"You should go to and hang out with your friends Nicky." The pale girl leaned back against her pillows, her loud breathing seemed weak and raspy.

"As your older brother, I demand an explanation." Nick Phire pointed to the flowers on the nightstand. "Did you pick up a suitor?"

The young woman laughed, her gaunt and pale face turning beautiful for an instant. "Didn't you see the line outside?" Her words turned into a coughing fit, her older brother left his chair to pour her some water. "Don't bother Nicky."

The last words were only a whisper, barely heard over the clinking of ice water being poured. "Why not?"

"I'm already dead."

Nix's eyes opened slowly, the dream didn't bother him. Even though the reality had been brutally harsh, he was content that she was still present in his dreams.

********

He got dressed quickly and left the room. On Hyai's recommendation, he had decided to take a look around Espana. It was a continent in the central part of Colonial that was bordered by Wisteria and Phelinomia. It was comprised of dozens of island chains and archipelagos of different sizes.

The price to take the portal to Espana was 75 credits, Nix paid with a grimace. The time difference was only two hours, so it was midmorning when he stepped off the platform. On Hyai's advice, he had picked up more cans. She told him of a spot on a small Espana island called Vesu. There were large fish called Malu that would come to the surface to feed. This was a great place to raise your marksmanship skill. Hyai had offered him 3 thousand credits to bring back a hundred cans of the Malu fish. He didn't need the credits, but Hyai relied on hunters to continually change the Inn menu. He had already sold her 50 cans of turtle meat.

The Espana platform was literally out in the middle of nowhere. There were a few palm trees and nothing else. Travel to the nearest city would require you to island-hop for half a day. Before mid-day, you could walk from island to island if you didn't mind getting your feet wet. After that, you could hire a skiff that would transport you for a few credits.

He found Vesu easily enough, and the small rock outcropping overlooking the shallows was exactly as Hyai had described.

Nix found a comfortable position on the rocks and took a moment to enjoy the white sands and aquamarine color of the ocean. "Lovely... time to kill shit."

The Malu head's looked like blue basketballs from his position, they lay peacefully in the morning sun, gorging themselves.

Nix fired three times before he hit one, they were one-shot kills that gave almost no XP. They made great targets and supposedly they tasted great.

He spent the morning shooting the giant fish. Like turtles, the fish could be skinned. After every ten deaths, he would gather them up. He checked his stats and was pleasantly surprised to see that his rifle skill had increased. His strength and stamina had also gone up, more than likely it was a result of constantly playing tug-of-war with his flame strands.

He sat back on the rocks, taking a break and eating the lunch that Hyai had left for him. The warm sun and gentle ocean breeze made napping a real temptation. Instead of giving in he resumed his shooting position and took aim at the water. "What the..."

There was no longer a single fish in sight, Nix stood and shielded his eyes against the reflection, a moment later something slammed into his side, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth told him that he had been injured. He hunched over in the shallows, holding his ribs.

The creature stared at him through pale alien eyes. Its short white hair stood straight up over seashell-shaped ears, an Aquarian. It carried a huge blue hammer in both hands, short fangs made it look more animal than humanoid.

Nix raised both his hands and two flame strands shot out. One landed around an arm and the other around its neck. The creature gave out a silent scream and fell backward into the water. Nix braced himself but was still dragged forward. The pain in his ribs took his breath as he struggled to hold onto the strands. The Aquarian was in even worse shape, it had dropped its weapon and was trying to pry loose the flame strand from his neck.

It clutched desperately at its neck, a moment later both he and Nix vanished from Vesu.

Both flame strands broke when they ported, having dropped his rifle in the ocean, Nix shot another flame strand at the creature, capturing it around one leg. With his free hand, he pulled his whip and lashed it at the Aquarian. He already knew that damage from his flame strands made water creatures susceptible to other damage. However, it was a low-quality whip and didn't do much.

The Aquarian struggled in vain while Nix held it with one hand and whipped it with the other. This part of the fight took several minutes but finally, the Aquarian fell, Nix immediately went up a level.

He collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. Wounds and health would gradually recover over time if you didn't carry potions in Colonial. Nix quickly checked his stats.

Nix [Serious Wound-4 hour recovery]

Level 27

Strength 44

Endurance 50

Intelligence 25

Dexterity 25

Perception 25

Cold Resistance 90

Fire Resistance 100 [Burning Aura]

Weapon Skills:

Rifle 82

Whip 32

Support Skill:

Flame Strands 0

Skills:

Hunter 100

Leather Making 100

Tailor 100

"Damn..." Nix swore in the dim light, just realizing that he was in a cave of some sort. Looking around it appeared to be a few hundred meters in diameter. It was mostly filled with water, but there was a large sandy beach with a small hut on it. There were at least a dozen lanterns eerily hanging in the air. The pale blue light they gave off reminded Nix of their alien eyes.

He walked around the perimeter of the cave but didn't find an obvious exit. "Am I going to have to kill myself to leave this place?"

A second trip around yielded the same result. He walked toward the hut, deciding to at least check its contents. Bitter disappointment showed on his face, it was completely empty except for a comfortable looking bed and a small fireplace.

"Has to be an underwater exit." He dived into the water, right away he surfaced. "F*ck!" Nix took a deep breath and dived again. The cold water was a surprise, but more than that, it was fresh water. He searched for an underground exit through a waterway, but he could find none. It appeared to be a lake with no means of escape.

"Wait a sec... that bastard ported us here." He looked around and spotted the Aquarian corpse floating near the beach. He grabbed it by the wrist and pulled it out of the water. A quick search found two items, a ring, and a bracelet.

Water Mage

Ring: Heroic

All Water-based

abilities are greatly

enhanced.

"Okay, that's useless for me."

Deep Blue

Bracelet: Heroic

Description: This bracelet

acts as a portal key. You

may store up to four locations

for instant travel.

Slot: Lake Cavern

Slot: Binding point

Slot: City of Mermaids

Slot: Empty

Nix slipped on the bracelet.

[Lake Cavern may not be changed]

[Copying your binding point to Deep Blue.]

[Do you wish to erase City of Mermaids?]

"Hmm... No, not yet." Nix decided to research the City of Mermaids before getting rid of it. At any rate, the binding point port would save him the credits he paid to return home.

Looking around, he tried to figure out why an Aquarion would bind here. "Was he an outlaw? Perhaps on the run from someone?"

Nix walked down the beach toward the hut. Smiling to himself, he removed all the turtle eggs from his inventory and sat them on the sand. "Don't think you've escaped me, I might come back to eat you once you've hatched."

Laughing to himself he entered the hut and took a seat on the bed. He looked at the ring still clutched in his hand. It was a plain silver ring with a blue stone. He slipped it on and laid down on the bed. "Once I recover, I'll head to Jenzi to check on the boutique."

He fell asleep almost immediately, perhaps because of his lack of sleep from the night before coupled with his injury. When he finally awoke, his hud notified him he had been sleeping for six hours. He rolled out of the bed and stretched.

"Good as new." His hud now had a personal portal icon, he activated it and chose his binding point.