“GET DRAKE AND KASSIE INSIDE,” Baron yelled as his mechanical hand morphed into a three-foot-long blade. He blocked the scythe-like forelimb of a giant praying mantis before sweeping his whole arm back and severing the limb at the shoulder.

Rose dragged Drake into the convenient store, his little sister following closely behind. Kassie clutched at a small fox in her arms, trying to hold back the tears and screams that wanted to crawl out of her throat. She was only six years old, half the age of her older half-brother, and not even old enough to choose her own path.

As soon as Drake was inside and away from the giant insects trying to eat them, Rose pulled the severed mantis blade from Drake’s stomach. He groaned in pain as blood welled out of the ghastly wound. Rose moved her staff over Drake’s body while she spent five seconds casting her Nature Magic spell Nature’s Boon. The green gem at its head glowed with a soft emerald light. The spell wasn’t as powerful as some of the healing from the religious types, but it should stabilize Drake and restore twenty-three health over the next five minutes.

“Balder, Protect Drake and Kassie,” Rose said to her soul bound familiar. Balder was half husky and half American Eskimo, like his sister Rukia. Where she was mostly black with white markings, Balder was almost pure white with a bit of tan thrown in. He wasn’t a small dog anymore, not after becoming a magic beast. He was almost at Rose’s waist now.

Balder stood between the kids and the front of the store, his fur shifting from mostly white to a slate grey and his fangs taking on a translucent crystalline color. He was ready to stop any blow meant for his little humans.

Kassandra rose from the Mantis’s shadow. Her red and black soul-bound sword gathered black shadows as it slashed towards the back of the monster. The blade cut easily through the carapace, causing a deep, bleeding wound. The shadow stuff coating the blade clung to the wound, seeping in to the creature’s blood. The mantis’s blows against Baron grew weaker, its strength dropped by five points, and its health dropped steadily from the poison like effect of the sword.

Baron’s sword glowed a deep cherry red as he infused his Ki into the soul-bound weapon that replaced his missing hand. He thrust it deep into the mantis while distracted from the attack from behind. The blade pierced its armor, and he dragged the blade up through its thorax and out near its neck. The stench of the bug’s innards burning invaded everyone’s nostrils and made them want to gag.

The mantis toppled over, dead from the various injuries it suffered. Kassandra looted the monster while Rose lifted her Staff of Nature’s might, the gem glowing brighter as she activated one of the Staff’s abilities. A series of vines broke through the concrete covering the ground and interwove themselves into a thick wall of vegetation. Thorns, as long as her fingers and sharp enough to score steel, grew everywhere. Anything that tried to make its way through that would pay the price in blood and flesh.

Kassandra knelt by Drake and checked on her son's condition. The bleeding slowed, and the wound was closing. She used Identify on Drake to check his numbers.

Drake Baker

Warrior Level 7

HP: 35/112

Stam: 110/224

Mana: 20/160

Baron’s sword shifted back to his metal gauntlet looking prosthetic hand, and he collapsed inside the convenient store. With exhaustion filling his voice, he said, “Good choice for your medium perk, Rose. How long will that thorny hedge stay up?”

“It doesn’t have a timer on it. I think it will stay as long as it survives. It’s an actual plant instead of something conjured.” It had been a few days since the new system message went out, stating that stage two of initialization had begun. Rose was still trying to get a handle on her new staff and its abilities. It provided a bonus to both her magic schools, Beast and Plant, based on her level. It let her create her wall of thorns, grow bark all over her body to increase her defense. The staff also gave her a powerful area ability that cleansed poisons, disease, and increased regenerations drastically for an hour. That last ability was only usable once a day, though.

Kassie curled up in her father’s lap, seeking comfort and protection from the chaotic world. Her parents gave Kassie Foxy, as her Medium Perk. Her options were very limited since she couldn’t choose a Path of Power for a couple more years. Her parents had to choose her perks for her. They doubled her stamina for the minor perk and selected for her, her own soul-bound beast companion for the medium, hoping it would help protect her.

Drake slowly sat up, his arm covering his middle as the movement caused him to wince in pain. “Take it easy. You took a hard hit,” Kassandra said. The worry for her son was clear in her voice.

“I wish dad was here,” Drake said, his voice quiet and tears leaked from the corner of his eyes.

“I know dear, I’m Sure he is ok and knowing John, he is already halfway home by now,” she said. None of them, not even John’s wife Rose, knew where he was or even if he was still alive, but they had to do their best to keep hope alive.

Everyone started for a moment as two mounds rose from the turned earth at the base of the Thorn Wall. They relaxed when in the reddish head of Krom and the tan head of Alma broke through the soil. The bearded dragons weren’t as fast over long distances as the rest of the group and took them a bit of time to catch up. They clambered out of the tunnel they created, their two-foot-long bodies, and even longer tails took a few seconds to clear the holes. It didn’t help that it looked like they had gorged on one of the dead insects that they didn’t manage to loot.