“Outrageous. You’re telling me there were anthropomorphic rabbits in the past. That’s almost too hard to believe, yet I just created a smoke cloud from nothing while running away extra-large cicadas. Does this mean our myths and legends about werewolves and mermaids are true?” asked CJ like an excited twelve year old.

“Yes and no. The stuff you’ve probably read about are more than likely half-truths. Most hybrids were protectors of significant locales or the offspring of demi-gods. This era pre-dates your current calendar system. Enough about the past. I want to talk about the future. Tell me about this quest,” answered Monty before changing the topic.

“Yeah, I don’t fully understand it or the things I’m capable of now. It said something about clearing five bolster dungeons.”

“Clever monkey. My memory is a bit foggy on specifics, but I seem to remember dungeons being an important part of managing the flow of mana. It’s been so long. The good news is a bolster dungeon does just that, bolsters your abilities. Essentially training you to be better at whatever you do. The magic is Planar, tier four. Stuffs beyond me.”

“Right. He said the corrupted mana fonts could be repaired… corrected by clearing dungeons. Don’t know how to find them though and I’ve only got thirty days.”

“That’s not a lot of time. Get your ass up. We need to get moving. Wait… did you hear that?”

Off in the distance came the sound of gunshots. They were very faint, but CJ could just make them out. He stood up. Looking around to get his bearings but only able to see twenty feet or so before it was just darkness in the forest. Traveling in almost pitch black conditions was not ideal. That’s when a flare lit up the night to CJ’s right. The sparkling red orb shot straight up trailing smoke as it reached its apex and began curving back down.

“Better than stumbling around in the dark, right?” asked CJ hesitantly.

“Let’s just go ya ding bat. They may at least have some food,” answered Monty before hopping off in the direction of the flare.

As they got closer, now moving at a more sedate pace, they could hear increasing gun fire. Someone was in a firefight. CJ reached the tree line and hunkered down. Below them was a small town. One of those towns you just drive through on your way to other places of more importance. The center of town had a traffic circle with no lights. One of those circles that just allows people to keep driving until they get to the turn they want to make. CJ always thought they were dumb. It relied on the honor system and the other person’s willingness to get over so you could access the damn turn. More than once, he was forced go all the way around again because jerks wouldn’t get out of the way. In the center was a small park with benches and a statue of an old general triumphantly riding his horse. The park had wedges of shrubs with walkways that crisscross through them.

That’s where normalcy ended. One of the buildings on the west side leading toward the circle was on fire. Smoke billowed up into the air and CJ could almost tell other buildings behind it were also burning. Without having firefighters anymore, this whole town was going to go up in flames. People seemed to be streaming down that road toward the circle. It looked like some of them were on fire. It was odd that twenty to thirty people were on the move, and they didn’t appear to be in any hurry.

“Over there by that green van. They are the ones who need help,” said Monty before he started bounding down the hill.

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“Wait. I don’t think we have the whole story here. Monty, fuck!” exclaimed CJ before crouch walking after him.

Monty’s instincts were right. As CJ got closer, he noticed bodies lying near the far side entrance to the park. They were all dressed in various styles of clothing. CJ and Monty slid down a hill and entered the side of town opposite the fire. This was closer to the van and the man standing atop it. It looked like he was posted up in a crouch position with the butt of a rifle firmly in his right shoulder and every now and then he shot across the park at the people escaping the fire. CJ and Monty put their backs against a nearby wall and made their way past some store fronts toward the green van. The van had words written on it; Trinchar Tree Service.

“Hey buddy, you fire off that flare?” asked CJ before the man spun and shot CJ right in the chest.

The bullet took CJ off his feet, and he landed flat on his back. The passenger door opened and a young woman in her late twenties sprinted out with an axe raised high. She had curly brown hair and tan skin. The woman wore combat boots, dark jeans, and a grey tank top with a Puerto Rican flag pattern on the front. Her eyes met CJs, and she stopped just before the axe slammed into his chest.

“You speak English?” she asked.

“Elena, finish it off and get back in the van. Amor de dios,” yelled the man on top of the van before turning back to fire at the crowd.

“What the hell? Why did he shoot me?” asked a semi bruised CJ.

CJ noticed immediately that he didn’t have a hole in his chest. Aside from the slight bruising from hitting the ground, he was fine. He checked his slate really quick and his hp was still full. That’s when he realized his mana had regenerated five points. It cost him twenty earlier to cast that smoke cloud and he now had eighty five points. CJ’s mind raced and he remembered his boon from the monkey king. The kinetic energy conversion power. He wondered if this meant he was bullet proof. That couldn’t be the case because he was still knocked off his feet. This wasn’t something he was willing to just test for shits and giggles.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but this is the end of the world. Did you come to help or just pick the bones? Answer me,” yelled the woman.

“Help, I came to see if I could help. Not enough of that is happening right now. Where’s Monty?” asked CJ.

“You got someone else out here with you? Come out or I start taking chunks out of this discount prom DJ,” she to the mostly empty street around them.

“Why is everyone dunking on me lately? These threads were fine a couple of weeks ago. Don’t worry, Monty is my rabbit. He should be around here somewhere,” CJ said attempting to sit up before the woman waggled the fire axe at him.

“Everything alright, niña?” asked the man on top of the van.

“I’ve got this papa. Now get up slowly,” she said in a no nonsense tone.

CJ got up slowly just as she asked. She looked him up and down before looking past him down the Street. Then she looked back at him frowning.

“You come from the barrens?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“You got someplace safe in there?”

“Yeah… probably. Nowhere is really safe anymore but we’ve got an encampment with walls a few miles from here. The reservoir.”

“Papa, there is a camp at the Pine Barrens Reservoir. What do you think?” she yelled over her shoulder while keeping her eyes on CJ.

“Any place is better than here right now. Did you get her started?” asked her father.

“No. There are mannequin parts stuck in the engine. It would take too long to fish them all out. We will have to leave her here. I was packing essentials before this animal lover in a tux showed up. Clean up the closest ones and come down,” replied the woman.

“Hi I’m CJ. Nice to meet you,” he said rolling his eyes hoping to stop all the descriptions of his person.

“Take two steps back, CJ. You’re going to show us this safe haven and if this is some kind of trap, I’m swinging for your balls. Let’s see if you can survive that. You got a bullet proof vest on under that collard shirt or something?” she asked now scrutinizing him more clearly.

That’s when Monty chose to show himself. He was acting like a normal rabbit and tentatively peeking around from behind CJ’s right leg. The image was so bizarre that the woman broke out in peals of laughter.

“What are you some kind of magician? Did you just pull that rabbit out of your ass?” She could barely contain herself.