"Ronan, what the hell is that?" Sam asked urgently as he turned.

"Some kind of Fire Wolf. If I had to guess, it has heat distortion abilities considering its refinement," I answered as I backed up.

"Borked. We are borked," Danny muttered as she brought out her pistol.

The creature remained at range, pinning us with its eyes. Minutes ticked by, the light of the sun filtering through the canopy revealing more of the creature. It was the size of a car, easily. Danny wouldn't miss if it got closer, but I had the sneaking suspicion two shots wouldn't be enough to take it down.

A low growl echoed around us and I knew our time was done.

"I'm going to try something!" I said, hoping that I was right. Mentally stomping on the button the Entity had added to my mind, I saw a brown circular pattern form on my wrist. A blink later, I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Staggering, I barely managed to keep my focus on the wolf.

Before my eyes, nearly a hundred feet away, the earth heaved. A thin spear of stone rose from the ground straight into the wolf's side. Even through the haze it generated, I could see some of the stone break and remain lodged in the creature's side.

"I used a Skill," I whispered, the pain in my gut already fading. "I used magic!"

"Great, now what?" Danny shouted right before two claps sounded out from her gun. I spun to look back at the wolf who was frothing at the mouth. And charging straight at us. I saw one of the wolf's ears disintegrate under Danny's first shot and a deep gash cut its way along its skull. The second hit caused it to howl in pain and stagger, but it was still alive. Thankfully that was enough to bring my mind back to the fight.

"Imagine pushing on the information the Entity gave us!" I said as I focused back on the Wolf. Zeroing in on the space where it would be, I triggered again. The punch to the gut didn't distract me as much the second time, even if it only hurt a bit less.

A much larger version of the Skill manifested right under the wolf. Unfortunately, the blow was glancing. The creature still pushed on towards us, and from less than fifty feet I could see that it was not happy about being injured. I called on my ability for a third time, but the punch that time took me right to the ground. In the brief seconds where I was falling, I saw two things happen. A thick string of vines wrapped themselves around the wolf, turning its charge into a tumble and a fist sized ball of liquid fire splash against the creature's face. Having experienced the impact of my three attacks and the fireball, the wolf was not having a good day.

Just when I thought we would be able to turn the tables, the visual distortion around it deepened. Distinct waves of shimmering heat warped the space around the creature, withering and snapping the binding vines. Bracing myself for the pain that was to come, I triggered again. I focused intently on the wolf's head, or at least where I thought it should be. I gasped for air but refused to take my eyes off the creature. A spike easily the thickness of my thigh compressed itself under the wolf and shot up in a blink.

My attack partially skewered the beast in the neck, and its intensified haze started to disperse. "Go... get it!" I managed, trying to collect myself. My friends didn't need much more prompting and another series of vines rose up to catch the creature. The vines tried to pull the creature even deeper onto my spike, but the car-sized wolf was adamant about surviving. That's when a helpful nudge of explosive fire smacked it on the top of the head. Pointed stone broke the skin of the wolf's neck, spraying blood that immediately boiled off.

Having watched the creature die, I promptly collapsed to the ground. I ignored the blinking in the edge of my vision that highlighted how much of my mana was gone. A groan escaped me as I recovered slowly from the pain of using . It wasn't clear why it had hurt, but I did know it hurt more the faster I used it. Something to keep in mind. It also looked like the spike itself was smaller the further out from me it triggered. The fight replayed in my mind. Considering the Attunements of my friends, I knew which set of attacks came from who. There would certainly be some need to better coordinate our attacks, but I couldn't be disappointed about how effective we'd been on our first magical fight.

"Ronan! Are you alright?" Sam asked. I hadn't even realized my eyes were closed until my friend shook me. The pain from casting the spell was already gone.

"Yeah, all good. Using Skills hurt a bit though. Felt like I was getting punched in the stomach," I answered as I accepted his hand to stand back up. The man then patted the dirt and leaves that had stuck to my person.

"Really? Mine makes me feel a bit lightheaded," he said.

"I feel like I'm running a fever," Danny added.

"Okay, so, different side effects. We should keep those in mind. Are you two alright?"

When the two nodded, we walked over to the creature. The heat still hung in the air, and I was reminded of the times I'd watched over Danny's shoulder while she baked something. Sweat coated my forehead the closer we got to the creature.

"Care to do the honors, Danny?" I suggested.

Hesitantly, the new fire attuned nudged the massive wolf with her boot. Instantly, the heat rose then vanished. As if it had been flash cremated, all that remained was a small mountain of ashes. The gentle breeze that flowed through the forest was enough to slowly disperse the ash and as it did, particles of light rose out from among it. A small glittering cloud formed above the ash, split three ways then singed its way straight into us.

The effect forced us to take a step back as the sensation passed through our bodies then disappeared. The next breath I took felt easier, and the lingering discomfort from my casting disappeared entirely.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say that was the Pith and Dregs of the wolf," Danny said.

"Might as well check. Status," I said. The information immediately populated before me.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Health: 100% (Unafflicted)

Mana: 100%

Metier Quotient: 2 (26%)

Dreg Accumulation: 6%

LPS: Wildwood, FL

Communications

Skills - (1) Selection Available

Traits - (6% Banked)

Attributes - Growth Quantified

Gained a level. Also a small bit of Mana Dreg. With a thought, I opened my Attribute information.

Attributes:

Strength: 1.20 > 1.30

Mobility: 1.11 > 1.21

Perception: 1.32 > 1.42

Refinement: 0.93 > 1.03

Containment: 1.73 > 1.83

"Wow..." I said as I looked at the values. If what the Entity had said about 1.0 being the human average, then I was changing scary fast. Being 20% faster than the average person was certainly nothing to scoff at. "I raised my Quotient."

"Same here," Sam said.

"Mine says it's up at 83% to 3. I jumped a lot from just the one creature and I only got one Dreg percent from it," Danny said as she looked off in the distance.

"Interesting. I suppose we'll have more questions for the crystal. Speaking of the crystal, anyone have any idea what happened?" I asked.

"It looked like it powered down. The way it was speaking sounded like it was on a timer. All I can say is that I'm glad it didn't diddle much longer. I have no idea how we would have fought that wolf without our Skills," Sam said, propping himself against a tree.

"You are right. We should go check on the crystal and see how it is."

It was a short walk back to the Entity. There was a contemplative silence between us as we mulled over the fight and just how close we'd come to dying. Again. In even less than a full day. I wasn't sure what that said about our chances of survival, but I was optimistic. Having magic probably had something to do with that. With that thought, I tried to open my Skill menu.

Hmmm. The whole learning process must rely on the Entity. Perhaps that is why it ran out of energy right after giving us access... When we were less than five feet from the crystal, the light within flared momentarily before returning back to a dim, if minutely larger, dot. A new string of words printed itself before our eyes.

"Entity? Hello?" Sam said, rapping his knuckles on the surface of the crystal. "Nothing."

"You guys think it needs to recover more before it can be chatty again?" Danny asked as she copied Sam.

"Makes as much sense as anything else. If that's the case, we should try to get back to the Bunker. And we should double check if the wolf dropped anything. The other creatures too," I said.

"I'd forgotten about the other ones," Sam reached into his pocket and pulled the small orb of water he'd gotten from the bamboo. "There might be more of these."

With our immediate plan situated, Sam led us to the creek in short order. The rapid moving water didn't take long to fill our bamboo jug and canteen. The three of us then made slow but meticulous progress back to the Bunker. Stopping first at the remains of the Haze Wolf, we rummaged around the ash until we found three items. A small hunk of cool, but still smoldering, coal and two hand sized fangs. Daniela pocketed the coal, but held on to both teeth like makeshift daggers. Sam and I gave her a curious look.

"What? I'd rather have them and not need them," she said. The woman blushed as she crossed her arms and glared at the two of us until we promptly turned around. Guiding ourselves was a piece of cake thanks to the LPS feature the Entity had retained from the implant's original program.

We kept a watchful eye for any critters, but nothing looked interested in even getting close to us. Without needing to lug my friends away to safety, we traveled quickly as we discussed our Skills.

Both Daniela and I had selected the Direct category, receiving sort of ranged damage abilities. Thinking differently than us, Samuel chose the Materialize category and received a Skill called . My earth based , Danny's and Sam's binding Skill appeared to be good compliments. Based on how well the three abilities had synergized during our fight against the Haze Wolf, I was optimistic for our future cooperation. Idly discussing what we'd observed from the fight, we arrived at the first notable feature in the forest.

The aftermath of the blaze.

Somehow, the trees had managed to scrape by with missing leaves and some blackened bark. Nothing on the ground had remained intact through the fire. The grass, flowers and bushes all around us were scorched black and dead.

"I caused all of this?" Danny said, taking a breath.

Tears ran down her face, as both Sam and I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulders. It was hard for me to process everything that had happened since we arrived on the surface, everything around us was new. The sheer destruction her Attunement had caused was also something none of us had ever seen. We stood in silence for several minutes as we all came to grips with what would inevitably become a part of our future. I doubted squirrels, tortoises and wolves were the deadliest things an Attuned Earth had to throw at us.

Still silent, Sam pointed out the bald thicket where he'd hidden us. A short distance away were the cracked and charred remains of the tortoise plates and the blob of mud. When I picked up the plates, they crumbled into dust. As a consolation, the blob of mud appeared intact from the fire. On closer inspection, I realized the reason it looked like it was moving was because the mud shifted subtly between a goopy mud texture and hardened ceramic. More questions, then.

Even with the danger, I had a skip in my step. I did my best to rein it in for the sake of my still downcast friends, but it was difficult. An entire life without real purpose wasn't appealing. One where our progress, growth and most importantly, freedom was acquired with our own effort? That was a life worth living. The heavy blanket of ambivalence I'd been carrying for years just didn't exist on the surface, and I was determined to lift my friends and family along with me. Whatever it took.

Danny had taken a slight detour and snagged the burned remains of our two pistols as well as the drop from the squirrel. A strange grey cotton texture blob. "Looks like a miniature cloud," she said, glancing at the heavens above us and its drifting sky fluffs.

Before I realized it, we were standing before the Bunker. The trip from the Entity had taken roughly two hours of walking. The dawn had come and gone as the sun sat clearly in the east. Once again taking a reverently wondrous, if smokey breath of the surface, I knew I would be back. The string of coughs that followed didn't dissuade me at all. Freedom wasn't something I would take for granted for a long while, if ever.

The three of us made our way into the lobby area. Thankfully, whatever material the outside of the room had been made from hadn’t been damaged by the heat of the fire. Only minor scorch marks were visible from the inside of the doorway. The heat inside the actual room was much greater, but not unbearable. I couldn't help but wonder if our improved attributes had something to do with that. The path down was a joke. While before we'd struggled with swinging the doors, our enhanced strength made the process a breeze. The three of us froze as we stood before the final door into the Wildwood Bunker.

"Talk about an eventful trip," Sam joked.

"Yeah, first creatures, first wildfire, first magic fireball. Lots of firsts," Danny said.

"And it's just the first," I added. My two friends groaned at the continued joke and a chuckle escaped me as we activated the opening sequence on the door. Whining alarms resounded through the Engineering Floor and we were forced to cover our ears at the volume. Didn't realize there were security measures like that.

We sat on the ground trying to wait patiently on the inner side of the door while covering our ears. The door shut behind us automatically as the whining died down, remaining as a ringing in our ears for several seconds before winking out completely. The mass of people from the Bunker all appeared on the other end of the engineering floor. Several of the 'younger' members stood at the front with an arrangement of firearms that caused our eyes to widen. I didn't know we were packing quite that much heat downstairs.

"Who are you!?" an aged voice shouted from behind the mass of guns and people we'd grown up with.

"It's Ronan, Samuel and Daniela!" I yelled back. When I moved to stand, Danny grabbed hold of my arm.

"Let them come to terms with whatever is going on. We don't want to get shot by accident, Ron."

"You don't look like our children!" a voice I recognized as Danny's mother said.

"Mama, it's me!" Daniela waved gently and ran her hand through her hair. She always did that when she was nervous. Apparently it had been intentional, because a gun clicked then dropped to the ground. Ava crashed into her daughter before we even had a chance to take a breath. Mumbling grew in volume and I saw most, but not all, put their weapons away. Pushing their way through the crowd were the rest of our immediate family. The three older men had no trouble with the short run and crashed into us. Of course, my father came last and swept the entirety of us into the largest group hug he could manage.

My face felt wet, and it took a moment to realize I was crying. Apparently, despite my bravado and hopes, family still provided me relief from the trauma the surface had instilled. Fighting for your life counted as a justifiable source of stress if there was ever any. So I embraced the moment, shedding the fear I'd pushed deep inside myself and feeling stronger for it. This was the reason freedom mattered.