“Or we can go on foot. Up to you.” Seraphae spun to face him, opening the door to the inn with her backside as she shrugged.

  “I’ve never ridden an animal before.” Greg frowned as he followed her out. “Why can’t we just ride the disc?”

  “Why can’t we ride your floating disc across the dense, uneven forest floor and up a mountain?” Seraphae raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Alright, you don’t have to be an ass about it.” Greg grumbled under her laugh.

  “We’ll get a couple murmox. They’re not fast, but they’re best suited for extended journeys.”

  Greg followed her through the nearly empty streets of Otella. Rising with the sun to get the fastest start to their journey had been his idea. He had not counted on Seraphae being such a beam of sunshine before he’d even been able to get his wits about him.

  “Once we get up into the moutains it’s going to get cold fast. Do you have winter gear? Or should we stop?” She asked.

  “I’ll be fine with the cold.” Brannoc’s duster would keep him protected from the elements, but now that he thought about it, he was not equipped for wilderness adventuring. “I don’t have any climbing gear…or anything like that, really.”

  “Probably won’t need it, but I’ve got extras if we do.” She said as they turned off the main road just outside of town and headed in the direction of a small farmhouse in the distance.

  Greg watched a clutch of leopler beetles grazing on dew coated grass in the field to his right. He’d seen people ride the pillbug like creatures, and the mechanism behind it broke his brain. They’d pick up speed on their little pig legs, then the saddle would somehow remain stationary while they curled up and rolled down the road as far as their momentum would take them. Maeve had tried to explain how it worked to him once, but he was far too dumb to wrap his head around it.

  They rounded the outside of the farmhouse and took a footpath toward an open stable. There weren’t a lot of parallels between Earth and Etheon he could point to when it came to fauna. Comparing a ten foot long six foot tall drake to a Komodo dragon seemed disingenuous. Murmox, however were a different story.

  While there were some obvious differences, what were known as Murmox on Etheon were essentially just elephants, at least in size and shape. As they approached the stable, one of the vast creatures ambled in their direction. Instead of wrinkled skin, the ten foot tall animal sported smooth, overlapping, diamond shaped plates that ranged in hue from brown to a deep forest green. It’s head sat low and forward on its shoulders and hard the signature trunk and tusks you’d expect. Instead of long and pointed ivory, his tusks looked closer to petrified wood and shaped like shovels rather than weapons.

  It prodded Greg’s chest with its trunk as it approached. He’d obviously been testing how sturdy he was as the murmox tilted its head down and pressed the thick skull plate against the top of his head and wrapped its trunk around him. Murmox were also, apparently, very affectionate.

  “Gods, I love these things.” Isabella sounded off in his head.

  The smooth, plate covered head was easily larger than his torso, but he patted it regardless, a little part of his heart melting at the gesture from the animal. The plate against his chest vibrated, and he could almost hear a low purring sound.

  “Well, look who made a friend.” Seraphae ran her hand along the side of the murmox. “I’m going to look for the stable hand, see how much they are charging.”

  The murmox did not release him for the couple minutes Seraphae had left him. For something that was almost twice as tall and easily several tons, it was surprisingly gentle and completely aware of the sheer power discrepancy. The only animals he’d ever scanned hadn’t had stats, though he’d be interested to compare it’s strength to someone like Brannoc.

  “Oh, that’s Gerty. She’s a lover…” Autumn came around the corner beside Seraphae, her customer service smile turning into wide-eyed surprise. “Greg? What are you doing here?”

  “I…uhh…We’re…” he looked over at Seraphae for help, who just quirked a brow at him. Even the murmox abandoned him with a relatively quiet trumpet as it turned to accept some kind of treat Autumn pulled from the front pocket of her coveralls. “Murmox?”

  Autumn shifted her eyes slowly between him and Seraphae, slowly nodding. “You’re with her?”

  “With her? No!” he said way too fast. Greg’s face flushed with color as he slapped his hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it far to hard. “I mean—not that—oh fuck.” He tilted his head back and groaned.

  “We’re just traveling together.” Seraphae said, dragging her gaze away from him to Autumn. “We’re heading out into Monarch’s Forest and then to Wyrm’s Gap. Hence the murmox. Sorry, you two know each other?”

  “From another life.” Autumn glanced over at him before looking up at Seraphae again. “You’re an adventurer? Taking him on a contract?”

  “Yes, sort of.” Seraphae’s smile widened. “Wait, I’ve seen you before. You fought in the arena.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “What?” Greg’s head snapped back to the conversation.

  Autumn didn’t spare him another look. “I did a little arena fighting. Yeah.” She looked up at the murmox who was trying to slip its trunk into her hip bag and grabbed another large biscuit from it. “Like I said, this is Gerty. She’s a sweetheart, but she’ll get you through the forests easy enough. You mind if I ask what kind of contract you guys are going on?”

  “It’s not strictly a contract. The Mother Below wants us to find an old party member of mine and deal with him.” Seraphae said in a way too casual tone for his liking.

  “Sorry…” Greg blinked rapidly and held up a hand. “That’s a gross oversimplification, but regardless of that, you’ve been fighting in the arena? Like a couple miles out of Rhobair—arena? How did I not know you were here?”

  Autumn squinted at him and gave a little shrug. “Did you look?”

  “Did I…” Greg pushed his hand through his shaggy dark hair. He had no idea how much Seraphae knew about him, but he wasn’t going to give anything up if he didn’t have to. “No. When I left…home, I didn’t think there was any getting back. Why would I think to look for you?”

  “Maybe now’s not the best time for this conversation?” Autumn looked from him to Seraphae. “No offense of course.”

  Seraphae shook her head. “None taken.”

  “Are you two…” Autumn shifted a finger back and forth.

  “No,” Seraphae shook her head and grinned. “I’m way out of his league.”

  “Agreed.” Autumn returned the toothy grin.

  “I’m in hell.” Greg muttered, turning to plant his face into one of the smooth plates of Gerty’s hind leg.

  “He’s not wrong though. It was a slight oversimplification. A party member of mine was into some bad stuff and got one of his friends hurt. Now The Mother Below wants us to deal with him before she’ll offer any help to save his friend.” Seraphae patted his shoulder softly.

  “Maeve?” Autumn asked, looking over at him again. “This party member was the guy we fought on the other side of that portal? Can I come?”

  Autumn and Seraphae becoming fast friends was not on his bingo card for the day, but sure enough, the two of them hit it off. Within minutes they’d secured two murmox and saddled them. While additional help traveling through a forest full of unknown nightmares would be appreciated, he could think of better ways to get it.

  “Well, this is going to be awkward.” Isabella summed up his feelings perfectly.

  A familiar notification popped up to the left of his vision.

  Autumn Claskey has invited you to a party.

  Accept?

  Yes/No

  Yes.

  He’d barely gotten to examine his UI the last time she’d done this, but now that they weren’t in mortal danger, he took a closer look. In the top lefthand corner of his vision, beneath where his buffs would be listed, her name showed up along with two bars beneath it. The red bar had a little heart beside it, while the other was an empty green outline with an icon that looked like a fist smashing into the ground.

  “Does she know about the woman in your head?” Autumn didn’t even look at him as her voice filled his mind. “I’d like to add her to the party, but I don’t want to out your friend.”

  “She does not. That’s very thoughtful of you.” Isabella said. “It’s quite alright though. Just pretend like I’m not here.”

  “I really need to make a guy friend,” Greg mumbled under his breath as he planted his foot on the rope that hung off Gerty’s saddle and climbed on.

  “What is this?” Seraphae’s hand came up to hover in front of her face.

  “One of my abilities.” Autumn said as she pulled out a whistle. “It just lets us keep track of each other a little better. You don’t have to accept it.”

  Seraphae Lumina has joined your party.

  “So weird.” Seraphae’s left hand came up to prod at the empty air. “What are these bars?”

  “It’s how my power interprets yours. Only one that’s really important most times is the red one.” Autumn answer as she blew the whistle, but no sound came out.

  “What’s the red one?” Seraphae asked.

  “Health,” Autumn and Greg said simultaneously.

  “That red runs out and you’re dead.” Autumn nodded before turning her head toward the treeline. “Oh...uhh…Don’t freak out.”

  “Freak out?” Seraphae stopped probing the air and looked back at them.

  “We can talk in each other’s heads.” Greg’s mouth didn’t move, and he watched Seraphae’s eyes go wide.

  “There are artifacts that can link so the wearers can speak freely into each other's minds. This power does that as well? Those artifacts are so expensive.” Seraphae was almost giddy at the possibilities.

  “Ummm…yeah.” Autumn nodded. “That’s not what I was talking about, though.”

  As if on cue, a cat-like creature sprung from between the trees, bounding between several spooked murmox directly toward them. On top of its feathered and beaked head sat two forward facing horns that curved like a bull’s . Extending from the shoulders of its lionesque body were a set of angelic white wings, currently folded back. It slid to a stop, tail flicking as it nuzzled up against Autumn with a screech.

  Seraphae had taken a few steps back, but he was currently on top of Gerty who was absolutely unafraid of whatever the beast was. “A temple-beast.” Seraphae whispered, shaking off the awe a moment later and stepping forward. “Where did you find a temple-beast?”

  “And what is a temple-beast?” Greg held up a hand from Gerty-back.

  “His name is Reggie,” Autumn glowered at them. “He’s my friend.” She said as she scratched under his beak.

  “You’re just full of surprises.” Seraphae said as she climbed up onto her murmox.

  He’d been hesitant to travel the forest on murmox back, but it seemed the animals were made for it. Despite their size, they traipsed through the dense shrubs and trees as if they weren’t there, and it didn’t seem his weight bothered Gerty in the slightest. She was probably over two tons of muscle, so it was probably the equivalent of a bird landing on his shoulder while on a leisurely stroll.

  They’d traveled for most of the day, stopping a couple hours before the sun was to set.

  “We’re not going to keep going?” Greg asked as he started gathering firewood.

  “The forest is dangerous during the day. At night it’s worse. If I had Doran here we could think about it, but…no offense to you two, but you’re not Doran.” Seraphae said as she started pulling camping supplies from a bag that was far too small to hold them all.

  “Why don’t we have Doran?” Greg asked as she bashed two of the sticks together and activated a flame strike. As both the sticks lit, a thought struck him that he had not considered before agreeing to this adventure. His eyes shifted to his gauges in the bottom left.

  Volatility: 15 of 100

  Divine Resonance: 0 of 100

  Demonic Resonance: 3 of 100

  Something told him in the middle of the forest he was unlikely to find a designated rest area. For regular travel and basic fights that was not going to be an issue. Couple casual teleports and he’d be fine. If he had to Ruin Edict out here and ended up like he had after the fight with Miles Rillon…

  There weren’t any justicars to save him this time.