of coins, even for us,” said Lex.

Gai sighed. “You’ve been talking a lot more than normal.”

“As is my right.” Lex sauntered ahead at the front of the pack. “I can do whatever I want.” She looked back at us. “I’ll finish the monsters you all missed.”

The four Trailblazers looked at Lex, confused.

Lex held out her hand. Wind bubbled in a ball. But it wasn’t quite wind. The ball was so pressured, and the strands were visible. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. 

It lashed outward right at us.

Everyone took a defensive step back.

The branch of wind split into four angry snakes of wind. They weaved between us. As one passed me, I could sense the rotation and pressure. It had moved beyond mere wind. It was as if Lex was controlling the air itself, somehow bending its properties to her will.

Oh. Wait. Then could I–

The wind snaked into the trees and burst upward. There were screams. Large, feral tier Velocavious—ones that looked like they’d formed from ravens—fell to the ground. Massive holes punctured their thin bodies. They were on the verge of becoming larger and more monstrous, with eyes sprouting from random parts of their flesh. They were essentially smaller versions of the Blight-Tier Velocavious we’d been hunting when I first met Christopher.

“Okay. I feel better.” Lex suddenly looked bored again. “You all can continue being heroes while I watch from the sidelines.” She returned to Gai.

“Show off,” Gai said to her, patting her on the head. 

“Yay. Praise.” She seemed genuinely happy to be touched.

Huh. I studied the small smile forming on Lex’s face. So she can look like that too? I found myself then looking at Gai. And he can be gentle like that? Interesting. People will always surprise you. 

“Are we the weakest people here?” muttered Tart to Barcus.

“No, that would be the Prince,” teased Nigel, glancing at Christopher.

Christopher smiled, but I could see a vein bulging at his forehead. “Ahhaha, yes. You are all much stronger than I am. Especially you, Nigel.” I felt an arm pull me close and touch my waist. “Alas, nobody can be good at everything.”

I saw Nigel’s face twitch. 

Cool. I’m part of a pissing contest. Excellent.

“Can I pretend to be in love with her, too?” whispered Gai to Lex. “Seems like it’d be funny.”

“I thought you were,” she whispered back.

“No, she’s just intriguing.”

“Uh-huh. I don’t care. Do what you wish.”

“Perfect. Chaos brings people together,” said Gai.

Please, no.

•

We added another thirteen dead monsters to our list before it became night. We’d made it to the last spot on our map, avenged the last group of dead adventurers, and were prepping camp for a night asleep.

“What are the odds we’ll be attacked in our sleep?” Tart asked Bydon as they were building the fire. 

“Higher than I’d like, given the activity,” Bydon said. He formed a small wooden pit and set it ablaze with a weak fire spell. “The monsters here are very agitated.”

“Like something’s disrupting the food chain,” agreed Tart.

“And not just adventurers,” said Barcus. He was helping Nigel pitch a tent nearby. “We’d have seen more demons and more Blighted Tier monsters than the Orrukyn. Something else is happening.”

Lex was sitting on a log she had dragged near the fire. A piece of jerky was in her hand. She snapped the top of it with her teeth before saying, “It’s probably the Dread Tier monster Tannin mentioned before we left. She was dancing around it, but I think she believes it might be the real cause of all these disruptions in the forest. I think that, too.”

The ramifications of that statement chilled everyone around the camp.

“You mean Faragore?” Christopher wondered out loud. He was quietly putting our tent together.

“I think with the sudden change in monster density and habits, as well as their agitation, they’re trying to find new places to live farther away from the Faragore, wherever it now is,” said Lex, suddenly a talkative expert on monsters. “It’d explain why there are weak monsters both in town and here deeper in the forest, where competition should be harsher. They try to stay away from Faragore, and as a result, what represents the outskirts shifts with that monster’s every movement.”

“Why do you say all that?” wondered Barcus. He’d just finished putting the tent together with Nigel and sat down on a separate log from Lex.

“The Forest of Beginners is massive. Even with its name, it has some powerful monsters dwelling deep within,” she replied. “Mana gets corrupted and creates miasma. Miasma corrupts mana. Corrupted mana creates demons, monsters, and alters the environment. The stronger the creature, the more dense the miasma they produce, and the more living beings are affected by it.” She opened up her codex and showed a small map of our part of Zalevet. She pointed right at the middle. “In the center of this forest is either a Cataclysmic or Abyssal Tier monster. Its mana likely created this forest. But there’s probably only one, so the outskirts of the Forest of Beginners tend to have very weak monsters.”

I was sitting on a tree branch overhead, listening to everything while everyone else made the camp. When I complained about not being allowed to help, I was graciously put on guard duty because I was best able to see at night, given my species. I thought that was bullshit because Bydon was a beast devil, and he could clearly see better than me. But at least it was something.

“I’ve never heard her speak this much before,” I overheard Christopher muttering to himself.

“This is one of the few things she cares about,” said Gai. “This and stabbing people are literally her favorite things.”

“Hush,” warned Lex. She was definitely a little more hyper and vocal tonight. “But you still see a lot of Savage and Blight Tier occasionally popping up on the outskirts from time to time. That suggests there are other creatures with high miasma production as well, increasing the corruption rates and general ecosystem competition. Given that there is a local monster with an actual name and not a general classification, that suggests a Dread Tier. They usually get actual names once they shift far enough away from what they used to be.”

Everyone had stopped what they were doing to gather by the fire. Lex had everyone’s undivided attention, and she knew it. The campfire seemed to highlight her face as she continued onward.

“One wouldn’t be enough to cause a significant change, though. Not with the way the environment here usually is. There would have to be more monsters than just the Faragore at a similar level,” said Lex. “If you go to other towns beyond Beginner’s Rest, there are rumors of other monsters, Faragore-esque monsters with different names, aren’t there?”

“No need to quiz them when I can just answer,” chided Gai. “The first town east of the Forest of Beginners, a little place called Delilah, and the first real town you reach after leaving Port Prosper, has rumors of a massive earth monster that hides underground. They call it Crusty. Cute, huh? From what I gather, Faragore has different qualities to it, yes?” He paused. “The answer is yes. From what people know about Faragore, it’s a monstrous being, but it doesn’t have the connections to the ground like the one in Delilah does.”

I pursed my lips, curious and concerned. “Why are you two so talkative all of a sudden?”

“Lex loves this kind of thing,” Gai reiterated. “Whenever she gets really restless, we go hunting for monsters outside of Port Prosper, or we go on trips to monster-dense areas. Learning about them, reading about them, and hunting them make her very happy.”

Lex’s cheeks were literally glowing red with excitement, but she was doing her best to hide it. She just nodded and squeaked out a quick, “Yep!” Then she continued, “If I had to guess, recent activity in the part of the forest where the influx of adventurers has disrupted the natural ecosystem drew this Faragore monster away from its usual hunting grounds deeper in the forest. Probably because it sensed new competition and excess deaths from both humans and monsters, as well as newly created demons.” She waved her hand around like she was wiping the stars away. “An altered version of Tannin’s theory, basically.” She put away her codex with a clap of her hands and looked at us. “Not that we can do anything permanent. The quests in here will need to be regulated, and the forest will have to be managed more carefully. We can’t just kill Faragore either to solve the problem. I doubt any of us could, even with Yen.”

“Why not?” wondered Nigel.

Everyone was suddenly enthralled by Lex at that point. We’d hovered around her by the fire, staring intently as she spoke. 

“Miasma,” spoke Barcus. “A constant crystal supply to fuel civilization.”

Lex nodded. “Without a strong source of miasma, monsters won’t be corrupted. Then the country loses a steady source of mana crystals.” She leaned back and crossed her legs. “Society is too dependent on mana crystals to function. They prop up too many industries. Killing a Dread Tier monster, even if we could, would permanently destroy a chunk of this forest and ruin any hope of Sandy Branch seeing a comeback once this archdevil business is resolved. Or not. Maybe a new Dread Tier monster would take its place, or the others already here would expand their territories. But there’s no certainty, and the risk isn’t worth it, generally.” She looked around. “Everyone understand?”

“So…all we can do is confirm that and leave?” wondered Christopher.

“The ecosystem will adapt and return to normal after a while. The influx of activity was too much and too outside the norm for this area. Too many monsters were getting killed, too many adventurers were turning into demons, and too much mana, and at high levels, was being dripped into the environment.” She shrugged. “Not a problem, most of the time. Stronger adventurers would come here for work after a while, new jobs would draw different crowds, and the surrounding towns would adapt. But this process would take months. None of us has that kind of time with that archdevil floating this way. It’s best to place restrictions and pay more people to watch around the outskirts of town for any unusual activity until there is a reportable, consistent change in the forest’s behavior.”

“Oh.” Christopher paused. “I see. So, stop the waves of violent mercenaries and adventurers from using the one physical outlet they have outside of killing each other, and place them on guard duty at night by themselves. Excellent.”

“Do what you want with the information.” Lex’s face became dispassionate and annoyed. “So boring…”

Christopher scowled. 

“Ah, ignore it, prince.” Gai leaned forward and patted Christopher on the leg, smiling. “You ever owned a cat? She’s basically a cat.”

Ah. Scary accurate, actually. 

As if on cue, Lex quietly lay down across Gai’s lap, shut her eyes, and seemingly went to sleep. Gai just rubbed her forehead.

Adorable.

Nigel moved to a spot between Christopher and Gai. They all sat quietly, not saying anything.

“So…anyone got any good stories?” I wondered, hoping to end the silence after that fun environmental lecture.

Everyone thought for a moment.

“What was the last good adventure you guys went on?” I asked the Trailblazers. “Had to be something cool, right? No way you told me everything back at the inn.”

“We did bust up a slave trading ring in the Broken Bits before we came here,” said Nigel after a moment.

I snapped my fingers and looked at him, excited. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“What kind?” wondered Christopher.

“Purely devils,” said Nigel. “A group of pirates were raiding villages on the Devil Continent and capturing kids and women to bring to the Broken Bits for sale. Had been going on for years.”

I winced. “Oh.”

“Common practice,” muttered Tart.

“Seen it before,” said Bydon in an equally low, sad tone.

Barcus scratched the side of his face. “Wasn’t our only mission dealing with that kind of thing the past few years. And it’s a kind of job you don’t really find here at home in Zalevet.”

“Or anywhere on this continent,” said Tart. “It was good for Nigel, though.” She smiled at him knowingly. “Got him lots of grateful followers eager to thank him.”

Nigel flinched and blushed, looking at me momentarily before turning away.

Oh? That was weird.

“I’d be more interested in a story from you, Yen,” admitted Barcus. “We weren’t there for your first real adventure into the forest. Honestly, I’m ashamed.”

“Oh. Sure! Well, it was, uh, eventful,” I said, moving on. “I ended up dumping a bunch of weak monsters on a group of very surprised and unhappy adventurers.”

Everyone was suddenly looking at me, intrigued. 

“I spent most of my time exploring in the trees.” My voice came out slightly shaken, with everyone watching me. I wasn’t used to an audience. “You know, the first monster I saw was an Aberrant Sciurus. Poor squirrel was stewing in mana for so long, I thought it was a corpse. Until it moved and shot fucking lightning at me.”

“Lightning?” said Tart. She sat up and looked at me, suddenly intrigued again. 

“Yup. Scared the crap out of me,” I admitted bashfully. “I, uh, stepped on it. Quickly. As soon as it moved.”

“Then how did you know it was an Aberrant?”

“Because…there were more…that got very angry…when I killed their friend.”

Gai snorted. “How old were you?”

“Ten.”

“At least you have an excuse.”

I kind of didn’t, honestly. I was ten and didn’t have experience, but I was also mature enough from my past life’s knowledge—as disconnected as they were from my actual past—to have the common sense not to freak out and step on a dead squirrel, in that instance, an Aberrant Sciurus.

“You’d call that a Scinturis, by the way,” chimed in Lex. “Since the Sciurus took on electric properties.”

“Right. Whatever,” I muttered. “The naming system is too complex. Electric squirrel monster rolls off the tongue better. Naming the aberrants is stupid, anyway. Instead of just saying ’Sciurus,’ adding ‘Electric Sciurus’ makes so much more sense.”

“Don’t let a monster researcher ever hear you say that,” said Gai. “I know a bunch. They’re very smart, and very…technical. Half of them are still annoyed that all birds are under the umbrella ‘Velocavious’ while other creatures have more distinct names.”

“It’s an important observation. Birds are distinct. If we’re just going to go by the fact that they’re a bird, then squirrels and bears should share the same name since they’re mammals,” argued Lex.

Gai gestured at Lex while looking at me. “She is one of them. Don’t get her started. Please.”

“R-Right,” I muttered, hearing something I’d never bothered thinking about before. It felt best to just log the information and ignore it until it mattered. “The, uh, Scinturis…electric squirrel…whatever! There were like twenty of them up in the trees, and they attacked me.” My frustration with the sudden naming system lecture threw me off. “They swarmed me, bit at me, and scratched me. It was manageable and annoying, or it would have been if they didn’t zap me each time they touched me.”

“Shocking,” muttered Gai.

“I…ended up running,” I admitted. “But as I was running, a lot of them were clinging to my body and fell…right onto a group of young adventurers right below me.”

Gai snorted. Tart turned away. Bydon smiled, as did Nigel. Christopher tried his best not to laugh. Lex was just intrigued by the story. 

“It was my fault, so I went back to help them,” I said, embarrassed. I played with my hair, twisting the ends between my fingers while looking away. “But I didn’t really want to talk to them, so I…I just…blasted them really hard with wind and sent everything flying.”

“You didn’t want to talk to them, so you blasted them really hard with wind and sent them flying,” repeated Christopher. “You were a cocky, manipulative little brat when I first met you. When did that change?”

“I was not manipulative!”

“I’d had multiple people try to kill me, Lars, and Gabby during our fun flight from Camden. We’d been avoiding people for weeks, doing odd jobs when we could to feed ourselves and earn enough coins for a ship to another continent. Then, when we got here, our lifeline got taken away by Tannin because Lars and Gabby kept getting injured,” he said, more to the group than to me. “They kept jumping in front of blows meant for me. All my fault. Because of that, Tannin thought they were weaker than me, prone to injury, and were going to die, so she cut us off. Not only that, she put a chaperone on us.” He gestured at me. “And what does Yen do with that power? She manipulates us with a high-paying gig.”

“Because you kept trying to get me to leave when I was being nice and trying to help you.”

“You were annoying.”

“You called me terrible names and were mean to me!”

“I was trying to get you to leave me alone!”

“Didn’t work,” I mocked. 

“Not at all,” said Christopher. He softened. “Not that I mind anymore.”

“What was it like leaving Camden?” asked Nigel, surprisingly. “You were a Prince all your life. I kind of know your backstory in pieces, but I’m curious.”

Christopher also seemed surprised by the sudden question. There wasn’t any ill intent behind it, either. That made sense. Nigel was a naturally kind person as long as I’d known him. It shouldn’t have surprised me was being nice to Christopher, even with the awkwardness and competitiveness between them.

Plus, I realized I’d never asked that, either. I was suddenly curious about the answer myself.

“We did it in the dead of night after stealing supplies and coins for a couple of days. I couldn’t move funds publicly. That would have tipped people off. We didn’t have much when we decided to leave, but someone had poisoned me a week prior. I couldn’t take any more chances.” Christopher’s gaze receded upward as he stared at the sky, lost in memories. “It took days to get out of the Castle and the mountain itself. Before we even made it to the first town, we were attacked. It just kept happening after that. Every town we entered, someone was trying to kill me. It started lessening the further west we got, so we just kept going.” His eyes were hollow. “I’ve killed a lot of people to get here. I don’t, and can’t, regret that. Not after everything I’ve lost.” He was quiet for a moment, then looked at me. “And everything I’ve gained.”

That last sentence was so full of love that I immediately felt guilty, again, for imprinting, or whatever it is, on Nigel. 

I smiled, twirling my hair, opting to say nothing cause I felt I might stutter out something stupid and embarrassing.

“That’s impressive. I can see you’ve gone through a lot,” said Nigel. “You have my respect. And should you need it, the Trailblazers.”

“Not your group yet,” said Barcus with a smile. “But he’s right, we’re happy to help a prince.”

“What kind of stuff did you say to Yen to try and get her to leave?” wondered Tart. 

Christopher’s face went red. “I cannot remember for the life of me.”

“Who lost their slave?” I repeated with a smile.

“No, I don’t think it was that,” he said. 

“Do we have any good stories?” Gai asked Lex.

“We stopped a civil war in Viorna,” Lex replied.

Gai snapped his fingers and looked at us. “That’s perfect!” He turned to the group. We were already invested after hearing Lex’s words. “You know how Viorna’s made up of six different Kingdoms? They’re always at each other’s throats, always on the brink of war. There have been several small-scale conflicts in the past, and they’ve engaged in warfare through mercenary proxies, but not enough to alter borders in a significant way. So we were in the southern-most Kingdom of Warburg, crossing the border northwest into the Upsilon Kingdom.”

“Why?” asked Bydon.

“Business. Quick background for those who don’t know us.” Gai pointed between himself and Lex quickly. “We originally helped a man named Tycho run a mercenary operation based out of Zalvet. One of the best ways to earn money, notoriety, and membership as a mercenary is to join the Detachment Wars.”

“Detachment Wars?” I wondered.

“Living in a small town makes one uncultured,” chided Gai.

“Eat a dick and answer.”

“Haha! The Detachment Wars is the name for the mercenary-led struggle that the six Viorna kingdoms are using to try and wrestle power away from one another. It’s been going on for years. Each country has enough money to keep them going for decades prior and into the future. Not that it hurts them any. Having a constant war creates benefits itself,” he explained. “We could have joined up in any country, but with Walburg’s position and relationship with Zalevet, it was just easier to enter there through them than elsewhere.”

“Was your first mission for the Walburg Kingdom a test in another country to prove your commitment and effectiveness?” guessed Barcus.

“Ah! You’re familiar.”

“We went over there a few times in the early days of the Trailblazers,” admitted Barcus. 

Gai smiled. “Interesting how similar mercenaries and adventurers are, isn’t it?”

“Only real difference is affiliation.”

“Yet we want the same goals. I just think mine are best achieved independently of the Guild system, no matter how collectively neutral it is,” said Gai. 

“Enough boring stuff,” chided Lex. “War. Go.”

Like you didn’t do the same thing with monsters mere minutes ago. I thought. Then again, I knew nothing about either Gai or Lex, so I wasn’t totally annoyed by the information. If anything, it made me look at them in a whole new light.

“We were tasked with stealing supplies back from a group that had raided a different merc group some days earlier. We only had two dozen people with us at the time, so we were low-balled by Warburg. Expected that,” said Gai. “What we didn’t expect was to get held hostage by mercs from the Kingdom east of Upsilon and bordering Warburg, Parish. Turns out, they were trying to set us up to increase conflicts between Warburg and Upsilon so that they could attack the hardest-hit country in the chaos.”

The campfire before us crackled as we became more enthralled. 

“Then what?” asked Tart. 

“Fifth band, love.” Gai flashed his finger. “Always wear gloves when you’re in a war. Keep people guessing.” He tapped his temple. “Made it seem like we’d surrender, cut off their mana, they freaked, and we cut off their heads. Anyone working with me is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, with or without mana, for that very reason.”

“It was quick. They cried. We got paid,” finished Lex.

“Great ending,” said Gai with a sigh. 

“More boring than I remembered. And nothing’s trying to kill us in our sleep.”

“That’s a…good thing?” suggested Christopher. 

“You’re boring, too. Except your story. You think you’d be more interesting with the life you’ve lived.”

“Your opinion defines who I am, so I appreciate the feedback,” he said sarcastically. 

“Anytime.”

“And that’s my cue for sleep,” said Barcus. He slapped his knees and stood up. “Who wants first shift?”

“Me.” I raised my hand. “I’ll wake up Lex for the second.”

“Whatever,” the girl mumbled.

•

Hours later, I slipped into the tent I was sharing with Christopher. He was still awake, reading a book from the light of a small flame burning off his fingertip. 

“Nothing,” I reported before flopping onto my sleeping bag beside him. “Little annoyed by that.”

“Don’t be like Lex,” muttered Christopher as he marked where he was reading, closing his book soon after.

“We didn’t know she was like that until today.”

“True.” Christopher stared forward, thinking. “They both talked a lot about themselves. And fought. They’re more complex than I’d gathered.” He rocked his head back and forth, then looked at me. “Makes me even more curious why they’re here with us.”

I rolled over to face him more clearly. He’d already put out the flame and stored his book in his codex. “What? You think they’re lying to us?” I mocked. “How absurd.”

“Yes. Very stupid of me.”

“Very.” I paused. “Jokes aside, I think what they’ve told us so far isn’t a lie, but they are leaving important bits out.”

Christopher frowned. “Unfortunately, I’d have to agree with you.”

“And Gai would have to know we’d think that, and yet he remains and helps us for seemingly no benefits on his end,” I mused. “Feels like I’m missing something.”

“Or he’s just messing with us.”

I sighed. “Can’t deny that’s a possibility, given his personality and the logic behind his fifth band.” I dramatically cast out my hand, guiding it slowly through the air. “Chaos.”

Chuckling, Christopher rolled into me and rested his chin on my shoulder. 

“Yes?”

“Nothing.” He closed his eyes. “Comfy.”

I let him rest like that until he drifted to sleep. My mind didn’t stop wandering, though. For minutes, drifting into hours, I kept thinking about the forest, the monsters, Faragore. And most of all, as I did nearly every day, I thought about Edwin Syn, whoever he may be, and what he would do to my life.

It all rolled around in my head until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Need to walk.” I slowly, quietly, rolled Christopher away from me, stood up, and exited the tent. I was dripping with sweat when the night air hit me, much to my relief. 

“Go back to sleep,” said Nigel. He was sitting by the fire by himself with a sword out, sharpening it as silently as possible. “It’s not good to be up so long after the day we’ve had.”

“Could say the same to you.” I shuffled in place nervously. My heart was racing now that we were alone and talking. “You did way more than I did today–against my will, mind you.”

“Best to have you in reserve for when we need you.” He stared deeply into the fire. “The gap between all of us is too great now.”

“Oh, please. I still suck at a bunch of stuff.” I settled down across from him by the fire. The flames danced between us teasingly. “You can’t imagine how many times my personality’s changed because of what’s happened to me this past decade.”

“Oh?” Nigel looked at me, stopping his sharpening. He leaned it across his lap as the taste of smoke tinged my mouth. “How so?”

“Well, you know how I was before. Cocky. Dispassionate. I let a guy live because I thought I was above him and almost became a slave.” I was quiet for a moment after that. “Then you saved me.” I cleared my throat. “Once you all left, I was still a little awkward, but I gradually became confident and cautious. Didn’t really spend a lot of time with others, though. Just my parents, Tannin, and Bruno. But then I met Christopher and Gabby and Lars.” I scratched the back of my head. “Uh, I accidentally revealed I was an archdevil in less than a day after meeting them.”

Nigel’s eyes widened. “You trusted them that much?”

“N-No…” My face turned red. “I…my horns grew back quicker than I thought. I tried to sneak out and cut them off, which hurts like shit–totally off topic. Christopher caught up to me and saw me trying to hack them off, so, yeah…my fault…”

Nigel stared at me, his brow furrowing. “Did you get dumber?”

I puffed out my cheek, ready to retort, but they deflated and I looked away. “Sure seems like it, looking back.”

“You don’t seem like that now.”

“No, I’m not. But I was when you all left. Dumb, cocky, and full of life.” I chuckled, propped my arm on my knee, and sat my head in my hand. “But yeah, they saw my horns, an assassin tried to kill us, and I was mortally wounded. Christopher had to carry me and Gabby back to camp by himself. Because of that, he couldn’t hide me, and it came out in my village that I was an archdevil. People treated me like crap, and I hated myself, so…I don’t really like talking about it.” A soft smile leaped to my lips. “I’m happier now.”

“Because of Christopher?”

I held in a flinch. “Yes.”

“I can see that,” muttered Nigel. He didn’t break eye contact with me. “I’m happy for you.”

“O-Oh? Really?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Oh?”

“It’s taking everything I can to act good,” he admitted. “Even now, I want to cross this fire and devour you.”

I blinked rapidly, not saying a word.

“It isn’t normal. I don’t understand why I feel that way.” Nigel placed his hands around his throat. “I thought about you for months after we left, then my feelings faded. Every so often, my heart would hurt when you crossed my mind, but that was it. I chalked it up to young love and gradually forgot about you. I worked around the country, on different continents. I took many lovers. You were the absolute furthest thing from my mind.” He cast his hand out like he was swatting a fly, desperation on his face. “Then all of a sudden, you started reappearing in my life. I’d hear rumors of the Black Horned Guardian in Zalevet, and you instantly filled my mind. It made me think of you, and the more I did, the more my heart hurt. When we returned to this continent, I could almost sense where you were. The closer I got to you, the more I felt for you. The more it hurt me not to be near you. When I heard about Edwin from my parents, it was like someone I’d loved for decades was about to be murdered. And now that I’m here, it’s unbearable. Every second I look at you, my heart screams at me to get closer, to feel you, to touch you, to consume you.”

I bit my lip to keep myself in place. 

“I know that I love you, but it doesn’t make any sense why I’d feel that way.”

“I…feel the same,” I admitted through a tense jaw.

I then told him the same theory I’d told Christopher. About imprinting, pairing it with how I didn’t have emotions and suddenly gained them because of his actions with Turk.

“It would at least explain this.” Nigel crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “Our feelings don’t make any sense otherwise.”

“Right?!” I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Gods, I feel so much better now that we’re both conscious of it.”

“Of course.”

We stared at each other across the fire.

The next thing I knew, we were standing.

Nigel stepped over the fire, its embers licking his boots. But he ignored it. He didn’t flinch, and his gaze never left me. And mine didn’t leave his.

My heart was overtaking my logic. My skin was burning. The feelings in my body were on overdrive, begging me to give myself to Nigel. And it was clear he felt the same.

We both let our guards down. I realized. We got too comfortable and allowed the feelings we had managed to lock away to slip through. Shit!

Nigel placed his hands on my hips while I allowed mine to drift to the sides of his face.

His fingers trembled as they dug into me. I could feel him trying to hold back, but the tension was so great. The hunger in him was real.

And I was no different.

My heart was racing. The rest of the world had blurred. Nigel was the only thing I could see, the only thing that mattered. My legs felt like jelly, and they slowly slid apart, inviting him forth.

Our lips sought relief. Slowly, painfully, we reached toward each other—me high and Nigel low. We didn’t blink and barely breathed.

Each second that drifted by, our lips drew closer. We struggled to keep them apart, yet grew weaker with every second.

Nigel was the first to succumb.

He crashed into me, overwhelming me with his mouth. His fingers dug into my waist as he pulled me tighter into his body.

I don’t want this. I don’t want this. I don’t want this.

But my arms were fully wrapped around Nigel’s neck. I was practically hanging off him like prey from a snare.

Nigel lifted me, and, as naturally as when I hugged him back in Beginer’s Rest, my legs cinched around his waist.

Someone, please come out here! Interrupt us! Scream at us! Shame us! A monster! Please, attack us! Right now! Anything! I don’t want to do this!

But the feelings in my body were too great—a contradiction. Perhaps I was deceiving myself or making excuses. I honestly couldn’t tell.

We fell gently to the ground.

Slowly, one of Nigel’s hands crept around my breast while the other tried to snake up my skirt.

Mine were busy trying to undo his belt buckle.

Christopher, Christopher, Christopher, Christopher, Christopher, Christopher, Christopher!

Suddenly Nigel stopped.

I felt blood on my cheeks.

He bit his tongue.

It was enough to snap me out of whatever was compelling us. Panicked, I grabbed Nigel’s face, terrified and able to control myself again.

“You were crying,” Nigel said, anticipating a question yet to leave my lips. “It helped me break free.”

Frantically, I touched my cheeks with my fingertips. Sure enough, they were damp.

Nigel coughed, stood, and took a few steps away from me.

Startled, I scrambled backwards across the ground, creating further distance.

Our hair was messy. My dress was up to my belly button, and the neckline stretched down. Nigel’s pants were sagging, and parts of his torso were showing.

I quickly stood up, fixed my dress, and turned around. “G-Goodnight!” I squealed as I entered my tent. I couldn’t even look at Christopher as I lay on the empty spot beside him.

All I did was stare at the side of the tent, hating myself, until the sun rose.

•

“Nothing happened. It’s okay. I’m good. We stopped. I’m good,” I muttered to myself over and over again the next morning.

Still, I found myself frantically looking at Nigel every chance I could get.

“Should be approaching the last group of missing adventurers Tannin and Bruno noted for us,” said Christopher. “Just up ahead. Then we can go back, report the general situation in the forest based on our current insights, set new guidelines within the forest, and hire people to monitor it.” He groaned. “I’m sure that will fix everything.”

“You’re complaining, yet you listened to everything I said,” said Lex. “At least you’re smart enough to trust your betters.”

Christopher stared at Lex, then looked at Gai. “Was that a joke?”

“Sure,” said Gai.

We trudged through the forest. All the while, I kept shooting glances between Christopher and Nigel. Guilt weighed on my heart.

I’m screwed.

Nigel hadn’t looked my way once, not that I minded. We both made a nonverbal pact not to interact with each other anymore, it seemed. It was for the best.

I need to do something about it when we get home. Shit, and I need to tell Christopher what happened. Or do I? It wasn’t really my fault. I slapped myself, startling Tart, who was right beside me. No! Idiot! Excuses! He needs to know! I’d want to know if I were him. I paused. Actually, that’s not true at all. I’d never want him to bring it up. It’d be too painful to hear, even if he had some imprint like me. Shit, I should hide it, right? I slapped my face again. Dammit! No! That’s the bitch in me leaking out! I need to tell him!

“Are you okay?” whispered Tart.

I looked at her with wide eyes and a forced smile. “Absolutely!”

“O-Okay.” Tart recoiled and nodded. “That was, uh, very believable.”

I winked, then went back to muttering in my head.

Then—

A strong scent of blood and decay washed through my nostrils. Everyone else sensed it a second later.

“What is that?” hissed Barcus.

Suddenly, a massive wave of mana pushed down on my back like storm-spurned waves crashing against a beach.

I felt it, but it didn’t do anything to me. It was an annoyance, at best.

Gai visibly winced and held his head. 

Everyone else wobbled, nearly hitting the ground. Christopher and Tart dropped to their knees, gasping.

What’s going on? My eyes darted in every direction until I saw something peculiar.

Out in the trees, there was a skull. A deer skull. It was empty of skin and eyes. Yet it stared at us.

A long tongue rolled out of its mouth and wrapped around its jaw. 

Then, it moved forward, revealing a body.

It looked like a skull was attached to a lean body, double the size of Nigel. It was ripped with black fur, brimming with power.

“That’s a Dread Tier,” grunted Lex. 

It was Faragore.