“-and that’s why birds fly in a ‘V’ formation,” William said, already tired after two hours of talking

“Fascinating, the birds in this world do the same thing, but I never knew why,” Wylton replied, face still illuminated by his passion.

William had went over a lot of topics as did Stacey who was leaning on his shoulder, already seeming to deflate in energy over the last hour.

“What else?” Wylton added, expectation plain as day.

“Not much else from what I know, I’ve already covered different fruits and vegetables, and a lot of different creatures. I wasn’t an expert, Wylton. All I know is what I learned in my own late night boredom,” William said, trying hard not to sound irritated.

Wylton deflated at that, but after several minutes of staring at the ground, a calculating smile came to the man’s face. William hoped it wasn’t sinister in form.

William felt his bond and noticed that Echo had blocked out the old man’s question bombardment and was curled up under his two small wings. Echo wasn’t sleeping, but was clearly resting and trying to block out sounds around him. William was slightly envious of the little guy and would’ve happily joined Echo in seclusion if it would spare him from so many questions. William cursed himself for agreeing, but his bond was priceless so he grit his teeth and endured. He hoped it would end soon as he had come to the realization that there wasn’t a set time and the amount of info required wasn’t specified. At the worst case, he could be there for days or longer talking about Earth stuff, and worse, stuff he only had curious glances into.

William snapped out of his thoughts and inner woes as steps sounded behind him and Stacey. The pair turned and saw John and Jane approaching...eating meat skewers with one hand, whilst their free hands were held together. William and Stacey smiled slightly to each other at the sight of the skewers, and William wondered how much they had paid for the food. He would be a little annoyed if it was less than two coppers, though from what Wylton had said about Maggin, he doubted it.

As the new lovers reached William’s sitting group, John spoke up with a flush, “Sorry, we were...busy…we slept in for a little while longer than normal.”

William was tempted to wind his friend up but decided against it.

He pointed to the skewers and asked, “those smell good, how much were they.”

Jane grinned and replied, “Only three copper coins each! She said that she would do us a special deal as we were newcomers.”

William grinned wider than his sister, making the girl glare suspiciously at him whilst a confused John glanced between the two siblings, skewer in his mouth. “The man has his priorities right.” William mused.

William decided not to keep the ‘wonderful’ news from his sister and with glee said, “The normal price is two coppers a piece, Jane, you got hustled. The normal price is two coppers.”

William decided not to share that he had been generous and paid as much as his sister by giving some extra copper to the old saleswoman. What Jane didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

His sister let out a tired sigh at William’s words, clearly annoyed that William, from her perspective hadn’t been hustled. A thought then suddenly occurred to William.

He decided to voice the thought, asking, “how did you pay? I thought you didn’t have much money?”

Jane looked over at Wylton and replied, “Easy. I billed it to Wylton as part of what counted as their hospitality yesterday.”

Wylton looked surprised, he clearly hadn’t expected them to start creating a tab around

Everglade. It did make William wonder how far he could push the hospitality of their hosts, but swiftly removed the thought. He had plenty of money from the looks of it based on his very tiny experience of product pricing in their new world. Wylton regained his composure after another moment...mostly. William couldn’t help but laugh at the twist Jane had pulled on the old guy. Stacey and John both chuckled quietly too, particularly as Jane gave her best, innocent smile.

The Druid looked over at Serendipity and changed topic.

With a flick of his wrist, Wylton signed off completion of the task that William and Stacey had been fulfilling. William took in the prompt:

{Ascension_Protocol}

{Taskmaster Quest}

Task 1 – Explain details of various flora and fauna from [Origin Planet] to Taskmaster’s satisfaction.

[[Complete]]

Reward – Clearance of Debt with Taskmaster.

{End}

He hoped Wylton wasn’t pissed off with them, but as it was only a couple coppers, there shouldn’t really be a problem. That was his reasoning anyway. Going by the previous day’s walk up to Serendipity, William felt he had time to ask some questions about his and Echo’s bond.

“Wylton, can you explain the details about bonds like mine and Echo’s?” William asked, hoping that the guy wouldn’t trade the info for another task.

“That’s no problem at all, what would you like to know? Bear in mind that my own knowledge isn’t infallible on the subject.”

“Well, his mood isn’t soured by the looks of it, that’s good.” William took some time to consider what he should ask first. He decided to start with the system and work down form there.

“When I’ve bonded to items, the system has assisted in facilitating the bond. When I bonded with Echo, there was no system prompt and I can’t mentally prompt anything regarding the bond or Echo himself to appear. Is that normal?”

“Perfectly normal. Items aren’t living things...typically. The system is needed to allow a bond to occur with such items. When bonding with another living being, the soul’s of both entities connect directly, removing the need for the system to take anything into account. I presume you have seen your Soulspace, correct? Can you describe it to me please?”

“It’s dark. Like an abyss...with a steely mist swirling throughout it. What I believe to be my soul glows green, and the two items I’ve bonded to connect to my soul with these weird, I guess, ethereal chains. When I bonded with Echo, the mist transformed into loads of shapes that were similar size and form to Echo.”

“That’s mostly a normal Soulspace. Rather common. The mist represents the spirit of your soul and links to your Aura. As you form a bond with another creature, the spirits become linked and as you, the dominant part of the bond, grow and increase in rank, your Aura will grow with your mist and the bonded creature. I can see you’re at Steel rank currently, so Echo will have a strong head start over most Phaselings.

“The Star like shape you saw and the adjacent ones are your soul’s core and the item cores. These are not linked even slightly to Essence Cores by the way. Every person has a unique core layout or Core Constellation as it’s widely called. Less complexity indicates a stronger core. The binding chains determine how complex a core is and in the most complex cores, multiple lines bend and twist to form concepts that are too advance for the users at early levels. If they are straight and taught, then that indicates the Constellation will be powerful, simple, and strong. These three traits are rare in such people, but if the chains of your bonds are of that quality, your concept will be powerful. Being bonded to a creature however, is completely disconnected from your Core Constellation.

“The final detail you should know is of the black abyss surrounding the Soulspace. It is the current limit of your soul. As you grow, the Spirit and Core will grow with you, and the mist will start to push the Abyss back, freeing more space and allowing your Aura, Rank, and Mist to increase to the next full rank.”

William as amazed, both at the potential he knew was available to him and at how knowledgeable Wylton was on the topic.

“Do druid’s normally learn soul stuff?” William asked, curious if the class was that powerful.

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Wylton laughed with genuine mirth at that as they entered the ground level of Serendipity.

It took a moment for the old guy to calm himself, but he eventually replied, “By the Ley-lines no! I’m an oddity you see. I like to read and learn about more than nature, even if nature and its function is my life’s purpose. Living as long as I have, I’ve had many experiences and teachings form people who have come and gone both in life and in travel. Most of the soul knowledge I have is basic information. You know pretty much the same as I do about it now.”

William felt for his bond and even though Echo had phased to near invisibility, he was still on William’s shoulder. William reached up and scratched Echo’s fuzzy and hairy head. William heard happy squeaks and felt Echo’s joy down their bond.

As they walked, William noticed that they took a different path up Serendipity’s inner sanctum.

Stacey seemed equally curious and asked, “Are we going anywhere special?”

“We’re going to fulfil my end of the reward you earned for the task you completed Stacey,” Wylton replied, pointing to a door several feet above them at the top of the ramp they were walking up.

Jane introduced herself into the conversation by saying, “What reward? Have you two been doing tasks without us?!”

She seemed grumpy at that and with a placating gesture William put on his best smile and recounted the story.

After several minutes of grumbles from a slowly subdued Jane, William finished his recount of events. He had omitted how long winded it was explaining so much to Wylton, but he didn’t want to offend the guy.

“Can me and John also agree to the same task for conditions equal to Stacey’s?” Jane asked, looking hopeful.

Wylton rushed down to the pair and got close, body language failing to hide his eagerness.

“I’m certainly happy to do that. As we have other things on the agenda, we can sort the rewards first and you can stay behind after any tasks you want to take on are accepted to honor the completion of this specific task. Come. Come.”

Wylton didn’t wait as he rushed to the door ahead of the group. He waved for them to hurry, clearly excited at gaining more new info. The group did and William was doing his best not to laugh at John and Jane as they had no idea what mental anguish they had just agreed to.

Jane and John in their excitement went in first and Stacey whispered, “After the first few hours, I’m sure they’ll be considering whether their bonds were worth it.”

William chuckled at that as he and Stacey entered last. The room was not what any of them had expected. The doorway led into a small entry that was roughly five feet wide before the rest of the space was occupied by laced and latticed twigs of wood. They didn’t have to wait long as Wylton waved his hands and a small doorway formed, just like the outer wall did when they arrived at Everglade. This obstruction was different in some way, however.

William saw no vines intermingled or guard spots. The sticks of wood were also thinner than the outer walls. Was this a canopy of sorts? As the group walked through the new doorway, William’s question was answered. Dozens of falcons or Aeron Falcons as the councilors had mentioned the day prior were sleeping, walking, squawking, and doing all the other bird stuff they did. Wylton saw some of them on perches and each had little harnesses on their breast area that held rolls of parchment. William figured that those were the specific courier birds that Everglade used. The more he looked, the more it became clear what the space was. The area was a massive nest. A nursery to raise the young falcons into dutiful messengers.

He didn’t get to ponder any more for the moment as Wylton spoke up, “As my reward, the three of you may make a bond with any of the untrained falcons present. The trained ones have red collars, and the ones with blue collars are in training. Any without collars can be bonded, so long as they aren’t a chick. Bonds with these Falcons can only form after they grow into fully functional birds. As the ones you bond with will have had no training, you can train them to hunt, to message, and so on. They have a mental affinity to learn and adopt the first thing they are introduced to. We use them because they can quickly gain an affinity for message bearing. If you told them to hunt critters for a day or two, their path is best suited to combat. These are just examples however, and your bonds are your responsibility. Point one out you want to bond with and I’ll bring them over to you. We’ll start with Stacey as she was the first person to earn the reward.”

Stacey grinned wide and started surveying the untrained. William focused his attention on her excited face. She was stunning. So earnest and open with him. She didn’t seem to judge him for his dark deeds and killing. Maybe they would discover that they were destined to be together. IT could also be William’s first relationship, but he hoped it would be the relationship. He watched her eyes lock onto a specific spot and turned to face it.

William spotted a grey feathered falcon standing alone, cleaning its feathers. All the others of similar size and possibly age were walking around the grey falcon and ignoring the stand-alone’s chirping. After a few more attempts they stopped chirping and continued to clean their feathers. William understood that feeling well. It seemed Stacey could see that the grey bird was sad and alone.

“Wylton, I want the grey one please?” Stacey said, her gaze remaining on the bird.

William was moved by her gesture. Maybe he could have grown up more rounded as a person if someone had shown him the same support.

Wylton seemed uncertain, but humored her. Stacey was holding the bird within a few brief moments. William could see the two looking at one another and knew the vacant stare was a bond forming. William hurried to brace Stacey up in case she flopped to the ground unconscious during the process. Sure enough, she started to slacken and he held her arms together under one of his so that the bird wasn’t dropped, and kneeled behind her using his body as a back brace while his other hand held her upper thighs from below. It was incredibly awkward to pull off, but his dexterity came in handy in that moment. He didn’t know about how much strength had a factor however, he didn’t need much as Stacey was slender and shorter than him.

She opened her eyes shortly after and stood to her feet, smiling warmly at William. He figured she had worked out what he was doing.

Stacey placed the grey Falcon on her shoulder and said, “Everyone, meet Ashen. He’s amazing.”

Ashen was a good name for the bird. The feathers could be dubbed ashen in color after all.

Jane and John stepped forward, drawing Wylton’s attention. He walked over to them and stood waiting for the pair to make their decisions. William and Stacey watched on as the two decided to sit down back to back after seeing what happened with Stacey during the bond. They watched as Wylton collected a duet of falcon’s that were stood particularly close to one another and presented them to John and Jane.

William had a suspicion that the falcon’s were literal lovebirds. He glanced at Ashen and noticed that the beak curved down into a slight point. Comparing beaks, William saw John receive another pointed beaked falcon while Jane received one with a slightly leaner frame and shorter beak.

That confirmed it for William. Jane got a female falcon and John picked a male one. William worried a little for his friend and sister as they had pretty much telegraphed being together that day and they had already agreed to bond to two birds that had an attraction to each other. He hoped it didn’t get awkward and the pair didn’t jump the gun. It took a moment for him to catch himself in the critique as he had jumped into bed with two girls the moment the opportunity presented itself. In the end, he decided that it wasn’t his problem and began to play with Echo while they waited for the bonds to finish.

After the bonding had finished, William waited for the pair to collect themselves before walking over with a squeaking Echo in his arms and Stacey holding her arm out as a perch for Ashen.

William didn’t waste time and immediately asked, “So what’re their names?”

Jane answered first, “Lily.”

John followed with, “Snow.”

Wylton approached the group and with an approving smile commended them on their naming choices.

John looked at Snow then to Wylton and asked, “Should we train them immediately?”

Wylton shook his head dismissively and replied, “No, give yourself and your bonded time to acclimate to one another. Haste makes waste. With that out of the way, Let’s take you to the other councillors and discuss next steps.”

No one protested the idea so the group spent the next twenty minutes making their way back to the chamber where yesterday’s meeting had took place. Once inside, they saw Denlar and Milla stood near the door on the inside with smiles on their faces. William had a feeling they were smiles of delight that some of their unwanted tasks would be completed very soon. Needs must though, he told himself.

Denlar spoke first, “My first task involves dispatching some wolves in a den about ten miles further south, near the border to the Forest of Myra. I can give you a hand drawn map that is admittedly rough, but somewhat accurate. If you get close enough, you won’t miss their pack-mates on the outskirts.”

Milla spoke next, “My task is not combat focused, and instead is more internal work to Everglade. I need people to go and hand out supplies from our storage depot to specific clients. These courier services are too big for our falcons to carry so we need people to fill in for the work.”

Wylton also wanted to speak and pointed to John and Jane specifically, saying, “These two need to finish an existing task with me first, but William and Stacey can accept either one of your tasks. Do note, however, William and you too Stacey, that only one task can be active at a time. The only way to be rid of the task is completion, Taskmaster withdrawing the request, or the task is abandoned by the Taskbearer. Abandoning a task without valid reason, justifiable to the Taskmaster results in a strike on your AU membership. This is a three strikes and you’re out type of system, so bear that in mind before picking tasks to complete.”

William wanted to fight some wolves and stretch his muscles with a mini adventure, so he looked to Stacey and said, “I want to clear the wolves out from the woods. I need the exercise. Are you up for it too?”

She thought on it briefly and nodded before replying, “Ashen could probably do with a change of scenery so yeah, let’s do it.”

With the decision made, William and Stacey nodded to Denlar.

William held up a hand and said, “Before we accept the task, can we request that the reward be the sending of a couple of your talented guards to train the other people back in Greenwell in melee combat please? The people I intend to be trained are those with either a Primary or Secondary Class of fighter and/or Scout.

Denlar considered the proposition for what felt like an eternity before nodding in agreement. William then saw a new task appear:

{Ascension_Protocol}

{Taskmaster Quest}

Task 1 – clear local Wolf Den to protect travelers moving to and from Everglade.

Reward – Allocation of trainers to Greenwell to educate residents on melee combat.

{End}

With that done, William and Stacey left the room, leaving a contemplative John and Jane behind. As they closed the door, William heard Wylton clap his hands and say, “Okay you two, let’s hear all about Earth.”

“A moment of silence for our fallen comrades.” William thought, chuckling at the quandary John and Jane had gotten themselves into.