AMBROSIAAs tempting as it was to just let Aqorm earn money, that was her spending money that she earned, not ours to share. We weren''t about to use her for travel expenses, so we left that for her recreation time. Having spent a good deal of our money on things like building town inside our Party Tent, we only had a small amount left in the bank, and then the banks of the world basically halted business to only those who would accept the RFID Mark system. We refused, and we weren''t the only ones either. Alot of people hated it too, such as Taoists, Christians, and Wiccans. It was like Obamacare, it was a system forced down people''s throats rather than giving them an option. I was grandfathered in, so I simply told them to close the account, but after the penalties of early withdrawal, we wouldn''t have much. We had about 10 thousand Gold left, but let''s face it, Gold is heavy so I kept it there. Instead, the group got the bank to split it between us, each having personal accounts since the whole big collective banking led to all this Mark garbage. Since I didn''t remove it, I had maybe 580 Gold on hand, and this would cover maybe two nice dinners for all of us. I really really needed to go shopping. I mean, I''m a beggar, and even I feel like I''m started to stink from this journey. I need a bath in the worst way.

    It was a relief then, to know that Phoenix''s bounty hunting board was still active. Since most of us adventurers had no marketable skills (well, Elias could work at the library, Aqorm could play music, and Lilith was a chef, but otherwise), this was probably our best option. Just sign yourself as a hunter, and hunt creatures or people. You didn''t even need to pay for licensing!

    Bounty hunting sprang out of the founding of the Council. The Council tried to have a privatized guard, and in some cases that is still a thing (*cough* Opening) but they quickly realized that even a subcontracted police force could quickly get out of hand. Police are paid regularly, are always on duty, and this creates the potential for control freaks. On the other hand, generations before had tried to defund the police, and quickly realized that this was a colossal mistake about the time they started to get robbed or murdered in their own homes, and had nobody to call. Bounty hunters were a happy medium, paid only when there is a bounty on someone, and leaving regular people be.

    We saw some familiar faces. Sera and Phim grabbed about fifteen sheets of paper off the bulletin board, and almost bumped into us turning around. “It''s you!” screamed Phim. “Those''re the... you were wanted yourself,” Sera said, pointing to Nevras, “so how dare you try to collect bounty?!?” Nevras looked confused, “What do you mean, wanted?” He showed us a bounty with a very regal version of Nevras, ?Wanted: Prince Nevras Fitzembor. Crime: Minor Fraud Shopkeeper, Breach of Contract. Reward: 10 Gold Terms: Wanted Alive, or Bring a Certain Photo.? There was a stamp of it that said Canceled. Elias looked over this with confusion, “When did you do all of this? And what does it mean bring a certain photo?”

    Anyway, it was a moot point, since we''d already met with the guy earlier, and given that pervert everything he wanted, including the photo. Nevras blushed, then kinda changed the subject, “Wait, you agreed to take that job for so little?” Sera and Phim explained the finer points of bounty hunting, finishing each other''s sentences, “It''s like this, there''s many many contracts for a bounty hunter. Sometimes you get hired as a guard, other times a hit-man, or a creature hunter. And sometimes you get given a job to bring a scoundrel to justice. We do like to fancy ourselves lawmen.” I shook my head, “Liar, lemme see those.” I tried to sneak a peek but he wouldn’t show them.

    I yanked a bunch of those posters out of Sera''s hand, just as Phim looked at the picture of Nevras, giggled, then attached it, and stamped the wanted poster as completed. Wanted posters had come a long way since runes were created. Today''s posters had the ability to send the object in question back, provided it was a single part like hair, horns, or claws. It would be sent to the bounty office, a privately-funded business that was set up by the Council to deal with law. The bounty office would perform a Quantum Entanglement spell to see it the rest was as dead (or alive) as the bounty called for. Some bounties could slough off organs or play dead, so yea it mattered. If the hunt was successful, they''d contact the client, who would then send back the reward and the bounty office''s cut. Of course, the bounty hunter never knew what the cut was. The creature''s body would then disappear into thin air, and a stack of money or items would appear in its place. If the bounty hunter failed, the notice would return itself to the board and the bounty hunter would be informed that it hadn''t been completed.

    I looked at his bounties. ?Wanted: Cloaked Weirdo. Crime: Serious Fashion Taboo. Reward: 750 Gold and Magic Robe. Terms: Death or a Makeover? said one. ?Wanted: Zelda Enemy Knockoff. Crime: For Violating Copyright of that octopus thingy. Reward: 1800 Gold Terms: Dead or Alive? said a another. One elemental had made a mess of someone''s carpet. Another was a priest who they couldn''t fire, that they wanted dead. Then there was Isis, after whom the Isis Temple was named, who had been prayed to in order to bring back someone''s son, and hadn''t done it. He was right, most of the ones that he grabbed were people or creatures which were guilty of heinous crimes. Or they were so valuable that the hunt was worth it. But wait...

    “But why Nevras?” I asked. He asked, “He brought shame to all women through his fraud. He made a profit from sex appeal. As a knight, I cannot allow this!” I still didn''t understand why that concerned him, but apparently he was miffed about it so... “Wait, you''re a knight?!?” I asked.

    ELIAS

    Yes, I understand. Those who read memoirs of knights don''t really always get the significance. It is not simply a hero with fancy armor. They are nobility. A knight is a tenant giving military service as a mounted man-at-arms to a feudal landholder.

    But we don''t have a feudal system, so that''s not accurate. Most of ours, either are already nobles raised to knighthood by the king, or they are distinguished members of knighthood through merit. Today''s knights have badges like police of old, which show their family crest and the like. That is impressive.

    NEVRAS

    I''ll be the judge of that. “You''re a knight, you say,” I demanded, “prove it. What state are you from?” He explained, “From Mabinogi Island.” Hmmm. That island was a wreck of a place northeast of Phoenix, and since it didn''t have a proper town, they tended to send people to one of the other towns to train. Mabinogi typically patronized Phoenix, though occasionally some became knights under Ghobli or the nearby islands. They had a few nearby choices, unlike someone from Kirin who could only serve Kushiyama or their own town because of the proximity issues. Becoming a knight was a matter of birthplace politics, but one’s choice often did come into play. “Oh? What town did you become a knight under?” I asked. He showed his badge by way of explanation.

    He covered most of his name and personal info by the way he was holding it, but I could see the patron bird of Phoenix, and I recognized the sign of the Ichikawa family, also famed for their involvement in kabuki drama. That''s funny. I don''t recognize this guy, and I remember sitting in on a lot of the knighthood ceremonies. I didn''t really get a chance to press him on it, though. Phim urged his companion ahead, “C''mon, we got like twenty bounties, and you swore we''d do them all this week. We haven''t time.”

    We browsed the remaining ones, pulling off a bunch of ones that looked easy. I''ll tell you about them later. Over on the corner of the bulletin board was a posting that looked like it had been there for years. It read ?Experienced Hunters Only!Wanted: Cthulhu. Crime: For Being an Elder Formless Intent on Destroying the New Earth. Reward: 75 Million Gold, A House, and one Major Artifact Terms: Sealed Away.? We had to wait on this, because when I tried to grab it for the money reward, runes flashed and a message popped up in the air telling be that until we completed fifteen bounty hunts, we weren''t eligible.

    Our first bounty was the Evil Bunny. The bounty posters pointed us in the general direction of the hunt, so I knew the creature was on the outskirts of Opening and Shoten. However, because it didn''t tell the exact location, we had to kill a great number of rabbits before we found one that was different. And this was definitely different. It had tiny horns, and it was cuter and faster than other rabbits. Arrows were no good, as it turned on a dime, so we tried to chase after it on foot. But that wasn''t any good either. We''d chase it towards the water, and all of a sudden, it made a sharp right turn, and just as we had corrected our path, it made another sharp turn, and managed to run behind our original position. We tried chasing it towards a mountain, and it climbed the rock, and then hopped over us. After chasing it for days, we decided to hunt it strategically. We split into small groups, one group chasing it like normal, and the others fanned out in order to trap it. It worked, partially. That is to say, we did get the beast to stop running. The drawback was, now it decided to attack us. It’s so cute and adorable... Oh My God!

    ELIAS

    Ancient archaeological petroglyphs tell of the Pillar Men, about four or so super-beings that were worshiped as deities by the vampires. They were at least as old as Lilith (the original Lilith), dating back in time to the first humans. They had a number of freakish powers, and could only be destroyed by high level magic.

    One of the things it could do was create artificial lifeforms, so a chipmunk could appear all cute but in fact tear apart other chipmunks and grown soldiers. I was strongly reminded of this ancient legend before I was rendered dead for a half-hour after it torn at my jugular, bit through my lungs, heart, spleen, and other internal organs.

    I know, revival sounds like a quick fix, but it''s significantly more difficult when multiple organs are affected. Those have to be healed, then toxins need to be cleansed, or the body will quickly die again once raised. Resurrection is a different story, but it tends to be either a ritual or a spontaneous miracle.

    So it safe to say that by the time I was actually revived, the battle was over. The rascally rabbit took out half our party. Azrael put up a ward in time to fend it off, and Lilith basically showed it what a real demon was like. Azrael spent most of her energy raising Zoe and me, as we could help raise the others. Some of the easier deaths to treat, we simply used Phoenix Meat, since all of us were exhausted from casting healing and revival. We looked at the bounty, and it said only 150 Gold. What?!? Did they underestimate this thing? Anyway, we turned in its head, and got our reward. The other rabbits we saved for meat, and we sold all of their skins for about 1500 Gold. I put that money in the bank, and headed out on our next bounty.

    AMBROSIA

    Despite Elias''s suspicions, it turned out that we were looking at this wrong. The bounty system was not in fact based on danger or even perceived danger of the mark, but rather how much it impacted the world around it. This is why Cthulhu was so big a mark, because he had the ability to destroy much of the world. To put it in perspective, the Evil Bunny only attacked if cornered or harassed, so its impact was said to be low; on the other hand, the so-called Killer Butterfly did in fact sting like a bee, but was about ten times the bounty because it tended to sleeping-gas attack any tourists to the Great Tree, creating a major nuisance. Aqorm, being a half-elf and thus immune to sleeping effects, simply engaged it in single combat and took it down with a few quick strikes.

    We decided to scratch the idea of doing it strictly by map location, and just figure it out as we go. The next target, then, was the Hooded Bum in Galaxia. I spoke to the bounty offices about this one. I mean, people shouldn''t be going after the homeless! But as she reviewed our case numbers, the desk clerk showed how things were different. Normally, I slept and hung out in the forest or farm areas of town, not along the streets. And while I did no con artistry or theft, this man was an angry drunk nuisance, and rather than finding a quiet shelter out of the way, he had the gall to tent camp right in front of a major shopping area, dumping trash and beer bottles everywhere, making open fires, defecating all over the place, and cursing at people. The lack of formalized legal system meant if people were homeless, they could do many of these things individually as long as they cleaned up after themselves and didn''t create a major nuisance. But once people complained in large numbers, they could be eligible for investigation by the town guard and/or become a bounty. I remembered well, having to dig holes or using public commodes, having to head to the nearest trash can with my junk, cleaning up my sleeping space, and only starting fires at night. But this guy did all of this at once, it sounded like, and was mean to random people who tried to help him, even attacking them. It sounded less like his crime was being homeless, and more like everything that followed.

    I read on. Apparently, the guards tried to explain politely how he needed to at the very least, do something about the use pile of garbage and feces near him. He responded by cursing at them, then throwing feces at them, and attacking. He shouldn''t have been any trouble for the guards, with their strong field of antimagic, but apparently he dealt with the whole lot of them easily. I accepted this quest for the good name of all beggars.

    As always, the weather in Galaxia mocked us. Since it had formed from such a strange intersect of forests, volcanoes, and frozen wastes, the weather had been completely random for centuries. The New Earth got all kinds of freakish weather as well as Earth''s normal weather thanks to the Yin/Yang confluence, from beams of holy light that exorcised demons, to pulses of cosmic light which could demolish buildings, to intense localized darkness, to necromancy auras as weather, to spontaneous meteor showers, to acid rain and smog, to rains of random objects picked up by tornadoes, to something called a diamond storm which involved sharp carbon hail, blood rain (which was actually an algae), and so on. One time, some thick fog appeared in places, and seemed erase everything from view.

    It wasn''t like this was the only place with odd weather though. In Kushiyama''s history, there had been a king who got tired of ordinary weather, so he summoned some green goo using sorcerers. He apologized then, but maybe he didn''t mean it? But nowhere was more random than Galaxia, where freak weather was nearly as common as a wind storm. Houses in town tended to be built sturdy.

    God gives good and evil fortune alike, designed usually to help us grow for the better, but sometimes just because God''s pissed off. According to legend, when Jesus died, for the next forty years, four signs visited the Temple. The menorah suddenly snuffed out every night, the doors of the Temple swung open on their own, the sacrifice no longer turned the cloth white but stayed red, and the lots would always go to the “scapegoat.” And yet, it is a mistake to believe that all misfortune is God''s direct judgement. Galaxia is not filled with horrible people. They simply live in a weird location.

    Today, it was raining some sort of flaky stuff which gathered along the ground. I didn''t know what it was, but it seemed kinda syrupy sweet, white, and smelled vaguely breadlike. In fact, the people in town seemed to know exactly what to do with it, making it into a sweet flatbread that Aqorm called lembas. No matter who I asked, they each had a different answer what it was. Some thought it was lichen, others said wood sap from nearby trees, or a byproduct of aphids. All they could agree on was that it wasn''t shelf-stable, at least without baking. I had no idea what it was, so I didn''t eat it. It was funny, my adopted family lived here, but I never remember seeing this stuff.

    When we came to his tent in Galaxia, it was an eyesore, even worse than described, and you couldn''t even enter the store without coming through his tent, where he would aggressively beg for money. Nearby his tent was basically a landfill. I signaled to Zoe, and she started burning this stuff, and used the ashes to grow plants. The bum said, “My feces! You''ll pay for that, motherfuckers!” He continued, spitting out a long string of expletives, before gulping a quart of alcohol. And then he attacked.

    I quickly understood why he was such a problem for the town guard, like Azrael he had Solid Magic, and could rip right through both magical shields and antimagic. He used mainly earth magic, kicking up dust at us, throwing rocks, making large masses of rocks to push, poke, or bash at us. He wasn''t that strong, but he was skilled enough that our defenses weren''t working. When we fought back, he made a shield solid enough to disperse our attacks.

    This guy was a tough customer, so I told the others to stay back. This was my fight. He cast Stones at me, hoping the spell would fend me off. But I was a beggar, I knew about people chucking stones at me. I instinctively dived to the ground. Next, he tried to make an earthquake under my feet, but I grabbed him with my fishing pole, and hauled myself up before I fell into a pit. I used Michael''s Crest to ward off his attacks and give him back some of the pain he was causing others. And then, he tried to throw spears of rock at me, and I used the power of Apollo to reverse these back at him. Unlike rune-based magic, my Crest always worked, even against some physical attacks like thrown objects. And so, the spears just reversed directions and flew at him. Surprised, he threw up a shield, but I wasn''t having any more of his crap. It was up to him if he wanted to be drunk or bitter, to curse people, and waste his obviously first-class talent. But it stopped being his business when he hurt and annoyed people, and it stopped when he attacked people for asking him politely to clean up small messes. I used my Aiken Crest to open wide his barrier, and he was impaled with extreme prejudice by four large spikes. I pulled out one of his teeth, and the bounty was collected, leaving a pile of coins. It wasn''t right to take this money. Instead, I paid it out to the shopkeeper, the people who had handed out their money to this guy, and everyone who had suffered from his refusing to take responsibility over the hurt he''d caused. There was even some left over to cover the burial of the guards he''d slain.

    Since we were near several bounties, I next turned toward Gruumi. Apparently, the Boy With Stick was nearby. He was a runaway, and his parents wanted him dead or alive. But the price was much more for being alive, so they weren''t total deadbeats. When we found him, he was carrying what was called a bindlestiff, basically a stick with a bag attached. This would be easy, just whack the kid over the head, and return one hair on his head, and the bounty office would bring him back to his parents. Only, we didn''t account for his superhuman strength. “Get away from me!” he cried, flailing his stick around. As he did, he felled a nearby tree, split the ground nearby, and smashed up a rock nearby. Oh, crap! If that hit us, we''d all be done for. This time, Aqorm saved the day. Binding his arms with vines she had made through geomancy, she grabbed the stick out of his hands. All of us looked concerned that this freakishly strong kid would burst from his restraints, but she shook her head. “What''s wrong?” she asked. Seeing our fear, she laughed, “You didn''t think he was this strong, did you? This is all the stick.” So saying, she gave a light tap to a nearby rock and watched it turn into powder. “Hey, kid,” she said, “I know you think that things are terrible at home, but look at this. This bounty says you''re worth much more alive than dead. This was your parents. As much trouble as you think you''re in, they put up a bounty clearly telling people to rescue you.” The kid cried, then nodded his head. “You good? So, because I don''t know exactly where you live, but we can leave it to the bounty offices. Hold up there, I need... this!” She yanked one of the child''s teeth out. It wasn''t at all ready to come, so he screamed pretty loudly. She placed this on bounty sheet, and the child was teleported away somewhere. Meanwhile, we got about 5000 Gold, and a Diamond Ring. As an item, it had special abilities of making a team of two fight more effectively, but it could only do this when paired with a matching item, the Gold Ring. I snatched it up, before anyone else claimed it, or even noticed it in the pile. I''d save this for later, when I proposed to him.

    It was around four o''clock when one might begin boiling things for dinner, and the slimy yet lithe badgers (lizards?) gyrated and made holes near the grass around the sundial. The shabby-looking birds nearby were all flimsy and miserable, and the lost pigs bellowed and whistled. Some dude warned us to beware of some critter nearby called the Jabberwock, but you know, it was one of our bounties. We headed straight for it. Selqui, with all of our wandering about had gotten much better at walking than before, so she said she was ready to help us fight now.

    The creature looked less like a modern lizard, and more like a dinosaur. We had dinosaurs in parts of the New Earth, but they tended to gather in remote areas where most people were not able to see them, with the highest concentration in the valley south of Hinata. In civilized areas, they had been hunted into extinction long ago, so nobody was sure exactly how they looked. This thing definitely a meat-eater, but had a longer neck than something like a T-Rex. Unlike the classic image of a hydra being something akin to a flat-footed Brontosaur with sharp teeth and multiple heads, this guy walked upright, on feet with a slight arch, had a short tail, and claws almost like a mole''s. Elias explained to me that it closely resembled the Segnosaurus, a theropod, whatever that is.

    The creature lumbered towards us with a slight hunch. The multiple heads with sharp teeth were dangerous, but it also meant that this creature had to constantly balance itself, and had to decide where it was going to go with multiple minds before taking a single step. I guess many heads really aren''t better than one!

    SELQUI

    The scientific community wanted to do two things, to undermine the creationist model in favor of an evolutionist one, and to help explain that dragons developed gradually from dinosaurs. Unlike those above the water, who grew up seeing dinosaurs in museums, our people lived before the time of dragons. We knew that God allowed adaptations, but Darwin''s theory of how evolution worked didn''t pan out. I personally had lived long enough to see aquatic life not evolve at all in terms of time, but adapt very quickly to emergencies. Massive amounts of dinosaurs were probably just plaster casting, fused together bones, or carved from bones that were “found” at a dig site. In fact, there''s a number of reasons dinosaurs simply cannot exist:

    I. Dinosaur discoveries having occurred only two centuries from when evolutionary theory was proposed and in huge quantities going against the laws of probability,

    II. Dinosaur discoverers typically are only those with a vested interest in proving such, and not archaeologists who discover such by accident,

    III. The nature of public display preparation, calling into question the source of fossils, and allowing for the possibility of tampering on a systematic basis,

    IV. Existing exhibits showing off-balance postures that basic physics would claim impossible. For example, many dinosaurs have bodies which are entirely too heavy in front (this one is a good example with its multiple heads), Sёarch* The Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    V. Very low odds of all these dinosaur bones being fossilized but relatively few bones of other animals,

    VI. Implications to the theory of evolution and the belief that man was created in God''s image, suggesting possible hidden political agendas, and

    VII. The withdrawal of funding for organizations and people questioning or being skeptical of public displays of dinosaurs.

    I was convinced there was an elaborate fraud going on. Looking at this beast, I refused to believe that it was real, as it growled at me. I was fully prepared to do away with this false thing. I pulled my trident out of empty space, and Nevras joined me in the fight.

    Nevras swung with his sword, while I stabbed at its body with my trident. It screamed in pain from my thrust, and more from the electricity I sent through it. I pulled out my trident and stepped around with my feet, watching Nevras as he “lunged” as he called it, moving quickly to this side or that. I did the same, and was amazed when it worked, the necks and heads of the thing missing the spot when I was before. He taught me to watch for the attacker, and to lunge up, down, left, and right. He swung his blade again. The blade went snicker-snack and off with his head. Unfortunately, two heads cropped up from the stump. Taken off guard, the extra head bit off my arm. I looked at these humans, and their looks of mourning. Could they not regrow their limbs?

    Taking a second to jump back from the action, I pushed outward with the stump, and my arm popped out muscle first, then bone set in spots between, limb covered in a sort of amniotic fluid. My skin came last. The limb was very small like a child''s, but gradually grew to normal size. The looks of mourning turn to shock, then turned to sighs of deep relief, all in the space of a few seconds. My trident was over there, so I called it to me.

    We sea-critters all have magic much different from the land-folk. I have a strange mix of water/wind elementalism, though unlike land dwellers I drew most energy not from mystic power but from outside sources. With my trident, I can also use powers over thunder and lightning. I can raise the tides of water in areas near the sea, causing powerful waves to crash down on my foes. Here, I couldn''t do that, but because the air seemed slightly more moist than what they called a “desert”, I could draw water from the air and these land grasses. I created a bubble of water around the extra head. The head appeared to be having a seizure from the electricity and was gasping for air, but I kept both effects up, until the head burned to cinders. The old head looked relieved to have its neck space back. Hmmmm. An idea formed, but I would need to get closer.

    Nevras had meanwhile taken to attacking the main body. The same ability that allowed the heads to regrow made a much smaller area ineffective to attack, but he was at a loss as to what to do. “Any suggestions?” he asked. “Just one. Cut off all his heads,” I told him. I dodged one of the thing''s head with a flipping back dive. I was flexible, and such a move would work in sea. But I quickly found that it made me stuck on the ground, like a turtle forced upside-down. I couldn''t quite figure out how to roll over yet. The Jabberwock thing took advantage of my momentary weakness and bit off my head, neck and all. It seriously hurt, but my head isn''t that important. Humans and such are descended from primates, while we''ve had centuries to develop similar to starfish. I do most of my thinking with my brain, but it''s not essential to running my body. Muscle extended, then bone, then brains, eyes, and ears. The others looked visibly shocked, as did the Jabberwock. Nevras grabbed my hand, and pulled me up. “So,” Nevras asked, “what''s the plan? Won''t cutting off its heads make it more dangerous as it grows more?” I shook my head, “Just trust me on this.” She smiled. Unfortunately, I didn’t know her long enough that I could safely say that I trusted her.

    My trident had edges that could be used for slashing, though not as effectively as a sword. Nevras swung, the vorpal blade of his taking off one head and then another and another. My own trident, with difficulty, slashed away at one head. Before long, it had double the heads it originally had. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to fight, or even to dodge the heads. Nevras sidestepped one, then another, but the third time he tripped. He flinched, fully prepared to get eaten, but then it happened. The heads started fighting each other for who got the honor of the meal. They bit each other, until one finally prevailed. The head dove at him, as did the other heads. Before they got anywhere near, the thing toppled over. “No real creature could be designed like this,” I remarked, “you''re not real.” As if to verify what I''d said, the dinosaur rapidly petrified then turned to dust. We notified the bounty offices of what happened and delivered the dust as proof, but because they had no genetic information left in this dust, they couldn''t technically reward us since the poster said to be “Dead” not “Erased From Existence.” They believed us though, and the bounty was marked as completed.

    Ambrosia asked me, “What just happened?” I explained, “There are some things in this world that are not as solid or scary as they originally appear. Some aren''t even real.” After that, I passed out from the exertion of combat.

    When I awoke, I found the others surrounding me with a serious look on their faces. “What''s wrong?” I asked. Ambrosia looked especially stern, “We need to talk about how your sucky coordination put Nevras in danger. Now, I know you haven''t been in as many battles as the rest of us, but we''re gonna make sure you get trained.” And so, over the next week or so, Aqorm taught me to run faster, though I was not biologically able to keep up with her. It did however, get my body conditioned to running in general. I was taught by Nevras some basic skills like sitting up, how to make jumps as well as the power of a running jump, and in general he put me through workouts to train my body to understand this new reality where I couldn''t just swim everywhere.

    Ambrosia believed that I should retain my physical skills underwater too, so I wouldn''t suddenly forget how to swim. She told me some story called the Caterpillar''s Dilemma, where such a thing happened from overthinking. Elias told her that she''s referring to the Centipede''s Dilemma. All these land creatures look the same to me, so I couldn''t tell you the difference. Anyway, she taught me to swim both as a human would, and with my seal hydrid form. She also had me work on making bubbles that filled with water, and ones that were hollow yet so solid that they could be used as protective fields against physical force. She threw pebbles at this, then steadily rocks, until she had to enlist help from Lilith to throw boulders. She also had me summon multiple bubbles at once, and make them solid as the aforementioned rocks, yet as wet as something called water balloons. Lastly, I was supposed to form multiple bubbles, and hit them with electricity generated by my trident before the bubbles popped on their own.

    Zoe taught me gymnastics. Now, Zoe had never at all demonstrated any proficiency for gymnastics, but that didn''t stop her! Soon, instead of diving impotently and flopping on the ground, I had figured out how to do cartwheels, somersaults, backflips, break-dancing moves, and some martial arts gymnastics. I was taught how to use my new techniques to dodge, and how to use a few simple movements to block using my trident.

    Nevras, Michael, and Azrael believed that I should understand how to fight, so the three of them attacked me until I could at least manage at fighting multiple attackers. In the days to come, they got me to take on the next few bounties myself by declaring it part of their training, while they watched. In lawn chairs. While eating barbecued meat and grilled vegetables. Thanks to me, they claimed the bounty of a Female Soldier, and a giant Siberian tiger called White Blaze.

    AMBROSIA

    Okay, I admit it. While Selqui was sort of clumsy, we kinda wanted her trained to do the work for us on these bounties. And of course, we were tempted to take all of the money. But since we were reasonable people, after these we agreed to help her, which was good since the next bounty was a real nuisance. Heading to the general direction of Kirin, we went in search of the Annoying Pixie.

    They weren''t exaggerating. The creature flew at strange angles, dodging our ranged attacks, melee attacks, techniques, and magic. “Hey, listen!” it shouted incessantly, its catchphrase moving from cute and endearing to downright obnoxious. Every now and then, after we had managed to run into each other and nearly gotten slashed or impaled, it said “Watch out!” moments too late.

    We tried surrounding it with careful slashes (following the earlier issue, charging at it was out of the question), we tried aiming at it in the air with spells cast all around it. Lilith tried rushing at it and pouncing. It was simply too maneuverable, and dove over or under our attacks at least as well as Ambrosia was able to, but with the added wrinkle of being able to fly. Michael should have been able to manage, but for some reason he looked a lot more delicate lately and moved significantly slower. I didn''t know what was going on with him, but he was gonna get chubby. Oh wait, angels can''t get fat. Well in any case, he wasn''t pulling his weight much. Not that he did much anyway. But still, here was a battle that called for speed, reflexes, and the ability to fly, and he was just sitting there creating Scripts, and not very good ones.

    THE WORLD

    Azrael and Yazim Jianne finally resolved the situation. “Get everyone to safety,” Azrael warned, but grabbing Yazim Jianne said, “except you, I need you to help.” Yazim''s eyebrows raised, “You can''t mean... But that''s overkill.” Azrael''s face became serious, “For the good of humanity, this being must die.”

    The area around Kirin was a very wide expanse of ice and snow, and the area was in the middle of nowhere. This ritual required preferably thirteen people, but at least two people who knew what they were doing could unlock the ritual. An arrow tipped with pitchblende was procured, and the two of them wove their hands in concert while reciting the words. They said, “?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??, ?? ????? ??, ??? ?? ????? ???? ??, ???????, ??????? ?????, ????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ???; ???????????? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??????, ????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?????!” The tip of the arrow began to glow, as the ritual launched the arrow toward the sky. While the sun shone, light like a second sun shone white and focused. The light was so intense that it not only consumed the pixie, but imprinted its shadow in the ground. The ice melted and rocks fused into glass. The energy formed into a cloud resembling a large mushroom. The air and water tainted, and would have been permanently polluted, if not for the fact that this ritual was always used in conjunction with the other ritual, the Gayatri Mantra. The Brahmastra Sutra was the ultimate weapon of runes, but it was considered incomplete without the ultimate renewal Gayatri Mantra. Those who didn''t use both in concert routinely had their minds wiped by Council professionals, so it was pretty much the one thing that still lasted after they fell. The two said the words, “ ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ????????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ??; ?? ???? ?? ?? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ??? ,” and then the world was pure again. Like the other ritual, the Gayatri had a profound effect on the land around it. The ice turned into soil in the radius of the effect, and the soil turned to grass. All sense of taint left the area, and the air had a minty smell to it.

    A two mile area was wrecked and regenerated, the two casting the ritual knew that such an extreme approach wouldn''t gain any bounty, and would likely incur a penalty. Even without the taint left over, this destructive technique was frowned upon. The two rejoined the others. There would be some explaining to do. But it had to be done.

    AMBROSIA

    We came back to the area around where the Annoying Pixie had been to find that whatever spell had been used, it erased all signs of the critter but a shadow engraved in what was now grass. Apparently, we couldn''t collect our bounty for this one either, because they had done something sketchy they wouldn''t talk about. Ah, no matter, it was an obnoxious creature, so I''m sure it deserved whatever it got. I stopped myself after that thought. If I continued to kill every creature I came across, would I start to become some sort of serial murderer? Would I start seeing creatures as “monsters” and start going after goblin or orc towns? I resolved after this to do something good to make up for those crimes that nobody called me a murderer for. I know that sounds kinda like penance, but it''s not. I wanted to bring the sense of how my life had improved to others. That I was also feeling guilty right now is totally beside the point!

    Maybe I could start by sparing a few creatures. The ones like... I pulled One-Eyed Snake, Eye of Doom, and Shy Medusa out of the pile. Each of these said they could be Dead or Alive, but gave a far larger bounty for dead, indicating that the bounty office found them more dangerous to be around than just of kill them. Yes, these were creatures deserving of my mercy.

    Before that though, I brutally finished off the Elves in Parsley near Sekai without a second thought despite having Aqorm in our party. I also killed off the Succubus. Winged sexy women who were more beautiful than me needed to be hunted down. We also chased after the Ornery Ostrogoth, which ran much faster than us, and was in the deserts near Goji. Even borrowing horses, we couldn''t catch up to this four-legged flightless bird, so our pursuit lasted days, until we finally cornered the creature by herding it to the coast. As fast as it was, it couldn''t run across water, so it turned and fought us. The ostrogoth when cornered, tends to peck with its beak. The pecks can either nearly kill the target or barely scratch them, with nothing in between, so it was a struggle to stay healed up with the medicines and healing magic we had, before we basically got killed by the gentlest peck. The wild ostrogoth bit and kicked. But Lilith managed to charm it by showing it some nice greens. The curious bird got closer and closer... then Lilith body-slammed it, and threw a net over it. It was for the best, this cute bird could make someone a nice mount if it ever learned to trust again. We pulled out a feather, and the bird was collected in exchange for our pay. We were up to about 10k Gold on hand, and some in the bank, but for now, we would deposit all but 1500 Gold into the bank, again splitting it up into our personal accounts. All that Gold was heavy, and we had just wandered back from a desert after chasing a freaking bird around.

    I was hungry, and seeing Skinny Minotaur on the menu next, ummm I mean the bounty list, we decided to do that. And yes, bounties can be eaten, as long as something with genetic material is placed on the bounty notice. They even understood selling parts of the bounty, since they mainly got paid by the client. And they preferred this, because they had to take time away from their business to process creature parts.

    We entered the Hidden Forest southeast of Ghobli and Zuran and wandered again through the confusing pathways. This time, however, we took a route away from Cold Mountain and those cute mammoths, into a sort of natural maze. After traveling through the maze, heading left and right, north and south, we began to notice that the path was in fact tended by someone. And by that, I mean some of the bushes looked like they had been dead ends until someone or something took an axe to the roots and toppled a section, leaving the fallen brush to rot. The maze was further complicated by a thick mist, a haze that covered all sight of where each path led. We saw a figure up ahead, and I assumed that Lilith had wandered off again. I called out, “Lilith! Stop splitting from the party! We have enough troubles with this mist.” But she called out behind me, “I''m right here.” But, if she''s there, what exactly is growling at me? I moved closer to get a good look. I saw horns like Lilith, but the feet were wrong. Lilith had feet much like her hands, whatever this was had cloven feet. And the tail was all wrong, and it was furrier than Lilith, there were no wings, and this axe... wait, axe?!?

    I dodged out of its reach, just as the minotaur swung its axe across, missing being cut apart by only a inch or so. The Skinny Minotaur gave chase, being much faster due to body size compared to the other minotaurs. This guy hadn''t the strength advantages of other minotaurs, but he was chasing after me at a running pace, and I barely had time to dart to the right as he swung downward. Normally, from a run, swinging down would be difficult unless you halted midway through the swing, which you''d do naturally if you hit something. But as he looked back and noticed that he had passed us, he tripped over his own weapon as it touched the ground, tumbling to the soil. The others didn''t have much trouble taking him down after that, and we cut him into chunks to slow roast with 11 herbs and spices. After having our meal, we returned from the maze and the forest to continue our hunting.

    We hunted One-Eyed Snake next. I was told on the bounty notice that the reason for the hunt is that all young and virginal women were afraid of this being. I started giggling. In any case, restraining and capturing this thing was easier said than done. We tried firing Sleep Arrows at it using Zoe''s bow, only to realized that it was far more massive than we had originally thought, and its thickness and girth prevented penetration. And so, to capture it, we relied on Aqorm. Aside from her geomancy, she had basic trapping skills, so while we lured it in, we trapped it in various pits and snares wearing it down, until finally, Lilith managed to collect some fluids. We used this to catch the creature alive. The bounty office was not thrilled with us, but ultimately gave us our bounty money.

    Then, we tried the Shy Medusa. As everyone knows, medusas like dank dark places like ruins, when they''re not statue freaks. This one wouldn''t look us in the eye. The nerve! I kept trying to tell her that polite company expected that you make eye contact, and to do otherwise was considered rude or arrogant. She became even more withdrawn at our criticism though, and started staring at the ground. “Let me help her out,” said Nevras. And he talked to her at length, trying to get at why she felt so afraid to engage people. The girl, who introduced herself as Euryale, said, “Every time I talk to people, I can''t help getting the sense that they want to run from me. I''m hideous!” I looked at her. She had a nice pear shape to her body, she was light-skinned for a snake girl and her face was actually kind of pretty, although it had the look of a girl who hadn''t gotten enough sunlight. Her hair was a mess though. The snakes were all tangled around other, and much of them were in her eyes. Grabbing a metal comb used mostly for pets, I began to straighten these snakes in something more manageable.. It was tough, because clearly didn''t want to lie down flat, but eventually I gave her a nice part. Some snakes had snarled and were stuck in the comb. “There, now,” I told her, “with just a bit of effort, you actually look quite nice! Now let''s see your eyes.” There was something fascinating about them, they were a golden yellow around the center with purple near the edges in a starburst pattern. The more I looked, the more I became fascinated. Time suddenly passed, and the girl was frowning again and looking down. “You idiots!” Elias scolded me and Nevras, “What possessed you to get a medusa to make eye contact?!?” After calming down, he handed her some dark refractive sunglasses. This suited her new look. “Okay,” I told her, “we''ve got a quest to go on, but we''re gonna send you to some people who should help you fit in better. I am told that after the initial fear of an unmanageable medusa wore off, she gradually got to meet people, and eventually became one of the bounty people, since they needed folks who could restrain powerful creatures. Even today we still get postcards from her. She appears to be happily married now.

    The last bounty was known as the Eye of Doom, but she later told us her name was Emily. We found Emily only by riding atop Bahamut, and she was a girl floating atop a cloud. The girl had reddish-brown hair and was built like a dancer, lean and probably very flexible. The girl was crying, and wouldn''t stop while we were with her. “What''s wrong?” I asked. She pointed down at her cloud, “This thing! I can''t be normal because this cloud keeps glowering at people.” Glowering? What did she mean? Only, I quickly found out when a massive eye opened in the center of this cloud.

    It occurred to me that many of these creatures we had faced before had some sort of thing wrong with their eye, either they were lacking one, or it was something to could curse or threaten people. It seemed like so many people were worried about public opinion, and whether they were popular or not. As for me, I wasn''t gonna let this girl cry over how she thought other people saw her. “Don''t worry, we''ll take care of this thing,” I assured her. I ordered the others to attack just the cloud with Wind and Fire magic, evaporating the cloud and blowing it away. She started to fall, but we caught her with Bahamut. Bahamut grunted, as she didn''t want yet another traveler on her back. “There now,” I said, “see? It''s all gone.” But she cried all the more, “No it''s not~!” As her tears fell, the giant cloud reappeared. This would be endless!

    “Hey ummm,” suggested Nevras, “maybe this isn''t such a bad thing. I mean, the real problem isn''t actually the cloud, right? It''s that people are afraid of you. How about if we just try to help you fit in?” And so, we took her to Kushiyama, a town filled with people, and we taught Emily some basic social skills, like how to talk to people without scaring them. Emily explained that while her eye cloud had a stern glare, it was friendly. She even let people pet it. Gradually, she did figure out how to fit in. “Hey, Emily,” I suggested, “you''re a bounty. Would you like to go to the bounty offices, and apologize for causing trouble?” She nodded, and we pulled one strand of hair stuck to her outfit, and used it to take her to the bounty office. After a fashion, she was forgiven of her crimes, and she joined our medusa. The two of them are a married couple of weird creatures. Apparently, this wedding had a high number of creatures in attendance, from goblins to centaurs to beholders, it kinda brought out all the weird folk.

    More importantly, our quota was done. We could face Cthulhu as a bounty. Returning to the wanted posters in Phoenix, we grabbed the poster. Surely, this time we would succeed where others failed. Cthulhu''s portal was just above an island to the south. It was not widely known, but the Elder Formless, unlike simple Monsters, were each governed by an element. For example, Cy?egha could exist in cold places only, because of being governed by fire. Likewise, Cthulhu was governed by water, and thus could only fully awaken when his home R''yleh was no longer submerged in the waves. Right now, all that was present was his portal. Azrael tried to use her Exorcism to close the gate. “Rin Pyou Tou Sha Kai Chin Retsu Zai Zen!” she shouted, and a circle began to form around the portal, gradually shrinking it.

    It was not in time, however. From the portal emerged some tentacles. The portal closed and the tentacles severed, flopping on the island grass. On any other creature, such tentacles would start to die once severed from the main body. But this was an Elder Formless. A shadowy outline extended from each tentacle, until the merged together to form the shape of a body. From shadow into solid form, a lesser version of Cthulhu formed where the portal had been. This was only a fraction of Cthulhu''s power, but unlike in his home plane, this could not permanently be killed, only banished. And it looked huge, enough that I wondered whether we would represent any more of a threat to it than mere bugs. The Elder Formless''s height was beyond comprehension, such that forced a crouch to so much as see us, or else this head would be somewhere in the sky or maybe even space. I cannot begin to describe him, other than to say “tall” and “vaguely-aquatic.” Whenever I tried to describe more, things sort of fell apart. I couldn''t tell you what color his skin was, because it was a greenish-grey not found anywhere on this universe. I had trouble comprehending the power of this Being either, for my brain was paralyzed by fear. An idle wave of his hands was creating cosmic changes. The stars were moving, the tides lowered, and Cthulhu tried to reopen his own portal. When we were found blocking this attempt, Cthulhu tried to remove us instead. And yet, despite his great power, I trusted in God. God had said these Elder Formless had no real power in this world. Which made me even more scared of God. Just how powerful would you have to be to scoff at the power of a thing like this?!?

    Meteors rained down around us, thunder and lightning struck, great darkness came, and powers that weren''t seen for centuries threatened us. Cthulhu at one point summoned a writhing mass of tentacles from thin air, at another point the blood from Cthulhu''s hands being slashed pooled into some creepy creatures that are best not mentioned in polite company. Their horrible twisted forms hounded us, and we dared not face them. In the days to come, they would appear in my nightmares along with Cthulhu. I would be driven almost to the depths of madness, worried that when the stars aligned, the New Earth was doomed. Doomed, I say. I said earlier that Cthulhu was weak to water, but this is not to say water magic would hurt him (at all). Elder Formless were largely immune to runes, and it took an entire ocean to even suppress his power. We had no hope at all, from what I could see.

    We persisted against his magical effects, but his power was putting strain on Elias to form defensive shields. Then Selqui spoke, “I am a student of Elder Lore, I can help out.” And she began to watch what Cthulhu did, then countered with equally creepy effects. Shedding her own blood, she flicked it at the horrid gibbering servants Cthulhu had summoned. The blood turned black when it hit them. Very black, and their bodies began to fester and wear away. She stretched out her hand, and muttered some strange words like “Mgah''ehye ya nwnglui mgahnnn yogor ng f'' mgah''ehye yog nog,” and a mouth opened within her palm. While it had teeth, instead of a tongue, it was a series of black tentacles. The tentacles detached themselves from her, and the Elder Formless scoffed, and spoke the same gibberish tongue, “Bah! gof''n''s ah''gotha. Mgah''ehye ya ymg'' mgah''n''ghft mgleth r''luh. Ymg'' mgep mg hope!” As the creature continued to talk, even to say that we had no hope, as Selqui explained, I noticed words like ''hope'', ''love'', ''play'', ''courage'', and the like were missing from this creature''s native vocabulary, and wound up being borrow words. Cthulhu broke apart the tentacles with zero effort, and eyed the girl who had made trouble. Selqui wasn''t done yet. She summoned a Monster with the words, “Flowey, Y'' ymg'' uln, l'' nog fahf agl!” A small looking sunflower thing with a face popped up from the ground. That was it? A tiny little weed? And yet, looking at that thing''s face, I was suddenly deeply disturbed. More so when that thing that I had previously called a flower began to laugh. The stringy high-pitched notes of its laughter made me think of someone in a mental ward, far more than the cute little plant I had decided it was at first. Roots sprang up from the ground of the island, and a circle of sunflower bullets tore holes in the body of the Elder Formless. After a few seconds, it was no more, finished off by this insane flower. That was it then, it was over, time to collect our...

    GOD

    I, the God of the universe and all therein, have mostly been silent in this section. While Ambrosia wanted to spend time with her man, and make sure he wasn''t going to leave, I let her do her thing, even though it was not her official mission. I let them goof off and enjoy themselves, knowing she would eventually finish, once she was sure he would follow her. And so it is, with many of those called sinners, they fear I have forgotten them. I will always be with you, even if it seems I''ve left. To Friedrich Nietzsche, whose father had died when he was young, “God is dead,” he said. But this is a glimpse of his true feelings. Many of the great atheists had an absent, cold, or abusive father figure. But I am not going anywhere, even if the form you associate with me should die, leave, or appear to hate you. And now, I shall tell you what happened from my perspective, since those of the others is flawed by their sudden and untimely demise.

    Those group had less than one minute to rejoice over their victory. Monsters such as Flowey, were Shadows given form by their tie to a single story. Flowey, for example, was from the Undertale video game, and was a Monster made from a flower template (mostly). It was powerful, and able to survive by spreading its roots, but it could be defeated. Monsters didn''t die except from First Material or by defeat in their home plane, but they could be unsummoned by defeat or by slaying their summoner. Elder Formless on the other hand, were not subject to any commands by their summoner, and when defeated, they would simply respawn nearby. And if an Elder Formless ever became fully released, if the stars were all right, and their source of power unleashed, living things believed that it would be an apocalyptic event.

    While Flowey destroyed the body of Cthulhu, a moment later, his body reformed above them. With a murmur of words unheard since ancient times, Cthulhu spoke, and a cloud of death formed, drawing the very air out of the lungs of those below him. Selqui survived because her lungs were designed to equally deal with air and water, and so it stands to reason that she could hold her breath. Azrael survived because she was immune to all sorts of instant death attacks. And Zoe adjusted to no air, because she was immortal.

    Cthulhu ignored Zoe for now because she didn''t seem powerful enough to take him, and because trying to kill her would probably be wasted effort. Instead, the Elder Formless crystallized the power of his mind into an enormous sharpened gemstone, and lobbed it at Azrael. She dodged it, and dodged another one, then Cthulhu caught her off guard with a sudden blast of Void. Her body turned to dust on the spot. Against Selqui, after cutting off limbs didn''t work, Cthulhu launched thousands of marble-sized balls of solid darkness. She used her newfound training to dodge these, only to be pushed back. She became so riddled with holes that any normal person would bleed out. But she stood up, “These are only flesh wounds.” The Elder Formless looked shocked for a moment, then scowled and said, “Determination.” She was cut in several places by razor sharp winds, and crushed by tentacles, but she kept her hold on her summon and fought back. Such bravery... only made her more challenging to kill. Eventually Cthulhu prevailed.

    As Ambrosia was on vacation, so was I. Ordinarily, this meant waiting until the trouble was over, then simply resetting things. But as I quickly found, the trouble didn''t end just because I wanted a break. Cthulhu, like many of the Elder Formless, was a sadist. Seeing that he couldn''t properly kill Zoe, he took the opportunity to traumatize her. There was no tentacle rape going on (Cthulhu was a gentleman, unlike those other Elder Formless), but then there didn''t have to be. Cthulhu penetrated her mind (literally), and forced her to view disturbing images for hours on end. While this was going on, Cthulhu raised the others, only to torture them to death, and then raise them again and again. Reset. They were safe, just before they set out on the bounty to fight Cthulhu.

    At once, I felt a presence. Translating his speech from R''lyehian, I heard, “Just what do you think you are doing here? These are my prey.” I shook my head. I had no reason for the theatrics I used on humans here, so I spoke normally, “I beg to differ, they are on my quest, and they accepted you as a bounty. They naturally fall under my protection.” The Elder Formless roared with laughter, “We shall see about that.” And then I felt more than heard the words Undo, and they were back in Cthulhu''s clutches. Zoe had been freaked out enough, and unlike the others, she couldn''t ever forget her pain, so I said Protect on her, flooding her with a golden light to shield her from all types of molestation. I could only use this one target to full effect, because the more people I tried to protect, the more dispersed this effect would be. And yet, he tried quite a number of things before giving up. I appeared to her, telling her to sleep while she was to be sent dreams to help her cope with the disturbing treatment she had received. In the days to come, I also made sure that she recovered. “Blast you!” Cthulhu screamed, “That was to be my conquest.” He tried to Undo this, and realized he couldn''t even do that. I tried Reset once more, only to have him quickly Undo that. And so we struggled back and forth fighting for our vision of events, until finally he had enough. Erase. He wiped out roughly about 200+ pages of character description, wiping those characters from everyone''s memory. It didn''t happen. The author probably died of bad health from eating too many corn chips and ramen noodles, and not having enough sleep and fresh air. The story was never published, and nobody knew who Ambrosia, Selqui, Nevras, Elias, Aqorm, Azrael, Zoe, Lilith, Michael, and Yazim Jianne were. And then, he came for me. Erase. Only, I smirked. Part of what makes me God, and not a mere Elder Formless, is that I exist without creepy cultists or any worshipers alive at all. Before the barest speck of light in the universe, I sat alone in the Void. This upstart had underestimated me. My power had (mainly self-imposed) limits, but my being was not something that could simply be wished away. If all the atheists ever chanted, “We don''t believe in you,” it wouldn''t make an iota of difference. A God that is God, has no beginning and no end, for what nothing made so also nothing can unmake. Not fully understanding, he tried again and again. Unmake. Destroy. Annihilate. Eliminate. Extinguish.

    My smirk became a giggle, then a full laugh. “You don''t get it, do you? When did you come into being?” He explained, “I am as old as the stars, my power is awesome and limitless, I...” I had to interrupt his self-important speech, “Old as the stars? Hardly! You were conceived by the mind of Howard Phillips Lovecraft in the American pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928 under the title ''The Call of Cthulhu.'' I have a copy here if you want to read it.” I showed him the copy. Then I showed him R. J. Ivankovic''s The Call of Cthulhu for Beginning Readers, a cute Dr Seuss version. “Nooooooooo!!! That''s not true, that''s impossible!” he screamed. I could have easily managed to Erase him, undoing Weird Tales, undoing all of Lovecraft''s and August Derleth''s work. But then I realized something. Without having existed, how would he ever repent of his crimes? And how could Ambrosia''s group collect her bounty? Revoke. He tried to use his eldritch powers to defy me, but to no avail. He was just a big giant now, not something to be feared beyond his strength. Undo. The author breathed again, and so also did their work. Ambrosia became known, if only to a select few people.

    AMBROSIA

    I looked up and saw the Elder Formless known as Cthulhu. We had faced him before, and I was frightened, but apparently, something had changed since then. For one thing, he was no longer nearly as big. His seemingly cosmic height had shrunken down to the size of a skyscraper. Somehow too, he was no longer indescribable. His colors had dulled from what they were before to very clearly a color of green like a jade plant. My mind, while still suffering from trauma of what he had done, was recovering, and was no longer paralyzed by fear. I could describe him as a sort of giant man with green skin, wings like a bat, arms and legs, and tentacles near his mouth. Earlier, he could also extend tentacles from elsewhere and do all kinds of creepy things, but that was over now. Now, he was trying to punch us or stomp on us. And he was missing! Now, he was weak to Water spells so Zoe and Selqui blasted away at him. Selqui could draw water from nearby sources, so she never stopped until this thing was on its knees. Now, he was struggling, even to hurt us. And now, Azrael just used an Exorcism, binding him away. She touched the bounty sheet to the circle, as it faded, and was pleased to receive a note stating ?Congratulations!You have sealed away the Elder Formless, Cthulhu!See back for more details.? So we did, and the back said, ?The bounty office is not responsible for award items exceeding Super Rare status, award money exceeding 1 Million Gold, or any titles or property. The bounty office is a business, not a charity. For such awards, show this completed bounty to its original client in order to redeem. Client Name/Address: His Royal Highness, Charis of Phoenix, Phoenix Castle.? Cheapskates!

    Forget it. We''d save that reward for later. We were going somewhere to forget all of this. Half of us had issues after what that... thing had done to us. We needed to take a vacation. And suddenly, I wanted to do some volunteer work to feel better about myself.

    YAZIM JIANNE

    The others were enjoying their victory, but I noticed there was a stray amount of dimensional energy left over from the rift the Cthulhu made to enter our world. It occurred to me that at some point I had collected this energy (which I did now), and at some point I had made the Transport Coin that I gave to Ambrosia in her past. I had to rush the job because the portal was about to disappear, so I wound up making the same crude design when I had first seen it. While the others were deciding what to do next, I gave Selqui one of my hooded robes and sent her on a round trip back in time, to the first time Ambrosia had entered the Mountain of Fate. “I did it!” she announced triumphantly, as she returned to the present. But since timelines had been changed, I already forgot what she had done. I congratulated her anyway, giving her a hug, and thanking her for helping me... somehow. We got on the ship, and rejoined the others.