The silver fire faded from the bodies, leaving only scorched remains. I stood in the center of the clearing, Ashbourne’s tip buried in the dirt, my breath coming in ragged pulls. My anchor tree flickered, mana reserves critical.

  Every muscle in my body trembled from the surge of stacking so many Talents. I dismissed my blade and anchor and viewed the carnage.

  Where the merchant’s barrier had been, there was nothing but ruin. The ground was split into a jagged line, smoke curling from the edges. The two robed casters lay crumpled; their bodies twisted and smoking. Jordan’s body was the most intact, but his wand lay next to him broken in a dozen pieces, and he was missing his right leg.

  No one was moving behind me. The townspeople stared at me as if I’d just stepped out of their worst nightmare. Fear and awe were written all over their faces.

  I turned to look at them. I heard Grant’s voice, low, disbelieving. “System above…”

  Balt stepped forward, staff in hand, eyes scanning the wreckage. “Let’s double-check the wagons,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “There could be one we missed.”

  I forced my legs to move, each step heavier than the last. The fight was over. But the reckoning for this merchant king? That was just the beginning.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement, a small shape.

  A little girl burst from the brush, hair tangled, cheeks streaked with dirt and tears. She didn’t slow when she saw the wreckage, didn’t flinch at the bodies. Her eyes were locked on one man.

  “Papa!”

  The man called Grant froze. For a heartbeat, he didn’t seem to believe what he was seeing. Then I watched his sword slip from his hand, hitting the dirt with a dull thud. He dropped to his knees as she slammed into him, her tiny arms wrapping around his neck as if she’d never let go.

  He crushed her to his chest, one hand in her hair, the other trembling against her back. His shoulders shook, and I realized he was crying. Ragged sobs that seemed to tear something loose in everyone watching.

  I smiled and turned away, feeling my eyes grow misty, not wanting to intrude on their moment.

  From the treeline, more figures emerged: women, children, the missing faces from the town. The moment they saw their people, the townsfolk who had come to rescue them ran to them. Weapons clattered to the ground as they ran forward, colliding in messy, desperate embraces.

  The child who embraced Grant was soon joined by what must have been her mother and sister.

  Names were shouted. Laughter and sobbing tangled together in the air. Old Marrek dropped his knife to lift a woman off the ground. Thom’s hammer lay forgotten as he hugged a little girl who was crying. The other riders who came with them were clasping forearms and grinning through tears.

  I stood apart, watching the tide of relief crash over them. I felt my heart unclenching. For the first time, I felt truly better since I had lost Alice. It was cathartic to see a family reunited. I didn’t want to go down that emotional rabbit hole. So I distracted myself by searching the wagons as Balt suggested but found no other enemies among them.

  When I got back, Balt was moving among them, checking for injuries, murmuring quiet reassurances. Grant still hadn’t let go of his daughters and wife. He probably won't for a long time.

  After a little while, the sobbing quieted to sniffles, and the laughter softened into murmured words only family could share. The lamplight painted tired, tear-streaked faces in gold.

  Grant finally loosened his grip on his daughters, though his hands never left their shoulders. He looked at Balt first, then at me. His eyes were red, but steady now. The eyes of a man who’d just gotten back what he had lost.

  He stepped forward, his voice rough from shouting and crying. “I don’t… I don’t have the words for what you’ve done tonight. You saved all of us.”

  He swallowed hard, glancing at the others who had come with him. “We’d all be dead or worse if you hadn’t been here. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

  Grant’s gaze lingered on me, searching, weighing. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. Who are you? Both of you?”

  Balt’s staff tapped lightly against the dirt as he came to stand beside me, the faintest smile tugging at his mouth.

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  Balt whispered to me, “This hero stuff is alright. I just took a calm breath, meeting Grant’s eyes with my own.

  “We were just passing through,” I said, my tone even. “Saw the merchant convoy on the road. Saw the kids in chains.”

  Grant’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t speak.

  “We shadowed them for a while, looking for an opening. We were going to hit them, one way or another tonight… but when you and your men rode in?” I gave a small nod toward the others, still holding their fellow townspeople close. “That was the distraction we needed. You drew their eyes, pulled their strength to the front. It let us get the captives clear before the real fight started.”

  I glanced at Balt, who gave the faintest shrug, as if to say It’s the truth.

  “You said we saved your family,” I added, meeting Grant’s gaze again, “but you and your people gave us the chance to do it. Without that, this could have gone a lot worse.”

  Grant’s mouth worked for a moment, as if he were searching for something bigger to say, but in the end, all that came out was a quiet, “Thank you.”

  I gave him a small nod. “Get your people settled. There are food and water in the wagons, take what you need. Eat, drink, rest. You’ve all earned it.”

  Balt was already moving toward the nearest cart, pulling open crates and tossing out wrapped bundles of dried meat and skins of water. A few of the townsfolk hesitated, glancing at me as if they needed permission. I jerked my chin toward the supplies. “Go on. Take care of yourself, my companion, and I won’t let anything happen to you tonight.”

  Grant straightened a little, the weight of leadership settling back on his shoulders. “And after tonight?”

  “Tonight, you rest. In the morning, we can talk,” I said. “You and the other men set up a watch rotation. Keep the women and children in the middle of the camp and safe. If anything comes through those trees, we’ll be ready for it.”

  He nodded once firmly. “Aye. We’ll see it done.”

  The camp began to take shape: small fires lit, bedrolls found and unrolled, the low murmur of tired voices replacing the chaos from earlier. I stayed on my feet, leaning against a wagon, eyes on the tree line. The fight was over, but the night wasn’t done.

  It was time to see my progression. I first checked the system messages.

  Excellent one of my oldest talents finally leveled. I knew I felt it was close. Level 2 is a huge upgrade; it made the cooldown decrease by over 10 minutes, and he got another 30 seconds of boost.

  After the boost ends at 60 seconds, fatigue sets in. Extending this to 90 seconds is likely to be more challenging for me. However, my endurance is gradually improving, even if only slightly.

  I guess I’ll keep putting my free stat point into spirit like Lawson told me to. Signaling my intent to the system, I did just that. Looking at my stat sheet brought a small smile to my face.

  From where I started to where I am is good, but still not enough. I felt my hand clenching into a fist in the real world even from my Soul Tree Realm.

  I Remembered Carson’s suppression... that thought grounded me.

  I am curious about something though. Pulling up and the Limit Break cooldown description after putting the extra point into spirit. Showed it had indeed decreased by 30 seconds. Well, that’s awesome, I have to admit. I am a long way away from not having a cooldown for arguably my strongest Talent, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

  I let the Soul Tree Realm fade, the silver threads of my stats and skills dissolving into the dark. My eyes opened to the cold night air and the low crackle of campfires. The townsfolk were huddled close, some already asleep, others whispering quietly under the watch of the men on rotation.

  Balt signaled from across the fire with a discreet nod, indicating that all was calm. I acknowledged silently with a wave and told him I would take first watch. Resting against the wagon wheel and surrounded by the forest, I kept scanning the area until I felt Balt’s touch on my shoulder, and I just closed my eyes right there and took my turn to sleep.

  Dawn came pale and thin through the trees. The camp stirred to life with the smell of smoke and boiled grain from the wagons. Grant found me near the edge of the clearing.

  “The girls slept through the night,” he said, voice low. “Thank the System.”

  I nodded. “Good. They’ll need their strength.”

  He studied me for a moment, then asked, “What happens now?”

  I looked past him, toward the road that would take us back to his town. “Now we go to your home. And when we get there, your Merchant King is going to answer for what he’s done.