Earlier, in the tavern, Chase had seen time freeze. Only for the living people in there, true, but it was still something she had never dreamed of witnessing before. On a less hectic day, she would have sat and wondered about it, marveling about the life of excitement she'd somehow been swept up into.

This now, this wasn't time freezing. This wasn't everything freezing. This was motion and breath and life and everything shifting at once, as she lifted free from her body... but it wasn't her body. It was numbers and letters assembled in an order that meant something—

—and so was everything else, Chase realized, as her view pulled back. The grass she was standing on had letters and numbers, and her sister was a more complicated string of symbols... but not really that different from the grass, not in the grand scheme of things.

Then she lifted up, lifted into the sky, which was more numbers, all green in a sea of invisible light, and the world was nothing but patterns of symbols, repeating, shifting, breathing and moving in and around. Somewhere a one turned into a zero, and it rained that day. In another place a zero turned into a one, and a child was born. The scope and vastness of it took her breath away... and numbers shifted within her own chest, as she went from breathing normally to winded.

“Amazing, isn't it?” A familiar deep voice spoke, and his words were more numbers and letters and symbols. But she understood them.

“This is what's behind it all, isn't it?” Chase said, staring with eyes that weren't really eyes.

“Ha! You're a clever one. I knew I chose rightly.”

“You set this up. You planned this all along.”

“A plan?” Hoon snorted. “Do I look like a man who has a plan?”

She turned to face him and shrieked, as she beheld his true form...

...and forgot it, mercifully, as he waved a hand. A proper hand, not one made of numbers. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I forgot how much stress it is on you folks.”

“You were... the patterns... you're above, but not, and you...” Chase trembled, and hugged her knees to her chest, as she floated in starry darkness, with a blue and green and white and gold marble below her, turning, turning endlessly. The details of what she'd accidentally seen were already out of her mind, and thankfully so, for she knew her sanity would have fled otherwise.

Once she could think straight again, Chase lifted her head and met the god's eyes. “Yes. You do look like a man with a plan. The smug grin gives it away.”

“I'm not really about plans. More like... opportunities.” Hoon turned away and surveyed the marble down below. “I wander, because I'm the god of journeys. I trade because I'm the god of trade. And if my travels take me to places that might be interesting to me later, hey, that's just how it goes. And if some items I trade make people dream of far-off journeys, or inspire them to hit that road... well, that's on them. Opportunities.” He looked back at Chase, and there was that smile again. “But hey, I'm NICE about it. You know?”

“Not yet, not really. I hope you are, because I've accepted the job you offered me.”

His grin widened. “The job you unlocked yourself, kiddo. You did that, picked up on the hints.”

“It wasn't exactly difficult.”

“You'd be surprised. So. Time's short. No more gifts, because I gave you those already. No more questions because I gave you answers. Just a request, because I don't command.”

“What do you want of me?” Chase shivered.

He leaned down, and took her shoulders in his huge hands, kneeling to put his face on her level. “I know it's tough right now, and you've got lots of heavy stuff to worry about, but later on? If you can get to that later on? Have FUN, okay? Go out and do everything you wanted to do, see awesome things, and have fun with it. Because if you're not, then what's the point, huh?”

She hugged him then, and he stiffened, just as surprised as she was. She felt his chest rumble, and then the god was laughing, hugging her back.

“Thank you,” Chase said.

“Aw. You're welcome, kid. You'll do fine. Just don't die. I want a long, long time before I have to come and visit you for that. Understand?”

“Yes,” Chase said.

Then with one last squeeze he was gone, and she was falling, as the marble rose to meet her and flattened out...

And then Chase was back in the second she'd left, staring at Greta's worried face...

...and the letters that were scrolling up over it.

You are now a level 1 Oracle!

CHA+3

LUCK+3

WIS+3

You have learned the Absorb Condition skill!

You have learned the Diagnose skill!

You have learned the Divine Pawn skill!

You have learned the Foresight skill!

Your Foresight skill is now level 1!

You have learned the Lesser Healing skill!

Your Lesser Healing skill is now level 1!

“Chase,” Greta whispered, face pale and eyes as white and round as twin full moons. “What have you done?”

“I took the Oracle job,” Chase said, looking back at her.

“But you're only fifteen!”

“I know. I'll work hard and pay the tax. After this is done. If I survive this.”

“Don't say that!” Greta said, her voice rising, as she grabbed her sister. Chase squawked, but didn't resist, and after a second Greta let her go. “Don't say such things,” Greta said, in a calmer tone.

“I won't. Finish your roll and we'll go.” Chase tucked her own half-eaten roll back into her pocket.

Greta regained some of her old spirit, and childhood conditioning, as she scowled at the thought of wasting food.“Aren't you going to finish your own snack?”

“No,” Chase said. “I don't need it. The job filled up all of my pools when I leveled in it.”

That was how they worked, she vaguely recalled. She hadn't planned to be doing this sort of thing for at least five more years, but as benefits for breaking the law went, it was useful right now.

“It won't refill hit points, but I guess you're uninjured,” Renny said. “Why are you so worried about learning a job?”

“It's the law,” Chase said, remembering her conversation with Hoon. “Maybe not a very good one. I don't know why we have it. The law says we cannot have more jobs than we have decades of age.”

“Uh oh,” Renny's ears flattened. “I'm very illegal, then.”

“I think that's the least of our worries.” Chase studied him for a minute, then stopped and thought about what she was doing. “Okay, hold on. You're a stuffed toy, why are you talking?”

“It's a very long story.”

Chase stood. “You can tell us as we walk.”

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“Thomasi pretty much told me where our parents were. He flicked his eyes that way, when Vaffanculo couldn't see.” Chase pointed, and her two companions followed her finger, looking north, north and up.

Up to where the cave sat, the great dark eye in the side of the mountain, weeping its endless river.

“No,” Renny whispered. “I... we can't go there. Not yet.”

“Why?” Chase asked. “No, tell us on the way. We don't have the daylight left to waste time.”

“You'll die!” Renny burst out, voice screeching, as the strings of his voicebox stretched. Chase and Greta took a step back.

We're all on edge, Chase reminded herself. She forced her temper down, bit back the reply she wanted to say, and made her tone gentle.

“If Vaffanculo reaches our town with that army of undead, we all die. Where are we to go, if they eat our town?” Chase shook her head, black curls bouncing. “No. We're going. You can stay if you want. Like Thomasi did, hiding in the woods. Maybe that will work out better for you than it did him.”

And without another word Chase turned and left. Greta yelped in surprise, then followed her sister.

Chase walked, counting silently as she did so. Ten. Nine. Eight...

At four, she heard Renny following behind her, and let out the breath she'd been holding. Illegal or no, weird or not, he was the strongest ally they had right now, if his jobs were any measure of the matter. They'd need him one way or another. She felt a bit bad for forcing the issue, but the situation left little recourse.

“I'm a golem,” Renny said, catching up to them.”

“I don't know what that is,” Chase said.

“A Golemist used magic to bring me to life. I'm like a magical statue, but I can think and feel. Well that part's because I'm a greater golem, lesser golems are pretty dumb.”

“Okay. So what does this Golemist want with our town and why did he send you?”

“It's not exactly like that. I'm part of an exploration team. We're from Cylvania.”

“I don't think I've ever heard of Cylvania.”

“No? Okay. I'm a little worried about that, but I guess I'm not surprised,” Renny reached up a little black paw and rubbed his cheek.

The sight was so adorable, that Chase almost ran into a tree, but she managed to dodge at the last second. Keep your mind on your business, Berrymore. “Where is Cylvania?”

“I was hoping you could tell me that. I'm not exactly sure how we— how I got here.”

Chase stopped for a second, and squeezed her eyes shut. Her frustration wasn't the little fox golem's fault. She told herself that, before resuming her stride. “Why don't you tell us the full story, and I'll try to stop interrupting you.”

“Yes, thank you. That would help.” Renny kept pace, glancing up at her with his glass eyes. It was weird to see him walking on two legs, but he seemed comfortable with it. “Cylvania was sealed off for many years. We had a magical barrier around our land. When the barrier came down, nobody was left around us. Just wilderness, ruins, and monsters.

“A lot of us were dead from the troubled times, when we were sealed away. There had been wars, and a wicked king, and a lot of other bad things. But everything's peaceful now. My guild is sending out groups of us to explore, find friendly people, and figure out what's happened to the rest of the world.”

“Wait,” Greta said, a note of panic entering her voice. “Your GUILD?”

“Yes,” Renny said. “We figured out how to make guilds. Have people done that yet, here?”

“Let him finish. We'll talk about that later,” Chase said, fighting down her own knot of worry. Guilds were old history, bad history, and she was cautious to get onto this subject before Renny was finished with his own story.

“All right,” the little golem said. “We set out to the west from Cylvania. It took us weeks to get through the wilds, until we came to an old ruin. It was a castle, once. We sheltered at the entrance for the night, but... there was something horrible there. I'm not sure what it was, we barely survived. It chased us inside, and we lost it in the dungeon. But it trapped us there, and we couldn't get out.

“This wasn't a problem for me and Baconator, we could wait forever if we had to,” Renny looked away. “But everyone else would eventually run out of food. So when we found the waystones, we thought it was the answer to our problem.”

“Waystones?” Greta asked again. Chase weighed the odds of her sister listening to her request to shush and let the fox finish, and decided it wouldn't work.

“Waystones are magical stones that people with the Explorer job can make. They let you teleport to things called Waymarks. That's about all I know. There were enough for all of us, it looked like a secret cache, like someone's escape route for themselves and a full party.”

“So seven all told,” Chase said. She remembered that from her school's class on adventuring and how to avoid it. Seven was the maximum size for a party.

“Yes. We used them, and they took us behind the mountain.” Renny pointed at the peak. “There is a circle of stones back there. We rested, hunted a bit, and decided to climb up the peak to see what we could see. Then along the way we noticed the cave.”

Renny slowed then, looking down. As he started to fall behind, Chase turned back, held out her arms. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“No. It's... that's why it's my fault,” Renny whispered. “We saw the village, too. We had to decide which to do; explore the cave or go to the village. And we decided to explore the cave, first. It was my vote that broke the tie. And we... we went in there. And only I came... out...” Renny shook, and put his paws to his face. He sobbed then, and Chase's heart broke to hear it. She moved back and scooped him up, held the little toy as he shivered and cried, without tears.

“Shh, shh...” Chase soothed, trying to pull on the lessons she'd learned when they still allowed her to babysit impressionable young children. “Shh... it'll be fine. It's okay. It'll be fine.”

“No,” Renny said, voice harsh and rasping. “It's not okay. My friends died in there. And now you're going in, and you'll die too. It's bad in there.”

“Our Father is in there. Assuming Thomasi was telling the truth.” Chase said, jogging him a bit in her arms, as if he was a baby. “All we have to do is find him.”

Renny stared up at her, glass eyes inches from her own. “You won't turn back, no matter what I say?”

“No. But I will listen to what you have to say, and ask you to tell us about what specifically you found in there. Because if it's that dangerous, then any information you have could save our lives.”

“All right.” Renny shuddered. “The second we got out of the treeline, and started toward the cave, someone started shooting arrows at us. We charged forward to try and stop that, but some people in scary-looking uniforms came out and fought us. We won, but it was hard. Then we got inside, went up some stairs that turned out to be trapped, and came to a strong door. But Gadram picked the lock, and we got into what we thought was their secret hideout...”

And so the fox spoke, as the sisters walked, stopping twice for short food breaks. There was no other way around the abysmal halven endurance problem, and getting to the cave exhausted would be a death sentence, if half of what Renny said was true.

But they kept to their course, and somewhere around five o'clock, by the angle of the sun, Chase and Greta and their golem ally found themselves crouching down in the last of the scraggly pines before the stony slope that led to the cave. Nearby, the river burbled out of the center of the dark circle, down over sharp rocks, and into the valley beyond. It curved east and south, eventually coming within a quarter-mile of the village.

Sticks of wood, tipped with feathers jutted out of the ground all up the slope, and dark patches showed where blood had been spilled. There had been a fight here, and there might be again if they were uncautious.

Chase was being cautious at the minute. It occurred to her that she hadn't taken stock of her Oracle job, and she wanted to figure out if it had anything that could help them get past this potential trouble spot safely. So she had her status screen up, muttering the names of her skills and asking for help with them. And each help request provoked more words, from wherever they came from.

“Help Absorb Condition,” Chase whispered.

Absorb Condition

Cost: 10 For Duration: Instant

This skill transfers a condition or debuff from a target that you're physically touching to yourself. This skill has no levels. Regardless of the debuff or condition absorbed, the Oracle shakes it off after a day's worth of time if it isn't cured before then. This skill is a spell.

That might be handy at some point, but right now it wouldn't help much.

“Help Diagnose.”

Diagnose

Cost: 5 San Duration: 5 seconds

This skill reveals all debuffs and conditions on a target. It never fails, and has no levels. This skill is a spell.

Not much useful there. “Help Divine Pawn.”

Divine Pawn

Cost: N/A Duration: Passive Constant

Congratulations! The gods have selected you to be one of their agents on Generica. Good luck with that. You gain a bonus to your fate equal to your Oracle level. This skill has no levels.

Chase glared at the words. That seemed rather sarcastic. Also unhelpful at the minute. “Help Foresight.”

Foresight

Cost: 10 For Duration: 10 seconds

Time is malleable to gods. They'll share a little bit of that with you, spinning out predictions of the next few seconds. You get a glimpse of the near future, and the results of an action you choose at the time of using foresight. Bear in mind that failing to follow through with an action similar to that chosen has a risk of backfiring, as the feedback and dissonance from the false visions throws off your precognition for the rest of the day. The higher your skill, the less the chance of dissonance.

The halven paused, and re-read the words. This, this was about what she was looking for. But just for the sake of completion, she examined her final job skill, anyway. “Help Lesser Healing.”

Lesser Healing

Cost: 5 San Duration: Instant

Instantly heals a living target within a hundred feet of the Oracle, restoring a small amount of HP, influenced by the level of this skill. This is light-based healing, and when used upon an undead or negative-natured target, it inflicts damage instead of healing. This damage bypasses all defenses, and automatically hits. This skill is a spell.

Chase nodded in satisfaction. Renny had been right, she did have a weapon against the undead. But that was for later, unless there were undead here, too. I hope not, Chase thought to herself. This is going to be rough enough as it is.

“I think I can do this,” Chase said to the others. “Renny, you said the arrows came when you were halfway to the cave mouth?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Give me a little space, here...” Chase took a breath, then chose what she was going to do, and said “Foresight.”

And once more, everything changed.

The world stopped and slowed, and as Chase watched, a ghostly version of herself moved through it, running full-tilt toward the cave. The ghostly her got to the cave mouth and paused, then darted to the side.

Then everything unfroze, and Chase stared for a second, trying to figure out the feelings and sensations that were coursing over her.

But those feelings were pushed aside, as a more urgent one, something like a piece of string stretching tight and starting to tear, started to build behind her eyes.

This must be the feedback, whatever that is, Chase realized. I have to do something similar to the action, or I'll have problems.

So Chase ran for all she was worth, ignoring the shouts behind her.

AGL+1

Your Foresight skill is now level 2!

She'd wanted to know if it was safe to get to the cave entrance, and it seemed to be. And to her relief, as she ran, the taut feeling in her head relaxed and faded until it was a dull throb that vanished entirely when she reached the cave mouth and slid to the side.

“What were you thinking?” Greta hissed, once she and Renny were flush against the wall next to Chase. Renny refrained from commenting, keeping his eyes on the cave, haunted and wary.

“I have a skill that shows me what happens if I do something. I think. It's worded a little confusingly,” Chase muttered back. “But then I have to do something or I lose the skill for a long time.”

“Okay, I think I see it,” Renny said. “You wanted to see if you were going to be shot at. So if you had, then you wouldn't have gone, and you would have lost the skill usage instead of dying horribly from arrows.”

“Yes,” Chase said. “It's fine Greta. I know what I'm doing.”

“You got this job like today. Not even two hours ago!”

“It's pretty straightforward.” Chase leaned over, and peered in the cave. “Um. Does anyone have a torch?”

“Why would I have a torch?” Greta asked.

“Because... “ Chase drifted off. There was no earthly reason Greta would have one.

“You need a torch?”

“Just the light, really,” Chase shrugged. “Do you have a way of making fire? There's branches back there...”

“Phantasmal Picture,” Renny said, pointing into the darkness.

A torch, complete with sconce, popped into place on a stony wall. It revealed a series of steps back in the cave, ascending up further into the mountain. The river that Chase had thought natural was now revealed to be contained within a clear-cut channel, water falling from above and pooling in a round stone pool before spilling southward.

“The arrows came from up there, the first time around,” Renny pointed to a ledge at the edge of the torchlight. “But there's no one up there, now.”

Metal glittered up above the stone. Chase weighed the odds. “Greta, do you think you could climb up and examine that?”

“If you give me a boost, sure.”

Her sister was heavy, but Renny lent his own fuzzy arms, and between the two of them they wrestled Greta up there.

“Arrows. Lots of them, stuck in a box, with the ends up. Pretty good sized arrows, too.”

“Let me see,” Chase called.

One came sailing over, nearly impaling Chase's toes. She bit back some frightened, dirty words, and scooped it up. It was longer than her arm, and she shook her head. “Not halven arrows, that's for sure. Anything else?”

“There's a horn hanging from the wall. And a bundle of sticks and rope.”

“Toss it to me. Carefully!” Chase amended.

Greta tried... but it unrolled as it went, snapping and clattering against the side of the ledge until Chase and Renny were staring at a well-used rope ladder.

“It's nailed to the floor,” Greta explained. “This'll make getting down easier, at least.”

“Yeah, why don't you do that,” Chase said, keeping her eyes on the stairway up. That ladder had made noise, and she thought it had probably been lost in the waterfall, but it wasn't a good idea to take risks. Well, more risks.

“Let me lead,” Renny said. “I'll put illusionary torches so you can see. There's traps on the stairs, and I remember where they are, so go slowly and follow me carefully, okay?”

“Sure. Um... hold on,” Chase said, as a niggling thought in the back of her mind moved to the forefront. “That torch is an illusion, right?”

“Well, yes.”

“So the light it's shedding isn't really there, right?”

“No, not really.”

“So if it's an illusion, then why is it showing what's really there? If the light isn't really real, then it shouldn't be able to do that.” No sooner had she said those words, then the world went dark, and Chase blinked, rubbed her eyes. “Hey! I can't see!”

“You talked yourself out of being able to see the light,” Renny said, with a sigh. “Look, you're not supposed to think about it too hard. If you disbelieve the illusion then you can't see it anymore.”

“How does that even make sense!” Chase said, waving her hands. “If the light was able to show what was there in the darkness, it should be able to keep doing that regardless of my belief in it!”

“Yes, but since now you reminded yourself it's not real and thought about it too hard, your brain refuses to be fooled. So it's all dark again. For you, anyway.”

“I told you you were too smart for your own good!” Greta interjected, and Chase could tell her sister was holding back giggles.

Renny growled in frustration. “Just hold on to your sister's hand. And I'll put these, uh, absolutely real torches on the wall as I go. Got it?”

“I'll try not to think about it too hard,” Chase promised.

Which of course meant that she couldn't stop thinking about it, not one bit, as Greta led her up the stairs step by step. So the end result was that Chase spent the whole trip in darkness, following directions as carefully as she could.

So she tried to distract herself by thinking about her new companion. Chase had never heard of a golem before, and the thought of something made out of cloth and fuzz and fur being a walking, talking creature was fantastic, no matter how you looked at it. This was the stuff of high magic, of mysterious forces and unimaginable fables. And ruminating on it, she felt an echo of the wonder that she'd gotten whenever she had read the books in Grandfather's trunk, on those rainy days.

It also drummed home a bit of irony. Here she was finally having a grand adventure, and instead of wonder, her heart was filled with worry and dread. Her family was on the line, her father was in this horrible place somewhere, and undead were far, far scarier in person then they were in the Jinkies books.

Greedy, greedy little girl, Chase scolded herself. You finally get the adventure you want and you're holding out for something less dangerous. What did you think would happen?

Wood creaked ahead, and Chase found that she could see again. Light streamed from a doorway, revealing a heavy oaken door standing ajar, and Renny pushing it open, straining to do so, little arms entirely unsuited to the task.

Beyond lay a room carved out of the cave, lit by glowing crystals hanging from chains. The washed-out light revealed wooden furniture around the room... and two bodies lying in crumpled heaps, in dark puddles that pooled on the stone like blotchy ink.

Chase surveyed them for a second, then turned her head and threw up over the side of the steps. Greta joined her.

You are now nauseated!

“Sorry,” Renny said.

Chase spat vomit, then sagged down onto the stairs, spitting to get the taste from her mouth. She reached out a hand to the spray of the waterfall and sloshed water past her lips, clearing the grossness as best she could.

“The skeletons were bad,” Greta said, solemnly. “But that's worse, somehow. I think it's the smell.”

“Yes,” Chase said, and managed to fight her stomach down, taking deep breaths until the message flashed again.

You are no longer nauseated!

“Alright,” Chase whispered, standing and climbing the last few stairs. “Let's see what we have, here..."

CHASE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Chase Berrymore

Age: 15 Years

Jobs:

Halven level 8, Cook level 4, Oracle level 1

Attributes / Pools / Defenses

Strength: 40 Constitution: 28 / Hit Points: 68 / Armor: 0

Intelligence: 45 Wisdom: 57 / Sanity: 102 / Mental Fortitude: 25

Dexterity: 60 Agility: 52 / Stamina: 112 / Endurance: 0

Charisma: 72 Willpower: 36 / Moxie: 108 / Cool: 25

Perception: 43 Luck: 74 / Fortune: 117 / Fate: 17

Generic Skills

Brawling – Level 7

Climb – Level 15

Dagger – Level 2

Dodge – Level 9

Fishing – Level 14

Ride – Level 10

Stealth – Level 11

Swim – Level 6

Throwing – Level 19

Halven Skills

Fate's Friend – Level N/A

Small in a Good Way – Level N/A

Cook Skills

Cooking - Level 14

Freshen - Level 10

Oracle Skills

Absorb Condition – Level N/A

Diagnose – Level N/A

Divine Pawn – Level N/A

Foresight – Level 2

Lesser Healing – Level 1

Unlocked Jobs

Archer, Farmer, Grifter, Herbalist, Teacher