Lloyd followed suit and crashed forward onto his hands and knees. The staff in his hands dropped into the dirt. I don’t have the energy to pick that up. As the words crossed his consciousness, the staff dissipated into grey wisps, which quickly weaved into Lloyd’s chest. Neat. All I have to do is think about summoning it? The staff reappeared in Lloyd’s hand before he willed it away again.

Colette ran past him and put her hands on Regal's shoulders as he, too, had crumpled onto the ground. Lloyd saw the faint glow from Colette's hands from where he lay, and he was sure that his brother would be okay. He began to crawl toward Regal, barely able to lift his palms off the ground. He dragged his legs behind him until he got within a few feet of his brother. Lloyd then flopped on his back, his head lying next to his brother’s.

“You alive?” Lloyd asked.

“Barely,” Regal choked out while still being healed by Colette.

Lloyd just lay there staring up into the sky. The light of the day still had a few hours to fade completely, but the brightest stars had begun to show themselves. He knew that his brother was alive. He could feel that he would be fine himself. Sheena, Colette, and Milla would live to see another day, which made him happy. He didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but today, they made it. It is a beautiful day.

“How's everyone else?” Lloyd asked, still staring up into the sky.

“Still here,” Shannon said.

“Alive,” Xavier said.

“Alive, but tapped out,” Colette said from nearby Lloyd somewhere.

Milla let out a low howl, which must have been her signal that she was still alive and well.

“Second that,” Sheena chimed in.

“Not dead, but I think I might have shit myself,” Caleb said.

“Gross, Caleb,” Sarah said.

Lloyd began chuckling, which made Regal laugh, and before everyone knew it, they all started laughing. Lloyd grabbed his ribs in protest as the vibrations from the laughter jostled his sore body. The anxiety-flushing laughter continued for a few more moments. After the laughter subsided, Lloyd wiped away a tear that fell across his face.

Lloyd knew that they should have been more vigilant just in case all of the commotion attracted any more attackers. He just felt so exhausted, and he knew that everyone else around him likely felt the same way. It took a few more minutes before people got up. When Lloyd got to his feet, he saw the full range of destruction that the deer had caused. The cart looked even worse than the wagon they left behind. A giant ravine had opened up below it and had dumped the right wheel into the crevasse. The sides of the cart were splintered and shattered. Crates and boxes, along with clothing and weapons, were scattered all about. The wooden thing in front of Lloyd barely resembled a cart anymore.

Lloyd's eyes wandered from the broken-down wagon into the forest where he had last seen the bison. He saw the large creatures lying on their side with wounds and gashes in their thick fur.

“Are they still alive?” Lloyd asked.

Colette limped over to the downed animal and put her palms on its bloodied fur. She clearly hadn’t attended to her wounds yet. Lloyd could see the familiar glow in Colette's palms but noticed that the glow did not transfer to the animal. She stood up and walked the short distance to the second creature. The exact process was repeated, with the same end result.

“No luck. They're gone. I’m not sure if I could heal them anyway. I don’t have much left,” Colette explained as she stepped away from the animals.

“There's no way that you can resurrect it like the deer did to their fallen comrades?” Lloyd asked.

“No, definitely not. I'll be lucky if I can get a mutation within the next few years. I’ve never heard of anybody actually being able to resurrect the dead. I think the deer was basically reanimating the corpse, but I don't think it was really alive. At least not in the way that you want it to be,” Colette said as she slowly walked back toward the group.

Lloyd pondered on that idea. Of course, he wouldn't want Cassius walking around in some skeletal, mindless form. He did wonder, though, if someone in The Citadel would have been able to bring him back.

“That group was much larger than the one we fought before,” Sarah said.

“Oh yeah?” Regal asked.

“Yeah, it was only four of them. That large one wasn’t with them last time, either. We would have been screwed without you lot,” Xavier said.

“No problem. We couldn’t leave someone who needed help,” Colette said, Lloyd and Regal nodding in agreement.

“Looks like you have a hold on the whole Void Space thing, huh?” Shannon asked.

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“I guess so. It feels pretty intuitive. I just…I have no idea how I have it. None of this makes sense,” Lloyd said.

His mind filled with questions of how and when. Regal said it was in his pack during the bandit attack. Lloyd knew that it wasn't there when he packed the day before they left Breakwater, but there was a lot of chaos that day. Sometime between then and the bandits, the cube found its way into his pack. A cube that held a weapon that his dad said was specific to his soul. At least back when he was young. That was the only time the weapon could have been crafted. None of this made sense to Lloyd. He heard a few snaps and saw someone waving in front of his face. He shook himself out of his thoughts to see Shannon and others expectantly looking at him.

“Mind if I take a look?”

“Not at all,” Lloyd said as he summoned the staff.

Lloyd took a moment to truly examine his new weapon. The dark wood was separated into three strands. These wove themselves around each other as they ascended toward the top, encasing a blue crystal within the woven wood. The crystal was no bigger than his fist, but the blue glow that emanated from it would work as a decent torch. There was a sense of familiarity with the glow, but Lloyd couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Holy shit. That is an honest-to-goodness Manarite crystal,” Shannon said as she delicately took the staff from Lloyd’s hands.

She held the crystal close to her face as she rotated the staff around. The rest of the group had begun to make their way closer to Shannon and Lloyd.

“That’s what they look like?”

“Yeah, the glow is a fairly distinct feature. I’ve only ever seen two other ones in my life. They both were about this size. You seriously don’t know how you got the cube or this weapon?”

“Honestly. I have no idea…the glow! I know where I’ve seen that before. Remember the fight with the turtle and the otters?” Lloyd asked his brother.

“I do,” Regal said.

“There was a small cave beyond the field of flowers. I noticed a blue glow inside, but I didn’t know what to think of it at the time. Do you think there was a crystal inside there?” Lloyd asked Shannon.

“Most likely. Corrupted will gather around these things and absorb the energy. I would store the staff inside the cube when you aren’t using it. This crystal is on the smaller end, but long-term exposure isn’t good,” Shannon said as she handed the staff back to Lloyd.

Lloyd pulled the staff close to his face and examined the crystal. Much like the Void Space, there was a faint wisp of something within the crystal that slowly shifted around. Lloyd swore he could almost feel the power it was radiating.

“Won’t I get stronger if I am around the crystal, though?” Lloyd asked.

“Sure, but you risk losing your mind like the Corrupted animals,” Shannon said.

The mention of the Corrupted reminded the cart group that Milla was within their party. They focused on the blue-eyed fox as she nuzzled up to Sheena. A few of them stepped back from the fox as Sheena scratched behind Milla’s ears. Lloyd thought he saw more bend in Sheena’s elbow when she did. Did Milla get bigger?

“What?” Sheena said, the word coming out more as a growl than a human voice.

Xavier was the first to step forward. “We just haven’t come across a Beastmaster in a while. Not used to them being on our side. Glad… he or she?” Xavier asked Sheena.

“She,” Sheena said with the same scowl on her face, although it seemed to let up a little bit.

“Glad that she was on our side. Guys, wasn’t there a Beastmaster in Mulbar back in the day?”

“Oh yeah, wait. You aren’t her? Are you?” Caleb asked.

Sheena continued to scratch behind Milla’s now perked-up ears. “I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I’m from Springvale. Born and raised,” Sheena said.

Colette shifted from one foot to the other. The movement was quick, and Lloyd barely noticed it. He looked over and saw everyone from the cart group was still looking at Sheena, they likely didn’t see Colette’s response.

“Right. Sorry,” Xavier said as a heavy silence sat over the group. “We should figure out how to make this mess work. I really don’t want to leave our stuff here. Plus…well…I haven’t discussed it with my party, but I’m sure they will agree. We owe you all our lives. When we sell our wares in Mandor, we want to give you half of the profits.”

“We couldn’t…” Regal began to say before Xavier cut him off.

“Non-negotiable. We pay our debts. This is the least we can do. We just have to figure out how to get it there now. Any suggestions?”

“Milla and I are going to scout ahead, make sure we don’t get ambushed again. You guys can figure it out,” Sheena said as she and Milla took off into the forest.

After the pair was far enough away, Caleb spoke up. “She’s not the warm and fuzzy type, is she?’

“Nope,” Colette said.

The following two hours flew by as Xavier and Caleb led the attempt to rebuild some semblance of a cart. It was less than half the size of the original, but it looked like it would do the job. Xavier grew his hair around broken wheels and used it to tie together pieces of wood. He would then take hold of either stone or wood pieces and form them into place. It would only work as a short-term solution. It should hold together until they get to town. If they didn’t get ambushed, that is. They designed it so that Milla could pull the cart. They also crafted four human-sized ones. These were all made from scratch. Lloyd had to break apart a few large trees in order to come up with more materials. He then bent wood in circles to make wheels and attachments that would go along straps on people's backs. Xavier repeated the process of using his hair to fuse and hold together these parts. Lloyd noticed that he would wince every time he broke off the pieces from his fist. Colette had to heal him a few times by the end of it. Regal, Caleb, Xavier, and Lloyd lined up to pull their carts. They had to tap into their Mana potion supply in order to get it done as quickly as they did.

The sun had fully set, but fortunately, the skies were clear, and the moon was large. It wouldn’t make for easy travel, but all they had to do was follow the road. Colette released a sharp whistle, and Milla and Sheena walked out from the woods shortly after. When Milla walked out from the forest and finally was in view of normal human eyes, most of the cart crew jumped back in surprise. Lloyd had a quick giggle at their shock. Lloyd remembered only a little while ago experiencing the same thing.

“This is Milla's night form. As you can see, she's no longer in the primary element of fire. She won't need to rest at night, so hopefully, we can keep pace with her,” Sheena explained as Milla took her place in front of the cart that was far too large for her.

Sheena strapped the leather harness on the fox, and with a grunt, Milla walked forward. The makeshift wooden cart groaned and creaked, but the wheels turned, and the wooden planks held together, at least for now.

Lloyd put one step in front of the other as he realized that his human-sized cart was a fair bit heavier than he had anticipated. Lloyd focused on the well-worn road and tried not to think about the fact that his legs were already burning. Only countless more hours to go, great.