The East Gate was closed for the night when they hove to before it. This was a new one for Jack. He’d never seen it closed before. Of course, he’d never tried gaining entry in the middle of the night before, either.

“There’s a cord,” Chi told informed him, pointing.

Jack dismounted and walked up to the wall beside the gate. There was indeed a cord, running up through a loop and disappearing through a small hole in the wall above. Shrugging, he gave it a yank. He was rewarded with a bell’s clang, so he hauled on it again. In for a penny, right?

A voice came down from atop the wall, “town’s closed for the night!” it announced. “Come back in the morning!”

Jack looked around. There wasn’t even a caravan park out here. Just the road and tall grass. “I’m Jackson Grenell, a member of the Mokkelton Adventurer’s Guild,” he called back up. “And I’m not sleeping out here in the weeds because you don’t want to climb some stairs! Open up!

“Chi,” he said more softly as the voice above engaged in some cursing. “Maybe little blonde Chi might cause less of a stir at this point.”

She gave him the eye. “They’ve already seen me, babe,” she told him. “I think that cat’s out of the bag.”

“They also saw you leave,” he pointed out. “Maybe let’s give the citizens some time to get to know you before you start flaunting it, huh?”

“Oh, all right,” she pouted. “Because you asked nice.” She closed her eyes and her body began to flow. Less than a minute later, Chi the adventurer stood before him, rummaging through her bag for her purple adventurer’s coat.

The gate issued a series of thumps and clacks as the guard inside first opened a peep hole, and then the postern. Jack hurriedly closed his eyes as a torch was thrust through the half opened door. What, had the lamp oil budget run out?

The torch was raised and Jack could see the guard glaring at them from beneath the rim of his steel kettle. His glare was venomous, his eyes narrow. “Lemme see yer stones,” he growled.

Jack handed over his guild stone. Chi just shrugged and lifted her hands to her sides.

“She hasn’t picked hers up yet,” Jack informed the surly guard. “Here’s a silver real for her pass.”

The guard’s eyes bounced between Chi and the silver coin several times. It was twice the normal fee for a single traveler on foot. And it was the middle of the night, with nobody looking. After a few circuits of his attention, he snatched at the coin, ignoring Jack’s guild stone. “Alright,” he grumbled. “Get on in here so’s I can lock the door.”

“You must be rolling in it to give money away so cavalierly,” Chi teased as they walked arm in arm down the empty street.

“Just didn’t want to have to stand out there answering questions until dawn,” he countered. “Particularly with a townie who isn’t even an official guard. I’m tired. I just want to go to bed.”

“I thought you said you were tired,” she gave him a hip bump and a squeeze.

He looked down on her in consternation for a moment before hauling her around and grabbing hold to pull her up for a kiss. “To sleep,” he whispered directly into her mouth.

“Oh, really?” she wondered, her arms around his neck, her legs wrapped around behind him, ankles crossed.

“Really,” he repeated, prying her legs from around his waist.

The guild hall was coming into view, and Jack turned to Ebon, who’d been following along behind them on his own. “You want to stay outside or go back into the gem?” Jack asked. Then he tried again, remembering that they’d no way of communicating complicated concepts yet. “Stamp your hoof,” he decided. “Once for staying outside, twice if you want me to send you back into the gem.”

Ebon blew through his nose and stamped his hoof once. Jack nodded and kept going past the hall’s main entrance and around back to the stable.

He disengaged from Chi once they got there, unsaddling the spirit horse and tending him. He’d been working hard, so Jack gave him a good brushing before leading him into an empty stall and fetching a bucket of sweet grain. “See?” he laughed as he poured the grain into the stall’s feed trough. “I didn’t forget.”

He left the spirit to it and motioned for Chi to follow as he headed for the hall’s back door. They were arm in arm again as they approached, only for Jack to stumble as Chi brought up short just shy of the wall.

“What?” he wondered, looking back.

“That stupid trap,” she frowned. “I’m certain Jonkins has turned it back on. I’m less certain a certain deity has proofed me against it. Be a dear and go turn it off before I try going through the door?”

“Probably a good idea,” Jack nodded. “We can figure out whether it’s been fixed in the morning.”

The main hall was dark, but, by this time, Jack knew his way around. He found the switch for the demon trap and flipped it. “Okay,” he called just loud enough for Chi to hear. “It’s off.”

Chi appeared, moving hesitantly. He noted she’d removed her coat before coming through. She must really love that coat, he thought. To be so careful with it.

“You want something to drink before we turn in?” he wondered.

She was midway through her affirmative nod when Bob came bouncing down the stairs. “Well,” the corgi observed dryly, “you said sundown, and the sun is most definitely down, I suppose. How’d you get though the main gate?”

“Yelling and bribery,” Jack sighed desultorily. “I’d ask how you knew we were back, but with that nose, It’d be a dumb question. I suppose you want—”

“Like you need to ask,” Bob’s tongue lolled, observing Chi from the sides of his eyes.

“I’d ask who your new dolly was,” he remarked, “but she still smells the same.

“I didn’t know your people could do that,” he addressed her directly.

“Not all of us can,” Chi shrugged. “That is to say, not all of the people from my world could, when there was a my world. There were many types of demons living there before it was destroyed. We devils were only one subclass.

“So devils can morph,” Bob mused. “You suppose our native Mundian devils can as well?”

Chi shrugged. “I’ve never been here before,” she said. “The only knowledge I have of Mund is what I’ve gathered since being yanked through the portal. It’s not exactly a typical world,” she frowned. “So I couldn’t say. I’m not exactly a walking encyclopedia, only a researcher, and I’ve never met one of your Mundian devils.”

Bob grunted and turned to the bowl of ale Jack had placed before him. If he had any comment concerning Chi’s statement, he kept it to himself.

After a few minutes, Chi stretched languorously and yawned. “I think I’m going to bed,” she sighed, giving Bob an oblique look. “Where’s our room?”

“Second floor,” Jack said. “Turn left at the top of the stairs, second door on the right. It’s not locked.”

She blew him a kiss and headed for the stairs

“So, you’re cohabitating now?” Bob wondered, an edge to his voice. “Kind of quick, isn’t it?”

Jack shrugged and leaned against the bar. “Hardly. I’ve known her for nearly two years. And we were damn’ near already cohabitating when her overseer yoinked her out of my hotel room back on earth.” He took a swallow of his ale, before continuing. “This is just us getting back on track.”

Bob stared at him as though he were going to say something, but Jack didn’t give him the chance. He downed the last of his ale and rinsed the mug with water from a covered bucket situated behind the bar.

“And, with that,” he stretched his arms, “I’m off to bed myself.”

He was halfway to the stairs before Bob muttered something. Jack didn’t acknowledge him, but it had sounded to him as though the words, ‘don’t strain yourself,’ had drifted from the orange pest’s yap.

Chi was naked again, and a devil again, but was sound asleep. He got undressed and slid beneath the covers, nudging her far enough to make room for himself. He smiled when the leg and arm draped him, and the wing, checking to see if he’d wakened her. Nope. Purely subconscious. He wrapped an arm around her and brought her close, closing his eyes and drifting off almost immediately.

Jonkins was stretching and scratching when he wandered out from his quarters behind the main hall. The first thing he spotted was the corgi sleeping before the doorway. He stopped to wonder what that was about before shrugging and heading for the kitchen to start a fire. He needed coffee before he could properly wonder about anything.

Jonkins’ eyes went wide when Jack and Chi descended the stairs together early the next morning. “Now what?” he demanded. “Another one?”

That was right, Jack thought, smiling wide. Jonkins hadn’t ever seen Chi in this form. “What can I say?” he grinned. “Mund is that kind of place, I suppose. Can’t walk twenty feet without tripping over a beautiful woman!” he leaned over and kissed Chi enthusiastically.

“You think I’m beautiful?” Chi gushed. “Why, I’m just a poor li’l ol’ country gal visiting the big city, and here, such a great hero—”

“Knock it off, you two,” Jonkins barked. “You forgot to change your voice, demon.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Chi pantomimed a frown and snapped her fingers. “Darn,” she said in a stage whisper. “Almost had him!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jonkins scowled. “That your weird horse in the stable?”

“Rosaluna’s,” Jack informed him. “And he’s not quite a horse.”

“And why would he be?” Jonkins heaved a great, shuddering breath. “Why would anything be what it appears these days?”

“The girls around?” Jack wondered.

Jonkins blinked. “Why?”

“I’d like to introduce them to Chi so we can forego the whole disguise thing, at least when we’re in here. And I’d rather not frighten the girls needlessly.”

“Ah,” the guildmaster nodded. “That, at least, makes sense. No, they’re off at Tiglund’s parents’ farm for the day. Won’t be back until near dark. And the other youngsters are out on a hunt with Cable, so it’s probably safe to drop the act for now.”

He eyed Chi’s transformation with great intent, eyes hard. Chi took note.

“No,” she informed him once she’d resumed her natural form and shook herself. “Like I told Bob last night, I don’t know if Mundian devils can morph to human form.”

Jonkins grunted, much as Bob had last night. “So, I suppose you’ll be wanting your guild stone?” he inquired. “You ran off so quick last time you didn’t bother even glancing at the field in the window, let alone imprint a stone.”

She frowned and took a breath to light into him, but Jack held up a hand. “It was an emergency,” he told the guild master sternly. “Have you heard from any of the others who went out to Rosaluna’s yet?”

“All manner of things,” Jonkins crossed his arms. “Each of them more preposterous than the last.”

“Then you know,” Jack told him. “And you’ll realize why you don’t want that conversation just at this moment.”

Jonkins nodded reluctantly. “You really have a sister?” he asked seriously. “And she’s here, somehow?”

“And gravely injured,” Chi’s face was hard. “She very nearly died.”

Jonkins heaved another great breath and nodded again. “Sorry, then,” he said in a more even tone. “I don’t suppose anything’s been lost for the wait. You wanna do it now?”

“How about after breakfast?” Jack interposed.

“That’ll do it,” Jonkins held out his hand, holding a towel.

Chi exchanged the towel for her new guild stone, now a deep, almost liquid ruby red. Jonkins eyed it critically, one eyebrow going up, the other eye squinting. He couldn’t remember seeing quite this color manifest ever before. Of course, he’d never issued a stone to a demon before either, so maybe the two were connected.

“Did you get a look at the window the other day?” Jack wondered as he was examining Chi’s token.

“Nah,” he mumbled. “Too much going on.”

With a last look at the demon, he turned to the machine and slotted in her stone. Then he slumped back against the bar. “Oh, come on, now!” he blurted. “What in the nine nether—”

He cast a glare over his shoulder at Chi, and snapped his head back to the field above the machine. “Another three class?” he demanded hotly. “And two more damned mystery classes into the bargain.

“In fact, he growled, scrubbing a hand across his forehead like he was trying to wipe away what he’d seen. “The only class I DO recognize is goddamned impossible!”

He turned fully, bracing himself against the bar. “Priestess of Jehsha?” he demanded. “A goddamned demon?”

Chi didn’t understand, or like it, any more than Jonkins did. Just who did that jumped up wannabe frat boy think he was, making her his priestess? The nerve! Well, she wouldn’t do it! That’d show him! After what he’d pulled with the release spell? No! He could just... “Ooh!” she balled her fists and slammed them down on the bar hard enough to leave divots. “I will NOT!” she shouted at the ceiling. “You hear me, Jehsha! Find yourself another girl! I’d rather kiss a diarrhetic donkey’s behind than be your priestess!”

Jonkins had stopped his own raging to stare at her, mouth half open. What? But she was still going, growing more inventive with her invective as she went. She was well into the blasphemous now, and some of what was coming out of her mouth seemed, while colorful, impossible, even for a god to accomplish.

“Everybody calm down!” Jack shouted into the cacophony. “Iktchi-Chi!”

Her head spun around to pin him, orange-red lava eyes blazing. But he was immune. “We don’t pick our classes!” he yelled into her rage. “We are our classes! Jehsha didn’t make you his priestess, you did!”

“Bullshit!” she shot back. “I was there! I looked into his eyes. This is just the sort of thing he’d do, that—”

Jack moved in and took her in his arms, squeezing tight as she raged. She was getting hot again. He made a mental note to invest in a scroll to learn some sort of cooling spell. “You’re going to set fire to the floorboards if you aren’t careful,” he said into her ear without loosening his grip.

She gasped and froze in place. He felt her begin to breathe in slow, deep, measured breaths, and felt her skin begin to cool. Good thing, too. His shirt was beginning to char.

It took several minutes for her to completely regain herself, and Jack occupied the time swapping mana for the healing of his burning skin.

Jonkins watched them, himself regaining some calm. From the corner of an eye, he caught Bob observing from halfway up the staircase. Not taking part in the festivities, it would seem, merely taking notes.

Once Chi had regained both calm and a normal body temperature, she turned back to the field displaying her status. While the priestess class had caught her immediate attention, it wasn’t her primary class. That was even more troubling. “Uhm, Mister Jonkins?” she asked, voice still a bit gravelly.

“Yes, Priestess?” he answered.

She spared him a scowl, but he appeared genuine. He, at least, was willing to accept the class and give it its due respect. “You don’t have to call me that,” she told him. “In fact, I’d rather you didn’t. You can have, what do they call it? Dispensation. To pretend that I’m still just a low down dirty demon.”

He frowned. “That’s going to be a rough go, I’m afraid,” he admitted. “I’m not going to give in to the temptation to gainsay Jehsha again. Not after what happened with that one,” he indicated Jack.

“Still,” she held herself tight. “Why does my primary class just say, Hero?”

“Beats me,” he shrugged.

“I beg your pardon?” she was taken aback.

He shrugged again. “I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he told her. “Never. I’ve never encountered it in any of the journals, or the tales, or the histories. Every hero I’ve ever heard of in the history of Mund has had some other class assigned to him that wasn’t... well, hero. Hero is a thing you are, not a class.”

“But,” she said, turning half to Jack. “You just said that a class was what you are. Didn’t you?”

“Not the same,” Jonkins insisted. “Or, it isn’t supposed to be. A class is a vocation. Hero is a state of being. This,” he indicated the field. “Doesn’t look like either. It doesn’t make any damned sense. Nothing makes any damned sense.

“It doesn’t even read like a class,” he complained. “It reads more like a questline. Look, up there on the right. That’s a countdown timer, or I’m a goblin. Ninety-nine years, three hundred-sixty-one days, eleven hours, thirty-three minutes, and change. And ticking.

“And there, up on the left. That’s definitely a fetch counter. Two hundred-seventy-six of ten thousand.”

He turned back to her. “I have absolutely no idea what any of that means.”

Back to the field. Then back to the demon. “Ten percent bonus to All experience,” he breathed. “How does that even work? I’ve never seen an unconditional bonus before. Never even heard of one. It’s freaking terrifying.

“And that next one? Gift of Charity? What even is that?” he leaned in to stab a finger into the trait tab and read the description that cascaded down. When he looked back, his face was white. “So long as the aura of charity surrounds you, you’ll be gaining an additional three percent experience. Just by helping people. Hell, not even people. Pick a baby bird up off the ground and put it back in the nest? Bang! Three percent!

“Alright, it only lasts a couple of hours, but, what in the everlasting nether realms kind of trait is that?”

There were more, both traits and skills, all seeming to aim for reproducing the grandeur of the great heroes of old.

“Jehsha has some plan for you, Pr—” Jonkins turned his head to regard her from the corner of an eye. “Hero.” he corrected. “And would seem intent on giving you the tools to accomplish it.”

“This last one, or, I suppose your secondary,” he shook his head. “Is another class I’ve never heard of. Red Mage.” he paused to read through the traits and skills. “Seems to be some sort of elementalist, with a specialization in fire, but with abnormally high affinities for all the others as well.

“This dark cloud here,” he waved a listless hand across the field. “I’d assume are your known spells. At any rate, that’s where they’d normally be. I’ve never seen this kind of representation before, though.” He turned to give her his full regard. “Just how many spells do you know? He asked.”

“Something over four thousand,” she responded quietly, a little awed in her own right.

“Well,” he sighed. “That would account for it, alright.