Zeke eyed the small clump of zombified monsters. There were fifteen of them, all level twenty-five, elite-tier creatures that had once been a pack of wolves. However, their transformation into the undead had stripped much of the hide from their flesh, exposing the decaying muscle beneath. That didn’t affect their agility or strength, though; Zeke had seen them rip through a herd of deer without any issues at all. In short, they were perfect for what he had planned.

Rising from behind a slate-gray boulder, Zeke strode forward. At the movement, the monsters perked up, and when they noticed him, a series of low, moist growls filled the air. It was almost a gargle, but with a dash of menace that Zeke forced himself to ignore. They darted toward him, their canine instincts pushing a few to the side in order to flank his position. Zeke didn’t stop them. He wanted to be surrounded, and the undead wolves were eager to comply with that wish.

The biggest of the bunch hung a little back, waiting for the proper moment to strike. Or that was what Zeke presumed. He was no expert on wolf behavior, and even if he was, he didn’t think that knowledge would apply after their transformation into the unliving. One of the other monsters dashed in from behind, nipping at Zeke’s hamstring, but its teeth only found the cold blood mithril of his armor. The contact did make an unholy screech, though.

Finally, Zeke thought everything was in range. So, without further hesitation, he activated his new skill, [Weight of Two Worlds]. Immediately, he felt his way through the skill’s effects and realized that it was far more versatile than he’d anticipated. The first effect, which seemed like the default, simply increased gravity in the defined area. With that weighing down on the wolves, they slowed. Zeke concentrated on that facet of the skill, and the earth rumbled. The scattered rocks cracked, and the ground trembled. The wolves stopped in their tracks, and as the gravity further increased, they dropped to the ground. Zeke could hear bones cracking, and the undead monsters filled the air with their tortured whines.

For his part, Zeke was also affected, and when he tried to move, his body was sluggish and unresponsive. The very air weighed on him like a ton of rock, and while he could force his way through, there was no way he could do so easily. With the skill still active, Zeke split his focus and dove into his racial ability that allowed him to adjust his own weight. The moment he embraced it, the heavy feeling faded, and he found that he could move freely. It seemed that the two abilities – one a result of his racial evolution and the other his new skill – could work in tandem to exempt him from the effects of the latter.

“Interesting,” he muttered, looking around at the prone monsters. Killing them would be child’s play, but he left them alone for now because he had another facet of his new skill to test.

Then, Zeke shifted the skill. Suddenly, the gravity that had been pressing down on the undead wolves split into two and began pulling in opposite directions. He concentrated, pouring mana into the skill’s rune, and the force multiplied. A few seconds passed as it kept building, and with each thundering beat of Zeke’s heart, his mana drained faster than it had with any skill he’d ever used. He kept going, though, and the potency of the two warring forces continued to increase until, just before he ran completely dry, a cacophony of wet squelching sounds filled the air as the wolves were ripped apart.

Then, Zeke’s mana ran dry. The skill abruptly cut off, and he slumped to the ground, his breath coming in ragged pants. A rush of air blew past Zeke, and when he looked up, he saw Talia’s clawed hand buried in the largest wolf’s chest. It had somehow survived Zeke’s skill, even when all the others hadn’t. Talia ripped her hand free, then dropped the now-dead creature to the ground, where it joined the others.

Zeke looked around, seeing the results of his skill. The undead wolves had been ripped in two. Their rotted entrails combined with their congealed blood to paint the ground in black and dark red. It had been a massacre.

“Well, that was disgusting,” came Abby’s voice. Zeke glanced back to see her picking her way between the corpses as if she was afraid to get her boots dirty.

“But effective,” said Talia.

“Indeed,” agreed the other woman. Pudge, who was following behind Abby, let out a snort that sounded a little like he was trying to mimic her word. It didn’t come out quite right and was mostly indiscernible from his usual snort. But he was trying.

“That first part, it looked like they were being crushed,” Abby went on.

“Gravity,” Zeke said. “If I had to guess, it started out as twice normal gravity, but when I focused on it and pushed mana into the skill, it increased exponentially. I don’t think there’s a limit, either. So long as I have the mana, I can keep pushing it. The second phase was different.”

“Clearly,” Abby said. “It ripped them apart. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Especially not against elite-tier monsters,” added Talia.

“I think you made the right choice,” Abby said.

Fire better, Pudge thought in Zeke’s direction. He’d been incredibly upset to find that Zeke had refused an ability that would’ve been similar to his own, and Zeke had been forced to give him another wyrm bone in order to keep the infernal bear from pouting. Pudge nudged one of the undead wolf corpses with his nose. But this is good, too.

Zeke laughed and said, “Pudge grudgingly approves as well.”

To punctuate the statement, Pudge tilted his head back and spouted a stream of fire laced with tendrils of black energy into the grey sky. Fire better, he reiterated.

“He says it’s much better than fire,” Zeke stated. “Like, there’s no comparison at all. He bows before –”

Zeke’s breath was driven from his chest as a truck-sized bear barreled into him, knocking him to the ground. Zeke let out a laugh as they wrestled with one another, but his amusement cut off the moment he realized exactly what he was rolling around in. When that happened, he pushed Pudge to the side and said, “Gross.”

Pudge didn’t seem to mind, taking that opportunity to continue wallowing in the collected viscera.

“It definitely is,” agreed Abby. “I’m glad I’m not the one who’s responsible for cleaning him.”

“Ugh,” Zeke groaned, climbing to his feet.

“Or your armor,” said Abby.

“I will do it,” Talia stated.

Zeke shook his head. “I’m good,” he said. “I like to clean it myself. But thanks.”

Abby eyed Talia for a long moment, then said, “Well, no need to clean anything for now. That horde this group broke off from is still about a mile-and-a-half that way.” She pointed to the southeast. “We should probably hit them before it gets too late in the day. Talia and I are still a little ways away from level twenty-five.”

“I think that group will be enough for me,” Talia said.

“I might need one extra,” was Abby’s response. “But once we’re done with that, we can head straight to Salvation.”

After that, Zeke nodded his helmeted head, and the group set off to hunt down the horde of undead they’d spied the day before. As it turned out, Talia needed two more battles before she reached level twenty-five, and Abby needed four. The pursuit took them a further week of wandering around the wilderness, but eventually, the entire party reached the pinnacle.

In those fights, Zeke hung back to protect Abby, which made the battles take a good deal longer. To stave off boredom, he kept one eye on the fighting and another on his [Heart of the Berserker] rune. He still wasn’t quite ready to try to alter it, but he was getting closer every day. A few more months of work, and he might be confident enough to make the changes he needed to make. Meanwhile, Abby aimed arrow after arrow at the gathered undead while Talia flitted between them, slowly whittling them down. It was slow, but it wasn’t particularly dangerous.

After reaching level twenty-five, Talia chose a skill called [Calcification], which allowed her to harden, sharpen, and extend her claws at will. It also had some latent characteristics that made her bones more durable. It wasn’t as flashy as Zeke’s [Weight of Two Worlds], but it was incredibly effective. Under the influence of her new skill, Talia could rip through even elite-tier zombies with relative ease.

Abby’s skill, [Cloud Walk] was a different story altogether. Using it summoned a blue cloud beneath her feet that would then raise her to varying heights. For an archer, the elevation alone was enough to justify taking the skill. However, it also served to increase the power of her other skills by a significant margin. Finally, Zeke suspected that, like the [Air Walk] skill he had been offered at level fifteen, it was a precursor to actual flight. If and when she managed to upgrade it, there was a good chance that it would allow for movement.

After testing it, Abby descended to the ground, and Zeke saw that her face was flushed with excitement. He said, “I guess you like it, huh?”

“It’s amazing!” she exclaimed. “Being so high in the air, it’s like…it feels like flying.”

“No regrets?” he asked.

She shook her head. “None at all,” was her response. She’d had a couple of other good options, but none offered the versatility of [Cloud Walk]. If she hadn’t already gotten [Thunder Strike], she would’ve definitely chosen a more offensive option, though.

“Good,” he said, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her close. “I’ve been worried about you lately, so it’s good to see you happy about something.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling away.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a feeling,” he said. “Like you’re anxious. Or depressed. I’m not good at this kind of thing, but I just feel like something’s been bothering you. I just had no idea how to help.”

“I don’t need help,” she said defensively. “I’m a normal person who has bad days just like everyone else. Sometimes, those days string together. It doesn’t mean anything is bothering me, per se. It just means I’m in a bad mood.”

“Oh,” he said, running his hand through his hair. He glanced back to where Talia and Pudge were sparring near the tower. “Okay.”

“I don’t like how attached Talia’s been to you,” Abby said.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Zeke asked.

“It’s like she replaced Carlos with you,” Abby explained. “It’s dangerous.”

“It’s not like that,” Zeke insisted, holding up his hands. “I would never –”

“I know it’s not like that,” Abby said. “That’s not what I’m worried about. Talia’s…fragile. Right now, she just looks at you like a big brother or something, but those things can change in a heartbeat. If she decides to see you differently…”

“She won’t.”

“Can you guarantee that?” Abby asked. “Because I’ve been a teenaged girl before, remember? I know how they think. And right now, you’re her hero. And hero can turn into Prince Charming really, really easily. You need to be wary of that. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

“It’ll be fine,” Zeke said, though he wasn’t entirely sure that was the case. Talia was anything but stable, and though he desperately wanted to help her regain some semblance of normality, he knew that he needed to walk a fine line with her. “Not like I’m a catch or anything. God knows why you’re with me.”

“It’s the exotic vacation destinations,” she said without skipping a beat. “Obsidian caves, demon realms, and desert cities – what else could a girl want, right?”

Before Zeke could respond, she let out a chuckle. “Seriously, though – I love you, Zeke,” she said. “For more reasons than I can count. That’s why I’m with you. No matter what else happens, I need you to remember that. Even on my bad days.”

“I love you, too,” he said. “But it’s mostly because I have a thing for blonde bimbos.”

“Bimbo?!” she said with mock offense as she slapped him on the chest. “I never!”

The two shared a laugh, but as they did, Zeke was very aware that Talia had locked her eyes on them. Her placid, unnerving stare could have meant anything, but in his mind, Zeke interpreted it as jealousy. Perhaps he needed to follow Abby’s advice and monitor that situation more than he thought.

“Come on,” Abby said, leading him back into the tower. “If we get an early start tomorrow morning, we might make it to Salvation.”

Her words proved prophetic because, the next morning, they did indeed catch their first sight of the second largest city in the Radiant Isles. And it couldn’t have been any more different from Beacon. For one, it had clearly been built for defense. Even from a distance, its sheer walls were incredibly imposing. Inside the city, the buildings looked like a mixture of Roman and Russian architecture, with columns and a staggered, layered design to the many towers and colorful domes. To Zeke, the spires and domes were reminiscent of multi-colored peppermint candy canes.

But the walls – and the multitude of towers and garrisons upon it – were all business.

“Have you ever been here before?” Zeke asked.

“Twice,” Abby said.

At the same time, Talia answered, “I have been here many times. My mother insisted that we maintain good relations with our neighbors to the south.”

“Will anyone recognize you?” was Zeke’s next question.

Talia had donned her hood, and, aside from her face, every other part of her body was covered with dark leather. She even wore gloves, which had been impossible before [Calcification] gave her enough control to retract her claws entirely. It required a bit of mana to maintain, but she claimed it was trivial. Zeke had no reason not to believe her.

“She should be fine,” Abby said. “So long as she keeps the hood up.”

“I believe so as well,” Talia agreed, which, for some reason, brought a brief narrowing of Abby’s eyes.

“Alright, then,” Zeke said. “Pudge won’t be a problem, right?”

Abby shook her head. “Beastmasters aren’t common, but they’re not unheard of, either,” she said. “People will probably just assume that’s what’s going on here.”

“Okay. Then, I guess we should get going,” Zeke said. Then, without further ado, he strode forward along the road and toward Salvation. He hoped that, within the walls of that city, he would find what he was looking for. If not, he didn’t know where else to search.