Whatever XP and aura Tim absorbed from the enclave, it appeared to be cracking at the foundation.

Tim put his hands down to push up. A deep rumble shook his hands free and he face-planted. He made it up. The earthquake bucked harder. Tim smashed his face into the dirt, collected his wits, and grabbed his axe. Cracks in the ceiling sprayed him with pelting fragments. It collapsed under insurmountable weight, ripping roots as it buckled and fell toward Tim. He turned back to find his dagger, grabbed it, and activated Full Aura while the lights went out. Pelting stones avalanched into a massive dump, suffocating Tim in its relentless reserves.

Tim’s stomach sank. The pressure evaporated, replaced by buoyancy and his aura breathing. Hands gripped his arms and raised him to breathable air.

Jil wrapped him in a hug, his wet cheek sliding over hers. The sudden difference between the aura enclave and physical contact resonated in his bones. “Am I glad to see you!” he said.

His head swam and he lost his balance, swaying a hand into the warm water. Aura strength wrapped a layer over his unsteady skeleton, vibrating into his brain stem before plummeting like a lead weight into his gut.

“Lie down here,” she said. Her touch was soft and welcomed.

She stayed with him for too many hours, enduring the smells of filth that passed through him. Cold and hot pumped at the whim of a pinball machine manned by a six-year-old on Pop Rocks.

Thankfully Jil finally accepted Chris’s offer to nurse him the rest of the way, giving her a literal breather. It was a few hours more before he agreed to eat something.

Tim concluded that mostly silent and miserable time with, “So that happened,” and chomped another bite from the cookie Khempal bought for him.

“You’re gonna be alright,” Chris said, patting Tim’s shin from his perch on the steps. “Just like the time you got sick on overeating fried rice.”

Tim’s stomach curdled audibly. He tucked it in with the help of a hand. “Don’t,” he teased back.

A knock sounded on the door, echoing into the sound pool chamber. Khempal poked her head in and back out to gasp in the hall. “Wow, she wasn’t kidding. Hey, if you’re doing alright, why don’t you come on out. That smell can’t help you or anyone.”

Tim brought his cookie and moseyed on after her with the help of Chris’s staff and his arm in his elbow.

Khempal led the way patiently. “Take your time. You’re on the way to recovery. Keep eating that wayrite cookie.”

Tim took a generous bite and managed a step at a time up out of the cellar.

“A couple messenger birds dropped some intel while you were disposed,” Khempal shared offhandedly, waiting for Tim to catch on.

“Really? What’s it say?”

“S’Trace and his brother, Hur are on their way.” Her tone lifted up in the surprise to the news. She turned at the top of the stairs with a smile on display. “Gregor and the Krows are, too.”

Tim stepped out into the middle of the night, insects chirping incessantly into the background of the next happy frog’s cackle. The frogs here were like clowns from outer space looney, but they weren’t joking, so he let ‘em sing the way the good Lord made em. “Yeehah! I’m alive too!” Tim shouted, and howled.

“You sure are,” Chris said and squeezed another side hug as he helped Tim walk. “My brother, the Freakin’ Legend.”

Tim’s aura bed now had a white tent set up around it. Sturdy, shining metal bars kept it aloft and spacious below the hanging lantern inside.

Khempal had gone all out while he was away. First the cookies, now whatever this was. He thought he’d get here, it would be too late and either the Murphy would be king and his friends dead, or the cartel could have taken over… whatever he thought he’d come back to, this wasn’t it; and he was glad to see so.

“Does it have Gatorade on fresh ice too?” Tim asked.

“Kaiman juice is always cold,” Khempal said. “And I think better than your world’s Gatorade. This will help your adjustment from the aura chamber. I must say, you’re doing quite well considering your level and the power Aeu stored in that portal.”

Khempal parted the tent flap and held it for Tim to saunter in. His aura bed lay in the back by a small table and covered magical candle. A purple vase with a corked top sat under. Beside that was a wooden chest with a gold buckle and thin crates stacked with a substantial packing of healing herbs and arrow shafts.

“Ya’ll been busy,” Tim said, a smile creeping into his face and down into his soul. With his brother at his side, a small piece of home greeted him here. His new home and way of life counted ammo and replenishment as wealth among the highest order. Friendly company helped too.

“Aeu’s not the kind to leave behind ineffective means,” Khempal said. “We figured wherever he sent you, it would be important and thus likely also draining on the ambassador sent thru. Am I wrong?”

Tim chuckled and shook his weary head. “Not one bit. Still, you didn’t have to do…”

“All I did was accept the delivery.” Khempal offered a hand toward his made bed, the corner of his sheet lipped open near the pillow, clean and inviting to its soft embrace. “This is courtesy of,” she said and pointed to a slip of paper he hadn’t noticed on the other side of the lantern.

Tim picked it up to read:

From two thankful brothers to another. Sleep well, and we’ll see you soon.

-In Arms

S’Trace and Hur

“Three matching tent beds were also delivered for your companions,” Khempal said, beaming with relief that comes from good news capping a long day. “Your companions are long since tuckered out,” she said. “I can only guess by S’Trace’s message that you might have had to kill a vahkel to get them both back?” Her eyes bore hope in the good news to come.

Tim was more than glad to oblige but too weak to give more than a smiling shrug in response.

She laid a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding him around to lower into bed. “That’s amazing.”

When he had his legs under the covers and his head resting on the pillow, she added, “Aeu thanks you. You used his treasures well.”

The power of his aura enchanted bedding pulled tiny threads with great strength; before he drifted off, a sudden thought, “Do we have time to sleep?” It sounded stupid and totally relevant at once. Of course he couldn’t sleep—and also he had to.

His body was beat. The silky smooth, cool blankets whispered his guilt away.

“Goodnight, Ranger. S’Trace paid for a nice little distraction to give you this night.”

Turns out the pokey old man wasn’t so bad after all.

Tim woke to Tonda’s stinking wet and scratchy tongue licks lathering his cheeks with River water and fish guts. “Oh, Tonda, please,” Tim said, nudging her to give him space.

She barked and wagged her tail. A nervous excitement petered out from her barely constrained desire to hop in. Tim pet her head and swung his legs out. “I’m getting up.

Tonda barked again and hopped for a sneak kiss.

“Agh, that’s enough,” Tim said, laughing. He grabbed the chilled vase by the neck and headed toward the smell of hickory bacon, he had no doubt.

With Tonda nipping at his heels, he entered the bright day and a sharp reminder that he wasn’t out of the woods yet; the sudden migraine blinded him and set him back a step.

“Whoa,” Chris said, hustle and robes asunder. A jolt of equally sudden relief struck Tim in the head and didn’t let go for a good five minutes. Tim had to sit down, but it was worth it. The healing spell woke rivers of ice to freeze away the pain. It released him from its power with little more than the mental itch of dehydration. Tim popped the cork and drained some chilled nectar from his vase. “Nice touch with that spell,” he told Chris. “Thank you.”

“Wish I could have last night.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Oh?”

“Your afterburn from the portal was too hot. Would’ve nullified my spell. Only things we could do were the cookies and tents, which S’Trace and Hur paid for. Their note said to rest.”

Chris pointed at the vase. “I made that. You’re welcome.”

“Thank you.” Tim took another long gulp. Euphoric with a hint of candy. A welcome sigh escaped midway. Afterward, he licked his buzzing wet lips. “My compliments. How’s it made? What’s it called?”

“I’m glad you like it. One of the perks to potion making is that taste improves my level-ups. The stronger my roots, the healthier the plant and sweeter the fruit. The work we did at the burg making so much Wicker Sea really boosted my level in horticulture, which I used on our campsite assault.”

Tim gasped from another delicious gulp and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

Chris scoffed and slapped Tim’s hand playfully, yet hard. “Don’t waste a single drop.” He said with mostly a serious tone. Mostly.

Tim’s hand shook.

Chris noticed, brushed it off, and said, “It’s gonna be okay.” He took a bite of blackened fish. “Khempal said she’s surprised Aeu invited you to his portal, that your level is still pretty low to handle the power generated there.”

“See that’s how I get by in life. Never invited, somehow manage to find fun anyway.”

Chris’s face glowed with the need to hear what happened. “She says Aura class are rare—”

“And you’re lucky to be an O-dub,” Khempal said, appearing at the cellar door spinning a dagger. She caught it with ease and slid it into her belt. “Without the inherent adaptive bonuses in that progression path you’d be on your butt for a week. Which is good for us, because we’d like to strike the Murphy tonight. Take it easy, drink your kaiman juice and eat your wayrite cookies.”

She handed him one. It was soft and warm and tasted like French toast. They reminded him of the breakfast buffet at his honeymoon and the ornate emerald dish his wife dipped for syrup. In these small bits of extravagance, and the presence of his new bride—nothing could go wrong. And it didn’t, not for a few years anyway.

“Now that I’ve bribed you with cookies,” she added, “why don’t you stretch your legs and fill us in a little on your trip?”

She offered a hand, adding, “We’ll meet Jil in the courtyard.”

Tim relented and Khempal clasped his hand. Her strong grip and considerable ease in lifting him to his feet made him wonder how much of her own medicine she had taken. “What’s in these cookies?”

She tapped her bicep. “Not all cookies baby, now talk and walk. Float out some Danger Sense too if you can, and we’ll co-op my rounds with recognizance.”

They started toward a walkway between the wall and the courtyard. Tim described the enclave and his path from S’Trace’s home to their training.

At the mention of him gaining the Peel ability, Khempal slapped his arm, backing up to look at him anew. “No way,” she said. “We’ve got to get you to the jewel. More reason we move tonight. We don’t know if the whisper put the jewel right under our nose or on the other side of the pillar. Aeu’s spirit might have some insight. Thought you might too,” she added, a peculiar touch to her glance back at Tim. It broke as she turned to a canal of tubing running up a corner in the castle wall and traveling to a small lip at the top. Thin enough to trap a baseball, the tunnel was just the right size for the birds that chirped at her approach. She cupped some seeds and let them eat out of her palm.

Tim let the diversion buy him time, his Danger Sense sticking around to help him read the one with plans to take the jewel to the HTC. They were allies, but not 100% of the same mission. Would S’Trace tell her? He suspected maybe, if he had a good enough plan to ensure when they reached the tomb, he would be the one to get the jewel. The way he made it sound, they’d need all the help they could get, and having an ally on the other side of the Hunt was just as valuable as before.

“My Spirit Memory skill came in handy,” Tim started, drawing a cocked brow at attention. “Snagged a ledger from—”

“Lank’s Ledger?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

One of the yellow birds struggled under her tightened fist. It bit her wrist and snapped her out of her reverie. She stuffed it back in the pipe with a “Shush,” and shut the door. “Are you telling me you have Lank’s Ledger?”

Tim nodded, appreciating a bit of brag time.

“Toss me in a picker and scramble my brains, that’s incredible. If the Murphy doesn’t have it, I am one hundred for one hundred taking you and that little dandy of a pocket treasure to Paddy town and raiding a tomb. Phew, I can’t wait! Good job, Ranger! There might be a legend for you yet.”

“That’s good news,” Chris piped in. Like a jerk.

Tim laughed because he knew what was cooking in that pea-brain.

“Here I thought he’d have to settle for that guy who swished his shot on the roof jump into Jeremy’s pool.”

“I was like what, sixteen when I did that? I’ve done cooler things since then.”

“Name one,” Chris said, smarmily.

“I didn’t punch you in the nose right now. That’s pretty cool.”

“Legendary…”

“You’re welcome.” Seeing Khempal was done visiting her birds–maybe she was waiting for something more from him before sending another message–Tim carried on toward the courtyard.

Tonda hopped over a barrel and stomped on a rat. She ripped its head free with surprising speed and gulped the body into her sharp toothed bites, grinding that thing to shreds with ease.

“I see she’s feeling better,” Tim said.

Another rat climbed a ledge out of her reach. Tim equipped his Aura Bow and loosed an arrow. It skipped off a stone and the rat ducked into a hole.

Tim lowered his bow. “Too bad I’m not.”

“Did you just manifest a bow out of your arm and transform it from aura to physical in time to nearly hit that moving target?” Khempal asked. “And at twenty feet. I’d say you’re doing alright.”

“Thanks. My Greensight was there for a fraction of a second and I thought it might be close enough in the yellow to still have a chance of clipping it. Plus, my level six in hunting.”

Jil appeared inside a doorway of one of the central buildings. Roz and Thron were behind her studying maps or something on a table. “You thought the arrow would magically veer into a crit shot because you’re level six?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah, kinda?”

“Your level six helped you get the shot off. A higher level will help your timing to hit that small window.”

“So the timing margin is where my level wasn’t high enough? Not that the target was a low level rat.”

“You got it,” she said. “How’re you feeling?”

His headache had crept back and his balance felt a bit off. Being on his feet and able to utilize his skills was still a good sign.

“That good huh? Maybe give yourself some more time before you try another aura trick.”

“Good idea. What are you guys up to?” Tim asked and took another bite of his cookie.

“Comparing maps and routes between Gregor and S’Trace. They coordinated a joint raid last night and we’re looking for spots to place traps when they lead the cartel to an exit tunnel on that side of the river. Gregor and S’Trace’s groups will begin our assault on the Murphy while we enter the tunnels under the castle. The plan is to meet in the middle and choke it out. Which is where you come in. Mind drawing on the map what Aeu showed you?”

“My pleasure.” Tim was relieved to get to this part. One step closer to putting the dread of facing the Murphy in his rear view.

Roz gave Tim a yellow chalk and accessing Spirit Memory, he drew the path Aeu showed him. On the other side of the river, it diverged before both paths entered the room where the Murphy was holed up. Tim finished the second path and drew a circle around the Murphy’s room. “There’s an aura generator inside.”

Thron tapped a tunnel adjacent to that diversion, leading northwest toward one of the red lines representing the Gregor-S’Trace Team. “That’s where we tell them to meet us.”

Khempal scratched a note on a small slip of paper and left. “Thanks Tim!” she said and patted his shoulder on the way out. Tim didn’t have that kind of chipper this early in the morning.

Sour faces studied the focal point of their map.

“What else did you see?” Thron asked.

Tim painted the best picture possible as the group took it in silently, each successive obstacle more imposing than the last.

“You get any new skills in the enclave?” Thron asked.

Tim relayed the good news, and at the end Roz said, “That’s it? Nothing after killing the vahkel?”

“I got a boatload of XP across most of my skills. Nothing between getting buried alive and waking in Aeu’s pool, or the…”

“Okay,” Roz said. “One of the side effects to rogue leveling is a delay in evolving new skills once you come off. The more you use the worse the wait. Take care and take what we give you. You still should evolve something; not a whole lot more precise than killing a vahkel for that Hunt and Magic Hunt skillset to evolve. How’d you kill it?”

Tim acted out the axe dragging maneuver to stab his dagger into its head.

“So, double-whammo and Peel might get a leg up on their next step, too,” Roz said. “Thank you for this. That network of tunnels is a maze. Without a guide to its location, it would have overwhelmed us with its numbers. Having an aura generator at its nest is…” Roz shook his head. “It’s still gonna be ugly getting there. Now we have a path to stick to so it can’t corner us. It may also figure out that we know where it is, so our greatest challenge will likely be the hallways directly in front of it.”

“I like it when the bad guys line up in tight spaces so I can smash and clear a path,” Thron said.

“And I like your style,” Tim said, chomping into the last of his cookie.

“When we get there, I can send some roots into the pipes, spreading out to catch them from all sides,” Chris added, tracing a finger around key points of access.

Tim pulled up a chair and took in the various strategies for how their team would perform together. He summoned Indi to have a seat on the table and laughed as the tiny adventurer amused them with his cunning and optimism. He kind of reminded Tim of Timothy Olyphant’s character in Justified.

All-in-all, Tim was proud to be part of this group. Being together helped fill him with hope. It wasn’t just him bearing this burden. With them all signed up, he had to find a way to ensure they all made it out to the other side.

What he couldn’t figure out yet was why Aeu sent him to the enclave, and whether they stood a chance without whatever he needed to evolve. As an Oil and Water Aura Mage, his evolutionary path was built upon both aura and physical strength. “How about I spend a bit crafting more arrows. I’ll finish off the cookies and juice like a good little boy, and then we hunt.”

Eyes around the table watched him curiously.

“In the tunnels. Make it look like we don’t know where we’re going and skim the top off the Murphy’s soldiers while I raise some aura spirits. Can Khempal’s birds or whatever message system S’Trace and Gregor have let us know when they’re ready to rush the aura generator?”

“She might have some of her higher-level birds left,” Jil said. “They can send and receive at that distance.”

“And they can find us in the tunnels?” Tim asked.

“I heard ya,” Khempal said, approaching their door. “They’re low on defense, so the bigger issue will be if they get intercepted.”

“Well cat scratch fever, let’s clear a path.”

Static charged the space between Tim’s hand and Tonda’s head. Her eyes flashed violet fire. In the settling, Tim came up with an idea. “Are we all in agreement? Give me an hour to craft and then we head into the tunnels. Who’s with me?”

It’s not the worst idea, Dryfu thought back. The risk is pretty high though…I hate sitting on my hands, too. Let’s do it!

Indi snapped his whip and a front kick at nothing in particular. “Keyah!”

Tim could always count on main man Indi to join him on a hunt.

“Ya got that right.”

“If we can sneak in here,” Chris said, pointing at a sewer tunnel running south of the generator room on the map, “it shouldn’t be too close to give away that we know about it. I can plant some seeds; you can use your Aura Light skill to help them grow, and then we retreat through here. My vines will spread while we wait and hopefully be ready when we are.”

Tim patted his brother’s back. “It’s good to be back.”

The swirl of magic in his brother’s eyes spiderwebbing like lit veins into his forehead set the mood for one heck of a ride to come. Tim wasn’t alone in this wild adventure and that helped anchor a place for him in this strange new world.