Ben howled in pain. The ancestral wolf’s teeth - coated with venom - sank deep into his left arm, penetrating chain mail and flesh, and he felt a searing agony as the poison made contact with his bloodstream.

You were hit! Ancestral Wolf bites you for 17 piercing damage + 5 poison damage. You are poisoned. You will lose 5 HP for every 10 seconds for the next 60 seconds. You are confused. Some of your powers are unavailable until the effect of the poison wears off.

Ben howled again, this time from anger as he realized the truth of that last effect of the ancestral wolf’s attack: he tried to teleport away but found out he couldn’t concentrate enough to activate his Trickster power. Worse: the wolf - the alpha leader of the pack that attacked them - didn’t let go of Ben’s arm after its successful attack. The intelligent monster locked its jaw on the scout’s arm and started to pull him away.

Ben - who wasted his turn on the unsuccessful attempt at teleportation - found himself being dragged away from the clearing’s relative safety into the dense and shadowy woods.

“Going so soon?” Shouted Red. The Red Mercenary was wielding his sword in one hand and Breaker in the other. Two ancestral wolves lay dead at his feet, a third was trying to crawl away, while two others were circling the warrior, baring their venom-dripping teeth and trying to find an opening. The big man was slightly injured, but his bloody grin was as mad as always when he was in the thick of the fight.

Ben growled. He didn’t have the breath to spare to answer his companion - he had mere seconds before the large wolf dragged him into the darkness of the woods, and who knew what other monsters lurked in there. Still, despite his seemingly desperate situation, the Beacon wasn’t overly worried. His mind - confused as it was - was still functioning, and he realized that while he couldn’t use his ordinary powers, it didn’t mean there weren’t other powers and skills at his disposal. His weapons, after all, were not affected by the poison.

Ben tightened his grip on the bastard sword and activated its fourth effect: Ethereal Attack. He had found out early on that the legendary sword was extremely powerful, yet the level 13 ancestral wolf pack leader had one of the thickest hides he had ever encountered; up until now, Ben only managed to shave off 5 to 10 hit points with each successful attack, which was hardly enough to impede the large animal. Ethereal Attack was supposed to take care of that small problem.

The scout-turned-melee fighter watched as the sword shimmered and turned slightly translucent. He tried to ignore the pain from the wolf’s vicious bite - a little deeper and the beast would tear half his arm off - and plunged the now ethereal weapon as hard as he could into the pack leader’s side, aiming for where he hoped was the monster’s heart.

The sword slid inside the beast’s body as easily as if it was made of mud. The wolf immediately let go of Ben’s arm, trying to jump away from the cruel stab, but there was no escaping the attack from such a close range. Ben plunged the blade as deep as he could, which, considering the length of the hand-and-a-half sword, was pretty deep. He didn’t manage to reach the heart for a fatal blow, but the result was still devastating for his foe:

Critical hit! You hit Ancestral Wolf with 44 points of piercing damage + 12 points of air damage.

The attack took away half of the beast’s remaining health. It was the ancestral wolf’s turn to howl in extreme pain, but it wasn’t done for: instead of staggering back as Ben thought it would, the wolf launched an attack of its own, opening its jaw wide and using a unique power: Sonic Attack.

Invisible waves hit Ben full force, surprising him and pushing him off his feet. The scout fell back, losing 12 more hit points and landing heavily on the leaves-covered forest floor. He rolled to the side just in time to avoid the teeth of the snarling, wounded wolf, and managed to bring his sword in front of his body to protect himself from the second attack of the powerful animal.

The enraged ancestral wolf, however, was beyond being cautious: it leaped straight at the prone human, ignoring the blade and trying to finish its adversary by locking its jaws on the man’s exposed neck.

Ben was expecting it. His left arm blazed with pain, and he had to work hard to keep his cool as the snarling wolf dripped poisoned saliva on his face - but his right hand was still gripping his sword and was free to move. The scout smiled grimly and activated the weapon’s second effect: Clone Attack. This unique power enabled him to deliver exactly the amount of damage as the last attack used by the sword - and he’d been saving it for just such a moment.

And so it was that the sword - despite not being ethereal this time - easily penetrated the thick hide of the beast, cloning the previous successful critical attack and hitting the beast for another 56 points of damage.

The ancestral wolf made a final attempt to bite the human, but it was already too far gone. The life went out of its feral, green eyes, and it collapsed on top of Ben, dead.

Ben grunted and shoved the heavy body off himself before its weight could suffocate him. He quickly sat up and looked around for other enemies, but all he saw was Red, who stood over his latest slain foe and cleaned his blade on the wolf’s black fur. The mercenary smiled at his leader, who was soaked in the alpha wolf’s blood. “Had some good time with that beastie, didn’t you,” remarked the warrior and raised his eyebrows several times in what was obviously a lousy attempt of a rude joke.

Ben sighed. Red’s humor didn’t quite get to him as it used to before. Feeling the pain of the wolf’s poison in his bones, the scout activated his magical elven ring to replenish some of his health and got up to his feet. Making a quick count of the wolves’ bodies, he frowned. “Where are the others?”

Red walked over to him and knelt next to the body of the alpha wolf. “They ran away the moment you slew this one,” he said. “Probably went to seek another pack leader.” He sheathed his sword and drew a dagger instead. Before Ben could object, the warrior grabbed a fistful of the wolf’s fur with one hand and started slicing its flesh with the other.

Ben watched him with a kind of eerie fascination. “What are you doing?”

Red cut the wolf’s skin with efficient, strong motions. “Preparing us a meal,” he said simply. “We are constantly being attacked in this forest; we should get every advantage we can get.”

Ben nodded. “Good thinking,” he said, though when Red straightened and handed him the raw and bleeding piece of the wolf’s flesh, he suddenly wasn’t so sure.

Red noticed the look on his face and frowned. “I don’t like it either, but remember what happened when you ate the meat of the cave dragon. Getting some of this fellow’s traits is worth us getting some blood and gore in our mouths.”

Ben grimaced. Before he could second guess himself, the scout grabbed the bloody piece and took a bite, sinking his teeth into meat that belonged to a living creature less than a minute before.

It was one of the most gruesome experiences of his life. Blood - still slightly warm - filled his mouth, and he had to work hard to tear even a tiny chunk of the tough flesh. When he finally managed to swallow it - he somehow managed not to vomit - a prompt appeared in his vision:

You ate the meat of an Ancestral Wolf Pack Leader and receive the following boons: Constitution +1 (boon elapses in 6 hours) Poison resistance 10% (boon elapses in 6 hours) Chance to identify Ancestral Wolves: +1%

Ben spat the rest of the meat and cleaned the blood off his lips with the back of his hand, frowning at Red while doing so. “Not much of a boon,” he said.

Red, who was still chewing on his portion of wolf flesh and had blood all over his hand and chin, only shrugged. His dark eyes glittered as they stared into Ben’s, and the scout had the uneasy feeling that the mercenary was somehow testing him. Things weren’t the same between them ever since that conversation they had before entering the forest, and while Ben thought at first that he welcomed the change in their relationship, now he wasn’t so sure. It looked to him as if Red was trying to make a decision about him, and he disliked the feeling of being constantly under scrutiny.

The scout turned his back on the black-skinned warrior and the gruesome scene and went to find his backpack, which was still where he left it by his bedroll. He retrieved a flask of water, then sat on a nearby fallen log and took a long sip of refreshing water. He needed to rest, and think.

This battle with the ancestral wolves had been their third encounter since they began their trek through the forest two days past. Good to her word, Queen Talia let the two humans venture deep into the Ronadinian Forest and even pointed at the trail that would lead them to the Temple of Bree. She said not a word after the ominous conversation with Ben, simply watching them go with those too-good-to-be-purple eyes of her. The trail was too narrow and dense for horses, so Ben and Red had to leave their mounts with the elves - which, thought Ben, was only fair, considering that they had taken the animals from the elves in the first place.

The first hours of their journey were peaceful enough, but that first night, they were attacked by four Giant Eagles after they made their camp. It was an encounter that could have ended badly for both humans, were it not for Ben’s preemptive decision to scan the treetops with his Hawk-Eye before they went to sleep. He had spotted the large birds of prey watching them from the cover of trees and darkness - probably waiting for the adventurers to lower their guard - and devised a plan that included Sealth Shot, some shadow bolts, and a surprise attack by Red’s Breaker.

That last bit of the plan was particularly grisly: the eagle that landed on Red’s prone (and not sleeping) form screeched and then exploded in a shower of blood, flesh, and feathers when the mercenary punched its upper torso with his cruel golden knuckles. The rest of the battle was all swirling swords, floating feathers, and angry screeching until the two adventurers stood victorious over four massive bodies, or what remained of them. They did not sleep very well that night.

The next day was a long trek through the thick of the forest. The brush became more and more tangled, and the trail they were following was all but gone under the greenery - to the point where Red exploded with anger, using Breaker to punch a large hole through a fallen tree that blocked their path. “That bitch of a queen!” bellowed the mercenary. “Sent us on a ghost trail to nowhere!” He turned a fierce glare at his leader then. “I don’t think there’s a temple at the end of this non-existing path,” he hissed. “I think we’re walking straight into a monsters' den. After all, she only promised that her elves would leave us alone. She said nothing about the beasts of the forest.”

As if on cue, a deafening roar came from just over their heads - and their second forest encounter had begun. This time it was only one foe, but oh, what a foe. A level 12 Giant Bear it was, towering to a frightening height of 20 feet and weighing at least three tons if Ben had to guess. When standing up tall and motionless on its hind legs, the huge animal resembled one of the trees that surrounded them, and its clever camouflage was so good that even Ben didn’t see it until it was almost too late. The bear’s paw - three feet in size and with claws that were nearly as long as Ben’s sword - swept straight toward the young man’s head. That surprise attack would have probably decapitated him, but he managed to Pause the Game at the last possible moment and gained five precious seconds to evaluate their predicament.

When time resumed its course, the trickster managed to escape the killing blow by instantly teleporting away. He appeared on top of the bear’s neck, activated both his Air and Death shields, grabbed the bear’s fur to get a better hold, and started to rain down blows on the giant beast’s head with his bastard sword, screaming an unintelligible battle-cry as he did so. Meanwhile, Red used a new Power - Flurry of Blows - to keep the bear busy from below. Using their telepathic link, the two adventurers managed to coordinate the rest of their attacks, but it still took them several minutes - and nearly half of their healing potions - to put down the great beast. When it was done, trees in a forty-foot radius were torn and broken, and the two humans sat on the gigantic carcass, wounded and exhausted.

“Well,” said Ben, panting and pointing at where a large tree lay on its side. Where the uprooted tree was, a winding path was now clearly visible. “At least now we know what happened to our lost trail.”

Red followed his gesture and grunted. “Straight into a monsters' den,” he mumbled.

The rest of that day continued uneventfully, but when the morning of their third day in the forest rose, Ben woke to Red’s boot shoving him with urgency. He immediately jumped to his feet and drew his sword - and inhaled sharply when he saw the pack of large wolves that surrounded them, with venom dripping from their teeth. Monsters' den indeed.

But they survived.

If Ben had to guess, the main reason that they still stood on their feet when the last of the ancestral wolves ran away was the sheer resilience of Red. The warrior had leveled up to 10 after the battle with the Giant Bear, and he wasn’t shy about telling Ben of his choice of Essence. He chose the Essence of Body, of course, and with it received a unique power called Unyielding that enabled him to withstand blows that would have felled much larger creatures. That, with his Whirlwind, Shatter, Flurry of Blows, and Stun - all powers he had gained as he leveled up in his warrior profession - turned Red into a formidable melee adversary. Ben had let him face most of the primordial wolves alone, while he turned his attention to the leader of the pack - guessing that by finishing the alpha male, the rest would at least hesitate before pressing on the attack. Watching now as Red sliced another chunk of the large wolf’s flesh, Ben congratulated himself on a decision well made.

Don’t you also feel sorry for the loss of these lives? Those were sentient beings, you know.

Ben gasped. He jumped on his feet and looked around him, but all he could see was the forest. The trees seemed to stand closer together than they had before, and Ben suddenly had the clear impression that they were glaring at him.

Red immediately responded to Ben’s sudden jump, dropping his dagger and reaching for his sword. “What? What did you see?”

Ben swallowed and shook his head. “N-nothing,” he said slowly. “I thought I heard something, is all.” Were these my thoughts? Or someone else’s?

Red grunted. “Well, don’t start getting jumpy on me now.” The big man knelt to retrieve his dagger. He looked at the dead wolf, then shook his head in disgust and walked away to stand next to the scout. “You did well,” commented the mercenary. “Not a bad job with that sword. Especially for someone who only learned how to use it two days ago,” he added with a meaningful side-glance.

Ben ignored the innuendo. Red was trying to glean information about his secrets for the entirety of their journey, but Ben wasn’t ready to share anything yet. He remained silent, and after a few seconds, Red raised his hands in exasperation. “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” he muttered. “I get it; you won’t tell me anything about that sword. Fine. How about some other information, then?”

Ben’s brows did their little jig as he turned to look at his companion. “Such as?”

“Well,” said the merc, “how about a bit of a history lesson? We are getting closer to the temple, aren’t we? I think it’s about time you told me its story. All of that stuff you said to the elven queen about the Crystal and all. Sounds kind of important. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me, but my patience just ran out.”

Ben had the decency to blush a little. He realized that he had, indeed, kept vital information from his companion - knowledge that might prove essential when they reached the temple. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust Red - he did, to some degree - but rather simply because he hadn’t thought about it. His blush deepened when he further realized that a small part of him was beginning to think of Red as nothing more than a useful tool to help him reach his goals.

The scout nodded and gave the warrior a half-smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry. My mind was preoccupied with… other things.”

Red snorted in reply. “The burden of a leader,” he said, but Ben couldn’t be sure if he were serious or sarcastic.

The Beacon started to break camp - he had no intention of eating breakfast here, with all of these dead bodies lying around. As he did so, he began to talk. “Remember what I told you about Viridion’s Quest? About what he told me of the elves’ magical defenses?”

Red hefted his backpack over his shoulder. “By destroying the Power Crystal of Bree, we would also destroy the magic that protects the elves. With the spell gone, the elves won’t be able to prevent the human forces from infiltrating the forest and conquering their homeland. Or something as such.”

Ben nodded. “Yes. But Viridion only has it half right.” He looked around at the clearing to make sure they didn’t forget anything and started making his way back toward the trail. Red followed him, walking close so he could listen.

“The Crystal does indeed protect the elves,” said Ben. “It produces a huge area spell that envelopes the entire kingdom of Ronadin. The protection spell makes it extremely difficult for anyone with hostile intentions to freely walk to lands of the elves.” He ducked under a low branch and waited for Red to follow.

“What does it do?” asked the big man.

“It affects the mind,” said Ben as they resumed walking, “but it does so differently for each being. Some become afraid when they sense it and wish to turn back. Others become confused and turn their blades on their comrades. Others find themselves deeply enamored with the forest and lose all hostile intentions.”

Red coughed, and Ben smiled to himself. The warrior probably remembered how he succumbed to that last effect of the spell when they had first entered the forest. It was only after Queen Talia granted them safe passage that Red had managed to regain a hold on his senses.

“Anyway,” continued Ben, “what Viridion didn’t tell me is that the Crystal does more than protect the elves.” He paused for dramatic effect. “It also kills them.”

The drama had the desired effect: Red forgot to duck under another low branch and bumped his head. The mercenary cursed, sputtered, and finally managed a weak “what the fuck?”.

Ben chuckled. The trail started climbing up a steep slope, and he had to pull himself up using thick roots that protruded from the earth. Both men were strong and agile, so the climb went easy for them, and when they reached a plateau again, Ben hardly had to catch his breath before resuming his story. “The Crystal is an ancient device that the Engill created,” he explained. “It contains both a blessing - the spell of protection - and a curse: it prevents the elves from evolving into truly higher beings, as all elves must do. It restricts a vital part of their evolution, and, by doing it, it slowly kills them.”

The trail widened enough so both men could walk side by side. “I don’t understand,” said Red. “Why would the Engill do something so…” He searched for the right word. “Cruel? Blessing and cursing the elves at the same time?”

Ben nodded. “The legend tells that such was the Engill’s wisdom, that they wanted to teach the elves a lesson. It happened after the war with the humans, when Ronadin decided to detach itself from its twin city. The Engill said: ‘we shall help you defend against the foe you learned to hate, but we will also make sure you have to seek your foe’s help if you want your future generations to have a chance of life.’”

Red’s furrowed his eyebrows. “So… they need humans to help them destroy the Crystal?”

Ben smiled, slightly surprised that Red understood so quickly. “They cannot enter the Temple of Bree on their own. The Engill’s magic prevents it. Only humans can enter… and only a very certain human.”

Red stopped walking and put a big hand on Ben’s shoulder, turning him toward him. “You don’t mean that - “

Ben looked up at his companion, his green eyes shining with inner strength. “Yes. I am the one.”

Red started smiling, but when he saw that Ben’s expression remained solemn, the smile vanished. “How?...”

The scout’s gaze was intense. “I can’t tell you everything, but you already know that I have a unique connection to this world. I was... invited... to Raxlon’s Game for a reason. You can say that I’m a key part of the Quest we’re playing.”

Red opened his mouth, but Ben put his fingers on the man’s still bloody lips. The unexpected gesture took the big man totally by surprise, and his eyes widened. His chest heaved as he breathed hard with sudden emotion.

Ben kept his fingers on the other man’s lips, lengthening the intimate moment. Around them, the leaves on the trees rustled with a sudden burst of cold wind, but other than that, the forest was peaceful. “Don’t ask me anything else, Red,” said the scout quietly. “I told you everything I can.”

Red kept looking at Ben but didn’t respond. Ben slowly took away his hand and turned around, breaking both eye and body contact with the black-skinned man. He swallowed, wondering if what he just did was anything more than a cold, calculated act. Ever since Shiraz’s death, he kept his emotions - his real, deep emotions - hidden behind a high wall, but sometimes he found himself really feeling, and acting on these feelings. Was this such a case, or did he simply try to make Red enamored with him - the same as the big man had tried to do to him when they first met? Ben just didn’t know.

“You know,” said Red behind him. His voice was quiet as well, and somewhat husky. “That gesture you just made…” He cleared his throat. “Well, it reminded me of that time in the dungeon, after we killed the Ratkin. You and I went to loot the bodies, remember? And when we got back, Milenna had her finger on Shiraz’s lips…”

His voice died away, but Ben was touched; when he turned back to face the mercenary, the scout had a sad smile on his face. “I remember,” he said. “Shiraz actually looked embarrassed, but Milenna was her usual haughty self…” He sighed. These memories were fresh - it all happened only a few days ago - but he didn’t want to linger thinking of their joint adventures with the two gorgeous women. Thinking about it meant thinking of Shiraz, and that meant thinking about how he let the shadow mage die.

Red’s brows were furrowed again. “I wonder what happened to her.”

For a wild moment, Ben thought he was talking about Shiraz and was about to snap an angry retort - the red-haired woman was dead, they buried her together - but then he realized what the other man was actually saying. “Milenna?”

Red nodded. “The last I saw of her, she was running out of the Great Palace with Valla. She didn’t participate in the battle with the elves, so I figured she logged out…” He shrugged. “I kept expecting her to find us again when she logged back in, but I guess she had enough of this quest. Killing elves was not really her thing.”

Ben wondered about it himself and had reached the same conclusion. He had seen how the beautiful sorceress reacted when she learned of the ill-treatment the humans of Sonadin were giving the Ronadinian elves. Still, he found it strange that an experienced player such as Milenna would balk at a quest simply because it didn’t suit her agenda. Something about her disappearance didn’t sit well with him. “Well, who knows?” He finally said. “She might appear again. Maybe she just needed a few days to cool off.”

Red didn’t seem convinced. “Maybe. But you know what? I think that in this particular Quest, we’re better off without her.”

Ben frowned. He opened his mouth to tell the warrior how he completely disagreed with him - Milenna’s magical abilities could come extremely handy - but then thought better of it. Instead, he took a deep breath and resumed his march through the forest. “I’m interfacing,” he said over his shoulder, which was another way to tell the mercenary he needed some quiet time to go over his prompts.

Red grunted in response, and Ben brought up his character sheet to explore the advancements he had gained during the last couple of eventful days.

He quickly learned one hard truth: being a Second Echelon adventurer meant it was going to be much harder to gain character and skill levels. Despite besting numerous forest creatures - some of them of a higher level than him - he had managed to receive only 5,100 experience points. It wasn’t insignificant, but considering the 15,000 XP he had to gain to level up again, it meant he would have to fight many more enemies before he could reach his goals. I hope that completing Quests would be more beneficial in that regard, he mused.

His skills also showed little progress. Tactics went up by one point after his battle with the Giant Eagles, reaching a skill level of 19. He also managed to advance his new Bows skill, raising it from 4 to 5. The last skill that went up was Tracking, which he managed to increase to 13 after the long trek through the forest. Only three skills after three challenging encounters. Ben was dismayed - more so when he realized that he still didn’t get any Swords Skill Powers - but he resolved not to brood over that too much. He was alive and kicking despite Hayarok's best efforts to kill him, and that surely said something about his growing capabilities.

A few hours later, the two men crested another hill and moved out of the trees to stand on a narrow, windy ledge, watching a wide pear-shaped valley that spread below them. They stood quietly, their capes fluttering madly in the strong wind, looking down at the valley with their hands tight against the hilts of their swords.

In the center of the valley and leaning against a tall cliff stood a great and ancient structure, made of brilliant white stone. Massive columns supported it, covered by vines - as were most of the building’s walls. The structure spread 200 feet left and right and was as tall as the highest Sonadinian spire. It was also surrounded by a high white wall that, unlike the structure it protected, was untouched by even a single vine. Ben could sense the magic that radiated from that wall even from where he stood, and realized what it meant.

But it wasn’t the magic that made the two men tense and grab their swords. Standing in front of the protective wall were two giant and magnificent snakelike creatures. No, snakes wouldn’t be the right words for them. The green beasts were majestic, almost noble looking. They towered to a height of 15 feet, and while their green bodies indeed resembled that of a giant snake, their heads - enveloped by large spikes of numerous colors - were much larger than the regular reptilian and almost humanlike. They had big eyes, and every once in a while, their long forked tongues would snap out of their mouths to lick the air.

Ben remembered them. He had seen them in the vision of the old scout, and, in a way, he had encountered them before - only that they were smaller and less fearsome when that happened. He remembered what Queen Talia told his other self: “The Nagas will reappear… and when they do, they will have gained levels and experience. It will be much harder for you to destroy them the next time.”

Well, it seems she was right.

“We’re supposed to beat that?” Exclaimed Red.

Ben turned to look at his flustered companion and smiled confidently. “Of course,” he said and started to back away from the ledge, back toward the path that led down to the valley.

Red huffed and puffed. “How!” He cried out. “They must be at least level 15! One spell from them and we’re both dust!”

Ben’s mind was already racing with possibilities. “I killed them before; I can do it again,” he said, though he didn’t know if he was talking to himself or his companion.

“You - what?” Red nearly shouted. “What the fuck, man!”

Ben sighed. “Oh, just come on, Red. We’ll think of something. We always do.”

Red stammered and cursed but said nothing more, as the two brave adventurers made their way toward the infamous Temple of Bree and its legendary Naga Guardians.