[dRATS]

  [Baddie Level 3]

  Drats! It’s Rats! These vermin are neither cute nor cuddly. They are the size of what you would call a “New York rat” back on Earth. Long fangs, sharp claws, and rippling muscles—everything you don’t want a rat to have. But their bright, red eyes are lovely. Dispose of these ankle biters before they sever an artery … or give you rabies.

  The wheat stalks shook and bent as the little shits scurried about, well hidden in the knee-high field of wheat the heroes had decided to cross through.

  Standing back-to-back, the gang tried valiantly to smash the dRATS into oblivion. But they were small and speedy, making for a tricky target.

  SQUEAK!

  A nasty rat erupted out of the wheat, soaring through the air. It ricocheted off Wendell’s shield, sending it on a vacation to a distant land.

  “Let’s do a side quest while we’re already on a damn side quest,” Alissa snapped. Her sword connected with a flying rat, slicing it in half. Who’s idea was that again? Oh, that’s right. It was yours. Damn it, Peregrine.”

  “I’m sorry. All right?” Peregrine shook a rat off his leg and stomped a mudhole in it. “How was I supposed to know it was going to be a huge pain in the ass? The farmer guy made it sound like it would be a cakewalk.” He kicked at another one that scampered out of the way, not wanting to waste his Holy ink on a monster so trivial.

  Standing near his small hut, the “farmer guy” waved sheepishly at the group. He had wild hair and a button-up shirt that he’d apparently forgotten to button up. Promises of Elixir of Life, wheat, and possibly weapons were promised. It would’ve been silly to pass that up. Currently, it didn't seem like it was worth the hassle.

  A rat sank its teeth into Wendell’s knee. It braced itself with all four paws and twisted its head back and forth, like a dog playing with a chew toy. “Ouch. Ouch.” He kicked and kicked until he found a better method, which was jumping then crashing down on his knees with the dRAT trapped underneath. The rat’s innards splattered. “Oh, shit! Will I really get rabies? Am I going to die?”

  “I doubt that’s how it works in this world,” Alissa said. “I’m sure a bottle of elixir will magically cure any STDs you have.”

  Wendell’s cheeks flushed. “I don’t have STDs,” he huffed.

  “I’m sure you don’t, hunk.” Alissa spun, looking for more dRATS.

  “Watch out,” Peregrine yelled, pointing behind them.

  Clumsily walking toward them was a human-sized leaning tower of dRATS. They had climbed on top of each other’s shoulders, the ones below holding tight to the feet of those above. It reminded Peregrine of what kids did in old movies when they dressed up in trenchcoats, trying to sneak into adult shows at the theatre. The tower weaved this way and that, never gaining its footing. Once close enough to strike, the top rat jumped—creating more balancing chaos for the others—flying toward Alissa. She simply punched it out of the air, crumpling it on impact.

  As much as Peregrine hated wasting ink, this was a worthwhile opportunity to knock out all the enemies in one blow. He aimed the Quill of Beginnings at the dRATS, picking the center of the tower as his target. A second later, a rectangular blob of yellow light blasted from the tip of the quill, eliminating every single dRAT to the point that there was no evidence of them ever having existed.

  “Finally,” Alissa said, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Let’s collect our treasure.” She slapped Peregrine on the back. “And never do a side quest again.”

  “If we want to get useful items, we’ve got to earn them,” Wendell said, under his breath.

  They walked through the field, to the hut, keeping an eye out for any stragglers. The farmer was caked head to toe in dirt. He reached out and shook Wendell’s hand, nodding and bowing furiously as he did so.

  Wendell looked at his palm and discreetly wiped it clean against his jeans.

  The farmer ushered them to the backside of the hut where a golden treasure chest awaited. He got within a few feet, then backed away, motioning his hands from the heroes to the chest. “There. There it is. All yours. Please. Please take.”

  Peculiar. But maybe the farmer was just socially awkward. He for sure had a nail-biting problem, as he took turns nibbling on them.

  Guy is inviting an infection, Peregrine thought.

  Alissa knelt in front of the chest, clapped her hands together, and let out a loud “woot!” She reached to open the unlocked lid.

  Peregrine squinted, swearing he saw the chest shake slightly. He was about to yell at her to stop when—

  The lid opened on its own, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. A large, purple tongue flopped out, catching Alissa’s hand, pulling it inside the open maw. The lid snapped close, but not before Alissa was able to wedge her sword in, keeping the teeth from biting her hand off. She pushed off her sword, rolling out of harm’s way.

  The treasure chest followed her, chomping at the air, trying to catch its prey. During the process, it bumped into the farmer who fell face first into the chest, being relieved of his head. While dining on its meal, the treasure resumed following Alissa. It nipped at her heels.

  Wendell baseball slid, blocking Alissa from the attack. He bapped the chest back a few times as it kept licking his shield with its sticky tongue.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Peregrine tried picking up Alissa’s Crimson Leaker, but it didn’t budge, much in the same way that he couldn’t lift Wendell’s shield, either. Against his better judgement, he cast another spell, a Holy saw blade. It tore into the chest, doing some surface damage, but RESISTANT floated above. A white glint appeared over top of the word.

  Alissa zipped down from the sky with her original sword, cutting the chest clean in half. Its tongue licked no more.

  [Mimic]

  [Baddie Level 4]

  These curious entities are shapeshifters that can disguise themselves as any inanimate object—including treasure chests. A known weakness of theirs is … it appears you’ve already killed it, so it doesn’t matter.

  “Thanks for nothing, System,” Peregrine said. Why was it so late to the party?

  “It doesn’t have anything to loot,” Wendell said. “Do you think the farmer knew this was a mimic?”

  Alissa nudged the dead farmer with her shoe. “One hundred percent he knew. But it wasn’t a total waste of time. He had one bottle of Elixir of Life.”

  The mimic disappeared.

  “What just happened?” Wendell asked.

  “I inventoried it,” Alissa replied. “Weird, I know. Maybe it will come in handy down the road.”

  “Morbid much?” Peregrine asked, shaking his head. It was gross. Though, he did see Alissa’s point. It looked exactly like a treasure chest, afterall. He didn’t know what they would use it for but, besides the bizarreness, it wouldn’t hurt anything to have it on hand.

  “I do think we learned something today,” Wendell said.

  “What’s that?” Peregrine asked.

  “We need to be careful about who we trust.” Wendell put his shield away. “We trusted the farmer without much thought. Look where that got us.”

  Wendell was right. They were in a tranquil realm, but it would be unwise to think everyone was peaceful. Sandra had told them that The Morrigan brought depravity in with her. People who were once good, might now be twisted. Whether or not the farmer had been bad was difficult to say. He’d seemed nervous. It could be he was trying to protect himself by putting them in the mimic’s path. Either way, they needed to be more cautious going forward.

  Peregrine studied the map. This had been the first full day of travel, since leaving Fiddler’s Green. They’d covered what he considered a good distance, but still needed another half a day of walking to reach the Always Forest, and the vampires guarding the flame. No sense in walking at night with unknown dangers waiting.

  “Let’s rest here for the evening,” Peregrine suggested. “We’ve got a hut to sleep in. Beats laying on the ground.” The next chance he got, he was going to find some beds, or a portable house of some sorts.

  The other two agreed. Peregrine pulled the portable cleaning station out and set it up near the hut, on the far side away from the farmer’s body, of course.

  “What types of music do you guys listen to?” Wendell asked, arms draped over the edge of the tub.

  The water was hot and bubbly, steam rising into the air. Soft gurgling from the churning liquid was almost enough to put a person to sleep. Theodore and Duncan were awesome.

  “I’ll kill both of you, if you tell anyone.” Alissa pointed at the boys and ran a finger across her throat. “I’m a Swiftie.” She tipped her head back over the edge of the tub, closing her eyes and sighing, like it had taken everything out of her to unearth such a secret.

  “Oh, jeez. Are you really?” An inkling of a giggle slipped out of Wendell’s mouth. He was greeted by a stiff punch to his shoulder, courtesy of Alissa. “Oww.”

  “Zip it, shithead. Let me guess, you’re a golden oldies fan?”

  Still rubbing his shoulder, Wendell answered, “I’m more into folk style music.”

  “Ugh. Shoot me now.” Peregrine laughed. “At least Tay Tay has good melodies.”

  “What do you got for us, Yankee Doodle? C’mon. Let’s hear it.” Alissa’s elbows rested on the edge of the tub and she motioned her hands in a “come at me, bro” manner.

  “I’ve always been into pop-punk, emo, some of the older bands like that.” He dipped under the water to get his hair wet, then came back up. “You know, like Box Car Racer and My Chemical Romance.”

  “Ahh,” Wendell said. “Are you one of those wannabe early 2000s scene kids?”

  “I guess you could say that.” Peregrine wasn’t embarrassed about his taste in music.

  Alissa fixed her hair so it slid across her face, covering one of her eyes. “That emo enough for ya? I don’t have any of those sweet spiked wristbands or studded belts.” With her dark hair, she totally looked the part.

  Peregrine laughed. “I didn’t wear the whole getup, dork. I was only in it for the music.”

  “Speaking of clothes,” Wendell said, changing the subject. “Do you suppose we should find some new ones? Something that fits the Irenic Realm theme? Or an extra pair in case ours get ruined?”

  “No,” Alissa said, matter-of-factly. “Mine are comfortable.” She admired her shirtwaist dress that billowed under the water. “Besides, these clothes are the last ties to our life on Earth.”

  Nobody said a word for a few minutes. Peregrine wondered if they were thinking the same thing as him. That they were far away from home, stuck in an unfamiliar and hostile world with no one coming to save them and a heavy burden to bear. He knew he’d give anything to wake up in his warm bed and find out that everything that had happened the past week was just a bad dream. Did the other two share the same feelings?

  “Anyone else homesick?” Peregrine finally asked.

  Wendell raised his hand immediately with Alissa only a second behind him, though hers didn’t go up as enthusiastically. She had that tough girl front to maintain.

  They spent the better part of the night relaxing and chatting.

  ***

  The next morning they woke with the morning light, not wanting to spend another minute in the dirty, moldy hut.

  Peregrine made another mental note for beds, portable housing, or the ability to make a roaring campfire.

  They walked for a good portion of the day, with nothing exciting happening except for running into the occasional baddie, but not enough to level up. The views were breathtaking. The grass was neon-green. Multicolored flowers that had a sweet fragrance, popped up in clusters throughout. Mountain ranges rose in the distance. Large streams zig-zagged around the rolling hills. What looked like skyscrapers towered in various parts of far away land. There was possibly a desert-like area off to the east, judging by its golden color.

  Most importantly, they had arrived at their destination; the edge of the Always Forest.

  The tops of the trees were a dark green, almost black. It was vast, filled with thick trees as tall as water towers, and others short and gnarled. A shadow moved in the area where the hills met the forest. Someone was there.

  Alissa and Wendell drew their weapons from inventory. Peregrine always kept his strapped to his arm versus having to buckle and unbuckle every time. With no plan, other than “team work makes the dream work,” they snuck ahead to see who was standing at the edge of the Always Forest.