“What do you mean no?” Cara asked her daughter incredulously.

“You know why, mother!” Parish snapped. This wasn’t the first time in the past couple of days this had come up in conversation since Parish told her mother that she would not travel with her to Alessia's home world if Sam did manage to find a ship that Cara could pilot off this planet.

“I will be able to bring you back in a cycle or two, five at the most!” Cara argued as she had several times already.

“My mind is made up, mother!” Parish growled, grabbing Nara’s hand and walking faster to escape her mom.

They were all traveling slowly in the direction they last saw Sam traveling. At their children’s insistence, all the parents left except Cara since she was now determined to locate Sam in hopes they could work together to get off the planet and finally allow Cara to complete her quest.

Once Chad had accepted the world quest and they all recovered, Nara felt compelled by the quest to travel roughly in the same direction as Sam. Although it wasn’t the exact direction, she had convinced them to try and find Sam first, so long as it didn’t lead them too far off course from their quest location.

“She only wants what is best for you,” Nara told Parish after a few minutes.

Parish sighed in frustration, "I know, but she has to understand this is my home,” She gestured around and to the sky with her free hand, “I consider this world and the moons as my responsibility, and I intend to see this quest through to the end,” she smiled at Nara, “Who knows, once you are on your throne and established I might be able to contact my mother to come to pick me up then. Or Sam might come to sweep me off my feet to travel the stars with her.”

Nara laughed at that but still responded half seriously, “I might be tempted to give up my throne if she made an offer like that to me.”

Parish smiled into the distance, “She does have a certain…appeal about her, does she not?”

Brenda walked up and asked, "Are you talking about Sam?" When Parish nodded, the Berserker said, "I am not sure; I think I might be partial to that little Bloodmorph,” she ran her hands over her scantily clad chest as she talked about Lupie, “Can you imagine it? Those blood tentacles of hers stabbing into you while at the same time pleasuring you…oh, the thought of it gives me—”

“We get it; you are weird,” Chad cut Brenda’s masochistic description short as he joined them. His armor made it easy for him to push through the waist-high grass, making Nara a little jealous.

Seeing Nara struggling through the grass, Parish said, “Walk in front of us, Chad. Can you not see your queen struggling?”

“What? Oh, you are serious,” Chad said, picking up his pace to clear a path for the petite women. He said over his shoulder, “Miss Samantha…er, Sam; she is quite terrifying to me if I am being honest.”

At Chad’s words, Naris snorted a laugh from where he walked with Nina a few meters away from the main group. Nara noted he was clearing a path for the young archer as they walked. “Give him a body, and the first thing he does is abandon me,” Nara thought with mild amusement, watching the Moonblight fawn over Nina. Nara shook her head, thinking, “Why do they not just fuck and get it over with? I cannot stand the sexual tension between those two! What is he waiting on, permission from her father or maybe that Imp that was with him?” Nara giggled at her inner thoughts, getting curious looks from those around her, but she just waved it off.

Naris looked over his shoulder at Nina and said, “The last time Sam and I fought, she severed one of my hands and a foot with a concentrated beam of pure magic, cutting down several dozen trees in the process. Her power is…devastating.”

“That is something I think we can all agree on,” one of the quadruplets chimed behind them.

“This Samantha sounds like a powerful opponent if all I have heard about her is true,” Cara said. She had been listening to the group chat about the enigmatic Pathfinder for days. She couldn't help but feel a little trepidation about traveling with her to return home. “However, if she evolves before we escape this place, we might stand a chance against the archbishop. With her raw power and my technical knowledge of the defenses and layout of the cathedral, we could stop the church from following through with—” Cara stopped herself. Her mission came first. Still, she glanced at her daughter with worry; if the church intended to do what it did to the other planets according to those old records…no, she would finish her mission and return before that ever happened!

Parish looked at her mother curiously. It was not like her to seem so…worried. When Cara said no more, Parish dismissed it as nothing that should concern her.

Nara’s group traveled until they came to the beginning of a massive tear in the planet. Staring at the canyon, Nara was forced to make a difficult decision. If they took the path to the right around the rim of the canyon, it would put them on one of the trade route roads leading them to the nearest tribe. Taking the road would also keep them moving in the direction the quest pushed Nara to travel. But if they went to the left side, they would continue in the direction Sam went, with no road, only an endless sea of grass.

Nara chose the path to the right, hating herself for it. She felt she was abandoning her friend as they started on the road around the canyon's rim. Her only consolation was that Cara chose to track Sam and parted ways with them after she all but forced Parish to take a communication device, four scout drones, and a controller for them.

Parish had reluctantly accepted the gifts from her mother and promised that should their quest take them to the Farenth Tribe of the Elven Kingdom and, more importantly, grant them an audience with Parish’s father, Tirith Lightrunner; she would tell him her mother still loved and missed him. Although a little annoyed at her mother’s request and that she would not do it herself, Parish reluctantly agreed.

As Nara anxiously watched Cara disappear into the distance, Naris placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. “Do not worry; I am sure Sam is fine.”

Nara shook her head at his words, responding, “It is not Sam I am worried about.”

***

Sam grumbled, “Why did I insist on leaving the tent in Nara’s inventory?”

“Because it was a piece of junk, and you didn’t think you would need it?” Lupie responded in her deep, monotone wolf voice.

“I was so wrong,” Sam mumbled into the wet fur of Lupie’s side, lamenting her fate as she tried to stay warm in the blood cocoon her companion formed over them to act as a shield from the cold bullets falling from the sky. The rain was pelting the cocoon. Each drop was like an angry missile of near-freezing water.

On the afternoon of their second day after the Banta incident, a massive black cloud formed over the plains, shrouding the land in darkness within seconds before dumping its contents of freezing rain, trying its best to drown the grasslands' inhabitants.

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The storm caught Sam and her companions entirely off guard. Sam didn't even know it rained on this planet; she assumed it did but had yet to witness it happen. They initially tried to find the edge of the storm, but it didn’t take long to realize they had no idea how far the storm stretched, and visibility was nearly zero. So, finding one of the small hills scattered across the landscape, they hunkered down on the slope, putting the hill between them and the brutal wind of the storm. The position offered a small amount of respite, but they were already soaked and cold.

Sam added a kinetic dampener to help Lupie when she started running low on mana from the constant bombardment of the heavy, cold rain. She had a sneaking suspicion the rain was magical because it depleted their mana and chilled them to the bone. Nul was the only one who seemed utterly unaffected by the cold and happily splashed around in the puddles of water flowing under Sam and Lupie’s shields.

“It must be nice to have a maxed-out cold resistance; even with mine as high as it is, I still feel like I’m being frozen alive…again,” Sam thought as she listened to the splashing void slime. She did her best to crawl inside her Bloodmorph for warmth without making it seem weird.

Sam had no idea how long they had stayed like that, but the storm seemed to be over just as quickly as it had started.

Emerging from their makeshift shelter, they were greeted by an altered landscape. Enormous lakes formed where there had been only grass before, turning the small hills dotting their vision into islands of an inland sea. The scene was breathtaking, set against the vibrant colors of the setting sun. The blue orb of the Denaris moon was already in the sky, and Tenaris was peeking over the horizon. Sam still wondered how, if Nara was successful, the moon receiving planetary status would affect Hallista but figured she could only wait and see like everyone else.

Climbing to the top of their ‘island,’ Sam surveyed her surroundings. Each of the many hilltops was occupied by creatures of all sorts and sizes escaping the icy waters of the plains. After watching the scene for a while, Sam concluded the waters were going down ever so slowly, so with that comfort, she set up their camp. The air was crisp and cool from the breeze blowing across the cold waters, so Sam and Lupie welcomed the warm fire.

Lupie transformed into her bipedal form, which had the added benefit of drying her off. She was snuggled under the Blade Tail Panther fur beside Sam on the two-person camping chair near the fire. The two of them slowly warmed each other, enjoying the quiet crackling of the fire as they gazed out at the altered land bathed in shadows from the soft light of the moons. After some trial and error, Sam partially dried herself by forming a layer of mana under her skin and pulsing it outward. It wasn’t foolproof, but it did give her a head start, and it took the fire only a short time to finish the job. Nul was happily snoozing nearby, wrapped in the blanket Sam had made.

“Mistress, are you awake?” Lupie asked in a quiet tone. Her breath was hot against Sam’s bare neck, where she was resting her head.

“Yes, I’m up. I don’t need sleep for a few more days,” Sam responded, squeezing the little monster girl tighter. Sam could sense Lupie felt anxious for some reason, so she did her best to comfort her by pulling her closer and wrapping her in a tight embrace. Kissing the top of her head, Sam asked, “Is something bothering you? Do you want to talk about it?”

Lupie pulled back slightly to stare at Sam, her large amber eyes searching for something. She must have found what she was looking for because she nodded to herself and asked, “Do you think I am your slave?”

“What? Of course not!” Sam said firmly, then asked, “Why would you ask that?”

Instead of answering, Lupie said, “Order me to hurt myself.”

Seeing where this was going, Sam said, “Absolutely not.”

"Please, Mistress," Lupie pleaded, "I have to know if what I feel is real." She held out her bare arm, saying, “I think it must be a direct order, or it will not work. And it needs to be something that I would never normally do. It doesn’t have to be bad, just a little hurt…like tell me to bite myself until I draw blood.”

Sam was shaking her head no, but Lupie’s eyes were pleading and started tearing up, so she gave in, saying, “Okay, but just so we are perfectly clear, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I will always view you as a friend.” Sam hated to admit it, but she already suspected how this test would turn out. Lupie sacrificed herself willingly to become a summon after Sam defeated her in a short but brutal fight. Since the day Sam had summoned Lupie, Sam had felt a strange connection between them. She initially thought it was just because Lupie was her summon and they were connected somehow, but the more she had probed the feeling, the more it felt like a tether to her soul. She also understood she could break it at any time, but if she did, Lupie would either die or revert into a token again. Sam, like Lupie, was afraid the tether was compelling the formerly wild and violent beast Lupie once was to be a doting friend and companion.

Worried but curious, Sam said, "Lupie, bite down on your forearm until you draw blood."

Sam’s heart immediately sank as she watched Lupie's eyes dilate and bring her forearm up to her mouth; her sharp canines glistened in the firelight as she wrapped her mouth around her slender forearm. Then Lupie hesitated for several long moments, causing Sam to catch her breath in anticipation, hoping her friend could fight the compulsion. But only an instant later, Lupie bit down on her arm viciously, causing blood to leak out between her lips.

“Stop!” Sam half-wailed, half-shouted, throwing her arms around her summon and healing the wound. She felt Lupie stiffen at her touch for only a second before her little body sagged into Sam.

"It is okay, Mistress," Lupie whispered into Sam's ear as she hugged her, "I chose this…this life, the day you defeated me. I am sorry for asking you to confirm my suspicions, but I needed to know."

Sam latched onto the only thing she could think of and said, "I saw you hesitate. Could you have fought the compulsion enough to defy my command?”

“I am afraid not,” Lupie said, “I could only fight it because you did not specify a timeframe, so there was some question as to when I should bite myself, not if I should bite down.”

Another thought occurred to Sam, and she immediately voiced it, “Maybe I can order you to be free—”

“No!” Lupie snapped quickly, cutting her off, “I will be immediately banished should you wish for my freedom! I felt it the second you thought about it before you even said it.” Lupie was shaking in Sam’s arms now.

“Okay, okay, no banishment,” Sam quickly said to console her friend. We will have to find another way to free you from the spell. One that allows you to stay on this plane. But I want you to understand that I do not consider you anything more than my friend and companion; you are not my possession!”

"Thank you, Mistress, but we both know what I am," Lupie said. "I am the summon of Sam, and—" she hesitated and then continued, "I am okay with that. It is just…I was hoping…" she trailed off.

“Hoping for what Sam asked, then realizing that question could have been misinterpreted as a command, she quickly added, “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Then I will not answer today, but sometime in the future, if we figure out a way to free me, I will tell you why,” Lupie said, leaving Sam extremely curious about what the Bloodmorph had been thinking.

They spent the rest of the night in silence, or at least Sam was silent while Lupie snored in her lap. Sam spent the time searching through her feelings while she played with her Magismith ability. She decided to be true to her word and try to find a way to free Lupie without hurting her if she could. “In the meantime, I will just have to be extra careful about how I address Lupie,” she resolved.

Sam wasn’t worried about Nul because she felt no tether from the little slime, which she assumed was because of its particular circumstances or because Nul was part of the Collective.

Trying not to think of the night’s revelations, Sam dove into her skill and started making a tent to shelter them in the event of another storm.

By the time the sun poked over the horizon, Sam had completed half of her project. She intended to make the tent large enough to sleep at least three fully grown humans and a Bloodmorph in her wolf form. She hadn't even reached the tent poles when her companions woke up and started begging for breakfast; Sam dismissed her tent project into her inventory to feed the bottomless pits her friends had for stomachs.

Looking at the landscape as she prepared breakfast, Sam noted the waters had receded completely and decided they should continue their journey to nowhere once everyone finished eating.

After the meal and packing up camp, Sam made everything disappear into her inventory by waving a few mana threads after dousing the fire with her endless canteen.

“Shall we wander some more?” Sam asked her companions once everyone was ready. She made sure to leave the question open to not compel Lupie.

In answer to her question, Lupie morphed into her wolf form and molded a saddle of blood onto her back. Sam hesitated momentarily as thoughts from the previous night crossed her mind.

Sensing her Mistress’s hesitation, Lupie said in her deep, emotionless wolf voice, “It is okay, Sam. I want to explore with you. I felt no compulsion from your words.”

Reassured by Lupie’s words, Sam leaped into the saddle with Nul on her head. They started off in a random direction, letting nothing other than Lupie’s need for smells guide them.