Moonbeam was excited, the book, a scholarly work on gates had been fascinating. She shared her thoughts with Antonio. What had caught their interest was the method of opening gates to previously unknown worlds. Just by defining the conditions the caster sought.

They had long since mastered their portals; even Bluestone had been interested in their expertise. And with these insights, maybe they could find someplace to place their commercial underwater dungeon. Neither of them liked having it on Earth.

Now it was time to try. They had modified the ritual for dungeon portals. Jezebel and her patrol was on hand. As was Miranda and two of his friends, all excited at the thought of being the first intelligent squid to fare into a new world.

They went over the conditions again, an ocean world with between sixty to seventy percent water cover. A life-bearing world. But a world without intelligent life. They merged and examined their ritual from all sides.

Antonio bought one of his manna transformers online drawing electricity from the grid. Then Moonbeam and he performed the ritual. The portal opened flickering as the transformer poured manna into it. Reaching through the unstable portal Antonio claimed a portion of the other world’s seabed and sea. As his domain spread the portal stabilized and the whine of the transformer ceased as the demand for manna ceased.

Miranda and his friends didn’t wait for the all clear, they jetted through the portal.

* * *

Antonio conferred with Jezebel his roving boss monster and Moonbeam his companion. They were examining the experimental portal they had opened.

« I think I will need to protect our end. This experiment seems to have worked. Thank you Moonbeam, I think this will prove a real boon. We will need to explore. »

« And how can we do it properly. I know our folk are fast but it is a new world. » asked Jezebel.

« I was thinking I could send Baltazar and Miranda. And a few of their friends. I do want to know if there is anyone there or if it is truly an open world. » mused Antonio.

« If the ritual I found worked properly, and the changes we made to it are correct, then yes it should be an empty world. » said Moonbeam.

« Well we know it can support life, I assume it must have other life forms beyond the ones Miranda reported. » offered Jezebel.

« True enough, and we know it has those trilobite like things, and that they are edible, and tasty, according to Miranda. » giggled Moonbeam.

Jezebel’s flanks rippled with her mirth. « True, and it will help him and Baltazar in their explorations. But we need to find out if there’s any land. That would be the real selling point. »

« True, land and a land portal would allow us to become unassailable. Especially if there is no native intelligent life, » grinned Antonio.

« Um, is the System present on that world? » asked Moonbeam.

Antonio thought for a moment, then he contacted Miranda. « Miranda. Was the System present on the world through the new portal? »

« Yes boss. But it was incredibly basic. »

Antonio contemplated his new portal, then he lowered it into a newly formed cavern. He added water locks and defences. He was sure they were not needed but better safe than sorry.

= = O = =

Gussy stumbled once again, he absolutely hated his new legs and hooves. He was having to learn how to walk all over again. And he was not helped by the fact that he was now sharing his head with his familiar. Fassy for her part was terrified, she was loosing herself, she was merging with the big oaf, they were becoming someone new. Some kind of human demon mix. A merged being with a soul. How could she remain a demon if she gained a soul?

Gussy tripped and fell, skinning his knee on the process.

Sar skipped along looking with interest at the forest. He could feel the animals, the squirrels, the voles, the birds, even the bugs. And somehow the bugs no longer seemed yucky. The sleeping dryad in the apple tree seemed nice. He whistled merrily.

Dee was tired, she was sweaty and there were bugs everywhere. They tasted awful. She discovered that when one of her snakes had snapped up a fly that had been driving her nuts. And she was scared that her snakes didn’t agree with her and were keeping an eye out to gain another bug snack. One big advantage was that she could see all around now, even if her snakes eyes weren’t as good as her human ones.

* * *

Rochitol watched the ill assorted trio walk down the deer trail by blood stream. He lowered his spy glass and grinned. The young forest lord would be worth a fortune to the right buyer. The girl, he shrugged, girls were two a penny, not worth bothering with. That bizarre hat of hers was probably worth something though. And he was sure father Foolanier would pay for the clumsy demon for one of his exorcism shows.

Rochitol slipped from his tree and hurried off to round up his band. They had plans to make, Forest Lords were not easy to surprise and catch in a forest. But that one was young, easier to train and thus more valuable. He grinned broadly. It was a good day.

* * *

Gussy was stumbling along what he thought was a deer trail. He was slowly getting used to his new body. The new Gussy was getting sharper as his familiar was integrated into his being, his very self. A new person was slowly emerging. Then he was falling, and something heavy landed on him. He saw stars as something hit his head, then he was unconscious.

Dee was trailing the little group. She was tired and grumpy. Then she saw two dirty looking men jump out from behind some bushes after she passed. They dashed towards her. She screamed and started to run forwards. But the men were faster, one grabbed her and placed his dirty smelly hand over her mouth. Dee reacted instinctively and bit him. He gurgled in astonishment, stumbled releasing the little princess and fell to the ground. The other man grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Her snakes struck at his hand and her eyes flared red with fury. Dee hissed like a demented teakettle. Mouth open she lunged. The bandit howled with fear and fled into the woods.

Dee chased him but was soon outdistanced. And lost.

Sar was totally engrossed watching a family of foxes. He didn’t even question how he was watching them considering they were nowhere near the trail he was following when two men jumped on him and threw a evil smelling sack over his head. He tried to struggle even as he mentally screamed for help. He felt the sleeping dryad wake and somehow he knew she knew what was happening to him. Only now she didn’t seem to be nice. Then one of the men hit him over the head and Sar joined Gussy in unconsciousness.

* * *

Rochitol watched as his men bound their captives, he looked past them at the corpse of Tich and frowned. According to baldy Tich had been bitten in the hand by a large snake. There was no sign of Doomsayer. Not too surprising, if Doomsayer had seen a snake he’d have taken to his heels.

‘Guess the kid was a devotee of the snake goddess, there are a lot of them around here and the more devout ones carry snakes around with them. That’s probably what happened to Tich. Oh well, the girl was not really worth bothering with. I’ve got the young Forest Lord, he’s the one that’s worth money.’ Rochitol watched as the others stripped Tich of anything vaguely valuable then they set out at a trot hoping to get out of the Haunted Woods before anything stirred.

They stumbled across Doomsayer’s corpse beside the trail. I looked like Doomsayer had been heading for their hideout when he succumbed to the snake’s venom. His right arm had two distinct bites. Looked like some baby snakes had bitten him. It didn’t take them long to loot Doomslayer.

* * *

Alike woke with a start. She had been woken by a scream for help. She reached and touched the mind of a young boy that had become one of the line of Hern the Hunter. He had been captured by some humans, and in her forest!

Alike snarled and reached. She could use such a one and saw no point in letting the intruding humans have him. But the irritating things were moving too fast, she wasn’t fully awake yet. They kept outrunning her reach.

Then they stopped to strip a body. Alike slid her thoughts into a large clump of brambles. The bramble bushes stirred, and lashed out enveloping the man standing over her prize. Then several branches wrapped round her prize and dragged him under the trees leaving a few blackberries and leaves behind.

The remaining bandits grabbed Gussy and fled. Alike let them go.