Chapter Three

Chapter Three

“Wakey wakey, Mistakes!” Derrick called. “Day has dawned and we don’t want to keep the grim reaper waiting. On your feet, every—”

Suddenly, his voice was drowned out by a yawn that could have been mistaken for a grizzly bear’s roar, and the figure that sat up next to the firepit could have rivaled one in size too. The eight foot tall bearded man rubbed his eyes with one beefy hand, and scratched beneath his thick animal hide tunic with the other.

“What’s for breakfast?” he asked. He spoke softly, but his voice still sounded like a distant earthquake. When Miranda glanced at him, a character box appeared just like it had for Derrick.

AARON PARKER

LEVEL 17 WARSEEKER

(FREEBLADE)

“Oh, I can make breakfast!” exclaimed a fourth voice. A young woman popped out of her bedroll like a groundhog. With an expression that said she was still more asleep than awake, she patted the ground next to her blindly for a few seconds. Then she paused, blinking sleepily, and a pair of thick, black rimmed spectacles appeared on her face with a blue flash.

ELISE KITCHNER

LEVEL 8 IMPWARDEN (FLAME)

(KEEPER)

Miranda couldn’t help but stare at her. She was barely a day above sixteen. A child. Practically the same age she and Jeremy had been when—

Don’t think about it, she thought, bracing herself against the emotional slap those memories always brought.

“No time,” Derrick answered. “We’ll eat as we walk.”

“It’s no trouble! Really!” she insisted. Getting to her knees, her green dress rustling, she put a hand on her chest—and then it sank into her chest.

“Elise—”

“I can make eggs!” She withdrew her hand, now clasping a thick iron chain. “Or- Or toast some bread! Whatever you want! I just need to make a fire. Give me a second.”

Despite herself, Miranda leaned forward to watch. She had seen this happen a dozen times over the trip, but she’d never gotten used to it. Elise continued to pull out more and more of the chain, coiling it on the ground by her knees. The chain wasn’t really coming out of her, Miranda knew. If she had looked close enough, she would have seen that there were a couple of inches between it and the young woman’s dress, and that the chain was actually coming out of thin air.

“Elise,” Derrick said again.

“Oh, buzz off, Derrick!” Miranda snapped. “Let the kid do her thing.”

Derrick glared, but Elise gave her a look that was half grateful, half worshipful.

She finally reached the end of the chain, and a little ugly head popped out of the nonexistent hole she’d been pulling it from. Covered in green-brown scales, with pointed ears that were several sizes too big for its body and a pair of sharp bronze horns, it squinted its catlike eyes in the sunlight and gibbered something.

“Good morning, Makolo!” Elise said, clasping her hands in front of her like she was praying. “We need a fire! Could you please—”

Makolo cut her off, shouting irritably in the impish language. Elise was the only one who understood it, but Miranda felt like she got the gist of what he was saying—and it involved a lot of expletives.

“Y- Yes, I’m sorry for waking you up!” Elise apologized, her eyes shifting embarrassedly. “But really, I just need one small fire. It- It’ll only take you a minute. No, not even that long! So, could you please…”

Her voice trailed off when the imp let out one last torrent of unintelligible curses, and disappeared back into where he’d come from. The chain was sucked in after him, link after link disappearing into Elise’s chest like a long, metallic strand of spaghetti.

“Oh, a- all right,” she finally conceded, slumping forward in defeat. “Maybe later, then.”

“Never mind it,” Derrick snapped. “The smoke would draw too much attention, and that’s the last thing we want.”

A scarf materialized around the Yggdrasian’s neck with a flash. It was made of fine, snow-white fabric, and covered the lower half of his head so that his lack of a face wasn’t quite so obvious. A golden sun was intricately embroidered on the front to represent Ondarra, God of Sunlight. It was the only piece of clothing he wore.

“But I just wanted to—”

“Elise,” Derrick said, bending over to give her one of his piercing glares, “do you know where we are?”

“We’re…a few miles outside Sequestrinous?” she answered hesitantly.

“And is Sequestrinous Underwing territory?” he asked.

Elise shook her head.

“It belongs to the Shield Warden guild,” the Mandrake said, his voice low and cold. “We don’t have permission to even be here, much less to run one of their dungeons. That makes us poachers. Do you know what guilds do when they catch someone stealing their XP? I’ll give you a hint: they still get their XP, but from a slightly different source!”

Elise paled until the only thing keeping her from looking like a vampire was the fact that she was out during the day.

“Don’t scare her, Derrick,” Aaron rumbled.

“She should be scared,” Derrick shot back at the Neanderite. “We should all be scared. This is the most danger we’ve ever been in, and we haven’t even reached the dungeon yet! If the guild wasn’t so desperate for XP, I would never have agreed to—”

A rustle came from the far end of the camp, and everyone spun around to face it. Eagle Feather and Midnight Frost were in Miranda’s hands in an instant, and a blue flash marked Derrick pulling his slingshot out of his inventory. Even Aaron moved quickly, like a boulder that had been startled awake, and drew his massive axe, Troll Splitter.

The only one who wasn’t ready for battle was Elise, who had squeaked with fright and curled up into a ball with her head covered.

The underbrush shifted again, and a doe stepped into the clearing, nibbling daintily at the leaves of the shrub it had just emerged from. Its ear twitched, and it looked up before freezing in surprise when it saw the trio of warriors ready to turn it into venison.

Miranda relaxed, a sigh of relief hissing through her teeth, and the deer bolted.

“Oh!” Elise exclaimed, slowly uncurling her body. She was shaking so hard that she could barely speak. “It…It was just…just a…”

What the flame is this amateur doing out here? Miranda thought. Even though she knew what she would find, she focused on the young woman for a second, and then mentally willed her character box to expand.

ELISE KITCHNER

LEVEL 8 IMPWARDEN (FLAME)

(KEEPER)

HUMAN

STRENGTH: 8

DEXTERITY: 8

CONSTITUTION: 8

SPIRIT: 24

INFLUENCE: 32

It had been a week since they’d set out from Faen's Hand, and not a day had gone by that Miranda hadn't questioned Father Lancaster's sanity. On the surface, it didn’t appear that strange. Bringing rookies on dungeon runs was a good way for them to gain experience—Miranda smirked at the pun—without being put in too much danger.

This was something else entirely, though. For such a low level Hero to not only be sent on such a high level quest, but one set right in the middle of hostile territory? Either the old Sage had an unrealistically high opinion of Derrick’s ability to keep them all alive, or this was some kind of elaborate death sentence for the young Impwarden.

Miranda minimized the stat box and focused on Elise herself, who was hurriedly picking up what few belongings she had and stowing each of them in her inventory. Impwarden. She rolled the word around experimentally inside her head. She didn't think she had ever met one of those before.

On a whim, she brought up her menu again and navigated to the Glossary tab, where there was a section detailing every class that a Hero could pick. She had never delved that deep into it—there were hundreds of entries, and she had never liked reading—but with a few quick swipes of her finger, she was able to find what she was looking for.

IMPWARDEN

IMPWARDENS ARE A SUBCLASS OF THE SUMMONER SCHOOL OF MAGIC. RATHER THAN OPENING A GATEWAY TO THE IN-BETWEEN AND SUMMONING THEIR FAMILIARS THROUGH IT, THEY HAVE CREATED A POCKET DIMENSION WITHIN THEIR OWN SOUL IN WHICH THEY HOUSE THE IMP THEY HAVE BONDED. THIS ALLOWS THEM TO SUMMON THEIR FAMILIAR AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT SPENDING PRECIOUS MP TO DO SO.

THIS COMES WITH THE TRADEOFF OF HAVING LESS DIRECT CONTROL OVER THEIR FAMILIAR. SINCE IMPS ARE NOTORIOUSLY STUBBORN AND REBELLIOUS CREATURES, THIS CLASS NECESSITATES A HIGH INFLUENCE STAT IN ORDER TO KEEP THEM DOCILE AND OBEDIENT. FOR THOSE WHO ARE UP TO THE CHALLENGE, THIS IS BOTH A POWERFUL AND HIGHLY VERSATILE CLASS, SINCE THE IMP DOES THE MAJORITY OF THE FIGHTING AND SPELLCASTING WITH ITS NEARLY LIMITLESS MANA POOL.

BUT BEWARE, BECAUSE THE WEAK WILLED MIGHT FIND THEMSELVES HELPLESS IN THE FACE OF DANGER IF THEY CAN NOT IMPOSE PROPER CONTROL OVER THEIR IMP.

“Um, Miranda?”

Miranda blinked, snapping the window closed to find Elise standing in front of her. The Faun’s cheeks turned a shade redder before she remembered her menu was set to private. Elise would have no way of knowing that she had just been doing Nyr’s equivalent of stalking someone’s social media page.

Miranda cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows. “Yeah?”

Elise hesitated, her face turning a dozen times redder than Miranda’s even though she hadn’t said anything yet. Just when she thought the Impwarden was going to turn and slink away, there was a blue flash.

Miranda’s reflexes took over, and she had Eagle Feather in her hand before she even knew she’d summoned it. Years of constant, very real threats to her life had trained her to react to any sign of danger without a moment’s hesitation. She couldn’t imagine the shy, timid young woman doing anything to harm her—much less being able to—but she didn’t have the luxury of being able to pick and choose which instincts her mind and body responded to.

Fortunately, she was able to stop herself from doing anything regrettable when she realized that all Elise had done was summon a hat to her head. The green, floppy hat rivaled Miranda’s in size, but the brim didn’t hold its shape as well, and it came to a point instead of sitting flat on top of her head.

Doubly fortunate was the fact that the oversized brim kept her from seeing Miranda draw her weapon.

“I found this in the last town we visited!” Elise said. Her words tumbled over one another, as if she were afraid she’d lose her nerve if she didn’t get them all out quickly enough. “And I bought it because…because…”

Ashes and flame, Miranda groaned inside her head. Not this. Not now!

“I bought it because I thought it looked kind of like yours!” the Impwarden squeaked. “M- Maybe…kind of…a little…”

Elise looked up at her, eyes wide and sparkling with barely repressed hero worship, and Miranda had to fight the urge to use Silverwing to teleport out of the awkward situation.

Miranda forced herself to take a deep breath. Ashes and flame, she hated it when this happened. She loved her fans, and as the greatest Thief in Nyr, she obviously had dozens—no, hundreds of them. It was just that she preferred to love them from a distance. Having to see their hero worship up close made her feel dirty in a way she couldn’t quite explain.

She sighed. It wouldn’t do to crush the meek little Mage’s spirits, especially when they were prepping for a dungeon run.

“It looks good!” she said, forcing a smile onto her face. “It’s very…you, Elise.”

Elise beamed so brightly that Miranda almost felt bad for the backhanded jab, and the Impwarden turned and hurried to help the others pack up everything around the camp.

Miranda leaned back against the tree and munched on her apple as she thought. Elise was an ambitious young woman, no doubt about that, but she had clearly chosen a class that ran counter to her personality. Perhaps such a hurdle could be overcome with time and training, but that was a task that should have been undertaken back at Faen's Hand, slaying giant leeches and slimes in the Fen of Forgotten Legends under the watchful eye of a practiced handler.

Instead, she was more than a hundred miles away from home, about to charge headfirst into one of the most dangerous dungeons that Miranda, an experienced Hero, had ever attempted.

The others got the last of their belongings put away, and Aaron stomped the ashy remnants of their campfire into the dirt.

“You have the map?” Derrick asked, turning to Elise.

Elise nodded, her cheeks still flushed from Miranda’s “compliment,” and summoned a rolled up, yellowed sheet of parchment out of her inventory. Her hands were shaking, but she still pointed into the distance.

“We- We need to go that way,” she said.

Derrick nodded. “Then lead on.”