Ryan sat on the clean grass near the edge of the wetlands that spanned the space between the river and the rainforest, letting the warm mid-morning air dry his clothes. In his lap sat his cleaned weapons, upon which he put the finishing touches. Kara lounged nearby, hands behind her head and using the pack as a backrest, her spiky hair and leathers pristine.

A quick dip and scrub in the river had been nice until the recent memory of the river serpent chased him out of the water, the paranoia of a giant dragon snake deciding that he was lunch turning his leisurely swim into a mad scramble to the shoreline.

“We should figure out how to gather evidence of our frog extermination,” Ryan said, sheathing his sword and slinging the buckler onto his back with a cord he’d pulled from the pack.

“No need. When you report back, they’ll just assume you did the job until they hear otherwise. If it turns out you didn’t finish the job, they’ll do some investigation and if you’re just lying about finishing, they’ll ban you from taking new missions.”

“What happens if I just move to a new city?”

“Once they ban you, you’re banned everywhere. At least everywhere within the network that the Guilds operate, anyway. That’s why they use the Guild plate. It carries a kind of signature of your soul, so even if you get a new plate from somewhere else, you’re still banned.”

“Oh. Well… should we check for Keys then?” Ryan looked down at his sword, a little unwilling to get it dirty with frog blood so soon after cleaning it, but the prospect of new Keys overcame his hesitation.

“You go ahead. I’m going to sit here and enjoy the morning. Pack animals like me don’t get to rest much when we’re back on the trail.” Despite her serious tone, a small smile crept onto her face.

Ryan snorted, got to his feet, and started the grisly task of dissecting frogs. Flashbacks of grade school notwithstanding, the animals had just been trying to live their lives. The only thing that prevented him from being sad about the senseless killing was that they were an invasive species.

It wasn’t as obvious anywhere else as it was directly across the river where the Arrow Frogs devastated the plant life up and down the riverbank as far as he could see, and a way into the forest as well. The damage was way worse than the old nature documentaries had led him to believe it would be.

As for Keys; no dice. By the time he’d finished with the frogs, he’d traversed a sizeable chunk of the shoreline looking for bodies and had become an Arrow Frog anatomy expert, but there were no Keys among them. He’d also taken extra care to not get frog crud all over himself again, so when he plopped down next to Kara, his clothes were still dry and clean.

“No Keys. I don’t know why I expected to find any. They’re supposed to be rare, I guess.”

“Yeah, it sometimes takes people many years to get a full set, especially the Soul Keys.”

“I guess. I thought it would be different for me or something since I’ve gotten all four of my Keys in just a few days.”

Kara looked at Ryan, her eyes as wide and disbelieving.

“You’ve only had your Keys for a few days and you’re already busting into Bronze in an ability? What the hell? After I got my first, it took me almost a year to get to number four, and I wasn’t even close to Bronze in any of them. You must have made a deal with one of the Curator’s gods or something.”

Kara slapped her cheeks with her palms and got to her feet. “Let’s get a move on. I need to burn off all the angst that revelation just induced in me.”

He supposed it was greedy to expect Keys to continue to fall into his lap. Based on Kara’s reaction, he couldn’t expect to find any more Keys soon. The thought was a little depressing. He felt like he’d made a lot of progress and not getting any more Keys felt like stagnation. It was something to consider later, though, and he shoved it to the back of his mind.

Ryan edged his way into the rainforest after Kara. The combination of the forest and pervasive shadows triggered the memory of his flight and fight with the shadow wolves in the forest outside the village. Since then, he’d gained some new perspective so his nerves weren’t as bad as they could have been, but his eyes darted around examining every shadow, anyway.

Soft rustling sounds of unseen animals didn’t help, nor the sharp calls of birds in the canopy. The rich smell of loam and damp and rotting wood permeated the air. Low vegetation filled the wide spaces between the tall, thick trees, and moss covered almost everything.

Kara glanced over her shoulder at Ryan and said, “We’ll be looking for the oxen. They like the confined spaces in the trees, so we’re bound to find them in weird places. These are the bigger, meaner cousins of the ones the farmers domesticated a long time ago. The spikes are what we’re after. What they have that the smaller ones don’t is a giant neck spine that is a good component in making some magical ingredients.”

“The mission notice says we need to retrieve three spikes but kill as many as we come across. These guys are invasive too?”

“Yeah, not as bad as the frogs, but farmers hate them because they stir up trouble with their domestics and eat everything in sight. Ironically, or maybe not, they’re delicious themselves. I’d say we bring back as much as the meat as possible while we’re at it.”

Ryan shrugged to himself. Some nice steaks sounded good, but he didn’t care. This trip was supposed to be for training, after all. The frog swarm had already provided him with experience using his abilities in a coordinated way; he’d learned a lot.

“Listen up. These guys are way more dangerous to you than the frogs. They’re huge and clumsy, but if you let them get some speed in a straight line, they’ll turn you into meat paste. You have to make them turn a lot, make them have to go around stuff to get to you,” Kara said.

“Got it. Don’t be meat paste.”

“I’m serious. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill Iron ranked beasts. They can conceal themselves. You need to keep your senses sharp.”

“It’s not like I’m not paying attention. I’m not sure what else I could do.” Ryan shrugged. He relied on his sensory power and his eyes and ears.

After some bushwhacking and following false trails, they stumbled upon a track that left no doubt in his mind that ravaging herbivores trampled their way through the forest, eating everything in sight. Crushed vegetation littered the forest floor, low branches stripped of their leaves, and general destruction showed which direction the oxen had traveled.

“Where is the Breach that these guys and the frogs came through, anyway?” Ryan asked.

“It has been a while since I’ve been down this way, but I think it’s a couple kilometers further upriver, to the southeast.”

“We should go check it out later. I haven’t had a chance to really look at one.”

“There isn’t a lot to see. Looks like the air is playing tricks with light and color. Sometimes it looks like heat coming off hot sand. Otherwise, they’re pretty boring. Going through one, though… that’s a different story. Quiet now, I think we’re getting close.”

Ryan let Kara create some distance between them on the trail. Everywhere he looked, the interplay of light and shadow on swaying plant life tricked his eyes into seeing animals and beasts that weren’t there. Nerves made him jittery, and he pulled out his weapons, just in case. [Spatial Cognition] told him there was nothing there, but it couldn’t hurt to be ready for anything.

He felt a vibration in the soles of his boots, steadily growing stronger. Strange, as he didn’t remember seeing anything around the area that would cause a vibration, like a waterfall. [Spatial Cognition] gave him a weird feeling, but it was raw and unformed, and kind of blurred around his mind.

A sound made itself known in the forest. A low rumble filtered through the dense undergrowth, but he couldn’t pinpoint it because the dense foliage muffled everything. It sounded like a slow gallop. A gallop?

The greenery along the track right next to Ryan exploded as an enormous dark shape plowed through. It loomed in his power’s senses and he threw himself sideways and used [Warp Step] to escape its charge.

The writhing tunnel swallowed him and tossed him onto his face in the nearby undergrowth. A crack sounded out through the forest as something impacted a tree, and a rising clarion call followed. The tone of the beast’s call rose and vibrated every part of Ryan’s body as it did.

Broken branches and leaves dragged at him as he launched himself out of the bushes. His sword and shield tried to tangle themselves in his legs, but he got a hold of them and stumbled back onto the path to get a look at what had attempted to smear him all over the nearest tree.

A spiky horror shook its head, ridding itself of its daze from ramming the tree. The beast had the breadth and length of a full-sized truck and Ryan’s full height only reached its chest. Its dappled fur pattern made it difficult to see in the shifting light and shadows of the forest.

Small spikes on its blunt snout grew into a mane of rattling spines, which it had flared out as it searched around. Its sharp hooves churned up the soil as it rotated its massive body. It let out of a raspy huff as its large black eyes located Ryan standing out in the open track.

“Remember what I told you about not letting it charge!” Kara’s yell jarred Ryan out of his shock and as the monster in front of him prepared to charge, he dashed for the nearest tree.

The monster charged and flailed its head full of spines. Ryan threw up a sloppy [Warp Wall], redirecting the attack, but too much momentum bled through and it tossed him further into the trees than he’d intended.

Scrambling to his feet and cradling his chest, he rushed for a stout tree once again.

Ryan felt like he ran through syrup, his body slow to respond as the collection of bruises from the frogs made itself known. His arms and chest throbbed as the excess energy bled throughout his body.

As he reached a sturdy tree, the beast halted its attempt at another charge, instead edging around to attempt another attack. Ryan kept the tree between himself and the ox and thought about what he could do.

Kara had been right about one thing; it had so much bulk that it had difficulty picking up speed or turning quickly. It also appeared to be single minded, as it hadn’t veered from its course or flinched at the sound of Kara’s voice.

Using the tree as a fulcrum, he dashed around to the beast’s flank and drove his weapon in as hard as he could with both hands and yanked it back out before its hooves kicked him into oblivion.

There was very little blood, but it bled. Its hide was thick and tough. Dragging the blade free had taken significant effort. The only sign that the beast had felt anything was a renewed effort to reach Ryan.

As it turned toward him, Ryan dashed behind its bulk and used [Warp Step] to reach its opposite flank, stabbing it again. As before, very little blood. It looked like this was going to be a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ situation.

[Spatial Cognition] painted a path through his brain and he stepped aside to dodge a deadly hoof strike. Ryan rushed up the creature’s flank toward its front leg and chopped into it viciously, not so much cutting as crushing tendons and muscle.

The beast bellowed and threw its bulk into him. Ryan thrust his shield out and used [Interception] to blunt the impact and then jumped out of range. The feeling from his Core told him [Warp Step] wasn’t yet ready to use, so he ran back in for a few more stabs and chops before jumping through his spatial tunnel out of range.

The giant ox showed signs of pain and fatigue, but not nearly enough for Ryan’s taste. He struggled for breath and his bruises from the previous battle wore down his stamina even faster than it otherwise would have.

He rushed back in and attacked methodically, slowly whittling down the beast’s stamina and hobbling it one chop or stab at a time. At one point he started using more trees as cover, but the ox bowled through them and they splintered, roots throwing clods of dirt into the air as they were torn from the ground.

A few times the beast cornered him forced him to use [Warp Wall] to keep from being smeared, paying the price with his body as the massive bulk bled momentum through his shield and into his body.

Ryan attempted to end the fight quickly with a sword thrust to the throat but was met with a wall of spines and rows of enormous blunt teeth for his trouble. He narrowly escaped with [Warp Step] before the beast could crush him with its jaws.

The marathon of stab, slash, and dash culminated in Ryan finally embedding his sword into the ox’s neck through its cover of spines once he’d weakened it enough. The beast let out a last huff and fell over, too weak from blood loss to continue fighting, until it relaxed into death.

Ryan stood over it like a conquering hero, barely standing on his own feet, struggling for breath, and unable to hold his shaking legs steady. He cleaned off his sword on some stray leaves and looked around.

Their fight had demolished the entire area. Uprooted trees leaned haphazardly against other trees or just lied on the ground. The plant life looked like a frag grenade tore through it, shredded pieces scattered over the churned-up earth.

And there was Kara, leaning against a tree by the original track, munching on some rations that they’d bought that morning. She gave Ryan a wave and walked over, chewing her snack and looking around. She shook her head.

“Took you long enough. You should have just stabbed it in the face.” She took a bite out of her rations and chewed for a second. “I would have just punched it in the face and been done with it.”

“Old Ben was right. You are a musclebound barbarian.” Ryan laughed through his aching bruises and sat down on the forest floor. “You have any of those healing cookies on you? I feel like I’ve been tenderized and prepped to throw on the firepit.”

“Yeah, I have a couple, but you’re not getting them for just a few bruises. You’ll heal. Faster than before too.”

“You expect me to fight more of these things today like I am right now? Forget meat paste, they’ll turn me into mulch and spread my remains throughout the forest.”

“Oh, don’t be a big baby. You can rest for as long as you like, and you’ll be fine.”

Ryan snorted and laid back on the scattered leaves and closed his eyes, letting [Spatial Cognition] feed him information from the surroundings. The ability had failed him with the ox during the initial charge.

Well, maybe not fail, but defeated. The ox had concealed itself as it approached, just as Kara said it would. Even with her warning, it had been difficult to detect. He had barely heard it during its initial charge, and his power had only given him a nebulous feeling.

It was something to keep in mind for the future. [Spatial Cognition] wasn’t infallible, and he couldn’t fully rely on it. He’d need to keep his normal senses sharp as well. Also, lacking an offensive ability showed itself to be more than an inconvenience when dealing with this level of beast, relying on the weapon itself to do damage was a handicap.

He let himself rest, his mind wandering through all the stuff he’d learned in the past few days. A lot had happened, and he hadn’t given himself enough time to process most of it.

A short time later, Ryan could see through [Spatial Cognition] as Kara traced a path toward him. She nudged him with her foot.

“As much as I enjoy lounging around, you still have to find a couple more oxen. I’d rather finish by nightfall so we can move on to the last job in the morning,” Kara said.

“Is that huge spike on their back the thing that lets them conceal themselves?”

Kara didn’t answer, but he could imagine the smarmy grin on her face.

“You could have warned me that it could hide from Key abilities. You’re cruel and want to watch me suffer.”

“I did say that it could conceal itself. It wouldn’t be a very good learning experience if I told you everything, now would it?” she said.

“Don’t you think there are better ways to learn than near death experiences?”

“Nope. Besides, I have healing cookies remember?”

Something dashed through the edge of his sensory bubble and Ryan lurched into a sitting position, his head whipping to examine the forest shadows nearby. Its impression was familiar, but he couldn’t place it; it had disappeared before he got a handle on it.

His examination yielded no results. The sun-dappled forest floor was undisturbed, the shadows swaying back and forth with the movements of the canopy above. More than a little unnerved, he gathered his weapons, clambered to his feet and dusted himself off.

“Best get to it. Keep a look out though, will you? I sensed something out there, just beyond my range. Whatever it is, it’s fast,” Ryan said.

“I’m never not being watchful. You just take care of the getting the spine.”

Ryan nodded and gingerly made his way to the dead Spiked Browser. The spine was tough, way more tough than it looked. His sword skittered off the black glassy surface before he got the angle right and chopped through it with difficulty.

“This thing better be worth it,” Ryan said as he held the meter-long spine in his hands.

“It’s definitely worth it for you, considering your rank. This is a high Iron ranked job and you’re probably not even middle ranked, in terms of power. If you had some attack abilities, it would have been too easy. Joy, even though he’s a special case, would have ripped through this guy here like tearing through cheese cloth.”

“What makes Joy’s case special?”

“Best not get into it. He’ll show you if he feels like it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Ryan grunted in response. That seemed unlikely. Joy didn’t strike him as the chatty type, not considering that he couldn’t actually speak. Whatever it was, he’d find out sooner or later as it didn’t appear to be a secret.

They strapped the long spine to the pack Kara carried and continued along the track forged by the other oxen.

Kara sent Ryan out front to track the beasts himself, and it took them the rest of the afternoon to find two more of the beasts. The fights didn’t get any easier. Despite Ryan’s effective strategy, each beast dragged it out to the bitter end.

The first beast tried the same ambush trick as the one he’d already defeated, but he’d been looking out for it and recognized it for what it was. The battle still dragged on for way too long and devastated the tree population, but Ryan triumphed in the end.

The second beast drowsed in the middle of a clearing in the rainforest and didn’t appear interested in doing anything other than soaking up the sun. Ryan didn’t want to fight it out where there were no trees to use as obstacles, and it wouldn’t succumb to his taunting antics to chase him into the woods.

Eventually, Ryan had to run up behind it and stab it to get it to chase him into the forest. [Warp Step] came in handy as he popped out of range of the reflexive hoof strike thrown his way. The battle ended predictably. The dead beast lay in front of him and he heaved in fresh air and collapsed to the forest floor, spent.

With three of the spines requested on the mission flyer acquired, they made camp in the clearing. Ryan munched through some ration bars, which to be fair weren’t bad. Kara attempted to gather dry wood for a fire, but the rainforest didn’t cough up anything. They settled for a small smoky fire from wet green wood, more for the cozy atmosphere than any need for warmth.

Fatigue clawed at his consciousness and Ryan lied down to sleep. His eyes drooped and sleep drew him in when he felt another flash through [Spatial Cognition]. He sat up and squinted into the darkness under the trees, trying to use the last of the fire’s dying light to make out what ran among them.

Another flash through his sensory sphere had his head whipping in another direction. And another. More.

“Kara. Get up. Whatever it was I sensed earlier is back, and there are a bunch of them.”

The creatures edged into the weak light at the edge of the clearing, eyes catching and reflecting the light back, and it finally clicked in Ryan’s head why these creatures were familiar.

“Kara, these are shadow wolves. These are what the invaders brought when they destroyed my village, and there are a lot of them.” Panic set in as the memories of the wolves’ attacks flashed through his mind, the memory of shredded arms and neck and near death tearing down the facade of rationality he forced to stay up.

“We need to run. We can’t fight this many. We need to get out of here,” Ryan said, his voice exposing his panic.

“Their auras are weak, and it’s not in my nature to run. Run away if you have to, but if you run away now, you’ll always be running away from something. You’re not as you were. Come fight with me.”

Fervor lit up Kara’s eyes in the firelight. She had an aura, barely discernible, that hinted at battle and power. Ryan recognized it for what it was; a miniature effect like what happened around the powerful people he’d met, like Bard and Flicker. It was an unconscious expression of her power and affinity.

As tiny as that aura of power was, it somewhat reassured Ryan and a small measure of calm mitigated his flight instinct. She was right, of course. If he ran because he couldn’t control his own panic, he would always be running. The panic receded to background noise, and he nodded. A smile wouldn’t come to his face no matter how much he tried to force it; his grim expression locked in place.

“OK. I guess we’re fighting. Do you have a plan at least?”

“Of course. We punch them until they’re dead.”

Ryan slapped himself on the forehead. Maybe running was the better plan after all. “OK then, let’s do it.”