Four days passed in a frenzied blink. The rift was the talk of the entire town, similar to watching a hive of disturbed hornets. On the second day, the adventuring party that initially discovered the rift disappeared. Since the portal locked itself shut, it wasn't hard to deduce what they decided to do.
Brelten was furious but resigned. When asked, he explained that he expected it to happen despite the numerous warnings. At the end of the day, adventurers were independent people, and the temptation of a wild rift proved too much. Three hours later, the portal visually changed and unlocked itself. Just like that, five mid tier-one adventurers were dead. It made people much more wary of the rift, but people didn’t seem to give the dead much thought. They were idiots and went inside alone in a rift that accepted up to fifteen people.
Wary glances eyed the portal but it didn't stop the hungry gleam in their eyes.
During those four days, Sam and I went out on patrol with the trio a few times. They told us Cedric was happy; apparently, with all the people heading into the forest, the number of attacks had dwindled. I wasn’t called in to heal at any point and only healed some minor scratches for a group we caught turning in for the day. We did manage to score two tier-one emberboars, along with a single drop snake. It wasn’t the highest yield we’ve ever gotten, but the coins clanked in our growing pouches.
On the fifth day, things changed.
We were in the guild hall, talking to people and hearing their stories. There was some disapproval from the groups, but most welcomed us in a friendly manner. Apparently, news of me healing the guards had spread. Most likely from the mouths of the guards themselves. They were ecstatic to have a bit of a safety net in terms of injuries and more than a few prodded me for free healing for their teams.
Beyond Talon, adventurers were a friendly bunch, and only a few people were serious in their attempts to recruit me. Those I brushed off, which wasn't hard with Brelten around.
Around two in the afternoon, a rising shadow engulfed the left wall of the room. Credit to the adventurers, they wasted no time in pulling out their weapons and preparing their skills. From the shadows came a man who split himself from the wall. He was of average height but dressed in full black leather,f ace covered up. His eyes were like black holes, absorbing all light. They reminded me of Caldur’s eyes, but with a distinct difference. While Caldur had pitch-black eyes the colour of coal, this man seemed to be swallowing any light that entered near his face. There was no reflection to be seen.
“Well then. Not the reception I was expecting. I’m not sure Brelten would like it if I sliced up some rookies,” the man said, his voice echoing strangely.
It was almost like two voices were speaking at once, one slightly delayed after the other.
The man pulled out two obsidian daggers that left black streaks in their wake. Enchanted weapons, they had to be. Suddenly, Talis’ loud voice could be heard shouting over everyone.
“STOP! He’s one of us!” Talis yelled frantically.
Several of the adventurers who looked towards Talis when he shouted turned their heads back to the shadow man. On his right breast, pinned to his leather armour, was a diamond-shaped topaz. If I remembered correctly, it meant that this man was at least tier two. Realizing the man’s rank, several of the adventurers lowered their weapons. Some, but not all.
“Talis, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” the man said.
His daggers returned to their sheaths, but he didn’t move an inch afterwards.
“Isaac, stop scaring them. I’m assuming if you’re here, then the rest is about an hour behind?” Talis said, ignoring Isaac’s greeting.
With a blink, the man was gone from the wall. Suddenly, he appeared next to the elf with his arm over his shoulder.
Was that teleportation?
“They pulled their weapons first. And yes, they are. They stayed behind to escort the caravan,” Isaac replie, ignoring the glares sent his way.
Sam leaned closer and whispered. “Did the rogue just use a stereotypical shadow blink?”
I fought to hide my snort and inwardly chuckled. A rogue using shadow powers was pretty cliche.
I leaned closer to move my mouth to her ear. “Don’t knock it if it works. We both know full well that we’d kill for that ability."
"I bet you would, you edge-lord."
Talis disappeared downstairs, leaving Isaac leaning on the front desk. Everyone else in the room settled down, but the whispers started flying. Isaac met my eyes and stared back. He looked over at Sam and then back at me. I couldn’t see much due to his hood and mask, but he seemed to almost... Frown?
Brelten’s footsteps boomed from down the stairwell. Before we even saw him, his voice bellowed. “Isaac, did you draw your weapons on my adventurers?”
Isaac actually stopped leaning on the desk and stood ramrod straight. Brelten walked up and leaned menacingly over him.
“Did you, a tier two adventurer, actually draw your weapons on a bunch of tier ones? You, of all people. Have my teachings been so poor that you’d actually feel threatened by them?” Brelten spat.
“Uh… No Uncle. I wasn’t threatened by them. I was just, uh, making an entrance,” Isaac stammered out.
Brelten snorted, and I think I heard him mutter 'brat' under his breath. He clapped his hands and faced everyone else still in the room.
“All right, you heard him. The trade caravan will be arriving shortly. That means restocking. And if you want to potentially meet some well-known tier two adventurers, come to the village gate in an hour,” he instructed before leaving the room and heading back downstairs.
The whispers ceased and excitement took the crowd.
"Bera's cooking and wait?" I asked.
Sam shrugged. "Sounds good."
We ended up eating seared fish fillets. Bera winked at us and said enjoy before going back to the kitchen to pull out even more plates. It was truly a really good meal. I didn’t know what exact fruits and vegetables they had in this world, but it looked like most of the same stuff on Earth was found here just different. The fish was seasoned with butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic. We were served some fried asparagus as well or at least what I thought was aspargus. Instead of green the stems were dark blue and faintly sweet.
We stuffed ourselves silly and sat back in our chairs.
"This'll never get old," Sam burped. "Do you think its magic making everything so delicious? Or our new bodies?"
"Both. Also Bera. If it was just magic, spit-roasted fish would taste better than it does," I countered.
"Probably right. I mean, you were always a good cook but not on this level."
"Fine. You can cook for yourself next time. WIthout! My seasoning pouch."
Sam leaned forward. "Hey! You only have that because I convinced you to go to a party. And I was complimenting you!"
"And we both know what happened because you wanted to pilfer some candy," I teased.
"I'm not hearing you complain. Oh no I get magic powers. Boohooo," she mocked. Suddenly she leaned forward with a shit-eating grin. "I just had the best idea!"
I'm not liking this already.
"Lay it on me," I sighed.
"Cooking. Magic. Cooking familiar!"
I flicked her nose and sat back. "Or I don't waste one of my precious slots and spend some of my long-spanning immortal future learning to cooking better. I'll even give you the scraps, ain't I generous?"
"Deal!"
I sighed. We traded banter for banter and passed the hour. People came and went, having the same idea of filling their bellies before rushing out. But Bera handled it on like a pro, never tiring and running the crowd singlehandedly.
With satisfied bellies, we finally headed to the entrance of the village. Walking up, you could see plenty of people. There was a decent-sized crowd. Searching around, I spotted a few familiar faces. Cedric stuck out like a sore thumb, surrounded by guards yet avoided by the adventurers like a leper.
Lena’s trio of guards stood with him. It made sense that the captain would be waiting for the caravans. I approached and asked what they were doing. In hindsight I should have expected the answer.
The caravans, according to Cedric, meant that he’d finally have supplies for his people. I’m sure he appreciated having a restock of healing potions. Having to rely on me to take care of every injury had to feel limiting to the captain. I was, at best, an unstable source of healing. After all, you don’t have to worry about potions and bandages disappearing into the woods unexpectedly.
We moved on and found Brelten standing and discussing something with Talis. I wanted to know more about the man from before, so I made my way over to them. Brelten rattled off instructions that Talis furiously scribbled onto his clipboard before the guildmaster turned and greeted us.
“Good, you’re here. I assume you have some questions?” He started speaking before I could actually ask anything. “Short and simple is that I know the team escorting the caravan. I was one of their trainers back when they were just starting out. Haven’t seen them in awhile, but it looks like they haven’t been slacking in the slightest. You couldn’t feel it, but the rogue from before, Isaac, was tier two, rank three. Last I saw him was a year ago, and he had a ways to go.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It was enough information to digest for a moment. Unless that man was a Reborn, then that level of growth was astounding. If tier three is considered the unclimbable peak, then tier two was the long hike up. From what I remembered from the primer, reaching tier three from tier two could easily take decades and more. The sheer amount of energy and time needed to form one’s mana core was what slowed people’s progress at tier two.
I was also very curious as to what kind of adventurers would Brelten personally train. He also mentioned that the team was well-known. I doubted it, but I could only hope that they were nothing like Team Talon.
The town's too small to handle any more egos that big.
Brelten looked around the crowd slowly, his eyes stopping at every adventurer. Following his gaze, I noticed that people had their adventuring badges out. I popped mine out of my inventory and pinned it in place near my collar. He saw what I did and smiled approvingly.
“Tier two draws eyes. You especially don’t get to tier two as fast as they did without having garnered as much attention as they did. There’s also the factor of who the people are that makes up the team. I won’t explain, but I’m sure Theodore would be willing to answer if you asked. Theodore is their leader, and well, you’ll recognize him right away. That boy hasn’t known the meaning of incognito since his birth,” he explained, with a bit of warm pride bleeding into his words.
We waited. Thankfully, the silence didn’t last long. A commotion stirred from outside the gate. It looked like some of the people spotted the caravan. I had to do a double-take because the trees shifted. The entire trunk of a few trees seemed to slide away into a line, leaving a paved dirt road in their wake.
“Ohoho, looks like we finally got the earth mages to come,” Brelten commented.
Was that what caused the trees to move?
People cried out in alarm. I had to hold in a gasp as a bear taller than Brelten on all fours lumbered out of the tree line. It had a coat of honey-brown fur with large golden swirls covering its body. It looked like a super-sized grizzly bear that'd fit inside a dinosaur book. On top of the bear sat a broad-shouldered man in full plate. His armour shined metallic white with gold trim. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, so I could see his face.
He looked like what I imagined people had in mind when they describe their prince charming in shining armour. The man looked human, albeit an incredibly handsome human. His hair tucked neatly in; short and sandy blonde. He had piercing blue eyes with what looked like a glowing ring of gold around his iris. Sam wrestled my attention away from prince charming by grabbing my arm and pretending to fan her face.
“He looks a lot like a bearded Chris Hemsworth. Do you think he has lightning powers, too?” Sam asked jokingly.
I snorted in response. I had to assume this was Theodore. Brelten’s comment about his lack of subtlety made more sense now.
The giant bear released a large, rumbling roar. You could see visible wind being created from the force of the cry.
“Hello everyone! Please make some room,” the man shouted, his voice warm and rich.
I noticed that the rest of the caravan exiting the tree line, but I was focused on the giant bear padding its way in my direction. Everybody scrambled out of the bear’s path, probably inclined to not being squished by its giant paws. I was forced into paralysis as the bear came extremely close. Its nose twitched as it sniffed me, and I could feel its hot breath blanket my face.
Yet I wasn't terrified.
Maybe you are insane, Cyrus.
My muscles started to tense, but I didn’t move because I knew this thing could easily bite me in half if it wanted to. I couldn’t even spare a glance at Sam to see how she was reacting. The bear took one last huff and turned its large, furred muzzle away.
Unlike me, where I was just sniffed, Brelten got a different treatment from the bear. Within seconds, the giant creature resembled less a jurassic beast and more a giant puppy. Brelten stood like a statue as the bear used its enormous tongue and licked him head to toe.
Eventually, Brelten wrestled its muzzle shut and pushed it away. He looked up and glared at the armoured rider.
“I wasn’t expecting Arturous to grow so big. And I definitely did not need a bath, Theodore,” Brelten said with mock annoyance in his voice. Theodore jumped down from Arturous’ back, walked up, and gave Brelten a hug. Brelten returned it reluctantly. Brelten pushed him back after a moment and scowled at Theodore’s beaming face. “I forgot just how touchy-feely you can be. An unfortunate trait from your parents.”
Theodore laughed in response before sidestepping to his left and snaking out his arm. He grabbed what I could only describe as tangible shadows and lifted up a person. It was the man from before.
“Isaac, stop hiding in my shadow. He could sense you the moment I exited the tree line,” Theodore lectured.
He dropped Isaac, and the rogue landed on his feet. He retreated and made sure that Theodore was in between him and Brelten before he waved at the guild master.
“Uh, hello there. I knew you noticed me, so I didn’t see any reason to come out. Was totally not hiding from you, I swear,” Isaac rushed.
Brelten narrowed his eyes and stared down at the rogue. Honestly, the stare was so good that I even saw a few other adventurers trying to make themselves small. Isaac looked like he was slowly trying to sink into the ground.
Wait...
It wasn’t that he looked like he was trying to sink into the ground; he was sinking into the ground.
As he lowered to his waist, a slender pale arm landed on Isaac’s shoulders and pulled him back up. The hand belonged to a green-haired elven woman. Silk-like, cobalt colored robes draped off her frabe. Her high cheekbones and slim face radiated a cold beauty. With a strength that betrayed her slim, thin arms, she held Isaac up by the collar like one would a naughty kitten.
“And why exactly is Isaac trying to run away from you, Uncle Brelten? What did he do this time?” she asked, her voice authoritative and stern.
Brelten crossed his arms, his face a mask of amusement.
“Hello to you too, Celanae. I see that your worries about your mana mutation were unfounded. They look beautiful, like shining amethysts,” Brelten smiled.
Celanae blushed before raising the rogue higher and shaking him lightly.
“I’m sorry for not greeting you first. Hello, and thank you for the compliment. But seriously, why is he running away from you like you are some sort of hellish beast?” Celanae asked.
She scowled down at Isaac, and he returned her fierce gaze with a weak smile.
Brelten put a finger on his chin and assumed a thoughtful pose. “Hmm, it might be because I threatened to retrain him and correct his lack of discipline."
The three of them shuddered. And I understood why. If their training was anything like Brelten's, I'm sure they had their horror stories.
Celanae facepalmed herself with her free hand and dragged it down her face.
“What did he do to warrant such a threat?” she bit out.
“Oh, you know. Casually popping out of the walls of the guildhall and surprising everybody there. Then he decided to pull out his weapons and off-handedly threatened to slice them to bits. It just so happened that not a single person there was tier two. Caused poor Talis to suffer heartburn from the stressful situation,” he answered. By the end of his words, Isaac’s teammates gave the rogue death glares.
Half the crowd was focused intently on the four of them. Another part was too busy side-eyeing the giant bear, who sat sitting upright and resting its front legs at its side.
By now, four large wagons had parked just outside the city gates. Where horses would have been were instead cow-sized giant lizards. Their hides varied, some red while others yellow or orange. But their color remained stable with only a light speckling around their necks to break the pattern.
Celanae silently handed Isaac to Theodore, and the plated man slung the rogue over his shoulders.
“Where would you like to bury the body, Uncle?”
“Hey! You traitors! Don’t write me off as dead yet!” Isaac shouted.
Brelten chuckled before replying.
“You can all go eat at Oleander's first. I need to talk to the person the guild sent. Meet me in the guildhall in about an hour and a half,” he said. His arms returned to his sides, and he stood up straight, regaining his seriousness. “I’m assuming the other two are the ones hiding behind the building to my left.”
Celanae turned around and saw two heads peeking behind the building’s walls. She audibly sighed before turning back towards Brelten. “I apologize for their cowardice, Uncle Brelten. Sometimes I feel like Arturous is the only brave one in the party."
Arturous responded with a rumbling roar as it lumbered its way to Theodore. Brelten gave the bear a few hearty pats on the back as it walked past him.
“I’ll let the lack of greetings slide for now, but if I don’t see you in my guildhall, I’ll hunt you all down. And I’ll force you to join Isaac when we spar,” Brelten shouted, his voice directed at the two people hiding.
In a scramble. two people rushed out from behind the building. I focused on the shortest person first. I’m pretty sure she was shorter than me by a few inches. Without any distinguishing markers, she looked like a human woman. What was surprising was she was one of the first genuinely darker-skinned people I’ve seen since transporting worlds. I don’t know if it was the region we were in or if the humans of this world tended to lean towards pale skin tones, but the darkest I’ve ever saw was a golden-tan.
She had skin of rich copper with her hair was done in box braids, the colour of snow. She was dressed in charcoal-black leather armour, but I saw no weapon. And her eyes. Like most higher-tiered people, her eyes were not the same boring shades that I was used to on Earth. They were storm grey, with what looked like arcs of brilliant blue-white electricity flashing across her pupil.
The last person lumbered over; a blue-skinned oni. I wanted to assume he was also water-aligned like Sam, but I wasn’t so sure. While Sam’s skin was ocean blue, his was a light sky blue. His horn was also different from Volan’s or Sam's; his horn ended in a more blade-like edge. Along with a massive sword strapped to his back, he wore a combination of leather and simple frabric sporting an open shirt.
The two rushed forward and gave Brelten a quick bow as he walked off while shaking his head.
They all had the diamond-shaped topaz pin on their chest. A real tier two adventuring team. Theodore looked at the growing crowd of people hovering slightly away from the bear. He clapped his hands loudly. “I can see some curious faces here. If you want, we’ll be grabbing some food at Oleanders. You can ask us any questions while we’re there."
Without a word, the group and the bear started walking down the street. Isaac remained slumped like a sack of potatoes over Theodore’s shoulder while he argued with the other two members.
“Not what I thought,” Sam said.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Those guys, they seem a tad… eccentric.”
I gave it some thought, and it was a decently accurate descriptor. “Yeah, they are. I want to know what's up with that giant bear, though.”
“Parents thought a puppy was too basic?” she replied while shrugging her shoulders.
“I’ll go with the strange child who rescues the newly motherless animal scenario. Instant loyal companion for life.”
She nodded her head seriously. I looked towards the village gate and saw Cedric and the guards carrying heavy wooden crates back into the village. Brelten stood apart from the crowd, conversing with a short, hefty man wearing colorful robes. The other people who didn’t follow the adventuring team were crowded around a boisterous woman laying out assorted goods on a table.
“What do you wanna do first? Grill the celebrities or look at new items?” I whispered.
“They’re probably being annoyingly bombarded by people right now. Let’s just see if we can buy anything interesting,” Sam replied.