Fires danced in Leo’s eyes as he was forced to stand there and watch everything he’d worked so hard on burn to ash. Today was supposed to be the greatest day of his life. Little did he know that instead of celebration and excitement, the Planar Lords had apparently decided it would be a day of suffering instead. Leo had been instructed to remain silent, to keep from uttering so much as a whimper as the devastation unfolded, as the flames crackled across his beloved. But he could stand by and watch the fire consume no longer.

  “Dad, you’re burning them!”

  “Charring them. I’m pretty certain this technically counts as charring.”

  Leo could only groan as he watched his father continue to stoke the already too-hot flames of the grill, burning the steaks Leo had spent the last three days carefully marinating. Despite the fact that Leo was the one who handled just about all of the cooking, his father had surprised him with his insistence that he let him handle the cooking and cleaning for the day. A Cartographer’s rite of passage only came once, after all, and his father all but demanded Leo sit back and enjoy the afternoon before the ceremony.

  As if Leo could relax while watching this culinary abomination unfolding before him.

  “How are you so bad at cooking?” Leo demanded, and not for the first time. “You’ve got an Ignus Wolf gem! You can literally turn into fire!”

  “And how frequently do you think I bother turning myself into a living flame in order to cook a steak, hmm?” his father asked, quietly cursing as he struggled to scrape the steaks off the grill and flip them. “Well actually, I suppose there was this one time when your mother and I lost all our supplies and were stranded in a miniscule barren plane. The only rift leading in or out of the plane was blocked by a powerful magical beast that had been chasing us, and we needed to rest and recover our strength before we took it on. I didn’t think it would work, but your mother-”

  “Dad, please focus on the steaks,” Leo said, his heart breaking as his father absentmindedly pressed down on the meat with the strength of a rank 5 soul, squeezing out all the rich juices straight into the fire. “And you’ve already told me that story a hundred times. Just because you and mom are into some weird stuff, doesn’t excuse you for being a terrible cook.”

  “Bah, you know how soul dampening works, I couldn’t use my Ignus Wolf gem even if I wanted to,” his dad argued, giving him a pointed look. “Or maybe you’ve forgotten? Instead of standing there critiquing your old man about his cooking, maybe you need a supplementary lesson to focus on?”

  “I’m going into town,” Leo said, shaking his head as he finally threw in the towel. The steaks were beyond salvaging at this point, but at least he had Francy’s cake to look forward to.

  “Tell Francine I said hello!” his dad called over his shoulder, before switching his focus back to the steaks. Leo did his best not to wince as he heard the fire start crackling even louder, and he sighed as he closed the door behind him and began walking.

  The path leading to town was nearly a quarter-mile long, lined with dense forest on one half, and a small lake on the other. The trees were lit with glow-shard lanterns that only needed to be replaced once a year, and Leo smiled as he trailed his fingers along the dangling lanterns, thinking back to the first time he’d been deemed old enough to help with the glow-shards. His father had insisted he was still too young, but his mother had scoffed, pushing her partner into the lake before showing Leo exactly the steps that needed to be followed to handle the glow-shards safely.

  It was hard to believe he’d be leaving this plane behind before the day was out.

  Leo gently smacked himself on the cheeks as he walked, trying to push down the lingering doubts he still had about officially beginning his new life as a Cartographer. It had been his dream for as long as he could remember, and yet, this tiny forest plane was all he’d ever known. Fear of the unknown was a serious hurdle, and one he’d had his entire life to try to get over. His parents had prepared him as best they could, but only he could take that first step through the exit rift.

  Not wanting to make Francy or any of the other townsfolk worry, Leo shoved those doubts aside, plastering a big smile on his face as he finally made it to town. It wasn’t a surprise that everybody knew one another in a plane as small as this one, but as the plane’s founders, his family was especially famous.

  “Looking good, Leo!” Grant called out, pausing in his smithing just long enough to shoot him a crooked grin. As per usual, the large man was shirtless, dripping sweat after having spent all morning working the forge. “Think you’ll need any spare knives before that big trip of yours? I’ll give you a good deal!”

  “I think I’ve let you weasel me out of enough money by now!” Leo shot back, rolling his eyes as he spotted two young women, Melody and Sabrina by the looks of it, trying to subtly ogle the muscular blacksmith from behind a nearby tree. “And put a shirt on!”

  “If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Grant responded, barking out a heavy laugh as he tossed him a simple collapsible knife anyway and went back to banging on a glowing piece of metal. “This one’s on the house! Can’t have you dying out there, now can we?”

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  Shaking his head, Leo tucked the knife within one of his many pockets before he kept walking. He still remembered the days he’d swung by the forge to help Grant out with his work every now and again. As part of his training to become a Cartographer, his parents had insisted that he was familiar with just about every skill he could get his hands on, and that included blacksmithing. It wasn’t his favorite pastime, what with sweating under the intense heat all day, but it was certainly more interesting than others.

  “Good afternoon, Leo, ready for that first step?” Patricia asked, smiling at him as she rocked on her porch. The old tailor showed her expertise as she continued to knit what looked like a pair of socks without even looking. “It feels like only yesterday I caught you digging around in my garden as a little one. What were you looking for again?”

  “I thought I could find flower sprites if I dug deep enough,” Leo blushed, clearing his throat at the embarrassing memory. His parents had informed him that their plane had been cleansed, but he’d been too young to really understand what that meant. “I planted you new ones!”

  “And their grand-flowers are still blooming to this day,” Patricia said, beaming at the beautiful row of flowers lining her house. “We’re going to miss you, dearie.”

  “I won’t be gone forever!” Leo promised, heading deeper into town.

  Similar conversations played out one after another as seemingly everyone he’d ever met or studied under made a point to stop him and wish him good luck with his first step. Tiffany, their lone town guard, thanked him for always being on his best behavior before she went back on patrol. Sarah, the bookkeeper, handed him a journal small enough to keep in his pocket, telling him she’d be honored if he recorded his first map in something she’d made. Clint pushed a bushel of his famous corn into his arms, refusing to take no for an answer before running back to his fields. Jim tucked a couple of herb-soaked bandages into Leo’s back pocket, refusing any sort of payment as he clapped him on the back and wished him good luck with Francine.

  As much as Leo enjoyed living in a tiny plane barely five miles wide, the biggest downside was probably that their world was small enough that everybody knew everyone else’s business.

  Taking a deep breath, Leo fixed his hair and strolled into the town bakery, smiling at his oldest and dearest friend currently arms deep in a giant ball of dough.

  “Leo!” Francy said, beaming at him as their eyes met. As per usual, her apron was absolutely covered in flour, and she’d managed to somehow smear it on her face as well. “You’re too early! Your cake is still in the oven!”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t handle watching my dad destroy dinner any longer,” Leo said, placing his bushel of corn on the empty counter and inhaling through his nose. He’d miss a lot of things about their town, but the delicious smell of the bakery was definitely going to be one of the biggest ones. “I swear, sometimes I think he’s pretending to be bad at cooking on purpose.”

  “I doubt your dad would intentionally mess up your big dinner,” Francy giggled, going back to her kneading as she began pulling small chunks off the mass of dough. “Are you ready?”

  “I’ve had my whole life to get ready,” he scoffed, before glancing over and seeing Francy giving him a knowing look. Other than his parents, few people knew him as well as Francy, and he knew right then and there she knew the truth. “Alright… I’m maybe a little nervous. But can you blame me? I mean, the life of a Cartographer… It’s what I’ve always dreamed of, but still, the thought of leaving this whole world behind is a tough pill to swallow.”

  “I thought Jim helped you get over your fear of swallowing pills without chewing?” Francy teased.

  “You’re hilarious,” Leo drawled, unable to help himself from returning Francy’s smile. Warmth stretched between the two of them as they locked eyes. A gentle, peaceful understanding connecting two souls. They shared a bond that could only come from having grown up side-by-side and always being there for the other.

  One of the pieces of corn shifted in the bag he’d placed on the counter, and the strange mood was shattered. Reality came crashing back down on them, and Leo cleared his throat as he looked away. Francine would never come out and actually say what he suspected she wanted to, as she knew how much he dreamed of being a Cartographer. It wouldn’t be long now before Leo left this world behind, and there was no telling how long he’d be gone for, or if he would ever truly come back.

  Asking Francy to wait for him… He could never do that to her.

  “So, what magical beast gem do you think your father has in store for you?” Francy asked, seeming just as eager to change the topic as he was.

  “It has to be a Grade 1 gem, so there’s really only a few options. It could be a latch bug, maybe a larva, or more likely one of the countless sprites. Personally, I’d be happy with just about anything other than a larva.”

  “Remind me again how you’re supposed to survive exploring new planes when you have nothing more powerful than a sprite within your soul? I remember from all your evenings spent nerding out over the years, those things can’t do much more than drift around, right?”

  “That’s why my parents are coming with me,” Leo chuckled. “Nobody starts off on their own, it would be an absolute death sentence. Mom should be back before long, and once she gets here, they’ll watch over my first step, as is tradition for Cartographer families.”

  “I suppose we’ll just have to hope nothing bad happens while all three of our brave gem holders are off venturing through the planes,” Francy teased, rolling out the last of her buns and sliding the entire tray into one of the clay ovens. Clapping her hands free of flour, her smile faltered ever so slightly, and she lowered her head. Peering up at him with dark brown eyes, she whispered. “...How long until you’re back?”

  “Dad said we’ll probably only be gone for a week to start, but you know how expeditions go. There’s really no telling when we’ll be back. I think my parents want to get my soul up to at least rank 6 on our first expedition. That way we can start practicing soul dampening while we prepare for the next one.”

  “A whole week,” Francy muttered, looking crestfallen. Yet with a quick shake of her head, her smile was back in full force, and any worry that might have been on her face moments ago was nowhere to be seen. “That’s not too bad! And I expect to hear all about your crazy adventure when you get back.”

  “It won’t be anything too crazy,” Leo laughed. “My parents have already planned out the route. We won’t be hitting any planes higher than the sixth tier. Nothing they won’t be able to handle, even with their souls dampened.”

  Francy looked like she was about to say something, when out of nowhere, there was a distant rumble, followed by the ground and windows shaking. The two of them shared a confused look, wondering what could have possibly caused such a thing. Untying her apron, Francy hung it up before walking around the counter, joining him as they stepped outside. It only took a moment to find the plume of smoke stretching into the air, indicating where the explosion had come from.

  There, across the pond illuminated by the trail of lanterns, was Leo’s house.

  Half-missing and currently engulfed in flames.