(Dyn)

  Dyn saportunity that no one else seemed to notice. “Are you one of the omnipotent gods?” he asked, wing as anooey spt echoed in the background. The image of the galizine bursting apart against the wall was still fresh in his mind.

  “Why do you ask, child of…” Perun trailed off. Instead, he said, “I see you’ve partaken in P’reslen’s looting ritual.” He eyed the entrails stuck to Dyn’s shoulder. “What knowledge do you seek?”

  Dyn leaned forward, his words rushing out. “We’re on this quest to find a hidden—”

  He was silenced when a stony hand cmped down on his shoulder, sending a sharp ache radiating through his arm. Ru had stepped into his line of sight, back to the Avatar, gring at him not to say another word.

  P’reslen’s grunting shattered the silence, followed by another squelg smack.

  “A quest for hidden treasure,” Perun said, g his hands together. The sharp crack of thunder echoed above them. “How mortally exg. And what is it you’re after?”

  Another bone-shattering bsp;of an exploding carcass sounded as P’reslen started throwing them faster. Ru turo the Avatar, her features shifting from a hard gre to a subdued, almost humble look.

  “These four are on a trial, my lord.” She held out her cwed hand, her fingers curling slightly as she gestured to the initiates. “I… ask that you to allow them to gain experience by pleting it themselves… without your diviervention.”

  To Dyn, Ru was ag weird. It wasn’t their quest; it was hers, and she’d made that abundantly clear multiple times. They were risking life and limb to find the damn thing, and they didn’t even know where to search. He didn’t uand why they couldn’t just ask the god.

  Dyn started to protest, his words cut short. “But he might know where—”

  Wedge’s grip tightened like a vice, grinding bones beh his hand. Dyn’s eyes watered as he bit his lip, whimpering. A sudden pop sent a jolt of panic rag through him—until he realized it was just another carcass exploding against the boulder.

  “Of course…” The Avatar nodded. “Far be it from me to ruin their adva.” He poio Ru. “But weren’t there two more in your team?” The Avatar’s head tilted, listening to another silent voice.

  Dyn released his breath as Wedge’s grip eased. Another loud bsp;echoed, a wet, visceral sound from P’reslen’s relentless work.

  “I see,” Perun said, turning tard Ru again. “Ostello tells me Quinten is trag a kaiju. May his hunt go well.” He paused for another moment and then frowned. “Ah, a shame Dorian isn’t here. I was going to offer him another ce to beat me at arm-wrestling…”

  “So, you just…” Dyn waved his hand bad forth. “Speak with Ostello in your head?” Another wet thud punctuated the question as P’reslen tio paint the stoh savagery.

  “His head,” Perun corrected. “But yes, he’s fully present during my possession.”

  Spt.

  Dyn wi every corpse explosion. “ you read his mind?”

  Smack.

  “I don’t o. He speaks his mind often.” The Avatar smiled faintly.

  Thump.

  He did his best to focus on the versation and not P’reslen’s gruesome task. “That… doesn’t sound like Ostello. He’s usually the quiet one. What’s he saying now?”

  Squish.

  The Avatar chuckled. “That you need a shower. And I agree. Here, this should help.” He spread his arms, and the air seemed to thrum with unseen power as the clouds released their water.

  ch.

  Dyhe first fat drop of water strike his head, heavy a. He looked up at the stormy clouds, and another spshed against his cheek, cold and refreshing. The pelting grew into a steady downpour, drumming against his skin and soaking through his clothes. He o himself as the galizine washed away, lifting a fio the sky, and smiled.

  “Actual god of storms….” Dyn exhaled as the rain drowned out the sounds of exploding corpses, another small blessing from the god.

  “Any ce you’ll make it stop once he’s ?” Ru’s fur, oted from ambient humidity, was now soaked and ging ture, making her look emaciated and frail pared to her usual hearty appearance.

  “Waste of a perfectly fiorm.” The Avatar shrugged. “But I suppose.”

  After Dyn was as as he could get without soap or a deathwash mae, the god kept his word, and the rain ceased. Nearby, Ru propped Athrax against a tree, ensuring he wouldn’t drown in a puddle.

  P’reslen showed up, his scales streaked with fresh purple gore that dripped from his cws and spattered his chest. “All set. Couldn’t loot a few Athrax cremated.”

  “Another requires my aid,” Perun said with a wide grin, his voice carrying a mix of amusement and purpose as he gestured toward the skies, summoning sing water once more.

  Ru ched her fists, her cws digging into her palms as she took a slow, deliberate breath. Sheets of water resumed falling, pstering her fur to her body as her shoulders sagged in quiet frustration.

  P’reslen lifted his face toward the sky, the cool rain running in rivulets down his scales as he closed his eyes, sav the natural shower. “Thanks, Perun!”

  “Anything good?” Ru had to shout to be heard between the crashing thunder and stant rain.

  “Some on hides and alchemy ingredients,” P’reslen shouted back. “If everyone carries some, we should be able t most of it back with us. Some hides might even have entments already.”

  That word caught Dyn’s attention. His gaming experieaught him it was a way to either bine or add magiething. He couldn’t help himself and said in a silly voice, “Entment!” They all looked at him as if he had another cussion. He waved away their . “Sorry, what are entments?”

  Hay’len stepped in close and said, “Magical items have several entments depending on their rank. os one, unowo, rare gets three, and so on.”

  “And so on…?” Dyed, looking at Hay’len, who had leaned in close, smiling as they shared what they knew. “How many ranks are there?”

  Hay’len had a wealth of knowledge about almost everything and excelled at expnations. They enjoyed diving into detail, and in those moments, they truly came into their own.

  The bashful drai ted out loud on their cwed digits. “There’s mundane, unranked, on, unon, rare, epic, legendary, mythical, aial. And those are just the ones we know of. Mundane isn’t magical, and unranked isn’t a rank, teically.” They quickly reted. “That makes seven official ranks in total.”

  “Very good, Hay’len,” Wedge said with a small nod, the fai hint of a smile crossing his face.

  W’itney pouted under a tree, their arms crossed as they pretended not to be jealous of the attention their youwin received. Meanwhile, Eury stood quietly nearby, her sharp eyes sing the group, soaking in every detail and silently learning from their experiences.

  Wedge approached Ru. “Perhaps I should take the initiates and search the nding zone again. Rec more echo locators would allow us to cover mround.”

  She looked at him ftly. “You know as well as I do that’s a waste of time. What’s your pn to find them? Pick up every hand sized rod talk to it?” Quinten and P’reslen only mao salvage three of the stones.

  “We have one lost brother. Speaking to him will make the other talk,” Wedge said.

  Ru frowned, her tail flicked with irritation at the ht. “That makes sense. But I won’t have you waste aire day on a wild ifrit hunt. Eury is the most reliable and the lightest.” Wedge gave a small nod in agreement.

  She turo the fident drai and said, “P’reslen, take Eury aurn to the Everafter to retrieve the single echo locato to the nding zone and speak into it. See if Eury locate the brother. Bring any other supplies you find back with you, aurn to the ship before dark.”

  P’reslen goward the sun, its fiery e glow sinking ever closer to the horizon. “That doesn’t give us much time.”

  “Make the best with what you have,” she said.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” P’reslen gave a curt nod. He approached Eury and paused before asking, “How do you want to do this, princess?” Dyn and the twins visibly wi the P-word, exging uneasy gnces, and braced for her rea.

  Eury bit her tongue, her jaw tightening as she forced a thin smile. “How’d you carry me if I weren’t a princess?”

  P’reslen shrugged and scooped her off her feet and into his arms. She reflexively g to his neck as he leaped into the air, the ground falling away beh them. Gentle gusts of air swirled around, ruffling her soaked rose gold hair as they asded. Dyn watched until they disappeared into the opy, the rustling leaves marking their passage.

  “Alright, everyoake what you easily carry, but don’t overdo it and hurt yourself,” Ru said, gng at Dyn. “There’s still a few hours of daylight and more than enough ground to search.” She turo the Avatar, motioning toward the unscious Athrax. “Would you mind carrying our friend?”

  “Of course, no harm will e to him while under my prote,” Perun said.

  Hay’len frowned, holding a length of hide daintily between two cwed fingers as it dripped with foul-smelling liquid. They g W’itney, who wasted no time stag yers of the slick material over their shoulder. Nearby, Dyn crouched low, pig through the gore-streaked ground for alchemical reagents, his nose wrinkling at the sharp, acrid stench.

  It wasn’t as difficult as he thought it’d be. The resources stood out amongst the gore, vely formed into squares, circles, or eometric, stackable shapes. He fashioned his cloak into a makeshift sac, the slimy pieces stig to the fabric as he shoved in as many alchemy parts as it could hold. He hefted the squishy, twitg bundle over his shoulder, feeling the occasional pulse against his back—a grotesque parody of Santa’s sack.

  The group tinued in the opposite dire of the beetle for the remaining hours before having to return to base. Dyn learhat on-ranked adventurers had more endurand could stay awake lohan mundane people or even unranked adventurers, such as himself. Quinten would be good to track the beetle for a couple of days before needing to be sed out for aeam member.

  The arc beetle had dotle more than patrol the open fields all day. Quinten had turned around earlier, fearing it was drawn to the storms above, but it had only worked up an appetite.

  Wading a few steps into the jungle and knog dowrees was just a way to prepare a snack. Arc beetles apparently ate trees. Hay’len suggested it was the sap they wanted but simply digested the eree to get it. After ing half a dozen trees, it resumed its patrol.

  The team still hadn’t e up with a viable pn to distract the arc beetle long enough to fly out of the jungle. Dyn distanced himself from Wedge before whispering to Hay’len, asking why they didn’t have Perun ‘smite’ the arc beetle.

  Hay’len expihat arc beetles were extremely resistant to arc attacks, like lightning, and that Perun couldn’t el enough of his power into Ostello’s on-ranked body to physically overpower a kaiju without killing him. But that would ge as Ostello ranked up and became a literal force of nature.

  Thankfully, Perun had grown bored with the mundane by the time they’d arrived back at the ship. He carefully set down the single-shoed, mud-smeared okamijin, still fast asleep, before saying his farewells and relinquishing trol back to his host.

  Ostello’s eyes dimmed, the glow fading back to their usual gold-flecked jade. He blinked sluggishly before stumbling to a knee, his chest heaving as a wave of exhaustion washed over him. Ru rushed to his side, her fur bristling with , but he pushed her away with a shaky arm.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said, his voice strained. His entire body trembled as he forced himself unsteadily to his feet. His gaze flicked down to the once-immacute fabric of his coat, now smeared with grime from Athrax. A faint twitch at the er of his mouth betrayed his dismay, but he straightened his shoulders, brushing at the stain with a weak, trembling hand. “Every time…” he muttered under his breath.

  They returo the Everafter just before dark. The ship remained grouhough his friend, Echo, was making steady progress. It was still too early for aimate on repairs, and Engineer Echo had been waiting for their return.

  He approached Ru, taking a deliberate, wide step into her path. “Pardoerruption.”

  Ru’s eyes shifted from Ostello to the mprian. “What is it?” Her gaze swept over him, sharp and calg, as if weighing his i. First Mate Echo was the one she usually dealt with.

  “Have you devised a way to distract the kaiju?” he asked, taking his hat in hand.

  “We’re still w on it,” she said, her tail swaying in agitation.

  “I’ve spent most of the day in frustration.” His skull slowly tilted from her to the floor. “If only we’d seen that infernal arc beetle first. The Everafter would have blown it to bits with her artillery.” Engineer Echo’s fist creaked as it tightened around the brim of the hat.

  Dyn gave him a puzzled look. “Why aren’t you helping Meic Echo?”

  His skull tilted slightly at the question. “I’m an engineer… Other than ara pair of hands. What use would I be in fixing the ship?”

  Dyn pursed his lips, gng to the side. “Maybe engineering means something different here…” He looked up and asked, “What do you do aboard the ship?”

  “I’m in charge of the artillery and munitions,” Engineer Echo said as if that should’ve been obvious.

  “Oh! That sort of engineering—the goblin kind,” he surmised.

  Engineer Echo leaned in. “A refugee knows of goblin engineering?” His voice carried a mix of disbelief and intrigue as he turo Ru. “How? Their teiques were lost during the Recordless Era. We’re still redisc them to this day…”

  Dyn swatted at an ihat buzzed his ear. “Goblins?”

  Hay’len heir head. “The fi engineers in the universe.”

  Dyn gnced between Hay’len and Engineer Echo. “Goblins…?” he repeated with raised eyebrows, making sure he hadn’t misuood them.

  “Yes…” the engineer responded slowly. “But we discuss aeology at a ter time. I’m here because the captain has ordered me to lighten our load by removing the munitions before we attempt to take off.” He sighed regretfully. “It’s a shame. We’ve a substantial stockpile and nothing to shoot at.”

  Ru’s ears perked up as she narrowed her eyes on him. “What do you mean?”

  “I modify the ordio detonate by proximity or timer, if you’d like. Otherwise, I’ll have to diffuse them so we leave them behind safely—wouldn’t want another expedition blowing themselves up. But holy, that would be a terrible waste of perfectly good explosives.”

  “You want to make us bombs?” Dyn’s mind fshed back to the moment he’d shot himself with his own gun, the burning pain still fresh in his memory. Blowing himself up would be much, much worse.

  Engineer Eodded, pg his tri hat atop his skull again. “I’m very good at blowing things up. Another reason for me to stay out of the engine room.”

  “For the record, ba Earth, engineers build things.”

  “I assure you, blowing things up is far more fun.”

  Ru sighed and said, “Dyn…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Stop talking.”

  His shoulders slumped. “Okay…”

  Ru dismissed the rest of them for the evening with a curt wave. She walked away with Engineer Echo, their hushed versation about explosive options fading into the gathering night.

  P’reslen showed up with Eury well past dark, handing Ru a set of matg echo locators before she could start berating him for not following orders. She stopped mid-sentence, her foot tapping with a mixture of annoyand gratitude as she silently gred at him. “Go get something to eat and be ready to head out in the m,” she said curtly.

  It’d been a long day, especially long for Dyn, who haden anything. Much to his relief, Echo had spared both the shower and the deathwash mae from disassembly. He waited his turn, sav the hot water washing away the grime and tension of the day. Afterward, he slipped into his only other pair of pants. He stayed up just long enough to wash the rest of his clothes, knowing he’d have to wear them again tomorrow.

  By the time he got back to his , he was ravenous, the emptiness gnawing at him. He did his best to ig, fog instead on the promise of rest.

  He’d gone a whole day without eating before. More than once, in fact. When hyperfog, he’d often disassociate—ign his bodily requirements of food, water, sleep, and the bathroom for hours at a time.

  He khere lenty of water to drink, and his lingering potbelly assured him he wasn’t running out of stored energy anytime soon.

  If he could just get to sleep, then the hunger would go away… Or so he thought.