There was a snapped twig. Alice bent down and examined it for a moment, then she glanced at J, and Rain gestured for her to assist. She strode there, sniffed the twig, and purred.

“More badgers?” Rain asked with pursed lips. At this point maybe the whole of Bathgate was theirs.

Alice was silent at first, then her gaze traced something along the ground before she nodded. Rain looked over at the direction where her eyes had stopped and saw a large hole dug into the ground. His heart stiffened. He was not in the mood to fight now.

Luckily for him, Alice seemingly did not feel like forcing him to seek out the badger and fight it either.

Well, he knew why.

This was as a result of the question he’d brought up on the Glades—maybe even a culmination of all his questions since they were all related. Alice’s mood had gloomed ever since.

She brought out the map from her backpack, scrutinized it, and pointed in a direction to her right. “Let’s go that way. We’ll circle around and get back on track.”

Rain frowned. “Why? We can just silently continue on and not alert the badger.”

“This badger is mentally mutated.” Rain’s expression worsened. “See these leaves… They stretch a long way. It’s marked this area as its territory. If we step inside, it’ll be alerted of our presence.”

Rain understood. It was just like what had happened with the Chimera Anaconda. Alice had already explained to him that mentally mutated beasts were alerted once an alien presence wandered into their territory. And obviously they were the worst types of beasts to battle because of their wits. Strength does not equate to victory against them, especially in a surrounding they were the more familiar with.

“Alright,” he said with a nod.

They continued on with Alice in the lead. It was not until after a few minutes of walking did she finally decide to bring back up the conversation she had paused.

“So… Where was I?”

“Portals to other worlds,” Rain answered.

After she’d told him that, she had said that she would continue the conversation on the way so as not to waste time and get caught outside when night came. Rain had not pressured her to talk since because of what he felt was her emotional status. He let her take it at her own pace. Now that she seemed ready, he would not object.

“Do you recall what the Plexus said about them? Watch your feet, Sean.”

Rain followed after Alice, Sean, and J, as they climbed over the extremely large fallen tree in their path. “Yes,” he said. “Spawned Glades are to be ventured into within 48 hours. Repercussion for failure? Melding will occur.”

Alice looked back with a bit of amusement on her face. “I don’t recall how exactly it was written, but why did what you say seem so…”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Because that’s exactly how it was written… Rain smiled indistinctly as Alice returned her gaze to her front.

“Anyways, like I said, the Glades are portals to various other worlds. And these worlds are filled with beasts of different kinds. And no, not the mutated animals kind on earth. These ones are much more dangerous and frightening.” Rain listened attentively, his nearly invisible Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he reflexively swallowed occasionally. “No one knows when they’ll spawn, but what has been figured out is the criteria for a Glade to appear. And it is that at least five people have to be gathered together, with a Protagonist among them.”

Rain’s mind instinctively shifted towards their number, not sure whether to include J as a person or not; but even if he did, their headcount was four. They were safe. No. They were lucky. A Glade could have spawned the night past, and from how the Plexus had composed the message regarding this, it seemed like they could not just change their location if one appeared.

“They can’t be avoided too,” Alice added, and if Rain had been in possession of any doubts, they were eradicated now.

He also realized why a Protagonist had to be amongst the people gathered, and that was because they were the only ones with the ability to activate a Glade.

“Because of the Melding, huh?” Rain asked as he leaned over and picked up a thin tree branch to scratch his back.

“Yes,” Alice answered.

“What is the Melding?” Sean was the one to speak, and because he’d turned around to do so, he’d almost stumbled over. J was quick enough to put her back in the way and catch him. “Thank you,” he said after the mild scare.

Alice sighed. “Well, it has yet to happen, but from what the word means, it’s been denoted to be when a world beyond a Glade merges with our own. In other words, the beasts on the other side will come into earth.”

Sean visibly shuddered, Rain was no different.

“That won’t be good,” Rain said.

“Obviously.”

“These worlds beyond the Glades, are they like… you know…”

Alice glanced at him. “I’m not sure. I’ve only been to—” She cut herself off and Rain realized he had gone down the path he had not wanted to cross.

It was her first, and it ended badly…

He was about to change the subject when she continued, “I’ve only been to one. That’s the expedition that brought me to Edinburgh.”

I was right. Rain silently exhaled. He decided not to ask anymore questions, leaving Alice to say what she wanted to say when she wanted to say them.

“We were ten that went in,” Alice began, a morose look on her face. “You know, these Glades are classified into three types by the Plexus, Low Class, Intermediate Class, and Supreme Class.” Rain looked at her in silence as they walked through the woods. She never talked this much. “We only find out which type spawned when it is activated and there’s no choice left but to go into it. This is why the Plexus gives forty-eight hours for preparation.”

She fell silent for a moment.

“Well, the preparation didn’t help much in the grand scheme of things. It was a Low Class Glade, no doubt, and we all had sufficient training and enough points to our Attributes.” She looked at Rain, grabbed the hilt of her sword and unsheathed it halfway, revealing its blue luster. “We all had this too. First Class grade weapons made from the cores of minion monsters of previously cleared Intermediate Level Glades.” She re-sheathed it. “They were supposed to be able to harm even the boss monsters of an Intermediate Level Glade.”

She was speaking as though Rain knew what minions and boss monsters of the Glades were, but he did not bother her. And besides, he got the gist even if she didn’t expatiate on her words.

“But they didn’t help one bit,” Alice added with a stiff voice. “Funnily, it was a Low Class Glade, but still, we were helpless against the boss monster. Everyone was wiped out, every single one except me. It was… It was…” She paused after those words, and never continued.