“So, everything’s set?” Cire asked casually, tying her hair back and removing her neckce. She'd already dressed in a light set of the ballistic armor that the garrison had stashed.

  “Ammo, healing supplies, Etteria potions, you name it. But we’re not bringing heavy armaments.” Garrett spoke with resolve after he finished the brief with the team assembled at the garrison. Everyone else focused on gearing up in armor and armaments. The early morning sun shone in the rge meeting room, with the rge wooden table stacked with various supplies. Everyone packed their bags and secured their weapons with care.

  And as added bonus: the one special weapon that Shawn had finally finished te st night, along with Varrick

  The shotgun. Or rather, a heavily modified rifle with a new smoothbore barrel that he and the grizzled smith had worked on. Combining Cire’s efforts on the alchemical gel, modifications to the alchemical casing, which was already close enough to a shotgun shell, they'd had a busy day getting it finished.

  The shredded test targets suggested it was a deadly weapon, along with their upgraded ammo for the rifles. In theory, it should make short work of anything they might run into.

  Shawn was skeptical that even this boost in firepower would be enough. “Okay, so why don’t we bring the whole militia?”

  “Who guards the town while we’re gone?” Regia asked with a raised feathered brow. “You saw it yourself, monster attacks happen. We are little morsels to them, and that’s why people on the outskirts are typically those with powerful gestalts, or effective defensive abilities. With Telga still trying to get people rallied here from across the continent, and elsewhere, it’s slow going. We have to make do with this. Plus, we’re a pretty tight team so far,” she smirked.

  “Fair enough.” He understood the risk, but he also had more confidence in his gestalts. Even now, he stowed his dagger away, and grabbed the simple warhammer Varrick had lying around in his smithy. Varrick had described it as a keepsake from a prior occupation…though he didn’t say what.

  Shawn also noted the weapon seemed too sleek and gave off this strange aura around it that caused his fingers to spark. Almost as if it were reacting to his gestalt or the Etteria in his body. Varrick stated he didn’t fully know what the weapon did, and weapons like this were plentiful in the world, to greater and lesser extents.

  At least he had a backup weapon at close range, now. One he was proficient in.

  Garrett id out a schematic and a map of the mine–but because it was years out of date, this was at best a rough recollection from anyone who might have worked there at one point. The mine pre-dated Vea’nt, so there was no telling what the full extent tunnel network might look like.

  Garret cleared his throat. “This is a simple recon task. We need the mine open to make Shawn’s stuff happen. We have gestalt wielders who can help extract the ore. Because we don’t have a regur alchemist, Varrick and Cire will be coming along, along with myself, Regia, Raine, and Trask. We’ll start by clearing out what I think are likely vermin css monsters–nothing we can’t handle, but they tend to congregate in groups, and are very dangerous in rge numbers.”

  “Let’s hope they group up, so I can roast them all,” Shawn stated irritably. “Garrett, you’ll have the new scattergun. Remember, it’s a prototype, but we saw what it did on the test.”

  “Should be a good practice run. Between Varrick’s gunsmithing and your knowledge, we put this together quickly,” the lieutenant replied, eyes focused on the map.

  “We just repurposed spare parts and modified a few things. There's no guarantee these prototypes st, so be careful,” Shawn cautioned. “I could do way better with a proper setup. I also want to make magical guns at some point. Because science. Now, what can we expect?”

  “We’ll have to walk through the forest. We'd need too much gear to fly any meaningful distance, and Cire and the others don’t have wings. Plus, the terrain is kinda tough for the Hal’puras. The mine entrance is near the edge of the tectonic mass. There may be connecting passages to some ancient tunnel network found throughout Remaria. This pnet is like a giant ant nest of tunnels, failed civilizations, monster nests, and caches of forgotten items. Dig down far enough anywhere, and you’ll find something–benign or dangerous.”

  “Maybe that’s how monsters got in?” Cire asked, looking at the penciled-in areas they had accounted for. “How are there no former workers?”

  “It's been around a while. People moved, and it was never a big operation. But Varrick says that the mine is likely still bursting at the seams with various metals,” Regia answered, tapping a cw on the page. “There just wasn’t a lot of willpower to capitalize on it. If the danger is too hot, we’ll bounce out, and use our arcane reys to send a threat assessment. It’s an hour walk, and goes through a chunk of forest that is…well, retively safe.” Shawn did not feel much confidence in Regia’s statement.

  “Then let’s not waste any time, daylight’s burning, and there’s a mad god on the march beneath our feet. Never thought I’d say that in my lifetime,” Shawn added afterward.

  The morning sun gave way to early afternoon after forty-five minutes of trekking through the woods adjacent to the vilge of Vea’nt. The path was narrow and beginning to become encroached upon by the vegetation. Shawn moved gracefully across the rock and root-strewn path that meandered through the hundred-meter trees that looked like redwoods–except the leaves were colored in bright gold and red shades, and the bark was that strange dark-colored material that made it very un-earth-like, roughly textured like sponge material. Small mushroom analogs dotted the shady spots of the forest floor, and the leafy green underbrush was thick in the presence of the rge gaps between the trees.

  The lighting was strange in this world like the colors were off a little bit. When he looked up, the sky wasn’t the normal blue color he was used to. Now…now instead of a golden orb up in the sky, there was a dimmer, slightly cooler star that leaned more towards orange than yellow. The sky looked like an artist had touched it with a purple hue, and changed how he viewed everything.

  “A lifetime of discoveries, huh Cire?” he called out over his shoulder. He gnced back and saw her hopping over the sprawling tree roots that meandered all over, light on her feet. Accompanying her were the rest of the team, while Regia and Garrett led the way, just ahead of him.

  “Shawn, that’s an understatement. Even if this is a one-way trip? Well, at least I won’t be bored!” she decred proudly.

  “We still need to find Maggie in this giant mess,” he sighed. “But I can’t do that if I’m dead or ensved to a self-decred god. I haven’t asked Telga to look into it yet, because she’s quite busy.”

  “She’s mourning,” Regia replied quietly. “You know how many people she’s lost recently? A lot. At least you seem to be adjusting well,” she commented a moment ter.

  “Adjusting…I don’t know about ‘well’ though.” Their discussion was interspersed as they navigated the terrain, past gcial boulders from some long-forgotten ice age, and past a few bubbling streams that were icy cold beneath his cwed feet. Strangely, it didn’t bother him much that he didn’t need boots–his cwed feet were quite durable and the custom here was to wear foot and leg wrappings. Their scaled extremities were resistant to the cold. “At least I’ve got the walking part down.”

  “You like the flight part at least,” she said coyly.

  “When you’re not trying to kill me with obstacle courses,” he snarked. It almost brought a smile to his face. But, he noted Regia kept swiveling her head back and forth like a…well, a bird. He noted her lingering gaze off to the right–the deep forest cast dark shadows, and more than just small lizards and birds lurked in the depths. Primal roars of an alien and dreaded origin echoed past the massive trees, and the shrieks of prey trying to flee.

  “You keep doing that. Should I worry about what’s out there?” Shawn asked. He’d already seen monsters big enough that wanted to eat him.

  “Carnivorous insects, Jabberyowls, Skarns are all known in this area,” she spoke in a low tone, her clenched cw dripping water for a second. “We’ve also seen some Panthera. They’re like the Jabberyowls, but, meaner, and they have a ranged energy attack they can exude from their tails. Very dangerous. We occasionally send out patrols to keep tabs, and clear out nuisances.”

  “That’s usually my job,” Garrett replied, his voice calm and he focused on the map briefly before pointing along the path. “We’re understaffed as it were. I’m hoping Telga can get more people into town to help out. We need to get more people from the nearest frontier towns to backfill, so we’re not double-booked on militia duties.”

  “Hopefully deadlier weapons will even the odds.” Shawn wondered in the back of his mind about the implications of advancing tech. Magic may level the pying field, but not all gestalts were powerful–some were mere utility. Was he creating a longer-term problem down the road?

  He hoped not.

  Almost as if she was reading his mind, her gaze flickered back to him, after peering intensely towards the leafy depths. “Shawn, suppose Telga can’t get you back home. I’m not sure she can. What will you do?”

  “Assuming I find Maggie?” his eyes met hers as they stepped over a mossy, overgrown log. “Make a home, I guess. I’m resourceful enough that I could make peace with living here. Though, I do worry about Cire a little.”

  “I know you said you two were cousins. What are her thoughts?”

  “I don't know. Though, with a lifetime of discoveries, and the right person to come along? She might be able to settle here,” he deflected lightly. Cire was busily chatting with Varrick, though she kept her rifle at hand, along with a few alchemical grenades she’d cooked up from what was on hand. Better that, than using fragmentation weapons that could be deadly at close range. “Maybe we can talk about it another time.”

  “Yeah. That’s fair,” she murmured, then froze up and put up a cwed hand. Everyone scooted to the nearest cover–the most basic sign a threat y ahead.

  “What can you see?” Varrick whispered from behind.

  “Small animals. Numerous, but not coming towards us. They’re milling about.” Raine stepped cautiously to the forefront, his loping stride closing the gap quickly. “Fifty meters. Sounds like…”

  Shawn noticed it sounded like a hum of a thousand bee wings, just out of sight, past a dense passage of foliage. He saw small motions just ahead, and he steadied himself on a fallen log, aiming the rifle forward. He mentally readied a fme dart to his off-hand, in case he needed it. The pre-formed magical bolt was there, waiting to be triggered into being at a mental snap. “What are they?”

  “Scavengers. Grolls, they call them,” she whispered back. One wandered into view under the foliage, making low growling noises. It was squat, the size of a small dog, with no hair and dark green skin. It had four thin limbs, cwed and dangerous, and rge, beady eyes. “Harmless in low numbers. When they gather in packs? They’ll make you a pile of bones in minutes. Sometimes they even eat the bones.”

  “Everything on this pnet wants to kill us,” Shawn muttered under his breath, following the creature's movements with the rifle. “Do they scare easily? Any behaviors we should look out for?”

  “Nah. we wait for them to–”

  Another one emerged from the brush, chirping agitatedly. He reached one hand for the hammer holstered on his side, knowing this was too close to react with firearms. The creatures arched their backs and growled at the group they’d just noticed. He felt his wings tense out by instinct.

  “Call it, fire or fall back?”

  “Just wait,” Regia answered. Garrett nodded silently, his finger resting on his trigger already. He heard the clink of Cire possibly grabbing one of the alchemical grenades, but he didn’t dare to look back.

  Another Groll skidded from under the brush, then three more. They looked at each other, yipping softly, and blinking quickly. “They won’t take on a threat they can’t handle. Heavily armed humanoids? They’ll flee if they’re not provoked," Garrett whispered.

  It took all the effort in the world for Shawn to hold steady, and not roast the grouped-up, sharp-toothed creatures. One of which, had a bloodied bone in its mouth that it gulped down, crunching down with a disturbing sound of breaking bone and tearing of softer meats. They stood there, yapping, then scattered to the woods as fast as they’d arrived, their sounds becoming distant over a minute.

  Shawn exhaled loudly, having held his breath too long, and Garrett nodded. “Good call, good discipline everyone. That was a threat we didn’t need to fight.”

  The trek forward was fairly short, once Garrett and Regia gave the all-clear. The trees thinned out the further they traversed, and Shawn could see contrasting grey and brown terrain up ahead, through the breaks in vegetation. “So, how close are we to…well, the end of the world?”

  Varrick chuckled. “Let’s say you don’t want to get too close to the tectonic edge. With this mine, and others like it near the edges of the continents, you can use the distortions of gravity to sling ore upward from the depths with a little effort using telekinetics. Done it a time or two when I was digging elsewhere, but not here in Vea’nt. Most of my time was spent in the capital, and Vea’nt was a…back-up pn.”

  “I cannot wait to dig into this mother lode of magical materials!” Cire beamed enthusiastically. She bounced along a series of rocks and picked at a loose, silvery substance that seemed to ooze out of the rock. “Varrick, is this…”

  “Magical quicksilver. Good find,” Varrick confirmed, a hint of contentment in his voice. “It has intrinsic magical properties that make it lighter, stronger, more durable, and resistant against many of the deadliest projectiles that the creatures of this world wield. Acid will still dissolve you, so, it pays to keep a neutralizer agent ready.”

  “But how does it withstand fire?” Shawn queried. He’d never be careless with his Forge fme again after singing a few feathers, though they were at least fire-resistant. Maybe it was another undiscovered effect of the gestalt? “This is just out…in the open.”

  “There are some pces on Remaria you can trip over the ore,” Varrick replied, and Trask nodded. “But when monsters can turn you into corpses in a snap of your fingers, or the world itself is toxic, fmmable, acidified, or there are clouds of shit that can dissolve you into jelly, it’s not always worth the risk. This looks like it was dropped, it doesn’t match the surrounding rock.”

  “Let’s keep moving. We’ll mark off findings,” Garrett interjected. “Highlight big finds on that map we’ve got. I hope it’s accurate.”

  Shawn stepped over a snaking vine and saw an opening in the forest–a clearing of what appeared to be rockier terrain and barren rock that opened into a rge, open clearing. They were near the tectonic edge, and he could see the sky color changing–getting darker.

  “I don’t know how you all can be so chipper after a bunch of zealots nearly burned us in orbit,” Regia groused from the rear and kept her gaze focused on the forest. “What a difference a week and change makes. We got out of there with a pretty clutch move.”

  “Regia, did you just make a pun of out making a ‘clutch?’” Garrett–all two meters of him and green feathers, plus his red ‘mask’ of feathers accented his face, gave out a warbling ugh, and he was next in the marching order. “Forgive me for gently pushing back against making clutches anytime soon.”

  “Oh, are you volunteering, Garrett?” she cooed back. “I mean, you’re easy on the eyes, minus that giant scar on your beak. It’s kinda sexy.”

  “Bah. You should have seen what I did to the thing that gave me that scar,” he retorted, but his beak creased into a smirk. “Old master, assuming we get this mine cleared out of whatever infestation haunting it, will our current forge be enough to refine it?”

  “That’s up to Shawn and Cire. We have been able to smelt down small amounts of stock using his force barrier and fire gestalt,” Varrick replied stiffly. Shawn had learned a lot from him in a few weeks, and things he wouldn't have known about some of the strange materials he’d witnessed so far.

  Hearing Varrick say that they were relying on him–it felt like both a big, and scary moment. And, Shawn realized Varrick was more than willing to teach, once he got past that gruff exterior.

  He wished he’d had more people like Varrick in his life growing up. He clicked his beak as if to get their attention. “Keep in mind, we might have materials here. But getting them out at scale is going to be tough.” Shawn pondered this for a moment. The known records of deposits were impressive, once they'd dug them up in the vilge archives.

  “We can try to build rail tracks. The pathway through the forest wasn’t bad, and I saw rail lines from the mine we could start from. Or use the Hal'puras and clearcut a path, and create a patrolled route,” he commented, pointing to where they terminated, and a rusty cart sat in a wooden and bck tar roofed shelter. “We need to build an industry to battle against Revarik. Radiants might be unmatched at an individual level, but he still has an army he needs to fight for him. And they have far greater weaknesses than he does.”

  “It sounds like a roost dream,” Varrick echoed. He raised his rifle to peer at the depths of the forest. Unlike Shawn’s rifle, Varrick had a small optical scope mounted on the top rail–a rarity of competent gsswork and minute adjustments. It was about on par with the scope work of World War II, but serviceable enough. He lowered the rifle a second ter, satisfied there was no threat. “I know we’ve gotten offworlders before, but…none of them had quite your knowledge base.”

  “I was kind of a freak. Cire is too, but of a different kind,” he answered back. Cire let out a grunt of disapproval. “Cire, we’re mega nerds. It’s fine. No one in a hundred million light-years can judge us.”

  “Yeah. I wish we could have brought a coffee shop with us. I miss that,” she sighed. “Or, anything resembling coffee out here.”

  “You had to remind me of that. We were there at Millie’s, sipping the st cup of coffee of our life, and we didn’t realize it.” He tilted his head to the side and let out a ugh. “We stiffed the waitress, Cire. We got sucked into a portal and didn’t even leave a tip. We’re toast, whenever we get back. It’s like, a huge taboo.”

  “Hey, that was Telga’s fault. It’s coming out of her pocket,” Cire said with a roll of her eyes and raised her rifle to the open clearing, her gaze accented with a spark of interest. “Hey uh, this is a sight, isn’t it?”

  They all peered in awe at the spectacle of the strewn rocks, and the cavernous entrance to the mine, just a few hundred meters away The entrance was set into what was a miniature mountain range, forming a subtle barrier. Off to the right, there was a small vista point. Small birds fluttered high above, with alien calls drifting in the wind. There was more than a gentle breeze coming from the area. They must be near the edge.

  “I want to go check out the view before we go in. We got this far, I’d like to see what it looks like.” Shawn had vowed that if he died on this world, he’d at least get one hell of a st view of the majestic impossibilities this world possessed.

  “Watch your step. It’s to die for,” Garrett cautioned.