Jarek slowly sips a glass of water, sitting on a crate at the edge of a circular communal space. Others are bringing their still unconscious comrades there for a healer to examine. Behind him, Liska remains unconscious, lying on a cloth-wrapped, bramble gurney.

"How are you feeling?" Ethan asks as he appears from a wall's shadow. He doesn't need to ask; he can feel the titanic headache originating from Jarek's battered soul.

Jarek glances at Ethan; he closes his eyes in pain, as if he were struck by a flashbang. "Like the day I escaped."

"What do you remember?" Ethan asks. He places himself next to Jarek to watch the gathering inhabitants of Haven Under.

"You did something to Liska with your … ritual that woke her up. Then she screamed, and I fell unconscious." Jarek finishes his drink and places the cup on the crate. "How did you do it?"

"Purge her from dark Ether? That's just Ether Manipulation. People here should train to rid themselves of it." Ethan extends his hand and expels the threads of dark Ether that invaded him during the fight.

"Not that," Jarek groans. "I heard stories of entire camps wiped out by that beast. But from what I heard, you two killed it like it was … normal. You didn't even get hurt. … It's been five years since I escaped, and I only leveled up twice. How did you get so strong?"

"I killed a lot of monsters and conquered some dungeons," Ethan answers. He glances at Jarek to see his dubious expression. "But I've learned that your mental state affects the results. Some people, like me, gained their first level killing a single, weak monster. Others struggle their entire lives, but if you change the way you approach growth, you'll see change. Thought it might be hard, seeing how dark Ether dulls your emotions."

"What do you mean?" Jarek asks.

"Look at them," Ethan says, motioning at the gathering. "Everyone is calmly waiting for the competent members of your society to help them. There are no impatient wounded annoyed at not being treated first, and none of the solitary children cry for their parents to find them. Everyone is acting pragmatically, and I only sense the vague unease I've been getting since we arrived. The event is behind them."

"Yeah, that's … normal?" Jarek asks.

"You wouldn't know," Ethan says. He glances at Liska. "You should ask her when she wakes up. It will take a long time for the ambient dark Ether to reinvade her."

"Could you do it for me too?" Jarek asks.

"The fight tired me. I'll need some time before I can do it again," Ethan lies. He will not risk Jarek losing his analytical mind and telling everyone Ethan called the beast here.

"I wonder if that's what's different with the boss and his underlings," Jarek comments to himself.

"Go on," Ethan probes.

Jarek sighs. "When the boss arrived, he didn't even speak our language, and people who could use Insight said he was level four. But in a few weeks, he became the strongest person here, killing monsters like pests. Then he took command. He taught us how to better defend ourselves, how to sneak in the forest, and how to heal our wounded. But I could see how annoyed he was at the time it took. He selected a few of us – capable young people – and focused on them. These guys made progress my team and I couldn't dream of."

Ethan guessed that their boss might be from Earth, but it is his opportunity to ask more pointed questions. "What did they say his name was?"

"Lucian Aït Rahmad," Jarek answers, unable to properly pronounce the syllables.

Ethan's heart skips a beat. He calms himself and focuses on Jarek as he asks his next question. "An authoritative, giant Black man with too much muscle? And when I say giant, I mean two-twenty."

"Yeah," Jarek answers, dubious. "Do you know him? You look like you do."

"When you said he was away, you looked worried. Why?" Ethan asks.

"He should be back by now; his group was expected to return three days ago," Jarek answers.

Azriah enters the public space, her attire clean of the monster guts. A small crowd of young people follows her, asking questions about her, her powers, the fight, and Ethan. She smiles as she answers them, but Ethan doesn't have to spy on her non-existent soul to know she's distraught by the attention.

"Not a word to her," Ethan commands in a whisper. He concluded that she isn't with the city, but the fact that she can keep up with him makes her dangerous enough to stay cautious.

"Sure," Jarek whispers back.

Azriah joins them and glances at Liska before placing herself next to Ethan.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Where is your monster?" one of Aziah's admirers asks Ethan.

"In my shadow," Ethan answers.

"Can we see it?"

"Him," Ethan corrects. 'Russ, meet.'

Russ jumps out of Ethan's shadow at his normal size and sits down in front of the crowd to receive a tsunami of pets. His tail wags happily as he basks in attention and admiration, ignoring the few scared people at the back of the crowd.

"How did you get him so well-behaved?" Azriah asks. "I heard of bonded monsters before, but never one you could throw in a crowd of children and expect them to live. Even in Valoria, you can't approach their griffins without training."

"Years of education," Ethan answers. "Getting him acclimated to people took a long time. He even bit a few."

"You say that like it's normal," Azriah pushes. "What's his obedience?"

"Ninety-something," Ethan answers, keeping his attention on Russ in case of an accident.

Azriah turns to Russ, and Ethan feels a wave of Ether coming from her.

'Shadow,' Ethan orders, and Russ vanishes into the crowd's.

A window appears before Azriah, showing one of the kids' statuses.

"We already established that we are both hiding our true statuses," Ethan states. Revealing that he had a way to cure the curse of monstrosity is out of the question in a place that may be subject to it. "Trying to pry any more information on the other is not only rude, but also provocative."

"Sorry," Azriah says. She sits on the crate as the young people disband, called by others who need helping hands. "What are we doing now? We could wait for their boss to come back so we can learn more about this place."

"You throw that 'we' around too lightly," Ethan comments. He needs to find Lucian and would rather not have to deal with her questions when he does. "Jarek said their boss should be back by now. I'll go check on him; you should stay here and make sure there is still a camp to come back to."

"Are you trying to ditch me?" Azriah asks, a hint of anger mingling with her voice.

"You took a big hit; I'll be back before you've had time to heal," Ethan argues.

"You may think you are stronger than me, but it gives you no right to–" She stops herself. It sounded too personal to be directed at Ethan. "I'll be going anyway. If you want to travel alone, that's your decision."

"You are too trusting," Ethan shoots back.

"But we fought together," Azriah retorts, almost offended.

"So?" Ethan asks.

"We entrusted the other with our life on the battlefield. Isn't that enough?" She seems genuinely puzzled.

"Can you two shut up?" Jarek scolds. He rubs his temple, pained by his headache. "If you want to know where the boss went, you should check his map room. His men talked about it; it's on the upper floor of his home."

As Ethan pushes open the door to the biggest house, Russ shoots out of his shadow. He sniffs the ground, rushing into the building as if searching for a hidden training toy.

'We'll find him soon,' Ethan promises Russ. He climbs the stairs to the upper floor, watching for booby traps. At the top of the stairs, they enter a vast room filled with gear and supplies.

Azriah finds a lamp on the center table and twists a dial on it, causing a spark to light it. The light reveals hand-drawn maps laid on the table and notes affixed on boards at the room's edge. She looks at the center table, scanning the papers. "I don't know this language."

Annotations in English dot the map. It is centered on Haven Under and spreads far in every direction but the city's.

Ethan taps his finger on a carved statuette of a humanoid winged lizard placed at one of the map's ends. "At least he left some universal messages. I'm guessing this one represents their destination."

Azriah picks up the statuette Ethan looks at – a small flag on a round base. "I don't get it. What does it mean?"

Ethan digs into Maelor's memories to try to find the local use of flags but fails to find one. "It's for horse racing. When the winner reaches the finish line, a judge raises it. It's a goal, an objective. Where did you say you came from again?"

Azriah places it back down exactly where she picked it up from. "I never saw a horse race. Are they popular?"

"Depends on where you are," Ethan retorts. He glances at the map again and estimates, based on the city position, that Lucian is a hundred kilometers south. Landmarks are indicated in English; Ethan memorizes them to plot his course through the forest. "With how fast you moved before we met, we should be able to make it by tomorrow morning."

"See, you are using 'we' too," Azriah quips.

"You've made it clear that trying to get rid of you is out of the question. And I'd rather know where you are if we are going the same direction." Ethan scans the rest of the map, reading the various annotations. 'He found a few temples, mines, and less corrupt hunting grounds. The rivers around here flow east, but he didn't find a shore. Those are supply dumps he set up. And that's a lot of monster nests; it's a miracle people as weak as Jarek can survive here.'

"Are you reading?" Azriah asks.

"No, I'm looking at the symbols. There are a few spots marked with the sigils of the gods, but I'm not seeing any for Seraphel; that region would need a bit of light." Ethan points at them.

"It would have been in the city, not outside," Azriah comments. "Now that I think of it, I haven't seen any place of worship in the camp."

"Neither did I in the city. And I didn't feel any Priest, Paladin, or such amongst the survivors," Ethan adds. He recalls the master of Ascension mentioning that the place was shielded from his sight. Maybe it is protected from any spying god and therefore abandoned. "But I did find a small, abandoned shrine to Kaliathra where I exited the Realm of Ascension."

"Some of the kids that were following me are yet to unlock their first class. If we could get Sylphira's attention, and if this sigil is a shrine or temple, we could spread her influence. It would give them better sources of food and help them heal." Azriah deflates as she sees Ethan's dubious expression. "Too ambitious?"

"You should at least bring your idea to their boss. Maybe he's already trying something like that, seeing as he mapped so many of them." Ethan doubts that Lucian would have the necessary knowledge. He's more likely seeking a way out of these lands.

"Yeah," Azriah says, reinvigorated. She points at the crates left at the room's edge, filled with odorant, wrapped smoked meat. "You should put a lot of these supplies in your Inventory. Their boss and his group might be out if they planned to be back by now."

'Doubt it,' Ethan thinks, knowing that Lucian would always plan to be stuck on the field for far longer than planned. He approaches and lifts the entire crate to absorb it into his Inventory. "I've seen a few barrels of water in the camp; we should take some for us too. You don't look like you've much on you."

"Good idea," Azriah says. She twists the dial on the lantern, plunging the room into darkness.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.