Despite the best efforts of man, sometimes there just isn’t enough material to cover the important bits. That thought kept echoing through my head as I made my way back to Outpost, usually making a new appearance every time a gust of wind managed to find a new way past the remnants of my pants to caress sensitive bits of my anatomy. It might have been just my imagination, but I swear even a mana shield isn’t enough to keep the cold away. After the world’s most uncomfortable three-hour flight, I finally saw the walls of the city come into view. As I neared, I thanked my lucky stars that I had talked to Brian before heading out and coming up with a plan to let the guards on the wall know that I was a friend.

I pulled the enchanted stone from my inventory, and activated it while hanging in the air just inside the cleared area. I knew I was glowing green, but whoever had done the enchantment was smart enough to realize that if the light were directed back at me then I would be blinded and couldn’t see the flashing countersignal from the wall. I strobed the enchantment three times before putting it away and slowly making my way toward the wall, keeping my mana armor up despite that this was supposed to be friendlies. Accidents happen after all, and it’s easier to forgive a slight drop of mana than it is a hole in the body.

“Name and passphrase!” Came the order from the guard.

“Sean O’Carrol. Bird-brained bird man.” I reluctantly shouted back. Brian had giggled when he passed me the paper with my passcode written on it, something I could see several of the guards trying hard not to imitate.

“Welcome back Sean! The Guildmaster knew you would have a bit of trouble and has a healer on hand at the guild. If you land on the wall, we also have an outfit he sent to ‘preserve your dignity.’ I was a bit confused on that, but seeing the state of your clothes I understand. We can’t have you flashing the crown jewels to the populace.” The guard said with a smile, handing over a pair of brown pants and a green shirt.

“Problem sir?” He asked after a few moments of watching me struggle with the pants. I still hadn’t allowed myself to land, even though my mana reserves had dropped down into the final quarter.

“Broken leg.” I grunted, finally deciding that I would have to let the cast go a bit so that I could get the leg into the pants legs without completely shredding them. Once I had them on, I regrew the cast and finally let myself land.

“Ah. Do we need to get a cart for you sir? I hope you have enough mana left to fly or glide down to the ground.”

“It’s ok, give me a few minutes here and I’ll be fine. It’s not the mana, it’s the headache from keeping the same spells going for three hours.”

“Ooof.” One of the guards agreed, shaking their head. “You’re tougher than me. I can barely hold a spell an hour, and that’s with no broken bones.”

“The good news is that after a bit your leg starts to go numb. Or at least you put the pain to the back of your mind. Say, could you guys do me a solid real quick?”

“Sure, within reason.” The leader said.

“Can you send a runner to Elendria and let her know I’m back and will be heading toward the guild? Oh, and one to the craftsmen? I ended up having to take down the bird and managed to recover the body. I’m sure the masters will want to look at the spoils.”

“Absolutely. Thomas! Your turn.” Without another word, one of the guards turned and headed off. The rest of the group fanned out a bit to give me some privacy, but stayed near enough in case I had any issues. At least they made it look like they were watching the forest instead of me. Once I had recovered a bit, I used my wings and a bit of magic to fly just above the rooftops over to the guild area. With a broken leg, I really didn’t want to deal with any traffic and it looks like Brian already had things covered for me. Despite all the issues with foresight, sometimes it seemed like a damn handy thing to have working on your side.

A quick trip later, and I flew down into the back area where I knew there was that healing formation. As I landed, I saw Brian headed my way with a young lady with long platinum hair. “Sean! Welcome back! Not quite uninjured, but any fight you win is a good fight, no?” He chuckled. “This is Miranda, she’s one of the best healer’s we have.”

“Pleasure to meet you Miranda. I’ve taken some basic steps, but a proper healer would be fantastic.”

“Idiot!” She hissed as soon as her hand contacted mine. I had felt her mana probing me, and retracted the majority of mine so that she could see what she needed. “Sit down now so that I can keep you from making things worse. And take that shirt off, I’ll need access to your skin to patch up your ribs.”

“Ribs? Mine are fine.” I said, although I complied and sat down and took off the shirt.

She stared at me for a moment, then shook her head. Ruthlessly stabbing areas around my sternum with her finger, she proved me wrong. “Here. Here. Here. Four, five, and Six fractured ribs. This one broke clean through. Sternum is cracked midway through as well, but it is holding together. Slight fractures on each of the same ribs as they are off to the side. Must have been blunt force impact straight to the chest to break them in two places. The bruises will heal on their own, and might serve as a lesson. Damn lucky that you didn’t break off any floater bits that would love to move over and puncture a lung. Liver is bruised but no internal bleeding that I can see. Got lucky there, especially since your spleen didn’t rupture. It has definitely been stressed. Your minor muscle groups show major strains. I take it you got shot by some electricity? This is what happens when your larger muscles overpower the lesser counters. Nothing a few days of rest won’t fix though, but it’s going to hurt even with willowbark tea. Unfortunately for you, I won’t be giving you anything else. It can interfere with the healing bones. Now, what happened to your foot?”

I stared at Brian, gobsmacked. “Ha! Oh, that look was totally worth paying her fee!” He laughed, flipping a chair around so that he could watch the show.

I shook my head at him and turned to the healer, who was starting to show signs of impatience. “Right. Foolish attack on my part. Had my leg encased in mana armor as I did an augmented kick to the bird. Force backlash had nowhere to go and ended up snapping the bones in my leg. Feels like a clean break, so I aligned them as best as I could and did what I could to immobilize them.”

“I see. For makeshift work, this isn’t a bad cast. Go ahead and gently remove it, I’ve got the bones stabilized.” She said, though her tone was a lot gentler. I let her get to work, thankful the first thing she did was to get rid of some of the pain I was feeling. Of course, that couldn’t last long.

“Ok, your bones are reset and the muscle damage in the area is minimal. I’ve cast greater bone mending on you, but it is a very slow spell and will take a lot of time to work, especially considering the state of your bones. Care to tell me just what you went through? Just in case I missed something important.”

“Yes Sean. Let’s hear all about your adventure. How did your chest get so bruised and bones broken when you were supposed to be grabbing a feather and flying away?” I heard Elendria’s icy tone coming from behind me. Flopping my head back, I could see her glaring down at me.

“Brian, you might want to have a few beers brought out. I’m sure everyone would enjoy the tale of a battle with a Sky Master.” I said, quite a bit louder than strictly necessary.

“Sky Master?” I heard one of the twins say, turning to see he had dropped whoever he was battling and was studiously ignoring the trainee who was trying to lift him off his feet. “OI! WE GOT A BATTLE STORY!” He shouted, and the entire area stopped what they were doing and headed over. Tables materialized out of nowhere, and several receptionists with trays of empty glasses followed a dwarf toting a small keg that he tapped right in front of us. I let everyone get a drink before starting in.

“Right. So, first of I’ll tell you guys the plan. I thought it was a good plan. I would jump off a Colossal Falcon and drop down on top of the Sky Master, grabbing a tail feather in passing and flying away as fast as I could. Easy peasy, right?” I chuckled, and several others did as well. “What I didn’t expect was the bastard bird to blast the immediate area with electricity.” I regaled them with the tale, trying not to add any dramatic flair as I sensed Elendria tensing at certain spots. Namely with me smashing through several trees. Throughout the story, Miranda did what she could for my body. A new cast for my leg that didn’t involve magically conjuring one, as well as some tape for my ribs.

“So, you said you broke your leg at the same time you broke the bird’s back. Let’s see the body then.” Lucien called, having arrived sometime during the retelling.

“Lucien! Glad to see you!” I chuckled. “Let the dwarf through, he’ll be needing the body anyway.” The crowd parted to reveal him standing there with Lothian and Robert as well.

“Oh good, they got all three of you.” I said, gently sitting up straight.

“Well, they would have just got me, but between me losing a bit of hearing ‘cuz of the forge, and some elf with overlarge ears-“ Lucien trailed off, getting a smack to the back of the head from Lothian.

“It isn’t my fault that a jeweler’s shop is that much quieter than a forge. Besides, the guard was practically yelling at you from the street.” Lothian said as Robert kept back and chuckled at the two.

“Anyway, here you go.” I said, interrupting them and calling forth the body from my inventory. The crowd jumped back a bit at the unexpected size, and several let out appreciative whistles.

“Vicious beak.”

“No wonder it packed a punch.”

“Ain’t no way in hell.” I caught bits of murmured conversation, and silently agreed with the last part. In my trip back, I had time to check out the gains from my battle. Sadly, the only gain was a whopping 6% to the next level.

“Oh that is a beauty!” Lucien whistled, running his hand along the beak. “Any requests for this body?”

“I could use a good knife if you don’t mind sharing Sean.” Whispered in my ear.

“GAAAH!” I shrieked, jumping a bit and wincing in pain at my ribs. Right next to where I was, I could see a vaguely humanoid creature standing. It was hard telling his exact shape, as blurring swirls of color broke up his outline. Of course, my outburst immediately had several sharp objects and quite a few spells primed in his direction.

“Blasted auto camouflage!” The guy said, and his voice tickled something in the back of my head. It sounded vaguely familiar. Suddenly the slowly moving colors stopped, and a red and black skinned demon stood in front of everyone. “Hey guys! I finished my evolution.” He said with a smile.

“D’VORAK!” Elendria cried, grabbing him in a hug. “You finished your evolution! That’s awesome.”

“Thanks Elendria.” He said with a smile, and I noticed what was off. His voice was just loud enough to let us know he was talking, but wouldn’t go beyond our group. Was this a side effect? He did mention that his evolution involved hunting things.

“Knives? Yeah, I can make you a few blades from this kid. Sound good Sean?’ Lucien asked.

“Yeah, whatever D’Vorak needs.” I immediately agreed. “Consider it an evolution gift from me. I’m not sure what all else I would need, but go ahead and get with our team. Oh, and for you Robert.” I said, heading over and pulling a pristine feather out of my inventory. “One primary spark feather plucked from the tail. Originally this was all I was going for.”

“Oh hoh, that is absolutely beautiful!” He said with a grin, taking the feather from my hands and lovingly stroking it. “Yeah, this’ll make a perfect chest gear for you. Give me a few days to work on it.”

“Sure thing.” I nodded. “As for the rest of it, I don’t have any pressing need so go ahead and divide it up how you will. We can discuss payment after you harvest what you can. I seem to recall that it degrades the longer it is from death?”

“Hah! That’s the spirit boy!” Lucien called, deftly picking the thing up. “Oi! Sloth ya lazy elf, grab the head so it don’t drag on the cobblestones. I ain’t going to pay to repair the road after this.”

“I told you a thousand times, my name is Lothian not Sloth you rock brained dwarf!” He grumbled, bending over to grab the head and carry it away.

“We’ll send a runner over tomorrow with a list of what we managed to salvaged.” Robert promised.

“No worries. You guys have earned your trust.” I said, nodding as he left. I turned back to D’Vorak. “So, finished your evolution? How’s it feel?”

“Great!” He said, and though he was enthusiastic I could tell that his voice was pitched so that only those nearby could hear it. “It’s going to be hard to get used to some of these skills. Auto camouflage to start, but there are others that are just as distracting. Total spatial awareness, silent approach, enhanced agility. Probably the worst, but most useful, is core control. I can tell just how to shift my body in order to alter my center of gravity. It’s a bit distracting, and I’m going to need a long time to get it under control.”

I nodded, figuring that would be distracting. “Is it just your center of gravity?”

“For now, yeah. Don’t worry, I won’t be flipping either of the twins around the ring just yet.” He chuckled. While he answered, I checked out the changes in his body. He was the same height, but his muscles were leaner. His skin was red with jagged black stripes, almost making him look like a demonic tiger. His hair was completely gone, and the whites of his eyes blended in with his skin to give him a slightly creepy appearance.

“So what’s our next step? Send D’Vaen to evolve while you and I practice our skills here?”

“Magic skills only for you.” Miranda immediately intervened. “I’ll not have my patient risk his recovery. At least a week before I check in on your bones again, and to be honest training skills for at least eight hours in the skill yard here will do wonders for your recovery.”

“Well there you have it. I am sentenced to blasting dummies with magic.” I said, not about to fight the doctor. Elendria seemed happy that I wasn’t going to do something crazy.

“I think you have it. A few days of practice should give me a handle, and we can do the same for the others. By then you should be all healed up, and we can start hunting to pad our levels a bit. Sound good?”

“Sounds fine by me.” I agreed.

“Good plan.” Elendria agreed. “Especially considering that my evolution shouldn’t have as many issues with movement afterwards. Now, if you will excuse us D’Vorak, I need to go over a few things with Sean. Namely, how in the world does an escape plan devolve into fighting a powerful creature?”

“Hey now!” I protested, “You were right there the whole time I was telling the story!”

“I know. And I also know that the only thing that is keeping me from poking you in the chest to emphasize my point is a severe number of broken bones. You had promised to be careful.”

“Well, far be it from me to break in to the middle of that, disagreement.” Brian chuckled. “Come on D’Vorak. I’m sure our Loremaster would love to have a word with you about your evolution. You’ll be compensated of course.”

Traitorous bastards! I called to them in my mind before turning to see Elendria standing over me. “Hey, I’m sure there were plenty of mistakes that I made in that fight, but before we go over it would you do me a favor? These healing bones might need resources. I could probably use a few glasses of milk and a steak for the strained muscles.”

Elendria stared at me for a minute, letting me start to get uncomfortable. Lunging forward, she gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and said, “Very well. I suppose you do deserve it, and you did do your best to come back as safe as possible.”