Selene’s POV

“That’s it! I’m done!” Jason was sitting in Selene’s hut. Selene, the witch, was scribbling away at her notes again ignoring Jason. The barbaric man and the elven yet skin diseased girl made for an odd pair to look at. Especially considering their clothing; the man wearing his wolf pelts and the girl wearing her torn up dresses.

“With what?” Selene asked as she dipped her quill into the inkwell to start another rune. The runes she was copying came from Jason’s own skin as he was letting her study him in exchange for more poisons and such. He had told Selene that selling the poisons and tonics in the city was a lot more profitable than selling his wolf skins and although there were a few raised eyebrows at his acquisition of such goods it hadn’t been a problem insofar. Therefore it was unlikely to become a major problem. At least in Jason’s mind.

“I’ve been here for more than a year Selene. Doing the same old things. I need to leave and explore. Caleb reached level 24 a long time ago and he’s also itching to leave this area and explore beyond.” Selene seriously doubted whether it was Caleb actually wanting to explore or if he was just saying that because he knew Jason wanted to. She had noticed that Caleb was getting more comfortable and used to Jason. Even coming to know his inner self more than his gruff exterior, but there was still a lot of progress to be made before he stopped stuttering every other word out of his mouth.

Caleb obviously knew something about Selene’s birth, so Selene made sure to cover up and hide her black blotches when he came over. Jason of course she didn’t have to worry about as he wasn’t quite so knowledgeable.

“I’m sure both you and he desire the same thing, One-Eye. So why don’t you two start your journey?” Selene asked him while she started copying down another rune. She knew his name, but refused to call him it. To her names were important just like they were to most of abyssal heritage. Though I wish I wasn’t defined by my birth I do admit that I take after my dearest father in many ways. The importance of names being one of them. After all… know a name, control a fate. Selene repeated to herself the old adage of the abyss.

Oh this is an interesting one. It seems to be a linking rune between the Repulsion and Haze runes. Although it also seems to extend at the top to the Empowerment Rune. What a lovely combination. Maybe I can improve the efficiency of the runes. More experimenting to do. Truly I’ve been blessed to come into contact with this fine specimen. Oh how I wish he’d stay, but from what he’s saying it seems like he won’t be here for much longer.

“Because Selene! We don’t have a party. We’d just be crushed and eaten alive if we were to leave as we are now. An archer and then a weird kind of tank. We’d be killed in seconds.” Well at least he knows that. Selene thought to herself as she placed paper directly on his skin and started making a charcoal copy of the linking rune. After doing that she added it to her notes that were organized in her own personal chaotic fashion and got up to go to the poison racks.

She had added racks on her walls to place the poisons after the third time Jason came. Digging through and trying to find each individual bottle had been too much. Now the back of her house was organized in an easy to understand way.

“You can have one moderate poison or anything equivalent.” Selene had been giving Jason stuff for long enough to know he knew the drill. She had also been lying to him about the prices but what good merchant doesn’t try to get advantage.

Jason got up and threw his wolf coat back on. If he shaved that beard and wore some normal clothing he’d actually look good. Selene shifted her gaze from Jason and went back to looking over the runes she had gotten from him over the months. Unfortunately he only let her study him one rune at a time and only when he needed a bit more poison than he was going to get that day.

“Hey Selene… what do you specialize in?” Jason asked as he was standing in front of the section with the stat reducing poisons. She didn’t know how he could deal with the Eyes of Inspection. That skill showed you everything whether you wanted to know or not. Great for spotting ambushes or a shapeshifter, if they weren’t higher leveled, but the amount of information being streamed to your brain every second would be exhausting. He’s not human. Probably not purely human at least. I don’t know what else his heritage would be though.

“Poisons,” Selene was exasperated. She knew Jason was at least average in intelligence, but the fact that he asked such an obvious question made her doubt that somewhat.

“Not alchemy wise. In regards to your skills and stats. What’s your specialization? I specialize in defense and a drawn out fight, Caleb specializes in one hit kills from a distance. Although an instant kill would leave him gasping for stamina. That wasn’t a fun time.” Jason looked up and mumbled that last part. “So Selene,” Jason looked straight at her. That one-eye of his boring into her head. “What do you specialize in?”

“I specialize mainly in poison. Poison magic mostly. A few direct attacks and debuffs with passives to increase the effects.” Selene smiled at Jason. Jason nodded his head and then went back to the poison racks. As he was sifting through them all he seemed to have come to a decision of some sort.

Walking up to her he handed her three bottles. Each bottle was small and the classic green most of her concoctions were. They were three contact poisons. Simple poisons which would start decaying anything that they touched.

“For Caleb I presume.” Selene asked as she saw them and nodded her head, signaling to Jason that those were acceptable. Jason put them away then without another word he left the house and started back to the city. She personally would never go there. She’d be killed. Failing that she would be hunted. Much better to stay here in the woods with the wildlife. Yes… much better. Then as she always did when Jason left. When her last vestige of human contact left. She cried. Cursing her father and skin. She wept.

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Jason’s POV

For Jason’s party he still needed a mage, frontline warrior, and an assassin. Truthfully Jason by now was just thinking about leaving the damn city and exploring. I can take me and Caleb, but we need a third person. Selene… it would be nice to have Selene, but she’s attached to her workshop. I’ll ask her before we leave. Although we have preparations to make before we actually leave. Maybe I’ll see Baghric along the way. Hopefully he’s alright.

Right now he was with Caleb hunting in the woods. They had moved onto trying to find different species within the woods rather than hunt the same old classic wolves. They found that the monster owls prefer to live to the west of Selene’s Cottage. They lived in a pretty condensed area, but once you knew where they were they were easy to find. There were also apparently giant lizards.

Jason and Caleb were running through the forest and Jason stumbled on a root. Jason prepared to roll and keep running. What actually happened was that he rolled, broke the ground underneath him, and fell into a small cavern where there were four giant lizards sitting there staring at him.

They were grey and looked like komodo dragons. Standing on all fours three were one and a half meters tall while the other was an entire two meters off the ground. Again… why the hell is everything so giant? The wolves, bees, owls, and now lizards. Can I get a proper fantasy monster please. Not these ;arger normal animals. Although Jason’s inner monologue was relaxed, he was anything but. His Eye of Inspection as annoying as it was sometimes showed him that these four could indeed easily threaten his life.

Level 17 Cave Komodo Dragon

Level 18 Cave Komodo Dragon

Level 17 Cave Komodo Dragon

Level 24 Cave Komodo Dragon

Jason got in a fighting stance with his left foot forward and his right foot back. Slightly crouched with his hands in front of his mouth the left slightly in front of the right. Almost immediately after getting into that stance he dropped it. The FUCK! The cavern floor had spiked up to penetrate him. The only thing that saved him was the slight shake he felt underneath his feet right before.

“CALEB! THERE ARE MAGIC LIZARDS DOWN HERE!” Jason hoped to god Caleb had heard him. Throwing himself to the side as a cone of flame rushed past him. So they are Dragons. Or at least very distantly related. Can I take back my request for proper fantasy creatures? Give me a wolf please. Jason steadied himself and looked at the Komodo that had breathed the fire. Great… it was level 17. I felt threatened by a level 17. What the hell. Jason had to quit his complaining as more earth and fire magic were fired around him.

Just as Jason rolled and got up he saw a boulder the size of his face right… well… in front of his face. The only thing that saved him from being knocked down and possibly knocked unconscious was a flaming arrow that shot through the boulder and shattered it to pieces. Sending his thanks to Caleb, Jason took the attack to the Komodos.

As quick as he could he appeared in front of one of the Komodo Dragons and sent a punch to its eyeball. A transparent eyelid flicked over the eye just before he made contact protecting it from being completely destroyed. Jason cursed and jumped onto the Komodo he was fighting to avoid another flame burst. Then he jumped off and onto the biggest Komodo.

Jason listened.

These Komodo’s music wasn’t like the wolves. It wasn’t a swift pace full of the meaning of the pack and the dangerous life they led. It was music played by drums with a hint of flutes. A slow steady beat of depth and dark. Life in the caves where they slowly yet safely grow. In the dark and dry environment living out their lives in the slow and steady manner that the drums represented. The cymbals of the drums were symbolic of the short flashes of light and fire in the Komodos’ life. The flutes on the other hand. Those were deeper. Coming from the Komodos blood. Something Jason could only very very faintly hear.

It had power, yet that power wasn’t fit for the Komodos. They didn’t live the way the flutes did. The flutes were vaguely related, but ultimately entirely different from the beat of the drums. Jason ignored the flutes. They didn’t matter. Not here. Not now. He felt the drums. He let each beat fuel his heart. Let each beat guide his feet. This was a dance. A dance not with death. Not with the Komodos. But with the music of life itself. Jason danced.

He danced with the steady drum beat. With the strange music coming from above. Full of a dichotomy of harsh and gentle noises. With the broken song within himself. He danced and danced flowing between the fast melody of fire and steady beat of earth. Then before he knew it. The dance ended.