Glyn wakes up and, in a daze, looks around his room. Opening a bag, he finds it empty and rushes out of the room in a panic. Running through the manor, he finds Mi standing in her room with several rge chess pieces alongside various other items. He sms the door open and stomps toward her in a rage.

  “Mi!”

  Mi leaps up. “Yes!”

  “What did you do?”

  “I was just…. I found these when I was going through your things and they were dirty, so I was cleaning them.” She expins.

  Glyn shakes his head. “Fine. Just be more careful, especially with those!” He yells pointing towards the chess pieces.

  “What are they? They look like game pieces, but I felt some power flowing through them.”

  “I’ll expin.” He holds out his hand and a rge king piece emerges from the palm of his hand. “This is part of the game.”

  “Huh?”

  “When we signed up for this game to become the king, we all signed a magical contract. As part of it, they gave us these sixteen pieces, including my King Piece.”

  Mi nods. “So, is this part of your contract?”

  “That’s right. As the preverbal king, if we have our pieces taken or destroyed, we’re considered dead and we’re out of the game. The other pieces will allow us to contract allies and enhance their strength so they can fight alongside us in the game.” Glyn expins.

  “So, these are important. I understand.”

  Glyn nods. “Good. Then you understand why I can’t lose track of these things. I can only call one piece to me at a time. Mispcing the whole set would be considered an instant loss!”

  “I apologize!”

  “You didn’t know. Of course, I didn’t expect you to look through my things. Why did you?”

  Mi turns away. “Well, I wanted to be helpful. I said I would help you figure this out, but I do not know where to start, so I wanted to help if even in a small way.”

  Glyn smiles. “Well, I appreciate the effort. But you will be very helpful to me.”

  “How?”

  “First, we’ll need a map of the isnd.”

  Mi reaches into her pockets and pulls out a map, pcing it on the table. “I have one.”

  “Why do you have a map?”

  “I keep one on me in case I get lost sometimes. Also, sometimes I’ll be called to a pce I’m unfamiliar with as a member of the guard.”

  “What you don’t know about your own home?”

  “I wasn’t allowed to leave Gran and Gramps’s home for a while and I wasn’t allowed into the vilge. So, I don’t know about a lot of pces, especially if people frequent them.”

  “Repeat that.”

  “I don’t know about pces where people go.”

  Glyn’s eyes widen. “This is perfect!”

  “What?”

  “Think about it. A sudden monster's nest appears. If one were to appear in a pce where the guards' patrol or people frequent, then it would’ve been spotted quickly.” Glyn points towards Mi. “So that must mean….”

  “It’s a pce that’s hard to find or a pce where people don’t go.”

  “Exactly! So, I’ll need you to mark on your map all the pces where the isnders avoid.”

  Mi nods with a smile on her face. “Right!”

  Glyn hands Mi a pencil and she marks out nine spots on the map. “So, are these all the pces?”

  “Yes. These are areas where most of the isnders don’t go and are told to avoid for various reasons. Some are said to be haunted and some are just considered bad luck.”

  “You all are worried about spirits and the like, huh?”

  “That’s right. Spirits are dangerous creatures best not messed with.”

  “Funny, considering we fought all those ghosts.”

  Mi covers her ears and rubs her tail. “Don’t remind me about that.”

  Glyn stares at her and notices a third tail coming out of her. “Did you always have three tails?”

  “Huh? What do you mean? I’ve always had three tails.”

  “Alright.” Glyn smiles. “Mi, are you ready to get out there and get to hunting some monsters!”

  Mi nods. “Let’s go! Although I’m not all that excited to be doing this.”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be very simple. Trust me, okay?”

  “Alright.”

  The two leave the manor and search around the isnd. Checking the spots on the map, their first stop is an odd section of beach with bck sand. While fighting off some crab monsters, Glyn noted them and promised to come back and harvest some of their meat. The second pce was the deepest part of the forest, with nothing seeming to grow. Yet more monsters awaited them, but nothing they couldn’t handle as they leave to the next location up the mountain in the middle of the isnd.

  “What’s with all the monsters on this isnd? I guess that’s why there’s only one vilge, despite how big this isnd is.” Glyn says.

  Mi nods. “Yeah. The hunters and guards work hard to mitigate the monster popution. But there are a lot more of them nowadays. That’s why everyone’s on edge.”

  “Well, these monsters are pooling from somewhere, so we should be on the right track.”

  “Only seven more pces to check out.”

  “And there are bound to be monsters on each of them. This pce is almost a monster paradise.”

  “Come on. There are good things about the isnd. The forests, minus the monsters, are nice and calming. And the beach can be fun. Oh and….”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve never really gone around the isnd,” Mi says. “Brother has tried taking me around before. But I couldn’t go to a pce where people would show up.”

  “Because you’re a pariah?”

  Mi nods. “Right. Because I’m the way I am.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Mi pauses and stares forward. “Something’s here.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “I can sense something.” She rushes ahead, with Glyn following behind her.

  The two run up the mountain as Mi suddenly pauses. Glyn runs behind her, running out of breath as he catches a glimpse of the creature before her. Pushing himself forward, he tackles her to the ground as a bst of fmes rockets past them.

  “Huh?”

  “Don’t go bnk on me now!”

  “What happened?”

  “It probably caught you in its miasma. That’s what makes these annoying things tricky. But because I’m cursed, I don’t feel the effects of it.”

  “Of what?”

  “A Lesser Demon!”

  In front of the pair, a four-eyed completely white being stands before them. It stretches out its four arms as it lets out an unearthly cry that shakes the air itself. Its porcein skin bleaches the ground beneath its feet as it stomps forward towards the pair, opening its maw as fmes gather in its throat.

  “We have to move!”

  “We won’t be fast enough!” Mi yells.

  The Lesser Demon unleashes another burst of fmes at the pair, with Mi leaping up. She holds out her hands and blocks the attack. The fmes die into embers in her hands as her tails spark with fire.

  “What?”

  “I can absorb fire magic into myself.”

  Glyn nods. “You must have a naturally high fire affinity. But still….”

  Mi’s eyes sharpen as she gres ahead at the Lesser Demon. Her posture changes as the fmes grow stronger and her eyes glow a brilliant crimson. The Lesser Demon seems to ugh in a distorted voice at her and steps forward as it holds out its hand. Glyn grabs hold of Mi and opens up his book as it glows with a dark light.

  “What’re you doing?” She asks in a sharper voice.

  “Buying time!” He yells as his eyes go red and a bck mist seems to exude from the tome.

  As the Lesser Demon marches forward, it suddenly pauses, unmoving as it touches the mist. Glyn pulls on Mi and rushes down the mountainside with her at his side.

  The pair run to the base of the mountain, with Glyn catching his breath as Mi gres down at him.

  “Why did you run?”

  “Because we can’t beat that thing. Lesser Demons, despite the name, are powerful monsters. Don’t underestimate how strong it is.”

  Mi’s eyes glow red as Glyn stares at her. “I could destroy that thing. Next time, stay out of my way and I’ll….”

  Glyn watches as the glow fades from her eyes and her body nguage returns to normal. She looks around, confused, for a moment, before staring at Glyn.

  “Um….”

  “Do you remember what we were doing?”

  “Looking around the isnd before finding some white monster.”

  Glyn nods. “Right a Lesser Demon. We should tell the guards so someone can come to deal with it. It’s defiantly kicking up the monsters on the isnd, so if we leave it alone for too long it’ll only be trouble.”

  “Right. But how did we get away from it? I remember you tackling me and then….”

  “I used my book to pause it for a moment. But that trick will only work once and only work for about an hour. Less if it’s strong.”

  “Okay. Then we better hurry!”

  Mi rushes ahead as Glyn stares at her curiously. He shakes his head and runs behind her as he struggles to keep up.

  “One mystery at a time.” He thinks to himself.