The pee-pole gathered around the hero and the body of the one that had caught me in their den. I felt bad about that one. I did not think that she would follow me into the fog of war. Most female pee-pole stay out of it until the System tells them what is going on. But she had been persistent, it had just been unfortunate that Master had found me, and in turn her. I had hoped he would leave her as he was in a hurry to destroy the hero and find his new maiden. I should have known better.

My arms ached as I cradled master's head to my chest, it would make a great prize, and better yet the hero had gotten two revitalization candies. I had never seen such a candy let alone tasted one as this was the first world where you could earn such a thing.

In most worlds, the System chooses someone who just picks currency or magical items for prizes. Those are all good things—in an established System world. But none of that will help when a magical unicorn peals that suit of armor you’re wearing open like a sardine can. The pee-pole always trusts the unicorns.

I nearly gasped out loud in excitement as I saw for the first time the candy work. The hero sat up, instantly scaring her comrades back a few steps. The candy had worked just as the ad had promised.

*From the brink of doom, you'll emerge with zoom,

*Dr. Nantes peppermint candies…

*For a life comeback that's oh so sweet!

The jingle slipped from my lips in a whisper, as I tapped my foot along to the peppy music playing in my head.

That meant that the other candies should work out the same way. And now with Master gone things were going to be different. There would be no more severed ears of loss. Only severed ears of remembrance. I shouldered Master's massive head and opened my clenched fist to look at the candy I had taken, once more. I would repay them for this, for everything, and I would make sure that they survived.

I hurried back through the forest, following the trail that had brought me to the hero's castle. The fallen tree that we had made our temporary home was easy to find as it was just off the trail. It had hidden us well from the Master over the last week, but just barely thanks to Goebel-Nap. His blood was still there, so close to the entrance. He had almost made it. But we should have known better, we should have known Master would be out that day watching the hero.

To the pee-pole, the System had just appeared last night, but to us, it had already been going on for the last few months on Earth. We had been preparing as we always do for the System awakening, but this time we also prepared our escape as he obsessed over the hero. He had never been so excited, so distracted, so we made our escape.

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Yes, the tree had been a good temporary home. We had dug down deep into it and hidden. We hadn't planned on staying forever just long enough for Master to leave and, hopefully, forget about us once he had his new Madin. He hadn't forgotten.

I stopped at the patch of blood that was once Goebel-Nap and sighed.

“Maybe in a few days, we can go find what's left of him. Hat-Tilda-Nap will need his ear for their…her babies, once they are born.” I placed Master's head down on the spot, no use in adding more blood to the land even if we would be here much longer. Well, if my plan works. “Don’t go anywhere.” The Master's dead eyes stared back at me, but he said nothing.

The fog was gone but part of me was still worried that something might find him. Not monsters, Master did not like sharing his prizes with beasts. And the beasts from other quadrants couldn't freely wander on a boss's territory, let alone an area that was no longer enshrouded by the fog of war. But there were still the earth beasts. And I couldn’t have him carried away, I needed him for my plan. But he was too big to fit down the hole.

"Granny, Boobily-Nabler-Pat," I said, shoving my face down into the hole.

"Sheeee you are going to attract the attention of master you nincompoop." Granny's head popped out of the hole, her one good eye squinting at me in annoyance before it widened in Suprise. "Well, I never thought you had something like that in ya boy. Maybe this new System will be the answer to our people's prayers."

I looked back sheepishly at the head of our former master on the ground.

“It was the hero—but I did almost get to twenty, but Master was too good and… Well the hero saved me. Then died, but then those candies that we heard about dropped.” I held out my hand and showed her the candy.

“Did you steal that from the hero Kakatoo-Brappap? Oh, what will they think of us.” She fully extracted herself out of the hole. “Don’t tell me that you stole the head too.”

“I did not steal anything, I borrowed.” I shook the candy at her. “Remember what Master had been saying about certain candies. Well, this is one of them, and, well I think it would be really helpful to the hero, and maybe they will even let us stay with them. They have a castle!”

She looked from the candy in my hand to the Masters head on the ground. Ants had begun crawling up it and into his still-wet snout. Then with a sigh, she looked back down at the hole to the borough, her head shaking slightly.

“It would be nice to be in a castle when the babies come. If the babies come.” She shook her head sadly “Hat-Tilda-Nap is not handling Goebel-Nap's death well. I told Goebel-Nap not to go back and look at what he did. Got himself killed and half-eaten by the Master. That sadistic bastard prancing all over the forest looking for us with him still half alive on his horn. A sight like that’s liable to break even the strongest of us.”

The memories of Goebel-Nap screaming for help as the Master wandered the woods had been horrible. But the Master had done many horrible things, and we had all lost someone we loved to him. My eyes fell to his blood-stained horn.

“Oh, what's this?” Boobily-Nabler-Pat bent down towards the Master's head and pulled something out from his neck. “It looks like one of the needles. Oh, that’s a shame it’s broken in half. I don’t suppose the hero will be much of a hero with only half of a weapon.”

A sudden thought struck me and I nearly laughed in excitement, but Boobily-Nabler-Pat's stern look stopped me. Hat-Tilda-Nap must be sleeping down in the burrow. And she was right, mirth of any kind was not right at a time like this, but this would also be a perfect way to ensure Masters destruction and the rise of the hero.