Elliot sat in a carrier on Austin’s back as Austin walked through a forest. Astenk did the same on Drugos’s back. The group had been traveling for several days, and it had been mostly uneventful. The group consisted of Austin, Drugos, Elliot, Astenk, Maya, Romi, Josh, and Sean. The rest of the group carried backpacks with various gear and supplies. Austin and Maya would take turns carrying a backpack or Elliot. Drugos and Romi did the same.

  “How do we even know where we are going?” Josh groaned as they continued through the forest.

  “Romi already explained it to you,” Sean said, rolling his eyes. “Were you not paying attention?”

  “I was. It just seems like we aren’t getting anywhere,” Josh sighed before he gestured to the surrounding forest. “Look at this, we have been surrounded by forest for days. And it isn’t even special, it is just a regular forest!’

  “We aren’t going to get to our destination immediately,” Romi explained. “We just have to trust the process. We will continue to look for Malis and use that to guide us to the Twilight Fang.”

  “What if that just leads us to trouble?” Josh questioned. “Twilight Fang aren’t the only ones who use Malis. We could just as easily run into a group like the gnolls.”

  Almost as if in response to Josh’s question, a bird made of water flew downward and landed on Sean’s shoulder. “That’s why I am constantly scouting ahead. Our goal is to find an area where Malis and Aether work in conjunction. We will avoid areas where they are separate.”

  “Fine,” Josh said as he crossed his arms. “I’m just so bored.”

  “Elliot and Astenk aren’t even complaining as much as you,” Austin chuckled as he pointed to a sleeping Elliot.

  “He’s right. Children are more mature than you,” Sean added with a laugh.

  “That’s not fair. They get to sleep. I just have to walk every day with you all,” Josh huffed.

  “You could use the time to work on your passive Aether absorption,” Maya suggested. “That’s what I have been doing.”

  “That’s just as boring,” Josh complained. “I don’t know how you all stay so committed to training.”

  “Because the alternative is letting yourself stagnate,” Romi said. “You should want to constantly improve.”

  “She’s right. I am jealous. Drugos and I can’t do anything until we are cured,” Austin said as he clenched the fist of his cursed arm. A slight pain came through his arm as he clenched his fist. “You should push your limits while you can.”

  “Right,” Josh said sadly as he looked towards Austin’s arms. He could not help but feel like he had been selfish. Austin desperately wanted to train and could not. “I’ll work on it.”

  “Speaking of Aether absorption, I’m going to take a break from scouting,” Sean said as two more water birds flew towards him. “If we keep going in the same direction, we should be fine. I just need to recoup my energy.”

  “That’s fine,” Drugos nodded. “I appreciate you keeping it up for so long.”

  “Just trying to do my part,” Sean shrugged. He waved his hand, and the birds broke apart into droplets of water. The droplets fell to the ground and splashed.

  The group continued forward for the remainder of the day at an even pace. They made some chitchat as they walked, but it was mostly uneventful. As the day started to come to a close, they reached the edge of the forest. Open fields of silver grass welcomed them as they exited the forest. As Austin stepped forward onto the grass, he noticed that it let out a crinkling sound.

  “Finally! A change of scenery!” Josh exclaimed.

  “Just in time for us to set up camp,” Maya commented.

  Austin leaned downward and brushed his hand against the grass. The grass felt stiff and cold. He winced as the edge of the grass lightly scratched his hand. That’s when he realized the blades of grass were like literal blades of metal. They were not incredibly sharp, but the group would definitely have to be careful.

  “We are by the edge of the forest,” Austin said as he stood up. “It probably is better to make camp in the forest than on this grass. It is made out of some sort of metal. I think it could easily cut us.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Maya nodded. “There may be less room, but I would rather not get cut in the middle of the night.”

  A loud yawn came from behind Austin. Austin glanced backward to see Elliot stretching his arms and yawning. Elliot followed up by rubbing his eyes to clear his vision. “All done?”

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

  “All done for today,” Austin nodded before he started to unbuckle Elliot’s carrier. “I am going to let you out, but be careful of that grass. It is dangerous.”

  Austin removed the last of his straps and set Elliot on the ground. Once he did, Elliot saw that Drugos had done the same with Astenk. Elliot ran towards Astenk, and the pair started to run in between the trees. The children chased each other back and forth as they twisted and curved around the trees.

  “Stay close!” Maya and Romi ordered the two boys in unison.

  “We will!” The two children replied with large grins.

  While the children played, everyone else began to set up camp. Drugos and Austin set up tents and sleeping bags while the rest of the group used scrolls to summon supplies. They could still use their Essence, but overuse would strain their bodies. So, they relied mostly on everyone else using their Essence. They had to get used to living as normal people again.

  As the group finished setting up, Austin sat down against a tree. He let out a relaxed sigh. Without Essence supporting him as much, he felt the effects of the day drastically. It had been over half a year since he could use Essence, and the change felt so odd. It did not help that it was not a gradual change, but a sudden one.

  Drugos took a seat next to Austin. “I feel the same way.”

  “What do you mean?” Austin asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “You’re tired and feel powerless, right?” Drugos said as he leaned his head back. “Well, I feel the exact same. I took pride in the strength I acquired, and now I just have to wait for a cure. It’s frustrating.”

  “Yeah, I feel the same,” Austin replied as he turned to look towards Elliot and Astenk. “I spent so much time trying to get stronger. At first, it was for my family, then it was for the town. By the end, I was genuinely trying to get stronger for myself. I enjoyed the training and progress. Now I’m at a complete halt and don’t know what to do with myself.”

  “Yeah, I agree. All that training, and now we are the ones who are being looked after,” Drugos turned his head towards the rest of the group. “At least we no have people that care about us.”

  “You’re right,” Austin nodded. “We should be grateful they are willing to go to such lengths for us.”

  “Yep, they’ll do the heavy lifting for now,” Drugos smiled. “In truth, I just wish you didn’t tell me about equipping my tower treasure. I have a whole other way to train, and I can’t even start yet.”

  Austin laughed loudly in response. “Yep, I am desperate to work on that, too.”

  “Are you two done moping?” Romi called towards Drugos and Austin. “It’s so depressing.”

  “You lose all your power and ability to train and try not to be a little depressed,” Austin shot back.

  Romi walked over to the pair and folded her arms. She looked down on the two with a frown. “You two are ridiculous. Just because you can’t use Essence right now doesn’t mean you can’t do other things. Alchemy requires very little, if any Essence. Why don’t you actually work on that?”

  “Alchemy is so boring, though,” Austin groaned.

  “Agreed, I would rather do anything else,” Drugos nodded.

  “No wonder you two became friends so quickly,” Romi sighed as she rubbed her temple. “You are exactly alike.”

  “Are those two complaining again?” Maya asked as she walked behind Romi. “I swear, men are the biggest complainers.”

  “What do you expect from a couple of meatheads?” Romi smirked. “All they want to do is fight.”

  “Stop acting like you don’t enjoy it too,” Drugos rolled his eyes.

  “We would be able to find something else to do if we couldn’t,” Maya said.

  “Whatever,” Austin sighed as he stood up. “Did you guys get out the cooking supplies?”

  “Yeah, I placed it over there,” Maya pointed to a tent. Next to the tent was a table with food, knives, and pans on it.

  “I’m going to get started on dinner,” Austin said as he walked towards the table. “I’ll let you all know when it’s done.”

  Once Austin arrived at the table, he immediately started to build a fire nearby. The group left the town with supplies to build a fire. Every night, they restocked wood from the forest. Because of this, Austin had plenty of supplies to get a fire started. He struck a match against a matchbox. The small flame lit to life, and Austin carefully lit tinder with it. As the flame grew larger, Austin carefully moved wood around to maintain the flame. Once the flame became steady, Austin moved to the table to begin his prep work on dinner.

  Austin unsheathed a knife, and for a moment, he admired its sharp edge. He overlooked the ingredients for the dinner. It looked like whoever summoned them from the scroll decided that they would have carrots and boar for dinner. Boar and venison, the two common staples of their diet.

  Austin took the knife in his left hand and began to carefully chop the carrots into smaller pieces. The process was slow because his right hand was his dominant hand. He just did not feel like he could trust his right hand anymore. While he could do some tasks with it, sometimes it failed. Cutting vegetables was not when he wanted that to happen. Once he finished cutting the carrots, he placed a pan over the flames.

  While the pan heated, Austin began to work on the boar. It was a huge slab of meat, and he needed to cut it into smaller steaks for everyone. Luckily, it did not require as much chopping as the carrots, and he was able to finish quickly. Once he finished, he began to season the meat on all sides with pepper and salt. Back at home, he would have a variety of different seasonings, but on the road, they wanted to minimize everything they carried with them. At the very least, Austin was grateful that he could flavor the meat even a little.

  Once Austin was finished preparing the boar, the pan had reached a temperature appropriate for cooking. He started by setting the boar steaks in the pan. A sizzling sound released as the fat from the boar started to cook and melt. After allowing one side of the boar to brown, he flipped it over for the other side to get the same crust.

  Once the crust formed on the other side of the steaks, Austin picked each steak up with tongs and placed them on a plate. Rendered fat was left in the pan. Austin tossed the carrots into the fat and flipped them around until they were coated in it. Eventually, the carrots were able to cook down and get a dark color on their edges. Once they finished, Austin began making plates for everyone in the group.

  “Dinner is ready!” Austin announced to the group. “Come and get it!”