While I climbed onto Ava’s shoulder and properly [Grip]ped myself into place, she explained more about the situation they were in.

[Druids], as she had noted, were under restrictions placed on them by their [Class] which made up for its power. They were strongly attuned to nature, which meant that they could not harm animals. That was the gist of it, anyway: they could still act in self-defence if an animal attacked them first, for instance, as well as cleanly slaying an animal for food. They also had some wriggle room when it came to using [Skills] against animals that were not directly harmful. But to break the rule and harming an animal apparently stripped the offending [Druid] of their powers, and redeeming oneself and regaining their powers was very difficult.

Which was why the two hunters were with them.

“Philip and Jolyne”, Ava explained, “are not [Druids] so they are not bound by our rules and can protect us if we are attacked. In this area, that happens all too often.”

“Can you not fight back? You just told me that exceptions exist for self-defence.”

“They do, but it is rarely as easy. Suppose that we are set upon by a pack of wolves, half of them attack while the other half stays back to step in if one has to back out. If a spell we threw out were to go wide, past the attackers and hit one of the back-line, it may be counted as breaking the taboo.”

“... that sounds stupid.”

“Perhaps to an outsider, but they make sense to us. It is much simpler to have allies that can do what you cannot. But to get back to the original subject, some of the members of the Circle and myself are looking into a disturbance in the forest. A beast, I believe it is likely a mature Ironback Charger - or perhaps a Blackhoof -, has been rampaging for the last week or so. It is… unusual, to say the least, and we are hoping to find the reason for its rampage. Ideally before it kills more denizens of the forest.”

“And you think that this beast has killed the High Deer that you and Leah found me hiding under?” I asked. No need to show my hand yet.

“I am almost certain. But I believe that you know more about this, Xyte. Our investigation has been difficult so far, so it is likely that you can be of help.”

Xyte. It was weird, being called by a name I did not recognise, but that I logically knew was mine. Hell, I’d given myself that name! Not that it appeared in my [Status], I was still listed as ‘Nameless’, but it was good to have something people could refer to me as, that wasn’t as belittling as ‘bug’ or ‘Parasite’.

Even if the name ‘Xyte’ was just a homophone of the last syllable of my species name, with my mental note to spell it X-Y-T-E to have it look fancier.

“I… think I do”, I replied. “It’s complicated, but I will say that the creature I have dirt on is indeed an Ironback Charger. I don’t know what a Blackhoof is, but I know this one for sure.”

“You are being very secretive about what you know.”

“Yes, well… don’t get me wrong, but my knowledge is all the leverage I have. I want to trust you, but we’re strangers here. If you decided to just not keep your word after you have what you want from me, I would be shit out of luck, pardon my French.”

“I will not argue that the power dynamics are greatly in my favour here, but if I was as nefarious as to do such a thing, why couldn’t I just force you to tell me everything now under threats of violence, instead of putting up a charade?”

“Because I could lie out of spite. There’s plenty of… ah, never mind. But if I know I’m not getting my end of the bargain, there would be no reason to be truthful to you either.”

Whew. Good catch, me. If I mentioned that there are studies showing conclusively that torture and coercion will not produce reliably truthful testimony, Ava would wonder where I have that information from. That was a road of questioning I did not want to go down.

“That is also true”, the older elf replied. Luckily she didn’t insist on asking what I had cut myself off about. “But at the moment, I cannot offer more than my word that you’ll have your questions answered, and a host arranged for you.”

“Granny!” Leah chose to pipe up. “What if… what if tell Xyte thing that asked? It as…” She hesitated a few moments, then said a word in the other language. But thanks to the [Spirit Voice] link, I understood its meaning.

“A goodwill gesture?” I said. “I mean, it might work… Would you be fine with this, Gran- Ava? One question, then I’ll tell you something I know? Make it a back-and-forth trade like that?”

Ava nodded. “That seems a fair deal. So, what do you want to know?”

I thought about this. What DID I want to know? Lots of things, honestly, but I had to start somewhere… something that would be useful for Blue and me to know. But there was so much that fit that bill. Then, I remembered something Ava had talked about earlier.

“You said earlier that you couldn’t [Name] me. What’s up with that?”

Ava looked as though she was about to say something, then she paused, thought, and finally asked: “What do you know about [Naming], Xyte?”

“I know what a name is, but I think that this particular brand of name-giving we’re talking about is something else, and I couldn’t exactly google it...”

“Then let me explain it from the beginning. Names are different for [Enlightened] and non-[Enlightened] creatures. To [Enlightened], they are simply a word to refer to somebody by. It can be changed as easily as a glove: I could choose this very moment that I don’t wish to be called ‘Ava’ any longer, but instead I want people to know me as Adrienne because I like that name more. It might take people some time to adjust and remember to call me that, but that is not what this subject is about.

This is different with creatures that are not [Enlightened], such as yourself. To you, a name holds power within the System and is a part of your identity - a [Name]. Creatures in the wild are usually without one, for… obvious reasons.

[Naming], the process of one individual giving a [Name] to another, bestows certain advantages on the one that receives the [Name]. For instance, a creature might grow smart beyond its base instincts, it might gain the ability to use simple magic or perhaps unlock a special evolution. But a [Name] isn’t given lightly. It contains a portion of the [Name]-giver’s essence, which means that the [Name] also influences a creature’s thoughts and behaviour to some extent, usually in favour of the [Name]-giver’s own goals and beliefs.”

“So if you had [Named] me, I would have been more inclined to be friendly to [Druids] or to help you?”

“That is a simplified way of explaining it, but more or less. It also takes much strength from the [Name]-giver to give someone a [Name].”

“You mean like health or mana?”

“Not such a quantifiable thing as that. It is more like a deep-set exhaustion that takes some time to recover from. If you are weak, it can even shorten your lifespan… actually, let me stop here. I brought Leah along today, to teach her and revise her lessons while we investigate the carcass. We can combine answering your question with that… So Leah, let’s see if you remember what I taught you. Tell me, do you remember why being weak does not make [Naming] a problem for common people who keep pets?”

Leah made a thinking face, then her eyes lit up. “Because resistance!”

“That’s right. the weaker you are, the more resistance there is to giving out a [Name]. If a human without levels calls their pet cat ‘Puss’, that’s not [Naming] it within the System, it’s just assigning the cat something to refer to it by. They could make it a [Naming] by forcing past that resistance, but that would be very inadvisable. On the other hand, someone with more levels such as myself would have little resistance because I have more power within the System, and [Naming] someone is not as big a blow to me. That is why I must be a bit more careful with my words.”

“So you asked me to give you a name you could call me by, to avoid that?”

“That’s right. You chose the name, not me. That’s the key difference.”

“I see… that makes a lot of sense, then.”

“What does?”

“Well, I think it’s my turn, but first, I want to thank you for explaining it so thoroughly. It’s very helpful, I think I understand a lot more of what’s going on now.” I took a deep breath, then explained: “The Ironback Charger that you’re after… he has a [Name].”

Ava stopped dead in her tracks and Leah almost bumped into her. “What?” she asked.

“He’s called Rocky.”

“How can… actually, how do you know that?”

“I had a… I sort of eavesdropped on a conversation between Rocky and the one who [Named] him. Rocky was my host at that time… that was just a few hours ago. Shortly after he killed that High Deer. I figured that he was getting too hot at that point and got off him.”

Ava looked stunned, but when the two hunters came back and one said something with an annoyed voice - probably because they had gone ahead without noticing that the two [Druids] they were supposed to protect had stopped moving - she began to walk again.

“Who was it? Who [Named] him?”

“I think it… actually, wait. I gave you Rocky’s [Name], it’s my turn again.”

Ava huffed with fake indignation. “It is as though you are timing this to tease me… very well. What would you like to ask next, then?”

“Can you tell me about [Skills]?”

“No. Or rather, nothing that will be useful to you. We [Enlightened] have different [Skills] and associated conditions than you do… in fact, most [Enlightened] would not be able to tell you anything of note. We don’t have [Racial Skills] for instance, and we don’t [Evolve], we get [Classes] instead. You’ll have ask me about something else.”

“I see… that is quite unfortunate. Still, that’s something, so it’s my turn again. Where were we?”

“I will give you another question, since I couldn’t answer yours. Fair is fair.”

I blinked. “That is… very kind of you. Then, let me ask you something simpler… where are we?”

“That depends on how precise you want me to be. Were you wondering about this forest, or this part of it?”

“The general area around us, mostly. The forest and what’s like… around it.”

“Well, this place is called the Western Greenlake Woods. It was not very imaginative, I know, but other people than me gave it its name. We’re part of the Greenlake Barony, which is part of the larger human kingdom called Telen. This forest spans most of the western side of Greenlake, it’s mostly wildlands but the [Druids] of our Circle have an agreement with the Barony to live here. Greenlake has a max level of 27, but the forest is not as dangerous. The average level of most creatures here is perhaps level 9 or 10.”

“A max level? What do you mean?”

Ava smirked. “That’s the next question. I’ve answered yours, now it is your turn to answer mine.”

Her good humour was contagious. I couldn’t smile, but I put some cheerfulness into my reply: “That’s true. Let’s hold that question for a minute then. So we were talking about…”

“About who it was who [Named] Rocky.”

“Right. Well, I… I don’t know what his name is, and I doubt that the way he looked to me is his real appearance, but…” How would I word this correctly? I could not tell her about the [Trait] that [Profaned] had absorbed. I had no idea how she would react to the knowledge that I had this ‘blocker’ on me, and if it turned out to be something bad on the level of obligating them to kill me, I had no way of successfully escaping them or fighting back. So I had to keep that snippet of information a secret, but without bringing up the [Trait], it would be suspicious to make the claim that the creature we met was a deity, so…

“When Rocky and I met him, we were pulled into a void of sorts. Everything was black around us, we stood in darkness, it was just the two of us and him.”

“A black void? Do you remember what it was like, going in there?”

“I didn’t see that part, but when we came out, the darkness just… dissipated and we hadn’t moved. Or at least we were right back to where we had been before.”

“So it could have been a mental space or greater illusion, perhaps… what did he look like? How did you know it was a ‘he’?”

“His voice was that of a man. He looked like… well actually he looked like an enormous version of the Ant Queen that I met shortly after hatching. But he was as big as Rocky, basically.”

“And how did Rocky react?”

“I’ll tell you more about what they said in the next round, but I will share that Rocky did not look perturbed. If I had to guess, I’d say that this mysterious stranger probably looked like an Ironback to him.”

“So his form looks different to different viewers… a conditional illusion overlaid to mask his true form? Interesting. But if we’re dealing with a [Mentalist] of some kind, it becomes possible… is there anything else you can tell me about this person?”

“I can tell you what he and Rocky spoke about.”

“... but it’s my turn first, right?”

“I know I’m really putting you on hot coals here, but please?”

“No, it is quite fine. What is your question? About Greenlake’s max level?”

“Actually… do you mind telling me what your level is? You said earlier that you were higher level, which was why you had to watch out when Naming me.”

Ava twisted her mouth. “Levels are a very private matter among [Enlightened], Xyte. Your level, your [Class], [Skills], how high one of your stats is and so on, all that is information about your build and how powerful you are. It is valuable information that can be used against you. So no, I am not comfortable with sharing that. Please name a different subject.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know it was such a touchy topic. Then, please tell me about the max level. Is that like the highest level anyone can be here?”

“Not quite… but this warrants some further explaining. Do you know how levelling works?”

“Yes… actually have a question relating to that later. But I did level up to 10 and [Evolve] after… killing some enemies of the hive I hatched in.”

“Right. Well, as a non-[Enlightened] creature you have the benefit of having your maximum level immediately available to you, from the moment you hatched.”

“How do you mean that?”

“As I said before, [Enlightened] are different. Fundamentally different, that is. Most of us never even level up once, and stay as regular people all our lives. Leah and I, for instance, are exceptions to that rule.” Ava looked to Leah. “Leah, would you like to explain? You can stop using [Animal Speech] for this, just tell Xyte with [Spirit Voice].”

Leah looked very excited at this. “Okay, Granny! Uhm, so there’s the people who don’t have levels, and there’s the people who have levels. They’re called… uhm… Unawakened and Awakened! If you’re Awakened, you can gain levels and use the System.”

“Can you gain levels infinitely?” Ava asked.

“Uhm… no! You have to kill a creature to gain levels.”

“That’s not right. You can’t kill any creature… come now Leah, you had this lesson just recently. Take a minute, and we can go over it again.”

It took the young girl a few tries, but together with Ava’s explanation, I eventually understood things.

[Enlightened] races started without access to the System - this was called being Unawakened. To become Awakened, one needed to participate in the killing of a so-called Boss Monster. This granted access to the System and let the Awakened level up to the same level as the Boss Monster they’d slain, or if someone was Awakened already, it would raise their maximum level if the new Boss Monster they defeated had a higher level. That person still needed to grind EXP to actually reach that level.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Leah explained how this worked with the analogy of a bucket of water. The bucket represented the maximum level - in the analogy, the amount of water it could hold - and the water was the actual levels an Awakened had. If you got a new, bigger bucket, you had more capacity but you still needed to fill it with more water.

And of course, Boss Monsters were typically found in Dungeons. It made me wonder if this really wasn’t a VR game I had somehow winded up in without knowing, it even had all the terminology of an RPG!

Dungeons, I was then told, were scattered everywhere, sometimes popping into existence out of seemingly nowhere. Ava described them as dangerous places full of monsters and hazards along with the aforementioned Boss Monsters.

“So they are a necessary evil?” I asked. “On the one hand, they are dangerous for people to venture into, but on the other hand they’re the only place where Boss Monsters appear, so you can use them to Awaken new people.”

“Boss Monsters can sometimes be found outside of Dungeons as well”, Ava explained, “but that is a rare and very chance encounter, whereas Boss Monsters spawn more reliably. So you are correct.”

“And to make sure I understood your explanations correctly, Greenlake’s maximum level is 27 because somewhere in the area there is a level 27 Dungeon, and that sets the level of the area around it?”

“That’s right. So, taking this back to your original question?”

“Hm… [Enlightened] might reach level 27 by slaying a level 27 Boss Monster, but just because that’s the highest here in Greenlake, doesn’t mean that’s the maximum overall. You could find a Dungeon elsewhere and slay a higher-level Boss Monster to raise your level cap, then come back to live here.”

“Correct. For instance, his lordship the Baron and the higher nobility in Greenlake have done so, and have levels above 30. But, I think you got an extensive lecture for one question, so your turn is overdue at this point.”

“Ah, you’re right. Thank you for being so generous with your explanations.”

“What I am sharing is mostly common knowledge among [Enlightened]”, Ava replied. “Information about [Skills] and [Classes] is different. Those are more well-kept secrets, as I noted earlier.”

“I see… still, thank you for all the details. So, to get on with what I was telling… this stranger who spoke with Rocky. He talked to Rocky about what he’s done. About how he killed 22 small monsters and four “big” ones, including the High Deer and a Manticore in just nine days, and how it risked drawing attention.”

“The Manticore… so that really was the Ironback’s - or rather, Rocky’s doing. We weren’t sure… still, it lines up with everything. And it risked drawing attention? Did this stranger have some plan that involved Rocky?”

“He said he ‘accidentally’ [Named] Rocky when he revived him, which-”

“Wait. Wait”, Ava said, stopping in her tracks again this time, though she remembered to call out to the two hunters to wait as well. “He ‘revived’ him? Are you sure he said that?”

“Yes… I’m completely certain.”

“... Leah, why don’t you go ahead of us. Take Jolyne and Philip with you and go back to the camp.”

“But Granny! You can’t send me away now when it’s getting good!” Leah said and made an adorable pout, but Ava was not swayed. She must’ve gotten desensitised to the puppy-dog eyes. After a brief discussion, the young [Druid] girl walked off with a grumble, and Ava returned her attention to me.

“Listen, Xyte. I promise that I will answer all the questions you have after this, but I need to get the rest of the story from you first… please.”

Her voice was very serious, and so was the frown on her face. But based on how she had treated me so far, I decided that I could trust her enough to share my knowledge. “Can I at least ask why you are so serious about this?”

Ava sighed as she took a seat on a massive root coming from a nearby tree, and picked me off her shoulder to place me in front of herself instead. “Nine days ago, there was an incident in the main human city of Greenlake, Silverrock. Someone had brought the carcass of a dead animal… an Ironback Charger, into the city. Dead beyond a doubt. And yet, suddenly it was alive again, in the middle of the city.”

“That… must have been a disaster.”

“It was. Thankfully no one died, but the Ironback fled out of Silverrock. More importantly, it displayed an unusual amount of intelligence: once it was out of sight, it seemingly vanished into thin air. We tried tracking it, but its tracks are all but impossible to follow. Both our Circle and a detachment from Silverrock has been trying to hunt it down without success.

At the same time, the incidents started. At first we thought it may be the work of a third party, but the ways the creatures were killed hinted at it being the work of an Ironback - and Ironbacks are fairly rare. So we considered the possibility that the resurrected Ironback and the killer of four of the stronger creatures of the forest might be one and the same. And now you are not only confirming this theory, but you’re also telling me that it was revived and [Named] by the same person.”

“Uh-huh?”

“If there truly is a singular mastermind behind it all, I almost daren’t say it… either it is someone of very high level, who can [Name] a powerful creature like Rocky. They would have to wield a secret [Skill] that lets them revive creatures… but it makes little sense why someone of such a level would waste their time on Greenlake. The other possibility, if all you say is true, is that we are dealing with a God.”

Whew. So she has come to the conclusion I was hoping she would. Still, I was curious… “How’d you come to that conclusion?”

“There is no way known to us to bring back the dead. And Rocky was nameless and instinct-minded at the time of its death, but immediately after its resurrection it was intelligent. We did not take into account that it could have been [Named], but your explanation lines up with the facts.”

“Like that one missing piece to complete the puzzle, then?” I asked, feeling a little proud. It was undeserved since I hadn’t done anything, but to provide the help they needed… “So what you’re saying is, Rocky’s resurrection was impossible, so ‘a God did it’ is the only possible explanation left?”

“Remember what I told you - we are quite secretive about what we know of the System. There is always the possibility of an unknown build, of a hidden [Skill] or a special [Class] that enabled someone to do this. At higher levels, the System bestows powers that bend reality in ways beyond imagination, though it can never break the rules. The possibility of an individual with such power causing mayhem in Silverrock cannot be discarded, but the likelihood anyone of such a high level would come to Greenlake and cause a little chaos is minimal. That leaves the ones who have a presence all around us, and that's the Gods. Rocky’s death was already under unusual circumstances, so perhaps…”

“But isn’t it a bit easy still, to just blame a God?” Of course, I knew better. A God, or at least a ‘Divinity’, was behind it, otherwise I would not have gotten that [Trait]. But this was an opportunity to get some more info out of Ava.

“Not necessarily. The Gods are… their goals are beyond our understanding, but they involve themselves in the matters of us mortals with relative frequency. They even send omens and revelations to the pious who worship them. Why they would turn their eye towards a backwater place like Greenlake is beyond me, but in a roundabout way, it is more likely that they were involved than a mere high-level individual.”

“And what does that mean for us?”

“That is what worries me - I don’t know. If the Gods want Rocky to be alive… it would be best to consult with the [Priests] in Silverrock, and to have them pray for answers and guidance. But if in the meantime, Rocky does something else…”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. This God, he told Rocky to lay low and stop killing for EXP for a while, until the situation blows over. Apparently Rocky’s death and resurrection has caused some waves with the Gods and they’re looking into stuff.”

“Incredible… you truly were privy to such a conversation?”

“I was. Hey, I can send you images through this link, right?” I tried focusing for a moment, summoning a still image of the enormous Queen in the black void to my mind, and sent it over. “Sorry about the gray corner there, that’s Rocky’s ear… I only peeked out a bit to catch that glimpse”, I explained.

“Fascinating… truly fascinating. But if Rocky was [Named] by a God, it comes as little surprise that he would undergo such a change from that. And it would explain his resurrection as well. I will… I shall have a talk with the hunting party and we’ll find a way to sort it out.” She put her elbows on her legs and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. “This is making my head ache...”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She reached into her pouch and produced a pair of palm-sized leaves. One went in her mouth, the other she held out to me. “Rier?”

“I don’t think I can eat that.”

“Oh, right. Forgot you’re not an Ant, sorry.” She put it back, then drew her dagger. “How about a snack of blood then?”

I was about to say I didn’t feel particularly hungry yet, but she had already made a shallow cut along the tip of her finger. “... sure. Thank you.” It needed some careful manoeuvring, sticking my fangs into the open cut without injuring her further, but once I had them in place, I sipped.

It tasted a lot better than Rocky’s and the worm’s blood. Sweet and fruity. Interesting. Not that it was going to change my mind about hating [Leech]. It was still a disgus-

Skill proficiency threshold reached. [Leech] (3) has levelled up to [Leech] (4).

A level? But I hadn’t accidentally killed Ava… had I? Nope, she was right there, chewing the leaf. So maybe [Leech] was like [Mooch] and levelled up not just from defeated monsters, but also from everyday use? That gave me hope for the future.

“What’s that Rier thing?” I asked as I finished snacking.

“It’s leaves from the Rier bush. You chew it or just keep it in the side of your mouth, and it releases aromatic herbal flavours.”

“Huh, so it’s like tea leaves.”

“Tea?”

Oops. Damnit… “It’s a drink where you put aromatic leaves into hot water to flavour it.”

Ava raised an eyebrow, then nodded. “I’m guessing that this is everything you know about Rocky, then? You’ve been very helpful, but if there is anything you haven’t yet had a chance to mention…”

“I’ve mentioned that he’s an Ironback Charger, right? I can also describe three of the four large beasts he killed… I missed Rocky killing one of them.”

“No, that’s not necessary: all four cadavers are accounted for. But, you wouldn’t happen to know which way he went after his last kill?”

“Sorry, but I have no idea. If we were still where we found the body, maybe I could’ve shown you, but now I’m too turned around.”

“That’s okay. Rocky has been very good at evading us, I think even with your knowledge we would have lost his trail again, as we did in the past. Now… let me thank you for sharing what you know. It will be very helpful to us. But would you allow me one last question before I make good on my promise and answer your questions in turn?”

“Sure.”

“Why is it that you speak like a human?”

…

Fuck.

I’ll admit that I had slipped up a few times and made some mistakes, but how did she guess perfectly?

“If you’ll let me ramble a bit…” Ava continued when I didn’t reply. “Your manner of speech is riddled with idioms and phrases that I don’t know. Though I could make sense of their meaning based on the context of your sentences, I know of only two peoples on Greenlake that employ such metaphors: humans and demihumans. And demihumans have certain mannerisms in their language that you do not have, so that just leaves humans.

You also have more words in your vocabulary than some human nobility does. In fact, there were some words that even I have never heard before… you couldn’t ‘google it’ or ‘tea’, to provide two examples. And I have been around for 300 years, so I have heard many words from a number of cultures across the world. Yours don’t sound even remotely familiar.

I could perhaps understand if you were an aged traveller, a learned man perhaps, from some exotic and faraway Shard. There are many cultures out there that are quite isolated, given the makeup of our world… but you are native to Greenlake, and recently hatched. So I ask again: Why is it that you speak like a human?”

It’s not so much that I’m a scholar or noble, lady, it’s more that the education back where I’m from is good like that. Plenty of complaints to be had about the modern-day school system, but it’s way ahead of medieval education… of course, I couldn’t share that. Nor could I tell her that I was actually from a completely foreign world. Or that I was actually a human, somehow reincarnated into an insect’s body.

“... I cannot answer that.”

Ava raised an eyebrow. “Is that because you do not know, or because it is a secret?”

“A secret. And even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“You are not the first to say that, but I have seen many sights and heard many odd things. You could tell me your secret in confidence. If it is some form of trouble you are in, I could perhaps even help you.”

Tempting… but I clicked my mandibles. “No. I appreciate the offer, but this is not something I feel comfortable sharing.”

Ava sighed and reached into her pouch, then produced a small roll of paper. “I did not want it to come to this…”

Immediately I was wary. Was she going to threaten me? Force me to something?

“I hate to spend a scroll, but this warrants its use. Allow me a minute, Xyte. And don’t worry, I will keep my word, answer your questions and find you a host… this is mere precaution. I just cannot have you endangering our Circle.” Now I noticed that she also had three dice between her fingers that held the scroll. She unfurled the piece of paper and set it on the root between us. “[Augury]... Three charges.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I will ask, and the dice shall answer me”, Ava explained. She made a bowl with her hands and held the dice inside, looking sharply at me. “First question. Is the creature that I know as Xyte under an effect that can influence or override their free will or control their body?” She opened her palms and let the dice fall.

I watched as they rolled in ways that defied several laws of physics. The root that Ava had put the scroll on was shaped like an uneven cylinder (like most roots, really), so they should have fallen off the side. Instead they moved against their own momentum and drifted around. One even rolled up the slope, as if to drive the point home that something decidedly not normal was going on. This was definitely not a shifty crystal ball reading or superstitious hocus pocus; there was real magic at work here.

When the dice came to a stop, Ava began poring over them. She read their faces, drew lines in the air from one die to another, mumbled to herself and finally declared: “You are not.” I could see her slumping with relief. Then she collected the dice into her hand again. “But we’re not done… second question. Is the creature that I know as Xyte under any scrying or communicating effects other than my [Spirit Voice]?”

Again the dice fell, and again she read them. I looked at them, but I could make no sense of the little squiggles and symbols that marked their surfaces, or why Ava was pointing from that one die to that other one. It seemed arbitrary, even though I could tell it was not.

“Also no”, she then said.

I chose to speak at this point: “If you suspect that I’m being used in some way to spy on you, why don’t you just ask the dice and save yourself a question?”

“Because [Augury] cannot be used to glean information outside the [System], and even within that there is a limit to the kind of questions it can answer”, Ava explained as she picked the dice back up. “I have sworn to not [Inspect] you beyond your [Race] and [Skills], and even if I hadn’t, there are [Skills] that can obfuscate that part of a [Status] and make it seem like no effects are at work. [Augury] bypasses these measures and allows me to be certain, without breaking my promise to you.”

“Right.” I felt surprised that even though she suspected that I might be a spy, she was still keeping her promises to me. But it was working in my favour, so I just waited.

“Third question… is it correct that the creature that I know as Xyte has ‘Small Parasite Hatchling’ as its real and original [Race] per its [Status], and that it is not under the race-altering effects of a concealment-, shapeshifting- or transformation-type [Skill]?”

Ohh… that was a smart one. Not just to let Ava make out if I was a spy pretending to be an insect, but also to sate her curiosity. So there were [Skills] that let people transform? It was kind of amazing, having so many possibilities with magic, limited only by your [Skill Points].

“... no. Well, this gives me some reassurance”, Ava finally said as she put the dice and the scroll away. “I apologise for the distrust.”

“No, I understand where you’re coming from. I can only give you my word that I’ve never heard of your Circle before and that I don’t mean any of you ill.” I tapped my claw on the root. “So what would’ve happened if any of those had said ‘yes’? You can’t attack me without breaking your [Druid] taboos, right? And you sent your two guards away, so you couldn’t have had one of them stab me.”

“I would have kept my promise regardless of the outcome. I may have weighed your questions more harshly when considering whether or not to refuse to answer them.”

“I’m not looking for insider info on your Circle anyway.”

“You have not asked me questions of that nature so far, that is true”, Ava replied. “Only general information on the System. It makes me more curious as to how someone who speaks as though they’ve lived for three dozen years can be as clueless to the rules of our world.”

“Can we leave that subject to rest?” I asked. “I’m not ready to tell you that even if you swore secrecy on it.”

Ava nodded. “I can rein in my curiosity. Though I would much like to know, I doubt that I can convince you to divulge your secret, and I am not about to force you to it. So then, what other questions do you have?”

“I have… a bunch of questions, honestly. And I’m sure that once you answer me some, it’ll just raise more of them. You sure you want to sit here with me and talk all day?”

At this, a smile crossed the elf’s lips. “Am I hearing a diplomatic request to be invited to our encampment?”

“Well, I won’t deny that all your talking about a Circle and its members has kind of gotten me curious.”

“I’ll be bringing you there regardless. Though [Augury] cannot prove beyond all doubt that you are not a danger, I can be reasonably certain of it, and that is all I can ask. And if we’re going to find you a new host, it would perhaps do to have you ride one of our bestial companions. But I can answer what questions you have, for now.”

They had bestial companions… this place was sounding more and more interesting by the minute. “Let me sort my thoughts while we move and I’ll ask the questions once we’re there, that sound okay? Also, much as I abandoned Rocky when things got too hot, I’d like to know what’ll happen to him.” I felt kind of responsible for getting him where he was now, for better or worse.

“Rocky will be… dealt with in an appropriate manner”, the elf replied. “I cannot yet say what that is, but I would much like to know if the [Priests] of Silverrock can give us pointers. Still, I do believe that the standing order to put the beast down will not be withdrawn.”

“Why’s that?”

“The kingdom does not want powerful high-level monsters roaming around Greenlake. It has even posted a bounty for each Ironback kill. And now, Rocky is intelligent and apparently powerhungry. A volatile combination.”

Looking at things this way, it made sense. I shuddered to think what a rhinoceros with the intellect of a human might be capable of. “Could he be trying to gain levels? Evolve, even?”

“Perhaps… and though it pains me to see an intelligent beast put down, I understand that it will likely be inevitable.”

I felt a pang of anger for a moment, then I realised what the ‘likely’ meant. “Wait, so… you’ve been tracking Rocky trying to find him, to… talk to him?”

“What did you believe we have been doing?”

“That you were working with the hunting party to turn him in…”

“You are not wrong.” She waved her hand. “If at all possible, we wish to find a solution that will leave Rocky alive and the forest peaceful. But if Rocky is found to be beyond reason, we will have no choice but to cooperate with Silverrock. You understand: Rocky could grow into a big danger without a high-level [Enlightened] to take him down.”

Perhaps she had ideas, but I did not like this. Rocky’s behaviour was probably the result of that God pushing him to do stuff by giving him a [Name], and all of that had started because of me… who was to say how Rocky would act when confronted? He might be strong and smart now, but I had a feeling that the people of Greenlake were more tenacious than that.

“That is”, Ava added, “after we consult with the human clergy. If the Gods have designs for Rocky, they may not suffer mortals to interfere.”

“I see…”

“So, shall we go? The settlement is not far away from here.”

I climbed onto the arm she offered me, then made my way back onto her shoulder. “Ready when you are. But I’ll warn you, I have a lot more questions.”

“A fine learning opportunity for Leah and the others. You can ask them at your leisure once we arrive.”