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Jace and Jarek continued pulling the sleeping Gravemaw through the forest, one on either side of the enormous creature.
The work had stopped feeling like a task and started feeling like a punishment designed by somebody who hated their arms. Every time the two men managed to drag Gravemaw forward, the giant dog’s body carved another deep trail through the earth. Roots snapped beneath its weight. Stones rolled away from its path. Leaves gathered against its fur before being shaken loose again by the slow movement.
Jace leaned forward, both hands locked around his grip, and pulled until his armor creaked.
Behind them, Jia called, “Keep moving.”
Jace glanced back over his shoulder. “We are moving.”
Jia did not slow down. “You are arguing while moving. Try doing only one thing at a time.”
Jace turned his attention forward again, though the effort clearly offended him. “I can do several things at once,” Jace said. “I can pull Gravemaw, argue with Jarek, and remain handsome under extreme pressure.”
Jarek pulled from the other side without looking at him. “You are failing at least one of those.”
Jace’s shoulders tightened. “Which one?”
Jarek waited until Gravemaw’s body shifted another few inches. Then Jarek said, “The arguing.”
Jace looked genuinely wounded. “That is clearly the one thing I am doing best.”
Jarek’s mouth twitched, but he kept his face turned toward the path. He was not going to reward Jace too quickly. Jace treated every laugh as permission to become worse.
Ahead of the group, Jin moved between the trees with the calm focus of somebody who had already accepted that danger would keep appearing and that the rest of the party would probably make it more complicated. He watched the ground, listened to the branches, and tracked the fat white dog as it picked its way along the forest path.
Jin raised one hand. “Left. The path bends left. Keep Gravemaw away from the roots.”
Jace and Jarek adjusted their footing and pulled in the direction Jin indicated. Gravemaw shifted across the soil, its enormous body sliding forward with a low scrape. For one hopeful second, it looked as if the movement might continue smoothly.
Then the creature’s weight settled again.
Jace’s boots dug into the earth.
From behind them, Jia ordered, “Pull harder.”
Jarek drew a breath through his teeth. “We are pulling as hard as we can.”
Jace pulled harder anyway. “I am pulling harder than Jarek.”
Jarek turned his head just enough to answer him. “You are pulling louder than me.”
Jovi walked a few steps behind them, watching the two men strain against Gravemaw’s weight. She was grinning.
Jia noticed. “Why are you smiling?”
Jovi did not even try to hide it. “I like it when they argue while doing something difficult. It makes the work feel organized.”
Juno looked from Jovi to Jace and Jarek. “This is not organized.”
Jovi’s grin widened. “It has a rhythm.”
The argument did have a rhythm. Jace would claim he was doing more. Jarek would point out that Jace was being loud rather than useful. Jia would order them to keep moving. Then Jace would say something that made the entire arrangement feel less like an escort mission and more like a badly managed punishment detail.
The forest seemed to listen.
Every sound carried strangely in the compressed stillness around them. The scrape of Gravemaw’s body against the earth continued beneath the argument, a slow, heavy rhythm that marked their progress. When the giant dog caught against a root, the resistance traveled through both men at once. Jace and Jarek adjusted their footing without needing to speak, each recognizing the other’s pull. They would never call it cooperation. Cooperation sounded too much like an admission that neither of them could have moved Gravemaw alone.
The Increase Strength spell began to fade.
Jace felt the change first. The unnatural force that had filled his muscles weakened, leaving behind the exhaustion that had been waiting beneath it. His arms burned. His shoulders ached. His legs felt as though somebody had replaced the bones with wet sand and expected him to continue walking normally.
The spell had not made Gravemaw light. It had only made the impossible briefly manageable. Now the impossible had returned to its proper weight.
Jarek noticed the difference a moment later. His jaw tightened, and his hands shifted on the grip.
Neither of them complained.
They leaned forward and pulled harder.
The effort slowed them, but it did not stop them. Gravemaw moved inch by inch while the forest pressed in around the party. The creatures that had attacked them earlier continued to move through the undergrowth, though their rushes became less frequent. Their shapes appeared between trunks and vanished behind leaves. Their attention never seemed to leave the enormous sleeping guardian.
Jia continued calling for the group to move. Jin continued calling directions. Jace and Jarek continued arguing about who was doing more of the work.
Jace said, “I have most of the weight.”
Jarek answered, “You have the easiest side.”
Jace looked over at him. “There is no easy side of a twenty-foot sleeping monster.”
Jarek pulled again. “Then stop claiming yours is harder.”
Jace’s breathing had become rough, but his pride remained perfectly healthy. “I am not claiming it. I am accurately reporting it.”
Jia called, “You are both wasting breath.”
Jace answered immediately, “I am using mine efficiently.”
Jarek glanced at him. “You are using it to be annoying.”
Jace’s expression brightened despite his exhaustion. “That is one of my most efficient skills.”
Jovi’s grin widened again.
Jia saw it and pointed at her without stopping. “Do not encourage him.”
Jovi said, “I am only appreciating the technique.”
“There is no technique,” Juno replied.
“There is always technique,” Jovi said.
Juno did not answer. She had learned that Jovi could turn almost any argument into an excuse to continue watching it.
Juno was the first to notice that the attacks had changed.
The monsters were still there. She could see movement along the edges of the path and hear the occasional scrape of claws against bark. But the creatures had stopped rushing the party. They no longer threw themselves at the group from the shadows. Instead, they moved around the path in a slow, deliberate pattern.
Whenever the party tried to drift toward open ground, something appeared there.
Whenever they slowed down, the movement behind them grew louder.
The creatures were not attacking so much as steering.
Juno’s expression tightened. She looked from one shadow to another, following the shape of the invisible pressure around them.
Juno said, “Wait.”
Jia looked back at her. “What is it?”
Juno pointed toward the trees. “The monsters have stopped charging us. They are herding us.”
Jace did not stop pulling. “That sounds better than being attacked.”
Juno answered, “It is not better. We are not being hunted as much as we are being driven.”
That finally made Jia look away from the path.
The shadows moved again. One creature appeared between two trees and immediately withdrew. Another shape crossed the path farther ahead, not close enough to attack but perfectly placed to make the direction of travel obvious.
Jia gave a quiet, irritated scoff. “Something is directing them.”
She looked as though she had just discovered that the forest had made a schedule specifically for ruining her day.
Jia continued, “Of course it is. The forest could not simply be full of angry monsters. It needed a plan.”
Jace leaned into the pull. “Maybe the plan is to help us find Gravemaw’s territory.”
Jia stared at him. “Then it should try giving directions. Jin is already doing that.”
Jin glanced over his shoulder while keeping his attention on the trees. “The forest is not helping me.”
Jia pointed ahead. “See? Even Jin agrees. Keep moving.”
Jace considered that for a moment. “I do not think Jin agreed with the useful part.”
Jin said, “I did not agree with any part.”
Jace pulled harder. “That is still a form of participation.”
The party continued.
For several more minutes, the only progress they made came through stubbornness. The path narrowed. Gravemaw’s body caught against roots and low branches. Jace and Jarek had to coordinate their pulling without ever admitting that they were coordinating.
The arguments grew louder as their strength diminished.
Jarek said, “You pulled on my side.”
Jace replied, “I was compensating for your weakness.”
Jarek’s head snapped toward him. “You were stepping on my foot.”
Jace looked down without releasing his grip. “Your foot was in the way.”
Jarek’s voice rose. “It is attached to me!”
Jace answered, “Then tell it to cooperate.”
Juno covered her face with one hand. Junia stared at the surrounding trees, apparently more interested in the monsters’ behavior than the argument. Jovi continued grinning at entirely the wrong time.
Jia finally stopped.
The order came so suddenly that Jace and Jarek continued pulling for one more step before realizing that nobody else was moving. Gravemaw slid forward between them, then came to rest with a heavy scrape.
Jia said, “Enough.”
Jace looked over his shoulder. “But you said to keep moving.”
Jia answered, “That was before I told you to stop.”
Jace frowned. “The instructions are becoming contradictory.”
Jia said, “Jace.”
Jace stopped talking.
Jarek released his grip a moment later and bent forward, breathing heavily. Gravemaw remained completely asleep between them, its breathing deep and slow enough to stir the leaves beneath its muzzle.
The forest had gone quiet.
The creatures were gone.
All of them.
No branches shook. No growls echoed through the trees. Even the movement at the edge of Jin’s awareness had vanished.
Jia slowly turned, searching the path behind them. The party had been surrounded only moments before. Now the forest looked empty in every direction.
Jin looked around as well. His expression remained calm, but his attention sharpened until it seemed to fill the entire clearing.
Jin said, “This does not feel right.”
Nobody argued with him.
The fat white dog stopped so suddenly that Jin stopped with it.
For a moment, nothing moved.
The dog lifted its head.
Then it barked.
The sound cracked through the forest. It barked again, sharper this time, and then a third time, each call aimed toward the thick trees ahead. Its lips pulled back from its teeth as it growled at something hidden beyond the tangled branches.
Jin narrowed his eyes and listened. The forest was too dense for him to see through, but he could sense movement somewhere beyond the wall of trunks and leaves.
Jin said, “I cannot see what it is. Something is in there.”
Jia immediately turned toward the forest. Her posture straightened, and one hand tightened around her staff.
Jia ordered, “Everyone, stay together. Do not move toward the sound.”
The party gathered closer around Gravemaw. Juno moved toward the center with the fat white dog. Junia raised her staff, her attention fixed on the darkness. Jarek shifted his stance and watched the gaps between the trees. Jovi stopped smiling.
Juno said, “The dog knows what it is.”
Jarek answered, “That is not reassuring.”
Junia’s usual curiosity had disappeared beneath a sharper concentration. She watched the dog, then the trees, then the dog again.
Junia said, “I cannot identify the presence. The trees are blocking too much of my view.”
Jovi kept her eyes on the forest. “If the dog is angry at it, I do not think we should introduce ourselves.”
Jace looked toward the barking dog. “I agree. For once, the dog has a better plan than we do.”
Jarek glanced at him. “You are agreeing with the dog?”
Jace answered, “I am growing as a person.”
The fat white dog barked once more.
This time, its anger broke.
The dog backed away from the trees, whining as it retreated. It kept its eyes on the unseen presence until it reached the party. Then it hurried behind the group and pressed close to them, trembling beneath its thick white coat.
Juno stared at it. “The dog is afraid.”
Jarek said, “It is crying.”
Jia’s expression grew grim. “Whatever is ahead frightened the creature that was guiding us.”
Jace looked over his shoulder at the dog. “Maybe it is embarrassed.”
No one laughed.
Jace’s expression faltered. “That was a joke.”
Jia answered, “We know.”
The party remained still and listened.
At first, they heard nothing except the dog’s frightened breathing and the faint rustle of leaves settling after its retreat. Then something moved deep in the forest.
The sound was too distant and too buried beneath the trees to identify. It was not a clear growl, a footstep, or a voice. It was simply a noise from somewhere ahead—large enough, or strange enough, to make every member of the party focus on it.
Jin turned his head slightly, trying to locate the sound.
Jin said, “I heard something. I cannot determine what it was.”
Juno asked, “Can you tell how far away it is?”
Jin answered, “No. The forest is distorting the sound.”
Jia looked toward the trees. “Then we wait until we understand what we are hearing.”
Jace nodded with surprising seriousness. “That sounds sensible.”
Everyone looked at him.
Jace lifted both hands. “I am capable of recognizing a good idea when somebody else has one.”
The forest suddenly erupted with movement.
Branches snapped in every direction. Shapes shifted between the trees, and the creatures that had vanished from the path began rushing toward the source of the sound.
They did not charge the party.
They did not attack Gravemaw.
They moved past the group, converging on whatever had made the noise.
Jarek tightened his grip on his weapon. “They are all moving toward it.”
Juno watched the shapes vanish into the undergrowth. “They are not even looking at us.”
Junia said, “They are afraid of it too.”
Jovi took one careful step closer to Jia. “That is a terrible sign.”
Jia answered, “Yes. It is.”
The movement spread ahead of them, fast and chaotic. The creatures were fleeing, attacking, or rushing toward the unseen presence, but Jin could not yet tell which. For the first time since the forest had turned hostile, the party was no longer the center of the monsters’ attention.
That did not make the situation safer.
It made it harder to understand.
Jia looked at Jin. “Can you see the source?”
Jin answered, “No. Not yet.”
Jace peered into the forest beside him. “I can see several trees.”
Jia told him, “That is not useful.”
Jace replied, “I never said it was.”
Another sound rolled through the forest.
The fat white dog whimpered behind them.
The surrounding creatures surged toward the noise.
The party stood beside the sleeping Gravemaw, watching the forest move around them while something unseen drew every monster toward it.
For once, even Jace stopped pulling.
The silence did not last.
At first, the party felt only a faint tremor beneath their feet. It was small enough that Jace almost mistook it for the ground settling beneath Gravemaw’s weight.
Then the earth shook again.
The next tremor was stronger. Leaves trembled on the branches. Loose soil slid into the grooves Gravemaw had left behind. A few stones rolled down the path and stopped against the creature’s enormous flank.
Somewhere beneath the forest floor, something heavy had taken a step.
Another step followed.
The ground shuddered with it.
Jace slowly raised his shield. His arms were already exhausted from pulling Gravemaw, but he held the shield in front of him as though the metal could argue with whatever was approaching.
Jace said, “I would like to officially report that this is getting worse.”
Jarek tightened his grip on his weapon. “That is your contribution?”
Jace answered, “I am reporting the situation accurately. Accuracy is important.”
Jia did not look at him. “Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
The party moved into a defensive formation around the sleeping Gravemaw. Juno stayed near the center with the fat white dog. Junia raised her staff, gathering her concentration. Jovi shifted toward the edge of the group, ready to move if the path closed. Jarek lowered his stance. Jia positioned herself where she could see all of them at once.
Jin turned toward the trees.
Jin said, “Behind us.”
The trees bent as a shadow moved between them.
The shadow grew larger.
Larger still.
The Veyra party stared as the creature finally emerged from the forest.
It was shaped like an ancient predator built for speed and impact. It stood shorter than Gravemaw, but its body was far denser, packed with a weight that made every step feel deliberate. Its legs were thick and powerful. Its arms were enormous, each one ending in claws made for grabbing or tearing.
Its hide was buried beneath layers of heavy mud.
The mud had dried across its body like armor, forming dense plates over its shoulders, chest, back, and limbs. The plates were not smooth. They overlapped in uneven ridges, with deep cracks running between them. Whenever the creature moved, those cracks opened to reveal darker flesh beneath before the hardened mud pressed together again.
Its head was low and broad.
Its jaws were unlike anything the party had seen before. They did not taper into a narrow bite. Instead, the creature’s jaw spread outward into a wide, flattened shape, more like a massive hammer than a mouth. It looked designed to crush through the ground as much as it was designed to bite.
Jin’s eyes widened. “Its jaw is reinforced. It is using it as a weapon.”
The creature lowered its head.
Then it smashed its armored jaw into the ground.
The impact sent a shock through the forest. Soil burst upward. Nearby trees shook from their roots to their highest branches. The party felt the blow through the soles of their boots, and the fat white dog pressed itself flat against the ground behind them.
Jace planted his shield against the earth. “That is a very large face.”
Jia snapped, “Jace, focus.”
Jace answered, “I am focused on the face.”
The creature lifted its head and roared.
The sound rolled through the trees like a storm breaking open.
Jia shouted, “Defensive positions!”
Jarek lowered his stance. “I am ready.”
Juno raised both hands. “Stay behind the barriers.”
Junia’s staff flared with light. “I am forming a wall.”
Jovi glanced toward the creature. “That thing is faster than it looks.”
Jovi added, “It looks fast already.”
The creature launched itself forward.
It was too fast.
Jin saw the movement first. “Now!”
The party scattered just as the creature reached them. Its armored jaw crashed into the ground where they had been standing, pulverizing the soil and sending a violent wave through the clearing.
Jace rolled aside and came up on one knee. “I hate being right about things!”
The creature’s momentum carried it past the party.
For one brief moment, the group had room to breathe.
Then Gravemaw woke.
The sleeping guardian lifted its head just in time to receive the creature’s next strike.
The flattened jaw slammed into Gravemaw’s side.
The impact sent the enormous dog skidding across the forest floor. Trees snapped beneath its body, and the ground buckled as Gravemaw finally came fully awake.
The guardian rose with a violent shake. Dirt and leaves fell from its white fur. Its eyes opened, and the air around the giant dog seemed to tighten in response.
The mud-armored creature roared again.
This time, the forest answered.
Every creature still moving through the surrounding trees turned toward Gravemaw. Shapes poured from the undergrowth and rushed the giant dog from every direction. The attackers that had ignored the party a moment earlier now converged on the awakened guardian as though an older rule had suddenly been remembered.
Jarek stared at the swarm. “They are all attacking Gravemaw!”
Juno watched the creatures circle and strike. “They are not attacking the other creature. They are challenging Gravemaw.”
Jovi looked from one rushing shape to another. “That is an unreasonable number of challengers.”
Gravemaw rose higher.
The giant dog opened its jaws and howled.
The howl was deeper than the creature’s roar. It shook the branches overhead and seemed to pull the air itself toward Gravemaw. The sound reached through the party’s bodies, vibrating in their ribs and making the ground beneath them feel briefly hollow.
Junia’s expression changed.
She looked at Gravemaw, then at the creatures swarming around it. Her fascination disappeared beneath sudden alarm.
Junia screamed, “Everyone, get away from Gravemaw! As far away as you can get—now!”
Jia did not hesitate. “Run! Jace, take the fat white dog!”
Jace turned toward the dog. “Come on, little guy! We are leaving the giant problem behind!”
Jace dragged the fat white dog away from the clearing as quickly as he could. The dog resisted for only a moment before deciding that Jace’s direction was preferable to whatever was happening behind them. It fled with him while the rest of the party ran after them.
Jia shouted, “Do not stop!”
Jace yelled back, “I am not stopping! I am moving at a deeply responsible speed!”
The party ran until the sounds of battle faded behind them.
They did not stop because the danger had ended. They stopped because Jia made the decision that they had reached a distance where watching was less immediately suicidal than remaining in the clearing.
Only then did Jia raise a hand.
Jia ordered, “Stop here.”
The party stopped and turned toward the forest.
For a moment, nothing appeared to have changed.
Then lightning flashed between the trees.
Gravemaw emerged from the distant darkness.
Its white hair had turned black.
Lightning crawled around its body, twisting through its fur and snapping across the mud-darkened ground. The air around it trembled with power. The creatures that had swarmed it were gone, leaving the transformed guardian standing alone among the broken trees.
Jace stared at the giant dog.
Then Jace began to laugh.
Jace said, “I want to ride the giant lightning dog!”
Jarek looked at him in disbelief. “That is what you took away from this?”
Jace pointed toward Gravemaw. “It has lightning. And it is still a dog. This is an obvious opportunity.”
Jia said, “You are not riding Gravemaw.”
Jace answered, “You have not even asked Gravemaw.”
Juno replied, “Gravemaw is not going to answer you.”
Jace said, “Then I will ask louder.”
Jia caught the back of Jace’s armor before he could take a step toward the transformed guardian. “You will do nothing louder.”
Everyone was relieved to be out of the attack’s reach, but nobody understood what had happened.
Nobody except Junia.
Junia slowly lowered her staff. Her face was pale, but her eyes shone with fascination rather than fear.
Junia watched Gravemaw standing among the broken trees, its black fur moving in the wind generated by its own power.
Junia said, “Gravemaw is not simply a Rank S monster. Rank S is only the highest label ordinary people use when they are trying to describe something they cannot control.”
Jarek kept his eyes on the transformed dog. “Then what is it?”
Junia answered, “Gravemaw is a boundary guardian. It does not merely live in a territory. It makes the territory obey it. Every monster within that boundary feels its presence and understands one rule: this land already belongs to something stronger.”
Juno frowned. “Then why did the other creatures attack it?”
Junia looked toward the forest. “Because the guardian was taken away. The boundary weakened. The creatures began circling the empty space, waiting to see whether Gravemaw would return. When that other creature appeared, it forced the question.”
Jin continued watching the black-haired dog. “What question?”
Junia’s grip tightened around her staff. “Who owns the forest.”
The answer settled over the party more heavily than the distant silence.
The villagers had thought of Gravemaw as a giant dog that lived near their home. The party had thought of it as a dangerous creature they had accidentally captured. Even the word guardian had sounded too simple for what stood beyond the trees.
Gravemaw was not merely protecting a place.
Its presence defined the place.
Junia continued, “The white fur is Gravemaw’s quiet form. It is the form that keeps its power buried while the territory is stable. The mud is not ordinary dirt either. It is earth gathered from the boundary and hardened into armor.”
Jace looked impressed. “So the dog wears the forest.”
Junia answered, “Yes. And when the boundary is challenged by enough powerful creatures, Gravemaw wakes completely. Its fur turns black, the buried power becomes lightning, and the guardian stops defending the territory from a distance.”
Junia looked toward the transformed creature.
Junia said, “It becomes the territory’s judgment.”
For once, Jace did not immediately make another joke.
Then he raised one hand.
Jace said, “I still want to ride it.”
Jia closed her eyes. “Of course you do.”
Far away, beyond the broken trees, the mud-armored creature and Gravemaw continued fighting.
The party watched in silence.
Even from a distance, every collision was easy to feel. Gravemaw’s lightning flashed through the forest, followed by the deep impact of the creature’s flattened jaw striking the ground. The mud-armored creature moved with shocking speed for something so dense, while Gravemaw met each attack with the terrifying force of an awakened guardian.
The party could not see every movement. Trees blocked the lower parts of the clearing, and clouds of dust rose whenever the creature struck the earth. But they could see enough: the black shape of Gravemaw passing through the lightning, the brown armor of the other creature turning and bracing, and the forest bending around every impact.
Jace leaned forward, gripping the edge of his shield. “That is the most impressive thing I have ever seen.”
Jarek glanced at him. “You said that about the elder’s restraint spell.”
Jace kept watching the lightning. “This is more impressive because it has lightning.”
Junia studied the battle carefully, one hand resting against her chin. She was no longer admiring the spectacle. She was examining it, trying to understand what the armor was doing each time Gravemaw struck.
Junia said, “The mud-armored creature is weaker than Gravemaw. But its armor can withstand attacks from Rank S creatures.”
Juno turned toward her. “It can withstand any attack from a Rank S creature?”
Junia answered, “That is what the armor is designed to do.”
Another distant impact shook the ground. The creature’s jaw struck the earth, and a wave of dust rose above the trees. Gravemaw’s black fur flashed with lightning as it lunged through the cloud.
Jarek narrowed his eyes. “Then Gravemaw cannot simply overpower it.”
Junia said, “Not quickly. Strength alone will not break through that armor.”
She continued studying the mud plates covering the creature’s body. Her eyes moved from the armor to the battlefield, then back again. The creature had not been born with a defense perfectly suited to surviving powerful opponents. Its body had been shaped by surviving them.
Junia said, “The mud-armored creature was probably a normal creature once. Monsters grow stronger when they kill enough other creatures. The more dangerous the prey, the more the survivor changes.”
Jace snapped his fingers. “That is how they rank up?”
Junia sighed. “That is one way monsters increase their rank, yes.”
Jace watched the mud-armored creature absorb another strike. “So it kept killing until it became a walking mud fortress with a hammer for a mouth.”
Junia looked at him. “That is an unnecessarily dramatic way to describe it.”
Jace pointed toward the distant battle. “Is it inaccurate?”
Junia paused.
Junia admitted, “No. It is not inaccurate.”
Jovi smiled faintly. “I like it.”
Jia turned toward Jovi. “Do not encourage him.”
Jovi answered, “I am encouraging the description, not the creature.”
Junia’s expression grew more serious as the mud-armored creature slammed its jaw into the ground again.
Junia said, “The creatures around this forest adapted to adventurers to survive. They learned how people attack, how people defend themselves, and what kind of power they needed to endure. That armor may be the result of generations of monsters being killed by powerful fighters.”
Jin kept his gaze on the battle. “They adapted to the people hunting them.”
Junia answered, “Yes. The forest did not simply produce a strong monster. It produced one that was difficult for adventurers to kill.”
The explanation made the distant creature seem more frightening rather than less. Its armor was not just protection. It was a record of every method that had failed to destroy it.
Jace tapped his chest armor with one hand.
Jace declared, “Then I will defend all of you. Even if it kills me.”
Jia immediately bonked Jace on the head with her staff.
Jia said, “No dying needed.”
Jace rubbed the top of his head. “I was making a heroic promise.”
Jia replied, “Make a heroic promise that includes staying alive.”
Jace considered this. “That sounds less heroic.”
Juno told him, “It sounds more useful.”
Jarek glanced at Jace. “For once, Jia is right.”
Jace looked wounded. “You are all taking the safe side of this conversation.”
Jin said, “Because the safe side is usually the correct one.”
The distant battle shook the forest again.
Gravemaw’s howl rolled through the trees, followed by another thunderous impact from the mud-armored creature.
The party fell silent once more.
Even Jace stopped arguing as they watched the two monsters clash beyond the forest, one protected by hardened earth and the other surrounded by black fur and living lightning.
Gravemaw howled again.
The awakened guardian answered the distant creature with a sudden charge. Its jaws closed around the mud-armored creature’s upper body, and Gravemaw twisted its head with enough force to wrench the dense monster off balance.
The mud-armored creature crashed onto its side, crushing trees beneath its weight and throwing a cloud of dirt into the air.
Jarek pointed toward the battle. “Look! He did that to you!”
Jace was not amused.
He tightened his grip on his shield and watched Gravemaw with a dark expression, clearly remembering the enormous paw that had once sent him flying. Jarek did not need to explain the comparison. The image of Jace beneath Gravemaw’s paw had apparently survived in everyone’s memory, including Jace’s.
Gravemaw raised one enormous paw.
Jace’s expression changed.
The guardian brought the paw down in a brutal Paw Smash—the same crushing attack Jace had endured earlier. The impact flattened the earth beneath the mud-armored creature and sent cracks racing through the hardened plates covering its body.
The armor held for only a moment.
Then the mud shell split apart.
Dense plates burst away from the creature’s shoulder and chest, exposing the dark flesh beneath. The pieces struck the ground like broken slabs of stone. Gravemaw immediately drove its teeth through the opening.
The guardian’s jaws tore into the unprotected body with a wet, ragged crunch. Teeth punched through muscle and skin. Gravemaw pulled backward, ripping loose strips of flesh as blood spread across the shattered armor and ran into the grooves carved through the forest floor.
The mud-armored creature thrashed beneath it. Its claws gouged deep trenches into the soil, and its heavy limbs struck at the ground without finding anything solid enough to push against. The armor that had allowed it to withstand Rank S attacks was no longer acting as a single defense. It was collapsing piece by piece around the wounds.
Gravemaw bit down again.
Its teeth sank deeper through the broken plates. The creature’s roar twisted into a strangled bellow as the giant dog wrenched its head sideways. More flesh tore loose. More mud shattered and fell away. Dark blood ran over the brown plates, filling the cracks and making the creature’s armor look less like a fortress and more like a ruined wall.
The party watched without speaking.
No one moved closer. No one attempted to interfere. The distance between them and the battle suddenly felt very important.
Even Jace, who had been eager to ride Gravemaw only moments earlier, remained silent as the transformed guardian tore through the last of the creature’s defenses.
The mud-armored creature’s movements weakened.
Its claws dragged through the dirt rather than cutting into it. Its head shifted without the force to strike. The mud plates around its body continued to crumble under Gravemaw’s assault, exposing more dark flesh beneath them.
After a while, Gravemaw lifted its head.
Blood and broken mud clung to its jaws. Black fur rippled around its massive body while lightning snapped through the air and illuminated the ruined clearing.
The guardian stood over the battered creature, breathing heavily. For a moment, the forest seemed to hold its breath with the party.
Then Gravemaw released another roar.
The force of it reached the party like a physical blow.
A powerful wind exploded from the distant clearing and rushed through the trees. Branches bent beneath it. Leaves tore free and spun through the air. Dust lifted from the ground and swept along the path in thin brown waves.
The party braced themselves as the gust rushed past them, carrying the roar far beyond the forest. Juno held her robes against the wind. Jovi grabbed a nearby branch to keep her footing. Jarek lowered his shoulder. Jin covered one ear but kept watching the distant clearing.
The sound traveled all the way to the village.
Windows rattled in their frames. Doors shook on their hinges. The villagers felt the ground tremble beneath their feet as Gravemaw’s voice rolled across the settlement and into the land beyond it.
The roar did not sound like an animal calling for attention.
It sounded like a declaration.
Back in the forest, the party stood frozen while the final echoes faded.
They had watched Gravemaw knock down the mud-armored creature, break through armor built to withstand Rank S attacks, and tear into the flesh beneath it. Now the giant dog stood among the broken trees, black fur surrounded by lightning and its jaws stained with blood.
The entire group was shocked.
Even Jace had nothing funny to say.
Morning came quietly to the campsite.
The fire had burned down to a patient bed of coals, and a thin mist hovered above the stream. The forest was quiet except for water moving over stones and the occasional shift of someone sleeping. It was the kind of peaceful morning Jia appreciated because it did not demand a tactical decision from her within the first minute.
Unfortunately, she traveled with Jace. Peaceful mornings around him were rarely allowed to remain peaceful for long.
Jia was the first to wake. While the others remained scattered around the camp in various states of sleep, she moved to the stream and gathered whatever food she could find. There were fish in the clear water, berries and fruit growing nearby, and enough grains left in their supplies to make a proper meal.
She brought everything back to the fire and began preparing breakfast.
She sorted the food into neat portions, setting the fish aside and placing the berries and fruit where they would not be crushed beneath anything else. The grains needed more attention, so she kept them close to the heat and watched them carefully. Jia approached breakfast the same way she approached every other responsibility: by making certain that nothing could go wrong if she could possibly prevent it.
Jia worked carefully, keeping the fire under control and arranging the ingredients with the same focus she used when organizing a battlefield. The rest of the party slept through it all.
Or at least, most of them did.
Jace had been awake for several minutes.
He had opened one eye when he smelled the food, then closed it again. Breakfast was being made. There was no reason to reveal that he was conscious when he could continue lying there and enjoy the experience of waking up to a meal.
He had even considered sitting up and helping sooner. Then he had remembered that Jia was already doing the work, and the opportunity to be discovered dramatically at breakfast was much more valuable.
Jia turned away from the fire.
That was when Jace began to shake.
At first, it was only a small tremor in his shoulder. Then his arm jerked. A moment later, his legs started kicking beneath his blanket, and his entire body began convulsing so violently that the ground seemed to shake with him.
It was not a convincing performance in any medical sense. It was, however, energetic. Jace shook with the commitment of a man who had decided that subtlety was an insult to the craft. His blanket twisted around his legs, his arms flapped against the ground, and one of his boots struck the earth with a dull thump.
Jia spun around.
“Jace?” Jia shouted.
The shaking continued.
Jia dropped what she was holding and rushed toward him. Her mind raced through every injury he could have suffered, every strange effect the giant dog might have left behind, and every possible reason a grown man would suddenly start vibrating like a badly made magical construct.
“Jace! Wake up!” Jia yelled.
Jace shook even harder.
Jia reached for her staff.
Her fingers closed around it, and the end of the staff lifted from the ground with a faint scrape. Jace saw the movement through one half-open eye. The performance had reached the point where continuing it might result in an actual injury, which was not the kind of realism he had been aiming for.
Jace immediately stopped moving, opened his eyes, and burst out laughing.
“Good morning!” Jace greeted her.
He looked delighted with himself. Jia, meanwhile, looked as though she had just discovered a new and deeply irritating category of problem.
Jia stared down at him.
For one long second, she said nothing. Then she slowly lowered her hand from her staff.
“You were awake,” Jia said.
Jace sat up, still grinning. “For a while,” Jace replied.
“Then why were you shaking like that?” Jia asked.
“I was trying to wake myself up,” Jace replied.
Jia looked at him with complete disbelief. “You were pretending to have a seizure because breakfast was almost ready?” Jia asked.
“I prefer to think of it as an enthusiastic alarm clock,” Jace replied.
Jia closed her eyes and took a slow breath. It was much too early in the morning to start apologizing for him, and she wanted to preserve that record for at least another few minutes.
Jace stood up and began helping her with the meal before she could decide whether hitting him would improve or ruin the morning. He carried supplies, prepared ingredients, and stayed close enough to the fire that Jia could keep an eye on him.
He made a point of moving with exaggerated innocence, as if carrying food could somehow erase the fact that he had just frightened her for entertainment. Every few moments, he glanced at Jia to see whether she was still angry. Each time, she was.
This was unusually useful behavior.
Jia watched him suspiciously. “What are you planning?” Jia asked.
“Planning?” Jace asked. “I am helping,” Jace added.
“That answer makes me more worried, not less,” Jia said.
Jace placed another handful of grain beside the cooking pot. “You should be grateful. I am contributing to society,” Jace said.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” Jia said.
“Then I contributed excitement as well,” Jace replied.
Jia gave him a flat look.
Jace smiled. “Good morning, Jia,” Jace said.
By the time the food was ready, the smell had reached everyone else. One by one, the sleeping members of the party woke and dragged themselves toward the fire. Even Jarek, who usually needed several minutes before he was willing to speak to anyone, appeared as soon as he realized breakfast was being served.
No one arrived with much dignity. They came blinking into the morning, hair untidy and clothes still creased from sleep, drawn toward the food with the single-minded focus of people who had spent the previous day fighting a creature large enough to make ordinary breakfast seem like a reward from the gods.
Jace looked around at the meal with open satisfaction.
“There is nothing better than opening your eyes and discovering that it is already time to eat,” Jace said.
“You were awake before everyone else,” Jia reminded him.
“That does not make the food less good,” Jace replied.
The party ate together around the fire. For a short while, the campsite was peaceful again.
The only sounds were the crackle of the coals, the quiet movement of the stream, and the occasional clink of a bowl. Even Jace remained silent for several heartbeats at a time, which was the closest the party usually came to a miracle.
Jarek sat with his bowl balanced on one knee, still waking up by degrees. Jovi had already finished enough of her food to start paying attention to everyone else, which was usually when trouble began looking for her. Juno ate quietly, while Junia kept glancing at the fire as if she were considering whether breakfast could be improved with a spell.
Jia noticed the look. “Do not experiment with the breakfast,” Jia warned Junia.
“I was only thinking about it,” Junia replied.
“That is how it starts,” Jia warned.
Jace lifted his bowl. “I think breakfast would be better if it were larger,” Jace said.
Jia looked at him. “You are not allowed to help Junia,” Jia said.
“I am not helping. I am making a reasonable suggestion,” Jace replied.
“Your reasonable suggestions are why we are returning a Rank S creature to the forest,” Jia said.
Jarek pointed his spoon at Jace. “She has a strong case,” Jarek said.
Jace looked offended. “You are only saying that because she is holding the food,” Jace complained.
“I am saying it because she is holding the staff,” Jarek replied.
Jin, however, was not entirely focused on his meal.
He kept thinking about the elder’s words. The giant dog had not been an ordinary creature wandering through the forest and eating people or animals at random. It had been protecting something or someone. The thought did not fit easily with the enormous beast they had fought, but Jin could not dismiss it.
If the creature was protecting the village, why had nobody explained that before the party dragged it home?
The question was particularly irritating because the answer now seemed obvious in retrospect. The village had been living beside a Rank S creature, and the creature had been living beside the village. That arrangement could not have happened by accident. Yet the guild quest had offered them so little information that they had mistaken a guardian for a target and a guardian’s territory for a hunting ground.
Jin looked toward the road.
After breakfast, the Veyra party decided to return to the village and ask the elder exactly what had happened.
They left the campsite together, following the road they had used the day before. Without a sleeping giant dog behind them, the journey should have felt easier. Instead, the closer the village came, the more certain Jia became that their arrival would not be welcomed.
The moment they came within sight of the village, the people there noticed them.
Conversation stopped.
Villagers turned toward the road. Adventurers paused in the middle of their work. One person pointed at the party, and another immediately pointed at the person who had pointed first, as if making sure the blame was distributed properly.
The gesture traveled through the crowd in a chain of accusation. Nobody seemed eager to approach the Veyra party, but nobody seemed willing to stop looking at them either. The party had become a spectacle before they had even reached the first building.
Jace slowed down.
“Why is everyone looking at us like that?” Jace asked.
An adventurer near the road cupped his hands around his mouth. “It’s the Walking Chaos!” the adventurer shouted.
Another adventurer shouted, “The Walking Chaos has come back!”
Juno’s shoulders sank. “I was afraid that name would spread,” Juno said.
“I think it sounds impressive,” Jace said.
“It sounds like a warning sign,” Juno replied.
The villagers began shouting over one another.
A villager shouted, “Get out of our village!”
Another villager shouted, “We don’t want another monster brought here!”
A third villager shouted, “Take your chaos somewhere else!”
A fourth villager pleaded, “Please leave before something else starts exploding!”
Jace glanced at Junia. “That last one sounds unfair,” Jace said.
Junia looked back at him. “It sounds accurate,” Junia replied.
The shouting grew louder. More villagers joined in, demanding that the party leave. Several adventurers called them names while keeping a very careful distance from the road, as if the Veyra party might suddenly produce another twenty-foot-tall creature from behind them.
Juno tried to raise a hand in apology, but three different villagers shouted at her before she could say anything. She lowered it again and looked toward Jia.
“They seem upset,” Juno said.
“That is a very gentle way to describe this,” Jia replied.
Jia raised both hands. “Everyone, please calm down. We only came back to speak with the elder,” Jia pleaded.
A villager shouted, “That’s how it started last time!”
Another villager yelled, “Last time you dragged a Rank S creature here!”
“We did not know it was Rank S,” Jarek shouted back.
A villager shouted, “You still dragged it here!”
Jarek opened his mouth, then stopped. He had no useful answer to that.
Before the argument could grow worse, the village elder stepped out from among the buildings.
He was no longer moving with the painful slowness he had shown before. Juno’s healing had eased the stiffness in his joints, and he crossed the road with a steady stride. When he raised his voice, it carried over the entire crowd.
The villagers moved aside for him at once. Even the adventurers who had been shouting fell quiet when they saw who was approaching. The elder’s presence did not make the party look less suspicious, but it did prevent the crowd from turning its anger into something more serious.
One of the nearer adventurers still had a hand on the hilt of his weapon. Jia noticed and shifted half a step forward, placing herself between him and the rest of the party. Jarek noticed too, and his posture changed from argumentative to ready. Nobody drew a weapon, but the road had become narrow with tension.
The elder looked first at the adventurer’s hand, then at the Veyra party. “Put the weapon away,” the elder ordered.
The adventurer hesitated. “They brought a Rank S creature into the village,” the adventurer protested.
“And they are now standing in front of me without attacking anyone,” the elder replied. “That is enough restraint for one morning,” the elder continued.
The adventurer slowly released the hilt.
“Enough!” the elder ordered.
The villagers fell silent.
The elder looked over the party, then toward the restrained giant dog at the edge of the village.
“Stop calling them names and stop demanding that they leave,” the elder said. “They have returned because they have questions. Let them ask them,” the elder continued.
Jace leaned toward Juno. “Does that mean we are allowed to stay?” Jace asked.
“It means you are allowed to ask questions,” Juno whispered back.
“That is less generous,” Jace said.
The party approached the elder while the villagers watched them suspiciously. The enormous creature still lay beneath the iron chains and torii-shaped frames, its breathing slow and heavy. Even asleep, it made the village feel too small for itself.
Jia bowed her head. “Elder, we need to understand something. What exactly is that creature?” Jia asked.
“And why is it here?” Jin added.
The elder folded his hands over the top of his walking staff. “The Adventurer’s Guild was tasked by the kingdom with classifying monsters according to their danger. The lowest rank is G. From G through A, the creatures are considered ordinary threats. They may share territory, hunt near one another, and even compete without automatically starting a war,” the elder explained.
He spoke slowly enough for the villagers nearby to hear him, but his voice no longer dragged the way it had before Juno healed him. The explanation sounded less like a lesson and more like a rule that everyone in the village had learned through experience.
Jarek nodded slowly. “That part makes sense,” Jarek said.
“From Rank S upward, the rules change,” the elder continued. “Rank S, SS, SSS, and the classification written as ???? cannot share the same territory. When creatures of those ranks meet, they fight. S, SS, and SSS monsters are always trying to establish which one dominates the others,” the elder said.
Jace looked at the sleeping giant dog. “So the higher-ranked monsters are all fighting over territory?” Jace asked.
“That is the nature of their power,” the elder said. “They are not all the same. Some destroy villages. Some hunt people,” the elder continued.
Jia listened with a serious expression. The guild’s classifications had always been useful for accepting quests, but useful did not mean simple. A letter on a page could not show what it felt like to stand beneath a creature’s paw. It could not explain whether the monster was attacking, defending itself, or protecting the people who lived nearby.
The elder paused.
His expression became uncomfortable.
“Some even kidnap men and women to copulate with them,” the elder added.
The party froze.
The sentence seemed to remain in the air long after the elder had finished saying it. Even the villagers who had been glaring at the party looked uncomfortable. The Veyra party had faced a giant dog, a fireball, and a Rank S threat without agreeing on a proper retreat. Somehow, that single piece of information produced the most complete silence they had managed all week.
Jace’s face went completely blank. Jarek stopped chewing. Juno slowly lowered her bowl. Jia stared at the elder as if she had just discovered that the village had a second, much worse problem.
Junia was the first to recover.
“That has never been proven,” Junia said. “The Magic Academy disregarded that claim. It is only a rumor,” Junia continued.
Jace turned toward her. “That is the part you decided to correct?” Jace asked.
“It is important to separate established facts from rumors,” Junia answered.
“I would have been happy to leave all of it as a rumor,” Jace said.
The elder cleared his throat and gestured toward the sleeping creature.
“That one is different,” the elder said. “The dog you dragged here is called Gravemaw. It is the guardian of this village. It kills every other monster that enters its territory, which is why the village has survived here for so long,” the elder explained.
The name sounded far more threatening than the sleeping creature’s slow breathing. Gravemaw’s enormous body remained trapped beneath the chains and metal frames, its head resting near the ground like an oversized dog that had fallen asleep in the middle of a walk. It would have looked almost harmless if everyone present had not already seen it tear through the forest.
Jace stared at Gravemaw.
“But how?” Jace asked.
The elder looked at him. “How what?” the elder asked.
“How is that thing protecting the village? It is a Rank S monster. We thought it was about to eat us,” Jace said.
“It may have been defending its territory,” the elder explained. “That does not mean it was trying to destroy the village. Gravemaw kills the monsters that threaten this land. The village benefits from its presence, even if everyone here is terrified of it,” the elder continued.
The elder glanced toward the villagers as he said this. Their fear was still visible, but so was their understanding. They were not grateful to Gravemaw in the way someone might be grateful to a friendly guard. They were grateful in the way people were grateful for a storm wall: from a safe distance, while hoping it never moved.
Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly. The idea he had been turning over since breakfast finally made sense.
The giant dog had not been wandering without purpose.
It had been guarding the village.
Junia suddenly turned toward the rest of the party.
“We have to take Gravemaw back,” Junia said.
The elder blinked. “Before I finish explaining “ the elder began.
“We dragged it away from its territory,” Junia continued. “We need to return it to where we found it,” Junia added.
Jia nodded at once. “That is probably the responsible thing to do,” Jia said.
Jace looked from Jia to the restrained creature. “You mean we have to drag it all the way back through the forest?” Jace asked.
“Yes,” Junia said.
“Do you remember where we found it?” Jia asked.
The party fell silent.
The question should have had an easy answer. They had spent three days searching for the creature. They had followed tracks, run from danger, chased one another through the trees, and finally captured the dog after a fight none of them would soon forget. Surely, somewhere in all of that confusion, one of them had noticed where the whole disaster began.
Apparently, none of them had noticed.
Jace looked toward the forest. “In the forest,” Jace said.
Jarek turned toward him. “That is not a location,” Jarek said.
“It is a very large location,” Jace replied.
“Which part of the forest?” Jia asked.
Jace pointed vaguely past the road. “Near some trees,” Jace said.
Jarek stared at him. “There are trees everywhere,” Jarek said.
“Near a big tree, then,” Jace replied.
Jin looked toward the distant forest. “Most of the trees were big enough to qualify as trees,” Jin said.
Jovi raised a hand. “I remember that we ran in several directions,” Jovi said.
“That is not helpful,” Jia said.
“It narrows it down from the whole forest to several directions,” Jovi replied.
Juno pressed her fingers to her forehead. “Does anyone remember a landmark?” Juno asked.
Jarek thought for a moment. “There was a bush,” Jarek said.
Jia stared at him. “What kind of bush?” Jia asked.
Jarek’s expression tightened. “A green one,” Jarek replied.
Jace nodded. “I remember that bush,” Jace said.
Jin looked at him. “You remember every green bush?” Jin asked.
“No,” Jace admitted. “Just that one,” Jace continued.
“What made it different?” Jia asked.
Jace considered the question.
He searched his memory with the same determination he usually reserved for escaping consequences. He could remember the dog’s size, its breath, the impact of its paws, and several separate moments when he had been certain he was about to die. The forest itself had been less memorable.
“It was near the dog,” Jace said.
Jarek slowly looked up at the sky.
Behind them, Gravemaw shifted beneath the iron chains. The metal groaned, and every villager took an immediate step backward.
The Veyra party looked at one another.
They had captured the village guardian, dragged it out of the forest, and brought it all the way back to the village.
Unfortunately, none of them remembered where they had found it.
Jace looked from the forest to Gravemaw and then back to the forest again. The creature remained asleep beneath the elder’s restraints, enormous and inconveniently solid.
“Before anyone says anything else,” Jace announced, “I am not dragging that dog again,” Jace continued.
Jia folded her arms. “Someone has to return Gravemaw to its territory,” Jia said.
“Someone else can do it,” Jace replied.
Jarek glanced at the giant creature. “Who?” Jarek asked.
Jace looked around the party, apparently hoping a volunteer would appear out of sympathy, guilt, or a sudden desire to perform an impossible amount of labor.
No one moved.
“You are all being very quiet,” Jace said.
“We are waiting for you to finish complaining,” Juno told him.
“I have barely started,” Jace said.
Jia pointed toward Gravemaw. “You dragged it here once,” Jia reminded him.
“That was yesterday,” Jace said. “Yesterday’s decisions should not control today’s schedule,” Jace continued.
“You made that decision yesterday,” Jarek reminded him.
“I was a different man yesterday,” Jace replied.
Jarek stared at him. “You were a different man this morning when you pretended to be dying because Jia was cooking breakfast,” Jarek added.
Jace ignored that. “The important point is that I am now older, wiser, and no longer interested in dragging a Rank S monster through a forest,” Jace declared.
Jin glanced at him. “You are older by one day,” Jin observed.
“A very educational day,” Jace replied.
Juno looked toward the village. “We cannot leave Gravemaw here. The village depends on it to keep other monsters away,” Juno explained.
“Then the village should help move it,” Jace suggested.
Jia raised an eyebrow. “You want the villagers to drag their own guardian through the forest?” Jia asked.
Jace considered this. “When you say it like that, it sounds unreasonable,” Jace admitted.
“It was unreasonable before I said it,” Jia replied.
Junia crouched beside Gravemaw and looked at the sleeping creature with open curiosity. “It would be easier if we knew where it belonged,” Junia said.
“That is the other problem,” Juno said. “We do not know where it belongs,” Juno continued.
The argument began circling back toward the same useless answers: the forest, the trees, the green bush, and the dog. Each suggestion became less helpful the longer they examined it.
Jace gestured toward the creature. “Even if we remembered the exact place, I am still not dragging it,” Jace insisted.
“You have said that several times,” Jarek noted.
“I want everyone to understand how serious I am,” Jace said.
The elder suddenly laughed.
It was a warm, unhurried laugh, completely at odds with the panic that had surrounded Gravemaw only moments before. The Veyra party stopped arguing and turned toward him.
Jace narrowed his eyes. “Why are you laughing?” Jace asked.
“Do not worry,” the elder said. “You will not have to find the way yourselves. A friend will guide you back,” the elder continued.
Jia looked toward the forest. “A friend?” Jia asked.
The elder turned toward the village and called out in a clear voice.
“Come here, my friend,” the elder called.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the fat white dog from the previous day trotted out from among the buildings.
The entire Veyra party stared at it.
It was the same ordinary-looking dog they had been sent to find. The same fat white dog that had been missing when they accepted the quest. The same fat white dog that had somehow been standing behind them when they arrived with a twenty-foot-tall Rank S creature instead.
The dog walked toward the elder with its tail raised, completely comfortable with the attention now focused on it.
Jace slowly pointed at it. “That dog was lost yesterday,” Jace said.
“Yes,” the elder replied.
“And now it is here,” Jace continued.
“Yes,” the elder replied.
Jace looked from the dog to the elder. “You called it, and it came,” Jace said.
The elder nodded. “It is a very loyal friend,” the elder said.
Jace’s suspicion deepened. “Yesterday, you said you could not find it,” Jace said.
“Yesterday, it was not here,” the elder answered.
“That is technically an answer,” Jace said.
Jovi covered her mouth, but a snicker escaped anyway.
Jace turned toward her. “What?” Jace asked.
“Nothing,” Jovi said, still trying not to laugh.
Jin looked away toward the forest. His expression was carefully neutral, which only made it more obvious that he was avoiding Jace’s eyes.
Jace noticed. “Jin, why are you looking over there?” Jace asked.
“The trees are there,” Jin answered.
“You were looking at me a moment ago,” Jace said.
“I changed my mind,” Jin replied.
Junia lifted both hands to her hair and began examining it with great concentration.
Jace stared at her. “What are you doing?” Jace asked.
“There may be something in my hair,” Junia said.
“There is nothing in your hair,” Jace said.
“I am checking carefully,” Junia replied.
Jace looked at Jovi, then Jin, then Junia. “Why is everyone acting suspiciously?” Jace asked.
“Nobody is acting suspiciously,” Jia said.
“You said that too quickly,” Jace said.
“Because I know you,” Jia replied.
The elder watched the exchange with an amused smile. Then he turned his attention back to Gravemaw.
“The guardian must be returned,” the elder said. “I will remove the restraints,” the elder continued.
The villagers immediately stepped farther away.
The elder brought his hands together. The iron chains around Gravemaw loosened first. They slid away from the creature’s body and sank into the earth, leaving deep lines in the soil. The three torii-shaped frames rose from the ground after them, lifting into the air before vanishing as though they had never been there.
The release happened with surprising force. Soil burst upward around Gravemaw’s paws, and the last chain snapped free with a metallic crack that made several villagers flinch. Jia kept her eyes on the sleeping creature until the final frame disappeared. Junia watched the spell instead, following every movement of the metal with such intense interest that she nearly walked into Jace.
Jace caught her by the shoulder. “Careful,” Jace told Junia. “If you fall on me, Jia will blame me somehow.”
“I would blame both of you,” Jia replied.
Gravemaw did not wake.
Jace watched the last metal frame disappear. “That is reassuring,” Jace said.
Junia leaned closer to the sleeping creature. “It is still asleep,” Junia said.
“That is also reassuring,” Jace said. “I am choosing to focus on the good news,” Jace continued.
Jia stepped beside him. “You will need help if you are going to move it,” Jia warned.
“I can move it,” Jace said.
“You can move it slowly, loudly, and with a high chance of injuring yourself,” Jia warned.
“So you agree that I can move it,” Jace said.
Jia sighed and lifted her staff. “Hold still,” Jia instructed.
Jace straightened immediately. “Is this another healing spell?” Jace asked.
“No. It is called Increase Strength. It is a basic spell,” Jia replied.
Jia cast the spell.
Power settled through Jace’s body. His arms felt steadier, his legs felt stronger, and the exhaustion left by the previous day’s battle became easier to ignore. It was not a complicated spell, but the difference was immediate.
Jace flexed his hands and looked impressed. “Jia, thank you. This is incredible,” Jace said.
“It is basic,” Jia said.
“Basic things can still be beautiful,” Jace said.
“Do not make this sentimental,” Jia warned.
“I am being sincere,” Jace said.
“That is what worries me,” Jia replied.
Jace walked over to Gravemaw and braced himself against the creature’s enormous side. He planted his feet, gripped a heavy fold of fur near its shoulder, and pulled.
For a moment, nothing happened. Jace’s boots dug into the road, his shoulders tightened, and the muscles in his arms stood out beneath his clothing. The giant dog remained exactly where it was, as unmoved as a hill.
Jace’s face reddened.
“It is thinking about moving,” Jace said.
“It is asleep,” Jarek replied.
“That does not mean it cannot think about it,” Jace replied.
The giant dog moved.
Only a little, but it moved.
Jace’s face lit up. “I am doing it!” Jace shouted.
“You are doing it slowly,” Jia said.
“Slowly is still doing it,” Jace replied.
Jarek crossed his arms. “I thought you were not going to drag that dog again,” Jarek said.
“I said I would not drag it like this,” Jace replied. “Now I have Increase Strength. This is an entirely different situation,” Jace continued.
“The dog is still the same,” Jarek said.
“The dog is not the person making the decisions,” Jace said.
The fat white dog started walking toward the road.
Gravemaw slid across the ground behind Jace.
Jace leaned forward and followed the smaller dog, hauling the sleeping guardian away from the village one heavy movement at a time. The rest of the party fell in behind him, while the elder and the villagers watched the impossible procession leave.
Each pull began with Jace planting his feet, drawing a breath, and leaning his entire body forward. Each result was a long scrape through the dirt and a slow shift of Gravemaw’s immense weight. The sound was difficult to describe. It was part dragging stone, part breaking road, and part Jace making noises that he insisted were motivational.
“Come on,” Jace grunted. “You are a guardian. Guard the direction I am going,” Jace continued.
“That is not how guardians work,” Jia told him.
“You do not know that,” Jace replied.
“I know enough to know you are arguing with a sleeping dog,” Jia answered.
After a short distance, Jace glanced over his shoulder at Gravemaw. The creature had not twitched, opened an eye, or shown any sign that it intended to wake.
“Junia,” Jace called, “why has your sleeping spell not worn off yet? You said it would last ten seconds,” Jace continued.
Junia walked beside him while watching the fat white dog lead them down the road. “I did say that,” Junia replied.
“It has been much longer than ten seconds,” Jace said.
“The elder may have cast a stronger spell over Gravemaw when he restrained it,” Junia explained. “He is no ordinary old man,” Junia continued.
Jace looked back toward the village elder. The old man stood beside the road, watching them with the calm expression of someone who had just solved a problem by creating an even stranger one.
“He could have mentioned that,” Jace complained.
“You were busy arguing about not dragging the dog,” Junia replied.
“That was important,” Jace insisted.
The fat white dog continued ahead, occasionally glancing back to make sure the party was following. This time, it led them toward the forest with complete confidence.
Jace pulled Gravemaw after it, stronger than before but no less confused.
Behind them, the village slowly disappeared from view.
Only one day had passed since Gravemaw left the forest.
The forest had already changed.
The fat white dog led them beneath the first line of trees, walking with the calm confidence of a creature that knew exactly where it was going. Jace followed behind it, pulling Gravemaw across the ground with both hands while the rest of the party kept pace around him.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then the forest went silent.
The stream of birdsong disappeared. The insects stopped their steady buzzing. Even the leaves seemed to hold still. The quiet was so sudden that Jace stopped pulling.
The fat white dog stopped too.
Jace looked around. “Why did everything become quiet?” Jace asked.
Jarek scanned the trees. “Maybe the forest is finally tired of watching you drag things around,” Jarek suggested.
“That does not explain the silence,” Jace replied.
“It might be holding its breath,” Jarek said.
Jia raised one hand. “Everyone, stay still,” Jia ordered.
The party obeyed.
For a few seconds, nobody moved. Gravemaw remained asleep behind Jace, its enormous body leaving a long trail through the soil. The fat white dog stood several steps ahead, its ears raised and its attention fixed on the trees.
Jin slowly turned his head.
“We have a problem,” Jin said.
Jace tightened his grip on Gravemaw. “The forest is full of trees. We knew that already,” Jace said.
“Not that kind of problem,” Jin replied.
Jin closed his eyes and listened. His awareness stretched through the forest, following every disturbance and separating each sound from the next. At first, there was only silence. Then he began to notice the movement hidden beneath it.
Something shifted to their left.
Something else moved behind them.
Branches bent in the distance. Leaves rustled without any wind. More movement answered from deeper in the forest, then from the trees on the other side of the road.
Jin opened his eyes.
“Every creature in the forest is watching us,” Jin said.
Juno looked toward the dark spaces between the trees. “Every creature?” Juno asked.
“Every creature I can sense,” Jin replied.
Jarek’s hand moved toward his weapon. “Are they attacking?” Jarek asked.
Jin listened again. “They are aggressive,” Jin said.
A low growl rolled through the undergrowth.
Another answered from farther away.
Then a third came from behind the party.
Jace looked over his shoulder. “How many creatures are there?” Jace asked.
“Enough,” Jin replied.
“That is not a number,” Jace said.
“It is the useful part of the answer,” Jin replied.
Jia looked toward Gravemaw. The sleeping guardian had been taken out of the forest only yesterday. Since then, the creatures that had avoided its territory no longer had anything keeping them away.
The elder’s explanation became painfully clear.
Gravemaw did not merely live near the village. It kept the forest’s other monsters under control. By dragging it away, the party had removed the one thing that made the territory safe.
Junia stared into the trees. “This is because Gravemaw is gone,” Junia said.
“That is what the elder said would happen if it was protecting the village,” Juno replied.
Jace looked at the giant dog behind him. “We have been gone for one day,” Jace said.
“One day was enough,” Jin said.
Another branch snapped.
This time, the sound came from very close by.
Jarek stepped nearer to the others. “How much worse can it become?” Jarek asked.
Jin looked toward the forest floor. “I would not ask that question,” Jin warned.
“Why not?” Jarek asked.
“Because the forest may interpret it as a challenge,” Jin replied.
Jarek decided not to ask again.
Jovi pressed a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Jace noticed. “Why are you laughing?” Jace asked.
“I am not laughing,” Jovi replied.
“Your shoulders are moving,” Jace said.
“That is nervous breathing,” Jovi replied.
“You are enjoying this,” Jace said.
“A little,” Jovi admitted.
Jia turned toward both of them. “This is not the time,” Jia warned.
“I agree,” Jovi said. “It would be more fun if we were not surrounded,” Jovi continued.
Jace looked at the trees again. “I would also prefer to be surrounded less,” Jace said.
The fat white dog suddenly began walking.
It moved faster this time, following a narrow path between the trees without hesitation. Its ears remained raised, and it glanced back repeatedly to make sure the party was following.
Jia pointed ahead. “We need to hurry,” Jia ordered.
Jace pulled Gravemaw forward. “Finally, someone has said something I completely agree with,” Jace said.
The giant dog slid over the ground behind him.
The moment the party began moving, the forest answered.
Movement erupted on both sides of the path. Shapes rushed through the undergrowth, never quite showing themselves. Something struck a tree hard enough to shake loose leaves. A chorus of snarls, cries, and angry calls spread through the woods, overlapping until the entire forest seemed to be shouting at them.
The first attack came before they had taken ten steps.
“Left!” Jin shouted.
A dark shape burst from the undergrowth, low to the ground and moving too quickly for anyone without Jin’s warning to react. Jovi twisted aside at the last moment. Her body slipped past the attack as though the creature’s momentum had forgotten how to catch her, and its claws cut through empty air where her ribs had been.
Jovi landed lightly and looked back at the creature. “It missed,” Jovi said.
“Do not celebrate until we are out of its reach,” Jia shouted.
The creature spun around.
Jace released one hand from Gravemaw and pulled his shield from his back. The aggressive shape lunged again, and Jace slammed the shield into its path. The impact drove him half a step backward, but the shield held. He shoved the creature away without chasing it, exactly as Jia had ordered.
“Keep moving!” Jia shouted.
Jace grabbed Gravemaw again. “I am moving!” Jace shouted back.
The second attack came from above.
A mass of leaves dropped from a branch toward Junia. She looked up, eyes wide, and raised her staff. A translucent Prism Wall snapped into place just as the creature struck. The impact cracked through the air and sent leaves spinning across the path.
Junia staggered but kept her footing.
“That was very rude!” Junia shouted.
Jarek flashed across the path and struck the attacking shape hard enough to knock it away from the barrier. He landed beside Junia with his weapon raised, his expression suddenly much less amused than it had been a moment earlier.
“You can complain after we survive,” Jarek told Junia.
“I can do both,” Junia replied.
The creature vanished into the brush.
Juno reached for Junia’s shoulder. “Are you hurt?” Juno asked.
“No,” Junia answered. “But the forest has terrible manners,” Junia continued.
“Keep your attention forward,” Juno told her.
More shapes moved between the trees.
The party did not have time to identify them. Jin called out warnings, Jovi slipped around sudden attacks, and Jarek intercepted anything that came too close to the center of the group. Jia kept shouting directions over the noise, forcing everyone to remember that their goal was not to defeat the entire forest.
Their goal was to return one sleeping monster to it.
Another creature rushed across the path.
“Right side!” Jin shouted.
Jarek turned, but Jovi reached the attack first. She ducked beneath it, hooked an arm around its momentum, and used the creature’s own movement to send it tumbling into the leaves.
“That one was easier,” Jovi said.
“Do not make the forest competitive,” Jia warned.
“I did not start it,” Jovi replied.
The ground shuddered as something large moved behind the trees.
Jace looked over his shoulder. “That sounded bigger than the others,” Jace said.
“It is,” Jin replied.
“How much bigger?” Jace asked.
“I am not stopping to measure it,” Jin answered.
Jace faced forward again. “Good decision,” Jace said.
The shadow behind them crashed through the undergrowth.
Jia pointed down the path. “Faster!” Jia shouted.
Jace leaned into the pull. “I am already using Increase Strength!” Jace shouted.
“Then increase your speed!” Jia shouted.
“That is not what the spell does!” Jace shouted.
Jarek grabbed part of Gravemaw’s fur beside Jace and pulled with him. “Stop arguing and move!” Jarek shouted.
Together, they dragged Gravemaw over the uneven ground. Its enormous body struck roots and stones, each impact sending a heavy vibration through the path. Junia hurried ahead with the fat white dog, while Juno stayed near the center and watched for anyone who stumbled.
Junia raised her staff again as another shape sprang from the brush. This time, a narrow coil of vines burst from the soil and wrapped around the creature’s legs. The vines held long enough for the party to pass.
“That was a small spell,” Junia said.
Jia looked at the thick vines. “It was supposed to be small,” Jia replied.
“I am improving,” Junia said.
“Please improve quietly,” Jia told her.
The vines snapped.
The creature tore free behind them, and the forest answered with another wave of angry cries.
Juno kept close to Jia. “They are not chasing us,” Juno said. “They are following Gravemaw,” Juno continued.
“They may be following the territory it left behind,” Jia replied.
Jace leaned forward and pulled harder. “Can they follow us faster?” Jace asked.
Jin glanced toward the moving shadows. “Yes,” Jin answered.
“I was hoping you would say no,” Jace said.
“I know,” Jin replied.
Jarek moved along Gravemaw’s other side, ready to help if Jace lost his grip. “You said you were not dragging this dog again,” Jarek reminded him.
“I changed my mind,” Jace said.
“You changed your mind very quickly,” Jarek said.
“The forest changed its behavior very quickly. I am adapting,” Jace replied.
Jarek looked toward a cluster of branches that had begun to shake. “You are adapting badly,” Jarek said.
“I am still moving,” Jace said.
“That is the only reason I have not replaced the word badly with something worse,” Jarek replied.
Junia hurried ahead with the fat white dog, then looked back at Gravemaw. “It needs to return to the place where we found it,” Junia said. “The creatures are becoming more aggressive because the guardian is no longer in its territory,” Junia continued.
“We understood that part,” Jia replied. “The problem is finding the territory,” Jia continued.
The fat white dog paused at a fork in the path.
Every member of the party stopped with it.
The forest around them seemed to lean closer.
Jin’s face became serious. “We should not stop here,” Jin warned.
Jia nodded. “Everyone, stay together. Follow the dog. Do not wander off, do not chase anything, and do not start a fight unless there is no other choice,” Jia ordered.
Jace lifted one hand while still gripping Gravemaw with the other. “What if something attacks us?” Jace asked.
“Then defend yourself,” Jia said. “Do not chase it into the forest,” Jia continued.
“What if it runs away?” Jace asked.
“Let it run away,” Jia replied.
“What if it insults me?” Jace asked.
Jia stopped and looked at him. “Jace,” Jia warned.
“I am clarifying the rules,” Jace said.
“You are looking for an excuse,” Jia replied.
“I am looking for reasonable limits,” Jace said.
Juno glanced toward the moving shadows. “The reasonable limit is that we survive long enough to return Gravemaw,” Juno said.
“That is a good limit,” Jace said.
The fat white dog chose the left path and continued into the forest.
The party followed.
They moved as quickly as they could without losing the dog or leaving Gravemaw behind. Jace pulled from the front, his strengthened muscles working against the creature’s enormous weight. Jarek stayed beside him, ready to help. Jia kept the group together, while Jin watched the surrounding movement and warned them whenever something came too close.
Juno remained near the center of the party. Junia kept looking from the path to the trees, fascinated despite the danger. Jovi moved restlessly from one side to the other, smiling whenever a hidden creature made a particularly angry sound.
“Do not smile at the forest,” Jia warned her.
“I am not smiling at the forest,” Jovi replied. “I am smiling at Jace,” Jovi continued.
Jace did not look back. “That is somehow worse,” Jace said.
The deeper they went, the more hostile the forest became. The creatures no longer kept their distance. They moved along the edges of the path, watching the party from behind leaves and between tree trunks. They had already attacked several times, but none of them retreated. Every failed rush only made the surrounding movement more determined.
They were waiting.
Waiting for Gravemaw to return.
Waiting for the party to make another mistake.
Jace pulled again. Gravemaw slid forward, leaving another deep trail in the earth.
“We are almost there, right?” Jace asked.
The fat white dog glanced back at him and kept walking.
Jin listened to the forest. “I do not know,” Jin replied.
Jace sighed. “I hate that answer,” Jace said.
“It is becoming a common answer around us,” Jin said.
Behind them, something crashed through the undergrowth.
The party did not stop.
They had taken the village’s guardian away. They had not understood what protected the village until the danger spread through the forest. Now every creature around them had become aggressive, and the only way to repair the damage was to return Gravemaw before the situation became worse.
The first guild quest had been completed only in the narrowest possible sense.
The consequences of it had just begun.
Three days had passed since the Veyra party accepted a quest from the guild, and they still had not found what they were looking for.
The problem was that none of them actually knew what the target looked like.
Jace leaned against a tree, arms folded over his chest as the rest of the party searched through the forest. His expression grew more incredulous with every passing minute.
“You lot keep grabbing quests like you’re picking fruit from a basket,” he said. “Did nobody think to ask a single question before we left? What does it look like? How big is it? Does it have horns, claws, or a habit of eating adventurers? No, of course not. Why would we need useful information when we have confidence?”
Jarek stopped and turned toward him. “Are you calling us idiots?”
“I’m calling you impressively unprepared,” Jace said. “There’s a difference. A small one, but it’s there.”
Juno sighed as she adjusted the strap of her pack. “Jace, if you have enough energy to insult everyone, you have enough energy to help search.”
“I am helping,” he said. “I’m identifying the party’s weaknesses.”
Jin crouched beside a patch of flattened grass and examined the tracks beneath it. “Your timing is one of them.”
Jace pointed at him. “See? Jin understands.”
“That wasn’t agreement,” Jin said. “It was an observation.”
Jarek stepped closer, visibly irritated. “You’re an idiot, Jace.”
Jace’s face lit up. “Thank you.”
Jarek stared at him. “That was not a compliment.”
“It sounded like one.” Jace grinned and thumped a fist against his chest. “I accept it.”
The rest of the party looked exhausted. They had spent three days combing through the forest, following vague hints and increasingly uncertain tracks, and their patience was beginning to wear thin.
The quest target was supposed to be a large dog.
That was all they knew.
No one knew exactly how large it was, what breed it might be, where it had last been seen, or whether “large” meant merely bigger than an ordinary dog or large enough to swallow one of them whole.
Jace continued laughing hysterically as he searched through the bushes and around the trees. Unfortunately, the only thing he found was a piece of dry, rock-hard shit.
He kept that detail to himself.
Instead, Jace straightened up and pointed toward it. “I found truffles.”
He made no attempt to pick them up. That should have been the first warning.
Jarek, however, had never been particularly good at recognizing warnings. He crouched down and grabbed the alleged truffle.
His expression slowly changed.
“Why does it smell like this?” he asked.
Jace’s shoulders began to shake.
Jarek squeezed the object experimentally. It was hard, unpleasantly warm, and absolutely not a truffle.
Jace broke.
He bolted through the trees, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
Jarek stared at the shit in his hand for one silent second.
Then he swore.
“JACE! YOU ABSOLUTE PIECE OF SHIT!”
He hurled the foul discovery in Jace’s direction and immediately sprinted after him. The throw went wide.
It struck Junia directly in the face.
The entire forest went quiet.
Junia did not say a word. She simply wiped her cheek, lifted her staff, and began casting a fireball with slow, deliberate movements.
The rest of the party ran.
They knew Junia’s temper. More importantly, they knew what happened when she became quiet.
Several minutes later, a tremendous explosion shook the forest.
The fireball had found its targets.
Jace and Jarek were still chasing each other through the trees, though neither of them could remember who was supposed to be running from whom. Jace glanced over his shoulder, still laughing.
and promptly tripped over a root.
He hit the ground hard and rolled through the leaves as Jarek closed in behind him.
Before Jace could get back on his feet, Jarek dropped onto his stomach and pinned him to the ground. He began punching Jace’s arm in quick, playful jabs.
“Why the hell did you make me touch shit?” Jarek demanded.
Jace wheezed with laughter. “You picked it up!”
“You pointed at it and called it a truffle!”
“I never said it was a good truffle.”
They were still bickering when Jace’s laughter abruptly died.
The expression on his face changed. The grin vanished, replaced by something tense and pale a strange mixture of fear and nervous disbelief.
Jarek stopped punching him. “Uh. What happened to you? Why do you look like you just saw a ghost, you dumbass?”
Jace slowly raised one shaking hand and pointed behind him.
Jarek frowned and turned around.
Then he looked up.
Something enormous stood among the trees.
It was a dog.
Technically.
The creature towered nearly twenty feet above the forest floor, its massive head rising far beyond the surrounding branches. Its shadow swallowed the three of them whole.
Jarek stared upward. “What the fuck is that?”
Jace swallowed. “Dog?”
Jarek slowly looked back at him. “I know it’s a dog. I’m asking what the fuck is that enormous thing.”
Jace pointed at the giant creature again, as if presenting evidence in his defense. “Dog.”
“That is not an answer!” Jarek retaliated
The rest of the party finally caught up and came to a sudden stop behind them. One by one, they looked toward the towering animal.
No one spoke for several seconds.
They had finally found the quest target.
Probably.
Jace’s voice trembled as he kept his eyes on the monster. “M-Maybe? They said it was supposed to be cute and a little big.”
He glanced up at the enormous dog.
“That is not a little big!”
Fear seized Jace so completely that his body reacted before his mind could stop it.
He performed a sudden, aggressive hip thrust while Jarek was still sitting on his stomach.
Jarek went flying into the leaves.
Juno, Junia, Jovi, and Jia stared at Jace.
“Jace,” Juno said, struggling not to laugh, “not here in the forest.”
“That was not intentional!” Jace shouted.
“It looked intentional,” Jovi said.
Jarek pushed himself upright, covered in leaves. “Why was I the one who got hit?”
Jin glanced at him. “You were sitting on him.”
“That does not explain the hip thrust!”
The twenty-foot-tall dog lowered its head.
Its growl rolled through the forest like distant thunder.
Every joke died instantly.
The creature bared its teeth and took one enormous step toward them.
Juno raised both hands. “Nobody attack it! The quest says we have to bring the dog back unharmed!”
The dog growled again.
Jace backed away. “Then maybe somebody should explain that to the dog!”
The creature lunged.
The entire party scattered in every direction.
Jarek sprang to his feet and sprinted between the trees. Jace ran after him, then changed direction when the dog’s enormous paw smashed into the ground where he had been standing.
“Don’t hurt it!” Juno yelled.
“I’m not trying to hurt it!” Jace yelled back. “I’m trying to remain alive!”
The dog bounded after them, each step shaking leaves loose from the branches overhead. Jarek ducked beneath a fallen tree, only for the dog to leap over it and land in front of him.
He skidded to a stop.
“Oh, come on! You are far too large to be this fast!”
Jarek turned and ran the other way.
Jace tried to follow, but a root caught his foot. He stumbled forward, windmilling his arms, and collided with Jarek hard enough to send them both rolling downhill.
They crashed into a bush.
The dog loomed above them.
Jace and Jarek froze.
The creature sniffed them.
Jace slowly lifted one finger. “Good dog?”
The giant dog opened its mouth.
Jace swallowed. “Bad dog?”
Behind him, Jarek whispered, “Why are you negotiating like you know what the fuck you’re doing?”
“I have a natural connection with animals.”
“You lied to me about shit ten minutes ago!”
The dog barked.
The sound blasted both men out of the bush and sent them tumbling across the forest floor.
The rest of the party watched them roll past.
Jia pointed after them. “Are we sure the dog is the dangerous one?”
No one answered.
The dog charged again, and the entire party resumed running for their lives carefully, desperately, and without attacking the creature they were supposed to capture unharmed.
Jace was still fighting for breath when the giant dog attacked again.
Its enormous paw came down toward him.
Jace threw up his shield just in time.
The impact crashed through the forest like a thunderclap. Jace’s boots dug trenches into the earth as he held the shield overhead, straining beneath the dog’s weight.
The rest of the party stared in shock.
“Jace stopped it!” Jarek shouted.
“I noticed!” Jace grunted.
He tried to push the dog’s paw aside with the shield. Then the creature leaned closer.
Jace’s eyes widened.
The dog’s breath rolled over him.
He immediately began gagging.
Juno hurried toward him. “What’s wrong?”
Jace’s face twisted in horror. “Its breath smells like something crawled into a grave, died, rotted, and then crawled back out to die again!”
The dog growled directly above him.
Jace gagged harder. “That was not an insult! That was a medical observation!”
Junia lifted her staff. “I have an idea.”
“No,” Jia said immediately.
Junia cast the spell anyway.
Vines burst from the ground and coiled around the giant dog’s leg. They tightened, pulling against the enormous paw and giving Jace just enough room to shove upward with his shield.
For one glorious second, the vines held.
The rest of the party scratched their heads.
Jia pointed at the spell. “Could you use something else?”
Junia tilted her head. “Something else?”
“Yes. Something that does not involve turning the entire forest into a battlefield.”
Junia’s eyes brightened.
She raised her staff higher and began forming a huge glowing sphere above it.
Jia’s expression fell. “That is the opposite of what I meant.”
Jovi cupped her hands around her mouth. “Make it bigger, Junia!”
“Do not make it bigger!” Jia shouted.
“Why not?” Jovi called back. “It already looks impressive!”
“Because you could destroy the forest!”
“Then it will be an impressive forest fire!”
Jia turned toward her in disbelief. “That is not a defense!”
The giant dog pulled against the vines.
The ground began to crack.
Jace gritted his teeth and braced his shield harder against the paw. “Can we finish this argument after the giant dog stops trying to flatten me?”
Junia smiled as the magical sphere grew brighter.
“I can finish it now.”
Jia stared at the spell.
“That is exactly what I’m afraid of.”
The giant dog was not amused by the party’s antics.
Its growl deepened, vibrating through the ground beneath their feet, and it tore free of the weakened vines. The enormous sphere above Junia’s staff flickered as the creature surged forward and attacked again.
Jace planted his feet and activated a skill, forcing the dog’s attention entirely onto him.
The creature’s head snapped in his direction.
Jace immediately realized that being the sole focus of a twenty-foot-tall angry dog was much worse than it had sounded in his head.
The giant dog lunged.
Jace barely brought his shield up in time. The impact drove him backward, his boots carving two deep lines through the soil. Before he could recover, another blow crashed against the shield and forced him down onto one knee.
He gritted his teeth and held firm.
The dog struck again.
And again.
Each attack thundered against the shield. Jace’s arms shook beneath the repeated impacts, but he refused to lower it. As long as the creature remained focused on him, the others had room to act.
Junia gave a startled yelp and lifted her staff once more. The unfinished sphere of magic vanished as she turned her attention back to the ground.
Vines erupted from the forest floor.
This time, there were far more of them.
They climbed over the giant dog’s legs in thick coils, winding around its body before it could strike Jace again. More vines followed, crossing over one another until they covered nearly the entire creature and held it tightly in place.
The dog snarled and struggled against them, but the mass of vines only tightened.
Junia kept her staff raised. A softer glow gathered around its tip, spreading across the tangled vines and over the giant dog’s body.
Then she cast the sleep spell.
The dog’s growl weakened.
Its movements became slower and heavier. It tried to pull free once more, but its strength was already fading. Its eyelids drooped, its enormous head lowered, and its legs finally gave way beneath it.
The giant dog sank to the ground with a tremendous crash.
For several seconds, Jace remained crouched behind his shield, waiting for another attack.
None came.
He slowly lowered the shield and released a long, unsteady breath.
“Junia,” he panted, “thank you. If anyone asks, I was handling that perfectly but seriously, thank you.”
The giant dog was finally asleep.
With its eyes closed and its breathing slow and steady, it almost looked like a good puppy.
Almost.
Jace stared at the enormous creature sprawled across the forest floor, then turned to the rest of the party.
“Just so we’re clear,” he said, “I am not dragging that fucking dog back to the village just because I can take more damage than the rest of you.”
Jin looked at him. “No one is forcing you, Jace.”
He was right. No one in their right mind would try to drag a twenty-foot-tall dog through an entire forest.
Jace did it anyway.
By the time the village guild came into view, he was leaning forward with every step, dragging the sleeping creature behind him while the others walked alongside him.
The moment they arrived, everyone nearby stopped what they were doing.
Guild workers stared. Adventurers froze in place. Villagers backed away, their faces caught somewhere between disbelief and fear.
The Veyra party slowed to a stop.
They looked at the frightened crowd, then at one another, unable to understand the reaction. They had completed the quest. Admittedly, their method had been somewhat unusual, but that was hardly new for them.
Then the old man who had posted the quest pushed his way into view.
His face went pale the moment he saw what they had brought with them.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” he shouted. “WHY DID YOU BRING THAT HERE?!”
Jia’s own face suddenly lost its color. “What do you mean?”
The old man pointed past the party with a trembling hand.
“My dog is the one behind you!”
The entire Veyra party turned around.
A fat white dog stood a short distance behind them.
It was an ordinary dog. A normal-sized dog. The kind of dog anyone with a functioning sense of judgment might reasonably describe as a little big.
Jace slowly looked back at the old man.
“Don’t joke about something like that,” he said. “That isn’t funny.”
The old man swallowed hard. His shaking finger moved toward the twenty-foot-tall creature Jace had dragged all the way from the forest.
“That is not a normal dog,” he said. “That is a Rank S creature. Nobody takes jobs involving one of those because they’re far too dangerous.”
Silence fell over the party.
Beyond the silent crowd, the village elder was slowly making his way toward them.
Very slowly.
Painfully slowly.
At his current pace, molasses could have passed him, completed the journey, and returned before he made it halfway across the road.
Jace watched him for several seconds before losing what little patience he possessed.
“Can somebody carry the elder over here?” he shouted. “He’s walking way too slow!”
Jia struck him on the head with her staff.
“Shut up, Jace.”
Jace clutched the top of his head. “But he is walking too slow!”
When no one moved to help, Jace marched over to the elder himself. He carefully lifted the old man, carried him across the road, and brought him back to the waiting party.
Jia pressed a hand over her face.
“I’m so sorry about him,” she told everyone watching. “He doesn’t know how to behave like a normal person.”
Jace set the elder down in front of the sleeping Rank S creature.
The elder slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze traveled upward, following the immense body of the beast until he saw its head. His mouth opened, but even his attempt to speak came out with the same agonizing slowness as his walk.
Jace turned to Junia. “Can you cast a fucking Haste spell on him?”
Jia struck him on the head with her staff again.
Jace recoiled. “What? We don’t have all day!”
Juno stepped forward before Jia could hit him a third time. She rested a hand on the elder and casually cast a healing spell.
The stiffness left the old man’s joints. His hunched posture eased, and the constant pain that had slowed every movement finally disappeared. When he spoke again, his voice came freely.
“Why?” the elder asked.
The Veyra party stared at him.
Jia lowered her staff. “What do you mean, why?”
The elder’s eyes widened in disbelief. He looked from Jia to the rest of the party, then back at the enormous creature sleeping beside them.
“That beast is the most dangerous creature in this region,” he said. He tilted his head, unable to understand what he was seeing. “How did all of you capture a Rank S creature so casually? Most people would have perished the moment they came face-to-face with it.”
Jace shrugged.
“We bonked it until it fell asleep.”
The elder sighed and clutched his head.
“How long will that sleep spell last?” he asked.
Junia glanced at the giant creature as casually as if he had asked her for the time.
“It will wake up in exactly ten seconds.”
Panic swept through the village.
People cried out and stumbled away from the restrained beast. The adventurers nearest to it reached for their weapons, while the Veyra party turned toward Junia in alarm.
The elder sighed again.
He opened one hand and quietly spoke an incantation.
The ground shook.
Thick iron chains erupted from beneath the sleeping creature, tearing through the soil before wrapping around its legs and massive body. Each chain pulled tight, binding the beast to the earth.
The elder brought his hands together in front of his chest, almost as if he were praying.
A shadow fell over the village.
Everyone looked up.
Three enormous metal frames were falling from the sky. Each one was shaped like a torii gate, their immense beams descending directly toward the trapped creature.
The first crashed down across its neck.
The second pinned the middle of its spine.
The third struck across its lower spine.
The impacts shook the road and sent dust rolling through the crowd. When it cleared, the chains and three massive gates held the Rank S creature completely trapped beneath them.
The elder lowered his hands as though restraining the most dangerous beast in the region had required no effort at all.
Jace opened his mouth.
Before he could say another word, Jarek clamped a hand over it.
Junia, meanwhile, stared at the elder’s spell with open awe. Her eyes seemed to shine as she hurried over to him.
“Teach me that spell,” she said. “Please. You have to teach me.”
The elder smiled at her enthusiasm.
“It took me my entire life to perfect that spell,” he said.
Junia’s excitement collapsed.
“Awwww,” she whined like a disappointed child.
After the incident with the Rank S creature had finally been dealt with, the Veyra party said their farewells to the villagers and wished them good fortune.
Before long, the village disappeared behind them.
As they followed the road, Jace and Jarek fell back into their usual routine of bothering each other simply to keep themselves entertained.
Jace remembered what had happened in the forest and immediately started laughing again.
“You actually picked it up,” he said. “You grabbed that piece of shit, held it in your hand, and smelled it.”
His laughter grew so uncontrollable that he could barely keep walking.
Jarek’s face tightened with annoyance, though the embarrassment underneath it was obvious.
“Will you shut the fuck up?” he snapped. “You pointed at it and told me it was a truffle!”
Jace straightened and tried to copy Jarek’s confused expression from that moment.
“Why does it smell like this?” he asked in a ridiculous imitation of Jarek’s voice.
Then he broke into another fit of laughter.
Jarek glared at him. “I fucking hate you.”
Still grinning, Jace looked toward Junia.
Jarek followed his gaze.
Before either of them could open his mouth, Junia spoke without looking at them.
“I wouldn’t test your luck with my temper.”
Both men immediately faced forward.
A few moments later, Jace leaned slightly toward Jarek.
“It really did hit her right in the face,” he whispered.
“I know,” Jarek whispered back. “I threw it.”
Jia heard enough to understand exactly what they were talking about. She released a long, exhausted sigh but kept walking.
Jovi, on the other hand, looked delighted.
“Next time, make them pick something different,” she told Jace. “You need variety.”
Jace stared ahead as several new prank ideas clearly occurred to him at once.
Then he burst into loud laughter.
After they had walked far enough from the village for the shouting, chains, and very large sleeping dog to feel like somebody else’s problem, Jace stopped in the middle of the road.
“Is anyone else hungry?” Jace asked the party. “Because I’m starving after that warm-up.”
Jia turned toward him with the flat expression of someone reconsidering every decision that had led her here. “Warm-up?” Jia asked.
“Yeah,” Jace said, pointing back toward the village. “We ran from a giant dog, I blocked it from flattening us, and then I dragged it through a forest. Basic exercise.”
Juno looked at Jace over the top of her tired smile. “Jace, you dragged a Rank S creature into a village,” Juno reminded him.
“Exactly,” Jace said. “That has to count as at least two meals.”
Jarek folded his arms. “It counts as you being a dumbass,” Jarek said.
“Physical activity is important,” Jace told Jarek. “You should try it sometime.”
The argument ended only because everyone agreed with the useful part of Jace’s complaint: they had earned a full day of rest.
Jia led them to a clear stream where water moved over smooth stones. The trees opened enough for daylight to reach the ground, while a small rise behind the bank gave them shelter from the road.
It was a good campsite, which was fortunate. If Jia had not chosen it, Jace and Jarek might have selected the nearest patch of dirt and called it strategy.
“This is where we stop,” Jia told the group. “Nobody wanders off alone, nobody starts a fire bigger than the camp, and nobody touches anything Jin has not identified.”
Jace raised a hand. “What if I identify it myself?” Jace asked.
“Then nobody touches it,” Jia answered.
Everyone took a chore, and their usual combat roles followed them into camp.
Jace took care of the heavy work. In a fight, he was the tank: the person who planted himself between danger and everyone else, then made the danger regret trying to move him. At camp, that same stubborn strength made him the obvious choice for hauling logs, clearing branches, and holding the larger pieces of the shelter steady while the others secured them.
Jace carried a stack of wood that should have required three people and looked around for praise.
“Responsible,” Jace announced. “Productive. A valuable member of society.”
“Don’t ruin it by talking,” Jia said.
Jarek handled the firewood. His role was burst damage: when the party found even a tiny opening in a fight, Jarek was the one who could turn it into a very brief and very painful disaster for the enemy. For camp chores, he used that same speed and control to cut fallen branches into clean lengths.
Jarek glanced at Jace’s pile of logs. “At least my job has precision,” Jarek said. “You just picked up half the forest and hoped somebody would be impressed.”
“I am impressed,” Jace replied.
“That is not the same thing,” Jarek said.
Juno laid out their supplies beside the stream and checked every member of the party for bruises, cuts, and injuries the others had already decided were not worth mentioning. As their support, Juno kept people standing after everyone else had done their best to stop standing. Her healing could mend wounds and stabilize the damage that combat left behind, but it cost her stamina, which was why she refused to waste it on people who treated injuries like a personality trait.
“Jace, hold still,” Juno said as she reached for his arm.
“I’m fine,” Jace said.
Juno looked down at the blood on her boot, then back at him. “You said that while bleeding on my shoes,” Juno said.
“That is circumstantial evidence,” Jace argued.
Juno waited silently until Jace stopped arguing and let her work.
Junia arranged stones around the fire pit. She was the party’s mage and crowd-control specialist. In battle, she could turn a battlefield into whatever strange shape her imagination demanded, then make sure the enemy had nowhere useful to stand. At camp, she used that same magic for smaller problems: holding the cooking fire inside the stone ring, keeping the heat even, and stopping Jace’s badly placed logs from rolling into the stream.
Jace watched the small flame. “Your fire is very small,” Jace observed.
“Jia said it had to be,” Junia said brightly.
“Thank you,” Jia said.
Junia smiled at Jia. “I wanted it bigger,” Junia admitted.
“I know,” Jia replied.
Jin disappeared into the trees to hunt. He was the party’s ranged fighter and watcher the one who noticed tracks, movement, distance, and the exact moment a situation became a terrible idea. His awareness let him find food and avoid danger long before either one had a chance to find him.
Jovi searched the nearby brush for berries. She was the party’s close-range fighter, but she was also almost impossible to keep in one place. In a fight, she could slip past restraints and barriers that should have stopped her; during a rest, that meant she could cover more ground than anyone else while treating every instruction to stay nearby as a personal challenge.
“Don’t eat anything you can’t identify,” Jia called toward the bushes.
“I wasn’t going to,” Jovi called back.
After a brief pause, Jovi added, “I was going to make Jace identify it.”
“Absolutely not,” Jace shouted.
Finally, Jia planted her staff beside the camp and cast Link.
Link was simple to explain even if the magic behind it was not. The spell did not let the party read each other’s thoughts, steal each other’s skills, or hear every stupid idea as it formed inside Jace’s head. It gave each person a quiet awareness of the others’ positions and warned them when danger was close.
Jin deeper in the forest. Jovi near the berry bushes. Juno by the stream. Jace and Jarek at the shelter. Each person became a small, steady point at the edge of everyone else’s senses.
If someone wandered too far, the others would know. If something hostile approached, the whole party would feel the warning before it reached camp.
That was Jia’s work as their buffer and tactical support. She did not choose for them or control their bodies. She made seven wildly different fighters work together with the timing of people who always knew where help would be when they needed it.
Jace looked toward Jia’s staff. “So Link tells you when somebody is about to do something stupid?” Jace asked.
“No,” Jia said. “If it did, it would never stop screaming.”
Jarek laughed. “She’s got you there,” Jarek told Jace.
Jace pointed at Jarek. “You are not exempt,” Jace said.
By early evening, the camp had finally settled.
The fire crackled inside Junia’s carefully controlled stone ring. Jin had returned from the forest with enough food for everyone, and Jovi had added a collection of berries that Jia had personally inspected before allowing anywhere near the meal.
For once, nobody was running, shouting, being chased, or dragging an impossible animal toward a populated area.
The party sat around the fire with their food in their hands and the stream murmuring quietly nearby. Above them, the sky darkened between the branches while the first night insects began their steady chorus.
Jace took a large bite of his meal and leaned back against a log. “You know,” Jace said, “I think we did pretty well today.”
Jarek looked across the fire at him. “We found the wrong dog,” Jarek said. “Then you dragged a Rank S creature into a village.”
“But we survived,” Jace replied.
“That is not the same thing as doing well,” Jia said.
Jace considered this for a moment. “It is very close,” Jace decided.
The laughter faded into a quieter pause. Everyone remembered the elder’s disbelief the way he had looked at the sleeping creature as if the party had casually carried a storm into the village.
No one had wanted the Rank S quest. Most adventurers would not have accepted it, and the elder had made it clear why. The creature had been dangerous enough to make an entire village panic, yet the seven of them had somehow walked away from it together.
Juno looked around the circle, her expression softening. “I think that’s what matters,” Juno said. “We came back together.”
Jace glanced at her. “And Jarek only touched one piece of shit,” Jace added.
“Jace,” Juno said.
“I’m just saying,” Jace said. “It could have been worse.”
Jarek lifted his bowl as if he were considering throwing it. “Keep talking,” Jarek warned. “I dare you.”
Jin ate in silence for a moment before speaking. “The next quest will probably be worse,” Jin said.
Juno stared at him. “Why would you say that during dinner?” Juno asked.
“Because it is usually true,” Jin replied.
Jovi smiled at Jin from across the fire. “Maybe the next one will be fun,” Jovi said. “Something with a locked door, a wall nobody can get through, and a sign telling us not to enter.”
“That sounds like a terrible quest,” Jia said.
“It sounds like an invitation,” Jovi replied.
Junia held her hands out toward the fire, watching the light dance over her fingers. “I want to see another spell like the elder’s,” Junia said. “The chains were amazing. The gates were amazing. I want to know how he made them fall from the sky.”
“He told you it took his entire life,” Jia reminded her.
“Then I need to start early,” Junia said.
Jace looked at Junia carefully. “Please start with something smaller,” Jace said. “Like a chair. Or a spoon. Something that cannot land on my spine.”
Junia brightened. “A giant spoon?”
“That is not what I said,” Jace replied.
Jarek laughed into his food. “You walked right into that,” Jarek told Jace.
For a while, they spoke about the future in the loose, careless way people did when the night was calm and tomorrow had not arrived yet. Jarek talked about finding an opponent strong enough to make him work for a victory. Jovi described the kinds of places she wanted to sneak into. Junia imagined spells that Jia immediately told her not to test near camp.
Juno hoped for a quiet job where nobody bled. Jin said he would settle for a job where nobody shouted. Jia said she would settle for one full day in which Jace did not create an apology for Juno to make.
Jace looked offended. “That is an unfairly specific goal,” Jace said.
“It is a realistic one,” Jia replied.
The fire burned lower as the conversation continued. None of them knew what waited beyond the next road, the next guild board, or the next quest someone accepted without asking enough questions.
For that one peaceful evening, they did not need to know.