“I thought this was going to be a nice little vacation…”

  Spindly legs hung from the side of a hammock that lightly swayed back and forth, held up by two poles staked into sand. Behind the young man on the hammock sat a small cottage, built large enough for only one room. It was classically designed with a single door and two windows and built with a stout wood frame with layered wood paneling.

  “…Can’t even do any artifice or alchemy here.”

  Arty spun a tiny knife in between his fingers. His hands were calloused and scratched from the practiced technique, as well as the constant burning from unstable concoctions.

  “He said a few days, it has to have been a few days already, right?” He asked himself. He awkwardly angled himself out of the hammock, his bare feet contacting the sand. “Something doesn’t feel right about that sand, either. Too bad I won’t be able to tell him.”

  Arty walked into the cottage. Inside, the only furnishings were a small bed in one corner of the cottage, and a tall wooden cabinet on the other. Arty walked over to the cabinet and opened it, revealing his long red trench coat. He stuck his hand in the outside pocket of the coat and pulled out a silver pocket watch. When he checked the face of the pocket watch, he let out a long sigh. The hands of the watch spun madly around its circumference, sometimes freezing in place and sometimes going in reverse. His tinkering mind wanted to make sense of the chaos it exhibited, but without the use of any of his magical tools, he had no hope of deciphering it. Not that he could expect to make any outrageous breakthroughs in the science of timekeeping in dimensional spaces.

  “I guess I just expect it to work sometimes.” He said, placing the pocket watch back into his jacket. At first, he had objected to talking to himself too much, but as his boredom escalated, he couldn’t help himself. Being alone with nothing to do for a few days was maddening for his overactive mind.

  He let out another long sigh, before a realization came to him, and his eyes opened wide. “Oh no.” He stepped out of the cottage to look around.

  Around the sandy beach surrounding the cottage there was no water, and above his head was not a blue sky, but spiraling, cascading streams of rainbow light. He had not been residing in physical reality, but in some kind of dimensional space fit for contemporary living.

  In Vitesse, he had been approached by an older man sporting a poncho and a set of weird blue pants and no shoes. Arty had not wanted to trust the man, assuming the man was a homeless idiot, but when the old man gave him a couple gold rank magic items, his curiosity was piqued. The old man had advised Arty to use his skills to mark something with one of the items, and then use the other item with that marking, specifically on Zulli. He was told he would spend a few days inside a dimensional space, and at the end of those days he would have to make a choice.

  Now, he was fearful that the old man was wrong, and he was not going to be there for only a few days, but much longer, maybe forever. At least, until the space ran out of magic to sustain him. He didn’t realize he would have to count on external forces to release him from what he now realized could be a prison.

  “Wait.” He said aloud.

  When he had tried some artifice inside the space, a small little enchantment on his pocket watch, it had caused a backlash of magic, not harming the watch, but the percussive force created sent Arty reeling against the wall of the cottage.

  Arty let out a sigh of relief.

  “Might kill me. Last resort.”

  ***

  “Of course, he’s in good care. He’ll be fine by the morning, but he won’t be at his best. No normal person should have been able to withstand that kind of blow. Luckily his armor absorbed most of the percussion.”

  “Percussion?” Zulli asked.

  The acolyte of the Healer nodded. “The force generated by the attack would not only have shredded his limb, but it also would have completely destroyed it and more due to the rank disparity. It seems that the lining of his armor was able to create a sort of shell to avoid this, combined with the fact that his body is of magical nature in the first place. It seems to have an intrinsic symbiosis with the armor. I can tell he is an outworlder, the magical structure of his body is fascinating, I’m sure yours is much the same.” She said, looking up at Zulli from her kneeling position next to a cot that Sen had been laid upon. His armor was still donned around him, and luckily the healer’s magic was able to permeate through it.

  Zulli was silent as she considered the extremity of what the healer implied. “His arm would have exploded?”

  “More than his arm.” The healer said.

  “I suppose we’re even then.” Zulli whispered softly, her gaze shifting to Sen. “Thank you.” She said to the healer.

  “No thanks necessary. Tell your team leader we thank him for his generous donation.”

  Zulli looked one more time to Sen. He was still unconscious, and still had a pained face despite the hours it took to reach Peck Bluffs. August and Zulli were able to move quickly without Sen slowing them down. The magical litter that carried Sen was easily pulled with one hand by Zulli, while August was able to easily dispatch off a few bronze rank monsters that stood in their path.

  Peck Bluffs sat on the northwestern end of the continent and was aptly named, set on cliffs overlooking the vast ocean. The air was filled with salt and the sound of harsh waves colliding with the cliffs a couple hundred feet below. It featured a relatively small airship port but was mostly known as a transient portal relay. The only permanently standing structures were a large storehouse for airship cargo, an even larger hall built as a portal station, and several domed buildings acting as hostels for travelers and adventurers alike. It was surrounded by damaged fortifications, as if it had once been a fortress, but was either destroyed by an attacking militia or a wave of monsters. Its location was advantageous as most silver ranked portal users could set up their portals to a few different areas of interest in their radius. These areas of interest included both Vitesse and, most notably, Silverwind, the final destination of the team’s current adventure.

  Zulli stepped out from the large tent and felt the chill of the evening air. August was waiting for her outside, leaving Sen’s care to Zulli as he went to rent out a room to stay the night. “He’ll be alright by the morning?” August asked.

  Zulli nodded. “They said thanks for the donation.”

  “They should thank Sen when he wakes up. He was the one that looted the coins.”

  “He could have died, August. I guess I could have too. I didn’t know the extent of the danger of that kind of monster. I thought I would have known, but I didn’t. How could I not have known?” Zulli asked, mostly wondering out loud. Being born into the world from the release of an extreme amount of energy, she relied heavily on her Universal Knowledge ability to accommodate her lack of experience within it. She surmised that she should know the extent of rank disparity but was completely oblivious to it. “The healer said the rank difference alone could have utterly destroyed him.”

  August nodded while putting on a solemn expression. “I reserved one room for the night. They only had a single bed available. You may rest there; I’ll be fine on a chair in the common area. That gold ranker has arrived and he’s preparing the ritual, let’s go watch, I’ll try to explain.”

  Zulli didn’t respond but walked ahead to the gathering of people localized at the edge of the encampment. The group of travelers had gathered in an open area covered in lush ground with their attention rested on a recently leveled area of packed earth. Several individuals adorned in Magic Society robes were working around the edges of the area, assisting a robed, hooded man with the use of different artifacts, tablets, and crystals, while keeping the crowd away from their work. August walked with Zulli, and they found themselves a good spot on top of a large rock next to another couple of adventurers waiting to watch the ritual being performed.

  “You think it was reckless for me to put you in that kind of danger? Just as Brina Brecht does?” August asked Zulli.

  “How was it not reckless?” Zulli asked.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Maybe it was.” August confessed. “I’m going to try and avoid just saying that you should trust me with things like this. I’m a three-star adventurer at the peak of bronze. I’ll be silver rank soon, and when I finally make that transition, my priorities will be changed. I’ll lose my stars and start over from the bottom. That being said, I’ve already been through that twice. I was three stars at iron, and they reset when I got to bronze.”

  “Is that a big deal or what?” Zulli asked.

  “Some would say that it is.” August replied. “A three-star iron is rarer than a three-star bronze. Most people don’t have the experience or decision-making aptitude at iron rank to make it to three stars, and if they do, they’re usually blazing through their rank just to make it to bronze.”

  They both moved their attention to the ritual as something interesting took place. The gold ranker, a hooded figure in dark blue intricately flowing robes had finished placing different artifacts around the large, complex ritual circle comprised of diagrams and designs that sang to Zulli’s magical senses. She didn’t understand the ritual, but just from instinct she was able to see that it was nearly perfect in its design. Facing away from the crowd and toward the Valley of Peckmont, the gold ranker levitated to the center of the circle and raised his hands into the night sky while humming and mumbling incoherent sounds that seemed to originate from different points in the circle. After a moment of silence, five stone obelisks, a few meters tall each, comprised of beige marble bricks rose from equidistant points around the circumference of the ritual circle. The gold ranker then levitated to one of the obelisks and began to inscribe magical runes on it.

  “The whole point of going through the valley was to get you two ready for an incredible task that is ahead of you.” August told Zulli.

  Through all the excitement of the adventure, Zulli had nearly forgotten why they had left in the first place. There was something waiting for them in Silverwind. Though still a mystery, August seemed to know the depth at which the task was to be appreciated.

  “Despite the turmoil of being struck down by a monster, you both have only had a small taste of the adventuring life.” August continued. “It’s amazing most of the time. It’s hard to explain how great it feels to be an adventurer. But that feeling comes at a cost, and it is usually paid in a large sum given over only a few moments.”

  Zulli listened to August impart his experience and wisdom. When Sen and Zulli first met him, he was a stoic bodyguard that didn’t do much more than demand what he wanted. As they were around him more, they surmised that he was simply a consummate professional, and didn’t say more than necessary. Zulli realized that this stoicism had started to unravel while on this adventure. There were even a couple of instances where August had seemed to have made a joke, and now this conversation was nearing more words coming from his mouth than she had heard in the totality of knowing him. The adventuring life appeared to have a positive impact on his mood, lightening it, and giving him some room to be more comfortable in mundane pleasantries.

  “It was a risk to take you that deep into the forest.” August said. “But Herocs are weak, even if they are silver rank.”

  “Those two girls didn’t think so. Did you see them over there?” Zulli replied, pointing over to the edge of the crowd. Brina and Molly stood next to each other near some Magic Society officials. Being a part of the recon, they were obviously given a good position to watch the show.

  “Yes. They saw us too.” August told her. “Molly and Brina are new to bronze rank. Like I said, I’m near the end of it. Very near. This will be one of my last tasks before I make the plunge into silver.”

  “So what, you’re saying that you were in control the entire time?” Zulli asked.

  “No, I would never say that, and I hope you would never believe it. But after you’ve made as many decisions as I have, and after you’ve seen the outcomes of every decision you make, you’re able to make more calculated risks.”

  “You take into account every decision you’ve ever made?” Zulli questioned skeptically.

  “As your spirit attribute increases, you will understand better.” He told her. “My mind has a clarity that you simply can’t comprehend, yet.”

  “I kind of get that. That blessing fell off when we got here, and I felt the cloudiness in my mind come back.”

  “So, you’re saying you were thinking clearly when you chose to stand and fight a monster three times your size and exponentially more powerful than you? You may not know how much more powerful exactly, but you knew it was dangerous.” August asked her. He wasn’t looking at her directly, keeping his attention affixed on the gold ranker inscribing runes. “You wanted to fight it.”

  “I knew Sen wasn’t going to back down.”

  “So, you decided to take a risk just because he did?”

  “No. Well…” Zulli took a moment to think. “It all happened so fast, I just listened to my instinct.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s bravery or ignorance, Zulli. What you knew was that the monster was dangerous. You knew it had to be stopped, and you acted on it. You didn’t turn tail. If I were to have told you to run, what would you have done?”

  Zulli kept her eyes away from August, making it seem like she was watching the gold ranker work on his ritual, when in actuality, she was playing the moment over in her mind. “I don’t know, August.” She replied.

  “Because you didn’t even consider it. There are certain kinds of people in this world. Many people have the courage to act, that is not a special thing. Others, more rarely, don’t even need that courage. They take on the adventuring life as if it was their only sworn duty, like it was something they were born to do. Those people tend to make it very far, and if they don’t, they have no quarrel with giving their lives in that service.”

  Zulli finally looked over at August, wondering if he was implying what she thought he was.

  “It’s still yet to be understood if you or Sen are that kind of person. I wasn’t expecting you to be that person, and I don’t expect you to try and live up to it. But I wouldn’t have put you in that situation if I didn’t at least consider it.” August said.

  Zulli looked away from August again, and back to the ritual being performed. The gold ranker had quickly moved from one obelisk to another. Runes were inscribed in all of them, and the hooded man stood in the middle of the circle again. He placed down a small golden artifact in the circle and stepped out. Zulli couldn’t see exactly what the artifact was, but it resembled, to Zulli at least, a carriage just like the one August had created, only the size of a toy. When the gold ranker stepped out of the ritual circle, Zulli saw his eyes meet hers from under his hood. He looked at her as if she could see her face through her shadowy facade. Though his face was expressionless, Zulli felt his eyes looking directly into hers. He turned before his stare could be seen as anything but arbitrary and faced the ritual circle. The Magic Society assistants had all stopped their ministrations on their respective pieces of equipment, and the crowd quieted in response. The gold ranker’s voice echoed from all around as his aura washed over them.

  “Breaker fleet, Boiling winds. Within the narrow chasm a great loom detracts. Embarking legion, herald of raining thorns: Unravel.”

  Whoever had been inattentive to the gold ranker’s actions were either silenced by his voice or overpowered by his aura as he spoke his incantation. A temporary silence fell over the crowd before the obelisks began to hum with energy as the ritual circle, made in a chalk-like powder, brightened with a cold blue light. The golden artifact in the center of the circle dissolved from its top to bottom, leaving no trace behind. From the tip of each obelisk, forms began to materialize. It was difficult to realize at first, but as their golden shapes became more real, the crowd was audibly evoked once they realized the manifestations were chariots, floating in a surreal stillness atop each obelisk.

  Zulli was entranced by the spectacle. August was silent, seemingly unfazed, his eyes narrow as he studied the ritual being performed.

  The gold ranker raised a single hand in the air. For some time, he held his arm there before lowering it, resting it at his side once more. The sun had recently set, leaving barely any light left in the sky, but a faint shadow passed over part of the crowd. A figure came into sight, quite large, on the other side of the ritual circle. It flapped its large, feathered wings before landing on the ground with its four feet. It let out a constrained coo as it began to walk around the circle towards the gold ranker.

  “A gryphon.” August said, eyes wide, which was repeated several times over throughout the crowd. Zulli made a quick glance at August to witness his shock.

  As the gryphon neared the gold ranker, he put out his hand and the gryphon rested its head into it. It let out a hefty breath through the nostrils in its beak as it closed its eyes. When the gold ranker pulled away his hand, the gryphon opened its eyes and moved into the ritual circle, stepping over each one of the bright blue lines with dexterous diligence. It stopped in the epicenter, where the toy chariot recently sat, and was taken by the light of the ritual circle, emanating its own bright blue glow. Attached to the five now fully-manifested chariots floated atop the obelisks, their own gryphons began to form, created similarly from their own golden material, and still as statues.

  Once the gryphons had completely materialized, attached with reins to the chariots, a silence came over the crowd once more. The gryphon stepped carefully out of the ritual circle toward the gold ranker. The gold ranker bowed his head to the gryphon, and the great beast made no indication of response before taking a few gallant steps, flapping its wings and taking to the air, flying away. Then, the gold ranker’s voice resounded throughout the air again.

  “Extricate.”

  The golden chariots and their gryphons shimmered with an ethereal brilliance that didn’t quite seem real, and the gryphons animated, flapping their wings, taking off from their invisible roosts atop the obelisks. They flew away from the ritual circle and everyone watched silently in awe. Each of the chariots headed to different areas, flying high above the valley. Not much time passed before streams of golden light began to pour from each of the chariots, raining down onto the valley below. Dozens, if not hundreds of golden streams soon filled the vista, lighting up most of it, the golden spears a stark contrast to the dark silhouette of the forest.

  “Sen would have loved this.” Zulli said, watching the spectacle.

  “Indeed.” August remarked.

  The chariots had gotten so far in so little time as to have gone out of sight, and the streams of golden light had receded in turn.

  “I’m going to find something to eat.” Zulli said. “We won’t have to take watch, right? They have people here to do that? While we’re sleeping?”

  August looked at her for a moment. “You’re satisfied with my explanation?”

  “It’s as good of an explanation as I can hope for, I guess.” Zulli replied. “You believe in us.”

  “I-” August stammered. “I’ll come with you. This place isn’t like Vitesse.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Zulli said, and she hopped off the rock. August followed her, and they walked toward a couple temporary food stalls set up a little way away from the crowd.