The fight had been easier than expected in some ways because of the damage Aura and Night had initially caused to the banshees. However, the shrieks had still caught them unaware, pulling them into nightmares of their own making. Easier, yes, but not easy, or pleasant.

  For a long moment, no one moved. They stood panting, soaked and trembling, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away.

  Lindsay was the first to break the silence. She let out a shaky breath and leaned heavily on her halberd. “Okay,” She said, her voice unsteady. “That was… definitely not a fun fight.”

  Angie managed a weak smile, wiping the rain and stress of the nightmare from her face. “I think I need a nap. For about a week.”

  Nate walked over and pulled them both into a hug. Mika joined in from Lindsay’s shoulder, while Aura pressed against their legs. Night hung back, not yet comfortable enough with them to join in with the display of affection. “You both did great,” Nate told them, his own voice thick with relief. “We all did.”

  They stood there for a moment, a small, battered group huddled together in the ruins of a forgotten home, finding strength in each other. The road trip had been long, filled with unexpected trials that had tested them in ways they’d never imagined. It had forged them into something new, something stronger.

  A short time later, after they had collected themselves, they reached the walls of the community. The towering walls were deep inside the forest, the entrance gate thick and secure in order to keep out intruders. The banshees were free to leave if they wanted; the community wasn’t a prison, but only authorized people were allowed inside the community itself. Strong enough cultivators could get over the walls, or even destroy them, but there was only so much he could do to help keep these banshees safe.

  It was a problem he hadn’t run into with the other dungeons and communities, as he had been selecting less monstrous beings for those. Banshees were monsters that hunters and expeditioners would attack on sight; the fact that they were inside a supposedly safe community wouldn’t matter. There was an option he hadn’t explored in the community back home that might solve that particular issue. The problem was that it had only appeared after the Dungeon Core had been upgraded to level four.

  Turning to the others, Nate grinned. “Let’s get this explanation to the banshees over with quickly and then head home.”

  Angie and Lindsay both nodded, their expressions a mixture of exhaustion and profound relief.

  As they entered the community, the banshees began to gather around them, already responding to Aura’s communication. They entered the prepared meetinghouse and waited while Aura went through the introductory spiel and answered their questions. It was something that she had done several times before already, though that didn’t make it go by any faster.

  Each time they did this, it still ended up taking at least two hours on average, as the newly integrated members of the community always had tons of questions.

  Seeing what was going on was an eye-opening experience for Mika and Night.

  When they finished, Nate selected their home community at the portal on the side of the dungeon building. The group shared a relieved look and stepped through, the air shifting from the cool damp of Kentucky to the crisp, familiar air of Colorado. As Nate emerged last, the portal behind them shimmered and faded to the blue and green gateway that led nowhere. The next person who wanted to use it would need to select their desired location before it would become truly active again.

  The dungeon system had been slowly changing and updating the systems he had put in place, making them better, more efficient.

  Standing near the entrance to the meetinghouse of the beast community were their parents, all six of them, along with George, Claire, Anna, and Landon. They had been waiting all day, ever since they had received word that this was their destination, along with the expected time frame.

  Nina rushed forward, pulling Nate into a fierce hug. “You’re back,” She whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

  “And you’re pregnant,” He whispered back happily. It had only been a few days since they had revealed that particular piece of information to him.

  She grinned happily.

  Niall clapped him on the shoulder, his eyes shining. “Welcome home, son. It’s good to have you back.”

  Across the clearing, similar scenes were playing out. Angie and Lindsay were enveloped by their own families, a whirlwind of relieved questions and tearful embraces.

  Nate looked at the faces around him—his family, his friends, the strange and wonderful allies they had made along the way. The journey had been long, fraught with danger and uncertainty. It had changed them all. But standing here, surrounded by the people he cared about, under the familiar sky of home, he knew one thing for certain.

  It had been worth it.

  George stepped forward, his expression a familiar mix of grandfatherly concern and sharp assessment. "How was the trip?" He asked, his eyes flicking from Nate to the girls and back, taking in their damp clothes and the lingering shadows under their eyes.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Nate managed a tired smile. "It was… good, and a lot more than any of us were expecting. Even with the path we chose, there were plenty of close calls. If we had run into just one powerful cultivator that wished us harm… It’s a large world out there, and while I got the information I needed to create my meditation art, there is a lot that could have gone wrong during this journey." He didn't elaborate any more than that. He didn't need to. The grim understanding on the adults' faces was enough.

  “That may be true, but don’t underestimate the importance of what your group managed to do. The trade routes have already begun to bear fruit, and the portals have started to see some use as well.” George informed him. “After the people from the Merchant Guild came out and inspected the community, the portal, everything. Well, they went crazy.”

  Claire, after moving to their city, had slowly become part of their group and was like a grandmother or older aunt to Nate in the same way that George now was. She pulled them toward the meetinghouse. “Never mind any of that now. You're home. We have a hot meal waiting, and along with some fresh clothes, though you’ll have to wait to take a shower till we get back. Come on inside with you."

  The short walk from the portal to the meetinghouse with their families felt both surreal and deeply comforting. The familiar scent of pine and earth, the sight of the well-tended community gardens, the distant sound of small beasts playing. This was what a community was meant to be, not the initial shell of a place that they had just left.

  A short while later, and dressed in clean, dry clothes, they were all seated around the large wooden table of the meetinghouse that had been laden down with food. The room was filled with the savory aroma of Nina’s venison stew, multiple pizzas, ribs, and more. The initial flurry of emotional greetings had settled into a comfortable buzz of conversation.

  To one side, Anna and Landon sat wide-eyed, listening as Angie recounted a heavily sanitized version of the fight with the banshees. She left out just how paralyzing the fear had been and the visceral, personal nature of the nightmares, focusing instead on the tactical aspects. How Aura’s telepathy had helped wake them up, and her wind blades had disrupted the banshees' initial assault, and how they had all worked together to take them down.

  "I don’t think they were truly evil beings, not like some of the monsters we’ve encountered," Lindsay added, poking at a piece of carrot in her stew. "It seemed more like they were just… in pain. As if they’re actual ghosts, remnants of someone who died angry, and now they don’t know how to be anything else.”

  Nate remained mostly quiet, content to listen and absorb the feeling of being home again. He watched as Mika, perched on the back of Lindsay’s chair, animatedly used her paws to describe the fight to Lisa Travers, Lindsay’s mother, who was already half in love with the little weasel.

  Night, true to form, was curled up in a dark corner of the room, a silent shadow that was nevertheless a comforting presence. He was still wary, but he was here with them. More than that, while they were changing, Aura had brought him around the community, introducing him to a few of the artisans she knew. These were the people he had always dreamed of being around, and now it had happened. It was an entire community of beasts like him and Aura. Intelligent beings that were able to think and communicate. He was home, and yet, it still felt a little hollow.

  “It sounds like your journey was eventful,” George said as he finished eating and scooted his chair back from the table a few inches. “Do you feel like it was worth it?”

  Nate furrowed his brow in thought, remembering everything that they had been through. “You know, that’s a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. Originally, all I wanted to do was go to the dimensional zone at the Grand Canyon and visit a few other places. We did go there, but the entire trip became so much more; it became a way to secure trade routes for the city. Then there was the matter of us going to New York to track down Jace, which ended up being pointless, go figure…”

  He fell silent as he stared across the table at each of his companions, Angie, Lindsay, Aura, Mika, and now Night. “It’s been hard, dangerous, fun, and so very worth it. I’ve truly gotten to know them, and it’s strengthened our friendship and brought us closer. For that alone, I would consider it worth everything we had gone through.”

  There was more of course, but most of the people at that table didn’t know that he was responsible for the dungeons, and he wasn’t about to change that, no matter how much he trusted them. Some secrets were better kept to as few people as possible.

  The party wound down slowly, the warmth of shared food and company a welcome buffer against the chilling memories of their journey.

  As they all finished their short reunion, the leftovers were either packed up or handed out to the residents of the community. It was time for them to head home.

  Since the creation of the community, a dirt road through the forest to it had been slowly created. It was still rough as it hadn’t been a concentrated effort in the beginning. However, after the Merchant Guild finally saw the benefits of the communities, they had begun to get involved with the clearing process. A clear path had been created to the entrance of the community, but the road itself was still many miles away from it.

  Night padded silently along beside them, his form seeming to disappear for brief moments at a time as tree shadows washed over him.

  Farther back, near Lisa and Lindsay, Aura walked, enjoying the feel of fingers brushing through her silky tails.

  “Is this what the communities you create are supposed to be like? Homes for the… beings that come through portals?” Night asked Nate as they walked.

  He glanced back to make sure no one who wasn’t in on the secret already would overhear him answering. “More or less, yeah, they have multiple purposes, just like any community. At their core, they are a way to integrate and separate those who want to join this world as productive members from those who just want to cause conflict and grow stronger. I’m not saying that it’s wrong for them to want to grow stronger; there are methods for that, it’s the original way that was the problem.”

  Night was silent for several moments as he considered Nate’s words. “What about the less intelligent races?”

  “The communities have an effect that raises the intelligence of their members. I don’t know how effective it is just yet, as we only recently created a community around a species that would normally be considered less intelligent. With Aura’s people, they already had some intelligence, even if they weren’t on the same level as you or her.”

  His two whip-like tails swayed as he walked. “I believe this is something that I would like to be involved in. I don’t necessarily trust humans in general, but Aura and Mika are another matter entirely, and they say that the three of you can be trusted. So tell me, how can I become part of your group?”

  Nate almost tripped at the unexpected announcement. He had expected Night to be much more hesitant to join them than this, maybe seeing the community and their families had sped things along? “Err, don’t get mad, but you would need to become one of our beast companions.”