Haven 2.0

  Miranda looked around at Hank and his family standing in the campground they had been in before being drug into the tutorial. A rustling noise drew everyone’s attention, but they relaxed as Josie led the group of strangely named people out of the forest. “Reee!” The green falcon that had grown so powerful landed on her shoulder and hopped excitedly.

  The people were odd in more ways than their names. After excitedly running up to Miranda to greet her like they were long lost friends at the start of the tutorial, they had immediately left on a hunt and found a cache of tomes full of all kinds of useful information. Unfortunately, the tomes had been single use items that crumbled upon use. Hank had once questioned why they argued about so much of the information if only one person could read them. The group had explained that away by claiming the other bard named Travis had found a work around by reading the books aloud to the group.

  Travis was another strange one. Constantly singing out of tune and never knowing more than a few lines of any song that he repeated over and over. Josie had threatened many times to banish him for ruining the vibe, but in the end the group had allowed him to join them on their many hunting trips. Although it might have been a keep your friends close and your enemies closer situation, because she had many times spotted one of the strangely named folks sneakily following Travis on the occasions he would go somewhere by himself.

  Miranda had to admit though, she was certain the tutorial would have probably ended entirely differently if the group hadn’t been there. Their guidance proved solid and they had practically drug every person in the tutorial out hunting with them or sparring or practicing mana manipulation. The tutorial group had only lost a few people and had reached an average level of more than forty by the time they were triumphantly standing over the body of the final boss. She just wished they weren’t so fascinated with witches. Constantly talking about how cool they were while also pushing Miranda into a leadership role. The information they had gained about there being ninety-two other universes seemed a little suspect also. They all agreed the evil snake god was super cool but couldn’t decide if the one called the Holy Mother was sus or just part of her faction was definitely evil.

  Josie pulled out one of her magical maps and held it out for Slyphie to store in her storage. Miranda also didn’t know what to think about the bird. The group swore that she had been a fully functional autistic human who loved role playing prior to the integration, but the bird had reee’d in offense. Miranda wasn’t sure if the bird objected to the claim that she had not always been a bird or that she may have been differently abled before.

  The bird took off flying. “Slyphie is going to recon. Infernalrobot is sensing a pylon of civilization in that direction.” Josie announced. Miranda had to admit, her instincts also pulled her in the same direction. She felt power, safety, and opportunity pushing her to go with this group.

  Hank and his family were indifferent as to which direction to go, so they were quickly moving in the direction that the bird had flown with atallchevy warning them to stay on guard and keep their eyes open for wooden tigers. Sure enough it was only a few hours before they spotted a wooden tiger stalking them. Infernalrobot had shielded them with walls of fire while the group held off the tiger until Slyphie returned to slice the beast into pieces that infernalrobot quickly turned into ash.

  The bird landed in front of Josie and dropped the magical map it had been given and hopped excitedly. Josie picked it up and studied it before calling atallchevy over. The bard began singing. Miranda didn’t recognise the song until Josie reached the chorus, “But he said that you are, you are the future. He said that you are, you are the future. And the future looks good. The future looks good.”

  Atallchevy was doing a dance involving jumping around and peering in the direction the bird had returned from with his hands shading his eyes. Travis tried to help as his horrendous voice sang out, “I always feel like somebody’s…” but ninjapop quickly covered the bard’s mouth before he was able to ruin the vibe.

  After about thirty seconds, atallchevy stood upright stiffly and began shaking. His eyes rolled up into his head and he announced, “I see a mighty hunter with a wooden face. He has marked his territory and would allow us to settle there. No beasts would dare enter the hunter's domain.” He fell to the ground before quickly opening his eyes and stood up as if he had fallen asleep and woke himself up.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Miranda didn’t even wait for Josie to explain before she ordered that they get moving.

  *****

  Jake stood and stretched. Enough alchemy for now. Time to go hunting. He was lifting his foot to step away when a strange sensation came to him. Quickly he realized what it was. Someone had entered his domain. Changing direction he one-stepped off to meet them.

  About halfway to the group of humans, his sphere of perception picked up a small bird hiding behind a tree. “Reee?” it cautiously called out before sticking a wing out to wave towards Jake. He could tell the bird was aware of his presence and was not acting in a threatening manner. In fact it seemed to be purposely trying to greet him. “Ree?” the bird cautiously stuck its head around the tree to peer at him. Jake lowered his bow and the bird walked out to wave both wings seemingly in greeting.

  Jake smiled and said, “You’re a cute little bird. I think I’ll name you Greenie.”

  “REEEE!!!!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you already had a name.” Jake said before using a quick identify. “Sliphie. That’s an awesome name.”

  *****

  Jake followed the excited little bird through the forest. In the distance he heard an excited, “He’s coming. He’s coming.” A much calmer voice called out, “Put the weapons away. We’re a large group and we don’t want to appear hostile. He is much stronger than us.”

  He walked into a clearing to find two very distinct groups of humans. One appeared to be a family and the other a random assortment of weirdly named people that bowed as they said, “We greet the chosen.”

  Confused, Jake asked, “Are you part of the order?”

  A person carrying a musical instrument of some sort stepped forward, “Some hope to join someday, others among us hope Carmen will help us join Valhall.”

  An attractive redhead stepped forward, “After our tutorial, we were placed in the forest and seek a place to settle down.” She motioned towards the group of strangely named people clearly showing they were together but also slightly separate. “They divined that you had found a pylon of civilization and established a domain. We hoped we might be able to settle there?”

  “We’ll set up outside your valley and make sure we don’t disturb you.” the bard added.

  Jake was still wondering who the hell Carmen was, but ended up agreeing to allow them to establish a settlement. “Thank you, Jake.” the bard said, causing Jake to question Villy if he knew who these people were.

  “No idea. I can’t get anything on them. I’d have Eversmile take a look at them, but I’ve already used up the favor he owes me.” Villy said. Jake felt several other eyes join Villy’s as the group came up to greet him. Everyone had something strange to say. “Orange man bad.” “Say hi to the eels for me.” “The trick is not to bend the arrow. The trick is to realize the arrow isn’t real.” One man handed him a large sapphire saying, “In case you do any rituals and want the result to be blue. Blue is a much better color than green. I can’t believe some people prefer green.”

  *****

  Miranda watched as the group of strangers huddled together. She overheard the names Lillian and Chris mentioned. There was talk of giant mushrooms and trolls. The bird ree’d and several people said, “Hawkie and Misty.” Josie sent the bird to find something. Miranda shook her head before continuing on her way to meet with the owner.

  *****

  Jake was floating over the pond working on his mana manipulation when he sensed a small bird enter his sphere. The bird quickly flew away and returned with two other birds. Curious, Jake watched them as the little green bird quietly tried to reassure them. The brown hawk was using a leather bag to carry what turned out to be an egg that he carefully sat down while the d grade blue bird began making a nest.

  The green bird positioned itself between Jake and the nest and patiently waited for Jake to acknowledge it. Curiosity overwhelmed him and he carefully walked off of the pond and went to meet his new neighbors. The green bird let out a questioning “Ree?”

  Jake shrugged, “Sure, they can stay.”

  *****

  Neil froze. A powerful, but small green bird had appeared in front of them and Ree’d excitedly before pulling out some sort of magical piece of paper before storing it again and flying off. The augur had said they would find safety in this forest. Now he wasn’t so sure he should have trusted him.

  Neil felt a strange version of space magic being used before a human appeared in the distance. A man dressed in black with swords strapped to his back came moving impossibly fast towards them. He stopped right where the bird had turned around and took a second to gather his senses before saying, “Hey, Neil. Jake’s out hunting, but we told Miranda we had found you. Come with me. You’ll be safe and we have some time to get ready for your cousin to arrive.”

  Neil used identify on the man, but the only thing it told him was the name ninjapop. “Who are Jake and Miranda and how do you know me?”

  The man shrugged and said, “The bird told us. Follow me.”

  Eleanor asked, “How did the bird know? It was only here for a few seconds. Who are these people?” Neil shrugged and they followed ninjapop. They had seen stranger things happen since their integration. Weirdness was sort of becoming the norm.