The next day was their departure day. After a feast of eggs for Neska–and grain and summer fruits for Juni–they boarded a small wagon laden with supplies. Hadley sat in the cart with them, her quivers topped off and more arrows in reserve. Jurik took the reins of two horses in the front.

  He glanced over his shoulder. "Just about ready?" He asked the trio.

  Neska gave a tail wave to indicate her affirmation, while Juni and Hadley sounded off. He turned forward and pointed at incoming arrivals. "Looks like our escort is here."

  Three riders on horses formed a rough triangular formation and approached them, bearing the blue colors of the kingdom of Valos–the kingdom they were currently in. They were lightly armored, but well armed and equipped.

  Neska recognized one of them, an older man who had fought in the battle against the wolves. Unlike some of the guards in town, he didn’t give her or Juni a dismissive look or turn his head away. He even said good morning.

  “Name’s Ragnir. Jurik, I know you’ve got a specialist services assignment and outrank me, but during this trek, I have operational command. Any objections?”

  “No,” the veteran replied calmly. “Your two associates?”

  “Gort and Finks.” Ragnir introduced the two rugged men, who remained silent. He then glanced at Hadley, brow raised. “Hadley, are you coming with us? I’m sorry–”

  “Don’t.” The stormy look on her face had the impact of a tempest. “I don’t want to talk about that murderer.”

  Ragnir took the cue. “Aye. Well, let’s go. No time to waste, not with monsters roaming. Been a while since I visited Rivilat, the town built right next to the academy. Hope they still got good mead.”

  Jurik spurred the horses into motion, and the group soon found the town settling into the distance behind them, with nothing to indicate its presence other than a little chimney smoke drifting skyward.

  Leaving it in a damaged state, but with its people still safe, left Neska with a small measure of satisfaction. One village saved for now. I know I can do more, now. It felt like a victory, even if it came at a cost.

  I need to do more. If this is what I can do now, then what can I accomplish when I get stronger? Neska found herself glancing back more than the others. She should be looking forward, figuratively as well as literally.

  She allowed herself a small measure of pride, knowing Risha’s work had saved lives and done some damage to these creatures, too.

  Neska passed messages to Juni while they talked about what they remembered. Juni commented she’d heard of the village of Peolein, with a focus on lumber and agrarian products. It was a slow exchange process–the cart bounced around a little bit, so her writing suffered.

  Neska left out the ‘I hunted mice like it was a contest’ part and brought up her writing skill. It must have been a strong memory because she learned quickly after hatching.

  Juni then took a turn and indicated she had been with Jurik for most of the time, with him training her and letting her assist with less dangerous tasks. Most of her evolution progress was due to her digging for traps and uncovering secrets in ruins that Jurik frequented, behind enemy lines. He apparently had done this a lot, and gathered information on monsters, the best he could.

  When she asked if Jurik was someone from before, she shook her head. “Not to me, no. A friend of his…my father…was killed in action. But not before he took one final mission: to look after me. That was before I hit my Tier Two. He…says only what he needs to, most of the time. But it’s never wasted words.”

  Stoic. And reliable.

  Hadley was quiet for most of the trip. She kept an eye out and habitually examined her bow, wiping it down and inspecting the bow string as if searching for flaws. When she wasn’t, she gazed behind them as the town faded from view. Soon, not even smoke from chimneys was visible anymore.

  She stayed long enough to bury people she knew. Then she followed us. Neska knew that putting distance between herself and the village wasn't spur-of-the-moment. It might be a way to put distance between her and the memories.

  Risha had had days like that, too. A distant, sad look, when the shop was empty, and when she thought her snake wasn’t paying attention.

  A thought occurred to her as she looked at Hadley’s withdrawn look, rubbing one hand along her unstrung bow. A parallel to Risha, in her last days. An expression of mourning. Grief.

  Loss.

  She realized what she had missed, now that she had a frame of reference.

  Who did you lose, Risha?

  In all the fragments of memories…this was one blank spot on the board she could not remember ever having the answer. No pictures. No family. She walled all that off to try to forget. But she couldn’t cut the memory from her mind.

  But Marikand knew. I will kill that man for what he did. But before I do, I will ask him what she lost and why they targeted her.

  “Neska. You’ve been staring for a bit.” Juni nudged a coil of her body gently with one paw. She offered the parchment pad to her. It was difficult to answer, given the wagon swayed back and forth with each rut and divet. But she did answer, with Juni holding it steady.

  {Thinking. Asking questions. Why? The monsters…why do they hate humanity?}

  It wasn’t the specific question she was thinking about. But it was one of the many still unanswered questions. There just hadn’t been much time to talk to Juni and Jurik about all of them. Risha's journals only held small snippets of information. Something about a disaster in Arivol, and her brief mention of a mad king.

  Juni tapped on the page contemplatively. “I remember bits. Not all. It has been this way for…how long, Jurik?”

  “Nearly twenty years,” he answered slowly. “The monsters came from elsewhere. There was an event, triggered by a disaster, in the heart of Arivol. The capital of Gravost. They triggered a convergence of our world and somewhere else. That is where the rifts first appeared. Places where reality thinned, and gates to another place opened.”

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  {Lachmir the Damned did something horrible, didn’t he?} Neska thought back to one of Juni’s early comments. Risha had talked about it, too.

  Jurik nodded. “Good that you remember the name. The king went mad after his son's death. No one is quite sure what he intended. We only know the result. Thousands of people who wouldn’t say no to a mad king sacrificed thousands more who couldn’t say no in a mass ritual at the capital. They said he tried to create a god.”

  “He succeeded,” Hadley chimed in slowly. “Rifts opened under Arivol. The monsters welled up from the depths, or whatever place they originated.”

  She snapped her fingers. “That is how long it took an entire empire, a thousand years in the making, to fall. Monsters killed most of the capital overnight. Then, they spread outward. And they spread further each year.”

  Neska didn’t respond right away. She knew this was a very brief description of a complicated event. Worlds did not spill over to other worlds on a whim. At least, that was what she inferred. Whatever the people of Gravost did was not a simple accident.

  {But why did he do it?} She finished her question, with Jurik nodding.

  “Why does anyone do dangerous or terrible things? For power. Or tragedy.” Jurik’s gaze drifted to Juni for a second, but his stoic calm remained. “For Arivol, it was both. The king lost his son to a wasting disease. King Lachmir, the Damned. That's what they call him, now. He tried everything to save him. Magic. Medicine. Prayers to the divine beasts. However, death is a natural conclusion of all life. It just claimed his son’s life sooner rather than later.”

  “He used it as an excuse to destroy his foes. Real ones, or ones he imagined.” All eyes turned to Hadley. Neska wondered if she could be cheery at all. “Lachmir didn't give a damn about his son. He used it to justify ordering mages and clerics to push the boundaries of the Interface, to further his power. Anyone who didn't help was his foe. It was easy to claim it was to restore his son to life, or reclaim his soul from the Umbral Shoal."

  “And when he and those he enabled to push the limits of the Interface went too far, it pushed back.” She gripped her bow shaft tightly, knuckles turning white. Her gaze swept to Neska, then Juni, then Jurik. “They split the boundaries between us, and elsewhere. Then, the monsters came, as the rifts opened. The monsters don't hate us because we hurt them. They're punishing us for the sins of others. For daring to break the design of the Beasts.”

  “That's one interpretation,” Jurik said, while rubbing at his scarred arm gently. “We can debate the reason. Either tragedy marred by an illogical obsession or a malicious consolidation of power. But I think we all agree on the outcome, and its impact on the world.”

  “That debate doesn't mean shit when monsters like Felix roam the world.” Hadley took an arrow out of her quiver, tipped with a barbed silver point, and ran her hand along the shaft. “As if making one mistake of that level wasn't bad enough…we made more.”

  “The Awakened aren't a mistake–” Juni started to say, paws balled up, but Hadley’s gaze softened as she looked her way.

  “No. That’s not what I meant.” She held the arrow for them to see. “This arrow has one purpose: to kill Felix. I’m not killing him for what he did. I’m killing him to end his pain.” She pressed one thumb over the silver point, and a drop of blood welled up where the arrow dug in. “Because he's right. They brought him back when he begged them not to, on his dying breath. We took the souls away from the Umbral Shoal. We broke the cycle of death, and did something even Lachmir couldn't do.”

  “But we're…we’re helping fight back.” Hadley's words struck home with Juni, causing her speech to falter. “We’re fighting for survival. To understand them. To put a stop to this. Seeing that…what he did? It means all of us have to do more.”

  “And that is why the Awakened must give their word that they wish to undergo the process. They all understand the risks. Now, at any rate.” The fact that Jurik added those last few words meant it had not always been the case.

  Had Felix been denied death? Was foiling the natural order the cause of his clear rejection of humanity and instability?

  Or bitterness?

  {What happened to Felix?} Neska felt hesitant to write the question.

  The archer frowned. "He died. And then he became something worse."

  {Was Bregin his...home? If it's too hard to answer...you don't have to.}

  She hesitated. but only for a moment, and gestured to Neska. "What happened was...we knew him. He grew up with us. He was...maybe five years older than me? While I was practicing with a bow that couldn't hurt a rabbit, he was hunting monsters. Training to be a Seeker. Always quick with a joke, and he was loved by many."

  She rubbed the arm guard on her dominant hand, slow and measured motions. "He was eager to leave. He said he'd do something amazing, make our village something to cherish. I remember that day. He said goodbye to me personally. He told me to keep practicing and said 'One day, you'll slay a dragon with one shot that turns a battle.' I was so excited he believed in me like that."

  Her smile faded. "A month after he left, they returned his remains...and a wolf pup. Doesn't matter how strong-willed you are when the monsters are stronger or more dangerous. Or more numerous."

  Jurik twisted his body so he could focus attention on her. "I can't believe they would dare to bring him back, unwillingly. They aren't supposed to do that."

  "They still did. I guess they were desperate for bodies and had a monster pup they could use. But what they did...wasn't right. He came back meaner. He bit his guardians--not his parents, but they were aware. Then, they shipped him to the Academy. It was downhill from there."

  Hadley closed her eyes, biting her lip hard. "They tried. They tried to help him realize that they cared about him. That he wasn't just cannon fodder to be sacrificed in a never-ending battle. Other Awakened tried to befriend him. He wouldn't let them. He just focused on the hunt. How to kill."

  "Then he ate a student. And ran."

  A still moment filled the air. Jurik gripped the reins and used his stoic calm to hide his clenched teeth. Juni couldn't and bowed her head low.

  {I'm sorry.} Neska knew there weren't any words that could fix that kind of perception, that kind of brutal reality.

  The archer gripped her arm guard tightly, fingers turning white. "Don't be. He's not your burden. You know what's bitterly ironic? He taught me how to hunt. He's the reason I picked the [Scout] class: to be self-sufficient, agile...free. Now I have to hunt him, to free him."

  Hadley smiled faintly at her and Juni. “I know that not all the Awakened are like Felix. I have proof of that in front of me. Whether what the mages and clerics did to create the Awakened is right or wrong. That doesn’t change what you two did. Bregin is still on a map.”

  "We ask much of the Awakened. Maybe too much," Jurik said softly. "But for those who survive, and persevere...our survival is directly tied to their enduring will."

  Hadley flashed him a sad smile. "I'm glad at least one of us realizes that. You still have hope. Which means there's still a path to end this nightmare. Maybe I can hold onto a little, too."

  The conversation drifted after a little while.

  Neska listened as they went into more detail about the first monsters. Jurik spoke first, perhaps to pass the time. Or, maybe to keep an unsettling silence from descending.

  Hadley joined in, eventually. Juni scooted over to Neska, who was surprised at the mouse girl's ability to sit next to her.

  Only a few days ago, she would have seen her as a meal. Not out of malice. But simply as the natural order of the world, for sustenance. What a strange world I'm in now. Meanwhile, the two of them listened.

  What Neska learned was that the monsters didn’t immediately appear. The rifts tore large canyons out of the ground, bringing the capital of Gravost to ruin and collapsing parts of it into that otherplace. Few had been able to get close enough to see what remained of the city. Only a handful who had ventured to survey it had returned alive.

  More worryingly, the monsters that initially crawled from those rifts were unspeakable beasts, twisted aberrations that devastated the surrounding countryside. They spread in every direction, destroying everything in their path. Armies couldn’t stop them. Mages and the various specialists, at best, kept them contained.

  Then the monsters began appearing as the normal beasts that roamed the world. Something had changed them, improved them. No one knew exactly when the local wildlife had turned to this corruption. Only that their problems got worse.

  Neska knew she had to pay attention and not miss a single detail. Knowledge was power. Knowledge put her closer to her goals of finding out what Risha’s plan was for her.

  Jurik motioned for Juni's notepad. “We’ve been rushing headlong into danger for a bit. Now that we're not in as much of a rush, I think it’s time to explain a few things that I believe would be beneficial to Neska."

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