Dee gasped and shivered; plunging into the cold snow made his whole body feel alive. It was like being born again, but not in the agonising way that being dunked in potentia had been. Every cell in his body came awake. A welcome shock to the system.

  Before the biting cold could turn dangerous, they all piled back into the lodge. Some of the dwarves sunk back into the water. Others began dressing to leave the lodge, finished with the sauna for the day.

  For the adventurers it was time to leave. Arjelica was eager to reach Goldmeadow. She grabbed her clothes and dressed, as did the others.

  Dee’s clothes slid over his skin, he felt like a new person. Who knew a sauna and ice-cold snow could be so refreshing?

  When they had all dressed and prepared their equipment and mounts, it was time to leave. They were escorted by dwarves with heat staffs, who kept an eye on Dee in case he decided to leap off the road again. It only took minutes to reach the edge of the cold farm, the air slowly warmed and the snow disappeared. Low tendrils of mist crept around the boundary of the farm. Outside the forest was green and warm.

  They paused at the edge as Arjelica said goodbye to the farmers, and then they were on the road again, canyon runners clucking and speeding through the forest. Despite his misgivings, this time was not so bad on Dee’s stomach. Perhaps he had got used to the lurching run or maybe it was the rest, either way he didn’t feel as sick.

  When they had travelled a little way, Arjelica pulled her steed to a stop and tied it to a branch. She hopped off and then stalked off the path.

  “What is she doing?” Dee asked Yuri.

  “Trying out her new Class Art,” Yuri replied.

  “It’s good to practice new Class Arts, before using them in battle,” Tianna said with an approving nod.

  A shuddering roar came from the forest. Branches shook and their canyon runners bucked and stomped in a circle, terrified by the sound. Dee felt like crying out in fear.

  A host of creatures ran across the path suddenly, from the direction Arjelica had gone. A deer, squirrels, a family of rodents all sprinted out from the woods, fleeing the terrible sound.

  As they soothed their steeds, Arjelica appeared from the woods, a pleased look on her face.

  “Scared?” she said with a smirk, then jumped up into her saddle.

  “That was you?” Dee asked.

  “Of course.” Arjelica geed her canyon runner on.

  After a few more hours of travel, the trees petered out and they were running across a vast grassland. Shallow rolling hills and long green and yellow stalks of grass were all they saw ahead. The canyon runners finally seemed to tire, and settled down into a more gentle pace that Dee was thankful for. There was a hypnotic rhythm to it, like a gymnast warming up before a forward flip. Bird goes up, and forward. Bird goes down, and forward. If they only went this fast all the time, Dee could handle it.

  They found the trade road eventually, a well-trod and wide path. There were stone markers occasionally, short carved stones marking the edge of the road. And there were other travellers, bands of adventurers, and traders with wagons, all heading to or leaving Goldmeadow.

  They even saw a skyship. Dee heard a roaring sound, not unlike an airplane overhead. He tensed in the saddle, hoping it wasn’t a swooping dragon or other monster. Then he saw the sharp prow cruise overhead. From beneath it looked like a thin, elongated tear-shape, with arcing sails and fins jutting from the sides. A beautiful construction that slipped across the sky like an arcane swan.

  “That’s a skyship?” he whispered. That was one of his dreams, to fly on an actual skyship.

  “You’ve never seen one?” Yuri said.

  “Could we fly on one?” he asked hopefully.

  “I’m not getting on another ship with Yuri,” Tianna said. She shook her head.

  “Oh, you’re just jealous that I took the initiative.”

  “You almost killed us all.”

  “Did I? Or did I actually… not kill us all? O-hohoho! Anyway, stop trying to embarrass me in front of my henchman.” She stuck her nose into the air and geed her canyon runner forwards away from the others.

  “I really would like to ride on an airship,” Dee said.

  “Don’t worry. I’m actually quite good at piloting airships. Especially in emergency situations. O-hohoho!” The way she said it made it clear that it was one hundred percent not true.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “That’s good to hear.”

  “Oh look!” Yuri pointed ahead. Her breasts pushed against his back.

  There was Goldmeadow. He couldn’t understand the shape of it. It looked like a huge termite mound, with golden honey spilling from it. Until they got closer and he realised the golden shape was actually a metallic city wall, and the termite mound was a kind of hive that the town was built against.

  As they finally approached the town gates, he saw a large meadow outside the walls. Spires of metal, in many different colours, stood amongst the grass. Golden and silver spires stood out in the sunlight, but there were spires of dull blue, glossy black and even brass jutting up into the sky. Some of them were twice as tall as a human. The whole meadow looked like the back of a pimped-out hedgehog.

  And amongst the spires were enormous bees the size of a large dog, bumbling around the meadow, travelling from spire to spire. They clung to the metal spikes, nibbling and feeding, then returning to their hive. Instead of flowers, they gathered something from the metal.

  Yuri glanced at Arjelica, who was staring at the town.

  “Almost there, deary,” Yuri said. Arjelica made a grunting sound. She was impatient.

  “This is a metal elemental node. Look at all the pretty colours.” Yuri said for Dee. She waved her arm over the plethora of metal spires.

  “So, there is a Metal Crest in the city?”

  “No. The ancients probably enchanted the node, they created this metal farm long ago. Potentia grows into the world as all this metal. There’s no excess potentia to crystallise. That’s how the dwarf farm is as well. A water node cultivated to make all that snow.”

  “The ancients are a myth,” Arjelica scoffed.

  “Who made Goldmeadow then?” Yuri asked with a smug look on her face.

  “Nobody. Who made the sun, or bees? Mana flows.” She spoke her last sentence with the sincerity of a prayer or folk wisdom.

  “So, Water and Metal are elements?” Dee asked. Knowing about this system would be important for him to survive.

  “Yes, Water is terrestrial, Metal is ethereal,” Tianna said.

  “Metal seems pretty terrestrial to me.”

  “Terrestrial? Why do you keep pretending to be so stupid? It’s a seduction technique, isn’t it? You pretend to be helpless and needy.” —she closed her eyes and pretended to be semi-conscious— “Oh, help me, I just got dissolved by potentia, and I don’t know that Earth is a dream of Metal,” she croaked in a deep voiced impression of Dee. “Some-one, come closer and teach me the Ladder of Elements. Help me, help me…” She stuck her tongue out and dropped her head like she had just died.

  “And then when a kind War Priest tries to help you… wham!” Her eyes flew open and she stared at him.

  “Wham, what?”

  “You know what!”

  “I think it’s sweet. He’s like a fresh adventurer, learning all about the world as he goes. I’ll teach you everything you need to know. O-hohoho” Yuri tittered. She patted his head. That added nothing to his education.

  Dee studied what he could see from the outside of Goldmeadow. The hive was maybe five or six stories tall, dotted with openings for the bees to enter and leave. The town was much lower, only a few buildings taller than two stories. The tallest building was in the centre of the town, a tower jutting up like an artistic dagger hilt.

  The town wall was smooth and golden and dotted with squat defence towers. Each tower was topped with a ballista, pointing up into the sky. There were guards, looked like humans or elves, along with another short race, all in the same golden metal armour.

  “Is that to protect against the bees?” Dee asked. He didn’t like the idea of dog-sized bees bumbling through the air to sting him. He didn’t like the idea of a normal-size bee doing that to be fair.

  “The bees? That’s why they live here!” Arjelica said. “Show some sense.”

  “It’s for sky pirates. And behemoths,” Yuri said. She pulled on the reins and their mount slowed down even more; they were almost at the gate.

  Their canyon runner clucked angrily as they came to the gate, above which fluttered a flag of gold and green hexagons. A couple of guards on the wall watched them carefully. They looked to be the same height as Tianna, but they had catlike faces, and the way they moved was quick and darting. He saw one of them launch into the air, its bushy tail thrust out. It spread its arms, flaps of skin stretching out, and like a gliding squirrel, it gracefully swooped out of view into the more; town.

  Flying catgirls. Huh.

  “What are those?”

  “They are pooks,” Yuri said.

  “Why do you ask so many questions? Don’t you have the answers in your magic book?” Arjelica said.

  “I wish.”

  “That’s one of the terrestrial races,” Tianna said.

  “They look like they can fly. I’m more terrestrial than them.”

  “No! You’re ethereal. H-humans, a-are…” Tianna almost went cross-eyed with fury as she grasped the reins of her canyon runner. It squawked in pain as she almost throttled it. “Forget it! I’m going on ahead, I don’t want to listen to this heretic.” She geed her mount forward and it trotted away towards the gateway.

  Dee shrunk a little into the saddle. Yuri patted him on the shoulder. I guess I should stop asking stupid questions. But I need to learn more about how this all works.

  “Why does she get so wound up?”

  “She has very strict ideas about the Ladder,” Yuri said. “Some people do. I prefer a more investigative approach.”

  Through the gates and a short way into the town they found a place to stay. A large inn with a stable that was half-full with canyon runners, large wolves and even a giant boar kind of steed.

  Arjelica jumped from her canyon runner with ease, holding the bag with the water crest inside it. Without looking back, she told Yuri to tie up her steed, and marched off to the centre of town.

  “Wait for me, I want to help,” Yuri slid out of her saddle and pushed a crystal into Dee’s hand. “Buy yourself some new clothes if you want.”

  She dashed off after Arjelica, waving her arms in the air. “Wait for me, Arjy darling!”

  Dee dismounted with relief and then studied the crystal. It was a light green colour; it didn’t look like a gemstone. “What do I do with this?”

  Tianna looked at him with deep, deep horror. The colour drained from her face. Even when she was dangling over the mouth of the bullfrog, she hadn’t looked so horrified. “You don’t know what money is worth?” She grabbed his shirt and tugged so hard he bent over and his face almost touched hers. “You don’t know what money is worth?” Her voice was a shriek. “No no!” She grabbed the crystal in his hand and pushed it towards his face. “This is one hundred gold.”

  She spun theatrically on the spot. “This is beyond the tail-feather! How can she do this to you? The market will eat you alive. I’m taking you shopping, come on!” She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the marketplace. “I’ll show you how to spot a deal, and make a bargain, and how to count money. By the beak that spears the fish, how can she send you off to be eaten alive like this. Kingfisher have mercy!”

  “I’ll tie up the steeds then!” Emizra called after them.

  The canyon runners clucking was her only reply.