Zalan flailed and managed to strike the Roach’s leg as it came down, throwing it off balance. The creature still managed to make glancing contact, and Zalan felt the appendages drag away skin, burning his face with unbearable pain. His eyes could only see the sickly orange eyes of the Roach as well as the antennae twitching with glee. Zalan punched powerfully into the abdomen of the creature, and it took a step back as it bore the pain, then stepped forward in order to get another bite.
Rep smashed down with a flaming fist, destroying the Roach with a frustrated grunt.
“Sorry, I did not mean for you to…” Rep started apologizing.
“Just help me up!” Zalan threw his hand up and was pulled to full height by Rep. Rep threw out a small wall of flame, sending the seven remaining Roaches skittering backward enough for Zalan to locate and retrieve his sword.
Zalan looked at the small monsters with a vengeful bloodlust and ran toward them, sword held high. He stomped hard on the first one, a satisfying crunch under his feet as he swept the legs of the other two closest with his blade, removing their legs and watching them recoil in pain. Zalan continued his rampage until he had killed every remaining Roach without any additional assistance from Rep. He breathed hard, kneeling down and trying to regain some energy after the battle.
“Well done,” Rep said meekly.
Zalan didn’t reply, only glanced up to Rep with an inscrutable look on his face.
“I apologize, Zalan. They are normally not much of a threat. I did not believe they would do you any injury,” Rep said.
“How bad is it?” Zalan asked, gesturing to his forehead where the Roach gnawed on his face.
“It has drawn a small line of blood, but otherwise nothing that will be lasting,” Rep assured him.
Zalan lightly touched his forehead in skepticism. It felt a lot worse than it was. It was a very thin line, something like a thick papercut.
“Like… If I sleep, this’ll go away?” Zalan asked, hopeful.
“When you sleep in the guild,” Rep nodded.
“In the guild? What about just sleeping out here?” Zalan looked around at the desert, the sun still high overhead.
“You cannot. Physically, I mean. Healing Rest does not work in wildlands. If the body is outside a safe area, you will not be able to restore yourself with the Healing Rest.”
“But it only takes three minutes!” Zalan protested.
“Only when you are in a place of safety can you fall asleep so quickly and remain asleep for such a short period of time. Try, if you must, but you will not be able to restore yourself with rest out here,” Rep said apologetically.
Zalan scoffed and took a few steps away from the slain Roaches in order to lay down on soft, clean sand. As soon as he lay down, he knew Rep was right. He felt it inside him that the restful sleep he experienced yesterday was nowhere to be found out here. He sat up and looked at Rep who nodded solemnly.
“This might have been good to know before we came outside the walls,” Zalan groaned, standing and wiping his forehead. He looked at his arm and assessed the small red streak of blood as not a serious concern.
“I thought it would be obvious,” Rep shrugged.
“What part of any of this would have been obvious?” Zalan balked.
“You forget, I do not know the inner workings of your world. Safe sleeping is taught to us as children, long before I studied Artifacts and combat in the guild. I thought everyone would know this,” Rep suggested.
“And how again did you learn that I was from another world?” Zalan followed up.
“I was inspired.”
“That really doesn’t answer the question.”
“Perhaps not to you, but it is the truth.”
Zalan sputtered, disappointed and gestured forward for Rep to continue to lead the way to the Lost City of Xagon. Rep instead began searching the dead Roaches for something, kicking over their bodies and peering into open wounds. Zalan felt nauseous at the sight, wanting to avert his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Zalan questioned.
“I am searching for Artifacts,” Rep answered.
“These things make Artifacts inside them?” Zalan asked, appalled. In that moment he decided he didn’t want any Artifacts, even the Homeseeker.
“No,” Rep chuckled, amused. “But it is common for Roaches to eat Artifacts they find, and I only wish to make sure we do not miss any within this nest.”
“When you say Artifacts, do you mean like the iron necklace that Junill wears?” Zalan asked, suddenly curious.
“Indeed, Artifacts like the Indefatigable Iron. Inside of creatures is one of the more rare places to locate an artifact, but it does occasionally happen,” Rep said confidently.
“How many kinds of Artifacts are there?” Zalan asked.
Rep looked up, not having found anything of interest and tilted his head for Zalan to follow as he led the way once more.
“Very many Artifacts. There are too many for me to have cataloged them all. But my time in Journey House was spent learning about many of the existing Artifacts of the world. Some can only be used once, but others have effects that can be used multiple times,” Rep explained.
“It doesn’t matter to me if the Homeseeker can be used more than once,” Zalan said.
“But what if you have an Artifact that would take you across the desert, at a distance like to the Lost City of Xagon from Oriton? That would be nice to be able to use twice to go there and back,” Rep mused.
“Is there an Artifact like that?” Zalan asked.
“Indeed. The Belt of Bolt. It can only be used by a single user, so the two of us would need to own one,” Rep said.
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“And you could just teleport around?”
“Essentially. It is not unlimited, but I believe it can be done twenty times before the Artifact wears off.”
Zalan breathed out, amazed. He decided that even if this was a dream world, he would like to try out an Artifact before he went back to waking up in his own world.
“How much Experience did you gain?” Rep asked.
Zalan made a face.
“I mean, I guess I am more experienced with the sword now. I kinda get how to use it now, but I never want to see a Roach again,” Zalan replied.
“No, your Experience. Your stats and abilities on your forearm, how much did you gain?” Rep tapped his fingers together three times, signaling Zalan to do the same. Zalan had completely forgotten about his stats and tapped his fingers together to assess any changes. Looking at his forearm, he saw all his stats remained the same except that EXPERIENCE was now at 27.
“I gained…” Zalan took a second to do some math and recall, “18 Experience. Where did the first nine Experience come from?”
“I imagine you gained the Experience after facing the Flamestriker. You attacked it, correct?” Rep asked.
“I guess you could call it that. The punch hurt me more than it hurt it. But this doesn’t make sense. A punch that barely did anything was worth 9 Experience but killing a bunch of Roaches is worth 18?”
“Indeed. Flamestikers are worth significantly more Experience than Roaches, especially to low-level fighters,” Rep explained.
“Okay, I guess. Is 27 a good amount of Experience?”
“Very good,” Rep smiled. “You are well on your way to Level Two, which you will achieve once you gain 100 Experience. Then your Experience will reset to zero and your Strength will increase. But you will find that Experience becomes much more difficult to acquire when you are at higher Levels.”
“My Strength will increase in what way?” Zalan asked.
“Remember when you struck the Roach with your fist earlier, you were unable to kill it with one blow. I am only Level Three, but with my fist and a little additional assistance from my Elemental Power, I could kill it in a single strike. I may even be able to do it without any Elemental assistance, but I did not want to risk it while it was attacking you.”
Zalan raised a thoughtful eyebrow, somewhat excited at the prospect of growing tangibly stronger. He liked the idea of being so much stronger than Roaches that they wouldn’t even be considered a threat to him when he was barehanded. Then he shuddered, preferring never to have to touch one again. Or see one.
They continued their travels, partaking in a small meal while walking through the desert. Zalan found it amazing how much energy he had, even when crossing a desert, but Rep said it was normal for anyone in this world to withstand many kinds of climates without too many adverse effects if they had enough food and rest.
They were able to remain in motion for the full day, Zalan’s arms and legs aching by the exertion of a single day’s travel. He began to wonder if he would have the strength for another three days of this, especially if the Elemental challenged him to something that would exhaust him. Rep seemed completely at ease out here, much unlike the way he acted when having to interact with people in town or when fighting the Flamestriker. Zalan imagined this was because Rep was much happier traveling rather than having to socialize or fight. He wondered if that was an odd personality or one common with a lot of people in this world.
After hours of travel, they made camp, Rep able to immediately start a fire with dry desert plants they cut and dragged into a pile between them. As they ate their evening meal, Zalan began to mull over a question.
“Hey, Rep. Why did you come save me from the Flamestriker?” Zalan asked.
Rep frowned and clearly thought through the answer before speaking,
“I saw someone in danger and thought you needed help,” Rep said.
“You saw me?” Zalan asked skeptically. “I could barely see the town when I first got here. I thought you said that you were told to come help me as soon as I came into this world.”
Rep sighed ambivalently.
“I was not told to help you. I was inspired to assist you,” Rep answered.
Zalan’s eyebrow lowered, making sure this wasn’t a joke before continuing. Rep didn’t look amused at all.
“Can you elaborate on what you mean?” Zalan asked.
“I… I was sitting in the guild, and I simply had an image in my head. Not an image… An idea. An inspiration. That someone outside the walls needed my help. They were alone and in desperate need of someone else there with them,” Rep said in a small voice.
“It just popped into your head?” Zalan asked.
Rep began biting the inside of his lip and shrugged affirmatively.
“Why you? I mean, no offense, but you didn’t exactly make the problem go away,” Zalan said.
Rep continued to bite his lip, shrinking into himself.
“Well, thanks for saving my life. Don’t know if I said that before. And thanks for helping me so much,” Zalan leaned back. He felt that Rep was still holding some information back, but didn’t want to press him further when he had done so much to help him. Rep looked up and smiled, happy to be out of the crosshairs of interrogation.
“What will you do when you return to your home? You said you would go and see your mother?” Rep asked.
“Visit her,” Zalan corrected firmly.
“Are you excited to visit her?” Rep asked.
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Zalan murmured. Rep looked concerned but simply nodded.
“I will take the first watch,” Rep said, stretching himself out.
“We’re going to take turns sleeping so we can watch? For what?” Zalan asked.
“Any manner of thing. Roaming monsters, roaming bandits, bad weather. Anything that I would need to wake you up for. And you will do the same for me,” Rep said.
Zalan looked around nervously, but the firelight was the only thing illuminating the night, leaving him in the only light patch in the desert. A beacon for anyone lurking from a distance.
“Should we put that out?” Zalan gestured to the fire.
“Done,” Rep clapped his hands, killing the fire with his Elemental Power.
Zalan laid back and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep with a frown on his face.
He was awoken by a light nudge from Rep what must have been hours later. The sleep on the outside of the city felt nothing like the rest he experienced within the guild. He longed for the uncomfortable cot. He poked at his forehead and felt the light bite from the Roach had scabbed over, but had not healed like his hand did after fighting the Flamestriker.
“Keep watch until the sun lights the way,” Rep suggested, stifling a yawn.
“Sure,” Zalan stood up to try and shake the grogginess of sleep away.
Once Rep was asleep, Zalan pulled out his sword and practiced swinging it, trying to judge exactly how far a cactus was and accurately cut it on the first swing. He kept a close eye on their surroundings, making sure no one would sneak up on them, and the swordplay was more to calm his nerves in case anyone actually showed up. He made very little progress in training his sword swing by the time the sun had peeked over the horizon, coating the desert in a lush orange hue. But if an enemy stood in place and waited for him to attack, he’d be really good at killing it. Once the sun began to rise, he sheathed his sword and nudged Rep who roused himself immediately and led the way once more.
The second day was less exciting than the first, and Zalan asked Rep about the new world to try and get a better idea of this dream-place. Apparently, the idea of a healing potion was “absurdly silly,” but there were Artifacts that existed that could heal a wound. All the animals that Zalan could name that existed in the real world also existed here, like dogs, cats, or even elephants. Zalan tried to ask how the ecology would work being shared between animals and monsters, but Rep couldn’t understand the question even when Zalan tried simplifying it. They continued chatting until a small dot appeared on the horizon. Zalan stepped ahead of Rep excitedly.
“Is that it?” Zalan asked.
“The Lost City of Xagon,” Rep affirmed.
“Let’s hurry!” Zalan began to run, but Rep pulled him by his collar.
“You do not want to be tired before you challenge an Elemental. You have read about them, you know they can ask you any manner of difficult challenges,” Rep reminded.
“Right,” Zalan said, deflating and keeping a brisk pace instead of running.
They watched closely for any storm brewing from a distance, ensuring that the Elemental that brought the storm with it did not continue the deadly weather. Zalan kept his pace quick, and Rep was happy to match his walking speed, glad to almost be done with this half of the excursion beyond the walls. Within the hour, the sun still long from setting, Zalan and Rep stood at the entrance to the crumbling, abandoned city.