The first rays of the Valorian sun crested the distant rooftops, painting the underside of the morning clouds in soft shades of orange and rose. On a wide, flat roof in the merchant district, a new day was beginning for the kingdom's most wanted fugitives. Finn was already awake, sitting cross-legged near the edge, his eyes closed in a state of calm meditation that was completely at odds with the chaotic events of the past twenty-four hours. A few feet away, Kaelen was going through a series of slow, powerful stretches, the muscles in his back and shoulders bunching like coiled ropes. Noel, ever the meticulous engineer, was carefully cleaning and oiling a small, intricate metal device, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"She's still out cold," Kaelen rumbled, nodding towards the snoring lump under the magical stone blanket. "Thought the sun would've woken her by now."
"Let her rest," Finn said without opening his eyes. "She burned through a lot of mana yesterday. Besides," he added, a faint smile on his lips, "it's quiet."
"For now," Noel muttered, not looking up from his work.
As if on cue, the lump on the ground stirred. Riko woke to the sound of stifled laughter. She sat up, the deep exhaustion from the previous day's events finally burning off her like morning mist. The rest of the party was already awake, huddled together a few feet away, all of them staring at a spot beside her and tryingâand spectacularly failingâto hold back their grins. Riko looked over.
Lyra was snoring, a sound so loud and guttural it sounded like a bear gargling rocks. Her fiery red hair, a chaotic masterpiece of tangles, leaves, and what looked suspiciously like a bird's feather, was splayed out around her head like a tragic halo. To complete the picture, a small string of drool connected her cheek to the rough, magical stone pillow she had conjured the night before. Riko couldn't help it; a quiet, genuine chuckle escaped her lips. She crawled over and gently shook her friend's shoulder.
Lyra shot up with a loud, dramatic yawn and a full-body stretch that seemed to pop every joint in her body. She blinked at the four staring faces of her new party members, all of them on the verge of bursting into laughter. "What?" she demanded, her voice still thick with sleep. "A girl can't get a good night's rest around here?"
Kaelen finally broke, letting out a loud, hearty laugh. "You sleep like a hibernating grag-worm, Lyra. I think I heard you snoring from the other side of the city."
Riko cleared her throat, her expression turning serious once more as she smoothly took command of the morning. "We can't sleep on rooftops forever," she said, her voice cutting through the banter. "We're exposed here. We need a proper base of operations, a place we can call our own. A small, defensible cabin outside the city walls costs about one Aurean. That's our first goal as a party."
The mood shifted from playful to purposeful. This was it. Their first mission together.
Lyraâs sleepy demeanor vanished in an instant. The word "goal" seemed to flip a switch in her brain. She shot to her feet, conjuring a quick, warm gust of wind to blow the sleep from her face and arrange her hair into a slightly less disastrous state. "WOOO! QUEST TIME!" she shouted, jumping into the air with a fist pump.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Noel's eyes lit up with a different kind of excitement. "A custom-built cabin? We'll need a dedicated workshop, of course. Proper ventilation for my forge-work. And good lighting. And preferably not made of wood, for... safety reasons."
"Just need a roof that won't leak and a bed that won't break when I sit on it," Kaelen added, ever the pragmatist.
Finn smiled, his calm morning brightness a perfect match for the party's new energy. He pulled out a worn map of the region. "I remember seeing an Archon-Rank quest on the guild board before... well, before everything. It's deep in the Whisperwood, but the payout is two Aurean. It should give us more than enough for the cabin and to re-supply."
An Archon-Rank quest. A mission that would normally require a full party of seasoned S-Class Titans. A month ago, the idea would have been insane. Now, looking at the quiet, deadly woman in the white cloak, it felt⦠possible.
Riko thought for a moment, her head tilted. She gave a firm nod. "That will do. What's the target?"
Finn rubbed the back of his neck, his confident smile becoming a nervous wince. "Well⦠that's the tricky part. It's a matriarch-class monster. A territorial beast that's been terrorizing the northern trade routes for the last year. The Guild's posting said its webs are as strong as steel cables and its venom can melt through solid rock. We have to kill a King Spider."
Lyraâs celebratory jumping came to a dead stop. She froze mid-air for a comical second before crashing back to the rooftop with a thud. She turned her head slowly, mechanically, toward Finn, her face draining of all color.
"A-a... k-king... s-spider...?" she stuttered, her voice three octaves higher than usual. "You... you mean one of the big, hairy ones? With all the... the legs? And the beady little eyes that follow you in the dark? No. Nope. Absolutely not."
Her terror was palpable, a stark contrast to the A-Class mage who had been ready to fight a Holy Knight just days before.
"There are other quests!" she said, her voice now a frantic, high-pitched ramble. "Rat-slaying! I love rat-slaying! They're cute and their legs are a normal, non-horrifying number! Or we could go after some goblins! Or a nice, respectable manticore! Anything but the leggy-mc-death-crawlers!"
Riko stepped forward and put a firm hand on Lyra's shoulder. "Don't worry," she said, her voice steady and reassuring. "It'll be a piece of cake."
Lyra looked up at Riko, her eyes wide with a genuine, pleading fear, a single tear forming in the corner. "Please don't make me go..." she whispered, her voice a pathetic whimper. "I'll do anything. I'll clean! I'll cook! I'll let Noel be the best-looking for a whole week! Just don't make me go in a cave with⦠with it."
Riko looked back at her for a long moment, her expression unreadable. She let out a long, slow sigh, a sound of fond exasperation. She turned to the party's resident brute. "Kaelen."
Kaelen, who had been watching the scene with immense amusement, understood instantly. He grinned and cracked his massive knuckles.
Before Lyra could react or even process the betrayal, Riko effortlessly lifted her off the ground and tossed her over Kaelen's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"It's settled," Riko declared, her voice ringing with the finality of a judge's gavel, completely ignoring Lyra's muffled screams and the frantic, drumming kicks against Kaelen's armored back. "We're going spider hunting!"
The rest of the party cheered, their laughter mixing with Lyra's cries of arachnophobic despair as Kaelen held her fast. A new day, and a new, chaotic adventure, had officially begun.