Ayn hit the ground. An arrow whizzed by, followed by curses from Kayara and Bren. A wave of heat passed over her, combining with the feather’s heat to an almost unbearable degree, then faded. Ayn rolled to her feet, weapons at the ready, only to catch the sight of the retreating backside of the Kaneake.

  Bren, who apparently hadn’t been quick enough to duck, dropped to his knees with a grunt. Ayn’s breath caught. She rushed over, about to heal yell at Sheyric to heal, when Bren waved her away.

  “I’m…I’m fine,” he said, his voice wobbling. “I just thought I was done for.”

  Sheyric, who’d had his hands up to heal, dropped them and trotted over to the animal that had attacked the Kaneake.

  Kayara threw an arm out to stop him. “Let’s not try to get eaten again immediately, yeah?”

  Sheyric attempted to dodge around Kayara. It was a pointless endeavor which got him nowhere. While they danced, the animal picked itself up off the ground and shook. At a good three feet long and nearly two feet tall, the thing looked plenty large enough to rip the healer apart. It backed up the idea as it bared a mouthful of sharp teeth and growled.

  Ayn couldn’t entirely blame Sheyric. If not for the murder in its eyes, the animal looked sort of like a small bear. Round, stout, and fluffy. Then again, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hug a bear, or whatever it was, no matter how soft it looked. Ayn stepped in front of her party and readied her weapons.

  The animal snapped its jaw shut, gave one sharp bark, then stomped away, leaving a trail in the snow. Sheyric stopped trying to dodge Kayara once it was out of sight. Impressively, Kayara hadn’t put the healer in a chokehold for all the trouble.

  “That was an interesting start to the floor,” Bren said. His voice and stance were steady. Ayn could almost forget the terror in his eyes from a moment ago, if not for the paleness still clinging to his skin.

  Kayara popped the despondent Sheyric on the back of the head. “And it will stay interesting if our healer doesn’t learn to not touch strange animals.”

  “Wolverine,” Sheyric muttered, gaining another smack on the head.

  Ayn wasn’t sure the animal had been a problem, especially compared to the giant bird, but she wasn’t about to argue with the agitated ranger.

  The barn had been obliterated. All that remained of the silo was a lump of half-melted and refrozen ice covered in silver grain. A quick inspection showed the grain to have no special properties. Kayara grabbed some anyway, for “experiments,” and Ayn followed her lead. If the Kaneake liked it so much, perhaps it’d come in handy later.

  Two paths were open to them. A narrower path ran west, bending around a large, ice-covered cliff face. The wider one led north, broadening into a large clearing around the fenced pastures. Sheyric took one look at the pastures and jogged off.

  “I’m going to get a leash for that idiot,” Kayara mumbled as she followed at a slow pace.

  Ayn shared her hesitation. As they neared the fenced-in areas, the occupants became clear. Moose of a sort. There were dozens, and they were huge, easily six feet at the shoulder, with antlers spread out like enormous hands. Gray fur covered them, and like the rest of the floor, they were frozen. A thin sheet of ice encapsulated every antler. Snow powdered their backs and heads while icicles hung from their chins. They ambled around the pasture with a dead look in their eyes. One let out a mournful bellow, which reverberated across the pristine landscape and echoed off the cliff walls, multiplying the sound until Ayn could almost picture a bunch of dead souls calling for release. She shivered.

  “Still cold?” Kayara asked.

  The ranger had tucked closer to her as they neared the moose.

  Ayn shook her head. “No. Just not fond of the place.”

  “Understood. Why don’t we keep moving, then?”

  A fine idea, if not for their healer taking that moment to hop a fence and head straight toward one of the biggest moose in the pen.

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  Kayara growled. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Bren pulled out his drum as Ayn and Kayara jogged after Sheyric.

  Sheyric held up a hand. “Wait.”

  “Wait, my ass,” Kayara shot back.

  “Wait.”

  The command cut through Kayara’s protest, momentarily stunning her into silence.

  The truck-sized moose took notice, too. It covered the last few feet between it and Sheyric in a single step, leaned over, and snuffled his hood. Ayn watched in awe as Sheyric ran a hand down its broad muzzle. He acted like he’d raised the thing from a calf. The moose dipped its head lower and leaned into the caress. The rest of the herd followed suit, and before long, snuffling ice-moose surrounded the healer. Sheyric giggled.

  Bren shook his head. “We have a ranger who can’t stand being near animals, and a healer who can’t stay away. Perhaps we should ask the admins for a class swap.”

  “Only if you want to die, Choir Boy.” Kayara’s words were targeted at Bren, but her eyes never left the mass of moose.

  Bren sighed. “Right. How long should we let him pet the wildlife?”

  “Well….” Ayn said. Sheyric sounded so happy. She was loath to pull him away, but they could hardly stand around for hours.

  “We need to go,” Kayara said.

  There was that, as well. It wouldn’t do to have Kayara wound up at the beginning of the floor. If her fears got the better of her, she’d make mistakes. Ayn could already see a slight shiver run up the ranger’s arm.

  “Sheyric,” Ayn called. “We need to move on.”

  The giggling stopped, and Ayn was about to fear the worst when Aisha yelled out.

  QUEST “COLLECT SIX KISI ICICLES” COMPLETED

  “The hell?” Kayara said.

  Sheyric appeared from the clump of moose, holding three of the icicles Ayn had seen hanging from the animals’ chins.

  He clambered over the fence and held his prize out. “Casts Freeze. Take?”

  “Uh…no,” Ayn said, pushing down a grimace. From far away, the icicles had seemed clear. Up close, they had a distinctive yellow-green tinge. “You got them. They can be backup if you get cornered.”

  Sheyric nodded, and the sickly looking icicles vanished into his inventory.

  Kayara didn’t bother hiding her look of disgust. “Fantastic. We have our snotcicles, so can we move away from the monster deer now?”

  “Moose,” Sheyric mumbled.

  “Whatever.” Kayara turned and walked off.

  An icy cliff barred most of the way on their left, save a couple of narrow pathways. The north stood wide open. Past the moose pens, silvery stalks of grain swayed in an expansive field. Not far away, a blue lake reflected the sky. Not a single ripple disturbed its surface.

  “After the seaweed incident, I have an obligation to warn all of you of how dangerous that field looks,” Bren said.

  “A good place to hide treasure, though,” Ayn said.

  Bren perked up and veered off toward the grain.

  “Hey, idiot,” Kayara called after him. “What is it, try to die day? Where are you going?”

  “Our coffers are a little empty, if you hadn’t noticed, Twinkle Toes. A bit of gold or treasure would help immensely if you want to buy more than one potion for the next floor.” Bren disappeared between the silver stalks.

  “But—” Ayn started.

  She’d mentioned treasure before she’d thought it through. Miit wouldn’t appear to help them find it, nor would he be able to deal with any traps. She hurried after Bren, her mind whirling with the worst possibilities. A stone trap could kill the mage, and an explosion trap could take them all out. The System wasn’t kind to Rebirths who played too far outside their skillset.

  Ayn burst through a row of grain just in time to see Bren pop open a wooden chest. Her stomach dropped.

  FORTY GOLD RECIEVED

  Ayn hissed a breath out from between her teeth. “How did you know that wasn’t trapped?”

  Bren had turned to smile at her, but at her words, his face blanched. “Oh. I…uh…didn’t think about it. I’m sorry.” Bren bowed his head. “I just know how much we need the money…if we don’t make up what we spent—” He blanched further. “I mean…nevermind.”

  An ache bloomed in Ayn’s chest. She knew exactly what he meant. They’d spent so much on Miit’s medicine, and now they had no safe way of gaining treasure from chests. They were falling further and further behind. While skill and luck may work for a while, it would run out sooner or later if they couldn’t keep up with their equipment.

  “You two still in one piece?” Kayara called from the edge of the field. She’d stayed with Sheyric, no doubt seeing if they’d explode or need rescuing.

  “Fine,” Ayn said. She didn’t bother chiding Bren further. She couldn’t blame him, after all.

  In need of gold or not, Bren followed her out of the grain field and swore not to do dumb things, so they moved on to the lake. The eerily quiet lake next to the eerily quiet grain fields. The entire floor was still. Even the moose hadn’t made noise since Sheyric had left. Where were the mobs? The wind? It made the hairs on the back of Ayn’s neck stand up. The solid gold treasure chest on the other side of the lake didn’t help.

  “Wow,” Kayara said, her arms crossed over her chest. “That’s a bit obvious for a trap, dontcha think?”

  Ayn glanced at Bren, who threw his arms up.

  “I’m not going near that, low on coin or not.”

  Other than the probable mimic, there was nothing near the lake but smooth, pristine snow. It carried on into the horizon on the right, and attempting to see if there was anything out there only caused Ayn more eye pain. The tall cliff face which bordered the left continued around the lake. A few dozen feet from one of the lake’s banks, the cliff dipped down and grew jagged. Potentially jagged enough to climb. It didn’t take any persuasion to convince her party to abandon exploring the lake area for a bit of rock climbing.

  The hairs on the back of Ayn’s neck were still standing at attention when the party skirted by the lake’s edge, and the serenity shattered.