Meelis was already back. He could scarcely credit it. He had seen it, felt it even. That other world. A sensation completely different from the combative contact you could experience in here, where everything was energy, every relationship a plan for future amalgamation.

His peers were all around. Feeling hurt and moaning about their fate. Meelis wanted to join them, but the hole in his heart drained the last of his energy. He simply lay down and cried.

Hours later he felt an invasion of his privacy. A questing tentacle whose proximity pulled on his own static aura, despite how tight to his skin it was. Meelis turned around to glare behind his back.

It was his closest approximation of a friend, Teentil. “Do not do that, what is it Teen?”

The Daemons did not actually vocalise. There was no air for the sound to travel through here, and so they communicated with energy signatures, each voice as unique as their forms. Meelis projected via his belly.

“Why do you mope still, it was a let down, with getting so close. But we all fed and have grown several month’s worth. Our span is extended, you should come and play the competition, celebrate!” Teentil looked a bit like the grass they had seen, on the other side, if you rolled it into a ball and gave it some lifelike vines to poke with.

It was just that Meelis had not fed, he had been busy running. “I sensed my heart friend, Teentil. Somehow he was there, close enough to touch, I saw him, he saw me.”

“And still no summon to his side? Oh, oh, oh, I am sorry, Meelis,”

The blue imp was a rare case of someone who had gotten a lucky early glimpse into reality as a fellow spawn was summoned early, it was how he had been able to approximate their forms as he grew. Of course, not that anybody believed him. They all bragged that their forms were the real deal, or close as could be. But Meelis had won the competition they held when they first sensed a stirring in their realm and guessed that the unknown sensation must be a true Rift forming.

Meelis had been voted the best, the closest to something true, and when they all had to be honest for once. They had gone with his plan of using their excretions to form the bubble to pass through easier; and it was a success.

Clearly it was still not good enough.

“Did you gain no sense of why he delays?”

Despite not having anything like a floor to lie on, Meelis was somehow on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Not of a room but of their existence. “No, I was too far away for answers,”

That man had looked confused, but he did not seem unwilling, no real sense of rejection in his eyes. Maybe I need more eyes.

Teentil was not worth eating. That was the basis of their relationship. He was only about six months old, and his affinity had taken a direction similar to Meelis’ early path. It was all about what nuggets of energy you came across, or who you subsumed. At a certain point though, you needed some balance to actually get somewhere. Otherwise you were just changing sideways.

Teentil had the right affinities, but a completely lacking density of magic. If Teentil could have eaten Meelis on the other hand… That would have been quite the boon. It was why it was worth it to hang around, in case something unexpected happened. Daemons did not live for long, and in the end it was as if their souls simply eroded. The form remained behind, plenty of the energy accumulated over a lifetime still ripe for the taking.

“Why did you mention the competitions, you know I can gain no benefit from the Daemons here?”

Teentil pointed the way. “They ate everything, the fools. They thought they were there to stay, so of course they indulged in every little Spell they could find. Some are not even themselves any more, but there is water affinity to go around now, even at your tier,”

Now that actually perked Meelis up a bit. It was true, you could be a pessimist and focus on the opportunity lost. But the opposite was true as well, their time had been extended and their chances of a true summoning along with it. Even if Daemons rarely lived past three years, and he had already lived longer than two… Growing was not yet a waste.

They both went to join the games being held. If Livia could have seen it, it was something sort of like Spin-the-bottle. A way to agree on a target, without having to share on your turn or waste energy fighting for it, since their neighbours would aid in holding them down.

The loser got ate.

When their energy ran out the [Guild] made a temporary camp and just laid down on the spot. Night had arrived, and with a day like that, it was sheer adrenaline that had kept them going without sleep.

It was nearly summer. Life of every kind returned quickly to the valley, and when they woke it seemed to be the wildlife’s turn to celebrate, the sounds of animals were all around.

They headed back and gathered up the full-time civilians, all the animals and carts and then finally made the trip through the small patch of forest where they had first discovered they might be getting delayed.

Nearly all of them were expecting levels, but it was clear the experiences had yet to settle in for real. And there was no slowing down yet, for now they still needed to catch the opportunity that had come their way.

“Alright, I know how tired you all are, I am feeling it, trust me on that. But let’s hustle this last bit, we don’t want to have to go the rest of the way to Dormata on our own, not when we got lucky with so many other people right here in the valley. You know, despite the unfortunate circumstances that brought them here,”

They certainly did not all like it, but they were ultimately forced to agree.

Kalle was supporting everyone’s emotional states, or people may have really taken Livia to task over her insistence to keep pushing. Harold was also doing his part by supporting the most out of shape people who could not quite fit on the carts. If they had not had access to this level of supportive magic, Livia felt sure someone would have had a breakdown days ago. The fact that they lasted until the end she was taking as a badge of honor, although she kept in mind that she might also just be underestimating how hardy the frontiers people were, in this still rather new place.

For now she was feeling like Dormata was in sight, so if Livia could take a final push then she felt assured that so could they all.

The morning fog had made it impossible to see the rest of the valley, and even as they got closer the smoke in the air made it so not even Sten could see very far. As it turned out, their efforts were a complete waste of energy.

The force from Dormata, including the auxiliaries, had all up and left after making a giant bonfire for the dead. They did not stop for longer than what was needed to collect items for loved ones and to give the lads a proper send-off, by magic flame where necessary. Once they were past the state of becoming the target of scavengers and the sort of beasts that you did not wish to give a taste for mankind; it was done.

Brunner and the rest were gone, not even the bark-covered pigs that Harold had been looking forward to meeting had stuck around.

Only the corpses of thousands of ants and their Mantis masters remained for the denizens of the forest to pick through. There were already signs of corpses being hauled off, by everything from armies of much smaller, cannibalizing ants, to gangs of raccoon-looking things - and on the far side of the fields, what looked like a swarm of something flying that was carrying a large piece off by cooperating.

It was not at all the sight that Livia had been expecting, and her energy finally ran out.

They spent that day recovering since they only had to slow down for a minute to realise they were in a right state. Even when they exited the valley they would still be a couple of days from the nearest village, although they should at least start encountering some people soon.

Sten figured it out, why the Finns had left with such haste, after Redd shared his observations.

The main reason being the strange red things that Livia had called orcs, the professional fighters and possibly the adventurers would need to be on their trail as soon as possible since they had no real knowledge of the extent of their power.

The rest of the army would likewise need to return to their own local regions where they were needed to keep the peace. It was very possible that all sorts of beast populations, bandits and even natural disasters could have struck, to grave consequence, while so many were gone. Not to mention delivering the news of who had made it through.

In comparison the [Guild] actually had time to lose. There was no lack of provisions, and supplementing it with hunting was no issue at all when everyone from Oscar to Redd and Ronia could do it to a reliable degree.

Likewise the stress of having Birgir behind them and possibly coming for Sten was now gone, as the Salcretians had for some reason moved with the army to Dormata after getting done here, or else they would have been spotted making the trek out.

Which meant they ended up making a proper camp again, upwind from the field of corpses, where they could rest up for the journey.

Sten had been impressed by several people he would not have expected to in the past week, including the three siblings led by Elin. They may not have contributed a lot, but her brother Felix was Classless, which was always an added stress in these situations, and Alfred had provided them the Voracii which had done such damage to the enemy provisions. Most unexpectedly, Albert had kept his cool throughout, even staying disciplined enough not to whinge when they ran out of the regular apple drink. Now, if that’s not a character change… Well, let’s see if it sticks.

Their patience was rewarded with rain.

Now, if that’s not the thing to make you miss proper buildings… The rest of the [Guild] went to hide inside their tents, but Sten figured he could stay out to watch for a bit in case some predator got the wrong idea and decided not to settle for eating ants tonight.

That was when he heard it. The tail-end of a shout that came from the depths of someone’s soul. It was the most unexpected thing to hear from a distance while all on his lonesome like this, the most unexpected since… Well, the events just a day past, but any other year it would have been far more.

He considered if it may have been a figment of his mind for a minute, but then he went to let Redd know he needed to go out and check.

He walked around briskly for half an hour, not catching wind of any other sound like it. But that was when his nose caught something. Fresh human blood.

One of the piles of ant corpses that he had walked past had just a hint of it. He approached the still twitching mess and looked in the crevices and shadowed spots, but saw nothing.

He almost left then and there, human blood was all around after all and even if some of it was fresh, it could just be a matter of some organ bursting and releasing unexposed blood to make contact with air.

But he was a careful man, and the smell had not given him that impression.

He shifted the ant warriors and removed the top ones to make it easier to lift parts and look, but as they slid off the pile that scream finally got let loose again, from just a metre away.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

It was a shout of deep, incoherent pain, and Sten realised he had woken someone up by changing the weight pressing against their wounds.

He ignored it and took off more of the weight, knowing that even if the wounds opened, his Skill [Advanced Blood Control], would enable him to help it stop.

There was no time at all to lose. He cleared the corpses and pulled the dark haired woman out, not eliciting any further complaints, as her head was lolling while he was pulling.

When she was out he saw the broken off mandible protruding from her shoulder blade, having penetrated all the way through, and her leg was clearly halfway eaten by something, possibly an ant but Sten guessed Mantis, despite no such corpses being on the scene.

He felt her pulse and let his Skill work, but with the rain there was no use delaying, at the first sign of her stabilising he took off, keeping her spine very carefully straight but wasting no time trying to preserve the already ruined leg. Harold’s magic would either work or it wouldn’t. At this point it was a question of time, not damage, that decided if her body had given up on the limb.

Redd and a few more had gone out to watch for Sten’s return, but when they saw him pulling a body they knew something was up.

Harold came skating in the mud within a minute once they shouted, and Sten could finally consider his part in the rescue completed, as the rest all helped him out.

Once it seemed like the adventurer was safe, Sten heard Livia standing outside his tent, asking to talk. “Hey, good looking out, I can’t believe you caught that when even her friends must have felt no sign,”

Sten just gave her a cool nod, but he could not help but reveal the hint of a smile. He could still easily recall how useless he felt just a few days ago.

Livia did not buy it, she had a connection to her members through her leadership Class, and even Mr Beard had noted how Sten seemed to thrive in their company more and more.

Livia decided then and there to tell Sten the details of her origin and unique connection to the [System], but just to be extra careful she suggested they go for a walk.

He took the news well, but his reaction was also a lot more gratifying than the rest of the gangs had been. Unlike them he did not get to meet her in strange clothes out in the middle of the woods. He had fully bought into the fact that she just had a strange Class and talked like they did on the other side of Dormata.

“See, it really is weird, someone being from another planet, right? Even when there’s magic?”

Sten’s stunned face only gave her a nod. He still couldn’t be entirely sure this was not an elaborate prank, Harold could well be hiding just around the corner, if he had found some way to circumvent Sten’s nose.

His mind was fully occupied, so he was as surprised as Livia sounded when she suddenly asked something that he missed and had to ask her to repeat.

“Well, I said: ‘Hey, ehm, is it just me or is that giant rainbow following us’… Are they always this big here?”

They were not.