Riley's playful antics brought a sense of lightheartedness to our group as we traveled along the beach. Prancing ahead, he seemed just as happy to be moving as I was. His joyful noises turned into a pained howl as one of his legs sank into a hole. He pulled it out, licking his pads as a crab emerged, clicking its claws loudly. Riley, refusing to be intimidated by such a small creature, snapped it up, crunching the shell with one bite. He looked back at me, his eyes filled with joy. He sent me a surge of happiness and excitement before bounding off ahead.

Willow and Luna walked behind us, engaged in their newfound ability to communicate silently through the Water shard. Their eyes emitted a faint blue glow as they talked. I had no idea what they were talking about. Together, we continued to make steady progress, patiently waiting for Riley to return from his explorations.

When Riley finally came back, his eyes sparkled with excitement. He conveyed to me a mix of exhilaration, joy, and tiredness, along with his first word: "Steel!"

Startled, I stumbled and faceplanted into the dirt. Quickly regaining my composure, I brushed off the clinging sand and let out a triumphant whoop. "Riley, you can talk now!"

“Hard.” There was strain behind his voice, however slight.

"It's hard, but it's not a problem. Work on it whenever you can, alright?" Riley leaped up, and I rewarded him with an emberfig, which he devoured in a single bite.

As the sun began to set, we reached the edge of Water territory, where it meets the land of Steel. In the distance, I could already spot a tree made entirely of metal. We set up our tents, built a barrier, and took a moment to appreciate the breathtaking dawn sky of Twilight Bay.

The next morning, with a touch of trepidation, we ventured into Steel territory. As we pressed forward, the calm environment was periodically ruined by raucous metallic screeches and echoing clangs. Above us, an array of metallic avians soared through the sky, seemingly light despite being made of metal. Maybe it was just plating? They circled and swooped, their sharp eyes observing us.

Suddenly, a surge of familiarity washed over us as a few of the avians broke away from their formation, diving down towards us in a pattern that we recognized all too well. It was similar to the Fanged Shriekers. We readied ourselves.

I drew my Shurkien and pointed up, wreathing it in flames. One of the birds, not slowing down in time, crashed into the tip, impaled completely. The other birds dived at Willow and missed, who trapped two under her trident. As she pulled her trident back, I slashed down at them, cutting them in half. Blood pooled out, the deep red color that our blood has. The rest of the birds recovered and flew off into the distance. “So, they only have metal plating on them?”

“I guess. The metal seems to be attached to the skin and grows along with it. I wonder what they eat.”

“Metallic insects? Maybe some insects don’t have outer shells made of steel. If they did there wouldn’t be a lot of meat on them.” A bug crawled in front of us. Willow jumped and yelped. It was large and glinted with a metallic sheen. “Well, that answers it. They’re the same size but appear larger due to armor.” It turned towards us and sped up considerably, angling its horn at us. I sent a stream of fire towards it. It turned black and stopped moving.

“Did you have to kill it?”

I paused for a moment, watching the charred remains of the bug. "I didn't have to, but it's better to kill it than risk getting some kind of injury from it, especially since it may contain poison and was charging towards us."

Willow looked at me. "I know," she said softly, "but sometimes it's hard not to feel sorry for these creatures. They're just trying to survive." I blinked, surprised at her words.

“You’ve hunted animals for food and killed a kraken for the Water Shard, and you’re here mourning for a bug?”

“It was an unnecessary kill. We didn’t need it for food, for supplies, for anything. It wasn’t even threatening!” I hesitatingly put my hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t necessary. I’ll try to do that less.”

As we continued our journey through Steel territory, we encountered more of these metallic creatures, but instead of me just downright burning them, we observed them. Some of them were feeding on the metallic plants that dotted the landscape. Sometimes, birds would swoop down from above and capture one of them in their talons. The carapace of the poor bugs was penetrated and torn apart by their beaks, which then picked at the insides.

Curiosity got the better of us, and we decided to approach one of the creatures cautiously while it was eating a beetle. It glared at us but didn't make any moves. We moved a bit closer. It raised its head and emitted a loud screech, and, seizing its prey in its talons, flew off into the distance.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

We continued to encounter more metallic creatures, observing their intriguing interactions from a distance. They had complex interactions with each other, communicating through a series of metallic noises. Smaller groups eyed us warily, making no move to attack, but a few larger groups took to the air threateningly. A blast of fire from Riley and an ice shard from Luna as warnings discouraged them from attacking us, and they settled back down into their trees.

The birds and beetles seemed to be the most plentiful creatures in Steel’s land. We saw various other animals, like rabbits and foxes in the distance, but most of them didn’t have metallic armor. How they got food from the environment was beyond us. Maybe there was more to Steel than just the trees or the occasional bush, or the animals managed to eat those. I caught a few rabbits and put them inside my Stoke once we realized that those animals were going to be our only food.

We soon realized that the further we went, traversing the terrain became harder. The ground was jagged and uneven, with sharp shards of metal jutting out occasionally. The metallic trees and plants also had thorns and spikes on them.

We also encountered other hazards. Puffs of gas occasionally emerged from cracks in the ground, forcing us to quickly retreat and give it a wide berth, not knowing what it may contain. Wild animals sometimes attacked us, usually retreating after being blasted with fire. A particularly large jaguar did a number on me.

The metallic jaguar, which laid on the ground peacefully, growled as we passed by. Riley growled back. It didn’t like that.

The jaguar lunged forward with astonishing speed, its sharp claws slashing through the air and aiming for Riley. Riley leapt to the side, but it continued its run and dove for me. I swiftly dropped to the ground and rolled, but its claws slammed into my right arm, shoving and crashing me into the side of a tree, a shard of sharp metal slicing into my arm as well. I didn’t stand up and join the fight again, trusting my friends. I used some flavender extract to clean my wound and patched it up with a plaster, watching the battle and preparing to defend myself if the jaguar decided to target me.

Riley circled the jaguar, bathing the creature in scarlet flames and singing its unprotected tail. The scorching heat licked at the metallic jaguar's defenses, causing its surface to glow brighter, but the creature remained undeterred. Willow leapt back as it lunged at her, flinging the trident into its side. It howled in pain, the three prongs of her weapon carving into its side.

Luna maneuvered around the predator, strategically striking it with ice shards, causing dents in its armor and the ice to sizzle whenever they struck the still-hot surface. The jaguar, seeing that it was outmatched, leapt at Luna, slamming her into the floor and tearing into her flank, and fled.

We gathered closer as the jaguar disappeared in the distance. Luna’s injuries were arguably worse than mine. Deep claw marks were on her side, blood welling out, and her other side may have a broken bone. Willow told me that she said it was just a bruise, though. She healed Luna completely.

I suffered many more wounds than I thought I did, though all were minor. The only concerning ones were the ones on my right arm. The scratches were deep, but the slice caused by the jagged metal was the more painful. As the adrenaline from the fight faded, more and more pain began to settle in my arm. Riley, having suffered minimal damage, took some of the pain from my wound, but I still used a lot of my flavender extract on them.

“I thought you’re running out?” Willow asked, at the worst possible time. I ignored her, roaring in pain as the liquid dripped into my wound.

“Forgot the bottles in my Stoke,” I answered through gritted teeth.

With Luna now healed, though still recovering, and my wounds tended to, we settled into a temporary campsite for the night. There were no plants nearby suitable for tinder, so I had to travel a short distance away from our campsite to find some. We shared a meal of two rabbits, conserving food as much as possible.

As I woke up from a night of rest, I stretched my limbs and surveyed the surroundings. The morning light filtered through the dense canopy of metallic trees, casting an ethereal glow on the landscape. Willow and Luna were already up, their eyes glowing. Riley bounded around us, his tail wagging. We packed up our campsite, making sure to leave no trace behind, and prepared ourselves for another day of venturing through the Steel territory.

Throughout the journey, more and more hazards revealed themselves. It was almost as if the entire landscape was trying to trap and kill us. Willow and Luna suffered the most. The reflective surfaces of the metallic surroundings (which almost never rusted) reflected light and heat, causing temperature surges unpredictably. They had to constantly douse themselves in snow to avoid something called “heat exhaustion.” It sounded weird to me and Riley, but we would often get chill exhaustion when temperatures dropped, so we didn’t comment on anything.

We also had an unexpected encounter. While we were walking through a particularly rough piece of land, filled with shards of steel, we heard shouts in the distance. we instinctively sought cover behind a cluster of towering metallic trees. We crouched low, trying to remain hidden while cautiously observing the source of the commotion.

Soon enough, a group of people carrying weapons emerged from the distance. They, conversing with each other, didn’t notice us just yet. We told Riley and Luna to run up ahead and hide wherever.

When Riley and Luna were gone, I asked Willow. “Do we ambush them or hide?”

“Hide first, then run.”

We sneaked behind a knot of trees nearby, hoping that they would pass by and not discover us. As it turned out, our fears were unfounded. The group’s noises dimmed and died out before they even got close to us. They must have headed in a different direction.

“We were lucky they didn’t come closer. If they found us, we would probably be dead.”

“Maybe not, if we successfully pulled off an ambush, then maybe we could have killed them.”

“No way to tell. They could have as many as twenty people. Also, do you really think ice shards can stab through steel shields refined by expert smiths?”

“Maybe. If you melted it a bit, it would work.”

“It takes time to melt. Do you think they would be standing there just staring at us for ten seconds as I melted their shields? Your ice shards would melt as well.”

“Let's not dwell on these matters.” We summoned Riley and Luna and continued our journey.