Chapter 11: Noseen’s Advice

A branch poked me in my shoulder and I shifted slightly to the right. Staring at my stat sheet didn’t help, so I closed it and tried to think sleepy thoughts. My stomach no longer rumbled, and for the moment I felt sated. A few sips of water from my canteen cleared the various flavors from my mouth. Too bad I didn’t have a note sheet to write down the creatures which tasted the best. That info would be good to have. The Allosaurus would definitely sit near the top, at least so far. At the tip-top of the list rested the Carnivorous Flower, with its sweet peach flavor.

I needed to get some sleep and then come up with a plan of what to do next. My father wanted me to wait around here, and somehow they would be joining me within a few days. I wished I knew what had happened after I teleported away. John could catch them up on everything from the last week or so, but that didn’t help me much.

There wasn’t a chance I would wait around and lose a few days of progress. Still, there were a few hours until the sun rose, then I’d go explore. Hopefully, this area contained higher-level creatures, but not so high that they’d be out of my reach. With that thought, I closed my eyes and tried to relax enough to get some shut-eye.

One moment I sat in the tree, and the next I sat on the edge of the shuttle. Daylight streamed down on me, and I recognized the area. We’d crash-landed the shuttle here. The jagged tree line in the distance was familiar, plus the bloody spot from where I’d fought and killed the Armored Jungle Cat. No wonder the Carnitor had found the ship and sniffed around; the blood soaked deep into the dirt, staining it red.

“You leveled faster than I anticipated,” buzzed Noseen right in my ear, making me flinch. “You must be outside the Sanctuary.”

“I fought another greater creature, this time an Allosaurus.” My mouth watered just thinking about it, and the heart of the smaller one I’d left behind. “Currently, I’m camping in a tree until dawn.” I tried to spot the small black dot, but couldn't. “I made it back to the colony and reunited with my father and brother. Well, for a bit, but then I leveled too far and got kicked out.” If I hadn’t attacked those Compys, I’d still be at the colony. My father’d even warned me against it, but after my time in the jungle, I couldn’t resist the automatic reaction. It'd jumped from the shadows and attacked, though it was headed for the dead dino and not us.

More importantly, everyone had gathered near the ship for a plan called Daisy. Whatever my father was up to, plenty of people were involved. Hopefully, they’d all make it outside of the Sanctuary.

Something buzzed near my right ear as I remembered everything happening at the colony. “I hope you don’t plan on waiting for your family to show up.” Noseen’s voice dripped with condescension before it lightened. “You need to keep growing, and be less squishy.”

“No, I'm not going to wait,” I answered confidently. “I’m going to explore the nearby jungle and focus on leveling. Didn't you demand that?”

“I suggested finding a dungeon, and…” Noseen paused. “There's one to the northwest of you.”

I stretched upward before leaning back on my arms in the sunlight. “That’s to complete the second quest, right?” The questions about the Path to Citizenship that I’d shoved aside roared inside my head. “I need to complete a dungeon for it. How many more quests do I need to complete for the Path to Citizenship?”

Noseen buzzed in agreement. “The dungeon might require a party of at least 3 creatures, but it might not.” The buzzing cut off suddenly and the trees in the distance dissolved before he answered my question. Everything surrounding me suddenly felt very silted.

“Noseen, are things okay?” I sat up quickly and realized I couldn’t stand. The foreground started dissolving faster, moving toward us. The hair on the back of my neck rose. Then, suddenly, it stopped.

“Get into the dungeon as soon as possible,” said Noseen. This time there wasn’t a buzz in his voice, and he sounded concerned. “Don’t approach any of the villages.”

Everything shuddered around me, and then vanished.

My eyes snapped open, and I blinked several times until I saw the stars overhead. That branch poked me again in the shoulder. The sound of bugs filled the air, along with the occasional call of something else in the distance. Nothing moved nearby in the trees, and even the air felt still.

Whatever had happened with Noseen was his problem. If he couldn’t deal with it, it wasn’t like I could. Instead, I focused on sleep. In the morning, I needed to find the dungeon and potentially a team, while not approaching any villages. Not a big problem.

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I jerked upright before slowly relaxing back into place. Villages meant people, which meant I wasn’t alone out here. Who lived in the villages? Did this planet have more humans?

Thoughts of sleep vanished as I wondered about tomorrow, and who I might find.

***

I glared at the jungle person for interrupting my conversation with Alex. They were why she shouldn’t visit the villages, and I hadn’t had a chance to explain things. With my luck, that’d be the first place the human would go. They better not die.

The creature stood taller than my human companion, with light green skin and short brown hair. Its long jagged ears twitched as I stared. The simple leather clothing, and lack of aura, made it clear he didn’t want to cause a scene. Or trouble.

[Eldaeren le Wynrel, Level 480, Member of Wysama Tribe, Prey, Very Tasty.]

“Can I help you?” I asked, the words coming out and demanding a response. While the creature was lower level than I, that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. Especially since Alex currently lived on his native world. I leaned back in my chair, swirling my glass.

The balcony my table sat on overlooked the various portals this city held. One led to Eldaeren’s world, that Alex currently stood on, while another led to a mega city connecting the various worlds of the System Universe. The last portal stood pitch dark and led to the cosmos, near a great one. The one in charge of this region of space.

Eldaeren sat down in the chair across from me before answering.

I resisted the urge to frown. This humanoid form required more control than my beastial ones. Still, in a more civilized place bestial forms were looked down upon. That wasn’t the case on my planet, but I ruled there. Here, it was best to try not to cause a stir.

“Did you enjoy your stay on my world? It surprised the council to see the purchase of a visitor's package for the Sanctuary.” His voice came out silky smooth. “Most haven’t seen one of your kind before.”

“We are a rare breed. Or did you mean a Devourer?” My head tilted to one side and I knew how his blood would feel flowing down my throat. So very tasty. His kind had fought in the war, dying by the score. The warriors left and retreated to the higher-level worlds to grow stronger after the peace accords. “You’re too young to have fought in the war.” While I’d stagnated after the war, his level was too low to have fought.

“My father fought your kind. He's now with the ancestors.” He shook his head.

“My condolences,” I bowed my head in his direction. Most humanoid creatures placed attachments on family. “Many were lost.”

His eyes widened slightly at my answer, and he took a moment to respond. “Did you enjoy your stay? They noted that you left earlier than your package required. Some wondered if you wouldn’t leave.”

I chuckled, the sound coming out rough. “The Sanctuary held many wonders, and some of the stranger creatures of the System Universe that I’ve always wanted to see.” The fact that I’d been booted, and they didn’t know that, gave me additional insight into the situation.

“And taste?”

“Of course. It was part of the package after all.” I swirled the blood in my glass, wishing it was from the restaurant I’d visited before. Instead, it was cheap, filling, and something to distract me as I waited to make my move. Alex had leveled faster than I’d anticipated, or I would have been at the tunnel waiting when they teleported out. As soon as they became a Citizen, I could take him from that world and head to mine.

Eldaeren’s hand clenched on the table, then froze when he realized it. The jungle folk didn’t like me tasting my way across the jungle. Too bad.

“There is a rumor you visited a great one,” he said, trying to sound relaxed. Instead, fear rose from him. All stayed away from the pitch-black portal. All except I. As far as I knew, I was the only one to ever use it, going through it and returning. The Great Devourers were, after all, rather voracious.

“You know better than to speak of them,” I growled, keeping my voice low. The Devourers of Light and Knowledge weren’t to be taken lightly. They enforced the peace accords, after becoming involved in the war that was so far beneath them. It had shocked the whole System Universe.

But he wasn’t wrong. I’d visited the same one who thought my debt was paid. That conversation still made my wings tremble in fury. It hadn’t given me anything more about Alex, or what to do about the baby devourer. Still, I’d keep Alex safe from creatures like this one. I’d balance the debt that weighed on me, no matter what it took.

“The council’s concerned that you returned to this system.” He said as he held both his hands up in a placating measure.

“Your council is not my issue.” I took an unneeded breath to release tension. “I mean your people no harm. The treaty stands. Don’t tell me that they’re worried I’m here for war?”

He shrugged, acting like he wasn’t concerned, but his scent said otherwise. That council of his worried, thinking I'd planned to break the treaty. They hadn't a clue.

Children. They were all children.

While war allowed a devourer to eat, grow, and evolve, it also provided plenty of opportunities to become stardust and feed others. The creatures on my world depended on me standing at the top, to be left alone. It needed to stay that way.

Alex complicated things. I needed to remove them from that planet. The Great One had confirmed they were the first new devourer since the war, and the first human devourer ever. Something new.

“They will be pleased to hear it.” He stood and bowed his head before walking away.

Alex needed to get inside a dungeon. Once inside with a team, no one could join, or search them out using magic or skills. The same had gone for when they lived in the Sanctuary. Now? They traveled out in the open, and if someone knew what to look for, they were far too squishy to survive.