“You’re right, I let you guys down,” Mateo says standing.

“It wasn’t just you out there Mateo,” Serenity says.

“I know, it was just you guys, for some reason I thought I could just piggyback off your success, I saw the opportunity for experience, I didn’t see the danger, I’ve been playing this whole thing like it’s a game, because this is all so unreal to me, but when we faced the Devastator it became very real, I panicked and everything fell apart,” Mateo replies.

“Is not all your fault, Terror lose control, not good for battle.”

“At least you used your abilities, what did I do? I cast one spell, hell I forgot I had a ward even though Stitches was using hers right in-front of me, I’m a Battlemage, I combine magic with weapons to alter the course of battle, and yet I fought like I was a rogue, sticking out of sight trying to use guerrilla tactics when I should have been on the frontlines with Okami and Terror, I may have ascended to four talons, but I don’t deserve them, or any of you for that matter,” Mateo says slamming his pendant on the table.

He steps toward the door and stops as Serenity yells after him.

“Mateo, where are you going?”

“I need some time to think, before I get us all killed,” he replies wiping tears from his cheeks.

Serenity goes to follow him, but Okami stops her. He looks over at Stitches.

“You’re the only one who has any idea of what he’s going through, maybe you can talk to him,” Okami says.

Stitches stands pulling her cloak over her soft catlike ears and grabs his pendant.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Mateo stands at the edge of a large lake and screams at the top of his lungs until his voice goes horse and he falls to his knees weeping. Natalia lands on his shoulder patting it and Rayo, now as large as a medium sized dog, nudges him with his little dragon nose. The small dragon tries his best to cheer him up, but he’s confused. Natalia doesn’t really know what to do either. Mateo begins to chuckle like a mad man and stands.

“I’m fine, everything is fine,” he says to himself. “I’m dead, in another world with a dragon, a pixie, oh and I almost forgot,” he says emptying the contents of a cantina by the lake, “a seductive slime named Sapphire, how are you, Sapphire?” The slime stares at him blankly. “Why don’t you have a nice swim, I’m just going to sit here and continue to have a mental breakdown.”

After soaking up some water Sapphire approaches Mateo in her seductive form and holds out an expectant hand

“What is it, you hungry?”

She nods her head yes and Mateo pulls out a bar made of something resembling chocolate. It’s a choca sweet-salt bar, something popular almost everywhere in Gottes. Terror spent quite a bit of coin on a stockpile of them so Mateo also invested. Sapphire takes a bite and lets off a pleasant moan.

“You like that, it’s chocolate, at-least pretty close anyway, I picked it up in Heroldin.”

“Chocolate?” She asks.

“Yes, chocolate, so you mimic speech?”

“Chocolate,” she says taking another bite with a gleeful smile.

The moon rises illuminating the night with a cerulean glow. After struggling to set up his tent for an hour Mateo rests on a log by a small fire. Sapphire is terrified of it and retreats into her cantina.

Stitches sits on the rotting log beside Mateo and stares at the ground.

“Hey,” Stitches says.

“Hey,” Mateo replies.

“It’s not all your fault.”

Mateo looks over at her and sighs.

“Then whose fault is it?” He asks.

“Natalia,” she replies.

“Hey, how is any of this my fault!” Natalia yells.

“You have a list of his abilities, surely since he’s ascended to four talons, he’s gained the ability to unlock some new skills,” Stitches says.

“Well, um, maybe, but what, am I supposed to hold his hand all the time or something?”

Mateo gives off a grievous laugh.

“I don’t mind if you hold my hand Natalia, better that then letting me wander about in the dark.”

Stitches climbs into Mateo’s lap and uses an ability that enshrouds them in a strange iridescent light.

“Pull up his abilities, especially the magic ones.”

Ability activated- Vision of the realms. Vision of the realms allows fellow realm walkers to share their ability vision.

Keeliyah Noir has activated Vision of the Realms, do you grant Keeliyah Noir access to your vision? Yes/No

“Um yes, and Keeliyah?” Mateo asks.

“It’s Stitches,” she replies.

“Right, let’s just have a look at my skills.”

You have three skill points available. Available skills:

Void Lighting level 2- Voidstorm, conjure a cloud from the void, this cloud will periodically send out devastating bolts of lighting for 300-600 seconds.

Reign of Fire level 1- Ignite, ignite simple objects, if not fed mana these flames will simmer out.

Heart of Ice level 1- Cryosheet, freeze liquid surfaces into a sheet of ice.

“I would go with Voidstorm and Cryosheet, the second level of Heart of Ice is a powerful defensive spell that gives you more versatility, you can unlock it next, as for your third point, I would use it for a one-handed combat ability, you don’t want to rely on your dagger, but you don’t want it to fall behind either,” Stitches says motioning through his skills menu.

“Hey, who do you think you are poking around in his abilities?” Natalia scoffs.

“I’m just holding the hand you wouldn’t,” Stitches replies.

“You harlot!” Natalia yells.

“Now now girls, settle down,” Mateo says.

Stitches ignores Natalia’s jealous outburst and pulls up Mateo’s combat skills menu.

“Looks like you have three paths to choose from,” Stitches says laying her soft ears against his bare chest.

Battlemage one handed combat skills:

Skirmisher- summon a duplicate one-handed weapon giving you the ability to dual wield and double your damage output at the cost of moderate stamina and mana depletion.

Guerrilla- physical strikes cost minimal amounts of stamina, can lay magical traps that cost a moderate amount of mana but cause debilitating damage over time effects for moderate mana.

Minute man- your abilities have no cool down, you are ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Mana and stamina deplete at a normal rate, but you are able to cast spells and use abilities in quick succession which may quickly drain your mana and stamina.

“Minute man, being able to strike quickly and decisively without delay is likely to give us an edge,” Mateo says selecting it.

“Are you sure, this is your last skill point until you rank up, and going from four talons to five is a big step,” Stitches states.

“I’m not sure about anything, but I think this is something I can work with,” Mateo replies.

“Well, are you satisfied now,” Natalia says angrily.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“No thanks to you,” Mateo replies.

“Don’t scold her too much, you did have hints turned off,” Stitches says motioning through Mateo’s periphery.

“Oh, I might have turned that off after I got a notification that if I rest, I’ll get sleep.”

Natalia smacks Mateo on the head and floats into the air disappearing. Stitches kind of giggles and her ability wears off. Mateo invites Stitches into his tent laying out a large sleeping aperture. His rune tablet rings, and he answers it. A projection of Serenity appears above it. She turns to Stitches.

“Is he behaving?” Serenity asks.

“I haven’t had to discipline him yet,” Stitches replies.

“Good,” she turns to Mateo, “me and Okami are going to accompany Terror to Obsidius for his annual celebration of mourning, I expect you to answer my calls, and when I see you in a few short weeks I also expect you to have developed a hunger in my absence,” she says biting her bottom lip.

“Don’t worry Serenity, every moment we aren’t together my desire for you builds,” Mateo replies.

“Grow strong my sweet prince,” Serenity says blowing a kiss before the call ends.

Serenity, Okami, and Terror head Northwest toward Obsidius so that Terror can grieve his fallen wife and daughter. Mateo sets down the tablet and pulls a stack of bounties from his inventory laying them out before him. Stitches changes into a provocative nightgown. It’s silk black with cherry blossoms and a pink bow tied about the small of her back. Mateo’s eyes move from the bounties toward Stitches’ large firm breasts.

“Are those Barbara’s tits?” He asks.

“Do you want to touch them?” Stitches asks blushing as she presses them together.

Mateo turns back to the pile of bounties in-front of him and Stitches lets out a frustrated sigh. She grabs one of the bounties and places it above the others.

“An elemental hydra, Terror would be jealous, are you sure?” Mateo asks.

“You have a slime in your cantina, Sapphire, I believe you call her, let her out in the morning and use void lightning on her, you might be surprised by what you discover,” Stitches replies.

The following morning Mateo releases Sapphire from her flask and holds out his hand. She seems timid as his hand crackles with violet bolts of lightning.

“Don’t worry Sapphire, I’m not going to hurt you,” Mateo says releasing his void lightning on her.

Sapphire absorbs the attack and void lightning pulses throughout her voluptuous figure.

Ability- Void lightning has taken effect on friendly Seductive Slime. Friendly Seductive Slime has become a super conductor for Void Lightning. Friendly Seductive Slime has elevated the effectiveness of Void Lightning. When Void Lightning is unleashed by Seductive Slime it will occur at a damage rate of two-hundred and forty percent efficiency.

“Chocolate?” Sapphire asks.

“Chocolate,” Mateo replies pointing at a large tree.

Sapphire releases her stored energy, and it vaporizes a large portion of the tree sending the upper half tumbling to the ground.

Mateo steps over to Sapphire and hands her a small bar of sweet-salt chocolate. She grabs it from him gleefully consuming it with a voracious hunger.

“Do you think that’s enough, the hydra is a five-talon, and I just unlocked my fourth talon,” Mateo says.

“No, just using Sapphire to increase your attack isn’t enough, you’ll need me of course, but I’m not the limit of your arsenal, you’ve still got Rayo,” Stitches replies.

“He’s just a baby though,” Mateo replies.

“He was a baby, look at him now, it’s been less than a couple of weeks and he’s nearly the size of a full grown hoaram, he’s a dragon Mateo, let him be a dragon,” Stitches says with a smile.

Rayo nudges Mateo with his nose nearly knocking him off his feet as he makes a low reptilian purr. Mateo rubs his nose gently before placing his forehead against Rayo’s.

“Ok Rayo, it’s time you learn to,” Mateo stops standing before his now hoaram sized dragon, “it’s time we learn to fight.”

Rayo let’s off a loud roar shaking the leaves in the trees around them. The winter solstice has passed and a would be spring is in full bloom. Janus, or what Mateo knows as late January is upon them. Which in this world brings new life to the foliage.

“This is going to be difficult, don’t let your guard down for even a moment,” Stitches says readying her staff.

Loud bloodsucking bugs buzz around Mateo as he releases Sapphire from her cantina. Rayo marches through the swampy waters south of Heroldin up to Mateo raising his scaled chest ready for battle.

The creatures of the swamp fall silent as a massive five headed beast covered in feathers and scales stomps through the swamp rippling the moss-covered waters. It lets off a howling yell as a challenge to the unknown intruders before it.

“Mateo,” Stitches says raising her staff.

“Don’t worry, I got this Stitches, I’m ready to be the Battlemage you deserve.”

Mateo pulls his dagger extending it. He points it to the ground raising his hand as Sapphire splits into five lesser slimes. Rayo hovers over him bearing his sharp fangs.

The hydra lets out a thunderous roar as Sapphire’s five slimes dart through the water climbing onto the beast’s necks.

Stitches raises her greater ward ready for the creature’s assault.

“Sapphire, chocolate!” Mateo yells releasing his void lighting spell.

Sapphire pulses with violet bolts of lightning before exploding in a massive electrical burst around the necks of the hydra. Three of the heads fall off, their wounds cauterized by the heat of the void lightning before they can grow back.

Two heads remain. Mateo turns to Rayo sheathing his dagger.

“No weapons, just magic,” Mateo says with a smile.

He mounts Rayo and they charge toward the elemental hydra.

Spell activated- Cryosheet.

The hydra goes to move forward, but it’s stopped in its tracks as the water bellow it freezes solid. Rayo approaches like a predator on the prowl. The hydra lets out a loud cry of desperation. Rayo drowns it out with a roar that ripples through the water and shakes the leaves like a shockwave.

“Rayo, end it,” Mateo says setting forth his hand as if to direct an attack.

Rayo opens his maw revealing rows of sharp teeth and the stench of death escapes forming into a large sphere of twirling violet. The sphere forms into a flaming violet beam that obliterates every part of the hydra it touches leaving only a headless husk of scales and organs in a smoldering pile floating about the swamp.

Mateo steps off Rayo patting his snout before approaching Sapphire.

“Chocolate?”

Mateo presses his hand to Sapphire’s cheek, and she leans into it. His fingers run across her soft membrane, and he smiles pulling his hand away.

“Sapphire, would you like to fight with me?” He asks.

“I love you, chocolate,” she replies.

“If that’s what you want,” Mateo replies.

Sapphire grabs Mateo’s hand rubbing it against her cheek.

“Sapphire, love you.”

“I love you too Sapphire,” Mateo replies.

Stitches moves between them stretching. She wraps her arms around Mateo’s neck rubbing her cold nose into his exposed chest. Mateo’s leather armor covers most of his chest except his collarbone.

“With the coin from this bounty we can get you some better armor, I’ll skin the hydra and see what the armorers of Heroldin can make of it,” Stitches says rubbing against him playfully.

After defeating the hydra Mateo has regained some of his confidence. More so now that he knows he can rely on Sapphire and Rayo to come to his aid. Mateo’s tablet rings and he answers it.

“How are things going, is Stitches keeping you in line?” Serenity asks.

“I miss you too,” Mateo replies.

Serenity moves her tablet into her tent seeming flustered. She brushes her long dark hair behind her pointed ear.

“Serenity, is everything ok?” Mateo asks.

“Are you alone?” Serenity asks.

“Stitches is at the armorer, but she’ll be back shortly,” Mateo replies.

Serenity tosses her clothes into the floor of her tent giving Mateo a lustful grin.

“Oh, we’re doing that,” Mateo says locking the door to his room at the tavern.

Stitches returns to the tavern to find Sapphire standing outside Mateo’s door. She steps closer and Sapphire holds out her hand.

“Chocolate,” Sapphire demands.

“Um, ok,” Stitches says handing her a bar of sweet-salt chocolate.

Sapphire moves aside munching on the bar gleefully. Stitches turns the knob, but it’s locked so she casts a spell on it and the lock clicks. She steps into the room and Mateo tosses his tablet onto the nightstand hurriedly covering himself with a blanket.

“Hey Stitches, what’s good?” Mateo asks.

Stitches looks over at the face down tablet then back at a nude smiling Mateo.

“Oh, you were, I’ll just give you and Serenity a minute then,” Stitches says shutting the door slowly.

Mateo picks up the tablet staring down at a nude Serenity.

“I thought you locked the door?” She asks.

“I did.” He replies.

“Never mind that, let’s continue,” she says with a grin.

A few weeks pass and it’s near time for Mateo’s companions to return from Obsidius. Stitches has found an armorer that can craft scaled armor from the hydra they defeated. The defense value is only slightly higher than leather armor, but it retains its mobility and reduces elemental damage by fifteen percent as well as being immune to poison damage.

Stitches and Mateo are enjoying drinks at the tavern when a peculiar message invades Mateo’s peripheral.

New Quest: The beautiful young maiden has been abducted by blood cultists. Fly to the aid of the beautiful young maiden before she becomes a virgin sacrifice.

“That’s odd,” Mateo says staring at the ceiling.

“What is it, a quest?” Stitches asks.

The doors to the tavern burst open and a disgruntled man covered in blood and bruises stumbles in holding his side. One of the other would-be adventurers comes to his aid holding him up. The tavern keeper hurries around the bar to him.

“Thoramere, what’s happened?” He asks.

“My daughter, they’ve taken my daughter,” he says coughing blood into the floor.

The tavern keeper shoves everything off one of the tables and lays the man on top of it. Mateo recognizes the man and quickly jumps to his feet. Stitches gives him an off look as he approaches the table.

Torches give dim light to the tavern as a heavy dread hangs over it. Mateo steps closer to the table as blood pours over the edges of it. Adorned in his hydra armor he is near unrecognizable to the older man. Mateo knows this man though, he’s the second person Mateo met when he came into this world.

The tavern keeper and several others struggle with healing magic in an effort to keep the man conscious. Mateo looms over the man motioning for Stitches.

“I don’t know what you intend to do sir, but his lungs are about to collapse, the damage is too much,” the tavern keep says.

“Rafael, you said this man’s name was Thoramere, what’s his daughter’s name,” Mateo asks as Stitches steps up beside him.

Stitches looks over the man and ruffles through her bag of bones.

“I’ve only got one lung, he’ll live, but he’ll be in pain until he’s fully healed,” Stitches says.

“Everyone step back,” Mateo says ripping Thoramere’s shirt open.

Ability activated: Immortal Seamstress.

A blinding light fills the room and Thoramere screams out in pain as Stitches replaces one of his lungs. His body convulses in agony as his voice wails screams of pain into the ceiling for what seems like an eternity. When his suffering finally ends, he turns to Mateo holding out his hand.

“You’re the pervert that was in her room, she’s been confused since she met you, thought you might have been some prince sent by the gods to sweep her away, help my sweet Juliana, she’s a good girl, don’t let those monsters hurt her.”

Mateo grips his hand with a look of ferocity on his face.

“Where did they take her?” He asks.

“They traveled north to Mount Brokenrock on the ‘Meat Wagon’,” he replies.

Mateo hands the tavern keep, Rafael, a sack of coins.

“See that he is tended too.”

“And you, you’re but barely four-talons,” Rafael proclaims.

Mateo smiles staring him in the eyes.

“I didn’t have a single talon when I killed an Archon, I don’t need bird claws to tell me whether or not I can do what is right,” Mateo replies.

“Then the gods will help you?” He asks.

“I don’t care if they do or don’t, I’m going to find these blood cultists and kill the shit out of them and save Juliana, and if I don’t, then I guess that’s the end of my story, still better than getting run over by a truck I guess,” Mateo says stepping toward the door.

“What’s a truck?” Rafael asks.

“Don’t worry about it.”