“Ah, the antlers!” Lerrum frantically ran over to where the head had fallen. Two pristine antlers lay beside the dead stag’s head. Lerrum cheered and picked them up, only to immediately drop them. “Damn, still cold!”

  Evran retrieved a bundle of cloth from his pocket and delicately transferred the frigid antlers to his satchel. Not much else was salvageable from the shattered body, except perhaps a cut of frozen meat or two. Evran didn’t bother, however. With an earned sigh, he set the bag down and collapsed onto the grass away from the remains. Lerrum swiftly joined him.

  “Damn, I can’t believe it,” said Lerrum. “A terra stag! On an island this small? They’re rare, even on Aldea.”

  Seeing so strong a monster on such a small island was odd, especially one recently inhabited. Unlike common animals, monsters formed from coalesced miasma. Even if one slew every last monster on an island, in time, miasma would concentrate somewhere and spawn them anew.

  “Thanks for bailing me out at the end. I got sloppy.” Evran rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the grass. It was yet another close call for him.

  “Huh? You gave me the perfect opening! You weren’t even close to taking a hit. Ev, you’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. There aren’t many mages that could hold a barrier against a terra stag at that distance.”

  The compliment helped to cheer him up, as Evran realized he was being far too critical of his performance in the fight. They’d agreed on a strategy and executed it to perfection — nearly. His hubris led him to try an earth wall against the monster, despite Lerrum admonishing him not to. Earth was his favorite element, and he had excellent mana control. He thought he was strong enough to overpower the stag with it, but he was wrong. Thankfully, his mistake went unpunished this time around.

  The two boys continued to rest in the open field for a time, discussing spells, tactics, and past victories. Eventually, Evran pulled the crystalline antlers out of his satchel. They’d become warm enough to touch. Lerrum took one and held it up to catch the sunlight.

  “How much do you think Yorna will give us for these antlers?” asked Evran.

  “That old ball of fur will probably rip us off, as usual,” Lerrum replied, rising to his feet. “Don’t worry! And leave the haggling to me! Anyway, we should get moving. We still don’t have what we came for!”

  After imbuing the antlers with stabilizing mana, Evran returned their precious loot to his satchel and stood. Lerrum led him along a path at the base of the unnatural hill. Inside it was the island’s labyrinth, a place Evran was keen to avoid. They continued along the path until they reached the edge of the island. Most edges sloped gradually down to the float line, then gave way to sheer cliffs. Here, the labyrinth hill encroached upon the edge, leading to an uncommon occurrence of edge cliffs above the float limit.

  A reinvigorated Lerrum ran right up to the edge of the island, where the hill and the gently sloping plane met. He glanced back at the exposed face of the hill above the void and scanned the cliffside. “Ah, perfect! There’s one right there!”

  Lerrum pointed to something on a distant ledge. “Evran! Here’s why I brought you all the way out here!” Lerrum said excitedly. “Get that flower!”

  “You brought me here… for a flower?” Evran raised an eyebrow. On a narrow ledge some fifty meters away, a small pink flower hung precariously over the void. “I don’t know about this. It looks dangerous.”

  “It’ll be fine; you have your float harness! Remember, you owe me!”

  “For copying homework!” Evran interjected. Though he made a big show of resisting, he was already planning out a path forward in his head. Lerrum simply folded his arms and waited.

  Using earth magic, Evran began forming a ledge along the cliff face. He pulled material from the side and slid it down, then outward. He added corbeling underneath for additional support. It should hold… in theory. Evran tugged anxiously at his float harness before stepping out onto the newly formed ledge.

  “See, you’re doing great,” Lerrum cheered.

  A few loose stones tumbled down the sheer cliff and plummeted into the void below. Evran once again made the crucial mistake of looking down. With a deep breath, he began forming the next segment of ledge. It was noticeably wider than the first. After ten minutes of slow and steady progress, Evran arrived beneath the flower. He paused to admire the thing, finding it quite stunning.

  “Don’t just pluck it! Get the whole thing, roots and all!” shouted Lerrum.

  Eager to be done with his ordeal, Evran unsheathed his knife and carefully dug the flower out from its snug foothold. After a bit of scraping, it came free. Evran rested his right hand against the cliff, still holding his knife. In his other hand, he claimed his prize. Evran held the precious flower up for Lerrum to see. “Got it!”

  A sharp pain shot through his right hand. Evran screamed, pulling his hand away and dropping his precious knife. It clinked against the stony ledge and tumbled into the void. Evran nearly followed, but quickly regained his balance. He looked to where has hand had been resting and saw a large armored insectoid with a menacing tail.

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  A well-camouflaged rockstinger had stuck him with its venomous tail. An ambush predator, rockstingers used their impeccable grip to secure themselves to a wall, usually near a bird’s nest, or in this case, a flower. There they would wait, motionless, until some poor creature happened along. Normally they wouldn’t bother attacking something five times its size, but Evran managed to place his hand directly on the monster’s back. He was begging to be stung.

  Evran glared at the monster that had cost him his knife. It was quite difficult to pry a rockstinger from its perch, but Evran had an idea. He slammed his injured fist into the cliff, and at the moment of impact, cast a stone-shaping spell. The segment of rock the monster clung to detached and launched itself away from the cliff, taking the startled rockstinger along with it. It joined Evran’s knife down in the void.

  “Evran!” shouted Lerrum. “You alright? What happened?”

  “I’m fine! Just a rockstinger, is all. The flower’s safe!”

  The pain in Evran’s hand intensified. rockstinger venom was not deadly by any means, but it still hurt. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small vial with a vibrant green liquid in it. Evran swiftly downed the antidote, and his pain vanished in an instant.

  Throughout the entire ordeal, he’d kept a delicate but firm grip on his flower. Evran had endured too much to lose it now. Exhausted, he carefully made his way back down the series of ledges and rejoined Lerrum on solid ground. Treasure still in hand, he found a nice patch of grass and laid down on it.

  “I’m low on mana again. Let me rest for a bit,” said Evran. He held up his hand with the flower in it. “Here’s your prize.”

  “I saw something fall… thought it was the flower,” said Lerrum, taking the flower. He sat down next to Evran, who seemed more sad than tired.

  “It was my knife, the one my dad gave me before he died. I shouldn’t have even pulled it out while over the void. Gods, that was dumb!”

  Lerrum apologized profusely, but Evran said nothing in response, preferring instead to sulk in silence. Lerrum’s little adventure had been fun, but the loss of his knife weighed heavily on Evran.

  “Hey,” said Lerrum, breaking the silence. “When we first got here, I started reminiscing about my date with Kestie. It was the best day of my life! It felt good to come back here, but it also felt a bit hollow, you know?”

  “Huh?”

  “What I’m trying to say is that this island means a lot to me. But I’ll never be able to come back here. In a few days, the Tempest will arrive, and I’ll never see it again. But… I suppose I don’t need to. I still have my memories of that day, and you still have your memories of your dad.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Evran sat up and forced a fragile grin for his friend. His gaze returned to the flower Lerrum now held. “Oh, is that why you wanted this flower? To remember your date with Kestie?”

  “Huh? Oh, no, this is for Selsey!”

  Evran glared at Lerrum.

  “Hey, don’t get the wrong idea! It’s for you to give to her. You said you thought she was cute, so I did some asking around. Her friend said she’s obsessed with this flower.”

  “Oh,” replied Evran, relaxing a little. “So that’s what this was all about. Listen, I appreciate it, and things like this might work for someone as charming as you, but not for me. I doubt she’d be interested.”

  “If you give her this flower, she will! It’s called Lover’s Bloom. Girls go crazy over it for some reason, but it’s not easy to get. It only blooms after the first stormsign, and it’s only found on cliffs above the float limit, and it can’t be cultivated!”

  “Well, it’s certainly pretty,” said Evran, admiring the flower.

  It had four prominent petals in each cardinal direction and many smaller ones in between, all a vivid shade of pink. He began fantasizing about how Selsey might react after giving her the flower. Would she turn him down, or will he finally get himself a girlfriend? Evran smirked at the thought.

  He had little interest in dating these past few years at the academy, particularly when he’d first arrived. The loss of his family had been too fresh back then. In a less-than-admirable moment of weakness, he’d lashed out at one of his classmates who had asked him out. That was back in his first year, when everyone was still getting to know each other. None of the girls had bothered asking him out since.

  But things were different now. The wounds had healed, and Evran was finally ready to put himself out there. His timing couldn’t be worse, though. With graduation on the horizon, few of his classmates were looking to form new relationships. The one advantage Evran had going was his lack of post-graduation commitments. Once his time at the academy was over, he could go where he pleased.

  Winning Selsey’s heart wouldn’t be as easy as giving her some flower, however. She wasn’t just a pretty face. The girl was ambitious and smart, and her bubbly personality made her quite popular with the male students. She had any number of potential suitors to choose from, and Evran wasn’t some exceptional catch, not like Lerrum.

  “So, will you do it?” Lerrum asked, offering the flower to Evran.

  “I guess,” he agreed, taking it. “The worst that can happen is she says no. I can live with that, at least for a few months. Thanks, Lerrum. I appreciate the help!”

  “Don’t sweat it! And I’m really sorry about the knife. I’ll be sure to make it up to you, I promise!”

  After resting a few more minutes, they started back to the boat. They made good time through the forest with all the underbrush removed. No more monsters attacked them, either. As they passed by the abandoned settlement, Evran had an idea.

  “Hey Lerrum, before we go…” Evran said coyly. “Would you mind posing for me?”

  “Oh, a statue? It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those. Sure!” replied Lerrum, excited. He stood tall, puffed out his chest, and pointed to the hill in the distance.

  “Perfect!” Evran took out a small pebble of white marble and grew it using earth magic. He expanded and shaped the stone until it was roughly the same size and shape as Lerrum. Over the next few minutes, Evran started working out the various details as rapidly as he could. For a statue made in minutes, it wasn’t terrible!

  “All finished! Do you like it?”

  Lerrum shook himself free from his pose and examined the statue. “Absolutely brilliant! It’s your finest work yet! Shame no one will ever see it.”

  “Probably not.” Evran laughed. “But who knows? Maybe someday it will resurface like one of Keloran’s Rings. And people will think it’s an idol of some long-lost god!”

  “The god of hopeless romantics,” Lerrum joked. The two of them shared a cathartic laugh. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll take us home. I don’t want to imagine how much trouble we’ll be in if we aren’t back by sundown, especially with a Tempest on the way.”

  Their adventure successfully concluded, Evran and Lerrum boarded their ship and set sail for the island of Aldea.