“Rumors?” Heath asked.

It was hot. Almost unbearably so. Heath seemed completely unaffected by the temperature that had caused Eik’s entire body to become drenched in sweat within a few minutes. And the noise too was deafening and constant. Perhaps excitement and anticipation of his new weapon had functioned as a sensory blocker last time Eik had visited, but it certainly didn’t this time.

As he stood there, sweat dripping continuously from his chin to the hot floor, Eik suddenly found himself extremely envious of the Temperature Regulation trait of Heath’s Fortitude skill.

“Yeah, like, have you heard anything strange?” Eik asked, eyeing the door to the cool outside with a growing sense of desperation.

“Such as?” With a grunt, Heath slammed the forging hammer down upon the glowing slab of metal. His superhuman strength allowed him to dramatically alter the shape of the project with a single strike.

“Heath Wilson! Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” a voice yelled hoarsely through the blistering smithy.

“Benjamin, sir!” Heath yelped as he stood up straight, almost dropping the forging hammer onto his own toes. “I apologize!”

“That’s Ben to you, boy! Only my friends call me Benjamin and you’re not my friend — you’re my apprentice! Eik, boy, how are ya?” Andrew Brooks’ father, Ben, was as loud and strict as Eik remembered. As the creator of Eik’s first custom made weapon, he was a man Eik had immense respect for. Not only for his skill but also for his generosity. “How’s Viper Fang been treating you?”

“It’s been amazing, Benjamin. Great handling and the ducts direct poison as smoothly as butter. And how are you?” Eik replied with a cheeky grin aimed at his friend.

“I can’t complain either,” the old man said before glaring at Heath. “What are you apologizing for anyway, Heath?”

For a moment Heath was at a loss. “I, uuh, I’m not quite sure, sir…”

“What kind of idiot apologizes for nothing?”

“… This one, sir,” the tank said dejectedly.

“I’ve told you a thousand times that the key to good craftsmanship lies in precision, keenness, and subtlety. Wacking away at it with those big loaves you call hands is just going to result in yet another piece of scrap destined for the backyard.” A thousand times was probably a bit of an overstatement considering that it was still Heath’s first week as an apprentice in Ben’s smithy. But at least he had already been allowed to start creating.

The light of determination flashed in Heath’s eyes as he returned to his work with renewed vigor. He had been admiring Viper Fang since the day Eik first showed it to him and the tank knew full well just how skilled his master was, even if that skill was taught with a tongue like a spiked whip.

“Eik,” Ben began but hesitated in the first open display of discomfort that Eik had seen from the man. “My son, he, uuh…”

“That’s not something for you to worry about, Benjamin. Andrew and I will work it out between us in time. I know he had no ill intentions even if it didn’t turn out great for me.”

The stocky man grunted resignedly and patted Eik’s arm before going back to his own work. Eik was lost in thought for a while before Heath spoke up again.

“So what kind of strange things did you mean before?”

Eik tilted his head. “I don’t know. Like, people being all weird, or something like that…”

“People being all weird?” Heath repeated with an arched eyebrow. “Yeah, only, like, all the time, dude. We live in a post apocalyptic world full of monsters and people with superpowers. I’d say people only do weird stuff at this point.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do you really think they’re here in Forest? Right now?”

“I mean, the mind skulk that climbed out of Bart’s mouth is pretty damning evidence. We have no choice but to think they are.”

“What about the tournament the Nidafjeld Alliance is hosting? What was it called again, the Championship? Isn’t it soon?”

“What about it?”

“Are we going with everything that’s going on here at home?”

Eik made a face. “Apparently it’s a good opportunity to make friends and polish our image. It’s an important step in arming ourselves against the cult in the long run as well. We kind of have to go.”

“Am I going?” Heath asked carefully.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Do you want to?”

“Of course! I’ve got to try out this new sword I’m making, don’t I?” he said and clicked the forging hammer against the still glowing metal.

“That blade’s not ready to be swung at a turkey sandwich, let alone a proper opponent, Heath,” one of the other artisans shouted from his workstation with a shit-eating grin.

“Yeah…” Heath looked like a scolded puppy.

“But the boss might let you use one of the swords he made if you ask him nicely.”

“Really?” the tank exclaimed, his mood doing a complete one eighty.

The artisan guffawed. “The guy’s a total softie once you get to know hi—” Something collided hollowly with the man’s head and ricocheted off into a corner of the room.

“Stop spewing crap, Richie, you loudmouth!” Ben shouted.

“So you won’t lend me a sword, Ben, sir?” Heath said with puppy eyes rolled back into action.

“I— No, that’s… I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let you pick one from storage to use for a little bit,” he said, clearing his throat repeatedly.

Heath looked ready to cry from excitement when he turned sparkling eyes in Eik’s direction. Eik was struggling to hold in a belly laugh. Heath had been the one worrying if Eik would stay on the team, but now it was Eik’s turn to wonder if this passion for smithing might not pull the tank away with time.

Next stop was the clinic where Michael helped out a desperate doctor treat more patients than they could manage. Eik was delivering another batch of his pain killers which had been praised by patients of the clinic as the best they’d had since the fall of modern medicine.

Until now, all that had been available was simple herbal medicine along with concoctions made with ingredients that had only appeared within the past nine years.

It wasn’t only monsters that had made an entrance on Earth. Novel minerals and plants were being discovered all the time. Unfortunately, the uses for such new materials could be difficult and even dangerous to discover.

Besides new species, many existing species had also changed. The cocoa bean, for example, had grown much hardier which allowed for local cultivation and harvest.

Cattle had begun to produce milk faster and in larger quantities. Many animals also appeared to grow and reach adulthood quicker than they would have on old Earth, yet their life spans did not seem shorter. On the contrary, many seemed to be healthy and hearty for longer than expected.

It was almost as if there was something offering a helping hand to balance out the newly introduced danger in their world. And some people did think that this was evidence of an intelligent god. One who had decided to test humanity.

Not Eik though. And when aliens from another universe suddenly touched down on Earth through an interdimensional space portal it had only made that possibility seem even more unlikely.

“Eik!” the head of the clinic called when he saw the alchemist in the door. “Thank you so much! Can I place another order right away?”

“Of course,” Eik chuckled.

“What do I owe you?”

“You don’t owe me anything. I love what you’re doing here so this one’s on the house.”

“I couldn’t!”

Eik smiled. “We’re on the same team here, so just accept it, alright.”

“Thank you, thank you—”

“Actually, there is something you can help me with. I heard there’s a B-ranker hospitalized here. Her name is Lisa. Should be in recovery after a short coma.”

“Okay…?”

“Can I see her for a second? I’m the one who brought her back.”

“I’ll ask her. Just a moment.”

Eik was let in to see Lisa where she laid in bed, half eaten lunch on a night stand next to her bed. She looked healthy enough except for bone-deep weariness practically oozing off her. Apparently the envenomation had not had time to disperse properly and settle in her body, so she was fighting off some fatigue that the healers couldn’t do much about.

“The man of the hour,” Lisa said flatly as she stepped in. “What are you doing here?”

“I saved you,” Eik said with a raised eyebrow.

“I know.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be grateful or something? You could, you know, say thank you. Offer me the rest of your lunch, I don’t know,” he grumbled all old man-like.

“I was there because of a deal you made with Mission Central.”

“Alright, true, but then I saved you so I guess it all balances out, right? Yeah, that’s good.” He glanced at her stomach where he had stabbed her in a blood frenzy. It was as if he had become a different person in those moments — or perhaps something less than a person… or something more. If she had been conscious when it had happened, he would have had a lot to answer for right now.

“What are you here for anyway?” she asked, rolling her finger in a gesture for him to get on with it. “I’m busy.”

“Uh huh,” Eik drawled as she made herself comfortable under the covers. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“Why in the world would I do you a favor?”

“I was actually counting on your tearful gratitude to secure that one… I’ve already cleared it with Travis too. What a shame.”

“Travis said he wanted me to do it?” she asked, sitting up straighter.

“To the point of begging on his knees, yeah,” Eik deadpanned. “Travis will fill you in on the details later, but you are to keep an eye on the goings on in Forest. Can I reveal sensitive information here?” he asked.

After focusing her senses on the surroundings for a couple of seconds, she nodded.

“We’re hunting a cult that has inserted itself into the population of Forest. We need to identify the Earth leader and eliminate them before they can retreat and regroup. Stuff like unusual gatherings and stuff like that. We’re operating under the assumption that they don’t know we’re onto them, but be careful anyway. Everything else Travis will tell you.”

“I’m always careful,” she said.

“Yep,” Eik agreed with a pointed glance at the leg where she’d been stabbed by the manticore.

“Was there anything else Travis wanted me to do?”

Eik narrowed his eyes as he tried hard to remember. “There was something, yes. He told me to tell you to get him a plate of that,” he said and pointed at her half finished lunch. “You can just give it to me, then I’ll bring it to him.”

“Get out.”

“Yep,” he said and hurried out of her room, high fiving Michael on the way out the front door. “Mikey, I’m spending the next couple of days at headquarters from tomorrow. We’re doing the E-rank Crucible tests, excluding the practical, of course. Do you want to come?”

Michael peeked into the clinic proper, expression conflicted. “I’m going to have to talk to the doctor first, but I’d like to.”

“Sure thing!” Eik said and went out into the sun. “Talk to you later then.”

Eik felt excitement wash through his body. The money from successfully clearing the Crucible challenges would support his growing business well.

And he’d be lying if he claimed not to have enjoyed the carnage of the last damage test. It was another chance to put his name in the ears of the important people of the alliance. And he had every intention of destroying the E-rank test as well.