Dave sat at one of the outdoor tables, enjoying the fresh morning breeze coming from the abyss and a perfectly crafted latte. Hyrei had managed to create a dragon design in the foam, which earned an appreciative nod from Remicra.

"Not bad," the dragoness commented, her own drink garnished with what looked like tiny metallic sprinkles that danced and swirled atop the foam. "Though the wings are anatomically incorrect."

A group of adventurers walked to the cafe from below the hill, taking up the table nearby.

"That bloody nullie!" A blood-red dragon girl dressed in lavish armor and far too many gold chains snarled far too loudly. "Who does he think he is? Walking around like he owns the place! I'm going to effing murder him!"

"Now, Em," An adventurer who had an elk-like skull face and orange eyes said. "Let's not be too hasty. Think it over, relax. We have..."

"I don't give a shit what we have, Quint!" The dragon girl slammed an armored first into the table. "He needs to die! He needs to be deported ASAP! He's a human! A HUMAN, Quint!"

"Are you sure?" A girl who's head was shaped like a flesh-flower asked.

"Obviously I'm sure you bloody beerch knob!" the dragoness growled. "Scrutimancer Davosh investigated him from every possible angle! He's not who he claims he is!"

"Humans can't..." The flower-flesh face began.

"I don't give a shit what humans can't or can do," the red dragon teenager growled. "You're all useless imbeciles! I'm going to STOP HIM myself if that's what it takes! Someone has to stop him before he gets his pink scrawny limbs into Cinder! She's my Bard! SHE BELONGS TO ME! She's not his thing to paw at!"

"It is rather odd. I didn't think that Ci would be into humans," the flesh-flower said, yawning with her round forehead mouth.

"Me neither and yet here we are! You, cafe maid!" the red dragon girl barked at Hyrei, her red crystalline mane sparkling in the light. "Triple frap stat! What do you knobs want? Hurry up and order, we have dungeon monsters to smite!"

Hyrei stopped at the table of the adventurer trio taking their orders.

"Wow," Dave turned to Remicra. "Some dragons sure are speciesist dicks."

"Humans don't mix with dragons," Remicra shrugged. "You're lucky that I tolerate your pink ass."

“Gee thanks.” Dave smiled. "Hey um, want to help me with some Quests?"

"What kind?" Remicra asked, her scales flickering with gold.

"Well, I've got this herb gathering Quest that seems pretty straightforward," Dave tapped the iron plate. "Just need to collect rare herbs from the wild fields. Since Leon showed me his book of magic plants, I know what to look for and what to avoid.”

"Herbs?" Remicra's tail swished thoughtfully. "That sounds... suspiciously peaceful."

"That's why I thought I could start with it," Dave grinned. "Unless you'd prefer fighting metal bugs? That one is a bit of a walk though… plus they would probably be too attracted to you.”

"Hrm," Remicra considered, absently petting Feely who was attempting to drink the iron flakes from her coffee cup with a somewhat blank expression. "I suppose it’s wise to start small. Besides, someone needs to make sure you don't accidentally get impregnated by another Felislice.”

“Was that a joke? Are you compensating for the napping fox?” Dave chortled.

Remicra rolled her eyes at him.

After finishing their drinks, they set out towards the fields, Remicra still carrying the sleeping Cedez-bag. The morning sun painted the rolling hills in golden light, wildflowers swaying in the breeze.

Dave couldn't help but notice how Remicra's scales sparkled in the sunlight, creating tiny rainbow reflections that danced across the ground as they walked. Feely seemed equally fascinated, trying to catch the light patterns with her crystalline paws.

"Why are you staring at me?" Remicra grumbled, her scales flickering pink.

"Can't help it," Dave replied. "You're literally sparkling like a disco ball. I told you this morning… you’re my dream girl, like the dragon I’ve imagined in patterns of TV static.”

“What’s a TV?”

"A TV is like..." Dave paused, trying to think of a local equivalent. "Like a scrying orb, but bigger and rectangular. It shows moving pictures and tells stories. When it's not tuned to a specific broadcast, it shows this pattern of black and white dots called static."

"And you saw me in this... static?" Remicra asked skeptically as they walked across the grasslands.

"Yeah. I'd stare at it for hours, finding patterns. Sometimes, if I focused really hard, they'd form into shapes. One in particular I liked to imagine whenever I felt sad… with scales that changed colors like yours." Dave said. "Because I talked to the rainbow dragon in TV static, my parents thought I was... weird, mentally off.”

“They didn’t see dragons in static?” Remicra asked.

“My dad thought that it was just my imagination, that spending time outside weeding the garden or playing with other kids would fix that,” Dave shrugged.

“Did it?”

“No,” Dave shook his head. “My mom saw patterns in things too… I think, but in a different way. For me, the patterns were comforting. For her… they appeared on random things she saw in shops and then just had to buy. She'd find a random old book, a crystal, a shard of glass, or a plate, or a wooden board and then tell me how it had… magical potential.” He shuddered as he said the last two words.

“I thought that your world didn't have magic,” Remicra said.

“It didn't,” Dave sighed. “My father left us because he thought that she was becoming unhinged. She was on and off meds for most of her life.”

“Meds?”

“Sort of like herbs in a pill prescribed by… healers,” Dave explained. “They put me on meds too. They turned me into a very dull, lonely person. I didn’t make friends until I almost died and met Lari.”

“Your healers seem very ineffective,” Remicra said.

“Yeah,” Dave rubbed the back of his head. “Lari helped me get off the mind-dulling drugs that were prescribed to me when I was seven, helped me build an actual social life by introducing me to her circle of friends.”

“What happened to your mother?” The dragoness asked.

“Eventually, she buried our entire house in esoteric junk. I couldn't handle the chaotic mess, so I left. I… abandoned her, ran away to live my own life. A detective called me at work. He said that her entire house burned down. Remnants of her clothes were found amidst all the other burned bones.”

“Other bones?”

“The detective told me that there was a massive pile of human and animal bones in the basement… covered in carvings made with a pyrography, uh… a wood-burning pen. She expanded the basement and built some kind of effigy-type shrine there. He told me that she bought the elk skulls from ebay and got the human bones from an old cemetery caretaker in exchange for booze. They blamed the pyrography pen for the fire, said it was left turned on after the pile of bones crushed her.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Remicra squeezed his hand. “I'm sorry to hear that. I too lost my parents to tragic events of fate.”

“Maybe I'm going insane,” David said. “But the fact that I saw you in the patterns… it makes it all less horrible.”

“Oh?”

“Maybe my mom didn't die that day,” Dave said. “Maybe she actually stepped through reality… to Manchester. Maybe she actually finished her magical engine made from random junk and opened the door to infinity before her house caught fire. I don't know…but maybe she's out there somewhere, still alive, looking down at me with a smile, happy that I finally found the dragon girl of my dreams.”

Remicra choked, igniting with violet and pink, nearly tripping over her feet. “S-stop it!” She hissed.

“What? I'm just being honest,” Dave shrugged.

“Y-you are putting me on a pedestal like some kind of perfect being,” she stammered. “I can't be the girl of your dreams. I'm a broken slave and you only subleased me for a few weeks! My affinity is already poisoning you! Look at your hands!”

Dave looked. There were slightly throbbing bruises all over his skin, shimmering with rainbows like an oil slick on a puddle. He sent Healy to target the damaged areas, to grow new tissues and to push the metal-infused oil out of his cells. His mana began to tick down as the Kitlix worked.

“Seriously, stop obsessing over me!” Remicra fretted. “Find yourself a nice human girl!”

“No,” Dave said. “I'd rather suffer from metal poisoning in your arms than be with someone else.”

“Why?!” Remicra growled. “Abyss Eternal, what is wrong with you?! Why don't you listen, why are you so Gods’ damned stubborn about me?!”

“Stop quarreling,” Cedez commented from the bag. “I'm trying to rest my weary self, and you're like an old, bickering couple. Make soothingly quiet kissing noises instead or something.”

“Argh!” Remicra threw her hands up. “Stay out of it, fox!”

“Jus’ tryin’ to help my besties,” Cedez yawned, swallowing her words.

“Nobody asked for your help!” Remicra growled, igniting with pink. “Why am I listening to either of you? You're clearly both infected with some kind of insanity! For years I've endured nothing but abuse, being called worthless by Princess and now…”

“Now you have us at your side and we ain't going to abandon you to the shadows. Cus we are both mad about you or whatever,” Cedez commented. “Just accept it. Things are looking up. The night doesn't last forever, Remy. Grimdark stories end. The biggest, meanest Spearobeast falls to the sword one day. The sharpest sword shatters. When winter turns to spring… all of Starisle blooms.”

Remicra’s eyes filled with sparks of tears. “You… Abyss-cursed creature! How did you know these words?”

“Heard it in a dream of tomorrow that doesn't exist,” Cedez replied. “What? Is it… special?”

“My dad used to tell it to me,” Remicra hissed, blinking tears from her eyes. “You're not him! You're like… like a monster wearing his face! Do you know how it feels to hear his words from your mouth, Shadow?!”

Dave grabbed Remicra. “Relax. She did this to me too. Sang songs I liked. Told me about books I've read. When I met her at the snail cafe she kept telling me jokes from Earth about gift shops and frequent flier miles. It's just how she is. She's either pulling this stuff from our past with magic or maybe she really was our friend in some weird, alternative reality.”

“She…” Remicra growled. “This is beyond disrespectful! She can't just channel my dead loved ones… like…”

“Like some kind of Nuntix,” Dave suddenly declared. “Remember the Nuntix Kitlix at the Adventurers Guild room desk? It could call the dead, could sing songs on request from the lips of my Lari. Maybe Cedez is like that!”

The blacksmith pulled the bag off her back and handed it Dave. “You carry her then! Both of you can wallow in your madness. I’m done listening to you!”

“Remy…” Cedez began from the bag. “I… didn’t mean to make you upset, I swear. I can’t help it, can’t stop the future spilling into my head. I think that you told me these words because you trusted me. I just want that trust back, I want…”

“Piss off,” Remicra wandered off into the wild field, wiping her face.

Dave sighed, put the bag down, and opened the flap. Weary blinks of blue eyes looked up at him from the dark ball, filling with tears. “I didn’t mean to...” She began.

"It’s fine. Let's give Remy some space," Dave muttered.

“Kay.” The blue eyes closed.

Shady jumped onto Dave’s shoulder and rubbed against his face with dark, soft-hard crystalline edges.

Dave gave the dark Kitlix a pet and shifted everything into Intelligence. Then, he pulled the Cedez-inhabited backpack onto his shoulders, tightened the straps and switched to Healy's vision, scanning the wildflowers and grasses around him.

Through the Kitlix-enhanced sight, each plant glowed with its own unique magical signature.

Common grass emitted a barely visible, faint, green aura, but scattered throughout were brighter points of light sprinkled with other colors - the rare herbs he was looking for.

He spotted patches of Veilbloom from Leon’s book. There were also clusters of Thunderbreath sprouts, their leaves traced with veins resembling lightning.

Dave carefully harvested several Veilbloom, making sure to get the roots intact as Leon’s book specified. Then, he moved onto acquiring valuable Thunderbreath leaves and stems.

He recognized another magical plant. It had paralysis and pain inducing invisible stingers. He avoided it.

Remicra's footsteps came from behind him. She had wandered back, still looking somewhat upset but her scales had settled into a calmer blue. She remained quiet.

As Dave gathered more herbs, his fingers absently began weaving mundane grass stems together.

Something distant stirred in his memory - knowledge absorbed from Voidmancer Zolish.

The Voidmancer specialized in combining ordinary objects through dimensional manipulation, conceptual fusion of objects by forcing them to occupy the same space. The process required precise control and understanding of how materials could be woven together across dimensional boundaries.

Dave's fingers and eyes moved almost of their own accord, guided by the dead man's memories.

Shady slithered down his arm like liquid shadow, wrapping around his hand like a dark glove.

Through their connection, he felt the Kitlix's innate understanding of the Void.

The grass stems began to twist and merge under his touch, individual blades fusing together at quantum levels. Where they overlapped, the material seemed to fold in on itself, occupying impossible spaces. The green fibers darkened, merged together, taking on a brighter magical sheen in Healy's point of view.

Dave worked methodically, his fingers moving in precise patterns as he wove the grass blades together, layering and combining.

Remicra watched him knead grass for a few minutes before getting bored and wandering off to wearily stare at the endless landscape.

Dave's fingers continued to combine the grass blades, Shady helping to fold space. Where the blades crossed they merged at a fundamental level, existing in the same point in space-time. The process was delicate, requiring intense focus and precision.

After twenty more minutes of careful work, he pulled the finished bracelet onto his left wrist.

Through Healy's eyes, he could see as a green current flowed over the bracelet across the Astral in spiral patterns, acting almost like a magnet and sucking specific magic into the bracelet from elsewhere.

[Artifact: Grass Bracelet Amplifier Artifact.] [Effect: +0.024 Vitality.] [Durability: Low - Will wilt after 37 hours of use.]

“Holy shit,” Dave grinned. “I made an artifact.”

"What are you muttering about?" Remicra called from where she was standing. “Did you find a precious herb or something?”

"No. Want to see what I just made?" He asked, offering her the bracelet.

"What, a basic grass bracelet that any five-winter-old hatchling can make?" She arched an eyebrow, looking down at him from above. "Is that supposed to impress me? Are you trying to apologize for Cedez or something?”

"No, look, this is basic dimensional artificery," Dave held up the bracelet. "I used Void magic to fold the grass blades into each other. It's an artifact now.”

"You... made an artifact out of mundane grass?" Remicra asked with a concerned look. “Is your Vexirium getting worse?”

“Just put it on and look at your stats through the banking bracelet,” Dave said. “It should bring up your Vitality ever so slightly.”

The dragoness squinted at him. “Fine. I’ll humor you. Stats.”

She slipped the grass bracelet onto her left wrist and sputtered, eyes widening.

"This... actually increases my Vitality?" She pulled the bracelet on and off a few more times. "How?!”

"I absorbed the memories of the Whisper Depths dungeon core," Dave explained. "By folding materials through higher dimensions, I can increase their magical potential. It's not very durable though - it'll wilt in less than two days, but..."

"But you made a functioning artifact from grass," Remicra finished, her scales shifting to gold. "That's... actually pretty impressive. I didn’t know that Void magi could do that.”

“It’s the same as Void Lotus tea connecting us to amplify your Metallomancy with the bottled shadow,” Dave explained. “I… that’s how I fused Healy to the extradimensional bag too. If I keep at it, I could eventually understand how to combine anything with anyth…”

A deep rumble of thunder emanated from behind Remicra interrupting his words.

Remicra spun around, draconic, long ears rotating like radar dishes.

The thunder sounded closer, louder now.

The grass around them suddenly crackled with static electricity, dry, dead blades igniting and catching fire.

Dave tried to grab his knife, but with a blinding flash he found his nerves suddenly unresponsive, body paralyzed from electrical shock as if he'd been struck by a taser. He felt himself careening sideways as his feet stopped supporting his body.

"Thundersnarg!" Remicra snarled, lightning dancing over her violet-red scales. Hammer in hand, she spun through the air, connecting with the beast's head just as it was about to trample Dave's paralyzed form.

The creature careened aside and kept going, its metallic horns still crackling with electricity. It looked like a fusion of an ant-eater and an elk. Three more beasts emerged from the tall grass, their metallic hooves thundering against the ground.

“Abyss! It’s a stampede!” Remicra positioned herself between Dave and the herd, her hammer held ready.

"Get up!" She shouted at Dave. "Get behind me!”