Lo'jul asked, “And what about you?”

  Jer-kal replied, “I'll stay with Jim. It doesn't make sense to leave him here alone.”

  Lo'jul nodded. Got it.

  He didn’t waste any time. He quickly filled them in on what was going to happen. Bahmos agreed without much hesitation, and Natasha, of course, agreed as well.

  Lo'jul pointed at the ground and sent out his triver—a massive bird monster with two heads and black feathers. Its eyes were layered from the front of its face down to its chin, like a stack of neatly arranged books.

  He helped them onto the monster, lifting Natasha’s son and her husband as well. Once everyone was settled, holding onto the creature, Lo'jul prepared for flight.

  Everything was dark. The darkness seemed to move around Vernisha, as if it had a life of its own. She floated through the void for what felt like forever. She knew this wasn’t death. Unless, in this world, dying meant experiencing the same thing as her dreams.

  Gradually, the world began to clear. A bright sky appeared.

  She was alive.

  Vernisha had no idea what she was lying on, but it felt animal-like. She turned her head to the side for a better look.

  Feathers. And they were high in the sky.

  “You’re finally awake,” Natasha said. “That’s good.”

  “Yeah…” Vernisha tried to move, but her body ached.

  She coughed up a thick black liquid and wiped her chin, staring at it.

  Lo'jul asked, “You... were eating monster flesh?”

  “No…” she replied, still dazed.

  “And you contracted Malertaria? You need to get to a doctor.”

  “A healing elixir wouldn’t fix it?”

  “It doesn’t kill parasites,” Lo'jul said.

  Ah, shit. This was the price for indulging in a monster organ feast. I’ll survive, though.

  Natasha asked, “How dangerous is it?”

  “It depends. If she ate a lot of monster flesh, it can kill her in a week or two.”

  Oh. That doesn’t sound too bad, Vernisha thought. She’d expected it to be more urgent.

  “Is the medicine for it cheap, or does it require surgery?”

  “Medicine. A bit… yeah, it’s expensive.”

  Vernisha muttered, “We pay taxes and we can’t get medicine for cheap. Garbage-ass country.”

  Lo'jul smiled. “You’re a Vlandos, and below the working age, a child. If you say that, you’ll get it for free.”

  Why the hell?

  He noticed the shift in her and Natasha’s gazes.

  “Jer-kel told me. I’ll keep your secret… well, secret.”

  Tch.

  Vernisha said, “Then you know that I wouldn’t be telling anyone I’m a Vlandos. Especially someone who works for or is partnered with the state.”

  He frowned. “I’ll ask my wife for a favor.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “She’s a doctor?”

  “She works at a drug store.”

  “Oh… I wouldn’t need a prescription?”

  “No.”

  “Isn’t that illegal?”

  “Yes. You’d rather go to a doctor? Honestly, you should, since we don’t know the strength of the Geio tablets you’re going to need.”

  “No drug store.” Vernisha wasn’t taking any risks with them testing her blood and discovering she was a Vlandos.

  He shrugged as the wind blew his hair back and forth.

  She asked, “Do you have control over your hair? Or does it move on its own?”

  “Control. Like moving your fingers.”

  “Pretty cool. When you make those short dreadlocks, do you control your hair to get the style, or do you use your hands, or both?”

  “Both, kinda. And it’s braids. My wife braids it for me.”

  Could’ve fooled her. Maybe it was just the hair texture.

  “She’s better at it?”

  “Yeah. She used to be a hair stylist.”

  “Oh, that’s cool. Does she do her own hair, or do you?”

  “Me. Gets tiring doing it yourself, you see.”

  “Yeah, for sure.”

  Vernisha looked down at the bird beneath them. “How many minutes until it has to land?”

  Lo'jul raised an eyebrow.

  She clarified, “Until you lose control over it.”

  “Long.”

  “How long is ‘long’?”

  “Don’t know. When the time is up, I’ll tell you.”

  No way in hell he doesn’t know, she thought. When a monster’s thoughts grow stronger, you can feel it. If he’s been an adventurer for long, he definitely knows how long his control will last.

  But he was keeping it secret. Why? Because that was vital information.

  What would I even do with it, though? she wondered. She needed to know how long his monster had been out too.

  “How fast are we moving? In miles per hour?” she asked.

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  “Not sure. Maybe 150?”

  Oh… With that, we’ll reach the capital in no time!

  She sat up and looked at the land below: villages, towns, rivers, and a whole lot of green mountains.

  There was a white river. Two people were in it. They seemed to be dancing together—naked.

  Wait.

  Oh. Never mind.

  She looked elsewhere, observing a group of people working on a small house, nailing galvanized sheets onto the roof. In another spot, some people carried buckets of water while others were hiking.

  It was cool to see all this. Even cooler that she didn’t see anything grim—no kidnapping, no murder, or the like.

  Emphasis on ‘didn’t see.’

  “I’m sorry…” Caren muttered in his sleep. Vernisha wondered what nightmare he was having this time.

  “Sorry…”

  “Sorry. I am sorry.”

  He repeated the same words over and over.

  Lo'jul pointed ahead. “Check it out. We’ve reached.”

  Vernisha looked ahead. In the center of three massive mountains—two of which seemed out of place, lacking a mountain range, and one in the back that seemed naturally placed—the capital had been built. She guessed its location was chosen for defensive reasons.

  On the mountain to its right, there was a monster zone.

  The city itself was massive, surrounded by black walls maybe twelve meters tall. She’d heard it had been built by Eren Starworth after the original walls had been destroyed during the Falsker invasion. Watchtowers lined the walls.

  “In those watchtowers—they’re all Vlandos?” she asked Lo'jul.

  “No, not enough of us for that.”

  “So… just ordinary guys?”

  “Most are. We’ve only got two Knights stationed there, and they’re at the entrance gate.”

  Interesting.

  They descended a short distance away from the gates. Apparently, that was the law.

  Lo'jul helped them get to the gate, easily carrying Caren as if he weighed less than fifty pounds.

  They waited in a somewhat long line of people, most in carriages being pulled by green lizards. The Knights wore armor unlike any adventurer’s. They looked like Knights straight out of legends. Their armor was gold and red, with swords at their waists and shields on their backs. Adventurer armor seemed solely functional, whereas the Knights’ armor looked designed to draw attention.

  It took a moment, but he gave a nod. They asked why they were there. Vernisha explained it was for medical reasons, pointing to Caren and Ulah.

  The other Knight asked, “What kind of sickness do they have? Is it transmissible?”

  “No, they ate some bread that made them sick and seems to be having a weird mutative effect on them. And Vernisha has Malertaria—she’s spitting up black liquid,” Natasha explained, carefully leaving out any mention of their violent outbursts.

  The Knights checked for obvious signs. Vernisha obliged, spitting up black, bloody vomit for them. They then drew blood and ran it through the mark-stone.

  She was obviously worried about them taking her blood, but they discarded it as soon as they got the results. It seemed the tests were only to verify that they didn’t carry any transmissible diseases.

  They asked how long the group planned to stay and if they had a place to stay.

  If it weren’t for Lo’jul, that would have been a problem. He stepped in, saying they’d be staying with him until their family members were treated.

  They paid the entrance fees—fifty bronze pints for Natasha and Caren, half that for Ulah and Vernisha. Lo’jul didn’t have to pay, being an adventurer. Vernisha wasn’t sure why, but it seemed the Knights didn’t like him—they were just being professional.

  One of the Knights knocked on the gate, and soon after, the double gates opened.

  Vernisha noted the residence papers identified citizens as either Vlandos or regular.

  As they entered, the Knights offered parting words.

  “We hope your experience in Sundawn is great.”

  “May the Stars shine on your family’s future.”

  They seemed surprisingly cool.

  Once inside, Vernisha was struck by the scale of the city. It was massive. Just beyond the front gate stood a small office—likely for security or registration—but barely four meters in, the city came alive.

  Towering concrete structures flanked both sides of the road. They looked commercial, organized in neat blocks, each separated by wide, paved walkways and solid roads. The layout was surprisingly orderly—practical, yet strangely charming.

  The first building on the left caught her attention. Two stories tall, painted white with decorative wooden patterns mimicking real timber. A massive wooden sign read: Talis Shops! Judging by the steady stream of people walking out with straw bags in hand, it was easy to guess it was a supermarket.

  Between most buildings—and especially around Talis Shops—the roads were softened by thoughtfully planted greenery. Trees and flowerbeds lined the paths. Rows of red flowers shaped like hanging lamps contrasted with tall blue blooms, almost roses if not for their sharp, spiky petals. Behind a short, tidy hedge stood trees adorned with flowers but no fruit, seemingly cultivated that way to prevent litter from fallen produce.

  Most parking lots were filled with carriages, but among them, Vernisha noticed a green, stubby, beetle-shaped jeep.

  The main road split in two, branching left and right. Embedded signs in the pavement glowed faintly against the stone, labeling the central street Reverened Street.

  Nearly every structure had wooden elements—arched beams, carved trim, or entire upper levels paneled in rich wood.

  “Woof woof!”

  She turned at the sound and saw an elf stepping out of a nearby shop, cradling a brown puppy. Its long, finned tail splashed through the air with excitement. She smiled, waved to someone inside, and walked off. The sign above the door read Algur’s Pet Shop.

  Elves, Punchios, a few Julioes, and other human races bustled around.

  A Silyuk made his way toward a small group that had just entered the city, pushing a wheeled, rectangular metal box. Inside, neatly arranged bottles and wooden cans glistened with condensation.

  “Your journey must have been hard, madam!” he said with a wide smile to a middle-aged woman brushing dust off her sleeves. He offered a can-shaped wooden container polished smooth. “Moonpaes juice. Only eight bronze pints.”

  Highway robbery, Vernisha thought. I could almost afford three sandwiches with that money.

  The people all had big foreheads, half-white and ginger hair, and a high concentration of fat in their lower bodies. Big butts, no breasts—reminded her of her high school principal back on Earth. Even the men shared the same traits, which apparently made them targets in prison.

  She looked around and spotted a Mulvar—a dark-skinned figure with a sharp jawline but no eyebrows. His long brown hair and eyebrowless face reminded her of Super Saiyan Three.

  In the middle of a well-maintained roundabout were three holograms. The first depicted a yellow-haired woman with yellow eyes, gazing at a distant star. The second showed an orange-haired man illuminated by a blinding light from a star. The last, largest of all, was a blood-red-haired man surrounded by hundreds of stars—the three Mortal Gods.

  Lo’jul noticed her gaze. “The universe sure has its favorites.”

  All of them were humans. Kinda feels awkward, she thought.

  “There might be another mortal god who’s a Punchio, but hidden,” she said softly.

  “In our legends, there used to be. Anyway, let’s get your family to a doctor. I’ll grab the medication for you,” Lo’jul said.

  “Yeah, thanks a lot again.”

  They walked for a while before hopping into a lizard-driven taxi. Bahmos, who had remained silent the whole time, took a different taxi.

  “You’re much nicer than I thought,” Vernisha said to Lo’jul.

  “Oh. Well, Jer-kel asked me to help you all. So she must like you a lot,” he replied.

  “Ah. That’s good to hear. She saved me too.”

  He nodded slowly, looking somewhat surprised—though she wasn’t sure why.

  About ten minutes later, after crossing a bridge over a river, they arrived at a private doctor’s office.

  Lo’jul commented, “It should be better than a regular hospital.” He took a card from his pocket, stopped, and asked, “You guys don’t have a pyramid communicator?”

  “No,” Natasha replied.

  Lo’jul clicked his tongue and looked at Vernisha.

  Lo’Jul sons’ver’mol’yu is trying to form a communication line with you.

  Oh! Telepathy, Vernisha realized.

  She confirmed the request, and once done, Lo’jul returned to his normal demeanor, facing forward.

  Give me a thought if you need something, she heard his voice in her head.

  How close do I need to be? she asked internally.

  A mile, maybe.

  “Thanks,” she said aloud.

  “Yeah.”

  Lo’jul glanced out of the carriage and spoke to the security at the office’s closed door. “When the person inside is done, help them in.”

  “Of course, Lo’jul,” the guard replied. Then he disappeared. Maybe people didn’t have many adventurers in the city—or maybe Lo’jul had a lot of connections.

  The security offered them benches, which they gratefully took.

  The only problem with going to a private doctor’s office was that they didn’t have an appointment, and it would cost a lot more than a state-funded hospital. But Vernisha hoped Lo’jul knew this and had chosen the office for a reason.

  She glanced at Natasha, who was glaring at a tall boy—a Vlandos, based on his height—around six feet five and maybe fifteen years old.

  His blood-red and blonde hair, yellow eyes, and clear skin made him ridiculously handsome—like a model capable of capturing anyone’s attention, even more than the average Vlandos man.

  Is it just lucky genes? The power of being Vlandos? Or maybe he can afford beauty products? she wondered. Or he dyed his hair… or belongs to one of those star families.

  “You know him?” she asked Natasha.

  Her fist relaxed. “No.”

  That was odd. Natasha had never seemed fazed by Caren’s antics, yet here she was tense.

  Vernisha pressed, “Are you sure? You look like you know him.”

  “I’m sure.”

  She didn’t bother pressing further—it would have been pointless.

  Vernisha noticed an emerald ring on his finger. Hmm… definitely rich. Maybe nobility? Or an important job.

  She decided to keep her distance since Natasha didn’t seem to like him. But she also considered that befriending an influential or wealthy person could be useful in the future.

  Thanks to her connections with Jim and Jer-kal, Lo’jul had helped them when needed.

  Vernisha stood and walked up to the boy. “Hello.”