Jade waited while Luis took some time to inspect the raft's integrity. While no boat expert, with his background as a mechanic he was the best suited among their group to look it over and make adjustments. In the meantime, Jade and Harish took to gathering long branches that could be fashioned into oars, as the raft had not come equipped with any means of propulsion or steering.

Eventually, Luis declared that the raft was 'probably good enough' for making the short trip to the island. He volunteered to help Jade pilot it and they were joined by a somewhat reluctant Erik, as a member of Harish's party had to be present for them to complete the node quest. Jade considered just adding them to their party temporarily but decided that just doing everything for them would only hurt their ability to look after themselves in the long run.

"Please be careful." Marie said to Erik as they were pushing off into the current. Physically, she was looking much better today. But in her eyes, Jade saw the haunted look of someone still recovering from mental trauma. She understood that feeling, as she was still processing all the violence of recent days herself. Unlike Jade, though, Marie's group hadn't even seen that much battle yet. That didn't seem to bode well for her ability to adjust to the harsh realities of the Labyrinth, but Jade remembered the rapid growth Naomi had been making and knew it would be premature to count her out yet.

"Her class is Ocean Druid, right?" Jade asked Erik as the raft splashed down into the river, drifting downstream and picking up speed. They had launched it from a good distance up the river so they could simply use the current to reach the island. "Do you know what its focus is?"

"The description said it’s a healing and support class." Erik said, helping Jade punt them out into the middle of the river with their makeshift oars while Luis steered. "I chose my class, Duelist, so I could try and protect her. Well, that and because I did some fencing in university. You did find my saber, right?"

"We did." Jade reassured him. She had lent him the shortsword she had taken from Michael for this little excursion, just in case it was needed. From Erik's explanations, though, his weapon talents required a certain type of sword to use. That seemed restrictive to Jade, but maybe it came with benefits that outweighed the strict requirements.

"We recently learned that the Labyrinth may take into account which quests you accept or decline when offering new ones." She said, paddling to keep them on course. "If you don't think she'll adjust well to the Trial, it might be a good idea to refuse all the challenging quests until it starts giving easier options."

"Thanks for the tip." Erik sounded a little relieved. "I hope she gets a healing spell soon, though. The magic that friend of yours can use is pretty incredible."

"We started gettin' more options at levels four and six." Luis said. He was standing at the rear of the raft, using his oar to steer. "Once you level up a few times, it'll get easier."

"I hope you're right… Shit."

The raft shuddered as it scraped against a barely submerged rock that had escaped their notice. One of the logs cracked, and the whole thing made an ominous groaning sound.

"Are you sure this thing will hold together?"

"It'll be fine." Jade said, with a confidence she didn't really feel. "We're almost there."

A minute later, the small craft ground to a halt on the shore of the island that held the node. It was small, barely fifty feet across at its widest point, and only had a pair of small trees growing on it. The node was situated on a stone pedestal that rose from the center of the island, which Jade noted was really more like a large sandbar.

"This would be a pretty inconvenient place to appear, if you used the node network to travel here." Jade commented, walking up to the node and laying her hand on its surface. "

"Maybe you don't teleport right on top of it." Luis suggested. "That other one was up in a tree."

The node looked just like the previous one she'd found, a many faceted sphere of semi-transparent crystal that was filled with a milky, swirling light. A notification appeared as she touched it.

* Party Notification

* You have discovered a Labyrinth Node. The surrounding area has been revealed on your map. Nearby points of interest have been added to your map. The 'Serene River' quadrant node of the 'Verdant Jungle' zone has been added to your Node Directory.

Jade pulled up her map while Erik took his turn at the node, looking over the newly revealed terrain. There weren't many points of interest in this quadrant, nor was there a boss icon. Other than the sanctuary Harish had told them about, there was only one other symbol. It was a curved 'C' shape, with two vertical lines passing through it. Jade checked the map legend, then suddenly got excited.

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

"Finally!"

"What?" Luis gave her a curious look.

Jade closed the window and grinned. It was the first time she'd smiled since the battle earlier in the day.

"I just found out that today, I get to introduce you to a girl's best friend."

Luis looked confused.

"I know what chocolate is."

Jade snorted.

"Nice try. No, we're about to go shopping."

----------------------------------------

Before they could head to the newly located Labyrinth Store, they first had to get back to shore.

"There are some rocks downriver." Erik said, scanning the water and pointing out the hazards.

"It's not far, we'll make it back before we get to them." Luis said, slapping him on the back. "And if we don't, we'll figure it out."

"If we have to swim part of the way, we can." Jade said.

She wanted to avoid that outcome if possible. The current in the center of the river was swifter than it had looked from the bank. But now that they were on the island, they had to get back somehow.

"Be careful!" Naomi called from the shore, her voice carrying clearly across the water.

"We're always careful!" Luis called back.

Jade was too far away to see for sure, but she practically felt Naomi roll her eyes.

"She's barely said a word to me since this morning." Jade said quietly to Luis as they shoved the raft back into the water and hopped aboard. "Did I go too far, earlier…?"

Jade was starting to have some second thoughts about how she'd handled the encounter with Michael and Amy. She had killed two people, practically in the blink of an eye. Putting aside her body's unsettling reaction to the deaths, which she couldn't control, had that really been necessary? It was starting to feel like she had made a mistake, and a heavy lump was forming in her stomach.

At the same time, she couldn't think of any other reasonable solution. They had been killing people, either directly or indirectly. The idea of just letting them carry on with such destructive, evil selfishness felt as wrong to Jade as killing them herself did.

"I'm not gonna lie." He said with a grunt, paddling them towards shore. "I didn't like it. But sometimes the world is just messy, and there's not always an easy answer. I'm sure Naomi understands that too, she'll come 'round."

He turned to face her, and his expression held no recrimination. "I can't say if it was right or wrong, but let me put it like this. If you hadn't done it, I would have."

Erik must've overheard them, because he chimed in from the front of the raft.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're all better off now." He said grimly. "We'll have enough trouble getting home without getting stabbed in the back by people we should be able to rely on. From what it sounds like, they tried to kill you too. I'm grateful for what you did for us, and it's a sacrifice I won't forget."

"Thanks…" Jade murmured. Their words didn't banish all her doubts, but they did ease them.

"I just hope there's a home to get back to, after this…"

Jade nodded absently, lost in thought.

I should doubt if killing people is right. She reflected. Questioning myself is better than the alternative.

The demonic part of her had no such qualms, and simply wanted more. To Jade, that was all the more reason to analyze her actions carefully. She was coming to realize that the changes she was undergoing weren't completely reshaping who she was. Her mind and thoughts were still her own, much to her relief. What her succubus nature had begun to shape, though, was the type and intensity of the emotions she felt. Resisting instinctual urges was a challenge, but not an impossibility. She hoped that was the case, at any rate. She would have to be very careful, going forward.

"Shoot. More rocks." Erik grunted, snapping Jade's attention back to the present.

He was right. The river had narrowed, and the current was carrying them faster than they'd anticipated. Their path to the shore was already cut off by a cluster of mostly submerged rocks, it hadn't looked like there'd been so many from the island. Jade thought it would be a bad idea to try and force their way through them. That would probably result in the raft smashing apart and them getting tossed around in the swiftly flowing river.

"Should we try for the other shore?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the rushing water. The other side of the river, opposite their companions, was clear of impediments. Unfortunately, they'd already made a good amount of progress and backtracking would be an arduous task.

"Maybe we should just swim for it." Erik said. "It's not that far!"

"Wait." Luis called, pointing down river. "The bridge is coming up. We can climb up it!"

He was right. The river was rapidly pulling them downstream, and the old bridge next to the hut was coming into view. The bridge had pylons that reached down into the water and was low enough for them to clamber atop it. Assuming they didn't shoot under it too quickly.

"The bridge." Jade agreed. "But we have to slow down!"

The three of them worked in concert, paddling against the flow as fast as they could. Jade's arms burned from the exertion, unused to this type of exercise. On the shore, their companions were running to keep pace with them. They began to slow as the bridge drew near, and Luis steered them towards one of the support struts. Jade had just started to relax when a voice called out from the bank.

"What?" She called back, trying to hear. The river was noisy, and water kept sloshing up onto the deck of the raft.

"-hind you!" Harish bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Behind them? Jade knew the bridge was behind them. That's where they were going.

"Um… What's that?" Luis gasped, still paddling as hard as he could.

Jade followed his gaze, tracking it to a large dark spot in the water. At first, she thought it was another rock. But no, it was getting closer to them. What…?

Too late, she remembered Harish's comment about the creature he'd seen under the bridge.

"To the shore! Fast!" Jade shouted, changing the direction of her paddling. "Forget the rocks!"

The three of them paddled for all they were worth, heedless of the risk. The riverbank drew closer. Twenty-five feet. Twenty feet. Fifteen-.

An explosion of water erupted behind them, and Jade turned to see a yard-long blue-grey claw swing down towards the raft like a hammer.