Morning sunlight filtered through the forest’s canopy as a dewy chill carpeted the forest floor. Somewhere up above, a bird chirped, and in the distance, a squirrel chittered, painting the morning with a cold, yet idyllic brush. Elijah sat with his back to the trunk of a tree, his head tilted upward as he enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere for what it represented. He looked across the campsite to see Artemis staring back at him from her position cuddled next to Isaak.

She was a dangerous creature.

He knew that down to his very core. Even without the corruption of the dimensional rift infecting her, Artemis was a peerless predator. Due to that undeniable fact, Elijah was hesitant to leave her behind. The chances that she would end up killing someone were high enough that taking her back to his island was probably the most responsible path he could take. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to make that decision.

For one, he didn’t have the heart to separate Artemis from her owner. Or perhaps she was the owner in this situation. Regardless, it seemed that neither would accept being parted from the other’s company. So, if Elijah took one, he’d need to take the other.

And he had no interest in doing that.

Not only would having another person underfoot, trampling his grove, be far more trouble than it was worth, but the prudence of that course of action was extremely questionable. Elijah knew he wasn’t great company, and sentencing someone else to the sort of solitude he’d endured was a cruelty he refused to contemplate.

No – that wasn’t a path he intended to explore.

Perhaps Artemis would hurt someone, but maybe not. Elijah couldn’t be responsible for the whole world, after all. It wasn’t his problem to solve. He’d already done enough by saving her and Isaak, and, if he was honest, he was eager to get back on the proverbial road and hunt down his sister, Carmen, and Miguel.

Because if nothing else, the bond between Isaak and Artemis had proven the value of having trustworthy people around. Even if those people happened to be overgrown and deadly housecats.

More than anything, he wanted to just unload his problems onto someone, but he didn’t think many therapists had survived the touch of the World Tree. Not many of anything had, as far as he could tell. But as a substitute, his sister would do just fine. Certainly, she’d played that role before, and he’d done the same for her.

But that was back before he’d run away to Hawaii.

Of course, he’d never characterized it like that. On the surface, taking that job had made perfect sense. It was in his field, and it was paradise, after all. But in reality, Elijah could admit that he’d just wanted to get as far away from all the trappings of familiarity that reminded him of the parents he’d lost far too soon.

It was a mistake, and one he’d acknowledged on more than one occasion. Being diagnosed with terminal cancer tended to prompt introspection, and as he was dying, he’d most regretted losing touch with his sister.

Now, he had a chance to rectify that mistake, and with all the things going through his mind, he needed the support of family more than ever.

Finally, about an hour after dawn, Isaak’s eyes fluttered open and he pushed himself upright. “I can’t believe I slept all night,” he muttered, stretching. He ran his hand through his curly, black hair, smacking his lips as he yawned. “Didn’t you need to rest? I could have stood watch.”

“It’s fine,” Elijah answered. “Not the first all-nighter I’ve ever pulled. At least I have the attributes to soften the blow, now.”

He reached into his pack and retrieved one of his glass jugs, which he handed to Isaak. The boy took it gratefully, and after taking a long swig, wiped his arm across his mouth. “We should head back to the city. My sister is probably worried sick.”

“Sister?” asked Elijah. “You never mentioned a sister.”

He shrugged. “Must have slipped my mind,” the young man said. “She didn’t want me to come out here looking for Artemis. She’s kind of protective like that.”

“This is an older sister, right?”

“Please don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Look, I’m grateful for what you did for me. But please don’t go after my sister,” he said. “She’s…just don’t, okay?”

“What makes you think –”

“That look. I’ve seen it enough to know exactly what it means. Delilah was always popular.”

“Was that because of her looks or…”

Isaak just shook his head. Elijah tried to babble an excuse – his social graces might have been a bit rusty, but he was still aware that he’d crossed a line – but he ended up going off on a tangent about how big his grove was. It was not an effective conversational path, and by the time they started back to the city, Isaak was visibly annoyed.

Artemis just followed along, but Elijah got the feeling she was judging him, too. But that might have just been the fact that she was still a cat, if an overgrown one.

Still, Elijah wouldn’t let that dampen his spirits. After all, he’d successfully completed the mission he’d set for himself, gained a couple of levels and a new spell, and, to top it all off, a beautiful woman was waiting back in Argos to show him how grateful she was that he’d saved her little brother.

And he’d saved a couple of lives, which, now that it was done, didn’t seem quite as important as all the rest.

“I hate how much you’re smiling,” Isaak muttered as they drew within sight of the gate. Elijah pointedly ignored him.

The same two guards were working the gate, and to Elijah’s surprise, they recognized him straight away. They were far more excited about Isaak’s return, which meant quite a lot of back-slapping and jovial declarations as to the hero’s valor. Artemis hadn’t even stopped. Instead, she’d disappeared through the gate to wander the city. Hopefully, she wouldn’t kill anyone. Or at least nobody that didn’t deserve it.

Stolen novel; please report.

Once they made it past the two enthusiastic guards, Elijah and Isaak made their way through the city. As they went, the same old ladies sat on their balconies exchanging gossip. Meanwhile, Isaak received the celebrity treatment, which he endured with as much grace as could be expected. Still, Elijah could recognize the tightness of frustration in the young man’s shoulders.

One good thing was that, apparently, Greek people liked to show their appreciation with food, which meant that by the time they reached Isaak’s home, they’d been loaded down with various fruits and a couple of hearty meat pies. The smell alone was enough to set Elijah’s mouth to watering, so when Isaak invited him inside, he was more than happy to take advantage of the young man’s hospitality.

It had nothing at all to do with the possibility of meeting the boy’s goddess of a sister.

Unfortunately, by the time he finished his meat pie, no such sister had presented herself. So, without any reason to hang around, he said his goodbyes and headed back into town. For a couple of hours, he just wandered around enjoying the atmosphere. He enjoyed the wilderness, and he was a bit solitary by nature, but Elijah could appreciate civilization as much as the next guy – especially when everyone was so friendly.

It was such a departure from what he'd experienced back in Norcastle that he couldn’t help but make the comparison. Where one town had responded to the world’s transformation with petty cronyism and corruption, another had pulled together in solidarity. The existence of somewhere like Argos was enough to color Elijah’s expectations with a fair amount of optimism.

Eventually, he made his way to Atticus’s shop, where he found the eponymous owner closing a deal with a man in a heavy, purple robe. Elijah recognized the ogre staff the man was in the process of buying, so he gave Atticus a quick thumbs up.

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he definitely overheard the final price the two agreed upon, and it was quite a bit higher than what Atticus had paid. So, once the purple-robed would-be wizard departed the shop, he asked, “Was everything you told me about that staff a lie?”

“Welcome back, my friend!”

“Oh, don’t ‘my friend’ me. You paid me two silvers for that stick, and you just charged him fourteen.”

“He overpaid, friend.”

“Or you underpaid.”

“I would never!” he said, clutching his chest as if stabbed.

Elijah rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever. What’s a few silvers between friends, right? But maybe you can help me with identifying a couple of other items.”

“More treasure already? Did you go to the tower, then?”

“No,” Elijah answered. “Just some things I didn’t know what to do with before. Still don’t, honestly. But figuring out what they are is probably the first step.”

With that, the two men headed into the back room. There, Elijah rummaged in his pack until he found the two items that were his goal. The first was the bear’s pelt, which he set onto the table.

“Dire bear pelt,” Atticus stated, with a note of surprise. “Simple-Grade. Where did you get this?”

“Oh, out and about. What about this?” he asked, setting the pack containing the amanita flesh onto the table. “It’s an enchanted sack, but inside is what’s left of a natural treasure. I wouldn’t open it if I were you, though. It’ll almost certainly make you sick.”

“Can’t identify it, then. The pack is Crude-Grade, though. Called a preservation sack. You might have more luck with an alchemist, but we don’t have any living in the city limits.”

“Does that imply there’s one outside the city?”

Atticus nodded. “There’s one that lives in a commune about forty miles to the south, on the edge of the swamp. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard weird stories,” he said.

“What kind?”

“The cult-y kind. I don’t know anything else, but people certainly don’t hold him in high esteem, friend. Name is Konstantinos. Don’t know any more, and I’ll be honest – I don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough,” Elijah said. “Oh, took care of the maneater, by the way. Turns out, you had a dimensional rift. It’s closed now.”

After that statement, Atticus begged Elijah to tell him more. And for his part, Elijah parlayed that into a meal, which the two took at a local tavern. By the time he was done telling the story – in as self-deprecating way as possible – the pair had already finished their meals and were deep into a night of drinking.

Which was why Elijah didn’t even notice the newcomer until she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around a little too quickly and almost stumbled directly into a woman’s chest. He caught himself just in time, then pulsed Touch of Nature to rid himself of the effect of the alcohol.

Then, he realized where he was staring, so he looked up and into the eyes of the goddess he’d envisioned earlier. She looked a little like Isaak, though far more mature and infinitely more feminine. However, she was far from some dainty maid. Instead, she was a striking Amazon, with thick shoulders and a warrior’s physique.

“You’re smaller than I expected,” she said with a smirk. “Cute, too. Isaak didn’t mention that.”

“Uh…Delilah?”

“Oh, so he mentioned me. Good.”

Then, without further explanation, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. His bones creaked under her high Strength, but with the orientation of his face – which was positioned in the center of her chest – he couldn’t really complain.

When she finally released him, Atticus cleared his throat and slurred, “I think I deserve a hug, too. Whatever he did, I did it twice as much.”

Delilah ignored him, which didn’t seem to bother the weapons dealer at all. Or that was the impression Elijah got when Atticus turned his attention back to the mug of beer in front of him. Meanwhile, he got a good look at Delilah.

She wore a boiled leather cuirass and a skirt composed of leather strips. From the knees down, she wore brass greaves, which left her thighs on display.

And from Elijah’s still slightly drunken perspective, they were great thighs.

In fact, everything about her was great, even if she was almost a foot taller than him. She probably weighed more, too. But that didn’t dissuade him at all. Instead, he found it quite interesting.

But in his defense, outside of Jess, who’d never really considered giving him the time of day, he’d not had much of an opportunity to mingle with the opposite sex in more than two years.

So, of course, he put his foot in his mouth.

“Yeah, I can see why you’re popular.”

“What?” she asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. “What do you mean by popular?”

“Oh. It’s something your brother said.”

“You were talking about me with my brother?”

“Of course. I think he meant to fix us up. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted. Said we’d make a great couple.”

“Did he now?”

“More or less.”

“I’m thinking it was less more than more,” she stated.

“I’m far too drunk to make sense of what you just said. So, I don’t have a room yet, but there’s an inn around here where the owner loves me,” he went on. “I’m sure –”

“You think you can handle me?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

“Definitely,” Elijah said with a grin of his own.

Then, without hesitation, she dipped down, wrapped her arms around his waist, and threw him over her shoulder. With his Sash of the Whirlwind, Elijah probably could have avoided it, but in his human form, his Strength and Dexterity weren’t quite high enough to make use of the item’s Haste.

Besides, he wasn’t all that displeased with the sudden shift because it at least gave him a nice view of her backside.

Still, he made a show of resistance, claiming, “I was just joking!”

“I wasn’t.”

Then, she was marching outside and to the house where he’d left Isaak earlier that day. Nobody in the streets batted an eyelash at the clear abduction, which Elijah would later learn was due to Delilah’s well-known proclivities. She was a straightforward woman, and apparently, not averse to taking what she wanted.

And at that moment, she wanted Elijah.

Yet, despite the lack of dignity in its beginning, Elijah couldn’t think of any reason to object to what he hoped would prove to be a very eventful night and a much-needed release.