Dex had trouble falling asleep that night. Between the uncomfortable and unfamiliar bed, and his brain running wild about the boss voregar, he just couldn’t find his way to slumber. Princess, however, squeaked and snored lightly, curled up in her little bed next to his.

How could I have known? Was it truly my fault? Am I a bad person? Can I continue doing this?

Dex’s mind raced through most of the night, alternating between self deprecating sentiments and fears of the future, and how he would react to it. Did he have it within himself to keep this trajectory and do the next quest? Somewhere deep down, he knew he had no choice. There didn’t seem to be another way to earn an income in this world, at least not anything obvious. He supposed he could be a street vendor, but where did their meat come from? Were they out there killing, then cooking their bounty for the hungry questers? No, he didn’t want to be a simple vendor. He wanted to succeed in the world.

His mind continued in this fashion for most of the night, finally fading as he fell asleep with only an hour or two before morning.

“Get up, new blood,” Oren Prem leaned a little to close to Dex’s face. The sight of the man sent a momentary shock through Dex’s spine, but if he was honest with himself, he was happy to see a smiling face right now.

“How did you get in my house?” Dex asked, scraping away the morning crusties from his eyes. “Actually, how did you find my house?”

“I asked the Titan Guard where our newest member lives. It took some prodding and a few promises I won’t keep, but they eventually spilled.”

“Wait. A member? Am I fully in now?” Dex questioned.

“No, not yet, but I’m sure you’ll make it!” Oren assured him. “Finn and I had a bet about whether you’d live on your first quest. I won. Lucky you, I suppose.”

Finally getting out of bed, Dex started a pot of rice for him and Princess as he decided to poke at Oren for some information. “What exactly happened to your arm, if that’s not too personal?” He was hoping to get a gauge of how dangerous things would be if he continued questing. Everyone talks about death, but so far his first real quest didn’t seem all too challenging.

“It’s a little personal, but the short of it is, I’m not sure.” Oren smacked at his shoulder, emphasizing his sentence. “Lost it when I was just a kid, barely remember any details. All I know is it’s not my incompetence, if that’s what you were wondering.”

“Sorry... I didn’t mean anything in bad taste.” Dex grimaced, hoping he didn’t accidentally strike a nerve.

“Quite alright. Most people ask eventually, just not usually on day two of meeting me.” Oren laughed, clearly not offended by the question. “I’ll have you know, I’m level twenty-two, so I’m perfectly capable of handling myself.”

Dex did not expect such a low number. Last he checked he was already level five, and he hadn’t even been here a full week yet. Maybe it slowed down quickly, like diminishing returns or something? Whatever the case, it prompted Dex to check his Personal Sheet to see if he’d leveled since yesterday’s quests.

[PERSONAL SHEET]

Level: 7

Points: 8,450

Race: Human (Rank 1 - Earthling)

Class: Weapon Master (Rank 3)

- Physical -

* Might: 15

* Agility: 14

* Vitality: 11

* Endurance: 14

- Cognition -

* Perception: 13

* Adaptability: 13

* Intuition: 16

* Resilience: 12

- Spirit -

* Resonance: 1

* Harmony: 0

* Control: 0

Level seven? Dex thought. He had gained two levels from his quests yesterday. Was it a full level from each quest, or were the voregar that rewarding? Last time he bothered to look, he was only level four, but he gained a free level from the first assigned quest in Ellia’s line. But two more levels seemed crazy if Oren was only level twenty-two and was an established member of The Frostsworn.

“Looks like I got to level seven after yesterday,” Dex said unprompted.

“Wow, that’s actually impressive. Maybe you will be able to join me and Finn pretty soon. Ellia said you’re a Weapon Master already?” Oren asked, skepticism painting his face.

“Yep, Weapon Master. Princess told me that’s a tier three class, but I’m not quite sure how much that matters.” He replied.

“It matters, quite a lot, actually. I’m a Firesong, myself, which is only a tier two.” Oren said. “You said your familiar’s name is Princess? A little strange, innit?”

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

“Her real name is Priscilla, she just prefers to be called Princess. Never told me why, but I have no problems with it, so I didn’t ask.” Dex smelled the rice, realizing it was finished and decided it was time to wake his friend.

Poking at Princess’s side caused her to jolt awake in a panic. She squeaked a few obsenities and tried to bite him before she realized what was going on.

“You didn’t have to poke me. Just say something next time.” Princess echoed.

“I’ve been talking with Oren for ten minutes and you didn’t wake. I figured you were just a heavy sleeper.” Dex pointed at their guest standing in the middle of the room.

Noticing him for the first time, Princess echoed to Dex, “How the hell did he find out where we live?”

Dex laughed, relaying Princess’s question to Oren, who laughed even harder.

“She really is your familiar.” Oren said, wiping a tear from his eye. “Bearers are pretty rare. It’s interesting to see how much your personalities align.”

Dex hadn’t really thought about it before, but now that Oren mentioned it, he definitely didn’t notice anyone else with a familiar when he wandered around For Moortin. It seemed likely there were others. Maybe they just had their familiars hidden, or they just weren’t with them at the time. But that didn’t sound right. Even in such a short span of time Dex couldn’t see himself going anywhere without Princess. She was part of him now, and he felt that deep in his soul.

“Well, the day is getting old. Eat your breakfast and meet me back at The Frostsworn headquarters. Ellia wants to see you.” Oren said.

“Alright, I’ll be there soon.” Dex replied.

He considered telling Oren about the boss voregar and the effect it had on him, but opted not to. Dex wasn’t sure how the people in this world would respond to him having such an emotional reaction. Was it considered weakness? In any case, he figured it was best to hold this close to his chest until he could work through it internally, and hopefully just forget about it.

— — —

“He was here.” Tunkor said, nudging a loose voregar head to the side. “This is where my locate spell pointed.”

Errock picked up a piece of blood-covered leather scrap. “He took some hits, too.”

“This little monster is getting stronger every day,” Tunkor raged. “I bet he laughed as he killed these innocent beasts.” His anger swelled as he wandered from corpse to corpse, examining the wounds that led each one to their death.

“This was a slaughter,” Errock added on, only fueling Tunkor’s rage.

“Exactly what I intend to do once I can catch him.”

Tunkor bent down, running his hand over a word in the dirt. Wife.

“A lost familiar,” He said. “Having lost its bearer, it found a new life with its own kind.” A small fire began in Tunkor’s palm. “No compassion, no consideration for what they kill. These Transients must. Be. Stopped.” His words emphasized as he punched the word away, spreading blood-covered dirt in all directions.

The fire in his hand grew larger. He could no longer control himself. Errock knew what this meant. He had seen this before. The first time, it almost killed him.

“Nam.” Tunkor pressed his flaming palm to the ground, enhancing his fire with the ‘expand’ spellword. Flames spread in all directions, engulfing the corpses of the slain voregar. His ‘expand’ enhancement sent the fire far enough to reach every one of them. The bodies charred as the flames passed, nothing else stayed ablaze. He controlled the fire, only lighting what he intended in this moment. He wanted the creatures to rest. A proper grave would have been ideal, but Tunkor knew there wasn’t time.

Finding Errock a few dozen feet away, his anger quelled. “We need to change our tactic. He’s too quick. Contact Lore D’nivier and offer her a job.”

— — —

Dex pushed open the door to The Frostsworn. Ellia’s daughter sat in the same spot as before, playing with a small toy on the table.

“Mom! The man with the mouse is back.” She yelled to the back, returning her attention to her toy.

“Oh, she’s really asking for it.” Princess echoed. Dex felt her make a move to hop from his poncho, but he held her back.

Ignoring his familiar’s attempted-outburst for now, Dex addressed the young girl. “Say, I never caught your name, young lady. I’m Dexter, but you can call me Dex.” His smile was forced and awkward. Dex never was good with kids, after all.

“I know. Mom told me about you last night. I’m Talese.” She never looked up from her play. Dex noticed she spoke well for her age, as she looked only six or seven years old.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Talese.” He really didn’t know how to talk to kids.

Luckily, his awkwardness was saved by Ellia’s entrance. She wore the same clothes as yesterday. It must be some sort of uniform. Then again, Dex was wearing the same clothes as the last week, since this was his only outfit. Something he’d have to fix soon.

“It’s wonderful to see you, young Dexter.” Ellia’s poise and politeness ever present. “I must admit, I was not overly confident of your survival. By which I mean to offense, of course.”

“That seems to be the consensus around here,” Dex replied. “I’ll prove myself soon enough.”

“I believe you will. Please, let’s speak downstairs.” Ellia said, leading him down to the portal room.

They sat at one of the tables near the quest crystal. Ellia pulled a small scroll from a pocket on the inside of her robe, placing it on the table in front of Dex. Without hesitation, Princess hopped down and sniffed at the scroll.

“It’s not poisoned,” she echoed, squeaking a giggle.

“Of course it’s not...” Dex cut himself off, realizing it was a joke.

He unfurled the scroll, and as expected, it was blank. Another skill scroll like his reward from the cragtooth?

“It is time for you to learn your first spellword, Dex.” Ellia said, standing up from the table. “Spellwords come in two types; action and enhancement. Action words can be used both independently, or to empower a physical action. Enhancement words empower action words and other magical effects. These words are a cornerstone of the most powerful on the Echelon, including myself. Please observe.” She stepped back a few more paces and spoke the word “Yem.” Her body floated into the air a few feet and she began floating slowly around the room. “Yem is the word for ‘levitation’. On its own, it grants the user the ability to float for a few moments. The duration and potency of these words are based on your control attribute.” Ellia floated to the ground and began her next demonstration. “Yem, Yul.” She spoke softly, putting very little effort into her words.

Dex suddenly began floating into the air, grasping onto his seat. It wasn’t him that was floating, he could tell immediately, it was the chair he was sitting on.

“Together with ‘Yul’, the word for ‘focus’, the user can, well, focus their spell in a direction or on a specific object. Depending, of course, on the nature of the word.

This fascinated Dex. How many words were there? How many combinations? The possibilities seemed almost endless. So far, he hadn’t had access to any sort of ‘magic’. His abilities gifted to him from his Weapon Master class were clearly impressive, but being able to cast spells felt like extraordinary in comparison.

Ellia returned to her seat across from Dex. “Now, take the scroll and learn your first spellword.”