Ryan and Alex who have rode for about 2 hours, binge listening to Of Mice and Men, were just now arriving toward the small town of Harmony with the song “Back To Me” Playing on a speaker mode. Ryan who was following Alex closely; follows her to the town’s government office. They both run into the mayor’s office and tell them what they know.

“That’s pretty much what we know” Alex told said after explaining to him her encounter with the Palmlandian scout team.

“Thank you for letting us know this. I will get this over to Lady Yulee at once” The mayor told her while handing the map over to one of his aids.

“Wait hang on, this is going to Yulee?” Alex asked in shock.

“Yes, believe it or not but we’ve been given orders to give all intell on Mriya to Lady Yulee now that Empire is the new capital of her religious sect” The mayor explained to her as they watch the aid run out the building and toward the town’s teleportation Mage.

“It should go to Ala-Ash, they need to know what’s coming their way” Alex shot back to him.

“I agree with you, but by law I HAVE TO give it to her. Just have good faith in Lady Yulee. She will make the appropriate decision with this new intelligence you gathered” The mayor told her.

Alex shoots the man an irritated look and then walks out of the building with Ryan. When they walk back to their horses, they both notice they were gone.

“What the hell?” Alex said in disbelief while looking at an empty horse hitching post.

A man walking by them then taps her on the shoulder.

“Those horses that were just there were taken by some hoodlums less than 5 minutes ago” He told her while pointing down the road.

“You didn’t stop them?” Ryan replied to him in anger.

“I’m sorry no. But the good news is they are being chased down by the town’s guards” the man said while walking away.

Ryan and Alex look at each other and eye a Restaurant right down the street that was emitting a mouthwatering aroma.

“So we just lost our horses, great. This day just keeps getting better” Ryan says as they both walk into the restaurant.

They both sit down and then are greeted by their waitress. They are both handed a menu that was written in Faterrian.

“I’m too irritated and hungry to translate this, Alex can you order for me?” Ryan asked her while handing her his menu.

“Sure dude” Alex replies.

“Maultaschen and Käsespätzle please” Alex told the woman.

The woman bows her head at her and takes the menus and walks up over toward the kitchen.

“You like pasta right?” Alex asked while removing her sword from her back and placing next to the wall by her left foot.

“I do” Ryan replies to her while copying her and removing his back to get more comfortable in his chair.

As he does so, they both watch Arcadia walk into the building and take a seat from an empty table and join them.

“Hi. How are you two doing?” Arcadia asked in a cheerful tone.

“Doing an S-class quest. It’s nice to see you out past nighttime” Alex replied to her while glimpsing at Ryan and picking up on an awkward vibe between them two.

“Yes, I got the minimum number of “Followers” to come out during the day. It feels really nice to be able to get out of that “Jail” of mine for a few hours and walk around for a bit.” Arcadia said softly while looking over at the gash on Ryan’s neck.

“How many do you have now?” Alex asked seeming interested.

“Currently I Still only have Twelve thanks to Ryan” Arcadia said while staring at his wound on his neck.

“So what have you done all day?” Alex asked while moving her silverware to the side of the table.

“Nothing much. I walked around and explored and saved a group of 4 people who wiped on a “monster”. I tried to recruit them but like always I get called crazy for proclaiming myself as a “Goddess”. Arcadia said while conjuring them both a Monster energy drink and placing it on the table in front of them.

“Describing yourself as a goddess will never work on anyone. You need to have someone beside at all time ready to you introduce you as such to them. I mean what kind of goddess wonders the planet alone?” Alex replied.

“This useless little goddess does” Alex says with a depressed tone

“Don’t call yourself that. You’re not useless. You have a place; you just haven’t found it yet” Alex tells her in cheerful moral boosting tone.

“I know, I just feel so alone. I still feel bad for making Ryan cheat on Zephyr” Arcadia said while reaching her finger out and pointing to Ryan’s neck.

“This looked painful” She said while rubbing her figure down the stitching.

“Yes, it was. This is going to leave a nasty scar” Ryan replied to her.

“No it isn’t. I got you covered friend” Arcadia said while healing up the wound with a light touch of her fingers. She then runs her hand down the scar tissue of the completely healed wound and the scar vanishes completely.

“Whoa that’s cool!” Alex said in excitement.

Arcadia then turns to Alex and gently runs her hands all across her clotted wounds and bruises and makes them disappear as well.

Alex who was really happy now then moves her arms and shoulders freely and gives her a giant hug.

“Those bruises on my shoulders were driving me crazy! Thank you so much girl!” Alex said while squeezing her really hard.

“You are welcome” Arcadia said while slipping out of her hug.

Alex then opens up her energy drink and takes a small sip.

“It’s sad those people you revived don’t believe that you’re a goddess. They don’t know what you can provide them. I kind of hope whatever killed them, kills them again” Alex said while trying to cheer Arcadia up some more.

“They were killed by some “Demonic Man” actually. One of the girls I revived had a corrupted soul I had to repair before she was able to finish her revival process. I did that all right there in front of them and I was still called a “fraud”. Well anyway, I’m glad you two are getting along, I just wanted to stop and say hi, and have a little human interaction” Arcadia says while getting up and returning her chair back to the other table.

“Hey, how is Zephyr doing?” Ryan asked seeming hesitant.

“She is doing really well. She and the other girls are all on sailing trip to Cheetoecchi as we speak. The ladies are all making a team effort to get Kannell to get over Noodles death” Arcadia said while poking Ryan in the shoulder playfully.

“Oh, I didn’t know that. So, they are taking a well needed vacation Ehh? Good for them” Ryan said while poking Arcadia back.

“Well, my roam time is almost up. I’m going to head back into that gloomy respawn room and go endure being all alone. I will talk to you all later” Arcadia says sounding depressed.

The two of them then watch her slowly teleport out of the room and out of sight.

“Poor girl. She’s got it worse than both of us” Alex expressed with empathy. As she does so both their orders arrive by their waitress and are placed onto the table.

“Wow, that was super-fast” Ryan said while reaching for his fork.

“Faterrian chefs don’t play” Alex said proudly while taking her fork and stealing a piece off of Ryan’s plate.

“Oh my god! These guys always hit their mark!” Alex said while giving Ryan a thumbs up.

Ryan after seeing her approval for the dish, he then digs in and starts eating.

After about 15 minutes of eating, the two of them get up and Alex pays for the meal.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

After they all exit the building, they both walk over to a food stall and buy some food to take with them for the road since the ambushers ruined all their rations when they searched them. Alex buys a variety of fruits and vegetables and then they take off walking for 3 hours back to Simon. When they arrive at the front of the grotto Ryan fires of a charge at the boulder blocking the entrance and then lights up both of their swords. As they enter the grotto, they remain vigilant for another ambush from monsters.

The two make it to the end of the Simons chamber with no problems and Alex pulls out the Faterruim sword and presents it. Simon then slowly starts to fade into sight.

“You got the sword AND You didn’t die. What an amazing feat” Simon said hastily while pointing toward the water below him.

Alex then places the sword into the small puddle tip first and it slowly starts to sink into the ground out and out of sight.

“The next Task I have is going to be a little harder, I need you head on over to Ala-Ash and go slay Kyoto, The White Dragon” Simon said while crossing his arms.

Ryan and Alex roll their eyes at him and give him a confused look.

Alex then lets out a long-disappointed sigh “Okay where is it located?” She asks with a tired yawn.

“Kyoto is a wanderer. I can’t give you the specifics on its exact location. But it is known to stay within Ala-Ash. Do some research and digging with the locals and take it down. Then bring me its head” Simon explained while disappearing without warning.

Ryan and Alex and then just stand there in silence for 10 seconds.

“Okay, so we are taking down a dragon. This should be fun” Alex says while they head toward the exit.

“I’m tired. I want set up camp and leave in the morning” Ryan told her while pulling off his backpack and pulling out his magic tent box.

“Not going to object to that!” Alex said cheerfully.

They both then proceed to set up the tent and then go out and gather firewood before the sun completely went down. Ryan like always starts the fire with his magic and they sit down and look at the stars and talk.

“So Ryan tell me about your hobbies from your past life” Alex asks him while snacking on an apple.

“Hmm lets see. There is: cosplaying, video games, motorcycle riding, and occasionally I would go sailing on a boat, or go kiteboarding” Ryan replied back to her while laying down on the cool moist ground. As he lays back, he can feel aching his feet pulsing with blood now there was no weight on them.

“I Never went sailing, or had the opportunity to drive a car, let alone a motorcycle. I went to a cosplay convention once dressed Yoruichi from bleach with one of my exes since she made me the costume out of boredom. But other than that, I was mostly an inside girl most of my life” Alex replied.

“I start cosplaying as a random dare. I would wear these random things to school that almost always got me in trouble. But I also kind of did some epic stuff with them on” Ryan said.

Alex who was staring at the fire then looks over back at him and smiles. “Okay, so what type of things did you like to watch in your spare time?” She asks seeming interested.

“I liked Adventure Time, Star Vs The Forces of Evil and a few others. I was mostly addicted to Machinima shows on YouTube when “That” was a thing” Ryan said while stretching out his arms.

“Machinima? What is that?” Alex asks seeming confused and unaware of that term.

“It’s a type of film people would make from video games. There pretty interesting. Ever heard of Red Vs Blue?” Ryan asked her.

Alex smirks at him and nods her head and replies “Hey, you ever wonder why we’re here?” She said while giggling.

Ryan then sits up and laughs. “Cool so you have heard of it” Ryan says.

“Ya, I spent a lot of time online as well. I’ve watch a little bit of that series. I didn’t know the genre of that show had a name” Alex replied to him. She then grabs her wrist and rubs it.

“So what type of games did you like to play?” Alex asked.

“In my free time I was either playing World of Warcraft, Battlefield, or Halo” He replied while laying back down on the cool ground.

“I loved Assassins creed, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft. FOR THE HORDE!” She said cheerfully.

Ryan then looks at her in disgust.

Eww! Gross! You’re for the Horde? I don’t want to be your friend anymore” Ryan teased.

“Oh come on, The Alliance sucks. Oh, wait are you one of those people who rolls a Space goat?” Alex teased jokingly.

Ryan and Alex then burst out laughing.

“No, I never understood Space Goats, or Worgans. I was a dedicated Alliance player. I honestly never played Horde” Ryan admitted.

“Wow, you’re missing one hell of a storyline by being one sided. I played both sides to the game, and honestly I am a Horde girl at heart” Alex told him.

“This world is so similar to WoW, and Final Fantasy. I like how it was supposed to be “Reward” to those who died and lived a good life, but can’t believe my mom spent her whole life trapped inside here because of Yulee and Arcadia” Ryan says while thinking about Arcadia.

“Ya, it’s a shame. I mean I heard the stories from Greena about how this place used to have a large number of “Players” spawn in from heaven just to play a round, only to find out it’s a very corrupted Beta nightmare.” Alex replies while throwing a few sticks onto the fire.

“Honestly, I just want to get out of here. Skip to the final boss and slay Yulee” Ryan says.

Alex just stares at Ryan and smiles. “I just realized you are an Emo Noctis stuck inside WoW” She said teasingly.

“Hush” Ryan quipped.

“Hey, can we go do something crazy? Let’s watch Adventure time in the grotto” Alex randomly spurted out.

“Sure, why not?” Ryan replied feeling bored. He then gets up and walks to the Stone Seal that was blocking the entrance.

As they near the boulder, it magically rolls out of the way.

“Hmm, no explody-plody required?” Alex spurts out in a hyper childish tone.

“Nope, I like this! I guess Simon is allowing us to be guests tonight” Ryan said as he ignites their swords and walk down the first set of dark steps.

“Random question, what if Bards were a Class in WoW, what would be a good Bard Band name?” Alex asked while scanning the cave for monsters.

“Hmm I don’t know? Pink Void?” Ryan Replied.

“Ha good one. How about Sunken Temple Pilots?” She giggles.

Ryan laughs a little bit.

“I’m sorry but Asking Alexstrasza would take the Cake here”

Alex hears this and falls to her knees laughing.

“Dude, I absolutely adore you. You’re so awesome” Alex says while getting back up and walking beside Ryan.

They both arrive at the end of the chamber and Ryan hands her his phone.

“Pick an Episode you want to watch” Ryan says. While sitting up against the wall of the cave.

Alex then scrolls through seasons of “Adventure Time” and picks something for them to watch.

They both then settle interestingly on the episode: “Vault Of Bones”. The two watch the episode. As they maximize the screen on his phone, Alex feeling curious hits an odd rune shape symbol on the screen before it faded away. This causes the camara of the phone to project the video size that’s five times bigger onto the cave wall.

“No freaking way. That is so cool!” Alex screamed in joy.

“Holy crap, I’m learning new things about this thing the more I dig around” Ryan said while rolling onto his stomach beside her and looking up at the projection on the wall.

“Shh its starting!” Alex said while playfully pinching Ryan’s arm.

The two watch the show in peace and quiet and feel happy at the ending. Alex then randomly grabs Ryan’s hand and runs outside with him and talks to him more by the campfire.

“So much Nostalgia tonight Ryan! Thank you!’ Alex said while removing chest plate.

“Alex, I have to ask something. Why were those dwarfs from that chamber so hard to kill?” Ryan asked randomly while remembering the full events about the whole day they had together.

“They Wore really well-crafted Full plate armor. It’s Really hard to land a hit on them if you don’t have a crushing weapon like a mace or an axe” She said while removing her long sleeve shirt.

“Okay, I get that. But now I have to ask this, why are you not fully armored up like they are?” He asked.

“Me, I like being in lighter armor. This chest plate is like pretty study and the heaviest part of my kit. I make it a habit to make incoming attacks hit it whenever possible. My shirt I wear under it may look like a regular cotton shirt but it’s actually just an enchanted chainmail garment that looks like a regular shirt with a mild weight reduction spell cast on it” She said while balling it up and tossing it to him.

Ryan attempts to catch it but looks were very deceiving. As soon as he caught it the weight of that 30-pound shirt pulls him down hard to the ground.

“What the hell! you wear this?!” And you call this Light!" Ryan grunts in pain while picking himself off the ground.

“Yep, I get more mobility by doing it that way, but at the cost of feeling the hit more. My leg plates are made of ashium plates, which is this worlds equivalent of carbon fiber. They’re very light weight, but definitely pretty weak and not very durable. I spend a lot of money on repairing these damn things. It’s kind of the same reason Why I painted my armor with black and white stripes; to hide all the repair lines the blacksmiths have left on them. I like my current set a lot, But I really wish I had a full Wyonuim plate set since they offer the best defense stats against physical attacks and magic attacks along with having the equivalent weight of aluminum. But You know, I’m not that rich, or that lucky to find such a set” She said while undoing her belt and removing her leg plates.

“Ronnie just got a full plate set of those before he died. He told me all about it” Ryan said with a hint of depression behind it.

“Hush, Stop thinking about that. Just smile and don’t let your past mistake ruin a good night” Alex said while walking over to him with a blue and yellow dress on.

Alex looks into Ryan’s eyes and sends him cute flirtatious smile.

She then picks up his phone and puts on the song “Life Of The Party” By All Time Low and pulls him by his arms onto his feet.

“Let’s Dance” She said while placing his arms around her.

Ryan smiles at her and decides to dance with her. But Alex gets really into the grove and breaks loose out of his arms and starts shaking her hips and beautifully twirls right in front of him with her hands up close to her shoulders. Ryan then notices Alex could really dance, and she was getting turned up as the song played. Alex then grabs Ryan’s hands and sings to him.

“Somewhere in between

Who I used to be

And who I'll be tomorrow

When the champagne blows my mind

Thrills don't come for free

The price you pay for dreams

In a sea of strangers

I can't find me anymore”

She then slips in between his arms and looks up at the moon shining bright over his shoulder and Something then clicks in both their brains. She slowly inches closer to him gives and they passionately kiss.

At that very moment Bunnell who was in her Respawn room was spying on her son with a view screen, gasps in shock.

The two then hold each other tight and rock back in forth and Ryan is hit with a heavy feeling of regret.

Ryan then gently pushes her away after realizing this was wrong.

“I’m sorry… This is not right. I mean we are just friends” Ryan said feeling ashamed.

“Wait, just friends?...” Alex said feeling destroyed by those words. He didn’t know that she secretly had a fire in her heart for him right now.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. You still have feelings for her” Alex said while catching herself.

“Yes, I’m sorry. This heat of the moment shit always gets me in trouble. Lets just pretend this didn’t happen. Let us not ruin a good thing we currently have” Ryan said while awkwardly walking away from her and toward the tent.

Alex who just stood by the fire feeling a little broken just stands there alone and upset while the song plays. She then takes a deep breath inhaling the hickory wood smoke that was blowing toward her and grabs the phone and her gear and brings it inside the tent.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I was caught up in the moment of dancing my sorrow away and having fun. I’ll use better judgment next time. I promise” Alex said while laying down next to him. She then gives him a hug and then rolls back over on her side and tries to fall asleep with a ton of shame and embarrassment lingering within her.

“You are fine, lets just not talk about this, and try to forget that it ever happened okay?” Ryan said with a positive tone to his voice.

Ryan who also was secretly in the same boat as her tries to let this mishap go. Unaware what he just said hurt her even more, they both painfully try to fall asleep. Ryan reaches REM sleep first, while Alex secretly cries herself to sleep full of embarrassment.