Kabi, running through Steadfast…

  Lies. So many lies.

  Lenna’s hand and the bond with Alex kept me steady as I was pulled through a twisting hallway before stumbling down some stairs.

  Each step made my heart pound as I tried to reconcile what had just happened.

  Grandfather’s stories all twisted inside my head with these new truths. We were part of the Immortal family that ruled Steadfast. Generation after generation, the strongest took over, controlling the city and the tribe of warriors that defended it.

  Yet, grandfather had spoken of keeping away from the city, and how the new life in the forest was better for all. Mother and father had always emphasized it. The trees had filled my childhood, Cetka and I learning all we could from grandfather. His strength was untouchable.

  Crimson Silhouette.

  A legend who defeated the flying monsters that ate our kind.

  He gave all of that up, and traveled with my parents to create our new forest tribe before any of us were born.

  I stumbled on a step, losing my grip on Lenna's hand, and forced myself to pay attention. She led the way, each step sure of the next, though it shouldn’t be possible.

  Pathfinder.

  Another figure out of legends.

  The glare of bright sunlight caused me to blink as we exited the building. Most of the streets were empty as we darted into an alley instead of continuing down the main path. Chatter echoed down the stone alleys as cheers broke out from many, celebrating the return of my father, their leader.

  We continued on as more cheers filled the air, crossing a plaza with a small gate. Insights and glares hit me from multiple directions as our exit drew attention.

  The guards at the gate didn’t even wave as we exited into a darker tunnel. It led to a courtyard with four archways. We took the one that faced the north.

  Lenna didn’t even try to find a place to get supplies, but she glanced at me as soon as we entered the tunnel. I felt the question she didn’t ask, and shook my head.

  Not stopping was good. I didn’t know why, but father had clearly wanted us out of the city. Despite everything, I still trusted that choice was right. I had to.

  It wasn’t until we stepped through the portal that she relaxed her frantic pace, though she kept moving.

  Giant boulders dotted the landscape among rolling hills. Spiky, greenish-blue grass covered everything. The pressure in my chest relaxed.

  We were free of the city and the expectations it pressed on me.

  “Wait, where is the battlefield?” asked Alex, clearly unsure of what had happened.

  “They only attacked one half of the city,” said Lenna. “The portal took us to the northern gate of the city.”

  Though I recognized where we were, I wasn’t sure why we headed in this direction either. Nothing good remained in the mountains.

  “Why?” I asked before giving context. “All that remains in this direction is the mountains. The Forgers are in the badlands.”

  I couldn’t help but glance back at the gate and wall, which grew smaller as we continued on. Each footstep away from the city helped me relax, and ignore the unspoken truths that kept echoing around my head.

  My worries about my profession felt tiny compared to this.

  “It’s the way we need to go.” Her voice brooked no argument, and she glanced at the sky twice. “We want to get out of here as quickly as possible, without going through the dungeon.”

  “Lenna, what’s going on?” asked Alex, running beside Dengu.

  “I’m not entirely sure. My abilities say we need to hurry.” A slightly panicked look crossed her face as she spoke.

  Green spiky grass.

  I knew where we were. This was not good.

  “We do,” I growled, eyeing the ground under my feet. “We need to be somewhere safe before darkness hits. This far north, there are plants that roam the grasslands in the night. Plants even mighty warriors fear.”

  “Dengu and I fought some in the dungeon.” Lenna shivered and swallowed. “I didn’t realize this was where they had been drawn from, or that they existed outside the dungeon at all.”

  She picked up the pace from the slower jog she’d fallen into, back into a full sprint.

  Nothing moved around us as we raced to the first hill in the distance. The sun blazed overhead, yet it didn’t feel warm. The light felt refreshing after being underground for so long within the dungeon, but anxiety was still thick in the air.

  “What type of plant monster are we talking about?” asked Alex.

  I let out a sigh, trying not to let my concern show. “The type where the ground tries to eat you whole.”

  While the Immortals had cleared space for the city, Steadfast still remained right next to the endless plains of terror.

  We had to hurry.

  ###

  Alex, on the grasslands…

  “The ground…” The blueish grass almost took on a darker tone as I studied it. Yet nothing popped up giving me more information on it. Usually, I received something basic like at least “Grass.” But no matter how much I focused on it, nothing.

  Creepy.

  As we approached the first rolling hill, the blueish grass cut off, like someone had taken a blade to the ground and created a curved line in front of the hill.

  On one side, the strange, unlabeled grass, and on the other, wavy flowers.

  [Wild flowers.]

  At least that worked.

  Once we crossed into the rolling hills Lenna relaxed before coming almost to a stop.

  “Okay, we made it to the hills, though I don’t know where we need to go from here…” she said as she glanced ahead.

  Everyone turned to me after that statement, including Dengu.

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  “It’s not like it just works on command…” I muttered as I searched out with my senses.

  The hills made it hard to see ahead for any good amount of distance, but my hackles rose like I wanted to growl at something that hunted us.

  Nothing appeared on my radar.

  “I’ve got nothing, but I think we should find somewhere safe to make camp, then rest.” The actions of the day wore on me, and we hadn’t had a moment to stop for what felt like a very long time.

  “We should be able to find a barrow,” said Kabi, searching the hills for something. He marched off without another word, eyes tracing the boulders and beyond.

  The blue sun inched toward the horizon, covered with dark shadows of the distant mountains. A faint glow of red came from that direction.

  Kabi didn’t move fast as he traveled through the low bushes covering the hillsides, along with the wild flowers. Though he crept to each boulder we passed, and twice shook his head.

  The third time, he marched right up to one and drew a familiar rune. The rock flickered, and he walked right through it.

  Lenna quickly followed, along with the rest of us.

  I stayed in the back, glancing once more out of the hills and to the grass. The feeling of eyes staring at me came from there.

  It had to be the grass, or whatever it was that looked like grass.

  Once inside the tunnel, the sensation cut off.

  The tunnel wasn’t that long and ended at a small cave, reminding me of the rest stops in the forest. An old firepit rested in the center, and soft light came from the mushrooms dotting the ceiling. A musty smell filled the air, but it wasn’t bad.

  Dengu crashed to the ground next to the fire pit with a sigh. “Glad to rest.”

  “Keep watch!” Strange popped out looking alert and crept away from us to the tunnel. He had slept for most of our trip here.

  My stomach let me know I needed to eat and I sat down next to Dengu, pulling out a hunk of meat. His eyes locked on it, and I placed it next to him before grabbing some for me.

  Lenna scoffed. “Let me use the pot you took and I'll make us a real meal…”

  I froze with the hunk of meat halfway to my mouth, and it slowly lowered. I took out all of my cooking supplies before gnawing on the meat.

  She got to work, dumping a bunch of cut-up items into the pot, along with a few things from her own inventory.

  Kabi rested quietly across from us.

  Lenna used a tool to start a fire. The flames took to the dried branches in the firepit hungrily. She set the pot on the coals and leaned back.

  “Now we just need to wait,” she said with a yawn.

  “How about we get some sleep?” I suggested after finishing the meat. It helped my stomach settle, though my body felt tender.

  “I'll keep it going, I need to think.” Kabi nodded and motioned to the fire. “We can trade off.”

  Dengu started snoring almost immediately after finishing his food.

  Lenna took longer to fall asleep, but a strange silver mist surrounded her after she did.

  Kabi bowed his head to me when he noticed I didn’t rest, not yet. “We can talk after we both get some sleep.”

  The image of a wall appeared along our bond, and I rolled my eyes. I lay down and tucked my hands under my head before closing my eyes.

  “It’s about time!” The voice jolted me, making me jump up from the shore of the beach. I settled after a second, recognizing Lakeside Landing.

  “You are so rude to keep me waiting,” said Noseen.

  I couldn’t pinpoint where it came from, so I sat down on the rocky beach, and before I could comment he kept going.

  “Wait, what did you do?” The giant mosquito suddenly appeared inches from my face, making me flinch. Its needle-like mouth was almost touching my forehead. “This has traces of them all over it.”

  “Nice to see you, too,” I said with a grin, not even feeling the need to shoo him away.

  He flew backward before changing shape into that humanoid form with too many teeth and eyes.

  “I knew you weren’t as squishy, but forcing a skill to upgrade is dangerous.” This time, his voice came out like a warning. “Forces beyond you are speaking. This is a dangerous path, Alex.”

  That flash of dark skies during my boss fight came to mind, but I didn’t mention it.

  Noseen paused and glanced away from me. “What skill did you upgrade?”

  I closed my eyes for a moment before I responded. “One I don’t want, one that’s closer to the path you warned me about.”

  Noseen hummed softly. “Have you figured out a way to balance your class and profession?”

  “Not yet,” I answered with a frown. “I gained a title that helps provide me with free stats. I’m using that to offset things so far, but I haven’t had many chances to upgrade my profession.”

  The waves slowly rippled toward shore, and a cool breeze brushed over my face. The normal-appearing sun felt like a warm hug after the strange purple skies.

  “You need to figure it out.” Noseen didn’t move at all, but the humming didn’t stop.

  He hadn’t said anything I didn’t already know.

  “How is Lakeside?” I asked after a few moments of enjoying our setting.

  “I’m no longer there.”

  I nodded, wishing I had some way to contact people back home. Really just my Dad, brothers, and Abby.

  “How are things on the Sisters?” I turned away from the water and forced myself to look at him.

  Noseen jerked as if surprised. “New beings coming and going have shaken things up.”

  “That’s good, right?” Growth was important, a topic he had harped on during the trek through the jungle. “It means people are trying to reach higher.”

  This time Noseen chuckled darkly. “Most get eaten by those who live on my worlds, but some will keep going.”

  It took a few seconds for his chuckling to completely fade.

  “Eat or be eaten.” That’s what the jungle had taught me. “What happens at the top?”

  I picked up a tiny stone and tossed it into the water. It plopped in without any trouble, and for a moment I could fake that I actually sat there.

  “Whatever you want. You might even get your own planet.” A savage grin came across Noseen's face before vanishing. “Why do you smell like a Flora Maw?”

  “Flora Maw?” That freaking sharp greenish blue grass that didn’t have any information pop up.

  “A devourer…”

  My eyes widened as the dream flickered, this time from black smoke drifting across the sky.

  “Noseen, what's that?” I motioned up, but someone shook my shoulder.

  I snapped awake as Lenna shook me again, my connection with Noseen gone.

  “You need to eat, and we need to get going,” she said.

  Kabi slept soundly across the smoldering campfire from us.

  “Why did you wake me up? I was talking to Noseen…” I took the bowl she handed over to me and started eating without even thinking about it.

  “The stars told me too, and that we need to hurry if we’re going to find whatever we’re searching for.”

  “Forgers, that's what we're searching for. Once I get one on my radar, we can hunt them down. We’ll get a bounty as well.” I sounded more confident than I felt.

  A hint of spice hit me with the stew, making me smile. I quickly finished the bowl.

  “I don’t think that’s the only thing we’re chasing,” said Lenna, glancing toward the tunnel.

  Strange sat at the end of it, eyes on the stone separating us from the outside. Dengu stood nearby as well.

  “You’re worried something will find us.”

  “Of course. You didn’t need to fight the plant things.” She shivered and rubbed her arms. “They just wouldn’t die.”

  I chuckled. “I had magma things and wraith creatures.”

  “At least one of us had an easier time.” She glanced at Kabi and lowered her voice. “He isn’t happy with his parents.”

  “I mean, do you blame him?” The secrets my father kept still haunted me, though I tried not to think about them. “That’s a pretty big secret. I get how that feels. Heck, you get how that feels.”

  “I do, which is why I’m worried.” She let out a sigh.

  “We have his back, just like he has ours.” Within the bond, I felt him come awake, yet he still lay there. “Kabi, time to eat. Lenna’s worried about you and the grass monsters.”

  “She’s right to worry about the grass monsters. They swallow people whole.” He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position. “It's what makes the Immortals so important to the northern people. They destroyed enough to build the city.”

  “Are you saying the city sits right next to a field of monsters?” Building something right next to a devourer felt dumb.

  Kabi shrugged. “It’s what my grandfather said, though he felt it wasn’t that big of a deal. My father always spoke about the grass monsters like they snatched little tots who raced too far away from the tribe.”

  “Noseen said I smelled like a Flora Maw… but someone woke me up before I could ask more.” I glared at Lenna, but she didn’t twitch. “I bet that’s the grass. Maybe next time we’re in the area, I can talk to it.”

  “I don’t know if it talks,” said Kabi, grabbing a spoon and the pot of stew from the campfire.

  “I had the same reaction the first time a mosquito spoke to me.” I shrugged and tried to use Strange to reach beyond the rune stone. Nothing waited for us. “There isn’t anywhere to hide in these hills, besides these barrows.”

  “That isn’t true,” argued Kabi. “Rivers and gorges take over before the mountains, and then the badlands. But I doubt the Forger has already fled that far. They needed to get at least to the hills, since the fields stretch farther to the west than the north.”

  “Once it's dark, it’ll be easier to make some progress.”

  Again, Kabi shook his head as his hands clenched into fists. “We need to find somewhere to stay before dark. We have plenty of time this afternoon to get deeper into the hills, but this is still too close to the grasses.”

  “Let’s put space between us and the grass monsters.” Lenna shivered before rubbing her arms. “Getting swallowed whole is hard to recover from.”