The Last Experience Point

Chapter 122: Official Duty

Crossing beyond an invisible threshold that Kalana claimed marked the halfway point between the Avikin Grounds and her home, Zach observed that everything she’d said about the so-called “Path of Peace” was completely true. As long as someone kept themselves perfectly within its bounds, nothing could or would aggro onto them. Yet, at the speed he and Kal were moving, it didn’t seem to be something they needed to worry about either way, and so they only partially stayed on top of it as they made their way through this winding, turning, and twisting dirt pathway that ran through an area known as the “Windswept Plains.” The reason for this name seemed pretty obvious, as it took but a moment out here to note the existence of frequent, comfortable, and moderately strong breezes that rolled through the plains and over their bodies. The terrain was also easygoing; it alternated between gentle hills and longer stretches of flat land, all of which were covered by very short stalks of healthy green grass that naturally had a look similar to that of a freshly mowed lawn.

As he rode atop his mount, Zach yawned, stretched his arms, and then shifted a bit as the moisture on his robe made him uncomfortable. Only a few minutes ago, another one of her island’s fierce but brief thunderstorms had come and gone, drenching Zach from head to toe as well as the world around him. Yet with the intense sun and tropical heat bathing him in its glow, he’d already gone from soaked to being only slightly damp. The grass, on the other hand, was a bit slower to dry, and as his saber-toothed Kralzek’s Beast followed behind after Ruby, there was a rhythm of constant, audible squishing each time their mounts ran them slightly off the path.

It sucks that we won’t be allowed to hunt here for a while, Zach thought as he drowned in the sights of so many different mobs—or groups of them—walking or standing around to both sides of the pathway.

Much like Kalana had said, there were indeed a number of spots where Zach could see more of those level-27 Avislicer Marauders, but there were also dozens—or really, probably more like hundreds—of different types of mobs at many different levels to be found, such as gigantic, yellow-and-black hornets that were level 35, or literal shadows with faces on them that seemed to disappear and reappear every few seconds. There were level-53 trolls with big clubs, one of which aggroed as they darted by, and there was a small camp of these squirrel-like creatures that wore tiny hats and had comically oversized teeth. Becoming curious, Zach tried to learn more about the little critters, but he and Kalana ended up zipping by too quickly for him to even catch their name.

“It’s so beautiful here, right?” Kalana asked, looking over her shoulder and smiling at him.

“It is,” he agreed. “I love your island.”

“I knew you would. I actually…hm?” She looked away and faced forward, removing her phone. “Mom’s texting me.”

“What’s she want?”

“I dunno.”

As Kalana read over her mother’s messages, Zach returned his attention to the landscape around him. One thing he noted with great interest was that there weren’t just mobs out here. There was also a ton of real, biological wildlife. Everything from deer to buffalo roamed freely and without any apparent fear of predation. But what Zach found even more interesting was the way in which the mobs and wildlife seemingly ignored one another’s existence. Even bumping into a hostile mob did not cause any kind of reaction, such as a chicken off to his left that clucked as it rammed right into an Avislicer Marauder. Zach waited for the mob to go berserk and start slicing away with its dual katanas, but instead, it showed no sign it was even aware the chicken existed. Though a strange sight, this non-interaction actually made a great deal of sense, because if wildlife did disturb mobs, people would’ve probably starved to death a long time ago, as the presence of mobs would’ve surely made most wildlife extinct.

But some mobs actually do kill wildlife, he recalled. Ziragoth destroyed entire farms along with their livestock, and I think I remember Grundor talking about a boss on Archian Prime that goes around eating cows.

As they continued onwards, the sound of squishing returned as Ruby and his mount deviated from the pathway, stomping down onto the wet grass while they began traveling up a small but steady slope. Zach realized that they were now moving completely away from the Path of Peace, leaving the dirt trail entirely. Behind him, he heard what sounded like a loud, angry thudding.

Slightly turning his body and craning his neck to look over his shoulder, he saw that the level-53 troll they’d aggroed hadn’t given up just yet and was still charging after them. Then, with a loud “bawk-bawk-bawwwwwk” he watched as it ran right over a poor chicken that was in its way, smushing the creature into the grass despite lacking any deliberate intent to do so. A half second later, the troll finally decided to give up the chase, and at once, it stopped running, turned itself around, and slowly began walking back towards what Zach assumed was its spawn point, further crushing the already dead chicken in the process. Zach lost sight of the creature soon after, but not because of gaining too much distance, but because of the impossibly black smoke obscuring his vision. It reminded him that he was still in Unleashed Phase.

Unleashed Phase Duration

31:33 Remaining

Yawning yet again, he leaned forward a bit and shook his head to prevent himself from falling asleep right here on the mount. With a slight chuckle, he took a moment to appreciate the fact that it was even possible for him to nod off while he still had an active duration of Unleashed Phase in effect. Not wanting to accidentally fall off the side of his mount and wake up to the terrifying sensation of tumbling over the grass, he peered into the distance, hoping to see something that might excite him—and right away, he found it. Ahead of him, he spotted something that immediately roused him back to full alertness.

“I think that’s them,” Kalana said cheerfully, her eyes better than this own.

Up ahead, in the middle of a flat stretch of grassy field, Zach saw multiple human-sized figures, two smaller figures, and one tremendous figure that had to be at least twenty feet in height. As they drew nearer, his ears detected what sounded like battle, and he placed his hand on his sword’s hilt where it rested in the scabbard on his back—just in case he needed to draw it.

“I hope they’re okay,” he said.

As his mount approached closely enough so that he could begin to discern faces, he first took in the sight of a level-45, T2 humanoid-like boss that towered over those around it and made snarling growls as it struck out with a wooden mallet twice the size of a two-handed battleaxe. The creature was naked aside from a pair of boots and a brown-colored loincloth, and it had a face that was almost humanlike save for the fact that it only had one large, round eye with a thick black pupil. Its name was “Agrack the Cyclops,” and Zach winced nervously as it slammed its weapon down on top of a boy who Zach could now make out to be Rian.

The hell is Rian doing fighting something so high level? Zach thought, becoming worried.

The last time he’d seen Rian had been in Angelica’s before the dragon raid. Since then, Rian had apparently gotten ahold of an entirely new set of gear. He was now adorned more like a noble, dignified knight than a previously destitute boy from Shadowfall Coast. He wore a shimmering silver breastplate, a matching pair of greaves, and his look came complete with a partially face-concealing helm. Having lost his axe in B6, it appeared he’d acquired another, and this one, though lacking in any fancy effects, looked sturdy and was made of a darker-colored steel. He also had a fairly large and well-rounded metal shield, which he extended above his head as he bent his knees and absorbed the boss’s massive mallet.

A moment before impact, Zach wondered if he should use Phase Rescue and pull his friend away from the giant cyclops. After all, though Rian had apparently been here for two or three days, he couldn’t possibly have leveled up enough to tank a T2, level-45 boss. That was basically like a level-65 mob. No matter how sturdy Rian’s shield, the expected result of such an attack would be to have him crushed below the mallet like that chicken had been crushed beneath the foot of the troll.

And yet…incredibly, following a determined, confident grunt, Rian not only withstood the attack, but he responded with several fast slices of his own, his axe biting into the cyclops’s flesh and causing blood to trickle down its hip and right leg.

“Are you holding up okay, my human-pet?” asked a wickedly beautiful Elvish girl with red hair and a devilish look in her eyes who was standing behind him. She was wielding a staff, which she twirled around, casting what looked to be various buffs on both herself and Rian. “Need to trade places?”

“Pfft, I’ve got this,” he replied. “Give me a break.”

“Just making sure, human-pet,” she said with a laugh that was both dark yet playful. Her voice was confident and assertive, and her appearance was unlike that of any other Elves he’d seen. Her reddish hair had stripes of gold and black, and Zach had now ridden close enough to see that she wore a spiked collar around her neck and had applied an ample amount of black eyeshadow. It was an admittedly eye-catching look, but Zach thought it would’ve worked better without the green cloak on her back, which seemed totally out of place when contrasted with her more rebellious appearance.

So that’s Rian’s girl, huh?

As Rian shrugged off her concerns, he guarded against another downwards slam of the mallet, and then Lienne stepped forward and retaliated with an attack of her own. Much like her brother, she too had acquired a new set of equipment. At the moment, she was clad in a black and orange, full-body robe that had an illustration of flames embroidered into the fabric running down both sides. Zach watched as she threw her rod forward and unleashed a bullet-shaped flame that struck the cyclops in its eye, which made it roar and take a step back.

“Now’s your chance!” she called out. “Get him, babe!”

“On it!” cried the voice of yet another person Zach didn’t recognize—at least at first. But as he took a closer look, he recalled seeing him in a picture with Lienne on social media. He was tall—more than six feet in height—and broad-shouldered with short black hair, a diamond-shaped jawline, and slightly more rounded ears than were typical of the Elves. He also had dark blue eyes and a somewhat deeper voice. Despite wearing a white cloak, he spoke human in a way that sounded natural and ordinary.

“Let’s finish this thing, Lienne.” Following those words, he sprang into action—well, sort of.

Despite his large frame and athletic build, he “attacked” the cyclops using something that Zach had not seen used as a weapon before—and honestly wasn’t sure could even be classified as a weapon. Raising his hands to his mouth, a melody began to fill the air as he blew into a silver-gold flute; a moment later, an NPC raven perched on his right shoulder dashed into the air, leaving a trail of blue, shining dust in its wake.

“Don’t even think about it!” Rian shouted abruptly, though Zach was not sure to who. Yet it soon became clear as, a second later, he heard an annoyed meow from a cat sitting on the grass next to him.

“I want to eat the birdie,” the cat said, his head tracking the raven's motion as he licked his lips and stared hungrily at it.

“You better not do that again, Fluffles. It was cute the first ten times you did it, but now it’s starting to get really, really annoying.”

Fluffles hopped up onto all four paws and made an angry meow. “I get…I get a special buff if I eat Trelvor’s raven.”

“No you don’t, Fluffles. Liar.”

“Yes! Yes I do get! Stupid Rian is the liar, not Fluffles.”

The fact he was here meant Zach’s theory was right: Fluffles knew the location of a dungeon that ran through somewhere nearby, likely Shores of Wrath in South Bastia. It also meant that, despite his hatred of water, Fluffles must have swum across the ocean. It was at first an absurd thought, but that, of course, was level-1 thinking. Yet no matter how he got here, Zach was happy to see him—much, much more so than he was willing to let on, as Fluffles was well aware of how cute he was, and he would not hesitate to use that as a weapon to get extra food and loot. Smiling, Zach watched as the cat continued to study the raven as it dashed across the air.

Despite its comparatively small size, the raven flew directly at—then crashed into—the cyclops’ chest, and it somehow did so with enough force to push it off balance and make it stumble several steps backwards; it even came perilously close to falling over. At the same time, Fluffles released a volley of lighting while Lienne called upon more flames to burn away her target. The red-headed Elvish girl, for her part, stowed the staff she’d been wielding into a sling on her back then drew a mace from her side and began bludgeoning the cyclops along with Rian.

Before long, the question of whether or not to jump into the fight resolved itself without Zach needing to make a decision. Having only just pulled up behind them with Kalana by his side, the cyclops fell over and died, landing down onto the grass with a loud thud and causing several cracks to form in the dirt near its body. A second or two went by, and then at once, all five of them let out a cheer—which soon turned to threatening shouts as Fluffles leapt nearly twenty feet straight upwards and snatched the raven out of the air before chomping down on it, causing the creature to vanish into steam while Rian frowned at him.

“Well, at least he didn’t do it during the fight this time.”

Lienne smiled and puckered her lips, blowing the cat a kiss. “I can’t be mad at him. He’s such a cutie. I love Fluffles.”

Fluffles turned his head as if to regard Lienne. “If Lienne love Fluffles, then Fluffles get to roll ten times for loot,” he said with a self-satisfied, almost boastful-sounding purr.

Rian, clearly unmoved by the cat’s charm, growled at him and said, “You’re lucky if we even let you roll once, you little—”

“It’s okay, Rian,” the Elf that Fluffles had called “Trelvor” said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s just a five-minute cooldown. I can always summon another raven.”

“It’s the principle that matters,” Rian said. He and Fluffles glared at one another, but after a brief pause, Rian exhaled and waved his hand. “Okay, fine, I’ll let it go.”

“I let it go too,” Fluffles said with another purr, making Zach think the conflict was resolved. But after about five seconds passed, for no reason at all, Fluffles began muttering to himself before loudly saying, “Rian is fat and stupid, and I am the best cat.”

“Oh, that’s it you little—”

Zach decided to choose this moment to clear his throat, announcing his presence. The argument immediately came to a halt, and all eyes then snapped to him and Kalana. Right away, there were gasps from the two Elves, a happy meow from Fluffles, and a wide-eyed look from Rian and Lienne as each of them gave off an unexpectedly strong reaction upon seeing them.

“Buddy!” Rian cried out happily.

“Zach,” Lienne said with a smile.

Fluffles meowed loudly and jumped into his arms. He hugged the little guy—but only for a few seconds, because he knew the rules—and then put him down. The Elves, on the other hand, had an entirely different reaction. Both dropped immediately to their knees, placed their foreheads onto the grass, and prostrated themselves before Kalana.

“Your Highness!” they both cried out, practically kissing the grass-covered ground before her.

She blushed. “Ah, y-you don’t have to…no, no, you don’t gotta do that!”

“Of course we do,” Trelvor said, his voice coming across as muffled with his face buried in the short stalks of grass. “Y-you’re the princess!”

Fluffles, either not understanding or not caring about what was happening, walked right over and along the top of both of their heads then began to play with a beetle somewhere on the ground before eventually transitioning to chasing his own tail.

Kalana gave Zach a confused look, and he turned over his palms at her, having no idea how to proceed. “Please, there’s no need for this,” Kalana said. “I’m really not…umm, I’m not that type of princess. Please just act normal around me. Okay? Here, let’s try this.” She walked over to them and offered each her hand, which they looked at in awe before accepting. Then she guided them back to their feet. “My name is Kalana, and this is my boyfriend, Zach.”

Zach shook hands with both of them after Kalana let go, and they introduced themselves in kind. “I’m Trelvor 'Londril' V’alnyra,” the male said. “It is an honor.”

“Londril?” Zach whispered, repeating the name. Louder, he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be related to the white-cloaked Elf that was on the raid with us, would you?”

Enthusiastically, the tall Elf nodded his head. “Yes. That’s my father. I’m honored you remembered his name.”

Zach smiled. “How could I forget? He tanked the dragon for the whole beginning of the fight. No one’s ever going to forget his name.”

The color seemed to drain from Trelvor’s face as he asked, “Really?”

“Of course,” Kalana said. This only made him turn even paler. It was as if he found this all to be too great of an honor to withstand. He bowed his head in thanks, and then Kal turned to face the red-headed Elvish chick with the spiked collar on her neck.

“And what’s your name?”

“My name’s Seiley Aerona,” she said. “It’s such an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”

“Please, just act normally around me,” Kalana said once more. “I’m really being honest about that. I’m not just saying it or anything. I actually mean it.”

The girl shifted her gaze as if uncertain before once more meeting Kal’s eyes. “Are…are you certain, Your Highness?”

“Yep! Just be yourself, okay?”

“It’s really okay for me to act just like I would if you weren’t the princess?”

Kalana laughed. “Mhm, it sure is.”

At this, the girl let out a sigh and said, “Well that’s a relief. My fucking back hurts from standing up so straight.”

“Seiley!” hissed Trelvor. “You cannot speak that way in front of the princess.”

“Why?” she asked, frowning. “You heard what she said.”

“Well, yes, but you’re taking too many liberties.”

Zach actually felt bad for Lienne and Rian, who were now standing behind their partners with plainly confused faces as if not knowing if they should speak up and intervene or if it clearly wasn’t their place. This, as Fluffles began to slowly crawl towards the cyclops’ loot as though he intended to steal it, which he definitely did. As the black-and-white tuxedo cat prowled through the short stalks of grass, Zach opened his mouth to tell him to cut it out, but shockingly, it was Ruby who ended up speaking first.

“Mommy Kalana!” the raptor cried out with a chirp, alarming everyone but Zach and Kalana; Fluffles’ reaction was to turn his little face towards Ruby while unsheathing his claws.

“What is it, Ruby?” Kal asked.

“The kitty cat is stealing!”

Fluffles hissed. “Who is that girl? Why she tell lies about Fluffles?”

“I’m Ruby,” Ruby said.

Fluffles’ mouth fell open as if in confusion, and his eyes darted back between Zach, Ruby, and Kalana. “Fluffles leaves his human alone for one day, and Zach replace him?”

Zach moaned. “No, no. It’s not like that at all. Put your claws away, little buddy. And stop trying to steal everyone’s loot.”

Fluffles meowed, loudly. “This bullshit!” he shouted, using language that he had clearly acquired from Zach.

“Don’t use that word. Your dad will kill me if he finds out you’ve started cursing because of me.”

“No! Fluffles curse even more. Poop, fart, ass! Zach betray.”

“I didn’t. I promise you.”

“Yes! Yes! You make stupid raptor alive.”

“I didn’t. I swear.” He pointed to Kalana. “She’s the one who made Ruby come alive.” When Fluffles said nothing and simply eyed him as though not sure whether or not to believe his words, he drew a breath and explained. "We got a rare item that we didn’t understand, and Kalana accidentally stole it and used it.”

“Kalana…steal?” Fluffles asked, his voice now innocent.

Kalana’s face lit up with indignation. “I did not. It was an accident. Umm, what happened is—”

“Fluffles love Kalana now,” the cat said, brushing up against her leg. “I am proud. I want tuna and chicken.”

Zach sighed, frustrated. “Okay, let’s just…let’s try to get things back on track. The reason we came out to find you guys is to let you know you can’t do any more quests or kill any more mobs for at least a week or two.”

“Huh?” Rian asked. “Why not?”

“Kalana’s mom said we can’t.”

“Why?” Lienne inquired.

“So, I’m guessing you guys saw that quest thing that had me and Kal’s name on it, right?”

“Actually, yeah,” Rian said, nodding. “We’ve got a bunch of questions about it.”

“Well, I’ll answer as many as I can, but for now, the short version is that everyone in the world also got it, too.”

At this, Rian gasped. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me.”

“I just assumed it was everyone on the island. We were fighting and didn’t really pay it too much attention. I figured you must’ve unlocked something specific to Elendroth. But you’re saying…dude, everyone? As in, even the other races?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Zach said at a lower tone, now realizing the enormity of it all. “So it caused a bit of a panic and because of that, just in case, Fylwen doesn’t want us to—”

“Queen Vayra,” interrupted Trelvor.

Zach closed his mouth right before he replied with something sharp and biting. He paused a moment, quickly licked his bottom lip, and then forced himself to keep his annoyance in check. He wanted to make a good impression with these Elves, and becoming confrontational and hostile would only make him seem like an immature asshole.

“Queen Vayra,” he continued, “called us and told us she doesn’t want anyone doing anything else adventure-related on this island until she’s had a chance to look into it and make sure nothing like this will happen again.”

In reaction, Rian and Lienne twisted their lips sourly, whereas Trelvor and Seiley simply nodded almost as though they were warriors who’d just been given a command.

Fluffles purred. “Zach and Fluffles ignore mean Elf lady and keep adventuring. Who care if stupid humans scared of quest?”

“I know, right?” Zach asked, surprised by how much he agreed with the cat. “That was a freak, rare thing. Kal leveled all the way into her 60s here and nothing like that happened. So she won’t even know if we just do a bit of hunting here or there. I really don’t see why…” He let his words trail off as Trelvor and Seiley both narrowed their eyes and darkened their expressions as they regarded him.

“The queen has given an order,” Trelvor said. “As honored as I am to meet you, Zach, I must now defend Elendroth even if the cost is my life. If anyone violates this edict, I am honor-bound to attack them.”

With your tiny little baby flute? Zach wanted to say. That, and fifty other provocative retorts.

At once, Lienne flared with warning then looked pleadingly at Zach, and strangely enough, so too did Rian. Both of them knew how he was. They knew that his natural instinct to this would be to become defensive, aggressive, and say something that would lead to a heated, totally avoidable confrontation with the Elf—the Elf who happened to be Lienne’s new boyfriend, which would make their friendship become awkward in turn. And the fact that he almost did it made him wonder if he was an even bigger asshole than he realized. Like, he’d always known he was one, but now it was really starting to dawn on him just how much.

And so, surprising even himself, he took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and said, “I respect that. You’re right. I was only making a joke, and…” It actually burned him to continue speaking, but he forced the words out, and they became easier and more sincere as he spoke them. “And what I just said was really rude, and I apologize for saying something disrespectful to you and your culture, especially after just meeting you. That doesn’t cast me in a great light, and I’m sorry.”

At no point since knowing Kalana had he ever seen her beam with such relief and pride in her eyes. Trelvor, for his part, bowed his head graciously. “It’s perfectly understandable. This island is so enchanting and beautiful, and I too would love to spend many more days exploring it, but the queen’s words have so much weight to us, and it really speaks well of your character that you understand. My father spoke well of you, too. Thank you for understanding.”

That was less difficult than I thought it’d be, Zach thought, glad he’d chosen to try de-escalation for a change.

Over the next few minutes, he and Kalana took turns speaking as they explained to Trelvor, Seiley, Lienne, and Rian the precise events that had taken place to spawn the Galterra-wide event that had effectively banned them all from continuing to level-up. While they spoke, Fluffles and Ruby went off together somewhere nearby and were engaged in their own conversation about who could find the prettier pebble. Despite a harsh first introduction, they actually seemed to be getting along, for which Zach was grateful. They started to play together, digging for different rocks and comparing them. Zach actually thought it was kind of cute even if kind of stupid.

“…and that’s when these exclamation points started going up over some of their heads,” Kalana said excitedly. “I dunno what that means, but it’s so cool!”

“It means they’ve got a quest for ya—if you want it,” Seiley said, winking.

“Really?” Kalana asked, her lips forming an O-shape.

“That’s right.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, because we’ve got loads of NPC towns on Archian Prime.” Lowering her voice, she bit her lip then whispered into Rian’s ear, but at a volume loud enough to still be heard. “There’s even one that has these very naughty mobs called succubus, and if you finish their quest, they let you use their inn for free. They have very special beds. Maybe I’ll show it to you.”

Rian coughed into his fist, then said, “Since we can’t adventure here anymore, I’m in favor of going to Archian Prime immediately. Zach?”

Zach laughed. “Can you even handle Archian Prime?”

Rian pointed a thumb towards his shining breastplate. “See my new gear? I’m not the same Rian I was a few days ago. I’m level 34 believe it or not, and I could probably even kick your ass now, Zach.”

Zach laughed a second time, shaking his head. “How the hell did you get level 34 so fast? And even at level 34, how are you tanking hits from a T2, level-45 cyclops?” Zach pointed at him accusatorially. “You got power-leveled, didn’t you?”

“No way, man. I mean, yeah, I was with the Elves, and they’re way higher level, but I contributed in every fight.”

“How?”

“Because they gave me and Lienne much more powerful equipment.”

“Oh, so you did cheat, you lazy fuck.”

Rian chuckled. “You’re one to talk, buddy. Why don’t you tell everyone what level that cloak of yours is, Zach? Or any of the items Queen Vayra gave you.”

Zach backed away a step and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no thanks.”

“Why?” Rian asked. “Hm? Why not, Zach? I bet it’s way higher level than you are.”

“Only a little.”

“Prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“Prove that your equipment is only a little higher level.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Zach snorted. “I just don’t feel like it.”

“It’s because you know I’m right. And you know I—”

“Boys, enough,” Lienne said, placing her hand on her forehead and sighing. “The two of you, I swear.”

Zach and Rian exchanged a laugh. “We’re just playing around, Li,” Rian said.

“Yah, I know you are, but it’s still annoying.”

Kalana giggled. Then, her expression drained of mirth, and a bit more seriously, she said, “So umm, my mom wants us all to head right home and stay in the safe area away from all the mobs and quests for now. But we still have plenty of stuff we can do. The power’s working now, there’s viewing screens in most rooms, and I’ve got a huge pool, and a barbeque, and everything.”

“Wouldn’t you rather we go to Archian Prime and keep adventuring?” Zach asked her.

Kalana shook her head, and now she wore an expression that almost seemed pained. “So…my mom texted me on the way over here. She said that more Elves will be showing up here throughout the week, and umm, many of them don’t have phones yet since they’ve been in Archian Prime for so long. They don’t know they’re not supposed to hunt, so we gotta be here to tell them.” Suddenly, an apologetic look came over her face. “Also…she…she wants you four to stay as well,” Kalana said, looking at both Trelvor and Seiley, then soon after Rian and Lienne.

“Your Highness?” Trelvor asked.

The look of embarrassment and awkwardness in Kal’s eyes confused Zach. Speaking softly but clearly, she said, “I know you two came here on vacation and for fun, and I know you both wanted to go with Rian and Lienne to Archian Prime tomorrow. My mom knew that, too, which is why I’m so mad at her for making me have to be the one to tell everyone this. I was seriously dreading it, actually.”

“Tell us what, Your Highness?”

Kalana inhaled. “Okay, so, my mom wants you four—and me and Zach, too—to take turns as lookout in the watchtower on the southwest side of the island each day in order to spot any Elves who might arrive ahead of time. That way, we don’t miss them.”

The reaction from Trelvor and Seiley was immediate and lacked any hesitation whatsoever. They bowed their heads obediently, and then, in a much more formal tone of voice, the both of them said, “Her Majesty’s Orders are understood!”

“I’m sorry,” Kalana whispered.

Seiley shook her head. “You should never feel bad for giving us orders from the queen. If that’s what Her Majesty asks, then we’ll do it without question.”

“Uh, Kal,” Zach whispered. “Are you sure you didn’t misread that?”

“Nope.”

“She wants me to stand in the watchtower, too?”

“And…me?” Rian asked. At this, Kalana again tensed up. “What is it?” he asked, clearly sensing something was wrong.

Kalana, in the same low tone, said, “She says that if you and Lienne want extended-stay permits on Archian Prime, you need to help us here.”

Seiley barked a laugh. “You hear that, human pet? You’re taking a shift too.”

Rian placed his shield on his back and once more sheathed his axe. “Damn. Well, all right. If I’ve got to.”

“I’m okay with it,” Lienne said. “The island is warm and beautiful. I don’t mind staring out into the ocean for a few hours a day. As long as I don’t have to do the night shift.”

“Wait, time out,” Zach grumbled. “This is a fucking twenty-four-hour thing?”

“I think so,” Kalana said.

“Gods damn it all, Kal.”

“If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t my mom’s idea. This was something Alex told her to ask you to do. He—and my mom—say they’re actually doing you a huge favor. Like, really huge.”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“It’s ‘cause if you’re doing this as an official task for the Royal Roses, umm, they can’t recall you to fight in that war. At least, that’s what my mom told me Alex said, anyway.”

Zach coughed out a laugh. “Well, that’s dumb. They couldn’t have asked me to do that in the first place. I mean, okay, I guess they literally could, but it’s not like I would actually listen.”

Kalana shrugged. “I’m just the messenger.”

“What do they even mean by official task, Kal?”

Again, she shrugged. “All I know is that my mom got the Royal Roses to ‘assign’ you to this island in order to help protect Galterra from any more ‘unexpected’ events. But we don’t even have to start for another three days. Mom said nobody other than Trelvor and Seiley was cleared to come here until then, so we still have some time to just relax.”

Zach became bitter at the very notion that the Royal Roses thought they had a right to “assign” him a task. He was not a real member of their guild no matter what Vim Alazar said. And despite trying his best to sympathize with the totally understandable fear—and shock—felt around the world due to the event him and Kal had spawned, Zach really did think that, as a whole, Galterra was massively overreacting to this whole thing. Putting the disruption in Whispery Woods aside for a second, the fact of the matter was that, for the vast majority of sentient life on the planet, it really was just a simple, easily ignorable quest popup. And while it did expose the fact that the potential for danger existed, the chance of anything actually happening must’ve been so miniscule as to be not worth worrying about.

Then again, he thought, Kal might have leveled into her 60s here with her dad and not had any problems, but that still just amounted to the two of them living here alone. If fifty Elves started hunting here, the chance of them discovering something that causes a problem elsewhere probably goes up—assuming that ‘something’ like that even exists.

Zach rubbed his index finger back and forth along his chin while he thought things over. Then he grinned as an idea came to him. “Kal, I know what we can do.”

“Hm?”

He laughed. “When the first couple of Elves arrive, we can just assign them to do the work for us.”

“My human friend, we really can’t do that,” Trelvor said, his tone apologetic.

“Huh? Why not?”

“It would be dishonorable. This task was assigned to us specifically by the queen herself.”

Once more, Zach suppressed a biting remark. Though Trelvor might have behaved in a way that was very uptight for a guy roughly the same age as Zach, he came across as well-meaning, and there was no justification for Zach insulting him or pissing him off. So he let the retort die without ever being voiced, and instead he said, “You’re right. And at least we can hang out and go swimming for a few days.”

“I’m sorry,” Kalana whispered. “To all of you.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Seiley insisted. “Based on your story, you guys didn’t know this could happen. I’ll be honest: I didn’t either. Nothing like that’s ever happened on Archian Prime, at least not since I’ve been there.”

Kalana smiled at her, and she smiled back. Then Rian came and took her hand as Lienne took Trelvor’s. Zach, not wanting to be left out, offered his to Kalana—or almost did. Then he glanced at his remaining duration of Unleashed Phase and realized they’d spent so long talking he’d lost track of time.

“We should get going. I don’t want to pass out anywhere dangerous.”

“Pass out?” both Trelvor and Seiley asked.

“Too much to explain.”

Both of them exchanged a curious look, then let the matter drop. Then, as a group, they all continued the journey to where Kalana had built her newly constructed home.

*****

“Enough,” Jennali said to her class as she placed her hands on her hips and gave the thirty children in front of her a stern, strict look. Once more, she tried to direct their attention to the projected screen and refocus their attention back on math. As an upscale summer school for the children of upper-middle-class parents here in Varda’s Lair, the educational standards were higher than at other schools, and not even the excitement of today was enough to justify slacking. “The next person to bring that out is getting a call home.”

Only an hour or so ago, one of the strangest moments of her life had taken place. Gods, it had been frightening. She’d been teaching her class of ten- and eleven-year-old children how to use decimal points when a large box filled with text and information had suddenly popped out of her—and the rest of the class as well. At the time, she’d had no idea what could have caused it: what it could mean or what it implied.

The students, naturally, had all reacted with delight and childish innocence, but Jennali was left to fret over whether or not it meant that they were in any sort of danger. Naturally, as was protocol, the students had been hurried into the auditorium along with every other class, and together, all four-hundred children were made to wait quietly while they waited for word from the educational chancellor as to whether or not it was safe to resume instruction.

Thankfully, they’d learned relatively quickly that this was some kind of guild nonsense that had accidentally spilled out, and that it could be safely ignored and was of no danger to anyone. Though she’d been a bit shaken, Jennali had intended to promptly resume teaching.

And then the kids started acting up.

“I’m more like Grundor, not you,” one of the boys whispered to another.

“No, I am more like Grundor. Just ask Teena. She even says so too.”

“My name’s not Teena. It’s Kalana.”

“Okay, well my name’s Grundor.”

“The next person who speaks without raising their hand is getting five points deducted from next week’s quiz,” Jennali said, folding her arms across her chest. “The same goes for the next person to take out that…that information box. Please don’t make me have to start calling your parents.”

That did the trick. There was nothing they feared more than getting a phone call home. Even still, she knew she’d have to warn them again later on. Ever since the “event,” the children had been bringing out those information boxes during class.

It seemed that, now, when tapping one’s shoulder four times, there was something new that had never before been there. Something called “quests.” And the children were bringing out this distracting thing all class long, giggling and laughing as they did so. Without a doubt, this would be something that teachers would have to deal with all across the world. It was far larger than the stats screen, and when an entire class all had them out at the same time, it actually made it impossible to see the children or the children to see one another. Hopefully, the kids would get bored of it in a week. Until then, they were going to make her life miserable.

What in the name of the good Gods were those guilds up to?