Jessie opened her mouth, but I coughed and shot her a look. We were all in incredible danger—the strength of the Crone’s world-spanning aura told me that much, even if Eugene’s attitude hadn’t been enough of a hint.

  ‘What can the Crone do for you?’ What’d that mean? What was the Crone’s game? My eyes kept flicking from the monstrous old lady to Jessie, then back to the monster. The language was—

  “Yes, that’s my ledger. Now, girlie, let’s hear that name.” The Crone said.

  Ellen pushed against my shoulder, then shook her head. She knew this was getting way out of control. I’d expected a powerful monster, but the Crone was so much more than that. Now that we were here, it was just like a trap portal. The white gate was right there, but the Paragon in front of us could stop Ellen and me before we even got close to getting out—to say nothing of Jessie.

  Unless we could maneuver, we’d be here as long as she wanted us here—and that wouldn’t work for either Ellen or me. Phoenix was under siege, and soon, we’d have to fight again. Even if we didn’t, the tournament would restart soon. We couldn’t miss either of those things even if this were safe, which it definitely was not.

  And I’d promised to take care of Jessie. Just because she might be safe didn’t mean I was keeping that promise.

  I cleared my throat. “Crone, I—“

  “Kid, you’re going to want to let this happen,” Eugene interrupted.

  “Too right, dragon. Name.”

  Jessie stared at the Crone. I stared at my sister. She didn’t have an ounce of fear in her eyes—in a lot of ways, it was like looking into a mirror, except Jessie didn’t have any weapons to fight back with. “Jessica Gerald, leader of the Desert Wind Guild, from Earth.”

  “Interesting. And my first question?” the Crone asked.

  “I want to know everything.”

  The Crone snorted. So did Eugene. Even Ellen smiled. But I didn’t; the danger was too great in this little clearing.

  “That can be arranged. Let’s start small. You’re in my portal world. Not my Ghostdream—although two of you reek of it—but my portal world. I am the Crone, and, as this dragon says, you’re in my presence. Ha! Let’s take a walk, and I’ll show you the Ghostmarket.”

  The glade opened up, trees literally uprooting themselves, walking to either side of a path with their roots, and lowering their branches to sweep a path clear of every stray leaf and twig. The process took less than thirty seconds before the forboding, dark treeline looked like something out of a children’s movie. The Crone didn’t move a muscle or seem to cast a spell, but her suggestion to take a walk had reshaped the entire forest.

  Jessie started walking, and so did Ellen, falling in behind the Crone. My sister’s chair should have sank into the dirt, but it almost seemed to slide on a thin cushion of Mana instead. She looked over her shoulder and nodded.

  Ellen did, too. Then she hurried back, ducked her head into mine, and started whispering. “The aura’s gone. Feel it? I don’t think she’s going to hurt your sister.”

  “It’s not just her I’m worried about,” I muttered back. Then I shook my head in defeat. “Let’s get moving. If we’re both with them, maybe we can keep my sixteen-year-old sister from dooming the world or something. And if not, maybe we can get her out somehow.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that, kid,” Eugene said. “The Crone’s been watching your world for a couple of weeks now. If she wanted it, it’d be hers—and no one could stop her. Besides, I think she’s more interested in your sister right now than she is in your world. Not many monsters have the guts to stand up to an SS-Plus-Ranked Paragon. In fact, you three are just about the only ones I can remember.”

  “So, what? We let her go chat with a god?” I asked. I ignored that he’d called us monsters.

  “Yes. Well, not alone. Mage, why don’t you stick with Kade’s sister? You can try keeping her out of trouble, and who knows? There might be some opportunities for you. Ghostdream isn’t shadow, but it’s close.” The God of Thunder turned, dismissing Ellen with a shrug and focusing in on me. “As for you, kid, you’ve got work to do. We’re going to talk, and then we’re going to get to it.”

  “Ahem,” the Crone coughed from thirty feet away, and Eugene’s non-spear hand waved.

  “Yep. We’re going to get to it with the Crone’s permission, of course.”

  As the Crone nodded and walked away with my sister and partner in tow, Eugene visibly relaxed. His shoulders slumped, and the butt of his spear touched the ground as he leaned on it. “Wonderful that you’re here, kid. Just about perfect. I was wondering how you’d choose to overcome this, but I didn’t expect you to walk into the spider’s parlor.”

  “Can we use a different metaphor?” I asked, shivering. I hated spiders.

  “Sure. You’re in the belly of the beast—and an SS-Plus-Ranked portal world like mine. And you dragged two other people here. Good thinking. She’d probably have killed you or the shadow mage, but your sister’s intriguing her. That earns the two of them safe passage into the Ghostmarket. And you are under my protection as my disciple.”

  “So they’ll be fine? What’s the Ghostmarket? And what are we doing out here?” I asked.

  “I didn’t say they’d be fine. I said they’d have safe passage into the market,” Eugene said pointedly. “And we’re out here to fix you, not worry about them. You, Kade Noelstra, are woefully unprepared for A-Rank. It’s kind of embarrassing to have you out in public with my peers, honestly. I’d been telling the Crone and Magda how interesting you were, and then you show up with a build like yours?, with glaring weaknesses any of them can see?”

  My eyes narrowed, but I swallowed the tightness in my throat and tried to unball my fists. He hadn’t answered all of my questions. Everything felt out of control, and I was almost ready to lash out if only to regain a little of it. Instead, I stared the God of Thunder down. “Yeah, I know. Thanks. Can we do something about it?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” I waited. He didn’t answer. “What?”

  He glanced at the treeline, then gestured with his spear.“We’ll hunt in the Crone’s forest, you and me. The monsters out there should be enough of a challenge that I won’t get bored, and they’ll push you well beyond your limits. That’ll give you a chance to learn about yourself and your relationship with your skills—especially Stormbreak. You’re on the Stormsteel Path, kid, and you can’t be scared of your best weapons.”

  I already knew that, but it wasn’t as easy as the God of Thunder made it sound. “Stormbreak is powerful, but every time I use it, I’m afraid it’s going to—“

  “That’s your problem. You’re afraid it’s going to kill you or your friends, right? You haven’t used it enough to know what it can do, and there’s only one solution to that problem. You and I are going to use it until you’re as comfortable with Stormbreak as you are with Cyclone Stance—and I’ve seen how much you cast, kid. Let’s get to it.” The God of Thunder stalked off into the woods, lightning body shining faintly against the darkness. He didn’t follow the path at all, and I didn’t either as I followed him.

  Then he stopped. “Oh, one thing, kid. I’ll do my best to keep you safe, but I can’t promise anything in the Crone’s portal. She controls this world, not me. Remember that.”

  I nodded, readying my armor and weapon. Stormsong crackled to life in my hand, and Eugene smiled approvingly, revealing a row of draconic teeth in his human-looking mouth. Then we began our hunt.

  The Crone’s world felt like a Glade portal world, if everything in it had been infused with the essence of vastness. It wasn’t that the trees or shrubs were larger. They just felt big and ancient in a way I couldn’t describe. Vines hung down around us, and the path the God of Thunder walked seemed to close in behind me. It didn’t take a dozen steps before I felt completely surrounded by the forest.

  In the distance, a wolf howled.

  Eugene sniffed the air. “They’re closing in. Defend yourself. I’ll get you in a position for Stormbreak. Then you’ll use it to kill your enemies.”

  “Got it.” Stormsong popped softly in my grip as lightning covered the blade and I dropped into a defensive Mistwalk Forms stance, hand behind my back and sword in a low guard. That was best against wolves, I’d learned from my trips into—

  Ancient Packmaster: S-Rank

  It was big. It didn’t just feel big. It was by far the biggest wolf I’d ever seen. My eyes went up to its shoulders, and its jaws were massive enough to fit my whole chest inside them. Slobber covered its chin and front, and matted gray fur formed gigantic pads across its body. One look at them and I knew I wouldn’t be making a dent.

  That would have been bad enough, but there were four of them. Four S-Rank monsters. Eugene was one dragon—an SS-Plus Paragon, but still just one. He couldn’t—

  “I’ll take the three on the right. Stay alive, kid.”

  I readied Stormsong as the Packmaster surged forward. It moved fast—the only monster I’d seen get anywhere near that quick was Tathrix, and even he would have been overwhelmed in a second. My blade went up, but the thing’s jaws clamped around my forearm before the parry was even halfway up.

  Pain.

  Its teeth punched straight through the Stormsteel gauntlet like it wasn’t even there, then through my skin and muscle. Something popped—my shoulder. Then something else cracked—my wrist. I poured Stamina into the wounds, trying to keep a grip on my sword as best I could and casting Thunder Crash with my free hand. The massive wolf didn’t even break stride as lightning surged into its body from the half-dozen bolts I’d summoned.

  My body slammed along the ground. The wolf spun, and my shoulder popped a second agonizing time.

  “Use it,” the God of Thunder said calmly.

  “Now?” I yelled as my Stamina dulled the pain just a little bit, only for another bump to send a surge of it up into my back.

  “Yes. Or are you scared, kid?”

  I was. But that didn’t matter right now—it was life or death. I gritted my teeth and used Stormbreak.

  Negative zones formed around the four wolves—the three dying ones on the ground, and the one completely intact one in the middle of tearing me apart. Positive zones erupted around Eugene and me. Our Mana started burning.

  As the gigantic Packmaster turned, its jaws finally letting go and throwing me to the ground, I rolled. My zone followed me, and I caught a glimpse of the God of Thunder. His Mana burned in a cylinder of static that towered over even the trees around him.

  “You screwed up, Kade Noelstra,” he said, shaking his head.

  Then Stormbreak triggered.

  My Mana drained instantly, just like it usually did. Six flowers of bright, blue-white light erupted in the woods, petals connecting each of us. The world flickered over and over. It wouldn’t stop. This wasn’t the three times I was used to. It wasn’t even like when Stormbreak had fed off of the Eye of the Storm.

  This was worse.

  The God of Thunder surged upward, a circus tent of lightning all around him. The sky darkened for a moment as he left his humanoid form behind and unleashed his full size and shape. And still Stormbreak rolled on and on. The waves of pain hit me. Pain everywhere. I gritted my teeth, pushed Stamina into every cell in my body as my nerves burned. It wasn’t enough.

  And overhead, the God of Thunder laughed.

  Ellen felt the change in the air.

  She looked over her shoulder at the blossoming flower of lightning deep in the woods. Then she shook her head and kept walking along the path.

  It wasn’t that she wasn’t worried about her Dual Skill Advancement partner—to say nothing of the other stuff they’d been up to. She blushed a little just thinking about it, then refocused. No, she was worried about him, but this wasn’t her first rodeo. Ellen had gotten used to his bullshit.

  Jessie, though, hadn’t. She kept sneaking glances over her shoulder, and when the lightning flower went out, she spent a full minute watching. Ellen had to take the wheelchair’s handles and push so they could keep up with the Crone.

  “Do you think he’s okay?” Jessie whispered after a while. “I mean, I know he’s okay, but…wow. It’s hard to believe it when he’s doing stuff like that. Is this…normal in portals?”

  Ellen sighed. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “We’re almost there!” the Crone sang in a cracked, almost-musical voice. She pointed with her walking stick. Ellen focused. A blue-green light poured through the woods, not so much fighting the bright moonlight overhead as complementing it beautifully. “The Ghostmarket awaits.”

  A minute later, Ellen saw it and stopped pushing the chair. Jessie started to complain, then stared as well, jaw hanging open mid-sentence, her words probably forgotten.

  Ahead of them were monsters. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. Elves with silver swords and spinners of silk. A pair of too-tall, too-thin plague doctors. An entire squad of orcs, bristling with weapons and armor and otherwise naked.

  The tall, pinnacle shape of a Feldspar Titan loomed over the entire glade. It wasn’t the biggest monster, either—there were at least two that dwarfed it. Maybe three; Ellen couldn’t be sure that the shadow overhead wasn’t an Eldritch portal monster.

  Not a single monster so much as glanced at Ellen or Jessie. They didn’t even look at the Crone. Ellen raised an eyebrow at that, and the old, hunched woman shrugged. “They see what I want them to see and hear what I want them to hear. I own this world.”

  She refocused. Jessie had a notebook out, and her pen raced across the paper as the teenager took notes, but Ellen didn’t want to miss anything, either. The monsters weren’t fighting. They weren’t trying to kill each other—or her. Instead, they were…shopping. The dirt paths were lined with tents and wooden stalls, steel-clad buildings, and even a circus-tent-shaped building made out of just-cooled magma that steamed in the night. And at its center stood a perfectly smooth crystal, glowing white.

  “Welcome to the Ghostmarket,” the Crone said as she waved a hand across the scene.

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