54th of Season of Fire, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

  The group was wrapping up their third geyser field with over two hundred pieces of misterium in their bags, their main goal long since completed. His companions’ greed annoyed Newt, but he kept his mouth shut. His irritability was growing by the hour, and deep down he knew there was nothing wrong with wanting more resources at the expense of several hours, or maybe a day or two, of honest work. He would have been all for it too, if not for his debt.

  The annoying fights were also a sore point for him. At least, he had his path to anchor his heart and mind during the tests of his patience. He was a protector, he protected, even though the twins needed little protection. They were competent enough as a group to fight most regular monsters wandering the outermost zone of the Valley of the Lost. The deceased member of the original team was a scout, not a fighter, meaning Obsidian and Jasmine were the original party’s main combatants and expected little help.

  The only time Newt needed to intervene was when the group encountered another specimen indigenous to the Valley of the Lost, a shroud deinonychus. The agile predator appeared out of nowhere, slammed into Obsidian, and toppled him over before anyone else saw it. It struck like lightning, clawing and slashing like a whirlwind, but the spirit beast was air-attributed, and its attacks hardly scratched Obsidian’s defenses before Newt decapitated it.

  Every other fight, the twins handled without his intervention. Hours later, Newt mused that he could have left the deinonychus alive for the twins to practice fighting in adverse conditions, but their mission was about getting the girls back on track, shaking them out of their guilt, and integrating him into the team. Tactical improvements and challenges could wait.

  Newt gritted his teeth in frustration when he suddenly sensed his unease subside as they traveled from the third deposit to the fourth.

  What changed?

  He scrunched his brows and found the answer as soon as he asked the question - the group was heading in the direction into which the mist was tugging him. He did not have to adjust his steps just before his foot landed, and the wrongness gnawing at his nerves for days had finally disappeared.

  A smile replaced his frown, and Newt felt his shoulders relax, realizing just how tense he had been. He drew a breath and exhaled, mist swirling out of his nostrils as if he was a legendary dragon puffing out a cloud of smoke.

  “I think I just figured out what was wrong with me.” He could sense the entire party focus on him, with visibility at relaxing fifty feet, it was fine for their attention to wander a bit.

  “Up until now, the direction we were following went against my intuition. Now that we are moving this way, it feels more natural.”

  “The fourth deposit is close to the border between the third and fourth realm areas, so we’re heading deeper into the valley,” Roselilly explained, her cheeriness suddenly much less strained and fake in Newt’s eye.

  Is my mood affecting my perception of people? Newt wondered before considering Roselilly’s words. Does that mean this area is too easy for me, and the Valley of the Lost has been trying to nudge me deeper in since the start. That probably means the spirit beasts we fought weren’t at the peak of the third realm, but actually in the lower third.

  Newt voiced his thoughts to his teammates, but got shrugs in response. His team’s lack of ideas would have annoyed him mere minutes ago, but without the added pressure, he realized there really was no reason for his teammates to have an answer to that question.

  Still, too many unanswered questions hanged above his head, spawning more.

  Why did the library have what is probably false information? Is it to keep the disciples vigilant? Could there be another reason? Should I ask Master once we get back? Maybe Elder Thunderwing?

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Newt decided to try his master first, Elder Flameax second, and finally the old librarian. The decision came easy, and suddenly everything around him felt better and simpler. The only train of thought left without resolution was why did the danger zone evaluate him stronger than his peers and how did it do that?

  As Newt considered whether that mystical differentiation was the key which separated the Valley of the Lost into layers, Obsidian froze, then took a step back.

  “A stego, about a hundred feet ahead. I don’t think it saw me.”

  Newt agreed with Obsidian’s evaluation, since there was no raging spirit beast charging towards them with the intention of devouring them. The only problem was the spirit beast’s species.

  Jasmine and Roselilly paled, and even Obsidian was jittery, clenching his spiked mace.

  “Relax, you got this.” Newt broke the silence. “Obi, you and Jas can handle a third realm stego alone, but I will be there and help, if you need help.”

  The bigger, balder twin nodded, but did not seem convinced.

  “Do you want me to draw its attention?” Newt offered. “I could move to the side, have it charge towards me, it will probably ignore you, and you can ambush it from its blind spot.”

  Obsidian pressed his lips together, considering the notion, but Newt could tell the big man would refuse.

  “No.” Jasmine’s voice was firm, her eyes hard. “We do it like every time. The two of us will keep its attention and try to kill it. If you see an opening or think we need help, you can assist us.”

  Newt nodded. It was a good call. They needed to face their heart demon alone, and even if the unfortunate encounter with the aberrant stegosaurus last year did not leave a heart demon, it certainly had turned its whole species a source of nightmares for the three cultivators. The fear with which they reacted to Obsidian’s news was proof enough of that.

  Since nobody disputed Jasmine’s plan, Obsidian stepped forward and yelled at the mist. The guttural shout was both a challenge and a release of pent-up emotions, but most importantly it worked into taunting the stegosaurus towards them.

  The beast was lumbering, its steps heavy in the sparsely forested grassland. The mist blocked Newt’s third eye, veiling everything with a layer of water and air attributed spiritual energy, but the heavy steps and the solid build made it absolutely clear the beast was earth-attributed.

  That must have been what they thought about the stego that killed their friend. Obsidian would say I’m a jinx for thinking that.

  The dinosaur let out a throaty hiss, and sped up, reaching an impressive speed for first realm spirit beasts, but nowhere near most second and third realms.

  Newt was vigilant, five yards behind the twins, keeping a close eye on the barbed tail. Roselilly unleashed half a dozen arrows carrying water-attributed spiritual energy, each aimed at the knees of its front legs.

  Is she trying to fill its knees with water? Newt did not understand the logic, but the shots did hamper the beast’s movement, and that was the important thing. The stegosaurus responded by reinforcing its legs with layers of rock, essentially losing all maneuverability as a result, and allowing Obsidian and Jasmine to bludgeon and hack it to death in several short minutes.

  “We won!” Obsidian shouted with an embarrassing amount of enthusiasm for such an easy battle.

  “Yes, yes,” Newt mumbled, approaching to check the massive beast for a core. They had found none so far, and he was doing it because checking for a core was something you do.

  Obsidian was busy slashing the tail into strips of grill-able meat, when spiritual energy flared before Newt’s third eye.

  “Guys! I think we’ve finally found one!”

  The core was less valuable than the mist crystals they had gathered, but it was still a nice trickle of resources for the party, and Newt felt happy about finally finding something after digging through so many carcasses.

  Strange how quickly things can change.

  He looked at the dead beast’s tail spines with regret. Those are bound to be worth something, but we don’t have a spatial pouch to carry random beast parts.

  That evening, when the group made camp, Newt drew the grilling spell formation on the ground with a smile. He was looking forward to the food, which annoyed him the previous day, and the stegosaurus the group defeated without his aid had topped the group’s morale. Even he was genuinely happy and did not need to pretend or watch his mouth for venomous remarks.

  “Here’s to our glorious first mission together!” Obsidian toasted with what resembled grilled bacon. “May we eat our enemies and grow strong for many years to come!”

  “Who’s the jinx now?”

  “I hope we don’t fight any humans.”

  Newt laughed and took a bite out of his tail meat. It was great, just like life.