Description

Immortal Moments

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons: Book Six

_______________

Selkie Myth

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Oathbound Healer

Adventures in the Argo

Ranger’s Dawn

Beyond the Wall

Journey to the Center of Pallos

Immortal Moments

Return to Remus

New Horizons

The Gladiator Gauntlet

 

This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, certain characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art by Kart Studios. Cover Typesetting by MiblArt.

Immortal Moments (Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, Book 6)

Copyright © 2020 Selkie Myth

All rights reserved.

 

This story is dedicated to my wonderful wife, Lauren, without whom this wouldn’t be possible. Her endless love and support keeps me going.

This story is also dedicated to my beautiful daughter Flora, whose smiles light up my every day.

I would also like to acknowledge my beta readers, who put up with my endless typos, fix my mistakes, and help guide the story, so it can be the best story possible.

I’d like to thank all the other supportive authors and writing communities, and all the kind words they have.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Royal Road. My story and success wouldn’t be possible without their website. Thank you, to each and every one of you.

Chapter 1

Kickass Kissing

 

Serondes embraced me as we kissed, causing tingly sparks of electricity to run all the way down my body to the tips of my toes, which curled in pleasure. My body practically singing with the sensations. I gave a little happy one-legged back kick.

Kissing was totally awesome. I had no shame in admitting that

I had no solid experience with it, but, just, wow.

Also – he liked me! At least, that’s how I was interpreting his enthusiastic kisses.

He rolled me over so he was on top of me, my back pressed against the grass with his cute eyes framed by the night sky.

Long kisses on my lips, short pecks on my – and having gotten the idea his neck, and deep, exploratory smooches. They all made me feel great, had me arching my back, had me reaching up like a baby bird demanding MORE whenever a kiss broke.

Serondes held me tightly, as my one free hand eagerly explored, slipping under his robe to feel his perfect chest and smooth abs. I wasn’t much of a chest or abs woman, but his were nice. Nice to feel, nice to touch, nice to grasp as I brought him in for another kiss.

The other hand was keeping the egg protected and warm, and I had a brief moment of insanity where I considered putting it to the side to better embrace Serondes.

Serondes wasn’t just a still kissing machine either. One hand had threaded its way into my hair, using it to bring me in for a kiss when he wanted, while the other was wrapped around my waist. I could feel his fingers, the heat of them burning into me while we continued melding our mouths together, separating for a moment only to find a new, better way of kissing.

[*ding!* [Passionate Learning] has leveled up! 377->378]

I half-jumped at the notification, clicking my teeth awkwardly against Serondes’s, the first non-graceful moment in our passion- ate embrace.

Also – I was going to murder the System for its terrible pun. I was learning all sorts of new things, and I was passionate about it, there was no doubt.

I don’t know how long we stayed together, a mess of thrashing limbs and sucking noises. I was all too aware of his leg between mine, and how excited he was to be kissing me. I occasionally took my hand out from his robe, wrapping it around his waist, pulling him in tighter.

I gasped as he kissed my neck, softly nibbling and sucking on my tender flesh. When he was done with me, I struck back, per- forming my best vampire impression on the side of his neck.

I was hickey-proof. He wasn’t. Just a heck of a lot harder to show I’d been here.

It was pretty fun, until I realized I’d just remove it with [Cosmic Presence] passively healing him.

Ah well. The only thing I could try was sucking harder and longer to make it last.

Then again, elves were such bullshit that bruises probably faded in a day or two anyways, before my skills or their vitality kicked in.

Serondes rolled us over, so I was on top, and he was on bottom. We shared a kiss, as his hand moved from my waist to my chest. “Whoa there!” I broke the kiss, sitting back on his stomach, using my one free hand to grab his wandering hand.

He didn’t say anything, just quirking an eyebrow at me in a question. I glanced up at the sky, and realized the time. We must’ve spent hours making out and petting each other.

“Let’s take it nice and slow, ok? We’ve got the time.” I said, clambering up from my oh-so-hot fleshy perch that was all mine.

Serondes got back to his feet, and with his oh-so-musical voice, leaned over so he was speaking in my ear.

“As you wish.” He whispered, and oh boy did that do good things to me. Sending a massive thrill through my body was just the start.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd he killed it all by copping a feel anyways through the Mistweave. Was not a fan of being touched after I’d made it clear I didn’t want it right now, but I wasn’t going to make a huge deal out of it. Not while I was still riding the high of kissing the totally cool Serondes. Serondes, the badass mage. Serondes, the kind and helpful. Serondes, the smart and suave. Serondes, the architect. Serondes, the cute. Serondes, the super- naturally perfect. Serondes, with the Lava eyes, and the short tousled hair that was just so. Serondes, with the adorable little goat horns.

Serondes, the I-gotta-know-more-about-you.

Serondes, the I’m-not-trying-to-eat-you, and the I’m-not- telling-you-to-quit-your-job-and-become-my-housewife. I wasn’t sure which dates had been worse. I banished those memories from my mind.

We traded one more kiss, then I grabbed his hand as we walked back to Castle Serondes, the massive walls having been raised by him. We made it back to our sleeping section, where he picked me up for one last kiss.

I wrapped my legs around him, and made it more like thirty “last kisses”, before tapping him to put me down. He stole one last kiss, which I didn’t mind, and put me down.

“Good night Elaine. Sleep well.” Serondes mimed blowing me a kiss, which I mimed catching.

“Night Serondes! You too! I’ll be thinking of you!” My heart was still going a million miles an hour.

He liked me!

I entered my tiny little room, as Serondes kept hanging out. “Wanna invite me in?” He outrageously flirted, and I giggled at his forward approach. I knew if I said yes, he’d be coming in a lot more than the room, and I just wasn’t ready for that.

“Good night!” I leaned out to give him one more kiss, then skipped back into the room. I settled into my bedroll – another elvish loan, they were all far too nice – and stared at the ceiling.

He likes me! We kissed! A TON! Oh what else are we going to do? What’s next? How do we…

My thoughts kept running through my head, until a nastier one came to mind.

Serondes was, by all measures, a lot stronger than I was. He was a stronger mage, physically stronger, bigger than me, and heavier than me. When he was on top, if he didn’t want me to leave or escape? There was no way I’d be able to. I was entirely at his mercy, and I didn’t like the idea or the feeling at all.

I grimaced to myself.

I didn’t think I could do terribly much about it. On Pallos, there was always going to be a personal power imbalance be- tween couples. Heck, on Earth there was as well, but on Pallos it was magnified. Either I was the one with overwhelming power versus my date – like with Jaclyn – or my elvish boyfriend could flip me around like a pillow. How did the elves put it before? Ah, Yes… Fragile…

Was there much I could do besides take sensible precautions, then put myself out there and hope for the best? Even when it made me feel uncomfortable.

The dawn arrived as I was musing over the question, working it over. I figured I should just get up at that point, and work on no sleep for the day. I had [Sunrise] and a boatload of vitality, I could get through one all-nighter. Especially with the powerful infusion of energy Serondes had given me!

It didn’t stop me from sleepily dragging myself out though, seeing Serondes and the rest of the elves already at breakfast, feasting on leftover hydra.

He was looking annoyingly fresh – darn all the elves and their obnoxious perfection.

“Good morning Elaine~” Serondes shot me his dazzling eyes, which caused my heart to go all a-flutter again.

I opened my mouth to say something back, but Awarthril interrupted.

“Elaine!” Awarthril hustled over to me, shoving a plate of food into my hand. She hooked her arm in mine, and like a force of nature, walked me out of the castle.

Serondes had widened the narrow crack needed to get in, which was the only way Awarthril managed to get me outside, out of reach of the other elves.

“Um, hi, good morning Awarthril.” I was unsure why I’d been rudely hustled out. Awarthril turned to me, picking some grass out of my hair. I went red.

“Ok, Elaine, you’re totally safe here. Just checking, everything ok with you?” Awarthril fretted over me, smoothing out my Mistweave and brushing imaginary grass pieces off.

“Yes? Why?” I was still puzzled.

“Serondes didn’t do anything untoward? Didn’t take any liberties with you? I’ll totally kill him if he did, you just tell me.”

And I was ready to die of embarrassment.

“Buh, uh, how did you know?” I stammered out.

Awarthril tapped her nose.

“The nose knows. Enhanced sense of smell, remember?”

“Well, he had his way with me in a way I really enjoyed.” I gave an impish grin back, as Awarthril threw her head back and laughed.

“HA! Alright, just remember. We girls need to stick together. If something happens – if Serondes does anything bad – you tell me immediately, ok?” Awarthril was holding onto me, staring directly at me. Her words were light, and her tone wasn’t.

“Yeah, of course!” I readily agreed, but I was feeling a mite defensive. It was Serondes. He wouldn’t do anything bad, right? I’d already kinda wrestled with the question last night, and had de- cided to go for it. I couldn’t spend my life hiding under a rock, scared of any attachments I might make.

I knew that was the hormones talking, but cripes, they were loud.

We walked back to where everyone else was still eating break- fast. I hadn’t gotten a chance yet, not with one hand holding the egg, and the other still holding onto my rapidly cooling breakfast.

“Any chance I could get some sort of sling or something?” I bounced the egg in my hand a few times in front of everyone making it clear what I was talking about.

“I think I can arrange a carrying method.” Serondes was clearly flirting, putting some double meanings in his words.

He took the egg from my hand, and I saw Lava erupting as I chowed down, creating a nice warm bed for the egg while he worked.

Serondes generated a single fine strand of sand, a loop made out of single grains of fine sand against each other. He spent a careful moment checking over the line, before flashing Lava through it, turning it into glass. He started to sing, and I wished the moment would never end, an eternity of listening to his musical voice.

It was like windchimes.

He made a second loop, interweaving its creation with the first one.

Strand by delicate strand was made, Serondes neatly weaving what looked to be a fancy sash out of layered strands of flexible, magically reinforced glass. A sash-cross-basket, with a neat pocket, perfectly sized for an egg.

“Arms up!” Serondes said, and I happily complied. He lowered it onto me, and if his hands did some extra brushing, lingered a bit?

Well, that just came with the dating territory.

I made some little adjustments, finding to my delight that I could beam my Radiance through the glass, into the egg. Sure, I lit up like a Christmas tree doing so, the glass refracting and sending light everywhere, but hey. It worked, and kept my hands free.

“If it’s stupid and it works, it isn’t stupid.” I had a goofy grin on as I said that, to Aegion’s mirthful chuckle.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Honestly, the only problem with the harness was it made cuddling with Serondes a bit awkward. I couldn’t comfortably use his lap as a seat, I still tried as I ate though.

“So what now?” I asked between bites of leftover hydra. They were still fresh cuts from last night, but I could tell they were starting to go off a bit. I wouldn’t eat them for lunch, just jerky.

“We were just talking about that!” Awarthril eyed a hydra steak, pushing it away from her. “We’re going to spend a few days here, decompress from the fight, then keep going. The only ques- tion is, how long do we spend?”

“A week.” Serondes jumped in, shooting me eyes with prom- ises of what, exactly, he hoped to spend the next week doing.

“Three days. Look, we might be Immortal, but Elaine’s got somewhere to be.” Awarthril argued back.

“Let’s just split the difference at five.” Aegion weighed in.

Kiyaya and Cordamo were both agreeing with their respective bonded Elf.

They turned to me, at a 2-2-1 tie.

“Why wait around at all?” I asked.

“Well, if our life is nothing but fight fight fight fight, it’ll drive us nuts. Make us lose touch with our elfanity. We need to deliberately relax after every fight, otherwise the weight of centuries of fighting without rest will crush us.” Awarthril kindly explained.

That made way too much sense. I was already flighty, jumping at shadows when I was the slightest bit intoxicated, and I was 20. I was already on track to be a bitter PTSD victim by 40, forget 400.

“I imagine you’ve never seen an Immortal lose it and go on a rampage.” Serondes added in. “Not pretty.”

I could barely imagine. Someone with thousands of levels, snapping and deciding to take as many people down with him as possible?

I resolved to work on my mental health, but deciding what was the right balance was hard. The longer we stayed here, the more time I had to snog Serondes, the later I’d get home. Kiyaya’s time limit was a ticking bomb in the back of my head, making me all too aware that I needed to level, and level fast.

Hormones, once again, decided the issue for me.

“Three days.” I voted. I could tell my thinking was somewhat muddled, my brain going into stupid overdrive every time I saw Serondes’s smiling face. I wanted to rebel somewhat against that feeling.

“Right, three days it is!” Aegion hopped up, going over to tend to his barrels. I wondered what the base of his beer was?

“Come on Kiyaya! Let’s go play, and leave the two lovebirds alone.”

Serondes and I locked eyes, as the elves gave us room to ourselves.

“Have you ever walked in a garden of glass?” Serondes got up, offering me his arm. I slipped my hand into it.

“No – why don’t you show me?” I said as we started to walk out of the castle.

Kiyaya and Awarthril were playing fetch, the elf throwing sticks at incredible speeds, with Kiyaya shooting after them al- most as fast. Arm in arm, we pivoted, going in another direction. I didn’t say much, just looking at the handsome Serondes, as he forged a path for us. With every left step we took into the open field, Sand formed into shapes of wild and fantastical flowers and plants, each one different. With every right step, Lava surged, merging and transforming the Sand into wondrous glass creations. Serondes started to whistle, shaping and forming the glass, turning the rough cut into polished perfection.

It was a wonderful, grand date, and in the middle of the gar- den we’d traced out, it seemed like a good time and place to practice kissing some more.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 20]

[Mana: 412740/412740]

[Mana Regen: 275034 (+356755.875)]

 

Stats

[Free Stats: 91]

[Strength: 941]

[Dexterity: 1468]

[Vitality: 11166]

[Speed: 11166]

[Mana: 41274]

[Mana Regeneration: 41363 (+35675.5875)]

[Magic Power: 18178 (+340837.5)]

[Magic Control: 18178 (+340837.5)]

 

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel – Celestial: Lv 420]]

[Celestial Affinity: 420]

[Cosmic Presence: 286]

[The Stars Never Fade: 1]

[Center of the Universe: 420]

[Dance with the Heavens: 420]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 420]

[Mantle of the Stars: 420]

[Sunrise: 344]

 

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic – Radiance: Lv 345]]

[Radiance Affinity: 345]

[Radiance Resistance: 345]

[Radiance Conjuration: 345]

[Solar Flare: 1]

[Nectar: 345]

[Sun’s Heart: 345]

[Scintillating Ascent: 313]

[Kaleidoscope: 345]

 

[Class 3: Locked]

 

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 370]

[Pristine Memories: 217]

[Egg Incubation: 44]

[Bullet Time: 420]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 375]

[Sentinel’s Superiority: 395]

[Persistent Casting: 291]

[Passionate Learning: 378]

 

Chapter 2

Stony Statues

 

Serondes and I spent three days, ah, decompressing, getting a little more comfortable with each other.

Doing things like working on my magic!

“At this point, you should be able to reheat rock until it turns back into lava.” Serondes said on the afternoon of the last day be- fore we were going to leave. We were busy cuddling inside Castle How-Did-You-Make-So-Much-Lava, ignoring the potentially poisonous fumes coming from Aegion’s workspace.

I looked up at him, from my place curled up on his lap, arms around his neck.

“Oh?” I asked, somewhat surprised. He gave me a quick kiss be- fore resuming.

“Rock is often just hardened lava that has cooled off. By heating it back up, you turn it back into lava. Could be useful to you in a pinch, and any Earth mage would lose control over the liquified rock. Unless they’re specialized.” Serondes hedged.

That made some sense. I was pretty sure there were rocks be- sides igneous rocks that might not melt under heat. Then again, I wasn’t the Lava mage, so what did I know?

“Got anything for me to practice on?” I asked.

Serondes gave me an “are you serious” look, then smiled and gestured around. To the walls of the castle.

I gave him my best Look.

“You’re just trying to get me to demolish the castle for you.” I accused. He laughed, his magical, musical voice tinkling like glass windchimes.

“Naturally! At the same time, there’s no way you can bring it down fast enough, so I’ll need to help.” Serondes stood up, while I firmly clung to him like a barnacle.

I glanced down, making sure the egg was well-secured. Were the golden lines starting to glow a bit?

I wriggled my way out of Serondes’s grasp, planting my feet on the ground and looking up at the walls, doing some thinking.

If I wanted to punch right through the walls, I’d focus every- thing on a narrow beam. That would drill through the quickest.

However, if I did that, then tried to sweep it to “cut” through the wall? It’d just cool and resolidify back into rock behind me. A plane – or a cone – was the best way of handling this.

I walked up to a more or less random part of the wall, and started burning a ring into the wall, focusing on heat and destruction.

[*ding!* [Solar Flare] has leveled up! 1->2]

[*ding!* [Solar Flare] has leveled up! 2->3]

I turned the notifications off before they could get too annoying. Serondes wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on the top of my head. Quite distracting.

I focused and burned, and burned, and only when a slow leak of molten rock trickled out of the bottom of the circle, the edges of the ring glowing hot, did I realize my dumb mistake.

“I’ve got no way of getting the lava out once I melt it.” I groaned to myself. I figured I’d ask the expert. “How do I get the rocks out once I melt them?”

I could feel Serondes shrug, his solid arms half-lifting me up with his movement.

“Just wait for them to drain out. It’ll be a slow process.” He said.

Well, screw that. It’d probably just re-harden back behind it. Looked like I wasn’t going to be melting through stone anytime soon, as neat of an idea as it was.

It was good to have the knowledge that I could do it, tucked away in the back of my mind.

“We just need to demolish the place, right?” I asked, getting an idea.

“Well, yeah.” Serondes was like an innocent lamb.

“Great!”

I went a little nuts. [Kaleidoscope] and Radiance beams went everywhere, and for eight glorious seconds I unleashed the full destructive force I had at my fingertips onto the poor innocent walls.

[*ding!* [Solar Flare] has leveled up! 3->26]

That was more like it!

Aegion came tearing out of his room, sword on his belt, bow and arrow ready.

“Where’s the attack!? What is it?! Is everyone ok?!” He called out, as Cordamo flew up into the air like a shot.

I bent over in half laughing.

“Yeah, we’re… We’re fine, just… redecorating… A bit.” I gasped out through peals of laughter.

Aegion eyed all the various pockmarks and Lava smearing down the wall, rapidly rehardening. He rolled his eyes, and put his weapons away.

“Right. Enjoy yourselves.” He walked back to his brewery. I realised that if his fumes were explosive, that could have gone badly.

I looked at the walls.

Maybe if the fumes had been explosive, I could’ve done some real damage. The wide-ranging attacks I’d launched, and the basically non-existent damage on the walls was a good reminder that Radiance liked to be compressed and focused into a small point or line, and not some big splashy thing.

I glanced at Serondes, who was looking at me.

“Wanna do something fun with me?” He shamelessly flirted. I showed him that, yes, I did.

We – and by we, I mean Serondes, while I mostly cheered him on demolished the castle over the rest of the afternoon and evening, practicing the art of leaving no traces – and not having a ticking time bomb of any sort hanging around for some poor soul to find. It’d be all too easy to imagine someone coming along, set- ting up home, then the walls falling on them one day as the mate- rial decayed away.

We got up bright and early, and kept on traveling. The three elves seemed even more determined to tell me things than before, and a week later I was up to my ears in yet another lesson.

“Every Immortal has a curse.” Aegion was telling me, as I walked hand-in-hand with Serondes through the vast fields. There was a forest coming up, and a few randomly scattered mountains, but for now – ferns and grass. “The curse is the same for all Natural Immortals of the same species. For example, all liches share the same curse.”

My ears perked up at that. There were liches?! Masters of un- death, who could only be killed by destroying their phylactery? I had to know more… although the lack of shambling zombie armies seemed to imply none were nearby.

Actually – of all the things I’d seen, I’d never seen zombies, and I would’ve expected to at least see some in Remus. Weird. Out of all the fantastical creatures in existence that the gods had happily plagiarized, were zombies the only ones that got skipped?

Or was there something more to it? Was –

Focus on the important Immortality lesson!! My musings had also killed my chance to ask about liches. Damnit!

“While those who have attained Immortality,” He gestured at me, giving a sign of respect. “Generally get custom curses. I will say, I’ve never met someone with an active Immortality skill who hasn’t used it, but hey, I learn something new every day. Candy?” He offered, holding his hand out while seamlessly transitioning from one thought to the next.

I accepted the hard ball of sweet deliciousness he called candy. As terrible as his brewing was, his little sweets were delectable. “Right, curses.” He got back on track. “Curses are an Immortal’s biggest weakness. They range from benign to downright lethal. Liches probably have it the worst.” Aegion finished up, as Awarthril smoothly stepped in.

“Pine trees over there! They’re super cool, they stay green all year long. Their sap is a pain to deal with though.”

Awarthril kept lecturing about pine trees, which I was all too familiar with. I wasn’t going to interrupt though – it’d be rude, and maybe she knew something I didn’t.

“… and the resin is interesting though. Wood, Forest, Ooze, and, of all things, Decay can handle the stuff or be affiliated with it.”

See! Knowledge! No [Passionate Learning] levels though. Ah well, they were slowly trickling in anyways.

“Liches can’t make more of themselves.” Aegion started back up from where he’d been interrupted. “Every lich that exists was made during creation. At the same time, they’re nearly indestructible.”

The topic was interesting enough that Awarthril decided to butt in.

“You’re going to get cursed one way or another. You should consider just getting it done and over with.”

“Nah, that’s silly.” Serondes dismissed. “Enjoy life as much as you can. Enjoy the sun. Enjoy food. Enjoy being able to cross running water. Enjoy seeing things, feeling, hearing. Drinking. Warmth. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and you never know if you’ll catch White Dove on a bad day.”

“Yeah, rumors have it that being nice and polite to White Dove when she comes calling helps.” Aegion added in.

“No, they say that being rude hurts.” Awarthril retorted. “Same difference.” Aegion muttered, clearly unwilling to argue it further.

Be nice to the Grim Reaper. Got it. I didn’t think that was ever a question, but maybe I could get some birdseed or something? Hopefully it wouldn’t be pissed at all the times I’d dodged it, or yanked people out of its grip, or…

Shiiiiiiiiiiit I’d probably pissed off Black Crow something fierce already.

Which brought me to the next logical question. “What’s the elf curse?”

The three elves stopped walking, going very still. They all traded looks with each other.

“I can’t tell you.” Serondes finally answered.

“It’s taboo.” Aegion added in.

“Any elf let slip what our curse is? The Wardens move in, kill everyone who spilled the secret, the people it was told to, and anyone who could’ve remotely heard it.” Awarthril added in. “They do so in a very public manner. Don’t ask. Don’t even think about asking. And don’t say you ever did ask.”

I shut up. Message received, mood killed. Serondes and I stopped holding hands.

We walked in silence, the elves not even bothering with their lessons, as we entered the forest.

It was an old pine forest, large trees rising into the sky, coating the world in dark green light. Old pine needles crunched under our feet as we walked along. Cordamo flew off to explore, and Kiyaya, fur regrowing, oblivious to the mood, had fun rolling in piles of pine needles, horrifying Awarthril.

After some time, Aegion pointed off to the right.

“Cordamo’s found something interesting. Let’s go see?” He suggested, turning and heading off that way without waiting for our response.

The rest of us glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed Aegion. What else were we doing? I mean, sure, I wanted to get back home, but we were going roughly in the right direction anyways.

A bit of walking later, and we made it to a clearing. An old ring of stones, a campfire long cold was in the middle. Three ugly as sin statues, of large, humanoid creatures with hideous features and tusks were around the fire, in various poses of shielding themselves, looks of agony on their face. Someone had dressed the statues in frayed, rotting clothes. A tiny skeletal figure was in rusted chains between two of the trolls, time stripping away the flesh but somehow the skeleton itself remained.

“Well.” Awarthril said, putting her free hand on her hip. “Speaking of curses. Trolls here have a nasty one. Turn to stone in the sunlight. An ironic curse, given their strong Light affinity.”

I eyed the scene again, the statues taking on new meaning. Some clever creature had been captured by the trolls, and man- aged to keep them talking until sunrise. Said clever creature wasn’t clever or strong enough to break the chains though, and had joined his or her captors in death.

“Think there’s a settlement nearby?” Aegion asked, pacing around.

“Should be. Want to say hi?” Serondes squatted down near one of the trolls, intently looking at something on it.

“Um. Is that… wise?” I ventured.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, trolls are fine. Bit grumpy during the day.” Aegion chuckled weakly at his own joke.

“Could even say they’re lifeless.” Serondes added.

Awarthril punched him in the arm for that. The crack let me know I needed to work my magic on Serondes. Again.

The elves spent some more time poking around, and I did some of my own.

Old statues. That’s what I was getting out of this.

We trudged on, and hit a large clearing before the lonely mountain that was just kinda hanging out.

I was split on whether the solitary mountain was a whim of the gods creating the world, or a powerful Classer deciding that, yes, right here was just perfect for a mountain.

In the clearing were dozens upon dozens of statues of the same ugly creatures.

The one that immediately caught my eye was front and center, posed heroically. Defiantly. A deliberate act, facing the sun and turning himself into stone for eternity.

Others tried to mimic the pose, or do similar things. One was holding a rusted sword high, another had two rotted clubs. All seemed to want to show off, to prove how cool they were forever more.

Some just looked tired. Old, tired, weary. Done with life, finding a final end in the harsh rays of dawn. A burden, lifted from their shoulders.

One of the statues just looked like a sleeping figure. A deliberate statement? An absent-minded accident? A cruel joke? A successful murder attempt?

Quite a few of the statues were frozen in running poses, when they hadn’t fallen over and broken. Trolls who had stayed out too late, and were caught by the sun, instantly turning to stone mid- stride. Most had been laid flat on the ground, cracked into many pieces as their leg never caught their final stride. A few lucky ones were still upright.

One broke my heart. A troll, curled up protectively, making a shield with her body. A tiny stone face, peeking out from an arm. A mother’s final act of sacrifice, of protection, rendered moot by a child’s inability to understand the dangers of the sun, and why mom wasn’t moving anymore.

One area seemed to be set up as an altar, with a number of trolls in fresh-looking robes preserved forever, the height of some ceremony captured for all who passed by.

Here and there were stone feet, the trolls for whatever reason deciding some petrified brother or sister of theirs no longer worthy to be part of the gallery.

One troll had his pants around his ankles, clearly in the middle of relieving himself when he got turned to stone. The statue looked fresh, and I had to wonder – drunk, or one last defiance?

Then we were at the yawning mouth of a large cave, and Awarthril called in a language I didn’t understand. Grunts and snarls came out of her mouth rapid-fire, echoing down the cave. We waited a few moments, then a different set – I assumed – of grunts and snarls came back, and Awarthril’s face lit up.

“Oh good! They’d love to have us for dinner!”

“Uh, wait, what?!” I said, my words falling on deaf ears as the elves and their companions happily entered the cave.

Well. Time to meet trolls, I guess.

 

Chapter 3

Fall Festival I

 

We entered the cave, walking deeper and deeper without seeing a soul.

“Where are they?” I asked, seeing minor signs of civilization. Worn footpaths, some doors closing off side-passages.

“What, you think they hang out near their lethal enemy? Nah, they’re all deeper in.” Serondes replied.

We went a bit deeper, finally emerging into a large cavern, haphazardly lit with torches jammed into the wall. Trolls were scattered about, sleeping on and under piles of furs, while only a few signs of civilization were around. Some stretched tannery racks, a couple of crude firepits, a big horn, from an elephant or a triceratops or something equally large, some extra-wide bowls with weird chunks floating in it, and other signs that made me think that the trolls were basically a stone-age civilization, with- out too many aspirations for more. Most of the trolls were snoozing, with a few grumbling and rubbing their…

Well. Not their eyes. They were making the motions though.

Almost all of the trolls were wearing bone masks. Each one was the skull of some animal with a few bright, artful, jagged lines painted onto them. The only ones without a mask were the younger, smaller looking trolls.

“Should we really have come while they’re sleeping?” I whispered over.

Awarthril pursed her lips.

“I… no.” She finally admitted, sounding pained to admit any sort of fault or failing. “But we’re here now!”

The biggest, baddest troll, with the largest mask came over, and started to snarl and grunt at us. Awarthril turned back, and started snarling and grunting of her own, an entire animated discussion erupting between them. More of the trolls woke up, some of them joining the conversation, others rolling over and piling more furs over their heads. I did a quick [Long-Range Identify], and universally, they came back as [Warriors]. Their levels were all over the place, from kids at level 20 or so, to shades of orange that I wasn’t familiar with.

Higher level than the elves, that’s for sure.

The big, bad troll was a lime-green, which told me nothing other than “stronger than the Inevitable Shluggoth”.

I looked at Aegion and Serondes, who were eyeing the cavern and looking at the trolls respectively.

“Do either of you speak troll?” I asked.

Aegion shook his head, good naturedly replying.

“Nah, I never bothered. Like, I should, and one day I will, but it’s a niche language in the first place.” Aegion shrugged. “Think they’re up for some beer?”

Serondes and I looked at him with equally horrified looks. “They’ll murder us in our sleep!” Serondes protested.

“Poisoning people isn’t nice.” I rebuked.

Aegion looked offended, muttering under his breath. Something about “I’ll show you all!” and other stereotypical villain one-liners.

Finally, finally Awarthril finished her conversation with the trolls. Or at least paused.

“Hey! Autumn Equinox is coming up, and the trolls throw a huge party. I figured I’d check with you all, but do we want to spend a few days here, and party with the trolls?”

“YES!” Aegion jumped in with such ferocity and vigor, that it completely killed the objection that had been forming on my lips.

I did want to get back home, and the fact that it was mid-autumn was a nice kick in the pants that I really should get moving. However, Aegion clearly wanted this, and wanted it badly. He’d always given off “party animal” vibes, and with the prospect of a party coming up?

Cordamo was furiously nodding his head, long sibilant hisses indicating his approval of the idea.

Serondes and I looked at each other.

“Sure, why not!” I agreed, trying hard not to dampen Aegion’s enthusiasm.

“I think we should stick around a bit.” Serondes agreed.

“Would you mind if we speed up a bit after this though, to make up for lost time?” I threw on my best puppy dog eyes at Aegion.

“I’ve got no issue with that.” He said.

“We seem to be in agreement then. Hang around for the festival, then hurry up?” Awarthril asked.

Nods went around the circle.

“Right! Let’s set ourselves up outside of their cave. Wouldn’t want to intrude.” Awarthril snarled at the trolls, communicating our new plan, and our desire to stick around for their festival. The troll was clearly happy, slapping Awarthril on the shoulder so hard that she nearly fell over.

Such a love tap would literally flatten me, and I was extra- happy with Awarthril’s plan on setting up our camp outside.

We left, and Serondes started to make a modest hut, for all of us to share together. I eyed it, a sneaking suspicion percolating. “We’re worried about the trolls, aren’t we?” I asked.

“I’m not.” Serondes replied.

“You should be.” Awarthril glared back. “Their chief is triple my level, and trolls aren’t known for their strong sense of justice. They dislike something? They smash and kill it.”

“Why are we staying?” I asked the obvious question.

“Because it’s a party!” Aegion happily jumped in, already taking out his barrels. Had they somehow managed to multiply while we weren’t looking? I looked at them skeptically.

“What are the odds that Aegion’s shit beer gets us all killed?” My question wasn’t rhetorical.

“High.” Serondes was eyeing the barrels. I could practically see sabotage in his eyes. Heck, I would help.

“Low. We’re here because they’ve asked nicely, and we don’t go through life being rude. As long as we don’t do anything to massively piss the trolls off, like drag their kids into sunlight or some- thing, we’ll be fine.”

“Or poison them all with bad beer.” I muttered under my breath. Everyone heard me of course, but Awarthril bulldozed on.

“Look at Elaine here! She flew over to us, and she’s a fraction of our level. The world is full of imbalances. Just because we’re on the wrong side of it for once, doesn’t mean it’s something to be avoided.” Awarthril pointed out.

“It’s the handshake problem.” I realized.

“What’s that?” Aegion asked, busying himself around the barrels.

“Pretend a room of ten Immortals all have the same curse.

They can only shake hands with someone shorter than they are. How many handshakes occur?”

The elves spent a moment thinking about it.

“None.” Serondes said.

“Exactly!” I paused a moment for the rest of them to digest the idea.

“With that being said, hanging around people with a reputation for violence isn’t the best idea.”

I completely ignored the hypocrisy of my own sentence with my history. Rangers weren’t exactly known for peaceful mediation, and Artemis had killed a kid in cold blood the first day I’d met her. In hindsight, not exactly the most stable people to go running off to.

Then again, what other options did 14 year old me know of? I at least knew and trusted Artemis, although I almost got wrecked by Julius not wanting me around. Got lucky in the end.

This situation didn’t call for luck, but I doubted I could convince the elves. I figured I’d give it a shot.

“No chance we could just…” My sentence trailed off as I saw Aegion’s crestfallen face, knowing the rest of my sentence before I said it.

“Look, look, it’ll be fine.” He got up, and started walking around the hut, animated as all heck. “I’ll handle it. I’ll make sure everything goes alright, and the trolls won’t decide to tangle with us. Who likes attacking elves anyways? The troll’s old enough to know what happens. Just trust me, and if it starts to go sideways, I’ll take responsibility, ok? Hey, Awarthril, can you teach me some troll? Better for me to talk with them and negotiate all this.”

I mean, it didn’t matter much if I was dead, but I reluctantly nodded.

Awarthril started talking more about the trolls and safety, and how it was going to be OK. I started to do some thinking.

If this went sideways, I was going to totally murder him. Which brought up a question for myself – was it worth sticking with the elves? They had a hubris problem. They believed themselves to be nearly invincible.

No that wasn’t quite it. It was close to the truth, but inaccurate.

They believed, with proper effort, that they could overcome any obstacle. The world, so far, hadn’t seen fit to smack them with a healthy sense otherwise. They were like teenagers in that sense, although they were a bit old to be acting that way.

Wait. WAIT.

Was that the elven curse!? Were they doomed to a belief that they were superior to anyone and everything? Were they doomed to believe they could overcome any problem? Was White Dove forcing them into fights wholesale, to better collect?

It might be the case. Or, it could just be the case that life hadn’t ever gone poorly for them. They tackled the hydra, being a few hundred levels lower than it was. A smart hydra, in its lair, when almost half the team couldn’t do anything against it.

And they won. With some injuries, sure, but not anything they couldn’t have handled themselves with time and rest. Maybe, just maybe, they were as good as they thought they were.

And from the looks of the discussion, they were going to stick around.

Right. The only question was – should I stick around?

I briefly thought about Serondes, and his wonderful arms, and how we’d be in close contact together – going to a party together! – and acknowledged it’d be very nice.

I tried to put the thoughts aside, but I couldn’t deny that they were there, lurking in the background, subtly pushing me.

It came down to a risk-benefit analysis. By sticking with the elves, I had high level protection, a guide through these strange lands, multiple comforts that made traveling easy, and a map home.

Stacked on the other end was the occasional insane risk they took, regardless of the reason.

Powerful monsters roamed the world. Heck, even a relatively mundane goat had rammed the point home! No, protection was key.

I couldn’t ignore the fact that I liked the elves. They were nice traveling companions, and romantic feelings aside, Aegion and Awarthril were pretty cool. Sure, Awarthril was a bit too mothering at times, and Aegion’s constant attempts to poison us all were getting old, but there were never frictionless interpersonal relationships. I wanted to hang out with my friends more.

It wasn’t that close of a fight. Sticking with the elves was the best move, although maybe I wouldn’t get too deep into the party. Or wait – could I get away with flying the entire time? Just be like, a one-woman lightshow? It’d keep me out of their grasp, while still participating.

“Elaine? Everything ok?” Awarthril asked me. Going into the “thinking tank/Bubble of Contemplation” hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Hmmm? Oh, yeah!” I snapped out of it. “Was just thinking. What now?” I asked.

“Let’s go hunting!” Aegion finished tweaking something on one of his endless barrels. I wrinkled my nose, and slipped my arm into Serondes’s.

“Any chance you could make a hut for the two of us?” I batted my eyes shamelessly at him. Anything to not sleep with Aegion’s noxious messes nearby.

go!”

Plus, we would have our own little cuddle-corner! Win-win. “Yeah sure.” Serondes replied.

“Hunting time!” Aegion whooped, getting out his bow. “Let’s

We all exited the hut, and I got to see what, exactly, Aegion’s definition of “hunting time” was.

Cordamo took off, flaring his wings and making large circles, high up in the air. Aegion went still, closing his eyes – all the better to see through his bond’s eyes, the two of them sharing a special connection.

They snapped open as he smoothly drew his bow, making minute adjustments as he prepared his shot. Then he fired his bow with a thunderous roar, the arrow arching high into the sky with a crackle of Lightning, and a howl of wind.

Aegion squinted as he looked up, then cursed.

“Hate trying to shoot things through trees, always goes wrong.” He muttered, nocking and firing three more arrows. Hand over his eyes, he went back to squinting, before nodding.

“Right. That way. about a mile and a half.” He pointed. And Kiyaya and Awarthril traded looks.

“Small boar. Kiyaya could grab it.” Aegion said, and the wolf in question was off like a shot.

More looking, another trio of shots, and Awarthril took a leisurely walk to grab his latest hunt.

Frankly, this was entirely unfair to the poor animals. They might have their own classes and skills, but surprise Lightning and Gale-empowered shots out of the blue? Without any warning that they were being hunted?

“Unsporting” came to mind, not that there was any such thing when it came to survival, instead of, well, sport.

Serondes finished making our sleeping spot, and Aegion promptly had instructions for him.

“Blueberry bush about two miles that way.” He pointed up the mountain.

I glared murder at him. He smiled sweetly.

“Apple trees another half-mile east once you get there.” He added on.

Serondes grabbed my hand.

“Let’s go before he gives us any more tasks.” He started to walk, and I happily fell in step beside him, totally game for a romantic walk in the woods.

“Some honey on the way!” Aegion shouted out, giving one last instruction. I liked honey.

“What are the trees like where you grew up?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re things of wondrous magic! Few trees are truly mundane, with most having some special property or another. We grew Firewood, which gets its name from the fact that it burns far longer and far hotter than it has any right to. It gave me an early affinity for Fire, which is how I ended up taking Lava as my first class. I…”

Woo! Go team Fire!

I loved listening to Serondes talk, as we took a romantic walk through the woods. There was no need to hurry, no desire to rush.

We made it to the blueberries, taking a few pauses to kiss. Serondes made us a basket out of Lava, then, while we waited for it to cool off enough to not cook everything we were about to pick…

“She shoots! She scores!” I crowed out, as I tossed another blue-

berry into Serondes’s mouth. He snorted at me.

“Open your mouth skywards, and don’t move.” He said, and I complied. He tossed a handful of blueberries up, and with some sharp whistles, they all neatly fell into my mouth.

Show-off.

Serondes – Sweet in my mouth, sweet on my mouth, sweet on the ears.

We went and picked wild apples next, chowing down on the hardy fruit that had somehow managed to eke out survival in the middle of the wilderness. They weren’t nearly as tasty as cultivated apples, but hey, couldn’t have it all.

I jumped as a triple booming roar of arrows flew by, Lightning crackling from them. Their sheer speed caused my hair to whip around me, although maybe that was the Gale empowerment on them.

A few minutes later, Awarthril jogged by.

“Hey Serondes! Elaine!” She waved at us.

“Awarthril! Catch!” I tossed her one of the apples, my stats making every move supernaturally smooth.

“Thanks!” She caught the apple and smoothly bit into it with- out breaking a stride, juice running down her chin. “Good stuff! Keep it up!”

We did just that, until Serondes’s basket was overflowing with nature’s bounty.

Then, hand in hand, we walked back to where Aegion was continuing his unfair hunting spree, to get our next task.

 

Chapter 4

Fall Festival II

 

“Hey Serondes?” I asked as we were walking through the woods, back to Aegion and his growing pile of food.

“Yeah?” He replied, as I slipped my hand out from his.

“Piggyback ride!” I cried out, jumping onto his back, then clambering into position.

“Oof what? Oh fine.” He said, as I got one arm wrapped around his neck, one hand gripping his horn.

What else were they for, if not for great head handholds? And this was nice. Intimate, without any undertones.

Plus, going downhill was a lot easier than going up.

We leisurely strolled back to our staging area, where Aegion was standing next to a variety of woodland animals. Mostly small, boring herbivores of the dinosaur and mammal variety. Still! They were all going to be tasty, yummy yummy in my tummy.

“We brought the fruits!” I cheered from behind Serondes’s head.

“Great! Can you put them there, and Serondes, can you start cooking? Hoping to slow cook the entire lot, give the trolls some- thing they haven’t tasted before.” Aegion gestured to a spot. I slid off of Serondes’s back as he put the baskets down.

“Work work work.” He muttered, as I kissed his cheek.

“Hey, let me do some of the cooking!” My motives were entirely selfish. I wanted to sear my piece juuuuust so.

“Eh, sure, grab the…” Aegion gestured to a small dinosaur that Kiyaya had clearly brought back. Kiyaya was a firm believer in either government taxation, in middlemen, or that the transporter deserved a cut. Either way, apart from the massive holes where Aegion’s arrows had half-blown the poor dinosaur in half, there were large wolfy bite marks all over. The choicest parts gone.

Happily, Kiyaya’s idea of the best pieces and mine were different.

Serondes glanced at what I was going to cook, and with a few sharp whistles, sliced the entire thing apart. No deboning for me! No digging out entrails! Just easy peasy cook mode!

“Thanks! You’re… the best!” I gave him another kiss, then skipped over to my portion of the cooking.

I noticed a hair too late that Aegion had hijacked all the fruit- he had asked for them anyways, but half got dumped into the large pit Serondes was making, while the rest vanished into a barrel that was already belching purple smoke.

I stayed upwind of whatever terrible brew Aegion was working up this time. For novelty’s sake, I grabbed some rocks, and cleared out a circle for a firepit.

“Why didn’t you ask me to make that for you?” Serondes asked, sounding a bit hurt, practically appearing outta nowhere. I jumped.

“Ack! Thought you were busy.” I said. He swept me in his arms for another kiss, which I greedily reciprocated.

“Tell me if you need anything.” He said, his hands doing a bit of wandering down my back.

“Oh, I will.” I tried to purr it back, to sound all suave, and, well…

Lemme just say it didn’t work. Serondes went back over to deal with the large pit he was handling, as Awarthril came back with another poor sniped animal.

Honestly, I was starting to feel bad for the animals.

“Aegion! This place is a mess!” She scolded him, sweeping a critical eye over the haphazard operation he was overseeing. “I already told you to clean it up once, and, tsk.” She finished, bustling around and getting things swept up.

“Also, if nobody objects, I think we should switch to a night- day cycle. Be nice to chat with the trolls, instead of one of us always sleeping.” Awarthril was happily chatting away. “We so rarely get to talk with one of our kin like this, and it’d be a shame to just snooze the time away.”

“I agree!” I chimed in, for totally different reasons. I didn’t want the trolls thinking that Elaine was on the menu, and taking a bite while I was sleeping. Awarthril was still going round, cleaning up, and with some minor Awarthril-induced guilt, I looked at my campfire area. I had some scraps here and there, which I’d normally not think twice about…

I used some short bursts of high-powered Radiance to remove the evidence of the mess where I was cooking.

“Honestly.” She tutted at Aegion. “We’re guests here! We can’t be leaving a mess, and we need to leave a good impression on them.”

She wandered over to my much tidier, much smaller little fire. Evidence removed! Well, mostly. I quickly scuffed over some burn marks in the dirt with more dirt, doing the camping equivalent of shoving it under my bed.

“Looks tasty! Good job keeping it clean over here. Much better than the boys.”

I had no idea what to say to that, so I changed the subject. “Hey! Anyone ready for another story?” I asked.

“Yeah!” Aegion’s voice echoed weirdly, and I looked over to see the elf head-first in one of his endless barrels.

“I’d love a story.” Serondes’s musical voice floated over. I spent a moment looking at him, dozens of small skills – like his mage’s hand made of sand, hey that rhymed! – zipping around, all for the mundane task of cooking.

In my moment of distraction, Cordamo struck, diving down into my campfire and stealing half of my dinner.

“Cordamo!” I shouted, taking flight and chasing after him. “No! Bad couatl! That’s mine!”

Kiyaya didn’t help matters by rolling over and laughing from the ground, as Cordamo furiously flapped away from me. With the way his head was jerking, he was chowing down as fast as he could, eating the evidence of his crimes.

A pair of hands, large enough to belong to a giant but made out of sand, erupted from the ground, seizing Cordamo, bringing him down to Serondes who was glaring at the poor beast.

With one last huge swallow, the evidence of his crimes vanished down his greedy throat.

It was with murder in my mind that I started telling stories as night started to fall. I was aware that the trolls would show up soonish, but eh. Until then, it was story time.

“Let me tell you all the tale of the serpent Python and the god Apollo…” I started, thinking of the first tale I knew where the snake died.

That was the theme for the evening. Apollo slaying Python. St. Patrick and the snakes. Thor versus Jormungand – slightly edited.

Perseus and Medusa.

With pointed glares I told the story, and Cordamo seemed to have gotten the message. Steal my roast, get roasted in the stories.

The trolls were out and about though, and a few passed by our campsite, giving us uneasy looks. Awarthril just snarled at them – somehow, in a friendly way – and they mostly passed.

A couple of maskless trolls hung out near the edges of our campground, grunting and snarling to each other. Most of them were wearing loincloths, and I wish I could say it was all of them. I watched them warily, as they were eyeing us. The maskless trolls were, as a rule, all smaller and lower level, which made me think they were young.

Young, and stupid. Not a great combination.

Awarthril snarled and grunted at them, and beckoned them over. With a few sniffs, and some quick talk among each other, the trolls cautiously, then with increasing boldness, wandered

over.

They were sniffing around our cooking, and Awarthril generously gave them a rack of ribs to split, while Serondes and I were cuddling. Aegion was running around – once with his hair literally on fire, but generally normal busybodyness.

The young trolls happily tore into our offering, and through the trees, I saw the occasional flash of white, another older, meaner troll keeping a wary eye on the young ones.

One of the trolls, emboldened by our generosity, reached into the fire pits to grab another slice for himself. Awarthril yelled at him, and he yelled back, the two of them arguing in trollish. Some of the other young ones piled in, and I got the general gist of it from the body language displayed.

In short, they felt entitled to more. Their reasoning was obtuse, but “dumb entitled kid” was a truism the world around.

Awarthril was holding firm though, and the caretaker troll was just watching from the dark woods, the lines on his mask starting to glow.

The trolls tried to just grab the juicy stuff from the pit anyways, and Awarthril summoned dozens of chains, blocking off access.

“Serondes?” She called out sweetly, in the “you better do some- thing now.” voice. Serondes gave me a quick squeeze, then Lava flowed out in a narrow trickle, expanding and completely cover- ing up the food, to better slow cook it without greedy little troll hands dipping in.

The trolls sulked off, kicked the ground and generally acting like rowdy, disappointed teenagers with no respect for other people’s property. Growth spurts and teenage years made barbar- ians out of perfectly reasonable, civilized people. I had no illusions that in a tribal, barbaric society that it’d pull a reverse, and make civilized people out of brutes. It’d just make their risk-reward analysis even worse.

One of them started rifling through the discarded parts pile, just carelessly throwing parts all over the campsite.

“Come on! We had that all clean!” I protested, not caring that there was no way the troll would understand me. He looked at me, blew a raspberry, then carried on, throwing a cracked hoof my way.

[Mantle] flickered and stopped it, and I felt a hair smug as I beat Serondes’s shield. Go go instant shields! I could feel his grip on me becoming tighter, as he got a little pissed on my behalf.

Or maybe it was just on his behalf. We were cuddling, it was aimed just as much at him as it was at me.

With a triumphant squeak that tried to be a roar, the troll grabbed a boar’s head, raising it above his head. The other trolls crowded around, pushing and shoving, throwing crazy shadows in the poor light.

However, something pissed off the caretaker troll, and it stomped in with a roar. We all got to our feet, Serondes pushing me behind him, but we weren’t the target of his ire.

No, it was the troll holding up the questionable trophy that was the focus of his wrath. He stormed over, the other trolls scattering before him, and with a snarl, he smacked the other troll so hard that he flew into a tree, a sickening crack as the troll broke dozens of bones.

Then I was off, jumping over a fire, running over to the troll, hoping I’d get there before.

hoping I’d get there before…

Well, shit.

I felt all sorts of dumb.

With a grumble and more cracks, the troll’s bones all reformed, and with a series of grumbles, the troll just got back up. With an evil look towards us, he and his fellow teenager trolls stalked off into the night. With one last look at us, the caretaker troll followed.

“Well then.”

We stayed up for the entire night, watching the trolls. I claimed a nice spot in Serondes’s lap, and with all the energy of a new couple, we were able to keep ourselves well entertained. To Aegion’s disgusted noises.

After one bout of kissing, followed by fake retching noises from Aegion, I’d had enough.

“Your actions make me want to retch as well.” I pointed to the barrels. Aegion mimed taking an arrow to the heart and falling over.

“Ack! Awarthril! Save me, our little Attained Immortal has barbs!” He called out, lying in the dirt. Awarthril probably just rolled her eyes – I had no idea, I was busy looking at Serondes’s.

“You totally deserved that.” She said, staying out of it.

Aegion, at the very least, was something of a good sport about things, and left us well enough alone. I considered asking Serondes for more magic lessons, but…

Kissing and touching was just far too much fun at the moment. From what I’d seen and heard, this phase would pass, the frantic energy and enjoyment of each other was just a passing phase. Magic could wait for another day, I had unlimited new days.

This? This was for but a moment, a brief flash in the pan, as I felt my connection with Serondes growing deeper by the day. Before light even touched the horizon, a long, low hornblast blasted out from the direction of the troll’s cave. We saw flashes of trolls bounding through the forest, some with game, some without, as they tried to make it back to the cave before the first light of day.

The horn stopped before dawn broke, and we retired at the same time.

“Hey, scoot over.” I nudged Serondes as I crawled into the same hut as him. I had asked earlier, and, well, I was ready to take the next step.

Sleeping together!

A lack of proper sleeping clothes was a pain, but bless Mistweave for being easy to work with. As Serondes shifted over, I took off the basket made out of woven glass, carefully lifting the egg up and readjusting its temperature, then re-tying it off with [Persistent Casting].

Serondes seemed to have some ideas in mind, transmitted by his eyes and the way he was looking at me, but I was tired. I just wanted some cuddles and sleep, preferably being cuddled to sleep.

We shifted and turned, and I found myself staring into Serondes’s magical eyes, our noses touching. His hand rubbing up and down my side.

“Good night – err-morning Serondes.” I said, trying to put the emotions and words that were so hard to properly hammer out into my tone, conveying affection in my tone.

“Good night Elaine.” His voice was magically musical as always, and he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Awww. Happy feelings welled up inside of me, as I tried to fall asleep, our noses practically touching, my arms around Serondes. It’d be so romantic! Holding the egg in the hand that was over Serondes was a bit weird… but I’d make it work. I hoped. The whole romantic aspect was slightly dampened by the fact that Serondes wasn’t holding me back, buuuutt… eh. I’d live. Maybe tomorrow night?

Except for his hot breaths, breathing out stale air right into the space I wanted to breathe in. And my arm rapidly getting numb and tingly. I tried to gracefully extract it, but there was no easy way without disturbing Serondes. After what must’ve been ten minutes or so of staring at him, and trying to get comfortable enough to sleep while also getting a good look, I resigned myself to turning over and sleeping.

The idea of two people sleeping, practically kissing in their sleep was super romantic.

The practical execution? Just didn’t work.

Shame.

 

Chapter 5

Water Worries

 

I was rudely awakened in the mid-afternoon by Serondes practically rolling onto me. I had a brief moment of panic, thinking I was under attack, before realizing what was going on and calming down.

Didn’t make the bicep to the face any more pleasant though. The bicep in my face was pleasant though!

Then I had another panic attack as I realized I might be squashing my poor egg! I shot my hand out, breathing a sigh of relief as everything seemed fine.

Just how tough was this egg!?

Serondes was, at this point, half-hugging me in his sleep, his arm wrapped around me. However cute it was, however nice it might be, I was awake, I had needs, and I wanted to be up and about.

“Geroff you big oaf.” I murmured as I wriggled free of his grasp.

“Mmmm, mornin honey berry.” He groaned, then turned over. My heart did a little flutter at that.

“Honey berry?” I poked at him.

The mighty Serondes is sleeping. This beautiful elf has enough Lava magic to entomb me instantly!

I’ma poke him with my finger.

The lazybones just kept snoozing away. I rolled my eyes, and grabbed the glass basket.

I settled the egg into it, made sure it was warm enough, then left the hut.

I wanted to squeal in excitement! We’d slept together! I had a nickname! I liked nicknames. Loved my own name as well, but!

“Morning Elaine! Did you sleep well?” Awarthril asked, while Aegion waggled his eyebrows suggestively. I wanted to throw something at him, but didn’t have anything handy. I just flipped him off, and sat down at the table that Awarthril had pulled out, along with numerous healthier non-barbeque foods.

“Slept alright! How about you?” I asked, taking a bite of breakfast.

So good. New goal in life: Get an elvish cook. I could probably trade a favor somewhere down the line for a cook for a year or two.

“Oh, I slept fine, thanks for asking!” Awarthril was extra- cheery this morning. Aegion just nodded, then a small puff came from one of his barrels. He was off like a shot.

“No. No no no NO NO!” He cried out at something going terribly wrong with his moonshine. He hurried over, and banging noises started coming from his direction.

I didn’t want to know how cooking liquids ended up with banging. Ignorance was bliss in this case. I had no desire to level up [Passionate Learning] here.

“Wanna move the table a bit?” I asked Awarthril, jerking my head towards Aegion and the now-shaking barrels.

“I think that’d be wise.” Awarthril agreed, and with a bit of effort, we shifted things over such that a catastrophic explosion would only wreck half the table.

I finished my morning ablutions – we’d camped out near a small stream for ease of access – and got back to the campsite.

The elves had everything. Including a towel, which I was using to dry my hair.

“Hey Awarthril?” I asked.

“Yes Elaine?”

“I’m all for helping Kiyaya, but, like, right now I’m getting close to no experience. Do you have any ideas on how I can get a ton of experience to help out?”

The question had been bugging me. Awarthril had wanted me to level up a bit, but didn’t seem to provide a good way how. Like, the fight with the hydra had potential, but no. She’d been against me even participating. It was frankly impossible that she didn’t know how classes worked and got experience, and it was only natural that I would need to fix people up to get more experience. Which led back to the question – if I was wrapped in silk, living in a bubble, how would I ever struggle enough to level?

“Oh, there are programs for people to level back in the Tympestshard Council.” Awarthril blithely replied. “It’s faster for some classes, and slower for others. Healers are a mixed bunch, where depending on how many of you there are, you’ll level faster or slower. I’d front the entire fee of course, provided you give restoring Kiyaya an honest shot.” She flapped her hand like it was nothing.

Huh. I suppose the elves were a bit more with it and cooperative than humans were, and had industrialized leveling in a way humanity hadn’t figured out.

I almost asked why she was here and not there, but remembered that she was looking for something for Kiyaya. Aegion didn’t seem too interested in levels, more in searching out new and exotic items for his drinks.

Why was Serondes out though? I thought he wanted levels. I’d have to ask him.

We hung out a bit and chatted, and while talking was fun, I was feeling a bit antsy.

I needed a hobby that I could do on the road.

Well. Last time I was bored on the road, I wrote the Medical Manuscripts. I should do that again, give a copy to the elves.

“Hey Awarthril, got some paper and ink?”

“A few sheets, why?”

I kept the disappointment off my face.

“I was hoping to write you a copy of my Medical Manuscripts.” “Hmmmmm. That could be nice! Sadly, no, we don’t have enough paper for it.”

“And we’ve got no spare books I could scrape and overwrite.” I added in.

Asking about books had been one of the first things I did, especially when we’d spent that time with Tyriss and I’d been bored.

Serondes appeared a while later, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. I bounded over, as excited as a puppy, and wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a kiss that he greedily reciprocated.

My mind whirled as we kissed, and I came up with a nickname

on the spot.

“Morning lazy lips!” I greeted him. I had the best naming sense. He gave me a Look – he must like it! – and his mouth was in the middle of opening when an almighty bang came from Aegion’s direction.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Naming]! Would you like to replace a skill with [Naming]? Y/N]

Naming: You need serious help. Please seek professional help, or better yet, stop giving out names. Dramatically improved naming sense per level. Not that this is a high bar to clear.

OH COME ON. It wasn’t that bad.

Right?

It wasn’t that…

Ok, I guess I was calling my boyfriend lazy, and also somehow implying he was a terrible kisser at the same time. Maybe that wasn’t my best name, but I’d been busy when I came up with it!

Serondes cursed at Aegion, spitting foul invectives at him.

“You Pachy-fucker! It’s first thing in the afternoon! Don’t you dare have that blow up on us!”

Aegion whirled around, brandishing a ladle at us. Well, mostly Serondes.

“Yeah!? Well, you’re a -”

Aegion glanced at me, and swallowed his words, instead throwing a one-figured salute at Serondes. A hissing of steam from yet another barrel, and he was back at it.

I slipped my arm into Serondes’s.

“Why don’t we go for a nice walk?” I suggested. He half-shook me off, freeing himself. Missing my crestfallen face – unless he had eyes in the back of his head – he headed over to the breakfast table.

“Sure, give me a few minutes to eat and wake up and everything else.” He grumbled.

That… was fair enough. I could be grumpy rolling out of bed.

Serondes grabbed food with rapid, practiced efficiency. I followed along, because I wasn’t doing much else. He ate, then we went for a walk in the woods.

We made some idle chit-chat, then I remembered what Awarthril had said about leveling methods.

“Hey, Awarthril mentioned something about leveling up in the Tympestshard Council? What can you tell me about that?” The fallen pine needles crunched in a most satisfying way under my feet.

“Oh, the Academy? They’re slow. They’re alright for crafters and healers and the like, but for anything involving fighting, they’re close to useless.” Serondes’s tone made it clear what he thought of them. “I briefly attended, but found them worthless. Soon after, I heard about the Shimagu.” He shrugged. “Here I am.”

He had mentioned something about schooling before this ad- venture in his life story before, but it was good to get the details. Also nice to hear confirmation that it was decent for healers. Given the level the elves were working at, it sounded like a decent place to head. Go home, talk with everyone, make sure everyone was OK and alive, turn back the clock so everyone would stay alive, then head back out? Help the elves with the Shimagu, head to their Academy, get a ton of levels, upgrade [The Stars Never Fade] to work on Kiyaya, head back home?

Sounded like a solid 10-year plan. Like any of my 3-year plans had ever worked out. I think the best I’d ever done was two years at Ranger Academy.

No wait. That was half-interrupted by the frontlines. It wasn’t exactly standard.

Hmmm. Roughly 21 months traveling with the Rangers I guess? Even that hadn’t quite gone to plan… more like 18 months of traveling had gone to plan. Which was roughly the same as the part of Ranger Academy that had gone to plan.

“Hey, wanna play a game?” I asked Serondes, having an idea in mind. He waggled his eyebrows at me.

“Only if there’s kissing involved.”

“Oh, there is.” I tried to flirt back, somewhat successfully.

“Well then, I’m all ears.” He took me in his arms. I shuffled the egg basket out of the way.

Must. Not. Make. Ear. Joke.

“Elaine!”

I was tackled by an oddly familiar grown up human woman, much taller and stronger than I was. It took me a moment to process what I was seeing.

Who I was seeing. In the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere, far from any human lands.

“Lyra!?” I exclaimed. “But? What? How?!” I asked, confused to see her alive, and from her energetic greeting, well.

She just laughed.

“Sorry about that! I was never going to get anywhere in Aquiliea, not with the way my parents were. You saw them, what they wanted me to be and do.”

She clenched her fist.

“Never.” She spat out. “That was never going to be me. No, I faked my death and escaped.”

“I saw the System message! We burned your body!”

“Oh, I just faked that.”

Joy, impossible hope welled up inside me.

“And you’re alive!” I cried out, hugging her. Letting tears stream out, letting go of the guilt that had plagued me for over a decade, for more than half my life.

“I’m alive! And I’m not going anywhere!” Lyra said, and I woke up with a gasp, headbutting Serondes in the nose. His arms were wrapped tightly against me, and I struggled free as he woke up with a swear, his hand going to his face.

“Owe! Elaine, what was that for?” He complained at me, as I sat up, heart racing.

“Just a dream. Just a bad dream.” I spat the last part out. “A fucked-up dream.”

Serondes pinched his nose, massaging it.

“Well, it was just a dream. Everything’s fine honey berry. Next time, try not to headbutt me.” He said the last part teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes, I’ll make sure to control my sleeping self better. Like you and your elbows.” I drily responded, putting the egg in the basket and getting up.

“I’m too awake now, you should get some more sleep.” I told Serondes on my way to the door. I swear he was asleep before I left.

Would it have killed him to be a little more comforting? Then again, he’d demonstrated remarkable consistency with being grumpy after waking up. Everyone had their own little quirks, and I was no different. He was perfectly pleasant once he’d had time to wake up.

In time, everyone else got up.

“Big party tonight!” Awarthril brightly cheered as we were all sitting around the table. “Everyone ready? Everyone excited?”

I was less than thrilled by the idea of partying with the trolls. There had been a different violent episode each night, and those were just the ones we could hear and see. The troll’s natural in- sane regeneration meant they were more than happy to brutally tear into each other, knowing that nothing they did would be lethal to each other.

Aegion glanced up from a mug he was carving out of wood, large enough for troll hands to get an easy grip on.

“Yeah! Things are going great! I’m super excited and ready for this!”

Aegion threw his arms up in the air, his sentence punctuated by one of his barrels blowing its lid cataclysmically, spraying us all with…

Beer would be too generous a term for the goop that was raining on us.

The five of us exchanged looks, as Aegion rushed over to his barrel.

“No! No no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He cried out. Serondes wiped a smear of liquid off his robes with a displeased look.

“Why don’t we all wash up before the party?” Awarthril’s words were nice, but her tone was anything but. If looks could kill, Aegion would be my newest source of healing experience. Kiyaya was whining as she licked her short fur, trying to get everything out.

When Team Mom suggested we wash up, it wasn’t exactly a suggestion. Still, I was all too happy to get cleaned up.

Aegion took a moment to extract himself from his latest disaster, pointing eastish.

“Lake’s that-a-way!” He reminded us, ducking back into his barrel.

Well, he was atoning somewhat. Grabbing some towels, we headed off towards the lake, leaving a trail of poorly-fermented beer in our wake.

“Cordamo! No! Ack! Stop!” I yelled, as the couatl wrapped him- self around my neck, starting to furiously lick at the beer stains on my shirt. I tried to rip him off without hurting him, but failed, flailing around as he had his way with me.

“A little help!” I asked, and a moment later a wedge of sand extracted Cordamo from me.

Serondes clicked his tongue at Cordamo, who hovered in the air, hissing angrily. The flying danger-noodle then half-tackled