I sat on a hillside facing the city, its lights twinkling through the darkness of the night. It was nowhere near as bright as the cities of earth, the technology used to illuminate it vastly inferior to electricity. Even then, most of the city fell dark at night due to the apparent expense of the current lighting. The tops of the walls were lit nicely, torches shimmering even at this distance. Occasionally, a pair of guards would illuminate a new section of the wall as they changed shifts and relocated to new positions.

It wasn’t until then that I’d realized how well guarded Valenta was. Patrols outside the city walls as well as on top of them showed that the city was protected by a not-insignificant force at all times. After having sat there for well over an hour I could tell that, between the patrols and guard stations, there must have been at least 300 guards maintaining watch on just this section of the wall. The guards themselves looked to be kitted out in lightly worn leather and bronze armor. The main weapon of choice seemed to be a bronze tipped spear but I’d noticed many carrying sheathed swords at their sides as well.

Those patrols are why I was sitting in the dark waiting for Shiza and Orion to return with the money for completing the quests. I looked down at the cobalt blue lizard laying in my lap, snoozing peacefully as its body heated my fur through my pant legs. It had taken the party twice as long as it should have to reach the city today. We hadn’t been able to use the roads for most of our journey back for fear of Argu being seen. As such, we had avoided any and all travelers for the most part.

When we’d reached the outskirts of the city I had volunteered to stay outside with Argu while they went and collected our rewards. Orion had the special task of getting a contract written up with the guild that would pay us for each monster slain. Those contracts in particular had to come from the province's defense budget, which would explain why my two companions were taking so long. Shiza had also gone to inquire about a resource collection contract from the Merchant’s guild, which would allow her to collect resources in the forest to sell to higher ranking guild members. She had said that those types of contracts weren’t usually granted however, but it was worth a shot.

The peace and quiet gave me time to reflect on my journey thus far. The world in which I lived was a dangerous one where slavery, racism, and violent crimes were common. Death hid behind many decisions and second chances were hard to come by. Trust was in even shorter supply, the looks I received from every person were initially those of distrust and the looks I’d given were returned in kind. The world was as unforgiving as it was unpredictable.

The trade off for this unpredictability however, was the world's natural beauty. Over millennia, earth had been molded into a planet made for and by humanity. Few if any natural habitats remained untouched by human hands and those that did were often inhospitable places that humans chose to avoid. Here however, there seemed to be few places where the wild had been tamed. Even cities patrolled their surroundings with the intent of trying to keep the monsters away. Exploring the world could find you in a place that no one had ever visited while confronted with beauty beyond your imagination. Forests spread over vast swaths of land and unexploited plains could stretch for miles. Birds chirped and small animals scittered across your path when you walked through the forest. The world was no better or worse than earth had been, just different in its own unique way.

My train of thought was distracted by a noise coming from the opposite side of the hill and I quickly hid Argu behind me where he would be less easy to spot. Two shapes approached me and my body relaxed when I finally made out their forms. The two short silhouettes of Orion and Shiza rounded the top of the hill and headed in my direction. I waved them over as they picked up the pace, “Hey guys how did your trip to the city go?”

Orion’s face finally came into view as the light from the twin moons lit up his features, “We were able to get the rewards for the quest as well as the contracts from both guilds” he said excitedly. Looking at his body, the light leather armor he’d been wearing had been replaced by a studded, more reinforced looking armor and the spear he was now carrying looked to have an iron tip.

“That’s great! Looks like you found yourself some new equipment too!” I said, wondering how much it had run him. The leatherwork on his new armor looked masterful and the spear he was holding appeared to be slightly longer and more sturdy than his previous one.

He proudly flaunted his new armor and weapon as he spoke, “Well I figured if we’re going to be fighting monsters I’d better have some decent equipment. It was also pretty cheap for the price because Shiza was able to broker a deal with one of her guild members who’d been holding onto it for a while.”

Shiza also appeared to have gotten new gear. The torn clothing she’d worn during our trip had been replaced by a light leather tunic and leg guards. The staff she held was the same except for the crystal embedded in the top which had been replaced with a slightly larger blue crystal, “I also bought new equipment for the journey. I didn’t have quite as much to spend but I figured that dying out in the field wouldn’t yield a very good profit on my end so I spent what I could on my equipment.”

I’d produced Argu from behind me and we started to chit chat about what to do next. As it turned out, Shiza had spent nearly all her savings on equipment, spending one gold and 25 silvers in total. The most expensive item she bought was the crystal for her staff that increased the power of any spell she cast. Orion on the other hand had splurged on this armor and sword. The studded leather alone cost him two gold while the iron spear had run him another two. It was a lot more than the 25 copper we’d just made from Shiza’s quest. He had the spare money though and Shiza was right, dying because of a lack of equipment would be one hell of a way to go if you had a bunch of money in your pocket.

For the first time in a long time I was able to sleep through the night. As I hadn’t gotten to sleep the previous night because of the fight, both Orion and Shiza insisted on splitting the watch between them. Nothing haunting visited me in my dreams and I woke up to the sun peaking over the horizon. I felt well rested as I talked to Shiza about her plans for harvesting materials from the area. I avoided telling her about the healing moss because we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere close to it until we were stronger.

Packing up camp was a simple task and when we had finished we started walking south. I stole a glance over my shoulder, Orion and Shiza were walking side by side with Argu in Shiza’s arms. The city behind them stood as a pillar in the vast fields of green that stretched beyond the horizon, it might be the last time I see it for a long while. Turning my head back around I realized that was ok, the medallion around my neck gave me new purpose and a reason for my actions. Before, Orion and I had simply been wandering aimlessly, looking for some kind of path we could take. We had turned down a route on which we could begin to clear our own path, one that we could forge ourselves. We would become stronger and avenge the sacrifices of the people of Fenroot and in our journey we would build a reputation that would dissolve racial barriers. For now though, we would fight, we would survive.

These thoughts invaded my head as we walked, talking about the area and working out plans to kill the monsters we would inevitably encounter. We consulted a crude map of the area that had been given to us by the city’s administration. The map showed a small circle in which the silver team was operating within and a much larger circle surrounding it showing us where we were permitted to operate. Tracing the topography and geographical features I noticed something important.

The area that we were permitted to operate in contained the cliff face where I knew for a fact the tar pit was hidden. The silvers from the Warrior’s guild had completely missed their mark when it came to approximating the location of the pond. I drew an X a small distance away from the pond and close to the grove containing healing moss and explained that as the spot where we would set up camp. I mentioned to Orion that the grove was within our permissible area and he jumped for joy.

Explained Orion’s jubilation to Shiza nearly caused her to faint. The risk of coming into conflict with anyone over the resources was slim as the area had been quarantined by the Warrior’s guild. She started to babble about how much money the group could make if we could keep the grove a secret. I looked down at my magic pouch and couldn’t agree with her more. If we could find a trustworthy potion maker willing to come out and make potions for us then we’d be able to increase our profits even further.

Veering off through the woods we set our course to the spot I’d marked on the map. When we approached the area we spread out and located a small hill on which to set our camp. With the day slowly turning to night we built a makeshift fence around the perimeter to at least delay anything that attacked us.

I heard movement coming from the woods to my left, something was running through the woods towards our camp. A tardog appeared from the underbrush as the sun began to set below the horizon casting shadows throughout the forest and dimming the surrounding area. It’s teeth barred as the monster lunged, targeting my throat.

In a flash I drew my sword and swung it up as I stepped to my left. The tardog’s head fell to the ground a few feet away, rolling for a short distance before coming to a rest on the damp, mossy ground.

I resheathed my sword after wiping the blood away. I remembered back to my first encounter with one of the creatures, gazing upon the severed head now I realized how much stronger I had gotten…

...and how far I still had to go.

Orion

Ferrin (Level 3)

275/300 Experience

30/30 Health ----

70/70 Stamina ------

30/30 Mana --

20/20 Spirit ---

‘0’ Stat Points Available

Racial Ability - (Impossible Evade)

Skills: (Fishing G) (Spear G) (Botany G) (Barter G) (Stamina Regen G) (Execute G)