Elijah soared through the air above the swamp, his thoughts centered on the items he’d gotten from Lars. To most people, a pan, a mapping tablet, a flag of regeneration, and an enchanted French press wouldn’t be that huge of a deal, but for him, they were absolute game changers. The pan would allow him to cook his meals without losing any of the ethera that gave it taste, and the French press would give his coffee a little – or perhaps a lot of – extra kick. He hadn’t used it yet, but he hoped that it would manifest in a more potent buff. And the mapping tablet would prove invaluable once he was in the Trial of Primacy. To test it out, he’d taken it out into the wilderness around Argos, and to his surprise, it not only gave him a moderately detailed map of an area in a half-mile radius of his location, but for about half that distance, it actually highlighted points of interest. He’d used it to find a weak natural treasure. Even though he’d left the fern where he found it, the fact that the the map showed it was a great sign of things to come.

The Firestarter he had bought, which was a converted laser pointer, was less impressive but no less effective. Elijah had tried it underwater, and it had worked fantastically well. The fire it conjured only lasted a couple of minutes, but that was probably enough for his purposes. The memory of dozens of cold, wet nights were enough to make him appreciate the little device.

Elijah had yet to try the tent, skinning knife, or flag out, but the other items had performed their functions well enough that he didn’t think it necessary. He trusted that when the time came, each would play its role as well as the others.

The only issue with Lars’ products was that they required recharging. That meant that Elijah would need to push his ethera into a small rune the Artificer had drawn on each item, channeling his energy for at least a few minutes for each item. If he completely used their stored ethera, it would take much longer to recharge them.

They also didn’t have fancy names like the Cloak of the Iron Bear or any of his other equipment. That highlighted their temporary nature, at least to Elijah. Perhaps as Lars gained levels, he would be able to make longer-lasting items. For now, though, Elijah was glad that he’d stuck around for the extra day, even if he could feel his available time ticking down.

Fortunately, there hadn’t been any aerial predators to hinder his path, so as he flew over the swamp, he did so at the speed of a Cessna. He couldn’t quite rival passenger jets or fighter planes, but he expected that, as his attributes grew, so too would his top speed. The only thing that slowed him down was the occasional updraft, which would throw him off course if he wasn’t careful.

Gradually, he crossed the immense swamp, and as he did so, he couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer scope of the area. Distance was a little hard to judge without much context, but he suspected that the swamp could rival a state like Texas in size – which meant that it was absolutely enormous.

However, it only took a day-and-a-half before he found the edge, and when he did, he observed the reemergence of the ruins that dotted the rest of the region. It was so difficult to think of the remnants of pre-transformation Earth’s civilization as such, but given that they were abandoned and crumbling, there really was no other viable term.

Still, each time Elijah saw a half-destroyed suburban neighborhood or crumbling store, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. Accompanying that was a note of satisfaction, though. While he took no joy in the knowledge that so many people had died, nature’s ongoing reclamation of those areas elicited some degree of serenity. Was that his attunement at work? Or was it the simple result of knowing that Earth had been on a collision course with disaster, all at the hands of industrialization?

Maybe it was both.

Whatever the case, the touch of the World Tree had brought that to a halt, and the wild places of the world had begun to resume their rightful stature.

After another day, Elijah spotted something troubling down below, and he landed just outside of what looked like a destroyed town. Unlike the other ruins he’d seen, these fallen buildings had been constructed much more recently. Elijah resumed his human form and strode forward, his Dragon-Touched Staff thudding against the ground with every step.

Three large buildings – huge yurts, he thought – had comprised the village, and they looked like they’d been trampled by a herd of elephants. The wood from which they’d been made had been snapped like bundles of twigs, and people’s belongings were scattered across the whole village. Elijah saw old clothes – ripped and torn – leather harnesses, and even a few makeshift children’s dolls in the ruins, but he found no bodies, which garnered hope that the people who’d lived there had managed to survive.

However, as he looked at the remains of the settlement, he couldn’t help but wonder what had managed to destroy it so thoroughly. A monster, perhaps. It didn’t look like the work of people, largely because nothing had been taken. The leather, at the very least, was valuable enough that it wouldn’t have been left behind.

Still, even though Elijah spent a couple of hours investigating the scene, he found no evidence to suggest the cause of the destruction. So, after checking his map tablet and finding nothing of note, he set off in the direction of the tower Atticus had mentioned. The merchant’s directions hadn’t been perfect, but Elijah hoped that they would at least put him in the right area. Finding it after that wouldn’t be terribly difficult.

Because of his resolution not to spend too much time in any of his bestial forms, Elijah set off on foot. As he did so, he observed the territory. The swamp had long since given way to an expansive prairie. Parts of the plains were verdant with lush grasses, but the region through which he now passed was more like a savannah with thick clumps of yellow grass, the stark and unforgiving landscape periodically broken up by multicolored flowers and other vegetation.

More than once, Elijah just stopped to appreciate the scenery. It was so different from the forests to which he’d grown so accustomed, but there was certainly something about the vast savannah that spoke to him. With all the open space and huge, blue sky, it felt like freedom.

As Elijah progressed through the savannah, he saw a half-dozen other trampled settlements, some of which would qualify as small cities. If he’d had to guess, some of them would have held at least a few thousand people, though when Elijah passed through, they were all deserted. Most of those were surrounded by fields that had once held crops, but those too had been trampled, and any evidence of what produce had once grown there was gone amidst the turned earth.

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Finally, Elijah caught sight of a plume of smoke on the horizon. It was miles away, but after taking off at a light jog, he covered enough distance that before nightfall, he saw the source. It was another town, though this one was the largest he’d yet seen in the steppes. As he drew closer, he saw that it was surrounded by a large, sturdy wall that practically glowed with ethera. Otherwise, it looked extremely primitive – more of a huge berm of piled dirt than a wall – and behind that earthen bulwark peeked a few sturdy-looking buildings.

Atticus hadn’t known much about the people who lived on the plains, so Elijah didn’t know what to expect as he approached a small opening – it was barely a few feet wide – in the berm. He was greeted by a pair of men, and to his surprise, they were both shorter than him. Moreover, they wore leather armor trimmed in fur and wielded short recurve bows. Both men were of east Asian descent.

“Where’d you come from?” demanded one, fingering an axe at his waist. “Why are you here? Did you lead the monster to us?”

“Uh… no?”

“Do you see a monster, Baatar?” asked the other, gesturing with his bow.

The other man squinted into the dusky evening. “No?”

“Believe me – you’d see it if it was here,” said the smarter of the two.

“Oh. Yeah. Doesn’t mean it’s not tracking him, though!”

“It doesn’t track. It just tramples.”

“I didn’t see any monster,” Elijah said. “I come from Argos, past the swamp. What’s going on here?”

“Past the swamp? Nobody crosses the swamp,” said Baatar.

“I did,” Elijah said.

“People used to cross. But that was before the monster came,” said the smart one. “Why did you travel here?”

“Exploring. I’m a Cartographer. I get experience for seeing new things and mapping them,” he said.

“Ouch,” said the guard. “You have my sympathies.”

Elijah had had the presence of mind to use the Ring of Anonymity to create a new identity. This time, he was Abraham Sykes, a level forty-one Explorer. Cartographer was one of the most common classes associated with the archetype, a fact which completed his disguise.

“Yeah,” Elijah said. “When I chose it, I didn’t expect travel to be so difficult. I have a few abilities that make me less conspicuous in the wilderness, but I’ve had more close calls than I’d like. Still, someone needs to map the world, right? People will thank me one day!”

“Sure, bud,” was the reply to Elijah’s enthusiasm. Left unsaid was the caveat that he needed to survive first, which for most people was a dubious prospect.

“Can I enter? I was kind of looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight,” Elijah said.

Baatar quickly answered, “No entry. The town’s full, what with all the refugees from the monster.”

“Oh. Then, a meal? I have money.”

“Dammit Baatar,” said the other guard. “Just keep your lips together, will you?” Then, to Elijah, he said, “Of course you can enter. There probably aren’t any beds, but I’m sure somebody’ll let you sleep in the stables.”

“That’s fine. Just want to get a roof over my head. Plus, some decent food. Sometimes, I wish I’d have taken a Cook class.”

“Don’t I know it,” Baatar said, his first reasonable contribution to the conversation.

After that, the helpful guard directed Elijah toward a large building at the center of the town, called Khotont, which he discovered was a Mongolian town. That explained the steppes, at least.

The first thing Elijah noticed upon entering the town was that there were horses inside. Lots and lots of horses. In fact, he suspected that there were more horses than people, which was a little disconcerting, especially considering that Elijah could feel the power wafting off of the beasts. Clearly, many of them had leveled at least as much as the people of Khotont.

The residents wore simple clothing, though in a wide variety of colors ranging from various shades of red to blues and greens and everything in between. Most of the people were of Asian descent, but there were a couple of darker and lighter skinned folks around as well.

The architecture was fairly simple, and like Argos, it was a blend of old and new, though there was very little wood in evidence. Instead, they preferred stone and brick, which didn’t surprise Elijah, considering that he’d only seen a few scattered trees since he’d left the swamp behind.

Finally, he reached the building that was his destination. It was large – probably fifty yards across – and circular, looking like the world’s biggest yurt. However, it was made of stone, and when Elijah stepped inside, he saw dozens of long tables occupied by hundreds of people.

Elijiah followed a line of people to what looked like a cafeteria-style serving table, where he helped himself to as much food as he could heap upon a plate he picked up along the way. In addition, someone that looked like they must’ve worked there shoved a mug of beer into his hand, then demanded two copper. Elijah paid it gladly, then retreated to one of the tables.

He got more than a few looks from the locals, but they were far more interested in their food and their own conversations to care about him too much. So, when he sat and started to dig in, he overheard a bit of gossip.

“Wait, did you say the monster is a boar?” Elijah asked around a mouthful of red meat.

The local looked at him and said, “Of course. Have you been living under a rock? My team and I are going to hunt it tomorrow morning.”

Elijah asked a few more questions of the man, who was happy to brag about how he and his friends were going to slay the great monster and bring peace to the steppes. And he learned that the monster in question was no ordinary pig. Instead, it was a giant boar that was said to be larger than an African elephant. When he asked why they hadn’t killed it yet, he learned that the beast’s hide was said to be impenetrable.

“But I just got a new skill,” the man boasted. “Armor Piercing. With that on my side, I’ll get through. Might have to hit it a few times, but it’ll eventually bleed out.”

“I hope so,” Elijah said, genuinely hoping the man would survive. He hadn’t even learned the hunter’s name, but he was an affable sort who was easy to root for. “If you need help, let me know. I don’t have a lot of combat skills, but I can heal a bit.”

“Ha! Thank you, but no. Our Healer is more than up to the task,” he said with utmost confidence. Elijah hoped he was right. “I have to say, you’re much better than the other stranger who came here the other day. He racked up a huge gambling debt that he couldn’t pay. Poor sap. He’ll be lucky if he isn’t executed.”

Elijah nodded, barely listening. Instead, he decided to say, “I’m told you have a tower around here. Can you point me in the right direction? I want to add it to my map.”

“Of course. Northwest. But don’t think about going in there.”

“Why? Is it more dangerous than normal towers?”

“No. It’s just that the waiting list is a mile long. My team and I are scheduled for three months from now. That’s why we’re hunting the monster. It’ll give us a chance to level a bit without the tower.”

“I see,” Elijah said, disappointed. Perhaps he should just go back to Seattle and hope that Isaiah could squeeze him in. With the adventurers dead, there had to be a few open slots. But then again, he didn’t want to do that, largely because he didn’t like the idea of being watched every time he stepped foot into the city. He believed that Isaiah had Seattle’s best interests at heart, but that didn’t make the Big Brother aspect of the man’s powers any easier to endure.

But it seemed that he might not have much choice.

Elijah finished his meal, said goodbye to his new acquaintance, then headed to find somewhere to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a little more fruitful.