The Cave

17/7/4999-18/7/4999

Jessica stared into the swirling ink colored blackness of the cave in front of her. She pondered out loud to her comrades, "Why does it seem to eat all the light before it can pass the entrance?"

"Ya, can quit waxing poetic, missy," Arholo the dwarf scoffed as he hopped down out of the back of wagon," 'Tis just a spell."

"It is always a spell," Agreed Harmon the elf in his lyrical voice.

"Don't you DARE start singing again," Exclaimed Jessica, Arholo, and Peter in unison.

It had taken 5 full days to reach this cave. They were at the base of a mountain in a small valley that formed a near perfect circle with a radius of roughly 1.25 Kilometers. The area was clearly visible as the ground was mostly flat dirt with a few small bushes, short trees and barrel shaped cactus like plants. Hiding behind these a race of purple bunny like creatures called Hoppers who were watching everything these invaders were doing in their territory. A neat smooth path about twice the width of the wagon with a steep angle of descent was cutting up the roughly 900 meter tall mountain behind them. Looking up it you can see the green blue sky spotted with a few puffy white clouds that seemed to dance with rainbow colors as prisms form within them. The sky of a planet they called home, known to the people living there as Karth.

Jessica had grown frustrated when they had finally reached the top of the mountain an hour before to find no path for the wagon to follow down. That moronic Committee Chairman, she had thought. Unthinkingly, she had pointed with her wand from where they were at the top of the mountain to a clearing near the cave and simple shouted PATH. The mountain had been reshaped in less than 5 minutes. She had sat there waiting kicking herself for even considering this quest. They had only been home from there last one for 4 days when the Chairman had called asking her to take it on. There weren't many people he could call on for this sort of work anymore and she was one of the few.

He had offered her 50 Large Gold with 3 weeks to complete and a 20 gold bonus if she managed to get it done early. Money wasn't really something she placed a lot of value in but with that kind of money she could use her share of the gold to pay her employees for their labor when the customers couldn't pay the going rate for something and it was something she felt needed to get done. She also wanted to be able to get some gifts for the children at the apartment complex called 'The orphanage' her parents run. She was tired, the thought of walking down the mountain's small weaving foot path was too much and even though she hated using her magic she really just acted on impulse. This was something her friends found deeply amusing.

The reason they had snapped at Harmon was that for the past 5 days he had been singing about everything from the shape of a stick he had picked up, to the relief he felt peeing.

Everyone was simply at the end of their rope. Harmon missed his days as a singer/performer before he had been forced to take on the role of adventurer simplsimply for having the misfortune of being one of the one hundred, that had retained their magic after the Blackout.

"Sorry," Harmon apologized to his life long friends. He was blushing which caused his cheeks to turn into a glowing bright pink. He hopped down from the back of the wagon and started pulling things down.

Jessica shook her head, " No we are sorry, Harmon."

"Ya, didn't mean to snap at cha," Arholo replied a little embarrassed with himself.

"I think we are all just tired from this constant adventering," Peter remarked as he unfurled his wings to their full length hitting the side of Jessica's head making her lean back. He then flew up and away from the front of the wagon. Landing he put them away again sticking his tongue out at Jessica who was glaring at him.

Thank you so much! I would like help down from this fucking thing, Jessica thought to herself as she carefully climbed down from the wagon. Arholo was made his way to the front of two horses. In every way they appear to be normal horse like ones on Earth but they are twice as strong and can we provoked attack using more than just their teeth and hoofs.

Jessica stretched out with her feet both on the ground solidly. She began rubbing her sore butt and taking long lunging steps in a circle around the back of the wagon stopping when she reached Arholo at the front. He looked over at her and she winked at him.

"Well, thanks to the fast travel spell we used and my display of complete lack of self control and impatience, we made a two week journey in only 5 days," Jessica said in a tone that indicated she was pleased. Bonus here I come, she thought, thinking you can trick me with an impossible to achieve prize bad call, Butthead. Images of the looks on the kids faces as she gave them each their favorite candies running through head brightening her mood a little. A smile began to reach the edge of her lips.

"It would have taken 5 seconds if you had let me teleport us here," Peter joked with a sinister grin on his face and nasty gleam in his eye.

Jessica frowned her brow scrunching up with worry, her eyes seemed to dull and lose some of their luster. Arholo's axe slipped from his normally unyielding hand to the ground as his paller fell to resemble that of a corpse. Harmon sat on the ground wrapping his arms around his knees and began rocking. Peter seemed pleased that his jokingly referring to a taboo subject had this effect on them.

Jessica took a deep breath. "Peter, sweetheart, could you please," she started sweetly,

"NOT SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF US WITH YOUR BAD JOKES!" She roared in anger flames literally dancing on her open extended palms. She extinguished the flames quickly. Glancing at the horses who did not flinch she sighed relieved. They knew that she was no threat to them.

Arholo began to laugh from deep within his belly. It sounded like what most humans imagine a bear laughing would sound like. A thunderous and joy filled sound.

"Oh, great who started a chainsaw?," Peter asked taking a jab a Arholo who was picking his axe back up. Arholo turned to him and with his free hand he flipped the Fae off.

Harmon waving his hand at him back first said," You have no one to blame but yourself."

Harmon walked over to Jessica and wrapped his arms around her before she could object. Peter seeing this copied him and hugged her from behind. Arholo finished checking the horses and he walked over to her side and squeezed his arms through the tight hug, they took purchase around her waist. Jessica couldn't be mad at them anymore. Their display of affection wiping away her anger and clearing her mind. She smiled and let out a small laugh.

"Okay, okay, we are all friends, again," she cried out to get them to relax their hold enough for her to breathe easier.

The 4 of them were a sight to behold. Jessica who was 5'5" tall with long brown hair she kept in two braids on the sides of her head. They were so long that they reached her waist. She was wearing a light blue softer than cotton t-shirt, blue "jeans" and calf-high brown cowgirl boots. Her custom made wand sheath sewn along the side of right boot was so sheer you had to swint to notice it. The wand itself however was clearly visible, 11" long and made of a white wood, on its handle was a pattern made from silver that was catching the light of the sun in a way that it looked like it was shining. It was easily retrievable and that's just how she wanted it. Her hazel eyes seemed to shimmer as she laughed along with her friends. She looked down at the top of Arholo's head his bushy thick auburn hair had four braids, two running from the temples back to meet second set which started at the nape of his neck they joined together at the center of the back of his head. They held in place a large hair ornament featuring a piece of stone set in black leather. On the stone his family crest engraved it featured a rather odd looking buck with three eyes in a line on each side of its face on its head it had large and long antlers though one was clearly growing crooked. To this day no dwarf had told anyone why these animals were used as their family crests. At 4' 0" tall a respectable height for a dwarf, his slightly redder than his hair bushy beard reached his midsection even braided neatly. He was wearing his brown soft leather jacket, a red and black flannel long sleeved shirt with the collar and cuffs exposed, and black kilt his sporran featuring no ornamentation. He looked up at her his strong dwarven face breaking into a smile his deep green eyes crinkling along the edges just a little. Jessica managed to pull her arm free and placed her left hand on his head. She then looked up at Harmon. His long silver hair with gold highlights brushing against her cheek as he looked down her from his 6' 8" height. He lifted his right hand using its long fingers to tuck his hair behind his pointed ear. He smiled at her his delicate features and high cheekbones out matched only by his dazzling purple irises rimmed with a blue light of truth, though it was not shining now. His skin a held a dark blue hue indicating his dark elf heritage. He had on a thin white softer than cotton floor length sleeveless dress. Her kissed the top of her forehead. Peter's gold eyes flashed with jealousy for a brief second unfurled his four wings and used the top right one to smack the elf on top of his head. His wings are not too wide and come to a slight curve facing up or down depending on if they are top or bottom. They are dark purple and just translucent enough to let their blue veins be visible. At 5'10" his jet black short spiky hair and human features were visible to Harmon but not to Jessica. His gold eyes are the real indication that is of the Fae and not just a human when his wings are furled up. He was wearing the same outfit as Jessica except for the boots. He had opted for black combat boots instead. They same woman bought all their clothes for them after all.

Jessica began to wiggle to free herself and the boys let her go. She stomped her right foot sharply twice and clicked her tongue. Purdy her lynx like house cat jumped onto the front bench of the wagon and then leaped onto her shoulders gracefully. She scratched him under the chin as he curled around the back of her neck. He butted his gray and white face on the underside of her chin. His light blues eyes closing as she scratched just the right spot on his ear.

The group got busy setting up a camp. Using a spell they could have set it up in 5 minutes but Jessica really did not like to use magic if they could avoid it saying, "We don't want to be caught with our thumbs up our asses if we lose our magic too." This is Jessica's favorite saying because the only good thing that had come from the day referred to on Karth as the Blackout was the story their friend Alorha had told her about what she had been doing during the Blackout. Alohra is a high priestess half-light elf half-human who had been making love with her life mates. She had been using a well known and often used spells to assist in bringing them to simultaneous orgasm when the magic had been drained from her, this had left her with a dick in one hand and the other stuck somewhere a hand should not be stuck. This of course meant no orgasms for anyone and very messy clean up.

The setting up of the camp was a simple process because technology is very advanced on Karth. After handing out and waiting for them to be properly placed the four long white sticks Harmon grabbed first from the wagon made a large rectangle. Jessica plugged a keyboard into the side of the one closest to her sncying the portable holoemiter sticks and running a program named, Our Stupid Fucking Camp. The holo emitter sticks flickered and nothing happened Jessica looked at the one closest to her sure she had placed hers correctly she scanned the rest. The one Peter had placed upside down on the side opposite from her.

"You know for a guy almost as old as the world itself, who has been exposed to this level of tech his entire immortal existence. You are a fucking idiot," Jessica stated as a matter of fact. Shaking her head at Peter. She looked to Harmon and motioned with her head to fix it. Arholo had unhitched the team and was waiting for the corral to appear so he could brush down the horses. Using the hand holding his axe he flipped Peter off again. Harmon quickly fixed the sticks placement and Jessica relanched the program. Peter decided to do something useful and attached the very heavy water tank on the wagon to the plumbing system of the camp. Not that holo-water doesn't get you clean, Jessica just felt it was the wrong kind of clean somehow. She was not alone in this feeling. After he had finished brushing down the horses and giving them food and water Arholo walked into the cabin like structure went into the bathroom lifted the floor and swung his axe down making room for the holoseptic system underground. This was not a spell but shear dwarven strength. They had been through this routine more times than any of them cared to remember.

"Should we shower, eat and nap first?," Jessica started asking when a low growl could be heard not far behind her, "Shit"

Jessica rose to her feet pulling a wand from her boot. This wand was in no way functional or practical but if she had to use magic she was gonna do it with style damn it. She looked carefully around her seeing no sign of what had growled. There weren't that many places to hide given the sparse nature of the landscape. Jessica stilled her mind remember her Flora and Fauna lesson of Karth. Concluding that she was dealing an as yet unclassified species of wolf that was either invisible or very small she opted for a spell she had created on her own one night when she was trying to give Purdy a bath. She held a picture in her mind's eye a network of lasers harmless lazers going filling a 10 meter cube around her with her standing in the center. She gave her wand a check mark flip as she said,"Detect and Trap" There was small very visible wolf was caught in the network and it collapsed into a cage just big enough for him to move around with a big green arrow pointing down at him.

"Gotcha," Jessica said smiling satisfied, "and a nice payday bonus from the system if you really are unclassified like I think you are." she added. Reaching into the bag on her side and pulled out her quickident stone. The bag and the stone were issued to her by the system the day she was declared a legal adult. The bag was known as an Everbag, it had unlimited storage and was yours forever the moment the system issued it to you no one else on Karth could open it or touch its contents. Even if you left your bag laying somewhere open with something half hanging out of it it could not be removed by anyone but the owner. The quickident stone was a handy tool for identifying every species of life on Karth as it gave a detailed description of them to you. If you were the first to scan something no one else had run a check on before you got to either keep the system issued name for it or name it yourself.

She held the stone in front of the caged animal and said "ID please." Rubbing it with her thumb and flicking out a small screen. The system complied displaying the species of wolf as a Toy Poodle Wolf. She had been right, it was unclassified she could change the name she had up to a week to decide what to name it so she started an online suggesting pool. Nearly everything is voted on by the entire population of Karth you open a suggestion pool the top 3 most liked items in the first hour are selected then everyone has 15 hours to vote again from just those 3 choices since this was a system named previously unclassified species only two user generated names would be selected and the third would Toy Poodle Wolf. Jessica could eat up one of the slots with her own choice but this was the 5th newly classified species she had come across in the last 2 cycles. She also could have just named it whatever she wanted and she didn't have to open a vote. This however, was more fun because some of the rejected names sometimes became their own jokes for a while and everyone got to study the new creatures provided information right away.

The system payout was determined by rarity, the number of times it had already come into contact with a citizen and remained unscanned and number of cycles since the species had first evolved on Karth. Jessica read the stats on it "Oh FUCK yeeesss," she said. Pumping her wand filled fist into the air. She remembered it was there and slipped it back into its sheath.

These wolves literally only lived in this small valley. They had been near citizens hundreds of times and had been around for 4 thousand of the nearly 5 thousand cycles of history on Karth she would receive 500 Large Gold for the rarity level, 1 normal gold for everyone who had come into the valley and hadn't scanned it and 1 steel bar for every month it had remained unscanned.

Peter tapped her on the shoulder. " It also says they make nice pets."

Jessica's eyes widened and she scrolled to where it said that. She nearly jumped out of her skin with excitement. The system also paid out a bonus for everyone who immediately elected to adopt. Even if they had to wait for breeding cycles. She moved this feature to the top of the list of details for her poll.

"I would adopt you myself but you are going to be very busy for a while," she said to the creature, "Also, Purdy would hate you." The napping kitty peer out his eyes and nodded. She gentle pet him and put the stone back in her bag. Then she picked up the cage and carried back to the wagon. She set the cage in the wagon and dug around until she found a non-magic cage to transfer the animal to. Setting the magic cage in the real one locking it shut she then pulled out her wand again and she waved it over the cages saying,"Done." The magic cage disappeared.

Arholo walked over and opened the feeding slot on the front of the cage and slid a piece of meat and bowl of water through it. Jessica knew he had read the dietary requirements of the animal already and simply said,"Thank you." He brushed off her thanks, taking care of animals was something of a driving force for the dwarfs of Karth and in 5 thousand cycles they had never explained why. That is our business not yours, was the standard response. Jessica knew one day she would get him out of him but right now was not the time to try. Jessica couldn't believe her luck I am going to buy those kids so much stuff.

"You are probably thinking about spoiling the kids right now aren't you?," Harmon asked looking down his nose at his nails.

"Of course I am," Jessica replied beaming.

"You know you can't," Peter said shaking his head and tilting it to the side.

Jessica frowned while pulling Purdy off her shoulder and setting him down as she reseathed her wand.

Standing back up, she said,"Even if I promised you guys I would keep money from scanning for myself you can't really expect me to keep this much can you?" A sudden sadness filling her heart as they nodded at her. She hated them for a moment, just a half a moment. "Please just this once?" she pleaded making puppy dog eyes and pouting.

"NO," the trio said in unison. They had to make her promise to hold certain things back for herself over the cycles. The member's of Jessica's family were generous, to a fault. They could have been the wealthiest family on Karth by now if they had kept even half of what they earned for themselves.

Jessica never broke a promise, even one made when she was, let's just say high off her ass eating a bag of chips she pulled out of her everbag that she didn't even remember putting in there. She never would have made such a promise sober and they had given her an extra dose to her to ensure sure she was agreeable. She knew they had done it for her own good but she didn't want enough stuff for herself the justify this massive windfall. She checked her ranking on the global wealth scale she had jumped from 3rd to last all the way to the top 50 out of the 1 million organics. It was not a list she often bothered with but she knew the children at the orphanage had more money in their names than she had before this happened. She wanted with everything she had to for the first time in her life to break a promise and make herself a liar.

"Fuck the cave for tonight! I need some fucking sleep." Jessica declared in a bitter tone. She stormed into the cabin and slammed the door to her room locking it. She called her mother who answered on the first ring.

"I know, honey," Galen Strongwell said answer the call and knowing exactly why her daughter was calling, "Calm your spirit."

"Mommy," Jessica whined, "They won't let me break the promise just this once!"

"They shouldn't and you know it," Vinetra Strongwell responded. He loved his daughter but had never been more pleased that Peter was a Fae of his word. Before Jessica had been born he had gotten drunk one night and made Peter swear that the strengths of the Strongwell line would not be her weakness like it had for the rest of the Strongwell line. 'You must protect her from herself', he had pleaded with tears in his eyes. Peter had simply said 'As you wish, I swear it'.

"Daddy, it is too much! I can't be a money hoarder!," Jessica complained flopping back first on to her cot, "I have no clue what to even spend a fortune this large on if it is just for me!" Jessica was in shock when she checked the newsfeed on bedside screen, "A third of Karth has already selected to adopt one of these creatures?" Confusion clouding her reason she could not think as to why so many people would want such a pet.

"Jessica, my dear sweet daughter, the people of Karth know you have to keep this money from this for yourself," her mother said in a calm rational tone.

"You have been the most popular person on Karth after just after the Fae your entire life," her father remarked, "And when you (he paused) after the Blackout you out rank even the missing Fae." He sighed relieved that he had caught himself.

"People on Karth have a really messed up value system if just because I was first confirmed still magic user other than a Fae is reason enough for me to have achieved yet another unearned title achievement as the only human ever to be more popular than the Fae," Jessica said rolling off the side of the cot to the floor. Peering under it she could see Purdy was there. The lynx like house cat that had chosen her to adopt when she 5 cycles old had snuck onto the wagon when they were departing for this journey. Arholo had found the cat out immediately but kept his mouth shut until they were far enough away that to turn around would be too much trouble. There was a knock on her door. She sighed,"Happy or not I still have responsibilities to fulfill. I love you both infinitely."

"Good luck and congratulations," Her mother said.

Her father added,"Be happy again soon my baby." Jessica ended the call.

"Come in," She called out expecting Arholo with food and water ready for Purdy.

"Tis locked," Arholo called back. Jessica sighed and got up she unlocked the door and walked back to the cot. She watched as the door opened and all three of them peered around the sides looking in. She nodded giving them permission to enter.

The boys all walked in bumping it to each other. They wore sheepish looks on their faces.

"We know you don't like it, Jesscia," Harmon started.

" 'Tis for you own good, lassy," finished Arholo.

Peter just nodded his agreement.

Jessica stamped her right foot twice and Purdy came out from under the cot, jumped up onto it and then to her shoulders where he quickly curled around her neck.

"These naughty boys tricked your mommy," she said in a baby voice to Purdy,"Do you think mommy should punish them?" Purdy mewed slightly and nodded. "There you have it boys," she declared, "The cat has spoken. I will tell you what your punishment is, (she was interrupted by her stomach growling loudly) uh, after you feed me." She blushed a bit and shook her head.

She pointed them out the door and they complied each shooting looks of accusation at Purdy as they departed. Arholo still set down his filled food/water dish near the door on his way out though. Jessica followed behind them and closed the door, rolling her eyes, when they all stopped just outside her room and looked back at her. She walked back over to her cot and held her left arm out allowing Purdy to climb down it and hop onto it. He then jumped down from the cot and went to eat his dinner. She laid down on the cot face first this time and screamed into her pillow. She closed her eyes and relaxed her aching body. Might as well get a quick nap before dinner, she thought she knew it was going to be a long night.

Jessica had a dream that she was flying over Karth and could see all the mountain ranges and different trees. Crossing the ocean she waved down at New Japan. An Island that was found to be an exact match for the Japan back on Earth. It was further evidence to the og humans that this world was not naturally occuring back in the beginning. In the dream her ancestors where flying beside her, Jesse Strongwell the founder of the Strongwell clan who had made history several times himself in his day smiled at her and said, "Just let loose and go for it. Enjoy this beautiful world!"

She awoke feeling refreshed after about 15 minutes. The reaccuring dream also made her relax for a while. She could smell the sweet scent of milkworm steak lofting into her room from the kitchen. Her stomach growled again. Jessica decided to grab something to snack on while she waited for dinner. She walked out to the front room of the holocabin. Harmon was cooking in the kitchen while Peter and Arholo sat across from each other at the circular wooden table she had spent 5 full hours deciding on just before their first adventure nearly 2 cycles ago.

The interior of the cabin was sparsely decorated and had an open floor plan. The front room was all one space with kitchen, dining area and living room. Along the rear were five solid wood doors. The middle one leading to the bathroom was ajar and the rest each had one of their names carved into it. Looking from the rooms forward to the right was the living area with a fireplace two love seats and coffee table in front of it. To the left a clean modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances. The kitchen stood in stark contrast to the rest of the cabin with it wood floors and log cabin walls. The dining area was situated between the back room and the kitchen and the floor was covered by a large soft rug to set it apart from the rest of the space. She had always meant to just use this holocabin for the first trip they had taken and come up with something nicer for her friends once they had returned home but the Chairman was constantly asking for her assistance on something or another and Jessica had trouble saying no because they weren't selfish requests. Everything he asked her to do was for the good of Karth. From tracking a sphinx to its nest, to cleaning up a factory level potion spill, the jobs had varied from month to month and always seemed so urgent. When she had taken this quest she had promised her friends that the next time he asked her to do anything her first reply would be to find someone else. Between running these errands classified as quests and running her shop she hadn't had anytime to spend with her parents or the kids in months. Peter was furious when she told him about this job request. He told her that this was a job that could wait but Jessica had a weird feeling and accepted right away. It wasn't really the money just a gut instinct driving her to this place. She didn't tell anyone about the feelings she would sometimes get. No one in the history of Karth had ever been psychic and she was not about to let that achievement appear along with the hundreds of other unique titles the system had granted her over the cycles. It is probably less physic than just having the ability to extrapolate missing data points even my brain is OP, she thought in passing, still not worth the risk. She longed for a simple life of relative obscurity. Not that being the last of a long line of a prominent family known for using unique magic and having the brain to power it was all bad. It was just sometimes she wished that she had a smaller role to play in the story of Karth. She feared that would be impossible. She had a mission to complete and when it was done Karth would be the better for it.

On Karth there a rule that is not quite a law that states Power = Responsibility. Stolen and adapted from the legend of Spider-Man this was a core belief that had etched itself deep in their culture. The people of Karth knew that their magic was powered by intent and the clearer you could picture what you wanted to have happen the more accurate and powerful the spell. They were limited by natural talent and capabilities but they could always grow by gaining more knowledge.

Taking a seat on her stump joining Peter and Arholo at the round wood table Jessica reach forward and grabbed a purple round fruit from the bowl at its center and began peeling it revealing the orange inside. She glanced back at forth between the two of them as she ate. She studied the carving of Karth on top of the table as she placed the peels down. SUN MOON and STAR placing a piece of each of the three large land masses. She used her finger to fit a curved edge of the peel into the water carved smile of the SUN continent. She was about to put some smaller ones over its eyes when she felt a breeze. She looked up startled.

Arholo blinked losing the staring contest he and Peter had been having. Peter thrust is right fist up shouting, "Victory!" in a joyous tone.

Arholo shook his head no, " Ya are a cheat and ya know it," he said matter of factly.

Jessica smiled slightly and asked, "How so?" finishing the last wedge of orange.

Arholo began rubbing his eyes said, " He blew a wind spell inta me eyes forcing meh to shut 'em."

Jessica tilted her head and swallowed, "Did you guys set a no magic rule for the contest?"

Arholo stopped rubbing his eyes, shaking his head no and looked at her, "Er'eyone knows magic is a cheaters move in a competitive sport."

"Sorry, Arholo but unless it is for a title, you have to set it as rule in a one on one match and you know it," Harmon called from the kitchen.

Arholo protested further and Jessica cleared away the purple peel and threw it in the trash. The debate continued until Harmon announced that dinner was ready. Arholo finally conceded defeat, remarking that he would never resort to such an underhanded move as they settled in to eat. Peter crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at him. They ate their dinner discussing ideas for how Jessica could spoil herself with her new found fortune. Jessica found most of their ideas insane but they did give her an idea for something to spend at least a few gold on. After they finished eating Jessica cleared the table and was about to start washing the dishes when she remembered they were holograms and simple stated 'clean dishes' to the program. They were instantly clean and she put them back in the cabinet.

They all sat down on the down couches still talking about the money. Jessica coughed bringing their discussion to a close. She sitting one couch next to Harmon, Peter and Arholo had been sitting on the other one trading punches to arm.

"Are you boys ready to hear your punishment?," she asked in a teasing tone.

"How bad is it going to be?" Harmon asked in opera singing. Jessica plugged her ears with her fingers and stuck her tongue out at him. Peter straighten up and hit his shoulder with a static spell.

"Ouch," Harmon said rubbing his shoulder. He sneered at Peter.

"Not to bad," Jessica said,"You guys just have to scan everything in the valley and find me money to buy presents for the kids."

"Jessica, you promised to keep scanning money for yourself," Peter said in a warning tone. Arholo and Harmon nodding in agreement.

Jessica smiled a devilish grin on her face, "I promised to keep money from things I scanned with my quickident. (she paused for a second as their eyes grew wide) You guys will be the ones running checks on this valley all night. I am just going to supervise." She wagged her head the grinning turning to one of satisfaction.

Harmon looked at her disappointed on his face. The realization of what she was saying sinking in.

" Jessica, that 'tis a bit of cheat isn't it?" Arholo protested.

"And getting me high and tricking me into making promises isn't?," Jessica retorted. A small candle like flame appearing above her head.

"Ya, know what we intended when we did that," Arholo said in an attempt to soothe her. It worked and the flame vanished.

Jessica explained that the way she saw it this valley hadn't been properly scanned by anyone who had passed through it if there had been a four thousand cycle old species in it. The common practice of scanning things had fallen out of use over the cycles as most things were already categorized and taught in schools. The thick book of flora and fauna was big enough in most people's opinions. Jessica had picked up the habit as a way to pass the time while traveling all over the three main continents and a variety of islands on Karth. The money she got when she found a new thing was useful. That is of course until they had made her keep it.

"Ya, I am not staying up all not scanning rocks and bushes, missy," Arholo said defiantly. Jessica smirked an evil glint entered her eye. Arholo saw this and said, "On second thought, sounds like fun." Dropping his adopted Scottish accent for a moment as fear traveled up his spine.

They got to work and after the sun went down and Jessica allowed them to use a daylight spell on their eyes to keep searching. They found 3 unscanned things in the entire rest of the valley. A species of bug unique to the valley was that was also four thousand cycles old was almost enough on it own. The payday wasn't as high as the toy poodle wolf since it wasn't a pet but the other things made up most of the difference. Harmon had scanned it and done the name this species vote for it putting into the rules that it would also always been known as Jessica's Wrath as its nickname. The valley finally cleared Jessica allowed them to stop and they all went to bed.

They woke up at 10 A.M. and stood in front of the cave. Jessica pulled 5 large versions of the quickident stone from her everbag, " It looks to be about 6 meters wide and 7.5 meters tall. Let's go with a 3 meter range. Peter that ledge up there is about 3 meters higher than the opening right?" She took a step forward looking up and tripped falling on her face and splitting her lower lip wide open. The boys were stunned. Peter and Harmon began casting detect magic on the ground where she had tripped. Arholo bent down to help Jessica sit up and pulled a first aid kit from his sporran that was in fact his everbag. He grabbed a salve that cleans and disinfects without stinging from the kit. He looked at the wound. The sight of blood dripping from her young face caused him to feel a stabbing pain in his chest.

"Hang on a bit longer missy," he said in a tone meant to soothing but sounding more like blind panic. Jessica's eyes widened upon hearing it she pushed him back. She fumbled around in her everbag and yanked a hand mirror from out. She took a deep breath in and looked at herself.

"It's only a small cut, you goofy dwarf," she said relaxing a bit. Seeing the worry on their faces made her think she had cut open half her face. "Let's wash the blood away with water first," She said squeezing his hand lightly to soothe him. She glanced in the mirror again, "Look see it already stopped bleeding." It's just like her to worry about us when she is the one who is hurt, they all thought to themselves.

"Found it," Declared Harmon. He boosted his searching light to reveal a metal box on the ground he bent to pick it up.

"STOP!" Jessica commanded him. His hand froze midair just above the box. Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, " You found an unknown object that is obviously magic infused. What do you think you should do next?"

Harmon slapped himself on the forehead. "Scan and ID the object before interacting with it." All three men said in a chant that had been drilled into them as children. Harmon straightened up looking down at the box and shook his head. "My quickident won't be enough, it is man made."

"What?" Jessica asked she couldn't hear him over Arloho's humming. She was busy letting Arholo wash her face with the scarf his mother had shoved at him as they left insisting that he would need it. He thanked his mother in thoughts as he used it to get the last of the blood and dirt off of Jessica's face. Once it had been cleared away he could see clearly that she had been right its was just a small cut. He smiled in relief and handed her the salve. Joining Harmon and Peter.

The truth was it had not been, in fact it was as bad as Arholo had thought first seeing it but Jessica's need to please had caused her to, without realizing it, use magic to heal herself enough to ease smiles back onto their faces. This was not the first time Jessica had used magic unknowingly and not even the first time she had used it on herself. She was the most powerful magic user in all of Karth History. She knew that she was massively OP but didn't know about the effect she truly had on things around her. She was out of practice casting spells in public having stopped doing so at the from the age of 10 until, just after the Blackout two cycles ago. She had not purposefully cast any large spells during that time. She had made flowers bloom to bring a smile to an old woman's face just by thinking about it. She had once rebuilt someone's house that had burned down in a magic science experiment gone wrong, no one had been injured but a worried Jessica went to sleep that night and in the morning it had been rebuilt. If she had known she had done these things, she would have found a way to flee Karth itself so the system didn't alert her when it would quietly add to a list of accidental magic on her awards list. She had earned more awards and titles in short her life time than anyone had ever earned in there long lifetimes in the known history of Karth.

Peter grabbed stone tablets Jessica had dropped using a wind spell he placed them around the object dropping the 5th stone on top of it. Peter used his wits to grab the spell stones. I am not always stupid, He thought to himself smuggly.

The boys joined hands to active the spell while Jessica was rubbing salve into her wound. Sitting a couple of meters away.

With these stones we speak to you unknown object

Reveal to us your purpose

Let now you identity

They chanted this practice spell having cut it down from the three verse original one through practice and study. Most people need more than one word to form a spell in their mind clear enough to get it to execute properly. Jessica's didn't really need to say anything but usually did so people near her would know what she was doing. A screen appeared above the object Peter read it and frowned. Arholo pulled it to himself seeing what was on the screen he pulled a bag of sleeping powder out of his everbag and Peter used wind magic to hit Jessica and Harmon with it.

"Is this what I think it is?," Arholo asked Peter fear in voice. Peter nodded and the two men joined hands and after about 5 minutes of trying they rewrote the screen so that it now read. "Ha Ha what fools ye eight mere mortals be. You thought you found a treasure map to a cave of Mystery. Illusions I produce to take a jab at thee.

-Signed the Prankster formerly known as Matthew.

P.S. Screw you Daryell, mess up my weekend plans I will waste your time for a month."

"Think she will by it?," Peter asked. Arholo glanced at her sleeping form and nodded slowly they both sat down on the ground. Peter hit Arholo with the powder and them himself. Jessica woke up a few moments later. Seeing her friends on the ground panic evoleloped her mind. I forgot to cast the protection shield, DAMN IT, she cursed at herself. The sight of their limp bodies on ground making her hands shake. She slowly knelt down by Harmon. Finding traces of sleep powder on his face she poured some of the water from Arholo's canteen carefully washing it away. She quickly did the same for Peter and Arholo. When she finished she sat on the ground next to Harmon "WAKE UP!" she commanded them. She slapped Harmon's ass. Sleepily he muttered," Harder mommy."

Ew, thought Jessica, "No, you Perv." Hearing Harmon as the effects of the powder wore off Peter giggled a little. Soon they were all on their feet. Jessica examined the evidence she had. She read the screen plus the sleep powered, rather old probably if it was meant to last a month on a group twice their size and it only dazed her for a few minutes.The fact that she happened to busy with her wound and away from the initial impact zone probably helped as well. Peter used a mind block spell to keep her from remembering him using his magic to spread the powered and the sight of Arholo pulling something out of his everbag.

"We all could have died just now," Jessica stated as a matter of fact. The amount of sleeping powder had it hit them all directly would have caused them to sleep until their health bars dropped to zero from lack of food and water. Except Peter of course but waking up 3 months later to dead friends isn't my idea of a good time either, she thought.

She pulled a flower shaped button from her pocket and pinned to her chest. She tapped it and said 'holo-call the Chairman'. When Jessica's image appeared next to his nightstand. The Chairman sat up and grabbed his frog shaped holo-badge. He put it on his chest and tapped it "Yes," he called out. Just his face appearing in front of Jessica. He threw on his black ceremony robe and stood up. The rest of him appeared.

"I am calling to renegotiate the reward for this quest that you insisted I take on," Jessica said her hands on her hips head tilted.

The 6'2" tall Chairman's was balding and had a black ring of hair around his completely bare top, he was a bit overweight in midsection and his face held no remarkable features except looking at him would make someone think of an old toad. His holo-image replied, " You never want to renegotiate. What do you want?" He asked getting excited. I knew this one would pay off, he thought.

"5 extra Large Gold each on top of the early completion bonus," Jessica said in a no nonsense tone.

"Yes, yes of course." The man said his head bobbing up and down.

A contracted sealed a recorded an alert popped up between them. Satisfied Jessica removed her holo emitter and slammed it on the display. He read the note his face changing from excited glee to disappointment. She put the emitter back on and flipped him off. She tapped twice on her emitter ending the call and shoved it back in her pocket.

"Damn," Harmon said dragging the word out staring at her in awe.

Jessica was pissed off. She had a bunch of money she had to spend on herself, split her lip open, and her friends had nearly been killed over an ancient prank.

Picturing an on/off switch in her minds eye she reached out and said,"Click." The cave disappeared. "click click click click" she flicked the cave off and on she paused while the cave and box were both visible to allow Peter, Arholo and Harmon to grab the stones. She clicked again then walked away believing she had turned off a magic infused holo emitter when in fact she turned it on.

Arholo grabbed the reins of the horses. Jessica finally decided to take her long dead ancestors advice let go of her fear. She clicked her tongue and Purdy ran out of the cabin and jumped into the back of the wagon. She then waved her hand break down the camp and placing all of their stuff back in the wagon. As Arholo hitched the team she for the first time in cycles used her wings of wind spell and flew herself to her seat on the front. Purdy jumped out of the back and climbed up her back curled himself around her neck. She waited while Arholo closed the septic hole he opened. Once everyone was on the wagon. She got a fun idea.

She turned to Arholo and said, " I am going to do something epic now so keep the horses calm, ok?" He nodded.

"What are you planning to do?" Harmon asked.

She just smiled and waved her hand removing the cover from the wagon using it and some rope to secure everything to the floor of the wagon. Then she said, "Hang onto your hats ladies; it's gonna get windy." She closed her eyes picturing a wave of wind lifting the wagon into the air. "Fly my pretty Fly" she cackled and the wagon was air born they flew up over the mountain and maintained a low altitude they headed in the direction of her house wind rushing all around them. Harmon and Arholo pulled goggles out of their everbags putting them on. Peter being of a flying race didn't need them and not wanting to break her concentration at this moment he snached the ones off of Harmon's face and put them on Jessica. Harmon sighed and use a goggles spell block spell to protect his eyes instead.

They all laughed for joy enjoying the scenery. They couldn't really talk over the roar of the wind but would occasionally tap on each others shoulders and point at interesting things. Until Jessica noticed this and used a quick subtitles on spell. They chatted and enjoyed this unexpected flight home for two hours when Jessica began their decent back to the ground.

"Sorry guys out of juice," she told them as the wheels hit the ground a little rough but the horses were gingerly set down. They were about a half hour wagon ride from her house. Jessica blacked out. Harmon who was sitting directly behind her caught her back as she fell Purdy jumped down and hid under a bench. Peter was buzzing with excitement and a little worried. Now that were traveling at high speeds with wind blowing away sound they could finally hear Jessica's phone ringing in her pocket. Arholo reached in pulled it out and answered. Before he could say anything he heard.

"Jessica dear, what is this achievement title, created Wind Winged Chariot mean?" Her mother's voice asked.

Arholo panicked. "Sorry wrong number," he said in a high pitched voice and hung up.

"The hellscape is a wrong number?," Peter asked. Harmon rolled his eyes.

"Why do you act like you have never watched TV before?," Harmon asked flipping him off. The question was a valid one if you hadn't watched old Earth tv shows or movies. On Karth phone numbers did not exist each person's phone "Number" was just a persons name or title or relationship to the person making the call. The P.A.I.L. the OG humans had come up with was intuitive and had never connected someone to the wrong party.

The boys placed Jessica on the bench slowly and Purdy jumped up offering himself as a pillow. They were 5 minutes from Jessica's house when she woke up.

"I AM ALIVE!" she screamed suddenly sitting straight up scaring the crap out of Purdy, the boys and horses. Seeing this she erupted in laughter. She laughed so hard she could not breath and the laughter became silent like someone had hit mute. The boys watched fascinated. She slapped her hand on her leg and threw her head back the sound returned she fanned her face with both hands to calm down. They had not seen her like this in cycles. The freedom in the way she laughed lifted the spirits of all who heard it.

Harmon had been live streaming to his fans when it happened. The holo-cams broadcasted the whole thing. He went from 3,000 viewers to half of Karth with in seconds as she woke up. Her mother had been watching the stream because even though she wasn't strictly a fan of Harmon as an artist, she was a fan of her daughter's friend she loved him. She burst into happy tears hearing her daughter's laugh again her father who had been reading something half paying attention had dropped the paper and had his hand over his mouth holding back tears. Their daughter's laughter her real laugh had returned. They were not the only ones to have this reaction.

"Jessica," Harmon said tears brimming and a smile on his face.

Jessica noticed the stream, " Fuck it bitches I could have died from my fear of my own power and keeping it tapped down. So whatever happens, happens."

Within an hour several gifs of the incident were now available and nearly everyone on Karth had Jessica's laugh as their new ringtone. The live stream had not closed but the system transferred it to Jessica's account. It was playing all over Karth as she flew around casting whatever spell suited her fancy at the moment. She flew from one roof to another and back down to the ground again. She helped an elderly man cross the street carrying his groceries with wind magic. She did several small and large acts of kindness.

The Chairman sitting his office watched all of this carefully, fear slowly creeping into his heart. Her mother and father were watching with the children at 'The Orphanage'. People continued on with their day just enjoying the Jessica show. After 75 mins straight of this Jessica suddenly flew quickly home, "That is all she wrote folks." She blew a kiss to the camera went inside and blacked out on the couch. The transmission ended as she fell.

Her parents called her doctor and headed home as the stream ended. Her doctor is known as Dr. Smith. Since most people on Karth no longer used surnames aside from a few well known families. Dr Pepper Smith had adopted the surname to keep from being known as Dr Pepper. She is one of the one hundred as well. She is a very busy woman who always makes time for Jessica having been her doctor since not long after her birth.

Her father carried her to her bed after the doctor examined her. She slept soundly the whole time.

"Her appendix is functioning normally and is healthy. I think she just exhausted herself going from doing so little magic to such big spell," Dr. Smith told them. The air on Karth has an element in it that when absorbed into the bloodstream is processed by the appendix and redistributed through the body allowing the people to cast spells.

"So this isn't the curse scar breaking through her protections?," Mrs. Strongwell said sighing with relief.

"I got a little worried. I know she told us the planet stopped trying to pull magic from everyone soon after the Blackout but sometimes I still get twinges," Mr Strongwell pushing his frames up and touching his side dramatically said.

"Get her to come to me soon so I can run a full exam," Dr Smith said. She waved goodbye as she left their home. The Strongwells' felt relieved as they watched her go. If she was confident enough to walk out then they had to just believe her that Jessica their miracle was ok.

Missing Fae

From the time that they had first appeared on Karth the Fae were loved by its inhabitants. They had suddenly showed up just 12 days after the arrival of the elves. On the 13th day of the first month of the cycle 9 of Karth. They had all mostly shown up on the sun continent inhabited by humans. There were two sets of twins who appeared on the star shaped continent inhabited by the dwarfs. There were three sets of triple Fae who appeared on the crescent moon shaped continent inhabited by the elves.

They appeared at first glance to be human children ranging in age from 6-12. The first thing you would notice about them and go oh. yeah not a human is they all had gold irises, I am not talking about the color gold, I mean genuine pure gold. They had a command of the english language and large health bars but no planet of origin and no memories of ever being anywhere else. The humans who found them had for the most part given them nerd culture names. Peter for example was found by Jessica's ancestor in his pool that morning. He was a little lost boy who could fly. Jesse Strongwell denied naming him after Peter Pan claiming it had been his father's name but no one on Karth believed him not even his wife. One set of triplets who had been found by dark elves and not given names right away as after birth you had to wait 2 years to name a child had taken on the name the Q's you may be guessing that this a star trek reference and you would be wrong. These Q's where apt at using and helping develop technology and took a strong interest in science they chose the name because someone had shown them the James Bond and they immediately became fascinated with the idea that one could simple make anything into a weapon, the didn't care about the spy adventer they loved the guy who made the stuff the spy used. When after they chose their name they were shown the Star Trek Q and although they liked him because it showed humans had dreamed up things more powerful than themselves they still preferred the inventor.

The families who took in the Fae were brought together by Jesse and he established the first community on Karth where members of all the races lived together to raise and understand these children. It became clear quickly that they could do things no one else on Karth could do because the one Fae who had not been found by anyone but had instead found a group of orphaned children had aged herself to adult size in a matter of days to care for them.

They could transport people from place to place without the use of a porting station they did this safely and without incident for 1 thousand years. Then in the 7 month between the 10th and 15th days 6 of them had teleported for different reasons most with passengers. They arrived safely with their passengers and then faded to nothing starting in less than a minute. This is why the subject is taboo. Only one fae has teleported since, and she vanished too. She had had to save what was left of her party. As she faded she said to her comrades,"Be safe. I love you." That incident took place 200 years ago and was the first secret the government of Karth ever kept from its people. The people had voted and agreed that the curious nature of the place in question would be to hard for some people to ignore.

After the 6 had disappeared a set of female twins had said good-bye to Arholo's ancestorers and flown off into space to see if they could find some answers about what had happened. Fae are unaffected by almost everything including the need to breathe, temperature, and water pressure.