Walking Montage

  I only realized that, of course, my recovery ability wouldn’t work with three people in the tent when I woke up sore and wheezing. Which, now that I thought about it, had unfortunate implications for any possible future romantic life I might have if I lived through this. And kept my recovery ability.

  In any case, in such a tight sleeping situation it was inevitable that once one of us was awake, the rest couldn’t help but do the same, and as such I didn’t feel terribly bad kicking everyone else out so that I could activate Hide in a Hole. And thereafter,

  Magic Item Charges:

  Staff of Spellwards: 1x Invisible Barrier (free); 1x Invisible Barrier; 1x Stasis Field; 1x Conjure Icicle

  Rod of the Depths: 1x Orb of Water

  Drakewrought Spellbook: 1x Any spell tier 3 or lower (applies to first spell cast, incantation required)

  Contingency:

  When an enemy is about to attack me, if I’m unaware of the incoming attack, cast Frozen Moment

  Ongoing Spells:

  Invisible Armor

  Spellrod (staff)

  This left me in the somewhat awkward position of having to travel with two staves, but honestly it wasn’t a big deal. If Gandalf could have two, even if for one scene, so could I. I figured I could use them kind of like those Scandinavian walking sticks my great-aunt had started using after her fall. For the moment in the morning, however, I set them down against the stone as I gathered up my tent with the help of the others and threw it in the dimensional pocket meant for it in my backpack. It was starting to become frustrating that the ‘of holding’ part of that bag could only hold the tent and camping supplies, as it was getting stuffed with assorted scrolls, books, and items.

  It did have an advantage that I reflexively felt bad for using - every morning there was a fresh set of traveling clothes in it. Now, normally, of course, I would never waste or pollute nature like that. But seeing as this was an artificial land created by an evil wizard, I managed to get over my trepidation and simply toss the clothes in a fire every morning when camping.

  I approached the small “campfire,” which was really a sustained spell of Anna’s that burned with very little smoke and hot enough to shift blue. My two companions were warming up by the fire. I was now fully rested, more than I could have been from sleep, so when I threw yesterday’s clothes on the fire, Anna looked up with confusion and annoyance.

  “Magic clothes. Come back every morning,” I said as they lit up and began burning with rather a lot more smoke now. As it did, I got an oh shit look on my face. I really should have thought of that, but on the other hand, even with magical recovery, I still hadn’t had coffee. Anna groaned.

  “Whatever. We will be out of here in a minute. Out of food anyways. No breakfast,” she said.

  “We should be in optimal state regardless, and I would very much like to depart as soon as possible. We will push hard and rendezvous with Artemis tonight if I have anything to say about it,” Clarence said.

  “Forty miles or so. Technically possible, I guess, but that’s a thirteen-hour death march at best of conditions,” I said.

  “We’ll get there in fourteen if we stop and use recovery abilities a couple of times. Should be doable,” Anna said.

  “No food is going to get rough at that point,” I said.

  “I must insist, however, that in this case ‘getting rough,’ as you say, will be exactly what we will do,” Clarence said. He didn’t shout. I do not believe he ever shouted. But he had lost his temper in a way that I had never seen the man do. We were stunned into silence for a few seconds, and he added,

  “I apologize, but as I understand it, this is an issue of some urgency.”

  I stood and brushed my robes to the side and put my hat on.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, I was still thinking of this in hiking terms. That’s my context for this sort of thing. Of course we should get there as fast as possible. Just remember that we two haven’t been putting points into physical attributes,” I said.

  “So let’s fucking get going then,” Anna said, shouldering her own messenger bag over her tattered black robes.

  It quickly became apparent that even fourteen hours was optimistic. While I had a perfect compass in my head to Artemis due to the party ability, the terrain was far from ideal. Uphill and untrod forest - it was hard enough that the spellcasters among us were winded before we hit the first hour mark. I knew it would have been worse before we hit the Tower - despite what I’d said, athletics and survival were skills unrelated to attributes that we had all gained here, and I had put a point into agility at least before my physical advancement was stunted by that fucking trait.

  All of which is to say that our advancement through the moss- and root-covered floor of the forest, interrupted by rock outcroppings and sheer cliffs more than once, was arduous rather than impossible. I knew it could have been worse - this sort of evergreen forest on top of rocky soil and moss was manageable as far as terrain went, so long as there weren’t too many fallen trees, and as much as Xem had worked on making this demiplane feel real, he hadn’t bothered with simulating the natural dying-off and rotting of trees that would have happened in a true wild growth. As such, large roots, rocks, and slippery moss in wetter areas were our main hindrances.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Clarence was clearly frustrated at having to slow down and wait for us to catch up. The late middle-aged lawyer was leaping rock to rock, balancing on sheer edges, and even dodging falling branches, as Anna and I kept up at a punishing but still walking pace. The first hour was rough. The second hour was worse. By the third we’d entered the sort of mindless, trudging one-foot-in-front-of-the-other march that felt like we’d give up instantly if only one of the others suggested it. It was then that some of our mental attributes came into use, as we didn’t slow down. Both of our willpowers were now such that we would only stop walking when our bodies literally gave out. And humans are persistence hunters, after all.

  We kept going for two more hours after that point.

  “Anna, Alex, I must admit that you have slowed down to a significant degree,” Clarence said, after cresting another ridge of boulders and jutting rocks among the firs.

  “Fuck you,” Anna said, and she sounded as exhausted as I felt. She fell down to sitting as soon as she saw that we were stopping, leaned against a particularly large and mossy boulder we’d been walking around before Clarence doubled back for us.

  “Time to use recovery,” I said. I didn’t sit down. I was looking for somewhere to hide.

  “Oh. Right. Sorry,” she said, and then she traced lines in the air in a manner that reminded me of the sigils in my books, and then flames engulfed her. It was terrifying to see. She looked almost exactly like any of the examples of self-immolation in the history of Earth. That she would not be burned by it but instead healed did little to diminish the visual impact of it.

  Clarence pulled out a fat stack of papers from his briefcase and sat down to work. I didn’t know what his ability was exactly, but it would be in keeping with his title of ‘Administrative’ to have a recovery ability tied to working through it.

  That left me. I had to be hidden from all eyes in an enclosed space. There weren’t great, immediately obvious options, but I thought I saw how I could make do. The foliage of the great firs around us was dense, and only kept getting more so for several dozen feet high. I climbed one such tree and soon enough was surrounded on all sides by the fragrant needles of a Christmas tree. I took deep breaths and hoped that this would be enough. I waited for my ability to kick in.

  It did, and it immediately felt amazing. Muscle recovery that should have taken days, if not weeks, began instantly, at a physically felt pace. My lungs stopped burning, the blisters on my feet closed and soon stopped aching, and the myriad small scrapes and cuts from the breakneck pace through the woods soon followed. We’d made good time. Very good time. It was still possible to reach Artemis tonight.

  And then, before the ability had run its course, it stopped working. It wasn’t the first time. I knew the only reason it would do that was if somebody else suddenly perceived me. So I just fell out of the tree, not risking being attacked away from my friends. I hit the ground. There was a rock there. It hurt pretty bad. I said something like “oof.”

  Anna was still on fire, but she stood up and ran toward me, while Clarence was done with his own ability, apparently, and instead of rushing toward me, he took a single step back and disappeared into the shadows.

  “Someone saw me,” I groaned from the ground. “Not attacking yet. Another ability would have activated.”

  “Slash and burn?” Anna said, raising her hands up to her sides.

  “Huh?” I said.

  “If I burn away all plant matter they won’t be able to hide,” Anna said.

  “Call that plan C,” I said, getting back to sitting, then to my feet. I was still sore, but this was hardly the worst condition that my ability had healed. “Whoever is out there, we know you’re there. You will not be able to get the first strike against us. Come out now.”

  The creature seemed to materialize so naturally that I doubted my own words. Even when it was in full view, my eyes still kind of refused to parse it as a creature. It looked exactly like those images you see in patterns of wood or trees, or really any other random patterns. Its face was a collection of willow branches and leaves, its body seemed nearly disconnected from it entirely, and the limbs weren’t even as defined as that, and I could barely make them out from the moss and branches in the background when it wasn’t moving.

  “Don’t burn, please,” it said. It had a strange, throaty whispering voice. “I gotta get out of here.”

  “Who are you?” I said.

  “Tourist. I bought a Journal. Mighty power and adventure. With some friends. They all dead now,” the creature said.

  My HUD said it was level 12, at full hit points and mana. It didn’t seem likely that it would be a threat to any of us unless it literally got us while we were asleep.

  “I am Alex. This is Anna. Do you have a name?” I said.

  “I am Wurm. I am fearful. Can you protect me?” Wurm said.

  “C’mon, boss, they can hide in the woods. Just wait for it to blow over, civvie,” Chum said.

  “Checkpoint would be safe for them, if not for the invasion,” I said.

  “Invasion, yes. We saw a portal. Not very far away. We will help you in exchange for safe protection?” Wurm said.

  “It would indeed seem to be the right thing to do, at least,” Clarence said, directly behind Wurm, who then jumped.

  “Take us to the portal. Let’s burn this shit down,” Anna said.

  Wurm didn’t take much more convincing, and he didn’t seem to act very human in fear. Whenever they were frightened, they became more transparent, for lack of a better term, and harder to see. At times only Clarence could see them, and we followed Wurm for most of the rest of the day. Four more hours later, I could literally taste the magic in the air. Also smoke.

  We reached the edge of a clearing and saw an unstable portal glimmering in the middle of it. The clearing was covered in ash and the burned stumps of trees, clearly made by the conjuration itself. And out of the portal, strange creatures were emerging - scaled, tall, and muscular.