“We could.” Brick said. “We could go to the peaks, if Zoe’s alright with that. I have no desire to continue chasing the dragon personally. That was exciting, but if I never come that close to one again I’ll be happy.”

“Or?" Blue prodded.

“Or we could go to Lionhead, find the person who can tell us what these items we found do, and head up to the peaks after?" Brick suggested.

“I vote we go to the peaks now. Zoe knows somebody who can tell us anyway. We can just ask them.” Spark said.

“Agreed,” Blue said.

“I don’t really care personally. I’m fine as long as we don’t stay too long in any one place. Or really, anywhere as long as I can study Brick’s skill.” Zoe said.

“Then to the peaks!” Brick grinned and pointed to the distant mountains with their one free hand as they clung onto Zoe’s arm with the other.

Zoe nodded, and Cosmic Stepped several times towards the peak until the group landed on the edge of the cliff with soft green grass beneath their feet and a dense forest a few kilometers inland.

“I don’t really know where we are, by the way.” Zoe laughed.

“Who cares, we’re on the peaks! Lets go!” Spark started running towards the forest.

“Hold on,” Blue called out. “We need some ground rules first.”

“Like?" Brick asked.

“Oh come on, lets just go find a town!” Spark bounced back and forth on the balls of their feet.

“And where would we find a town?” Blue raised an eyebrow.

“Zoe can fly us up above so we can see.” Spark said.

“And running away from her is going to help with that?" Blue chuckled.

“Whatever.” Spark said. “I wanna see the trees and the flowers too.”

“Blue’s right, we need some ground rules. Zoe, do the people up here know of the valleys?" Brick asked.

“Not really. Not as far as I know, anyway. I’ve never heard of you before at least, but I haven’t been around for… Well I guess I have been around a bit, but I’m not much of a social person really.” Zoe answered.

Brick nodded. “Would it be a problem if people knew about the valleys?"

“I don’t care either way, really. I don’t see why it would be a problem.” Zoe said.

“So then it comes down to whether we want people to know where we’re from, then.” Blue said.

“I vote we lie.” Brick said. “This is a great opportunity to leave everything behind and start over fresh for us, and I’d like to take advantage of it.”

“Agreed,” Blue said.

“Same.” Spark said.

“Where could we be from, then? What’s a believable story?” Brick asked.

Zoe laughed, thinking of her own past.

“What?" Brick asked.

“It’s nothing. You can just say you’re from wherever you’re from. Or make up a name. We’re a lot more… civilized? Not in like a barbaric versus civilized way but in a literal we have larger civilizations. What’s the word for that… Doesn’t matter. We’re a lot better at sharing information and maps and stuff, but there’s a good chance literally nobody you meet has ever been over here, or in that forest.” Zoe said.

“We’re from Krol, then.” Brick said.

“Nah.” Spark shook their head. “I like Lokra more.”

“Lokra sounds nice.” Blue said.

“Fine by me.” Brick agreed.

“What’s Lokra?" Zoe asked.

Spark shrugged. “Made it up.”

Zoe chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“Family? Friends?” Brick asked.

“Family. Siblings?” Blue suggested.

Zoe tuned out a bit as they continued building up the backstory they’d share with people. She didn’t think it was all that necessary anyway, but if it made them feel more comfortable she had no reason to stop it. They ended up settling on siblings who left Lokra to try and find as many dungeons as they could. Each of them created a whole history for themselves, where they used to work and friends they used to have. It was all needlessly complicated and Zoe doubted most of it would ever even be useful to them.

But after a few hours of back and forth between them, they seemed to be satisfied with their backstories. Besides their names and classes, it seemed they decided to keep very little about themselves the same. Zoe wondered how much of what they’d shared with her was true, but decided not to pry.

“I can’t believe it’s still so bright.” Blue said. “It’s been hours, and it’s still not dark? How long do the days last here?"

“Depends on the season, really. And where you are. But like ten to fifteen hours of daylight depending on the time of year is about expected. Give or take a few.” Zoe answered.

“Fifteen hours of light every day. Fifteen hours of being productive, of travelling. That’s amazing.” Blue said.

“Well, it doesn’t get that dark anyway so we can still do stuff during the night.” Zoe said.

Brick shook their head. “Well, shall we find a town to stop in at? Do you have any way of finding your home, Zoe?”

“I could fly up and try to find something I recognize, then make my way home from there. I’m not lost, I just don’t know where we are right now. We might be in a different country. I dunno. Like I said I don’t really mind where we go so I’m fine with wandering around till we stumble on something interesting.” Zoe said.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Works for me.” Spark said.

Brick and Blue both shrugged and Spark took off back towards the forest.

“Anything we should worry about here?” Brick asked as they ran off after Spark.

“Not really. The world’s not out to get you up here like it is down there. Probably. I mean I don’t really know where we are and some of the animals can get pretty high level if they’re left to their own devices for a while. But we don’t have wanderers or dragons or shadows or whatever other nonsense y’all have down there.” Zoe answered.

Brick nodded, and they continued running through the forest for a few hours as the sun fell down towards the horizon and the shadows cast by the trees grew long, stretching through the forest. The others looked at the shadows with a wary eye, their nerves growing and poking into Zoe’s empathy like pins and needles.

“You’re positive it’s safe?” Brick asked.

“Yup.” Zoe chuckled. “Nothing’s gonna come out. You could even light up a torch if you wanted.”

“Really?" Spark asked. ”I could still keep a torch on at night?“

“Yup.” Zoe nodded.

“Lets set up camp for the night.” Blue suggested. “Lets get a fire going.”

The group stopped and the others ran off into the forest to gather some wood to burn while Zoe sat in a floating earthen chair she conjured, enjoying the experience. For once, she wasn’t the one stranded somewhere unfamiliar, trying to wrap her head around a brand new world she’d never seen before.

And being on the outside, watching people get excited over something as simple as a fire burning at night was fun. Like watching little kittens learning to walk, or how to meow without closing their eyes at the same time. It was adorable, in a way. They were so capable down in the valleys, but thrust into Zoe’s live they looked like they didn’t even know what the sun was or whether their own shadow would bite them.

Was that how others thought of her, Zoe wondered? A small child or animal, flailing its way through life? Maybe before, but she hoped that now she was at least competent enough to look somewhat normal. As normal as she wanted to anyway, her life was hardly normal for the people of Abyllan.

Though there must be others who had travelled down to the valleys too, others who could travel around the world in moments. Was there some secret society that ruled the world from the shadows that she could join?

Or did people who got as powerful as her just tend to leave and go explore the wilds, or even other planets? Maybe join groups of wanderers down below, if that existed? What was the point of having so much power anyway? Become a royal guard, live a life of luxury?

Maybe she could make her own kingdom one day. Was she powerful enough for that now? If that dragon attacked the Injellar kingdom’s capital, who would come out on top? Were there mages capable of defending against that terrifying heat? Warriors who could stop the dragon’s flight?

Walls that would survive a battering from its claws, or the buffeting winds from its wings, or a town of buildings that could sustain the flames dripping from its fangs?

Zoe couldn’t. Just the heat from the dragon’s presence alone was enough to almost overwhelm her. From so far away, the dragon merely moving pressed against her magic as she tried to keep them afloat. It was an incredible beast to witness, and just as terrifying.

Were creatures like that something that leaders of kingdoms and empires had to worry about? The purpose of the Injellar kingdom’s royal guard?

Or did they just hope they’d never encounter something like that and do their best to keep people safe in a catastrophe’s absence? She added visiting the capital to her todo list, someday in the future. It could be fun to visit anyway, see how people lived there.

Would there be noble houses, sprawling mansions with servants swarming the gardens and dusting the homes? Dozens of dungeons beneath, for each of the noble houses, pushing them towards their own niches?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a surge of excitement blasting her Vampyric Empathy as the group lit a bonfire in front of her. The flames engulfed the pile of wood and raced for the sky in a somewhat underwhelming explosion, after the recent dragon encounter.

“You’re sure we can just stick around here even as darkness comes?” Brick asked, excitement and a nervous anxiety bubbling out of them in waves.

“How long until darkness?" Spark asked, looking at the sun that was just beginning to set, the bottom edge hidden under the horizon. The clouds were lit in deep reds and oranges, with bands of colour stretching around the sun.

“Two minutes? Three? I’ve never timed a sunset before, actually.” Zoe shrugged. “Not long, anyway.”

“It’s beautiful.” Brick said.

“This is what it looks like every night?" Blue asked.

“More or less. It changes, depending on where you are. Something about the light having to travel through more atmosphere when it’s on the horizon, so a lot of the spectrum of light gets blocked by whatever dust and particles are floating in the air. I don’t really understand it all, but it can look different if you live somewhere dusty or something. Or just closer to the equator maybe? I’m not sure, really. I never cared much for sunsets, to be honest.” Zoe answered.

“You never cared much for this?” Spark asked, gesturing to the assortment of colours that covered the distant sky.

Zoe shrugged. “I mean it’s beautiful, and I like to watch them sometimes. But I never really cared enough to look into why they happen or anything. They’re just a part of life, I guess?”

Brick shook their head. “It’s incredible.”

Anxiety rose within the group as the sun set bit by bit, dripping through their excitement like a leaky faucet. It peaked when the sun dipped below the horizon and the wave of night rushed over them, beaten back by the stars shining down and the raging bonfire. The trees and branches cast long, dancing shadows as the fire roared, sending shivers of fear through Zoe’s companions.

They watched the shadows with anticipation, waiting for them to come to life. For the beasts that lurked within to jump out and attack them as they were used to. Spark and Blue both gripped their spears, while Brick’s head spun, glancing at each shadow as it dancing along the ground.

“How much longer?" Spark asked.

“Till what?” Zoe asked.

“Dark.” Spark answered.

“This is it.” Zoe answered.

“This is the night?” Blue asked. “This is as dark as it gets?”

“Well I mean, some nights it gets a little darker. Clouds and stuff. And in the winters it can get pretty dark. But yeah, this is about it. This is a normal night.” Zoe answered.

Brick laughed, and the other two joined in. The tension washed away as they looked at the stars in the night sky and watched the flames cast their flickering flame out across the forest floor.

“You’re spoiled.” Brick said. “All of you up here. Spoiled.”

Zoe shrugged. “I guess so, in a way.”

“So, where to then?" Brick asked. ”Do we camp out for the night? Keep travelling? Fly our way to a nearby town and see what it has to offer?“

“I don’t really mind what we do.” Zoe said.

“I vote we stay. I want to relax by the fire tonight.” Spark said.

“I vote we stay.” Blue agreed.

“Then we stay,” Brick said and laid down on the ground next to the fire, the orange light shining on their face.

The night passed with few interruptions. Spark and Blue both fell asleep after a few hours, while Brick sat next to the fire, staring out at the forest. Every few minutes, Zoe would feel a wave of anxiety and fear race out from them as they watched the shadows frolic along the ground, but it was replace soon after with a sense of peace.

When morning came and the sun began to rise, Brick shoved Blue and Spark awake. “Light. It’s only been a few hours. Is that how long the night lasts?”

Zoe nodded. “Long days, short nights. That’s how I’ve always lived, really.”

Brick shook their head, and the group watched the sun rise on the horizon in silence. The orange and red hues shone down on the forest and the smouldering coals, making the fire seem to burn again.

“This is incredible.” Blue said. “Every day is like this? Peaceful and bright?”

Zoe laughed. “Like I keep saying, yes. This is normal.”

Spark laughed. “I’m never going back down there again. To hell with all of them, to hell with the darkness. With the long nights, the wanderers. I’m never dealing with that again.”