In the “morning,” Isobel oversaw Leland’s routine exercise. Somehow, the former Inquisitor was more brutal and demanding than the Lord of Endurance, netting the Legacy of Curses another seventy-seven steps, making the grand total nearly two-fifty. This was, of course, at the cost of Leland’s sanity and the wellbeing of his lungs. But he did notice his legs were no were near as tired afterward.

Which was good, right? Isobel sure thought so, making him run another trio of sprints before breakfast.

The rest of the day was rather easy since it was far slower than the day earlier. Every hour on the hour, Leland practiced with Erupting Steps for as long as the contract allowed. Twenty minutes was far too quick, in the grand scheme, but luckily his Legacy had that covered.

It was after the fourth attempt that something changed in his grimoire.

Harbinger Halo has increased to rank 12.

The extra rank provided five extra minutes to active contracts, bringing the total to twenty-five minutes per hour. Which, if Leland’s math was right, would make it so that at rank nineteen, contracts would last an hour plus usable every hour. Meaning, contracts could be used for as long as he wanted.

He’d just have to get there. Goals, he told himself after being chewed out by Isobel for skipping into a root that bent above the ground.

Whether it was for her own sanity or to inspire Leland, Sybil chose to exercise as well. This did not go well for the Princess who had to stop after just one sprint. She took it in stride, however, doing a sprint every time they paused for Leland to work on jogging with Erupting Steps active.

“You don’t have to do that, Princess,” Isobel said to the young girl as she huffed onto her knees, her back bent forward resembling a hook. “You shou—”

“Not a word!” Sybil yelled back louder than she intended as her throat was clamped in exasperation.

Nearby, a blast of lightning ripped from Leland’s heel, driving his step into the dirt with a muted shockwave. His knee kicked out from under him, right into the thicket. He groaned, yanking on his pants to retrieve his leg.

“Princess—”

“Sybil! –my name is Sybil!”

Isobel wondered just how hard she should push. While she no doubt wasn’t returning to the Inquisitors, the young woman in front of her was her Queen’s child. She sighed, shaking her head. For a moment her neck hitched toward the sky and her gaze locked high overhead. Then, abandoning her previous thoughts, she marched her hand to her hip and sneered.

“Sybil, are you going to let your breath stop you from catching up?”

The Princess startled. She twitched, finding Isobel staring blankly at her. “What do you—”

“Do you fancy yourself an adventurer? Or are you wishing to—”

“Shut up.”

Isobel hid a smirk. “Jumping-jacks, now.”

Sybil hesitated, her chest burning but ultimately she started jumping. As she did, her blank white mask, still tethered to her belt,bounced..

By “nightfall,” Leland and Isobel were “dueling.” Well, actually, not so much. Isobel was running at Leland as he used Erupting Steps to dodge and weave away. If she caught him, a new bruise would blot his skin.

By this point Leland had used Erupting Steps in combat a few times, Isobel making sure to time monster encounters just as the hour cool down expired. He was challenged, however, by Isobel to defeat the monsters with only Erupting Steps and melee blows.

With the first attempt, Leland launched himself into a field of transparent rocks. No doubt more Archon Experiments, the rocks seemed rather harmless until he noticed the hundreds of ant mounds hidden within the stones.

Isobel allowed him to use Touch of Regeneration after most of his skin was transformed into sandpaper. Still, that didn’t excuse him from the monster fight, something Isobel reminded him of with mocking words.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Do you think the ant would take care of it? Or do you like pain? You know, Sybil might think less of you if that was the case. Or, maybe she’d like you more. Hard to sa—”

“Shut up,” Leland muttered, his skin feeling like it was on fire.

The monster before him was a wicked caterpillar the size of a tree trunk. It inched slowly toward him, but shot strings of web from a humanoid head with a ghastly screech.

Leland did as he did best, “running” with Erupting Steps. Each step propelled him in a singular direction, requiring a new step to change course. He was having problems slowing down to regulate a new step, the short intersection in which his momentum was carrying him one direction but his foot needed to push off in another.

More than a few times Leland’s second step would be moot, just skidding across the ground, never fully pushing off. By the second time he landed in the ant and rock field, he figured it out.

Long strides, he realized. The technique required a bit more planning so that he wouldn’t crash into anything. But it also helped stabilize his speed and angle, reducing the angle he needed to step again .

With a plan in mind, Leland circled the monster with speeds far outpacing its string shot attack. Eventually the purple lifeforce steps killed it, the arcing lightning lashing out a dozen times over.

Isobel let out a low whistle. “Sloppy, but well… no, it was sloppy. Yeah, that’s the right term. Sloppy. That was sloppy, kid. Sloppy.”

She continued saying “sloppy” in various ways, but Leland tuned her out, focusing instead on Sybil who meandered over.

“You move like lightning,” she spoke, her arms on her head and her breath heavy. “Zig-zaggy.”

“Zig-zaggy?” Leland blinked a few times, his mind’s eye recounting the battle. “Huh,” he whispered, realizing his long stride technique was exactly that. Jagged zig-zags, an imitation of lightning.

“Figure something out?”

“Yes, I can’t believe I’m this dumb.”

“I can,” Isobel said from the side. “And I gave you the nickname ‘Smart One’ in my head.”

They both stared at her, frowning.

“Anyway,” Leland then said back to Sybil, “I forgot just whose Legacy spell Erupting Steps is. I can’t think of it like any old spell, I have to think of it in terms of a lightning mage.”

“Smart,” Sybil added.

“Do you think perhaps you could add that reasoning to any of your other contracts?” Isobel then asked, suddenly more interested in the conversation.

“For most of them? No,” Leland replied. “Maybe for Shield of Water and Touch of Regeneration.”

Suffice to say, Isobel forced him to practice both the shield and heal spell differently from that point onward.

An hour later, Leland was battling another enemy, this time a swarm of wasps made of glass, using only Erupting Steps. While still difficult to control, imagining himself as a lightning bolt made the battle far easier. Eventually the pools of electricity killed off most of the swarm, sending those still alive running.

Isobel didn’t force him to chase.

Two more monster encounters came and went before the trio made camp for the night. Both encounters went as before, but just a bit easier. When he finally laid his head down on a pillow he took from his inventory ring, Leland felt good about the day. He had progressed a lot, which was frankly much appreciated. Anything to take his mind off his loved ones back home.

While he had no doubts Glenny and Jude were fine, that couldn’t be said for his mom, Diana, and Carmon. Each had sustained injuries, and each was well beyond his help. Not that he could help. He was no healer even if he had a healing spell. And well, he just knew his mom would be worried about him. His dad too, of course, but Spencer would be working to find his son, something Lucia couldn’t do, space magic and such…

Leland rolled to his side, staring off into the storm that made up most of the horizon. Maybe his mom would be looking for him. Maybe she’d leave the kingdom and venture out until she found his trail. Maybe she would use her contacts as an Inquisitor to get the word out that her son was lost.

Leland let out a silent tear. He hoped his parents, and the others for that matter, were safe.

For as dangerous as the Archon Valley was, he felt safe here for some reason. Maybe it was Isobel, maybe it was Sybil. He didn’t know.

Isobel had said she felt like she was being watched from all angles when they arrived. Leland had never gotten that feeling. No, in fact he felt the opposite. He felt as if he wasn’t being watched. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt free. He felt like not even the Lord of Curses could watch over him in the Valley.

Was that a good thing? No, most definitely not. That meant something was out there, something powerful enough to block his Lord from watching him. Something powerful enough to block the Lord of Erupting Skys from gazing upon a storm.

A chill breezed through his spine and his heart skipped a beat. Slowly, like a rust covered screw being chipped at, Leland turned. His eyes fell to a singular spot within the experimental Archon woods. Behind a singular tree, past a singular branch, far beyond many fallen leaves and grassy steps.

A tingle brushed against his mind, a familiar feeling. Leland placed it instantly, remembering the feeling as a powerful illusion - Sybil’s mask in particular.

He twitched, knowing something was there. He stared, and stared, and stared. Inconsistencies came and went, each stitching a larger picture of the being beyond the singular tree and singular branch.

The tingle evolved, broaching slick pain. Leland’s nose began to bleed, something Isobel noticed right away.

She perked up, alarmed. Tracing Leland’s line of sight, she found the woods bare. Nothing, not even a hint something was there.

“Kid—”

“Shut up,” Leland quickly spat between his teeth. “I don’t think it has noticed us yet.”

Little did he know, it had.