Chapter 146: The Return to Shadowfall Coast

Jimmy nodded slowly, then even faster as the taste of the grape-flavored candy really started to explode. He turned the box in his hand over several times before looking at Mushkie. “Damn this shit’s good,” he said.

The box contained a picture of a cartoon grape with hands, feet, eyes, and a silly smile. The grape was dancing together with a similarly drawn strawberry and a banana in some kind of disco-looking party. In the very background of the illustration there was also a dancing watermelon with a tiny little +2xp in red lettering above its name. And indeed, any time Jimmy happened to find a red, watermelon-flavored candy in the box—which was pretty rare—he’d get two experience points once it softened enough to where he crunched it with his teeth.

“What dungeon do these come from?” he asked.

Mushkie made a huge grin, raised his finger, and waggled it. “I can’t say if you don’t already know!”

Jimmy laughed. “Right. The rules are the rules. I actually like that, though. I’d rather find out for myself anyway.”

“Does Jimmy want to buy another?”

“Yeah, I’ll buy a couple of these,” he said. “They’re worth it for only being 5g.” Turning around, he headed back to the center of the shop, where the various aisles were now teeming with adventurers.

The store was amazing, everybody seemed to love it here, and since nobody was in a rush, he was finally able to go shopping. Jimmy grabbed one of the many baskets stocked in piles around the place and started walking the aisles. Last time, he hadn’t really been able to look around, because Zach had an active timer on his uh…his power thing. Jimmy couldn’t remember the name. Phase blaster mode or something. But yeah. They’d had to wrap things up pretty fast. This time, nobody seemed to be in any kind of rush.

“Jimmy, look at this,” Kalana chirped happily.

“Yeah,” Tena said. “Look!”

He bumped into several adventurers and nudged a few others out of the way to get over to Kalana and Tena. It seemed like a rude thing to do, but it was just how adventurers behaved. They pushed, shoved, and roughhoused each other constantly. There was no aggression in it, though. It was just sort of the chummy kind of vibe that was honestly infectious.

“Are those just…regular bananas and oranges?” Jimmy asked.

Tena shook her head. “Nope. Kalana and I figured out that they never spoil.”

“Word?”

“Huh? What word?”

Jimmy chuckled. “I mean really?”

“Yeah. They never spoil,” Tena said. Jimmy inspected one of the apples. Honestly, it looked like a regular piece of fruit. With a shrug, he grabbed an assortment of a few different things and chucked it into his basket. He tended to stay a long time in dungeons, so it really was a good idea to fill his storage box with healthier things than just mob snacks—but he was planning on buying a ton of those, too.

“Watch where you’re going, dummy,” a young girl said to an older man, the two colliding off to Jimmy’s left.

“You watch where you’re going.”

Both of them locked eyes, glared, and then an instant later, their cheeks puffed up and they started laughing hysterically. Jimmy snorted then chuckled a few times as well. He really did like these people. But damn was it crowded in here. Mushkie must’ve been loving this.

Everyone rushed to the Weekly Haul, so now everyone’s shopping the regular items at once.

As far as Jimmy was aware, every last adventurer had bought each and every item on the Weekly Haul list. Well, except for Jimmy, because he’d already purchased his allotment earlier in the day. Mushkie had looked like he might die of happiness as, one by one, the adventurers purchased all that they could, which in this case was: 2x Red Rejuvenation Stones, 2x Yellow Rejuvenation Stones, 1x Purple Rejuvenation Stone, 2x Dungeon Escape Ropes, 3x Poison Cures, and a single Teleportation Stone, which had an effect that nobody but Jimmy understood. Or at least Jimmy thought he understood it: conceptually, anyway.

The Teleportation Stones, which were a one-time use consumable, claimed to teleport the user to their “bound” city. This was a term that none of the adventurers were familiar with. Unsurprisingly, this meant that the adventurers had slowly coalesced around Jimmy wanting to know if he had any idea. Despite Spider telling him that nobody would bring up his backstory or whatever, Jimmy knew it would only be a matter of time before they couldn’t resist, and honestly, it surprised him they’d even lasted several hours. Not that he cared because it was fake anyway. He just wished he knew who was responsible for making it up.

“Damn,” one of the adventurers had said loudly. He’d been a short adventurer who had a sword sheathed on each hip, and he’d begun speaking as though he were talking to himself, but it was obvious he wanted Jimmy to overhear him. “I have no idea what this does,” he’d said. “If only that Elvish Great One, Eilea Vayra, was here. She might be able to tell us. Or maybe…maybe one of her disciples. If she even has any, anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, I feel ya, bud,” another guy had said. “I heard that there are training simulations that give people extra knowledge about this shit. Not sure if it’s even true, but I thought I read somewhere in like maybe a book or something that there are uncontacted colonies of people on Earth and that we were wrong about nobody living there anymore. And that these uncontacted people sometimes have ancient training simulations or something that don’t exist on Galterra.”

“Really?” the first adventurer had asked in an overly dramatic way. “There’s no way that’s true.”

“Probably not, but can you imagine if there was and one of these Earthlings had access to secret training simulations that—”

At this point, Jimmy had exhaled, but what began as a sigh ended in a sharp laugh. “Yeah, okay,” he’d said. “Ya’ll can cut it out. I know everybody knows about my, uh, colony.”

“Your what?” numerous adventurers had asked, all of them forcing themselves to sound like they were actually confused. They’d even begun looking at one another and making puzzled expressions.

“What does he mean by that?” a woman had asked.

“Wait a minute,” Reni Sarwin had said. “Everyone time out. Is…is Jimmy from planet Earth or something?” He’d made a clearly fake, exaggerated gasp. “Is Jimmy trying to say he wasn’t born on this planet? Could it even be?”

Jimmy had rolled his eyes. “All right already. I’ll just tell you guys what I know.”

And that had been enough to get their attention. Jimmy, deciding not to break the cover that someone out there had meticulously crafted for him, had decided to explain how, in many of the “simulations” he’d played, there had been a concept known as “binding” oneself to a “bound city.” In these “simulations,” players could bind themselves to a city of their choice, and then that became the place they’d respawn if they died or, if they wanted, they could teleport there through various means.

Having broken the ice, the adventurers had all dropped the charade and had begun casually asking him questions without beating around the bush. “Did Eilea tell you if it’s an ability that we have to learn by leveling?”

“No,” Jimmy had replied. “The uh, the simulations I ran through as a kid were more conceptual. Meaning, they weren’t always based on the uh, the real world. They were fantasy worlds where sometimes the rules were different. Like, in many of these simulations, the…the uh, the…the ‘user’ could see their own HP, stamina, and mana—which was required to cast spells.”

“Could anyone bind in those simulations, Jimmy?” Kalana had asked him. She, Tena, Donovan, and Zephyr were the only people here who knew the real truth about him, and he was glad that all of them were being careful not to say anything that would reveal too much.

Jimmy had looked at Kalana and nodded. “Yeah, in every simulation I’ve ever experienced, binding was always just an ability you got. It was never a separate item. In one simulation, uh, called World of Warcraft, you got a free stone that you could use on a timer that teleported you to your bind point, but everybody could always bind.”

“Everybody?” numerous adventurers had asked.

Nervously, Jimmy had rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah. Ah, everybody in my community could experience the simulation together.” Jimmy had hesitated a second to think, and then, surprising his own self, he’d said something so convincing he’d almost fooled himself into thinking it was true. “Basically, life on Earth was really shit. I mean, you’ve all seen it, right? So, in order to make things easier for us, we’d all sit in front of our…our terminals and connect to each other and adventure together. And the simulations were fun. Even though we were being trained for the day when Eilea was able to reopen the portal back to Galterra—which, ahh, had been sealed for a thousand years—we still played them mostly for fun.”

Miss Britethorn had approached him and placed her arm on his shoulder. “But none of your colony ended up living to see her reopen the portal, did they, dear?”

All Jimmy had needed to do to give the most believable answer possible was think of his mom and his cat as he replied. “Nah,” he’d said. “They didn’t make it here to Galterra.”

“Why didn’t the Great One just give all of you the buff and let you come through the dungeon?” Reni Sarwin had asked him.

This question had caught Jimmy off guard, and he’d fumbled around his brain for an answer. Thankfully, Tena had come to his rescue. “Jimmy lived very, very far from any dungeons,” she’d said. “And since there’s so little food now that grows on Earth, it was too far for anyone to make the trip.”

Jimmy could see the adventurers had even more questions, though none of them doubted the story. Thankfully, Zephyr had pulled things back on topic. “Anyways, I’ve never heard of an ability like that,” he’d said, to which all the adventurers had agreed. No one, it seemed, had ever heard of a mechanic by which a user could bind themselves to a city. But Jimmy had then caused a great deal of excitement by suggesting to them that it was probably something they’d all learn on a higher-tier planet like Albion-4. He’d also suggested there could be many, many other mechanics that might just blow people’s minds.

“In many of the simulations I went through,” he’d said, “new concepts and stuff are introduced as you go through them. I bet once we get to Albion-4, we’re gonna start to see some real wild shit.”

“You bet your ass we will,” Donovan had said, barking out a laugh.

Now, As Jimmy continued to shop, he began to really get into the idea of finding these special “higher-tier” planets. The gamer in him wanted to see what was out there. For the first time since waking up in this world, he’d become really, really excited at the prospect of treading where no one in all of Galterra’s history had ever tread before.

Zach needs to get his ass in gear and help us find it, he thought.

As Jimmy returned his attention to browsing through the various items, he realized that once one of the shelves were cleared, and the items for sale were sold out, they did not simply “magically” refill, which for some reason, he’d assumed that they would. “Hey, Mushkie!” he called, watching as someone grabbed the last bag of Skelly Chips.

Mushkie, who had just finished ringing up a customer, hurried around his counter and scurried over. “Yes, Jimmy?”

“There’s no more Skelly Chips for sale.”

“Yikes. Oh well, next week!”

This, he found surprising. “Wait, items don’t restock?”

“Nope. Only weekly.”

“Damn. Well I guess I—”

“Here ya go,” a random adventurer Jimmy didn’t know said to him. He took two bags of Skelly Chips out of his basket and dropped them into Jimmy’s. Jimmy gave him his thanks, and he told Jimmy it wasn’t a problem. But what caught Jimmy’s attention was the surprise in Mushkie’s eyes.

“You…you people are so different from the other adventurers Mushkie used to know!”

His words drew the curiosity of more than just Jimmy. Nearly every nearby adventurer, including Donovan, Zephyr, Lienne, and Rian all turned their heads as if just as intrigued by what he said as Jimmy. “What do you mean by that?” Lienne asked. “How are we so different?”

Mushkie looked at the burly adventurer who’d given Jimmy the Skelly Chips and then looked at Jimmy’s basket immediately after. “You share with each other. Are you…all from the same guild?”

“Nope,” Rian said. “Me and Li are from Explorers Brigade—Zephyr’s Guild. Donovan and his people are from the GSG. You’ve also got a few guys from Lost and Found here, and that tall woman over there”—he pointed—“she’s Ophelia Graven, the leader of Boss Rush.” Rian continued to list off guilds, both large and small, who had members present here.

“So strange,” Mushkie said.

“How so?” Zephyr asked him.

“It’s just…the adventurers of old were not the ‘sharing’ type. No-whoah-nope! People used to die in Mushkie’s shop fighting over candy! Especially in the beginning when food was harder to come by. But even much later on, they’d still go at it. But you’re all so different. The adventurers I used to see didn’t even like each other.”

Donovan grunted. “We’re a different sort.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. We’re what happens when you take all the bullshit and politics out of it and just focus on the rest.”

Jimmy couldn’t help but smile. Although he’d never wanted to be part of this world, and although this wasn’t something he’d asked for, if nothing else, at least he’d woken up at a time in this planet’s history where, despite being small in number, the adventurers were tight-knit and functioned as a unified community regardless of which adventuring guild someone belonged to. Jimmy was also very pleased that, with only a very few exceptions, they were dedicated wholly to PVE. This was significant because he could easily imagine an alternate version of Galterra—or hell, just Galterra from earlier on in its history—where entering a dungeon was an inherently risky act, as someone could be camping out waiting to kill you or rob you.

Like, sure, technically speaking the rules of this world made it so that adventurers could kill one another. There was nothing that physically prevented an adventurer from drawing their weapon right now and randomly hacking the person next to them to pieces. But thank God, because Jimmy had come to this world during a time when the culture around adventuring—thanks to Donovan and Zephyr, it looked like—was such that such an act was unthinkable.

They were adventurers, after all.

Not killers.

******

To say that Zach experienced feelings of uncertainty and doubt as he began his journey to Shadowfall coast would be putting it incredibly mildly. Not only had he harbored second thoughts, but he’d also harbored third thoughts, fourth thoughts, and fifth thoughts, too. Tenth thoughts, even! And he’d had a fair bit of time to consider things as well. Despite Mr. Oren telling him there were quicker ways to get to there, Zach wanted to stick with what he knew and was comfortable with. He also didn’t want to risk any unforeseen dungeon weirdness holding him up. In other words, that meant a swim in the ocean to Shores of Wrath, a trip to the grand library, a dive into the pool on F18 in TOE, and now, he emerged, coming up for air in northwest Whispery Woods.

As he climbed out of the murky lake in the middle of the forest, his robe drenched and dripping mossy water, he shook off as much of the grime and muck as he could, and then he straightened his back. The moment he did so, he was struck with a powerful wave of heartache and regret, along with a sudden extreme feeling of loneliness. It hit him so hard that he actually remained frozen for a few moments.

Get over it, he told himself. Focus on your objective.

The sun had only just set, and only a sliver of orange remained in the sky; it was also incredibly quiet. Looking down at the leaves, twigs, and dirt, Zach realized the source of his sudden bout of sadness. It was because he knew that, a relatively short while ago, more than two-hundred adventurers, including Rian, Lienne, Jimmy, and Kalana, would all have been cheering and marching their way to Trials of Nolak in Pixie’s Point, stomping down on this very same ground. For all he knew, that broken twig right ahead of him could’ve been snapped by the boots of one of the adventurers. He, on the other hand, would be setting out for a much longer journey due southeast and all the way across the region—perhaps even longer depending on the route he took.

As he considered his options, he started at a very slow walk through the forest, watching as the orange faded in the sky, and the first few stars began to make themselves visible. One of those stars, he knew, had a planet in its solar system, and on that planet was the dungeon where he should’ve been right now.

Stop thinking about it, he told himself. This is just how it is.

Swatting away flies and mosquitoes that swarmed around his face, he ambled his way deeper into the forest and went over the facts of the matter in his head. Right now, he was far enough northwest in Whispery Woods that he was nearly on the border with Varda’s Lair. The dungeon, on the other hand, had its entrance mere miles from where Whispery Woods transitioned into Shadowfall Coast. This meant there were two ways of getting where he had to go.

The direct path would be to simply head due southeast. In terms of distance, it was clearly the shortest route. The only issue was that he’d hit numerous towns along the way and, without a doubt, would end up having to navigate his way through the gigantic city of his birth. On the other hand, he could move straight east through fields, farms, and rural land, then cut straight south through more of the same terrain. If he went with this option, he’d be traveling a considerably larger number of miles, but he could do so at a much faster speed.

No matter what route he took, he still wouldn’t be able to move at his absolute fastest. Not only would that burn through his stamina so fast he’d be unlikely to make it more than half way, but the chance of accidentally killing someone or destroying something was too great to be worth the risk. Back when Fylwen had charmed him and made him chase after her, he’d been in Unleashed Phase with a Phase Level of 2 and had 117 points into speed. Then, he recalled running at a speed that must’ve skirted very close to two-hundred miles per hour. But even then, he hadn’t actually been running as fast as his legs could possibly carry him, either.

Right now, with just his base stats and gear combined, he had 73 points into speed. Hypothetically, if he exerted that to its fullest potential, he could probably clear a hundred fifty while totally exhausting himself. Yet even if he could sustain the effort required to run that fast, it was still too reckless. No, he would be best off using his Kralzek’s Beast, which when commanded to travel at its fastest, could easily exceed 100MPH and do so indefinitely without ever needing to rest. This only left the question of which path to take.

If he chose to head southeast, he was looking at a two-hundred-fifty-mile slog that would frequently be interrupted by towns, a city, various communities, and roadways. And getting through Whispery Woods would add an hour or two on its own. In total, he couldn’t imagine getting to Yorna in under five hours. On the other hand, if he went east then south and stuck to open territory, he would add a hundred miles to his journey but he’d be able to maintain full speed through nearly all of it. Assuming he did everything right, it’d take him three-and-a-half hours to arrive.

Getting back, on the other hand, would be a bit more complicated. Obviously, he wouldn’t be able to ride all the way back. He’d die before he ever made it a quarter of the way. He supposed he could hunt mobs in Yorna for a few hours hoping to slowly luck his way into his stamina proc until building up several hours’ worth of time, but that would be too inconvenient. No, a better idea would be to run from the Yorna entrance to the border of Shadowfall Coast, where in another few hours’ worth of time, Mr. Oren, Kolorn Besh, and Fylwen would all be gathering for an imminent attack. If he linked up with her there, Vim would be able to inspire his troops, as the Royal Roses had apparently agreed—enthusiastically, too—to join in as well, and Fylwen could heal him.

That’s what I’ll do, he thought as he exited the forest and made his way across the road. A few miles down the road to his left would be the rest area where he and Jimmy had taken the bus much earlier in the day. Zach stared longingly in that direction, his heart once again aching to throw all this aside and join his friends on their raid. He might even catch up to them assuming they were taking their sweet ass time in Mushkie’s.

I have to do this, he thought. I have to!

The sky was now fully dark, and aside from a few light poles that lined the forested road, Zach now had the benefit of being practically invisible to all but the most observant of eyes. Casting aside his sadness, he activated Summon Active War-Mount. Then, from out of nothingness, there came a snarl, and a tremendous, saber-toothed cat appeared before him. Zach hopped on top of its back, and mentally, he turned it so that it once more faced the forest, though this time, on the opposite side of the road. And now, he took off.

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Wind blasted into his face, as well as the occasional branch or clutter of leaves as the mount launched itself forward, running at what Zach estimated to be three quarters of its full speed. He dialed it back just a touch, however, as it was still too fast, and he ended up bulldozing and destroying about ten trees before he even realized he’d hit one of them. Multiple snaps preceded loud thuds as they crashed down onto the forested soil, sending little critters scampering away in fear.

“Sorry!” Zach said, apologizing to a confused squirrel.

As trees raced by him, Zach slowed just enough so that he could deftly veer his mount to the left or right to avoid any more unsanctioned deforestation. Occasionally, he required it to jump over downed trees that, in the name of the Gods, he swore weren’t his doing. Above him, a flock of birds scattered, alarmed by what must have, to them, appeared to be a horrifying, unnatural sight. A few deer also took off running as they saw Zach charging forward on his war-mount.

Thud, thud, thud, thud. The sound of the cat stomping its feet down on the soil was not entirely dissimilar from the sound made by a horse’s hooves, only it was a bit more muted and caused less of an overall rocking sensation.

As the wind continued to ruffle his robe and the feeling of motion overtook him as he was propelled forward, Zach found himself actually enjoying this. And why wouldn’t he? This, too, was fun. If it were up to him, he’d much rather ride around North Bastia, aimlessly taking in the sights, than he would heading to Shadowfall Coast. But he knew there was no going back now. If he didn’t do this, nobody else would or could.

Around fifteen minutes after setting off, he exited the forest from its eastern side, and now he pulled out into a field of short grass on what was a clear, starry night. Well into the distance and to his left, he could see the outskirts of a small farming village. His current route, he was sure, would keep him well out of their way.

As his mount moved up and down numerous gentle hills while the world continued to darken, Zach decided to settle himself in for the relatively long ride ahead. And as he did so, he decided to try once more to establish communication with Eilea, who seemed to be warding off his presence ever since the incident a little earlier.

Eilea, please, he thought. Please talk to me.

He wasn’t surprised when only silence met him. Yet he refused to give up. He now had ample time to kill, and he really needed to speak with her. And it wasn’t about the accusations Adamus had made, which had reduced her to tears and which Fylwen would probably not question. No, it was something much more personal.

Eilea, I know you can hear me. And I know why you won’t speak to me. But what you don’t realize is I’m one of the few people in this whole world who can actually relate to what you’re going through. Maybe not on the same level, but please, if you can feel how sincere I am in my heart, just talk to me.

Up ahead, Zach spotted a main roadway that headed due east and was decently well trafficked with numerous DEHVS speeding along it. Not wanting to draw any attention to himself, Zach kept himself a fair distance away, as he was likely visible under the moonlight.

Eilea, I’m not going to stop until you answer me. Please!

Zach thought he felt something. It was difficult to describe. It was, in a vague way, like the reluctant opening of an eye, but only it was more of an emotion. Maybe it was more accurate to say it was like a turtle peeking out of its shell.

There you are, he said to her. Please talk to me.

“I don’t know what you could want from me,” she said to him. “I humiliated myself. I degraded myself. I had the most shameful moments of my life revealed for all to hear. I’ve likely lost your respect. I can only imagine how pathetic you must view me now.”

Zach, satisfied that the way ahead contained nothing but short grass and empty air, closed his eyes and concentrated. He visualized Eilea's face, and then he imagined himself making eye contact with her.

Do you even realize who you just said that to? he asked her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Zach sent her his feelings of amusement, though they were not at her expense. Eilea, he said, everything you just told me is the whole reason I’m even talking to you right now. Because even though I’m only 17 and you’re in your thousands, I actually understand you. Even if that seems hard to believe.

“How could you possibly?”

Zach laughed. Because, Eilea. I’m the biggest fuckup there ever was. I’ve humiliated myself so many times that I’ve lost count. I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded. Eilea, do you even…do you even know? Zach opened his eyes and stared up at the moon as he reflected on things. Since I started adventuring, I’ve had multiple mental breakdowns. I’ve begged people for mercy. I’ve died. I lost a fight to a door. I melted down in front of an entire raid. I got my ass beat in front of my girlfriend. I’ve made decisions that were so stupid I look back and can’t even explain myself. Eilea, I’ve hit so many lows I’m surprised I didn’t reach hell. But here I am, right now, charging my way into battle.

She said nothing, so Zach continued to speak. I’m not going to lie to you. You did humiliate yourself this evening. It happened. You let that evil prick make you look weak. You ended up begging and pleading and crying. Do you know who you looked like? Me!

“Zach…”

Nobody’s perfect, Eilea. Not even a God—or a Goddess. I don’t know what your plans were, are, or may end up being, but I know all of them must involve saving Galterra and making the world a better place. Right?

“Yes,” she whispered into his mind.

So you can’t give up. No way. That’s how Adamus wins. He wins by breaking you down.

“You don’t understand,” she said to him, her words now taking on a tone of horror. “He wasn’t lying about me. I really am as awful as he says. I’ve made so many mistakes over my life. All I’ve ever done is fail. Nothing I ever do works out. Everyone I love ends up harmed because of me.”

Eilea, whatever you’ve done, I know you didn’t do anything bad on purpose. Zach, prepared to forgive her no matter what she said to him next, tightened his grip around his mount’s neck fur. I can’t pretend I didn’t hear what he said about Peter IV. But I know you have such a good heart. I don’t really understand what happened, but I know it couldn’t have been something you did on purpose.

“It wasn’t,” she said. “There are things I cannot tell you, for if I speak of them, he will know, and they are of a nature that our agreement forbids me from discussing. What I can tell you is there exists a great power in this world. And my dear Peter once tried to use this power to free me. But…”

It’s okay, Zach told her. You can tell me. I promise you I won’t shun you. I swear it!

He could feel an explosion of emotion coming from her: a storm so intense it felt like it was originating from himself. Due to the mental link, a few tears ran down Zach’s eyes even though he was not the one who was sad.

Peter, like Francis, came to rescue me far below Galterra’s surface where I had been trapped for so very long, she began. Yet my wretched, monstrous husband had laid traps for anyone who tried to undo the bindings keeping me from leaving. It happened so fast, Zach. Peter aimed this power at one of the bindings that kept me tethered to that horrid place, and through my husband’s cunning, it was reflected back at him. He died in an instant. It was so fast that I did not even realize I’d lost him until after he’d collapsed in my arms.

So I assessed this source of power. I searched within it for any way of returning him to life. I searched and I searched. And finally, I found a way. But by that point in time, his body had entered necrosis. His brain had become damaged. When he returned, he was not himself. Something within him had changed. He no longer loved me. He screamed at me and called me a usurper to his kingdom. He claimed the Elves had turned on him. He attacked me, Zach! I banished him from my underground prison and returned him to the surface. What followed is too painful for me to discuss. I’m sorry.”

Zach said nothing for a while. He was content to listen to the sound of the wind as it beat against his equipment. He felt its breeze run over him. He watched as the world sailed by him as he navigated his way farther and farther east. And during this time, he carefully considered each word she’d spoken to him. Then he recalled what Jascaila had told him. About his dad. About life. Finally, he spoke.

Sometimes, he said to her, projecting his voice softly and quoting what Jascaila had said to him. Sometimes, the most difficult but healthiest thing we can do is accept that some events—even horrible ones—happen that are completely outside of our control.

“But this was within my control,” she said. “If I had not asked him to find me that book, and I had not asked him to use it to free me, he would never have perished to one of Adamus’s traps.”

And who put that trap there? Zach asked her.

“He did…”

Exactly.

“It doesn’t matter. I am still ultimately responsible.”

Zach slowed, but only slightly, as he unfortunately had no choice but to dash through a medium-sized town. A great many people watched him as he raced by, and some even recognized him from his mount. By now his Kralzek’s Beast had become widely recognized as being associated with him. For this reason, the sight of it no longer inspired the fear it did the first time he’d used it in public. Now, it caused children to run out of their doors and into the early night, chanting his name while pedestrians all turned to face him. He waved, they waved back, and he continued on at a much, much slower pace until hopping over a fence that led to a flower-filled field and taking off once again.

Eilea, where are you right now?

“Why do you ask?”

Please, just tell me.

“I’m having tea with the queen.”

Is Jascaila still there?

“Yes.”

I want you to talk to her.

A sense of indignation popped up in the back of Zach’s mind. “That’s…that’s humiliating! I’m a deity that has roamed this world for thousands of years. She is a human who has existed for decades. The very thought that I could somehow require the counseling of a—”

Yeah, yeah, Zach said, interrupting her. Look, we’ve all got our own reasons to bullshit our way out of therapy. Tell yourself whatever you want, but you need to pull yourself together, and I know she can help you do it. You’ve got to put your ego aside and talk to her. Because I still need you. No matter how you feel about yourself, you still have so much value to me. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but you are a Great One, and there’s going to come a time in the near future when the whole world is going to know that, too. And I’m going to need you to be strong for me. Powerful. Your word is going to carry a lot of weight. I know it’s hard, Eilea, but you’ve got to get through this.

He could feel her tears, her pain, but also, her gratitude. “Should I talk to her now?”

Yes. Right now! Tell her Zach told you to do it. Also, tell her I don’t want her taking part in the battle, either. She’s the only person teaching me how to be okay. If she dies, I won’t be. Make sure she knows I said that, too.

“Okay, Zach. By the way, since I’ve told you where I am, I'd like to know where you are right now. It’s difficult for me to sense when my emotions are such a mess.”

I’m about to start heading south to Yorna.

“Please don’t do this.”

I have to.

“Over some human? Truly?”

Hey, I’m human! And to be honest, Vim’s only like a third human, anyway. He’s like sixty-six percent gnome. But the point stands.

“You’re going to hurt your beautiful Elvish princess if you do this, Zach. And thanks to my husband, I cannot order her to forgive you.”

I can’t even think about that right now. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t get Vim back to his people. Zach projected a laugh, but one that was dark and slightly bitter. Vim’s a pain in the ass, he’s a prick to everybody, and for the life of me, I can’t understand how ordinary, level-1 humans in Giant’s Fall love this guy so damn much. But they do, Eilea. They really do. Mr. Oren is right about what he told me. If Vim dies, it’s going to destabilize the region. Anyone born in Shadowfall Coast and Tomb of Fire is probably going to find an angry mob at their doorstep. Vim is the only one who can put out the fire before it turns into an inferno.

Zach felt such a strong sense of concern come over him that it almost impacted his state of mind and made him order his beast to a halt. Eilea was really worried about him. Like, really worried. But there was no possible way he could possibly put her mind at ease, and starting right now, he really needed to focus. So, he sent her his absolute strongest, most determined feeling of hope and reassurance, and he shut himself off from their mental contact. He knew she wouldn’t take it personally.

I need to quiet my mind…

Zach took small, measured breaths, and he relaxed himself. He entered a somewhat meditative state. And it was in this state that he remained as he rode along the countryside. Time passed, and the scenery remained mostly the same. Then more time passed. Minutes. Hours. Eventually, the sights became a bit more familiar. Large crop patches and other hints of farmland became more pronounced. Before long, he knew exactly where he was from sight alone. In fact, his Kralzek’s Beast was currently speeding up and down the same hills he’d biked on several weeks ago.

Here we go.

Zach gripped tightly onto his mount as it raced down a fairly steep hill. Then, leaning forward and wrapping his arm around its neck, he ordered it to come to a halt just as it flung itself into—and through—a gigantic, out-of-place boulder. And what followed was a sensation in the pit of his stomach: one of falling straight down. Seconds later, there came a splash, and all of the gunk and nastiness from the swampy, mossy water in the forest was rinsed off of him as he, along with his mount, submerged all the way down into the pool.

Even while underwater, he ordered his mount forward. He was glad to see it could swim. It launched itself up and out of the pool, landing on all fours with Zach still atop its back, and then it dashed forward, down a short flight of stairs, and halted once more upon reaching the incredibly narrow passage that Zach would typically need to shimmy through. He could even see the tiny 1xp spider crawling around inside.

20-minute cooldown if I dismiss it, he thought, frowning. Fuck it.

Zach threw his hand forward while mentally ordering his beast to blast ahead with all its strength—and it obeyed. Holding on tight, Zach braced himself, and then came the impact. There was a low, but noticeable crunch, followed by a constant, high-pitched scraping. Yet the forward momentum continued, even as, for the moment, all Zach could see was rock and darkness as his beast rammed its way through the passage.

It'll fix itself in the weekly dungeon reset, Zach thought, refusing to feel bad.

“Frrruughhh,” moaned a level-5 Skelly Grunt to his right.

“Frrruughhh,” moaned one from ahead.

Zach didn’t have time for either of these. So he lifted his right hand and made a flicking gesture, his finger causing the head to pop off the one to his right and then fly across the room with such speed that it practically disintegrated upon colliding with the wall.

+25xp

He didn’t even bother dealing with the one ahead of him. He just ignored it. Through sheer coincidence, it happened to run in front of his mount, and it was trampled for something like 20,000 damage. He wasn’t even sure, because he was barely looking.

+25xp

He may or may not have likewise trampled and killed several of those in the next room. Once again, he didn’t bother checking. He didn’t have time to care, and the xp he would’ve gained was negligible. As things stood, he’d left himself really close to his next level from his time spent much earlier today in Trials of Nolak. But the xp he could gain from a place like Yorna was so insignificant it barely mattered.

To Next Level

390,500/400,00

Moving along.

Navigating a bit slower as he made his way around a few obstacles, he soon found himself beginning the descent down the hellish stairway that’d almost killed him, Lienne, and Rian during their first outing here. Now, he rocketed his way down, moving so fast that the rapidly expanding stairs and distance between steps took on the illusion of some kind of winding, twisting, geometric shape. In less than a minute, he found himself again plummeting downwards and into the large drop after the last step. His mount landed with a gentle click.

Trotting ahead a few feet, Zach pushed open the door in front of him. Then he ordered his mount to charge through it. It was a very tight fit. But thankfully, it managed to squeeze its way through the door—and into Jimmy’s home planet of Earth.

Now, Zach was back in the creepiest fucking place he’d ever been in. It was a dark, misty dungeon that had ancient corpses trapped in cells. Typically, this floor required Zach to run away from a horde of Eeps, make his way down a very poorly lit cell block, smash his way through a cafeteria, and eventually end up in a parking garage where his favorite car, a Ford Mustang, awaited him.

This time, however, he had no patience for any of that shit, so he ordered his Kralzek’s Beast to immediately spin itself to the right, and then he had it blast forward, jump as high as it could, and crash through the window at the top of the cell ahead of him—even as about fifty Eeps aggroed him and started charging. A few even began pecking on his neck, but he didn’t feel it.

“Fuck off,” he said, making a swatting motion and killing like ten of them.

Ordering his mount to leap off the ledge of this two-story complex, it landed on a patch of dry, crunchy, and withered grass. Far up above him, a lightning storm raged amid a pure crimson sky, though no rain fell down on him. He decided to take just a few seconds to really stare off at this blood-colored horizon. He needed to really burn it into his head: that if they did not defeat the World Eater in five years, Galterra would look no different.

I can’t let that happen!

Leaving the Eeps—and the creepy dungeon—behind, Zach rode his way all the way along the New Jersey Turnpike, moving at a speed that was even faster than the car’s top speed, though not by all that much. Before long, he found himself back at a familiar door beneath an underpass. Like before, he bent forward and opened it.

“Oh no you don’t!” Angelica shouted at him. “You are not coming in here with that thing, Zach!”

“It’ll just be for a second.”

“No! No, no, no! Bad!”

“Angelica, it has a twenty-minute recast. I literally just need to come in and out.”

“I said nope!”

“Fuck it, I’m doing it anyway.”

Her name turned red.

“Okay, on second thought, I’ll just walk.”

He dismissed the beast even while astride it, causing him to fall down and land onto the pavement. Then he picked himself up, waltzed into Angelica’s, and closed the door behind him. It was crowded in here, and he received a very…strange and very noisy reception.

“There he is!” the adventurers shouted at him. “Zachys ‘Inn Room 8’ Calador!”

Uh oh.

A whole bunch of adventurers began to yell about something that Zach didn’t have time to deal with right now. So he immediately reopened the door, stepped out, and shut it before a single one of them could get anywhere near him. Whatever they were upset about, he’d deal with it later. It sounded, though, like Jimmy must’ve blabbered to them about his inn room. Most likely, a bunch of those adventurers had just come back from Trials of Nolak. But wait. Where were Jimmy and the others then?

Maybe Donovan’s leading a smaller raid into combat and the larger raid was just to the item shop.

That made the most sense. Either way, it didn’t matter because it was so fucking cold out here in Archian Prime despite it being a beautiful, sunny morning. He shivered.

“Hey!” a voice shouted to him. “Stop right there, Zach!”

Oh, no, what is it this time? he wondered. The last time he’d come here, he’d gotten involved in a vampire war.

Now, there was a cute little Elvish girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, and she was sitting behind a booth that, for some inexplicable reason, had been set up right here next to the metal door, which fell over with a plop. This meant him and Rian had been right. Having destroyed the little cottage that used to be here in a battle, it seemed a metal door would now appear and fall over whenever someone showed up.

At any rate, Zach folded his arms and shivered as he glanced curiously at this little girl, who was sitting next to what looked like her older sister, who looked to be around Zach’s age. She blushed and waved hi to him. The fact these two were on Archian prime meant that many of the Elves must have returned from the island, because not long ago, they were all there. Clearly, that was no longer the case. But why had they set up a booth here? For what possible purpose were they out here?

“Zach,” the little girl said, her voice powerful but incredibly cute for such a small thing.

“Uh, yeah?”

She held out her hand. He gave her a high-five. Then she glared at him. “The payment!” she growled.

“Payment? What payment?”

Her older sister, still blushing, said, “Are you passing through Archian Prime or here for raiding?”

“Uh, I’m just passing through.”

“Are you sure? Queen Vayra says to warn adventurers that they should go hunting in our forests just south of here and then, when they’re done, divert to Hamen’s Isle to get home because if they proceed, they’ll end up in a very bad and dangerous place.”

Zach sighed. “I know. That’s where I’m going, actually. So, yeah, just passing through.”

“Oh, okay. Well, if you're sure, then that’ll be 10,000 gold, please.”

“Wait what?” he shouted, spit flying out of his mouth as he shook his head in disbelief.

The girl flinched, but her little sister seemed to become annoyed. “Adventurers have to pay! Cough it up, pal.” She gestured towards a bucket that made Zach’s eyes water with greed, as it was absolutely filled to the brim with gold. Yorna was a fairly busy dungeon as far as he was aware, and it seemed these two little girls were making a fortune charging adventurers to come through here.

“This is a joke,” he said to her, kneeling down so he was level with her height. “It’s a joke, right?”

“Nooope! There’s a tax now.”

“A tax?”

“Yeah! But umm…don’t feel too bad. It’s a tax that goes to Den of Ziragoth.”

Zach scoffed at this. “I don’t fucking care where it goes. This is extortion!”

Angrily, with a scowl on his face that he didn’t bother to hide, he called forward Bank and Storage while draining his precious bank account of another 10k. The worst part was that all the money he even had to his name now was money Jimmy had loaned him. Gods, his finances were going in the complete wrong direction. This was bullshit! How dare Fylwen do this to him? Did her cruelty know no bounds?

“Here,” he said, forking over exactly 10k gold.

“That’s it?” the little Elvish girl said.

Confused and angry, Zach snorted at her. “What, do you want my soul, too?”

“Most adventurers give more when they come through.”

“How much more do you want?” he asked, moaning.

“50k”

Zach snorted even more loudly. “Yeah, that’s never happening. 50k gold to use a fucking pathway? Maybe when it’s lined with gold and adds four inches to my height and dick just by stepping on it. Sorry for my language. I know you’re only like ten. Here’s 5k more. Tell everyone it was 30.”

“Nope. I’m not lying.”

“Well I’m not giving more!” he shouted. Then, more softly, he asked, “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Zelina.”

Zach smiled at her. “You’re really cute, Zelina.” He patted the top of her head, and now she blushed as fiercely as her sister had. And with that, he got up, turned around, shivered a bit more from the cold, and stormed his way through the rest of this world-based dungeon floor, earning a paltry +450xp for getting through fast enough.

Scrambling through the door to B4, Zach at last felt the first few jitters in his belly as he realized he was getting closer and closer to Shadowfall Coast. Up until now, he’d been able to more-or-less push the worst of his fears out of his mind, as he’d been basking in the overall journey. But this was it, wasn’t it? There would be no going back. He’d actually gotten to the point now where he couldn’t go back even if he wanted to. There was nowhere to go from here except to B7.

I’m now at the point of no return, he thought, ignoring the little arrows being fired at him as he took the left path through a cavernous area and walked along a steep ledge, proceeding farther into the dungeon. The arrows tickled him and felt kind of cold. A few skeletons here or there tried to pester him, but he just picked them up by their shoulder bones and threw them off to his right, into a gigantic pit that looked hundreds of feet deep. The others he just ran straight through, their bodies exploding on impact, or he otherwise avoided them.

In no time at all, he found himself in B5. He ignored Moldark and whatever quest he was giving, ran down the next set of stairs, and entered B6: the several-mile-long tunnel. The last time Zach was here, he’d been fleeing from Fylwen with Rian, Lienne, Olivir, and Kolona. They’d absolutely wrecked the place. Now, however, it looked back to perfect form.

And here come more jitters, he thought, his knees suddenly feeling a bit weaker. I’m scared. And it’s okay for me to admit that. Just like Jascaila said.

Somehow, acknowledging the way he felt made it easier for him to cope with it. And with a quickness that actually felt too quick, he zipped through this floor just like he’d done the others before it. He then descended down several flights of stairs until reaching the bottom and coming face-to-face with one final door. And it was here that his nerves really took hold of him.

“Gods, I just don’t want to do this,” he said.

He knew this was going to be bad. How could it not be? This was going to be awful. It was going to be so, so terrible. But there was still at least a chance: a tiny, miniscule chance that maybe he could find some possible way of just slipping in and out unnoticed and rescuing Vim without having to harm a single person.

As Zach placed his hands on the push-bar door that led out into the beach on Shadowfall Coast, he felt his mood sink. Slowly, he opened it, seeing pure darkness on the other side of it. He didn’t want to do this. But he knew in his heart that he had no choice. If he allowed Vim to be executed tomorrow morning, he would end up hating himself. He would see society break down in Giant’s Fall and Spider’s Eye Oasis. He would see an untold amount of pain and suffering. He would wonder why he failed to act.

But this has to be the last thing, he told himself. I’m an adventurer. This…this isn’t who I am!

Drawing a deep breath, he pushed the door open the rest of the way, and he stepped out onto the soft sand of the beach, emerging from what he knew would be a portable bathroom behind him. The air was different from the last time he was here. He could smell death on it: an acrid smell that he took for the smoke of so many destroyed buildings. It would probably be a long time before that smell fully cleared. Fortunately, the breeze coming off the ocean helped mitigate it somewhat.

Here I am again, he thought. Now, where do I go to look for—

Zach gasped, and so too did two young men only slightly older than himself, who stood across from him as though waiting there just in the event someone came through the dungeon portal. Their eyes both widened in alarm, and so did his. They were both armored, carried longswords, and on their breastplates was the insignia of the Guild of Gentlemen.

They met his eyes. He met theirs. A brief moment lasting no longer than two or three seconds transpired, during which a surreal quiet settled upon all three of them. Then their mouths began to move, and so did his, yet even still, no words were spoken. Their eyes seemed to glimmer with recognition, and then they widened even more. A mixture of fear, pain, and hate entered into both of their pupils. Before Zach could even understand what was happening, they’d drawn their swords, and so had he.

The one to his left struck out recklessly, swinging his blade straight down on top of Zach. The one on his right fumbled, seemingly unable to get his blade out of his scabbard, likely due to nerves. Zach stepped forward and delivered a rising slash that struck the sword wielded by the man to his left, which caused his entire weapon to fly out of his hands. And then, with a sense of urgency, Zach whipped his arms from left to right, causing the man to cry out in pain as Zach’s blade cut right through his armor, causing his guts to spill out of his body, staining the sand red.

The other man, who continued to fumble with his weapon, began to back away. Zach, breathing heavily, lurched forward and sliced him as fast as he could across the throat just as he’d opened his mouth to scream. Instead of words, a gurgling sound escaped his lips as he clutched at his wound and fell to his knees. Then both men fell forward and face down onto the sand, and neither of them moved again.

Be calm, he told himself. Save Vim. Focus on that. Think of nothing else.

Zach, with his hood drawn, marched farther into the night as blood continued to pour out of two fresh corpses.