Minily, Laiko, and the unlucky courier sprinted over the grassy hills after being cleared by Alora, the elven councilwoman, to leave the city and find the missing citizens.

  217 people needed help and Minily would find all 217. Using her skill, they followed a path of the lost to bring them home. Somehow, they had gotten quite far from the city quickly and that’s why an all-out sprint was necessary. Unfortunately, the city hadn’t recruited any beast tamers yet and supposedly the horse-like creatures that graze on the grassy hills were unnaturally aggressive.

  “WHAT’S YOUR NAME AGAIN?” Minily yelled over the rushing wind towards the courier.

  “Aggilla!”

  “WHAT?”

  “Aggilla!”

  “WHAT?”

  “Ag…AGGILLA!”

  “Woah there’s no need to shout!”

  “Stop messing with her, Minily! I’m sorry for my friend. I’m Laiko and like I just said this lady who thinks she’s too funny for her own good, is Minily. Pleasure to meet you.”

  “I’m hilarious! You just don’t get my humor. Right, Aggilla?”

  “Uh, yes madam!”

  “MADAM? He literally just told you my name is Minily and you call me madam?”

  Aggilla flinched a bit before leaning towards Laiko and attempting to whisper.

  “You have one scary mom.”

  Laiko burst out laughing and almost tripped going down a hill.

  “HIS MOM?! SERIOUSLY?! Do I even look old enough to be his mom?”

  “Minily, I think you and my mom are the same age.”

  “Okay, but do I look it? NO!”

  “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, mada…Minily. You both came into town together. At first the guard said you were lovers, but when it was determined one was much older than the other the conclusion came to mother and son.”

  “Friends wasn’t even an option? What kind of people live on this world? That city really needs to get its act together.”

  “She’s not my mom, Aggilla. Just a friend. Actually, I think she’s my best friend. She liked me so much she even came all the way to this world just to find me again.”

  “That sounds like something a lover would do on our world.”

  Minily nearly turned around and punched the courier. Instead, she waved her arms in the air in frustration.

  “See? It doesn’t feel good to be messed with, does it?”

  Minily turned and glared at Laiko before pulling out a sweet roll and eating it in front of him.

  Laiko audibly gasped. “You’ve been holding out on me? How many of those have I bought for you and you, what? Have a secret stash of them?”

  Aggilla looked between the two in utter confusion. She knew this was going to be an interesting trip especially since it was her first assignment out of the city since her class day, but being stuck with the two bickering adventures was more than she expected.

  “I don’t understand. Is eating a confection some kind of insult on your world?”

  Laiko flashed her a look before a sweet roll appeared in his hand from the nexus.

  “Here, try this and you’ll understand.”

  Hesitantly Aggilla took the sticky, gooey roll and bit into the warm center of pure deliciousness. Her eyes widened and she devoured the rest without a second thought.

  “You weren’t going to share those?!” She said to Minily.

  “Exactly! She’s a true monster!”

  Minily simply shrugged before picking up the pace towards the motes of light that her skill showed as the faint traces of the lost.

  Both Laiko and Minily were surprised that Aggilla could even keep up with them. She had just gotten her class two weeks prior and hadn’t had too much experience using it yet. Of course, they weren’t pushing themselves to the absolute limit to help her out, but still she hadn’t slowed down or complained one time.

  A courier class is designed to follow the path of speed and slippery escapes to keep precious missives and cargo safe. She would be next to useless in a fight, however she would be fantastic to relay messages if something were to happen. They didn’t mind having her along and getting her some experience. She had already leveled up twice in the three hours since leaving the city.

  Even when the grassy hills were replaced by rocky terrain, she stayed sure-footed. Daylight started to fade and camp would need to be made. Minily was amazed by how the terrain had changed so quickly once again.

  After the hills ended, the rocky terrain lasted for a few more hours before turning into a sea of plateaus and canyons. For camp they decided to set up right outside of one of the canyons where they would have to go down to follow the traces of light. It would be much safer to stay on the higher ground, but Minily was scared to lose the trail somehow. Something inside her told her to stay on the path.

  Aggilla had started to provide them with information on the odd terrain they had encountered during their time on the new world. Apparently, their planet had always been a bit of patchwork in terms of biomes. On Motholo, they bled together in a way before one would become more prominent, but here it was a stark difference. A line drawn in the sand. One side was grassy hills and the other flat, rocky nothingness.

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  Their current location was known to the locals as River Canyons which both Minily and Laiko found odd since it was bone dry everywhere they looked. Aggilla explained that it was at one point more of the flat, rocky terrain, but a powerful class chosen fought a beast from the stars and his jets of water carved the canyons during the battle. The legend states that the beast’s body created a crater when it fell that was now the closest ocean from their location.

  Also, according to Aggilla’s intelligence, the canyons are a hotspot for bandits and class chosen who don’t have a proper home. Lizard-like beasts ranging from level 34 to 71 roam the canyon walls for prey.

  Realistically, their only fighter would be Laiko and Minily didn’t believe he could take a level 71 anything, however, she could always shield them long enough to escape. From what her skill was showing, they simply had to run through the obnoxiously long canyon. She wasn’t sure what lay beyond the canyon, but she was certain they would soon find out.

  “Alright, let’s all get some rest. Tomorrow we will leave before the sun is up and able to bake these rocks. You two better stay in your own tents.”

  “Minily!” Laiko and Aggilla both yelled with a slight tint of red in their faces.

  Minily simply laughed and went into her tent. The two younger class chosen looked at each other before scurrying into their own tents without a word.

  The once pirate set up one of her shields around the camp while she slept and wasn’t worried about any attacks in the middle of the night. Fortunately, no one even attempted such a thing and the three found themselves away just as the sun was peaking over the horizon. With a little breakfast, a sweet roll each, and some cold water they set out to make as much progress along the canyon floor as they could before the heat bared its fangs.

  As it turned out, the canyon started to bake much earlier than expected and the trio stayed close to one of the canyon walls to make use of the shade it provided. They felt like their sweat was instantly evaporating when it dripped onto the canyon floor.

  Midday brought with it the unrelenting misery of the heat. There was no escape from the oppressive rays. Minily slowed the group down and they made use of her spatially expanded water skin. Laiko ended up buying some parasols to protect their practically sizzling skin from the ball of fire in the sky. The bamboo shade bringers did nothing for the dry heat enveloping them, however.

  “I’m starting to see how beneficial Kumo’s Cloud Cover skill was. This is brutal.”

  “Worse than being stranded in the open water of the ocean for a few hours?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I was on a magical floating forest with Synexus, remember?”

  “I don’t understand. How does a forest float?”

  “You missed the magical part of that. Trust me when it comes to our friend, you just kind of accept things that shouldn’t be accepted.”

  “What’s worse is that he never seems to understand how bizarre his skills are. When he explained some things to me, I had to zone out for a while.”

  “He would probably make us some crazy seaweed that makes it snow even in the hottest temperature if he were here right now.”

  Minily and Laiko both laughed at her comment. Aggilla just looked even more confused, but neither would bother explaining.

  ***

  Synexus sneezed multiple times in a row in rapid succession.

  “Are you okay? Can you even get sick?” Kumo was checking him over up and down.

  “His kind can get sick, but it has to be extremely serious for that.” Gene explained.

  “I’m fine. That was super weird, but it seems to have passed.”

  “Maybe someone was talking about you.” Zuls said from behind them.

  “Who would be talking about me?”

  “The seamstress, her daughter, the entire Goldhill military, the Coalition, the people of Slate, those Cloud people, the random people you became friends with in Gale. Who wouldn’t be talking about you?” Kumo said with a laugh.

  ***

  After a long, hot day the sun finally started to set, and the trio were ready to fall down in exhaustion.

  “That was awful. New plan, we travel at night. Agreed?”

  “Minily, that would not be wise. The creatures here are nocturnal and bandit activity normally happens with the day is over.”

  “I can see why. Imagine trying to rob someone who is soaking all their stuff in sweat. Still, we are already sleeping down here. Would it not be better to be moving targets rather than sitting ducks?”

  “That is a valid point. Sorry, Aggilla, I’m going to side with Minily on this one, but we definitely need some rest first.”

  “I will trust your judgement then. That does sound like a better situation for us.”

  “Alright then! Two hours and we leave. That should give the canyon a bit to cool off a little more.”

  The trio crawled into their tents ready to collapse. Minily was about to close her eyes when an arrow bounced off her shield. She groaned and rolled back outside.

  Standing at the top of the canyon were a dozen archers all ready to rain arrows down on the trio. One of the archers was a woman wearing a lizard skin mantle completely covering her body.

  “You are being addressed by the Scale Clan. You will turn over all your valuables as payment for traversing our canyon!”

  Minily rubbed her eyes as Laiko and Aggilla came crawling out of their tents.

  “How are you wearing a leather mantle in this heat?”

  Whispers and murmurs could be heard between all the archers.

  “Do you believe your life is that worthless that you will joke in a time like this instead of complying?

  “We’ve already proven your arrows can’t pierce my shield. You all should go to sleep or better yet find a new home. This place is awful during the day. Become pirates. You’ll like it a lot more! Better sights at least.”

  Aggilla was afraid and Laiko silently nudged her to tell her it’d be okay.

  “You insolent woman! You will not address the Scaled Lady in such a manner!”

  “Scaled Lady? You should probably get that checked out! I know a good plague doctor.”

  That caused Laiko to laugh a bit.

  “You dare laugh! Fine, your lives are forfeit under the trials of the Scale Clan! Attack!”

  A storm of arrows fell on the trio. Each of the arrows bounced off of Minily’s shield. It was one of the skills that she constantly worked on, and it had already reached level 58. As the arrow tips met the shield it sounded like rain hitting a metal roof in the middle of a storm.

  After a few minutes it finally stopped and the Scale Clan archers were looking down in awe. Most were out of breath.

  “Thanks for the arrows! Mind if we sell them on the nexus? We need more progress credits for sweet rolls.”

  A primal scream from the Scaled Lady made Minily stop with the teasing. She threw her mantle off and a massive fireball sparked into existence right above her. With another yell she hurled it at the trio. The entire clan watched as the flames engulfed the shield completely. Some even smiled, thinking they had just roasted their enemies. Suddenly a dagger shot through the flames towards the Scaled Lady. With a small movement of her head, she dodged the dagger.

  “Heh, you’ll have to try har…”

  A flash behind her caused her words to cease and before she could even turn around the dagger was being dragged through her throat. None of the other members of the clan were quick enough to register what had happened. Laiko continued down the line using his spectral daggers to teleport and assassinate each member. Their bodies lifelessly fell to the bottom of the canyon hitting it with a wet thud.

  Aggilla watched in awe at the combat prowess of her new friends. It had only been thirty seconds since Laiko had thrown his first dagger and yet he teleported back down before the last body even fell from the cliff overhead. She was a bit taken back at how easily he had killed the humans, but she understood that it could have been them. Without Minily’s shield they would have been skewered dozens of times over.

  “Such a waste of potential. They really would have made great pirates. Sorry you had to do that Laiko.”

  “I’m not. They made their choice and we all know how final a choice can be. It was them or us. Simple as that.”

  Minily shook her head in worry as he ducked back into his tent. She nudged Aggilla to do the same. Two hours of rest and they would head out to follow the lost once more.