Zoe looked at the other two people she’d been teleported in front of, with a look of genuine shock on her face. How had Brick teleported her without even touching her? Without a shred of resistance put up by Zoe’s skills?
Two others sat at the table with Brick and Zoe, one with messy long brown hair that fell behind their ears and shoulders, with purple glasses resting on their face. The other had shorter brown hair that just reached their ears and wore thicker black glasses. Both were wearing a heavy looking leather armour and had tall silver spears leaning up against their chairs, and both identified as level one eighty four dark blue warriors.
“I’m sorry, what?” Zoe asked.
“We’re hunting a dragon. Wanna come?" Brick repeated, their smile not fading in the slightest.
The longer haired person sighed. “I’m Blue. This is Spark.” They said, gesturing to the shorter haired person. “That’s Brick.” They said, gesturing to brick. “I’m not sure how much they’ve told you?”
“Not much, yet.” Zoe said.
“Figures.” Blue said, scowling at Brick. “They never do. Why did you bring them here, Brick?”
“They’re a healer with a bit of magic. Thought they’d be useful to us.” Brick shrugged and rested their head on their hands as they leaned on the table.
Blue nodded. “Sorry about that. Brick’s a great leader, and worth trusting. But they’re not always forthcoming with their plans. They’re right though, we could use a healer on our journey if you’re interested in coming.”
“I mean, is it going to be safe? A dragon seems like a bit of a tall ask for somebody at level one hundred three.” Zoe asked, hoping they had a plan. If they didn’t, maybe she’d stalk along behind them anyway just to see what a dragon would be. She glanced over at James’ party in the corner who seemed to have grabbed a job and sat down to plan their strategy.
“As safe as the outside can be. I can’t promise you’ll live, but you wouldn’t be looking to join a group if you wanted that.” Brick said.
“The dragon is far away from here.” Blue added. “You’re not going to be fighting it if you don’t want to, but we could use the help on the journey there.”
“How far is it?” Zoe asked.
“Two months, three months? We’re not sure, really. Last sighting was a while ago so we’re gonna head to wherever it might have left some tracks, and see if we can follow it.” Brick said.
Zoe nodded. “Sounds fine to me, then.”
“Great!” Brick said. “We leave tomorrow at light.”
Spark rolled their eyes. “You should stay, so we can discuss our plans.”
Brick waved their hands. “It’ll be simple. We just travel till night, set up camp and get all the healing we need and then repeat until we’ve got a dead dragon.”
“How capable of a healer are you?" Spark asked.
Zoe shrugged. “I’m good enough. If you’re alive, I should be able to heal you.”
“Beheading?" Spark asked.
Zoe raised her eyebrows. “I’ve never tried it.”
Spark nodded. “Missing limbs?"
“I can heal that, yeah.” Zoe said and watched as Spark nodded.
“We’ll have to test your healing when we get outside to be safe.” Spark said.
“That’s fine,” Zoe said and glanced over to James’ group again. He was looking over, mana swirling in his eyes.
“You know them?" Blue asked, nodding their head in James’ direction.
Zoe shook her head. “Just seems like an interesting effect he’s got going on.”
“That’s James,” Brick said. “Obsessed with his lie detection magic. Careful around him.”
“Lie detection magic?" Zoe asked, thinking back to her conversations she had with the party. How many lies did she tell? How much could he piece apart?
James stood up and started walking over to Brick’s group.
“Dammit, which one of you pissed them off this time?" Spark asked.
Blue and Brick both shrugged.
Zoe felt the nervous anxiety rise within James as he approached the table she was sitting at. An undercurrent of fear drifting just beneath a layer of curiosity and interest.
“You.” James said, pointing at Zoe. Mana swirled through his eyes, lighting them up like tiny disco balls stuck in his head. “Who are you?"
“Me?" Zoe asked.
“Yes, you.” James said, fear bubbling up through his anxiety.
“I’m a healer. I’m sorry, do I know you?” Zoe asked.
“I think you do.” James said, the rest of his party walking up behind him.
Zoe shook her head. “Then we could agree to disagree, I guess. Do you need something from me? We’re trying to plan our journey right now.”
“What’s your name?" James asked.
“Mara,” Zoe said. Her last name hadn’t been useful to her since she’d shown up in Abyllan, but it was still her name, so she wasn’t lying.
“Where were you four days ago?" James asked.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“As Mara told you, we’re trying to plan our journey. Stop bothering us.” Spark scowled at James.
“Where were you four days ago?" James repeated, an anger beginning to form beneath the swirl of emotions he was feeling.
“Four days ago?” Zoe chuckled. “Honestly, I dunno really. It’s pretty dark out there. Not here, at least. Just got here last night.”
“Enough.” Brick said. “Get back to your table, we’re busy.”
James looked at brick with a pained expression on his face. “I think this might be the creature that attacked us.”
Blue clicked their tongue. “It’s all so stupid, James. A powerful creature infiltrated your party and came along on an adventure with you. Then in your moment of weakness, you turned on the monster and instead of retaliating, it killed the hydra and healed your wounds. Maybe it happened, okay? Frankly, I don’t think you’re good enough to kill a hydra so something else clearly did.
“But that something left you alive after you attacked it, and even healed you for free. After you attacked it.” Blue shook their head. “You’re being stupid. If Mara is this powerful creature, then all the better for us. If your story’s true then all I hear is you turning down the greatest blessing you could have ever asked for.”
Zoe struggled to hold back a grin that threatened to creep onto her face. There was something magical about being a powerful wanderer, leaving a legend behind in her wake. As a child, it was one of her biggest fantasies. Getting super powers, travelling the world and solving problems. People would speak of her adventures and she’d read all about it online.
Except, there was no internet here so the best she could do was listen to some people talk about her adventures right in front of her. A bit of a guilty pleasure she was discovering for herself. Maybe she’d try and get a better disguise for when she was going to go show off.
James scoffed and walked back to his table with the rest of his group, annoyance welling up from all of them.
“So, you really that mysterious creature that killed the hydra?" Brick laughed. ”Would be a big help if you were.“
Zoe shook her head. “Sorry, I’m no mysterious creature. Just human.” Knowing people had lie detecting skills down in the valley made her mind race with possibilities. Who would be listening? Who would know if she told a lie? Would they know if she told a half lie, hid part of the truth?
“Well, that’s too bad then. I hear it killed the hydra in an instant. Just ripped it in half with its raw power, overwhelming its regeneration.” Brick said.
“Hmm? I’d never even heard about a hydra until pretty recently. Are they very strong?" Zoe asked.
“Annoying, would be the better term.” Spark said. “They’re hard to kill unless you can do a lot of damage, very quickly. But they don’t do much themselves other than destroy the forest around them.”
“We tried,” Blue said. “Couldn’t take it out in the end. Not sure what James’ group was up to with it, but they had some kind of plan. Spent a pretty penny before they left, I heard. But enough of that, we should plan our course while we still have some light.”
Brick summoned a large sheet of paper, covered in tiny triangles with two large ‘X’s drawn on it at either end. “This,” Brick said pointing to one of the ‘X’s,“is Krol. And this,” he pointed to the other, “is where the dragon was last seen.”
“And that’s a two or three month journey?" Zoe asked.
Brick nodded and tapped their finger on the map. “We’re gonna get out here, which should be a destroyed village and see if we can find any signs of where it might have gone.”
“Rocks that might have fallen from its claws, maybe some remnants of dust from wherever its home is. That kinda stuff. We’ll look for tracks, but it’s likely flying so we’re going to have to find some indication of where it came from, more so than follow where it went.” Blue added.
“Yes, exactly. If we don’t, we’ll see if we can find a town nearby and get more information. But hopefully we do, and then we can track down where it came from. At some point, we should find its home and be able to set up an ambush.” Brick said.
“Right, and my job is to just keep you alive on the journey, then?” Zoe asked.
“Yup. Anything else you can do?" Brick asked.
Zoe made a small ball of frost appear in front of her, focusing on making it much less dense than she normally would. Water began to drip from it and collect in a pool that floated just above the table.
“Frost and Water magic, mostly. But I can work with earth in a pinch, too if I need to.” Zoe said and dismissed the frost and water, pulling it back in as mana.
“Interesting. That’ll be useful then. Travelling with an earth manipulator is always a treat. How good are you?” Brick asked. “How long would it take to make a small hovel, enough for the four of us to lie down in?"
Zoe bit the side of her lip as she thought. Almost instantly, if she were to be honest. But for a level one hundred three healer who only dabbled in earth manipulation? “I could do it in a few minutes, probably. Like five minutes? Not sure, I’ve never done it before.”
“Great,” Brick said. “Then when night falls, you’ll dig us a hole to stay in for the night and we’ll carry on at light.”
“Brick is a powerful space mage, Spark and I are both competent spear fighters. If we’re attacked by anything, your job will be to stay behind us. Can you heal at a range?" Blue asked.
Zoe shook her head. “Technically yes, but it’s a little more complicated so I probably won’t ever use it with just the three of you.”
“Even if we’re going to die if you don’t?" Blue asked.
Zoe nodded. “Especially then, I’d need to touch you to heal you.”
“Okay.” Brick said. “So no ranged healing then. You can heal us after.”
Zoe nodded. “Okay.”
“Great, then we’ll meet up tomorrow at light. At the southern ladder.” Brick said and stood up, Blue and Spark following after.
“Alright, sounds good. See you tomorrow then.” Zoe said and got up from the table herself.
Brick’s group headed off down the ravine and teleported up near the top, while Zoe climbed her way up the ladders to find a spare room to sit in for the night. She walked down a few hallways with full rooms before she found one with an empty room that she chose for herself. It had a shoddy wooden chair set up in one corner, and Zoe summoned a blanket to lie down with.
Darkness fell and the ravine came to life with activity as people began snuffing out fires and covering the gaping hole once more, and Zoe relaxed as she listened to the hushed activity through the darkness. As the morning came, Zoe started making her way down to the southern ladder. Several others were there waiting, and as the first crack of light poked through the tiniest cracks in the cloth that covered the ravine they climbed up to the surface.
Zoe followed along after them, and helped pull the cloth across the ravine where it was stuffed into a small alcove set into the rock wall. The wooden fellow from James’ party showed up in a nearby tree a moment after the cloth was removed and Zoe tried her best not to react. Brick and the other two appeared at the top of the ladder a few minutes later, and then teleported over to Zoe when they saw her.
“Before you ask, we’ll be walking. I’m not going to explain it all, but it’s not efficient for me to teleport us all the way there.” Brick said.
“Y’know, I was gonna ask, actually.” Zoe said, smiling as she watched James’ party try to sneak up a distant ladder.
“Everybody does. And then everybody wants to know why I don’t just get more mana regeneration to make it possible. But everybody wants everything, and nobody wants to accept the cold hard truth that you can’t have everything.” Brick shook their head. “But enough of that, lets get moving while we’ve still got some light.”
Brick and the other two took off a moment later, faster than Zoe was expecting but not so fast that she’d struggle to maintain her meek façade while she kept up.
“Is this pace alright for you?” Brick asked.
Zoe nodded. “Yeah, I can do this for a while at least.”
“Okay, we’ll get a ways out and then tonight and tomorrow we’ll put your capabilities to the test. Sound good?” Brick asked.
“Good as any plan, I think. Just give me a heads up when you want me to dig a hole for us.” Zoe said.
“We stop for food about twenty minutes before nightfall. You can start digging then, and we’ll eat after you’re done.” Blue said.
“Okay, I can handle that.” Zoe said as the rushed through the forest to the north. The wooden fellow from James’ party followed close behind, but the rest managed to evade her sight as she trudged through the odd looking blue grass.