“Are we ready?” Octavia pulled her hood up, shrouding her features in shadows. Her chakram was still resting on her shoulder with her hand resting on the twine handle.

  “Yup! I’m ready!” Julia beamed as she grasped the handle of her tower shield, hefting it upwards.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.” Derrick shrugged and reached into his robe sleeve, pulling out his wand.

  “Welp, onward then!” Octavia spun on her boot head to look into the forest. This was it! Today would be the day she reached level five, and then they would find the portal to the next floor.

  The woman took a deep breath, cherishing the clean air of the forest, now that the pungent aroma of blood had faded. This was the first time she had felt at peace in life.. It had been years, maybe even since the death of her parents..

  In the end, though, it was irrelevant. All that mattered was the path forward, regardless of the blood that would be spilled, or the obstacles in her way. Octavia pulled the chakram close to her chest and closed her eyes. That was her new path forward, her old life was behind her, and holding onto those values would do nothing but weigh her down.

  When she opened her eyes, she took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. “Alright, let’s move out.” As one, the trio moved into the forest. Julia led the front, with her tower shield held high, and sword drawn, with Octavia and Derrick taking the rear.

  Carefully, the team prowled through the thick undergrowth. Vines crept along the forest floor, and along the tree roots, slowly strangling everything in sight. The distant chirping of birds rang like a gentle song that mirrored the gusts of wind that rustled the trees. Peace had come to the forest, yet the wildlife was still distant, as if everything was trying to avoid the trio.

  It was annoying to Octavia, since she wanted to hit her level five milestone. There was something about the knowledge lingering just out of reach that drove her nuts. It would come in time, Octavia supposed, even if she was impatient.

  Time trickled by as the trio moved deeper into the forest. The trees became sparser, and more varied plantlife grew. Flowers that looked like twisted combinations of roses and tulips sprouted long, finger-like growths that groped the ground, strangling anything unfortunate enough to grow too close.

  Blue orbs grew from twisted stems, and green leaves were darkening into riotous shades of violet and electric blues. Large plumes of clouds seemed to descend from the sky, settling in between the trees. The wind chilled and carried with it the scent of the deep forest.

  A sense of wonder settled into Octavia as her eyes drank in the alien sights. It was strange how the forest that they had dropped into earlier had been perfectly normal, but now that they had truly plunged into its depths, reality was staring them in the eyes with the truth that magic reigned as king here, B.N. might come back to this paragraph later

  “Huh, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” Derrick murmured as he came to a halt. His hand reached out and brushed the surface of a nearby plant. Its stem was thin and brown, much like the bark of a tree, yet it flowed upward into soft ice blue petals.

  “Thanks for that, Dorothy.” Octavia muttered as her eyes travelled towards the sky. She wondered just how long they had travelled for, yet a thick layer of clouds shrouded the sun.

  “Let’s take a break for a bit and then explore the area. Gather some plants and other stuff too, since it seems we are in a treasure trove.” Derrick’s voice called out, as he wandered off towards another growing plant. He was distracted and Octavia didn’t blame him. While plants were not her thing, there certainly was some value to be found here in the magic department.

  It was a reminder that she had a botany skill that could use some leveling. Even if she didn’t intend to use it all that much at all. Really leveling the skill was still free exercise at any rate. Perhaps this was just her trying to cram as much as she could into her stat tree, simply to see what would happen when she reached level five. Though that was just the excuse she told herself. At the end of the day, she was an overachiever.

  “That’s fine. Just try not to wander too far off.” Octavia waved her hand as she watched Julia bound over to Derrick, the woman’s lips already moving to speak, but Octavia toned out whatever was said. Such was life, she supposed. She’d much rather Julia be with him, anyway. She was a tank, and he a mage, so they were a match made in heaven, both figuratively speaking, and proverbially.

  Octavia shrugged, as she turned around, deciding that she wanted to check out the grove of flowers close by. Not too far, but enough to explore on her own and cope with the fact that her best friends were crushing on each other. A sigh escaped from her lips as her attention shifted to the plants. A strange hum filled the air, and tiny tendrils of smoke like energy drifted upwards from one of them. Namely, the on with the small blue orb that hovered above the blooming flowers like some sort of strange fruit.

  The first thing Octavia noticed was the smell of petrichor. The second was how the air around the plant with the blue orb seemed to shimmer as if there were a misting of rain. Whatever these plants were, it was magical, that much she was certain. Staring at magic plants like this was something that Octavia was sure she’d never grow tired of. Much like a breath of fresh air, embracing this new life filled her with a sense of passion and purpose.

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  Octavia sent her gaze to her two friends one last time. Derrick wore his glasses on the bridge of his nose, studying the ice blue leaf. His lips moved, but Derrick was too far away for Octavia to make out his words. Julia was also staring at the plant, though her attention seemed to be more focused on the man beside her than on the plant.

  It was the start of young love, that much was obvious. Perhaps the signs had always been there from the start, and Octavia had only just noticed them. In the end, though, it didn’t matter. Now she felt a bit torn. Not because she had feelings for the man, but what if the love tore everyone apart? What if they broke up? At the end Octavia would never take a side in that matter if such a thing were to have occurred, but she’d hate to lose either of them.

  “How annoying.” She whispered as she turned back towards the flower. It was an issue that she wasn’t sure how to solve, and it added to the layers of annoyance that had been building up the last few days. It drove Octavia mad. Everything had its place, and every problem could be solved, so why couldn’t she solve this one?

  She strolled over to the flower, hoping to take her thoughts off of her current plights.

  The strange plant sat in the middle of a cluster of five other flowers, each with a strange orb that hovered above blossoming petals. The color of a shining ocean, the largest was no larger than a golf ball.

  The rest were no larger than pebbles and wildly different in color. One was a deep black that seemed to swallow the light with reckless abandon. The other was teal, which oscillated like a heartbeat.

  Next to them, a third one held both the color and warmth of an ember fresh from a campfire. The next was the soft silver of moonlight. The energy that came from it was comforting and serene, almost like the end of a long journey.

  On the fifth and final flower grew a single iridescent orb the size of Octavia’s pinky. Enthralled, she stared at the orbs, gazing into their swirling depths. The only way for Octavia to describe what she saw was just beauty at its utmost.

  They all took her breath away and lure her into a trance, at least until she gathered enough of her wit enough to scan them with [Inspect].

  The words sat in her vision, tantalizing her with the truth. These were fragments of solidified mana. These were the ticket to a new life and unlocking magic! Octavia yearned to reach out and touch them, but she held herself back.

  Derrick would want to see these! It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that he was curious about the realm of magic and plowing into its depths. Something that she would happily support him in by helping him gather these flowers. Though Octavia was just as curious on the matter, delving into the secrets of the arcane was something that she wasn’t capable of doing to the extent that he could.

  She took a breath and was about to turn her head to call for Derrick when something caught her eye. The mana fragment of nature glimmered strangely, luring her into a trance. The world around her fell away as her vision focused solely on the glowing nature fragment. Time lost its meaning as she was sucked into the beauty of the plant,

  “Take me.” The wind whispered in her ear, taking Octavia out of her trance. Her head whipped to the side, trying to locate the source of the sound, yet there were only trees, flowers, and the sky.

  “Who's there?” Her eyes rapidly shifted, looking for the source of the voice.

  Nothing but the rustle of leaves answered.

  Unease settled into Octavia’s muscles as her hand drifted to her weapon.

  “Well, are you going to take it?” The same voice whispered into her ear. It sounded male, yet there was a strange tone to it, one that made her skin shiver, and the air quake.

  A primal fear gripped Octavia’s heart as she grasped the handle of her weapon, quickly dropping it from her shoulder, whipping it around. Yet, there was nothing there which drove a dagger of fear into her heart.

  “Frightened, but willing to react. How amusing.” Once again, that strange voice spoke out, and the words melded with the gentle whisper of the wind.

  Octavia’s face shot to the source of the sound, and she saw a man standing close by. One that looked so plain he was almost invisible. He had a head of hair that was perhaps just a touch too long and escaped over his ears. His flesh was neither pale, nor overly sun kissed, just a strange mixture of both. The man was neither handsome or ugly, just completely average, as if he was a stock image given life. He even wore a simple plain white shirt and blue jeans.

  “Who are you?” Octavia’s words were fierce as she pointed her chakram at the man and hid the terror filling her heart.

  Instead of responding, the man simply smiled. His chocolate brown eyes gazed into Octavia, and she could feel his gaze pierce her layer by layer. “In due time.” The man’s lips moved, but they were not in sync with his words.

  Octavia’s mouth widened as the air suddenly grew heavy in her lungs. Each breath was laborious, billowing from between her lips. Her muscles felt cold, as if they were gripped with ice. Even her heart ached as it beat out of rhythm.

  The man floated like a ghost; towards the strange rainbow-like gem she knew to be the fragment of nature. “Be not afraid, human. If I wished you or your compatriots harm, I’d have killed you already.” The man leaned over and picked up the rainbow-like stone and floated back towards Octavia.

  “Let..me..go..” The words were forced as the air refused to leave her lungs. Although she was frightened, she wouldn’t yield.

  A grin spread across the man’s lips, revealing rows of perfect teeth. “No. This is a moment of testing. You see, whenever a new universe is brought into the fold of the system, the gods fight over the new arrivals like vultures, desperate to take whatever they can like squabbling children. Already, a few have their eyes on you. But I refuse to let them take what has always been mine.”

  Her vision narrowed and she stared at the strange being. Defiance blazed in her chest as she struggled against the oppressive power. Her pride was far too strong to give herself over so easily to this being. It didn’t matter if the underlying insinuation was that he was a god. She was hers and hers alone.