The argument burned itself out the way these things always did, loud at first, then fraying into mutters and bitter looks. We resumed the march with no real resolution, just the quiet understanding that stopping was not an option.

  I could feel my irritation transforming into something harsher. Annoyance I could live with, but this was edging towards exasperation.

  I walked alongside Tom for a while, then Selene. The old tailor moved with a crossbow cradled against her chest like a soldier with an M4 rifle. She had told me plainly that she would never be a warrior; physicality wasn’t her thing. Still, she shot when needed, not well or fast, but she tried. She gave what she could give.

  I could respect that.

  What gnawed at me was that most of the loudest voices demanding we turn back belonged to men. Big words, wounded pride, endless excuses. The women, for the most part, kept their heads down and did what they could. Fear did not vanish just because someone refused to acknowledge it, but at least they did not dress it up as righteousness.

  How could you call yourself a man and not even try—

  Something burst from the undergrowth to my right.

  I reacted before the thought finished forming.

  An arcane dart snapped into existence and launched itself between the trees. The creature, some lone eldir that had strayed too close to my senses, didn’t even have time to scream before it folded into the leaves. Headshot, dead in a moment.

  I wasn’t even looking in the monster direction; I just fired based on what my arcane sense was telling me. The silence afterwards felt brittle; my heartbeat pounded in my ears.

  I slowed my pace and let my pulse slow again. I was too distracted, too deep in my own head. Multitasking my spells and keeping them up was becoming second nature by now, but that only meant it took two hits to kill me instead of just one.

  I said nothing, nor did I look back. But I could hear some murmurs behind me; I didn’t care what they said about me, honestly. The only things that mattered were moving forward, both literally and figuratively. The body of the monster vanished into the green behind us – another problem solved.

  I abandoned my useless thoughts about the useless people and resumed my work.

  I tried again to make a damn sword; I was going at it for a couple of hours already, and my efforts were getting rewarded. Little by little, my crooked imitation of a sword was becoming more and more similar to what I wanted. Though the spell was still resisting the command I gave to my mana, there was something still off about it, so I decided to try something else. The spell was called Arcane Dart, so what if I infused the mana with the intent to make it a dart? Exactly what it should be?

  I created a normal dart on my left; it appeared floating besides me at shoulder level. Then I focused, and with the same process I used to create the "swords" before, I imprinted in the mana my will for it to be a dart even before using it for the spell.

  Be a dart.

  The mana condensed instantly with a subtle vibration, as if it had snapped into existence instead of being created by the spell matrix. The second dart formed besides the first – same size, same colour, but unmistakably different. The light it shed was stronger, not brighter in hue but denser, like it carried something more. A faint hum threaded the air around it, barely audible; I could feel it through my arcane senses too.

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  I stared at it.

  It was the same spell, with the same mana cost, but not the same result.

  A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it.

  I needed to test them.

  A thick tree stood not far from the path, its trunk wide enough that three men would struggle to encircle it. I raised my hand and sent both darts forward.

  They flew true without sound.

  Frederick, walking a few paces behind me with his son close at his side, stiffened. “Is there a problem? Monsters?”

  “No,” I said, glancing back briefly. “Just testing something.”

  I walked to the tree.

  The first dart had buried itself deep into the wood. At least the length of my forearm, maybe more. Solid. Effective.

  The second had punched straight through.

  I could see the light on the other side.

  I exhaled slowly, a laugh bubbling up that I swallowed down. Ideas cascaded through my mind, each one sharper than the last. I really stumbled into something big, I think. This was fantastic.

  I turned back, already reaching for mana again, when Marcus approached from the front, moving with the easy confidence of someone who had spent their whole life in the woods.

  “We’re close,” he said. “The point where we split yesterday. You told me to let you know.”

  I nodded to him. “Thanks, man.”

  The shrine had not slipped my mind. Not for a second.

  I went to talk with Tom and told him we were diverting. The time we had made was terrible. Most of the morning and part of the afternoon, just to get here. I told him to find a good spot and make camp.

  He frowned. “Is this really the time to go looking for trouble?”

  The answer that sprang to mind was sharp enough to cut. I swallowed it before it could escape. My curse stayed quiet, for once, but I did not test my luck.

  “Look around,” I said instead. “They’re exhausted. Distraught. We camp here and move better tomorrow. Attacks have thinned out. We’re past eldir territory. Whatever the root tree didn’t kill, it enslaved, and it’s all dead now. It will be the safest place we will find around for a bit, I’m afraid.”

  “Make sense, but don’t get anyone killed, please.”

  “Don’t worry, it won’t take long. If everything goes well, this will be more of a fetch quest than anything else.” I told him while chuckling, Quinn was rubbing off on me a bit too much. As I moved towards the centre of the formation, I heard Tom give the order to push just a little further before stopping. Relief rippled through the group, soft and almost palpable.

  I found Mary and Rhea there.

  I looked at our best healer. “Are you still willing to open the shrine?”

  She hesitated only long enough to glance around. People were stable. Another healer was present, and there were no immediate crises.

  “Yes,” she said. “I said so yesterday.”

  Rhea practically bounced besides her. “Oh yes. We killed a giant tree monstrosity, and that guy wanted whatever is inside soo bad; we deserve it.” She leant towards Mary and winked conspiratorially and far too cheerfully.

  I asked Jerome if he wanted to guide us again.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I think I’ve waved my stick around enough for now. I’ll leave it up to you guys.”

  In the end, we went light. Me; Mary, Rhea and Quinn, who would rather die than miss this; and Alya. Marco lost interest the moment he realised the thing inside the shrine was probably healer-related. Marcus stayed with the group to scout. Melissa stayed as well, reluctantly, because the group needed her barriers more than we did.

  We walked with the others until the forest thinned and the trees began to sicken. The leaves yellowed. The bark split. Dead roots still twisted out of the ground like exposed veins.

  Then we peeled off.

  Quinn took point without ceremony, waving us after him. We crossed into the scarred ground where yesterday’s battle had torn the forest apart. The smell hit first. Rot and sap and something sour that clung to the back of the throat.

  Alya whistled low. “Jerome totally undersold this.”

  Quinn stared at the massive, melted mound that had once been the root tree, eyes wide. “I take back everything bad I said about you; please don’t reduce Alya to the same as that thing.”

  “Huh? Why would I end up bein… you little shit, I’ll get you back for that!”

  Quinn vanished with a laugh for a moment before circling around and appearing at my side, grinning like a fool.

  I shook my head at his shenanigans.

  Dead monsters lay scattered everywhere, whole or torn apart. Some places only had chunks remaining. Did this happen just yesterday? How come it feels so far away already… I killed two people too; they were totally parasitised by that monster dodder, but what if they were still there, inside?

  I didn’t even think about it before, but now it came to me unbidden. Again, it didn’t matter. Not now. What was done was done. I would take a couple of therapy sessions if I ever needed them, but not now.

  We moved on, following the path Jerome had described.

  The shrine waited somewhere ahead.

  And whatever had been worth killing so much for, I intended to claim.

  20 chapters ahead!