The air was filled with an energy that I could feel against my skin like a static charge. It was familiar, yet also completely different from what I was used to.
“I think there’s a primal nearby,” I announced.
As I made this statement, I stopped and looked around me. We were currently in the middle of a forest, one filled with trees that were unlike any I’d ever seen before. Some of the trees looked normal, but others… Some of the trees had leaves that seemed to be made of silver or gold.
Ever since we’d stepped into this forest, I’d been feeling traces of primal energy that seemed to flicker in and out of my awareness. And though I wasn’t sure, I thought that there might be more than one type.
“Maybe a natural,” I said as I looked up into the branches. Animal themed primals would be a natural fit for this location.
Then I saw movement, a bird flying away from one branch only to head to a branch on a different tree. There was a squirrel, shooting up the trunk of yet another tree. I saw animals, but no monsters. That suggested a natural primal even more.
“Look,” Bunny exclaimed,
I looked to where Bunny was pointing and immediately saw what she had. There was a glowing sphere, about the size of a basketball, slowly drifting away between the trees. It made no move to come towards us, yet it didn’t seem to be moving away either.
“We haven’t seen any monsters lately,” Ramirez pointed out.
“Not since that horse sized racoon,” Ace agreed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we get attacked by a pack of monster wolves soon.”
Bunny nodded at that. “I’ve been looking for any threats, but I haven’t seen any in awhile.”
“This could be the calm before the storm,” Turtle suggested.
“It could be,” I agreed. “We don’t want to get complacent, but we don’t want to get paranoid either. Stay calm but ready.”
A minute later, we stepped out of the trees and into an open glade. The clearing was mostly open, except for three small trees that sprouted up in the middle, right beside a babbling stream which ran right through it.
“Fruit trees,” Turtle said, pointing to the trees in the middle. “Apple, plum, and… Is that an orange tree?”
“I think so,” Olivia responded. “They’re a bit small though, so maybe tangerine…”
We slowly moved around the clearing but found no signs of threats. Once we were confident in our safety for the moment, we turned our attention to the fruit trees and water.
“Food and water,” I mused as I continued looking around. “And there is a treasure box.”
Right between the fruit trees was a treasure box, one that was a bit bigger than the ones I’d seen before. And when Ace opened the box, I saw that it was full of food. Bread and large poultry legs from what looked like a turkey, though I couldn’t be certain.
“This is a safe area,” I announced, relaxing a little.
I’d heard about safe areas in the Labyrinth, spots that monsters avoided and where food and water were sometimes supplied. This was the first time I’d actually seen one for myself.
“Good thing too,” Ace said. “We were getting a bit low on supplies.”
I nodded at that since Ace was right. We’d gone into the Labyrinth with limited supplies because we hadn’t intended to be here for long, only for a few days. We’d already been here for a few days and were at the point where we’d have to go back soon, so the extra food and water would give us another couple days inside.
Ramirez stared at the food and let out a sigh. I could see her frustration over the fact that she hadn’t become a player yet, and worry that she might not. Just because a normal person survived being in the Labyrinth, that didn’t guarantee they’d become a player.
“We aren’t done yet,” I assured Ramirez.
“And even if you don’t become a player while here,” Ace offered. “You might still become one the old-fashioned way.”
Bunny smacked him upside the head while Olivia glared at him and Turtle just shook his head. I snorted.
“Don’t go wishing her to die,” Bunny warned Ace. “I’m sure you remember how bad that was.”
Ace shrugged apologetically, then told Ramirez, “I meant, in the future… A long time from now.”
Ramirez chuckled. “I would prefer to avoid the old-fashioned method, especially since I’m happy being who I am.”
“Becoming someone else can really suck,” Ace agreed while Olivia and Turtle both nodded their agreement.
I took advantage of the opportunity to rest and get something to eat, however, the entire time, I kept feeling the primal magic in the air. The strength kept flickering, going in and out as though the source was moving around. Or sources, as I was sure I was feeling more than one type.
Eventually, I got up and began walking around the clearing, making a circle near the tree line. I paid close attention to the primal energy I felt, noting when it seemed to spike again.
“Hello,” I said as soon as I felt the energy strengthen.
I focused on pushing out my willpower, wanting to be seen and noticed. My presence was currently at ten, which was twice what it had been with the water elemental. I hoped that this time I wouldn’t be ignored.
“Whatever you are,” I said, staring into the trees, “I can feel you.”
There was movement among the trees, though it took me a few seconds more before I could see the source. It was a deer, one with a nice rack of antlers. The deer sauntered towards me, staring at me with strange glowing eyes.
“MORTAL,” the deer said in a deep voice. It stopped at the edge of the tree line, right before entering the clearing.
“Hello,” I said, trying to be as polite as I could. “I was hoping we could talk about a possible deal.”
The primal sniffed the air in front of me and continued staring for several more seconds. Then, it announced, “YOU HAVE NOTHING I NEED.” With that, it turned and began moving back into the trees.
“How about apples,” I called after it, remembering what Wolf had said about natural primals and how they tended to have simple interests. “I have access to apples and other fruit. Wouldn’t you like to try some of those?”
For a moment, the deer seemed to pause and consider it, but only for a moment. A second later, it vanished behind a tree and was gone. I could feel its presence fading away.
“At least this one talked to you,” Ace pointed out.
Ramirez asked, “This has happened before?”
“Yeah,” Bunny agreed. “Maggie tried taming some kind of water elemental, but it completely ignored her.”
“Pretty much,” I agreed with a sigh. “At least I know that increasing my presence worked.”
I started walking back towards the center of the clearing when I felt the primal energy getting stronger again. This was different than what I’d felt from the deer. This was a different type of primal.
“MORTAL,” a new voice said from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw the glowing sphere that I’d spotted earlier. It was right there in front of me, right at the border between the clearing and the trees. This was it.
“I WOULD MAKE A DEAL WITH YOU,” the glowing sphere said.
Then the sphere began to change, growing and spreading out. A few seconds later, it took a humanoid shape, and soon after that, it looked like a ghostly man. He appeared to be an old man, about four feet tall, with pointed ears and a massively oversized nose.
“A BARGAIN,” this glowing man said.
I took a moment to stare at the glowing man, at the primal in front of me. I could feel the primal energy from him, one of the types that I’d been feeling off and on since stepping into the forest. This being had been close to us, perhaps even following us.
“I am happy to hear that,” I responded. “I am an invoker, and I am interested gaining new abilities. New powers. The kind that I can acquire from primals like you.”
“POWERS, YES,” the primal said with a knowing nod. “INDEED. I CAN GIVE YOU A BOON OF MY POWER…FOR A SERVICE.”
“What kind of service do you have in mind?” I asked. “And what kind of ability would you offer?”
The being in front of me didn’t answer at first. Instead, he just stood there, looking thoughtful and ghostly. I suddenly had a suspicion about this particular primal.
“You…are a faerie, aren’t you?” I asked.
The primal nodded at that, smiling faintly. “I AM.”
I remembered Wolf’s warning about faerie type primals. He’d said that they were unpredictable, that they could be quite generous, but that they could also be extremely tricky when they thought that might be more amusing. That meant, I had to be careful about whatever deal I made with this faerie, because if I wasn’t, it could come back to bite me in the ass…and not in the fun way.
“THERE IS AN ENEMY IN THESE WOODS,” the faerie finally said. “A SICK CORRUPTION THAT SPOILS MY HOME. HE IS BEYOND YOUR POWER TO DESTROY, BUT HIS SPAWN ARE NOT. DESTROY HIS SPAWN FOR ME, CLEANSE THEM FROM MY HOME, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU A SMALL PORTION OF MY POWER FOR EACH SLAIN.”
“That sounds good,” I responded carefully, not outright agreeing to this quite yet. Instead, I decided to try buttering him up a little. “I can feel that you’re very powerful, but what kind of boon would you be willing to grant me?”
The fairie seemed amused by that and even chuckled. “I AM NO GREAT POWER,” he admitted. “IF I WERE, I WOULD BE ABLE TO CLEANSE THE FILTH MYSELF. MINE IS BUT THE POWER OF HIDING AND MISDIRECTION, OF ILLUSION AND ESCAPE. THE MORE SPAWN YOU SLAY, THE GREATER MY BOON WILL BE.”
Before I could ask anything more, the faerie suddenly shrank back down into the glowing sphere that he had been before. Then, he floated backwards, slowly fading away as he did so, until he was entirely gone.
“What the hell was that?” Ace demanded.
“That,” I answered as I turned back to my team, giving them a self-conscious smile, “was me negotiating for a new ability.”
“You mean,” Bunny teased me, “volunteering the rest of us for extra work while you get the reward.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I wouldn’t phrase it like that.”
“Oh?” Ramirez asked, apparently deciding to get in on the teasing. “And how would you phrase it?”
I hesitated for a moment before shrugging. “I’m not sure. I mean, that might be true, but I definitely would have phrased it differently.”
“Well,” Turtle said. “We’re down here to kill monsters anyway, so it won’t hurt to get a little extra from it in the process.”
“If it is monsters that we’re supposed to hunt,” Olivia pointed out with a grim expression. “For all we know, he was referring to a bunch of players who are camping out somewhere in this forest.”
I blinked at that, then muttered, “Crap.” And here, I thought I was being careful in dealing with that faerie. “I hope you’re wrong about that. I REALLY hope you are.”