Varino and Kimi chatted, while both sat on a different one of Zerine’s shoulders. They had exhausted their discussion about the fight and were now getting to know one another. Varino was asking a barrage of questions about Kimi’s life before they ended up on the island. Zerine parly listened, but mostly focused on her thoughts about the fight.

She kept repeating the start of the fight in her head, over and over again, trying to figure out what had changed.

What exactly had I done to trigger whatever I did? And what exactly was that? she pondered. She knew she had given into her instincts and training, but there was more to it. Everything had felt…right. Her willpower had flowed so easily, making everything work at a thought. Of course, she hadn’t realized just how far she was pushing her willpower due to the chaos of the fight and due to the adrenaline, that had been pumping through her.

We were really lucky those monsters were rather dumb or we would have been in real trouble. Any good organization and it would have been over. Or worse, another stronger monster could have made it harder. She imagined the salamander they had fought before and shuttered. That monster had been smarter, tougher, and stronger. She sighed. I need to get stronger sooner. There are still a few weeks left in the test. I need to train harder. A thought occurred to her. Hmm, maybe what I did was tap into my future ability or…magic? No, not magic, definitely an ability, but does that mean… Zerine shook her head. No, Zerine, you're far from getting your crest. Don’t even dare to hope. If you were, I bet the backlash probably would have been less. Instead, you were knocked out for at least an hour and a half. She scolded herself.

Kimi clicked and tapped Zerine’s cheek with one of its forelegs. Now one would think that a spider’s leg would feel fuzzy, but Runic spiders are different. It felt more like a Varino’s touch, a tingling sensation.

“Hmm, sorry! What?” Zerine said, embarrassed.

Varino looked at Zerine a little worried, but pointed to their right and chimed.

“Oh, you sense something in that direction. A good something?”

Varino nodded.

“Right! Sorry about missing what you two were saying. I was thinking,” Zerine said, heading in the direction Varino had pointed.

Varino whistled, titling her head. Her drifting, deep blue hair followed the action flowing to her right as her silver and blue eyes looked curiously at Zerine. She burbled a question.

“I…I just don’t know exactly how I did what I did. Plus, it’s still early in the test and I feel like it’s going to only get worse from here on. If the earlier fight was anything to go by, then it’ll probably get worse sooner than later.”

Varino patted her cheek, making a soft flute note.

“Yeah, I know you two will be here. Although, Kimi, are you alright being with us for a whole month?”

Kimi hissed and clicked waving its forelegs. To Zerine’s instincts, it was clear what Kimi was saying.

“I’m only asking because I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay. Varino has told you about our test, and this island is going to be our home for a month.”

Varino chirped a correction.

“Fair, so not a home, but a battlefield. And yeah, Kimi, there will be plenty of fighting to go around. Plus, you and I can practice hunting, too. After all, you and I actually eat food. Unlike Varino.”

More clicking and something similar to a squeak escaped the spider.

“Great! Once we find a good spot to set up camp, we should figure out some strategies that fit our new team dynamic. I don’t know if I can do what I did in the last fight again, and we have to assume our future fights won’t be against a bunch of dumb monsters. Probably they will be more like the salamander we fought.”

A distant explosion made them all look. Zerine actually took the time to focus on more than their immediate surroundings. She had been lazy after the fight and too focused on her own thoughts.

Now that she had started to pay attention, the normal sounds of the forest were gone. It sounded like the entire island was in an uproar. Far more explosions, shrieks, and the sounds of spells being cast were echoing through the forest and were nearly constant.

Their large fight hadn’t been the only one that broke out, clearly. From the sheer amount of sounds, Zerine guessed that a massive wave of monsters had manifested and the local creatures weren’t happy about it.

How had she not noticed any of this?

Oh, I know, she thought, embarrassed at her own lack of attentiveness. Sure, she was tired, but that wasn’t a good excuse, and it wasn’t the real reason. The real reason was that she had been focused on her instincts and trusting the others would pick up on anything before she did. Varino’s and Kimi’s magical senses covered a far larger area than Zerine’s pitifully small sphere. Silently, she scolded herself.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

You can’t tune out anything. There are ways to hide from magical senses, so I shouldn’t solely rely on their better senses. Raith and Zara would chew me out for not noticing, she thought.

Varino burbled, pulling Zerine out of her thoughts. The spirit was pointing to their right at an angle from them.

“So, go that way? Are you sure about this? We aren’t going to run into some trap meant to capture elemental spirits? Or find ourselves in the middle of someone else’s fight?” Zerine wondered, pausing.

They were in a small clearing and the direction Varino had pointed started to slope upwards. Fortunately, the stream also came from that direction, so at least they would have a steady supply of water.

Varino chimed, then whistled confidently.

“Not a trap, but something probably good. Well, you're confident. Kimi thoughts?”

An excited chitter came from the spider.

“Alright, that makes two. Then let’s keep going.”

***

John was looking over the deck of his fishing vessel. The ley lines shift made their trip more…complicated. His ship only had a crew of ten and they were all busy dealing with their complication. A group of B-rank monsters had manifested and were making their lives hell.

A pod of flying, well, John wasn’t sure if he could call them whales, but they were close enough or at least the size of whales. The monsters all had clusters of glowing orange eyes. And instead of the normally thick skin of a whale, these had scales more akin to a dragon. Metal whip-like tails swiped at the vessel.

“Fucking hell!” John shouted as a slice of air cut cleanly through the mast of their vessel, right through several protective barriers. With a crash, the large mast smashed on to the deck.

“Half keep those things at bay, the rest propelling duty now,” John shouted. His crew moved quickly to obey, but the whales suddenly stopped attacking and began to move away.

What the hell? They would only retreat if…if. Oh, no!

“All, prepare! For-” he barely got the words out when powerful auras crashed over the ship.

John saw two people pass out, not able to protect themselves from the aura’s sheer power. His face went deathly pale as more auras washed over them.

What fresh hell have we found ourselves in? he thought, dreading the fact that they would all find out shortly.

The water bubbled around the ship. Then a scraping sound was heard. Crab-like creatures climbed on to the deck of the ship. They had four arms ending in dangerous looking claws. Their bodies were covered in black armor. Four golden eyes shone as they spotted the crew. The most striking aspect of the monster was a shining piece of metal shaped like a diamond in the middle of its armored head.

“Dark steal Metalhead!” one of the crew shouted in fear.

One of the Metalheads’ carb arms shot out, cutting the man the who had shouted in half. The Metal tossed the upper half of the man’s body into the deck, making a wet splat and spraying blood all over the place. Until the attack, the entire ship had been in an eerie, frozen silence. With the death of the crew member, chaos erupted.

“Abandon ship!” John shouted.

He went to cast a wind spell to send him into the sky when he froze.

A humanoid Metalhead was flying far above the ship, but John knew that no matter the distance between them, the thing in the sky could travel it in a blink. He just knew that th emost poweful aura came from that thing.

The being waved its hands, and a shadow blotted out the sun.

“Oh, gods. A horde of Metalheads,” were the last words John said before darkness took him.

***

The horde leader watched as the tiny vessel was torn to pieces. Once the vessel had been delt with, they focused on the fleeing monsters. With another gesture, three dark grey spikes blasted up from the ocean, impaling the whale monsters. With their task complete, the leader focused on the scouting group. Through their link, they knew could easily get an update.

Still days away, but closer. And the weak magic hasn’t faded, so it may be worth retrieving, they thought.

They flew high into the sky then cast their sight enhancing ability. A small cluster of islands came into view. On one of those was the scouting group’s target and the treasure it held would be theirs.

***

Zerine and company hike the steep hill for several hours. During the journey, they fought several clusters of monsters, which allowed the group to practice their new team dynamic. At first, they fought similar dumb creatures as the fluffy monsters, but as it got later in the day, their enemies became stronger and smarter.

After one particularly grueling fight, they finally reach the location Varino had been directing them to. There was a large pool of water with a just as large tree next to it. The tree had leaves of every shade of green, orange, and brown. On top of the serene appearance, the space had an energy to it that both rejuvenated them, while also being calming to the beleaguered travelers.

“Varino, you found a spiritual place. Nature magic and water magic are so balanced here,” Zerine said in awe.

Her gaze took in the colorful array of plants. They came in every shape and size. The entire space was filled with planet life that covered the ground, leading to the large pool of water. She spotted several tiny blue heads pop up in the water to then quickly disappear when they saw them looking their way.

“We have to be careful, you two. Places like this are protected by powerful spirits or creatures. So, be on your best behavior,” Zerine said.

Varino nodded gravely, but then perked up and chimed brightly and waved to a small group of nature spirits. The spirits in question had bodies similar to Varino, partly translucent but instead of deep blue, their bodies were had shades of green mixed with swirls of brown. Each spirit had a different plant sprouting from the top of their heads. They all stared openly at the group, looking worried.

Zerine resisted the urge to facepalm from Varino’s overly causal way.

Kimi mimicked Varino’s greeting with a clicking sound, while waving its forelegs to the spirits. The spirit’s looks of worry were now replaced with confusion. Zerine didn’t blame them. She, too, was confused about what they should do. Hell, if she were in the spirit’s shoes, she wouldn't know what to do with such a strange group of people just showing up.

If this place has a natural treasure, then it’s only a matter of time before the monsters will find this place, Zerine thought. She was already going through plans on how to defend this place.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the pool of water suddenly turned into a whirlpool. In the middle of the spinning water, a figure slowly rose.

“Here goes nothing,” Zerine whispered. She would try to make it clear they wouldn’t do anything to this place or its inhabitants. They would have to convince them that their group could help them protect it.

Before Zerine could say anything, chains made of vines held her in place.

Well, not exactly a good start, she thought.