As they left the chaotic mess behind them, the Chosen One headed towards the Royal Bestiary. Qube’s mental map of Cobbletown updated as they ran, noting the way that the streets seemed to curve in on each other, giving the illusion that the city was bigger than it really was. And, in the middle, ever present, the castle loomed.

The Chosen One grabbed his backpack off of his shoulder, rummaged around in it, and pulled out a pair of wings. Slapping them onto his back, he jumped. Qube expected the wings to burst out, and for him to take glorious flight. Instead, the wings dropped to the ground, and he stumbled as he landed awkwardly.

“Oh, come on!” the Chosen One shouted, pivoting and scooping the wings up. “Seriously?”

“Why aren’t they working?” Qube asked, worriedly.

“Oh, they won’t let you use them in towns, probably,” the Chosen One said disgruntledly. “I don’t know why, though.”

“As a safety feature?” Qube pondered.

“Blergh, probably,” the Chosen One said. “There’s probably some kind of smart reason, but I don’t know it.”

There must be some kind of safety reasoning behind it, Qube thought. Something that they had built into the wings themselves. Possibly some kind of enchantment that deactivated the wings when they entered Cobbletown but reactivated when they left? She would have to look for rune markers when they set out for the next Temple.

The more she learned about the world, the more she realised just how wonderfully complex it was. It was so much more than she ever could have possibly imagined back when she’d been in the village. How different her life would have been if her Chosen One hadn’t been Chosen! Sure, she would have insisted on joining whichever of the others was Chosen, but it wouldn’t have been the same.

Would the other Potentials come and join them in Cobbletown once one of her letters managed to get back to them? At first they would probably be too busy rebuilding all the houses the Evil Emperor had destroyed, but maybe afterwards…

A part of her felt a twinge of protectiveness. This was, after all, their Golden Prophecy-ordained quest. The others probably weren’t even special enough to get the devs’ attention. She ruthlessly stamped down that moment of jealousy, using her confidence in her importance to the success of their quest to lock it back up inside her.

So busy was she in her mental control that she nearly ran into the Chosen One’s back as he stopped at the Royal Bestiary. He was standing in front of the Beast Keeper’s table, ignoring all the other merchants loudly hawking their various animal-related wares.

The Beast Keeper looked at him sourly.

The Chosen One gave him a not very nice smile, and slapped down the medallion given to them by Zakora. The Beast Keeper looked down at it and, for a second, his muscles violently twitched, as if he was fighting against himself. Then, with a shudder, his face snapped into a look of semi-approval.

“Looks like you’re worth something, after all,” he said in gravelly tones. “That there is a royal order.”

“Yeah, I know,” the Chosen One replied smugly.

“Which means you get a special mount,” the Beast Keeper continued as if the Chosen One hadn’t spoken.

“Aw, yes!” The Chosen One pumped a fist in the air.

“Follow me,” the Beast Keeper said, abruptly turning and leaving his table (with all its wares) out in the open as he ambled into the Royal Stables. Qube glanced around, but there were no city guards watching over the now-abandoned goods. But the other merchants were all looking at them. They must keep an eye out on each other’s stalls for them if they had to go for a break, she thought approvingly. It was like its own little community!

All of which she promptly forgot about once she entered the Royal Stables. As she stepped through the wide wooden swinging doors, several sensations hit her at once. The first was visual: there were easily half a dozen different animals in their own stalls, each wildly unlike the one next to it. The second was aural: the noise was intense. From a horse continuously neighing and whining, to a roaring sound from the back stall, it was an overall cacophony of animal sounds that had somehow been blocked by the doors. The third was smell. It was atrocious. Too many animals together created a strange brew of odours that hit the party like a wall.

The Chosen One covered his nose.

“Why would they make it so strong?” he asked, facing the Beast Keeper. The Beast Keeper just looked confused.

Then Squiggles entered the Royal Stables.

The closest creature, a beautiful grey horse, reared back and screamed. Squiggles raised herself up on her tentacles, and opened her mouth threateningly. The Beast Keeper swung around, and glared at the other party members.

“Nothing disturbs my animals!” he growled fiercely. “Get out of here!”

The Chosen One looked surprised, but shooed the group out. Qube stood there for a second, secure in her invisibility, but he kept shooing at her until she turned and left.

Qube, feeling oddly offended, followed the others.

“That was most intriguing,” Definitely Bad Guy said, stroking his chin.

Squiggles, deeply disturbed, climbed up Qube, and clamped her tentacles around Qube’s head.

“Don’t worry, my baby,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady cooed, reaching out and stroking Squiggles’s back. Squiggles arched in pleasure, narrowing her little black eyes. “We didn’t want you around those big, nasty animals, anyway.”

“She’s right, Lady Squiggles,” Sewer Bard said, adding chin scratching to Sexy Screamy Spider Lady’s patting. “One as delicate as you shouldn’t be subjected to such crude environments.”

Squiggles hissed, her tentacles tightening in ecstasy at the double pats. Qube felt like her head was going to pop, but she wasn’t about to deny Squiggles such joy for a little thing like her need to breathe. Instead, she lifted a hand up and started patting one of the tentacles around her neck, trying to a) soothe Squiggles and b) get her to loosen her grip just a little.

Eventually, under the combined pats of her three favourite people, Squiggles released Qube and slorped onto Sewer Bard’s shoulder, hooking a tentacle around Sexy Screamy Spider Lady and drawing her close. As Qube looked at the three of them cuddling, she felt her heart throb. They were like a perfect little family.

“Check it out!” she heard the Chosen One shout, as he burst out the Royal Stables on his new steed.

Which was a Prophecy Cursed dragon!

“By the Words!” Qube exclaimed. The others scrambled out of the way as the Chosen One, clinging to a tiny harness, crashed about on his new mount.

After a few seconds of shock, Qube realised that the giant creature was not actually a full dragon, but rather a wyvern. Smaller, less intelligent, and with only two legs, it looked like it was in perpetual danger of falling on its face, saved only by the balancing of its tail and the bobbing of its head, for all the world like a giant lizard-chicken.

Which, given what Qube now knew about the makeup of half the devs, did not help her feel less terrified of it bearing down on her.

“Down, Scaley-waley!” the Chosen One ordered. “Down!”

The wyvern thrashed its tail, sending the Beast Keeper’s goods flying, but stopped trying to climb over everything.

“Check it out,” the Chosen One said from atop his terrifying steed. “It’s kinda hard to control, though.” He pulled on the reins, leading the wyvern towards the exit. “Let’s go see what we can mess up with this thing.”

The wyvern stopped once they reached the exit to the Royal Bestiary.

“You’re not allowed to ride around in the city,” the Beast Keeper said from the ruins of his table. “Only on the plains.”

“Boo,” the Chosen One said, but reached up and grabbed a gem on a necklace he hadn’t been wearing before.

The wyvern disappeared, dropping the Chosen One onto the ground. With a shrug, he exited the Royal Bestiary.

At which point Qube lost her ever-loving mind.

“Wait, where did the wyvern go?” she asked, trying not to panic. Giant animals didn’t just suddenly up and disappear. Especially ones as dangerous as a wyvern.

“I unsummoned it,” the Chosen One replied nonchalantly. Then he noticed her facial expression. “Um,” he said.

“A summoned creature? Summoned from where? It didn’t look like a mana beast!” Qube had heard of summons before, shaped from mana itself. Generally swords or some such, which were insubstantial to the touch of all save the wielder but could do magical damage, or shadowy creatures that could travel through anything and pass on messages. She’d never known one that could appear as physically real, capable of carrying someone!

“No, it’s real,” the Chosen One stepped back into the Royal Bestiary and touched his necklace. The wyvern reappeared, the Chosen One in place on its back. “Go on, pat it. Scaley-waley, behave,” he told his mount. It ducked its head, allowing Qube to tentatively reach out and gently touch its snout. It snorted at her, and bared its teeth.

Then Squiggles attacked it.

She launched herself at the wyvern, which reared back, swiping its massive claws at the sharktopus.

“Squiggles, no!” Qube cried, reaching out and grabbing at her pet.

“Scaley-waley, down!” The Chosen One grabbed at the reins, desperately trying to control his mount.

Squiggles latched onto Scaley-waley’s face, biting at the top of its head. The wyvern whipped its arrow-pointed tail, driving it into Squiggles’s side. Squiggles widened her mouth, sinking in multiple rows of teeth as her tentacles tried to jam themselves into Scaley-waley’s jaw. The wyvern hopped on one foot, using the other claw to grasp at some of Squiggles’s tentacles and attempt to rip them apart.

“[Lesser Shield]! [Lesser Shield]! Stop it, the pair of you!” Qube didn’t know whom she was supposed to protect, so she shielded both of them, making them invulnerable to each other. The Chosen One grabbed at his necklace, causing the wyvern to disappear.

Squiggles, now the sole fighter in the field, started speedily slorping around the grounds, hunting her opponent.

“Squiggles!” Qube said, nearly in tears as she grabbed the sharktopus and attempted to lift her up and cuddle her. “Squiggles you can’t just attack things like that! That’s the Chosen One’s steed! It’s our friend!”

Squiggles huffed, still bleeding black blood.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, darling. [Lesser Heal],” Qube said, watching her mana sink into her pet. Sewer Bard and Sexy Screamy Spider were at her side, both of them holding the agitated sharktopus.

“My fair Healer, Lady Squiggles, are you both safe?” Sewer Bard asked, with an uncharacteristic amount of agitation.

“I just don’t understand why she attacked like that!” Qube sniffled. Sexy Screamy Spider Lady ran a claw through Qube’s hair.

“She probably thought that beast was going to bite you,” the Hunter said soothingly.

Sewer Bard nodded, as he strummed a few notes on his lute. Green mana wrapped around the group, and Qube felt herself relax.

“It is only natural,” he agreed. “She would want to protect her mother.”

“Her mother?” Qube echoed, looking down at the sharktopus. Squiggles looked back up at her, her little black doll eyes shining.

“But Scaley-waley probably couldn’t even see me,” Qube protested half-heartedly.

“Hey, are you all right?” The Chosen One approached the huddle. Behind him, Definitely Bad Guy was simply standing there, watching.

Squiggles, now completely calm, waved a few tentacles at the Hero in greeting.

“I’m fine, Chosen One,” Qube said. “As is Squiggles. Aren’t you, girl?” Squiggles started dancing. “Where did Scaley-waley go? They looked like they needed a [Heal].”

“Oh, probably teleported back to the stables,” the Chosen One said. “I probably summon it from there and it goes back when unsummoned. They would know how to take care of it there. Probably.”

“Oh, that makes sense!” Qube said, smiling in relief. The necklace was just a simple teleportation stone, capable of moving a multi-ton beast anywhere in a split second. That was normal magic.

“Total sense,” the Chosen One agreed, sounding rather amused. “Now, let’s go to the creepy guy’s house.” He jerked a thumb at the Mage.

Definitely Bad Guy scowled.