Nick was great at standing guard. Rumpke was great at annoying Nick. As they stood side by side, the question became, who was better at what? Was Nick better at standing guard? Or was Rumpke better at annoying Nick? As trees shaded them from the midday sun, it was a battle of wills. Nick remained determined to demonstrate his superior guarding. Rumpke wanted nothing more than to distract Nick…if even for a second.

So Nick stood to the right of the dungeon portal. He felt determined not to let anyone enter without an adventurer’s pass. He’d also deny entry to the triplets…even with their passes. It wouldn’t be safe to let them go in. They were still children. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened to them.

Standing guard is a serious artform that requires focus and an understanding of technique. When Nick stood guard, he couldn’t talk. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t smile. He couldn’t even feint. It would be a violation of his guard protocols. Though, every ten minutes, rules allowed him to march. By marching, it helped him stretch his muscles and legs.

He also had an ability in his City Guard Skill Tree called Stand Guard. When activated, it prevented his muscles or feet from tiring. So long as he didn’t move, the skill remained active. If it remained active, he didn’t have to worry about sore feet.

While he stood, he used the periphery of his vision on each side to scan for movement in the forest. As he watched, he activated the skill Search for Movement. It was an ability that would use neon lights to leave trails behind any movements. He could activate the skill once every five minutes, and it only lasted for thirty seconds. This left him four and a half minutes without the skill between thirty-second bursts with it.

In some cities, guard protocols stipulated that the guards be more reserved with their skill usage. In those areas, guards activated skills when they thought they saw something. Elsewise, they didn’t use it. Nick disagreed with that standard. This was because using the ability sped up the leveling of his guarding skill. Also, as it leveled, he earned skill points. While using those skill points, he had unlocked Strong Searching for Movement.

Strong Searching for Movement allowed him to activate the skill every six minutes, and it lasted for forty-five seconds. When he stacked the abilities, he had almost double the time to scan with the ability. It made him twice as effective a guard. And being the most effective guard was the Nick Warman way. Someday he dreamed of writing his own guard protocols. He could travel the world and teach them to guards at castles. He could teach them to children who wanted to become guards.

All the while, Nick tried to ignore Rumpke.

Rumpke stood left of the dungeon portal. While Nick watched the forest like an angry statue, Rumpke watched Nick. “You might get stuck standing like that…if you stay that way for too long.” When Nick didn’t answer, Rumpke continued. “It’s okay to relax, too. There’s no immediate threat.” Nick still didn’t answer, and Rumpke sighed one time.

Then Rumpke turned his eyes to the forest. “When will those adventure society guards get here?” If on time, they would arrive any second. Then it would be up to Nick to find those adventurers housing in Greenlake. Rumpke had offered the adventurers a space in the cave, but Nick had rejected the idea outright.

Rumpke wasn’t hurt or offended by the rejection. He and Nick had a history of distrust, so it would take time to mend their relationship.

Rumpke turned his attention back to Nick. “Do you think that the Adventurer’s Guild will send human guards? What if they send Racoon guards?” When Nick didn’t answer, Rumpke continued. “Then they could stay in our cave. I’d give them their own room.” Nick remained motionless without making a sound. “While they were there, I could plan evil things with them. Finally, I could take over Greenlake.”

Rumpke looked up at Nick and then back to the forest. Nick offered no reaction; he didn’t even grumble. Though, his mustache looked angrier. Rumpke wondered if its corners had turned upward or if it was his imagination. Angry mustache, Rumpke thought. I’ll take that as a win.

Nick could feel the corners of his mustache turning upward. This frustrated him. He didn’t want to give Rumpke any reaction…not even an involuntary one like an angry mustache. Even so, he doubted Rumpke had noticed his angry mustache. He hoped… No… He prayed that Rumpke hadn’t seen his angry mustache.

“Your mustache is angry,” Rumpke said. “I know you didn’t want me to notice, but I did. That means I win, you know. I got a reaction.”

Nick took a deep breath. Rumpke guessed it was to keep calm. “Now you’re taking deep breaths. That counts as a reaction, too.” Rumpke knew Nick was about to lose it. All Rumpke had to do was push a little more. “For a city guard, you sure are tense. You should learn to relax, my friend.”

“There’s movement in the forest.” Nick squinted his eyes together and leaned forward to get a closer look. It looks like someone is headed this way. Be on guard.”

“You know,” Rumpke stepped over to Nick and patted his shoulder once. “I saw your angry mustache. You don’t have to pretend there’s movement in the forest to hide that I was getting to you.”

“Ggrrrr…”

“And there’s no need to grumble at me,” Rumpke said.

“Sir,” one of Rumpke’s Trash Pandas broke through the tree line. “We’ve spotted a soul eater in the forest. It’s moving toward Greenlake. We tried to keep it distracted with guerilla tactics, but it’s regenerating faster than we can damage it. We need your help.”

“I told you there was movement,” Nick said, keeping a neutral expression. Though, his mustache looked smug. It had an I told you so air to it.

What a pretentious mustache, Rumpke thought.

“We should go help them,” Nick said. “The portal should be fine. It’s not like someone can enter it without an Adventurer’s Pass, anyway.”

“Agreed,” Rumpke said. Issues with the portal aside, Rumpke was the highest-level person in the area. As such, he felt a keen responsibility to protect his Trash Pandas from any damage the soul eater could cause. “Let’s go deal with the soul eater.”

* * *

“I don’t think they saw a soul eater. I do think this is part of a plan you came up with to make me abandon my post.” Nick complained.

After half an hour of searching, Rumpke, Nick, and the rest of the Trash Pandas couldn’t find any trace of a soul eater. “We both know how soul eaters can phase in and out of existence. It isn’t the Trash Panda’s fault that this one phased out. Even so, we should keep searching. It’s bound to show up again.”

“You keep searching,” Nick said. “I’ll head back to the portal. If the soul eater is real, and it turns back up, you can send someone for me.”

“It is real, and it will turn back up,” Rumpke assured. “Don’t you worry about that. But you are correct. We’ve left the portal unguarded for long enough. You should make your way back there.”

* * *

In video games, Zoey never enjoyed grinding for experience or drops. Grinding felt like a waste of time. To save time in single-player games, she’d use Game Genie, a Game Shark, Code Action Replay, or Save Pro Wizard. Those tools let her skip levels, cap her experience, and maximize her money. Though, she avoided doing that in multi-player games. It wouldn’t be fair to the other players. She wondered if that was the purpose of the laws of the moderators. Did the moderators want to make leveling up fair for everyone? She hoped that was the case.

In Round, Zoey enjoyed farming for tomatoes. It let her wander through a beautiful, thick, green forest. She always enjoyed hiking. Also, whenever she found a nightshade terror, she got to practice with her fork and shield. Since Pete had begun grinding his slapping skill by slapping her shield, her peel skill had been a beneficiary. It had gone up by hundreds of points.

As soon as she found a nightshade terror, she’d be able to feel how those skill points carried over to reality. Was Round reality? She wondered. Sometimes it felt like a complicated 3-D video game. She assumed that the surreal nature of Round was what had allowed her to come to terms with being a vampire. Back on Earth, the transformation would have been a traumatic experience. On Round, it felt like a game.

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Another thing that helped her come to terms with being a vampire was how she could travel in the sunlight. At the time, she found herself exposed to the sun. Beams of it worked their way through the branch and found her skin, warming it where they touched. Of course, that was possible because she wore a ring called the Ring of the Daywalker. She’d found the ring at Wanda’s Windmill of Wonderous Widgets and Wild Wafler. If not for the ring, the sun would have harmed her.

“AAAggghhh!” A high-pitched shriek sounded to her left, accompanied by a night-shade terror. The creature leaped from the bushes at head height.

Using her shield, she intercepted it midflight. As it bounced and began to fall, she swung the point of her fork into the thing. In less than a second, its hit points had dropped to zero, and it disintegrated in a flash of light. She received prompt notifications. They indicated three tomatoes had dropped, and she’d earned a nominal amount of experience.

During the encounter, she hadn’t noticed a considerable difference in her shield usage. She guessed that was due to the nightshade terrors being such a low level. With such a gap, she wouldn’t see the difference. As easy and mindless a task as tomato farming had become, it was necessary.

Though, it would be more entertaining with Pete. He had planned to join her, but he hadn’t yet. He got distracted by something. She convinced herself. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.

On the other side of her, bushes rustled. She shifted to face the sound, raising her shield and bracing to block.

Sound rumbled in another bush, and she spun to face it. Her left arm held her shield ready to block. Her right hand held her fork, prepared to counter. Though, it wasn’t a nightshade terror which emerged from the bush. Instead, Hope’s tiny, pixie head poked out. Her eyes squinted, and she wrinkled her forehead as she glanced left and right. Then she looked straight at Zoey. As she saw Zoey, her expression softened. Then she emerged from the bush in full. With a smile forming, she leaned back and said. “It’s Zoey. You guys can come out.”

Some of the bush’s branches shifted as Skye and Tornado emerged. They fluttered next to their sister, one of them on each side. Too shy to make eye contact, Skye leaned his head down and waved at Zoey.

Tornado looked straight at Zoey and said. “We are looking for a dungeon portal. Rumpke said there was one. He said we couldn’t go in, but we could see it. Mom and dad said we could come, but we had to be careful. Have you seen Rumpke? Have you seen the portal?”

Zoey stood upright, returning her weapon and shield to her inventory before relaxing her arms. “I haven’t seen a portal.” She put her finger on her chin. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Rumpke today, either.”

“He said he’d take us tomorrow…” Hope hung her head. Then she looked at Skye. “But some of us are impatient and wanted to see it today.”

Skye looked back at his sister. “You were impatient too, Hope.”

“We are all impatient.” Tornado smiled.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Hope and Skye said in unison.

“Right,” Zoey said. “I have to get back to the restaurant for the evening rush. But I can’t leave the three of you alone in the forest. Let’s get back to town. Rumpke said he’ll take you tomorrow. It will be best to wait for him. Afterall, he knows where it is.”

“Okay…” the siblings sighed in unison. Zoey could feel their disappointment.

“But,” She added. “If we see Rumpke on the way back to town, I’ll ask him to take you today.”

At those words, the triplets perked up, but none said anything.

“Alright,” Zoey said. “Follow me.”

The group began down the forest trail. During the day, the forest boasted a majestic beauty of which nature is a unique provider. Red, funnel-shaped flowers hung from the trees. The deep shades of green demonstrate the health of each leaf. Each of the trees and all the bushes produce such leaves. The grass along the path is thick and full. In a pinch, it could be thick enough to become a comfortable mattress for a nap. Though napping where nightshade terrors wandered…it wasn’t the safest idea. Still, the grass looked cozy.

An occasional vine hung, and as Zoey and the triplets descended, Zoey took the time to use the vines as swings.

“Why do you keep swinging like that on the vines like that?” Tornado asked.

“It’s fun,” Zoey said.

Skye wrinkled his face in confusion.

Zoey smiled. “Understand that I don’t have wings. If I could fly like you three, swinging on vines wouldn’t be as fun.”

“That makes sense,” Hope said.

When they were nearing the edge of the forest, and the trees had begun to grow thin, Skye pointed to the side and asked. “Guys, what is that?”

Zoey looked in the indicated direction. Through sparse trees and thinning foilage, she noticed something glowing. It was around three hundred meters away, but her vampire sight allowed her to see it with clarity. It was a doorway. “No way.” Her eyes widened. “That’s got to be the portal.”

Cloud began to dance with his left hand on his hip, his right hand with one finger in the air.

“Yay!” Tornado said with a big smile. Though his voice remained monotone.

Hope smiled but didn’t say anything.

“Well,” Zoey said. “Let’s go take a closer look. But remember, you told your parents you wouldn’t go in. Plus, you must be older before using your adventurer’s passes.”

“Um, hum,” Tornado agreed.

“Right,” Hope said.

“Okay,” Skye nodded.

The triplets and Zoey weaved through the trees toward the portal. Where the triplets hovered, Zoey had to pad through tall grass. As they went, Zoey made a mental note of the portal’s location. If she saw the mime, tuxedo man, and pirate adventurers again, she could tell them where they could find the dungeon. As she walked, she kept her eyes on the portal. “That’s strange.”

“What is strange?” Hope asked.

“I don’t see Nick, Rumpke, or Trash Pandas. There’s no one guarding the portal.” Zoey pursed her lips. “Someone should be.”

If there was no one watching the portal, what happened? Was everyone okay? Did someone get hurt? Something had to have occurred.

Before Zoey could explain the potential of a dangerous situation, Hope looked at her brothers and said. “I’ll race you there.”

With that, the trio of pixies zipped away. Their wings flapped faster than a hummingbird’s as they sped toward the door.

“No, wait!” Zoey shouted behind them. “I don’t think…”

A low growl rumbled behind Zoey, cutting her sentence short. With a slow head turn, she looked back over her shoulder. Angry red eyes looked back. The eyes embedded themselves in the center of a purple cloud of smoke. “Soul eater!” Zoey shouted to the triplets as she materialized her shield and fork. “Fly as fast as you can.”

She had not finished shouting her commands when the soul eater caught her shield center mass. Her arm buckled under the force, and the blow sent her flying. Off-balanced, she landed with a thud on her back and slid. She could feel bushes and branches breaking around her before her momentum stopped as she slammed against a broad tree trunk.

“Uuufff…” she felt the air expelled from her lungs. As she didn’t need to breathe, she recovered without delay and searched for the soul eater. It moved toward her in a flash. Good, she thought. If it’s after me, it’s leaving the triplets alone.

The thing leaped toward her, and she parried with her shield while sliding to the side. The creature's momentum carried it into the tree behind her, and the tree snapped like a twig under the force.

As it reoriented, she got a better look at it. The shadowy outline within the cloud of purple had the shape of a bipedal bird. It reminded Zoey of velociraptors in some of the dinosaur movies she had seen. Though, this soul eater was bigger than an ostrich or a velociraptor. Based on the shadow, she guessed it to be fifteen feet tall.

She shifted her eyes to the triplets. The three had followed her instructions to fly away as fast as they could. Though, she couldn’t help but notice they flew straight toward the dungeon portal. Did they think they could hide in the dungeon? The soul eater was a monster; it could follow them in…assuming it could fit in the door. Not to mention they’d come across other monsters in the dungeon. To make things worse, Zoey couldn’t follow them into the dungeon to protect them there… Or could she? Rumpke said the undead could enter dungeons. If she couldn’t stop the triplets from fleeing into the portal, she’d have to try to follow them.

Her eyes returned to the soul eater. It was back on its feet, preparing to attack again. As it leaped, she noticed it’s leg out, taloned foot aimed at her. She leaned back, bracing the back of her fork again the ground and aiming its point at the bottom of the soul eater’s foot.

As the point of the fork met the bottom of the soul eater’s foot, Zoey dematerialized her shield, dove, and rolled. She heard the dinosaur shriek in pain as she began toward the triplets. She tried to call out to them, advise them not to enter the portal. But they didn’t hear, and she watched as their outlines disappeared into the portal.

She dematerialized her fork, removing it from the soul eater’s foot and returning it to her inventory. Then she sprinted in the direction of the portal. She could feel the soul eater behind her, drawing closer every second. At the same time, she could see the portal ahead, and she doubted the soul eater could fit through the doorway. All she had to do was make it. Would she make it? She wondered. She knew it would be close.

The portal was fifteen feet away. The soul eater was twenty feet away. The portal was ten feet away. The soul eater was thirteen. Five feet to go. Six feet until it had her. Then she disappeared into the portal, unsure if the soul eater had followed.

* * *

“You need new guards,” Nick grumbled as he and Rumpke returned to the portal. “Or they need better training. I can train them if you want. I have the Nick Warman method. It will make men out of your… … raccoons… That doesn’t sound right, but it will make them tough.”

“Keep your methods to yourself.” Rumpke walked next to Nick. “If they say they saw a soul eater, they saw one.”

When the pair reached the portal, they saw two men standing by the portal. One of the men called out, “Is one of you Nick Warman?”

Nick moved a few steps closer, so he wouldn’t have to shout, “I’m Nick.”

“We,” the man by the portal pointed at himself and the other man, “are from the Adventurer’s Guild. We are here to assume responsibility for the portal. You have no need to fear. Nothing will get in or out without further notice from us.”

“Or out?” Nick asked. “Why would we worry about something getting out?”

“You see,” the man explained. “The guild likes to lock portals. Then we register them. That allows adventurers to move into the area. When there are plenty of adventurers in an area before we unlock the portal. This protocol prevents monsters from escaping into nearby towns. As such, you have no need to worry.”

“We should have asked them to put Roger in the portal before they locked it.” Rumpke joked.

Nick offered Rumpke a reprimanding glare before returning to the Adventure Guild Guards. “Thank you for assuming guard duties. You may have noticed we left the portal unattended.”

“We did notice that.” The man answered. “We thought it strange to leave the portal like that.”

“The thing is,” Nick said. “There are reports of a soul eater in the area. We went to investigate. Though—as of now—those reports remain unsubstantiated.”

“You’re unsubstantiated,” Rumpke said. “Those reports are legitimate.”

Nick grumbled.

“We’ve noted your reports of a soul eater in the area.” The Adventurer Guild Guard smiled. “We will be careful. You have no need to worry.”

“Right,” Nick said. “Thank you for coming. We will leave you to it then.”

“What does leave you to it mean?” Rumpke asked. “Leave them to what? That phrase doesn’t make sense.”

Nick sighed before saying. “Let’s go. It’s been a long day. I’m ready to turn in.”

Rumpke agreed.