“This isn’t the time for joking, Jake,” Cara snarled.

“That’s what it says on my character sheet. Hero.” Jake paused. The weight of her anger cast doubt on whether he’d made the right call. Either way, it was too late now. “It’s why I level faster, and, as much as I’d like to say that I’d have done it anyway… knowing death might not be the end made it a whole lot easier to be brave. You’re the bravest person I know.”

She looked away, her lips pressed together. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed the wood carving tight in her hand. “I should have seen it. The clues were all there. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake swallowed. Leaving it alone might have been wiser. “I should have told you sooner.”

Cara shook her head. “I should have seen it.” Her chin quivered and she exclaimed in Wood Elvish, “Forest forgive me.” She continued in Common, her voice cracking. “First person you meet in a strange world, and I rant about how you’re an evil murderer and wishing you were dead.”

Jake stepped closer and held his arms out wide, offering her a hug. “I didn’t take it like that. You’ve been kinder to me than anyone, and you haven’t talked my ear off with a lecture even once.”

Cara stifled a chuckle. “I won’t tell Reltan you said that.” She gestured to Jake’s out-held arms. “What’s that mean?”

“Don’t wood elves hug?”

“Hug?” Her head tilted, the lines of sadness across her face fading into a vacant pensiveness. After a few moments, she said, “No. We ‘hug’ through the tree-song.”

It made sense. Why use physical contact when you could connect in spirit? The idea of being connected in that way to even one other person, let alone an entire forest, was horrifying. Yet, even so, it held an elusive, inexplicable appeal.

Cara stepped forward and tentatively put her arms around Jake. “But you’re not a wood elf. Just as you’re not one of the Heroes of old.” The tension holding her stiff faded, and she hugged him tighter. “Please tell me you’re not.”

“I’m not.” Tightness released throughout Jake’s body, replaced by a warm comfort. How long had it been since he’d hugged anyone? He wasn’t sure, but far longer than a week. “I’m twenty-one, not ten-thousand.”

Cara’s voice faltered. “Does anyone else know?”

“Just Jeremy. He thought I should tell you.”

She let out a sniffly chuckle. “Of course he saw it. The others, though… they’d think you’re dangerous. They’re scared enough as it is.”

They couldn’t be blamed for that, not really. Between his status and the timing of his arrival, there was plenty of reason to be worried. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

They settled into a comfortable silence. Nibbles leaped to Jake’s shoulder and nibbled at his ear while the two rangers held their hug, neither wanting to let go.

“We—I should get some sleep,” Jake said. “We have a meeting in the morning, and Jeremy said he’d teach me more spells.”

“Meeting?” Her eyes glazed over for a moment. “Meeting! Yes. Wait, we? You joined!?”

“Yeah. I figured if I’m going to be saving the village, it might as well be my job.” He didn’t need to mention that it was the gear that clinched the deal. Cara was working on a custom bow for him while he slept, but she was a long way off being a Master Bowyer. She’d understand, but that didn’t mean he had to poke the bear just yet.

Cara’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “We can be Lookouts together! Well then, Ranger Jake, time for you to get some sleep. I’ll wake you at sunrise.” She tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Hopefully.”

What I wouldn’t give for an alarm clock.

***

The meeting turned out to be far larger than Jake had expected. Dozens of Rangers from all over the Forest sat in three concentric circles within the forty-foot-wide meeting hall. The outside ring, made up of Lookouts like Jake and Cara, was the largest and held most of the rangers. The next ring was a dozen Prowlers, including Jeremy. The inner circle, literally and figuratively, was the five Keepers, the highest-ranking members of the Rangers. Elivala was the only Keeper Jake recognized, but he Identified the others.

The whole meeting was in very formal Wood Elvish. Jake struggled to keep up with the array of different emphases on timing and certainty that the language encouraged in such settings.

“It is essential that we act imminently,” Elivala said, having listened to the numerous reports of dungeon spawn attacks happening across the Forest.

“It is essential that we act soon,” boomed another of the Keepers, Laotan. “It is essential that we act correctly.”

“We need to know more now.” Another Keeper, Pankar. The most wrinkled elf Jake had seen yet, and the only one with signs of frailty. His hand trembled as he raised his staff, gesturing emphatically with it. “I have never known anything like it.”

The room fell silent. Whatever was happening, they had no clues to follow up on. No clues except Jake, and he was keeping his mouth shut. He had enough problems, without letting everyone know his father was mixed up in something big.

Elivala looked around the room, her gaze briefly locking on Jake. “Does anyone have any evidence to bring forth?”

Was this why Jeremy had pushed so hard for Jake to join? Because he thought Jake had useful information connected to the dungeon spawn threat?

Pankar spoke again, his quiet voice dominating the room. “We can increase patrol from now until the end of time. We can fight dungeon spawn from now until the end of time. None of that will ever solve the problem.”

Jake indulged a moment longer in the fantasy that he could choose to stay silent and let things play out without him. Not that there was no way they’d trust him, anyway. He never would in their position.

Besides, the world didn’t deserve to be rescued. First, it had taken his father, and then it had abducted him. Demanding he save it after that was bullshit.

The assembled facing around him were worried. Afraid. This was uncharted territory for them. Almost as if they’d been ripped from their own world and shoved into one far more dangerous.

Jake swallowed and bit his lip. One day he’d learn his lesson, but this wasn’t the day. His chest tightened, and he spoke up as calmly as his pounding heart would allow. “I believe I have some information currently.”

All eyes turned to Jake. He swallowed, knowing that the next few moments might make him public enemy number one. Was that a flicker of a smile across Jeremy’s lips?

“As some of you might know, I arrived here recently—against my will—from a world without levels. When I arrived, I received a quest. ‘Save your father, save the world.’”

Stunned silence filled the room, swiftly followed by a dozen voices all speaking at once. Pankar’s staff slammed against the ground and returned the room to silence.

Laotan’s voice rang out. “The human risked his life for Tolabar recently. We shall hear him now.” He turned to Jake, his piercing gaze demanding answers.

Jake gulped. He knew he couldn’t hide it forever. Jeremy had already worked it out. Would he tell them? Either way, they’d work it out for themselves all too soon. Jake glanced at Jeremy, seated in the middle ring, and found the ranger as inscrutable as ever.

Whatever Jeremy’s plans, the Keepers would find out one way or another. It was better than they heard the truth directly, and their opinion of him wasn’t going to be higher than right after helping to save a village. Maybe, just maybe, they might even believe he wasn’t going to kill them.

“I risked my life recently, yes, but there is something you should know now.” Butterflies fluttered in Jake’s chest. There would be no taking this back. “On my character sheet, under status, it says I’m a Hero.”

Half the rangers rose to their feet, their hands on weapons. A thunderous din of shouting erupted, including many Wood Elvish words Jake had never heard before.

Pankar’s staff slammed against the ground three times, louder than could possibly be natural. His voice filled the room, drowning out every other noise, simultaneously a whisper and impossible not to hear. “Do you know what that means, boy?”

His heart racing, Jake bit his lip, determined not to speak overly hastily. Not this time, not with his life at stake. “Somewhat. I know the Age of Heroes was bad. I knew when I risked my life for Tolabar that I might come back after death. I also knew that anyone else the dungeon spawn killed would not.”

The room awaited Pankar’s response. He stared with an uncomfortably intense focus, studying Jake for as long as he needed.

Was he in charge? The book on the Rangers had said that they had no singular leader beyond the Keepers, but there’s always someone whose voice counts for more. Jake’s chest tightened. Would what the old wood elf saw condemn or save him?

“Why should we trust you, Jacob Williams?” Pankar asked, his tone not unkind yet laden with unwelcome implications.

The upside looking a lot more appealing given the stakes, Jake shoved his Oratory perk point into Persuasion and went with his gut. “I trusted you with this information now. And, right now, I’m the only lead you have.”

The silence came back, full of suffocating tension. Pankar gestured with his fingers, twirling silvery threads in the air and sending one tendril to each of the Keepers.

The five Keepers looked between each other, sharing glances, nods, and occasionally shaking their heads. Were they talking to each other? Elivala was amongst them, and her small gestures were the most animated of all. Was she going to hang Jake out to dry again?

Laotan was the first to speak again. “You mentioned your father. Who is he?”

“My father…” A tidal wave of emotion roared, shattering whatever he’d planned to say. He bit his lip, the words to explain it refusing to come together. “… I don’t know. He vanished fourteen years ago from my world, around a year before the new Divine Emperor came to power.”

Another Keeper, Alatar, scoffed. “The human speaks in riddles and ignorance. The Divine Emperor has been in power as long as anyone can remember.”

Fiery anger searching for an outlet found one. Jake shot back, “So when did he take the Divine Throne?”

More silence. Confused faces all around, interspersed with a few flickers of torment seemingly unnoticed and immediately forgotten. Alatar took a long breath. His nostrils flared and he responded forcefully, “The Divine Emperor has been on the Throne as long as anyone can remember.”

Jake shook his head, his pulse racing in demand of a response. Logic demanded that he shut up, but anger had the wheel wasn’t letting go. “You can’t even see how it makes no sense, can you?”

Alatar’s fists balled up. Before he could speak, the Keeper facing away from Jake rose from her seat and turned. Old, though not so old as Pankar, Yantara had been silent the entire meeting, saying nothing and watching everything.

“He speaks of a Contradiction,” she said. “Who granted the quest, and what is the reward?”

No matter how he turned the quest over in his mind, probing it in every way he could think of, he found nothing but the title. “It doesn’t say. It appeared when I blacked out. There’s no reward listed.”

Yantara nodded. “This is no ordinary quest. Jeremy, does this not accord with the tales your father told of that traveler from another world, Sigurd?”

Jeremy spoke, his voice filled with a respectful tone Jake hadn’t known the ranger could manage. “It does, Keeper. I have spoken of Sigurd with Jake recently, but I did not share those details with him.”

Alatar theatrically threw up his hands and drew his gaze around the room, daring anyone to contradict him. “You are talking of myths and absurdities now.” More than a few of the assembled rangers nodded along with his words. “We are at our darkest hour now, beset by dungeon spawn acting as never before. At the same time, a Hero appears. The connection is clear. The threat is clear. The resolution,” he paused and stared at Jake with cold, dead eyes, “is clear.”

Pankar’s staff fell once more. The room waited with bated breath for his words. “It is clear that there is a connection. It is not clear what the threat is.” His brow furled. “We have all heard of Contradictions—impossibilities that can only be seen in the corner of one’s mind. It is… implausible, yet not impossible.” His gaze focused squarely on Jake once again. “Do you want to save this world?”

Jake stiffened up and locked down his reactions. His Adam’s apple continued to bob defiantly. Would they know if he lied? The old wood elf clearly had magic, including mental magic. What was he capable of? Would he even need magic to tell? Lying would be dangerous, but the truth wasn’t pretty, and the longer he delayed, the more guilty he’d look.

Screw my father, screw the world. “No,” Jake said. His stomach clenched the moment he said it. No one was there for him—why the hell should he be there for them?

Pankar frowned and leaned back in his chair, pondering. Alatar looked around triumphantly. Laotan’s lips pursed, his expression more intently curious than ever. Jake didn’t dare look to the side, not wanting to see Cara’s doubtless horrified expression.

A smug smile snuck across Elivala’s lips. Time for her to bury the knife.

“Jake,” she said, “will you complete your quest to save your father and our world?”

What if he wasn’t to blame? What if he got kidnapped, too?

It didn’t matter, not after all this time. White-hot anger demanded that Jake say to hell with it all. A stolen glace revealed Cara’s poorly disguised expression of fear and anxiety, a reflection of what surely everyone in the room, if not the entire Forest, was feeling.

I could make a difference. The thought stood tall, repelling wave after wave of attack. It wasn’t his job. It’d be dangerous. He shouldn’t have to. He sure as hell didn’t want to.

But they needed him. It struck like a dagger to the chest. The unfairness of it all, not just for him, but for everyone. Whether or not he liked it, they needed him, and he would not abandon them.

“Not for my father,” Jake said, wishing he had a choice in the matter. “But yes, I will do what I can.”

Alatar sneered. “And what, exactly, is it that you will do? You claim to be a fifth-level Hero. What is it that you can do that our Prowlers cannot?”

“I don’t know,” Jake said, bridling against the question all the more for the truth in it. “There’s a Contradiction around the Divine Emperor’s ascension. I can see that clearly, not just in the corner of my mind. My father disappeared from my world shortly before the Divine Emperor took the Throne. That is where I would start.”

“We must not pin our hopes now on this Hero,” Alatar said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “If he wishes to leave the Great Forest imminently, let him go. We will certainly protect the Forest from now until the end of time.”

The Keepers shared looks once more, doubtless communicating amongst themselves. Jake bit his lip. Whatever messages were darting between their minds, they were deciding his fate without even letting him hear the arguments. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

Alatar’s position was obvious. Elivala had been against him from the beginning. Yantara seemed to believe him, and Laotan was at least open to the idea. Best case, it would come down to Pankar, and he hadn’t seemed pleased when told that Jake didn’t want to save this world.

Elivala pulled herself up to her full stature and turned toward Jake, her tone official. “Jake Tolabar So’aroaska, you are charged with the duty as Ranger of the Great Forest of traveling to the Divine Empire, investigating any connection to the dungeon spawn threat, and, if possible, resolving it. Do you accept the quest?”

A warm, tingling glow spread through Jake at hearing his wood elven name said in full, and all it meant. It refused to budge, even in the face of an impossible quest he had no idea how to complete. “I do.”

Quest received: Resolve dungeon spawn threat.

Quest giver: Keeper Elivala Tolabar So’aroaska

Quest description: Dungeon spawn are leaving the Deep-Forest and threatening wood elven villages. Investigate and end the crisis before the villages are destroyed. Multi-stage quest.

Quest reward (completion): 50,000 XP, eligible for promotion to Prowler

Stage description: Travel to the Divine Empire.

Stage reward: 1,000 XP

Jake blinked, double-checked the quest XP, and ran some numbers in his head. 50,000 XP by itself would take him to level 11, assuming he lived that long.

Elivala nodded. “You leave at dawn.”

Dawn? Jake nearly choked. That didn’t give him long. Even after saving their village, they still wanted rid of him asap. It wasn’t surprising, but he needed training, particularly in magic, and one day wasn’t anywhere near enough.

No good deed goes unpunished, does it?

Cara’s voice started out strong before fading to a whimper. “I’ll go with him. If… if that’s okay?”

Alatar was the first to respond, not even taking a moment to think about it. “We cannot afford to lose a valuable Lookout currently.”

“I wish to accompany them,” Jeremy said, seemingly unfazed by the Keeper’s objection. “I am training them both. They may need experienced support.”

Another silent conversation passed between the Keepers. Jake’s jaw clenched. What was there to discuss? The speed with which they’d spoken up to accompany him was heartwarming, but the delay in the approval of their requests did not bode well. Surely, the Keepers wouldn’t make him go by himself?

Why not? Alone was par for the course.

Elivala winced, the break in her composure as tiny as it was fleeting. “Cara will accompany Jake on this quest. Jeremy, you will accompany them to the edge of the Forest and then return to us with all haste. We cannot afford to be without your skills at such a crucial time. Everyone else, provide a list of prospective recruits to your village’s Keeper before nightfall. Whatever is coming, we must be prepared.”