I awoke the next morning to find Panda conked out at the foot of the bed. He was sprawled out on his back sawing logs in a starfish pose. The vibrations from his snoring shook the bed and resonated around the room, making it even louder.

I was just thankful that he’d actually come to bed. Whatever was bothering him, at least he still felt comfortable enough to sleep around me.

I stretched and yawned, then rubbed my eyes before pulling myself out of the covers, dressing, and leaving the room.

I shut the door quietly, trying not to wake Panda, as I entered the main room. The rest of the examinees were already there, tucking into a breakfast of hard, crusty bread and some kind of soup.

The elf girl was cooking behind the main countertop. Her mousey brown hair was tied in a bun and I was surprised by her adherence to kitchen hygiene protocols.

She grunted at me as I approached and placed a bowl of bright green soup on the counter. Then she threw some bread at me which I deftly caught. I thanked her and joined the others at the low table.

“Morning sleepy head.” Bell greeted chirpily.

I nodded to her and began eating my food. The soup tasted delicious, even if it did look like steaming mucus. They say that 90% of flavour is in appearance, and they’re right. Which is why I closed my eyes as I dipped the hard bread into the soup. When I couldn’t see it, it tasted great.

Sally joined us around about the time I was finishing my meal. Our group hadn’t spoken much, everyone seemed tired as they ate and mentally prepared themselves for the day ahead.

The muscle-bound lycanid curled her lip at the soup and bread and raised a polite but firm hand at Tilly the elf when she offered her some. Sally was practically carnivorous so I wasn’t surprised at her reaction.

“I hope you kids are ready.” She said menacingly, cracking her knuckles. “The training I’m about to put you through will make you wish that dhur had killed you all yesterday.”

“I love a good training montage,” I said lazily. “Does anyone have Eye of the Tiger on their phone?”

Bell chuckled at my comment and glanced towards me like she wanted to join in but thought better of it.

“What’s a phone?” Reggie asked, looking at me with a furrowed brow.

“Don’t listen to him,” Sally answered. “He’s talking nonsense. I’ll have to beat that out of him in the training session, won’t I Gonads?” She said menacingly, clapping her strong hand on my shoulder and squeezing.

“I think training session is code for something not very child-friendly,” Bell said to Reggie behind her hand in a loud whisper.

Sally thumped her on the top of her head and she whimpered slightly.

“I think it’s time to leave.” Sally sighed, letting go of my shoulder and turning towards the counter. “Are you ready Tilly?”

The elf girl nodded, picking up her bow and tipping it towards Sally.

“Good.” She continued. “Gonads, go wake up your familiar, you’re holding us all up.”

“I have a name you know,” Panda said sleepily as he entered the main room. His eyes were puffy and he rubbed them gently as he walked towards us.

Sally ignored his comment and left the inn, beckoning for the rest of us to follow with a slight wave over her shoulder.

We did as instructed and as the bright rays of the morning sun hit my eyes, I looked longingly at the truck we were leaving behind. I had a feeling we were all going to miss that thing in a few hours.

We left the muddy little elf village and headed into the trees. It was stiflingly hot inside the jungle. A muggy, oppressive heat seemed to hug the ground in an invisible miasma.

I began sweating almost immediately and regretted wearing all black and long sleeves. The armour I’d chosen wasn’t very jungle-friendly – even if it was awesome.

The trek wasn’t too bad though, it definitely could have been worse. The palm tree jungle didn’t really have any foliage. It was literally just trees and dirt, which made for relatively easy walking.

We trudged along in silence for a long time. I let Panda ride on my back after the first half hour. I felt like Luke Skywalker training in the swamps of Dagoba as the funny little familiar clung to my back.

Though I’d drop him if he started hitting me with a stick.

Tilly acted as our scout, leading us through the jungle diligently as we followed behind. Our ragtag little group must have been a sight to behold: a forced march of murder hobos and a washed-up female wrestler with a perchance for cosplay.

Tilly held her hand up suddenly in a clenched fist and we all stopped. She must have seen something. My heartbeat quickened as I anticipated a fight. I hoped for one, anything to quell the boredom of endless walking.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Tilly moved around a tree and I lost sight of her as we waited. She came back a few moments later and spoke to Sally in a hushed whisper which I couldn’t make out.

Sally nodded grimly as she spoke, and then turned to us with a fangy smile. She beckoned us closer and we all moved in, creating a semi-circle around her.

“Our guide says there’s a pretty tough monster ahead.” She said, a fire burning in her battle junky eyes. “It seems like a good chance for me to test your teamwork. I’d advise you not to rush in, at your levels you need to think tactically if you want to win without casualties.”

Casualties. I thought solemnly, repeating her words in my head. It was easy to forget that death was a real factor here. It was so easy to see Celestia as a video game, even though it had shown me time and time again that it wasn’t.

Sally left us and stood off to the side with Tilly and our semi-circle became a huddle.

“What’s the plan guys?” Reggie asked, taking the initiative, and speaking first.

“Before we do anything, I think it might be a good idea to get to understand each other’s strength, fighting style and powers,” I said and Reggie nodded thoughtfully.

We went around the group and explained everything about ourselves in as much detail as we could. We discussed power sets, fighting styles, special abilities, and experience.

By the end of the conversation, I felt like I understood my team and their uses a lot better. It was a good starting point. Of course, I had kept some of my abilities to myself, I wasn’t about to go telling people about my weird soul power after all.

I was sure the others all had their own secrets to keep as well. It didn’t matter though; the idea was to understand each other well enough that we could make a plan and use the right people for the right job.

“I’m going to go scout out this monster,” I said after we’d finished exposing our skillsets to each other. The group nodded, which I took as them giving me their blessings – not that I needed it.

It made sense for me to be the scout. My armour provided me with a stealth advantage when in shadows and, as long as I had my bow equipped, I could use the sniper skill.

Longbow of the Giant Goblin

This bow was carved from the forearm of a unique monster: Gertrude the Giant Goblin.

Just as she smashed her old clan into oblivion, you smashed her. You dirty bugger.

I mean, whatever tickles your pickle am I right?

I’m still judging you though.

Longbows can fire accurately over longer distances.

+5% strength

Grants use of the skill: Sniper

*Sniper can only be used whilst this item is equipped*

Sniper

Not to be confused with sniping, the skill sniper allows the user to see further distances. Like a telescope built into your eyes.

Don’t go using it to creep on catonids whilst they’re changing. I know you’re a furry, but at least don’t be a creep.

I pulled my hood up, aiding the tropical climate’s oppressive heat, and set off in the direction Tilly had gone earlier.

The hood had an enchantment which shielded my aura from people and monsters. I wasn’t exactly sure what an aura was, but I had to assume I had one.

As I set out towards our unknown target, I asked the not-so-friendly neighbourhood daemon who was still clinging to my back. He hadn’t spoken much since we’d left the elf village, but I wanted his help.

“Panda, do you know what aura is?” I asked in a hushed voice as I crept through the crops of palm trees.

“Of course I do, I’m a sage.” He said in a sleepy-sounding voice. “Aura is like a power signature that living things give off. Anyone with mana, which is anyone other than you, has an innate ability to sense a person’s aura.

“It basically gives you an idea of how powerful someone is. Some people can hide it and powerful people can learn to hide it, but most wear their aura on their sleeve - so to speak.”

I listened to his explanation as I rounded a thick tree trunk, hugging it as closely as I could. There was a lot of shade in the jungle, but I wasn’t clear on how much shade constituted a shadow. I needed shadows for my armour to enhance my stealth.

“That makes sense,” I replied in a hushed whisper. “Is it possible to sense aura without mana?” I asked, thinking back to recently when I sensed something in Sally back at Adventure Society.

“Yeah…” He replied, pausing for a moment as if deciding whether to continue or not. “People with a strong connection to their soul can enhance it and perceive aura through that. Most can’t though, even when they break through the level cap and become a jade soul.

“In all honesty though kid, I don’t really know much about jade souls or what comes after. It’s a closely guarded secret in all the parts of the world I’ve been to and I’ve never been summoned by anyone who lived long enough to make it that far.”

He finished his sentence with a sad tone and I felt him shiver slightly, but just for a moment. At least he seemed a little less moody. Asking him for information seemed to have cheered him up, even if thinking about his previous summoners was painful.

I didn’t know much about his previous life. Taylor had told me that his last summoner was a woman who died about five years ago. I also knew that he’d been in Havar with her around about that time, but that was pretty much it. He’d never really spoken about her himself.

I guessed that for a familiar who was thousands of years old, five years was still a fresh wound. His perception of time was probably quite different to mine.

I rounded another tree, I’d only gone a few hundred meters away from the group, but it had taken longer than usual because I was moving slowly and trying to be all sneaky beaky.

On the other side of the tree I hugged, there was a slight clearing. A little stream of running, crystal water trickled through and next to it I saw our opponent.

A bright red, feathered Tyrannosaurus Rex stood happily wagging its enormous tail as it crunched merrily on a loconut it had bitten out of a tree.

Blood gushed from the carcass in the dinosaur’s mouth and dropped in thick globs, staining the ground. I’d heard before that the current theory on Earth was that the T-Rex probably had feathers but seeing it in person was a whole different experience.

Somehow it made the creature even more terrifying. I used the sniper skill to zoom in on the scene, not daring to get any closer without my team.

Its head was so oversized it would have been comical if it wasn’t for all the blood and guts. Even more horrifying was that it was actually eating a loconut.

The idea of it made me feel queasy as I thought back to the gut-wrenching smell from the time I had punted one into a tree and its rotten guts had sprayed the floor.

I could barely believe my eyes. I loved Jurassic Park as much as the next guy but I never imagined I’d be in a real-life version of it.

If we were going to fight this big, red, overgrown chicken, we’d need a plan.