A few seconds after his Guide winked out of existence, Edge’s skin began to prickle.

  He could sense the System’s magic congealing around his body—refined mana that felt subtly different from the energy produced by cores—then the spell took shape, and he vanished in a flash.

  He experienced the strange sensation of being pulled across the space between spaces, gliding along an axis of reality that lay beyond the three-dimensional world. A few seconds later, a doorway opened within the void, leading back to the physical realm.

  When the lights came back on, Edge found himself staring at a pristine ivory shore. Purple waves crashed against a rocky beach—accompanied by the mournful cries of seabirds passing overhead. When he ran his eyes across the horizon, nothing but an endless expanse of ocean met his gaze.

  When he turned around, he discovered that he was standing on an island. This must be somewhere within the frontier. I’ve never seen terrain like this on the feed, and there’s no sign that people live here or have even passed through the area.

  While it was always exciting to check out an unexplored region, he didn’t have time to appreciate the view. Edge had 24 hours to find a friendly beast and form a bond, or the quest would fail and he would lose his chance to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

  He could tell this was a high-threat biome from the heavy flows of magicytes, with a concentration somewhere between what he’d found in the Sweltering Green and the Deep-Gill Grottos. It meant there shouldn’t be anything stronger than peak stage-two living here, although he wasn’t taking that for granted.

  Just because he was here on a quest didn’t mean it was safe. In fact, the opposite was more likely to be true, given the System’s bizarre craving for entertainment that had begun after the anomaly. Edge’s goal was to find a promising beast, then mark its location and keep looking until there were less than six hours left on the clock. After all, he didn’t just want a Companion—he wanted to bond the most powerful creature he could find.

  Since he didn’t have time to waste, he activated Shadow Play before leaving the beach. He didn’t want an aquatic or amphibious Companion, so the interior of the island was his best bet. He wasn’t completely invisible in shadow form, but given the various bonuses the skill had obtained from Conceal, it should prevent predators from noticing his intrusion and make it easier to spot the creatures living in the region.

  The isle was covered with swaying palms and towering ferns. Most of them were yellow and orange, although there were scattered patches of green here and there, along with a range of other colors. It soon became apparent that the island was home to an abundance of beasts—even by the standards of Ord.

  As he explored the region, Edge passed by countless critters. While many of them seemed quite powerful, none of them were young enough to bond. He spotted giant silver owls, rabbits with flames for fur, burrowing moles with razored claws, and insects in brilliant shades of violet and crimson. After his trip inside Roth’s core, he didn’t want a bug for a Companion, although he knew that many species were well-suited to the role.

  A few hours later, he noticed the magicytes were thicker the further he progressed toward the middle of the isle—where a modest volcano rose a few thousand feet into the air. It didn’t seem active, judging by the verdant growth all around him, and since he would be gone in less than a day, he decided to head toward the base and look for beasts there.

  Eventually, Edge came across something that seemed promising. It was a young eagle with bright blue plumage. After watching it knock a seagull from the air with a puff of wind, he decided to see if it would be amiable to a bond. He crept close while the eaglet devoured its prey, then deactivated Shadow Play, pulled out a sliver of meat from his vault, and approached the bird.

  It looked up when it saw him coming, emanating a menacing chirp that was adorable given its size. It caught the morsel out of the air when he tossed it over but wouldn’t let him draw near. Edge tried talking to the young beast while trying to win it over with more treats. But it eventually flew off and never looked back, making him feel vaguely rejected. He tried following the azure eaglet but quickly lost sight of it when it flew up the mountain, so he gave up and started searching for something else.

  Over the next few hours, Edge encountered numerous young animals that seemed like they would make good Companions. Most were significantly less wary of his presence than regular beasts, and they were happy to eat his food. But while they appreciated the gesture, their loyalty couldn’t be bought so cheaply, and his bribery didn’t solve the compatibility issue at all.

  In the end, he didn’t accomplish anything more than filling a few hungry bellies. He thought he felt a glimmer of compatibility with an oversized armadillo he had met a few miles back, although it wasn’t a perfect match. Day transitioned into dusk, then night fell across the island. New species appeared during the midnight hours, only to vanish again with the rising sun.

  By now, he was running out of time. After all, he didn’t just need to find a beast—he needed to convince it to bond. He raced across the island, desperate to find something before it was too late. Just when he was about to approach the armadillo he’d run into before, Edge came across the scene of a battle.

  There were three rotting carcasses nearby—two scorpions bigger than Trapper’s wagon and a foxlike creature about half that size.

  “Damn.” He inspected the site of what must have been an epic struggle, considering the destruction wrought to the surrounding terrain. “You guys put up one hell of a fight.”

  Edge cast his gaze over toppled trees and shattered boulders, running his fingertips across deep rents carved into the soil below. He couldn’t tell what kind of magic had been unleashed in the brawl, but judging by the condition of the remains, it had taken place a week or so prior. While it was an interesting scene, he couldn’t afford to linger.

  When he turned to leave, he thought he sensed something for just a moment, before the feeling vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He stopped to take a closer look but didn’t see anything of note.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Just to be sure, he activated All-Seeing Gaze. First, he used the penetration mode to peer through the foliage, looking for any sign of body heat with his thermal vision. When that didn’t work, he closed his eyes and switched to Darkvision. He still couldn’t sense anything unusual, but acting on instinct, he braced himself and switched on the combined visual mode.

  Edge gritted his teeth as an overwhelming volume of sensory data flooded his mind, providing granular detail of everything inside the skill’s range. He could see trace particles forming the scents riding the breeze. Detect the temperature differential between the ground and plants. Even peer through several inches of the soil beneath his boots by bouncing particles of mana between tiny gaps in its structure.

  It was that last part that let him spot the hidden burrow. Underneath the fox’s body—covered by dirt and the fading fragments of a stealth skill—was a narrow tunnel from which heat was rising. Thin tubes provided air to the cavity below, or he would never have noticed it.

  Edge switched off the sensory skill, rubbed his temples until his headache subsided, then gently moved the vulpine remains to one side. “You fought well. Now let’s find out what you were protecting.”

  As carefully as he could, he scooped the dirt away until the burrow was exposed. Pressed all the way into the back corner was a tiny beast—who looked so weak it could barely raise its head. It was a small pup that couldn’t have been more than six weeks old.

  Its mother’s body was too decayed to make out the details, so Edge took a closer look while deciding how to proceed. The poor thing was terrified, and he didn’t want to make things worse after its prolonged ordeal.

  It looked like a mixture of a fox and a wolf—a species that wasn’t originally from Earth as far as he could tell. It had green eyes, rich golden fur, and delicate claws on the end of its paws. It wasn’t really a fox, but that was the closest animal Edge could think of, so that was how he decided to think of it. I’ll still call it a pup though.

  The golden fox was dehydrated, starving, and shaking with fear. He did his best to hum in a soothing tone, giving it some room so it didn’t feel threatened.

  Even though the pup was still stage-zero and didn’t have any skills, he could sense an impressive amount of mana emanating from its energetic center, which would form into a core as it grew. First things first. Let’s get him something to drink.

  Edge reached into his vault and pulled out a cup, which had originally been the cap of the canteen that was destroyed in the dungeon. He filled it with water, set it in the burrow, and then backed up while waiting to see what would happen.

  For a while, all was still. But then he heard the scrabble of tiny paws and the lapping of a delicate pink tongue. When he looked at the sky, he realized he was running out of time, which meant he had a decision to make. He could either try to save this pup—who was too young to survive on its own—or he could search for something stronger while he still could. Eventually, he made his choice. Sorry, little one. I need to find something that can fight beside me.

  He almost turned away, but then he heard the pup cry. It pulled itself out of the burrow and began nuzzling its mother’s remains, pressing its nose against her chest like it was begging her to get up.

  By this point in his adventures, Edge was no stranger to death. As a hunter and a warrior, he had dealt killing blows himself on numerous occasions. But something about the sight of the little fox grieving for its family struck him like a mallet to the gut. He decided in that moment that even if the pup wouldn’t bond with him, he would do whatever he could to give it a fighting chance before his quest came to an end.

  Now that it’s rehydrated, let’s get it something to eat. Edge still had a few strips of frozen catfish in his vault, which he’d been saving to use as bait. He pulled several out now, then held them between his hands until the meat thawed. Rather than scare the pup—who was already terrified of him—he kept his distance and tossed them over.

  For a while, he was worried it was too traumatized to take care of its needs, but then the fox started sniffing at the air. It turned away from its mother long enough to bend down and pick one of the strips up, chewing as it curled beside the body of the bigger beast.

  Good. It’s old enough to eat solid food. It might be able to survive after all. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next, although he sensed that if he approached, the pup would bolt. Instead, Edge sat down with his back against a fractured boulder and began to talk, keeping his tone soothing as he said whatever came to mind.

  “I know what it’s like to be stranded on a deadly magical world—surrounded by creatures that want to eat me. How terrifying it is to be all alone, with no one to help or protect me.” He went on to tell the story of his arrival on Ord, waking up on the plains trapped in a puppet body that was rapidly starving to death. Over time, the pup seemed less afraid, and he tossed over a few more strips, speaking all the while.

  “I miss my mother too. She isn’t dead, but she’s in a dark place, and it tears me up that I can’t be by her side. Coming here was supposed to make life better for both of us, but I’m worried I’ve wound up breaking her heart instead. I miss her so fucking much and think about her every day.” When he felt the surge of emotion that accompanied his words, Edge realized why the little fox’s plight resonated with him so deeply.

  “At first, I thought that I would be alone until I died, but that isn’t true anymore. I’ve met a lot of good people since then—friends who care about me and who have risked their lives to help me. It doesn’t make me miss Mom any less, but they have made my life better in so many ways.”

  He didn’t think the pup could understand anything more than the intention behind his words, but it did seem to be listening, creeping over while chewing on the meat that Edge had begun tossing closer to his position.

  “You could come with me and meet them. I’m sure they will want to be your friend too. I can’t do anything for your mother, but I’m sure she wants you to survive and grow strong. She fought like hell and laid down her life to keep you safe. All we can do now is hold her memory in our hearts and live a life she would have been proud of.”

  By this point, Edge wasn’t sure who he was speaking to anymore. Tears were running down his face—all the emotions he normally kept in a box spilling out in that moment.

  Soon, he was bawling so hard he couldn’t see, grieving for his mother, and his brother and father too. That was when he felt a tiny tongue lick his hand. He wiped his face and looked down, starting into the pup’s striking emerald eyes. It seemed to recognize a kindred spirit in him and jumped into his arms, nuzzling the hollow of his neck. Its coat was wondrously soft, and the creature was heavy for its size.

  He ran his fingers through its fur as they mourned their lost family while comforting each other. When he felt the System’s magic gather around his body, Edge knew he was almost out of time. Before the quest failed, he looked down and said, “I’m sorry. I can’t stay with you any longer. But you can come with me if you want to. It’s your choice, but I promise that you won’t be lonely anymore, and I could really use another friend.”

  When he activated the skill and offered the bond, the pup didn’t accept right away, although it seemed to understand the significance of the gesture. By now, the System’s magic had wrapped around his body—only a few seconds away from teleporting him back to the Sweltering Green.

  Just when he thought it wasn’t going to work, the fox came to a decision. It stared up at him with intelligent eyes and let out the cutest bark he’d ever heard—a high-pitched cry that sounded like, “Ruerue. Rue. Rue.”

  “Rue, eh? I’m Edge. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  He felt the fox accept the Companion bond, just as the planetary AI picked him up and carried him away. Edge was pulled through a portal, leaving the island of beasts behind. As the world transformed into boundless light, he could still feel Rue’s warmth in his arms.