I pulled the imbued explosive coin out of my inventory with my other hand, sprinting at the beastkin. They were taken aback at my charge.

  In their half a second of hesitation, I threw the coin at the face of the wolf, and willed it to expend all four instances of Kinetic Overload.

  I turned slightly as the coin flew, hoping it would make contact, and scooped Cataryn up in my arms. I continued to run, turning and shielding her from the explosion.

  Tiny shards of metal dug into my shoulders and the lute on my back, but I didn’t slow my momentum.

  The weasel screamed, as the coin destroyed the wolfman’s face. The weasel was doubled over in pain, clutching his eyes, as blood poured between his fingers.

  I leapt over the trap and continued running, glancing over my shoulder in time to see the blinded weasel stumble into his own trap, activating it, and trapping both him and the elven man, who had run after us, under the net.

  They struggled and cursed as I ran, trying to ignore the symphony of pain from my shredded shoulders.

  I ran until my breaths were ragged and my lungs felt like an inferno, and ran further still. I drew upon a reserve of energy I didn’t know I had, running far beyond what I would have thought possible, making it more than half of the way to the village before sitting Cataryn down, and collapsing into a wheezing crouch against a tree.

  I used a minor healing potion from my inventory and the pain in my chest and shoulders faded.

  “That was so cool,” Cataryn said, looking up at me with round eyes. “I never saw something like that before. You made that coin blow up!”

  I nodded as I caught my breath, the minor healing potion working to restore my overtaxed body. “Yeah, that’s kinda my thing. Okay, think you can walk on your own?”

  “Yea! Are we there yet?” She looked around.

  “Almost, it shouldn’t be much farther. Let’s keep going.”

  I didn’t know if the elven man had gotten out of the net and continued to chase, but I definitely didn’t want to stick around and find out.

  I pulled another Copper coin out of my inventory and imbued it with Kinetic Overload, failing my first attempt at the song, but succeeding after taking a moment to focus, with 77% accuracy. I stored the imbued coin in my inventory.

  “Why do you play a song to make the coin glow?” Cataryn asked as she watched.

  “It’s how I use magic, I’m a bard-type class, so my magic comes from my music.”

  “Wow,” she said, “I wanna be a bard class when I grow up!”

  I smiled again as we started jogging towards the village. We maintained the pace for as long as we could. I was surprised at Cataryn’s endurance.

  We maintained a light jog nearly the entire way back to the village, finally slowing to a walk as the large wooden fence and open gate came into sight.

  Several armored elven men and women emerged from the forest surrounding the village, as we approached the gate. All had the tanned skin I had come to attribute to wood elves. A man and a woman flanked us with arrows knocked. A third man had a sword and shield lowered, the blade pointed at me. All three lowered their weapons a second later, the woman crying out.

  “Cataryn!”

  “By the gods,” the man with the sword and shield said, “are you okay?”

  Cataryn burst into tears. I felt a moment of panic as three sets of angry eyes turned towards me.

  “She’s okay, she is okay,” I stressed, “I am just bringing her home.”

  “It’s true,” Cataryn burbled, rubbing her teary eyes, “Chanter saved me from the bad men.”

  The elven man with the bow reached out and shook my hand. I felt a now familiar haptic buzz as the skin of our wrists touched, and a notification appeared and minimized.

  “Allow me to be the first of Moswynd to extend my heartfelt thanks for returning young Cat. You have done our village a great service.”

  The other two people nodded their thanks as we all turned and began approaching the village. The woman ran ahead. Cataryn’s parents had been out with a search party, and would need to be called back.

  "The men who took her were trapped in a net further down the trail," I said as we made our way into the village. "It was quite a run to get here and I doubt they are still there but..." I trailed off.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "We will dispatch people to check." The elven man nodded and a few of the people broke off, running back down the trail.

  The village was small, but breathtakingly beautiful. Houses were built up around trees, many dozens of feet above the ground. I looked closer, and realized that the houses weren't built onto the trees, but seemed to have been grafted, or grown, from them.

  Moswynd sat atop a cliff that overlooked the ocean, a hundred or so feet below. A net of interwoven vines acted as a barrier along the edge. Salty scents of the ocean mingled with the earthy aromas of deep forest, in a unique combination unlike any I had experienced.

  It seemed like the entire town came out to get a look at us, to hug Cataryn, and to give me a congratulatory and thankful handshake, hug, or pat on the back. I received several haptic buzzes and notifications from direct contact with several different races, but I didn’t open the notification to review what they all were. There would be time for that later.

  It felt like we were in the midst of a festival, and in a way, we were. The village celebrated Cataryn’s return with much fanfare.

  I didn’t receive an update on my quest until a team of dirty, exhausted people ran into the village from the gate we had entered several hours prior.

  The sun had set, and the village was illuminated by a series of multicolored paper lanterns and drifting wisps of glowing white light. Twelve people, dressed in a variety of clothing and armor, hurried through the gates and to the small town center that was hosting the impromptu celebration.

  Quest Complete! Help Cataryn get safely home. Home is where the heart is. Now that her parents have returned, the quest is complete! Reward: Gold Rescuing Hero’s Chest, Silver Coin 10x, Greatly increased faction reputation with the citizens of Moswynd Village.

  -DING-

  Welcome to level 4! New Stat Points available for distribution!

  An elven man and a human woman led the crowd, both sobbing at the sight of their daughter. Cataryn sat on a chair at a table, a crown of flowers braided into her hair, laughing at an old man, the mayor, who had been telling jokes and stories for several minutes.

  The mayor had been regaling us all with tales about the mythical Kitsiho, a nine-tailed fox with large, white wings that saved lost children long ago. Cataryn had looked over to me, whispering “kitsiho”, when she saw her parents.

  Her eyes grew into large, wet saucers when she saw them approaching, and she launched herself from the chair and into their arms, the three of them laughing, crying, hugging. I watched for a moment before looking away. There was so much emotion in their reunion, it felt a bit overwhelming.

  I looked out over the distant waters of the ocean, far below. The stars glittered above and below, an imperfect reflection distorted by the movement of the waves. I felt a contentedness that I had never before known.

  “Chanter,” her father said. I looked around at them. He stood and walked over to me, unfastening an emblem that was tied around his right bracer as he approached.

  “Words can do no justice to… to what you have done. Thank you. Thank you so much. Please accept this, with the blessing of a father's gratitude. We are forever in your debt.” He bowed, extending the emblem with both hands.

  I took the emblem, a silvery metal branch of ivy with slightly curved leaves and two narrow strips of leather, affixed at either end. It pulsed with a gentle green glow as he handed it to me. It was warm to the touch. The warmth and gentle glow subsided after a moment. I examined the item.

  Seal of Moswynd. Adornment.

  This seal is granted to citizens of Moswynd after completion of their citizenry task and acceptance into the village. It is also provided as a gift acknowledging a great accomplishment or deed for the people of Moswynd village. Can be affixed to any armor piece by binding it with leather straps. Provides +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma to the wearer. Identifies the wearer as either citizen or hero of Moswynd village.

  I didn’t have any armor, so I tied it around the strap that held my lute to my back. It matched the width of the strap perfectly. I ran my finger over the curved leaf, remembering its warmth, and looked around. A small crowd looked back at me, starlight and kindness reflected in their eyes.

  “Thank you, I will treasure it.”

  The celebration continued into the night. Cataryn’s parents, Telko and Farah, bought round after round of drink for me, and much of the night became a celebratory blur.

  The village was too small for an inn, but the mayor happily let me stay the night in a spare room at his house.

  Several hours later, I stood on the balcony of my room, looking over the distant ocean, drunkenly remembering the events of my first day in Veil. What a rollercoaster it had been. I gripped the curving wood banister of the balcony and marveled at the beauty of the view.

  “This world is incredible,” I said to myself, before stumbling back inside.

  I hoped I wouldn’t regret drinking as much when I left to search for Cahl in the morning. I would get that mentorship, and join the Adventurer’s Guild.

  My stomach twisted into a cold knot. First, I had more pressing matters to attend to. I rushed back to the balcony and was sick over the edge.

  I awoke and was treated to a hearty breakfast, which I picked at meekly as my stomach threatened a revolution, before saying my goodbyes to the villagers and heading back to the city. Cataryn was still sleeping, but Farah promised to tell her I said goodbye.

  Telko and a few other men volunteered to accompany me back to the city. There was no sign of our assailants when we passed by the area that had been trapped the day before, and the guards had not found them when they had ventured out the previous day. Nothing and no one attacked us on the road. It was a pleasant walk.

  I learned that Telko’s great-grandmother had once been an adventurer, and one of the first members of Moswynd Village, which had been founded by a small group of adventurers.

  Telko was a carpenter, and Farah a leatherworker. They both hunted and foraged, which seemed to be the main source of food for the village — that, and fishing.

  He promised to show me to the cliffside docks, which were rigged with a rope-and-pulley system that allowed passage to the waters below. Much of his woodworking involved the crafting of small fishing boats.

  Telko showed me to a small fishing market, and we separated with a promise that I would return to visit from time to time.

  I found a quiet section of the market and sat down on an empty barrel, opening the numerous notifications I had received. I had obtained several new sets of transformations, my list now included: Human (Regular), Dwarf (Mountain), Elf (High) (Wood), Half-elf (Wood), Beastkin (Otter) (Goat). I also had the Golden Hero Box to open from completing the quest, which I pulled out of my inventory.