The next morning I picked nervously at my food, watching as Wind’s group left on their scouting mission and the rest of the expedition prepared for a day in the ruins. Autumn left with her finished bow to practice with one of the other warriors while my sister and Karl broke off to their own training. Autumn never asked me about my plans, and I didn’t offer them. Fear and guilt still followed my paws back to the tent I shared with Badger and Karl.

Inside I strapped my daggers to my waist before grabbing a small cloth sack filled with four completed practice slabs and filled quartz pebbles. Slabs I really hoped would work.

Emerging from the tent I glanced around to see Autumn at the far side of the camp talking with one of the sek’heli guards. Perfect. Keeping my gait casual, I strode out of the camp and down the ramp, fighting every urge in my body to look around for someone following me. If you acted like you belonged, no one would question it. Then I reached the forest floor, strode past the woodcutters, and disappeared from view beneath the thick canopy of green leaves.

I breathed a sigh of relief that twisted back into a giddy tension in my limbs. I was actually doing this.

The shadow of the expedition’s plateau loomed above me through the canopy, but my goal lay in one of the smaller plateaus east of where I walked. Wind told us it was the nest of the mountain cabra.

The faintest outline of my goal peered down through the trees, looming larger and larger with every step I took until its sheer rock walls rose before me. Thousands of rectangular stone blocks littered the base having fallen down from the ruins above. I headed to an ancient stone path wide enough for a car carved into the cliff face. The floor was polished smooth and the remains of a stone banister dissuaded would-be climbers from toppling over the edge to the forest below. Regular spaced carvings of ‘heli and other creatures spread across the inner wall of the passage, separated by regular recesses where familiar empty sconces once lit the way.

“River.”

My plan and soul crumpled at the sound of my name. I felt my ears press back against my skull as I turned around to see Autumn walking towards me through the trees with her daggers at her waist and her new bow looped over one shoulder. I expected anger, but instead found only disappointment. I saw it in her eyes, in the way that her tail twitched behind her, in the way that her ears flicked back, and in the frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“What are you doing, River?” She demanded.

“Did anyone follow you here?” I asked, ignoring her question.

Autumn hesitated for a moment. “No. I don’t think so. I told them I was going to practice some things on my own. I don’t think they’ll worry for a while.”

I nodded, and then turned to keep walking up the slope.

“River, stop.” Autumn commanded.

I didn’t stop.

“River, this is stupid.” She continued.

“I know. You told me already.” I sighed.

“Even if the cabra doesn't have any abilities, a beast ten levels higher than you will have over twice the attributes!”

“I know.”

“Even if you manage to kill one of these… thing they travel in groups. You couldn’t kill three or five.”

“I know!” I took a deep breath. My paws continuing up the ramp step by step.

“River…”

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“Autumn, I have to do this.” I said. “It’s the only way I know.”

“Is a few attribute points really worth risking your life over?” She asked.

“It’s not about that!” I said. “I can’t live my life falling further and further behind. I can’t live my life knowing that I’m not good enough.”

“Not good enough for what?”

“Not good enough for you!”

There, I said it. I bit my lip, expecting Autumn’s angry and logical response to my irrational self. Instead my best friend said nothing. I heard her pace quicken, but instead of stopping me, she fell into pace at my side. I glanced over to see a conflicted expression on her face.

Unsure of what else to say, I just kept walking up the long spiral path to the summit. We rose above the treetops in full view of the ruins and the lookouts at the camp, but somehow I doubted they’d spot us this far away. Seconds later we disappeared around the far side where the ramp curled up to meet a stone wall atop the plateau. Unlike the one at the palace, this wall remained in better condition. Built not of the familiar gray but of green stone, the wall extended near unbroken around the top of the plateau. A beautiful stone arch rose above the roadway with three Helise words carved into the peak.

Knowledge. Resilience. Prosperity.

Beyond the arch the remains of a once glorious structure lay crumbled in a heap of stone. I could only guess as to its function.

I paused at the top beneath the arch, my eyes sweeping over the ruins to linger on several burrows dug into the earth surrounding the rubble. The mountain cabra would be there, hiding beneath the earth in their dens until the afternoon sun lured them out for food. From the position of the sun high above, I still had time and safety to prepare. I stepped onto the earth, warm and soft beneath the morning sun.

Autumn grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I swallowed, knowing she could stop me if she wanted.

“I have to do it.” I said, my voice hardly above a whisper. “I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t ‘have to do it’,” Autumn sighed. “but you get stubborn about the worst things.”

“You don’t have to be here.” I said, but I felt her grip tighten.

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you die.” Autumn took a deep breath. “Of course I’m joining you.”

“You’re joining me after all that whining about how stupid this is?” I snarled, annoyed now.

“So you suddenly get to be a hypocrite and tell me not to join you?” Autumn shot back. “Yeah, no. Not going to happen.”

“No? Do you think I can’t do it? Did you think I didn’t prepare? Besides, I’m the one who needs the levels, not you!” I spat, spinning around so that we faced each other.

“I don’t give a shit about your levels or attribute points!” Autumn said, her yellow eyes boring into my own.

“Then why?” I asked, my voice lowering. “Why come all the way out here to stop me?”

“Are you a complete idiot? Did you leave any semblance of logic back in your room on earth? What good is a divine blessing, fancy path, or a few levels if I have to spend that life alone? Did you ever once stop to think about how I might feel if you died?”

I had no words to respond to that. I never did think, did I? Did I really believe that the very real chance of my death and the pain the others might feel was a risk worth the levels?

“Autumn… I…”

Autumn pulled me into a hug before I could finish. I hugged her back.

“Autumn, I’m sorry.” I whispered. I could feel the nervous tension in her arms just as I breathed in her rich scent. Electricity brushed through my senses. For a moment, there was only her.

“I refuse to explore this world without you, River.” she rumbled

“You won’t.”

“I know.” She breathed, her nose nuzzling against my own.

I nuzzled back. Heat flushed beneath my skin.

My hands drifted along her back, fumbling at the cloth that bound Autumn’s chest just as she slipped my own vest from my shoulders. My heart thundered in my chest

We sank down

Down

Down

To the soft ground.

**********

I basked in the warm sun atop the plateau, my meager clothing scattered in the grass around me. Autumn purred at my side as only a sek’heli could do. I felt her shift, pulling my arm towards her with strength that far exceeded my own. I turned to look at her only for a stray tongue to lick the end of my nose.

I returned the favor before sending my gaze up at the sky. The sun rose far higher than when we left the camp several hours before. A warm feeling I couldn’t quite describe flowed through my veins.

“Autumn.” I said. “The camp will be looking for us. We should go.”

Autumn blinked and then followed my gaze up into the sky.

“Yeah.” She said, sitting upright. “We should, but first we have a carnivorous goat to kill.”

I blinked at her in surprise. “We do?”

“If we’re going to be together, I’m not going to spend the rest of my life listening to you whine about your path and how low your level is.” Autumn snorted, staring down at me with her brown eyes.

She really was beautiful.

“Are you sure?” I asked, a silly grin forming on my face. “We already decided it was a stupid thing to do and that we could really die.”

“We also determined that you were a stubborn idiot.” Autumn retorted. “Where did that River go?”

“Never left!” I said. My smile faltered. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure.” She said, letting go of my arm.

I sat up then, glancing from my discarded clothes to the dens speckled around the ruins. I froze as I saw the brown head and swept-back horns of a mountain cabra pop out of its burrow.

Mountain Cabra: Level 18.

“Um Autumn. I don’t think we need to go looking for it.”

It turned to glare at us with hateful eyes, its shark-like teeth bared in vicious snarl. Then, with an unearthly shriek, the creature crawled out of its hole and charged across the ruin.