CHAPTER 39: 39: CABIN

Mike stood looking into the flames, lost in thought. The smell of his stew pulled him back to reality. He pulled the stew from its hook on the hearth and brought it to the counter to fill some bowls for him and his friends.

When he got into the room, Chad was sitting up, his back against the wall. Drake was doing the same on his own bed.

"I’m surprised your two aren’t already asleep," Mike stated. He handed each of his friends a bowl and spoon before sitting down himself.

"We must be doing something wrong. My gut says that this quest shouldn’t be like this. You said it was an ascension quest. I think the quest is for all three of us, not just you. We have been working together, getting stronger, but we’re still having trouble. You two almost died."

"Twice," Drake breathed. He was exhausted, but he needed food. The only thing they had to eat that day was breakfast before they left. "What we need to do is figure out how to get stronger, faster, without nearly dying. Yet I also think we need to complete the quest as fast as possible. I know you’re right. It’s not supposed to be like this."

"I have an idea, but you may not like it," Chad started. Mike and Drake turned to Chad, waiting to hear his idea. "What if you used your magic vision to see the danger so we can avoid it as we go?"

Drake thought about it for a second. "I could do that. I can at least help avoid some of it, but not all. The problem is that we need to get stronger. We have to fight beasts and bandits to do that. What if, when we get to the cave and we need to battle something or someone to take possession of the staff?"

Mike took a bite of his stew and nodded. He knew they needed to come up with a plan.

"Hey, during that last battle with the level 3 beast. Three of my skills went up a level. My fireball, whirlwind, and explosive whirlwind went to level 2. If I’m right, the more I use a skill, the higher the level. Another thing. Each time one of you kills something, it always tells me that my cohort grows stronger. Perhaps, I should use my skills on the beasts to level them up and let the two of you do all the killing?" Then he thought about it. "Do you feel stronger when I kill something or just when you two do it?"

Chad and Mike spoke at once. "I haven’t paid attention." "Me either."

Drake sighed. "We’re going to have to test that. Did either of you see anything that the beast dropped? It’s supposed to be a dimension map."

Chad shook his head. "I didn’t see anything. I saw you needed help, so I went straight to you."

"Same," Mike confessed.

Drake spoke to his system, trying to see if perhaps it was part of the system.

"System, show me the Dimension Map."

Nothing happened.

"System, show me the location of the system map."

A green thread appeared, leading him out of the cabin.

"Shit, I have to go get the map. We need it." Drake cursed.

"We’re coming with you. Use your vision to avoid dangers. We’ve had enough of that for the day." Mike stated.

They quickly left the cabin and ran back to the road, following the green thread, leading to the map. Drake kept his magical vision open, hoping not to see danger. When they reached the road. The map was lying next to a tree on the side of the road. They had to cross the road to get it.

Drake quickly grabbed the map, then scanned the area once more. A beast was heading their way, but it was far enough away that they could run back to the cabin before it reached them. They had to hurry, though, or they would have to fight it.

"Beast, we need to run," Drake told his friend. He pointed in the direction it was coming from. It was fortunate that it was on the opposite side of the road that they needed to go.

The three teens ran as fast as they were able. Drake was happy that he didn’t feel any pain from his previous injury. The token had completely healed him. It was as if it never happened.

As soon as they arrived at the cabin, Drake flung the door open, letting his friends in, before slamming it shut and setting the lock. Drake used his vision to see where the beast was. It was close by, still heading toward them.

"I guess we’re going to find out just how safe this cabin is," Drake noted aloud. He kept his glowing eyes on the beast. It was nearly to the porch. "It has yellow eyes. It’s a level 1."

Drake, using his magical vision, looked in all directions surrounding the cabin. There was no sign of any other threats. "Unless you want to go out and fight it, I won’t stop you. I think we should leave it alone and fight it in the morning if it’s still here."

Chad looked over at Mike. "I’m too exhausted to fight it. Drake nearly died. I don’t think it’s wise for you to fight it when you have non-reliable backup."

Mike smiled. "You both are right. Besides, we need to see how secure this cabin really is. If it’s still here in the morning, we’ll fight it."

With the three in agreement, Chad hung the bells on the front door and headed back to the bedroom. He was still hungry, and he had a bowl of stew waiting for him. Drake and Mike followed close behind him. They were hungry, too.

Drake sat on his bed. He had his stew in his hand. In front of him was the dimension map was open, spread out on the bed.

"We’re here," Drake pointed at the three dots on the map. One dot was green, while the other two were glowing white. The tree dots showed that they were in the same spot.

There was also a yellow dot with them. "I’m guessing the yellow dot is the beast outside?" Mike asked.

Drake nodded, then slid his finger along the dirt road that they had been traveling on. "That looks like the halfway point. The map refers to it as the broken bridge. I have to assume that it’s literally a broken bridge." He pointed to a clearing right before it. "We should aim for the bridge. If we can get past it, then we can keep going. If we can’t, then we can stay in this clearing."

The boys studied the map. Draco Town was near a clearing. In the clearing was a green shimmering oval. "I think that’s where we entered the dimension," Chad put in, pointing to the shimmering oval. There are two towns. One of them is Chadwick, and the other is Storm Town. Do you think we should stay in one of the towns?"

Drake shook his head. "We put Draco Town in danger. I don’t want to put anyone else in danger by just being there. If we have to go, then we will. Otherwise, we stick to clearings." Sighing, Drake continued. "Unlike Draco Town, the other two are pretty far from the road. There are more towns, but they’re going the opposite direction from Draco."

Mike suddenly grinned. "See all the dots...We can see where all the beasts in the area are located. We can avoid the higher level until we’re strong enough to defeat them."

"It looks like level four beasts are blue, and the level five is purple. I wonder if that’s the color their eyes glow?" Chad pondered, staring at the clusters of different colored dots. All the towns had clusters of glowing white dots, except for the gargoyle’s lair, which had a cluster of grey dots.

Looking between his friends, Drake rolled up the map and stored it inside his cuff. "So, we all agree?" he asked. "We try to get to the broken bridge?"

"We stay in the clearing just before the broken bridge if we can’t cross it and get to the next clearing," Mike confirmed.

Chad just nodded, standing up and collecting the bowls, then disappeared from the room.

"We’re in level 2 territory. I’m surprised there’s a level one beast here. We can deal with it when we wake up if it’s still there. Level 2 beasts are still hard, but we need to fight them. Anything higher, we need to be extra careful or avoid them altogether," Drake said, unconsciously rubbing his abdomen where the last one had gutted him.

"Agreed," Mike nodded.

Chad was walking into the room; all he did was nod to show he agreed.

The trio slept well. None of the shutters had been tampered with. The bells remained silent throughout the night. On the front port lay the level 1 wolf beast, sleeping peacefully as if he were there to guard the boys inside.