Chapter 021:

Light filled Anton's vision and mind once again. He was back in his bed, and back into reality. For a moment he could not feel Verona's warmth. However it was just a momentary lapse in his awareness.

Verona was nestled in his arm, her mouth slightly agape as she moved slowly back in forth in her dreams. She had moved his arm to cup her breasts in her sleep, not that he minded. The rest of her body was resting lightly on his. Evidently, he had not moved or thrashed about when he had the dream with the gods.

She started to wake slowly, murmuring lightly as she ground her body against his and rubbed her eyes. With a cute yawn she reached out and reached for his face. Her hand brushed against the beard he was growing.

“Morning Anton.” she said in the lightest voice she could.

Bringing up her other hand up, she chuckled as she continued to rub his face. It was a little rough, but it was still pleasant.

“Your beard. It feels really prickly. It tickles when I kiss you.”

Anton rubbed his hand over hers.

“It is a little. We had razors back on Earth-”

“That's the name of your old world, right?”

Anton nodded.

“Yes, just no electricity here. I think everyone else just uses a knife to keep their short. Not that confident about using one of those on my throat just yet.”

“Well, I think it makes you look handsome.”

She chuckled as she brought her hands back to her chest.

“So, what's the plan for today? I'm pretty sure that everything that could kill us is gone.”

“Actually, I was going to get things organized for the trip to Maxill.”

A frown formed on her face.

“Are we actually going on that trip? I know I was going for it but I don't really want to leave.”

Anton pulled her closer.

“If we want to live, if we want to defeat anything that threatens our lives, we're going to have to be proactive. And part of that is going to Maxill and getting more people to help build Atros into something truly grand.”

The usual smile returned to her face, quickly growing to a ridiculous grin.

“Okay. So, today or tomorrow then?”

Anton moved down and kissed her.

“Hopefully. As always, you recover quickly. We've just got a few things to do before that.”

Verona rose up, letting the fur covers falling off and turned to look out the window. The sun had just risen so most people would still be waking up. They would not be much help yet.

“We've got a little time.” she said looking back to him, “Enough time to fool around again?”

Anton's response was to grab her arm, pulling her back down onto the bed before kissing her deeply. She giggled as their hands entwined again.

---[]---

By the time they were ready the sun was above the horizon, Anton guessed it would be around seven or eight o'clock.

Work, as usual, had begun. There was a certain level of energy to their actions. A few days ago they were threatened with annihilation. Now, they could focus on things other than war and survival.

While Anton would have liked to help them out, there was something rotting in a barn that required his immediate attention.

The Yellow Goblin Commander had been a uniquely terrifying enemy, one that was able to force the goblin horde together for their war against Atros. It was it's use of a white explosive magic and its probable magic nullifying armor that most intrigued Anton. He wanted to know as much as he could. He had been told constantly that knowledge was important and something like this should not be ignored.

Unfortunately, he had no idea as to which barn they had stored it in. He had no intention to search the dozen or so barns in the hope to find it. He also wanted other people with him to make sure that anything he found was seen and recorded, it would also help with the dissection of its body and in case something went wrong. This time he would not do it out in the open. He often wondered if that helped make the other council members think he was not from this world.

“So, you want to find Jeff first?” Verona asked.

With Atros now being in peace-time everyone, except Verona, was in their casual comfortable villager close. She continued to wear her armor, which also doubled as support, and held the spear over both her shoulders with her hands resting on them. It current posture did not look to be all that comfortable but she seemed fine with it.

“Yeah,” Anton replied, “Him and a few others. I have no idea how heavy this body will be nor how heavy or well attached the armor is. This whole thing could be a little messy, blood and flesh wise.”

Verona nodded and smiled. She had no problem with blood, especially since she used it as her magical power.

Outside in the central plaza, Jeff, Avery and a hundred villagers were training. They were alternating running in the spot and jumping. It looked they were undergoing boot-camp in the army, their faces certainly looked like it.

The moment they saw Anton and Verona they stopped. Jeff yelled at them to keep training, much to the disgruntlement of the villagers, as he and Avery came over.

“Good morning Anton. How are you liking not having to go to sleep without worrying about being killed?” Jeff asked.

“I do, I do like it a lot.” Anton replied to Jeff's rather blunt question.

“You joining us for the morning training?” Jeff asked, “We've only just begun.”

“Actually, we need to get the trip to Maxill ready.”

Jeff and Avery frowned, knowing the two strongest people in the village would be leaving for some time.

“You're still going with that?”

“Yes. But I want to see that Yellow Goblin Commander, find out what's so special about that one. Where did you keep that thing?”

“In one of the barns to the south.” Avery replied while pointing, “Got a few guards outside to make sure nothing happens. Do you want to see it now?”

Anton nodded.

“Let's get this thing under-way.”

The villagers outside the barn in the south of Atros looked relieved to see them. While there was not any smell, the knowledge that there was such a destructive monster inside seemed to unnerve them. Just like with the flame pillar craters.

The opened they door of the barn as they approached.

“Any problems?” Jeff asked.

“None. Thankfully.” One of the villagers replied, “Kind of uncomfortable being near that headless thing.”

“That's understandable.” Anton continued, “Can you bring us a large table or crate or something? After that you can carry on with your day.”

The villagers looked appreciative, ran off to a nearby alley and returned with a large wooden crate, long enough for the Yellow Goblin Commander to be splayed across and carved apart. They moved the crate into the centre of the barn and left with a nod to Anton and Jeff.

All four entered the barn.

At the back lay the corpse of the Yellow Goblins Commander, its head separated from its body. The blood had dried around its wounds had dried, its body was still stiff with rigor.

Anton leant down and picked up the head. It felt quite heavy and cold in his hands, any semblance of life had long left it. The damage that Verona had caused to its face was grotesquely obvious now that it was so close to his face. One of its eyes had been torn apart and other was white, now blinded. It was amazing that it was still able to fight in this condition, though it may have just been swinging its mace wildly in desperation.

He placed the head onto the crate, Jeff and Avery looking a little disturbed with Anton's fascination while Verona looked on blankly.

Waving Jeff over, Anton got him to try and hold the base of the head while he removed the helmet. Verona's attack had managed to bend fragments of metal into the skull and locked them together. With some twisting and grunting the helmet was freed from the skull.

Verona leant down and inspected her work. Where there should have been a deformed nose and mouth was a giant gaping horizontal hole, the same shape as the tip of her spear.

“I can't see anything different about this one,” Verona commented as she poked at the wound, “Can you Anton?”

Anton hummed to himself.

“There might be something,” he brushed the hair of the Yellow Goblin Commander, “Most of their hair is wispy, sometimes just a few strands. This one has a full head. It might just be nothing, but it might be related. Well, someone have a knife and a hammer? I want to have a look at its brain.”

“Um, why?” Jeff asked.

“You never know.” Anton replied.

Everyone looked oddly at Anton. Verona produced her knife while Jeff produced a hammer from somewhere and handed them to him.

Using the knife he carved off the scalp of the head. He had no idea if he was doing it right but it came off in one large piece with some effort. The bone underneath looked just like those that he had seen before, there was nothing interesting to be found.

He brought the tip of the knife onto the skull and hammered it through through the skull. It was not as thick as he thought it would. That would explain why they had been able to kill them with a single strike to the head.

After making a few incisions he forced and popped a chunk of skull free. It flew into the air, straight to Avery. He caught it, dropping it the moment he realized where it came from.

The brain underneath was odd. It looked nothing like the pictures from earth or the fragments that he had seen during his fights here. Throughout the brains' pink folds were white cysts randomly scattered throughout. They were quite hard as he pushed them with the tip of the knife.

“Do we have any glass containers?” Anton asked, expecting it to be no.

“Um, no.” Jeff replied, after looking at Avery as he shook his head, “That stuff's fragile, so most of it is gone. We've got more pottery though. You want to scoop out that stuff in that brain?”

“If I could.” Anton shrugged. “I wouldn't really know what I'm doing with them but it might just be useful. Can one of you guys get some of the booze from Zac? There might be enough alcohol in there to preserve them for later.”

Avery nodded, going outside and telling another villager to go get some.

Anton turned his attention back to the commander's body.

“Let's get this on the table.”

It was surprisingly heavy but all four of them lifted it gently onto the crate.

Anton started prodding around the gaps in the armor, not the one along the middle that Verona had managed to tear apart. There were tiny clips and leather straps that kept them together. He started slicing them, the other quickly starting to help.

Within a few minutes they had freed the front of the armor from the body. Underneath was a full set of leather and cloth underlay, even covering it's feet and hands. He wanted to check the armor first.

It quickly became apparent that it was not designed for the goblins. It had somehow been twisted and formed into a shape appropriate for its body. Nevertheless, it was still very strong. He had no idea how such small and weak creatures managed to do this. Perhaps they had used a lot of leverage? He could not simply ask them.

“There's two different types of metal here.” Anton murmured to himself as he inspected the cut along the center of the chest piece.

“We've got the green metal, Bosciycium. But we've got something else, underneath the outer layer.”

He peered closer, doing his best to wipe off the dried blood. It was a very dark grey metal, covered in tiny hexagonal marks. These interlocked with each-other forming a very distinct pattern.

“Haven't seen this before. Might you be the reason why my magic did not work against him?” Anton asked aloud.

He tried to move the mana within him but found it extremely difficult, completely impossible in his hands which touched the dark grey metal. He removed his hand from the metal, his control returning.

A fireball grew in his hand which he pushed slowly towards the exposed piece of dark grey metal. It flickered and snuffed out when it reached about an inch or two from the metal.

“Can I try?” Verona asked.

“Sure.”

Anton held out his hand, Verona making a small cut and drawing up the blood. She formed a small blood sphere and tried the same thing as Anton. As the blood sphere approached the same distance as the fireball it quivered and returned to liquid and splashed onto the ground.

“That's really strange.” Jeff said, handling another piece of the dark grey metal. “Doesn't seem to do anything to me.”

Verona reached out and touched the metal. The red marks and her eyes instantly returned to normal, her face overcome with bewilderment. She checked her arms for the glow but there was none.

“It just went out.” she said as she looked to Anton.

She took a few paces back from the metal. The glow returned to her body.

“Okay, looks like I can get it back again.”

“I think that's enough of that.” Anton said, “I don't think any mage wants to get stabbed by one of these...just another thing we're going to have to worry about. Though, it should mean that this couldn't use magic...but it could.”

Over the next few minutes they removed all pieces of the armor. Not all of them had the dark grey metal underneath them, but enough for most of it's body to be covered. It just did not explain how the commander could use its magic.

“Do we want to get rid of this thing now?” Jeff asked. “We've got all the good stuff.”

A villager entered the barn, carrying a large barrel of alcohol. Now they could store the body parts without them hopefully degrading too much for the future. Another had also brought several clay jars and pots, enough to store everything. They would need to be labelled so they are not drunken by mistake.

Anton used the knife to carve out the white cysts from the brain, put them in the jar and filled them with the alcohol.

With everything they needed from the skull, Anton handed it to Avery to dispose of.

“Just want to check the body before we get rid of it.” Anton said as he started to cut through the cloth covering the commander, “I doubt the little white bits in it's brain are enough to allow it to use magic.”

He continued cutting, revealing the body underneath. Anton's carving apart the skull was quickly forgotten.

The cysts were not just inside. Nearly every part of its body was covered with grotesque and cancerous white cysts. Despite being dead for over a day they continue to leak a sickly white ooze. The stench was unbelievable, trapped within by the tight clothes.

“By the god's,” Jeff coughed violently as he covered his nose, “That thing is worse than a dozen dead bodies.”

The others covered their nose and faces as well. Anton was nearly gagging himself.

He used the knife to start prodding at the cysts. They leaked a vile thick liquid. It smelled even worse than the body.

“Christ, this whole thing is vile,” Anton said, bringing his arm to cover his mouth, “How much is this thing carrying?”

He did his best to collect some of the puss in one of the containers and rolled the body over to see how extensive they were. The others did not help him in his endeavor. With a little effort he was able to remove the skin where the cysts were the thinnest, on the back.

“Anton, how much more of this crap do you want to smell?” Jeff asked. Avery and Verona looked at him in agreement.

“Just want to see if there's anything strange going on underneath the skin.” Anton replied. He started to cut away at the cold flesh with the knife to the spine, “We can guess the white cysts and puss have something to do with it's magic still working despite the magic inhibiting metal.”

Anton removed another chunk of flesh, looking just like the fat-less hunk of muscle that he saw the first time.

“But,” Anton continued, “That in itself doesn't explain why it was able to use magic while still covered in that grey metal. There might-”

“What's that?” Jeff asked, pointing towards the center of the spine.

Anton and the others looked down at the spine. Along the center, still buried in flesh, he could see something. It glinted as he moved his head back and forth and the light struck it at different angles.

“I can see something.” Anton said as he continued to look.

Using the knife he dug around the glint, he started to free it. It looked like a shard of glass. With a light tug he tried to free it but it shattered.

The moment it broke, the body started writhing and thrashing about, completely turning itself over. They dived back, Anton covering Verona. Its bones and flesh broke as its limbs smashed into the wooden crates, going limp in a few seconds.

When Anton looked back its body was a broken mess, bones jutted from its still cyst covered skin and pieces of flesh were exposed. Its stomach was torn open, it's innards splattered all over the ground.

They glanced at each-other than to the body. Anton helped Verona to her feet, and looked at the stomach's contents. There was recently chewed grass, but something else as well. Verona, though she could no see, feigned a gasp as he poked around with the knife.

There was a fingernail, a human one.

He felt queasy at the sight.

Now I know why those women were so eager to die...

He lifted the body up and looked at the point in the back but could not see the glint again. Whatever it was, broke or was destroyed in the attack. He let it slump back onto the crate.

“I don't know what that glint was,” Anton said as he brushed the dirt off his clothes, “But it wasn't good. If there are any more goblins, see if you can capture them intact and take care when harvesting around their back. We should find out what that was.”

“Now can we get rid of it?” Jeff asked again.

“Absolutely.” Anton replied, Verona tried to have a peek at the stomach but Anton held her back with his arm and shook his head. “We have what we need, so dump and burn this thing. Pray we don't have to fight another.”

Jeff and Avery looked a little relieved, however they did not seem to want to move the body. They went outside and got a couple villagers to take it out of the village. Those villagers did not look happy, especially the one having to carry the head.

“Well, now that that disgusting thing is done, we have a council meeting.” Jeff explained.

“Sure, just let me wash my hands first.” Anton replied.

---[]---

The council members were a little disturbed by Anton's actions. The presence of a tiny sliver of something within the Yellow Goblin commander had only thrown up questions, not that Anton had any real answers. He just hoped there were no cysts growing in his brain.

“It was kind of disgusting.” Verona continued talking.

She was telling the others what happened, Anton unfortunately had drifted off trying to figure it out. Compared to the others he did not feel much when he was dissecting the goblin, almost like it was just a lump of meat.

“Not that much we found out though, just more things that refuse to make sense.” Anton said as he lent back into his chair.

“Although,” Bertram coughed loudly to try and bring the meeting forward, “That does bring us to the first thing we need to discuss today. What to do next.”

Everything went quiet.

“Now, we all know that you two are intending to leave-”

“Not for ever though.” Anton added.

“That may be so. But during that time, we need to figure out we are going to continue.”

The room went quiet again. With the ever-present threat of the Yellow Goblins now gone, they seemed to lack a clear direction.

Anton raised his hand to speak, the others turning towards him.

“If I may, you are not that strong yet, especially if Verona and I leave. We have about a thousand people, give or take?”

The others nodded.

“What we're currently lacking is people, and if we take the long way, it'll take decades before there's a significant increase in the number of people. Part of what I will do is try and recruit or encourage people to come and live here, so long as you're all okay with that?”

He scanned the room and did not find any opposition.

“Anyway, that could take some time. During that, I can only tell you guys not to draw any attention to yourselves. So that means no scouting or expeditions beyond the quarry.”

Jeff had a look of disappointment on his face.

“The last thing you need to do is draw attention to yourselves by exploring and getting caught, especially in an area where the power balance between the monsters and beasts has changed dramatically.”

Jeff sighed but still seemed happy.

“I gotcha'. Well keep training our soldiers and the rest. It'll make taking this village a lot harder in the future.”

Jonathan raised his hand to speak.

“I know I told you a while ago but I have run out of coal. I cannot do that much with the forge anymore. We could use wood, but I really do not want to have the ones around the village cut down.”

Anton agreed.

“And the nearest one is near the mountain, or the quarry....I think for now you should use the wood near the quarry for now.” Anton added. “You are already making a disturbance there, so a few more people shouldn't make much of a difference. If that becomes too low then it'll have to be the forest to the west. On a different topic, does anyone here have mining experience?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“At Maxill I'll see about finding out getting somebody with experience, someone who can point to where some coal and ore is. It'll stop us from cutting down the countryside. Zac, can your guys handle collecting the wood?”

“No probs lad. We'll just use a cart for wood instead of stone.” Zac said.

“Okay, after this, I'll need to speak to you, Jonathan, in your blacksmith. There are some things I need to you to look over.”

Jonathan nodded.

“Oh, and Zac?”

“Hmm?”

“We need you guys to continue expanding Atros, in preparation of more people arriving. That means a second wall and a lot more houses. I'll leave the designing up to you.”

“We'll get on it. As fast as we can.” Zac said as he leant back.

The room went quiet again.

“So,” Bertram began, “I think that covers just about everything that needs addressing. Anyone have anything else?”

Sybil was the one to speak up.

“There was a journal along with that red crystal. It explains how to use the thing properly.”

She pulled the gem out and placed in onto the table. In the light it looked very impressive.

“Basically,” Sybil continued, “It works by using Earth Mana.”

Her eyes darted to Anton, seemingly remembering that he did not come from this world.

“The Earth Mana that allows plants to grow so quickly, among other things like monsters. Anyway, it uses that to make monsters not able to see you. Keep in mind that I said monsters, things like the wolves and whatnot will still find you, though not as easily.”

“I'll keep that in mind.” Anton said as he reached over and picked up the red gem.

“It also needs some time to recover the Earth Mana, overnight should be enough. During that time it cannot be moved.”

Sybil pulled out the journal and flicked through its pages.

“There's a drawing of it just being half-way submerged into the dirt. That seems to be enough.”

Anton felt that getting something so ornate dirty was a little disrespectful to it, but if that was necessary he would do it.

“Thanks Sybil. I'll keep that in mind.”

“By the way Anton, how do you expect to get to Maxill and back with all that stuff?” Jeff asked.

Anton did not have an actual answer, he had not thought about it.

“I guess I could get a cart with one of those Ix creatures. They don't seem too difficult to control.”

Verona groaned and squirmed uncomfortably.

“That thing made me throw up and I could barely walk afterwards...are we really going to take that?”

“We'll take a few days before we leave to get a decent handling of that creature. Looks like we'll have to take another cart from you Zac.”

Zac shrugged.

“Doesn't worry me. We'll manage just fine.”

Bertram looked around the table and found no-one looking like they had something further to add.

“In that case, this council meeting is done.” Bertram said, bringing the council meeting to a close.

---[]---

Anton brought the drawings of the guns to Jonathan's blacksmith, Verona following him.

He looked confused at the drawings, not understanding what they truly meant.

“These are things from your world?” Jonathan asked, “I've just never seen anything like this.”

Anton nodded.

“These are just a few of the things from my world that will help with the upcoming war with the demons and anything else that could get in the way. It's called a rifle.”

Jonathan, his children and Verona raised an eyebrow at hearing the name.

“I'm not sure what it's called that, I think it's to do with the barrel is shaped on the inside. Anyway, this will allow anyone to have incredible powers, rivaling my fire-bombs.” Anton explained.

“But these drawings...I don't mean to be rude...but they are not very accurate.” Jonathan looked a little sheepish.

Anton waved his hands to calm him.

“I know. I don't know their exact dimensions but I know the rough design.”

The picture that he had drawn was a rough bolt action rifle, one that he had seen in war movies. He figured that they would be easier to understand than something more complex than a machine gun. The alternative was to draw something like a musket, but if he was going to have the chance to design weapons, he thought he might as well skip some of the steps if possible.

“Well,” Jonathan started rubbing the back of his head, “I don't know how I'm meant to build these accurately enough for them to work. With my equipment and the lack of specifics in these designs...It will take some serious time.”

“I understand that.” Anton said, not taking offense. “This is something that wasn't conceived in a few days.”

Anton looked over his drawings again.

“I'm really sorry to have to drop this on you but I don't have much choice.”

Jonathan looked at the drawings with Anton.

“I suppose that this long metal tube-”

“Barrel.”

“A barrel, should not be too hard to make. I presume it's meant to be perfectly flat on the inside and straight?”

Anton nodded. “There's also other things like the stock, trigger, firing pin, some way of loading and unloading the rifle and I'm sure there's a myriad of other component's that I've missed. As I said, I don't know how they go together.”

Jonathan made a frown but eventually smiled.

“Each piece does not look that difficult but it should take a bit to get them right. I am not a magician so I cannot guarantee that it will be perfectly flat. Then we, and I presume it will be 'we'?...”

Anton nodded again.

“Can put this together and figure out how it will work. But I will need some better equipment. Mine is quite old and beaten. I've already prepared a list of things for your travels. If you can even get a few of them it would be a great help.”

Jonathan handed him a sheet of paper. On it were many lines of the characters of this world. Anton had improved his comprehension a bit, he could understand quite a few but did not have any idea why Jonathan would want them. Nevertheless, he would get them.

“There's another sheet I want you to have a look at.”

Anton pulled out another piece of paper, this one with a drawing of a bullet.

“This,” Anton said pointing to the drawing, “Is called a bullet. It's what's used in the rifle. This is what is used to kill. If you just have the rifle, you can't do a thing. These are very important and we will need thousands, many thousands of these.”

“So, this fits in there?”

“Yep. It has to fly out the barrel so it can't be too large or small. This is the thing that will probably test your ability.”

Jonathan looked more dejected by the minute. Anton was asking him to do something that was well above what a villager blacksmith was used to. However, he wasn't saying no and he had seen his work before. It filled Anton with quite a bit of confidence.

“That being said,” Anton continued, “It is a little harsh of me to ask you build something so intricate and detailed when it is just you and with your basic equipment. So...in that spirit, there is something perhaps a little more...reasonable.”

This time Anton brought out another sheet, this one with a cannon on it.

“This seems a lot more simple.” Jonathan commented slyly as he took the sheet of paper.

“Yes,” replied Anton, “A large, hunk of metal with a tube inside. A large metal ball is placed infront of a pack of explosive powder here, then ignited somehow from outside and on top. That explosion throws the metal ball out at tremendous speed, which could easily tear apart any person or creature foolish enough to get in its way.”

Jonathan studied the paper, this time there was no bewilderment that Anton saw with the rifles and the bullets.

“This looks...more possible.” Jonathan said as he laid the sheet down on the table, “I...okay. With the metal that we have recovered from the battle, we can probably get a few of these. We will go through quite a bit of wood to get things hot enough and building a mold to make the main tube could take a little time.”

There was another pause from Jonathan as he glanced over all the pieces of paper.

“Okay. I will give them a go.” Jonathan said as he rolled up the papers. “It will be good for me to try something new. I will fit in around anything else important I have to do.”

“Thank-you Jonathan.” Anton shook his hand. “We just need some explosive powder and something to set it off for the bullets and the cannon, another thing to get at Maxill. But there is one last thing.”

“Oh?”

“If these things actually get working, they and their designs will be incredibly valuable. Not just money, but for the power balance of every kingdom and nation in this world. This means it must be kept secret at all costs. You understand what that means?”

Anton held his gaze with Jonathan, he seemed to realize what Anton meant.

“I'm not being threatening.” Anton tried to calm him down. “I just want you to know how seriously I take this.”

“I understand. I will keep everything secret.” Jonathan turned to his children, “This means you too. No speaking of this or showing others these drawings.”

“Got it!” They both said with childlike enthusiasm.

“I'll leave you alone then. Good luck Jonathan.”

Anton waved back to them as he and Verona left the blacksmith.

---[]---

When Anton and Verona arrived back at the central plaza they were stopped by Jeff and Bertram.

“We have a gift for the both of you.” Bertram explained as he led them towards the west of Atros. “Since the both of you are now a couple, you should really have your own house.”

“Plus it will let mum and dad have some sleep before midnight.” Jeff smirked at Anton and Verona.

I guess we were that loud.

Verona groaned and squirmed uncomfortably, a quick glance showing that her face was turning quite red.

“I...I'm sorry.” Anton felt his face heat up a little. “I guess we were making a little too much noise.”

“Well,” Bertram looked a little awkward, “Now it won't be a problem.”

Jeff laughed, carrying on with a spring in his step.

A few minutes later they stopped at a particularly large house, much larger than most of the buildings in the village. The house was situated halfway between the wall and the central plaza. It appeared to be almost two full single story houses stuck together.

“This house used to belong to a...” Bertram began to explain before hesitating, a myriad of thoughts flowing through his face, “Well...anyway. It's been abandoned for some time. We didn't tear it down since it's still in good condition but didn't know what to do with it. Now, I think we've found a good use for it. After saving all our lives, and that you're going to help us grow stronger, it is the least of the things we can do for you.”

“Thanks guys. This means quite a bit to us.” Anton said to both of them, Verona seemed to have the same thought.

They all entered the house. It was laid out very similar to Jeff's house, a large corridor down the middle with another corridor branching off either side. There appeared to be quite a few rooms in the house, some large and small. There was not much on the inside and it needed quite a thorough cleaning. Otherwise, it was very nice for the village.

The room at the end of the central corridor's door was open. Inside was their bed and clothes, neatly folded either side. The fur cover had seemingly been cleaned from the dried blood. There was also a large table and two chairs placed on the side.

“I take it you guys had our stuff moved in?” Anton asked.

“Yeah,” Jeff replied, “When you were at Jonathan's. I hope you don't mind.”

“It's fantastic!” Verona said, jumping into the air in delight. She hugged Jeff and Bertram then returned to Anton's side.

“We'll let you get two get cozy here, we don't have anything else major planned for today.” Jeff explained.

“See you two at lunch.” Bertram waved back as they both left, closing the door.

“So what do they mean by that?” Verona asked.

Anton did not know if she was being serious or she was being coy. Regardless of the meaning, he knelt down and picked her up, clutching at his shirt out of surprise. It appeared to have been the former meaning. With her free hand, she wrapped it around his neck and pulled herself up for a kiss as he walked to the bed.

---[]---

The next three days were spent learning how to the control the Ix beast. The driver, the one that lead them to the lake, had taken on the job with extreme enthusiasm. While most just lead the creatures from the front, Anton wanted to use it just like he did. That seemed to be all the driver needed to start teaching Anton.

A few times being flung from his seat, the beast started to settle down and respond to his commands over the few days. Now he was ready to go.

Verona had gotten a little better with her motion sickness, though Anton had no intention of carrying on like a madman.

For their journey he had collected two of the large light-weight chests onto the cart, several small bags of gold, a few large sheets of thick cloth, some sleeping and eating equipment and the red crystal. Strangely, there was no name for the crystal that they found so they stuck with that. Sybil had given them several weeks worth of food in pots and bags, Anton knew he could use his magic to catch some creatures if things got serious. He had also taken a short sword for himself, just a steel one. A thought to take one of the Chelium swords briefly came up, but it would draw too much attention.

Now he and Verona were at the western edge of Atros, getting ready to depart.

“Are you sure you've got everything?” Sybil asked again as Anton got onto the front of the cart. She and several of the women had been fussing around them for the past hour or so.

“Yes, I am sure.” Anton replied with a hint of annoyance. He knew they were doing it for the right reason, it was just starting to get annoying after the tenth time.

“And,” Sybil moved very close and spoke in a whisper, “You are coming back, right?”

“Yes. I shouldn't have to keep saying it, but I will be returning.”

Sybil smiled and returned to the front of the growing crowd. He looked back to Verona, who was looking intently at him, waiting for him to start.

Let's start.

“Everyone,” Anton addressed the crowd, “I will be returning, returning with resources and people that will make Atros into an ever stronger power. One which will be able to fight off anything that threatens humanity. Good luck everyone.”

His somewhat melancholic words had still managed to inspire some people. Most applauded while some even cheered. All seemed quite happy for their future.

He whipped on the reigns, the Ix snorted and lurched forward to a quick running pace.

“Come back soon!” Jeff yelled at them, Anton turned and saw him waving madly.

Verona laughed, crawling out of the back of the cart to the front where Anton sat. Over the past few days he had started to get a decent read on Verona's emotions, as good as any man could understand a potentially dangerous woman like her. She seemed a little tense and quite nervous. This would be her first time leaving Atros and for somewhere so far away.

He placed his arm around her, gently rocking her.

“I'm just nervous.” she told him in a quiet voice. “Going to the lake was the furthest I have ever been. And now, I'll be heading to another village...in another kingdom.”

“You'll be fine.” he told her. “Imagine how I'm feeling, coming from another world.”

She chuckled again.

“I can forget that sometimes.”

Verona straightened herself up and stretched her body.

“The two of us should strong enough to deal with anything we find, right?”

“Absolutely. The two of us can blast through anything in our way. Right now, it's this forest.” Anton nodded towards the horizon encompassing forest. “We'll get through, get what we can and come back. I'm looking forward to sleeping in our bed again.”

She laughed again, burying herself underneath his arm.

Bertram said the trip would take seven days on foot. At their current speed it would probably take six or maybe even less. Anton hoped it would be uneventful but he knew it probably would not be.

-----------------

Hello again.

This one was about getting a few things started, trying to figure out why the yellow goblin commander could use magic, not that they did, and most importantly get the design and production of guns started. There is no way that someone would just be able to make it straight away, so it will be some time before they could actually get one, hopefully that will help show some realism in this story.

Anyway, I wrote this in a few days so, as usual, I hope it will be up to standard.

Thanks for reading!

EDIT:

My first edit to something I've posted.

In hindsight, just having them start to build rifles without at least getting cannons is a little stupid of me. So, I've changed it a little. Apart from that nothing has changed.

Just wanted to make an extra note here, just in case someone wonders what the comments are about.