Morning light had only just touched Whiterock when we left, yet when we stepped out of the portal, the world had shifted. Darkness pressed in, and we found ourselves alone beneath the canopy of a shadowed forest.

  A fire crackled ahead, its glow carving warmth into the gloom. Lawson sat upon a rough-hewn stump, a skewer in hand, turning a marshmallow slowly over the flames. Two empty stumps faced the fire like waiting thrones. He looked up, caught our eyes, and with a casual wave beckoned us closer, inviting us to join him in the circle of light.

  “Well done on that last floor, boys. Just goes to show, it’s not always the distant enemy you have to fear. More often than not, danger comes from just around the corner.”

  Lawson paused, turning the marshmallow until it reached that perfect golden hue. He blew gently across its surface, then popped it into his mouth with a satisfied grin. Reaching into a sack, he pulled out more marshmallows and offered them along with two sticks, the firelight dancing across his smile as he gestured for us to join in.

  In a few moments, all of us had our sticks in the fire. I let the warmth settle into my hands and simply watched the flames dance, their glow flickering against the night.

  Above us, the forest canopy framed the sky in jagged silhouettes. The leaves, painted in autumn’s fading fire, clung to the branches in scattered clusters. Where they parted, the sky was a raw spread of stars. They shimmered like shards of glass caught in the breath of eternity, and for a moment I felt the same quiet awe I had when I was first torn from Earth and dropped into this world. It reminded me of the Oklahoma sky at dad’s house. No light pollution, just beautiful stars in the sky. A sigh of contentment escaped me, unbidden.

  Balt broke the silence, his voice carrying a playful edge. “So, what’s next for this floor? An undead army and a city rotting with poison? No, wait, we already survived that one. Maybe a giant snake slithering in to greet us? No, no, that’s old news too. Ah, I’ve got it an army of mercenaries led by some elite boss in power armor, out to crush us.” He smirked, shaking his head. “Oh right… that happened as well. So, pray tell what joys do you have planned for us this time?”

  Lawson just smiled, sliding another marshmallow onto his stick and holding it over the fire. “See to your upgrades, and I’ll tell you about this world and this floor. Oh, and Riven… start splitting your free points into Spirit and Intelligence. I’ll explain more once you’re finished.”

  I wanted to ask why the sudden change, but I knew better than to argue. With a sigh, I tapped my anchor and pulled up my status. Lawson hadn’t steered me wrong yet, and I had no reason to believe that would change now.

  I put the Free point into Intelligence and Spirit bringing Intelligence up to 34 and Spirit up to 45 respectively.

  I opened my eyes and saw Balt doing the same, both of us bracing as the changes settled in. Stat gains never stopped hitting me, a current of power threading through my veins.

  Lawson must have read my thoughts. He leaned back with a knowing smile and said, “You do get used to the increases that come with leveling … but trust me, the feeling never truly dulls.”

  “Good to know,” I replied. “Now can you tell us what we will be doing on this floor?”

  Lawson didn’t answer, he just flicked his fingers, and a System Message appeared in my vision.

  I let out a low whistle at the list of prizes. When I looked up, Balt was grinning back at me. I took in my friend in the firelight. He was no longer the frail old man I had first encountered, but now a middle-aged figure with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that shone through.

  “Those rewards are amazing, if we continue to progress while we’re here, this could be an amazing floor for leveling.” I said. But rereading the Task, gave me pause… Six months. The text rattled me, even with this floor’s time dilation. Two more months with Alice waiting on me. Two months without rescuing her.

  But what choice did I really have? I could fight Carson now, at least I felt like I could, but deep down I knew I wouldn’t win. Not yet. I had a better sense of power levels now, and I’d place him around a hundred. And who knew what kind of backup he had, or what fortress he was keeping her in.

  No. I had to get stronger. If I wanted to save them, there was no other path.

  The thought gnawed at me until, in a moment of weakness, I broke the silence. My voice was low, almost afraid to give shape to the words. “Lawson … Alice and Liz. Are they alive?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  For a heartbeat, the fire crackled louder than my own pulse. Lawson didn’t answer right away. He slid another marshmallow onto his stick, pushed it into the flames, and only then spoke.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to ask,” he said, eyes reflecting the firelight. “And I can tell you this much, yes, they are alive. I can’t tell you where, or what state they’re in. Only that they still live.”

  Relief hit me like a tide. My chest loosened, and tears stung my eyes; hope burned as bright as the fire in front of me, they were alive. I had been so scared to ask the question in fear of the answer I would receive … but they were alive. Balt brought his stump over and laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll see them rescued my friend and that bastard wont know what hit him when we come knocking this time.” Balt said.

  I thanked him and he nodded back to me in acknowledgement.

  “Okay back to business.” Lawson pointed his marshmallow stick at us, the tip now aflame. “This world’s Anchor Tournament is restricted to level seventy-five and below. Most contenders wait until they’ve reached that level before daring to enter. Don’t expect it to be a walk in the park, the competition will be brutal.”

  I just clenched my fist in unrestrained excitement and resolve. God help whoever got in my way. I needed those levels and upgrades.

  There is a road that leads to Anchor City. He pointed his flaming stick behind us. Follow it and you should be there by sundown the next day. I have communicated with your masters and when you both get settled tomorrow night your rings will activate and your combat training will continue.

  I looked at the ring on my hand and smiled. I was about to level up in more ways than one.

  A feminine scream in the night brought me out of my thoughts and I shot to my feet Balt by my side. “I would check and see what that was if I was you two.”

  I looked back; Lawson was gone again. Floor Four had begun.

  I summoned a Searing Sphere for light and sprinted toward the screams, Balt close on my heels.

  The trees broke into a clearing of waist-high grass. At its center stood a small cabin surrounded by men clutching torches, their flames carving jagged shadows across the ground.

  I dismissed my Sphere before its glow could give us away, then circled the clearing’s edge, keeping low as I moved to flank the cabin from behind.

  As I crept closer, the scene came into focus. A man in green combat robes stood on the front steps, while a woman and a boy, sixteen, maybe seventeen, huddled behind him on the porch.

  Ten feet away, a towering figure dominated the space—a muscular man nearly seven feet tall, clad in worn leather armor. An eyepatch covered one eye, and in his left arm, he held a small boy, locked in a brutal chokehold. In his right a huge cudgel.

  I slowed my pace and crouched low in the tall grass, the firelight from the torches flickering across the clearing as I strained to catch the words of the towering man.

  I used Identify.

  A shimmer of blue text flickered before my eyes:

  My stomach tightened. Level Seventy-Five. He was no ordinary thug then, but at least from the description he wasn’t an Elite. But he did hold a hostage so that complicated things.

  Garruk’s voice rumbled as he tightened his grip on the boy’s throat. “Oh, Chu… I’m just taking your son as insurance.

  My master is being generous in my opinion, lenient, even by not crippling you outright and taking your entire family. My master won’t tolerate challengers like you this year, his son’s competing.”

  I watched the man named Chu’s jaw clench as he stood firm on the cabin steps. But the young man’s body language was all I needed to see to know what was about to happen next. The boy’s mother must have seen it as well because she tried to reach out to restrain the young man, but she was too late. The boy cried out “winds of the meadow” and his body sped up charging at the one eyed man. The look of horror on Chu’s face could be seen plain as day as the boy charged.

  The boy was quick, but Garruk only sneered and swung a contemptuous cudgel strike that caught him full on, like a truck slamming into his chest and sent him sprawling into the grass. Chu tensed, yet One-Eye merely hoisted the boy higher in his grip, a silent warning not to move. Behind them, the woman broke into sobs. Chu’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white, glowing green with mana as blood began to drip between his fingers.

  “Is this how the honorable Warlord Ryn Don operates?! By making the competition for his son nonexistent? What honor is there if his son wins the tournament without ever facing a true opponent?”

  Garruk’s single eye gleamed beneath his men’s torchlight. His lips curled into a sneer. “It is not for me to judge my master only to enact his will.” The one eyed man shot back.

  “There is no honor, you all are honorless dogs,” the man named Chu said flatly.

  Garruk’s sneer widened as he shifted the boy in his grip. “Well, since you insult me and my master,” the one-eyed man growled. “Plan B, then, killing you all and burning it all to the ground.”

  I had seen enough. Stepping from the shadows, my mind was calm as I Flash Stepped. In an instant I was at the one-eyed brute’s side, wrenching his grip from the boy and pulling the child free. A savage knee drove into his crotch, folding the giant to the ground. I leapt back, landing before the porch, and placed the boy into his father’s arms. The man could only stare at me, dumbstruck.

  Balt emerged then, a teenager slung over his shoulder. He dropped the youth unceremoniously onto the porch, his arrival radiating authority.

  Garruk rose, purple light flooding his body as he swelled taller, broader, monstrous. His voice was a growl of promised torment: “Whoever you are, before we kill you, I will hold your heart in my hand and feed it to you as your last breath leaves this world.”

  I stepped forward. Regalia answered my call, armor forming in a blaze that lit the clearing. Power surged through me as I triggered Limit Break, unleashing everything from the start. Blue fire erupted, roaring into Ember’s form. My ethereal cape unfurled like wings, sapphire flames licking the night sky.

  Beside me, Balt strode forward, radiant. A golden aura flared outward, blazing like a second sun against the torchlight of Garruk’s men. The clearing was no longer his stage. It was ours.

  “Let’s see you fucking try, then!”

  I was about to unleash hell on them when another aura erupted behind me. I turned to see Chu, engulfed in a storm of green energy. His eyes blazed bright, his long dark hair whipping wildly as the power coursing through him lashed the air. He was lean, built like a fighter, and carried no weapon but his fists. Stepping up beside Balt and me, he declared,

  “Thank you, strangers, for your aid. But these dogs attacked my family, and I will be the one to bring them to heel.”

  The man radiated strength. Far from weak, his presence rivaled Kelv’s when he first transformed.

  I will not deprive a man of his right to defend his own home. But as the saying goes—I didn’t get dressed up for nothing. Would you mind if my party member and I handled the others while you deal with the one-eyed brute?”

  Chu gave no objection, and we moved. Balt raised a shimmering force wall behind us as we charged. The enemies were little more than fodder; I cleaved through bodies and hurled Searing Spears with ease.

  I didn’t even need Flash Step to dart around or evade their blows. They thought sheer numbers would save them, but they were wrong. With Ember’s aura-filled slash tearing through their ranks, the attackers fell quickly. Balt stayed close at my side, and we made certain none survived, not even those who tried to flee. No one would report back to the warlord Garruk had mentioned about what happened here.

  When the last body dropped, I strode to the cabin steps to watch Chu’s battle. He was fast, blindingly so. Garruk, cloaked in writhing purple energy, swung again and again, but Chu slipped past every strike. Each dodge flowed into a counter: an aura-charged kick, a punishing fist. Garruk was not actually slow, Chu was just that fast. Soon the one-eyes man was on his knees, broken and bloodied, while Chu stood over him, his aura unyielding.

  “I won’t ask for mercy from a sect outcast. Your time will come and I’ll see you in the Dark Circle soon enough,” Garruk wheezed.

  The aura surrounding Chu condensed into his right fist as he drew it back.

  “Part the meadow.”

  His strike slammed into Garruk’s chest, and the man’s upper body was blasted apart in a storm of force. It was as if a hurricane had erupted from Chu’s fist, tearing through everything in its path.

  Chu turned back to us, offering a slight bow, his fist resting in an open palm.

  “Thank you for your assistance, travelers. But might this one inquire how you came to my humble home on this night?”

  I dismissed my armor and Ember, running my fingers through my hair before answering.

  “We were on our way to the city to register for the Anchor Tournament. We’d set up camp about a mile into the woods when I heard a scream. Balt and I thought we should check it out—and that’s how we ended up here.”

  The man nodded at our explanation, then suddenly seemed to remember his family. His children and wife were still on the porch. He hurried over to them, where his wife cradled the unconscious boy in her arms. The child clung weakly to her as a cool white energy flowed from the woman’s hands. The boy’s eyes fluttered open.

  “A healer,” Balt observed.

  I nodded my agreement.

  The woman leaned close and whispered into Chu’s ear. He listened and then turned back to us. For a moment he hesitated, weighing his words, before finally speaking.

  “We cannot remain here. We were planning on relocating to the city in the morning anyway, this attack by the warlord just sped up the time line. I have family in the city who will take us in. I have nothing of real value to repay you for your aid, but a debt is owed. If you would ask something of me, speak it now.”

  I was surprised by the offer, but there was something he could help us with.

  “Could you show us the way to the city and help us register with the Adventurers’ Guild? I only know the general direction I’m supposed to travel. I don’t even know the city’s name, or where to go once I arrive.”

  A smile spread across Chu’s face.

  “For a life debt, to ask so little is truly generous. My family and I will see it done and to answer your question, the city is named, Veyra.”