The storm was all around me, spiraling about in a beautiful chaotic blur. I floated in the sky over the city as I watched the rain and lightning come down, shredding waves and waves of monsters. I rose my hand, and the tempest followed crushing hordes of wolves and orc, breaking bone and flesh as easily as breathing. I moved my feet, and lightning struck the beasts, seeding death where I walked. I was the storm, and the storm was me. We were one entity, bringing growth and destruction hand in hand.

I was the bringer of the cleansing forest fire; I was the bringer of the cleansing flood washing the years’ debris away. It was a fine line between wanton destruction and life-giving need, and as a storm paraelemental I walked that line.

Above me, the mother of the storm looked on in joy, watching as I went about my chaotic duty. But all around me, there was a darkness, and this was not the cool darkness of night. This was the pitch blackness of a cave; this was the darkness felt when hope dies. This was evil, and it was watching. The darkness roiled on the edge of my vision like a flood, washing in, and with it came monsters that I had never seen before. Demons coming from the south, and undead coming from the east, all to conquer my home.

There were too many, and while the storm was mighty, for every hundred I left broken on the earth with each strike, a thousand more took their place. It was a losing battle, and I knew it. I looked up, asking the mother of storms for help as the darkness closed in.

In response, she spoke with a booming voice, echoing around the city and in my heart.

You are not ready, little Gale. Grow strong. Fight. Win. I am watching. Find the mother when you can. Without her, you have no hope to survive.

I called up to her, “What do you mean? Who is the mother?”

Her only answer was to point up, into the night sky. She looked down at me and spoke again.

It is time to wake up.

What a trippy dream. As I tried to remember exactly what happened, the contents of the dream slowly slipped away even faster. All I could remember was fighting a hoard of monsters, and something about a storm and the night sky. I sat up, reaching over to my nightstand to grab my watch, checking the time. It was 8 am, and sunbeams were coming through my window, filtered through the green vines Taylor had been growing on the outside of the apartment. Considering that I had gone to sleep right around 6 in the morning the night before, combined with the fact that there was no way that I would only have slept for two hours, I had probably been asleep for a whole day. That was pretty ridiculous, even for me, but putting into consideration the night before, it made a bit more sense. I was certainly both mentally and physically exhausted from the events of that night.

After thinking about it, I started to ruminate over the carnage that I had so recently experienced, but I decided that now was not a good time to lose myself in thought. Especially one as dark and dreary as that. I attempted to assure myself. I had done good, as much as I thought I was capable of, and it meant saving 31 people from enslavement, and countless people from death later on. It would be unhealthy to regret those actions. Right?

I got out of bed and very carefully got dressed. As always, due to my new appendages it was very difficult to put on clothes, and I had to be extra careful not to shred my pants and underwear with the talons on my feet and hands. I managed to succeed with only minimal cuts and scratches on my clothes and put on a light sundress with a low back to make room for my wings.

I left the bedroom and walked into the kitchen. As always Cindy had already woken up and made coffee. Currently, she was sitting down at the dining room table with Steph and was pouring over some hand-drafted documents while sipping on a cup of coffee. Feeling a pleasant breeze on my face, I looked up.

Wait a second. Something was wrong. The coffee pot was running, and there, right above me, the ceiling fan was gently spinning as well. The power was back on! But how? When? The power lines all across the city had to have been destroyed when the whole globe expanded in size, so how could the power company be back up and running?

Running into the dining room, I exclaimed, “Cindy! When the hell did the power come back on? And how?!?”

Calmly looking up from her work and noticing my presence, she sat down her cup, calmly answering, “Ah, Vic. I’m glad you are awake. You slept in for a long time, and I was going to go wake you up shortly. The power came back on some time last night. As to how that is certainly still a matter up to debate. Personally, I do not believe the power company capable of such a feat at this point, due to their massive loss in infrastructure. I believe that we must have had someone changed by the fourth wave in the city, one of those with extra knowledge granted to them, and they were able to do something about it, though that theory is yet to be proven.”

I nodded in agreement. “That makes sense, I suppose. I’m just glad the power is back on. What are you two working on right now?”

Taking another sip of her drink, she said, “Steph and I were simply finishing up preparing some of the administrative work on the building next door. We have officially purchased it using the funds that you brought to us as of yesterday, and with our newfound access to power, Taylor’s ability to fix things with wood growth, and my newly developed second circle enchanting capabilities, we are rushing to make this guild hall available for use. The first floor should be ready to use in the next two days and will function as offices and a general working area for guild staff. The upper floors are going to be living quarters for members of the guild if they wish to stay there. The introduction of magic into construction is speeding things along much faster than we could have anticipated.”

“That’s crazy guys. I can’t believe you both have been able to set this up so fast, while all of this chaos is going on.”

At that, Steph spoke up, interjecting, “Well, to be fair, what I did before for the government wasn’t all that different from this. Finding offices, preparing workers to manage them, setting up the basic infrastructure, et cetera.

Yesterday, we also made a huge jump in progress because of the influx of new guild staff. Of the 30 slaves that we saved two nights ago, not including James, 25 had lost their homes and families. Of those 25, 14 agreed to come work for us if we could provide room, board, and some food. One of them was a carpenter, which is why things have picked up so fast. Taylor has started growing vegetables in her garden in the back, so we will have plenty to eat soon enough, and we have more rooms in the old place than we know what to do with. It was an old hotel, after all.”

“Well, there you go. When the guild gets started, make sure to save a spot for me! What kind of fantasy world would it be without an adventurer’s guild?”

I turned to walk away but froze when I remembered something important. How unlike me. “Hey Cindy? What are you going to do about mages casting spells and stuff in the guild hall? Is there a way to protect the building?”

Raising one eyebrow and looking over at me, she responded, “How clever Vic, I’m glad you thought about it. After realizing how destructive one mage could be after our raids on the bandit fortresses, I immediately began drafting some warding magic circles. Almost immediately as soon as I had begun, I received a magic skill named ‘general warding rune magic’. These runic circles are designed to limit the effect of wide range circle magic on an area, making sure that It cannot touch the structure itself. While one would still be able to attack the people within the building, doors with wards would keep out the vast majority of the magic and damage. It seems like whoever drafted this magic system considered the necessity for stronger buildings and structures when this system came into existence.

The wards are incredibly easy to make, and I have already added them to our home, and the building next door. I have also written the wards on papers, and the Garcia’s have been selling them to people since they reopened.”

Well that was astonishing. “The Garcia’s store reopened? I was asleep for one day! How much could I have possibly missed?”

Cindy just chuckled, turning back to her work. Without looking back at me, she asked, “What are your plans for today, Vic? Do you have any idea what you want to do? We don’t need help for anything around here, so you are essentially free from obligation.”

I thought about it for a few seconds. There were many different things I could work on, but more than anything else, I wanted to be ready to fight enemies in the second rank. While I was the same rank as that crystal golem bastard, he proved to have greater versatility and strength than I, much more than a few levels would allow. What’s more, the wolves that I saw at the fortress were terrifying, and I knew I would struggle to take down even one of them at this point. I needed to refocus on my abilities and make sure that they were as good as could be.

My class abilities were already incredibly strong, but I recognized that my racial abilities needed to be improved. First, I would try and max out all of my magic skills. Then, I would max out flight, storm fists, and Electroreceptivity, hopefully advancing them. Once I got to that point, I could decide what my next steps would be, but what I really wanted to do was to find and clear a dungeon. I would be tackling it alone, so first would have to be a rank 1 dungeon, but it was still an excellent place to start. It was time to get to work.

Leaving the apartment through the window again, I found myself in the new clearing behind the apartment building. I could hear the constant ringing of hammer on anvil as Donny worked away, but I decided not to interrupt him. In the clearing, I could see some new additions as well. It was now made out to be a training yard of sorts and had some practice dummies, punching bags, and some weightlifting equipment set out under a small awning. First thing’s first though, I needed some water. If I was training magic, I would definitely need to source some water to activate stormborn regeneration. I could get a basin and use the hose to fill it up, but I had a better idea. And for that, I would need Taylor.

I headed around the lot to the building next door, entering into what would later become the first official adventurer’s guild of Austin, Texas. The first floor of the old hotel was full of the sounds of construction, from the buzzing of power tools to the banging of a hammer. The back entrance of the hotel led into the bar area, where I could tell the floor was recently refinished, and new tables and stools had been added. Behind the bar was a large number of bottles, full of different liquors. This place was going to become a popular meeting spot for people wanting to unwind and relax after their work. Working the bar was a man and a woman, both lizardkin. They had red and green scales, respectively, so they weren’t the same kind of lizard as far as I could tell. From the front, they could almost pass as humans, though they had tails, exotic hair colors, and their hands and feet were scaly and clawed. I recognized them as two of those I had saved from the fortress in the junkyard.

When I entered in, they both smiled and waved, coming around the bar to greet me. Well, at least they tried to. The girl, who only looked to be about 19, immediately started crying and wrapped her arms around me in a great hug. Damn she was strong. The man just smiled, thanking me profusely for getting him out of the situation. After a while, he pulled the girl off of me, and they both went about their business happy to have met me.

Nursing what I was sure were broken ribs, I walked into the main lobby of the hotel, and started looking for Taylor. There was a Zebrakin man with zebra ears and striped hair, who I recognized as another one of the rescued slaves that seemed to be directing the construction effort.

I moved up to him, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention away from the counter he was currently sanding. “Excuse me, sir, do you know where Taylor is?”

Startled at the contact, he quickly turned around and stood bold upright. Now that I got a better look at him, I could now see that from the waist down, he had hooves, hair, and stripes, similar to a faun. It was strange to me how beastkin came in so many different varieties.

Seeing my face, his eyes widened, and he also broke into a large smile. He reached out for a handshake and shook my hand profusely as he started to babble on, “You must be the hero Victoria! I’m Calvin, Calvin Hardy. Thank you so much for saving me. Everyone had told me about you, and how you risked your life to get us out of there. We are all eternally grateful and are honored to work with you on this mighty endeavor to help provide new necessary services to the people of central Texas. Why I was just telling Jenny, have you met Jenny? Well, anyway, I was just telling her how great everything we were doing was, and-”

After collecting myself, I was finally able to interject with a, “S... Sir! It’s great to meet you as well. I was just doing what anyone else would do in a situation like that, I guess. I’m flattered that you think so highly of me, but I’m not really hero material, you know? Anyway, have you seen Taylor? I need her help with something if she isn’t too busy.”

At that, he smiled, and calmed down a bit. After a brief pause, he answered, “Ms. Taylor is currently on the second floor, planning on where to grow some furniture for the rooms. She should be almost done, so I think she’ll have time to help you a little bit. And you are wrong about not being a hero, Ms. Victoria. You are a hero to everyone you saved from those… fiends. You are a hero to all of the people here, and to all of those people you avenged, so don’t sell yourself short.”

That certainly lifted my spirits, though I wasn’t sure that I deserved it. The leader of the gems was probably still out there, so my work was not quite finished. I’m sure Kaitlyn was out right now investigating as her job implied. She would not let things end so easily for the leader of the bandits and was much better at finding people than I was. It was probably a good idea to leave it to her, for now.

Heading up the stairs located on the left side of the central lobby desk, I found myself in a large extra sitting area. This was probably the office of the hotel administrator. I could see Taylor walking down the hall with a notepad in one hand, and a pencil behind her ear. Considering that she was wearing effectively nothing, while all of the people working construction were wearing heavy clothes was a rather entertaining sight. It was even funnier seeing the male workers on the second floor struggling not to look at her ass as she passed them by. Over her right shoulder was James, who was a bit gaunt, but was doing better.

James was a wolf beastkin and had grey hair and a tail wagging behind him. I could tell that he had had a shower because his fur was fluffy, and his once greasy and nasty hair was clean and combed around his pointed ears. As he approached, his tail started to pick up speed, so I could tell he was glad to run into me. Considering how bad I have been in the past about recognizing other’s emotions, I had a soft spot for beastkin who wore their emotions on their tails. I thought that tails were pretty cute, too.

Wait a second. I have a tail. I always thought it just kind of sat there, but how would I know for sure? I knew I subconsciously moved it out of the way of doors and such, but what did it do with I wasn’t paying attention? Trying to maintain my calm, I turned and glanced at it, and watched as it twitched back and forth, the end flipping around like that of an interested cat. Damn you tail! I would need to be careful about controlling the blasted thing in the future. I wouldn’t want it to be doing the wrong thing when other people notice. It could lead to some pretty awkward situations.

While I ruminated on my traitorous appendage, Taylor started to walk up to me, swaying her hips in a teasing way. Getting hit on by Taylor was nothing new, but this was certainly a new level for me.

With a teasing smile, she let out a wolf whistle, followed with a teasing smirk. “Morning beautiful. I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the dress. I don’t think I’ve seen you wear anything besides pants since you moved in, and it’s an excellent change. What are you doing here, honey?”

With Taylor, it was much easier to just brush her off. Ever since moving in, she’s been trying to get into my pants, but this was easily the most direct attack I had seen. Damn nature magic was making her sexier. It was going to her head, and it was doing it fast. Best to just work past it, for now. After collecting myself once again, I was able to ask, “Can you help me with a little project? I wanted to add something to the training ground to let me use my regeneration ability easier and could use your help.”

Curious, she responded, “Oh? That sounds fun. I certainly don’t mind, but you’ll owe me a favor.”

That was suspicious for sure, but I knew she wouldn’t try anything nasty, so I saw no reason to refuse.

“Fine. But it better not be something weird.”

“Sounds good to me, honey.”

We left for the parking lot, now training grounds, but as we left, I was stopped by James.

He places his hand on my shoulder, and spoke in a heavy, calm, voice. “Thanks for saving me Vic. It means a lot. I know how hard it must have been to find me, let alone attack all of those bandits. Since I had arrived there, I had watched four slaves killed before me for ‘insubordination’, but it was actually just for sport. If you had been a bit later, I would have probably been next. Really, thank you.”

I sighed. I was getting tired of all the thanks, but it was still nice to hear. “We’re friends, James. I know you and the boys would do the same thing for me, if it came to it, and I’m just glad you’re okay. If it weighs on you so much, just find a way to pay us all back later. We have all the time in the world now, and this new system presents a wealth of possibilities that no one ever expected.”

He nodded again, smiling a bright smile, flashing his sharp canines at me. “I will pay you all back someday, you can be sure of that. Now, let’s catch up to Taylor.”

We reconvened in the parking lot. There was virtually no space left, so even if I went back to the ranch to pick up my car, there would be no place for it, but I didn’t think I would ever use it again. I could freaking fly at over a hundred miles per hour. Why would I drive anywhere? It was a shame because the car was like a reliable partner to me. I needed to find it a good forever home.

After meeting up with Taylor again, I began to explain to her what I wanted. While I didn’t mind having a tub of water outside in the back to help me train, it would be much nicer to have a natural pond or water feature, so considering that I had a dryad friend who could grow plants at will, making a covered pond outside with some natural circulation from plants would probably be pretty simple.

After describing my idea, she smiled, and I could tell that she was thinking of the logistics of it. The basin was grown from the roots of a large tree and was about eight feet in diameter and five feet at its deepest point. She would grow steps from the tree, making sure that there were easy ways for someone to sit in the water and relax. The best part was the natural filter system. Because she could manipulate the properties of plants, she grew a tree that would naturally absorb the water from the basin, using it to grow, and would spill most of it back out in a small relaxing waterfall. We would just need to use the hose to top it off every week or so, and bam. We would have a natural pond.

Taylor said that it would take about two hours to grow if she pumped her magic into it and was standing in the sunlight where her magic was strongest. While she couldn’t devote too much time to it now, it would certainly be ready to use by tomorrow. Because of that, I decided to use a large tin feeding trough that was behind the store for now, so I turned on the hose, and filled it up with cool water. It was time to start training.