Alzy Schot rode into the trees. The road had gradually angled in a curve for some

  reason. He paused on the back of his horse and wondered if he should just cut a line, or

  follow the road to his destination.

  He decided that he wasn’t in that much of a hurry. The road would be fine unless he ran

  into something out there while he was riding along.

  He planned to be in Baldwin in the middle of the night, then either finding work, or

  moving on the next day after some sleep in an inn. Then he would ride down to the coast

  and then south.

  He had heard some things about Baldwin. It was supposed to be a fast growing town out

  in the middle of forests with the monsters and traveling adventurers. People like him

  were flocking in to see what they could do in a new city that wouldn’t get them killed.

  Schot took off his hat and ran his fingers through his dark hair before he put the hat

  back on. He might have another night camping.

  He would need something to give him height off the ground if he did have to camp. He

  didn’t want to deal with any monsters that crossed his path.

  He found a tree that would carry his weight enough in the middle of the night. He hated

  to leave his horse on the ground, but he didn’t know what he could do about that. He

  unsaddled the horse and let the reins drop.

  If something appeared in the middle of the night, the horse would be able to bolt and get

  clear. It might come back after the monsters cleared the area. If it didn’t, he could track

  it down in the day time and finish his ride.

  And the horse might supply a distraction if it caused any monster coming along to chase

  it in the dark. It wouldn’t be good for the horse, but it might allow him time to grab his

  pack and slip away before something knocked his tree down.

  Alzy had dealt with wandering packs of things in the past with the bow he carried, and

  his sword. It wasn’t pleasant, and he had lost a few mounts to the fighting. Staying out

  of their way seemed the better option as he settled in to rest for the night.

  If he could make it to Baldwin intact, he would be halfway to finding work, and making

  enough money to get his own piece of land. There would be taxes and such, but he was

  tired of the constant riding to get to some place, work for a bit, and then move on.

  He wanted his own homestead.

  Even if he was just a watchman for monsters, that would be better than having to keep

  moving south. He had been hearing things that way that he didn’t like.

  If he couldn’t find a job, he could probably ride into the mountains and find something

  there. He knew there were settlements there. Maybe a job could be found.

  Alzy didn’t have much hope for the future, but there had to be something he could make

  his own.

  He settled in, wrapping a blanket from his pack around him. He would have loved a

  natural fort of rock around him so he could start a fire in peace. Doing that with no

  protection was guaranteed to attract monsters. He knew that some of the creatures in the

  wild would love a beacon to show them easy prey sleeping in the dark.

  He wished he had one of those spirit animals the people back west had. Something that

  could throw fire would be useful in this situation. An animal like that would be able to

  keep watch, set fire to his enemies, and help him escape all at the same time.

  They had said they would be happy to get him one, but there was no telling what it

  would do, or how useful it would be to him.

  Alzy didn’t want to pay the cost for a procedure that might lay him low for days, and

  then he would have to get used to the animal itself.

  It was better to just ride a horse and wish for better things.

  Alzy tried to relax in his tree. He preferred someone else to be on watch but he didn’t

  have anyone but his horse. Hopefully the animal would make a fuss before it ran off and

  left him to his death.

  The last thing he needed was to be stuck in a tree and unable to run because his horse

  had died quietly on the ground.

  A worse thing would be stuck in a tree with a tree climbing monster trying to get at him.

  Alzy finally fell asleep. He saw a green flame in the sky as he walked on a lake of

  clouds. Something hitting his tree woke him up and he reached out to stop himself from

  falling to the ground.

  He looked down. Some monster bull had slammed into his tree. It circled around to set

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  up for another ram. He rubbed his face as he tried to get his addled brain to start

  functioning.

  He had to get out of the tree if he wanted to live.

  Alzy watched as the monster rammed his tree in an explosion of power. He jumped from

  the branches as the thing shook its head. He ran before it could circle the tree and chase

  him.

  He heard the heavy clomps of its hoofs as it sped up to gore him with the massive rack

  of horns on its head. He had to use something to block that from happening.

  The drifter dodged around a tree at the last second. He didn’t pause as the sound of a

  crash and the vibration of the tree told him that he just avoided being gored to death. He

  saw a clearing ahead as he ran and thought it was a bad idea to try to cross the open

  space.

  He wanted to stay on the edge of the clearing to give himself more cover, but he could

  hear the giant beast chasing him. He needed to get away from the thing, and the clearing

  looked like the best way to do that.

  Alzy ran into the clearing. He heard a sound of disapproval behind him as he ran. He

  could use the trees on the other side as a blockade as he kept moving from the monster.

  If it gave up, he could circle around and try to find his horse to ride out under the sun.

  The last thing he wanted to do was lead that thing to a settlement and watch as it

  wrecked homes and shops before anyone could drive it away.

  A snort sounded behind him as the monster burst out in the open. It threw its horns up

  in a challenge for Alzy to come back and fight. He kept running to keep his body from

  sprouting new holes.

  He heard the sound of massive hooves coming down. He didn’t dare look back. He

  turned on a left diagonal path and ran for the trees. He needed more cover so he could

  make his escape. He turned and fled diagonally right when he thought the monster was

  too close. He veered again when he heard the hooves closing on him. And then he slid

  between two trees and fled deeper into the woods.

  The trees exploded behind him. Apparently, the monster was used to chasing people into

  the wooded areas. Its answer was to knock down anything that it could as it ran after its

  prey.

  It hit a couple of old things that it couldn’t just knock out of its way. That caused it to

  pause and consider the best path. While it was doing that, he ran for his life.

  He wondered how he could shake the thing off his trail as he thought about where he

  should go. The bull seemed stubborn enough to chase him until it caught him.

  And if it caught him, he had a good idea what would happen to him.

  Alzy stumbled into another clearing. His foot hit something buried in the grass, and he

  fell. He winced as he hit the ground and tried to pick himself up. The bull came out of

  the trees, pawing the ground.

  This is where he died, tripping over some kind of log half-buried in the ground.

  He looked for a way to defend himself. His sword was at his hip, but it wouldn’t cut

  through the skin of the monster bearing down on him. He could maybe reach the tree

  line and lead it on a chase through the woods until it gave up, but what if it didn’t give

  up. He had to get away from the beast.

  Green light surrounded him as the monster came on. The horns dipped down to gore

  him. As soon as the hardened keratin touched the green aura around Alzy, he flew

  backward from the contact. He landed on his back. His hands searched his armored front

  and he was amazed to find he didn’t have any holes in his body.

  He thought for sure he would be dead.

  How did he use this?

  The monster circled to build up speed to charge again. A target on its back was not

  perfect for it, but it didn’t want its prey to jump and flee now that it was down. A

  trample should do the rest of the job for it, breaking bones as it ran over the fallen

  runner.

  Alzy saw the look in its eye. He had to get out of the way. The aura was tough, but he

  didn’t know how tough.

  He floated out of the way as the monster chased him around the clearing. He smiled as

  his green aura carried him away from his enemy as it neared him.

  What else could he do?

  He wondered if he could fly into the sky and stay there.

  Alzy picked a spot in the sky and flew upwards. He looked from his perch, looking

  for an answer to what had happened to him.

  The thing he had tripped over glowed on the ground. The monster bull circled around

  it, guarding it from his return. He needed an explanation for what had happened to him.

  Once he knew what it meant, he could figure out his next step.

  Information filled his brain, overwhelming him. He felt his control flow away. He

  started falling from the sky.

  Alzy felt a surge of fear run up his spine. He had to keep himself from hitting the

  ground.

  His green aura lit up. He concentrated, and he was on the ground. He took cover behind

  a tree and pulled the ground over him to form a bunker and a blocker for his aura.

  Flying into the air and then trying to figure out what was going on had been a bad idea.

  He made himself as comfortable as he could and closed his eyes. He asked for the

  information again. He felt it filling his brain. He had perhaps the strongest weapon on

  the planet within his grasp.

  It could also kill him with the wrong thought. He had been lucky not to trigger any

  number of conditions that would have taken him apart and put him back together in

  ways he didn’t want.

  Alzy rested, looking over everything with his brain. He made some decisions that should

  tide him over. The next time he was rendered senseless in flight, he would know to hold

  his position to prevent a crash. He thought that would be the easiest thing to

  remember while he was getting used to his new power.

  As long as he kept his mind on what he wanted, he was safe. As soon as he became

  indecisive, he could be hurt. He had one thing to do now that he had the information

  from the ether.

  He had to get the ring out of the ground and hide it before someone else found it and

  tried to use it to set up their own realm. The last thing he needed was a regional

  conqueror spreading ruin wherever he went.

  Alzy needed time to consider what he wanted to do. The fact that he could be distracted

  and hurt weighed on his mind. And the ring had taken away a lot of his mundane

  worries.

  He had been looking for a job, and now he had one even if it wasn’t what he had

  intended at first.

  He decided to wait until the morning. Then he could distract the monster bull, whip

  in and grab the ring, and fly off. If the monster stayed in place, he was okay. If

  it followed him, he had to do something to stop it from doing that.

  He couldn’t let that thing follow him to a city so it could try to break in and ravage

  everything.