The trio fell through the misty cloud layer for a full ten seconds. Water droplets drenching them as they rapidly dropped in their free fall. Zack looked over the side of the bleeding Hroyd to see dark green foliage rushing up towards them.

"Brace yourselves!" yelled Zack over the wind and they both clutched Hroyd's chest.

A second later, the Kulabv warrior's back breached the top layer of the lowlands jungle.

Numerous branches broke, causing continuous cracks as the giant bobcat person came down with the force of a meteor.

Then a loud crack resounded throughout the jungle when Hroyd broke through a branch the size of a log, Zack and Bayai were forcibly thrown from their protective mount. Zack rebounded through the canopy, spinning uncontrollably until he caught a branch.

With his body sporting multiple bruises he called out as he hung "Bayei...Bayei!"

Hroyd's disembodied green head appeared in front of him "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Can you go find Bayei?"

"If I could scout while in this form, then that would solve a lot of problems. I can only see and hear everything that you do."

"Fine." Zack dropped onto bed of overlapping leaves, then checked himself to make sure nothing was broken.

The area around him wasn't a typical forest. The sun had to penetrate both the cloud layer and the branches above in order to even give a suggestion of twilight. The floor underneath Zack's feet was springy to the point where he though he was standing on a trampoline. He took a step and the whole area swayed a little. Zack reached down and lifted away one of the eight foot in diameter umbrella shaped leaves to see that there was another level beneath the one he was standing on. 'How far down does it go? Where did Bayei land?'

Zack activated Eidolan Symbiosis in order to enhance his sense of smell. A torrent of new odors assaulted him, but he was only after Bayei's. As he was sifting through the thousands of different smells that assaulted him, the canopy lurched once more. Taking no chances, he dove to the side just before a twelve foot razor sharp beak speared the branches above. Narrowly dodging, he cut through the leafy floor with his claws and dropped down. Sifting through the aromas once again, he managed to locate the sweet musky odor of Bayei.

He hopped down two more layers and found her. Bayei's eyes were full of wonder as she looked around at the lush greenery. Insects buzzed by, each having their own shade of purple and black.

Zack called out "Bayei." it got her attention "Stay away from those things, they could be deadly."

"But their so small." a bashful smile appeared on her face "And mesmerizing."

"In nature creatures that are colorful are sometimes poisonous."

She ran off behind the tree's trunk and the swarm continued to ignore her.

Zack caught up to her and asked "Are you injured?"

"A few cuts, scrapes and bruises. Where's Hroyd?"

"Hroyd is recovering from his injuries." Then he asked the disembodied bobcat's head "When will you be able to reenter the physical world?"

Hroyd said "A day."

Zack turned back to Bayei "He said a day, but he's pretty prideful so it'll probably be two."

The Kulabv warrior shook his head in annoyance.

Zack then turned to Bayei and said "Listen, I know you know nothing about this type of environment. Now, the first thing you need to understand is that there are ambush predators here that can come at us from any direction. Anything can be dangerous, anything can have a stinger."

Bayei blinked the fog away from her eyes "Okay. I was just a bit overwhelmed is all. I've just never seen anything like this place before." she pointed to a tree "That's a real tree made out of wood right? Everything the Dirske have is made out of stone and metal."

Zack's lip curled into a half smile before changing the subject "Our destination should be twenty miles south by south east. But this is a survival situation, we're tired and need to find shelter."

Bayei pursed her lips together in thought for a moment "We could sleep under these..." she lifted one of the leaves that looked more like pond lilies than anything "...things."

"Huh, I would have never thought of that. But first we gotta get out of this area. We have no idea what kind of predators were attracted to the noise we made when we landed."

So they headed south along the umbrella shaped leaves. Some of them had turned brown and grew white nuts on their undersides. Eventually the pair came across a suitable place to crawl inside and be hidden away.

It was a tight fit but it was the safest place they could find. Their bodies pressed up against each other and soon their little hideaway became warm from their body heat. After several minutes Bayei pressed closer into Zack than needed. Her warm breath felt nice on his neck, then she began to nuzzle her cheek across his chest in a seductive way.

With the irritation getting to him, Zack said "Just stop."

Bayei curiously asked "Why?"

"Because you're only doing it to make me get closer to you, not because we already are close."

She put as much lust into her voice as she could "I am going to die down here. Make me feel alive during my last few hours." and then reached her hand down his pants.

Zack grabbed the intruding appendage before it could go any further "We need to keep our strength up for tomorrow. We cannot afford to make the tree shake because then it will attract predators. Besides, I haven't been brought up to find gray-skinned women to be attractive and I'm pretty sure you're not attracted to someone of my skin color either."

"So you've gone through all these lengths to protect a woman whom you find hideous. How noble of you."

"No. It's that I need time in order to mentally change what I am attracted to."

Bayei scoffed "If you're worried about our strength and stamina, we each have plenty of of that. You don't have to worry about the tree shaking with the techniques that I use..." She smiled "...and besides, your friend down there seems to have had enough time to get attracted to me." she exposed her bosom and climbed on top of him "Now make me feel alive."

Kerink was stirred awake as a passive skill of hers activated.

Sense of Hostile Intent Detect any person who has the intention of violence within the set distance of one hundred meters. This is a passive skill that can be turned on and off. Willpower cost: 3 per minute Requires: a minimum state of semi-consciousness

"Oh, what is this?" Kerink said as her extrasensory ability picked up fifty blips of those intending harm converging on the inn. Curiously, she made her way to the front door to greet them. The Dirske attackers got into ring formation around the luxury suite in preparation to let loose a volley, and with the amount of firepower they brought with them, they intended to completely destroy the inn.

Kerink scrunched her brow and all four of her eyes narrowed "What could have possibly provoked this?" then activated another skill

Barrier The ability to erect an immovable barrier with a defense rating of 50, but can be improved using additional willpower Willpower cost: 10 per square foot To improve: 2 for every defense rating Technique rating: Intermediate Requires: No special body trait

Her favorite use of the skill was to activate it mid-air so she could use it as a push-off and change direction abruptly.

But at the moment, it was time to use it for it's most conventional means. Kerink formed the transparent barrier into a dome around the inn, expending most of her willpower energy to ensure success and add an extra point to her reserves.

Fifty streams of Taelon energy rifles fired as one. Like firehoses made of molten lava, splashing across the transparent surface and spraying over the whole surface of the dome. A full minute passed and the barrier held, much to Kerink's expectations. Eventually the attackers finally decided to cease their fire. Leaving Kerink standing at the front of the inn with her arms crossed.

The Mid-tierman leader of the group looked over and said "Akma, I don't suppose you know why our hosts have decided to kill us all in our sleep?"

Akma said "Low-tierman Zackery Taylor has made the decision to rescue finalist Bayei from being turned into fuel for a Dirske golem. His party has killed five guardsmen, and maimed nine more when they broke through the checkpoint."

"What could have possessed him to do that? Doesn't he know that relations have disintegrated because of his actions?"

"He could have saved her because of her creative mind, the assets she might someday bring to Akamdouric's army or maybe it was because she turned on her sex appeal as much as she could. After all, they are mating as we speak."

Kerink sighed "Terrific. That boy is on shit detail for a mission after this is over."

"Noted."

The Dirske attackers watched from afar as Kerink stood unharmed in annoyed defiance of their heat weapons, that had been concentrated enough to melt rock. The other members of the interdimensional expedition filed in behind her, each one wide awake and ready for action.

She used her Deuterium Energy Emitter skill and white flames appeared on the tips of her fingers like a blow torch. She reached down into the rock floor below, then pierced mineral surface and pulled out a chunk with exagerated ease. Holding it up for the Dirske to see, she crushed it in her fist and threw the powder at the barrier between them.

Using a small application of her Extreme Metabolic Growth skill on her throat, Kerink's voice boomed throughout the chamber so that all fifty Dirske could hear "Bring Grand Lord Ilvan Vakardrea to this place right now. He has some explaining to do."

None of them moved.

"Don't try my patience." In less than a second she formed a large ball of energy in her hand, it's white light shone throughout the cavern.

Her loud voice echoes for all of them to hear "If I send this thing downwards then it's going to put a two meter wide hole in a tectonic plate, and all that pressurized magma is only going to have one place to go." Kerink knew she was being over the top with her intimidation tactics, but threatening to unleash a torrent of lava upon the mountain city seemed to be the best way to get the meeting on short notice.

One of the Dirske attackers approached Kerink, unsuccessfully hiding his fear as he held up a small device with a live video of Vakardrea's face.

Kerink said "I was expecting you to come in person."

"There is no reason to expose myself to a group of murderers when this is a feasible method of communication."

Perplexed, Kerink said "Murderers? My communication network tells me that he acted alone."

A sneer crossed Vakardrea's face "The sins of a single individual also belongs to the group that they are a part of. His actions are also yours, making you murderers as well. Your group has attacked both my people and my culture in taking the finalist Bayei."

Kerink said "You know that we offered several viable alternatives to your problem with the denizens of the lowlands during negotiations."

"And still you continue to attack my culture. The festival has been tradition for over one thousand years. It is our heritage and an honor to participate in."

Kerink frowned at the label that the Dirske had given to murder. But calling him out on why the Bayei the finalist chose to flee her honorable position would serve no purpose. She waved the negotiators forward and talks began again.