Zerine and Kimi’s hunting went alright. They couldn’t find anything too large, so ended up going after rodent sized lizards. With a combination of Zerine’s traps and Kimi’s runes, they caught enough for both to have food for a few days. Zerine also gathered some fruit and edible plants she recognized. During their hunt, she kept an eye out for herbs to make healing pills or elixirs, but with no luck.

They did come across several monster groups, which they quickly dispatched. Most of the monsters were low E-rank, weak, slow, and mindless. It helped that there were only a handful, and those that were stronger had wounds from recent fights, making it even easier for Kimi and Zerine to deal with them. Although near the end of a fight, several of those puff balls from hell showed up in a group.

“Get back, you evil little fucks!” Zerine snarled, swinging a branch like a bat. With a very satisfying thunk, the last demon puff ball flew off. Zerine grinned, watching the pink ball of death wiz off into the distance. “How far do you think that one will go, Kimi?” She wondered, glancing at the spider on her shoulder as she tossed aside her makeshift bat.

Kimi waved its forelegs and chittered.

Zerine nodded, “Honestly, I thought they would be heavier, but they sure can fly with a good hit.”

Kimi had gotten better with understanding Zerine, probably because of Varino's help, while they had traveled to the spiritual place. They still had moments where Zerine and Kimi played a guessing game till Kimi figured out what Zerine meant. But at this time, Kimi fully understood.

Kimi hissed and clicked again.

“Yeah, let’s head back. And good idea about laying some traps just in case monsters come along,” Zerine said.

The forest was still full of fighting. They saw some skirmishes, but stayed away. This plan worked till the ground shock.

Several spells roared past them, blasting apart a tree. Zerine and Kimi scrambled for cover. When Zerine was sure they weren’t actively being attacked, she peered around the tree she was hiding behind. She saw the spells had come from a full on battle. Zerine and Kimi moved a little further away, but hid as more joined the fight. They watched curiously.

The battle was taking place in a clearing and the surrounding area. As they watched, the chaos only grew. Large monsters shoved trees aside and fought equally enormous creatures in the clearing, while smaller monsters and creatures fought in the surrounding forest. In the utter chaos, Zerine couldn’t tell which were the monsters, and those that were creatures. The battle had such a verity of beings fighting; it was impossible to tell.

Spells blasted in every direction. The few that entered Zerine’s magical sense sphere made her raise her eyebrows. They were not weak spells.

Suddenly, shadows warped near them. Zerine had drawn and thrown her knife before something emerged from the shadows. Her knife pierced the eye of a…tiny bear!?

The…hopefully a monster, howled, falling backwards. Its fall halted when eight metal spikes shot out from its back. The spikes moved, and that was when Zerine realized they were legs. The tiny brown bear-like monster moved using those spikes. It righted itself and snarled at her. As it moved, it got larger. Soon it was the size of a massive dog.

Her knife was still buried in the monster’s head, making Zerine wonder.

Where the hell am I supposed to hit the thing to kill it?

As if to answer her thought, two eyes opened on the bear’s stomach along with a maw full of sharp teeth.

Yep, that is a monster and would you like at that, a target, she thought, drawing a scythe. She felt Kimi leap off her shoulder. A shriek came from her right where another bear-like monster had appeared to only have Kimi’s fangs rip into it.

Dark bolts of shadow mana formed over the bear she had attacked. Before the spell had finished forming, she had palmed another knife and thrown it, but this time it was enhanced with willpower. Her knife cut a clean hole straight through the monster. Blood sprayed, but Zerine didn’t have time to relieve her knives as more monsters or creatures arrived. They were now in the middle of the growing battle.

This is getting out of hand. It sounds like even more creatures, and monsters are all congregating to this area. Probably drawn in by the other very loud fight, she thought as she avoided several stones thrown at her by a six-armed monster.

“Kimi, we should get out!” Zerine shouted. She ran to the corpse of the monster she had killed and grabbed her knife. It took a little longer to find her other one, but once she did, she ran.

A tree nearby exploded into shards. Zerine dove to the ground, thankful for her armor that had repaired itself from their fight earlier that day. Even with her armor, she still felt several sharp pains as some shrapnel pierced her armor.

She swore, but got to her feet and ran. She had to dodge attacks aimed her away. The last was a ball of black flames that just missed her. Painful heat blasted over her for a moment as it tore past her.

“Shit, shit, shit!” she muttered, willing her feet to move faster.

The ground quaked as a group of creatures cast spikes of stone blasting through the forest. Zerine just managed to dive behind a boulder as the spikes collided with other spells, creating an explosion of mana. The explosion was a multi-color fiery display lighting the forest. Even behind the boulder, Zerine felt the blast of heat and mana.

The forest fell silent for a moment for it only to get broken as roars, shrieks and blasts of spells erupted once again. Zerine stayed hidden behind the boulder, trying to catch her breath. Kimi leapt behind the boulder. The spider had a light green barrier that started to fade around it as it clicked and hissed.

“Thank the gods you made it! Let’s get the hell out of here,” Zerine said.

As she spoke, auras washed over the area.

More powerful than Varino’s aura, I think…C-ranks! she thought, dread rushing through her.

Without thinking, she scooped up Kimi in her arms and bolted. A second later, a blast wave hit her back, launching them into the air. Zerine tuck and rolled, landing a little more rough than intended, but she quickly recovered, still holding Kimi. The spider clicked and Zerine felt it shaking.

“Yep, faster. We have to go, a lot faster,” she said, ignoring the pain from the shards of wood that dug deeper into her from her fall.

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Runes appeared on her feet and her movement became a blur. They fled the raging battle. It took them another hour of running till they were certain they had gotten far enough away.

Zerine, still holding Kimi, walked to a tree and leaned against breathing hard and slid to the ground.

“I need a break,” she gasped when Kimi clicked its glowing eyes looking at her with what she guessed was worry. Kimi’s two large eyes were rather expressive, and Zerine was beginning to read their expressions.

Kimi bobbed and moved to make itself more comfortable in her lap.

***

“She is having a rather easy time on the island,” Zeron’Nyo commented.

“Really?! Just…how high are your expectations for your descendants? Because from what I can tell, she could have died a bunch of different times or at least been severely injured. She easily has some of the hardest enemies out of those that have done this test the past decade,” her guest commented with a grin, making her emerald eyes flash.

Nyo glanced towards Order and Chaos, her uninvited guest, as usual. The Primal Spirit had always appeared in her proto realm or made Nyo appear in her realm. Many of her visits were far more casual than one would expect from a fundamental aspect of the cosmos, but Nyo had to admit the Spirit was rather fun to hang out with. They had known one another for nearly two millennia, which from a mortal perspective was an unimaginable amount of time, but for those in the immortal plans, it was a tiny blip. Sense Nyo knew this spirit before becoming a demigod, they had become good friends even if from the spirit’s perspective hardly any time had passed. The only beings that had been in her life longer were and close friends were the dragons.

“I expect them to keep progressing, find their limits and break them,” Nyo replied, glancing to the feed on a rather trouble prone descendent.

Zerine was lying on her stomach as the Runic spider she had named Kimi pulled out splinters that had pierced her limbs. It looked painful and, based on the muffled swearing escaping past the leather Zerine had bitten down on, it did. “As for her…she as far to go. It just comes as a surprise that you had your eyes on her before me.”

Order and chaos’ grin grew, revealing normal teeth that flickered to points for a moment before flickering back. “You have too many descendants. Sooo, one slipped past you. But you caught on and even struck up a bet. Two bets, in fact.”

Nyo rolled her eyes. Her eyes were swirls of sapphire and ruby matching her flowing hair. “Two bets I’m unlikely to win. Also,” she sighed, “I made them when I was angry. Few have ever joined me in the immortal plane and the rare times I communicate, they ignore my wisdom. It…frustrated me.”

“Mortals do that. I remember a very young sapphire and ruby eyed girl telling elder dragons that she would help reshape this world and to hell with her fate.” Nyo winced.

“Can you not bring up my angsty teenage years? It’s embarrassing,” Nyo complained.

The fairy’s laugh sound like tinkling bells. “Oh, it wasn’t just your teenage years, but sure thing, I will get to the pint. I like that you tell fate to go fuck off and take matters into your own hands.”

“Isn’t me telling fate to fuck off basically me telling you to fuck off? I always forget to ask how you feel about Fate Breakers.”

“I’m Order and chaos. Fate is simply an aspect of me. I always love those that flip everyone’s expectations or understandings. It always leads to new things and, most importantly, change.” When she said the last word, her eyes turned half emerald and crimson, shining brightly.

“New things…I like that,” Nyo said with a smile. She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Aren’t the Accords forcing you to be neutral? So, you having an eye on a mortal is odd. Aren’t you afraid that the others will say you're interfering?”

“I’m as neutral as they come,” Oder and Chaos said innocently. “No one can blame me for observing. What else am I supposed to do? Float around for eons? Cause tried that, and it’s dull after the first.”

“Hmm, I distantly remember a well-hidden reality taking up most of you attentions when you weren’t watching me messing about.”

“Ah, yes. That place is connected to the Border plane and hence my power extends to it.”

“Didn’t it have to deal with a dimensional invasion?”

Order and chaos flapped a hand at Nyo. “Hush you, it was handled…mostly. But speaking of dimensional invasions, you’ve done well keeping the other demigods from sending more ascendents to your old world. When do you think you will become a God?”

Nyo shrugged, “I will have to push past my limits and fighting to demigods off and on has been great for my own personal growth.”

“Great! With you dealing with them, and you, along with some allies, have enough ascendents for parity…for now. But this era is certainly shaping out to be quite eventful,” the fairy said, almost giddy.

“So that secret project of yours is yielding results?”

“Oh…you will see. Maybe even Zerine will see it,” Oder and Chaos teased.

“You can’t show your hand now. The others-”

“I won’t… I’m just…testing something. And besides, two people made a deal with me. I have to follow through with it. It just so happens it alines with annoying the hell out of a certain group.”

Nyo face palmed. “You do realize other realities have stories about your little deals. They are often depicted negatively, akin to making a deal with the Devil. I mean literally, some actually say that.”

“Well, that just helps him get his name to other realities riding on my legends,” the fairy shrugged, making her emerald and gold wings shift. “And these are more than normal deals.” Order and Chaos’ gaze went distant. “I’m making a gamble and I don’t want it to fail. And…I owe Creation and Destruction to try.” She took a shaking breath and let it out slow. Her usual care free smile was back as she said. “Change is coming Nyo, and we are going to witnesses it.”

“I look forward to that day,” Nyo was about to saying something , but a muffled explosion came from her feed of Zerine.

Varino had been left at the camp, which was now being attacked by a group of monsters. As they watched, lightning lit the sky, thundering down, obliterating those that dare come close to the spiritual space.

“I must say, Varino’s reincarnation has proved to be a great idea from my fellow Primal.”

“What can you tell me about her fate for this test?”

“Worried?” Oder and Chaos wondered. Before Nyo could answer, the fairy spoke. “There are a few pathways that lead to Zerine’s death. One of which you orchestrated. But they don’t lead to her Fate Breaker event. They are just the normal potentials like most that follow her forever.”

“Till she breaks fate and makes her own path,” Nyo said.

“If she does. We both know it will only get harder. Will you do anything now that the dragons have made their interest clear?”

“No, she will have to earn it. If she becomes a Fate Breaker, she will have. Until then, she is simply a strange mortal in an era that will throw everything at her till she either ascends or dies.”

“Good gods, depressing much,” Oder and Chaos tried and failed to hide a smile.

Nyo looked incredulously at the Primal spirit. “You know!” she accused.

“Spoilers, my dear Nyo. Just like everyone in the cosmos, you will have to let events play out.”

Something in the Primal spirit's gaze made Nyo’s eyes go wide. “Your-your plans. They’re going to happen soon. That can’t mean…no. That reality is where many of the Primal’s replacements and constellations came from once upon a time.right?” Order and Chaos’ smile starched her face. Her eyes were swirling crimson and emerald, blazing with excitement. “By the gods. The Astral Program…but…no there has to be more. You have been in a great mood for these past centuries. That deal-”

“Don’t say it out loud. I don’t want you to jinx anything. And plans are just plans until they are in action and yield results. But that does mean I would like you to become a god sooner than later. It would mean we could have more fun together. Plus, you would be able to play a role perfect for you when the time comes. If…its comes…hopefully its comes.”

“How many know?”

“This realities cluster goddess of knowledge, the First Born, several Primals, my agents in my little reality, and a few others. And…now…you,” Order and Chaos’ anticipation was palpable. “Now let’s watch and see if you win your second bet, shall we?”

***

After Zerine ate a healing pill, she and Kimi made it back to the hill to find Varino utterly destroying a group of monsters that had gotten a little too close to the spirits home. They joined the fight quickly, finishing off the monsters.

When Varino saw Zerine’s torn and freighted poncho, she whistled in alarm and proceeded to check her for injuries. Zerine and Kimi took turns explaining the fight that had swept them up. Varino was not happy about being left behind, but her sulking turned back to her normal cheerful self as they went about setup traps. A lot of traps. After some more fights they spent the day relaxing and playing games with the spirits.

The next day saw them fending off waves of monsters from the hill. It soon became routine for them. Till one day, the monkeys started to become a thorn in their sides.