Feyre

  The two died quick. Almost too quick if you asked me. Sure, they'd attacked first and only started running after I'd killed like 22 of them but still. It was a bit much. Now that I wasn't quite as jumpy and panicking I felt kind of bad.

  Kind of.

  Not really though.

  These ladies had been pretty horrible if they were anything like how the System described them. I looked up to the high ceiling of the cave and sighed, letting the System Notifications flood through. There had to be a better way than this. It was so inefficient and also kind of boring to read through every time.

  [System]

  [Dungeon Notice: Dungeon Cleared! Dungeon Loot is now available for collection from [System Dungeon Chest].]

  [System Notice: System Update in progress, Experience, Titles and Levels gained are Delayed.]

  I blinked in surprise. I felt like every time I looked at the System notifications I learnt something new. So not only did they fix whatever problem was happening with my System but they were now updating it too. Did that mean that I was going to get a better version than the normal people on this planet? I wasn't going to complain if it was just me, or if everyone was getting an update.

  Updates rocked. I remembered when Eurani used to get proper updates and sure, the actual waiting for it to download was an absolute killer, the end result always resulted in a net positive for me and my friends on there.

  Thinking of friends on Eurani. I kind of missed those idiots. A lot of them I lost contact with when the servers closed down.

  Then, right as I was having a real emotional moment that could have been Oscar worthy... A chest appeared at my feet and reached up to my stomach. I jumped back and levelled my sword at it before realising this was probably the System Dungeon Chest mentioned in the notice.

  It was easy enough to get it open, using my blade as a lever, I flipped open the top.

  I was thoroughly impressed. Inside it was about a bajillion different trinkets and things. This included, from what I could tell at first glance, an assortment of armour, clothing fit for basically all stations in a stereotypical medieval fantasy kingdom, and also a plethora of weapons, most of them small enough to hide, should I not want them to be in the storage.

  "Perfect! Alright, guess I'll identify these beauties and then put on the protection alright?"

  [System]

  [Skill: [Identify] used on [System Dungeon Chest] and items within, creating list.]

  I let out a breath I didn't actually realise I was holding. It would have been pretty damn annoying for me to have to wait to use Identify just because it was a part of the System update. I looked over at the List that had been created.

  [System]

  [System Dungeon Chest List]

  [Large Rucksack]

  [Throwing Knives x5]

  [Barbed Bolts x25]

  [Basic Bolts x75]

  [Attachable Belt Hooks]

  [Belt Pouches]

  [Enchanted Shimmer-Fox Pelt Cloak]*

  [Enchanted Dire Wolf Pelt Gambeson]*

  [Enchanted Denfir Greaves]*

  [Enchanted Denfir Poleyn]*

  [Enchanted Denfir Cuisse]*

  [Enchanted Denfir Spaulder]*

  [Enchanted Morphing Garments]*

  [Enchanted Enicken Wood Crossbow]*

  [Potion of Greater Health]*

  [Potion of Greater Magicks]*

  [Potion of Absolute Cure]*

  Well, I wasn't just going to let these great items rot in disuse here. I put all of it in my storage, before taking out the different pieces of armour back out. I wasn't entirely sure that I would be able to put them on properly but that was quickly corrected when I picked up the spaulder and it changed how big it was when I put it on my right shoulder.

  The form fitting enchantment was so useful. Not that I'd focused on it to know for sure. I got the rest of the pieces on without much of a hitch as well. Just as I was going to take them off I got yet another System notification. Eventually I was going to mute that thing. It was useful at the moment but kept distracting me from what I wanted to do.

  [System]

  [New System Capability Notice: The ability to [Equip] an [Unequip] clothing, armour, jewellery and other apparel is now available.]

  [Notice: [Unequip] all armour?]

  I nodded, would have been better if I could have changed the System so that it treated Equipping and Unequipping like it did with Identify. I felt a slight something ripple through my body as I instinctually knew that the System just acknowledged my requests without creating a new light grey screen. This was brilliant! It was also far too late for it to not be a part of that update that must have finished now.

  I sighed. I might as well have gotten this out of the way. So I took out the spaulder and looked at the identify to learn the enchantments.

  [System]

  [Target: Denfir Spaulder]

  [Extra Information: It is enchanted with [Soul Bind], [Self Repair], [Temperature Control], [Form Fitting], and a [Major Wearer Damage Resistance]. This will work as long as it has a mana source. All effects are Passive.]

  I focused on the new enchantments. I was hoping Soul Bind would just be a limitation that meant only I could wear it, and not that I was now linked in health to this piece of armour like some ripoff 'Flight of Death'.

  [System]

  [Enchantment [Soul Bind]: Only the first to touch it can use it. Once they are dead it becomes unbound and will either pass on to a relative, or become unbound completely.]

  I fell to my knees. I wasn't quite aware just how terrified I was of that possibility until I was breathing heavy, hard, and fast. It was strange, really. I already assumed and maybe even knew for certain that I had been altered without my prior knowledge. I did not feel haunted by my killing of a man. Nor did I feel remorse for what can only be ascribed as a minor genocide of Kuryuk, an at least partially sentient race, all because a System which I had no reason to trust told me to do it.

  In the end, I thought, actually it was a valid fear. For while the System may have altered my mind, it had not, to my knowledge, altered my very soul. Only now was I realising I had one in the first place, but perhaps I was getting ahead of myself. I wasn't completely certain what all this meant, did this body have relatives? Surely it didn't. I severely hoped that it didn't.

  This was a breakdown and cry sesh for future me. The current me had the need to not be in a cave which was also a dungeon. With that, I set off. Taking out Lucius' old belt and fixing it to my waist I walked back towards the damage of that first cavern. I kind of wished that the bodies would despawn, but alas that was not the case. So, as a result of me not wanting to deal with a bunch of rotting Kuryuk corpses, I put as many into the storage as possible. This, of course, turned out to be all of them.

  I knew that the way I'd came was going to be a thoroughly unviable exit. So I pushed deeper in. No way was there a whole kingdom and then only one way in or out, that would be stupid. As I was thinking that, I remembered just who's kingdom it was. Kuryuk had proven to me time and time again that they weren't very intelligent throughout my time in their kingdom. Not that I was trying to be speciesist to them or anything but if they were the ones who summoned that Druatari high lord then I was clearly correct in my assessment.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Of course that led me to wonder if Humans, or in this case Hythangir, ever summoned equally dangerous entities. I didn't know and guessing wouldn't have helped me, so I dropped it.

  I continued walking, occasionally letting my mind wander over to different theories, guesses, and hypotheses. I oftentimes found myself having to be forced to think of something else, like the rock I tripped over, or the gentle breeze that had hit my face a couple times.

  "Wait a second..."

  I turned my face into the breeze and power walked forwards. I must have looked a right sight. Of course, knowing fantasy as a genre I would exit this cave and be beset by something far worse than I would have ever found within. It took no longer than a few minutes to get to the source of the breeze.

  Almost gingerly, I approached the exit and stuck my head out. I very quickly remembered why I didn't like mornings as I was blinded momentarily. The light soaked into my skin, mocking me as I struggled to adjust to the day's presence.

  Not long after escaping the tunnel did I look around and yet again I was stunned by the beauty. A blanket of emerald that went on for perhaps eternity, or maybe even longer. The mountain I was on, I realised, was not the only one around. It was, however, the tallest. Luscious green and brown and grey and white. The snow caps fit snugly like a gentle cocoon.

  It took me little time to look up at the sky, a teal expanse that made me remember just how precious not being in a cave was. Without the gnawing hunger tearing at my stomach I could really stop and admire the intricacies of this new realm I found myself in for the first time. Sure, I might've been able to while staying with Tyrril and his guards but at the time I had other pressing matters to attend to, like not being killed for being a body snatcher or spy or whatever Lucius used as an excuse to try and murder me in a forest.

  I breathe in deeply, savouring the the crispness that simply wouldn't exist on Earth. It felt like I belonged, for once. I could have stayed there, gazing at soft candyfloss clouds of all shapes and sizes. I took as much in as I could, admiring the landscape and magnificence that was this ocean of leaves, great trunks and towering mountains below me. I envied the birds, and their freeing flight over such an enamouring landscape.

  Then, I focused. My vision locking in on a gap in the trees that may have been a path. I obviously didn't know for certain, it could have been some river or the result of a great beast barreling through.

  I did not care. I looked at the sky and got my bearings. I was lucky, I think, that the way down this very large mountain was not arduous. Or perhaps it was, and my new stats were screwing with my perception of reality.

  I smiled to myself and began to sing as I walked. It was maybe not the smartest idea but I was confident I'd be able to defend myself quite thoroughly, should anything attempt something. I was ready to equip all the armour if need be, of course, a handy skill that.

  I must have had the voice of a princess, birds flocked to the trees in my wake. They picked up the haunting tune of the lullaby I sung quite quickly. I remembered then, that I was given a cloak in that chest and took it out to look it over. It lived up to its name, shimmering in the light with an almost ethereal beauty.

  I always was a sucker for pretty things. I flung the cloak around my shoulder like they always do in the movies and clasped it at the neck, perfectly snug against the lapels of the tunic.

  I continued walking, straightening my posture and controlling my every step. I don't know why I did it, just that it felt right, and I could allow myself to indulge in the fantasy a bit. This was especially true if I was going to be fighting for my life more often than not. I hoped that once I found civilisation I could hang up my weapons and simply go about my business as any normal girl who'd been thrown into another dimension would.

  I paused in my singing briefly, my head swivelling slowly. I had thought I heard something but no, it seemed I was going cray cray all bye myself in the woods. Who would've thought that would happen? Other than all the hundreds possibly thousands of people who even briefly thought about what would happen if someone was left in the woods alone for extended periods of time.

  Assuring myself I was positively alone, I carried on with my path towards the gap in the canopy of trees. I begun to sing again as well, the slightly haunting tune leaving my lips as I gracefully (in my opinion) descended further and further from the mountain.

  To my great pleasure, what i had spied was indeed a path. I paused at the top of the bank that led down before crouching slightly to prepare to jump. I hopped off with surprising grace and ended up exactly where I wanted to be, my cloak fluttering in the wind behind me like some super hero cape.

  The wind was a paid actor. It must have been. No way was it a coincidence that as soon as I stood up straight again; the wind picked up. Nope, I wasn't going to accept it. The wind was paid off by the System to make me feel really cool.

  Not that I was complaining. I felt plenty cool. I just wasn't prepared for it so my face probably wasn't as serene and perfect as it could have been.

  I giggled, I think. Just a small lapse in myself I thought, but even that came out as dignified and silky soft. It was so cool to have this passive Acting skill.

  [REDACTED]

  It wasn't often that the Hunt-Lead felt quite so unsettled. Nay, it was positively uncommon. Agnor was a hardened Hunt-Lead, having gotten to a point in his path of the System that he was able to fight off even a small pack of wolves by himself, a great feat although not that Feyre would have known that. So strange was it, then, that felt so entranced and also absolutely horrified by this ethereal beauty he came across while hunting for wild game.

  Agnor was quite unfortunate, I believed. He had heard Feyre first, that haunting tune in a language he didn't know and yet could almost understand just from her tone. For such a voice to be followed by such a person is enough to make any sane man wonder if the System had favourites. Obviously that wasn't possible. I, however, certainly did. I think I rather outdid myself with Feyre's new self, if I was going to brag a bit. Agnor suffered in silence, bless his soul. He was terrified.

  All men of the Border Cities knew that the Great Divide, the uninhabitable forest and mountains separating the Iftani Theocracy and the Free Provinces of Eule, held many ghost stories. Some of said ghost stories were impossibly true. However, while Agnor didn't usually pay much attention to these fairytales and myths, he certainly would now that he'd seen what could only be a Faerie Queen to his simple mind. The poor man was almost pitiably shaken, hidden in the bushes only mere metres away. Mere metres away from what could be the last thing he ever saw, in his mind at least.

  I personally, would not have minded dying if that was the last thing I saw. Feyre was unimaginably beautiful, in that 'If I have to tell you my eyes are up here I'll gut you like the waste of oxygen you are' type of beautiful. Not that I think it was a conscious decision mind you. It was strange, really, I wasn't a corporeal being, and yet I was absolutely sure that if I was I'd be completely smitten.

  Fortunately or unfortunately I was not corporeal, and Agnor was not seen. He hid in those bushes, holding his breath and being completely still as this incomparable beauty paused, looked around as if she knew he was nearby, and then continued on as if he was not a threat but a mere insect she had no time to care about.

  Words could not describe the thoughts swirling through Agnor's head when he decided to follow this being of shimmering light and fiery red hair to the path.

  Yet follow her he did, getting lost in a trance right up until she paused momentarily at the embankment. It must have been a captivating sight, to see such a graceful dip before the Faerie Queen, for that is what he had convinced himself she was, jumped down with elegance and poise befitting her stature and race.

  As if to prove his point that she was less human and more a piece of nature, he shimmering, glittering, fluttering cloak was caught by the wind at the perfect time, just as she stood up.

  And that laugh. Agnor would never forget that laugh. It simultaneously shook him to his very core and make his cheeks flush with embarrassment and maybe something else.

  Agnor turned tail and ran. Sprinting and using skill after skill to get back to the city to warn them not to venture into this section of the Great Divide for at least a few years. Faerie Queens were some of the more lenient and often intelligent High Evolution monsters, but they were also some of the most dangerous should they ever be enraged.

  He fled, and felt a gaze on him.

  An amused and mischievous gaze.

  He'd been seen.

  Of course he had.