Arwin tucked a bracelet into his pocket. It was the fourth one he’d made today, bringing his total number of bracelets up to six – far too many to keep stacking onto his wrists unless he wanted to announce his presence everywhere he walked with an aggressive jingle.

Each one of them had taken nearly an hour to make and remaking his arrow had taken another two hours. Night had already crawled through the sky and started to banish the sun, but the day’s labor had been incredibly successful – and painfully tedious.

Arwin picked up his arrow. Its haft and fletching was made from Brightsteel, but he’d formed the head with Roughsteel and the Ripperfish tooth. There hadn’t been enough magic in any of the materials to trigger a vision, which Arwin was grateful for. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to finish the weapon if there had been. The results were almost exactly what he’d been aiming for.

Ripper’s Strike: Rare Quality

[Sharp]: This item is abnormally sharp. Its head will cut through many things – including the hands of whoever is holding it.

[Overweight]: This arrow is better meant for thrusting than shooting. It is considerably more difficult to fire or throw than it should have been due to imperfections in the forging of the fletching and balance issues.

The detrimental trait had come from a mixture of the Brightsteel and Arwin’s inexperience making arrows, but as far as everything went, he was pleased with it. His bow was powerful enough that he was fairly confident it would be able to fire the arrow accurately as long as he was shooting at a target that wasn’t too far away.

He was equally as pleased with his bracelets. Each of them had a specifically chosen trait – along with the extras that their metal had tossed in along with them. That seemed to be unavoidable at his current ability, but [The Hungering Maw] had a chance to consume detrimental traits, so he wasn’t overly concerned.

Things are coming along very nicely. I might be able to –

The door flew open behind Arwin and slammed into the wall with a bang. He spun, calling Verdant Blaze to his hands in preparation to face down an assailant, but found only Reya.

“Reya?” Arwin asked, blinking in surprise and dismissing Verdant Blaze. “What are you doing?”

“You need to come to the tavern,” Reya said between gasps for air. “Rodrick and Olive are behind me, but not by long.”

Arwin held a hand out to the [Soul Flame], drawing it from his hearth as he strode after Reya. “What’s going on? What happened? Is anyone hurt?”

“No,” Reya said as they stepped into the biting winds and strode across the street toward the tavern. “But we saw Wyrms.”

If Arwin’s skin hadn’t already been covered in goosebumps by the sharp wind, it definitely would have prickled. They arrived at the tavern and headed inside, where Anna and Lillia were already waiting for them.

Judging by the armor glistening on Lillia’s body and the staff in Anna’s hand, Reya had dropped by the tavern before the smithy.

“How many Wyrms?” Arwin asked. “Are they after you?”

“No, and I’m not sure. At least five,” Reya said breathlessly as she braced her hands against her knees to catch her breath. “We were walking around the forest because it was a little warmer out there than in the city, and we spotted them a few hours ago. I ran most of the way back.”

“Were they already mobile?” Arwin asked, his stomach clenching. They’d been meant to have a few days left – but that had been a guess, and it really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise that they were slightly off.

The fact that we managed to predict it this closely at all is good, but shit. I wish we had a few more days.

“They were moving around the forest,” Reya replied. She hesitated for a moment, then frowned. “I don’t know much about Wyrms, but they seemed a little bit off. Like they were waiting for something instead of just roaming around like they should have been.”

Arwin glanced at Lillia to see if she knew anything about the phenomena, but she just shrugged and shook her head.

“It’s beyond me. I’d have to see it with my own eyes, but at that point, we’ll be in the thick of things anyway,” Lillia said. “But if we want to take advantage of the Wyrms’ weakness, that means we have to strike now. We can’t delay.”

“Is it safe? It’ll be the middle of the night,” Anna said with a worried frown.

“It’ll be less safe when the monsters start getting their wits about them,” Arwin said. “Wyrms don’t have night vision that’s much better than that of humans. They aren’t nocturnal. It’s short notice, but if you’ve all got your energy, now is the time to strike. Reya, are you in shape to go back? If you aren’t–”

“I’m just out of breath.” Reya straightened up and wiped her brow with the back of a hand. “I can fight. Rodrick and Olive probably aren’t too far behind me, but if we leave now, we can save them the effort of coming back into the city.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Anna? Lillia?”

“I’m ready,” Lillia said.

“As am I,” Anna added. “I’ve just been sitting around and twiddling my thumbs today. Can’t say this is what I was planning on, but I can fight.”

And I should have all my magical energy recovered by the time we get there. It’s a several hour trip to the forest where the Wyrms have set up camp.

“Then let’s go. I just need to grab something from the smithy on the way out.”

***

As Reya had predicted, they ran into Olive and Rodrick just a short while after leaving the city. They both looked heavily winded, but neither was injured.

“I take it you already know what happened,” Rodrick asked as they fell in with the party and turned to head back to the forest.

“Reya filled us in,” Arwin confirmed as they continued at a brisk pace. He shifted the leather bundle he had under his arm. “Anything else we need to know?”

“She mentioned they seemed to be acting strange?”

Arwin nodded.

“Then that’s it. We headed back almost immediately. Reya’s just a whole lot faster than we are,” Rodrick said breathlessly.

“I’ve spent a lot of time running,” Reya said.

Rodrick coughed into his hand, then shook his head. “Damn. My throat’s dry.”

Anna pulled out a flask of water and wordlessly handed it to him. He drank a mouthful and gave her an appreciative nod as he handed it back. Anna offered it to Olive. “Do you want some?”

“I’m fine. Thank you, though,” Olive said.

“You sure you want to stick around for this, Olive?” Arwin asked. “It wasn’t exactly part of what you agreed to do. Fighting a Wyrm horde is a whole lot more dangerous than clearing out a dungeon.”

She let out a snort. “Are you kidding? And miss out on the Achievements and Titles we’re going to get for this? You don’t make it anywhere as an adventurer by playing it safe, and I’ll be damned if I go down as a coward.”

There was more than just confidence in Olive’s voice. There was a note of regret, buried deep beneath her forceful tone. Something told him that circumstances hadn’t always played out the way she’d wanted them to.

Now wasn’t the time to press further. Arwin just gave her a nod. If she was going to help them, he certainly wouldn’t say no. They needed all the strength they could get.

She’s definitely going to figure out most of us have magic gear, but so be it. She’s just about joined the guild anyway. I see no reason not to bring her fully onboard – especially if she performs well during this fight. If she doesn’t… well, it’s grim, but she probably won’t be alive.

Arwin’s jaw clenched. The idea of anyone else in his group dying sparked a fire deep in his heart. He wouldn’t let it happen again. He couldn’t.

They pressed on into the night in silence, the cold howl of the wind no longer a biting sting but a comforting chill that kept their bodies from overheating as they hurried across the plains.

The hours slipped by in what felt like minutes. It wasn’t long before they all arrived at the edge of the valley that housed the now Wyrm-infested forest within it. They slowed, creeping down the sloping path and trading haste for stealth.

It took them several minutes to make their way down. Arwin couldn’t see anything out of place yet, but he trusted Rodrick and Reya’s judgement – especially with Rodrick’s enhanced hearing.

They wound closer to the forest as quietly as they could, using large boulders for cover as they approached. The group came to a halt near a big outcropping of stones. Rodrick pulled the looking glass off its spot on his waist and held a hand up to forestall the others as he peered into the forest.

Arwin squinted. It was a cloudless night, and the moon shimmered like a giant silver eye overhead. Even without anything to improve his sight, he could make out the treeline in the night’s silvery glow.

“There,” Rodrick whispered. “Baby Wyrm. Apprentice 4.”

Arwin followed his gaze, but he couldn’t quite make out what Rodrick saw. It must have been at a poor angle.

“What in the Nine Underlands?” Rodrick muttered under his breath. He lowered the looking glass and held it out to Arwin. “Look over there. Next to the large tree with the weirdly shaped top.”

Arwin took the instrument and held it up to his eye, moving to stand where Rodrick had been. It took him a second to find the tree the other man had indicated.

“A bit to the left,” Rodrick whispered.

A Wyrmling sat at the base of a tree just beside the one that Arwin had located, its green scales blending in perfectly with the foliage. If Rodrick hadn’t pointed it out, he would have missed the monster completely.

[Forest Wyrmling – Apprentice 5]

The Wyrmling wasn’t what caught Arwin’s attention, though. It was the man standing beside it. The night was too dark to make out any detail about his form, but there was no denying the fact that there was someone next to the monster.

“What is it?” Reya whispered impatiently. “Did you see the Wyrms?”

“More than that,” Arwin said as he lowered the looking glass. “There’s someone there with them, and they aren’t fighting. I think they’re standing watch.”

“Standing watch? For what?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know,” Arwin said. “Rodrick?”

“No damn clue. But it’s there, clear as – well, night. The Wyrms aren’t the only things in that forest.”

“What do we do?” Anna asked. “I’m not sure if this makes things better or worse, but I’m leaning worse. Someone is controlling the Wyrms – and possibly breeding them. That’s almost certainly not going to be good news.”

“Nobody breeds a Wyrmling army if they don’t plan to use it,” Lillia said. “Wyrmlings are ravenous. They need to consume enormous amounts of magical energy and meat in order to survive, and they do everything in their power to do just that. If those Wyrmlings are going to mature, a lot of things are going to have to die.”

“Then nothing has changed,” Rodrick said. “We need to get into the forest – and that means taking out the Wyrmling and the guard without getting noticed. I don’t suppose anyone is particularly good at stealthily killing two things at once?”

“Olive, could I borrow your sword?” Lillia asked.

Olive blinked, then nodded. She took the magical blade from her waist and handed it to Lillia. “I thought you were a mage.”

“I’m a lot of things,” Lillia replied. The darkness enveloping her grew thicker. “Wait here. Make sure to move quickly once he goes down. They might have a rotation.”

Then she was gone, a blur in the night. Arwin’s hands tightened at his sides.

There was no going back now.

The opening moves had been played.