The rhythmic sound of pounding hooves filled my ears as Arion cantered along. The beautiful black stallion’s stride was so smooth it felt as though we were riding through the sky and not the sandy beach. Riding with Arion felt freeing in a way that was beyond words, in this moment nothing mattered anymore. All the pain, the anger, and hurt was blown away with the wind that tugged at my hair as we raced through the countryside surrounding Caruan. Darius had claimed it took a day to reach the coast, Arion and I did it in half.

To our left, a shimmering translucent barrier rose up into the sky, the sea's waves battering against it from the other side. Not even a single drop of water touched the small strip of sand that formed this beach, if it could even be called a beach. The sky beyond the barrier was blue, no signs of the darkness and ash spoken of in the world’s lore. Two small islands were visible on the horizon, and there wasn’t any indication of an erupting volcano on either of them.

I slowed Arion to a trot as we approached a section of the beach where a river had formed a large dam as the water pooled against the barrier. I directed my horse to turn away from the beach to follow the river back inland. Soft sand became long grass as we rode along the riverbank and I scanned the water for any signs of aquatic life.

Caw. The croaking cry from overhead was the only warning the crow gave as he dove to land on my shoulder.

“Did you see anything, Zos?”

Caw, caw.

The negative indication from my companion was disheartening, but I carried on along the riverbank regardless. This was the second river I’d found, though with its location it was possible it was part of the same river.

Annoyingly, the map I’d purchased with my settlement was not what I’d thought it to be. I thought I was buying a complete map of the world. Instead, I got a scroll that only showed the places I had already traveled to.

Looking at the map, I could see the river I’d checked earlier ahead and to the left of me, separated by a large blank space.

The plant I was searching for was only found in the northern rivers, and despite spending my day searching, I’d not found even a glimpse of the siren lily. It was strange, surely I should have seen something by now? I hadn’t even seen any fish or any land-dwelling creatures near the rivers during my ride. The only other beings I’d come across were the people living in a village atop the cliffs which overlooked the unreachable seas beyond.

After following the river for another half an hour, I came across what I guessed was the source of the sparse fish population in the rivers. Laying on the muddy banks of the river sunning themselves in the midday sun, were five very large crocodiles.

In hindsight, bringing Arion to a stop next to the river after spotting the crocodiles was complete and utter stupidity. The sound of a splash from the river was the only warning I got, and it was far too late as a crocodile lunged up out of the water to clamp its jaws around Arion’s rear leg. The horse squealed, rearing up, and I was flung from the saddle onto the bank of the river. Zosimos had left my shoulder in a fright and was circling above us, calling out with loud cries as I tried to scramble up out of the shallow water I’d landed in.

White hot pain shot through me as a sharp toothed jaw clamped down on my calf with bone crushing strength. My own screams of pain joined those of my horse, as I was dragged backwards into the river. Agony coursed through my body while water rushed into my lungs as the crocodile began to flip over, spinning me in the water. As death claimed me, the pain faded away and was replaced by an overwhelming desire for revenge.

Waking on the altar in the middle of the guildhall's courtyard, I jerked up into a sitting position and instinctively reached down to check my leg.

The leather pants I wore were torn, with puncture marks around my calf, but the flesh of my leg was unmarred.

Sliding off the altar, I ran towards the forge, shouting for Markion as I went.

“Markion, get your ax! You have to avenge me,” I yelled at the Minotaur who came rushing out of the forge in response to my shouting.

“Avenge you? Kads, what happened?” My brother asked, looking me over in concern.

“I got killed by crocodiles, and I think they killed Arion, too. I don’t know what happened to him. Help me slaughter them all!” I demanded, telling him about how I’d come across the crocodiles.

“What were you even doing there? Everyone knows the northern rivers are infested with crocs.”

“I needed to find siren lilies, I put a request up on the guild notice board, but no one has brought any back.” I complained, and Markion nodded, running a hand over his muzzle.

“I suppose I can spare some time for a croc hunt, it’s been awhile since I’ve had a decent fight. What are these siren lilies you want?” Markion asked as he guided me back to the forge where he grabbed his ax and began pulling on armor.

The armor was made up of different smaller metal plates which shifted and moved as he pulled on a pair of leg guards that covered his leg from upper thigh to just above his hooves. A chest plate with shoulder guards covered his torso, with a pair of heavy bracers covering his arms from wrist to elbow with a sharp looking blade curving along the outer edge. The final piece of armor he pulled on was a barbed metal ring that was placed just below the tip of his horns.

“Siren lilies are a water plant that is said to be found in the northern rivers. According to my plants and fungi book, siren lilies are a pale blue water lily that have a chilling effect on the body, and are used to cure those who’ve been poisoned by Calacaza berries. The effect of Calacaza berries is a burning sensation, so I want to see if the siren lilies have any effect on the scorcher venom. We leave for Valonia in two days, and I’ve barely made any progress.” I explained, letting out a frustrated sigh.

If only the books I’d gotten from the settlement weren’t all in Latinus, I'd not even had a chance to look at any of them beyond flicking through a few pages. I need to finish working on Noctus’s books before I start working on any new ones.

“Do you remember where you were?” Markion asked, and I nodded, pulling out my map to show him.

“I was here,” I told him, pointing to the area on the map where I’d been. “Zosimos was able to fly away, but they took Arion. I don’t know how to find out if he is okay or not.”

“Check your bag. If he died then as a bound mount, he would have returned in the form of a crystal figurine. You will need to use a Mana crystal to reform him.” Markion advised.

Wiping away the stray tear that had been creeping down my cheek, I opened the leather pouch that was attached to my belt, which was where I kept all the tokens I hadn’t used. Darius and I had decided that if I suddenly gained dozens of items that were not commonly available, it could draw unwanted attention.

It was annoying that I couldn’t use all my new alchemy equipment, but my lab was accessed by too many other people. I’d only redeemed my alchemical construct and some basic items such as extra retorts, scales and caldrons. The construct was kept hidden in my bag when I wasn’t using it and I told Taurie or anyone visiting my lab that the new items were made by Markion or purchased from other crafters. Trying to find a way to explain the items to Noctus and Markion without breaching the non-disclosure agreement was easy enough. After dropping some hints, they seemed able to put the pieces together with both agreeing it was best I slowly redeem the tokens as needed.

After some searching, I found a clear crystal figurine of a beautiful Friesian, and mournfully pulled it from the bag along with the crystalline tokens for his riding tack.

I’m so sorry, Arion, please forgive me. I pleaded mentally as I stared down at the crystal horse.

“Have you got any mana crystals to reform him?” Markion asked. “I’m not sure how many a horse like that will take, Yuki’s tamed beasts can cost around two low-grade mana crystals to a high-grade depending on the size and strength.”

“How do I know how many it will take?” I asked, looking for something on the figurine that might tell me what I needed to do in order to restore Arion.

“There is no way to know exactly, see how the crystal token is clear? When you feed the token mana, it starts to glow. The figurine acts as the creature, or item's core, when you refill it with mana the body will reform. It’s similar to how we revive; when we die,” Markion explained, pointing towards the revival altar in the distance. “On that note, have you checked you have all your things? If you dropped something in the water, or the croc ate it, we might have a hard time finding it.”

Doing a quick check of my body, I found I still had everything with the exception of my weapon. The satchel Noctus originally gave me had been returned to the vampire, having been replaced by a stylish leather belt bag. The upper half of the bag was attached to a belt with a strap that went around my thigh to hold the bag flush with my leg. On the opposite side of the belt was a small square pouch and six loops that could be used to hold vials or tools.

“My wagasa is missing, it was strapped across the back of my saddle. I don’t think it would have reformed with the saddle as it isn’t a bound item.” I told Markion as I pulled out one of the high-grade Mana crystals I’d purchased.

It’s a good thing I decided to buy some of these, as I’d planned to use them to experiment with. Hopefully it won’t take a lot of mana to restore Arion as I only bought ten high grade crystals because Darius said they could be mined from dungeons.

“Damn, well with any luck we will find your wagasa on the bank of the river. Don’t revive your horse yet, he might get hurt again. Best to leave him for now, and next time you should be riding with armor or at the very least put leg protectors on him.” Markion advised, reaching out to stop me from pressing a mana crystal onto the crystal figurine.

“I didn’t even think about the armor,” I admitted, guiltily putting the figurine away. “How are we going to reach the river where I got killed? It’s pretty far away.”

“I’ve got my mount staying at the south stable, he isn’t as fast as your horse, but he’ll get us there faster than walking will, and he is combat trained. Elven Friesians are trained for speed and stamina, so I’m not surprised it wasn’t smart enough to get out of the way.” Markion said as we made our way through the guild hall and out onto the street.

“Arion is plenty smart. We were just taken by surprise.” I defended breathlessly, as I half jogged to keep up with Markion’s longer strides.

Grunting in amusement, Markion glanced down at me, then turned to scoop me off my feet. As I found myself hoisted up to sit on the Minotaurs shoulder, I let out a startled squeak, and reached out to grab onto the base of the horn nearest to me for balance. Cheeks burning with embarrassment, I kicked my heel against the Minotaurs chest plate.

“Oi, don’t scuff my armor. I just polished it.” Markion scolded, grabbing my foot to stop it banging against his chest.

“Put me down,” I ordered, yanking my foot out of his grasp.

“Nah, I might lose you in the crowd, it’s faster this way. Damn, sis, that croc really did a number on your leg didn’t he.” The bull commented, grabbing my leg again and twisting it so he could examine the damage to my leather pants.

“Yeah, I probably should have changed into a new set of leathers.”

“Why didn’t you buy any high-quality armor when you were picking stuff?”

“Because the good stuff was heavy or medium armor which I can’t wear. I did buy a set of leather armor, but Darius wants me to wait until we arrive in Valonia to wear it, so we can claim I looted it somewhere. It is only a rare quality, so it’ll be outdated once the crafters start increasing their skills.”

“It’s fucking bullshit what they pulled, you didn’t even get any unique or special items. Everything you got can already be bought or crafted, so there isn’t anything special about any of it. Only good thing is that you managed to get some of the harder to craft alchemy crap you wanted, which means I don’t have to keep slaving away trying to work out how to make it.”

“I know, but I wasn’t given much option.” I said with a sigh, looking around at the crowds from my heightened vantage point.

“So, what is your mount?” I asked, wondering what kind of horse would fit someone his size.

“Basher is a steel-horned rhino, I got him as a calf. The Minotaur clans raise them as mounts and beasts of burden. His mother was killed by a pride of fire-maned lions, and once I killed the lions I was given Basher to raise.” Markion said, regaling me with the tale of his battle against the pride of lions whose manes were coated in burning flames.

Basher, as Markion called him, was a large, gray rhinoceros with two gleaming horns that looked sharper than the Minotaur’s ax. Unexpectedly, Markion did not saddle the rhino and instead appeared from the stables pulling a metal chariot.

With Basher hooked up to the chariot and dressed up in gleaming metal armor, we led the rhino out of the city before moving to stand in the chariot.

I feel like I’m in a gladiator movie. I mused as the rhino began to trot along the road which would lead us around the city and back towards the north.