We headed back down to the Shrine. Blink wanted to go hunting, but I wasn’t sure what the Sisters would say, so I needed to be ready to go if they told me to right then. I had a go bag already made that was hanging in the yurt, and so into the Shrine, I went.

When I opened the door to the Shrine, the first thing I noticed was that Chaos had chosen to redecorate her side again. Now all the white and black tile had been used to create a mosaic of a pair of eyes winking. I could tell they were women’s eyes because of the length of the lashes. The detail was incredible, as was the disconcerting feeling that a goddess took the time to do something like this near where I slept.

I smirked slightly. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it changed again.”

I knew that even with such an overt display of power that the only way I was going to be able to stay focused enough for prayer was if I used the skill. So I pulled out the supplies that I needed to fulfill the ritual and started in.

Soon the smoke filled the place up and started to change. On the side, with Order, the spirals of smoke turned into ridged shapes. On the side of Chaos, the smoke began to move into the line drawings of a female form. Just the hints that it was there, not enough to know for sure. The smoke form seemed to almost be dancing. Not a sensual dance but rather the type of dance you would see a kid do.

Then the voice started. It was almost a whisper, to begin with. The sound of voices moving or winter wind through leafless trees. The sound changed and grew as the smoke thickened. Soon I could hear the voice like that of a pipe organ playing a song in two octaves at once. Not supporting roles but filling, making almost one. The Sisters had arrived.

The collective voice spoke, “Your faith has risen. Now we can guide you to what is needed for you to find Lannah. Your faith is not strong enough for us to guide you the whole way, as we are still weak in this world. Return to where you entered the world and there you will find a scroll which is a map. Bring it back to the Shrine and we will show you how to use it.”

“I remember close to where I came in but I am not sure where it was. I ran away when I first got there.”

“When you get near pour yourself a bowl of water and float on it a stick. Then pray to us and we will guide you from there. It will be all we can do on this planet for now.”

The voices left, and the smoke started to clear. Once again, I found myself sprawled out on the ground between the two sides. My head was pounding just like a hangover; it was far from fun. As I left the dark room, I noticed that Chaos’s side once again was mirroring Orders.

I just shook my head and opened the door. Every expectation that I had of those two wasn’t met, and I kept getting even more confused by them. I wasn’t sure why they couldn’t guide me more, but perhaps it had something to do with the sealing of the world. I also wasn’t sure how they would show me how to use a map. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to read a map.

“I just need to know where she is and where I am and then I can get there.”

The sun was setting when I got out of the Shrine, and so I wanted to wind down and get some sleep. I knew that I was going to be heading out in the morning and seeing if I could make it all the way to where the god attacked me.

I went into the yurt and dropped my armor off on the stand that was there and then headed over to the river for a bath. I hadn’t been in the water all that much since we had gotten to the dungeon. It reminded me that it was brisk and that I liked warm baths. If I was stuck in this place much longer, I would end up needing to fix that problem.

Then I headed to bed. The next day was going to be long, and if it worked out right, I was going to run most of the day. If it didn’t work out right then, I needed to be ready for that as well. I figured that it would take some time on the second day to find the items, if they were even still out there.

When I got into the yurt, Blink had claimed the middle of my bed. Which, if she were still just a pet, would have gotten her pushed off. As it was, she was more than a pet now. Blink had chosen to sleep in the middle of my bed in her lizard-girl form instead of using the sleeping fur from the bottom and climbing under there. She laid on top of it and then rolled over so that it was all around her, and there was none for me.

I whispered to myself as I looked in. “She’s odd, but so is everything about this place. One moment she is a 300 lb disappearing lizard the next, she is calling me Daddy. I kind of am her dad, but I’m not sure what that means in this place. Guess I might as well try out the tree house.”

I grabbed the beer bucket and the note off the table. I was still trying to figure it out as I went up to the woven hammock to sleep. The view at night from the place was great out the windows. I could see the top of the waterfall and the far edge of the lake. It was a peaceful spot and had managed to get about 80% of its construction done.

I popped a beer and watched the night from up high. There was movement around, but nothing too crazy. No torches moving about or monsters in the air, at least that I could see. I was turning the note over, trying to figure it out.

“The guy has to know that I can’t read. Why would he leave a note for me. I guess once I learn to read then I will take a look at it.”

I tossed the note next to the beer on the table and laid down for the night. The little branches moved around and fit to my body just like the best hammocks I had used would. Nothing was poking me at all. The fireplace kept the room warm with a small fire in it. It wasn’t as nice as the magical fire, but still, just a little wood, and the place was very serviceable.

When morning came, I took a look over the lake. The sun hadn’t come up yet, but we had the predawn light. It really was peaceful in this place, with the waterfall crashing down and the birds flying by. If I could forget that just about everything in this place could kill me, I would settle right here.

My drive to find people was, at first, for security. People meant guards and protection from the things that went bump in the night. It also meant dealing with people, which was rarely fun. However, with the dungeon, most of my security needs were met. I could retreat into the dungeon, and it would be able to stop the goblins or undead from getting to me. Sure the gods might choose to take me out, but that all seemed to settle down.

“Nope, I got to go find Lannah. Feels like I am almost driven to find her since I should protect her. That and I need to learn to read. Then I can level and find out how much faster someone from Earth can power up.”

I moved down to the landing now that I had enough light to see around and started to get the kayak ready for the crossing over the lake. It was only a few minutes of a paddle, but I needed to take my gear in one go.

I headed through the dungeon and to my boat landing. I pulled up the kayak’s interface and saw that I had already gotten everything it needed to level, but I was still stuck at level 0.

“Bet I haven’t used it enough for it to level.” I muttered as I tied down my pack.

A few minutes later, Blink said from behind me. “Daddy, you’re up early!”

“Yup got to get moving soon. I want to make the room that we weathered the storm in by night fall.”

She nodded. “Breakfast with Dave?”

“Sounds good little one. I will be up there in a bit just need to store my armor on the boat. Once we cross over you will want to turn back into your ropola form so that we can go fast.”

She waved and ran toward the dungeon exit. I was just a few minutes behind her. As I was walking into the dungeon, I felt some rain. My day had just gotten worse. By the time we were out of the dungeon after breakfast, there was a full-blown storm happening. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I still wanted to make the crossing and get downriver.

We loaded up into the boat, and I started taking us across. I was smiling as the sheets of rain were washing over me. It reminded me of a time in college when I was out with my best friend on the river, and we got caught in a summer storm. The rain just came up and beat up senseless until we gave up hiding from it and road it out. It was one of the good memories from Earth.

The wind picked up, and the flow of water went from a current downriver to moving sideways. It was like the massive storm that had rolled up right when I was waking up from the fight with the orcs. I was laughing as I turned the kayak into the waves and cut through them so they wouldn’t roll me. It was a while since I was just having fun.

What should have been a ten-minute trip turned into about an hour with fighting the storm, which was still okay. It was even harder getting into my cave dock, but once we were in, the sound cut out, and the water in the cave was perfectly still. I was still grinning and happy when Blink shot me a look that could kill.

She was shivering, and her assassin’s outfit was clinging to her, soaked all the way through. I was soaked, too, but I had a blast with the waves and the rain. It was all a joy to me, and I had been working hard, so my muscles kept me warm. Blink, not so much. She was cold-blooded and wet. Which meant she was angry at me.

“Lets get you warmed up a bit near a fire and then we will see what the next step today is.”

She climbed out of the boat, glared at me, and turned into her ropola form, then she stomped off to the fireplace. I tied off the boat, still smiling, and got our gear off of it. Then I went over and started a fire. I had set everything needed for a fire down here when we built the place, hoping that we wouldn’t need it but figuring that it was better to have than not to have.

After I had the fire going, Blink moved closer to it and settled in for a nap. I had forgotten that, as a lizard, she liked doing the whole nap-the-day-away thing. As she warmed up, I moved up the stairs to the top entrance. I exited out a bit and watched the storm. It was a brisk cold storm which meant that the warm weather was genuinely leaving, and I needed to think about winter.

* * *