“Who even are you?” Cardinal asked the Dwarf. He had finished collecting his thoughts within 3 minutes of traversing through the forest. He was still wounded.

  “Marsa sent me,” the Dwarf said in response.

  “Oh, that makes sense,” Veronica said while swatting a fairy branch out of the way. The forest was overcome with the invasive species, something that wasn’t present in the game before it turned real.

  “Is Marsa okay?” Cardinal asked while they moved forward, the fairy branch having less hold the further they went into the forest.

  “I’ve been wondering that also,” Veronica added.

  The Dwarf turned to them as he jumped on a small steep, “She’s just fine. Her cover hasn’t been blown.”

  They followed him up the steep, the relief of that statement made it easier. Veronica helped Cardinal up to account for his wound. “Ow!” he said as he stepped over.

  “Oh, apologies,” The Dwarf started as he stopped on the path and turned to them. “My name is Bike, you guys?”

  Cardinal’s laughter broke out instantly, “Bike? Like, two wheels?”

  Veronica felt the need to laugh, but she held it in.

  “I don’t recall something named a ‘bike’ with two wheels,” Bike said.

  “You don’t know what a bike is?” Veronica asked.

  “Nope,” Bike responded.

  “Where are you even from?” Cardinal asked, still in disbelief.

  “From Gritzgaldr of course!” Bike said. Veronica and Cardinal were left in confusion, but realized within the same moment- Bike wasn’t an outworlder!

  Cardinal winced in pain afterwards, “Okay, I’m Cardinal and this is Veronica, let’s keep moving, I’m sorta in pain if you couldn’t tell.”

  Veronica nodded and followed along as the others started moving on the path. She started to not feel like herself, as if that wasn’t already exemplified by the fact she was a zombie in a world that used to be fictional.

  She walked behind Bike with Cardinal, his long, puffy, green hair blended in with the foliage of the forest at points, but was distinct enough to not be fully blended. “We are almost there,” Cardinal said while ponting to a split in the path.

  “I’m guessing you memorized the map?” Veronica asked.

  “Probably,” Cardinal said.

  “You won’t need a map for much longer, I’m accustomed to these woods!” Bike said boastingly while pointing to himself.

  “You mean forests,” Cardinal said jokingly.

  “Same thing!” Bike said before putting his hand down and continuing on the path.

  They walked for a bit more, the forest becoming green, then pink and green. The Fae Forest had always been one of Veronica’s favorite farming spots. It was such a beautiful display of design and the soundtrack was always calming.

  The group came into a clearing that had a pond, the standard shiny kind found in the Fae Forest. They went over it and continued on until they came to a broken tree in the road.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “How did this get here?” Asked Cardinal.

  “Beats me.” Veronica said. She didn’t recall a tree being a part of the map of the forest before. This was probably another alteration made post-teleport.

  Bike went to the end of the broken tree, insepcting it before turning to us, “This branch was spawned with a nature spell,” he said.

  “Nature spell?” Cardinal asked.

  Bike looked around before answering, “Yeah, it isn’t like the other trees, it has no deep roots, it’s the result of a spell.”

  “And the implications of that are?” Veronica asked.

  “Someone intentionally put this here to block us, maybe it’s a sign to leave,” Bike said while eyeing the area.

  “Hell no,” Cardinal said while positioning himself onto the tree, “Starch died for this plan, we are following it. End of discussion.” wiith those words, he finished scaling the tree and slide over. “Now get over here, Wistgardia isn’t a moving city last time I checked.”

  Veronica helped Bike up the tree before going up herself. The view on the other side was nearly the same, only there was something yellow in the air. It seemed to be some kind of force field. “What is that?” she asked.

  “A nature barrier,” Cardinal said. “I’ve fought players who used that spell before, it’s a Druid Class thing.”

  “Well, I think we-” Before she could finish her words, a thorny branch sprang up, she dodged it, barely.

  “Yep, it’ a Druid!” Cardinal said as he tried his best to dodge with the assistance of Bike.

  “Stay back!” Bike yelled as he shot a holy light attack at the vine.

  [-10]

  “That’s it?” Veronica thought to herself. We were most definently screwed. She wondered why she was just now seeing numbers again. She thought maybe the ability was combat activated.

  Within a few more seconds of dodging, a wall of vines and branches sprung up between them, leaving Veronica divided from Bike and Cardinal

  “Shit!” she thought to herself.

  Her mana should have regenerated by then, but she doubted her skeletons would matter all that much. Druids are a splinter class of healer, meaning they would have some light magic left from their prior classes. It wasn’t looking good.

  “Why are you attacking us!” Veronica yelled. “Aren’t Druids supposed to be peaceful?”

  Within that moment, the wall of vines and branches receded back into the ground, leaving the other in her visible sight again.

  “What Druid do you speak of?” A tender voice spoke, followed by a sweet scent. It smelt like lavender and lilac, just good things in general.

  Veronica turned to the direction of the voice, in the center of the path lied a woman. A spectral woman with deer antlers and a greenish-yellow aura. “A nature spirit?” The group said in unison at the discovery.

  “Yes, I am a spirit of the forest, I serve the Mother of Nature in teaching her arts to those who wish to become Druids,” The spirit spoke while walking towards them, a trail of flowers followed her feet.

  Veronica couldn’t believe it, an attacking Mentor NPC? In the game world, Mentor NPC types were docile and peaceful, they would never attack without being attacked first. Not only did this NPC have the ability to attack without being aggrivated, her dialogue was completely new.

  “Why did you attack us?” asked Cardinal. He was visibly bitter at the encounter.

  “I have the same question,” added Bike.

  The spirit turned to Veronica, her spectral robes draping from her wrist as she pointed to her, “She was the intended target,” She said as her finger still directed towards Veronica.

  “Why me?” she asked.

  She lowered her hand, “The undead have used our lands as nothing but a means of war,” she said as she waved her hand, revealing destroyed trees, clears remnants of a battle between two forces.

  “Sorry for all of this,” Veronica said before walking towards her. “But we wish you no harm, in fact, our travel through the forest is because we have the end goal of ending this war.”

  Cardinal nodded in agreement while Bike looked slightly confused.

  The nature spirit looked to them, “And how do you intend to do that?”

  “By enlisting the help of Wistgardia, we can make sure no more damage is done to your forests,” Veronica said passionately.

  “Not only that, we can heal my wound, one that hasn’t gotten any better because it bleeds with every movement!” Cardinal said in annoyance.

  Bike scratched his chin awkwardly, “Sorry, I don’t know that much healing stuff, I can’t cure status conditions.”

  The nature spirit pondered before answering, “It appears you all have noble intentions, intentions that i’m not too sure of, but noble nonetheless. I will allow you passage and refuge in the forest. You can use the materials you seek, and then be on your way to Wistgardia.”

  “Really?” Veronica asked excitedly.

  “Make with that as you will,” the Nature Spirit said as she faded into the air.

  “Find something to properly cure my status condition so I can stop being in pain,” Cardinal said.

  “Will do!” Bike said as he sprawled the forest for materials.

  Veronica had no idea what he used, but Bike found some herbs amongst some bushes, mixing it together to make a healing solution.

  They got situated and sat down. Veronica couldn’t see the health of other players or NPCs even in combat it seemed, but she could tell Cardinal was benefitting from the healing process.

  “Finally, sorry for being an ass,” Cardinal said, relaxing on a tree while his ears went down.

  “It’s all good,” Bike said while applying the rest of the solution over the wound. Within a few minutes, it had closed up and only left a little scar.

  Suddenly, Bike started to sparkle, His body became light gold, shimmering bright enough to illuminate the sky, followed by a flash of light. Veronica looked back after the sequence had finished- Bike had become a Botanist.

  “Did we just witness a Class Progression milestone?” Cardinal asked as he looked at Veronica and then back to Bike.

  “I think we did!” Veronica said while leaning back on her tree to recover from the light.

  “The Gods recognized my actions to be in line with the Druid path?” Bike said as he looked at his hands and moved them out of disbelief.

  “It appears so” Cardinal said while putting his hands behind his head to relax.

  “Thank you, Starch!” Cardinal said out loud.

  “Yeah,” Veronica said. The day was long but they made progress it seemed.