As the sky brightened with the amber glow of dawn, a landmass appeared ahead of the ship. The stars faded, yet the sun was nowhere in sight. Off the right side of the boat, the crescent moon hung low in the skies. Above, the silver moon faded into the rosy sky.

The land loomed ahead, its rocky cliff sides falling away into the emptiness of the open sky. A basin of water hung from one side, supported by nothing but the magic of aether and the laws of this strange world. In the distance, mountains poked over the horizon, all dotted with vast forests and crowned in silver snow.

A strange new world.

Cass gripped her staff. Her heart beat in her chest, dancing to the frantic pace of her thoughts.

She was finally in civilization. With people! Normal people. People with lives and families. Farmers and craftsmen and merchants.

There would be a way home.

The ship glided onto the basin of water, the prow cutting through it with a spray of salt and sea foam. Beneath the ship, fish swam, darting to and fro in the clear waters. Above, a sea bird cried. A flock of red and white gulls floated overhead.

As they approached dry land, a dock appeared along the pebbled shore. It was made up of two prongs, each stretching away from the shore like welcoming arms.

The first was a stone walkway, hugging the shoreline and extending out into the bay. It stood tall, several feet above the waterline. Sigils decorated its trim.

The second prong was a wood walkway built off the stone along the shore. It seemed an ordinary dock, supported just above the gentle waves with wide posts every couple of yards.

Dockhands were already at work along the wood section, tending to boats moored along the long walkway, loading or unloading supplies or cargo.

Beyond the dock, a town began to stir. Stone chimneys poked up from a sea of thatched roofs. Smoke floated from the mouths of some, while others were still cold in the early morning dawn.

The ship settled to a stop along the stone dock. It was all but deserted, despite the bustling movement over the wood one beside it. Only a handful of people loitered on it. The flying ship Cass rode was the only thing docked along its length.

“We’re here,” Alyx said. “Welcome to Hervet, the first and last stop for a Trial taker.”

“Anything I should know?” Cass asked.

“Not—” She paused mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing on Cass. “Actually, probably. I don’t know. Just try not to draw attention to yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just try to keep your mouth shut, Cass.” Salos chuckled from her shoulder.

Cass glared at him.

“I would appreciate it if you kept my ability to talk to yourself,” Salos added to Alyx.

Alyx frowned, but nodded all the same. “Sure.”

Are you really going to keep hiding that you can talk? Cass asked him.

It is best we pretend to be as ordinary as possible, I think, he replied. Or, I should at least. Remember, it would be best if none knew about my demonic nature, so the fewer questions they ask about me, the better.

“What do you intend to do about the assassin?” Salos asked Alyx.

Cass’s heart contracted at the mention of the dead woman.

Alyx scowled. “Not much to do about it right now. Levina’s dead. All I have is her word that my father hired her. No way to know if that was true and no way to prove it to anyone else.”

“You plan on letting them get away with it?” Salos asked.

“I didn’t say that. But what I can do about it is going to depend heavily on what I can find out from the survivors of her crew.”

“Is that them there?” Salos’s eyes fell on the people waiting on the stone dock. There were seven people in total. Six carried weapons, one looked like a misplaced butler. There was a brewing tension amid the group that Cass could feel even from the ship’s deck.

“Some of them, yeah. Two of them are my people. Levina’s crew won’t make a move in public like this. They are mercenaries, not assassins. It would be bad for business if it got out that they killed their clients.”

“Wasn’t Levina literally an assassin?” Cass asked. Identify had even called her as much.

Alyx frowned, looking between Cass and Salos, her eyes seeming to ask him, ‘should I answer this or do you want to try?’

Salos sighed. “What do you think that word means?”

“Assassin? Someone who kills people for money? Usually sneaky-like?” Cass said.

“Listen to me closely, Cass,” Salos said. “Assassin. Assassin. Do those words sound the same to you?”

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Cass scowled. Why had he repeated himself? She nodded.

Salos shook his head. “Ignore what your translation skill is saying. Listen to the actual sounds I’m making. Try again.”

He repeated the words.

Cass closed her eyes, focusing only on the sounds. They were still similar. But that was all. Only similar. “They are two different words?”

Salos nodded. “Seems like your translation skill is turning both into one word.”

“What does the other one mean, then?” Why would her skill translate both the same if they were different?

“An assassin is a martial archetype,” Salos explained. “It implies fast, precise strikes made without giving the target a chance to counter or defend. Anyone preparing to take on a powerful monster is likely to have one on hand, especially if there is a concern the opposing force has a Mage.

“Any mercenary group that hopes to be hired should have at least one on payroll.”

Cass sighed. She had an inkling why the word was translated as assassin. That was exactly how she would describe an assassin class in a role-playing game.

“You do have to admit there isn’t a small amount of overlap between assassins and assassins,” Alyx added thoughtfully.

“And no one is bothered by that?” Cass asked.

“This would be why it would be best if you talk as little as possible while we get our bearings,” Salos said with a chuckle.

Cass scowled at him. And which were you?

The martial archetype, obviously. He looked away and added, though, more than occasionally, my duties wrapped around to the paid killer you were describing.

Cass didn’t know what to do with that, so she let it drop.

The three disembarked. The ship’s deck was perfectly level with the stone dock, as if it had been designed for this exact thing.

“Welcome back, my lady,” the misplaced butler said to Alyx with a shallow bow.

She was a tall woman with a slender frame. Her hair was silver, like the moon. It bushed into a curling cloud around her neck.

She wore a neat suit and gloves. The only decoration on her person was a pair of feathered ribbons clipped into her hair above her temples and swept back over her shoulders.

Everything about her was neat and orderly, more like a statue than a living person.

Lepidost Butler

Lvl 27

[The lepidost are a reclusive race common to the high mountains of Mulsorn. They are commonly known as the People of Snow.

This one has dedicated her life to the pursuit of care and management, taking up the mantle of a butler for a noble, powerful, or wealthy house.]

“How was the hunt?” Her eyes looked Alyx up and down, obviously taking stock of the swordswoman’s gear—or lack thereof. They flickered over Cass, lingering on Salos a moment before returning to Alyx.

Alyx grinned. “Two Lords. Two Heralds. Level 26.”

The woman’s eyes widened.

“Good work, girl!” one of the armed men behind Telis said with a boisterous laugh. He was about the same age as the butler woman, probably in his mid-forties, with salt and pepper hair about a head shorter than the butler. “That’ll show your rotten family what’s what!”

Human Guard

Lvl 34

[Humans are a versatile lot, able to adapt to any environment, though specializing in nothing. As a guard, this man has specialized in defensive techniques to protect his charge.]

“Marco,” the butler woman chided him, a warning in her voice.

He coughed. “Ah. I mean. Um.”

Telis shook her head and changed the subject. “That does not appear to be Captain Levina there behind you.”

“Hi, I’m Cass.” Cass waved awkwardly from behind Alyx.

The woman didn’t so much as twitch.

“Captain Levina died to the Lord of the Pass, unfortunately,” Alyx explained. “I would have died too if not for Cass here. She rescued me from certain death several times.”

Frowns spread over the faces of the entire group.

“Did you bring her body back, your ladyship?” one of the five remaining mercenaries asked, the title awkward in their mouth. They craned their neck past Alyx and company, trying to see into the ship. The other four were doing their best not to look Alyx in the eyes.

Alyx’s mouth thinned. Her voice was sharp as she said, “Telis, have you paid the Red Gulls for their services? I can’t imagine we need them for the trip back to Velillia, and I’m sure they have their own business they need to take care of.”

“Of course, my lady. Already taken care of. Shall we return to Lord Menallis’s manor to say your goodbyes or shall we depart for Velillia immediately?” Telis didn’t spare the mercenaries so much as a glance.

Alyx started walking down the dock, Telis and the guard, Marco, falling in a step behind her. Cass hustled after them.

“No, we better head out directly if I want to be on time,” Alyx said. “I don’t have a gift for him anyway. Remind me to send him a thank you when we get back, Telis.”

“Very good, my lady.”

They stepped off the dock and onto the cobblestone street of the town. Around them, the town was just beginning to wake. The little sounds of people filled the quiet morning air. Cass had never thought she’d miss the sound of people so much.

There weren’t many out and about yet. The few that were all walked with purpose, ferrying supplies for the day to places of residence or work. There a man with a pair of buckets slung over his shoulders. Here a woman in an apron with three hefty sacks of something in her arms. There a pair of children lugging a crate between them.

They all wore simple clothes in bright colors. All carried far more than Cass of Earth would have attempted to carry in a single trip with remarkable ease.

They all gave Alyx and their party wide berth.

“I can’t believe that man asked if you brought your attempted assassin back with you,” Telis said when they were several blocks down the street.

Alyx snorted.

“Her what!” Marco asked.

Telis shot the guard a tired look. “Why do you think one of the mercenaries stayed behind in the Valley while the rest fled back to Hervet on an earlier boat?”

“She didn’t get left behind?”

“No, she tried to kill me,” Alyx said.

“Not to doubt your skills, my lady,” Telis said, though there was a lot of doubt wrapped up in her voice, “but how did you survive? When that group came back without you, claiming you’d been killed by Grotto Spiders… Well, let’s just say it was professionalism, and professionalism alone, that kept the two of us here waiting.”

The guard snorted. “Don’t listen to Telis. She was all but pacing back and forth from that lord’s manor to the docks waiting for you.”

Telis shot him another look.

Alyx chuckled. “Like I said, I have Cass to thank for everything.”

Telis raised an eyebrow. She didn’t need to say anything for her doubt to be clearly and loudly stated.

Alyx chuckled again but explained how Cass had rescued her from the grotto spider in the Deep and their subsequent adventures.