The heroes traveled all day before they crested a large hill and came upon a line of travelers with carriages and large beasts of all shapes loaded down with various items. Some people were riding animals and others were in different types of carriages. Most of them weren't as grand as the large spider, but the majority of them had gears on them and were clearly mechanical in some way. The line was at least a mile long and was moving at a snail's pace.
After being newly chipped, Snowflake raced around the room, joyfully flinging snowflakes all over the place in a chaotic dance. "I'm Snowflake! I can't believe I get to say that! What a cute name! It's just so me! Thanks, Amy!" Her light blue eyes were shining with happiness, and she was talking a mile a minute. "I'm so thrilled! I never thought I'd have a family this fast! I thought I'd be stuck in that boring wisp nursery forever!" Then, she zipped over and planted little kisses on Amy and Aria's cheeks. "I'm so happy right now, I can finally talk to everyone! It was so boring just chatting with Pyr. He's like, the most boring wisp ever! All he does is whine about fire wisps. Like, do we really need another one? I told him the only reason you'd want another fire wisp is if he wasn't hot enough, and let me tell you he got steamed. He's so dramatic!"
She dashed over to the window, while Amy sat there, eyeing her bitter darbory tea, an odd concoction Fin liked. Amy found herself craving a hot cup of Big-B coffee, really missing that cozy pumpkin spice latte topped with whipped cream that she treated herself to every Monday during the season. Those little habits gave her a sense of belonging somewhere and comfort. She was going to miss work, not that anyone would really care. Sure, they'd notice her absence, but it's not like she had a ton of friends on Earth. Still, she loved her job. Chatting with the customers was the best part. There were all sorts of people who came into the store: the goths who lived in their dark clothes, the curious ones who looked totally lost, gift buyers who were just trying to be nice, and those who only showed up for Halloween costumes. Then there were the troublemakers who thought it was funny to complain about the stuff we sold. Thankfully, Sam was there to handle them; he's huge and intimidating. She'd really miss that place. They appreciated her and even gave her bonuses for being good at sales. But honestly, by the time she got back to Earth, she was pretty sure she'd be fired.
"Ugh, please tell me we're not stuck in this line forever! I just wanna go have fun with my new fam like, right now!" She released a flurry of snowflakes and darted back to the viewing window, pressing her face against the glass to get a better look at the crowd ahead, leaving a frosty imprint behind. "Absolutely not! I'm not sitting here waiting; I'm totally taking care of this right now!" She darted into Pyr's furnace shoving him aside and dashed up the tunnel.
"Whoa, hold on a second! What do you think you're playing at? This's my furnace, and you better get out of here right now!" Pyr yelled, racing after her.
A moment later, the carriage jerked in a weird twitching sort of way and then it dashed out of the line as fast as a racing spider scampering after prey. Amy blinked at the racing scenery passing by the window and had a strong urge to throw up. "What's going on?" she said weakly while holding her hand over her mouth.
Suddenly, the carriage came to a jarring halt, lurching violently before veering away from the path. It ducked low, weaving through the trees with a sense of urgency until it found itself behind the towering fifty-foot wall of Farnfoss. After a brief pause, the carriage surged forward, swiftly closing the distance between the foliage and the imposing barrier. It then began to ascend the wall at a perfect ninety-degree angle, as if it were scaling a flat surface. Thanks to the gravity spell inside, nothing inside was disturbed, but from the window, it felt as though the world had tilted dramatically. The rest of the group rushed over to the window and watched the ground swiftly fall out from below them.
"Oh my goodness! It's like we're on the craziest amusement park ride, and we're just about to zoom down the hill. But wait, how do we even get down from here? Are we going to just climb down the other side or is it going to be something more dramatic?" Nick said.
Jayla was wrapped up in her own arms, trying to soothe the goosebumps dancing on her skin. "Ugh, I can't stand those creepy crawly critters! Spiders and centipedes? Total nightmares! Why did the carriage have to be some weird magical spider, of all things?!"
"I think we should get back in line," said Olivia.
"We're here now, and I'm eager to hunt down some local eats and dive in. A cold beer sounds perfect right about now. What do you say, Brian? Want to join me for a beer?" Paul asked.
"I'd love to have one, but I can only manage one or two with you before I have to run. I've got a date with Inga," Brian said.
Inga glanced over to Brian and grinned at him.
"Oh, darling, shopping! I'll be out with the ladies if they'll let me tag along," Nick said.
"Absolutely! You're joining us! I can't wait to take you to some of my favorite shops and help you find everything you need, plus maybe a few fun extras. Also, think about grabbing an expansion stone to give your personal bedrooms a little more space; they might feel a bit snug once you fill them up with all your goodies," Inga said.
"Oh, we should totally get expansion stones for our rooms, I'm going to buy one right away!" said Nick.
"Hey Paul! Now that Aria's joined our crew, she'll need to crash in your room. You add someone, you house them, so don't invite people to join us randomly. However, you're always free to disinvite someone that you don't want to come with us anymore. They have to pull their weight, either by you picking up the slack or making themselves useful. You have the option to grab a room expansion to make your space bigger or even add a whole new room! If you go for a pre-designed and furnished room, it'll cost a bit more, but it'll save you a ton of effort. Alternatively, you can opt for a blank canvas and customize it all on your own! There are some great deals out there, but watch out for the duds. Elek is on board to help you with the shopping, so we can speed things up!"
"I will endeavor to be of assistance," said Aria.
"Uh, we're like super high," Amy said, her breath hitching as she peered down.
"Man, you should have witnessed that waterspout Brian and I shot out of. It was easily twice as tall! We had so much fun, didn't we Brian," Paul said.
"It was a blast," said Brian in a deadpan voice.
"A blast!" said Paul while laughing.
When they finally arrived at the summit of the towering fifty-foot rock wall, the spider carriage shot out webbing from its metallic rear, latching onto the edge and lowering itself with a web rope down the inside.
"It's launching webbing from its rear! What kind of freaky vehicle is this?!" Jayla shouted.
From the distance, the Heroes of Legend heard the sound of many voices shouting out in harmony and great excitement, "Hunt down the trespassers and quickly detain them!"
Coming Next Time: Shopping Under Siege
We'll finally get to find out what our superpowers are!