With their non-identifiable loot and the bodies safely dumped, Ike and Wisp took off into the woods. They left the Abyss behind as quickly as they could. Ike made a beeline away from their fight. They needed to put as much distance between them and the mysterious disappearances as they could, as quickly as possible. Once they went far enough in one direction, Ike hooked a right. Wisp followed alongside him, humming under her breath and totally relaxed. She tossed a gem in one hand, rolling it between her fingers, palming it, then making it reappear in her other hand.

“So… where are we going?” Ike asked.

“I dunno. I haven’t been outside of the Abyss for ages,” Wisp said.

“I’ve barely left the slums,” Ike retorted.

She looked around them, then shrugged. “Guess we’ll just have to figure it out.”

Ike laughed. He nodded. Wisp had a point. It wasn’t as if they were trying to go anywhere. They’d escaped from the Abyss. He couldn’t go back to the city. As long as he kept walking, he’d end up somewhere, and that was good enough for him.

“Be nice if we ended up somewhere that guy isn’t from,” Ike commented.

“Well, he mentioned Lord Brightbriar, so he was probably headed to your city. Might even be from there,” Wisp said.

“That’s a good point,” Ike said, nodding. He certainly didn’t want to go back there, regardless. If they only had to avoid one city, that was convenient.

“In any case, there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Wisp said.

“Yeah. I mean, we didn’t even want to fight him. That guy just refused to let up until he was dead. Nothing we could do about it,” Ike agreed.

“Wish we knew their names,” Wisp muttered.

“Be easier to avoid the consequences,” Ike said, nodding. He sighed again, then shrugged and put the event behind him. Since they’d already done everything they could do about their little fight in the woods, there was no point continuing to worry about it. He put his hands behind his shoulders and walked on.

A few days passed. Ike and Wisp walked through the forest. Occasionally, they came across a monster and hunted it, but for the most part, they simply walked. The monsters were notably weaker than the monsters in the Abyss. Ike barely had to exert himself to kill them. But the further they went, the stronger the monsters became.

“Do hunters rarely go this far from the city?” Ike asked, looking around.

“Yep. They’re too scared to go too far, those Rank 1 weaklings. Some of them still have to sleep,” Wisp muttered.

Ike raised his brows. He’d almost forgotten that he was now stronger than almost anyone in the slums or the outer city. Of course few people would travel this far from the city. Few people could.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I suppose the mages in the upper city could, but they never seemed interested in leaving the city.

They grew closer and closer to a mountain range. Ike stared up at it, taking it all in. The craggy peaks reached taller than the city had hovered overhead. Despite the warmth of late fall, snow still clung to the bare rock. “Are we going over that?” Ike asked, pointing up at it.

Wisp laughed. “If you want to die. Rank 2 isn’t high enough to take on the beasts that live up there.”

“What do you mean?” Ike asked.

As he asked it, a cloud blocked out the sun, then passed over it. He glanced up, only to realize it was no cloud at all. An enormous beast passed over them. Broad, clawed wings flapped. A scaly body spooled overhead.

A dragon as blue as the sky flapped by. It let out a puff of smoke as it circled, climbing up to the mountain peak. It vanished down into the crags below. Even as massive as it was, the mountain’s hugeness swallowed it up.

“That’s what I mean,” Wisp said.

“Holy shit, dragons?” Ike asked, startled. Those things are supposed to be impossible to kill, even for the highest ranked mages. They’re born stronger than most humans ever reach. He looked at Wisp. “How do we get over that?”

“We don’t. Not unless you want to end up as a crispy dragon snack.” Wisp pointed at a drop in between two peaks. “We go through the pass.”

“Have you gone this way before?” Ike asked.

Wisp nodded. “I came over this way when I was little, before I fell into the Abyss.”

“Anything to worry about?” Ike asked.

She considered. “There was a family of foxes in the pass, but as long as you don’t enter their inn, you’re safe.”

“Enter their inn?”

“Mmm. Remember what I said about monsters being treated like humans if they behave like humans?”

Ike nodded. “Wait, let me guess. These foxes are exploiting that and act human at first, then…I don’t know, trap and eat unwary visitors?”

Wisp raised her brows. “Have you encountered foxes before?”

“No, just a wild guess,” Ike said. I just guessed what you would do if you were ‘exploiting travelers.’ Honestly, it’s more of a spider move than a fox move, but I guess any monster can set a trap and lie in wait.

“They ignored me last time because I was too little, so they might be a little more troublesome this time,” Wisp said contemplatively.

“Not tasty enough?” Ike joked.

Wisp shook her head. Seriously, she replied, “Spiders don’t taste very good. We’re basically chitin and goo.”

“I wasn’t planning on eating you,” Ike said, snorting under his breath.

“That makes one of us,” Wisp said, cutting a look at him.

Ike raised his eyebrows back.

She giggled. “I’m joooo-king.” Skipping ahead, she gestured for him to follow. “Let’s go, come on! Daylight’s a-wasting, and foxes are nocturnal!”

“Does that even matter, if they don’t need to sleep?” Ike asked.

“They’ll still be more active at night,” Wisp said.

I do feel more aware during the day, even if I can just walk through the night. Ike nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Plus, we’re more likely to see the little ones at night,” she said.

“Little ones?”

“The ones that are barely more than ordinary foxes. They’re super cute, and super ta-”

“Don’t say tasty,” Ike interrupted her.

“—delicious,” Wisp finished instead.

Ike sighed. “Do you think about anything but eating? Don’t you not need to eat?”

“Not needing to eat is not the same as not wanting to eat,” Wisp said proudly, slapping her belly. “Let’s go catch some baby foxes!”

Ike rolled his eyes and followed after her. “Weren’t you just warning me about how they’re dangerous and I should beware of them?”

“The big ones! Not the tasty ones.”

“Wisp, come on…” Ike eyed the pass. Had Wisp led them here just to eat the small foxes? No way.

But then…

No, it really is possible. I just don’t know.