Book 3, chapter 31

A frenzied group of monsters rushed through the forest at a breakneck pace, fleeing from the approaching darkness.

Allison ignored them, signaling their group to let the monsters by. Next to her, Malden shifted in the underbrush, focused on the thick foliage in front of them.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Allison asked, her tone filled with a cold fury.

Malden's tufted black ears twitched, "Not much longer. The one who activated my beacon is approaching at a fairly rapid pace. A minute or two, and they will be here," Malden replied, gripping the haft of his war hammer with one large paw.

Allison gripped the hilt of her longsword, her anticipation heavy.

It had been a month since Zee simply disappeared, a month with no sign of the red head. Allison had held hope that her friend was still alive until Dern went mad with hunger.

The spirit had tried to kill them, forcing them to flee rather than destroying his conjured form.

There had been no sign of her friend's murderer, until about five days ago. Someone had activated the beacon Malden gave Zee, and those people or persons had to be the killer.

It was no surprise that all of her team wanted to track down and find the one responsible. In addition, to her team, Malden, Pikar, and three barbarians had offered to set this ambush to help her get revenge for a lost friend.

The barbarians were here because they owed a debt to Allison after she helped save their war leader, killing sword saint Maria.

That fight had also won her the loyalty of Prima Veck, as her team had saved the rift walkers nest.

Allison smiled darkly. Whoever had killed Zee was going to get quite the surprise. After several agonizing minutes of waiting, the foliage rustled, and a figure clad in a drab worn cloak ran out into the open.

The figure was short, with crimson red hair, the young woman's piercing purple eyes scanning the clearing. A familiar sword was sheathed in a scabbard at her hip, a red gem gleaming in its pommel.

Allison stared with mute incomprehension for a moment, startled by the dense aura that leaked off of the woman. It was an all too familiar aura, and even though it was much stronger than before, it could not be mistaken.

Allison wasted no more time, stepping from her hiding spot, and immediately drawing Zee's attention. The young woman cracked a wide smile.

"Oh, hey princess. What's with the large group? You guys look like you are planning to ambush someone?" Zee asked, seemingly unconcerned.

Allison gave her friend a piercing glare. "It is an ambush. When you disappeared, we thought someone killed you, and robbed your things. We set this ambush to get revenge on said person." Allison said a smile tugging at her lips.

Zee nodded as if it was no big deal. "That sounds about right. If someone killed you, I would hunt them down as well. It's what friends are for," Zee said.

"I can't argue with that." Allison agreed.

Zee glanced around the clearing, at the wide assortment of people stepping from cover, raising an eyebrow.

"I appreciate the effort. But why do you have so many people with you? Am I really that popular?" Zee asked, with a cheeky smile.

Allison rolled her eyes, much of her tension fading. "No, you are not. They came because they owed me a favor," Allison clarified.

Zee laughed the familiar sound like music to her ears. "I really want to catch up, but if you haven't noticed, the planar space is falling apart," Zee said, gesturing toward the cracked sky.

"About that… Was that your doing?" Allison accused.

Zee placed a hand over her heart, looking hurt.

"What? Little old me? I would never. I am a pillar of innocence," Zee said, innocently.

"At least when you were dead, you didn't cause me problems," Allison muttered.

"What was that?" Zee asked.

"Nothing… Let's go, we can discuss this on the road. We need to hurry and get to the portal before we get left behind," Allison urged.

***

Zee was overjoyed to be back with her team. Well, at this point it was more of an expedition than just one team.

Allison had somehow become the leader of a group of thirty-odd people. Even with the large numbers, they moved through the jungle at a good pace. The rift walkers carried their young on their backs, keeping up with the group despite their burdens. There were ten adults, with six infants, or hatchlings.

The two barbarians and their war leader also traveled with the group, helping fight off packs of monsters fleeing the collapse of the planar space.

One of the barbarians died in the process of freeing their war leader, a large oaf named Pick.

It was a shame, as she rather liked the straightforward clansman. Zee was very curious about their war leader, as the woman had a striking resemblance to her.

Even with Terra's tattoos, they could have been mistaken as sisters. She couldn't wait until they had some time to loiter, so she could get to know the war leader.

Zee moved around the edges of the expedition, doing her best to ward off monsters. Sadly she didn't have much time for loitering these days. Traveling in a large group seemed to attract monsters far worse than moving by herself.

Even with the constant threat of attack, she was happier than she had been in weeks. The monsters were more of a menace than a real threat considering the strength of their party.

That was probably because any truly powerful monsters avoided their group, preferring to avoid them in lieu of escape from the encroaching void.

Even with that blessing, the weaker, dumber monsters were a constant menace, slowing them down.

Despite losing a few of the rift walkers to sneaky monster attacks, they didn't have time to slow down and let the rift walkers mourn their dead. They had much bigger problems.

The planar space was falling apart quicker by the hour, the void consuming miles of land each day. By now, it was pressing on them, hot on their heels, the land crumbling away behind them.

They were just keeping ahead, hardly given time to rest more than an hour each day. By now the sky was covered in a thick spiderweb of cracks, with a pitch-black void swallowing everything in its path behind them.

Given the dire circumstances of the last week, she didn't have much time to sit down and have a chat with her friends. It felt like they were in a constant battle, as the wildlife desperately fled, attacking the group in their panic.

A thunderous crash echoed through the forest, throwing up a plume of dirt, rock, and dust. Mixed in with all that was the remains of a few deer bits, as some of the herd were blown to pieces from Yukna's trap.

Irk and Cleave met the herd with a war cry, swinging their large weapons like they weighed nothing.

Their war leader, Terra, stood behind them, her body glowing, as streams of energy funneled into the two barbarians, giving them astonishing speed and strength.

The two tribesmen cut through the herd with brutal savagery, shrugging off cuts and stabs like they were nothing.

Their ritual magic was a sight to behold, linking all three of them in a bizarre way.

The fighting style left them covered in wounds, but Zee knew from past experience that it wasn't a big deal.

These tribesmen had a crazy vitality, able to eat pretty much anything and recover at a frightening speed.

As long as they were not killed in the fight, they could recover from horrific wounds just by eating large amounts of food.

Fighting with them, we're several warriors of the nest, using hit-and-run tactics to suddenly appear and assassinate key members of the herd.

With the weapons supplied by Bastion, the nest warriors were able to deliver devastating blows and then vanish.

Pikar was especially effective, cutting throats and stabbing hearts with the daggers she had given it.

Malden's team was on the opposite side, spearheading the group. They were using his wide-scale sand attacks in conjunction with Allison's fire, to clear a path for the group to push forward.

They expended large-scale attacks when needed, killing monsters with extreme prejudice, all in an effort to keep the group from being bogged down.

They couldn't afford to sit still, given how quickly the void was consuming land in their wake. Zee made less odd an impact on the overall fight.

Still, she had a very crucial role, fighting on the flanks, helping Bastion and Greg keep the stragglers from slipping in to kill the non-combatants.

Every monster that slipped passed them felt like a personal failure, even though she knew she couldn't be everywhere at once.

It felt like they were in a losing battle. The constant fighting, combined with about an hour of proper rest each day was wearing her down.

If not for ranking up into the E grade and expanding her energy pool, she might have already collapsed from exhaustion.

Zee stood from her bedroll after a not-so-satisfying thirty-minute cultivation session. She walked over and bent down poking Bastion in the ribs, prompting an exhausted groan.

"Five more minutes," Bastion said, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Come on, the others are already moving. If you don't hurry you will get left behind," Zee said, poking him again.

"Ugh, fine... You know, I'm starting to wonder if Death by Monsters would be so bad. Getting a half hour of sleep is not enough," Bastion grumbled sleepily, his voice soft from where he lay on the forest floor.

"I say we let him get eaten, it would be amusing to watch," Malden said watching with a feline smirk.

Bastion opened his eyes and sat up, his uncropped black hair a tangled mess. He glared over at Malden,

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Bastion asked.

"Nope, if you are offering to get eaten by a monster, I would t miss that for the world," Malden said.

"Well, that's not going to happen. Since there are no monsters here, you should go brush your fur or something," Bastion retorted.

Malden laughed, seeming amused as he turned and walked away to join his personal guard, who were already mobilizing on the other side of the camp.

Zee raised an eyebrow at Bastion. "That's new. When did you two become friends?" Zee asked.

Bastion laughed nervously running a hand through his curly black hair.

"I wouldn't say we are friends. We have just had plenty of time for some bonding time over the past month and a half," Bastion said.

"I see," Zee said, standing there awkwardly, uncertain of what else to say. She wanted to tell him how much she missed him, but, the words didn't come out.

The silence drew on until it became uncomfortable.

"Soo, congratulation on your rank up," Bastion said, stepping from his sleeping bag.

"Thanks, you must be close to ranking up yourself," Zee said.

Bastion smiled, and stood, stretching, his lithe muscles rippling underneath his sweaty shirt.

"I am pretty close. When we get back, we should go for dinner to celebrate, on me," Bastion said.

"Offering to buy a meal for the whole team?" Zee asked, dubiously.

Bastion shook his head.

"No, with Greg, and Allison's taste for fine wine, I would go broke," Bastion said.

"Just the two of us? That sounds a little bit like a date," Zee said.

"It does, doesn't it." Bastion agreed.

Zee gave the man a penetrative stare, her heart leaping in excitement at his words. She pushed down that emotion and folded her arms across her chest.

"I appreciate the offer, but after you rejected me, why would you change your mind? Nothing has really changed, Dern is still around. Even if he is injured at the moment," Zee said, anxiously.

Bastion ran a callused hand down his handsome face, smudging dust and sweat that clung to his dark skin.

"I uh, I am sorry for putting you through that. I know it was hard for you, and it was hard for me too." He took a deep breath, "Because I really do like you, a lot. At the time, I had just learned about Dern and didn't know if I could live with him being inside or your head," Bastion said.

Zee smoothed her expression to hide her racing emotions, saying.

"I appreciate the apology, but that doesn't explain why you changed your mind. It better be a good reason, because if it's not, there is no way I am risking having you step on my heart again," Zee said.

Bastion grimaced, glancing around the campsite, noting several others pretending that they weren't listening in.

"That's, fair." he let out a nervous breath, running his hand through his curly black hair." Even before you disappeared, I realized how much of an idiot I was for turning you down. It made me realize that I don't care what sort of nonsense you have going on, because anything would be worth it if I could be with you," Bastion replied, meeting her eyes.

Zee's cold expression fell, her heart leaping in her chest at those words. She honestly didn't think he had something that romantic in him.

"Apology accepted," Zee said.

Bastion laughed softly scratching the stubble on his cheek in embarrassment.

"Is that a yes?" Bastion asked.

Zee reached over and grasped the front of his sweat-soaked shirt, pulling him against her.

She could feel his warm skin and toned muscle pressed against her through his thin shirt, and even feel his racing heart.

Their faces were inches apart, as she stared into his eyes. When he didn't pull away, she leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

It lasted only a few seconds, but it was worth it. His lips were just as soft as she imagined, softer, in fact, tasting of something sweet. It must have been that fruit he was eating earlier.

She pulled away, noting Bastion's look of startlement. He coughed, flushing crimson, just standing there.

"Well, uh, I didn't expect that," Bastion said dumbly

Zee let go of his shirt and moved to step away, thinking she might have overstepped his boundaries.

Bastion didn't let her, wrapping his arms around her waist before she could retreat.

"Oh no you don't. You can't just run away after a horrible kiss like that," Bastion said.

"Horrible? It wasn't that bad?" Zee said aghast, her cheeks burning.

"Yes it was, it was terrible. You should definitely try again, only with less tongue this time," Bastion said mischievously.

Zee flushed but didn't argue, wrapping her arms around his narrow waist and kissing him. It was a kiss that lasted nowhere near long enough.

Allison cleared her throat loudly, prompting them to pull apart, both of them flushing in embarrassment.

"As happy as I am for you two, now really isn't the time or place. We are on a tight deadline. Bastion I need you to watch the rear with the Derdan tribe. Zee I need you to scout ahead with Pikar." Allison said.

Allison was right of course. Now wasn't the time to get distracted. Even with that in mind, Zee didn't feel bad for her actions in the slightest.

It was the brightest part of her week, considering their hurried flight through the jungle. Everything was starting to look up, at least until the portal, and their only exit, suddenly disappeared a mere two weeks after it opened.

Scouting the forest for a path forward, Zee rushed back to rejoin the expedition, finding a large group of the core members had already gathered.

Everyone was talking amongst themselves, anxiously glancing back at the pitch-black void slowly advancing on their position.

"They can't have left us behind, maybe the portal just malfunctioned?" Bastion asked.

"Do you honestly believe that?" Malden asked, agitated.

"No, but I can hope. It's better than them leaving us here to die," Bastion said, grasping at his hair in frustration.

Allison raised her hands and the group quieted.

"I know you are all wound up, and this does look pretty bad, but we need to approach this calmly. What options do we have? Does anyone have an idea how we can escape without taking the portal?" Allison asked.

The group stood there, shifting silently, glancing at each other. Joining the group, Zee held up a hand, causing everyone to look at her.

"I have an idea, though it's not a great one. With the rift walkers' help, we could all go to the tundra," Zee said.

"Isn't that place hellishly cold? I thought you almost froze to death last time you were there?" Allison asked.

"It's cold enough to turn you to an icicle in under an hour," Zee confirmed, getting a nod of agreement from Pikar who was standing off to one side.

"Then, let's hold off on that. I would rather not freeze to death. Unless it's possible to get to the outside world from the tundra?" Allison asked, turning to face Prima Veck.

An amulet, provided by the Derdan tribe glowed around Veck's neck and a deep voice came out.

"It is possible, but, it would take several days of travel through the tundra. Neither you nor our hatchling would not survive the trip," Prima Veck said darkly, the rift walkers body tense.

"Any other ideas?" Allison asked, her pretty face marred by stress and exhaustion.

Zee hesitated, her obvious indecision catching the princess's attention.

"What is it?"

"I uh, might have another way. Going through the Null realm," Zee said with a pained grimace.

"Didn't that almost kill you last time? You told me you only succeeded by using your medallion?" Allison asked.

Zee nodded. "I don't think the medallion will work again, but I might be able to open a gate on my own," Zee said.

"And this gate could transport twenty-eight people?" Allison asked.

Zee bit her lip, "Probably not... Might not even transport one person, and even then, they might not come out in one piece," Zee replied with a nervous laugh.

"That is so encouraging. How about Dern, does he have any ideas?" Allison asked.

"Not sure, he is still too exhausted to communicate with me," Zee said.

Allison sighed.

"Yuky, please tell me you have a way for us to get out of here?" Allison asked, some anxiety showing on her usually calm face.

"Sorry dear, I don't have anything like that," Yukna said.

There was a loud hum, and the sky suddenly darkened, as a rift formed, spanning several miles long.

"I don't mean to startle you all, but what's that?" Bastion asked, gesturing towards the darkening sky.