I am willing to admit that I froze. My mind went blank, my body locked in place as a surge of fear and uncertainty gripped me. I had faced danger before, fought through tough situations, but this was different. The sheer unpredictability of it all sent every instinct screaming at me to move, yet my feet remained rooted to the ground, paralyzed by hesitation.

  I had no idea what to do or how to help. The fact that the creature hadn’t noticed her yet was baffling, but I couldn’t count on that luck holding. My breath caught as Evelyn hurled the brick, and in that moment, time seemed to slow. My eyes followed its arc, each rotation of the rough stone standing out in stark detail. I wasn’t sure if it would make a difference, but I couldn’t look away.

  The moment the brick hit the head of the Dreadfang, it was like the world clicked into place. I used Arcane Step to appear in front of Evelyn and wrapped her up. The creature turned toward her and screamed, interrupting my next step and using the interruption in my ability to rake its claws at my back. My Arcane Armor held against the scrape, but it still sent us flying.

  We slammed into another house, and I did everything in my power to take the blows, but still I was worried she might not make it through. The moment I was able to, I used Arcane Step to get Evelyn and I in a standing position and tried to check her over.

  Through Panoptic Sense I noticed the monster charge toward us at full speed. With a wet sounding cough and drops of blood splattering onto her lips she said, “Don’t move, trust me.”

  I nodded and turned to put myself between the creature and Evelyn. Evelyn threw another brick. This one did not even get close to the anything important that I could see, but it did hit a piece of wood. I guess she wasn’t happy with the result, because she threw another one right after at the same piece of wood. I say wood, but it was closer to a small tree that had broken when we hit the house.

  The second rock caused the piece of lumber to fall just slightly, and then the Dreadfang slipped. Apparently, today was one of those days where logic took a vacation, because the Dreadfang somehow managed to step on the single, perfectly placed brick. It flailed wildly, its massive form teetering like a cartoon villain about to take a comically exaggerated fall. This caused the creature to roar and the piece of lumber to slide right through the back of its throat as it fell. Killing it almost instantly.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I let my arms fall to my sides, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It felt too easy, like I had missed something crucial, some hidden danger lurking just out of sight. “Remind me not to piss you off in the future,” I said with a smirk. Then, tilting my head, I added, “Second revelation?”

  Evelyn just nodded weakly before her legs gave out. I caught her just in time, steadying her as she slumped against me. With careful steps, I guided her over to where Robert and Nixy sat, close to a battered and bruised Derek. Every step felt heavier as the weight of the battle caught up with me. As we lowered ourselves to the ground, I quickly accessed my Inventory, scanning through its contents in search of a healing potion or anything that could help stabilize her condition.

  “NO! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” I heard Derek yell. I was actually a little surprised he was able to yell. Nixy and Robert had not been easy on him.

  Still holding Evelyn up, I looked toward where he had been laying on the ground. I should have been paying better attention to Panoptic Sense it appeared, Derek was kneeling now and throwing something at Evelyn and me. This had been too many times that Panoptic Sense would have solved my problem, but an entire lifetime of not having abilities like this and only a few months having them, I had yet to get used to always paying attention to something that is not actively seen.

  Robert was turning toward Derek to stab him with his new sword, but whatever it was he was throwing would make it to us first. I wrapped Evelyn up once again, this time trying to push Arcane Manipulation to cover her as well.

  Through my Panoptic Sense I watched as a ball, no bigger than a baseball, left his hand and came flying at Evelyn and me. I saw Nixy roar and turn toward Derek. I saw Robert’s blade slide into Derek’s chest at about where his heart would be. I heard Evelyn scream in my ear.

  I had no idea what that ball was, I had never even heard of something like that. The fact that Evelyn was screaming did not give me any warm fuzzies though.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Mom, dad, I love you I said to them through party chat. Then I was engulfed in a black void that reminded me of lightning, but also the portal I had traveled through for the Dungeon. There was no roaring of sound or anything for that matter.

  The blackness that engulfed us was complete. Evelyn’s scream cutoff, all sound for that matter. It was so dark that I could not even see Evelyn who was holding on to me still. If I couldn’t feel her pressed against me, I would be more worried.

  I felt my Arcane Armor start to strain, whether because I was pushing it to cover her or because of the darkness around us I didn’t know. I did know that something needed to change and quickly. Thinking quickly, I did the only thing that I could come up with. I used Arcane Step to move. I had no direction in mind. Panoptic Sense was not picking up anything and there was nothing but the purest blackness around.

  I had no idea if I was actually moving or not, but I would step wait a few seconds and step again. I have no idea how long I did it for, it could have been fifteen minutes, or a couple of hours. What I do know is at one point I stepped and suddenly I was standing in the middle of a forest clearing. The trees almost reminded me of redwood trees from Earth.

  I didn’t know where we were, but I know it was not the forest around Magnon. The trees were too tall and big around. Even the trees in the Elven city were nothing like this. Evelyn appeared to have passed out from screaming so much, but she was still breathing which was a win in my book.

  The first thing I did was attempt to reach my parents through the party chat, but the moment I tried, a familiar emptiness settled over me, the same unsettling disconnection I had felt upon entering the Dungeon. Frustration bubbled up as I realized once again that I was cut off, stranded in an unfamiliar place with no way to call for help. I just didn’t feel as though I was sending anything. I really needed to figure out the party system and the guild system for that matter, but that was for when I wasn’t completely lost.

  Setting Evelyn down gently, I tried to push my Panoptic Sense even further out. Trying to gain any information that I could, but nothing. Well, nothing but massive trees and grass. There was no portal either, wherever we were, this had been a one-way trip.

  I decided that Evelyn and I both needed more rest from the battle we had just went through and went about setting up camp. Once I had everything set up, and even a second tent for Evelyn, I pulled out a portable cooking kit and went about making a soup for us to enjoy. I had a lot of food in my Inventory, but none of it was soup. And from the damage that Evelyn took earlier something easy to eat like soup sounded like the best idea.

  Once I had the soup cooking, I went to check on Evelyn. She had not moved at all while I had been setting up camp or even when I started cooking and I was beginning to worry. Looking at her I thought she might have been paler than when I had set her down. Once again, I went through my Inventory looking for anything that could help her but finding nothing.

  As I went through my Inventory, I realized something painfully obvious, I hadn’t bought a single health potion. Of all the things I had stocked up on, I had somehow skipped the one item that could have been the most useful right now. I let out a sigh, shaking my head at my own oversight. "Great job, Jace," I muttered to myself. Then I realized that I could not remember having seen a single alchemist or alchemist type shop, even among the Elves.

  Did that mean that this world didn't have alchemy? Or maybe they did, and it is just called something else? I might need to open up a little more to Evelyn and see what she had to say about it. Being a princess, she would know for sure and just asking her might be weird if I don't tell her anything.

  Before I could let myself get too sidetracked, I focused on finding a way to help her. I did the only thing that came to mind, I added her to my party. Now, I know what you're thinking: she has to accept the invite first, right? Well, as it turns out, my parents had tested that particular mechanic. If a person neither accepts nor declines the invite, they automatically join after about thirty seconds.

  While my parents hadn't been able to test whether someone could fully integrate into the system under these exact circumstances, I felt it was a safe bet that the rules would apply the same way. And right now, we needed every advantage we could get.

  This was also not a rushed decision, with the guild system being implemented and the fact that we were stuck in the middle of nowhere with only each other to rely on. With that thought, plus the fact that joining the system should help her heal I decided to have her join.

  After about thirty seconds, she jolted awake with a sharp gasp, her entire body trembling as if she had been yanked from a deep nightmare. Her eyes flew open, wide and unfocused, darting around as though searching for something unseen. Her breathing came in shallow, uneven bursts, her chest rising and falling rapidly like someone who had just surfaced from deep water. A slight tremor ran through her fingers, and her lips moved soundlessly, forming words that never quite made it past her breath. It was as if she were reading something only she could see, completely unaware of my presence.

  Before she read too far, I recalled what the Grand Elder had said about shifting her mindset to shape her talent’s potential. If her ability could truly be influenced by her thoughts, then maybe I could do the same for Evelyn. I focused intently, trying to project an idea or will the system to allow my idea, and hoping that my intent and the privileges that I had would allow me to give her access to an ascended class. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but if there was even the slightest chance, I had to try.