I just had to take the scenic route. Maren grumbled as she looked at her dwindling funds.

Sure, one of the three reasons she traveled was to see the sights, to behold all the beautiful majesty of Talam’s landscapes. Mission accomplished, she supposed. The valley in which she wandered was pristine: verdant willows towered upon rolling hills, their branches swaying in a gentle breeze and shading various chittering and cawing creatures; a weaving river separated the slopes, its banks teeming with wildflowers, its body nurturing fish, both their scales and surrounding water glittering in the warm sunshine.

The pretty sights didn’t exactly help to pay the bills, however. In the two weeks she’d left home, she hadn’t received a single job. Nothing to pay for all the food she’d had to buy, or the extra supplies she’d picked up last week. She’d started her journey with little over a thousand credits in her account. She’d expected to travel to smaller towns, do a few odd jobs here and there, and have at least two thousand credits after her first month of travel.

Now, however, she was sitting at just under six hundred credits. Not the end of the world, but far from her initial projections. And she was still a full day’s hike from her destination: Linick, capital of the nation of Talam, and the largest city in the province of Neirea. Maren had thought, upon leaving the road to enjoy a more natural path, that she could reach the capital in about a day.

But no. She’d already been in this valley for three whole days! Who’d have thought off-road travel would take so much longer? She was on a deadline, where all of her goals would be ruined if she didn’t meet certain criteria by the end of the month. She couldn’t afford to meander through nature and not even get paid for it.

“Heeeeeeeelp!” a voice called out.

Atop the summit of the next hill, separated by the river, a young blond man came into view. He was sprinting, the blue cloak he wore flowing in his wake, and heading directly for the river.

Maren paused, blinked, and clung a little tighter to the wool blanket keeping her warm from the cool winter breeze. Had her prayers been answered?

Just ten feet behind the man, three… things crested the hill. They were humanoid, but two of them ran on all fours, while all sported large, quivering tails. They were colored a strange mix of dull red and beige, with skin that was simultaneously bulbous and goopy. They were inching closer to the man, who was only halfway to the river. One let out a wet, guttural moan from an indentation in its face.

Maren’s stomach roiled, but she threw down her blanket, tablet, and nylon bag strung from her shoulder. Her dash, as well as the rush of blood beneath her skin, made the cold negligible.

She and the stranger reached opposite sides of the river at the same time, though those monstrosities were only a foot behind him.

Maren’s mouth parched. “Get down!”

The man obeyed, diving forward into the river. Though, he landed on dry ground.

Maren spread her arms to the side, her mouth parching more and, with her Gift, raised this small portion of the river into the air. She gathered the liquid to her side as she sprinted to the farther bank, pooling it along her shoulders. The disgusting beasts reached forward with a dribbling hand.

“Eyes on me!” Maren roared.

She thrusted her arms forward. The water at her shoulders formed into a long, thin stream that snaked up her bicep, then forearm, then palm. Mouth drying a little more, she focused her power on her palm. Two thin, highly pressurized streams of water spewed, one from each hand, directly through the monstrous entities.

The one closest to the man backed up a foot, but didn’t seem otherwise fazed. Now, thankfully, all three beasts faced Maren. Though how they could see was beyond her, as there were only small divots in their heads where eyes would be, but nothing actually there.

Let’s try this.

Using the same power, Maren created her miniscule palm geysers and swiped her hands to the side. The resulting streams sliced the three monsters in two. They hit the banks with a wet thump, then twitched. Maren’s stomach roiled again. There was something about their strange color, goopy texture, and pungent, acidic scent that made her want to hurl.

“That was incredible!” the man exclaimed. “And so fast, too!”

“Thanks, Maren said, mouth drying further. “Uh, sorry, but could you take a couple steps back? Diverting the river is tiring.”

“Oh! Sorry!” The blond man returned to the bank, keeping wide eyes on the downed monstrosities. “But I’m serious. Those were some wicked moves. You could be a Peace Keeper!”

Maren sighed with relief as she released her Gift, letting the river water flow normally again.

“Thanks, but not really,” Maren said. “They have a lot more training than me. Besides, they’re too militaristic, too… orderly. Guild work suits my tastes much better.”

Not to mention that the missions Peace Keepers did were almost always life-threatening. At least working in a guild her jobs could range anywhere from picking up groceries for the elderly all the way to aiding police and Peace Keepers in their work. Sure, guilds had less authority on said jobs, but they had a greater amount of freedom to choose what kind of work they wanted.

“So that’s why I’m…” Maren reached for her nylon bag, finding only air.

Oh, right. Maren had left it on the other hill. She grasped her Gift yet again, moving the water only in the small areas around her. Saved on energy, which would be important if more of those abominations showed up. But… what are those things?

Maren was no stranger to dangerous situations. In her eighteen years, she’d found herself in the middle of firefights, drug busts, and even hostage situations. Working for a guild, especially one of Talam’s oldest and most respected ones, often meant she became involved in life-or-death scenarios. It was a life she’d known since she was five.

Even still, she’d never seen something as strange as those abominations.

“Thank you, Blessed Leaper,” the blond man said as she walked back to his side of the river. Looked like he had composed himself a little. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

“Couldn’t let them kill you,” Maren said, removing her canteen from her bag. It was tiny, only the size of her thumb nail. She held a small button on its top for a moment, then it expanded to the size of her chest. She took a long, slow drought from it, then sighed. “You know anything about these things?”

“No, I– ah!” the man called, stepping back and falling onto his butt.

Maren dropped her canteen, facing the… what the? One of the monsters she’d cleaved in twain was on its feet. The two halves were reconnecting, drawn into each other by thick, goopy tendrils. Before it became whole, however, it charged. 

Maren’s mouth began to dry, water forming at her right shoulder. She lunged, sliding her arm from the river bank to the sky, snaking the liquid down her arm, along her palm, and, focusing on the tip of her pointer finger, expelled another thin, highly pressurized stream. The water carved through the tendrils, separating the figure and causing the halves to plummet and crush some wildflowers. 

And for good measure... Maren swiped once, twice, thrice, and more. Now the three monstrosities were more like twenty eight. Small tendrils reached from the bits of the other bulbous bodies.

“Burn them,” the man breathed. “Please. With as much fire as possible.” 

Maren picked up her canteen. “As you can probably tell, fire’s not my Gift.” 

“You got a fire-starter in that pack?” 

As Maren drank, she eyed the grey chunks. They undulated like a beating heart, those gooey tendrils growing along their flanks. 

“Tenacious little assholes, aren’t they?” she muttered. 

Thankfully, fire-starters were one of the emergency supplies she bought last week, so she had plenty. It only took a minute to get a flame blazing, but the tendrils were already beginning to connect with each other. Maren grabbed one, stomach churning as her fingers squelched into the chunk. It was like wet clay that wriggled in her hand. She tossed it into the fire. If this didn’t work, the best she could do was take the man and run. 

The blob sizzled, pulsed violently, then blackened and shrunk to a crisp. 

Maren gave the man a radiant smile. “Care to help?” 

Despite clearly desiring anything but, the young man joined her in the game of blob-tossing into the fire. 

“So what are you doing out here?” Maren asked. “And how did you get caught in this mess?” 

“Live in Linick,” the man said, cringing every time he grabbed a piece. “But I got tired of city-life, you know? I’m an Autonomous member. Freedom to go wherever the wind blows you. Though, guess I should visit some Quencher temples, huh?” 

Maren bit her tongue, as she always did when someone brought up the Titanian Church. Then she mumbled, “Pray to whomever you want. That’s the freedom you’re given.” 

With the look he gave her, one might think she’d not only saved his life, but his soul. 

“Anyway,” he continued, “there’s so much more than the city. So I finally did it: quit my job, collected my savings, and went hiking.” 

“How long before these found you?” Maren asked. 

“Almost immediately.” Oddly enough, he chuckled. “Took a scenic route, found myself near Linick’s dumpsite. There’s a lot of shit going on there, I tell ya. Curiosity got the better of me and, well, I got too close. These three saw me and gave chase.” 

Maren’s breath caught in her throat. “We’re within a sprint’s distance from Linick’s dumpsite?”

The man gave a nervous chuckle. “I’d forgotten it was north of the city. Was wondering why the land was so flat for so long. Got away from Linick quickly, I guess. So I got that thing going for me.”

Maren wiped her hands after tossing the last blob into the fire. No goop stained them, but she needed to move her hands, or else this stranger would see them shaking. A city’s dumpsite held the most disgusting materials and hazardous waste created within the city, usually by business or governmental Research and Development departments. The fact that she was so close to Linick’s dumpsite meant she could actually take the same route this traveler had to reach the city quicker than she’d feared, which was by itself good news. The fact of the matter was, however, she was close to one of the most dangerous places in Neirea, possibly even Talam.

And these monstrosities had broken out of it.

“So I’m very happy to have run into you, almost literally,” the man continued. “Who’d have thought, meeting a Wielder out here, of all places? What are you doing out here, anyway?” 

Right! She’d been about to tell this guy, right before she realized where she’d left her bag. Maren drowned her fear and beamed. She was a Wielder, one who had just saved his life. She couldn’t let him see her anxieties. 

She found the nearest large rock and planted one foot on it, thrusting her chest out and fixing her hands onto her hips. “I am...” she swished her head aside, her tailed hair flopping against her back, and stared at the eastern horizon, “the leader of Talam’s first traveling guild!” 

With the look he gave her, he might as well have found a new Titan to worship. Thankfully, he was so amazed that it looked like he simply accepted that what she said was awesome and deserving of respect – which of course it was. Other people she’d met on the road, however, had often raised annoying questions when she’d made that declaration.

“I’m going to Linick to recruit members and solve any problems I can.” 

“Well,” the man said, glancing at the fire, “there is one you can look into.” 

Maren cut her theatrics. A job. One of the things she’d been searching for had basically run into her.

“Could you look into it?” the man asked, presenting his left arm. A band with a small screen decorated his wrist. “I can pay you. Half now, half later when the job’s done.” 

Maren bit her lip. She should have jumped at the chance, given what she’d just been complaining about before seeing the man. If the abominations had come from Linick’s dumpsite, that meant something disturbing was happening in the city. It was entirely possible that Maren and this man were only parties not involved with the monstrosities’ creation who knew about it. This needed investigating. However... 

“This might be a big job,” Maren said. “Bigger than me.” 

“Then the half I pay now can be thanks for saving my life. Just... please. I left the city, but I have loved ones there.” 

It was like an icicle to her heart. No matter how many reasons one might have, leaving loved ones behind was never easy. Even if the absence of one of them was a reason for the departure.

She smiled, hoping to hide her melancholy. “You got it.” 

The man tapped his wrist to her raised tablet, transferring two hundred credits. 

He blushed, turning away. “It’s not much, but –” 

“It’s enough,” Maren said. It would get her through the week, maybe more if she budgeted well. “Alright, stay safe. And don’t get lost again.” 

“I’ll try!” 

She charged up the hill, ready for her first real adventure since leaving her previous guild. In the excitement, she realized she’d never gotten the man’s name. But when she turned around, he was already gone. 

He had been quick on his feet. Turning from the spot, she faced her destination: Linick. Think about that later, Maren. Right now, you’ve, finally, got a job to do.