Chpt. 2) The search for a heart

After about five minutes of meditation, Ford felt something. It was boredom, ‘How do you find your soul,’ she thought as she tried to focus, ‘What makes a soul.’ She thought about these questions for several more minutes and then realized a soul was part of her life. Experiences and feelings determine life. Feelings are a part of your soul. ‘That’s it. I just have to follow my heart, so to speak,’ she realized.

‘What would be the best emotion to follow? It’d have to be shared and easy to find and follow,’ she thought for a moment longer then came up with another question, ‘What are the base emotions?’ This helped focus her search, ‘There is happiness or joy, love? No too hard to explain. Happiness. What else?’ having to other ideas, she focused on a happy memory of her dogs Gromit and Preston. They were good boxers. As she followed those memories, she didn’t feel her soul, ‘I miss those two. They were the best snugglers,’ she felt something after that. She buried and forgot about a feeling, ‘There is more than just happiness. There's loss. No, sadness, anger, fear, jealousy.’ She followed those feelings, and they led straight to her chest. She could feel it tighten around her heart.

Ford then pushed on that spot, focusing on it and letting the negative emotions guide her actions then she felt it. A minor point in the center of her chest, focusing harder on it, an image of it floated into her mind. It looked like a tiny light made fire, water, and dirt. She took the flame in a mental hand and felt it spread throughout her body. It felt like someone turned on a hot water faucet in a shower, letting warm water spread over and throughout her body. It felt amazing.

‘Focus,’ she scolded herself, ‘Now that I have my soul, I must connect it with the world,’ she focused on the feeling around her body and tried to force it out of her to feel the world. When she did, though, it dissipated, and she couldn’t feel her soul anymore, not even in the first place she found it.

Frustrated, she opened her eyes and said, “Dammit, I nearly had it.” She took off her Fedora and scratched her head. All this hair was making her itchy.

“Whoa,” Max and Sean said at the same time.

Ford looked up at them and saw an expression of awe upon their faces, as she didn’t know what they were going, whoa, about she decided to respond to it, “Thanks, I know I’m beautiful.”

“No, not that,” Sean said.

“A little bit of that. But,” Max added to save Sean from his stupidity.

“But?” Ford asked expectantly.

“They saw your soul,” Luis chimed in, still looking ahead on the road. “You were probably meditating for an hour or so,” he chuckled to himself, “You’re better than me. Took me three days to get that far.”

“Really? You saw my soul,” she asked the twins, who nodded vigorously. She looked at Sean and pointed as she put her hat on her chest, “PERVERT!”

The shocked and fearful expression he gave her was so worth the accusation, as everyone started to laugh at him, “NO! I’M NOT- I’M NOT A PERVERT! I’M NOT! STOP LAUGHING!” then pointed an accusatory finger at Max, “She saw too! She is just as much of a pervert as I am!”

“Yes, but the difference between you and her is that she’s cute and can look at me all she wants,” Ford countered, giving another wink to Max, who promptly blushed again. This got Ford laughing along with Luis. Eventually, the twins joined in on the laughs as well.

Once the laughing died down, she turned toward Luis and asked, “Why couldn’t I get my soul to connect with the world?”

“Don’t know,” He responded.

“Well, could you try and remember? Or guess,” Ford prodded.

“Er, let’s see,” he thought for a moment, “Er, how big was it?”

“That’s what she said,” Sean joked, which promptly got a slap upside the head from Max.

“It was tiny. Just like your dick,” she said, pointing at Sean.

His cheeks turned red as Luis laughed, “Haha! If it is that small, you need to feed it more to grow. I think that’s what my teacher said. However, I can’t remember anything past that.”

“So?” Ford asked expectantly.

“So, figure it out, I can’t help anymore,” as he said this, they rounded a hill with significantly fewer trees than the rest of the road, “There she is, kids,” he pointed toward the horizon, “The town of Banzzap’el.”

Ford stood up to see, but all she could see was a massive tree far in the distance. The tree looked like a Bonsai tree with a twisted trunk and seven branches with plumes of leaves on their ends. “I don’t see it. Just a massive Bonsai tree. Am I missing something?”

Luis stood and got off the wagon, “Yeah, you are missing something. It’s probably about ten o’clock now. This is the first clearing we’ve seen for miles, and I’m starved,” Luis thought for a moment, “Oh, and that Bonsai tree, as you call it, is the world tree. There are several more just like it around the world. That particular world tree is in the very center of Banzzap’el.”

Ford stared at him for a moment, then back at the tree in the distance, “So, that tree is Banzzap’el?”

“Pretty much,” Max said as she grabbed one of the packs and hopped off.

“Sean, water the horses and get them out of those harnesses,” Luis ordered.

Sean groaned, “Okayyyy.” He then hopped off with another of the packs. Ford decided to follow since there’s no point in staying on the wagon right now.

Luis sat down on a gnarled root and rested against the trunk of a nearby tree. Max sat next to him, also resting against the tree as she rummaged through the bag she had brought. Eventually, she pulled out some cold ham sandwiches on paper plates. Ford sat across from them and looked quizzically at the bag and the sandwiches. Max handed one to Luis, set two others aside, and set the bag on the other side.

She noticed Ford’s stair of confusion and asked, “Do you have nothing to eat?”

“No,” Ford said, “But I’m less concerned about what to eat and more concerned on how they were able to stay as they are inside of a bag? Paper plates and all without making a mess.”

Luis ripped his sandwich in half and handed it to Ford, who took it gratefully. “That bag is a dimensional bag. It can store up to twenty-five individual items, keep food hot or cold, and everything clean and dry,” he raised his sandwich and said, “Cheers.”

That got a chuckle out of Ford, “Cheers,” she then started to chow down on the sandwich. The taste of pickles hit her a second later, nearly making her throw up. It looked like pickles with some ham sandwich, and the only thing keeping her from throwing up was the fact that she was starving. A fact she learned long ago was that when she was hungry, she’d eat anything.

Sean joined them a moment later and started chowing down on the last sandwich available, scarfing it down like a starved animal. Luis shook his head as he watched his son forget about his manners.

“How long till town?” Ford asked with a mouth full of pickles.

Luis licked his fingers off, getting as much of the pickle juice as possible, “About, two-three hours till town. We have to let the horses rest for a bit, so we’ll leave in an hour. That means we’ll get there by,” Luis looked up as he did some quick math, “one or two o’clock.”

Ford finished her sandwich and stood, “Okay, I’m going to try and molest the world again.”

Max shook her head at the terrible joke. “Have fun,” Sean said through a mouth full of sandwich.

“Thanks,” Ford said as she climbed back into the wagon to meditate. If last time took an hour when it felt like only a short time had passed, she didn’t want to be left behind. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes as she focused on her soul.

***

When she focused on her soul, it wasn’t where she found it the first time, ‘Okay, I just have to do what I did last time and follow my emotions,’ she thought for a moment and focused on her dogs again, bringing the feelings flooding back and re-igniting the flame that is her soul. It was still tiny, though, ‘What do I do to make the flame bigger? We know it lights up when I feed it strong emotions. Maybe that’s the trick feed it some strong emotions.’

She thought back in her life of some annoying coworkers that made her very angry. She took those emotions and threw them into the flame. It grew bigger as it fed on the emotions. She thought back further on any memory that had strong feelings. Her first kiss, first date, bringing her puppies home for the first time, the pride she felt when cooking a meal for her family.

Ford took all of those emotions and fed them piece by piece to the fire, and it roared to life, turning into an all-consuming flame of water, fire, and dirt. She looked at it mesmerized. It was beautiful; she reached a mental hand for it, and instead of a warmth that spread through her body, her hand just passed right through it.

That confused her, and she observed the flame a little longer. Then noticed that it was starting to shrink. She began to panic, ‘How do I stop it from shrinking and disappearing? How? How? How? Think! You’ve listened to books that cover the soul before. Think.’ After a moment of panic passed through her, she sent it into the flame to buy her some more time. Then she realized something. ‘If I think of it as melting, that means it would act more like snow. I think. So if I crush it down to a ball, maybe it’ll survive?’ She took her mental hand and made another one and crushed her soul.

Pain shot through her chest as though she was shot through the chest. She took that pain and sent it to the flame, making it grow. She continued to crush the ball, creating more pain, which she sent into the flame again. She did this again and again and again. Forcing the soul into a ball. After what felt like ages of agony, the ball Ford was making was finally done. Creating a small white marble.

Immediately she felt the familiar warmth spread through her body, and she observed her soul for a moment more to make sure it wouldn’t fade. Instead of forcing her soul to connect to the world, she decided to leave it and break her meditation. ‘I’ll have to find someone to teach me how to connect my soul to the world,’ She thought as she woke.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with a slap to the face. “OW! The hell was that for,” she said, looking at Max, who was the one that slapped her. After a moment, she realized that both sides of her cheeks hurt, “How many times did you slap me?”

“Sorry, sorry. You were breathing weirdly and looked like you were in pain. Soooo, I tried to wake you by slapping you,” Max hesitated for a moment as she shrunk into herself, “six times,” she said, wincing.

Ford stared at her for a moment and considered what she said, and a sly grin spread across her face as a thought occurred, ‘let’s see how well my quick wit skill works.’ “Why Max? Why would you strike me?” She asked.

“I’m sorry I didn’t-”

Ford started to layer on the drama, “didn’t mean to hurt me? You didn’t. But the sting of betrayal cuts deeper than any blade,” she put her hand over her heart and looked away from Max as she said, “I thought you liked me.”

“I-I do like you. I didn’t-”

“Oh, you do,” Ford dropped her voice into a more sensual tone, “Well, there are easier ways of getting my attention than slapping me. Like confessing your love, for example.”

“Wait, what-” a blush quickly spread across Max's face, making even her hair turn red.

Ford leaned in close. Close enough to feel the heat from Max’s face radiating off her, “Are you feeling well, my-” she was about to say, ‘my queen,’ but she was quickly cut off by a backhanded slap from Max.

“Oh, SORRY,” Max squeaked immediately.

“Yes, hit me harder,” Ford responded right after, sounding as perverted as possible.

Luis and Sean immediately started laughing hysterically as they finally caught up to the conversation while Max didn’t find it funny. Once Luis recovered a minute later, he said, “That’s enough. We’re finally here.”

Ford chuckled for a moment more and looked forward and saw a massive stone wall as they passed through a portcullis six meters wide, twelve meters tall, and seven meters wide. Since this was the first time, she’s ever seen one in either of her lives, she was impressed by the ingenuity, to put it mildly. When they came out the other end, her breath was taken away as an idiotic smile spread across her face.

‘This. Place. Is. AMAZING!’ She thought to herself as she took in the sights. The buildings were nothing special, two stories high and made of stone, mortar, and wood. They looked like they should be in fifteenth-century Italy with white, clay brick roads. However, what caught her eye was the people around her and the world tree. She knew it was massive, but she didn’t realize it was this huge. It towered over the entirety of the city. The branches above the clouds cast shadows over the entire town that shifted and shimmered between an emerald green and dark shade.

After being amazed by the world tree, she focused on the people around them as they rode down the street, turning right. There were five different races here that she could see. Elves, Giants, Dwarves, Humans, and some other race that didn’t fit in with the others.

The elves were beautiful and elegant, with long pointed ears sticking up and out; some taller elves were at least two meters tall, and others were a little shorter. They wore primarily green colors of every shade; a few, however, wore reds, blues, yellows, and browns. They casually cast spells with a snap of their fingers as a book floated behind them; the books were primarily red and brown. The spells were like tiny fireworks that sizzled and sparked in many different rainbow colors.

The giants were fewer and significantly easier to spot as they towered over everyone standing at a good three meters tall. They kept their heads down to not step on anyone by accident. They were bald, and their skin looked like they were made of stone. Their clothes were brown togas with pants, and they all had a weapon of some sort strapped to their backs or waist. They had anywhere from Mauls, broadswords, and clubs; Ford even saw a log that had been freshly pulled from the ground strapped to a giant back.

The dwarves were harder to see since they were well hidden from view; due to being so short, she couldn’t tell how short, however. By the time she saw a solid group of dwarves, they were all drinking just outside a tavern, thick beards braided and soaked in alcohol as they drank. All around them were gleaming shields, axes, and Warhammers.

The last race that was wondering about looked like every race mixed together into one person. One looked like an elf in terms of facial features and ears but was short and fat like a dwarf. They blended in with the rest of the races, making it challenging to pick them out.

Ford pointed out the short fat elf to Max and asked, “What’s his race? Or her race? It’s hard to tell.”

Max had calmed down from the teasing she had just received and rolled her eyes as she looked at the Dwarf Elf, “That is a Halfling. They’re half of all the races, half-human, half-giant, half-dwarf, and half-elf. The only race they aren’t half of is Drakes because they can fit in without help. Their God made them like that to mix with all the other races to bridge the race gap.”

“Whoa,” Ford said as she leaned back, finally relaxing, “there are Drakes, Giants, Elves, Dwarves, weird half-breeds. I wonder how that works if they’re half of five different races. The math just doesn’t add up.”

Max and Sean looked at her with a bit of shock on their faces. “Do you constantly think inconsiderate thoughts and just keep them to yourself?” Sean asked.

“Yup,” Ford said without hesitation.

“By the way,” Luis cut in, “Halflings have excellent hearing.”

Ford's eyes widened, and she looked back down the street they were going down, just barely to see a short, plump dot staring daggers at them. Ford slowly turned her back to it and tried to ignore the feeling of being watched.

To change the subject, she remembered that she wanted to know more about soul leveling and asked, “So, Luis, could I ask you a small favor?”

“Occurs, anythin’. But I won’t pay for your ascension. That money is for my kid,” Luis said sternly and without hesitation.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Could you introduce me to your teacher to properly level up my soul stat? Also, good to know that I have to pay for my ascension,” Ford said.

Luis thought for a moment as he pulled the reins signaling the horses to stop in front of a stable, “I don’t think I can. But don’t worry, when you get your Grimoire, you’ll be introduced to a teacher, and they will tell you. So don’t worry.”

Ford sighed, “Fine,” then she hopped off the end of the wagon closely followed by Max and Sean, each carrying their dimensional bag, Sean carrying two. “So, what now?” Ford asked, a little impatient.

“Now,” Luis grunted as he got off the wagon where he sat, “Now I unharness the horses while you and Sean pull the wagon over there,” Luis pointed over to a row of a few other wagons, “While Max goes over there,” he pointed to building with a sign that read, the Boar motel, “And get us all two rooms. Alright.”

Ford sighed again, “Alright.”

Sean handed Max the bags he was holding, which made her stagger backward as she took them. Max then hobbled over as fast as her legs could carry her. Then Ford turned and watched Luis take the harnesses off, and Sean walked up and joined her, in no hurry to help his dad. After a moment, Ford turned and looked at him, noticing how tall he was next to her about matching in height. Which brought to mind, ‘How tall am I? I know how hot I am, but not how tall I am. Weird,’ so she decided to ask.

“How tall are you?” she asked.

Sean looked caught off guard, “What?”

“How tall are you?” she said slowly.

“Why?”

“Curiosity,” she stated.

Sean bit the inside of his lip, then said, “About one-hundred eighty centimeters, last I checked.”

Ford looked down at the boots he was wearing. The heel added maybe two centimeters to his height; then, she looked at her shoes. The heel on her shoes added maybe three centimeters to her height, ‘one seventy-seven, nice.’

Luis waved to them as he finished undoing the harnesses and held the horse’s reins to keep them from wandering off. Sean walked up between the horses and held the wooden pole attached to the wagon, letting Luis walk the horses to the stables. Ford then rushed up and grabbed the pole as well. Together she and Sean pulled the wagon over with the rest; Sean pulled out red chalk and marked the wagon with his signature. It was just a bunch of squiggly lines, so probably not a signature.

After that, both Ford and Sean walked into the motel closely, followed by Luis, who finished putting the horses in the stables and making sure they were fed. When they were inside, they saw Max waiting for them, holding her bag the rest on the ground.

Sean and Luis grabbed their bags, “Did you get the rooms?” Luis asked.

“Yes,” She responded and walked up the stairs, leading the way. She then walked to the end of the hall and pointed to two doors next to each other on the right-hand side, “The right side is boys, the left girls.”

“Well, you heard the lady,” Ford said, “You on the left.” They all looked at her with a face that needed no explaining. She sighed, “Sorry lousy joke. I’ll get a room,” She turned and started back down the hall.

“Wait,” Luis, Sean, and Max said simultaneously.

“You can stay with us for the night,” Luis said.

“Yeah,” Max agreed, “you can stay in my room.”

Ford rubbed the back of her head, “No, I couldn’t. It’d feel awkward for me.”

“Nonsense,” Luis countered, “you saved our lives if we have to put a roof over your head. It’s the least we could do,” he said with a smile that radiated gratitude.

“I didn’t save you,” She mumbled, “But I’ll take you up on the offer,” she said humbly.

“Excellent! Let's get settled in.”

“Um. Dad?” Max asked.

Luis turned and looked at her, “What?”

Max started to rub her hands together, interlocking her fingers and redoing them, and asked, “Mind if I go enjoy the festival? Lilly told me she would be in town for the ceremony, and I was hoping to hang out with her.”

Luis sighed and scratched his head, then he sighed, “Alright, but I’m not giving you any money to spend. We’re at the end of the budget anyways.”

Luis grunted as Max tackled him in a hug, “Thanks, Dad,” she said. He patted her on the back as she finished the hug. She then went into the room to deposit her bag.

Luis turned to Ford and spoke in an undertone as he leaned in, “Do you mind going with her. It gets hectic at the festival, and I’d feel better if I knew she was with someone who could fight.”

Ford looked to where Sean was standing only to find he was already in their room. She sighed and conceded reluctantly, “Festivals aren’t my thing, but alright,” she then mumbled to herself, “At least I’ll feel like I earned the hospitality.”

He smiled at her again, “Thank you,” he said as he turned and walked into his room. “OI!” he yelled, “Put your clothes on! Or else you're sleeping on the floor!”

“I have to be free!” Sean said in defiance.

“Then you can be free after I throw you out the window! Now put on your clothes!”

Max walked out of her room at this point with her hair freshly brushed, “Yeah, they’ll be at that for a while.”

“I can see that,” Ford said as Max walked past her. Ford remembered what Luis asked her to do and caught up to her quickly, “Hey, mind if I come along? I’ve never been here before and would like to explore. If you don’t mind, I come along, that is.”

Max stopped and listened for a moment and thought for a second, “Um, sure, I don’t mind,” she said, then continued walking.

Ford fell into step just behind her and followed her to the door. “Thank you,” Max said with a cheery smile as she walked through it. However, before Max got to it, Ford darted forward and held the door open for her out of instinct.

“You’re welcome,” Ford responded as she followed closely behind her.

***

“She picked up on that quickly,” Finn noted as he watched Ford finish meditating.

“Well, we gave all our champions the innate ability to use magic easily,” Tanashi said while watching Finn's champion walking through a festival that was being set up, “It was bound to be easy for her to pick it up.”

Drake sat watching his champion meditate as in an expensive-looking room, “Yes, even my champion’s working on her Soul. However, even she is having trouble with it. Are you sure your champion wasn’t explicitly chosen for that reason?”

“We all know how you hate to lose,” Shurma chimed in, watching her champion work a forge.

“Eh, eh, eh. I only flipped the solar system once, thousands of years ago. Also, Samael was the one who picked him.”

“Her,” Samael corrected, looking wistfully at her champion's father. Nobody could tell since her champion stood next to him.

“Sorry, her,” he corrected himself.

“Hope my champion gets smarter,” Guargen grumbled, watching his champion in a library too small for him trying to read a book equally as small, then slam it down in frustration. Zee cackled as she watched her champions pickpockets and steal the occasional pastry from the festival on Tanashi's screen. Eventually, they ran off and hid in the shadows on a rooftop.

“Do you think-” Finn started, then trailed off in thought.

“Think what?” Drake asked, raising a scaly eyebrow.

“Do you think she has the potential?” Finn finally asked.

Everyone looked startled, except for Samael and Zee, who were distracted, and looked at Finn, then at Tanashi, who took a sip of water from an oversized water bottle. He wiped his mouth and said, “Not likely, for one thing, the odds are against her.”

“By how much?” Samael asked, finally prying her eyes away from the screen.

Tanashi thought for a moment, “sixty-five million to one against. It’s highly improbable.”

“I’ll take those odds,” Samael responded, “In fact, let’s make a bet on it. If I win, I take your planet when the game is done. Deal?”

Everyone froze and looked between Samael and Tanashi. They all knew what giving up a planet meant and the consequences. It supplied the power needed to be a God; if you lose the world, not only do you stop being a god, but your race gets wiped out and transformed into the victors' race, and you can’t make a new world.

For a long, long while, Tanashi was silent as he switched screens and watched his champion, “No,” he said firmly, “You’re one of the oldest gods here, besides me, and I know how smart you are. If you’re so confident that my champion will have the potential, then I should have some faith as well.”

Samael chuckled and continued looking at her screen and resting her head in her palm, “Alright, if you say so,” after about a minute, Samael sat up straight, a little surprise in her voice, “Oh, ho. It looks like our champions finally meet, Tanashi.”

Tanashi looked at the screen, “So it seems.”

***

As Ford walked with Max, the sun was slowly getting to the point that the shadows over the entire city were no longer there. ‘It’ll be night soon,’ she thought as she looked up at the sky, ‘Maybe, five hours,’ she guessed. On the other hand, Max looked to be in a cheerful mood as she walked along a line of different colored bricks than the rest of the street, with an occasional circle every four meters or so.

“You look cheery,” Ford pointed out, trying to get a conversation going.

“Well, why wouldn’t I be. I get to see one of my long-time friends I haven’t seen in over a year. Tomorrow, I get my Grimoire, and there’s a festival. Who doesn’t like festivals,” Max said excitedly.

“Well, clearly you,” Ford answered sarcastically, “clearly you’re dreading every moment you’ll spend there.”

Max looked at Ford from the corner of her eye as she turned left down another road, getting off the colored brick she was standing on. Ford looked at all the buildings they were walking by. They all had wooden signs with different symbols on them. One had a sword and shield on it, while another had potions, another had food, and another had a diamond. ‘We must be in some merchant quarter or something,’ she thought. After they walked down past a few buildings, Max entered one with a sign of herbs. Ford followed closely behind.

The shop was poorly lit, which was not surprising considering the time, but it still had plenty of natural light. There were small cabinets, drawers, and mason jars full of herbs of various kinds throughout the store. They were all labeled and organized according to use. It was oddly satisfying to see.

When Max walked in, she took a deep breath and yelled as loud as possible, “LILLY! I’LL BE OUTSIDE!” She turned and walked past Ford and out the door.

Ford Looked at the back wall where she saw an Elf man reading a newspaper, shaking his head. “Sorry about that,” Ford said as she left right after Max. “What was that all about?” Ford asked Max.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, waving a hand, “Mr. Sucrose doesn’t mind, and I’ve been doing it forever. It’s how I get Lilly’s attention.”

“Oh, really,” Ford said, “Next time, check with Mr. Sucrose about that.”

Ford heard the door open behind them and turned to see a gorgeous young Elf girl exiting the store. She wore a red dress with white highlights that flowed to her knees and matching red slip-on shoes. Her blond hair with red highlights curled around her pointed ears and stopped just above her shoulder. She also wore thick, red rim glasses over sky blue eyes and a red beret atop her head, and she was no taller than Ford.

“It’s fine,” she said in an accent that Ford recognized immediately as either Irish or Scottish, “My dad asked her to do tha’, says it keeps him awake. Who are ye?” she asked.

Max stepped forward and started introductions, “Lilly, this is Ford. Ford, this is Lilly Sucrose.”

“How’s it goin’?” Lilly said, sticking out a hand for a handshake.

Ford took her hand numbly and shook it, “Hi.”

Max looked at her quizzically, “Are you alright?”

Lilly put on a disappointed look and said, “I bet I know wha’ it is.”

“You do?” Max and Ford said simultaneously.

“I do; ye don’ like elves,” She accused, leaning forward, “Wha’? Don’ like my ears?!”

Ford backed up a step and said, “No, no, the opposite. You just caught me off guard, is all. Plus, I really like your accent.” Meanwhile, inside Ford’s head, ‘Holy shit, she’s beautiful, gorgeous, has an Irish accent, and is an elf. Best day ever! Okay, okay, don’t freak out, don’t freak out. Just stay cool and stay calm.’

Lilly looked surprised and backed off a bit, “Oh. Really?” she asked.

Ford bit her lip nervously as she answered, “Yeah, I honestly do,” then smiled.

Max leaned forward and whispered loudly into Lilly’s ear, “She’s a bit weird.”

“Hey!” Ford barked, making the other two laugh.

“But really,” Lilly started to ask, “How do ye two know each other?”

Max started to walk down the road, and the other two followed her, “There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, we have a festival to explore,” Max said with conviction.

“Ye, know it won’ star' for another two hours at least,” Lilly said.

Max started to slow down till she came to a stop, a look of contemplation on her face. After a few seconds, Ford's stomach rumbled loudly, reverberating through her body. Everyone slowly turned to her, eyebrows raised. Ford could feel her face turning red, “How about we go and get something to eat first, then worry about a festival.”

“Agreed, don’ worry, I know the perfec’ place,” Lilly said and started to lead them in the opposite direction.

***

They walked into a tavern about a ten-minute walk from where they were. The tavern was called, the crimson bore and looked like a bar she remembered as a kid called the old saloon. The crimson bore was small; on the right side was a bar with stools and marry, drunk patrons in them and a small selection of alcohol behind it. On the left side of the saloon were several tables; only a few of them were empty. The tavern was light by crystals that hung around the ceiling casting a green glow around the tavern, giving it an ominous feeling.

“It’s quite busy here,” Ford stated.

“So, a master of observation, I, see?” Lilly said, sarcastically, “It’s okay. They’re not busy. They still have chairs open.”

Max nodded, “This is usually the busiest it gets. One time though, I saw only one free table.”

Ford nodded along, and before she could say anything, a waitress walked up to them wearing a simple shirt and long blue skirt and two large pockets on the front, “Just you three ladies?”

“Yup,” they all said simultaneously.

“Follow me then,” the waitress said and led them to one of the small tables in the back corner of the tavern. She gestured to it for them to sit down. Ford took the far seat to look at the door while Max sat across from her and Lilly in between them. The waitress pulled out three slips of paper and a pencil, though it was more like a stick with graphite tied to it. “I’m Amy, and I’m the only waitress here. Write down what you want to eat or drink and make sure it is legible. I’ll bring the food by when it’s ready,” Amy said, then walked off to attend to one of the other customers trying to get her attention.

Ford looked at the slip of paper quizzically, “Just write down whatever we want, and we’ll get it?”

“Aye, the chef here is one of the best,” Lilly said, “he can make anythin’.”

Max nodded vigorously, “One time when I came here with my family, I wrote down, ‘Mom's homemade pie,’ and he made it the same as my mom. A perfect replica,” Max deflated a little bit, “I wish she were here.”

Ford looked at her with sympathy, “You going to order that again?”

Max shook her head as Lilly put a comforting hand on her shoulder, then said, “Well, I’m sure she would want to be here too.”

Max took a deep breath, “Yeah, she would. But enough with the depressing talk, let’s catch up,” Max and Lilly started to talk about the past year and what went on.

Ford looked down at her slip of paper again and picked up the pencil. She wrote water, giant cinnamon roll, Max’s Mom’s homemade pie. The slip of paper then burst into blue flame and disappeared.

Ford jumped back in surprise as the other two laughed at her, “Was it supposed to burst into flame?” Ford asked, confused.

Max recovered from her mirth first and said, “Yes, it’s called ticket paper. I’m pretty sure a chef's ability makes it.”

“So, wha’ did ye order,” Lilly asked.

Not wanting to spoil the surprise that might backfire, Ford decided on a half-truth, “Giant cinnamon roll. This tavern reminds me of a saloon near my hometown, and they had some of the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had. Plus, some water.”

Both Max and Lilly looked confused and asked simultaneously, “Wha’s a cinnamon roll?”

Max and Lilly shook their heads, “If nobody knows, how will he make the cinnamon roll?” Ford looked upon them, astonished, “You don’t know? Does nobody know what a cinnamon roll is?”

Before either of them could answer, a door that blended in perfectly with the wall burst open behind Lilly, making her sit up straight, her ears stick straight up, and her hair frizzle like a cat. It was pretty cute. Ford looked behind her to see a massive, bald, heavyset man with a crown tattoo on his neck standing behind her. His presence gave a sense of danger and intensity that gave a feeling of years of working in a high-pressure kitchen.

This feeling felt familiar to Ford. It reminded her of an old friend from back home who was a nice guy. Ford looked him over for a second more, then he spoke in a rumbling baritone voice, “What the fuck is a cinnamon roll?”

Ford stood and looked the man in the eye, “What? Can’t make it?” Ford said, challenging him. At that moment, everyone in the tavern went quiet. All the drunk bar patrons stopped drinking and looked at them; one still had his drink to his lips and was spilling a little. The rest of the people eating at tables stopped food halfway to their mouths.

The chef never broke eye contact and was silent for a good minute or so, then finally conceded, “I didn’t say I couldn’t make it, but I don’t know what the ingredients are.”

“So, you can’t make it?” Ford pushed.

The chef pursed his lips in anger and stuck his chin out, then sighed and relaxed his body, “No.”

Ford smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you,” then she stuck her hand out, “Ford, nice to meet you.”

The chef shook her hand, “Geoff.”

“Well, Geoff, let’s get to work,” she said and then walked into the kitchen as if she belonged, then immediately slipped on the slick, greasy floor of the kitchen. She barely caught herself by putting a foot underneath her and balancing on it. She then took her free foot, put it back on the hardwood floors of the tavern, and stood. “You know what,” she said, “I’ll just write it down.”

Geoff handed her a piece of ticket paper, and Ford grabbed the pencil to write the recipe down. The slip burst into flame again, and Geoff’s eyes glazed over. He shook his head and said, “Alright, I can make this, but what is cinnamon?”

Ford thought for a moment, “I’m pretty sure it’s a tree bark turned into powder.”

A light bulb seemed to turn on in his head as recognition spread through his face, and he walked into the kitchen. Ford sat back down and looked at the quizzical look Max was giving her, “Tree bark? You order a dish made with tree bark.”

Ford looked at Lilly, who made her order, and then she spoke, “Aye, she calls it by a differen’ name, but since it’s tree bark, I finally figured it out.”

“What is it?” Max asked.

“It’s cough powder. If ye get any in ye’r mouth, ye star’ coughin’, but there’s another use. It’s an excellen’ seasonin’,” Lilly said with a prideful smile.

“Oh,” Max said as she too wrote down what she wanted to eat. The ticket burst into flame, and a second later, Amy came speeding by and plucked the pencil from Max’s hand and disappeared, then reappeared behind the bar. Ford looked at the teleportation with surprise and studied Amy for a moment. She noticed that about a meter above Amy’s head was a green and brown book floating above her and shimmered and shifted as she walked around.

Ford pointed out the strange book, “What’s that?”

Lilly turned and looked, “Tha’s a Grimoire. Everyone knows tha’,” she said with condescension in her voice, “How do ye not know tha’?”

“I know what a Grimoire is. I’ve just never seen one before today,” Ford said defensively.

Lilly smirked, “Do ye want me to tell ye abou’ them. I know a lot abou’ pre’y much everthin’.”

Ford thought for a moment and said, “No, I’ll figure it out. Thanks, though.”

She shrugged and went back to catching up with Max. Ford sat and listened, not paying attention. Her thoughts were of the future and what would happen because she knew that she was one of the champions chosen by the gods, and she couldn’t change that. All she could do was sit and prepare as much as possible.

She started with the basics of what she knew about the I.G.A.S.S. system. It looked like a video game and would influence her physical and mental capabilities. She looked up at the top right corner of her vision to look at her bars as she rested her chin on her knuckles. HP; one-hundred seventy-three, STM; one-thousand seven-hundred thirty-four, MN; one-thousand two-hundred twenty-four, EXP; zero/one-thousand. Out of curiosity and nothing else to do, she pulled it up again.

Name: Ford; gender: Female; race: human; Grimoire: none; class: none; Level: one. Abilities: STR: twenty; PER: fourteen; END: seventeen; INT: sixteen; AGI: nineteen; CHR: twenty; LCK: twelve; WIS: nine; SOL: five.

Skills: natural: carry weight: hundred kg, quick-witted, resilient, strong-willed, cook. ‘Huh, my soul leveled, and my intelligence. Doesn’t that affect the amount of mana I have? So why is it still the same?’ she thought and closed the window. Looking back at the four bars, she noticed that they had changed. HP: one-hundred eighty-seven; STM: one-thousand seven-hundred thirty-four; MN: six-thousand five-hundred three; EXP: zero/one-thousand.

‘That’s odd? I only get the benefits of training after I check the window. So I have to check it periodically to see anything. Good to know,’ she thought as she looked back at the other two. Her absent mind was not noticed by the other two as they chattered. ‘If I’m going to have seven people on the team, we would need to have a solid plan for classes, and since Tanashi told me I would have my pick of class types when he was explaining things, I have some flexibility,’ She thought for a moment longer, ‘We should have four warrior class types, two tanks, two fighters. Then we need at least two healer types and one range. The fighters take all the aggro, and tanks bail them out when things get too heated. Then the healers can heal one fighter while the other starts to take the aggro. All the while, the ranged unit will begin to chip away at the enemy's health. At that point, it’s a matter of who kills who first and who can survive the longest.’ Ford started to commend herself at the solid but straightforward plan. Even if one fighter gets taken out temporarily, the other will continue to add damage till the first fighter is healed.

Ford snapped out of her self-revelry when she heard Max say her name, “I probably would have died if Ford hadn’t saved me. She was like a hero fighting all those bandits. Isn’t that, right?”

Ford chuckled, “Thanks, but I’m not a hero.”

Max got her familiar quizzical look again, “What do you mean? Of course, you are. Else I’d be dead and probably my brother too,” Max grabbed Ford's hand, “You got a heart of gold, I know it.”

Ford yanked her hands from Max’s grasp and said more sternly, emphasizing each word, “I don’t, and I am not a hero.” She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, looking down at the floor. Then she said, “Let’s change the subject, please.”

Concern spread across Max’s face, but before she could say anything to keep arguing, Amy showed up with a massive tray of food and started to list off the items, “Alright, one rabbit stew,” she set a piping hot bowl of stew in front of Max, “one, grilled veggie salad,” she placed a large wooden bowl of salad with cruciferous grilled vegetables in front of Lilly, who thanked her politely. “And finally, an almost impossible giant cinnamon roll and a slice of pie,” she placed the roll the size of both of Fords' hands put together in front of Ford and the pie in the center of the table. She then summand three wooden cups full of water out of thin air and left.

Max stared at the pie in shock, as if she didn’t know how to react to it. Ford scratched the back of her neck, “I know you haven’t had this pie for a while. Or at least I’m guessing as much. If there is a time to celebrate someone’s memory, then that time is now.”

Max looked between the pie and Ford, water welling up in her eyes, “I-I don’t-” she took a deep breath and got herself under control, “Thank you,” she mumbled just loud enough for Ford to hear it.

Ford smiled, “Don’t thank me and just eat some pie. I got a cinnamon roll to eat,” she said while grabbing a fork that had materialized onto the table without anyone noticing and began working on the massive cinnamon roll.

As they started to eat, Lilly looked between the two of them and decided to ruin the moment, “Aww. You two are adorable.” Max and Ford started to complain at her with mouths full of food.