If I hadn’t been nearly run over by the lady as she’d left the library this morning I’d still be concerned that the guild hadn’t let her know her scroll was ready. She had seemed as alarmed as I was about it. I actually watched as she ran down the street, not heading to Marigold at the desk until she had turned a corner.

  “Was that the adventurer?” I asked as if I wasn’t already certain.

  The librarian nodded, putting the money the commission had earned away. “It seems to have alarmed her as much as it did you. I did not read it myself. Is there a worry for the city by any chance?”

  “I doubt it boss. It was some kind of strange infection at a mine. I’m guessing that is close to Terath? I’m still learning the cities in the area.”

  “Ah. Well, I should make that part of your job as there are books better sorted into regional history by distance to Dacathus. Take some time to study that will you? It will help with shelving and directing those who wish to study.”

  ————

  Raven made her way back to the adventurer guild. She was broke and in a bit of a daze. She did not have money to eat, let alone stay another night at the Gleaming Crest. But the message had been sent. She prayed it wasn’t too late. The service wouldn’t get a confirmation, but if the guild payed to send anything back to Dacathus she might be contacted at the guild here.

  The talloni clerk was back behind the desk of the guild when she entered. She didn’t see Jace anywhere. Either he’d come and gone already or wasn’t here yet. That last job they’d done had paid more than the one she did solo, but she had told him to take the fee for himself. Now she wished she hadn’t. She needed something to live off of.

  When the door opened a pair of snail-like creatures with painted shells of green and brown with packs at their sides made their way in. Raven had never seen one of these guys before, having spent her youth in a village of mostly paracrest and her last few years in a desert city. She’d read of them though, oraths. One went to the counter, her eye stalks going to their full extent as the other hung back, moving her head to look around. She broke off from her companion at the desk and headed over to the board just as Raven was.

  “Ah, nots many jobs for two warriors” The orath hissed in her flemy voice. Her mouth tentacles bobbed as she spoke out loud, helping form the voice into understandable common speech.

  “Or for one kicking mage.” Raven agreed, looking at the list. She wasn’t sure if the woman normally spoke out loud or did so just for a response.

  The orath extended her eye stalks, swiveling them to look at Raven. “You have magics?”

  Raven couldn’t help but smile at that. She could see, now that she was up close with the woman, that her skin was dried out around her face. The smaller row of unmoving eyes between the stalks had clear signs of need. She used her magic to create a small amount of water and offer it.

  The orath’s eye stalks bugged out higher at the gesture and quickly wrapped the short face tentacles around the offering, slurping it down. “Thanks you kinds strangers.” She turned her whole neck to face Raven, not just the eyes this time. “I take its you are also lookings for works?”

  “Yes. My normal guild is up north in Terath but I came down here to visit the scholar ward and well, had to spend all my money to warm my guild about something quickly. I need to make more money if I am to get home.”

  “Wells, my sister ands I just got here too. She is checkings in as I checks this boards.”

  As they both looked again the other orath moved over to them. “Well sister” she began, addressing the woman Raven had been speaking with, “Looks like there are a few job offerings not on the board yet but they require more than just a group of two. Concerns for our safety.” This one’s speech was much easier to understand than her sister.

  “How many more?” Raven asked, seeing eye stalks flick to her. “I do not have a party here but I know a guy.”

  “And just who are you?”

  “My name is Raven. I’m based out of Terath to the north.”

  “Veshy.” The new comer told her, “And this is my sister Isky. We are the Seeker sisters with no home base.”

  “Pleaseds to meets you.” Isky chimed in, “Ands sister, she has waters magics.”

  At that Raven conjured another small globe of water and offered it to Veshy. “I am a level 8 [Mage] with healing and water spells. I’m also a [Body Adept] with 5 levels.”

  Veshy slurped the water in, her eye-stalks retracting. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a [Body Adept] before. [Mage]s yes. Water throwing magic users are always welcome with us, especially in dryer climates like this.”

  So that is how a new, temporary, party formed. Raven needed the money, the Seeker sisters wanted a better, more interesting job, and Jace, when he got there to turn in the quest from the day before, just wanted to be included in something. He’d even offered Raven a split after the fact but she turned him down as a matter of pride. She’d promised him that money. Now she had a new job that could make up for her losses.

  —————————

  The quest was simple enough, at least on the surface. One of the trade routes south, a few hours from the city, had discovered the partial wreckage of a transport wagon. It wasn’t on the main road but one of the side paths typically used as rest areas. Since it was not within the bounds of the city nor in the influence of a town in the area it fell on the local adventurer guilds to investigate and deal with such problems.

  If it was a monster or a small group of bandits they were to deal with it. If the problem turned out to be bigger than thought they would return to the guild and report for an even larger group. In guild influenced and controlled lands this was always a guild job. Cities had their guards, but roads rarely did.

  They started with a bit of tracking. Isky the [Hunter] got to work with this. The orath lead the way following tracks in the dirt too faint for Raven to make out. The paracrest had a pack with supplies, a cheap bedroll for herself as she had not brought one down here from Terath, and food for the group. The trail lead into the forest which covered much of the south and east of the land beyond Dacathus. It had been some time since she’d last been among the trees. Her home village was in a grasslands where hills were more of a thing, not covered in trees.

  The sisters though seemed right at home. While some might look at their bodies and think that they were like hillsec with shells they actually had a single foot of sorts rather than moving on their bellies. As such it could curl to the sides enabling them to climb trees and near vertical surfaces, not unlike goats. They weren’t even that slimy, having an absorbent sleeve on their tails to deal with any mess other races might find offensive in their wake.

  Isky climbed quickly up one of the trees as the three of them held back once they reached the full cover of the forest. Raven kept on alert but left her staff on her back. On her right Jace held a modified crossbow, ready for action should anything rush at them. On her left, Veshy had a orath sword blade replacing her natural blade on one of her lower tentacles.

  The [Hunter] moved back down the tree on her silent foot, dropping gently to the leaf-cover. “I cans see parts of a wagons a ways this ways” She pointed with her top tentacle arm.

  Veshy pulled into the lead position, swiveling her eye-stalks back to Raven and Jace. “Alright. Stay behind me and try to be as quiet as possible.”

  Jace lowered his crossbow as he exchanged a look with Raven. Neither were the most stealthy of people but Raven would try her best. It was slow moving to the place Isky had indicated. There, crunched up between several trees was the remains of a wagon. Most of what hadn’t been left by the road. Blood was splattered along the inside along with various spilled goods, but no bodies remained.

  “Not bandits…” Raven breathed, “I don’t like the look of this.”

  Isky picked something up in the split at the end of her top tentacle. It was a torn bolt of cloth. “Bandits leave bodies nots goods.” She said in agreement, dropping the item before casting her eyes around again.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “What is big enough to drag a wagon this far?” Jace asked, his voice peppered with nervousness, “A giant bear?”

  “I have nevers seen marks like thats.” Isky pointed towards the bark of one of the trees the wagon was wedged up against. There were sections of bark just gone, showing deep rings of the tree. “Mosts do nots remove barks like this. They claws or take barks froms the lowests parts.”

  Raven finally pulled her staff. Something big enough to grab a wagon but flexible enough to get through trees and take out the people from inside? This did not bode well. She peered up and around the trees, almost expecting it to strike like that giant snake had back in the desert.

  “Is there still a trail?” Jace asked.

  “Of course. Its is through here”

  Veshy spread out some from her sister, staggering their formation. Raven could feel her heart beat faster at the sight. The warriors expected it to be close by, and dangerous. The wagon alone was proof of that. Something big from the look of it, but not known to a seasoned hunter. That meant a monster, possibly one never cataloged before. Rare things that appeared out of nowhere and often tore apart anything in their wake.

  The paracrest’s sail tightened as she kept her eyes out for danger. The two orath kept swiveling their stalks even as they pulled their heads tighter to their shells. It was Jace though that first noticed something. Humans had some of the best pattern recognition senses of any of the peoples so spotting something camouflaged without a skill was on brand for one of them.

  “What is that?” He hissed, pointing up in the canopy of the trees they were approaching. Everyone stopped, even backing slightly.

  The monster lowered itself from the trees. Brown and dark purple in color with five limbs circled around the center mass. A large mouth opened in a circle, filled with tentacles rather than teeth. One of its limbs, a grasping appendage with five circling fingers reached down towards Isky. It was as big as she was. No wonder it had been able to pull a cart.

  The [Hunter] fired her sling up into the hand as Veshy rushed forward to slash at one of the supporting limbs. Jace fired into the center mass, almost wildly from Raven’s view as the [Mage] sent a spurt of water flying at one of the other supporting limbs, trying to break its connection to the tree.

  It did not roar, as one might expect a giant monster to do, instead it was more of a slurping noise. The appendage reaching for Isky faltered even as the woman got out of its path. She fired again, this time at the side of the limb, hard enough to shred flesh. Purple blood oozed out of the wound.

  Raven sent out another controlled water spell, this time aiming for visible wound spots. Jace was still firing at the giant mouth that filled the center of the creature as the sisters went for limbs. Evidently the wagon had been easy prey to take for this thing, likely taking out the guard before they could react and moving off with the prize without anyone able to fight back. The four of them though, armed and ready sent the thing on another course.

  It swung into another tree, tearing bark free with one of its large hands as it scrambled to get away from them. The back of the thing was more like a large bulge, fleshy and an easier target for the crossbow. Raven didn’t think this thing had bones from the way that the missile weapons were tearing through it. Purple blood rained down upon them even as the monster got away.

  “We needs to follows it.” Isky declared even as Jace wiped blood from his face.

  “That thing is huge.” He groaned, but still reloaded his crossbow.

  “But not as tough as it thinks.” Veshy told him, “Unless there are more it will be easy. It ran as soon as it got hurt. Come, the guild will be most pleased and we might be able to sell the corpse as well.”

  ————————————

  I spent the next few days feeling mildly concerned about the transcription I had done. So much so I’d made a copy for myself. Tick hadn’t tried to stop me so I figured it was ok.

  I had the copy with me, just reading it over again one morning when I walked into the main room. Thanolin was in a rare mood, hoping around the rice pot. “Oh, you’re awake my boy. Just in time for a meal.”

  “Good morning professor.” I set the paper down, studying the Aulterun, “I thought classes ended a few hours ago?”

  “Ah yes, it ran well over. We had a special project in my physiology class. A unique monster brought in by the adventuring guild. Huge, very dead, and very strange. Reminded me of a giant starfish but one that lived in forests.”

  I wasn’t sure what a starfish was, trying to picture it but all I could see was something glowing in a ball. He must have gotten used to reading my face by now because Thanolin continued. “Five limbs arranged around a central body with the mouth at the center. Most fascinating! Big enough to grab a civith in one of its hands and eat me whole if it had wanted.”

  I shivered at the idea of something so big and weird. We didn’t have anything that looked like that on my world, and it seemed like the professor had never seen anything like it either except maybe this starfish thing he compared it to. “I have never seen anything that I could describe that way either.” I told him, sitting as he served the rice. He placed several sauces on the table, one close to himself and one over where even now Bibbel was sitting.

  “Morning prof..” The sleepy paracrest muttered, taking the offered sauce and adding it to his rice. I took some of both as well, a fermented fish sauce and a spicy sauce respectively.

  “It ran long with the dissection of the monster. There is no telling if more might show up.” The professor continued, “One would hope not. A party of four adventurers took it down but apparently it had taken out a wagon or two on the road south. There were still pieces of them inside the creature. Human and aulterun from the look.”

  I felt my stomach roll for a moment when he mentioned the attack, thinking of Hestern and Lemet. They had a cart they used for transporting goods, often from the south and east. It could have easily been them, but they were not human nor aulterun. I doubted such remains could be confused with lizardfolk. Maybe I should check in to say hello with them. They had been so good to me when I first got here.

  “What kinda monster?” Bibbel lifted his head, sail hanging limply against his neck.

  “It has no formal name yet but I am thinking of it like a giant forest star. I would also love to see if the adventurers who hunted it are up for a chat about what they saw as well. It will help round out the report.”

  I slowly ate my rice, forgetting all about the scroll copy until I heard the professor ask, “What’s this?” He was putting a wing on it, head tilted as he read the content. “Fascinating. A crystal infection? How strange. Well, they do grow over time with the right materials around them of course, but the idea of them growing on a person, most peculiar. Probably magic based. Would have to talk to a high level [Mage] about that though I’d imagine.”

  I hadn’t meant to leave that out, but as he talked I remembered him telling me he had a fondness for crystals and gems. This was his field, as much as his teaching of physiology. “I’m not sure if I should have this,” I admitted, “I was copying an old scroll for an adventurer and made an extra with my own materials. The restorationest didn’t object. I was alarmed about it.”

  “Well, it is your own copy boy, it’s not like you took a priceless scroll from an archive now did you?” He hooted. Even Bibbel seemed to pick his head up at that.

  “Infection? Crystals are commodities. They can be sold going west to Varcalis for [Mage]s if they are of the right quality or they can be processed into jewelry.” He sounded like he was rehearsing for a test.

  “That is correct.” Thanolin sounded pleased with the paracrest for a change, “They are indeed a standard trade good for several markets, but unlike say iron and gold, a crystal grows. It takes time but you can even make your own tiny ones of various kinds. I show my class how to do it. Nothing pretty of course…”

  The professor kept talking but all I could do was think. Hospitables, groups of alien life that could exist in the same world as my kind of life but whose processes were radically different. Creatures that to us are made of rock and stone, or of crystal formations. What if it wasn’t just compatible life here, but hospitable in some quantities? The crystals could be all that is left of a kind of life, adapting how it could to leach materials out of my kind of life. That was a known thing, now that I thought of it. Long ago lessons from alien biology class.

  Hospitables couldn’t eat the same food as they didn’t live off the same processes we did. But life tended to channel different materials. My blood had bits of iron and zinc for example. These were minor things, we couldn’t live without them but they were not even our building blocks. For some creatures, these things were as fundamental to them as oxygen and carbon were to me.

  I shivered, the new horrible thoughts going through my mind. I didn’t even notice the other two staring at me at first.

  “Are you ok boy?” Thanolin asked.

  “I just… it occurred to me that maybe this infection is a monster too. Different from that, what did you call it, forest star?”

  “A living crystal, like some kind of elemental! Of course, rare outside of the very deep but this scroll does speak of a mine.”

  Elemental. That would be a good word for some kinds of hospitable races. After all, what else would a pre-contact people of my biology type call a being made out of rock with no blood or organs they could understand?

  —————

  I was a bit late for work, a first for me. After the discussion over breakfast I picked up a few meat pastries and dropped in on my former hosts. They were pleased to see me, commenting on how well I was doing as I shared the food with them. I asked them to be careful, describing the monster Thanolin had told me of as best as I could before I hurried back to the scholar ward.

  Marigold was staring at me, thumping her wide flat tail as I came in. “You have never been late before.” Her eyes seemed to bore into me as I bowed my head.

  “I am very sorry. I did not have any intention of being late but had to check on some people before I came in today. I just learned about attacks on transport wagons to the south of the city and knew some people in that line of work. I should have waited till this evening and I will restrain myself from acting so rashly in the future.”

  Marigold’s face softened a little. She let out a sigh, “Well, not too late. And you can make up the difference by staying later with the shelving.”

  That was no hard chore for me. When there was nothing to shelve and no one to help find a book I had my location reading to do. But rather than do that today I looked for another book. Elementals. I wanted to read up on what they were, how they fit in, and if I recognized any.

  There was a discussion in the book I found about such things existing in the world of the elementals, supposedly deep underground. Further than most mines went. But I also found something surprising. In Varcalis, the biggest city on this continent, all known peoples gathered. Including one listed in the book. An elemental people made of stone called the braviki. They were supposed to be rare outside of the elemental deeps, but the city had a population here on the surface and as any race did, sometimes they joined adventuring guilds to travel around.

  The description of them and other elementals didn’t sound familiar but I wondered if seeing them in person would change that.