First off, I need to say that hopping around in a thirty-by-forty cavern with various low hanging and high climbing protrusions was as frightening as it was boring, but it did help me improve my spatial awareness.

  Secondly, I needed to get out of here because the sheer boredom of seeing the same walls of slate-gray and lime-white were beginning to make my brain hurt.

  I stopped my little parkour run feeling confident and in control as I said. An hour well spent, indeed. My next task was exploring the tunnel in hopes of finding the light at the end.

  I checked my mana levels, noticing that it took surprising little mana to produce the little steps though the stamina cost was a bit daunting. I chanted a quick Vigor and watched my stamina pool climb up by nearly forty points, also taking note of the increase to my regeneration rate. It made sense as I recalled the effects of the spell.

  Vigor: [Ten Mana.] This spell allows the user to bestow a boost to the target’s stamina, increasing their ability to push through tough tasks with more ease as they are lifted out of exhaustion. Walk further and be refreshed. While this spell can alleviate Stamina overuse it can compound the issue if overused. All things in moderation.

  Rank Two: This spell now alleviates the need for sleep to a small degree, recovering the body from both mental and physical exhaustion. A passive is applied to the user upon reaching this rank which reduces the Stamina required for strenuous activity by an amount directly related to Constitution and Wisdom. Targets of this spell will recover Stamina immediately while also receiving a reduced restoration of Stamina over time.

  Rank Three: At this rank your passive Stamina cost reduction is increased. Your spell will now restore a greater amount of Stamina as well as restoring slightly more stamina over time as the spell fades.

  I had a moment where I thought about using one of my remaining skill points to increase the magical spell level by one to max it out but thought that it may be best to wait a little while. The boon would surely be something helpful, likely providing more stamina, but I wanted to keep it as an option rather than committing straight away.

  I was beginning to look at my other attributes and skill when a sad thought occurred to me and looked down at my little friend. I had no idea if I would be able to bring the salamander with me.

  Sure, he was a conjured spirit and would just vacate his current vessel when I dismissed the spell, but I could not help but feel like I would be abandoning him here if I were to shoot up the tunnel right now. I mean what kind of friend just -.

  My thought process was interrupted by the salamander giving a loud huff before expelling a blast of fire from his tail as he pushed away from the earth with short stubby legs. I was equally amazed and skeptical as his lunge fell just shy of landing him in the opening above us as another gout of flame erupted from his posterior, and it was not the tail this time.

  “Eww.” I said waving the air in front of and all around me, making sure to lean into the air manipulation inherent in the Wind Walk active effect. “It smells like stale swamp gas and burnt eggs…”

  As I was complaining about the foul smell, I could not help but be amazed as the salamander reached up with one clawed foot to latch onto a crystal and pull itself up; each of its legs grabbing onto the wall of the tunnel as it drew further in.

  “Show off.” I said, even as the little guy began wriggling further up the hold in the ceiling, grasping as crystals and rocks alike.

  Impressive.

  Now, I did not want to be outdone by my subordinate this early in my hero career, so I jumped up from the floor of the cavern one leg extended higher as I formed a step and then pushed down hard.

  With my stamina costs and weight both reduced through the use of Wind Walk I found that lifting myself up and through the hole took little effort. I could compare it to climbing a small set of stairs, though the sight of nothing below my feet but a haze in the air did take some getting used to.

  “That could be an issue.” I found myself saying as I thought of attaining the heights I had seen Camille reach before she faded into the middle distance outside the city all those weeks ago.

  Had it been weeks, really? I took a moment to bring up the calendar function even as I pushed higher into the labyrinthine tunnel above me.

  Troug 14, The 1344th Year of the Age

  Wow, while I had no idea what age the calendar referred to it did occur to me that this would be the equivalent of Valentine’s Day back on earth as it was the fourteenth day of the second month. And yes, I knew that the calendars were not quite the same and I also knew that they probably had no saint Valentine on this world, but I had to draw that line in my head. I honestly could not wait to get back home to South Jaga.

  I will be honest here in my own thoughts about this, I mostly wanted to try those pastries I had been cheated out of.

  Thoughts of the pastries made me think of the evil raven that was my bonded familiar, and I remembered to send out a quick mental message to let him know I was making my way topside.

  I knew he was there as I could feel his presence growing nearer and nearly directly overhead. I got back the sense that he was not alone, and I could vaguely discern a mental image of some fighting below Corvin as he flew about, waiting for me to arrive.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  The feel of throwing down and tossing some help to my rescuers occurred to me then, but I had to quickly shunt that thought away. I could barely keep up with one mad cow, how could I stand against a bunch of bandits and slavers defending their home turf.

  I also got the sense that something very wrong was about to happen as the magic in the area was taking on some not-so-friendly undertones. It did not feel evil per se, but I was definitely picking up on some negative energy gathering.

  Focus.

  I leapt to the next step, missing a jutting chunk of blue and white crystal, something that was the size of a fire hydrant and likely just as hard. My mana was still doing fine, and I saw that my stamina had only fallen by a few percentage points, good signs.

  I also noted that I had not yet caught up to Ignis, though I could see his fiery tail lashing about up above, throwing shadows and weird shafts of different colored lights throughout as his flames were refracted and reflected by the oversized crystals.

  It seemed as if I had been climbing through the tunnel for an age, leaping from magical steps and even some of the large crystals and rock shelves where they were available to conserve mana. The tunnel grew so narrow in some places that I needed to summon my little footpads nearly on top of one another as I stepped up in place as if climbing a very off ladder, banging my knees in places when I misjudged a few stones.

  Was I almost having fun? Yes. Would I ever want to do this again? No. Though it was almost a guarantee that I would some day be forced to do similar things to escape some horrible fate or maybe rescue a fair prince from evildoers in some far-off kingdom. The struggles of an up-and-coming heroine.

  The lights above suddenly lost their orange and red shifts in hue, and I realized a little later than I should have that I was nearly out, almost there. The loss of colors would mean that Ignis had cleared the hole and was waiting on the surface, it must be nice having six legs and being able to create your own propelling force from the undercarriage. I was betting he had learned that skill in Elemental College of Cha…

  Yeah, let’s skip the copyright infringement.

  A moment after my mind threw that random pattern of thought out, I was clearing the last of the crystal and now climbing through a tunnel of simple brown soil. Above me I saw the carpets of green grass that folded down at the lip of the sinkhole that had allowed me easy escape.

  I took another pair of steps above me and leapt the last bit of distance to land almost gracefully upon the sod.

  I heard a loud “Caw!!” overhead even as I took in the sight of Ignis curled in a circle, his body hissing softly as small droplets of water fell from above, steaming away on contact. It was also at this time that I noticed another notification from the ever-present system.

  Welcome to the Turning, as you are braving the open world in this time of change all regenerations are increased.

  Be aware that all spells and skills are empowered during this time. Yet even as you are empowered the Monsters of this world are similarly empowered.

  This message is being shown to you so as to make you aware of the specifics of a natural cycle; remember this fact as it will not be repeated.

  I had been wondering about the whole Turning thing the others had been mentioning. Now I knew, kind of. Meh, I would surely remember to ask someone later, after I got back. The important take away was that I had a little less to worry about when it came to running out of resources as I made my escape.

  Win, win.

  “Hey Ignis…” I began before being interrupted.

  “Why, hello there!” came a high-pitched voice from behind me.

  I jumped and turned to see a girl, or a woman rather standing behind a tomb stone. That got my mind working again as I took in the hill, I found myself standing up. Yep, I was in the middle of a graveyard. This entire side of the river seemed to be one massive collection of stones, there had to be several hundred stones in various places on this side of the mansion.

  “Umm, hello.” Came the voice again.

  I looked at the lady again, mildly confused as to what she was doing here. There was no way she was one of the bad guys. She wore a long dark coat that covered her from her head to her kneecaps. She was holding an umbrella to keep the rain from ruining her curled and coifed hair that she was keeping under a small bandanna of yellow and blue. Her eyes were a pale blue reflecting the grey cast clouds of the sky above even as she smiled at me from her gentle angelic face. She was wearing serviceable boots of some dark leather and sported the most interestingly colorful pain of cotton socks I had ever seen outside of a cartoon show.

  “Hi.” I answered, not lame at all.

  “Oh, you can speak.” She said, “I was worried that you may have been one of them.” She made vague hand gestures toward the ground and then at the stones. I was not sure what to make of that but decided to keep talking, I couldn’t be seen as rude.

  “No, not one of those. I’m alive.” I answered, “I am also named Olea, who are you?”

  “I’m just visiting.” She said, not quite answering my question. “My friends are usually much quieter though.” Her hands once again pointed at the various stones surrounding us.

  “Do you come here often?” was the response that came from my mouth, and yes, I realized it sounded very lame. Very lame.

  “Oh, yes I do.” She nodded even as a giggle escaped her mischievous lips, “You may want to leave though, maybe come back later.”

  I looked down at Ignis and then up to Corvin who was circling much lower now and screeching something, even as I felt some sense coming to the rear parts of my brain.

  “Why would I need to come back-.” I began as I looked back, only to see that the woman had gone. It was then that I took a few moments to observe the surroundings with a more critical eye, the things she had said slowly sinking into my forward-facing brain-meat.

  I saw down below at the base of the hill; a large barge had been run up on the shore. Not far along the road coming up the hill, though on the opposite side to me was a familiar figure. Doogan, in all his glory, was facing off against a group of the local guards, and he wasn’t alone.

  I saw a pair of wide-shouldered men fighting their way forward against a dozen slow moving foes.

  One was swinging a large hammer of monstrous size around as if it weighed nothing, or it seemed that way until it made impact and sent someone flying several feet away. The other wielded a pair of flashy metal swords that he was using to slice his foes down where they stood. They were both wearing professionally done armor that glinted even in the low slate-gray evening light, and they both looked very committed to ending the lives of their foes.

  The problem I saw facing them was that the foes were getting back up, and not all of them were in one piece. No, and this was probably obvious given our location, but my friend and his friends were fighting a horde of zombies.

  The worst part of this was that even as I noticed them fighting below, I could also see some climbing from the ground at my feet. It was apparently time for the reinvention of a classic cult fiction. Except it would seem that this one was real.

  I patted Ignis on the head and pulled my knife from storage and prepared for battle before being interrupted by the telepathic message from my familiar shouting, “Run!”

  This message was further punctuated by a large stone falling from above and smashing the ground nearby, along with crushing the head of a withered corpse as it had started pulling itself free of the earth.

  I guess I could have my heroic moment later.