Abby watched Zeke out of the corner of her eye, wondering what he was thinking. After they had finished with Cort, the two of them had arranged for a ride on a trader’s cart back to Beacon. The owner – a tall, lanky man named Reginald – was thrilled to have a pair of adventurers with him; otherwise, he’d have had to roll the dice and hope that his cart wouldn’t be attacked along the way. The road to Beacon was relatively safe, especially as it drew closer to the city itself, but attacks – by beasts or bandits – were not uncommon.

So, that was how on the next day, Abby found herself sitting beside her new partner and wondering what the future might hold. By nature, she was not a trusting person. She’d been burned too many times, both in her old life and the new, to naively believe in anyone’s inherent honesty. It was a cruel world populated by self-interested people who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt other people to get what they wanted. Whether it was for money, power, or some misguided sense of survival, the vast majority of human beings were only concerned with how they might get ahead. Abby had been on the losing end of plenty of those exchanges, and she had long since grown to jealously guard her trust. Even Vlad hadn’t really gained it until they’d been traveling together for more than a year.

But there was something about Zeke that made her want to make an exception. She was still guarded around him, but every single one of her instincts told her that her vigilance was unnecessary. Perhaps it was his age, and the sprinkling of innocence that came with it. Or maybe it was his staunch insistence on doing what he considered the right thing, regardless of whether or not it made sense. It might’ve even been that dopey look he got when he was concentrating on something. For all his power – and he was powerful, with more potential than anyone Abby had ever heard of – he was like an overgrown puppy, stumbling around as he tried to maintain his footing in a world he didn’t really understand.

But that puppy could crush rocks with his bare hands.

Abby had seen him destroy an entire horde of drachnids, and until he’d been faced with the elite champion, he hadn’t even been pushed to his limit. By contrast, Abby had been forced to use every trick she knew, and even working with Pudge, she had only killed a tiny fraction of that army of spider-like humanoids. If nothing else, it reaffirmed that levels weren’t the only measure of a person’s power.

It had also been a stark reminder that she wasn’t strong enough. When she’d taken the job with Julio, Abby had considered herself a capable adventurer. Sure, there were plenty of people out there that were much more powerful than her, but she was confident that she could hold her own against most people. And failing that, she was confident in her ability to at least escape. Meeting Zeke had put the lie to that false assumption.

If he wanted to, he could utterly destroy her. She knew that for the truth even if he didn’t. Up against him, she felt powerless. Certainly, she could help. Without her contributions, they never would’ve downed the drachnid queen. But she had no illusions about who’d really carried the weight of that fight.

And he was only going to get stronger.

Maybe he’d eventually bite off more than he could chew, but Zeke wasn’t the type to engage in half-measures. He’d proven that when she’d found him slaughtering an entire society of harpies when they’d first met, and he had reaffirmed it when he had insisted upon clearing out the drachnids. Part of it was because he wanted to push the limits to see if he could get better rewards – a gamble that had paid off for him – but most of his reasoning was tied up in his sense of morality. The drachnids had raided dozens of caravans, killing hundreds of people. For Zeke, letting that go just wasn’t an option. They were a dangerous nuisance, and one he couldn’t allow to continue to exist. The rewards, whether it was experience or loot, were secondary. Distantly so. Doing the right thing was his driving force.

It was such an alien concept, in the old world or the new. There were people who would help others, especially in the heat of the moment. But for people to choose that route, time and time again? To put themselves at risk, even without the guarantee of a reward? That was rare.

“Maybe I’m just a cynic,” Abby muttered to herself. Given her past, that certainly fit.

“What was that?” asked Zeke, his fingers casually massaging the side of Pudge’s neck. The bear cub curled up close to him, looking almost like a loyal puppy. If said puppy was pushing a hundred-and-fifty pounds.

“Nothing,” she answered, watching the landscape go by. They’d left Bastion behind a couple of hours before, and in that time, they’d passed the last vestiges of the jungle and entered a savannah. Dotting the grasslands were horned herd animals, plenty of predators, and a few tribes of goblins. There were even elephants. Most left the various carts, wagons, and caravans alone, having long since learned their lessons.

But that didn’t mean they were safe, which was why, even as she delved deeply into her thoughts, her eyes never stopped moving. She might not be as powerful as Zeke, but that didn’t mean she was incapable of keeping a vigilant eye on her surroundings.

Zeke didn’t respond, instead running his hand along his close-cut scalp. He’d been doing that ever since he’d gotten his haircut the day before. He’d kept his beard, though – a good decision, if Abby thought so herself. Without it, he’d look even younger than he actually was. Plus, she’d always liked a man with a good beard.

Not that she was interested in Zeke. No. She wasn’t. He was half her age. Sure, she looked like she was in her early twenties, but that didn’t change her actual age. However, despite knowing those things, there was a little piece of her that couldn’t help but wonder what would be so wrong about it. He was handsome enough, with broad shoulders and an earnest cast to his features.

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“So,” he said, breaking the silence and reminding Abby that she’d been staring at him. “What’s Beacon like?”

“Huge,” she said. “I don’t know how many people live there, but it’s got to be more than a million. Maybe two or three times that many.”

“That many?”

She nodded. “It’s the biggest city on this island,” she said. “Sanctuary is about half its size. There are a few other towns – mostly waystations and the like – throughout the island, but people mostly live in Beacon or Sanctuary.”

“Why?” he asked. “Bastion seemed safe enough.”

“Sure,” she said. “Bastion’s fine, but that’s because it’s so close to Beacon.”

Zeke’s brow furrowed. “Why does that matter?” he asked.

“Oh, right – you wouldn’t know,” she said. “Beacon is covered by a warding enchantment that’s so powerful that it extends almost a hundred miles outside of the city. It gets weaker the further it gets, but even as far as Bastion, it’s still strong enough to make it extremely uncomfortable for any monsters – especially the more powerful ones. Sanctuary has a weaker version of the same enchantment, but with it being on the coast, most of it is channeled into the ocean to keep the sea monsters away.”

“Where did that come from?”

“The enchantment? We don’t know,” she explained. “It’s been there for as long as anyone can remember. Even before Lady Constance took over.”

“You’ve mentioned her before,” Zeke said. “Who is she? Some kind of queen?”

Abby shook her head. “No,” she answered. “She’s kind of in charge. She’s the head priestess of the Temple of the Sun Goddess, and she’s one of the Chosen. But you’d know all about that.”

“The what?”

“The Chosen,” Abby said. “You know, people who’ve been chosen as representatives of the Gods. Like you.”

“Sorry, but I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,” Zeke said, obviously confused. “Or…wait. Are you talking about Oberon? He’s not a god. He’s just a…kind of like a middle-manager. Or that’s what he said.”

Abby responded, “That’s not the story Lady Constance gave. She says that before she was reborn, she was visited by the sun goddess, Shar Maelaine, who gave her an impossible trial. When she overcame it, she got the sun goddess’s blessing.”

“Sounds like my tutorial,” Zeke muttered. “Maybe she was confused.”

“She doesn’t seem confused,” Abby said. “The entire Temple of the Sun Goddess – and to a lesser extent, Beacon itself – is built on it. It’s one of the reasons she’s practically worshipped in the city. That, and the fact that she’s incredibly strong. When her husband died, she burned down an entire forest. And I’m not saying she just set a forest fire and let it burn, either. It was burned to ashes in the space of a few minutes, and most of it’s still burning today. That was almost fifteen years ago.”

“Damn,” Zeke said. “That’s a strong skill.”

“Strong skill? That’s apocalyptic, Zeke!” Abby exclaimed. “She’s basically a demi-god.”

“Guess we’ll just try not to get on her bad side, then,” he said, shrugging. “What about the rest of Beacon? Is it controlled by this Temple of the Sun?”

For a long moment, Abby just stared at him. Normal people didn’t respond to word of a demi-god with a shrug. Did he not understand just how powerful Lady Constance was? Even without her massive political might, which was enough to stomp just about anyone into submission, her personal power was off the charts.

“Hello? Earth to Abby?”

“Oh,” she said, shaking her head. “Sorry. Yeah, the Temple of the Sun rules Beacon, but there are a couple of other powerful factions. The Church of Purity’s probably the second-most-powerful, but that’s mostly because nobody wants to piss off the healers. Then there are a few guilds, like the Champions of Light, that hold significant power. But the ones you really need to look out for are the Blue Cloaks.”

Zeke raised a questioning eyebrow.

Abby went on, “They’re a guild called The Azure Warriors, and they think of themselves as the cream of the crop. They’re not really wrong, either. They won’t even take membership applications from anyone who hasn’t evolved their race.”

“And let me guess, they’re a bunch of dicks,” Zeke said.

Abby nodded, saying, “Most people just avoid them, which is fairly easy, considering they hardly ever come down from the fifth tier.”

“Fifth tier?” Zeke asked.

“Beacon’s built kind of like a wedding cake,” she explained. “The biggest portion is the bottom layer; it’s mostly shops, artisans, residences, and a few guild halls. Next up is the higher-class areas – you know, the fancy stores and such. With how much money you have, you’ll probably want to go there if you want to get some decent equipment. Next up is the guild tier – you know, where most of the decent guilds have their halls. When you become an inner member of The Champions of Light, you’ll get housing there, too.”

“And if I don’t?”

“There are other options on the first tier,” she said. “Anyway, after the guild tier, there’s the Church of Purity. It takes up that entire area.”

“And they’re healers, you said?”

“Yeah,” Abby responded. “Then, there’s the Azure Warriors, followed by the gardens, and then the Temple of the Sun. Seven tiers, if you don’t count the outskirts – and most people don’t. Surrounding the city is farmland – we’ll start seeing fields before the end of the day, probably.”

Zeke shook his head, saying, “Sounds complicated.”

Abby shrugged. “You get used to it,” she said. “So long as you keep your head down, you’ll be fine.”

To that, Zeke grinned. “I’m not really all that good at keeping my head down,” he said.

She snorted. “Of course you’re not. Just don’t insult anyone wearing a blue cloak. Or if they have a sunburst emblem on their tabard. So long as you avoid that, you’ll be okay.”

Zeke shrugged, saying, “I’ll do my best.”

With that, they went silent, and the day muddled on. After the sun had passed its zenith, they found themselves wading into the farms and ranches most distant from the city. So far out, the mana was wild enough to influence the growth of both plants and animals; even as the crops grew to mind-boggling sizes, so too did the livestock. Out there, it wasn’t uncommon to see cattle the size of a rhinoceros, or pigs pushing a thousand pounds. However, with that growth came a much more aggressive nature, which meant that farming and ranching required stronger-than-average people.

Through it all, Zeke stared at the landscape, amazed by the sights. When they were fighting in the wilderness, it had been easy to forget just how new to everything he really was. But now? It was obvious. And Abby found it endearing.

Finally, just before the sun began to set, Reginald, the trader, announced that they’d be stopping for the night. By rote, he took a series of posts from his cart and began placing them in a large circle around the wagon.

“What’s he doing?” Zeke asked.

“Warding flags,” Abby said. “They’re pretty weak, and they won’t keep anything over level ten out, but they’re fine for this area.”

After that, Abby offered to use her skill, [Makeshift Camp], to offer further protection from the wilderness, and before long, they’d created a cozy camp. It wasn’t as comfortable as the cottage, especially with the new amenities with which they’d furnished it, but they both thought it best if they kept that ability to themselves unless absolutely necessary.

Through it all, Pudge lay in the cart, watching them with lazy disinterest.