I reset to my save point with a wave of my willpower so I could get the jump on these idiots, and when I blinked, I was back on Goliath’s back with the walls of Arginold Hold still visible behind us.
Chime.
“We will be attacked this evening,” I informed my companions without preamble, but most of them were used to it by now.
“Should we try to ride through the night?” Jax asked in a worried voice. “We ain’t got time to be fightin’ in the snow.”
“If we don’t stop and deal with the problem head-on,” I said.
“They will likely plague our journey in the future.”
“Bash is right.” Mahini straightened her shoulders. “Let’s set an ambush and get the upper-hand.”
“I am curious how you know of this upcoming attack,” Zenda said, and she cocked her head as she studied me with that curious, scholarly glint in her eyes. “Was there something you picked up on in the air?”
“I just know things.” I shrugged. “It’s hard to explain.”
“I’m willing to listen whenever you care to try,” Zenda countered.
I flashed her a teasing smile, but I didn’t respond. I’d tried to explain my abilities to my women in the past, and it had never ended well, so I was hesitant to try again. Maybe Zenda would be different, and in the worst-case scenario where she got freaked out or something, I could always reset.
That was a bridge I’d cross in the future, but for the moment, my attention was focused on the mysterious dagger-wielding cloaked figures waiting for us that evening. I had a feeling they were more than bandits, but I needed more information before I could make assumptions.
We rode through the slanting snow until we came to the same place we’d made camp during my previous run through, and I led my companions into the clearing once more. This time, I went ahead and made the fire before I worked on the shelter, but I completed both tasks by the time Jaxtom finished taking care of the mounts.
We huddled together inside the tent with our dinners, but everyone was tense and listening to every sound. The impending attack had us all on edge, but I could tell Mahini was excited at the chance to fight in actual combat. It would be interesting to see how
she handled the demands of motherhood, but she’d likely conquer every challenge head-on the way she did everything else in life.
As soon as he finished eating, Jaxtom put away his bowl and picked up a large two-handed sword. I could tell from the craftsmanship that he’d made it himself, and I eyed it appreciatively as he cleaned it with a loving hand.
Mahini strung her bow and began to repair some arrows while we waited, but Zenda kept a watchful eye on the crack in the tent flaps.
My mind churned through the unanswered questions as I contemplated every detail I’d observed about our attackers. They’d worn dark hoods over their heads so I hadn’t been able to see any of their faces, but the weapons they each gripped in both hands kept flashing through my mind’s eye.
The wickedly curved daggers probably had enchantments on them, if the glowing red line down their centers was any indication, and I itched to get my fingers on them so I could see their stats.
“Jax,” I said. “Have you ever heard of anyone wielding blades with red streaks down the center of the steel?”
“That’s some enchanting work by the sounds of it,” Jax confirmed. “I’d say fire magic. Why? Is that what we’re up against?”
“Yep.” I pressed my lips into a determined line. “I’m going to get one of their blades for myself. They’re cool-looking.”
“How much longer til the fun starts?” the blacksmith asked as he craned his neck to peer out through the crack in the entrance flaps.
“Not long,” I promised
I took the time to clean and sharpen my panabas, and I checked the stats on the curved machete-like blades.
Magical Ability - Absorbs and reflects elemental damage They were still in pretty good shape considering how much I’d used them, and I’d grown awfully fond of them since I’d taken them off a pirate in the Eastern Ocean. It was pretty incredible to think about everything I’d accomplished since I’d been summoned to this world, but it had been fun so far, and whoever was stalking us was
about to see just how much fun the God of Time could have first-hand.
Once my panabas were sharp enough to draw blood with minimal pressure, I turned my attention to my daggers. Jaxtom had made them himself as a wedding gift when I’d married Elissa, and they’d been among my prized possessions ever since. They were perfectly balanced and worked well for throwing or stabbing, and I was eager to try them out on the enemies soon approaching.
“The clearing will be stained red with their blood before the end of this night,” I informed my companions as we waited. “We may be outnumbered, but they picked the wrong god to fuck with.”
“How many enemies are coming?” Mahini inhaled sharply and eyed the tent entrance.
“More than enough for both of us,” I said, and I patted the air in a placating gesture. “You’re with the God of Time, remember?”
“I want to help teach these fools a lesson.” Mahini frowned.
“I am happy to stay in the tent,” Zenda interjected. “I will watch our belongings while you fight off the thieves.”
“Allow me to watch your back,” Mahini said, and she placed a hand on my forearm as her eyes bored into mine. “Let me taste
glory.”
“Alright,” I chuckled. “Stand guard at the tent entrance and take what shots you can get.”
“Thank you, husband.” Her ice-blue eyes lit up with bloodlust as she placed a soft kiss against my cheek. “I will make you proud.”
“I’m always proud of you.” I smirked. “I’m just trying to be selfish and keep all the kills for myself.”
“I hear something,” Zenda hissed as she scurried back away from the tent flap.
The Zaborian historian had taken my instructions to stay inside the tent to heart, but she grasped the short-handled spear Jax had given her in white-knuckled fists. Jaxtom gripped his sword tightly as his muscles bulged, and he positioned himself between Zenda and the entrance. Mahini tensed and moved to the opening, and her ice-blue eyes scanned the campground quickly before she turned to give me a nod.
It was go time.
First things first, I made a new save point so we didn’t have to travel all day again, and then I was going to figure out exactly who these people were and what they wanted.
I lunged out of the tent at full speed and tackled the closest figure, and we both tumbled to the ground in a tangle of cloaks. I came up on top, and I straddled my opponent around the waist as I ripped back their hood. Beneath the fabric, the stranger wore a carved wooden mask that resembled a dragon’s head. Two horns protruded from the forehead, but the eye slits showed very human eyes below the covering.
I ripped off the mask and tossed it to the side, and the face of a middle-aged man was revealed. His graying hair hung past his ears, and his eyes were carved with wrinkles, but his muscles were surprisingly spry as he shoved me off him.
I rolled to the side and came to my feet with my panabas in hand, and I was just in time to catch the edge of the man’s jagged-edged blade. I shoved him back to break the hold, and then I scanned my perimeter to get a headcount. There were at least ten hooded figures that I could see, but there was no telling how many more were concealed in the shadows of the forest.
The man closest to me lunged forward and slashed at me with his dagger, and he moved so fast I barely had enough time to jump out of his reach. I batted his weapon away with my panabas, but
then I sensed someone coming at me from the other side, so I moved into a spin.
I caught the second pair of blades on the edge of mine, and I used my left hand to stab my other panabas into my opponent’s gut.
Blood stained the snow red, and as I glanced at the quickly forming puddle, I realized the snow had melted around my enemy’s feet. A quick glance at the others showed similar melting occurring around their boots, too, and I frowned as I considered how that could happen.
Were they using some kind of fire magic outside the enchantments on their blades?
“Who are you?” I asked as I continued to use defensive measures.
Then an arrow zipped out of the tent entrance to embed itself in one of my attackers’ throats, so I turned to a different opponent to ask my questions.
“What are you doing here?” I pressed as I blocked dagger blows with my steel. “Did someone send you?”
The other hooded figures wore wooden lizard-looking masks beneath their cloaks, but each one was painted a different color.
“Are you guys in a LARP club or something?” I taunted.
“What’s with the masks?”
Another arrow took the fucker to my left out, and I realized I’d have to work fast to save one for questioning. Mahini was deadly with a bow, and she was eager for the fight, so I knew she wouldn’t hold back from killing every last one of them.
The snow continued to swirl in my eyes, and it was hard to see clearly through the whirling white clouds, but I managed to track my enemies’ movements by the dark melted spots they left in their wake.
I was starting to lose patience when one of the men flashed some sort of hand signal, and the remaining cloaked figures went into overdrive. They were suddenly attacking me from all sides at once, and the blur of their daggers darted out of the blinding snow cover to stab into vital weak spots on my armor.
I twisted and spun with my panabas extended in an effort to drive them back, and I was tempted to reset to my save point to try a different tactic, but I still hadn’t learned anything more about their motivations. The creepy masks made it clear they were more than random bandits, and if there was a group threatening the safety of Sorreyal, I wanted to know about it.
Maybe they were a cult or something?
I needed to keep one alive for questioning, so I picked one of them at random before going on the offensive. My swings did more than deflect their rapid-fire stabs, and I started dealing out damage of my own until streaks of red blood rolled through the densely-packed snow under our feet.
I cut off one of their arms before moving on to another’s leg, and I lost myself in the dance of death. The cries of pain and the moans of agony as the masked strangers fell to the ground were a musical soundtrack for my path of destruction. Then I finally stood before the last remaining hooded figure, and my panabas dripped his companions’ blood onto the ground as we stared at each other.
Without a word, the hooded figure turned and darted back into the woods, but I’d been expecting that, so I took off after him with a stomp of my griffon feather boots. I zoomed across the snow, hopped over the remains of the fire, and chased after the last surviving target.
I caught up to him in a couple of breaths, and I slammed into his back with my full force. We both hit the ground with a hard thud, and the air was expelled from my lungs, but it was worth it. I quickly
grappled the man onto his stomach, and then I wrenched his arms upward until he cried out in pain.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” I said in a terse voice. “You answer my questions, and I might just give you a painless death.”
“If I don’t?” The man spat into the snow.
“Then I’ll make sure you answer every single question before you die a slow, very painful death.” I rolled him over just enough to rip the mask off his face and look him in the eyes. “You could have a long life ahead of you if you make the right choice.”
The man looked younger than the first one I’d unmasked, and I’d say he was close to my age if I had to guess. He had bright red hair and freckles, and his eyes were a pale blue like a summer sky.
He didn’t look like someone who’d put on a mask and sneak up to a random campsite with weapons drawn.
Maybe he’d just gotten mixed in with the wrong crowd?
I was hesitant to torture or maim him now that I saw how young he was, but I would do what I had to in order to keep my family safe and protect the nature of my quest.
“What do you say?” I prompted as I yanked on his arms again.
“Alright!” he groaned. “I’ll talk.”
Mahini, Jaxtom, and Zenda approached as I stood up and hauled the red-haired man to his feet, and I could see their surprise when they noticed how young he was. I shoved him forcibly toward our campsite, and he stumbled through the snow and continued to leave melted footprints in his wake.
Mahini noticed the trail, and her eyes widened, but then she cast a scrutinizing glance around the campsite at the other similar marks.
I shoved the young man into the tent, and Jaxtom quickly caught on to my intentions and pulled some rope out of his pack. We worked together to lash the cloaked man’s arms and legs behind him, and then we propped him up in the center. We all sat in a circle around him, and the curious expressions on my companions’ faces had me chuckling.
It was too bad I was going to reset and skip this step in the final run through.
I fixed the red-haired man with a stern glare, and I squatted down in front of him. My companions leaned in with rapt attention, but I kept my focus on our prisoner.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
The young man’s eyes flicked anxiously from the others and back to me, and his tongue darted out to moisten his lips.
“They called me Twelve,” he said.
“They?” I arched an eyebrow.
“The dragon priests,” Twelve said. “We were all numbered when we joined the Order.”
“Tell me more about this Order,” I said, and I rested my elbows on my knees.
“I don’t know much,” Twelve said, and he eyed the entrance flap eagerly. “I only joined a few weeks ago, and this was supposed to be my initiation event.”
“Members have to sneak up on sleeping people to be initiated into the group?” I frowned. “Why us?”
“The Elders said they sensed an energy presence,” Twelve explained. “We were to investigate the source and return it to the den if possible.”
I thought this over for a moment, and I wondered if it was me they sensed or one of my magically charged items.
In any case, I wasn’t about to let some weirdos in lizard masks take anything away from me.
“What’s the point of this Order?” I asked. “Is it some kind of religion or something?”
“We are led by His Supreme Lord Caldera,” Twelve said, and his eyes lit up with wonder. “He performs miracles in the name of the Dragon Kings.”
“So, what exactly do you do?” I pressed.
“We maintain the holy scriptures passed down from the original dragon lords and safeguard the entrances to the realms of our serpent masters.” Twelve puffed out his chest with pride. “I have quickly risen through the ranks to earn my initiation event. Faster than any in history.”
“It sounds like a cult,” I observed. “You know the dragons are gone, right?”
“They shall return to their full glory someday soon,” Twelve countered. “When they do, I will stand among the obedient and be rewarded.”
“I don’t think you realize what you’re hoping for,” I argued.
“Dragons breathe fire and ruin shit. They kill people. They’re
assholes.”
“Your ignorance shows you will be among the destroyed,”
Twelve said with a smug smile. “I will watch from beneath my master’s wings as he scorches your soul.”
Despite my disbelief, a shiver ran down my spine at his words.
“That’s the God of Time yer talkin’ to,” Jax growled. “Ye better watch yer tone.”
“G-God of Time?” Twelve’s face paled. “Are the rumors true?”
“Depends on the rumors.” I shrugged.
Twelve didn’t say anything for a long moment, and his gaze took in the two-handed sword clutched in Jax’s fists before his eyes returned to my face.
“You killed our Lord Smiguel.” It wasn’t a question.
“I did.” I nodded. “First, I stabbed him in the eye with a spear.
Then I skewered him with a lance.”
“Where is the egg?” Twelve narrowed his eyes, and his searching gaze darted around the tent.
Mahini and I exchanged a glance, and the desert goddess’
hand lowered to the blade at her hip, but I shook my head ever so
slightly. She relaxed her hand, but she shot an icy glare at our prisoner.
“Easy there,” I chuckled. “Let’s start by explaining how you know the dragon’s name and all that.”
“His Supreme Lord Caldera awakened Lord Smiguel to perform his sacred duty,” Twelve announced it like this was a good thing.
“Your… boss… woke him up?” I worked the muscle in my jaw as I thought about the terror and destruction the crimson fire-breather had caused across Sorreyal before I’d ended his sorry existence. “How is that even possible?”
“I am not privy to the Order’s secrets,” Twelve said with a shake of his head. “I just know they are powerful people, and I want to be on the right side of history when our true masters return.”
“What do you know about dragon eggs?” I asked.
“Only rumors from other members of the Order,” Twelve said.
“There were whispers that it had been in the temple for generations, but Smiguel stole it and betrayed us after awakening.”
“If he’s your master, why would you care if he took it?” I arched an eyebrow.
Checkmate.
“I do not know the answers,” Twelve said, and he looked at the entrance once more. “I’ve told you all I know. Will you release me now? My masters will frown upon my absence.”
“You’re brainwashed, dude,” I sighed, and I pushed myself up to my full height. “It would almost be a mercy to put you out of your misery, but I’m not going to do that. Yet.”
“What are you going to do?” The fear on his face was plain to see, but it only made him that much more pathetic.
“I’m going to erase your memory,” I said.
My companions glanced at me sharply, and I resisted the urge to laugh out loud at the shock on their faces. I wished I had a smartphone to snap a photo with, but I’d have to suffice with logging it in my long-term memory.
Then I reset to my save point with a wave of my willpower to kill the dragon worshipping cultists.
Chime.
I stood inside the tent once more, and this time I was even more prepared to deal with the oncoming attack. Knowledge was power, and I’d learned a lot during my previous run through. They’d
signed their own death warrants by approaching my campsite with their weapons drawn.
It was possible they had some way to sense the dragon egg, and I wasn’t about to let anyone return to the rest of the cult with any knowledge of its whereabouts.
One hundred percent completion.
I waited a while before I stepped out of the tent to find a hiding spot on the other side of the clearing, and I climbed up into the branches of an evergreen tree with the assistance of my daggers.
Then I settled into a crouch out of sight of the tent, and I pulled my thick cloak around me.
It was only a short while later when I heard the telltale crunch of feet on snow, but I waited until I saw multiple cloaked figures beneath me. I held my breath as I paused, but then I launched from the branch with a dagger in each fist at two of the cultists standing close together.
I landed with my blades buried in their backs, and they were dead by the time we hit the frozen ground. I was on my feet and on the move an instant later, but I made a mental note to scavenge their blades off their corpses when I was done.
I flicked my daggers around until I held them by the tips, and then I launched them end over end at the next two cultists closest to me. One dagger struck a man in the side of the throat until the tip jutted out the other side, but my other weapon skidded off my target’s shoulder. He turned and ran toward the tent, but the next thing I knew, he fell over backward with an arrow jutting out of his neck.
“Good shot!” I shouted in Mahini’s direction before I turned to find a new target.
I didn’t have to look very far, and I was on the move in my next breath. I caught the tail of an escaping cultist’s cloak and yanked backward, but I had my panabas slashing across his throat before he hit the ground.
Four down.
There were still more than enough cultists to go around, but I heard the zip of another arrow flying out of the tent entrance, and I knew there was now one less.
The other cultists had scattered into the tree line, but I saw the shadowy figures darting in and out of the trunks. They hadn’t given up, but they were attempting to regroup.
Little did they know how pointless it was to go up against a god and think they’d live to tell the tale.
I watched my enemies’ movements through the trees in my peripheral vision, but I stood casually in the middle of the clearing with my bloody panabas dripping onto the snow.
I had all the time in the world.
“Behind you!” Mahini called from the tent, but I didn’t move.
I could hear the faint sound of snow crunching, but I held my breath and relaxed my grip on my panabas until the last possible moment. Then I spun in a circle and took off my opponent’s head in one swift motion, and it bounced to the ground like a soccer ball. The headless corpse stood upright and sprayed blood from the gaping neck stump for an instant before it collapsed to the ground, but I was already moving on to my next target.
My next opponent was more agile, and he jumped nimbly out of the reach of my blades before twirling around behind me. I wasn’t about to let him land a single blow, so I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots, and I zipped around behind him faster than he could blink.
“Gotcha, fucker,” I chuckled when I saw his eyes widen in shock.
Then I drove my panabas through his spine, and I twisted as I wrenched my blades free. His back arched, and he cried out in pain as his legs gave out from underneath him. He crashed to the ground a moment later, and I turned to scan the clearing for another cultist.
“Bash!” Mahini yelled, and my gaze darted to the tent entrance.
A cultist was slashing through the side of the tent, and he was too close for Mahini to shoot efficiently with her bow. The desert goddess barged out of the tent with her sword drawn, but I was by her side an instant later, and I skidded to a halt between her and the cultist.
“Looking for my egg?” I asked.
The cultist glanced up and froze, so I body slammed him to the ground and drove my blades into his abdomen. His blood was warm on my hands, but I smeared my fists clean on his cloak as I pushed myself to my feet.
Then I examined the damage he’d managed to inflict on my structure, and I sighed. There was a giant gash on the side of my
tent, and I had several days of travel between our campsite and the next inn.
There were only about three cultists remaining in the woods surrounding our clearing, and I took off on the hunt. I spotted one as he scurried up a tree, and I darted across the distance to yank him to the ground.
“Die in the name of Lord Caldera!” the cultist screeched as he lunged at me with daggers swinging, and I jumped back to avoid the blade.
“I think you’ve got the wrong guy,” I said as I twirled my panabas in my fist. “I’m the God of Time, and you’re about to figure out what happens when you fuck with me.”
The cultist brought up his daggers to block the blow of my blades, but he only caught the first one, and the second sliced into his leg. My panabas severed his limb clean off, and the man screamed as he dropped his weapons in favor of his spurting wound.
The snow around him was quickly drenched in a pool of red, and I stepped back to avoid getting my griffon feather boots covered in muck.
I could come back and put this fucker out of his misery if he lived long enough, but he was down for the count, so I turned my attention back to the others.
Two more.
I scanned the tree line until I saw the tail of a black cloak, but then I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots, and I caught up to the escaping cultist a moment later.
He swiveled and blocked my first blow, ducked below my second, but caught my third in his gut. I wrenched my panabas free with a twist, and his intestines spilled out onto the ground at our feet.
“Gross, dude,” I said with a grimace.
“Bash!” Zenda’s voice cut through the air.
I turned back toward the clearing as my heart thudded against my chest, and I saw the Zaborian struggling over our dragon egg with the last cultist. The asshole had cut through the back of the tent, and the historian was being pulled through the hole by the egg.
I dashed across the distance to them, but the cultist managed to wrench the egg from the historian’s grasp an instant before I reached him, and he turned to take off into the woods.
“Oh, no, you don’t, asshole,” I growled as I took off after him.
I had to be careful not to crush the egg, though, so I followed him at a brisk pace as I plotted my next move. The cultist didn’t want anything to happen to the egg, either, so maybe I could move that to my advantage. I ran as fast as I could, but instead of tackling the man carrying the dragon egg, I veered around him to get ahead of him. Then I turned and slashed my panabas out at the colorful oval in his grasp.
The cultist gasped and tossed the egg into the air, and I seized the opportunity to thrust my panabas into his chest. His eyes widened as I yanked my blade free, but then I opened my arms to catch the falling egg. I had to drop my weapons to grab it, but then it was in my hands, and I looked down to see the cultist dead at my feet.
I’d won.
I took the dragon egg back to the tent, and I frowned as I eyed the damage caused by the cultist. We’d have to sew up the holes as soon as possible since we wouldn’t have access to another structure for a while, but there were worse scenarios. I’d learned about a new enemy, but there were still loads of unanswered questions.
I decided to reset for a final time, and then I’d really accomplish one hundred percent completion.
I wasn’t about to settle for anything less.
Chime.
I stood inside of our tent yet again, and I continued with the preparations for the attack, but this time, I made a few additions before they showed up. I knew the cultists would try to scatter into the woods when I started to fight back, so I strung up some snares and other rope traps throughout the trees. The area around our clearing was a veritable warzone by the time I was done with it, but I finished with plenty of time to spare.
Mahini and Zenda helped me with the final touches, and then we all took up positions around the clearing with the dragon egg laid out in the middle for all to see. The cultists would be so distracted by their prize being within reach that they wouldn’t notice us drawing our bows and picking them off one by one.
Instead of the telltale crunch of feet in snow, this time I heard a yelp of pain as one of the cultists located a trap with his foot. Then I spotted the rest of the hooded figures beneath us, and I gave the signal to attack.
Mahini and Jaxtom released their projectiles while I dove out of the branches onto the two men standing close together, and I buried
my daggers in their spines yet again. I was on my feet an instant later, but I heard several arrows finding their targets behind me, so I scanned the area for any enemies.
The cultists began to scramble away from me, but a couple of them headed for the dragon egg, so I ran to meet them. The rest were heading straight toward my companions’ arrows or the traps I’d laid all around us, so I wasn’t worried about anyone getting away this time.
“Scavengers steal eggs,” I said as I tossed my dagger end over end at the cultist closest to the dragon egg, and the man groaned as he collapsed beside the oval shell. “And then they wind up dead.”
I threw my other blade into the throat of a cultist, but a third charged at me with his crimson-streaked daggers twirling in a blur of motion. I blocked his weapon with my swiftly raised panabas, and then I brought my steel down across his leg. The sharp metal sliced through his flesh and severed the limb completely, and I had to admit it was satisfying to watch the blood spray out across the snow.
My companions and I killed off the rest of the cultists one by one, but the last few were easy to eliminate since they were stuck in
our traps. The egg was returned to our belongings inside the tent, and then we all worked together to clean up the battlefield.
“Who were these people?” Mahini asked.
The desert goddess was crouched over the man whose leg I’d chopped off, and his throat was slashed. She pushed off from her knees to rise to her feet, and she crossed the distance between us to hand me one of their daggers.
“Dragon worshipping cultists,” I explained as I accepted the blade.
The handle was made from bone, and I suspected it had originated from a dragon, but it had been worn smooth from use. The crimson streak down the center of the steel flashed and pulsed like it had a life of its own, and the edge was serrated.
It was cool as fuck.
I pressed my finger to the tip of the blade to check the stats, and the text bubble popped into existence in the air in front of me.
Magical Aspect - Dragon’s Breath.
Magical Ability - +10% fire damage with every strike.
It was exactly as I predicted, and I grinned as I handed the weapon back to Mahini.
“Gather everything valuable from the bodies,” I instructed.
“We’re going to blip back to B-ville to do some research.”
It was so awesome to be able to fast travel from place to place.
“Jax will appreciate the blades,” Mahini said with a curt nod.
“What’s the deal with the masks?”
“It’s part of their uniforms,” I explained. “They surrender their identities when they join the Order.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone worshipping dragons before,”
Mahini said. “It sounds foolhardy to wish for the return of something that would kill you without hesitation.”
“We’ll make sure they’re taken care of,” I promised.
With Jax and Zenda’s help, it only took us a short while to loot the rest of the bodies, but we managed to get a few hours of shut-eye, and then we gathered up all our belongings. By the time we’d accomplished all our tasks, the sun was already up over the horizon.
We hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, but we’d be able to rest in Bastianville for a while before returning to our journey. I didn’t
think I could blip with the mounts, but we wouldn’t be gone for long.
We camouflaged our campsite as much as we could, and then we all stood in a circle with hands clasped.
“Here we go,” I breathed as I summoned all my willpower.
Then I focused on the amulet around my neck, and I quickly performed the motions of the fast travel spell before Mahini, Zenda, and Jax formed a circle around me. I watched as our forms began to dematerialize into a blue aura, and when I blinked, I stood in my living room in front of Evangeline.
I was back in Bastianville.