(Zack)

"Aaawoooooo!" Max howls, then giggles at whatever it is that's got him amused, besides his random howls.

Chuckling, I shake my head, then focus on the book in front of me. Another one of the tomes that Nathan's pilfered from within Lost Territory. According to him, all of the Fallen Cities he passed by had Corrupted Monsters in them, which means they all had avatars of the Shadow of Life in them.

Only someone like Nathan could get in and out without being killed, I'm sure. Alone, anyway. He's fast and he's a mana monster. He's managed to retrieve a few ancient texts, ones older than those in our own libraries. Most, he can't read, but since I can read, well, any language, apparently, he's let me borrow some.

They're all on runic magics. He's figured out what the runes themselves mean for several of the books, but that's around the limits of his abilities. According to him, though, deciphering the runes' meanings and adjusting formulas to make new spells helped bolster his Intellect and Wisdom.

That's something that still confuses me. It doesn't actually increase our intellect or wisdom, yet things that can be attributed to boosting them can increase the stats named after them. They're more like Magic Power and Mana Strength, or something like that. And Willpower is Magic Defense. Hell, even their descriptions make that obvious.

It's definitely some oddity on Big S's end. He probably mixed things up because of how tired he is all the time, sort of like with the forgotten placeholder in the Ascension messages.

Max lets out another howl, then giggles again, and I roll my eyes, close the tome, and send it into my Inventory. We're hoping Luca wakes up tomorrow, since it'll have been a week and a half. If not tomorrow, then on the eleventh day of his Zero Down.

As I go to tell Max to stop howling, a vision hits me.

The taller boy from my team listens to Big C as the offer is made. He's quiet, nodding every now and then as the giant Crystal speaks, and when Big C finishes, he nods once as he accepts the offer. After Big C thanks him for the assistance, he appears beside the tree, dressed in a simple tunic and pants and pair of leather boots.

The vision fades away, and I sigh. Ten days from now, if the pattern with Luca and Bryce holds. In ten days, the knight from my team appears.

"Boss okay!"

"Is Boss okay?" I correct Max. "And yes, I'm fine, Max. We'll be receiving a new member to our team in ten days."

"Yippee!" Max exclaims, giving me a hug. "Luca-friend wake?"

"No," I say. "Luca should wake before then, I meant someone else. We hope Luca wakes up tomorrow or the day after."

"Yippee!" Max exclaims. "More party!"

"Yeah," I smile at him. "More members of our party. Do you think you can calm down, Max? It's time for bed."

"Bedtime!" He races inside and up to our room, and I roll my eyes, then look across the street.

"Almost time," I say. "Just another day or two."

I know Nathan's worried about Luca, too, and is waiting impatiently for his 'rival' to wake up. I'm not sure why he sees Luca as his rival, but he does.

Now that I've reminded Nathan of that, I head upstairs and change into my night clothes. Max is… naked. Again. Dammit, Max. Stop stripping naked for bed, especially since I know you're going to try to do your beastborn-night-snuggle with me.

Again.

"Max, put on some pants, and do not climb into my bed tonight."

"Yes, Boss!"

He climbs onto his own bed, but doesn't put on pants. Well, one out of two isn't bad, especially since it was the important one.

As I fall asleep, a vision comes to me, as usual. I can't sleep without them, after all.

Luca floats on his back on a pond, a waterfall crashing down into it. He looks peaceful, content, and just floats there, staring up at the sky. Then there's a whooping, and Max comes crashing into the water beside the little healer, who splutters, then starts wrestling Max, trying to dunk him. He's smaller, though, and weaker.

Then the knight from my team joins in, helping him to dunk Max as I watch in amusement from the camp we've set up nearby. The ranger on my team is missing, but he arrives after a few minutes, several rabbits strung up, and he gets to work on making dinner as the other three continue to wrestle around in the pond.

The me of the vision looks around. I'd put us at around fourteen or fifteen in this vision, which means that Luca is around eleven or twelve. Springtime, maybe early summer?

When I finish looking around, I stand and tell the ranger to keep an eye on everyone, then I leave. Without hesitation, I follow the vision-me away from the camp. At this point, my team clearly knows I'm powerful, considering my gear. That I'm a terrifying being in a human form.

Drawing my sword, the dream-me looks around, then frowns, before looking right at me and waving a hand, the vision ending.

Opening my eyes, I rub my temple. I'm able to sense myself predicting those scenes, which is annoying, since I keep dismissing myself from the visions. How many of them will actually come to pass, though? And how I do forcibly dismiss the visions like that? All things to figure out, I suppose.

Morning's here, so I change, then make my way downstairs and begin breakfast. I'm not even done before Max is racing down here, dressed in pants, to sit at the table.

At least he's got pants on this time. Once he started relaxing, he's really started to relax and realize he won't be in trouble over every little thing.

"Tunic, too, Max," I say.

He's probably ignoring the cold in favor of food.

"Right, Boss!" He pulls a tunic out of his Inventory and pulls it on. "Thank, Boss!"

"Thanks," I say. "And you're welcome."

I finish frying the bacon and cooking the eggs, then serve them with some milk. Max and I eat, then he washes the dishes before I run him through a few drills. It took him a day to start increasing his physical stats, but he's doing so now. His Vitality's gone up from 1 to 3 in the last few days, as much as I try to not hit him too hard.

He seems to take the training beatings in stride, though, and differentiates between them and the punishments from the master that used to own him. For that, I'm happy.

After two hours of training, I take Max to the temple so we can check on Luca. I want to be here most of the day, so when we arrive, I just sit at the edge of the bed and watch Luca.

Max entertains himself by pulling out the deck of cards I got him and starting a game of Go Fish with the wolf beastborn who was watching Luca. He learned their values quickly, so it's fun playing with him, especially since he doesn't get discouraged if he loses every time.

(Luca)

There's a warmth by me. A gentle, kind warmth that feels… comforting. Comforting, even though Braden's dead. Gone, for good. I told him he shouldn't have done that, but he didn't listen. I tried to heal him, but I failed. And now he's gone for good, to never return.

I want to cry. But the warmth makes me feel better about myself. Cracking open an eye, I realize that the warmth is coming from the scary guy. He's napping on the chair beside my bed, his head resting on his arms on the bed.

I'm in the temple, I think, not at home. Looking around, I spot a pair of wolf boys playing cards in the corner. They're dressed nicely. They aren't slaves, and they look… happy.

Turning my gaze back to the warmth, I find the scary guy looking at me, his blue eyes filled with concern.

"If you need a hug," he says softly. "You can get one from me at any time, okay?"

Sitting up, I scoot over to him and give him a hug. He's scary, but he's nice. Now I know why he wanted to keep Braden from going off on his own, from going against stronger monsters. He was right, it was stupid and foolish. I should've been more insistent, should've been stubborn and stayed home.

"It's not your fault," he tells me, rubbing my back and I sniffle into his shoulder. "It's mine, Luca. I shouldn't have given him that robe and then left him alone. I gave it to him before he was ready. It was my fault, not yours. I'm sorry, Luca. It's my fault that Braden died."

It's not your fault. It's mine. I should've been more stubborn on not going. Braden wouldn't have gone if I'd refused to go. But I'm so weak, I just do what he says. Did what he said, like always. And now he's dead.

Someone hugs me from behind, and I realize that it's one of the beastborn. He's our age, and I can see a Status on him. I didn't notice it before.

Max Level 0 Health: 30 Mana: 70

He's like Gold. He has Status. Access. I haven't met Gold, but I've heard about him. The first-ever beastborn to have Access to the System.

"Luca," Mr. Zack releases me, pulling Max off of me and making the beastborn stand beside him. "This is Max, the newest member of our team. He joined a few days ago, after I killed his former owner and set him free. I promise I'm not trying to replace Braden-"

I know. He's another member of the team. It's okay, Mr. Zack. I know you're just taking our team as it goes. Plus, he's got a tail. That's nice. Braden never had a tail, so Max can't be a replacement for him.

"I've been washing you," Mr. Zack tells me. "But I don't think it's enough to qualify as a 'bath'. If you're ready to go home, you can take a bath while I make dinner."

As long as Max takes a bath with me.

"Come on," Mr. Zack lets me climb onto his back so he can carry me home, and Max follows us out.

We're stopped almost at the entrance to the temple by the priest. The big one here. Um. The high one? Priest Adrian.

"He's awake," Priest Adrian says.

"Duh," Mr. Zack says. "Now if you don't mind, he wants to take an actual bath rather than getting sponged down while unconscious. And he's been unconscious for a week and a half, so he's probably starving, too."

"I think it's best if he stays here-"

"It's just Zero Down," Mr. Zack sounds annoyed. "Luca wants to go home, Adrian, so he's going home. Goodbye."

Without waiting for Priest Adrian to respond, Mr. Zack continues leaving, and I think Max blows a raspberry at the priest. I like him.

Mr. Zack takes me home and only lets me down once we're in the bath.

"Max bath!" Max says.

He talks!

"Yes," Mr. Zack says. "You can take a bath with Luca, but be gentle, okay? He doesn't like horsing around yet."

Yet? As if I'd ever like to horse around, especially without Braden.

Mr. Zack leaves, and Max gives me a curious look before stripping. He's got nice muscles. I look at myself. I don't have nice muscles. I'm jealous. There. I said it. I'm jealous of muscles. Especially Mr. Zack's.

If I follow Mr. Zack's workout plan, will I have nice muscles, too?

Max helps me scrub, he does my back. So I do his back, and pretend to accidentally brush his tail.

"Luca-friend wash tail!" Max says.

Huh? I didn't wash his tail. I finish scrubbing his back, and as I rinse it off, he gives me a curious look.

"Luca-friend no wash tail?"

I don't understand you. I don't have a tail, and I didn't wash your tail.

I finish rinsing myself off, then climb into the bath.

"Aw," Max's ears and tail droop, and he starts washing his own tail.

What would it be like to have a tail? I saw a monkey boy and a dog boy and a wolf boy, now. They all had tails. Do they have cat boys, too? I want to touch Max's tail again, but he'd probably get upset and bite me for it. He's got fangs, even if they're small. And he's part-wolf.

Or I'd try and feel his tail. It felt nice, even if it was wet. What do his ears feel like?

When I smell dinner, I climb out of the bath and shiver a little. It's warm in here, but the cold of winter still manages to reach the doorway a little. I quickly dry off and bundle up in clean clothes, Max doing the same.

Mr. Zack's putting dinner down as we arrive. There are three steaks, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, fruit cocktail, and some rolls.

"To celebrate Max's arrival," Mr. Zack holds up his cup. "And Luca recovering from Zero Down. May our adventures as a team be fun, and may the last two members of our team work well with us, when they arrive."

Do you know when they're coming yet?

Max holds up his cup and happily clinks it against Mr. Zack's, so I clink mine against it as well, then we drink.

"Keeek!" I exclaim.

It's wine!

Mr. Zack cracks up laughing at my reaction while Max happily drinks all of his, his tail wagging from his excitement.

"Taste good!" Max tells Mr. Zack. "More, Boss!"

"No," Mr. Zack refills his own cup. "You can have water, Max. Oh, but I do have a treat for you after dinner."

"Max treat!" Max bounces excitedly in his seat.

"After dinner," Mr. Zack tells him. "It'll be dark enough then."

Ooooh! He's giving Max one of those treats!

"It'll be his first time, Luca," Mr. Zack tells me. "So he won't be having more than you. I do have a box of chocolates if you want."

I nod, happy that he's that nice. He's always been nice, hasn't he? In his own way. He's always just been trying to help us, that's why he was so mean to Braden. He didn't want my brother doing something stupid like that.

"Luca," Mr. Zack says, and I look at him, realizing there are tears in my eyes. "Everything's going to be okay. One day, soon, I'm going to take you to Talorn so that you can see me kill the bastard who killed your brother. I'm going to get Nathan to buff me up. If Nik and the pervert can damage that thing as a pair, then I can do it, too."

He looks uncomfortable as he says that, though. Is there something else? Just how powerful is he, if he can handle that thing with Normar's help? Or is Normar's help just that strong?

After dinner, Max cleans up the dishes and Mr. Zack gives me a box of chocolates. They're delicious. I watch as he gives Max one of those special Spook Treats, and the wolf boy's face fills with excitement.

"Spooky-spooky!" He exclaims, taking a giant bite out of it. "Yummy!"

He runs around the yard a bit. Is he okay?

After we finish our candy, the three of us go up to our room and change into our night clothes. Mr. Zack climbs into his bed and shoves Max off, telling Max to put on pants and get in his own bed. Max just climbs onto another bed instead.

I try to sleep on my bed, but every time I close my eyes, I get scared and see the big goblin killing my brother and the demon who arrived. Why did the demon protect me? It had a tail, too, but that one wasn't furry or fuzzy.

At some point, I find myself… no longer alone. Mr. Zack's climbed off the top bunk and joined me on mine. I snuggle into him, grateful he's my leader. He's so nice and warm, and his warmth makes me feel comfortable.

I cry into his tunic, doing my best to be quiet so we don't wake Max, who's snoozing on Braden's bed. Eventually, I fall asleep.