As the bus rolled along to school the next morning, I suddenly felt a piece of paper in my jacket pocket. Oh, right, this is that thing Mary gave us about the club, I remembered as I pulled it out to examine it. Let's see here... Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an after-school meeting for an hour and a half... guess I'll have to explain that to the 'rents. The rest of the time we'll be there for lunch, mostly, away from the walking peanut galleries. Games, Activities, Media, Entertainment, and Recreation... I mean, I get how *some* of this can relate to education, but all of it? I know you're the principal's daughter but that's gotta be stretching it, I thought to myself with a wry face as I read over the mandates of the club. There were three field-trips, locations to-be-determined, and three papers we would have to write, topics to-be-announced. I guess this is one of those things where you have to take the bad and the good, I sighed, folding the paper up and putting it back in my pocket.

“Da heck, man, you guys got a school club now?” Ty said to me as I did so.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, we do.” I nodded back. “We meet at lunch hour unofficially, and officially after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I guess.” I told him, and he nodded to me, a look of disappointment in his eyes.

“Wish I'd known that earlier; got stuff goin' on them nights now.” he said.

“You could probably hang out for lunch if you wanted,” I suggested, but he shook his head.

“I hang out with the team for lunch. Besides, I don't want to get mixed up in the 'harem rumors'.” he said, dropping his voice, and I jerked back in the seat.

“Wh-wha...? H-h-h-harem?!” I said in a hoarse whisper.

“Dang, boy, you know they gonna start makin' rumors with you hanging around all them girls.” he whispered back. “'Course I know you only got your eyes on Rachel; don't go yapping up my tree about it!” he told me before I could object.

“I wasn't gonna blame you!” I returned. “And isn't that 'barking up the tree'?” I asked him with a sarcastic look.

“Barking dogs, yappy dogs, whatever the hell kind of dogs you want, dog.” he quipped back at once. I let out a sigh, and laid my head back against the seat. “Might check it out one day, though, just to see how things are in there.” Ty then said, and I nodded back blankly.

So anyway. Morning classes passed by as usual, and then we made our way to the club room for lunch. Mary had added a little snack-bar with a juice rack and some tea; they spent most of the time talking about what they were going to do in Panarena later that evening (well, what we would do, but since I'd been asked to keep myself secret for the time being I did just that). Anhe had certainly brightened up a lot; she still didn't seem like she knew how to deal with me just yet, but that was okay. I'm not sure I'd know either, if I was in her position.

Who is this boy really? How'd he get so friendly with these girls? What's his secret? Why doesn't he play the game with them (us?) if he's in the club? What does he do here? Is he really as docile as he seems to be?

… Well. I'm sure it would all come to light in some comical fashion or another on down the road.

After lunch, afternoon classes breezed by us, and then the three of us--myself, Rachel, and Anhe--went to meet the others for our first official club meeting. Anhe's locker was actually just down the hall from ours, so we quickly sorted our books for the evening before heading up to the club room on the second floor. This time, Mrs. Brown was there as well, though she said in her introduction that this was only a formality for the club and that for the rest of the time she would mostly be working behind the scenes for us, leaving Andrea to do the front and center work.

“I'm quite proud that we have such an innovative group of students working together for a club that usually wouldn't get the time of day in any education system,” she told us cheerily, “And though you've started a bit late in the year, I look forward to seeing what you do: how you approach this unique theme of your club and relate it to your learning experiences here at school. With that said, I'll get out of your way and leave you in the hands of Miss Summers. Good luck, students!” our advisor told us, and with that she excused herself and returned to her classroom-slash-office.

“As if it was that simple,” Andrea sighed, a smile on her face nonetheless. “Okay! So, we have to do some things that no gamer ever thought of doing in their life. I'm sure that there's other ways to approach it besides Panarena, however.”

“There are tons of games and other entertainment things out there, after all,” I said.

“I mean, 'Media' is part of our acronym, isn't it?” Rachel noted. “We could do a media presentation of some sort, or maybe an essay...” she mused, and I twitched at the word 'essay'.

“Say, Mary, is this three assignments thing set in stone?” Ellie then asked.

“Hmm? It was mostly just a guideline; why?” the older girl wondered.

“Wouldn't it be better to just do, like, activity reports from the field trips and then have a big project from the whole club that we could do for the school festival in the spring?” the blonde girl suggested.

“Shouldn't you be asking me?” Andrea poked her, a pout on her face.

“Ahh... true...” Ellie remarked sheepishly.

“That is true,” Mary smirked back. “Andrea, go ahead and submit that to Mrs. Brown later. If everyone else agrees?” she then said.

“I'll note it down; it's a good idea!” Andrea said.

“Sure, I don't mind.” I shrugged.

“Sounds good to me!” Rachel smiled.

“I like that idea as well,” Anhe nodded.

“All right! One order of business, taken care of!” Andrea smiled.

“That still leaves the question of where are we going or where could we go for a field trip, and what kind of assignment or presentation should we do for the school festival?” I then said.

“Hmm? So you can be responsible.” Ellie remarked.

“I'm always responsible!” I retorted at once, and she snickered.

“I... agree with Sean. I would like to know at least where we would field trip, even if we do not have an idea for a presentation yet,” Anhe said, her face coloring a bit.

“Well, it would have to be something meaningful; and maybe we could do something fun over the summer!” Mary said.

“Why don't we all take some time this week to think about it and put some ideas out next week?” Rachel suggested.

“There you go!” Ellie nodded back.

“That'd definitely work,” I agreed.

“Excellent!” Mary clapped her hands.

“I agree; that would work.” Anhe smiled.

“Noted down for the minutes!” Andrea said.

“With that said,” I looked over at the clock with a half-smile, “We've barely used twenty minutes, haven't we?”

“We'll have more to do by next week for sure. Let's do some homework and stuff together; and maybe we'll try a card game if we finish up early!” Andrea said as she put away her impromptu checklist.

“Ooh, nice idea, pres'!” Ellie grinned. With that, we turned to our homework, managing to finish it all up by the time our scheduled meeting was over. Anhe and Mary's respective parents then came to get them, and the rest of us were taken home by Ellie. “We need lots of fun tonight, kid!” our driver said as she dropped me off.

“We always find it!” I returned, and she laughed, heading off with the other girls. Rachel blew a kiss as they sped off, and I held my hand out towards her. Dad then opened the door of the house.

“Hiya, sport! Late day?” he asked me.

“Club day, and Thursdays too from now on.” I told him as I turned to come in.

“Ahh. Wait a minute, club?” he suddenly wondered in a surprised tone as I came in the door.

“Ahh--yeah... it just started this week... kind of a last-minute idea for us...” I said with a weak grin.

“Hmm... well, that's fine. One less thing for your mom to nag you about, maybe. Did you get your homework done there?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, we did.”

“All right; well, you can do what you like, then, until dinner-time comes along.” he said with a shrug, and then went back to watching the Retro-toons channel.

Don't ever change, you crazy old man, I thought to myself with a goofy grin as I watched him settle into his recliner with the remote to watch that crazy rabbit, duck, and hunter goof around with each other.

“Why, you scwewy old wabbit you!” the hunter said, firing off his gun. I headed upstairs with a shake of my head, a soft smile on my face.

***

Upon arriving in Panarena after an early dinner, I found Anhe waiting by herself in a corner of the tavern we had logged out in last night. She looked over as I materialized, and waved at me with a soft smile; I returned the gesture and made my way over to her. As I did, Ariana suddenly appeared beside me, and she pounce-hugged me as soon as she had loaded. I could see Anhe suppressing a laugh as she did so, and when Ari was back on the ground we joined her at the corner table.

“Lana, are you friends with the others in real life?” Anhe wondered as we sat down.

“Hm? Oh; well, I know Ari, mostly... we ran into each other first.”

“Hmm,” Anhe nodded.

“And the others just kind of happened along, pretty much.” I said with a faint smile.

“Hm? Ahh, they joined you at different times, I see!” she returned.

“Yep!” Ariana nodded beside me. “And now we're all together.”

“I was curious because at school Ariana is always with her boyfriend; but you two are really close also?” our new friend asked us.

“True,” said Ari. “With Lana, it's a best-friend-forever thing, though.” she added with a smile, subtly winking at me.

Heh, not even stretching the truth, I thought as I smiled back.

“Ohh, the BFF kind of couple! Cute!” Anhe smiled back, and both of us affected an embarrassed half-grin.

“Ahh... yep, that's us!” I managed to say. Underneath the table, Ari squeezed my hand gently and I clasped hers back.

“Ah! The others are here!” Anhe then said excitedly, and we turned to see our other three group members-slash-guildmates heading towards us.

“We're all set to go!” Lizzy said to us with a thumb-up.

“Right!” I returned, standing up with the other two, and then a thought struck me. “Uhh... Lizzy?”

“Hmm?”

“… We're doing this quest to get a beast of burden for the waggon... right?”

“Ah... yeah?”

“And we don't have to turn it in back here... right?”

“… That was the idea,” she said to me with a funny look.

“Um... this may be a stupid question, but--what about getting it hitched to the waggon when we find it...?” I asked with a nervous laugh. Lizzy looked blank for a moment, and then puffed out her cheek in a pout.

“Y-you didn't think about that?” Healina asked her with a faint giggle. Our smith scratched the back of her head, letting out a grumbly sort of groan, and then sighed.

“Where is the waggon, anyway?” Maryn wondered.

“It's at the shop, waiting for me to retrieve it,” Lizzy replied. “Sure enough I didn't quite think through that bit... I mean, I guess we could cheat a little,” she then said, waving us to follow.

“Cheat?” Anhe wondered.

“I think I know where this is going,” I said with a bemused grin.

Lizzy led us to the workshop, where she put the waggon in edit mode and quickly crafted a familiar type of wood into a lantern-holder that she affixed to the front of the waggon. It was a silver oak branch. I knew it, I thought to myself with a grin, shaking my head.

“All right; now, Heali, put this in your magic storage.” Lizzy said to our Sea Elf.

“Hm? Hmm?? Huhh?!” the platinum-haired healer returned with confusion.

“Just do it!” the other girl said with a hurried tone.

Hmm? You're not sure it'll work, are you? I noted to myself, keeping it quiet so I didn't lose a point or more. Healina sighed, and brought up the window. A surprised look appeared on her face when she hovered her finger over the waggon, but she pressed whatever panel had come up and, sure enough, the waggon vanished into her inventory.

“Nice! Let's go, girls!” Lizzy clapped her hands. I stood there, dumbfounded at what I had just seen, until Ari gently pulled me along.

“Come on, Lana!” she said cheerily.

“Huh? But, but--huh? What?” I returned blankly. I mean, sure, we stored a bunch of logs in there the one time, but a waggon? I mean, I get it, kind of, but that's also ridiculous... although I guess storing several dozen logs in it is more ridiculous... but it's a waggon...!

“What are you surprised about? It's a game!” Ariana said as she patted my shoulder.

“Hmm? Lana? You didn't forget about that quest in Age of Hyperborea where you take a dragon's carcass to the King, did you?” Lizzy said to me with a beaming smile.

“Ahh--oh... right...” I said, suddenly brushing it all off as yet another prime example of the inexplicable item storage that most games seem to have. What's an elephant tusk or twenty when you're in a virtual world? “Still, that is such a cheat... we could move an entire fortress that way...” I half muttered.

“Ooh, nice idea!” Maryn remarked. “We'll have to keep that one in mind!”

“Y-you guys...”

“Brighten up, buttercup!” Lizzy quipped. We continued bantering like this all the way to the forest, and by then even Anhe felt comfortable joining in with a couple of jokes. I smiled as she did so, glad that she was, like myself, becoming more open to new friends.

Entering the forest for a second time did not diminish its mysterious quality. It was as if we were entering for the first time again, the undaunted trees almost gazing at us in a passive way as we trod the winding paths once more. Since we didn't have any bounty quests active, nothing seemed really interested in attacking us except the NPC bandits. But they weren't too hard. Oh sure, there were a couple champions and at least one mini-boss, but in the end it just served as practice for the six of us to continue acclimating with each other's playing-slash-fighting style. Though the mini-boss was a pain because he kept vanishing and reappearing all over the place, summoning a couple minions as he did so. It was a fairly familiar tactic to us by now though, even if the execution was slightly different.

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

Anyway. One of the things that Lizzy noticed in her quest log as we journeyed further into the forest was that a tamer of appropriate level was required. Fortunately Healina counted in that regard, though she did some grumbling to Lizzy about paying attention before getting a quest in the future, to which our happy-go-lucky crafting halberdier gave a big grin. Unconsciously, I was holding Ariana's hand when we were walking instead of fighting. Neither of us noticed until we saw Anhe smiling at us; the two of us exchanged a smile, and shrugged.

“I get lost easily! Even in groups,” Ari said to her, and she nodded.

“Hm, it is good that Lana is here then!” Anhe replied. I felt a slight squeeze on my hand as those words reached us, and gently smiled to myself.

So, after about three hours of wandering through the forest looking for the animal we were supposed to find, we ended up at a mini-dungeon. It's exactly as it sounds: a dungeon that's not so big or so long, usually just one chamber or two with at least a boss monster or some equivalent mob and maybe a few lesser ones, sometimes of the same kind. Lizzy smiled as we found it, and beckoned us to follow her on inside.

“This is the place?” Healina asked her.

“Yep! The 'Cavern of the Divine Beast', whatever that is,” she remarked.

“That could really mean anything.” Anhe said with a sigh, a wry smile on her face.

“Eh?” Lizzy looked back curiously.

“She's right,” I said with a bemused look. “And not just normal creatures too; spirit-beasts of one kind or another might be inside.”

“Hmm? You know something about it, huh? Or at least more than most non-Chinese or non-Asians,” Anhe remarked.

“Ehh, maybe a little bit?” I shrugged.

“Hmm...” our smith scratched her head, gazing at the entrance with a dubious eye. She then marched forward confidently, and the rest of us exchanged a glance and quickly followed. “No point in dithering outside, let's go!” Lizzy told us, and with that we stepped into the dungeon.

So from the outside it looked like more or less a cave, but there had been a couple of lion statues outside. Eastern-style ones, of course. And the entrance had a carved look to it, complete with logographic symbols that Anhe told us were mostly nonsensical to her but which probably had some sort of in-game lore basis. Inside, however, it was less a cave and more a temple. Twenty-eighty ratio, on average. A lot of the natural features remained to be seen, mingled and intertwined effortlessly with the more designed aspect of it. Well, I mean, it was all designed, but you get what I'm trying to say.

A green, red, and black patterned carpeting covered nearly the entire floor except the outermost edges, where it ended in gold, lacy trimming. Along the right and left walls there were two channels of running water that flowed from the back of the room in two cascading waterfalls on either side which descended from one higher above that was situated in the middle. At the far ending of the carpet there was a great dais with two elaborate braziers upon it, a bell just below it, and a few paper lanterns hanging over it from a shaped outcropping. Upon this dais was a carpet with the inverse of the pattern on the larger one, and napping upon the carpet was our beast.

“Whoa...” I whispered softly.

“It's... a dog? A hound?” Maryn wondered uncertainly.

“It is a dog-spirit, a yaoguài as we say in China or yokai as they say in Japan,” Anhe told us as she gazed at it with wonder. Lizzy checked her log and a puzzled look came to her face.

“Huh... 'offer your respects to the beast',” she read.

“Oh! Like we're at a shrine or something,” I snapped my fingers.

“Gotcha. Oh, there's a plaque near the bell with that calligraphy stuff on it; you sure it's complete nonsense?” Lizzy asked Anhe, who gave Lizzy a small pout.

“I should know! I am Chinese, my mother is Chinese teacher, Mandarin, Cantonese, Xiang, and some Hakka. All those characters are for language they made up for the game.” she returned at once.

“Heh?” I said with amazement. “What are w--I mean, what are you learning, Ari?” I then asked, almost stumbling over my own secret.

“It's Mandarin, isn't it?” Ari asked Anhe, who nodded.

“Yes. Teaching Mandarin for now, but maybe we will learn some Cantonese also,” she replied.

“Nice!” our mage returned.

“Okay, so it's gibberish unless we have a -- oh, you have it,” Lizzy began, suddenly noticing Healina had a guidebook.

“Of course I have it. I bought it earlier, didn't you notice?” the Sea Elf healer remarked.

“Eh, was too busy I guess...”

“Hmm,” the reply came. “All right, let's look here,” Healina then said, walking up to the plaque. “At a moderate tempo, ring the bell three times; clap twice, ring the bell twice, bow once, ring the bell once, and then kneel, saying the creature's name.”

“And then you get the taming option, right?” Lizzy asked her.

“Probably.” said the other girl.

“What a weird inverse though,” I remarked to Ariana. “One three, two twos, and three ones.”

“That is a little peculiar,” she nodded back.

“Just one thing: what's its name?” Lizzy then asked us with a wry smile.

“Hmm?” Healina looked at the plaque again, looking from it to the book several times over the course of a few moments to check. “I... don't see it,” she said in a perplexed tone.

“Maybe it's somewhere else,” I suggested, and we began looking around, trying to see if there was something around the temple that would tell us this critter's name.

Ari and I wandered around to the left side of the room (as you were facing the waterfalls, that is), the both of us drawn by a series of woven wall-hangings with fantastical creatures and more of the calligraphic logograms upon them. As with the plaque, they were written from top to bottom, and some of the words appeared more... “pronounced”, I guess you could say. The strokes seemed thicker, or perhaps the characters themselves were just larger. A sudden thought struck me, and I looked at the opposite wall. That wall also had several wall-hangings like the ones we were examining; Anhe and Healina were studying them.

Those two are probably coming to the same thought I'm having, I thought to myself. Our answer was probably related to the emphasized words on the wall-hangings. I looked over at Ariana, who also seemed to have gotten the trick.

“These characters, the bold ones,” she said to me, and I nodded.

“They probably form some sort of phrase when you put them all together; a hidden message.” I returned.

“True,” she agreed. “It'll probably take us a while to figure out the proper order, though, unless Heali has an idea of how this game-language works.”

“She probably does by now,” I remarked as I looked back over at the other side, and Ari looked with me. “I think she just came to the same conclusion.” I added, noting how animated she seemed to be.

“Definitely!” my partner agreed, a smile on her face.

“It's a good thing we started from this side first!” we heard our healer say, and the two of us walked over to the middle of the room where Lizzy and Maryn were.

“Chinese is written right-to-left, yes, but these characters are only based on them. It really looks more like Khitan, I think; but anyway, they do have written it left-to-right.” Anhe said as they continued from weave to weave.

“And they started it on the right side as a sort of joke or throw-off,” Healina nodded.

“Throw-off?” our new friend wondered.

“Like a diversion.” Lizzy told her.

“Ahh! Okay.” Anhe said in understanding.

Healina, meanwhile, finished her observations on the right side and almost skipped over to the left side, examining the wall-hanging there to see if the pattern held; apparently it did, because a smile then crossed her face and she continued doing her thing.

“She really does like solving these, huh?” I remarked softly, and Lizzy nodded.

“She's been super into puzzles of all sorts since we were kids.” she whispered back. A few minutes passed us by, and then Healina came back to us with a scroll she had written the characters down upon, studying it intensively as she looked for a pattern or some other kind of clue hidden within them.

“What does it say?” I asked her.

“It's a riddle; each tapestry or wall-hanging here depicts a scene from a story in Xuanpu's lore. In each of them there are a couple words made with bolder characters, which definitely have to do with this creature here, because they form a riddle related to its name.” Healina told us.

“And the riddle is?” Maryn wondered.

“Well, it says: Flowing years like a river carry downstream the hearts of those who came before; in me their hopes are renewed like the promise of spring after winter. My name can be found in the singing of the water, the laughter of the sunshine, the dancing of the stars, the merriment of the trees. It is the joy of the people, the sorrow of evil-doers, the crown of a king, the staves of the monks. With these eight things, you may call my name,” she read for us, and we pondered the words for a few moments.

“It's probably meant to make us overthink a bit,” I then said. “That first sentence could be irrelevant, from how I heard it.”

“That's not impossible, but a lot of the characters are similar to characters in the lines that follow, so it's more like another hint.” Healina said, and I looked at the scroll again.

“Hmm...” I frowned, scratching my head.

“But you're somewhat right; the answer is in the second and third lines, and the first and fourth are just 'bookend hints' to it.” she then said.

“Eight things,” Lizzy mumbled, a thoughtful look on her face.

“But which eight? Singing, laughter, dancing, merriment, joy, sorrow, crown, staves, or water, sunshine, stars, trees, people, evil-doers, king, and monks?” Maryn then asked.

“Ooh.” the blonde girl nodded with understanding.

“More accurately, which eight in the language of the Xuanpu,” Healina nodded back.

“Do not forget that often there are characters that help to build other characters in order to make a new one,” Anhe reminded us.

“Oh right,” I said. “So... wait, couldn't the name be in the first line, then?” I suddenly realized, and Healina looked at me with a sudden surprise and quickly re-examined her scroll.

“I think you're on to something, Lana,” she remarked, carefully looking at the characters she had transcribed. Her eyes then lit up, and she smiled. “You're right; the characters related to the eights make up the ones used for 'spring' and 'winter' in the first line.”

“Cool!” I exclaimed. “So where does that leave us?” I then wondered.

“It leaves us with deciding if this one's name is 'Winter' or 'Spring' -- Fyu Dongtian or Hya Chuntian, to be precise.” Healina told us.

We all looked over at the beast in question; it had grey-colored fur for the most part with a black nose, and there were a few patches of white upon it. It almost looked like a giant wolfhound--which I know sounds redundant but trust me, this thing was bigger. The coloration said 'winter' to my brain, but I had learned through years of experience that the obvious answer wasn't always the right one--especially in games like this. Suddenly I wondered if the answer was simpler than any of us had realized; I made my way back to the dais, looking closely at the beast. It had a red collar on, and there were gold characters inscribed upon it. I looked back to Healina, and waved her over; she looked at me with a curious expression as she approached.

“Not to diminish any of the hard work you've done, but what's on that collar?” I asked her. She took one look and then let out a long sigh.

“Hahh... rude.” she shook her head. “Fyu Dongtian, that's its name.” she told us, and we looked around at each other sheepishly.

“I mean, it was fun though,” Lizzy smiled goofily.

“True!” Ariana smiled, and Maryn held back a giggle.

“All right; get your taming skill ready. I'mma do this thing.” Lizzy then said, and Healina nodded, the two of us backing up while Lizzy paid her respects to the beast according to the ritual, ringing the bell three times, clapping twice, then ringing the bell twice, bowing once, ringing the bell once, and then finally kneeling. “Fyu Dongtian!” she said then, and the beast opened its eyes, which were green in color.

The beast then stood to its feet, and I saw that it was definitely bigger than a wolfhound. It was practically the size of a horse, and not a small one either. A growl came forth from its lips, and then Healina let out a cry.

“My skills are blocked!” she said with fright.

“Meaning we have to do this another way,” Ariana noted, readying her staff just in case.

“I am Fyu Dongtian,” a deep voice said. It was the beast, but his mouth made no move, though it was open; was it a thought-projection? “Prove your worth, mortals; why should I serve you? For countless ages I have served no master but one; when he departed for the Celestial Realm I was again free. Why should I surrender my freedom to you?” it asked us.

I looked at Lizzy; she seemed stuck for words, uncertain of what to say or how to say it. Anhe seemed to be thinking, perhaps wondering if there was a real-world myth she knew that might help; Ariana was doing the same thing. Maryn held her sword at the ready, and beside me Healina was getting her staff ready also.

“Prove your worth with words, or should I test you in battle?” Fyu Dongtian said again.

“I'd rather not fight this thing if we can help it,” Maryn said.

“Neither would I,” Anhe agreed.

“Agree.” Ariana nodded. Then, it suddenly struck me; I ran over to where Lizzy was, and knelt beside her.

“Wait! Fyu Dongtian!” I said, and the great beast turned to me.

“Speak.” he ordered.

“We wish to carry the hopes of those who came before, to renew them in the coming days. To sing in the water, laugh in the sunshine, dance with the stars, and celebrate with the forests. To give joy to the people, to bring sorrow to evil-doers, to respect the crowns of kings and honor those who serve the divine: this is our wish.” I said to him, confident that this was the answer.

The beast continued to stare at me, and then its face shifted to what seemed a smile. A sound of laughter came from him, not a mocking or threatening laughter, but a merry sound, a pleased sort of laughing, almost. He nodded to me then, and bowed his head.

“Your words do you credit, mortal. You have solved the Riddle of Fyu Dongtian; I bow to your wisdom, and I agree to serve you as you have need.” he told us. I heard Lizzy sigh with relief, and then we saw his collar adopt the symbol of our guild in front of his name. The quest completion flashed, and we walked out of the mini-dungeon with Fyu Dongtian, our … pet? Ally? … let's say ally.

I checked his stats as we walked out; his level was now the same as ours, but his status bars were a lot higher. He had more health, magical power, and energy, that is. I wonder if there's more NPCs we can ally with through quests, or even hire as mercenaries or workers, maybe, I wondered to myself as we emerged in daylight again. Healina then took the waggon out of her special inventory and materialized it upon the ground.

“I see!” our dog-beast said. “This is the least of tasks I can do for you; prepare a harness and I shall have you out of this forest in good time! Where is our destination, masters?” he asked of us.

“We were heading to the city of Zan after this,” Lizzy replied.

“It is understood.” Fyu Dongtian nodded.

“May we call you 'Fyu' for short?” Ariana wondered. Our new ally considered the question, and then nodded again.

“Very well, I accept this moniker.” he replied. After a few minutes more, we had him hitched up to the waggon, and when we were aboard, Fyu took off, apparently not needing Lizzy's guidance to steer him.

“This is a serious jackpot,” our smith said, “And nice save back there, Lana!” she smiled at me.

“Ah-heh, it was nothing, really,” I said. “I guess all that translating wasn't for nothing after all,” I then said, and Healina smiled.

“Good thing, eh?” she quipped.

“He really is fast though,” Anhe observed with interest. “We might get to Zan in an hour at this rate.”

“I can cross all the leagues of Xuanpu at a steady pace in nearly a day; to go faster is taxing, but I can indeed bring you to such a place in an hour, if that is your wish?” Fyu said to us.

“Please don't exhaust yourself! We'll be fine getting there at a steady pace,” I quickly said to him in reply.

“It is understood; I thank you for your consideration, mortal.” he said in answer.

“I wonder if we have to feed him, or if he'll hunt for himself, maybe... come to think of it, Sallymander would eat, didn't he?” I wondered aloud.

“He did eat,” Maryn nodded.

“I'm sure Fyu will tell us what he needs, if anything.” Healina remarked.

“True.” I agreed.

“Correct!” the dog-beast himself added. “Fear not! I will hunt when I am not needed, and you will have these to summon me, should I be required!” he then said, and an item suddenly appeared in our inventories.

“Hmm, sweet!” Lizzy remarked. It was a Whistle of the Winter Hound; there didn't seem to be a distance limit, so I guess it was more magical than practical. I then sat back a bit, Ariana leaning on my shoulder, and the two of us simply enjoyed the ride.

We passed through the forest like a breeze, and were soon heading through open country again. In the distance we could see forests of bamboo, wild creatures roaming around, villages and community farms nestled around lakes or rivers, majestic mountains and wily clouds dancing about their heights, ancient and overgrown ruins tucked away in various places, and sometimes we would see a legion of soldiers, a band of merchants, or a group of travelling monks or such. Mischievous looking monkeys clambered around in the trees along one stretch of the road, and at another place we saw a family of tigers lazing about, and a herd of elephants further in the distance.

One thing that stood out as we traversed the lands was a lone peak far in the distance to the northwest of us; this, Healina told us, was Heaven's Peak, and directly south of it was our destination of Zan.

“I'm not sure if it's a place to visit or if it's a dungeon of some kind, but apparently the place is like a resort for the Celestial Beings that the Xuanpu worship.” she told us.

“I am not sure myself,” Anhe said.

“No?” I wondered curiously.

“There are a lot of rumors, but no one has actually been there. It is possible there is a quest or pre-quest that could lead there, though; people have reported seeing things as they get closer to it, like feasts or competitions.” Anhe recounted for us.

“Huh, that sounds neat,” I said.

“Maybe someday we will find that quest!” she smiled back.

“That'd be super fun,” Lizzy agreed, “Hope I'll be able to join it when you do. But for now I'll settle for this house quest!” she said.

“Agreed.” Maryn nodded.

“Beg pardon, what do the masters speak of?” Fyu wondered as he pulled us along.

“We want to undertake a general's quest to win the estate by the Jade Sea,” I explained to him. That's incredible, he has input on our banter, even. I wonder what kind of thoughts he'll have about us disappearing for three days or so at a time, I thought to myself with wonder.

“Ahh... of course. Even in the forest this news had reached me.” Fyu told us.

“Oh?” I asked him, now doubly intrigued.

“Of course, masters; Dai-Gong Wu is an influential man. Some even whisper that he may try to overthrow the emperor some day. His reward for an unknown quest are becoming famous throughout Xuanpu and its neighbors.” Fyu continued.

Now that was something I hadn't expected. It made me rethink for a second time Fyu's complexity as a character, or perhaps even a distinct person with a more advanced AI than most NPCs in the game. But anyway; from what he had just told me, I had a fair few guesses as to what the General's quest was going to be, as I'm sure some of you might as well. This opened up a lot of possibilities; and as we continued on towards Zan, I suddenly wondered if this was one of those quests where you can choose a different outcome and still get the same reward. There was only one question, basically. This quest could possibly affect the entire game, if it was what I thought it was. That is, was the emperor someone who needed to be overthrown, or was the general a scheming traitor who needed to be stopped?