It was warm in the inn. The beds had crisp sheets and the ale gave him a buzz. Sounds of crickets and frogs filled the night. They had made over 5,000 points on their goods and were sure to expand the farm if this kept up. Maybe Stan would get a girlfriend. He might have one too, if things worked out with Sara, he liked her brown curls.

The metal balls clinked in the air, as they rotated gently. There wasn’t much concern about getting worn out, he was already in bed. It was also becoming a nervous tick.

Markus was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since night fell he couldn’t shake this feeling of anxiety. When something good happened and everything looked great, something was bound to go wrong. He had 4 cheap abilities lined up, they would probably kill him when he learned them all. It frightened him. What was going to happen? Bandits on the road, a herd of snatchers, or worse one of the great monsters might find its way out of Northwind forest.

“Boy, stop your clicking your balls and get some sleep, we may have a light wagon, but its going to be a long ride in the morning.” Pa said from the other bed. Markus let the balls fall and caught them in the bag.

“Can’t sleep, I’m going to go visit Stan.” Markus said. Pa turned and slid an extra pillow over his head.

“Fine, don’t go causing any trouble. You can sleep in the wagon on the way if you want.” Pa said. Markus nodded and hurried out of the room. Only a man covering the desk was left downstairs. Markus put his hands to the fire and warmed himself up. The man was reading a tome of some sort and didn’t bother looking up.

After some nervous deliberations Markus opened the door and walked out. The night air was cold bordering on frigid. Even so there was a little heat left on the cobblestone streets. He walked down clinking his metal balls together. Something about it just felt right and calmed his nerves. It didn’t make sense, why did he have this feeling.

Looking over at the stables, he saw several dark figures and stopped his clinking. The village guard had already made their pass and the figures were moving towards Stan’s stall. Markus nodded this was probably where the feeling came from. He had to save those idiots from Stan.

Markus crept behind the group and recognized one as Tom. “Come on guys lets get in here fast if we hurry we can sneak out of the gate and sell him in Haven.” Tom said.

“I don’t know about this. Chimera aren’t known to be tame. What if it’s aggressive?” One of the boys asked.

“Its just a dumb animal. If its tame enough to pull a wagon for a few farmers, then it will obey us.” Markus knew if he didn’t do something they would wind up in Stan’s stomach. Not one would escape. Maybe this was one of those achievements he heard about in the stories. One-time quests that give a lot of points.

The best way to do this would be to cause a commotion. The guards would come, and the gang wouldn’t get eaten by Stan. While Markus was planning this out one of the boys opened Stan’s stall.

Stan moved opened his mouth and bit off the first boy’s head. He pulled it off the boy like Markus would take a bite of Haven bacon. When the boys froze Stan pounced. His front paws fell on the shoulders of the boys in the rear. Stan winked at him and began to rake the boys into the stall.

Markus was frozen there for a few minutes then walked up. Tom had managed to crawl out, he saw Markus and reached out mouthing help. His back torn to ribbons and his spine exposed. Stan’s snake tail curled around the boy’s neck and dragged him back. With a click Markus closed the stall. The feeling was still there, so he reasoned it wasn’t about saving them from Stan, so what could it be.

The feeling led him through the frigid night air and back to the quarry. He didn’t give those boy’s a second thought. This was what happened when you tried to steal a monster. If you weren’t stronger than the monster, then it wasn’t a good idea. It could be worse. Stan could have been a mind flayer. Those guys were bad news. They liked to play a while before eating.

Now that he was there, it felt like this was the place the feeling was warning about. This place was the danger for some reason. Listening he heard the splash of a swimmer. A girl was in the water doing a back stroke bare ass naked. She opened a set of red eyes and winked at him and continued. A blush covered his face eating through the anxiety.

After a few minutes she pulled up to the bank. “Hello, I’m Marie isn’t it past your bedtime?” Markus turned his head at her.

“Um, didn’t you call me.” Markus asked. Marie got out of the water breasts bouncing. Darkness rapped around her forming into a black dress.

“No, I would remember calling you.” A moment of awkward silence passed between them. “So, maybe you should go get some sleep.” Waves of danger washed off her like an avalanche, now that he was there, he could feel his mind get soaked with fear. Sweat ran down his back as fought the urge to run. His steel balls were clicking faster.

She looked up at the metal balls spinning and slamming into each other. “Oh, a psychic did you misread the signals. You must be new to it. Child go home and remember this is the feeling of your predator. If you ever feel this again then flee.” Marie said.

“My name is Markus and I don’t run.” Markus said fervently. Marie giggled, and Markus was transfixed by her bouncing assets.

“Puberty has hit you hard if even primal fear isn’t enough. No,” she took in a deep breath,” it might be the smell of goat, lion, and snake on you. You’re Philip’s boy, aren’t you? Good old more balls than brains Philip. Now it makes sense. Buy why did he let you go off alone. That’s not like the man I know.” Marie said.

“How do you know Pa?” Markus asked.

“Well Philip was a powerful hero before he became a farmer. We did the tango a few times and he nearly killed me three times. That man has to be one of the toughest mortals out there. That explains you going looking for trouble in even in this dangerous world.” Marie said.

“You don’t seem too broken up about Pa nearly killing you.” She shrugged and pulled something out of her inventory.

“This is a ring that bears my mark. Wear it and none of my kind will bother you.” Marie said and back flipped back in the water. Markus put it on and began to undress.

“What are you doing?” Marie asked.

“Training,” Markus said and leapt in. It was so cold it hurt but he focused on the water and began to vibrate it. He didn’t have the power to boil it, but he could sure heat it up.

“Izzy’s trick, I should have known.” As he began to swim he had to repeatedly heat the water around him.

Movement: beginner lv60

Mobility +0.6%

Markus spent the long hours of the night heating up water with Marie. The black-haired vampire swam circles around him and dove under constantly. They played games of tossing shiny things on the bottom and swimming after it.

Telekinesis: Initiate lv3

Willpower +3%

Intelligence +0.03%

Quest #4 Complete

Reward: 20points

Markus could have bought several things like an inventory or maybe a weapon. Instead he bought the rest of the cheap abilities. Darkness began to cave in on him, a light appeared in his body, and the water didn’t feel so frigid. Marie drug him out of the water and tossed him on the shore. His body began to shake, and she cursed.

When he woke up he was in a coffin filled with dirt, with a sleeping Marie. He was about to panic when he saw a note. “I sent a note to Philip, go back to sleep, and he will pick you up in the morning. Marie.” Markus could see in the dark. He could feel the tendrils of light far above him and felt the cold creeping around him.

Taking a breath, he noticed that the anxiety from Marie was gone. With that in mind, he decided to continue trusting her and went back to sleep.