“You know what I miss?” Monte asked. “I miss pizza.” He continued without waiting for anyone to respond.

Monte and a couple of his friends were currently sitting in front of a fire. They had set up camp on the rolling plains. The area used to be Washington, but who knew anymore.

Monte, Tracy and Dario were sitting around the fire. Auggie was up on the hill taking first watch.

“I miss the internet.” Dario said. “All the free porn you could find. Any movie you could possibly imagine.”

The fire crackled. The group sat in silence a bit more.

Tracy finally spoke up. “I don’t know. My life wasn’t exactly a bed of roses. I was working a go nowhere job. I was constantly sick. Donny was a sick bastard. I’m glad he’s gone. It’s a shame about everyone else; but in almost every metric, my life is better.”

Monte and Dario both turned their heads to look at Tracy. They both knew about Donny.

Finally Monte spoke again. “I don’t think anyone misses Donny. I’m glad you got away from him.”

“You think it’s true?” Tracy asked. “About the tree I mean? It sounds too good to be true. A safe place. Food. Shelter. No monsters.”

Dario grunted. “Fuck no. It sounds shady as fuck is what I say. Ain’t nowhere been safe for months. You can’t stay near water. Everything on that side of the mountains is overrun with monsters.” Dario pointed to the west. “And suddenly we start hearing rumors of a magical tree? I bet it’s a setup.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Dario looked over at Tracy. “How’s the illusion spell holding up?”

“It’s getting easier everyday.” Tracy replied. “It took everything I had the first few times I used it.”

“Good.” Dario nodded. “I don’t we would have made it this far without you Tray.”

“Word to that.” Monte said. “Is that how the hip kids say that?” Monte had a stupid grin on his face.

“No, Dad. That’s not how the kids say it.” Tracy saw Monte wince at her words. “I’m sorry Monte. I forgot.”

Monte shook his head. “No, it's alright. I don’t think it will ever be alright. I mean, you don’t have to worry about it. Nothing will ever bring my wife and kids back but I don’t think Melly would want me to give up.” Monte sighed and looked back into the fire. “Just don’t call me dad, okay? I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“Yeah.” Tracy nodded in agreement.

The fire burned down to embers. No one moved to keep it going. It was dangerous to advertise their presence out in the open. But Tracy’s illusion magic could camouflage them so well no one could see them. The more drastic the changes the more mana it took. Tracy had taken to training her ability every night. Masking the fire helped build up her endurance in holding the spell and also made it seem easier holding the spell in place. It was like flexing a muscle and holding it in place. At some point your flex would fail. Your arm would fall or cramp.

Each person had a small number of spells they could use. It was almost like you had memories of doing things they had never done before. It was instinctive knowledge. Dario could hit things really well. He called it smash. Whatever weapon he was using he could cause energy to gather in the striking end and cause it to hit with incredible force.

Monte could make things. He could use his mana to make anything he could imagine. Within the limits of his magic of course. He could easily handle small weapons and armor. It was weird to watch. His mana would expand out to cover a defeated creature and it would be reduced to its component parts while everyone watched. He was currently responsible for kitting out everyone in the group. Bone armor was a very popular look these days. He also made a bone bow with arrows for Auggie.

Auggie was Auggie. He was always quiet when talking with the group. He had skills increasing his accuracy with the bow. He also had some sort of ability that made it difficult to see or track him. He didn’t want to call it sneaking, but it was totally sneaking. He kept calling it camouflage but no one called it that when he was around. At this point, everyone around him was just messing with him.

“You’re up Monte.” Auggie said. He had snuck up on them again.

“Jesus Christ. Auggie.” Dario sputtered while taking a drink from his canteen. “We ought to put a bell on you.”

“You’re welcome to try.” Auggie paused for dramatic effect. “Bitch.” Auggie was not the most friendly of people.

Monte got up. “Aight. You’re next after me Dario. Tracy, let us know when you need to rest and drop the mask.” Monte walked out of the camp to take up the watch. He didn’t even wait for a response.