Raising Stakes

"When you said payout, you meant you literally get paid for being summoned?"

"The marbles are filled with mana, so they have lots of uses. But yes, they work as currency, too. Color indicates value. Green is a very respectable second-tier denomination. And I got so many! I'll need them to buy materials and whatnot, so this will be a big help."

She looked at the dimming sky. "We need to find the next town before it gets dark. This far away from Sunglaze, you can run into wild monsters."

Taylor picked up his tree, which they had left near the gate, and followed Saria. "What's your next quest?"

"My main summonee quest right now is Twilight Guide, which has subquests for all those things on your to-do list."

"Does it list your reward as a wild night of resort debauchery?"

"It says, "The rewards from your summoner, plus a moderate experience package.""

"That sounds promising. And what about your Enchantress quests?"

"I have some gathering quests, which we can do while we're collecting materials for you, and skill mastery quests, which I can work on while we're hunting monsters. So we're all in sync.

"You don't have to worry about my quests, okay? Most summoners don't even realize their partners have classes, and Knexenk tends to give us quests that coincide with our summoners' plans. I'll let you know if I need help with something. I promise not to be shy."

"Yeah. I noticed that shy isn't your thing."

She laughed, and the sound took him right back to his favorite creek behind the d'Mourne mansion.

The next day, Taylor started teaching Saria how to handle body enhancements. With the increased speed and directions obtained from an occasional town, they were able to find their destination before dark. Saria led him to an encampment of spirits, all dressed in armor and carrying weapons, living in tents. They weren't uniform enough to be called a military. It was more like a gathering of adventurers. She strode into the camp, seeming to know precisely what they were looking for: a tall, square tent with two bears at the flap and a desk inside. A plant-type spirit sat behind the desk. He looked like hundreds of vines had twisted together to form a person, then sprouted thin leaves instead of skin or fur. Its face didn't move, and its voice issued from inside its chest, and made sounds akin to singing, deep and harmonic.

"Saria, long time no see. I thought you didn't do these anymore."

"I'm showing a new kid around. His name is Taylor, and he's an all-rounder. We'll be fighting as a team."

"Welcome to Defense Post Nineteen, Taylor. I am Proctor Genova. I oversee operations here."

"Um, thank you. Pleased to meet you." Taylor had no idea what they were doing in a camp of paramilitary spirits. Saria liked her little surprises.

"What are we facing, Peegee?"

"Plains environment, monstrified everything. No undead. Occasional manabeasts. Consumption has slowed to under three square feet per hour. ETC is four days." The vine spirit pointed a wiggly finger at Taylor. "You vouch for this one?"

"Absolutely."

"Third shift just started, and they're short a team. Follow the markers. Give him the standard safety brief." Genova dismissed them by returning to his reports.

Saria steered him out of Genova's tent and to a pavilion where they grabbed two boxed meals each. Spirits were scattered around the camp, clustered in groups, mainly of the same general type and usually all dressed alike. Some were coming off their shifts and eating, and others were sleeping in tents. A few were playing a kind of sportball game that Taylor didn't recognize, teamed up as rabbits versus hares. Saria strode past all of them, excited to reach their destination.

"You will follow the instructions of the on-site proctor at all times. You will take your turn and not interfere with any other team's turn unless told to do so by the proctor. You will not pass the boundary stakes. You will not move the boundary stakes unless told to do so by the proctor. The proctor will not ask you to do these things because you are new. Understand so far?"

"Everything except what we're actually doing."

"You will orient your long-range spell effects along the designated lanes. If you cannot do that, you must use close-ranged spells or melee. Understand?"

"Sounds clear. But, what are we doing?"

"In the highly unlikely event of a final defensive fire being called, you will dump most of your mana into the most destructive spells you have, reserving enough to flee."

"Okay … "

"Don't die, and have fun."

"And again, what are we doing?" They were following a marked trail, packed hard from recent use, through grasses twice Taylor's height. Despite Saria's safety brief, he had no idea where they were going or what they were doing, other than it seemed to involve fighting and taking turns.

"You'll see."

A minute later, they were on open ground. Spirits had raised a ring of earth six feet high, topped with battlements. The wall was built in straight sections, encircling an area over fifty yards wide. Instead of facing outward, like a normal defensive wall, it faced inward. It seemed lightly defended by small teams of spirits scattered along the circumference in no apparent order.

Saria led him clockwise to a section dominated by an elderly elf, standing on the battlements with a whistle in one hand. Taylor hadn't taken it off since he finished breakfast, despite being among spirits, but the sudden appearance of an elf forced him to check his mask on reflex. Maybe he wasn't the only mortal in the realm after all.

The man with the whistle barely glanced at them, preferring to keep his eyes on the center of the circle. "Station five," he said, and Saria pulled Taylor onward to a section of the wall with nobody on it, marked with a crude "5" chiseled near the base. They climbed the rough stairs, and he could finally see what the spirits were defending against.

Nothing. The grass inside the wall was trampled flat and stained with blood. A group of spirits dressed in white cloaks stood inside the circle, near the edge, looking bored. Near the center of the arena was a circle of short wooden stakes, painted orange and hammered into the ground. Those must be the boundary stakes.

The minutes stretched on, without incident.

"So, what are we doing here?"

"You'll see. You'd better settle in. We're here for the next five hours." Taylor looked around and saw spirits lounging on folding chairs, leaning against the battlements, and reading books. It was less like a hunt than a defensive action, one where the enemy hadn't arrived yet.

Twenty minutes later, a warning whistle blew, and everyone came alive, standing ready. The three-member team on the arena floor took up their positions. They were an unusually mismatched team: a blue-and-white striped bear that stood over six feet tall on her hind legs, a white pelican that was only a foot shorter than the bear, and a four-foot-tall hare (not including ears). To Taylor's surprise, the bird strode forward until she was ten yards from the boundary stakes, taking point, while the bear and hare lined up behind her and to either side.

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Something emerged from the center of the arena, spilling out a foot at a time from empty air: a massive, monstrified snake. It looked like a common viper found in the plains: green-striped, moderately venomous, and normally reclusive. The only odd thing about the viper was its extreme length of thirty feet. The confusion about suddenly landing in a new place didn't last very long, and the snake struck at the nearest thing it could.

The Pelican shielded herself with a wing and used Bastion's Core Defense skill to deflect damage and keep the snake's attention. Somehow, Taylor had lost sight of the bear, but she appeared suddenly behind the snake and mauled it so fiercely that she killed it in a single attack. The team of three resumed their positions as a second snake emerged. The pelican spread her wings wide to catch the snake's attention, and again shielded herself with her wings and skills when it struck. This time, the hare shot arrows at it, two at a time, wounding it so severely that the pelican finished it off with a kick from her webbed foot.

The proctor's whistle blew, and a quick changeover took place. One group ran onto the field to retrieve the snakes, and a fresh team of fighters took the current group's place.

"Come on, we're on standby."

"How can you tell?"

Saria pointed at numbered boards hanging on the wall, near the proctor. Numbers seven and five were showing. Seven was the fresh team taking their turn in the arena, and Taylor and Saria were five. She led him to a section of wall that had a stairway down to ground level, where they waited. Team seven fought a stream of giant ants, each one about three feet long and equipped with mandibles strong enough to bend steel. After killing about twenty of them, the flow paused, and a new changeout was called.

Team five was up. Taylor's pulse raced; anticipation was always worse than the event itself, and he didn't know how long they would have to wait. Saria put one hand on his shoulder. "Depending on what comes out, you should handle this one yourself. Let them see what you can do."

"Are you suggesting I do something flashy?"

"Mmmm, I'm suggesting you do it your way. Just remember," she pointed at the opposite wall, where a section was painted white. Nobody was stationed on that section. "That's your backstop. Don't use any attacks that'll hit the wall or audience, unless it's aimed at the white area. That's your lane."

"Safety first. No collateral damage. Got it."

They had to wait almost half an hour for a monster to show up, and then it was a pack of horned rabbits. They were larger than the usual pests, over three and a half feet long and very fat, like they had found a substantial food supply and been living on it for months. Taylor used Pierce to kill them cleanly as soon as they appeared, and Invisible Hand to sweep the corpses out of the way to clear his line of fire. He didn't need to move or speak to do these things, and his force magic was so efficient it was nearly invisible. When the changeover whistle blew, he counted sixteen rabbits being carried away by the recovery team, more than enough to feed everyone present.

Saria pulled him along the top of the wall after their turn, introducing him to people she knew. She was older than most of the plant and animal spirits, and seemed to remember everyone she had ever met. There were nine teams present, and she knew nearly everyone.

"This is Taylor," she would tell them, "a talented newcomer. I'm showing him around." He met amphibians, formless wisps, a team of six slimes who could take gelatinous humanoid forms, various plants, and several kinds of animals. The strangest might have been a creature calling itself The Orangeatang, an orange primate with freakishly long arms who fought alone. He slammed his fists down on enemies and pounded them into jelly, yet he spoke in a cultured voice and was very courteous to everyone.

On team five's next turn, Saria showcased some impressive ice magic, spearing a fearsome elk with massive icicles dropped from the sky. Starting from their third turn, Taylor held or levitated enemies in place while Saria practiced her new Enchantress skill on them. Her only combat spell was focused on distracting enemies with illusions. She had enough mana to throw her one skill at the same target repeatedly until it took effect, and then she let Taylor finish off the unlucky monster.

With the leisurely pace and constant meet-and-greet, Taylor didn't fully appreciate what the stakes were until near the end of their shift. By then, the arena was magically lit under a pitch black sky. During a changeover, a recovery team grabbed the boundary stakes and moved them outward by several feet. It was only then that he realized the space marked out by the stakes had grown smaller. Indeed, segments of the defensive wall were buckling as they intruded on each other. That was why the proctor didn't want anyone crossing the boundary stakes: they would get sucked into Aarden, eaten by monsters, and die for real.

"We're losing ground. Does that mean there's a vent nearby?"

Saria nodded. "There might be a dungeon, too."

"And there are more of these places, all over Twilight?"

"I don't know the current number – it's always changing. Eventually, the dungeon will take enough of Twilight for the gate to close permanently, and it won't be a problem. They expect this one to close in four days."

Taylor wanted to talk about the possibility of saving this section of Twilight, but not while other people could be listening. If there was a vent near the Aarden side of the gate, he could probably find it and close it. But it might not be so easy with so many monsters in the area. He would have to wait until he could talk privately with Saria before making any plans. Until then, he focused on watching the spirits and monsters fight, and making his turns look as effortless as possible.

When their shift was over, the teams walked back to camp in loose groups. Somehow, Taylor lost track of Saria and found himself walking next to a stranger.

"Remember me? I'm Tanya." The bear spirit with blue and white tiger stripes was talking to him, unprompted. "You were very cool out there today! And your human form is excellent! What kind of spirit are you again?"

"Thanks, Tanya. It's my first time at one of these. I was actually a little nervous."

"Yeah, I get that. Everyone watching. By the way, what kind of spirit are you?"

"I noticed you use a lot of flanking attacks. You're pretty good at finding those vital spots."

"If I get a summoner, I'm going Rogue. Brutal Rogue." She cracked her bear knuckles menacingly. Her white cloak had to be self-cleaning because it was pristine.

"I noticed your … pelican spirit, I guess … is a good tank. Bastion, right?"

"Premi's great! Her summoner was a dud, though. Got herself into a situation she shouldn't have, and," she smashed her paws together like she was crushing a bug. "And Jalil is awesome with a bow, but you saw that for yourself."

"If he gets a class, he'll be terrifying," agreed Taylor. "I wouldn't want to be in his sights."

"We call ourselves," she paused dramatically, "the Army of Lightness. Good, right? So, about the kind of spirit you are … "

Premi, the pelican, had her head mostly turned to one side while she walked with a waddling gait. She was keeping one eye on their conversation, while her other eye watched the road ahead.

Taylor grinned, but Tanya couldn't see it. "I'm flattered by your interest, but I'm not telling. And for the record, your conversational sneak attack isn't nearly as good as your melee one."

"This isn't over, short stuff," the bear spirit said good-naturedly. "I'll get the truth." She sped up to rejoin her army of three.

"Look at you, making friends." Saria returned, looking smug.

"She's curious. I don't mind, but it's not the same thing."

Third shift picked up more boxed meals from the mess tent and gathered at long tables to wolf down their dinners. Taylor hid himself with Riverstone so he could eat without navigating rice-laden chopsticks around his mask. The combination of strange utensils, foreign food, and habitual caution was too much to manage all at once. Spirits kept coming around to chat, and Saria carried on a few conversations at a time, which Taylor pointedly stayed out of.

He didn't mind being around so many people, not really, but it tired him out. Taylor found the spot where they were supposed to pitch the tents they didn't have, and looked around him. Not everyone had set up tents. A few had erected log cabins, miniature manors, or elegant rectangular houses with sliding doors covered in translucent paper. Taking others' example as permission, he raised a small house by drawing up bedrock from beneath the prairie. For no particular reason, he went with round: round house, round windows, round door, and a domed roof still covered in native turf. Inside, he made a small round fireplace with a chimney. It needed glass for the windows and a proper door, but it was nice for a few minutes of work.

He smoothed and hardened the floor, then polished the circular wall until it glowed with a satin finish. The grayish stone turned shades of blue and aqua, with streaks of yellow and white. Even after all that work, Taylor decided to read for a while. He was too worked up from the fighting to sleep.

"Nice," remarked Saria. "Needs windows."

"Windows need sand," he replied, and lamented his lost satchel, which was ordinarily well-supplied with pure sand.

Saria tossed a borrowed bedroll at him. "Sleep. You know better than to stay up late when you have a shift tomorrow. Or did the legate's sense of responsibility dribble out of your ears?"

"I still have a sense of responsibility. It's just packed away somewhere."

The next morning, Taylor cleaned his workshop clothes with magic and wore them for a fourth day in a row. Fashion aside, he had no armor and no decent weaponry, which was a problem if he wanted to galavant around the Spirit Realm and fight monsters. He was pondering solutions on his way to the mess tent with Saria, but they were interrupted by a capybara in chainmail and a steel cap. The spirit told them the proctors wanted them. Taylor shrugged at Saria, who shrugged back, and they changed course.

The command tent had three proctors in it. Genova the vine spirit, the elder elf from third shift, and Ramitha, who looked like an elegant arc with small horns on her head, and wore a dress made from broad leaves.

Genova didn't bother to greet them. "You two did very well yesterday. According to Balhadra," he indicated the elf, "you handled your shift with ease. We expect as much from Saria; she is known to us. But you, Taylor, are a surprise. There is a strange rumor going around that you might not be a spirit, but something else entirely."

"What a strange rumor. I wonder how that got started?" Saria wasn't even pretending to be concerned. She probably expected them to get caught.

The vine spirit sang. "The rumor began among your shift. Perhaps because, among nine classed spirits, six were offered quests to become his summons."

Taylor's thoughts turned to the Old Folks, and he wondered if they were interfering again. It was precisely the kind of trick they would pull.

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