A wagon stops a distance from a massive city, kicking up the desert dust as it did. “Looks like we’re here. I know you kids want your sleep, but I think seeing this will wake you right up!”

As Matt’s group laid their eyes on the city, Anita’s claim came to fruition. “If it weren’t for all the sand, I’d think we were back in Lumina.” Eric looked at the wall that formed a ring around the city. “I’m guessing Lumina based its design on this city.”

“Anita, do you know where the entrances are?” The mage was met with a shrug. “We arrived from the west, but I have no idea which entrance I found. All I know is that there were tons of those loboars.”

“The hell is that?” Brian pointed toward a building rising above the walls of the kingdom, threatening to breach the clear blue sky above. “Not sure. Judging from how big it is and how far away it is, it’s got to be important.” Eric moved his eyes from the sky-high structure back down to the wall, “Think we should look for entrances. Brian-” Eric turned expectantly toward Brian who understood what signal he was sending, “on it.” Brian formed an orb in his, the orb pulling in the air around the groups. As the sphere turned red, Brian threw it toward the ground before jumping on top of it. To the researcher’s surprise, Brian went flying.

“Doesn’t he normally jump?” Anita looked toward Eric for an explanation, but Matthew jumped in, “It takes less energy and he gets more lift, at least that’s what he’s told me.”

“Eric, wait for Brian, maybe see if there’s an entrance nearby. The rest of us are going to look for other openings.” Eric nodded at the knight before watching his means of transportation disappear around the ring of the ruins. “I hope this isn’t the next two years.” Eric sighed to himself.

The boy began searching the area before stumbling upon an elliptical opening, peering inside to see an empty area, no monsters or anything. Summoning all his bravado, he took a couple steps forward before he heard a pounding sound. To his right, a hiboar was using a tool on wooden column. The hiboar stopped, looked toward Eric, then turned back and continued his work. Curiosity had overtaken fear and rational thinking, the cleric stepping forward to watch the creature. The loud pounding had drowned out the large figure approaching him, his vision going dark before he could react to a shadow overtaking his body.

With a bird’s eye view over the city, Brian began mapping the city. “Caw, caw.” The dragoon quickly snapped toward the source of a sound that had filled him with terror. Looking behind him, he caught view of a large fowlcrow chasing behind him. “Looks like I’ll get a fight in before lunch.” The dragoon dove towards the roof of a building, the fowlcrow keeping pace.

“Looks like we found an entrance, who should go?” Anita looked at the group, but Adriana was already gone, “She seems eager.” As the rogue made her way in to the market place, she hid herself inside the shade of some wrecked awnings. The area was inhabited by loboars who had not seen her enter, nor were they immediately aware as she pulled them in to the shadows to be slaughtered.

“Seems like there’s entrances in all the cardinal directions. You and me Anita.” Matthew has stood up straight, prepping himself until he felt a hand on his shoulder, “wait, you want me to join you?” Her question was met by a smile, “You know the area better than any of us. Besides, you’ll be safer with me than if Jessica takes all three of you.”

“I don’t really know the area that well though, I was in constant panic. Now that I think about it, I don’t even remember if the first thing I saw were homes or marketplaces.” The woman’s protests were met with indifference, the wagon already long gone before she could get a second opinion. “Well then…lead the way.”

“You two, leave the wagon here and stay close.” The men shadowed their escort, tripping over each other at the slightest provocation of a beast. “Not that close you two.” Jessica simply nodded her head, freezing surrounding loboars before they could attack the men.

“Caw!” echoed mighty call of an eight-foot black bird as it approached its prey. Pecking at the dragoon, it hit the air sharply where the boy used to be. The juke was followed by a strong stab from a spear, the bird flying backward to avoid taking the full impact. Before the fowlcrow could continue, Brian created a strong wind stream in front of, disconbobulating discombobulating the bird. Brian jumped forward into the stream, taking another stab at the bird that was desperately trying to regain control, the combined momentum sending the two crashing onto another roof. “Caaaaw” the bird let out one final call, Brian standing proud over the victory. “Well that was fun, better check in with the others.”

He began making his way back toward the entrance, but something caught his eye: what appeared to be the giant hiboar that Matthew talked about. Taking a closer look, Brian saw an unconscious Eric in the creatures left arm. The dragoon was about to pounce the creature, but saw it was surrounded by a slew of minions. “Dang it Eric, first Jess now this thing. How do you always manage to get into trouble?” He followed the travelling mob from the rooftops.

“Phew” the rogue wiped sweat from her head, a pile of loboars surround the plaza, “was nice of Anita to kill two or three of these things, too bad there’s a hundred more.” Adriana only just caught her breath before her throat was suddenly occupied by her heart. The girl saw she wasn’t the only predator of these pathetic creatures, her eyes darting to an octoplant chowing down on a loboar. The sight was gruesome, but it paled in comparison when the plant creature noticed her, approaching her on its strange appendages. The way the creature walked was surreal, the girl freezing in terror as it closed the distance. Wrapping its roots around the girl, she narrowly jumped back, calming her nerves and preparing to retaliate.

Acting quickly, the girl threw a bolt of electricity at the monster, but the plant was not phased, continuing to approach with its erratic walk cycle. The girl continued to attack, backing away into one of the awnings until she hit a wall. The bud on the creature opened wide, revealing an array of razor sharp teeth; as it cornered the girl it lashed forward to take a massive chomp. The creature chomped down, but it reeled its head back in confusion, the girl disappearing right in front of it. Before the octoplant could assess the situation, it was decapitated by a blade from the shadows. Adriana separated the roots with ease, ending the monster’s reign of terror. The girl hadn’t noticed she was in a different area then when she started; as she tried to find her way back, she took notice a creature passing by. What caught her eye was that it carried an unconscious Eric in its arm, “oh come on!”

“Did people really used to live here?” Matthew admired the upkeep of the cloth keeping large areas shaded. Though they were torn in places, they still provided plenty of shade to loboars who seemed content resting instead of attacking the duo. “I may have been mistaken; on second glance, these appear to be marketplaces. It would make sense, letting people come in to buy goods while also adding more room between the outer wall and living areas. These were probably unimportant, immediate places for travelers to shop. The popular stores are likely inward.” Before she could continue her spiel, a foreign sound had stopped her cold. Scanning their surroundings, Matthew caught sight of a Hellion approaching from a narrow alley.

Matthew moved passed Anita, bracing himself for the Hellion’s claws. The Hellion attempted to crush Matt with his left claw, but it was crushed by the boy’s shield, the creature reeling back in pain. As he moved toward the retreating creature, it made a move he hadn’t expected: it began strafing to his right. Matthew immediately raised his shield in case it believed it would catch him off-guard. Once the two had effectively switched places, the Hellion spun around, now facing Anita. The teen’s eyes widened, only now realizing he was no longer the target.

Before it could reach its target, Matthew channeled his mana into his sword. Stabbing the ground, two metal beams rose in front of the creature, halting its approach before it was punctured. Having bought himself some time, Matthew brought his sword skyward, incasing it with a brilliant light that reflected off the beams with increased intensity, forcing Anita to look away and temporarily blinding the creature. With one final thrust to the ground, one more rod had risen below the creature, penetrating the hellion’s carapace.

“I hope you can still see after all of that.” Anita risked opening her eyes to see her savior offering a hand. Pulling herself up, her response was stopped by a horn being blown from the south. All around the two, the loboars awoke from their slumber, making their way toward the source of the sound, paying no mind to the humans or the corpse of a giant predator. “Let’s follow them.” Matthew wanted to question the woman, but she was already wading through the boars, eventually finding a seat on top of one.

Two men of science began rubbing their arms from the chills being given off by the large chunks of ice surrounding countless loboars. “Sigh, the others are probably beating up all sorts of cool things. Then there’s me, escorting two adult babies around while making boar-cicles” the mage nodded to herself. “Clang Clang” the sound of metal hitting the rock path had caught the girl’s attention. What looked to be a loboar surrounded in bronze armor with a blazing mohawk and tail had stood between the group and an alleyway. “Ooh, a new challenger has stepped up to the plate.”

The girl attempted to surround the beast in ice, but the blaze emanating off the monster prevented it from being frozen like its brethren. As the emboaronze rushed forward, the girl quickly made an ice slope that caused it to slide over her head, narrowly avoiding the two men who had to jump away from the landing sight. The boar landed with a loud thud, its feet stuck in the ground. Taking advantage of the situation, the girl summoned a large ice pillar with a sharp point. As the pillar came down, it pierced the armor and finished the animal inside.

Before she could make a witty victory quip, a horn had signaled surrounding boars to its location. “Let’s go boys!” The men looked each other, “Are you crazy?!” They turned to see the girl was already riding one of the boars down the alley.

While following the blue beast, the dragoon noticed a figured jumping from boar to boar. Lowering himself to the rooftop, he noticed it was Adriana. Gently floating down on top of one of the herding boars, the creature giving an irritated grunt as he did so, he tapped the girl’s shoulder, “So I beat up an overgrown bird, what about you.” Startled, the girl jumped, “Brian! Could you at least bring a flower in case I did from one of the heart attacks you give me? Also, I killed a creepy plant.”

“Sorry,” Brian began, but was cut off by the massive building at the end of the isle, the entrance of which was surrounded by a sea of boars. As the two closed in on the entrance, they noticed fowlcrows flying overhead, hellions and octoplants crawling up the walls, and hiboars standing on higher ground. “Hey look, it’s Matt!” Brian turned to their left, waving his arm at Matthew and Anita. “Over there, it’s Jessy!” Adriana waved to the girl, the two men not far behind, one too excited to be riding a slow-moving animal, the other hanging on for dear life.

As Brian and Adriana rode in to the entranced, they noticed that all the other boars had veered left or right, but their boars were heading straight. Looking back, Matthew and Jessica’s were too. “Looks like we’re getting special treatment. Even the monsters know we’re important.” At this, the boar flung Brian off harshly before continuing its path, “Was it something I said?”