Before Elijah activated the gate, he inspected the other notification he’d received after completing the preparation of the hide.

Congratulations! You have created a unique item: [Tanned Steelskin Boar Leather]

Overall Grade: Complex (mid)

Enchantment Grade: n/a

“Why are you smiling?” asked Wilhelm.

“Oh. The hide turned out to be Complex-Grade,” he said. “I was worried that it wouldn’t get there because of the low density of ethera around here.”

“Low?” Wilhelm asked. “It is higher than anyplace I’ve ever been.”

“You haven’t been everywhere,” Elijah said, clapping the slim man on his shoulder. Despite the fact that Elijah had withheld most of his Strength, Wilhelm still stumbled a little. The man really hadn’t bothered investing in his physical attributes at all. “If you stay out of trouble, I might just show you some new places.”

After that, they did one last sweep of the area, just to make sure they hadn’t forgotten to gather anything. Elijah had already dismantled the kiln – it was just a clay oven, really – since he didn’t have anywhere to put it, and all of his other possessions remained safely tucked away in his satchel. The Preservation Pack full of meat hadn’t even been opened, save to retrieve the brains Elijah had used to tan the boar’s hide. As far as Wilhelm’s gear, it was in its own box, which the German man wore on his back where it was secured in place by a pair of leather straps. In short, they hadn’t left anything behind other than the large basin Elijah had dug, but that wouldn’t have much of an impact on the environment.

So, without further delay, Elijah used Roots of the World Tree, and when he finally finished the cast, a series of vines snaked out of the ground, weaving together until they formed the familiar portal. The interior shimmered with grey light before revealing a view of the Dragon Circle’s surroundings.

“After you,” Elijah offered, gesturing to the gate. “You wanted to see teleportation? Well, here it is.”

Wilhelm was speechless and more than a little frightened. However, his curiosity got the better of him, and he cautiously approached. Then, he reached out to touch the portal, but his hand passed through without issue. After Elijah assured him that it was harmless, the man mustered his courage and stepped through. With a roll of his eyes, Elijah followed.

Other than a slight tremor through his Soul channels and an increase in the ambient ethera, stepping across a thousand miles was a bit anticlimactic. One moment, he was in the frigid steppes, and the next he found himself in the much more temperate climate surrounding Argos.

Wilhelm fell to his knees.

Alarmed, Elijah knelt beside him, asking, “Are you alright?”

“I am…I am fine,” the man said, looking around in wonder. “This is amazing. It is everything I’ve ever hoped to achieve.”

“Oh,” Elijah responded, feeling a little awkward as he stood and stepped back. “I see.”

After collecting himself, Wilhelm asked, “Where are we?”

“Near a town called Argos,” Elijah answered.

“Greek?”

“Used to be, I guess. It mostly still is, but they’ve got a decent population of other nationalities now,” Elijah explained. “It’s a nice town. No gambling.”

“I wasn’t going to –”

“What you do in this town will reflect on me,” Elijah stated. “Don’t make me regret bringing you here.”

He hadn’t intended to threaten the man – not originally, at least. Rather, Elijah had only wanted to make certain that Wilhelm knew the stakes. However, his intentions were irrelevant to what actually came out. He almost apologized, but in the end, thought better of it. If a threatening demeanor kept Wilhelm in line, then results were all that mattered.

After Wilhelm assured Elijah that he would be on his best behavior, the two set off for Argos. It was only after a few hundred feet that Elijah sensed something he didn’t expect.

“Stay behind me. Don’t speak unless I give you the go-ahead,” he ordered, stepping in front of much more vulnerable Wilhelm. There was a camp up ahead. Two people. One heavily armored, and the other – well, Elijah couldn’t get a good sense of the second person, indicating that some skill was at play. He couldn’t sense any details about the second figure.

The pair sat on opposite sides of a small fire, with two tents that stood next to one another a few feet away. The area around them indicated that they’d been there for a few days. Maybe as much as a week, judging by the neatly piled refuse nearby.

More concerningly, he sensed that the armored figure was quite strong. She – and it was definitely a woman – radiated a decent amount of power. Less than the boar, but enough to put her on the level of someone like Thor. That put Elijiah’s hackles up, because there were only a few reasons someone like that would be camped so close to his dolmen.

And none of them were good.

For a second, Elijah considered shifting into his draconid form and ambushing them, but in the end, he thought better of it. There was a chance that he was walking into a trap, but he refused to approach every encounter as if the other party intended to attack him.

After telling Wilhelm to head back to the dolmen and giving the German man instructions to flee to Argos if there was trouble, Elijah approached the campsite in his natural form. Even as a human, he could move quite stealthily, so when he stepped into the small clearing, the two people reacted with no small degree of surprise.

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The woman shot to her feet, drawing a large sword from a nearby scabbard that she tossed aside as soon the blade was bared. The sword was large enough that it was clearly meant to be sheathed on her back, but being in the camp, she’d likely removed it in the name of comfort. That she hadn’t done so with her armor said something about the sort of woman she was. Regardless, the only bit of skin that wasn’t covered by shining metal was her face.

She was quite striking with features that marked her as someone of east Asian descent. Her hair was long, though it had been gathered in a bun atop her head, and her complexion was like ivory.

In many ways, the man was the woman’s complete opposite. Where she was lithe – even in her armor, which had been made in the European style – the man was quite stocky, with a bit of roundness around the middle. He wore leather armor, a long coat in the same black material, and a matching hat that reminded Elijah of the people from the Magister’s Estate tower. He was armed with a crossbow, with a pair of shortswords at his waist. Elijah suspected that he carried many more weapons, though. His complexion was much darker than that of his companion, though he was of the same general ethnicity.

“Hello. Is it presumptuous to think you’re waiting for me?” Elijah asked in a mild voice. The assumption was based on the fact that, in all the time he’d spent around Argos, he’d rarely seen other people traipsing about the wilderness, much less camping there for days at a time. Why would they, when Argos was so close? Most people didn’t relish spending the night outside, largely because there were so many dangers in the wilds. So, Elijah had come to the conclusion that they were probably waiting for him.

“Are you Elijah Hart?” asked the woman, her voice a little deeper than he expected. It was still well within the range of femininity, but there was a breathiness to it that was quite unexpected. The other surprise was that she spoke with a posh British accent. Perhaps it was his America-centric upbringing, but he had expected her to have an American accent. Or failing that, then one of the Asian countries.

“Who’s asking?” he asked. He’d reengaged his Ring of Anonymity before stepping through the gate, but he didn’t think it would do much good. Still, he didn’t want to volunteer any information.

“My name is Sadie Song. This is Dat Bao,” she answered, sounding like she’d stepped out of a period drama. “We have come seeking help.”

“Ah,” Elijah said, remembering Isaiah’s description of the emissaries who’d visited Seattle looking for help with some sort of situation in Hong Kong. The word “undead” had been thrown around. More, Elijah recognized the woman’s name from the power rankings, and he felt certain that, even though he wasn’t in the top ten, the man was in the top one-hundred.

“What’s up, bro? You aren’t wearing any shoes,” the leather-clad Dat Bao stated. His accent was much closer to Elijah’s expectations, but it wasn’t very thick.

“I’m aware,” Elijah said with a slight smile. “And you’re dressed like a character from one of those vampire-hunting video games.”

“I know, bro,” Dat said, grinning. “I’m a Witch Hunter.”

“Dat.”

“What? It’s not a secret, bro,” he said, shrugging his shoulders at Sadie’s admonishing glare.

She just shook her head, then turned back to Elijah asking, “You know about our situation?”

“Some of it. Isaiah Roberts up in Seattle told me a little. You have a zombie problem, right?”

“Undead. Zombies…are the least of our worries. There are many other types, including vampires. And there are demonic creatures.”

Elijah frowned. Nerthus had once mentioned that demons were one of the elder races, on par with dragons. “Are there actual demons there?” he asked, stepping forward. Pointedly, Sadie hadn’t sheathed her sword.

She shook her head. “Just beasts. Or the equivalent. The more intelligent undead summon them from hell,” she stated. “We typically manage to interrupt those rituals, but we don’t have the means to find them all.”

Then, she went on to describe the situation in more detail. They had been fighting the undead almost from the very beginning of what she referred to as the apocalypse. Elijah didn’t correct her terminology, largely because what she described sounded like it qualified for the label. She went on to explain how they’d managed to fight the undead to a standstill, but added, “We know it won’t last. They will keep coming until we conquer the Primal Realm from which they spawn.”

Elijah didn’t know that much about Primal Realms. Certainly, he was aware that they were like more elaborate versions of towers and that they could affect the surrounding areas. However, he hadn’t realized that that meant creatures could spill out. Did that mean those creatures were real? Or was there some sort of limiter? Elijah vowed not to speculate until he could do some research on the subject. Perhaps Nerthus would know.

“And you want my help in the Primal Realm, right?” he asked.

“We do,” she said.

“Have you managed to convince anyone else?”

Sadie’s face remained impassive, but her shoulders slumped slightly. “No,” she admitted. “Most are preparing for the upcoming Trials.”

“So am I,” Elijah admitted. There was less than four months until the Trial of Primacy, which meant that he was going to be cutting it close with his preparations. Stepping forward, he said, “But I will help. I don’t know about the timing or how it’s all going to work out, but I can’t –”

Sadie took a step back, her face abruptly twisting into a grimace. “Stop.”

The sudden change surprised Elijah. He asked, “Seriously? You came here to ask for my help. That won’t –”

“You stink of murder,” she stated. Elijah could feel her disdain cutting through him like a sharp knife. “How many have you killed? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?”

Elijah’s expression turned to stone. “It’s complicated.”

“Answer the question.”

“Fine. I’m not sure. Multiple thousands. I don’t know after that. It depends on what you’re counting.”

She took another step back, leveling her sword at him.

“It’s going to be like that, then?” Elijah asked. He knew his kill count was quite extensive, especially if creatures like the orcs or tower denizens were included. In the old world, he would have been considered a monster. Perhaps in the new world as well. But aside from what he’d done to Easton – which still brought up mixed feelings – Elijah was at peace with his actions.

Mostly.

In pleading tone, Dat addressed his companion, “Bro…”

“He is a murderer, Dat.”

“We need murderers, Sadie,” Dat responded, the playful tone in his voice gone. “We need killers. He can help us. He wants to help us. Let him.”

Sadie frowned.

“I do not approve,” she said. “But we cannot afford to turn down help.”

“Just the ringing endorsement every man wants to hear when he offers to put his life on the line for perfect strangers,” he said. Then, the resentment hit home. He’d agreed to help them, and without hesitation. Yet, the woman had the audacity to judge him without even knowing the circumstances. He didn’t have to deal with that. So, he added, “You know what? Fuck you. Deal with it on your own.”

He wanted to help, but he wasn’t in the mood to be talked down to our judged. If that was what they wanted to do, then they could combat their undead invasion without him.

“Fine,” she said. “Dat, we –”

“No, bro,” he said, reaching out to grab her arm. She tried to flinch away, but his hand was a little too quick. He gave her a pointed look. “This isn’t how this was supposed to go.”

Some unspoken communication passed between the two, and then Sadie pulled away. Her expression softened, and to Elijah, she said, “I apologize. One of my skills affects my…judgement. I am still trying to control it properly. When I sensed the number of people you have…slain, I overreacted. Please. Forgive me.”

The apology came through metaphorically gritted teeth, but Elijah could well understand how a person’s perspective could be skewed by an ability. He’d struggled with that ever since he’d started using One with Nature. Still, he wasn’t too keen on helping someone who clearly hated him. The possibility of a betrayal aside, it just didn’t make him feel great.

Even so, he forced a smile he didn’t really feel, then said, “No biggy. We all make mistakes and threaten people we just met while accusing them of being murderers without knowing any context. It’s practically a stereotype, right? In any case, I’ve got business to take care of in Argos. Meet me at Agatha’s inn if you want to discuss it further.”

With that, Elijah turned around and strode away, intent on doing exactly what he’d said. Regardless of what happened with the curious pair, he still had things he needed to do, and they wouldn’t get done until he went into Argos.

Before he’d taken more than a few steps, he stopped and turned back to the two companions. He said, “Oh. If you ever threaten me again, you’d better be ready for a fight. I won’t let it slide next time.”