Chapter Fifty-Two


    Ambrose stepped through the realm portal and into Midgard. Noelle walked beside him, her ears twitching as she looked around. They were in a forest, and he could hear the lapping of waves nearby. Air circled through the trees. Sweeping his gaze around him, he scanned for threats.


    He found none.


    His first priority was to find Eric.


    Which was a problem he chewed over. He had no clue where Eric would have went. His best bet was to head to the nearest town and ask around. Noelle was chasing a butterfly, trying to snatch it out of the air with her delicate hands.


    He felt his lips tug upward in a gentle smile. Noelle was a predator, a mythical item too, yes, but a predator all the same. But she also had a..kitten like quality to her. She even moved with a feline grace. Which made sense since she had been a magical tiger.


    It took him most of a day to find the town. Surprisingly, he encountered no monsters along the way. Noelle followed, tail moving back and forth as she scanned the forest, eyes wide. She was taking in the forest with wide eyes, her mouth slightly open.


    “It’s just a forest, Noelle. We’ve been in one before.”


    She cast a glare his way, and tried to speak.


    Her short time with Vivienne had proven to be effective, but Noelle still spoke carefully, her voice as light as a feather, with an ever so slight knifes edge to it.


    “I didn’t really see it before, did I? Spent most of it as a cloak.”


    Ambrose rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. Noelle huffed in satisfaction.


    The town came into view soon after. It was a town made up of many long buildings, entwined planks, and seemingly pulled straight out of a standard fantasy novel.


    The town appeared to be very busy, with a large congregate of people gathered at the entrance to a large castle on a hill overlooking the ocean. Noelle’s ears waggled as she looked at the group.


    Guards were barring the way up the hill, and further on, Ambrose’s C-Grade vision could pick out another group at the castle proper. As Ambrose neared, another man appeared. He was dressed in what Ambrose would call a fantasy version of a suit.


    A silk black doublet lined with gold, matching pants and polished boots. His features were all sharp angles, his skin like ground coffee and his beard was salt N pepper, groomed perfectly. His milk chocolate eyes had a sharp, but bored edge to them.


    His voice, a little nasally, carried far.


    “Lord Elgin, a forerunner of Midgard, has been killed. An investigation is underway, and the guard promises to update you when we have more information. For now, I will be acting as steward until a new leader is selected.” Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Murmurs broke out among the crowd as people shared glances, and shuffled uncertainly. Some began to weep at the news. One called out,


    “What about the Advancement Trial?!”


    The man raised a hand to quell the noise before speaking.


    “The trial will continue as normal. With sign-ups beginning tomorrow.”


    More murmurs at this, but the crowd soon dispersed a few moments later.


    Ambrose and Noelle got a few stares as they made there way to a local tavern. The tavern was busy, with locals clearly discussing the incident,


    “I hear someone broke in and assassinated him!”


    An older man guffawed,


    “Pshh! Assassinate Lord Elgin? No way! I heard he killed himself.”


    Conversation went like that across the room, with different theories being discussed and weighed.


    “Get you anythin’ sweetheart?”


    The blonde waitress was elven, plump, with rosy cheeks and wearing an apron. Her mouth curved into a joyful smile at Noelle, who smiled back in return, tail swishing. Ambrose ordered the special, and a big slab of meat for Noelle who’s tail swished harder.


    Before the waitress departed, Ambrose smiled at her,


    “I’m new to town. Would you mind telling me what happened?”


    He had no doubt she would know what he meant.


    She tapped her notepad,


    “Lord Elgin, our forerunner, was killed last night. His body was discovered this morning. Don’t know much more beyond that, the guard is keepin’ it all hush hush.”


    He nodded,


    “I see. What is this Advancement Trial?”


    She blinked at him,


    “Ya don’t know? It’s how you go up an adventurin’ rank. Without that, you can’t travel through the western gate out of town, which means you can’t fight higher level monsters or progress.”


    Ambrose stroked his beard,


    “I don’t get it. Why would you need to do that? Why restrict travel in such a way?”


    He wasn’t concerned about asking these questions. There was no reason for him to lie or hide who he was.


    “What rock have you been under?”


    She placed her hands on her hips.


    Ambrose told the truth,


    “I’m from a different world. Newly integrated.”


    The waitress blinked, and realization dawned,


    “That makes sense. Okay, well, let me go get your order in, and I’ll be back when I can to answer questions, yeah? I can’t be seen jabbin’ all shift. I’m a waitress, not an information broker.”


    He nodded, and she went off to get his order in. Noelle looked around, curiosity writ plain on her face.


    Do you know anything about this world, Akaroth? He sent his thoughts toward the dragon in axe form.


    He felt her mind shake in a negative,


    I’m not from here, nor have I ever been here. Every world integrated into the system has a different shade of scales.


    He grunted.


    There’s something I don’t understand. If this world has been integrated for a while, why aren’t the people here higher level? I don’t get how that forerunner isn’t supremely powerful by now.


    Akaroth’s mental chuckle reminded him of grinding rocks deep within the earth.


    You have merely to look around you to see the answer to that, hatchling.


    He did that, coming up blank. Akaroth explained it,


    After worlds have been integrated for a while, survival becomes less of an issue. People transition into living as normal a life as they can. You’ve already seen it on Avalon, have you not? People there do not want to fight for survival, they do not have a desire to progress. They simply wish to live a simple existence. It is the way of sheep.


    Akaroth seemed to sneer at the end.


    He had to admit, that did make sense. Clearly some people did have a desire to move on, due to this trial, whatever that was. However, the rest didn’t appear to have any desire to do so. His eyes landed on a couple nearby, laughing, joking and otherwise enjoying eachother.


    A pang in his heart caused him to wince just slightly.


    What would he have given for that? To have a normal life with Alice at his side, watching his daughter grow. Yes, he could understand why some people wanted to live a normal life.


    Eric had taken that from him. Killed that from him.


    He needed to get back on the trail. That meant he needed to learn everything he could of relevance about this world, and ask around about Eric.


    Because the end game was near.


    He could feel it.