Wyvern grabbed a backpack, dumped out all of her TTRPG supplies, and threw her loot into it. Who knew, it might come in handy.

And, no she did not have hoarding tendencies. She was a full-blown hoarder. At least when it came to games.

She quickly made Squiggly another PB&J because after all that fighting earlier, he looked hungry and they only took a minute to make.

Well Done! Your compatibility with your tamed monster has reached 60%! Because you’ve focused on improving your relationship with your tamed monster, you’ve earned extra XP! Congratulations! You’ve leveled up! You’re now level 2!🎉

You can now tame a second monster!

Note: This monster has to be within 5 levels of you.

“You’re the best, Squiggs!” She smiled down at the goblin. “Good work.”

He puffed up his little chest.

Then she unlocked her front door and peered outside. A wave of heat blew into her face. Stupid hot Septembers.

There were no monsters... other than Squiggs.

“Alright, grab my hand. It’s dangerous out there.”

He nodded, wrapped his little digits around hers then they both walked up to her old sedan.

Being safety aware, Wyvern buckled her goblin into the front seat then got in herself. She handed him one of her son’s pairs of sunglasses and put on her own.

“Lookin’ good!”

“Suuupt!”

It was time to drive.

She turned the key. Music blasted from her stereo.

The goblin screamed.

She screamed.

With the press of a button, she turned it off.

Sweat beaded on her brow. Right. The goblin didn’t like loud music. Good to know.

She rummaged around in her center console and brought out a package of mints, handing one to the poor frightened monster.

And he swallowed it. Just like her kid when he was three. She grabbed one and started driving.

“No. You gotta suck on it like this.” She showed it, though she wasn’t sure he understood, and she was more focused on avoiding the large band of large feral cats that walked down the street like they owned it.

She was pretty positive that those were a swarm of monster kittens. Probably attracted by the monster rats.

Well, hopefully they couldn’t get into her house. And if they could, then she’d just have to build shutters. And start keeping a watch.

She considered for a moment her husband going around killing monsters, then shook her head. There was no way. He might be a gamer, but he was too kind and sweet for that. So, she’d have to be the one to step up and do all the monster killing in their family.

Of course, that was only what she thought. She was the woman who gave a goblin a sandwich instead of killing it just because it looked hungry.

***

The distance from Wyvern’s home to her son’s school was only one mile. Of course, this was down a steep hill, through an awkward five-way intersection, and up an equally steep hill... and only if she decided to break the law and make a sharp left turn.

Being an upright author, she would normally take the long way around. This meant going in the opposite direction, around several blocks of houses, down a busy street and then onto a winding street. It was a stupid three of four mile journey all because she wasn’t allowed to make a sharp turn.

But this was the beginning of Armageddon.

Rules were meant to be broken. It was time to live dangerously!

She stopped at the light. Waited for it to turn green then turned onto the hill that would lead to her son’s elementary school.

And right after she did that, a black and white car pulled out of an intersection and turned on its lights.

“Motherfucker!”

“GoboGobo!”

She pulled over. The cop took his time getting out of the car and coming over.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” He pulled his mirrored sunglasses down.

“Because you haven’t heard about the System Armageddon that’s happening?” She glanced at his name which stated it as Officer Ferdinand.

“Ma’am, is that a goblin in your car?!”

“It’s just Squiggs.”

“Well, Squiggs looks like he weighs less than 60 pounds. You have a booster seat in the back. He needs to be sitting back there or you’re breaking the law.”

“Are you being serious right now?” Because she honestly thought he was trolling her.

“Look, monsters running around is no excuse to not obey the law.”

Yes! Yes it was! She thought to herself but knew better than to say it in front of a cop. And one that seemed oddly persnickety.

“And why do you have a bunch of swords in your backseat? You realize you’re close to an elementary school?”

She pointed at the massive skunk monster that hopped over a fence

“Come on, officer. It’s the end of the world, and I’m just trying to pick up my kid. Can you let me off with a warning, just this once?”

“‘Fraid not. Here’s your ticket. Make sure you follow the signs from now on. And I want to see that goblin in your booster seat.”

That was definitely not happening.

He gave her a ticket.

As soon as he drove off, she proceeded to toss it into the back seat. After deciding that she’ll pay it off when she’s dead, Wyvern stepped on the gas.

She continued driving up the steep hill and stopped at the end of a long line of cars. People honked. No one moved.

A few crab monsters the size of kitchen trash cans scuttled by. Some of them even climbed over the cars parked in front of her. One paused on top of an SUV and did a little dance before following its red friends to cross the road.

Screams echoed down the street; a few kids pointed.

Wyvern wondered if they were edible. That much meat would make a lot of crab cakes.

She took a picture of the crab swarm and sent it to the group.

Wyvern Cuddles: Duuuuuuudes

CrazyCore: And that’s how I discovered magic.

Wyvern Cuddles: Wait! Magic?! What did I miss?