Pushing through the forest he kept close to the road this time, it seemed that kept the encounters of monsters down. Why he had not a damn clue but he was still too traumatized from last time to venture out much further. He had no will or want to deal with another situation like last time. God knows if he could survive another one anyways. He would keep close to the road even if it meant it took longer to find some prey. He had two days now with his Walker stat being upgraded and it was early in the morning on his first day. He had plenty of time to burn, hell maybe he would get lucky and squeeze another set of runes or array for a new shift out his past memory’s. He could always dream right? Right.

Lucas came to a stop and crouched down throwing out his right hand drawing a shift circle as the bush ruffled in front of him. He was almost too absorbed in thought to notice it but he remembered last time how quickly those bunnies could move. Keeping his thoughts straight he flooded the shift with the runes forming the wind cutter array. Holding the formation he waited for whatever was ruffling the bushes to come through. Sure enough a horned trancer popped out the bushes, keeping his eyes away from the bunny’s he closed his fist. The golden particles bubbles out and the blade of wind cut the bunny in half before it had time to think. The sight was as gruesome as ever, he still wasn’t use to see animals guts spilt over the beautiful blue grass. The contrast of how this world looks and how it is was and still is shocking. The golden particles swarmed into the air slamming into him and the normal message popped up;

[‘Horned Trancer’ killed! | + 50 T]

Letting out a sigh Lucas nudged himself over, he needed to look for this damn etherial core. He could trade it for tokens or gold after all and lord knows he needed some money back in his world. Picking up the top half of the bunnies body he gagged as he shoved his hand in poking around for the small core. He couldn’t find anything on the upper half so he tossed the carcass aside. Picking up the bottom half he was careful digging around not to puncture a bladder. Last thing he wanted was some damn monster feces covering his gloves. After his ceremony of gagging he did find something in the bottom half of the carcass. It was some kind of stone attached to the end of the bunnies spine. He yanked snapping it off and pulling it out, wiping his hands off on near by leaves along with the core he got a good look at it. It was quite beautiful honestly, a golden pearl with a unique swirl of white inside it that mesmerized the eye. He smiled throwing it in his overcoats deep side pockets. One down, a billion more to go before he could upgrade again. Hey it was safer then going deep into the forest and that was what counted in Lucas’s eyes.

Cutting back towards the road he trailed along in the forest not a good stone throw from the road and safety. Well as safe as it could get in this world… maybe he should of hooked up with a group? No he was never the trusting type and he sure as hell didn’t want to have to let a bunch of strangers dictating his future. God knows what they will do the moment he falls asleep, might be worse then being around a bunch of predictable goblins. They’re easy to read, they simply want to kill and cut you into a human t-bone. Humans those are harder, sneaky and cunning. Willing to hide their true intentions for years if only to strike when the right opportunity arises for them. His mind was cut off as another ruffle in the bushes caught his attention, he crouched down drawling out his right hand. A shift was drawn as the runes formed the array for rune wind slash and he waited for his prey to walk right into his blast zone. Stepping out from the bushes was a large hog like creature with tusks sticking from either side of its mouth with pitch black fur strapped on its fat body. On its back was large porcupine like spikes sticking up from the back down it spine. The spikes were a multitude of patchwork colors from blue to red with yellow tips that chattering together as it walked making a chiming noise.

It stopped dead in its tracks looking straight towards Lucas, the spikes that were laying back on its body shot up. They started clattering back and forth making a god awful noise that made him want to clutch at his ears. Fearing what the monster could do he closed his fist and as soon as he dumped a bit of extra ether into it in a slight panic. The golden particles bubbles up from the closed circle and out came a loud boom as the wind slash came out cutting through the hog and not stopping. The blade cut through a few trees behind the hog and fell down with a loud crunching noise while birds shot off in every direction. The hogs top half slid off its bottom body falling onto the ground as blood shot out its stumpy legs collapsing to the ground. Lucas stumbled over to the hog staring at the corpse and the wave of deforested greenery branching out from him in a fan like shape. He really was getting good at this wind blade or whatever it was called, he let out a low whistle at the now wide clearing in front of him. The golden particles shot out the jog and into him as the message chimed in front of him;

[‘Yellow Tipped Hoglin ’ killed! | + 75 T]

Lucas waited by a tree for the headache to hit him and tight feeling in his chest as he figured he must have used plenty of ether that time around but to his pleasant surprise it never came. Definelty would have to be careful but he was getting he hang of this etherial shifting shit. He grinned hoping up and making his way over to the hogs body, now for the gruesome part. He kicked over the top half over and wanted to do a small dance as the etherial core was sitting right there in plain sight. No digging required! He plucked the core up and noticed it was slightly larger with deeper white swirls in its center. After rubbing the blood off on a bush he stuffed it in his coats pocket and got back moving along. He was having a rather decent start of the day, he kept his eye on the road but going a little bit further in with some new found confidence. Still within eyesight of the road through then dense forest but far enough now that he was likely to see quite a bit more game and monsters. Lucas was curious to see if small game like birds and what not would even give him tokens, something to try if he gets the chance for sure.

Keeping his head on a swivel Lucas pushed through the brush of the forest keeping his right hand at the ready and ears perked. He had no clue what the ‘yellow tipped hoglin’ could do if it got the chance. The best thing he could do is hit them hard as soon as they see him, if he was lucky he make it through the day without figuring out what they did at all. Creeping through the brush he kept an eye out for the road in the distance. He couldn’t help but wonder how far he was from the border of the beginner hunting grounds. It couldn’t be to much further before he hit that territory to the west, he forgot the damn name of it already. The pamphlet was in his coat but he couldn’t be bothered with it right now. Not that it’s name really mattered anyways, all he needed to know is it wasn’t labeled the beginner territory for a reason. He could turn back around and look for some of those bushes the rabbits loved to nibble on but frankly he was having much more fun exploring. Even if its not the smartest way to hunt it was something that got his blood pumping. He had to thank king or his past self for rubbing off on him, something he was becoming increasingly aware of.

He heard the rush of water in the distance for the first time, he hadn’t a drink of water in the last couple hours. Parched he made a beeline away from the river and towards the waters gushing sound. Making sure to mark the way along by snapping a couple branch’s sticking from the black barked pines or small shrubs he occasionally passed. Coming to the falls he was ecstatic, the break in forest was welcomed and the crystal clear water gushing along the rocky banks even more so. He dipped his head in the clear water and wiped his hair back letting it trickle down his backside. The cool sensation was divine after the long hunt and the coat he was wearing weirdly enough didn’t heat him up to bad but sure as hell didn’t cool him down. Scooping up some of the water he threw it down his gullet with a loud gulp. He threw his ass back on a curved boulder below him and let out a long satisfied sigh of relief.

A fish with golden specks on its green scales was swimming around in front of him and his earlier question picked at his brain. Plus he was hungry, he threw his hand up and drew a shift. Runes filled it and his hand followed the fish as the wind blade array formed, out of the bubbled gold particles came a gust of wind slapping into the water throwing it up into a splash. Blood trickled into the clear waters of the steam and two halves of a fish cut down the middle floated up. Nope nothing, so that settles it there was a difference between wildlife and monsters, one did and one didn’t give tokens for kills. Lucas walked over scooping it from the river, with a slight gag he scooped out the guts and threw them aside. A small sharp rock was used as he slid it along the fishes skin to descale it, which he found quite easy actually like something was guiding him. He left the fish out on the rock nearest to him and scouted around the riverside for some branches to start a fire. Finding some limbs wasn’t to hard but what followed was a string of curses constantly floating out his mouth.

Lucas could feel the same guiding that the fish descaling had helping him form the fire but even then no matter how hard he turned that fucking stick in a circle the damn thing wouldn’t catch fire. The tender he had underneath now seemed useless, his fish had long dried out in he had spent longer trying to get the damn fire going then hunting! One more time he figured and then he would have to move on as the sun was almost halfway through the sky. He sure as hell wasn’t eating that fish raw so he would have to look for some berries or something. With all the might he could muster he allowed the guiding force to help as he put his all into it. By pans grace a spark dropped under the two sticks he was twirling across and into his tender! He dropped to his belly and blew on the tinder both gently and ferociously. The guiding force was still there helping him along as he blew into the tinder ever so cautiously. The yellow flames danced above the tinder catching light and he wanted to jump, hoot and holler. Instead he carried over sticks to the tender pile gently placing them on top.

Eventually the fire caught and in no time he had a small roaring fire, the mid day heat combined with the fire cautioned him to stand near it so he kept his distance. Poking the two halves of the gutted fish on a stick he threw it over the fire digging it between two rocks letting it cook away. While he was waiting he sat on a nearby rock smashing two rocks together sharpening one down to use as a gutting knife so he didn’t have to dig around in monsters from now on. The same guiding force helped him along with sharpening the rocks in an odd rhythmic fashion. He had never done it before in his life but watched plenty of documentaries in his alcohol filled days of boredom, he soon found a good rhythm and fell into it. He took a small stick laying around and used the new sharpened stone to cut a notch into it. Taking the sharpened arrow head like stone he wedged it into the notch and wrapped it around with some straw like tall grass he plucked from around the banks. Tying it around the bottom around the sticks wedge it squeezed down on the stick, he wrapped it around the top base of the spear like knife and handle of his stick with a knot at its base.

Holding it up he was amused, the small wooden handle and grey stone tipped knife was nothing much but held a lot of pride to him. He couldn’t help but muse on what the guiding force was that he felt, it was so odd like a hand was helping him along the parts he knew. Those he didn’t he had to figure himself but as soon as he got it down pat the guiding hand returned to help him get better. It was odd to say the least, something he wasn’t sure he wanted to get use to. He let out a sigh tucking the spear under the belt wrapping around his coat at his waist. A thought passed his mind and he was curious as to how far his physical and etherial stat had went up over his small journey. He called up his status then went to his stats;

[NN\Stats\ Physical : 1.0/2 {+} | Mental : 0.8/1 {+} | Etherial : 1.9/3 {+} | Walker : 2 {+}]

Woah his mental stat went up! Lucas didn’t know what he did to make it…hold on today was the only day he crafted items and started a fire. That couldn’t be a coincidence that his mental stat rose the first time he started crafting. So that’s what raised it! Makes sense now that he thought about it and he felt quite dumb for thinking it would raise any other way. Well it did raise that one time he was in the goblin den…but he did build a wall from bodies then too so that could be considered crafting! He smiled as he was slowly piecing together this worlds game like wonders. He snapped out his wonder as the burnt smell of fish wafted into his nose. Jumping up into a mad sprint he rushed over to the fire yanking off his fish and blowing on them wildly to cool it down cursing his stupidity all the same. It was black and crunchy not particularly the way he liked it but it was still edible. The low grows in his stomach made him question weather he would eat cow dung right now if he had to. Biting down with his teeth he tore into the burnt flesh and was surprised as it tasted like salmon. Burnt salmon but salmon none the less and that was good enough for him.

Sitting on a boulder near the water the fire crackled away beside him and he fell in love with the nature around him, glancing over the water the beautiful sight of the orange sun overhead bounced of its clear surface. He watched a few fish pass by as he munched away and in the distance caught sight of some odd log drifting down the clear river. Lucas squinted as he watched the log drift ever closer, almost like it was coming against the current toward him. But logs couldn’t swim? He jumped up on the rock and put the fire between him and the now moving log.

He got a clear line of sight and it became ever apparent that wasn’t a log at all, spines went down the back of the log and small legs were jutting from it’s sides. Two small snouts stuck out from either side and it hand a very stocky build like a smooshed alligator. It opened its mouth showing a gruesome set of pearly white chompers with a snake like tongue tasting the air, it’s tail raised out the air curving back like a scorpion and split into two. In between it’s split tails a golden circle formed and Lucas couldn’t believe his eyes. Runes filled the golden circle that in the blink of an eye formed an array he hadn't seen before. He rushed behind a tree in the distance as the bubbling brook of golden particles formed a giant stone wedge. Just as he put his back to the trees black bark he heard a loud whoosh and thunk! Ever so carefully he stuck his head around the corner and could see a large stone spear sticking out the trees side.

Lucas threw his head back around the tree just in time as another stone spear shot past him crashing into a bush pulverizing it into the dirt mound it dug up. Letting out a stream of curses he opened his right hand drawing out a shift and quickly filling it with runes to form the wind blade array. His concentration was broken as another thump hit the tree and the pointed tip of a stone spear was jutting out right beside his left shoulder. A few more curses later and he had the shift formed, he slowly counted to three and rolled out from the tree scanning the area.

The beast was on the shore now closing in on the tree he was hiding behind only a few feet away. His skin crawled at the sight of some bastardized alligator and scorpion mixture, he closed his fist before the monsters shift could finish and poured all the ether he could into it. The bubbling brook of golden particles was more like a tsunami rushing out. He felt a huge drain coming from his chest as the huge amounts of ether he unknowingly dumped into it shot into his shift. A mighty roar deafening like a canon being fired right next to his ears sounded off. Immediately his vision was blocked by a large cloud of dirt that shot up around where he shot, he fell back onto his ass panting as a splitting headache and tight feeling in his chest arose. It wasn’t enough to make him pass out but sent plenty of warning alarms to him to cool it on the shifting for a while. Golden particles shot out the dust cloud slapping into him and a message popped up in front of him;

[‘Twin Tailed Aliscorp’ killed! | + 90 T]

Well at least it was dead, best bit of news he had gotten all damn day. He let out a long sigh falling onto his back as the dust settled all around him. Panting with a splitting headache his chest thumped out his rib cage as he heard an odd waterfall like trickle in the distance. He eventually got the stamina back to sit upright and his eyes went wide at the sight in front of him. A crater in the shape of a blade ran along the side of the stream at least fifteen feet deep, rocks cut in half and bits of stone thrown about as water poured into the crater. Jesus Lucas was amazed as he stood up slowly walking over to the crater carved in the ground looking left and right over the deep gash.

A laugh dribbled out his mouth as he sat down by the long lost embers of his fire by the gash’s side. He couldn’t believe he did this, yeah he cleared a forest section before but this was stone and he cut clean through it creating a small crater. The water was still filling up the gash as a bit of it poured off the river and into the hole. He hadn’t even realized how quickly his power was rising, something that was blatantly apparent now. All that shifting was paying off that was for damn sure, he walked around the gash to the river scooped up some water and splashed it over his face. The cold water was soothing and helped calm his headache, his chest was still thumping in his diaphragm where the ether originated from but he wasn’t going to pass out. That was oddly enough something he couldn’t innately feel. He came close though that he did know.

Fatigue hit him like a wave and even if he hadn’t used all his ether passing out the fatigue was maddening. He would need to rest for quite a while after that exchange, that was for damn sure. Glancing around he looked for some place safe enough to rest at, he settled on a tree much like the one by the rabbit clearing he hunted at with a fork at the top. Stifling over to the tree he hugged it and shimmied up the best he could, dragging his warm body into the curved C shaped split he molding to his body like a hammock he let out a relieved sigh. With a full belly and the fatigue from the fight it was a struggle to keep awake but he did it. Watching the tree tops blow by in the wind, the chirp of birds and the gentle breeze across his face slowly wore his fatigue away. The minutes drifted on followed by hours and in no time he felt like his normal self again. Running over the battle in his head he remembered the array the alligator used, a small smile crept up his face. He might have just gained a new array, something good actually coming out of that damn encounter after all.

Refreshed and ready to go he hoped down from the tree, the jump wasn’t too high but his raised physical stat seemed to enhance his body to a degree he was just now staring to notice. He rolled with the jump but found it quite unnecessary now, standing up he brushed off and walked over towards the rocky shore of the river. Holding up his hand he brought back the memory of the array inside the monsters shift circle, slowly he drew a shift circle and ever so carefully filled it with the runes he remembered forming the ring like array. He double checked over it to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, closing his fist slowly the shifting array condensed the runes while they slotted together filling out the array. A grinding noise stopped him and it felt as if his hand had grabbed onto something that wasn’t there as the force pushed back open his hand. From inside the shift circle he could see a rune grinding against another rune sending off golden sparks as they didn’t quite mesh folding together into the tight array that formed the commands. Like lightening had hit him he felt a jolt from his hands all the way up his spine, the golden circle imploded and the particles shot out into a confetti around him. Falling to his knees panting he waited for the numbness to slowly work it’s way out of his body, he had never felt something like that before and could only figure it came from his failure to properly places or form a rune in the array.

Plopping over on his butt he tried running back through his mind to figure out what had gone wrong. He drew another shift circle and filled it with the runes again for the stone spear array but this time he didn’t hastily collapse it like before. Glancing back and forth over the runes looking for any small faults took forever but he was bored and found it quite fun if he was being honest. Like he was unlocking magical mysteries by the simple twist of his fingers and thought of his mind. It was exhilarating, truly something he took to like a fish out of water. He barely even noticed the faint orange glow setting in around him which shook him from his concentration. Looking up he could see he idled by hours and the sun was setting in the distance, he had a slight headache from holding the shift array for so long but he figured his etherial stat helped compensate for this. He still couldn’t figure out where he went wrong so he waved away the shift, it blew into golden pixels floating away in the wind. He should probably take shelter for the night he figured, no sense in running around at night. Now the real question was should he go back to the beginner base or inside the Walker nest? No people could simply jump him in there. He heard of no rule from pan about not killing someone in there although it would make sense he sure as hell didn’t want to find out. Going back by the road would keep him away from monsters but put him in the clutches of bandits. Twirling around and glancing back up to the C shaped forked tree behind him he let out a sigh. By the river it was, he should be fine if he kept far enough from the shore line from this damn scorpion alligators.

Lumbering over to the tree he shimmied up its sides and took nest in its fork. He pulled some brush from the tree down around him to hide himself the best he could, lord knows he didn’t want to wake up getting drug off to god knows where again. He watched the sun set in the distance and the orange glow bounce of the white clouds. A few of those odd twin tailed birds would fly by nesting in trees around him no doubt hunkering down for the night just like him. He saw a few monster bunnies catch some water from the river, a few more of those damn alligator monsters pass by in the waters but thankfully they payed him no mind. Before he knew it darkness was upon him and the twin moons he had yet to see being locked inside the goblins cavern last night time. They swung around each other high in the sky, one with a pale white silvery glow and the other with a bluish white tone to it. He couldn’t help but wonder how the moons got a colored hue to them? Another great question for when he found someone willing to answer them, he let out a long sight and closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.

..

…

…..

Lucas jolted awake in a half sleepy - half awake daze, looking around he could see the faint lines of the sun bouncing off the distant tree tops. Before he even had time to stretch out and get his limbs loose a cry rang out in the distance slapping into his ears. He had the right mind to roll over in his log hammock and ignore it but when it grew closer he didn’t get much of a choice. Sighing Lucas shuffled down the tree and did a little stretching as the screaming grew closer by the second. It was coming from across the river and it sounded like a girl screaming. Throwing up his right hand up and drawing a shift and filling it with the wind cutter array he waited till the bushes in the distance ruffled before filling it with ether. What stepped out was a woman per say, just not the kind of woman he had seen before. Her dark brown skin and navy blue eyes were the envy of any woman but the white fluffy tail sticking from the rear of her dress was…unusual to say the least. Two fluffy white ears protruded from her head and her white hair spilled down over her shoulders, she was in some sort of disheveled blue dress that was torn to shreds.

Behind her was one of those damn hogs running rampant, golden runes swirled around its body. The normal flaccid hairs along its backs where standing erect and shooting at her as it squealed. Her eyes grew wide as she’s stepped out into the river wading half way across before seeing Lucas, he motioned with his left hand for her to get down. She dumped down into the waist heigh water and Lucas filled in a little extra ether for good measure to make the distance. Snapping his hands shut the golden brook of particles shot out from the closed circle and the wind cutter launched out in its normal wind like blade. The air clapped as it crossed the water in no time cutting into the hogs frontal snout down its midsection and out its back. The top half of the hog just like last time fell off as the legs kept running with a jet fountain of blood squirting from halves. Golden particles filled out from its body and slapped into Lucas but he ignored the message. He walked over to the shore and helped the woman? The person out the water, she quickly backed away from him ringing out her tail as water fell onto the rock she was standing on. She glanced up from time to time as she shook her body free from water. His first look at a native, what an interesting blend of human and beast.

“Umm…thank you. Im truly grateful for the assistance.” She said finally breaking the silence.

“No problem Mrs?” Lucas said as he sat down on a rock near hers.

“Sami. My names Sami Sir?” Sami said fishing for his name as well.

“Prince.” Lucas said realizing when he tried to say his real name his nickname naturally flowed out. He was bound to the rules of this world after all.

“Prince. What an odd name. Well none the less I thank you for your assistance Sir Prince. I don't suppose I could bother you to take me back to Gandor. I see you are a shifter and I could pay a fair wage if you get me home.” Sami said and Lucas simply tilted his head.

Isn’t that the halfway town on the border of the beginner hunting grounds and that kingdom…he forgot the name of it. It wasn’t that far from where he was if he recalled correctly..he let out a hum and fished in his left pocket. Pulling out his pamphlet he could see it was to the west where he was already heading and the country was called the Kingdom of Sri to the immediate west on the beginner hunting grounds border. There was the halfway city she called Galdor right on the border, curiously enough he could see it was right next to the beginner dungeon. He glanced back up to see the woman staring at the sun on his left hand. Throwing the pamphlet back in his left pocket he raised up the hand she was staring at.

“Im a sleep Walker. Is that a problem?” Lucas said and she shook her head becoming a little more meek.

“No problem sir Prince. The coalition has been good to us mostly. Most sleep walkers are decent people from what I’ve seen.” Sami said and Lucas nodded leaving it at that.

He had no intention of correcting her misunderstanding if he didn’t have too. Did him no good as far as he could see, rogues weren’t seen in such a good light. Why he had wasn’t sure but he had a few ideas.

“Right, so let’s get you back. The road is this way.” Lucas said thumbing behind him towards the road.

They started making their way back through the brush, Lucas couldn’t help but watch her tails swing behind her as they moved through the forest. It was beyond bizarre and he figured a furry would be over the damn moon right now with Sami’s appearance. They didn’t have to go far to get back to the road, the river wasn’t that far after all. Heading to the left they started heading back to the west were this Gandor halfway city was. Silence was becoming an unwelcome friend and Lucas felt like he had to say something to break the ice. After all since the woman found out he was a sleep Walker she’s been skating on ice around him keeping her distance.

“So what we’re you doing out so far from the city?” • “Ah well I was showing a group to the beginner hunting grounds dungeon and we got ambushed by a pack of Hoglins. I ended up getting separated from the group and my guards. I’m just a guide after all, my fighting is…sub par to say the least.” • “Oh man that’s rough. Well I’m glad you made it out fine, I’m sure your groups just fine Ms. Sami.” • “Thank you...”

They both fell back into a silence as the small dirt rocks on the road crunched under their feet, the occasional gust of wind blowing by and bird chirping adding to the cacophony. Lucas let out a small sigh, he couldn’t force the woman to talk. Instead he drew a shifting circle pouring some ether into forming the runes for the dirt spike the alligator crocodile shot at him. He had a full tank of ether and that shot from earlier didn’t take too much, he could travel and work on the shift which helped relieve his boredom. Humming he tried flicking the runes around to form the array the monster used on him, he just needed to get the last couple runes to mesh properly. After a bit of tinkering he closed his hands to shrink the shift and use the array. To his dismay another shock of electricity went up his body causing a small yelp, it was far less then last time keeping on his feet he just shook his hand cursing a time or two.

“Are you alright?” Sami said and Lucas turned over to see her genuinely worried. Not worried enough to get closer mind you but a worried face none the less.

“Yeah I’m fine just trying to figure out this shift i seen a monster use. Can’t get the last bit for the array down. Doesn’t want to mesh for some damn reason.” Lucas said drawing another circle and glancing over the runes that poured out.

“Yeah…do you do that often?” Sami said and Lucas turned from his shift to her for a quick second. She was giving him a look half between puzzled and stupefied.

“No? Just for this one. I wanted to learn it after it almost pulverized my ass into the he dirt.” Lucas said and she hummed nodding.

Her prodding was weird but she said nothing else and Lucas just chopped it up to small talk turning his attention back to his project as they bumbled along. Before long he gave up swiping the shift away, it was doing no good and just wasting ether. He would have to take a look at it another time when he was in a safe place. The woman did say she was ambushed by a pack of those hogs today, nothing to stop them from doubling back and if he had no ether to deal with it he would be bout as useless as her. Before another conversation could get struck up the road turned from the course dirt to a cobblestone paved road. Branches split off ahead and he could see people coming and going.

Some on wagons pulled by odd creatures and some on carts that shot steam out occasionally and were long like trains carrying cargo to and fro. Every now and then the long train carts would let out a whistle to let the other carts know to move. There was even lanes for the wagons and train like cart, a separate section stood along its sides for people to walk about. He followed Sami as they hopped over to the sidewalk, he couldn’t help but gawk at all the natives coming and going. Every now and then they would give him a strange look but most paid him no mind. Hell he even seen a few trains and wagons with affilaites banners on their sides, Lucas had to cool his interest lest he look like a country bumpkin. However the passing air ships in the distance made of canvas blimps and steel undercarriages filled with cargo broke that lacking resolve as he craned his head looking up. The beginner area didn’t have any of them!

“Wow.” Lucas mumbled and Sami laughed beside him.

“I’m guessing your affiliation is one of the upstarts for you to not have seen any snake wagons or air ships?” Sami said as Lucas absently nodded.

Soon the halfway town in the distance became clear, the first thing he could make out was large grey walls rising high Into the sky. Bell shaped towers rose from every couple feet along the walls with the air ships docked to them spinning with the wind. The ‘snake wagons’ or land trains as he preferred to call them ran into special stations docking on the walls side unloading cargo. Some wagons pulled into the city after stopping at tolls on the single large road leading in and some parked in the large gravel parking lots gates in by small wood fences that looped around the city. Occasionally he would see drake like creatures flying by with saddles on their backs, landing on special overhanging docks along the tall walls in between the air ships docks. Oddly enough he could even see a few plane like creations taking off from the docks as well but they fluttered their wings like a dragon fly making a loud buzzing noise and letting off occasional bouts of steam as well. It was all so sci-fi and punk with a twist of medieval built into it. People carried swords and bows with shields side by side with people which had musket looking cannons on their back. The walls of the city had cannons poking from it like early twelfth century ball cannons. It was all so bizarre and amazing he couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.

The traffic got louder as did the cacophony of the city, sidewalks broke off from the large road as did many exits for the train stations. Sami waved him to follow her as they walked down a split off sidewalk to a booth and small thick iron door that would rise up for people as they passed by the booth. They got into a long line and people seemed to be flashing some sort of ID like cars and they let them through the gate. Lucas glanced over to Sami as she fished around getting her card out her pocket. Ah shit, this might be a problem he thought as they inched ever closer. He didn’t see any sleep walkers on the booth he was at just natives, so he didn’t know if he was suppose to have a card or not.

“Hey Sami I don’t have one of those cards.” Lucas said and she furrowed her brows.

“I wouldn’t expect you too, sleep walkers can’t get ID cards from my kingdom. Plus this is a halfway city they let you you in for a few days anyways you just gotta get stamped. Jeez what affiliate group are you with where they left you out so high and dry?” Sami said off put by his lack of obvious info.

“Well I-“ • “Next!” Lucas was saved by the guard waving them along.

A native man that had cat like ears much the same as Sami, now that he was paying attention almost all of the natives he seen so far had cat like feature here. A few didn’t but that was far and few between, the man had brown hair with a thick mustache. His red suit was embossed with an golden piece of paper for its symbol at its right corner which he assumed told his district in the government. His brown eyes drifted over Samis ID as she passed it to him and he wrote down some info on a log. He looked over to Lucas and down to his hand raising a brow as he handed Sami her passport back. He gave Sami an un-approving glare which he could only guess was because he came to a native check in line or something.

“Reason for entry sleep walker?” He said in a monotone voice to Lucas.

“Trade in some etherial cores and to help escort this fair lady back. She was attacked by a pack of hoglins on route to the beginner dungeon.” Lucas said and the man casted a glaze to her.

Sami nodded and he sighed giving a grunt as he pulled out some stamp. The guard motioned for Lucas to stick his hand through the iron grated blocking the two and Lucas did so reluctantly. The guard grabbed hold of Lucas’s right hand and threw the stamp down on it, Lucas could see the tale tell shine of ether running through complex runes on the stamp. When he pulled it away a golden circular mark with the number 7 in it, Lucas guessed that was how long he had to be in the city. He had no clue what happened when he overstayed the welcome though he wasn’t keen to figure it out, the guard waved them along as the thick steel door slowly raised. A long tunnel greeted them lit with these odd bars glowing in neon colors not quite bright enough to dispel the dark at the tunnels feet side. The other side was bright as it could be and blinding as they passed through it and into the city proper.

Lucas was amazed at the sight that greeted him, large tall buildings washed in white five to six stories high lined the walls. Complex and organized streets in ring fashions with middle sections cutting through it and overhanging lights on the streets along with water fountains. Aqueducts that instead had water running on them with floating platforms carrying containers the flying ships and land trains unloaded ran into tall warehouses occasionally spread out. Trash bins and vendors littered the sides of the streets as kids with fluffy cat ears and tails played running around. The city’s building shrunk in stature the closer they got to the center of the city where he could see a large plaza and dome shaped building in the middle with a glass top. It was all so gorgeous he could barely believe it, so neat and orderly it made any city in America look like a proper ghetto. He had to scrape his jaw off the floor as Sami motioned him to follow him. He trailed along like a lost puppy, it seems being back in her city gave her a lot of her security back and she had problem getting closer to him.

They came to a stop outside what looked to be a two story shop of some kind halfway through the city, wagons chimed passing behind them as she busted through the front door with a confidence he hadn’t seen from her before. Slowly walking through the door he glanced at the sign hanging above the doorway on the way that read ‘Gales Weapons’. The inside had racks hanging from the walls full of weapons and armor of all sorts, a reception desk stood at the very end of the large room with a set of stairs running up behind it. Behind the desk sat an older burly man with grey haired ears sticking from a grey mane wrapping across his grizzly tan face. He was working on a weapon of sorts with a gloomy depressed face as he adjusted his spectacles. He didn’t even pay us a soaring glance as he kept his entire attention devoted to the object he was working on. Sami walked up to the counter and tapped on a bell, the man looked up in a disgruntled huff. The moment his eyes locked on Sami’s face the mans expression froze, tears streamed down his eyes and he rushed around the counter scooping her up in his arms. Neither of them said a word as they silently enjoyed each other’s embrace, he sat Sami down and they both stayed at arms length from each other.

“I’m home dad.” Sami said behind choked tears.

“Welcome home hunny. Welcome home.” The man said taking her face in his hands as he looked at her like a precious diamond.

“Dad this man saved me. I told him we would pay him for escorting me home.” Sami said breaking from him and they both turned to me.

The old man looked lucas up and down, his eyes drew to Lucas’s left hand. The old man huffed at the sight of his crest and turned to his back, why Lucas had no idea. The old man’s brows furrowed as he looked over Lucas once more.

“What affiliate are you with son?” The old man said as he slowly pushed Sami behind him backing up.

“… I’m a rogue.” Lucas said and the old man hummed with a nod.

Sami behind him changed her look of aloof confusion to fear as she stared back at Lucas like he was the devil. Lucas was still confused as hell what was going on, the old man slowly backed up to the counter. Slowly he reached his hand around the counter, the voice Lucas hadn’t heard in a long time screamed out ‘Dodge you idiot!’. It was too late though as a giant axe in the blink of an eye was coming down over his head. Lucas closed his eyes accepting his fate as the hammers gleaming edge cut into the top of his hair, the wind already splashing over his face. Death gripped both sides of his body and he could barely move as his time came to early.