“You’re what?!” exclaimed the crab.

“Uh… Leaving?” said the archer.

Balthazar stared at the startled Rye with eyestalks curved into a frown.

“Leaving where? Why?” the merchant asked, flailing his arms around. “Did you get in trouble with the guards and need to skip town for a while? I’m sure I could find some hole around here for you to hide.” He paused and stretched his eyestalks closer to the young man, glaring intensely. “Or did Madeleine kick you out because you broke her heart somehow? If you did, I got a different kind of hole to put you in.”

“Woah, easy there, crab-father,” the adventurer said, palms raised near his chest in a placating gesture, and a nervous smile tugging at his lips. “Nothing of the sort. This has nothing to do with Madeleine.”

“What then?” Balthazar said, pulling away from the young man slowly and lowering his intimidating pinchers. “Why are you leaving?”

“Because I need to find the adventurer that the drag—that Beatrix told us about, Ren.”

The crab cocked an eyestalk at the archer.

“What?! The guy that could defeat a level 75 red dragon, and who is after my hardened backside? That adventurer? Why on Heartha would you want to go after him?!”

“Didn’t you put it together yet, Balthazar?” Rye asked. “I went back to the guild after Beatrix told us about him, to see if I could find anything about an adventurer named Warren. There was nothing. No registered adventurer under that name.”

The unimpressed crustacean gave him a shrug. “So? What about it?”

Rye shook his head.

“You don’t get it. You know how rare it is to find an adventurer who isn’t or at least wasn’t registered with the guild at some point? Even worse, how unlikely it is for anyone to make it so far up as this guy seems to have, without a guild?”

Balthazar looked up in thought. “Alright, I see your point. Maybe he gave a fake name?”

Once again, the archer shook his head.

“I don’t think so. After talking with the guild’s staff, I started asking around among other traveling adventurers. A few had heard his name out there. Some rumors, others tales they swore to have witnessed themselves. This guy is apparently out there, soloing everything and everyone, gaining up levels like no one has ever seen before, and nothing seems to slow him down. He is strong, smart, resourceful, and makes no mistakes.”

The crab let out a chuckle that was part dismissive, part nervous.

“Doesn’t really sound like a real adventurer, then.”

The human smacked a closed fist against his open palm, startling the merchant and making him jump in place.

“Exactly! He is not like any other adventurer. And I think that’s because he isn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Balthazar asked, his interest growing.

“Remember how he’s apparently after you because he believes you ‘took his life away’ or something?”

“Yes, which is complete nonsense, since I did nothing of the sort. I don’t even know the guy!”

Rye nodded and started pacing from side to side, gaze staring emptily at the floor as he continued theorizing.

“Sure, but maybe that’s just the explanation he believes in. The point is, this guy seems aware of a life he has lost. A previous life.”

“Ooooh,” the crab let out as the pieces clicked together in his brain. “The mind fog.”

“Yes!” exclaimed the archer, still pacing. “This guy seems unaffected by it. He remembers he had a life before being reincarnated here. Just like I do. Except I suspect he didn’t need to drink some tea to remember. He just never forgot to begin with. It would explain why he’s so out of the ordinary.”

Balthazar crossed his pincers and began nodding too.

“Alright, but that still doesn’t explain what the hell any of that has to do with me and why he thinks I’m his nemesis or whatever.”

“I’m not entirely sure about that part yet either,” the pacing young man said. “But all the stories and sightings I’ve heard from others about this Ren seem to have only started shortly after your visit to Star Beach—the spot where every new adventurer first appears.”

“Oh. Ooooh…” the crab said, his gaze going distant as his eyes went wide remembering the strange notification he had seen when at Star Beach all those months ago. The system’s warning about an undesirable soul’s arrival, and how he, on a whim, had overridden its attempt at rejecting it.

Well… crap. That’s what I get for pinching random buttons.

“But hang on,” Balthazar said, snapping out of his inner thoughts. “Considering all that, why would you want to go after this guy? He seems dangerous!”

Rye finally stopped pacing and turned to face the merchant, his expression carved in resolve.

“I know he probably is,” the adventurer said in a grave but calm tone. “And that’s exactly why I have to find him. He is a loose cannon who could put everything and everyone in danger, and more importantly, those I care the most about. This Ren guy already showed up here, at your pond, starting a fight in his search for you. He nearly killed Beatrix. How long until his search places his supposed nemesis’s baker on his sights? I must find him before that happens.”

Balthazar’s expression turned hard too—even harder than a chitin face already was.

“I see your point now,” he said quietly. “But what do you hope to do if you find him?”

The archer relaxed his shoulders and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I’m not so delusional that I’d try to fight him,” he said. “But… I hope I can at least try to talk to him. I might be one of very few people out here who can relate to what he’s gone through. Nobody else remembers they used to have a life somewhere else, in another world, one they cannot even fully remember now. We do. I know how… maddening it can feel. I want to reach out, hopefully make him understand he’s not alone.”

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“And that it’s not my fault that happened to him!” Balthazar added enthusiastically.

“Yes, that too,” Rye said with another chuckle.

A cold silence settled between the two as neither crab nor adventurer said anything.

“So, I guess it’s goodbye again, eh?” the merchant finally said.

“For now,” said the archer. “I promise I will be back.”

“How did Madeleine receive the news?” Balthazar asked.

The young man sighed.

“She wasn’t too happy about my plan. She actually said a lot of the same things you did. In the same tone too. She just looked way cuter doing it, of course.”

“Hey, don’t push it, bow boy!” the crab said in a mildly threatening way that didn’t fool anyone.

Rye chuckled again. “Ah, but eventually she understood and accepted it. At the end of the day, she knows who and what I am. I wasn’t made to stay in one place for too long anyway. I belong out there, exploring and adventuring. That’s when she said I’d have to start taking her with me.”

Balthazar’s slight smile vanished in a flash and his eyestalks jumped in a panic.

“But you said no, right?!”

This time, Rye fully broke into laughter.

“Yes, don’t worry,” the young man said after a moment while wiping the corner of his eye. “I told her it was too dangerous, and that she already had responsibilities here, so she couldn’t come along.” He paused while the crab breathed a sigh of relief. “This time.”

Balthazar’s eyestalks jumped again with a start. “What do you mean, this time?!”

After a few more minutes of friendly banter and discussion about Rye’s plan to follow Ren’s trail somewhere up north, where higher-level adventurers usually went after outgrowing the more peaceful southern lands, the crab turned to go inside the bazaar.

“Well, if you’re set on leaving now,” Balthazar said, “the least I should do is get you an extra stack of blunt-tip arrows in case you encounter skeletons again, and some Potions of Hydration in case you get thirsty and need some real refreshment.”

“Oh, wow,” said the archer, following the crab inside. “The famous merchant crab, giving me free stuff? I feel spoiled!”

Balthazar glared back with a twist of his eyestalks as he stepped inside the bazaar.

“Who said anything about free? You get a slight discount and that’s all, kid.”

***

A majestic azure creature stood on a red cushion outside the entrance to Semla Dungeon. Her name was Blue, and she was the proud guardian of that tunnel.

None would get past her piercing golden gaze.

Anyone who dared would meet her sharp talons and powerful fangs before being engulfed in a shower of blue fire for their transgression.

In reality, the drake had little idea why she needed to guard that tunnel, but the simple possibility of someone getting past her without being noticed was an affront to her pride. So she watched. Not for the crab, of course. For herself and her pride.

If it happened to help the talking crustacean in some way, that was just a nice coincidence. For him. The proud drake obviously cared not for aiding him or anyone else.

Blue sighed and rested her head on her pillow.

Perhaps the goblin. Yes, she didn’t mind helping him. Because he needed it, being so small and weak as he was.

And she supposed helping the rock giant wasn’t out of the question either. He wasn’t small or weak, but he had always been kind and respectful to her, aided her in battle too, so it was the honorable thing to do, to return the favor.

There was also the gentle girl from town, the one who carried nice smells in her basket. The drake would undoubtedly always help her.

The winged creature let out a quiet groan.

And by extension, she figured she would help the bowman she was so fond of. Only because it mattered so much to the girl.

In fact, if something or someone was to threaten her territory, she would definitely have to defend the toad and the whimsical old man who was with her most of the time. But only because they were technically under her protection by being servants on her land. No other reason at all.

Raising her head again, Blue frowned. She was realizing her list of those she cared about was actually becoming quite long.

She stared off into the distance, pondering.

The draconic being expected to feel annoyed by that fact. She expected her pride to demand that she cared only for herself. But instead, she found herself feeling proud of having so many people around her, under her guardianship.

What a strange feeling that was.

And this brought along another new feeling—worry.

She felt concern for what might happen to them, fragile lesser beings as they were.

The drake stared at the dark tunnel leading into the dungeon. It was in there that she had learned a difficult lesson. Mighty as she was, when they all faced the corrupted abomination of bones, it took all of them working together as a team to defeat it. The sum of their parts had been greater than their individual powers. Even hers.

It was a humbling experience—which the drake had hated.

But it had opened her eyes to many new things. Everyone around her was improving. Even the little goblin, with his magical stick, was proving far more powerful than something so small had any right to be. The golem had returned to life even stronger than before. The bowman was more skilled with each fight. Even the crab had proven himself useful in combat now.

But what about her?

Blue felt her pride hurting. She had always been so sure of her might, and now she felt as if she was falling behind. She wanted to do more. To be capable of more. To help more.

Strange feeling, that one. But somehow it felt good in her heart. Like an ardent fire that urged her to reach higher.

The azure creature turned her golden eyes up, to the distant peak of the volcano above.

Higher.

Blue had seen the dragon fly there after visiting the crab. The drake knew she was residing up there now. Far up, where the air was thin and it was harder to fly.

Despite her pride, even Blue could not deny how impressive Beatrix’s might was. She was enormous, powerful, wise, and even her flames were a sight to behold—even though their boring red color couldn’t match the beauty of Blue’s azure fire.

Could that ancient dragon help her? Could Beatrix teach her how to become more powerful, like she was?

But most importantly, could the drake’s pride accept being humbled before the red dragon?

Blue’s nostrils flared and she stood up, eyes fixed on the mountain peak.

She needed to grow stronger. Not for her pride or for her ego, but for those around her. For those under her protection. For her friends. Her family.

The drake spread her light blue wings open and launched herself up, leaving the cozy cushion behind.

With sights set on the distant peak above, Blue soared, the cold winter wind biting at her warm scales. She hated how cold it felt up there, closer to where the snow formed, but she knew she could push past it. She needed to. How could she ever hope to grow stronger if she couldn’t even get through that?

The crab’s ward flapped her wings harder, feeling the air grow thinner as it entered her nostrils and burned her insides like frostbite.

Head felt lighter and body heavier, but Blue refused to give up. Images of the same black sludge that corrupted the bone colossus enveloping her friends swirled in her mind as she closed her eyes and soared. As the flames inside her wanted to go out and let her body fall back down from lack of oxygen, a vision of the crab who hatched her being engulfed by the vile corrupting ooze made the drake burst through the clouds with a feral shriek.

She opened her eyes and saw the sun on the horizon above the clouds. She was there, and she could see the entrance formed on the side of the mountain, into a cave.

The drake dove and landed on the edge of the sheer cliff. Slowly, she entered the dark, foreboding lair of the red dragon.

A pair of huge copper eyes appeared glowing from the darkness, and soon after a head as big as Blue’s entire body emerged from the shadows.

After staring at the elder creature for a moment, the drake gathered all she had into doing something even harder than flying that high up—she bowed her head.

“I was wondering when you would come,” Beatrix LaFlamme said in a low voice that made the very walls around them rumble. “Let us begin, young one.”