The pair walked a short way from the small fire pit in the forest into a clearing where Azrael had lined up the bodies of the fallen men. Teyva noticed that the tall trees came to an abrupt stop, foliage thinning in a near-perfect circle around the entrance to a weathered stone cavern carved into the side of an outcropping of rock that jutted from the ground like a misaligned tooth.

The trees themselves were tall, with thick trunks that burst into wide, reaching branches about ten feet off the ground. The branches crisscrossed with other neighboring trees forming a heavy canopy that blocked out a significant amount of sunlight. Despite the gloom that stretched out past their sole sunny spot in the universe, Teyva found the low hum of the forest life before her soothing. She glanced back at Azrael’s shoulders, “Where exactly are we?” Teyva asked.

“This place is called the Balthin Green Sea,” Azrael said, not turning around as she stepped over a few small stones that blocked their path; “It forms a natural barrier between the settled regions.”

“Why hasn’t anyone settled here?”

“Folk have tried, as I understand it. The way I hear it, the forest simply turns on them.”

“That’s a little vague… and creepy,” Teyva grunted, coming to a stop as Azrael halted her march. Azrael didn’t elaborate. Instead, she gestured to the line of bodies resting on the ground in front of the cave entrance. Azrael had closed each man’s eyes. They were unsettlingly still.

More unsettling to Teyva was the fact that she didn’t feel like puking.

“For someone who has never killed before, you are remarkably calm,” Azrael pointed out, walking closer to the bodies. All six were accounted for, several bearing wounds from a blade, a few pockmarked with small blackened burns on their skin. One, however, lay with a wicked black handprint burned into his face; his expression one of horror and pain even with his eyes shut. Teyva looked down at her hand and flexed her fingers. She rallied, taking a deep breath and locking eyes with Azrael.

“You're… right. I guess I did what I had to.”

Azrael gave her an approving nod and crouched down, pointing at one of the men who wore simple cloth underneath a padded gambeson instead of a blend of mail and leathers. “This one’s their mage.”

A notification burst into view, obscuring Teyva’s vision for a moment.

Quest Update!

[...and Into the Fire]

Quest Complete!

You have successfully assisted Azrael Unabi in defeating the group of hunters sent to kill her.

Reward: Experience, Reputation with Azrael Unabi, Loot

You have gained 112 (150*75% Growth) experience!

Your reputation with Azrael Unabi has increased!

Your quest rewards have been added to your inventory.

Nice! Wait. Does Azrael just suddenly like me more or is this just the official pat on the back? Still sucks that I’m not getting all of the experience I’m entitled to. At least it’s at a better rate than before... Given how much EXP it took to level up, it seemed to Teyva that the tutorial quest was intended to get her to level one on its own, but her… death had messed that whole process up. Still, she had more quest rewards to go through… and her reputation with Azrael was going up. How can the menu chalk up personal standing to a single number? Relationships are complicated as hell. What’s going through Azrael’s head right now? She glanced at the woman kneeling next to the dead mage. Azrael canted her head to the right; a confused frown on her face.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, just another weird feature of my powers… it’s hard to explain.”

Azrael shook her head and nodded to the bodies. “You wanted to see these?”

Teyva put aside her thoughts and walked over to the corpses. She stopped at the first and put her hand on his boot.

Would you like to loot [Westland Hunter]?

Yes / No

She figured that would happen. The [Old Satchel] ability didn’t say anything about not working on people. Is this going to do the same thing to them as it did to the Tomb Guardian? She glanced up at Azrael who was watching her with confusion. “You might want to step back a bit, I have no idea if this is going to work the way I want it to,” That was enough to get Azrael to back up and quickly. She took six steps back before crossing her arms. Teyva chuckled and gave her mental assent.

Just like before, the surface beneath her fingers began to feel grainy; color drained away from the man’s clothing and body until it dissolved into a small pile of white sand.

All items have been transferred to your inventory.

“…What did you do?” Azrael asked, her voice low with wonder and maybe a little suspicion.

“It’s… magical looting, I guess it turns things I help defeat into something useful,” Teyva tried to explain; Azrael, to her credit, just shook her head and remained where she was sitting.

“It’s surprise after surprise with you, isn’t it?” She said, resting her chin on her palm and watching as Teyva went through the rest. One at a time, the bodies dissolved into nothing but white sand, little notifications popping up informing her that items had fallen into her inventory. When she was finally done and the last corpse was gone, she summoned her satchel; the small worn bag appeared in her hand and a lengthy notification window came along with it.

Quest Reward: [Rebirth in the Golden Vault]

You have acquired: [Aspect Stone of the Labyrinthian] Aspect Stone, Unique Rarity

Consume this stone to gain access to the Labyrinthian Aspect Tree

Quest Reward: [...and into the Fire]

You have acquired: [Boots of the Azar Warden] Light Armor, Uncommon Rarity

A set of boots made for swift feet and keen movement.

Bonuses: +1 Agility, +1 Skill

You have acquired: [Old Shortsword] Weapon, Pathetic Rarity x4

A rusty old weapon.

You have acquired: [Iron Shortsword] Weapon, Common Rarity

A common weapon of respectable make.

You have acquired: [Traveler’s Britches] Light Armor, Common Rarity

A pair of fitted pants made of leather and cloth.

You have acquired: [Traveler’s Gambeson] Light Armor, Common Rarity

A padded gambeson made for travel, hardier than a tunic, can be worn over clothing.

You have acquired: [Gloves of the Woodspeaker] Light Armor, Uncommon Rarity

A pair of light gloves worn by a promising nature mage.

Bonuses: Endurance: +1, Influence: +1

You have acquired: [Writ of the Huntsman] Quest Item

This document contains orders from the Count of Basat to assassinate an Azar messenger.

You have acquired: [Copper Coins] x32

The count of Basat?

She glanced up at Azrael who was watching her with noticeable confusion. Huh. Can she not see the boxes? I guess from her perspective, I must look odd then, staring at a strange old sack and waving my hands in the air. She decided not to leave her new… friend? Companion? Out of the fun. She selected the [Iron Shortsword] and it appeared in her hand. Azrael’s eyebrows shot up.

“See? Got a good haul, better than these rags I’m wearing, anyway,”

“Goodness… a sword, out of thin air.” Azrael said, bewildered.

Teyva smiled. “Magic!” Teyva said as another notification appeared.

You have acquired a Common Rarity (or greater) Melee weapon!

You have gained access to a new component of your [Simple Shift] Ability!

You may consume the item you are currently holding to memorize it, and convert a limb into the selected weapon by using [Simple Shift] you may currently memorize only 3 weapons up to Uncommon rarity. If you attempt to memorize an additional weapon, you must select a weapon to forget. This weapon counts as a part of your body for the purposes of other abilities.

Teyva’s jaw dropped.

“What? What is it?” Azrael demanded, putting her hand to her weapon.

Teyva held up a hand to stop her, squinting her eyes and reading the explanation over again to make sure she was reading it correctly. She looked again at the sword in her hand, turning it over. It made sense now why the Simple Shift spell consumed so much mana. It was intended to be used in preparation for combat. A prompt appeared when she dismissed the explanation window.

Would you like to memorize [Iron Shortsword]? Memorizing this weapon will destroy it!

Yes / No

She glanced up at Azrael who looked like she had had her fill of amazement and rejected the prompt.

“You’re probably going to freak out when you see it. I’m actually a little nervous, too.” Teyva said.

She would do it later. Instead, she returned the [Iron Shortsword] to her inventory, the item vanishing with a quiet pop.

She read the description of the Writ again and called it to her hand; “Now here’s something you might want to see.”