At Ravyn’s suggestion, Tristan came to a middle ground decision in spending his remaining Stat and Skill points. Regardless of whether he was to become a [Sorcerer] or [Wizard], [Magic] was going to be important. With that in mind, of the 20 points he had, he threw 8 of them into [Magic] and threw 2 of them into [Vitality]. The other 10 points would be spent depending on which Class he chose.

Turned out [Mage] also only had four Skills to start. With [Fire Ball] being Tristan’s only option for attacking, Ravyn insisted he max it and get a single point into each other Spell to see which of the Skills and fighting styles he liked most.

“[Myana Focus] is great!” Cannoli said with encouragement. “Even with just the one level I have of it, I feel such an improvement!”

“Thank you, Cannoli!” said Tristan.

“Don’t forget about [Invigorate] either. [Invigorate] will strengthen an ally. Like this.” Ravyn turned to me and held her palm out. “[Invigorate]!”

A golden-brown light swept over Ravyn’s hand, and moments like the same light outlined my body for a few seconds. When it faded I felt a bit more spring in my step. I pumped my bicep a few times, and found it significantly lighter. It felt as if the axe in my hand had lost half of its weight.

“Holy shit,” I said wide-eyed. “Why haven’t you ever used that before?”

“When was your [Strength] ever an issue?”

I was falling into her traps again. “So what does [Invigorate] do exactly?”

Ravyn smiled. “Asking the proper questions. I’m proud of you, Matt.”

Is she being sarcastic? I can never tell with her.

“It strengthens the receiver’s highest Stat. In this case, it’s Matt’s [Strength].” Ravyn pointed to me as if she were displaying me on some TV infomercial.

“Cool,” Tristan cooed.

“Still though, why never use it on Keke or Cannoli then?” This honestly bothered me. She had what sounded like a strong support spell, but we’d never seen it? Why not?

“It’s exhausting among a slew of other issues. My Spells cost a ton of [Myana]. I can’t afford to spend it frivolously,” Ravyn explained.

I guess this conversation is over. Well, she’s the [Sorcerer], so what do I know?

“Hey, this means Tristan can summon a friend like you and Cannoli now, right?” Keke asked with a small smile. “What kinds of Encroachers do you like, Tristan?”

“Encroachers?” he asked.

“Animals in our world,” I assisted. “They call them Encroachers here. You’ve heard of Defiled, but not Encroachers?”

A little strange to leave that out.

“Haha, they might have mentioned it,” Tristan said, nervously scratching the back of his head, “but it’s possible I wasn’t paying attention. That was a long time ago, and I uh,” he stopped for a moment as his face turned pink, “had a lot of girls on my mind at the time.”

My kin.

“So?” Keke said, getting closer to Tristan. “Tell us! What, erm, animals do you like?”

“Oh, um, hmm. I really like birds!” Tristan’s claim decorated Ravyn’s cheeks ever so slightly with a hue of red. “Oh, and lizards!”

Cannoli gasped. “Do you like blazards?”

Tristan tilted his head in confusion.

Cannoli demonstrated by reaching down her shirt to pull Buttons out. “He’s a little sleepy, but this is Buttons!”

Buttons squinted at the sudden light in the palm of Cannoli’s hand. Cannoli’s scaly friend coughed, and a puff of black smoke shot out from his reptilian mouth and into Tristan’s face.

“Young Master!” Ara cried out with a gasp. “Are you okay?”

Tristan coughed and waved the smoke away from his face. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Really. Come on, Ara, don’t look at me like that. Really, it’s fine!”

Ara sighed. “Perhaps Buttons should be trained.”

Cannoli pouted. “He is trained! He’s just sleepy. Aren’t you, Buttons? Mommy’s sorry for waking you. Back in you go.” Cannoli poked and prodded Buttons, and the little lizard disappeared through Cannoli’s sleeve.

“Buttons is cool!” Tristan said after going through a few more coughs. “But gosh. An animal companion? Err, Encroacher companion. Hmm.” He thought for some time, each of the girls eagerly awaiting his answer. “Probably a cat!”

This smooth motherfucker.

“I knew all sorts of cats back where I came from.” Tristan looked up as if recollecting a fond memory. Then his expression became complex. Did he recall something upsetting? “Saw them a lot.”

“Then, a feline companion!” Cannoli said with her hands clasped together.

“How does this work?”

“Like any other Spell,” said Ravyn. Just as Tristan was about to recite the spell, Ravyn continued, “However, you must have a picture in your head of what this companion looks like. Make it a good one because you won’t be able to summon another one without extensive knowledge of other types of Encroachers.”

“Sounds technical,” said Keke.

“Welcome to magic,” said Ravyn.

Cannoli nodded as if understanding, though I wondered just where her pool of knowledge started and ended being an [Acolyte]. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d summoned Buttons. We’d found him for sale in a damn spice shop.

“Young Master—”

“It’ll need a name too,” Ravyn practically jumped at the chance to silence Ara.

“Need a name too… hmm. Got it! Okay, I’m ready!”

Ravyn nodded, observing him. Her attention to detail and willingness to help was quite unlike the Ravyn I first met. This Ravyn seemed to revel in the role of a teacher. She would reply to Tristan’s questions without issue, giving him informative and thorough answers. It was nice to see her capable of something other than dissatisfaction.

A teacher, huh?

The image of Ravyn in a short office uniform and bright red high heels surfaced. With a single raised brow, she tapped a riding crop against her open palm. “Looks like you’ll need to stay for detention, young man.”

The thought of doing anything remotely intimate with her was quickly dashed away by an array of bright lights materializing in front of Tristan. His eyes were shut, presumably to think of his new familiar companion. Moments later, the glow faded, and a magic circle with foreign symbols and shapes appeared. The circle steadily shrank, leaving the vague outline of a cat in its wake.

“You’re almost there,” said Ravyn, “maintain your focus.”

Tristan grunted, and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his head. He kept his palm held out, just as Ravyn had shown him. Ravyn continued to observe, tapping at the end of her elbow with bated breath.

The circle at last vanished, and a short pop followed. There, standing before us, was a cat just like the ones I used to see back on Earth. Its coat was silvery-white, with dark ears and a dark face.

“Aha. A Siamese,” I said aloud.

“A what?” Ara asked.

“Oh wow, it’s really a Siamese cat!” Tristan exclaimed.

“Baka!” came Ravyn’s voice. “Name it! Quickly!”

“Oh, right! Sorry! To the familiar I have summoned, hear me! Henceforth, you shall be named Dest—Desiree!”

Each of us frowned at the name but said nothing. The Siamese cat walked in a circle with pride, sticking its nose up in the air. With nimble maneuvers, it hopped toward Tristan once, twice, then made a third jump into his arms.

“Hahaha! Well, hello there, Desiree!” Tristan said with a big goofy grin. Desiree prowled around his chest with indifference, stopped to lick its paw, then used that same tongue to lick at Tristan’s cheek.

Why do I feel like we’ve tainted an innocent child?

Ravyn breathed a sigh of relief. “Congratulations. You just summoned your first familiar.”

“Another [Sorcerer] in the works, it seems,” I said.

Ravyn spent some time explaining how to control his familiar and utilizing his spells to the greatest effect. Turns out that being a [Mage] was a lot more complicated than simply calling out a Skill and waiting for the aftermath. Once they’d finished, we set on our way to investigate the remains of Anyona.

“So, what was Anyona like?” I asked in hopes of getting an answer from Ara.

The maid said nothing and continued to stick to Tristan’s side like glue. I rested my hand on the blackened bark of a tree snapped in half.

“Please, Ara?” Tristan said before I could.

Ara glared. “Anyona was a major city of commerce for many years. Even before I was born.” I motioned for the girls to continue following me into what looked like a centralized market like the one from Shulan. Ara continued to speak. “Marketplaces like this one were commonplace in Anyona. There were but a few items one could not find from its vendors.”

“But you can find them in Shulan,” Ravyn said matter-of-factly.

Ara’s face twisted with frustration. “Yes. Shulan and the Port of Meow were our direct competition.”

We approached a nearby stall. “Hold that thought.” I waved my axe behind the counter to test for any Encroachers. For so much devastation, it was eerily quiet. When nothing happened, I peered over the end of the stall to see a flipped wicker basket, a pile of rotting fruit covered with insects, and a broken necklace with shattered green stones on the ground.

I turned to the others. “Nothing.”

“You were saying?” Tristan said to Ara.

“Yes.” Ara rolled her shoulders. Her attention never stayed on one spot for very long. She’d look at Tristan, then at me, then at some other vacant shop stand, then to the distant forest. She had the same look I’m sure I was wearing when I saw the enchanted mirror in Tristan’s room. “We continued to compete with San Island. With our island being the furthest away, though, this meant our quality had to outdo San Island in order to stand a chance of competing.”

“Which, it didn’t,” Ravyn mumbled.

“... Yes. In the eyes of many merchants, there was little reason to travel to Shi Island when similar, and sometimes even better, wares could be purchased and traded without an extra trip. This left us with no choice but to trade and deal with San Island. Prices continued to rise. Anyona, and Shi Island, for that matter, could not keep up.” Ara looked up. “It seems we will have rain.”

Clouds dark as concrete were covering the sky. I put my hand out and watched as a droplet landed in my palm. “Weird. Wasn’t the sky clear just a few minutes ago?”

Ravyn frowned. “I don’t like this. Let’s find shelter.”

It took some time, but we managed to find an abandoned house that still had its roof, though its door was torn off the hinges. While massive holes were born into most homes and shop stands around us, this remained one of the few that had no such damage.

“Looks clear,” I said as I entered.

Desiree purred around Tristan’s leg and welcomed herself inside. Ravyn and Keke followed closely behind me. A candelabra stood at the center of a table in the middle of the room. Ravyn moved past me, taking in the details of the room, and lit the remaining candles with a small flame extending from the tip of her finger.

Signs of a struggle were evident. Chairs were toppled on their sides, chunks of the building’s support beams were missing, streaks of dried blood led from one room to another. Something on the ground sparkled in the candlelight. I knelt and grimaced. Decorated fingernails with scabs of flesh still stuck to the depressions littered the ground in varying colors. Each of them was damaged somehow, and I found marks left in the wooden walls where they most likely snapped off.

Holy shit. What the hell happened here?

“I’m scared.” Cannoli was still standing at the doorway.

I got to my feet. “It’s okay, come here,” I said with my hand extended. I glanced toward the nails and brushed them with my foot into the nearest room, outside of the candlelight.

Cannoli took cautious steps toward me and slipped her hand into mine with a nervous smile.

“Look there,” Tristan said, pointing to the table. “And there.” He pointed to a dirty, discarded tablecloth on the floor next to it. “Isn’t that odd?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Keke’s brow raised. “I see. Someone set this up.”

“Explain,” I said.

“There’s a tablecloth on the ground,” Tristan supplied, pointing to it again, “and there’s candles on the table. Shouldn’t the candles also be on the floor then? They would’ve been knocked from the table in the commotion.”

We got a regular ace detective here with us. “Ah. That is weird,” I admitted.

The entire time, Ara and Ravyn were silent. I wondered what was going on when I noticed Ravyn’s skin was littered with goosebumps. Her breathing was rapid, and Ara wore a fierce look, never resting her eyes on anything in the room for very long.

“I recommend we leave. Now,” said Ara.

“I-I’m not liking this,” said a strangely timid Ravyn, “I can feel it. There’s something dark here. Beyond dark. We’re not ready for this. We’re going to fucking die if we don’t get out of here now.”

“We’re leaving,” I said without hesitation. I didn’t need proof that there was something dangerous and evil down here. Ravyn’s reaction was all the evidence I needed. I ushered the girls past me and out of the house. “Let’s go. Now!”

Ravyn was right. We weren’t ready for what was waiting for us.