The bar was busy. Josie sat in the corner of the main bar area, observing the patrons and listening to their conversations. One of the nearest tables discussed the new rules being considered for market traders and stallholders. Miss Agnos was apparently looking into changing the taxes paid to align with the formation of an improved guard force by redirecting the funds to provide for it. It was rumoured that those who could provide towards the equipment and upkeep as stallholders would be eligible for tax discounts. Josie knew that Mr Cooper would go ballistic if he knew her plans. Everything he ever did was purely for profit. She knew that without someone like her doing his dirty work, he would not have lasted more than a term in charge of New Talisia. His father had apparently been an amazing leader who gave as much as he took in, but it had become all about him under Harmon's rule.

As Josie listened to the townsfolk, she noticed the man walk in from the companions. He was reasonably good-looking, clean-shaven, and dressed in new clothes. He walked straight to the bar and stood only a few feet from her."Can I get a Keefir steak with trimmings, please," he asked one of the bar staff.

The man serving behind the bar looked at him, frowning. "Do I know you?"

"I do not think so. I only arrived in town a couple of days ago, and it is my first time here," he replied, sitting on a stool.

He was obviously alone if he was just going to sit at the bar to eat. Maybe this was the chance Josie had been waiting for. "I saw you being sick earlier today. Are you okay now?" she asked him.

Brandon turned and looked at the woman who had just spoken to him. "Yes. Thank you," he replied.

"What caused your sickness, may I ask?"

"It is a long story," he replied, smiling.

"I have time to listen. I have no plans tonight," Josie smiled back.

"I was at a party and had some dodgy food, which caused vomiting. I did not think I was going to stop. The feeling only went an hour ago, and I then realised how hungry I was, so I headed into town to get something to eat."

"Headed into town? Do you live outside then?"

"Sort of. I live over in the compound."

"What compound?" Josie replied, frowning and playing innocent.

"There is a compound at the back of town, and I live there with my friends."

"I had no idea. I do not come to town very often."

"Oh. Where do you live then?"

"I live near the main fuel depot. We had heard about all the recent problems, so I thought I would come over and see if there was anything that I could help with."

"That's good of you. I am doing the opposite. I am trying to get a break from everything I have been doing." Brandon chuckled.

"I believe it has been busy."

"Very. I only got back yesterday."

"From where?"

"I was out helping with the guard force at a nearby mine," Brandon replied; he was not going to mention the Dungeon; he had no idea who this woman was and was not going to open up to everyone he met about what they had been through in the Dungeon.

"Mine?"

"Yes. There is, or should I say there was, a mine that it was believed the Geblex incursion the town suffered had come from."

"Geblex?"

"Ah. You said you aren't normally in town. The Geblex were the creatures that attacked the town. I was out helping with the wounded during the battle. I am not much of a fighter," Brandon replied, lying. His fighting in the Dungeon made him more seasoned than most.

"I am sorry I was not here to help. I heard it was pretty horrendous."

"It was. Thankfully, though, we managed to fight them off. Although many lost their lives in the battles."

"I have heard some of the stories and strange things were happening."

"What do you mean strange things?" Brandon replied. He did not trust many people and did not openly discuss his friends.

"A burning beast and a healing man."

"I heard the same but did not know anything about them, sorry."

"So you do not know the man who went through that light?"

"Not well. I have seen him around but not to talk to." Brandon could feel that this woman was prying and knew he was lying. He had been living on the streets for so many years previously that he had an uncanny knack for reading people. He could also see the very minor and subtle expressions she made with her eyes and face as she spoke to him. He thought this must be due to his skill but had never considered it picked up on Risen's flaws.

"Here you go," the member of the bar staff said, placing a large plate with a Keefir fillet and trimmings in front of him. "Did you want a drink?"

"No, thank you," Brandon replied, grabbing a knife and fork from a cutlery dish. His mouth was watering at the sight of the freshly cooked steak. Since he had been living with the others, the food he had been eating had made a difference to his body. He had begun to fill out in the short time he had been with them and was already losing his gaunt features. Being clean-shaven and well-dressed, he knew he looked a million miles away from his street persona.

Josie knew she had made a mistake asking about the man. He had started to eat and was not even looking in her direction anymore. She was annoyed at herself for making such a stupid mistake.

Brandon ignored the woman while he ate; she still sat there with a glass of nectar, drinking it slowly. As he finished his food, he pushed it away, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and, dropping it on the empty plate, pushed his stool away to stand up. "Nice to meet you," he said to the woman as he turned to leave.

Walking out into the night's fresh air made him shudder; although winter was over, spring had brought its cold winds, and the clouds were still heavy in the sky. There was little moonlight, and the streets were lit by the light cast from the surrounding buildings. He moved away from the bar, heading back towards the compound area. He had not gone far when he sensed something behind him; his hand was in his pocket, and he was fingering his watch. He could not hear footsteps or similar due to the noise of the townsfolk still moving around the streets. The town, in a short space of time, had started to get back to its pre-incursion levels of activity. He glanced sideways down an alley and used the opportunity to look behind him.

The woman from the bar was following him. He immediately turned down the alley; as soon as he was out of view of the street, he pressed the watch sprinting to the far end as time stood still, and cut around behind the buildings. He knew these streets like the back of his hand, and he cut back around the next building, heading back up to the main street where the bar sat. By the time he reached the corner, the woman had reached the alleyway and looked down it. She had been following him, but he did not know why. He slipped back into the shadows, watching her. She stood for a moment before returning and heading back towards the bar. He slipped behind some stacked crates and watched as she crossed the top of the alley before moving back out to watch her. When she reached the bar again, she re-entered. 'Who was she?' he thought.

He knew he could not just walk back into the bar area after leaving so soon, but now that he had seen the woman's face, he would recognise her again. He retraced his steps down the alley and continued towards the compound using the quieter back streets.

Josie could have kicked herself for her stupidity. She would not normally have been so open with her questions, but she thought it was due to the nectar she had been drinking. She walked back into the bar after losing sight of the man. She still did not know his name. Walking to the bar, she ordered two nectar and then, collecting them, went through to the back and up to her room. She would have to try to locate them tomorrow and learn more about them, especially now that the man and beast had gone through the portal. She needed some decent information to take back for Mr Cooper. She also wanted an excuse to come back and stay in town. Especially eating at the bar as the food and drink were better than the slop from the fuel depot, and the nectar was free.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

---

Kyto sat next to his friend, still stroking his head. It was the middle of the night, and thankfully, nothing else had come near them since the Hoerniqu attack. The small fire he had set had burned out long before now, but he was not going to bother relighting it since Tiddles had fallen no way near it, and it would have been a waste. He got up to go and get a drink of water from the pool, his familiar casting more than enough light for him to see in the dark of the night when Tiddles groaned.

"Damn, that hurt. That hurt a lot!" Tiddles said groggily.

"Tiddles!" Kyto said, turning back around to his friend. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel fine, thanks to your healing. I would not have lasted a night without it. A word of advice: never let me attempt to fly."

Kyto laughed at his comment. "I promise never to let you fly again if I can help. If a Tier 2 monster attacks you, though, I may not be able to stop it."

"Tier 2?" Tiddles said shocked.

"Yeah. That thing was a Hoerniqu Tier 2. It. It was trying to carry you back to its nest to bite you, fill you with its digestive juices, and dissolve you from the inside."

Tiddles shuddered, "That is just rude!"

"I cannot believe that the first monster we have come up against here is a Tier 2. It was supposed to be Tier 1-3, and there is no way we could have taken that thing out flying."

"I don't know. I saw what you did with your mana, or I guess it was your mana. Hurling balls at it."

"It is dark mana aligned, and I had nothing else to try and stop it, so I just thought I should try something."

Tiddles's eyes glazed as he read his notifications. "Damn. That is easily the worst set of injuries I have ever had. I know I died in the Dungeon, but those injuries were not ones that I could be reincarnated from. That thing had paralysed me."

"I saw when I healed you the damage was severe. Also, you are lucky I got to you straight away, as it also said you had brain damage from the fall. I would not like to think what may have happened if you had been left injured like that."

"I am just glad you are around to heal me," Tiddles replied, smiling.

Tiddles stood and stretched, his back cracking as he did. "That's better. So, we at least know of one of the monsters. I also met another couple in the forest." He checked his Codex and shared the details.

Kyto accepted and read about the Jagualera. "That sounds fun. How large was it? Looking at the picture, you can't tell."

"Twenty-five feet, nose to tail tip."

"That is big!"

"Meh. Would probably be a good fight, to be honest."

"You think you could beat one of those?"

"Oh yeah. They do not have skills, do they? Or a healer friend."

"Ha. You think I want to be found anywhere near that thing."

"That is your purpose, though; you are my healing totem," he replied, grinning.

Kyto rolled his eyes. "Maybe one of these days, I won't heal you."

"Then how would you get your daily sarcasm boost."

Kyto chuckled. "I am so happy you are okay. I was worried about the brain damage, but then again, you would need to have a brain first to damage."

It was Tiddles's turn to roll his eyes. "Now that I am awake., I am not tired. You may as well get some rest for a while, as I doubt you have slept yet."

"I do not need much sleep with my endurance boosts."

"It won't do you any harm, though."

"True. Okay. I will try to get some sleep, but I can't guarantee I will be able to. Being surrounded by all the sounds and knowing that the Hoerniqu is out there somewhere really does not fill me with confidence or security."

"The mana balls you threw did decent damage to that thing. 8% in one hit against a Tier 2 is a good hit."

"They did because it was dark aligned, and my mana is light aligned. Not sure what benefit they would have against other Wild Ones or monsters."

"Maybe you need to consider opening your combat skills?"

"Possibly, but there is still so far to go with my healing and support skills."

"I know we both have a long way to go with the amount of arcane knowledge needed. Maybe we should diversify, though. I know I have increased my armour, but since Hoerniqu pierced me so easily, I think I should increase it further. If a Tier 2 could damage me so easily, I dread to think what a Tier 3 could do."

"It is the arcane knowledge that limits us currently. The best experience boosts were from the Dungeon and quests. I am guessing that this next quest will give us the largest boost again."

"We could just go hunting."

"Hunting?"

"Yeah. That way, you can heal, and I can kill; it would boost our individual quest targets."

"I know, but the number of kills you need now per level is huge, and we don't know how strong the Wild Ones or monsters are in this area, and we have the timer for this next quest."

I just wish it would stop time-bounding us. We still have no clue what the challenge phases will be when the main timer runs down."

"Considering where we are now, I think we have a long way to go."

"I just wonder what Tier these damn creatures go up to and why the System is even doing this."

"And why us?"

"Exactly."

"We may find out eventually."

"I know, but I am not sure I want to find out," Kyto said, frowning. "It picked us both for a reason and if you consider that before we even met, I had chosen healing and your combat-based skills, it is as if it knew we would."

"I think it possibly did!"

"But how? It is manipulating us but it could not have known for definite. It is not controlling our choices."

"I'm not so sure. I think it is deliberately throwing certain quests at us to force certain choices."

"Possibly, but again, we still have free choice. If we did the opposite of our needs, what would happen."

"Ooohh. That could be interesting, but do we want to chance it?"

"You mentioned changing skill branches, so maybe we change our focus slightly."

"In what way?"

"Let's go through our skill trees fully and see if there is a way we can provide a more rounded party."

"So you may open combat skills then?" Tiddles questioned.

"Perhaps, although fighting was never in my nature until we have been forced to. I have seen more violence and heartache in the past couple of weeks compared to the rest of my life. Apart from when the raiders attacked my group."

The friends sat chatting through the night. They were still talking when the first signs of the morning light began to pierce the night veil.

"Well so much for sleeping. We may as well make the most of the light and head out early." Kyto said.

"Land or river?" Tiddles asked.

"I can't go by the river and looking at the Wild Ones that live in it, I wouldn't even want to try."

"We do not know what is on land yet though either."

"I know but the river is open and if that Hoerniqu comes back it would be able to attack easily on the river. I would prefer to be in the forest at least for safety."

"I suppose but it will take us much longer to get to the pyramid that Marhosi mentioned and we do not even know if it is the right location."

"We have to start somewhere."

"I will speak to Marhosi and get the directions. It may be worth us staying near the river's edge if possible rather than going deep into the forest. I can move through there easily but I am not sure how well you will get on."

"I should be fine with my endurance boosts?"

Tiddles walked to the edge of the pool and called out. Several moments later the large face of Marhosi appeared at the surface and he started talking to him. Kyto listened in but could not really tell much from a one-sided conversation and he appreciated how the others must have felt about him translating for Tiddles.

"Marhosi still says the river is the fastest route by far, but understands that with the Hoerniqu why we would prefer to be undercover. He has said that he will send some of the aggregation towards the pyramid to see what is going on if we wished?"

"That would take six days though there and back from the timescales he gave?"

"The three days travel was with you being on their backs being carried. If they swim directly they can get there much faster. He thinks they could be back in three days."

"It may be an option. At least we would have an idea if it is worth going there at all. It is a lot to ask of Marhosi and his group though?"

"Marhosi. Would you be ok with checking the pyramids to save time if there is nothing there now?" Tiddles asked.

A trumpeted reply came back.

"He says it is fine. They often patrol the river anyway so sending some that way now is no problem."

"If he is ok with it it is not going to be problematic. I am still interested in the burning you smelt when you arrived."

"Well if we wait three days and still need to head there that will be eleven days gone of the thirty."

"Twelve potentially if the journey by land does take that long we are already into the first day. If we are going to stay here though we need to setup properly. We do not want to be in a position where that monster can come back and attack us again."

"There is not much we can do against it flying. I hate flying monsters why can they just not stay on the ground."

"Well it could not get through these close-knit trees so I think this is as good a place as any we just need to make it more homely for the next couple of days while we wait."

"It was dark when it attacked so maybe it is nocturnal which means hunting or moving in the daytime may be the best option."

"That sounds good even when we move to the pyramid. Wait a second. If we travelled by day on the river we may be ok as long as we were in the trees before dark. Can you see if Marhosi has seen the Hoerniqu before?"

Tiddles spoke to Marhosi. "He confirms they have seen it in the evenings and early hours of the night for the past couple of days."

"Only a couple of days? That means it is placed by the system then when the portal was. It is too much of a coincidence to suddenly turn up."

"You say that what about the Vilorse that attacked me outside of New Talisia.

"Good point. I am not sure. Maybe there are Tiered creatures around already in various areas."

"Knowing what a two can do and what the Vilorse did with a single hit to me I am not sure we are ready to face full Tier 3's yet." Tiddles replied frowning.

"Let's just hope that we do not face one too soon then!"

"If it is just in the evening or night time maybe we should go via river now?" Tiddles said.

Kyto looked at Tiddles for several moments before replying. "I am terrified of the river though."

"Well, one way to break a fear is to face it Tiddles said, grinning.