Davion woke far before he was ready, the dreams of the night still lingering in his mind, a part of him was broken, missing everything that he had left behind, the other part was happy, seeing his past as if it were an epic of epic proportions. Forgetting where he was when he woke, his body felt wrong, like he wasn’t who he was supposed to be, sitting up with a jolt, patting his body down as he struggled to catch up with the last few weeks. As the dreams faded from his mind he remembered his new life, his adventures, his new friends. Pulling himself out of his tent, he was met by Hugh's eyes, a sad smile on his face.

"You okay?" Hugh looked at Davin, seeming to examine him.

"Yeah, just memories… I don't think there was anything new, but it felt like it was everything all at once…" Davin stood, stretching. "What time is it?"

"Just before six in the morning." Pulling up his status to check.

"Oh, is cadence up yet?" Davin asked as he looked around.

"Should be awake soon, they are usually awake around now." Hugh shrugged as he turned the page in Leaf.

"So I'll get started on breakfast, I have enough for something simple, but after that, we're mostly stuck with rations after that."

"Lucky for us, we should make it to Malach before that." Nodding along.

"Well since I am up." Davin shook himself and then wandered over to the cart, and jumped into his routine.

Using the last bits of what he had from his foraged supplies, the last of his oil, and even dipped into some of the rations to pull out a few key parts. The smell of cooking drug Cadence from their tent before they would normally be up.

"It is unfair when you wake up before me, I was not ready for that smell," Cadence grumbled as they stumbled out of their tent.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep anymore," Davin said as he stirred the frying greens in the pan.

"It is okay, I do not mind, it just means that I will be able to eat sooner." A smirk spread across their face.

"The two of you are far too easily swayed by your stomachs." Davin laughed as he continued to cook.

"In all honesty, I cannot cook, so having to eat something more than just rations is a treat that I cannot compare." The long growl that came from Cadence's stomach punctuated the point.

"I can't cook either." Hugh hid behind Leaf. "I can boil water for tea."

"Tea? That reminds me, we need a supply of tea." Davin said as he mentally added tea to his ever-growing list. "I don’t mind, you two take care of some of the things that I wouldn’t want to do." tipping his head to the pile of branches that they had been using for firewood.

"I don't bring much to the table for camp stuff," Hugh said as he put Leaf down.

"Dude, you don't really have a need to sleep… how is that not handy? You basically take the bulk of the late-night watch." Davin quickly stated while he looked up at Hugh.

"That doesn't do much…" Hugh pouted.

"We both get full nights of sleep because of you, how is that not valuable?" Cadence chimed in.

"I second that actually, you can see in the dark and you are one of our biggest ranged supporters for the time being," Davin stated as he began to dish up the hash that he had made.

Hugh's cheeks reddened as he looked away. "Hey, ganging up on me is unfair." his words coming out just above a whisper.

Davin laughed watching as his friend's cheeks reddened even further. "We're a team, so nothing to worry about."

Cadence nodded in agreement, digging into the food. They got on the road a bit earlier than they had the last few days, all of them excited to make it home and to significantly warmer weather. The road was quiet when they had set out, most of the people that they had shared the rest area with still only just getting up as they left. Truck was the slowest to get motivated, but Davin had gotten him going with some of the dry biscuits from the rations packs, which he had found out the day before that the big lug seemed to absolutely adore.

The road was quiet for the first part, without the traffic from the previous day they made up a bit of the lost time that they had from the day before. Davin felt that it was too quiet, but a good chunk of that was likely due to his mild paranoia, looking around turned up nothing.

"You guys have a feeling of déjà vu?" Davin asked as he found himself sitting up more, his head turning from side to side once more.

"Day ja voo?" Hugh asked. "Is that even a word?" The concerned expression was clear on his face.

"I would have to agree with Hugh, I do not think that is a word."

"Sorry, uh, it's just a phrase from back home, usually that something feels too familiar like you'd done it once before. But, do you guys feel like this area is off? Like something is too familiar about it?"

"Hmm? Oh, I see what you mean, this is where we fought the bandits, we just passed their 'toll' collection spot." Hugh looked around and nodded.

"Oh!" Davin spotted the blood stains on the road. "That's why it looks so familiar, thought we were being watched or something."

"It has been a few days since we were last here, so I suspect that we are being watched, likely from somewhere deep in the forest." Cadence pointed off into the distance.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"That would explain the feeling then. Oh, speaking of, how long does it take to… uh… respawn?" Davin asked tentatively, feeling like it was a question that wasn’t talked about.

"There isn't an exact amount of time." Hugh's head rocked side to side as he thought about it.

"From what most agree upon is that there needs to be someone that knows that you have perished, and that is where the disagreements happen," Cadence said as they kept looking off into the distance.

"No one can agree on what it takes to bring someone back, many of the mages suggest that there is a 'vessel' that is refilled, and when it is full that is when the person is brought back, and with this, the question then becomes what controls how fast that vessel fills." Hugh shrugged as he hurried Nibbles through this stretch of the forest.

"And there are some others that think it is purely based on the Patron's strength, but then that does not explain why bandits and others that are not allied with the city come back." Cadence's face went grim with the mention of the Patrons.

"There are a number of creatures that have respawned according to some of the histories, usually something big, but those instances were rare and usually seemed to represent a great tragedy from the previous worlds," Hugh said the last words just barely loud enough for Davin to hear, as if speaking it too loudly was a way to bring back the calamity.

"Have either of you had it happen?" Davin asked somberly, his mood slightly snuffed in the tense atmosphere.

"No, but this is my first real foray out of the city," Hugh stated.

"Once, but it was a while ago now. I do not remember all of the details, but I do have memories of a space in between." Cadence said it like they were remembering a fond memory. "I had a chance to talk with my Patron once again, I do believe that our conversation was nothing but mundane, but they were so excited for the chat." A sad smile was on their face as if remembering a lost loved one.

"Good to know, I am in no hurry to test that whole thing." Davin shivered, the phrase 'Like someone walking over your grave' came to mind. "So if they had a comp close enough, why were they carrying so much on them?" Davin felt the question needed to be asked, it all seemed strange.

"Likely because bandits don’t trust one another, they don't tend to be the most trustworthy." Hugh shrugged patting his small pouch of tokens he kept at his hip.

"What good would money do them? Wouldn’t they be run out of the closest town without any provocation?" Davin asked, earnestly curious now.

"Bandits have their own settlements out in the wilds, usually hidden, but it is not uncommon for them to sell their gains to a less than scrupulous individual and make a quick profit from it." Cadence filled in.

"So the only thing that is likely stopping us from being attacked is likely due to the fact that the group that attacked us likely hasn't respawned to be able to come after us with a larger force," Davin asked as he kept his guard up.

"Exactly," Hugh said plainly.

The rest of the day seemed uneventful by comparison, the higher amount of traffic that they had seen near the border of the seasons. When they took a break for mid-day they were well within spring, the warmer sun bathed them, Truck had positioned himself in the clearing so that none of the shadows touched him. Glad to stretch his legs, even with how comfortable the saddle was, Davin still got a bit stir-crazy from sitting for so long, pacing around he opted to wander into the woods to see if he could find anything that they could eat other than the bare minimum that they had left from the rations.

Spring was a far more prosperous season than winter ever was, pulling several greens that were just barely into the woods. He was beginning to that he was one of the few people who dove into foraging, never having any issues finding anything, but there could be more to how the seasons worked than he was expecting. A short walk got him enough edible flowers to make a simple salad of dandelions and wild garlic greens, using the last of the oil and seasonings.

"Where do you find all of these things?" Cadence said through a mouthful of the greens.

"Yeah?" Hugh seconded chewing loudly.

"It's just some of the wild plants that I know are edible, and they're always plentiful in early spring." Davin shrugged as he sprinkled some of the diced-up rations on top of his salad as a garnish. "You guys need to stop being so surprised, especially you Hugh, we walked on foot for the first half, you know how much I pulled in over the course of a day."

"Yes, but I thought you got lucky," Hugh argued as he continued to munch on his salad.

Davin shrugged as he started in. "I think plants grow faster here than normal."

"What do you consider normal?" Hugh asked as he pointed around them.

"You know, that is a very good point, we don't really have a benchmark… and I don't know plants well enough to even start to try and be the authority on their growth. So I will just roll with it." Shrugging as he continued to eat.

"There are many mysteries to this world that I cannot begin to comprehend," Cadence said as they shivered for a moment.

"And that is what the scribes seek to find out!" Hugh nearly yelled as he threw his fist into the air.

"Ah, that is a good point." Cadence nodded along.

Truck was unwilling to get up from his nap, letting out a long groan, Davin eventually got him up, but Truck insisted on walking in what little sunlight that lingered on the road. Truck's pace seemed to pick up the pace as he watched as the sun began to sink in the sky, seeming as though he was trying to keep up with the warmth. The sun had been down for some time by the time that they made it back to town.

The town of Malach was far busier than it was the last time that they were here. They all felt bad about leaving the animals in another stall in the stables, but Truck was far too large to be able to safely walk through the town without hurting anyone.

Many adventurers wandered the street that made up the adventurer's district, carts upon carts that seemed to be loaded with all kinds of odds and ends. The once open street was full of tables, people haggling over the items flooding the town. Davin would compare the whole thing to a flea market, each table seeming to form a stall, piles of goods stacked high, from what Davin could see, not a single token was being exchanged, seeming to rely on a barter system.

They walked passed it all for the time being, Davin fought the urge to inspect every single stall. The mission was clear, they knew exactly what they wanted, it had been days since they last had a bath, and with how busy the night was there were very limited options for the baths. They ended up getting a shared bath. Their token argument of wanting a bath to themselves only lasted a moment, having been half a week since any of them had bathed or showered.

Cadence hid behind a small partition as they stripped, Davin and Hugh both respectfully giving them space to change. This was a common enough occurrence for the bathhouse that they kept what Davin would compare to old-time swimsuits on hand for modesty coverings. They all wore them, Davin found them far more comfortable than he would have ever expected, the material was light but not so light that it was see-through when wet. The only part that Davin found awkward was getting a clean enough rinse after he washed to make sure that the 'swimsuit' was rinsed clean of soap before he climbed into the large soaking tub. Cadence's face was crimson when they finally joined Hugh and Davin in the bath, carrying an extra towel and hiding their face behind it.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, we are all adults, and there isn't anything that I haven't seen," Davin said as he stared towards the ceiling, relaxing.

"What about me? Are you implying that I haven't seen it before?" Hugh's face had also gone red, clearly unprepared to see cadence in such a vulnerable state.

"I am unaccustomed to being with others in this state of undress." Lowering themselves into the water quickly up to their chin.

"Hehe." Davin chuckled. "You're fine, nothing to get worked up about, we're a team, and all of this would have happened eventually, So it's easier to do now and get it out of the way.

"You are not wrong, but I cannot help but feel uneasy," Cadence responded as they leaned back in the tub