A few hours and a few more monster fights later, Shara, Darron, Adgito, and Arina finally decided to make camp. The hills were shallower and the ground was flatter the further they got from the Oinos Mountains, but they settled in a low point to help keep the fire a bit less visible from a distance. The four of them sat around the campfire, Darron and Shara munching on cooked monster parts from one of the more edible encounters they faced, whereas Adgito made due with reheated trail rations. They tasted terrible, but she doubted monster meat was going to be all that much better. Besides, she sort of was monster meat.

Adgito still had the lizard-like form she’d shifted into during their first encounter of the day. Dull, greyish-green scales covered her body and blended in with the prominent grasses of the northern plains. Adgito had thankfully possessed the foresight to remove the gloves and shoes Shara had bought her in Oinos Springs before the fight, preventing them from being destroyed when her limbs suddenly sprouted large, deadly claws. Her legs in particular had performed a major shift into that double-kneed thing Darron had called “digitigrade.” Adgito insisted on still walking the way she always did, however, resulting in what looked like comically large feet. Her pants had not been as lucky as her shoes. They immediately snapped when Adgito grew a thick, powerful tail out from the base of her spine, an awkward, unwieldy addition which Adgito looked forward to being rid of. Fortunately, Darron had managed to mend the outfit back together, complete with a new hole for the bonus limb.

Most frustrating was the fact that whatever lizard monster bit Adgito had apparently been female, and thus granted Agito her usual set of female traits. Though this form had no hair, long, flowing frills cascaded down from Adgito’s head to much the same effect. She was also equipped with the same well-endowed chest her base female form possessed, albeit a bit more scaley. The lizard monster that triggered the change, however, possessed neither frills nor breasts, so the entire arrangement struck Adgito as profoundly unfair.

The day was also marred a bit by Arina. Golly, was she a creepy lady. Small animals would just be randomly launched out of the grass when she was around, and quickly end up in her gullet. One time she caught a two-foot long snake by the face, and in a quick snap she knocked it out, tilted her head back, and just dropped it whole down her throat. The whole thing took barely a few seconds, after which Arina was instantly back to business as usual as if an entire live reptile didn’t just fall cleanly down her esophagus. Adgito was halfway convinced she’d imagined the whole thing.

Adgito could forgive her for constantly eating weird stuff, of course. She understood that better than anyone. It was Arina’s personality, or what passed for a personality, that really wigged Adgito out. Arina hardly ever spoke unless spoken to, and when she did it was usually to recommend murdering something. Her voice was a constant dull monotone, never looking towards the person she was speaking to. Overall, it gave her conversations an eerie blankness which felt like you were being processed as a soulless noise to be placated rather than a conversation partner. Intellectually, Adgito understood she probably wasn’t looking his way because she was blind, but boy howdy did she not act blind. If anything, she had better senses than the rest of them, barring Shara’s long-range brain detector.

Also, she apparently didn’t sleep. Like, ever. That was going to be a fun thought when Adgito tried to do so herself. The sun was setting as the four of them ate a late dinner, and the night would quickly fall into darkness. Thankfully, the smell of cooked meat didn’t seem to be attracting any interruptions yet, so the party could munch in relative silence.

“Okay, you’re not gonna like me for this,” Shara suddenly said between bites, “but I gotta ask. What if… we actually do go to Yidril?”

Adgito stopped eating, and Darron raised an eyebrow with a worried look.

“What?” Adgito asked. “Why would you want to do that? Aren’t we trying to get to Hyrdonia as soon as possible? And isn’t whats-her-name sending the army that way?”

“I know, I get that,” Shara said, “but even taking a stop at Yidril, we should be able to make it to Hydronia early at this pace.”

Best the group could tell from their maps, the Hydronia border was almost straight north from the current position, and their ultimate goal of Grantidal City was northeast of that. Yidril, on the other hand, was northwest, closer to Karasuthra Forest than Hydronia. It wasn’t completely off the beaten path, but it would certainly lose them about a week of travel time.

“This is about your family,” Darron said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah,” Shara answered anyway. “Marisol said a lot of stuff to rile me up, and it’s clear she at least thinks there was more going on than what I know about. It’s eating me up. I don’t know if she wants me to go to Yidril, or if she really doesn’t want me to go to Yidril, but either way that makes me want to check it out.”

“This is definitely a trap,” Adgito pointed out. “She’s going to shove the army right up our butts.”

Shara shook her head.

“I’m not worried about it. We can outpace an army even if they catch up with us, and if it’s a race we win when we reach the border. Stomping through the plains is one thing, but they can’t march an army into a nation of that size.”

“Does ‘it’s not that bad’ really count as a compelling reason to walk into an obvious trap?” Adgito countered.

“No, of course not!” Shara said, looking frustrated. “Look, I’m sorry. I get… that this is a selfish request. None of you are invested or interested in this. But Eplis killed my family. I want to know why.”

No one said anything, for a while, instead letting the crackling of the fire do all the talking.

“I’m invested and interested in this,” Darron eventually said. “If they’re your family, they’re my family too.”

“You’ve never even met them,” Shara protested with a grateful smile.

“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” Darron responded simply.

Adgito sighed. She was already outvoted, then, since Arina would just agree with whatever Shara said. Besides, how do you argue with the dead parents card? Sure, you couldn’t pull it on everything, but when somebody tells you this could be their chance to solve the mystery of their parents’ murder you don’t just look them in the eyes and say “nah.”

“How about we go to Nuxvar first?” Adgito suggested. “If there’s somewhere to find clues about the Nuxvar massacre, it’s probably Nuxvar, right? Isn’t it closer to here anyway?”

Shara’s face completely lit up with that bright, goofy smile of hers. Adgito had to admit, Shara could be pretty cute when she wasn’t chopping monster limbs like a berserk lumberjack.

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” she agreed. “Actually, um, I’m pretty sure Aletheia is nearby too. The town, I mean. It’s probably in ruins, but… is it okay if we stop by there, as well? I never got to, um, pay my respects.”

Her smile went down to half mast, hopefully apprehensive about adding another unnecessary delay to the journey. Adgito wondered how much of that was an act. Could she seriously expect this group to say no to a request like that?

“Alright, fine,” Adgito confirmed. “But I call dibs on the next life-changing pit stop. If Darron gets to rescue Princess Hangry and Shara gets to unravel a government conspiracy, I get to like… I dunno. Collect the seven rings of power and become immortal, or something.”

“I think you are immortal,” Darron said.

“Wait, really?” Adgito asked. “Well, whatever. I’m not locking myself into ring collecting, here. It’s just an example. I’m reserving future side quest rights. ...So, do you really think I’m immortal?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“I watched you get bitten in half,” Darron pointed out. “You walked it off.”

“Uh, I don’t know if that whole situation counts as ‘walking it off,’” Adgito grimaced.

“Yeah Darron, she didn’t have any legs at the time!” Shara joked.

“Not what I meant,” Adgito said.

“The point is, you didn’t die.” Darron clarified. “Even after taking a mortal injury, your body can completely reconstitute itself seemingly from nothing. You can even transfer between an organic and inorganic body in seconds. Because of that restructuring, I suspect you won’t grow old either.”

“Wait, seriously?” Adgito asked. “Why not?”

“That’s not the right question,” Darron responded. “The question is, why would you? The negative effects of age come from the body wearing itself down, running out of telomeres, and generally breaking apart from repeated stress. Yet you form a completely new body whenever you shift. Why would your abilities age it past the prime of your life? You wouldn’t have the information needed to make an aged body, even if you wanted to. The aura doesn’t degrade like the body does.”

Adgito sat in stunned silence for a while. While she had put herself into countless deadly situations and come out physically unscathed, she had always assumed that eventually the ravages of time would claim her like any other. The idea that she might have eternity ahead of her… well, it was incomprehensible. If that was true, what would she do with all that time? What should she do now?

Actually, there was also the other side of the coin to consider: what if Darron was wrong? What if Adgito was on borrowed time like everyone else, and eventually whatever reserve of power that kept her shifting would one day dry up into nothing? These were serious considerations, and Adgito had never really, genuinely sat down and thought about them before. How did she want to live her life?

Adgito had no clue what the answer to that question was, but she did have some idea of ways she didn’t want to live. It had been a pretty traumatic couple of days for her, what with the getting bit in half, and the going insane, and the finding out her friend had secretly been a mind reader, and the murdering a bunch of children in a fire. Adgito had a lot of very solid reasons to be mopey, grumpy and depressed.

But honestly? Having a lot of good reasons to be depressed is a terrible reason to be depressed. It was high time for Adgito to stop ruining her own life with an endless cycle of self-pity. If she looked for reasons to feel terrible, she’d find them, but if she looked for reasons to enjoy herself she’d probably find those too. She had friends now (well, at least one friend, her slave, and her brother) and she was on an adventure together with them. If she wanted to continue that adventure– and despite everything, she did– she needed to dig herself out of this rut and start having some honest fun. Shara was right. Adgito needed to toughen up and come out of her shell. Which were similar and not contradictory things, for whatever reason.

It was by this train of logic that Adgito, despite her best judgement, opted to start a conversation with Arina.

“So, uh, Dark and Dangerous… how you liking the trip so far?”

No reply came. Arina stared blankly towards the fire, shadows flickering off her inky black face. Initially, she had put her mask back on after the fight with the lizard monsters, but Darron had asked her to keep it off. She sat completely motionless, except for the occasional swish of her tail.

Shara cleared her throat.

“Um, Arina, Adgito was talking to you.” she politely nudged.

Befuddlement flashed briefly over Arina’s face.

“Oh,” she acknowledged. “I am… the Dark and Dangerous, then?”

“Of course!” Adgito grinned. Arina pondered this.

“It is good that the sometimes-man knows its place,” she simply said.

Well that was unnecessarily harsh. Adgito understood that sometimes people were going to be confused about whether she was a “him” or a “her,” but calling her an “it” was just being rude on purpose. Maybe it was time for a change in tactics.

“Uh… well, I gotta say, Darron had the right idea about keeping your mask off. You’ve actually got a very pretty face, you know. Um, as long as you don’t open your mouth too wide, I guess, because then you immediately turn into a horrifying nightmare made flesh. But it sounds like you’re into that? How come you normally keep the mask on?”

Arina was silent for a long time, like she usually was after being asked a question. Adgito was going to assume she was thinking about it, though, since Shara wasn’t stepping in.

“Which do you fear more, sometimes-man?” Arina eventually asked back. “A monster, or that which might be a monster? If you see a monster, you will know to fight or flee. If you see a mystery, you do not know, so you must flee. Fear is my defense. Doubt is my shield. The people my old master ruled could have fought and killed a vrochthízo, but no one wished to fight the mask.”

“So basically, you’re saying you were worried that without the mask, random people would try to beat you up for being a monster?” Adgito clarified.

“Yes,” Arina confirmed.

“But weren’t you getting beat up when we first saw you, with the mask on?”

“...Yes,” Arina confirmed again. “That was different. I was bound.”

“If you say so,” Adgito said with a shrug.

“I do not like you, sometimes-man,” Arina declared.

“Eh, I’m sure I’ll grow on you.”

“Like a tumor,” Darron chimed in. “Or a fungus.”

“I’ve actually been a fungus once,” Adgito absentmindedly pointed out. “It wasn’t great.”

“Okay guys, I think that’s about enough heart-to-heart,” Shara butted in. “I’m going to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll make for Nuxvar.”

Adgito shrugged and unfurled her bedroll as Darron set to put out the fire. She did her best to figure out ways to ignore the fact that a hungry monster was going to be watching her sleep all night, but upon laying down she immediately ran into a much larger obstacle to dreamland: her huge tail.

Adgito had never been able to sleep face-down in a female form, as it simply wasn’t comfortable on her chest. Laying on her sides might work in a softer bed, but out in the wilderness the hard ground dug into her pelvic bones and made her hips sore. Thus, she’d normally sleep on her back, but now there was a giant tail in the way. Tails in general weren’t always a problem: thin, cat-like tails were mildly uncomfortable to lay on but nothing a day’s worth of exhaustion couldn’t sleep through. Adgito’s current tail, however, started almost as thick and wide as her torso and propped her butt up nearly half a foot into the air if laid on. She suspected a normal lizard could lie flat on their backs, but Adgito’s bastardized cross between lizard and human body shape didn’t have legs far enough apart to allow the tail’s full trunk between them, resulting in a tail that jutted backwards and consistently attempted first-degree spine murder. Adgito tossed and turned for hours trying to find a comfortable sleeping position, with every attempt met in failure.

The conclusion was inevitable: Adgito would have to shift to a different form to get any shut-eye. Frankly, acid-lizard was a bad form to sleep in anyway, considering Adgito’s propensity to drool on her pillow. The question was, what form? Shara and Arina were both right out, and Adgito didn’t want to wake up Darron by touching him. What else was there? Rocks? Grass? It was tough for Adgito to take the form of inanimate things without injuring herself on them. It certainly happens, but she’d never done it on purpose. Adgito didn’t know of any way to hurt herself with grass, and she suspected beating herself over the head with a rock would be more likely to wake up Darron than just brushing his face or whatever. She pondered her options for a while, eventually realizing she didn’t actually care if she woke Darron up.

Lying on her back, Adgito scooted closer to Darron’s bedroll. As she reached out her hand to touch his face, however, an almost imperceptible force was pressed against her eye. In an instant, Arina appeared over her, invisible blade poised to thrust into Adgito’s brain.

Adgito’s hand froze as she processed this sudden development. Was Arina threatening to murder her? Wouldn’t Shara have picked up on that? No, wait, Shara was asleep. If this was a spur-of-the-moment decision rather than something Arina had planned, not even a mind reader could pick it up in advance, right?

Adgito squirmed in an attempt to free her eye, but but the blade followed unerringly, pressed just heavily enough that Adgito couldn’t blink. It was… well, Adgito didn’t know what this was, but it was starting to piss her off. What the hell had she done to deserve getting a wind blade in the eye? This monster lady scared the piss out of her and Adgito had still gone out of her way to try and be nice!

“Could you not?” Adgito asked quietly.

“The master-kin sleeps,” Arina whispered coldly. “You will not bother him.”

Really? She was going to murder him for interrupting Darron’s beauty sleep?

“I’ll bother whoever I titans-damn please,” Adgito growled back. “Now back off. You’re not supposed to touch me anyway.”

“Indeed, I cannot touch you,” Arina confirmed. “But the air can. Withdraw from the master-kin, or be slain.”

Adgito didn’t exactly have a type A personality, but today had been rough enough that being subservient to a literal servant was pushing things a step too far. Besides, if Arina thought Adgito was smart enough to have never gotten stabbed through the eyeball before, she had another thing coming.

“Do it, bitch,” Adgito spat. “I’m immortal.”

“We shall see,” Arina declared, and stabbed her blade all the way to the back of Adgito’s skull.