It’s almost been a year and a half since Archibald and Wolf had left the village of Muddy River. The large majority of that time was spent hiking, while the rest of it went on Wolf’s trials and occasional days of rest whenever they needed them. Up until now, this journey was smooth sailing.

Ever since they had decided to go into the Beast-lands, Archibald had an uneasy feeling. He knew that the way back wouldn’t be nearly as relaxed.

For one thing, the red road would cease to be visible to them. The safe passage guaranteed by the laws of the world would be gone.

From that point on they would have to rely on themselves to return home through the Beast-lands. As for the Empire of Elf, ironically, that enemy territory was where father and son could relax and ease their guard a bit.

As Archibald thought about the days ahead he realized something.

“This is another stinking trial.” The big man muttered a curse before sighing.

He was well aware that the way back would be tough even before they set off. It’s just that it was a problem for his future self... And now… Now he was that future self. Now, he had to deal with this issue. The man couldn’t help but hate the asshole his past self was.

While Wolf was fast asleep, Archibald kept staring at the map. He tried to figure out how to avoid the certain death parts of the route and reuse the parts that were safe.

What he ended up with was a return trip to the Empire of Elf that would take between thirty and forty months. At first glance the route seemed relatively safe. At least based on what the big man could estimate.

Relatively safe. Archibald hated those words, but it was the best he could come up with.

What if I got it wrong?

I plotted the course that avoids the obvious monster dens we’ve seen. But that doesn’t mean we won’t run into some other Monster Beasts when we veer off course…

Should we just follow the path and gamble, instead of going around those territories?

Any way you look at it we’ll be taking a chance!

Such uneasy thoughts plagued Archibald, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and make do with what he had at hand. If he didn’t come up with a decision, they could stay here until Wolf grew up and still remain uncertain about which path to take.

Steeling his resolve, Archibald shook his sleeping son. “Wolf, wake up. It’s time to head back home.”

Wolf woke up instantly, drawing a smile from Archibald.

Not taking any time to make the transition from being asleep to being awake was a characteristic of those with powerful souls. The big man was like that before he had suffered his injury. In fact, he could still do it, as long as he was willing to waste a bit of Soul Force on it. Which Archibald obviously wasn’t.

The pair packed up quickly and started their long trek towards Lonely Eagle’s place of inheritance. Unfortunately, Archibald could no longer leisurely lecture Wolf on magic.

Instead he paid close attention to their surroundings. The state of tension and heightened awareness took a toll on him and the breaks the pair took were now significantly longer.

On their way over Wolf and Archibald rested one day every week. They took the time to clean up, gather fresh provisions and such. On their way back they couldn’t do that. They only rested when they reached areas Archibald deemed safe.

Once the two of them finally reached a safe spot, they would stay there for a couple of days, maybe even a week. That way the big man could unwind his tense mind and to rest from constant night watches.

Archibald and Wolf traveled like this for around three months. That was when the first real hiccup happened.

***

Just like when they were heading into the Beast-lands, Archibald and Wolf had kept to the safe path. They were unable to use its special property, nor directly tread upon it.

Archibald had discarded staying on this path after just half an hour of trying.

Focusing on following the red road wasted more time than it was worth. Instead of treading it, Archibald and Wolf simply followed along, using the map artifact as a regular map.

This route was dotted with Monster Beast territories and with what Archibald considered safe patches between them.

The pair would circle around a Monster Beast’s territory, keeping to the fringes which the local overlord rarely visited. Archibald thought that this was a safer option than leaving the known and potentially running into an even more terrifying existence.

Between two Monster Beast territories existed a no man’s land of sorts. Sometimes the red road would follow it for two to three days, sometimes for a week.

What was odd about this specific portion of their journey was the fact that Archibald and Wolf were on the red road for over two weeks now.

Archibald had already taken note of this peculiarity on the way over. Back then, no matter how hard the big man tried, he had failed to find even the slightest trace of danger for over three weeks. No matter how odd, or how paranoid Archibald was, he didn’t want to risk going off track just because of an uneasy feeling. He hoped that this really was just a freebie shortcut…

While traveling through the middle portion of this shortcut, Archibald suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Not two dozen meters away he saw freshly upturned trees.

These weren’t some saplings. They were awe-inspiring trees, over fifteen meters tall. Based on their size and the way they were uprooted, whatever knocked them over was no small critter. With a glance Archibald instantly found the thickest, sturdiest tree around.

“Wolf, quick, climb that!” The big man hissed urgently while pointing towards the tree he deemed safe.

*Pata Pata Pata*

Wolf did as he was told and immediately started running on the soft forest floor. His father followed suit while sprinkling the magic powder that removed a part of the trail they had already made. The two of them urgently climbed the towering tree, displaying skill worthy of monkeys.

Once they were twenty meters up, Archibald, who had overtaken Wolf, motioned his son to stop.

The big man first looked around, then climbed a couple more meters until he was swallowed by the tree’s crown. After a good long while Wolf spent waiting, his father finally popped back out of the dense leaves and motioned the boy to follow.

Wolf had a grin on his face. As far as he was concerned this was all just an exciting game. While he really had experienced a number of exciting things in the dreamscape, nothing remotely similar was left after the ancient man wiped his memory.

In the treetop the two of them remained quiet and didn’t move a muscle. Half an hour passed in silence and Wolf’s initial excitement died down. The boy had started wondering what it was that his father had noticed about those trees…

Suddenly, the ground some thirty meters below them bulged.

A majestic turtle, over two dozen meters long, emerged from the ground as if it were water.

*Whoosh!*

The flap of the Monster Beast’s fin sent a shower of earth that sprayed almost all the way up to the two hiding manlings.

The earthen-colored turtle craned its long, serpentine neck. Its nostrils flared several times as it smelled the air. Then the monster loudly snorted.

It turned around towards the direction from which Archibald and Wolf had originally come from. With just a couple of flaps of its gigantic fins, the turtle moved fifty meters while submerging itself into the ground as if it were water.

Archibald was busy quietly having a heart attack as he watched trees topple over to the ground. The man didn’t even dare breathe loudly. On the other hand, Wolf’s eyes were sparkling.

The boy was grinning from ear to ear at the marvel he had just seen. He took a breath of air to speak. Suddenly his father’s huge hand sealed the boy’s mouth shut. Only a quarter of an hour later did Archibald let go of his son. The man wondered how Wolf could be a genius and an idiot at the same time. He couldn’t help but voice his concern.

“Were you about to wow again?” The big man was in a dark mood as he stared at Wolf with a deep frown. Apparently, his child really was suicidal…

Wolf shook his head. “I wanted to know what that three-horn turtle was?”

Archibald wanted to say that Wolf’s question was hardly any better than saying wow, but swallowed his grief.

“I don’t know. Back home I’ve seen a number of Monster Beasts that look like turtles and tortoises. Some of them could even glide through the ground just like that one. But compared with this behemoth those Monster Beasts were all like little children.” The man bit his lip and hesitated, but then decided to say his piece.

“Son, in the future, when we encounter such a terrifying monster, could you please just hide and stay quiet? Please. It’s not too late to ask questions once they are far, far away.” The man finished imploringly.

He really wanted to say Please don’t kill us, but he had a feeling you shouldn’t say something like that to a curious child.

Wolf nodded his affirmation. He could tell that his father was fighting hard to stay calm and not smack him on the head.

Instead of resorting to violence, Archibald took out a powder pouch identical to the one he used just a short while ago.

“Remove Trace can be used about fifty times, depending on how you dose it. I reckon you already know what it’s for and how to use it. If we ever get separated in these woods you should use this powder to cover up your tracks. Even if you only have a hunch something might be coming after you, use it. Better safe than sorry.” Archibald wanted to straight up give Wolf his entire Ring of Holding, but that would make things way too obvious. He had to hope that if anything happened, his son would be able to retrieve his body.

Wolf nodded with a serious expression and stored the pouch into his Ring of Holding. The boy thought that his father was trusting him, when in truth he was giving him means of escape in case he had to act like a decoy.

“Oh, and how did you know we needed to climb?” Wolf suddenly remembered another thing he wanted to ask.

“There was very little damage to those trees. They were either plucked out or popped out of the ground…” Archibald gave a detailed explanation, wowing Wolf even more than the giant turtle.

Wolf and Archibald spent the next three weeks traveling through the forest canopy. Archibald believed that traveling this way would keep them safe from the Giant Metal-shelled Earth-swimming Triceratops Turtle. He had named the new species himself and believed he had given it a fine one. It described the creature to a T.

Whether it was due to luck, or their caution, or because the Monster Beast simply liked its new name, the turtle didn’t reappear. As for its two guests, they managed to leave this dangerous part of the woods safely.

In fact the existence of such a powerful Monster Beast turned out to be a blessing, since it kept other dangerous Monster Beasts far away. It also explained why there was no sign of it before. Apparently, Archibald’s tongue-twister Turtle spent most of its life underground.

The man’s naming sense was horrible and someday Wolf would inherit a part of it. For now, the boy simply enjoyed traveling on thick branches. Jumping from one branch to the next was a game he very much liked, but he could tell that his father wasn’t entertained by it one bit.

Not because of how high they were. Archibald believed his son was competent enough not to miss a meter long jump. The problem was that this detour cost them another two weeks. If things like this kept popping up, he was afraid that his most pessimistic guesstimate would come true.

On the bright side though, he took four of those days to rest when they came across a particularly big tree to hide in, so not all of this time was really a waste.

***

Roughly half a year had passed since the Giant Metal-shelled Earth-swimming Triceratops Turtle incident.

Archibald and Wolf were walking through a relatively common one week long safe stretch of the red road. There was nothing noteworthy about this place, except that wildlife was oddly abundant, as if something was keeping the fiercer predators at bay.

This was the only hint that something was wrong with this part of the woods. Unfortunately, Archibald had missed the clue, mostly because they didn’t get to see that much of the forest.

Completely unaware, the pair kept moving deeper and deeper into this region. It was barely noticeable, but the landscape around them slowly became lusher. Finally, an uneasy feeling made the big man’s skin crawl. His gut told him that something was seriously wrong here and that he was in danger.

“Magic. Hide.” Archibald whispered suddenly.

Wolf shot his father a worried glance.

Right now, I’m probably stronger than you are!

After a moment’s hesitation the boy still did as his father said. Wolf looked around and finally noticed a tree hollow that gave him an extremely secure feeling. If he were to hide in that tree nobody would notice him, let alone hurt him.

Wait. That’s wrong… Why would a stupid hole in a tree make me feel so attracted to it?

Instead of going into the hollow, Wolf moved into a nearby bush. This bush, just like every other hiding place in the vicinity, gave off an uneasy vibe that hiding in it was futile. It was a completely irrational feeling and Wolf fought back against the uneasiness as he remained in his bush of choice.

The boy looked around and saw that his father was creeping ever so slowly through the underbrush. Archibald took great care not to make any noise. At some point a hunting spear appeared in his hands. At least now he was armed.

If the man really ran into a Monster Beast, that spear would be about as useful as wielding a toothpick to fend off a fully armed knight.

Hiding in the shrubbery Wolf felt tense and got ready to cast a Fireball.

I should have Subtle detection spells ready from now on. But, that would be a huge waste of the spells I can prepare. Especially considering that I should refrain from using them in the first place…

The time Wolf spent as a Necromancer’s apprentice had allowed him to discover a new spell modifier, which he had dubbed the Subtle spell. It could make his spell-casting virtually undetectable, while increasing the spell’s Order by one instead of two. The problem was that no matter how much he thought about it, the boy always found that he didn’t have enough spell slots to be prepared for every eventuality.

Wolf was hiding expertly when a sudden noise scared the living daylights out of him.

“Hey kid." A harsh, raspy voice sounded next to his ear. The words more closely resembled a beast growling the words of man while chewing a sausage, than a person talking.

"Why is that crippled little critter walking blindly through a field of illusions while you’re just squatting there?” The one asking the question was a mere step or two behind Wolf!

Archibald's lessons:

Having suffered enough nonsense, the emperor of Empire of Dwarf decided on a radical move. Over the span of a century he moved a part of his empire underground. Through elaborate construction and remodeling of terrain, dwarves redirected the majority of attacking Monster Beast hordes to their tall neighbors. The ones to suffer were the people of the Silverhound duchy, who up to that point often raided the Empire of Dwarf.