Zane tried coming up with an explanation. He came up blank.
It started late one night. Reina had been sprawled against him, whispering softly to him. This had been going on night after night.
He didn't feel much emotionally, most of the time, but Reina had a very strange effect on him… and, well, she was a gorgeous woman pressed tightly against him. That… also had an effect on him. As the weeks dragged on it grew torturous.
As a last feeble try, he told Reina he couldn't give her anything more than friendship right now. But she said friends could still comfort one another. Then the last thread of his self-control snapped.
"You dog!" said Avery. "You fiend! You player!"
He winced. "…Seriously?"
"How long has this been going on?"
He winced again. "A few weeks."
"You slut!"
"..." Zane sighed. "She works a tough job. It's just stress relief for her."
"Uh-huh." Avery didn't look convinced. "Oh, by the way! Have I told you what I've been up to lately?"
"Napping?"
"Well, yeah, but I've also been trying to comprehend this new Water Law, and it's just so much work. So much pressure, you know. Just really stressful stuff… I'm just so stressed all the time…"
She stared up at him expectantly with her big green eyes.
"…"
"..."
"Sooooo—"
He moved to close the door.
"Wait wait! Kidding, geez!" said Avery. "I actually have something important to say, I swear!"
"What is it?"
"I'm heading east," she said brightly. "I heard you were taking a little vacation down the West Coast. I thought I might do the same now that the Legion's gone. I lost contact with some friends a few states over when this all started. I figure I'll go check up on them, maybe pick up some Skills and Levels along the way, you know?"
"Do you want someone to go with you?" said Zane. Avery was very capable, until she wasn't.
"Nah, I got this," she said. "Oh! I haven't shown you—here, check this out."
She snapped her fingers, and her body warbled a little, like he was seeing her underwater. "It's my new Skill. Here, try punching me."
Then she closed her eyes.
"…" He'd gone down this road before, but luckily broken noses healed quickly in this new world. Still, he put very little into the strike.
It slipped right off.
"Neat, right?" she said, eyes still closed. "It's called 'Reactive Redirection'! Once I turn it on, it'll redirect stuff even if I don't see it. No more getting randomly wiped out by some lucky archer. I practiced this for two weeks straight in my dreams, and it just gave it to me. Didn't even know you could do that."
Huh. "That is neat."
"Mhm," said Avery happily. "I'm still working on something offensive. One day I'll be able to beat people up. Hell, one day I'll beat you up. You just wait."
"…Sure."
"So…" said Avery. "I was going to go to you next, but you're already here, so…guess I'll see you around, you big lump."
"See you."
He felt surprisingly sad. He'd miss her. She'd grown on him a lot.
"Uh…" Avery scratched her head. "Before I go, just one more question. I've always been curious, honestly."
"Shoot."
"Is she freaky? She seems like the freaky type—hey wait! Don't—"
The door shut in her face.
***
As he left, Reina insisted on walking him to the edge of the Luminous Faction borders. There, she gave him a gift—a black bead necklace to wear around his neck.
𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕤 (ℂ)
𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕜𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕣'𝕤 𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕪, 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕝𝕦𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕖, 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝, 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖, 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝, 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟. ℂ-𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜𝕤 𝕦𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟘𝟘.
"I bought these for you," Reina said, handing them to him, closing his palm around it. Her hand lingered, holding his closed. "You should keep a low profile as you're traveling. If people know who you are, it can be used against you. I compiled a report on your Mount St. Helens trip—this is something Stroud tried to take advantage of. He might've succeeded if Avery weren't there. People will know taking you out means the Faction's easy pickings. And as you go farther, they'll know you won't have backup close by."
Zane was amused. "You're worried about my safety."
There were probably less than thirty people in the world right now who could pose him any real threat.
"Of course I am," said Reina. She did look worried. "I care about you—" She caught herself. "I mean—just as I would any integral member of the Faction. Just… be careful, alright? I have been talking to some of the other local hegemons. A lot of their leaders do it too when they travel."
Zane could see the appeal in it, if only because he was tired of being mobbed all the time. He supposed some peace and quiet would be nice.
Only—"How discreet do you want me to be?" He'd never been the best at subtlety. "Once they know who I am the instant I start fighting?"
"I'm not saying you have to hide," said Reina, "But it's better they don't know who you are or how strong you are unless and until you want them to."
He saw the sense in it. "Sure."
"Here." Reina came up close and tied it around his neck. His skin tingled where he felt her breath.
She stepped back and observed him, then nodded. "When I Identify it all comes up as question marks. And you're just a normal white dot on the mini-map. It works."
"Is that all, then?"
Reina nodded.
It was time to go. She had given him a bag of holding full of things he'd frankly never need—enough food to last six months, clothing for every weather type, and random things like rope, treasures, tents, camouflage cloaks…she was so considerate. She thought of everything.
"And don't go being stupid and noble for no reason," said Reina, staring him straight in the eyes. "Your life is most important."
He blinked. "Noble?" That was… not at all how he'd describe himself. He thought he was rather the opposite.
"That's right," said Reina softly. "You're the noblest man I know." He doubted anyone would describe him that way. Except Reina, with her rose-tinted glasses.
They stood there facing each other. Neither of them could look each other in the eye. He shuffled a little, and she did too. He cleared his throat. "So."
"… This is it," said Reina softly. She tucked a lock of hair behind an ear. "Goodbye, Zane."
"Goodbye, Reina."
They kept standing there. Things were getting awkward. Then—
"Oh my God, just kiss already!" They both jerked up. There, lying on a nearby tree branch, was Avery. She threw them an irritated look over her binoculars.
Which brought that little encounter to an embarrassing end.
***
Zane set off for Oregon. First up: C-Ranked Dungeon, Gorge of Elemental Winds. Right on the outskirts of Portland. It seemed to be in the middle of the neighboring Faction's territory. Hopefully they wouldn't mind him dropping by. He'd take care of their problem for them, after all. He didn't mind sharing the treasures.
He went through forest after forest. After a while, they all started to look the same—they looked a lot like they had before the change, just made fantastical, grand, color-shifted. A lot of the folk in the Safe Zones he passed recognized him. Many waved to him, or shouted to him cheerfully; some invited him in for lunch, or for tea. He politely declined.
He was too eager to get going. Finally—on the road! He could practically feel the fights looming before him. He was grinning just thinking about it.
The last Safe Zone on the edge of Luminous Faction territory was run by a scruffy, white-bearded, pleasant old man named Dale. The man caught sight of him and roped him into a conversation before he could get away. "You take care, sir!" It felt weird for a man more than twice his age to call him Sir, but then Zane had stopped bothering to correct people. "I tell ya," Dale continued. "That faction down in Portland… they're trouble. Haven't seen much of them, but the little I've seen, I don't like. They almost killed one of mine for getting near that wall of theirs.
"Wall?"
"Oh yeah. It's huge and it's ugly as hell. You'll see. They don't like us at all. You'd almost think they were scared of us. Or I guess I should say, scared of you," Dale chuckled. "Just a heads up."
***
Not long after that, Zane crossed out of Luminous Faction territory at last. He could instantly tell where Luminous territory ended and where this other Faction's territory began. Even this far-out Luminous Faction Safe Zone had a quaint little town going, with their own dojos and a little garden for the children to play, and dirt roads leading in and out of the forest.
This next Zone was so undeveloped he couldn't tell whether it was a Safe Zone or Dungeon.
𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕:
𝕊𝕒𝕗𝕖 ℤ𝕠𝕟𝕖: 𝔹𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 (𝔽)
𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖
Black Flame?
…They couldn't be wielders of Fire Laws too, right? Though it'd be interesting if they were.
Zane fastened the Stealth Beads around his neck…
***
The border wall was a monstrosity: thick gray stone, running over with runes. Runes that made it blast-resistant, water-resistant, ice-resistant—resistant to pretty much everything. Brutally hard to crack.
Chloe Taylor would know. She and her crew had tried everything this past month, to no avail.
In front of it were trenches upon trenches, choked with barbed wire sizzling with electric essence. And behind those walls, spaced out at twenty-foot intervals, lay the turret towers. Get caught in the sight of one of those, and it was over. Guards patrolled the walls at all times of day. It seemed impenetrable.
Chloe had to prove it wasn't. She gritted her teeth, narrowed her eyes, and raised the longbow in her hands. Her face was streaked with camouflage paint. She was crouched here, waiting. Trying desperately to keep her hope. She couldn't. If she lost hope, her crew was finished… but some days, especially lately, she felt close to breaking.
Just six months ago she'd been the happiest she'd ever been. She'd just been voted head cheerleader at her community college. Rob, her highschool sweetheart and boyfriend of six years, had just proposed after the most romantic dinner date on a pier by the beach…it was a memory she thought she'd cherish forever.
Now she wanted to cry every time she thought of it.
How had things gone so horribly wrong, overnight?
They'd been trapped in this nightmare of a Forest Dungeon. The very same Safe Zone where she now crouched, hidden in swathes of foliage. And she made it out alive, barely, shivering, feeling like something in her had been broken forever. So many times she just wanted to lie down and give up, let the Monsters take her. And through it all, Rob had been her rock… he'd been so strong for her…
The thought made her choke up again. She blinked the tears away, gritted her teeth. She couldn't focus on that, not now; she had to keep her aim straight. The captain of the guard made his rounds every day right about now. He was a pig of a man. As far as Chloe could tell, he'd earned his spot by being the cruelest of them all—and that was saying something.
She saw him, and her hands started trembling—not in nervousness this time, but anger.
She had to keep it straight—
She lined it up, a pause. Her arrow was loaded with all her essence. This shot had to be perfect… There!
She let go, and the arrow flew true. It went straight into the guard captain's neck. His eyes bulged. He choked. Then he toppled, flopping over the edge.
That's for Rob, you fat asshole!
Then—all at once—the turret towers swerved to face her. Her heart went to her throat.
She ran for her life as the forest erupted around her. A tree ten paces to her left went up in a plume of fire. She cried out, kept running even as the ground trembled beneath her. All she could do was hope now. She just had to keep going, even as she saw trees mowed down left and right…