After his emotional outburst, Zeke knew that things had changed. When he had begun to recount his experiences in the troll caves, he hadn’t intended to pour his heart out. However, for more than two years, he’d been balanced on a razor’s edge. On one side was a transformation into a true monster, little more than an unfeeling, unthinking machine bent on killing anything in his path. On the other was a complete breakdown motivated by constant violence and the overwhelming drive to survive. And even though he’d left the caves behind for the relatively low stakes of the real world, he still carried with him the emotional consequences of his actions. If he hadn’t let those emotions loose, he’d have continued his descent into madness.

Even so, Zeke was surprised at the tears he’d shed. From an early age, he’d always been taught that crying was a sign of weakness. More times than he could count, he’d wept tears of frustration when he didn’t perform up to his or his father’s standards. And the moment he began to sob, his father would launch into a tirade denigrating his manliness. It didn’t matter that asking a seven-year old to act like a man was patently ridiculous; what mattered was that he didn’t “cry like a little bitch.” Under that kind of pressure, it didn’t take Zeke long to leave his tears far behind. So, the fact that those tears had finally been freed during his conversation with Abby was more than a little shocking. It had helped, though. He certainly wasn’t entirely past the trauma he’d experienced in those caves, but he’d taken the first steps. And that was what was important.

Zeke felt a hand alight on his shoulder, but he didn’t need to look up from where he crouched to know it was Abby. His own hand rested on Pudge’s back, idly massaging the bear’s fur.

“What do you see?” she asked, her voice low.

“Monsters,” he muttered.

And that was certainly the case. They knelt at the head of a ravine that, according to Abby, went on for miles before dipping underground. During the spring, the dry riverbed would flood with snowmelt from the nearby mountains, but for now, it was entirely dry. More, gossamer webs stretched from one side to the other, high enough that when the floods did come, they would be untouched. Here and there were birds and various rodents who’d been unlucky enough to be caught.

There was only three drachnids visible, but Zeke’s instincts told him that there were hundreds more in the ravine that was their home. According to Abby, further in, there were shallow caves that pockmarked the sides of the ravine; that’s where the monsters slept and kept their larger prey.

And monsters they were. Abby had made that abundantly clear. They were an invasive, territorial species that had only moved into the ravine a year or two ago, and since that point, they’d made a habit of attacking anything that dared cross their ephemeral borders. Normally, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but one of the major trade routes between Beacon and Sanctuary, the two largest human cities on the main island, crossed into the drachnids’ supposed territory. So, the creatures had made a habit of attacking the trade caravans that ran between the two cities. That was the reason for the mission to annihilate or cripple the population of murderous beasts.

In terms of appearance, the drachnids were, for lack of a better descriptor, spider-people. It was like if centaurs had consisted of arachnids instead of horses, crossed with humans. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as merging a human torso onto the thorax of a spider. Whatever evolutionary path the monsters had taken had clearly been corrupted by both its progenitors. The human-like torsos were covered in what looked like thick, armored chitin in various colors. The material gave off an iridescent sheen, much like when a thin coating of oil lay on top of a puddle of water. Only their heads were mostly human, with the chitin giving way to maggoty white skin. From his vantage quite some distance away, Zeke couldn’t see much more than that, but what he could discern was troubling enough.

“What are the terms of the mission again?” Zeke asked, never taking his eyes from the creatures. He thought that he and Abby were hidden, both by distance and the thick brush, but he’d been wrong about such things before. And he wanted as much warning as he could get if the things decided to charge.

Abby answered, “Kill the queen or five-hundred drachnids. Proof will be required. Julio…ah…well, we were going to collect teeth.”

“Do we get double credit if we kill both?” Zeke asked.

Abby shook her head, saying, “Doesn’t work like that. It’s not a Framework quest. We’re just here to solve a problem. Killing the queen would probably make this hive relocate. You know, to join another hive somewhere else, hopefully where they won’t cause too much trouble for us. And five-hundred is a crippling loss that will curtail their efforts for years. Maybe as much as a decade. More if there’s a follow-up to kill the queen later, which is possible. I think that’s what Julio was gunning for. You know, two missions, two rewards. We would kill the number necessary for this mission, then get one to kill the queen later.”

Zeke frowned. From a purely logical standpoint, it made perfect sense to play it like that. But something about it sat wrong with him. What if they were wrong? What if five-hundred wasn’t the crippling blow they expected it to be? In that case, the attacks against the trade caravans would continue, and more lives would be lost. So, Zeke debated with himself, with one side grasping at extra rewards he knew he might need, and the other side clinging to the sanctity of human life. In the end, it was the latter that won out.

“What if we just kill everything?” he asked. “Clean the whole ravine out.”

“T-that…that’s suicide,” she said. “There’s a whole society in there. Tens of thousands of these creatures. Maybe more.”

“But you said five-hundred would be a crippling blow,” Zeke pointed out.

At that, Abby sighed. “Not all of them are warriors,” she said. “Think of them like those trolls you fought. Plenty are non-combatants. I’ve heard that some hives even trade with humans. They make this silk that’s just…never mind. That’s not important. What is important is that five-hundred is just the estimate of what it would take to hobble their raiding parties. It won’t really put a dent in their overall force, but it would be enough to keep them from attacking our caravans for a while. Besides, nothing says they can’t send another party in here if it’s not enough.”

Zeke grunted at the subtle reminder that he’d killed so many trolls that had likely posed no real threat to him. Certainly, they wouldn’t have hesitated to attack – and they had fought with every ounce of ferocity they could muster – but could he really blame them? He was a dangerous invader. An interloper who clearly didn’t belong. And even before he’d clashed with a single adult troll, he’d already slain dozens of their larvae and juveniles. Did it matter that they’d attacked him first? To Zeke, maybe. But to the trolls? Probably not.

Not that it mattered, of course. He couldn’t change the past. Nor could he avoid the simple reality that these drachnids were dangerous, and they’d been attacking humans without provocation. If left to themselves, they could become a real problem.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. He’d tried to bathe at the lake, even using some rough soap that Abby had spirited away in her pack, but he still hadn’t gotten completely clean. And besides, two weeks had passed since then. Two weeks of trekking through the forest, killing various monsters, and trying to make do with the water from the pump in his hut. The only solace was that he’d found a freshly fallen tree, a portion of which he’d hollowed out into some semblance of a large bowl. That made things a little easier, but he still wasn’t anywhere close to clean.

In the caves, he hadn’t cared much about hygiene. Sure, he’d tried to wash off in the various underground rivers and streams he found, but that had just been an effort to rid himself of the foul-smelling troll blood. Or to avoid his various cuts and lacerations being infected. He wasn’t sure if, with his increased vitality, infection was even possible, but he didn’t think it was smart to take that chance.

But now that Abby was there, cleanliness had become more of a priority. Zeke didn’t have a lot of experience with the opposite sex. He’d had girlfriends in the past, but because of his age and his dedication to his development as a baseball player, they’d been shallow affairs that were as much for show as they were due to any genuine feelings between him and the girls in question. At the time, he never would’ve admitted as much, but two years of introspection and near-death experiences had aged him beyond his years and given him plenty of perspective on the matter.

And then Abby had come along and shattered that perspective. In the few weeks since they’d met, Zeke had developed a crush on the slender blonde. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it wasn’t uncommon for him to find himself sitting in his corner of the hut, absently tracing his skill’s runes with his senses while imagining a future where the pair of them got together and lived happily ever after. It was silly and immature – after all, he suspected that, despite her appearance, she was quite a bit older than him – but that didn’t stop his mind from running away with the notion.

Part of it was the fact that she was quite attractive. Built like a model, with long, lithe limbs, she had the kind of face that would’ve been completely at home on the cover of a magazine. High cheekbones, penetrative, blue eyes, and a dainty nose that could only be called cute definitely assisted Zeke’s imagination to the point where he often had to stop himself from staring.

But it was also the way she moved – all limber grace and well-worn confidence. Like a deadly dancer who knew precisely who and what she was. Her no-nonsense attitude and willingness to throw herself into danger helped as well, engendering respect. More than once, she’d shown just how quickly she could spring into action, killing the monsters that populated the forest with an ease that impressed even Zeke.

Altogether, it added up to an awkward situation where Zeke often found himself worrying as much about how she saw him as anything else. And that was a dangerous thing in a new world where everything seemed hellbent on killing them. So, he tried to suppress those burgeoning feelings as best he could, though he wasn’t even remotely convinced of his own success.

“What was the plan?” he asked. “Before, I mean.”

Abby shrugged, saying, “I’m not exactly sure. Julio wasn’t really the sharing kind of guy, you know? But from what I understood, we were going to skirt the edges of the ravine, killing the drachnids from above. I guess once we’d thinned them out, someone was going to go down there and get the teeth. But that’s not from Julio. In fact, it’s worse than second-hand information. Vlad was more of a people person than me, so most of the information came from his conversations with Julio’s men.”

“And any idea what they do?” Zeke asked, trying to get a handle on what to expect. “Like, are they poisonous? Do they shoot webs like Spider-Man? Or what?”

Abby raised an eyebrow at the pop culture reference, but she didn’t comment. Instead, she answered, “Some are poisonous, but it’s not what you think. They don’t have to bite you. They throw these globs of poison that paralyze their victims. Then, once you can’t move, they wrap you up in webs and take you back to their caves.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” Zeke muttered.

“Maybe for somebody like you with whatever ridiculous endurance and vitality you have,” she said. “But for me, it’ll put me down after only a couple of minutes. Even Julio was wary. And that’s not even the extent of their abilities. That carapace is like living armor. And they’re supposed to be really quick, too.”

“And the queen?” was Zeke’s next question.

Abby shrugged. “Depends,” she said. “I did some reading before we left, and from what I can tell, each queen is different. Some use magic. Others are physical warriors. It’s kind of like with people, I guess. They all have unique skills. And they’re huge. Like, a thorax the size of a Volkswagen.”

Zeke’s brows furrowed as he considered the problem. Killing the requisite number of mundane drachnids was exponentially easier than killing the queen. For one, their abilities were predictable while the queen would be a complete mystery until she opened up on them. On top of that, simply getting to the queen would probably put them close to satisfying the numerical option. So, almost any way he looked at it, it made no sense to go after the big, bad queen.

But that choice just didn’t sit right with him. He’d never been the type to leave a job half-done, and leaving the queen alive would be just that. Besides, while Abby said that there wasn’t a Framework quest, he had a little experience in that arena. And anytime he’d gone above and beyond the minimum requirements, he’d been rewarded by the Framework. It was like it wanted them to risk their lives and reach for greatness, rather than simply get by, which was an attitude Zeke could certainly get behind. That made the decision easy in his mind.

However, he couldn’t make the choice for Abby, so after laying out his reasons, he said, “So, I want to do both. Kill the drachnids and their queen.”

“That’s stupid,” she said, shaking her head. Her high ponytail swayed back and forth. “We only have to do one to get the reward from the guild.”

“But what about the Framework?” Zeke asked. “I think we might get rewarded with a quest if we go the extra mile.”

She rolled her eyes. “But we’ll be dead long before we get that chance,” Abby said. “This mission, it was supposed to be completed by an entire team. Julio might’ve been an asshole, but his team wasn’t a joke. They’d been working together for years. Same with Vlad and me. And you want to go the extra mile with just the two of us? That’s suicidal, even as strong as you are.”

Zeke answered, “For one, there are three of us. Pudge is already level seven. And he’ll probably get a few more levels before we hit the queen. Two, I think you’re selling yourself short. I’ve already done something like this, and it was a couple of levels ago. I’m stronger now. And I have you and Pudge. We can do this.”

“But –”

Zeke went on, “It’s going to hurt, though. I can guarantee that. And we might die. But do you really want to go through this new life being afraid to take a chance? I have plans, Abby. Plans past these islands. Or mini-continent. Whatever it is. I have it on good authority that this is just the beginning – like an extended tutorial or something. And from what you’ve told me, most of the people here, they’re failing. Miserably. I don’t want to be one of them, and I don’t think you do either.”

By the time he finished, Zeke’s heart was pounding out of his chest. It wasn’t that he was socially inept. He wasn’t. In fact, his father had always expected him to be the leader of any team he played on, and often, he was expected to talk to the team and get them riled up for their games. So, he was used to that kind of thing. However, with that, he’d always felt like something of an imposter. Like he was just playing the role his father wanted him to play. But talking to Abby, he meant every word he’d said, and in a way he had never really experienced before. The result was that his adrenaline was already pumping in expectation of the fight to come.

More important than his own reaction was Abby’s, though. He could see her tense muscles, the way her jaw flexed with determination. She wanted it as much as he did; she just hadn’t had the same opportunities he’d been given.

“Fine,” she said, bending down to pet the cub. “But if anything happens to Pudge, I’ll put an arrow in your eye.”

Zeke laughed. Abby didn’t.

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” he muttered, realizing that she wasn’t really joking. The pair had developed quite a bond in the couple of weeks the group had been together. In some ways, they were even closer than Zeke and his own soulbound companion. Not that he minded. Abby’s attention always made Pudge happy, even if the bear still struggled to articulate his feelings. “But there’s something we need to do before we get started. And don’t freak out, because I think this is going to feel really weird.”

“What are you –”

Zeke didn’t wait. Instead, he reached out, gripped her shoulder, and formed the unaltered [Mark of Companionship]. It was temporary, but the skill would allow the two of them to not only share experience, but also let him funnel vitality to her via [Leech Strike]. It didn’t let her activate the ability herself, like it did with Pudge, but Zeke had deduced that that was a special circumstance that was far from repeatable.

Once he’d formed the rune, he let it sink into her body, where it latched onto her mana channels. They were a little more intricate than his, but his were a lot thicker. In any case, the moment it connected, it became part of her system. It was clearly temporary, but it would last quite a while, as far as he could tell. And with an effort of will, he could easily renew it, too.

“Oh…oh!” she breathed, her body going rigid. It only lasted a couple of seconds before she relaxed. However, her breathing had quickened, and Zeke could feel that the pace of her mana flow increased to compensate for the addition of the new rune. “W-what was that?”

“It’s called [Mark of Companionship],” he said. “It temporarily lets us share experience as well as lets me feed you vitality. I think. I’ve never used it before. But that’s what the text said. I can…remove it, though. If you don’t want it.”

Abby shook her head, saying, “No. Leave it. But you really need to…you know…ask before you do something like that.”

Zeke nodded, but he didn’t respond. Perhaps his social skills weren’t as strong as he thought.

“Are you ready, then?” Abby asked, looking up at the sky. It was midday, so they had plenty of time to assault the ravine.

Shaking his head, Zeke said, “No. Let’s do it in the morning. We can go back to that clearing we passed a couple miles back, and I can summon the hut. That skill…it actually took a lot of my mana. I need some time to recover it.”

Abby nodded once, then said, “Let’s go, then. The longer we stay here, the better chance we’ll be spotted.”

So, the three of them began the short walk back to the clearing, where they would prepare for the next day’s assault.