We walked at the quickest pace that Van could carry Nadia without it looking painful. I was glad he wasn’t wearing his new helmet, everytime time he turned his head he would have cut her. Marci kept an eye on us from the sky but no threats showed themselves. Marci sent me a few images of beasts roaming here and there mostly out of boredom.

  Marci hunted bushbears and other small rodents. She saw a few partially eaten corpses, probably bears getting ready to sleep for the winter. Hyenas and other scavengers picked at the corpses and watched us from a distance. A pack of arranx harassed Marci until she snapped at one of them and nearly killed it. The big birds left her alone after that.

  We had not explored the southern or eastern edges of the forest at all since the framework initialized. The academy had taught us basic geography of Eter. I must not have paid much attention as I tried to remember what lay south of the eternal forest. Pulling up my map and zooming way out left nearly everywhere white. I needed to meet someone with a map skill to trade information with to update my own.

  To the north would be the border with Norx, and eventually a country called Desti. I knew almost nothing of Desti, nor of the people from there. The Giants Grove formed the border between Eter and Norx, formerly home to the city of Grove. In my dreams I had seen other humanoid species living deep in the old forest.

  The massive Eleuthera likely lived there where the trees grew tallest. I wondered if the forest apes had ever encountered the others living in the forest. Were they friendly? Did they trade with humans? Had they even lived there before the framework or had they been ripped from their own world like the Thorks Miners? Too many questions without answers as usual.

  To the east would be the Shurin Mountains. My father had been in the mountains occasionally during his career and always described it as a place of unparalleled beauty. They ran from the southern edge of Eter and its border with Sumain all the way north to the end of the world. Even before the framework the mountains had been home to beasts of legend.

  There was only one common pass through the mountains. The Sisters pass was a narrow but relatively flat valley that connected Eter to Aaith. There was a city on the Eter side called Elestra. It was the only city of note on the east side of the forest, surrounded by small towns like Burch.

  Aaith was the country to the east of the Shurin Mountains. Nadia had mentioned traders coming from the desert country to the towns and cities of southern Eter. As far as I knew I had never met anyone from Aaith. It was said to be a large, unending desert full of ferocious storms. The people there were nomads who lived in traveling groups herding the few beasts that could survive in the harsh terrain.

  Sumain was the country to the south of Eter and Aaith. It bordered the ocean on its western edge and was the same desert as Aiath on the eastern edge. It had a friendly relationship with Eter and were frequent trading partners. I had a few childhood friends that were descended from Sumain. My father has always spoken kindly about the people from there.

  It was still a few hours to dusk. Marci was off on her own adventure nearby either hunting or harassing other birds. Van was still carrying Nadia over his shoulder, unaffected by the woman's weight. He was bored but trying not to show it. I checked over my interface to see all the changes since the dungeon.

  I had little frame of reference for strength compared to others near my level. I felt strong, my skills were varied and balanced. I was worried about having to fight in melee range without Van around but confident in my spear skills. The bombs were still in my inventory as a last resort, the collateral damage in a town or Etes would be far too high to risk.

  What kind of classes did the other leaderboard people have? Did anyone have beast companions like me? Were there other necromancers like Allain? If things went well in Etes I hoped to gather as much information as possible about the changes to the rest of the world. The lack of information was the biggest downside to living in the Old Mining Camp so far from everywhere.

  We reached the edge of the forest near dusk. Sunlight faded fast from above the canopy, the temperature dropping sharply. It was well into the turn to winter now, the nights on the plains would begin to get freezing cold with nightly winds. I wrapped my cloak tighter around my shoulders and felt mild concern that Nadia would be cold. I checked her health again to see it still at one.

  I was nervous to start a fire and draw attention to us but I didn’t have another way to keep Nadia warm. Marci gave a chirp and shivered on my shoulder, making the decision for me. She had become used to the warmth of the mine, never having actually lived out of it. Van seemed indifferent to the cold, his fur was enough to keep him warm, or he just didn’t care.

  It only took a few minutes to gather enough firewood for the night. The forest around here was young, trees falling with every storm. The tallest tree around me I guessed was only fifty feet high compared to the hundreds of feet tall back near the mine. I picked a spot in a clearing a few dozen feet off the trader path. The flames would be visible but Marci hadn’t seen anyone during the day.

  We snuggled together near the flames. Van and Nadia on my left side backed against a tree for cover. Marci was on my shoulder under my cloak hiding from the wind. Dinner was jerky from some form of beast that had been harvested by the town while we were in the dungeon and vegetable soup. The new cook in the mine had used his skills to craft a block that could be heated to create a soup. It simply needed to be placed in a bowl. It tasted wonderful and I vowed to find and thank the new cook as soon as possible.

  My eyes got heavy as my mind slowly spun down from the events of the day. My feelings towards Nadia and her story were complicated. One on hand I abhorred the way she had been treated by the King, including her family. On the other, she was trying to use me to spearhead a movement that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be involved in.

  My childhood in Etes had been good. I had friends, we lived in a nice house and never wanted for anything. I missed my neighbors and the kids I had grown up with, I missed my mother tremendously. I felt indifferent towards returning to the city, there was a stronger connection to the Old Mining Camp.

  I tried in vain to explain the concept of a watch rotation to Van and Marci. Van agreed that sleep was important, as was keeping watch. He, however, did not seem to care that Marci and I needed sleep, as long as he slept he was happy. Marci just looked at me and chirped. She slept or she didn’t, there was no middle ground.

  I ended up trying to make a game of it and told Marci to drop sticks on Van’s head every time he tried to go to sleep. I told Van to throw a stick at Marci every time she tried to sleep. Both of my companions radiated enjoyment and playfulness. It was easy to forget sometimes that Marci was barely a few months old. I wasn’t sure exactly how old Van was, he didn’t understand the concept of age so I couldn’t ask him.

  My eyes grew heavy, lost in my thoughts. Placing enough wood on the fire to keep it burning while I slept, I hunkered down in my cloak. My bow and spear were beside me for easy access. I sent out one last thought to Marci and Van reminding them of the game. Nadia was still at one health, unconscious, as the world faded away.

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