Book 3, Chapter 15

The hot desert wind tussled her hair, a small distraction to her growing anxiety. A shiver ran up her spine as she stared at the ten-meter-wide circular portal to the planar space.

Being so close to that rip in the fabric reality, made her stomach lurch. It was strange. The portal was incredibly silent, and yet, she could swear she could feel it humming.

The unstable portal was agitating the word river in the area, making the energy around her thrum softly. It was an odd sensation, one she knew shouldn't happen around portals, at least not really good ones.

She stood there for a few seconds, the humming making her hair stand on end. On second thought, maybe she was wrong. After standing so close for a while the resonance felt like it was coming from the portal, and not the world river around it.

It was an odd phenomenon, but one she should have expected considering Zee did have the spatial affinity. Her affinity being involved was a guess, though she was pretty damned certain it held some truth.

Zee shook herself, realizing she had been standing there, staring at the portal. She glanced back to her team one final time before taking a step forwards.

Heart beating loudly in her chest, she entered the doorway to the planar space. Her vision turned to black, as she entered the all-encompassing darkness of the Null realm. Normally, such a short-range portal would mean she wouldn't even notice her passage in the null realm.

This time was odd. She hung in the endless void for several long seconds, the broken medallion around her neck vibrating uncomfortably. For a moment the medallion thrummed, letting out a chaotic resonance into the Null.

The phenomenon lasted for only half a second until she was suddenly somewhere else. The last thing she heard before she was whisked away was a bone-chilling screech that made a spike of terror shoot up her spine. Zee reappeared on her hands and knees, the return of her sensations startling.

She took deep calming breaths, her heart racing wildly. That never got easier. Zee reached under her silken shirt, clutching at the cracked medallion hanging around her neck. This damned thing kept almost getting her killed.

Wasn't it supposed to be protecting her? If so, then why did it keep drawing the attention of the Farahar whenever she passed through the Null realm?

Zee took several deep calming breaths, taking a few seconds to steady herself and stop her hands from shaking. That nightmarish screech was incredibly unsettling.

It was times like this that she was grateful that she didn't sleep anymore. As that nails-on chalkboard sound would surely haunt her nightmares.

Zee slowly pushed down her panic, letting the sounds of birds, insects, and the rustle of leaves calm her. Gradually, her heartbeat slowed, and her hands stopped shaking.

After a long minute, she sat up, looking around, her eyes widening at the suddenly gloom. Suddenly appearing in a jungle instead of the desert she had been in was certainly a surprise.

Zee stood from the dirt, bracing herself by placing her palm on the gritty bark of a tree. Taking a second to scan her surroundings she looked up at the tree looming tree above her, her jaw dropping at the size of the thing. The redwood tree had thick gritty bark. The tree defied all common sense, its lowest branches over a hundred meters above her.

Her eyes flicked towards the base, where she was leaning. At first glance, she guessed it would take at least twenty full-grown humans holding hands to wrap around the trunk. It was the biggest tree she had ever seen, dwarfing her.

Zee pushed herself away from the gritty bark, focusing on her spatial ripple in case of danger. She was immediately bombarded with a racket created by dozens of small animals and insects.

Focusing, she let her skill expand outward to its max, to encompass a range of about fifty meters in every direction. Unfocused like this she only got a passive sense of everything, but that was fine.

She wasn't too worried about tiny insects, small birds, and even snakes hiding in the foliage and the tree canopy.

Some of those might be poisonous, but at least there was nothing that should be too dangerous. She scanned the area for a few seconds, letting out a sigh of relief. Once satisfied that she was safe for the moment, she took out the crystal Ilukna gave her.

The crystal was small, about the length and width of her thumb, similar to the monster splinters. Worried that it might explode, she tentatively pushed a trickle of energy into it.

Small etching lit up along the crown of the smooth crystal, taking a few seconds to activate.

Her head snapped to one side, as she suddenly got a sense of someone. The signal was strong like the person was close. Seconds after sensing the first of her team, the others started popping up in different directions.

After the first one, the other signals were weak, like they were much further away. Zee let out a tired breath. She glanced up at the faint light leaking in through the thick canopy far overhead.

She could hardly see the sky and was uncertain what time of day it even was. That thought, made another question come to mind.

"Do planar spaces even have day and night cycles?" Zee asked. Dern sent her a mental shrug.

"I don't know. This is my first time inside one." Dern said.

"I thought you know everything?" Zee asked.

"I never said that. I am just a humble spirit." Dern said.

"Right...." Zee drawled "Humble is definitely the word I would use to describe you." Zee said.

"I guess I get my cocky attitude from my summoner," Dern said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zee asked, affronted.

"You attacked an E-grade spire hawk by yourself. Not to mention the fact that you repeatedly speak to people who could one-shot kill you like casual acquaintances." Dern said.

Zee ran a hand through her tied-back silky red hair. "Just because they are a higher rank, doesn't mean I should grovel at their feet," Zee said.

"It actually does," Dern said dryly.

"Agree to disagree. Now, enough chatter, let's go find our team members." Zee said.

"Judging by your luck, I am betting we run into Bastion first," Dern said, amusement in his voice.

"Why would you jinx me like that? Do you want to make things awkward?" Zee asked.

Dern sent her a mental shrug. "It would be kind of funny," Dern said.

Zee ran a hand down her face, letting out a long breath. "Well, let's hope you are wrong," Zee said.

She turned until she was facing in the direction of the strongest signal before setting off. She darted forwards, moving through the thick foliage in a half jog.

She quickly ran into some trouble, her clothes and sword catching on branches and brambles. Unlike an urban setting, this was a foreign environment to her.

Dry wood cracked under her foot and branches tore at her clothes. Every sound grated on her nerves, making her feel inadequate in a forest setting.

Making so much racket made her realize that she had a lot to learn. Over the next few hours, she tried to get a feel for sneaking through the jungle.

It was an absolute pain in the ass to do anything without making sounds. Her inexperience was made evident when she tried to sneak up on a herd of ten small deer grazing on grass.

She had hoped the birds, insects, and frogs' racket would hide her inexperienced mistakes. Zee was half right about that, sneaking within fifty meters of the herd before spooking them.

Surprisingly, the deer hadn't run, holding their ground, each radiating a hair-raising aura of life. Zee fled, having no desire to tangle with deer that each radiated the power of early E grade.

That one hiccup aside, traipsing through the jungle was great practice for her sneaking and her spatial ripple skill. The cacophony around her was actually great practice when it came to her spatial ripple skill.

Tuning out the white noise, and focusing on what was important should help raise the skills proficiency. She was excited at her progress, though she knew she would need a lot more work to get the hang of it.

Over the last ten minutes, Zee could feel the closest of signals drawing ever closer. It felt like she would stumble upon her teammate any minute now.

Wanting to be cautious, Zee crept through the jungle with caution, making sure to watch her step.

There was no telling what kind of monsters lurked in the thick foliage. Her mind went back to that monster that hid in the sand. If there were monsters even half that sneaky here, she would need to maintain vigilance.

It would be far too easy to overlook a monster hiding in wait to ambush.

Over the sounds of birds and the clack of insects, Zee heard voices. That was curious. From the signal that radiated out of the tracking crystal, there should only be one of her teammates here.

She could hear the sounds of talking drawing closer, so she decided to hide and get a look at them before approaching.

Wary of running into hostiles, Zee used her wayward walk skill to teleport up onto a thick branch high in the canopy.

She crouched, ignoring a startled bird as the branch swayed beneath her. Cautious, Zee looked down through the dense canopy, watching as a small group of people passed below.

There were three of them, humans in the brown and black of Ducal. Two of them looked haggard, their uniforms ripped and their expressions bleak.

The third, was a tall, athletic Armenian, with dark skin, short, curly black hair, and piercing orange eyes.

She let out a soft sigh. "I hate you, Dern," Zee grumbled. Dern laughed in her head, amusement radiating from the splinter in her mind.

Zee listened in as the group below talked, not even bothering to keep their voices down.

"Are you sure this is the right direction?" One of them asked.

"Yes, the tracking crystal says this is the way," Bastion said.

"And how do we know you won't go back on our deal?" the second asked.

"I told you, once you help me get back with my team, I will get you each fifty Dara for your troubles," Bastion said. He took out a crystal very similar to her own and paused.

"What is it?" the first, a short pudgy man asked.

Bastion's face scrunched up in confusion as he glanced around the jungle.

"They should be right here. We are right on top of them." Bastion said, confused.

The two ducal soldiers glanced around wearily, their gazes turning distrustful as they didn't see anyone. One of them reached for his sword, drawing it from his scabbard.

Her eyebrows shot up, her face scrunching up in curiosity. Well, this could get exciting. Might as well go down there and see if she could sort this out.

In a puff of light blue mist, Zee appeared behind Bastion, just out of reach. The two ducal soldiers jumped at her sudden appearance.

Bastion glanced back, his lips quirking up into a smile as he realized who it was.

"Oh, hey Zee," Bastion said casually.

"Who is this?" Zee asked, gesturing two the two Ducal soldiers.

Bastion grinned. "The tall lanky one is Vin, and the short fat one is Ulan. They are old acquaintances of mine," Bastion said.

"I am not fat," Ulan said, his jowls jiggling as he spoke.

Vin looked her up and down, his eyes lighting up with recognition. "Hey, is that the traitor?" Vin asked, excitedly.

Ulan stopped glaring at Bastion, turning to scan Zee up and down like a merchant eying a box of Dara.

"You are right. Fancy that. I see you are still keeping the same company as always." Ulan said, giving bastion a disapproving look.

Bastion shrugged, he gestured towards her. "This is Zee Viotti. She is a... A friend of mine." Bastion said, hesitating for only a moment.

"Moving up in the world. Since when did you start hanging out with such pretty company." Vin asked, giving Zee a playful wink.

Bastion rocked back on his heels, giving the two a mischievous grin. "I guess you could say I got lucky," Bastion said.

Zee gave both of the ducal adventurers, if they could be called that a curious look. "Can someone tell me what is going on here? Why are you two so casual about this? I am a traitor of Ducal." Zee said.

Vin and Ulan glanced at each other, before looking back at her like she was an idiot. The tall and lanky Vin spoke first.

"Why would we risk our necks? Anyone with a five thousand Dara bounty is bound to be more than we can handle." Vin said.

Ulan nodded, patting his protruding gut. "We can't enjoy the spoils of this tournament if we are dead," Ulan said.

Well, that was refreshing. Her eyes flicked back to Bastion, who still looked amused. She supposed she shouldn't be too surprised. Any friends of Bastions were bound to be criminals, and criminals were not known for risking their necks for things like justice.

Zee nodded to herself. "I guess you will be going on your way now?" Zee asked.

Vin nodded. "Just give us the Dara you promised and we will be on our way," Vin said.

Bastion reached into his robes and tossed the tall lanky man a small purse. Vin caught it, testing the weight.

"As always it was a pleasure doing business with you Bastion." He winked at Zee. "Call on us anytime you need something shady done," Vin said, turning to walk away.

Ulan waved, following after his much taller companion, using a handkerchief to wipe sweat from his bald head.

Zee waited until they were gone before turning to Bastion. "Nice friends you have." She said.

Bastion gave her a helpless shrug. "I wouldn't call them friends, more like acquaintances," Bastion said.

Zee gestured towards the forest around them. "Shall we start looking for the rest of the team?" Zee asked.

Bastion nodded, pulling out his tracking crystal. He gestured in a random direction. "This way, it's the next closest signal," Bastion said.

They walked through the jungle in silence, the only sound being the wildlife around them. To say she felt awkward was an understatement.

She supposed there was a lesson here. Like, never get involved with a teammate. To be fair, she hadn't expected to get rejected. Somewhere, some god was laughing at her misfortune, loving every minute of her struggles.

The thought was somehow amusing, and infuriating. It could even be probable, though she doubted any god, if they even existed would give two craps about her.

She pushed those thoughts from her mind as a nearby explosion echoed through the forest. She glanced back, noting Bastion was holding the tracking crystal in one hand.

"They are really close, that could be them fighting," Bastion said calmly.

Zee nodded. "Well, let's go and see if they need help," Zee said.

The two of them rushed through the jungle, the sounds of battle growing louder. The thick foliage suddenly broke, revealing a wide, shallow creek.

Zee slid to a halt, as a fist sized canister, wreathed in dark energy shot across the creek. Zee followed the trajectory, just in time to see a small cylinder smack into the small reptilian humanoid's face.

The small explosion tore the being's head apart, showering the foliage in blood and bone. Four more of the small dark-skinned creatures peered out, firing a mix of crossbows, and bows.

Zee wasn't sure who they were shooting at, as the person was wisely hiding behind cover. After a few seconds, ilukna stepped from behind a thick tree riddle with arrows. She raised her large tube-like weapon, the one she carried on her back and it glowed ominously.

Her enemy frantically scrambled for cover. There was a puff of smoke from the end of the large tube and a loud bang.

Ilukna was thrown on her ass as, a fist-sized cylindrical projectile shot across the creek landing amidst the attackers. In a flash of smoke and flames, the canister exploded, throwing three of the small creatures with bone-crushing force.

The screams of the creatures drifted across the creek, as they lay moaning heavily injured. Bastion tapped her shoulder, gesturing up to Ilukna.

The woman was slowly scrambling for cover when an arrow took her in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground. Arrows started flying across the creek, landing far too close to the woman for comfort.

"Give me a distraction, while I go help her?" Bastion said.

Zee nodded. "Go!" Zee said. Bastion was already leaping forwards, crossing the hundred-meter distance to Yukna in a blur. His cloak whipped around him as he punched at the arrows and even a bolt of darkness flying through the air.

Half a dozen projectiles froze mid-air, stopped by the use of Bastions' momentum shift. The air cracked as he used the second part of the skill, sending the attacks right back. Having their attacks returned back at them with twice the speed sent the attackers scrambling for cover.

Zee shook herself from watching the man use his overpowered skill. She was meant to be the distraction, not be distracted.

Her heartbeat quickened as she called out Dern, and threw him as hard as she could. Dern arced out over the creek, falling into the stream with a crash of water.

In a plume of dark murky water and mud, Dern stood to his full eight feet, his long glaive held in one gauntleted fist. He let out a bone-chilling shriek, that sent chills up the spines of the enemy.

Dern charged forwards, plowing through the creek, sending waves crashing around him. The small, dark-scaled humanoids were still reeling from Bastion's attack. Dern's sudden arrival made them panic.

They fired everything they had at him, arrows, bolts of darkness, and even a spear of rot. Dern was hardly slowed, releasing an aura that made most of the small humanoids shake with fear. His armor cracked in several places, bleeding silver and blue smoke.

Terrified, the dark-scaled humanoids sent relentless assault of ranged attacks. If given enough time, they would surely wear him down. Sadly for the attackers, Zee was not going to just sit by and watch as they attacked Dern.

A small, dark-scaled humanoid, about three feet tall raised his clawed hands, firing a thick spear of darkness.

The attack was blindingly quick, sending thick cracks along Dern's chest plate. Standing next to his downed teammates, Minn, couldn't help but get angry.

Things were quickly going to shit. It should have been a quick kill and robbery. The human had been alone and hadn't seen them coming.

Why couldn't that human just die? She had somehow sensed their ambush and avoided it. First, his team had to deal with those exploding canisters, and now a monster that was surely from his nightmares.

Its thick armor shrugged off his team's powerful skills, deflecting bolts of darkness, and spears of light.

Minn was strongly considering retreat, but he just couldn't bring himself to give that order. His prey was injured, and too much blood had already been spilled to just let things go.

Minn launched a thick spear of light, the air cracking as he hit the suit of armor directly in the chest. Dern staggered from the power behind the attack, his conjured body threatening to break apart.

"Jezz focus your shadow bolts on its legs, if we shatter them, it will go down!" Minn screeched, desperate to keep that monster in the creek, away from them.

There was no response to his orders, a fact that made his anger flare. Minn whirled, ready to chastise the other caster of his team.

His rebuke died in his throat, as he realized that Jezz was lying face first on the mud, a hole in her back that radiated blue flames.

Panicked, Minn whirled, looking around for the attacker in their midst. He pushed out his aura, searching desperately for the intruder's presence. He should have been able to sense them, and yet, he found only the presence of his team.

He conjured his spear into his clawed hands, and open his mouth to shout a warning. His shout was rudely cut off, as there was a blinding pain in his back.

Knees suddenly weak, Minn looked down at the foot of metal protruding out of his chest. The sword point radiated a dark blue mist and burned away his thick green blood, setting his innards on fire. He collapsed to his knees, the pain in his chest blinding.

Minn turned, looking into the cold and empty eyes of his killer. She looked so young, and yet, those light purple eyes were filled with a ruthlessness that one only found in hardened killers. His vision faded, his last thought wondering how someone so young could have eyes that cold.

Taking out the two casters while they were distracted was surprisingly easy. The first one hadn't sensed her at all, falling to a sword through the heart. The second was a little closer, though she had caught him off guard as well.

Her gaze flicked towards the creek. Dern, crashed forwards, no longer pressured so hard by the two casters. He leaped from the creek and cut one of the small humanoids in half with a ruthless swing of his glaive.

The last three were rightfully panicked. As if on cue, all three whirled, as if to get orders from their leader. All they found was Zee, standing amidst the dead, her bloody sword held casually at her side.

The small humanoids took one look at her, then back at Dern rushing toward them and turned to flee. Zee didn't chase, watching as the three fled toward the forest desperate to escape.

Dern was not one to let his enemy escape, especially after they caused him so much trouble. Like a harbinger of death, Dern pursued.

Like a farmer threshing wheat he cut them down, his massive glaive undeterred by their hard scales. Thick green blood showered the forest, his glaive drawing ruthless arcs through the air.

In under thirty seconds, he caught and killed all three. Standing next to ha blook-spattered bush, Dern swayed on his feet, his armor cracked, and leaking energy in over a dozen places. Heart racing, Zee scanned the battlefield, looking for any more opponents.

Aside from the seven dead, there were two more, heavily injured creatures. They were both unfortunate casualties of Ilukna's earlier attack.

Zee walked over to them, sensing their shallow breathing with her spatial ripple skill. The others were surely dead, while these two might survive.

Well, at least one of them might. The other had a nasty shrapnel wound on its neck, bleeding profusely into the mud.

The question was, what to do? Did she help, or finish them off? Dern walked over and casually slammed his glaive into one's chest. Zee grimaced, looking away, as he went over to the other who was still alive, raising his glaive again.

"Stop that," Zee said, cringing away at the casual brutality.

Dern looked over, at her. "Why, they are going to die anyway. Finishing them off is a mercy." Dern said.

Zee grimaced but didn't have an argument. It's not like she could take them prisoner, or even just leave them here. The wounded would either die from their grizzly wounds or the unfriendly wildlife.

She turned away, looking across the creek as the squelch of a glaive rending flesh echoed behind her.

Zee was no stranger to this sort of brutality, but it didn't mean she liked it. Killing in defense was one thing, but that kind of casual execution was another. He may joke around, but this was a stark reminder that Dern was a cold-hearted monster.