The Great Forest of Elswell

It was a very awkward breakfast the next morning. So much so that I took my meal as far away from Roran and the heroes as I could. The man just gave me the willies and I was too nervous that I would give away what I was if I spent too long near the heroes. So, I opted to munch on my toast and eggs at the other end of the long hall.

"No way!" I heard Markus shout out suddenly, making me nearly spill my fiervir all over myself. Worried I looked up and saw the massive male towering over the short but sturdy Dural over at the bar. "you guys have coffee!?"

Oh shit. I glared down at my plate and hoped everyone forgot I was here.

The dwarf blinked in confusion. "It is called Fiervir here, and mostly it is just the dwarves who enjoy it..." I could feel his eyes flick toward me. "But apparently demons have a similar beverage. Sin has also called this coffee."

"You could call it 'fuzzy bunny' and I wouldn't care." Laughed the big swordsmen. "Would you mind if I have some? I haven't had a coffee in over a month!"

I winced again. Please do not connect the dots. Ugh, of course he had to mention the length of time. How would I explain that me and the heroes arrived on Hearth on the same damn day?

"Help yer-self, Sir Markus."

"Excellent. You are officially my favorite dwarf, Dural."

Dural merely chuckled and fished out a mug for Markus. "What about you Lady Kassidy?"

"Yes, please. That would be great thanks." Sighed the girl. She looked like she wasn't much of a morning person.

"You take it the demon way too?" Asked Zach, ever curious.

"What is the demon way?" Asked Kassidy, looking a little worried.

"Gods can only guess..." Huffed Roran who scrunched his nose distastefully at the black brew.

"With milk and sugar!" Said Sandra happily as she entered the common room looking fresh as a daisy. "Some for me too please, Dural." She turned her lavender head back to the heroes. "I hated the stuff before Sin showed me how she drank it, and now I rather like it."

"Where we come from," Said Markus, that one sentence immediately drawing all their attention. No doubt any story about earth was super fascinating to these people. "It is the most widely consumed crop on the planet. Nearly everyone drinks it in some form or another."

"Is it true that our world is like what your people write about in children's picture books?" Asked Zack, his fork full of egg hovering above his plate, forgotten. Clearly, he was just as curious about earth as he was about the demon realm.

Markus nodded. "Mostly like what people call manga books. I guess they are a kind of picture book, but they are not always meant for kids. I was never a fantasy fan myself. This place is a real head spin for me. I mean, Monsters?" He laughed. "All of it is crazy. Hell, I just saw a damn dragon with a demon on its back yesterday. A month ago, I was a high school gym teacher." He shook his head in bewilderment.

"What is a high school? Or a gym? Why does it need to be taught?"

"You ask a lot of questions for so early in the morning." Groaned Kassidy. "And I absolutely want my -fiervir? - the demon way."

"Black for me thanks." Said Markus before turning back to Zach. "A high school is a place where young adults go to learn math and science and the like. Gym class is a course taught in the school. It is where I taught teenagers about different sports and fitness."

"Your noblemen send their children to school to learn of fitness?" Asked the enchanter, looking very confused.

"Not noblemen. I wont say that there aren't class differences in most if not all countries in our world, but in many countries it is against the law to not provide your children with an education. Almost all are sent to school between the ages of four and eighteen, with the option to continue their learning after that if they wish." Explained Kassidy as she accepted the mug of life-giving coffee from Sandra.

"I went to collage on a scholarship." Said Markus. "A collage is a higher-level learning institute. I got in because I was quite good at a sport called football. I got hurt my second year though and couldn't play any more. So, I switched my major over so I could be an educator. It's the job my father had when I was growing up. I really enjoyed it..." He got a sad and wistful look on his face but shrugged it off.

"What did you do before coming here, Lady Kassidy?" Zach asked the healer.

"I styled peoples hair for them." She said simply. "Not as glamorous as Hero of Larasta but I enjoyed it... Maybe I will look into doing it again once this is all said and done."

I again felt the pangs of sympathy for these people. They had lives that were snatched from them. Kassidy looked young but both looked old enough to possibly have children, significant others... clearly they both had jobs that they loved and had pride in. damn Roran and damn the Demon King for making it seem necessary for the people of Larasta to feel the need to take unsuspecting people from their lives and throw the into a life of fighting and blood.

It was nearly an hour before Vale finished his work out- thankfully without me this time as he claimed he did not have the time to baby me through it today- and for us to get underway. Apparently, the place that the dungeon opens up is different every time. Not that that was true for every dungeon, but for this one it was the case. Every ten years it pops up some place in the kingdom of Larasta, its entrance a small green portal. According to Roran there was a spell caster in the capital that could detect when and where dungeons appear and already provided them with the location.

It was why Kassidy was chosen to come to Bellana out of all the heroes, as the magical staff hidden somewhere in the Great Forest of Elswell, was said to be a powerful healing aid. Markus came along as the muscle, both literally and figuratively. Roran claimed he wanted to come along as he was the girl's teacher but it sounded a bit like a lie to me. Or at least not the full truth.

According to the priest, the entrance to the dungeon had appeared near a lake about two hours to the southeast of Bellana via horse back. And so that was where we went.

Mind you we had some trouble setting out when everyone learned that I couldn't ride a horse. Markus and Kassidy were sympathetic at least. Markus had also never ridden a horse before coming to Hearth. Kassidy said that she had had lessons as a child. She had been a bit rusty but got used to it again quick. So, after a quick lesson where Vale was my teacher once again, I got the gist of it and we headed off. At least Vale was a slightly less big of an ass hole as an equestrian teacher than he was a martial arts instructor.

We were nearly at the location when I suddenly realized that I knew this place. It was the very same lake I had awoken to when I was reborn here. The crystal blue water made me feel nostalgic. The weather had warmed up a bit since I had arrived here, and I could hear the buzz of insects in the air and the calls of songbirds. It was a beautiful place.

"I believe it is this way." Commented Roran as we dismounted our horses and began to lead them around the lake. "We could only get so accurate of a location from the mage. Now we must seek out the portal ourselves."

"At least this is a very low risk area." Said Vale, his head panning from side to side as he searched for the gate to the dungeon.

"Indeed." Agreed Roran. "Though that provides its own issues. The chances of low-level adventurers or even just your average citizens, walking into it are greater here. As you can surmise, it would be certain death to any of them if they suddenly found themselves in an A ranked dungeon filled with B rank or higher monsters."

"I guess its just demons you dislike." I said off handily as I wandered over to a tree to look behind it. "Good to know you at least care about most people in this kingdom."

"Sin..." Sighed Vale. "Really?"

"Sorry, the guy clearly hates demons. That or he is a creepy murder stalker. It's the only real options I have for the death glares he keeps shooting my way when he thinks no one is looking."

"I assure that you are mistaken Miss." Gritted out the priest.

"What ever you say mister hero summoner."

"Why do you have to stir the pot, woman?" Growled Vale.

"So, the stew doesn't burn. Pots are meant to be stirred." I said simply.

Markus chuckled. "That was a pretty good come back. You seem to be full of them."

"As I said before: Wit, grit and..." I let the rest of the sentence hang and the man laughed again.

"Hey!" Called Kassidy some ways ahead. "I think I found it."

'It' was a nine foot high, three foot wide, green hued rent in the air. It shimmered like a heat distortion. I looked at it then at Markus with a raised eye. "You'll have to go in side ways." I said with a smirk.

"If I had a dime..." He laughed and I chuckled too.

"What's a dime?" Asked Vale, eyeing the portal.

"A form of money in my world." Smiled Markus. "Shall we?" He asked Roran. I could tell that it irked Vale that they were deferring to the priest when clearly it was Vale who had the most adventuring experience among our party.

"We go." He said before Roran could even speak. "Do not wander from the gate once you get to the other side. We wait till everyone makes it through."

I nodded. "Who first?"

"Sir Markus, you go. Then Sin, Lady Kassidy, High priest Roran, then myself." He ordered.

Markus nodded. He approached the gate, turned to flash me a smirk, and entered the gate side ways. I tried not to laugh, then entered behind him.

Stumbling out of the portal I froze in amazement. Instead of the quiet and gentle lake side woods we had left behind, I found myself in a completely different forest all together. The trees here were closer to the redwoods of earth, their trunks so wide it would take twenty people to reach around the whole circumference, and so tall that I couldn't make out the tree tops. So huge were the trees that the under brush was quite minimal, just patchy moss and grass and the odd fern hear and there.

There was also a light mist in the air, making it hard to see very far or to judge distance well despite the near by area still being relatively easy to see in. Markus stood about ten feet away and I went to join him as the others began to appear out of the shimmering gate.

"I will never get used to this." He mumbled, eyes roaming over the forest.

"You have been to dungeons before then?" I asked.

"A few. Though this is the first A ranked one I have entered. And the first forest one as well. One was a cave system and another was an old fortress. Can't say I have ever spent so much time outside in my life." He added with a laugh.

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"This place reminds me of a trip my family and I took to British Colombia as a kid. All these redwoods, as far as the eye could see..." Said Kassidy as Vale stepped out of the gate.

"Everyone sticks close. This place is dangerous. It may be an A rank, but if you are unlucky you can easily find yourself in an SS Rank situation. If we accidentally pull multiple high rank monsters at once we will be in a very bad situation. Already we are an unbalanced party as it is."

"Unbalanced?" I asked.

"Right, you only ever went solo. Usually a party has a tank type or two, one or two ranged fighters and a healer. A truly balanced party would even have a support type as well. As we stand right now we have two warrior class fighters, two healers- one of which is really more of a summoner who specializes in portal magic- and you, a tamer."

"Okay, but why do you make it sound like I am the rusty cog?" I huffed, offended.

"Well, given your physical strength we can count you as a close-range fighter I suppose but your skill is less than Sir Marcus and I. And in general, tamers are usually supporting type fighters, but you... Well, all you have is your lizard."

"Drogin is a dragon." I snapped.

"Whatever you want to call him, he is small and nearly useless in a fight. Even the spell you used to increase his size is hardly effective in most situations. He may be able to fit between these trees for instance, but he would have next to no mobility, and they are too big and dangerous for him to just sweep aside."

All I could do was growl and glare.

"So, as it stands we have two and a half close combat fighters, one and a half healers, and no support or ranged fighters. All of that in a dungeon that has killed far more prepared people."

"Then why did you agree to come here?" I huffed irritably.

"Because I was told to by my captain. Also, the fact that Markus is a hero almost makes it like there are three fighters. It will be difficult but manageable. If you can tame high level monsters like you claim you can, you may also prove to be useful, If we come across a monster that is useful and you are able to tame it."

All I could do was glare at the man. I could hardly disagree with him after all. I mean, I was the least experienced out of us all. The two heroes may have been here the same length of time as me but they had been training like mad with experts in the kingdom. They had dungeon experience and party experience. I spent a month or so smashing wolves in a nearby forest. And killed ten weak-ass bandits on the side of the road. I was a tamer with only a single, cute, but nearly useless tame. And now I was in a very dangerous place, probably holding the whole group back.

Damn it.

Vale sighed. "I need a basic run down of everyone's skill sets." He told the group. "I am a close combat fighter, specializing in hand to hand and weapons handling. I am borderline crap at magic however so don't expect much from that front from me."

Well, that was a blunt assessment. "I guess I will go second..." I also sighed, mine more in aggravation while his felt more like a resigned sigh. "As the Lord of Assholes stated, I am a tamer with not much use at the moment. Drogin can not help us much in this forest. But I am also a close combat fighter with good stamina, and I would say I am speedy and flexible. Still, as stated, I probably won't be good for anything but assisting unless I get my hands on a useful tame while we are here."

Markus nodded and gave me a reassuring pat on the back that I tolerated because he seemed like a nice guy. I was not a fan of touching. "I am also close combat, but with my Axe I can manage some mid range as well. From what I am told my strength and stamina are very high for a human and I can cast a few self enhancement spells in a pinch. They don't last long however."

"I am a healer." Stated Kassidy, mater-of-factly. "I can manage most any injury if given time to heal it and can nullify many status ailments. I am also proficient at shielding spells if we get in a pinch and need to hole up for a bit and regroup. They drain my mana over time however and the cost gets higher the more damage the shield takes."

Vale nodded. "That could be useful here if something goes wrong." He said, giving the hero a rare compliment before turning to the last member of our rag tag party. "And you heal as well, correct?"

"Yes," said the priest. "I am not as powerful in the art as Lady Kassidy, but I am more skilled at the moment. I have no doubt she will surpass me before long how ever. Mostly I am a summoner. However, I specialize in opening door ways rather than actually bring anything through them I am afraid."

I wanted to tell the guy that that pretty much made him more useless than me, but that would have been a lie. Stupid, racist, priest. Wow, being tired made me cranky.

"Alright, Markus and I will take the lead. Roran and Kassidy, stick to the middle of the pack, and Sin, you bring up the rear and watch out backs." Said Vale, decisively. Well, at least one of us knew what we were doing in the end.

I did not argue and brought up the rear as asked. Vale led us into the forest of massive trees, and we followed. I had to admit that the two men in the lead made for an intimidating sight, but I doubted the monsters here thought much of it. And that thought would prove to be true as we made our way through the endless trees that day.

First, we were jumped by four massive slime monsters known as Gluttonous King Slimes. Unlike their tiny brethren that I farmed when I first made it to this world, these were the size of horses and attacked aggressively. Kassidy nearly had her arm melted off when one slipped past Markus and tried to absorb her. Apparently, these slimes produced crazy corrosive acid in their bodies. I sliced the thing in half with some effort as the two blade wielding boys took on the others, Roran got to work on Kassidy's wound.

It did not get better for us as the day went on. We encountered one strong monster after another during out trek. Luckily they did not come at us in great numbers or we would have been in a lot more trouble. We took down a pair of white, flying snakes and then four of these massive hornets that grossed me out even though I was never one to fear bugs. Kind of hard to keep being afraid of spider when you lived outside with them most of the time.

Roran had the gall to ask me why I hadn't tamed anything, by the time evening came around, we were setting up camp between two large boulders and a tree trunk.

"You really don't get how taming works do you?" I asked icily as we sat around a fire Vale had lit. Markus was in the process of tossing hunks of snake meat into the pot of boiling water while Kassidy and Vale eyed us warily. We had been at one another's throats off and on through out the day. "Its not like I can just bind any old monster to me you know?"

"Oh, and why not? I have seen it done before." Snapped the priest. I hadn't really noticed, it as I tried not to look at him too often, but he was actually younger than I had first thought. Maybe in his late twenties.

"Tch. Yes, you can make temporary contracts with monsters. And maybe other tamers could do that easily enough with B ranked monster like the ones we have been running into, but not me alright."

"Oh?" he asked, the picture of calm but I could hear the sneer in his voice "Are you suddenly claiming to be lacking in talent then?"

"No. not at all. Though I have no real reference for what is or is not talent in this field. I have read what I could over the last two weeks however, and I know that most tamers almost exclusively use temporary tames."

"Why?" Asked Kassidy, sighing as she was quite tired.

"Because it takes a great deal of mana to make a true taming bond with a monster, and the contract can only be broken by the death of either the monster or the tamer. It is a soul binding contract, unbreakable. As such, it takes a massive amount of mana. More mana than many have as a matter of fact. Which is why tamers are very specific with the monsters they make these pacts with. My talent lies in these bonds, however. I could tame lots of low level tames, I am sure, but I cant hold the larger ones on a temporary basis, not against their will at least. Maybe if I had more time to train but I haven't been at this long."

"It begs the question as to why you took a scrawny Dragon Newt as a permanent tame then?" Said the priest and I glared at him.

"Drogin is my first tame, yes. And maybe you see no value in him, but I do."

"But," Chipped in Markus, stirring the stew. "If it consumes as much mana as you say, then what value is there in it in the end? How can you tame a higher ranked monster if a low ranked Newt saps a person dry?"

"The initial contract takes a great deal of mana, yes." I said, leaning back on my elbows. "But for a monster like Drogin, the mana held in limbo is small. I get most of it back over time or if I take mana potions."

"Limbo?" Asked Cassidy, confused.

"It is not a thing in many magical arts." Explained Vale, speaking up at last. He had remained mostly quiet throughout the day's activities. Speaking only when he had to. "It is almost exclusive to summoners, which tamers are a kind of branch of. Tamers have these restrictions most of all however."

"What is it?"

"Most magic spells are either instant casts which cost magic in a large amount up front, or constant casts, that need a steady stream of mana as the spell is being used. Drogin's fire breath is an example of the first and your shield spells would be an example of the second." Kassidy nodded, listening closely. "Spells that Sin is talking about are a variation of quick cast spells. They cost a massive amount of mana up front. However, instead of all of that mana being returned over time, some of it is held in limbo. This is usually until the spell has been cancelled out."

"Exactly." I spoke. "When a temporary tame is initiated it is more like the second type of spell. The mana is slowly drained over time till the contract is released. But I am not very good at those yet. My contracts are permanent. I lost a lot of mana to tame Drogin, but he was only a rank E when I tamed him and so the amount of mana held in limbo is low. I could tame many dragon newts if I wanted."

Roran made and irritated noise. "Only because of what you are. Being a demon means you have a large mana pool, not necessarily talent."

I didn't like his tone but I nodded. "True. I have more mana than most any other race would have in their individuals."

"Not as much as us though." Chuckled Markus. "Apparently, as heroes, our stats are rather crazy." He waved a hand over the back of his other hand and I realized that he was looking at his stat chart. "I am not even very good with magic at all, and I have a crazy amount of mana."

"How much?" I asked, genuinely curious how a heroes mana pool compared to mine.

Markus was about to answer when Roran spoke. "There is no need to tell her that Sir Markus." He said with an annoyed glare thrown my way. "It is usually best to keep ones stats to them selves."

Markus laughed. "Its fine. As I said, its not like I even use it much, so if someone thought to mess with the numbers it wouldn't really effect my fighting style." He turned to me with a smile. "I have a pool of 1000. Seems a waste to me."

"Mine is fifteen hundred. Though, I am told that with time and training I can expand upon that." Said Kassidy. "I hope to do so as many of my defensive spells are constant consumers. The bigger the pool I have the more effective they are."

"What about you?" Chuckled Markus to Vale. "You said you are next to useless with magic right?"

"Yes." He said. "I have a mana pool of just 250. It is larger than the average human but even a moderately trained human mage would out class me."

"What about you then, mister Hight Priest?" Markus asked Roran, who was giving me a calculating look. I figured he either was curious about my mana pool or simply wonder if he could believe anything I had to say, no matter what number came out of my mouth.

"I can't see why it is anyone's business." He said with an irritated sigh. "Needless to say, it is large enough to open door ways into other worlds. In this, I at least surpass the heroes, for now."

Kassidy laughed. "As you say. Well Sin, what about you? You're not about to tell me you have like five thousand are you?" She added with a small laugh. It was nice to see her unwind a bit.

"I have a mana pool of twenty thousand." I admitted for the first time. The camp was silent, and I saw that Roran continued to look at me oddly.

Markus was the first to speak, laughing a little. "You are joking." He said. "The other demon we know, he said that demons have more mana than humans normally, but he never said anything about those numbers. And on top of that he said that you are hampered magically wile on this world..."

"If I was in the demon realm, I would have a mana pool of one hundred thousand. Being on Hearth shackles me with and eighty percent decrease in mana pool and mana power. It makes my magical attack pretty weak, but my mana pool is still quite big, and so taming seemed to be a natural choice. It requires mana pool not magical attack."

"You are trying to tell us that, under optimal circumstances, you have a mana pool of one-hundred- thousand?" Repeated Vale, looking like I was a mad woman.

"Yes." I said feeling a little self conscious. Commander Rice had said that he was shocked by my numbers but I guess it never really hit home how large they really were. Compared to normal people, yes. But to the heroes? Surly once they got some more training in them, they would get close right?

"I do not have Captain Rift's gift." Said Vale, looking amazed. "So I can not say that I know what a demon should or should not have as a base of reference. But I am nearly positive that even twenty thousand is an insane mana pool. Why would anyone even need that much mana? It is illogical. Even most of the strongest spells that mages use in the A or B ranked spell sets are only able to consume mana in the hundreds... Perhaps, spells that I can not even comprehend could cost in the thousands. But I would imagine that they would be spells of such devastation that anyone but the demon king himself would ever use for fear of destroying this world."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Massive mana pool or not, I do not have the magical attract strength required to cast such a spell, even if I had the fuel for it. My magical power is only 30. Perhaps that is a little higher than the average demon in this world, but it is paltry to most spell casters."

"That's true." Vale all but mumbled, still looking concerned.

"But it is why I am perfect for taming. As you pointed out, taming holds mana in limbo. The stronger the monster the more mana in limbo. The more monsters the more mana is locked away. Even the spell I used to make Drogin big is extremely costly. A spell that did cost me thousands of mana points. That held thousands in limbo."

"So, a normal tamer would never have been able to cast that." Breathed Kassidy. "Where did you learn such a spell. Surly if it was that costly than it was in a class of its own..."

"Maybe normal people can not cast it due to the cost, but taming magic is, in and of itself, simple magic. So long as you have the mana, you can cast it. It is why I can cast it. My magic power is so small and I am a demon. My magic is demon magic normally, not the elemental magics of Hearth or other spirit or fae worlds. I can barely cast the simplest of Hearthian spells to be honest."

"So, the combination of you being a freak demon with and unusually large mana pool is what make you so adept at taming?' Asked Kassidy. "A happy combination of odd factors?"

"Pretty much, yes." I said. "I am still learning. But it is why I am picky, to get back on the original topic, about what monsters I tame. My monsters are for life, and if I am forever going to loose mana to tame them then I need to be sure they are a right fit for me. I am sure that, once I find one, I will know. It was how it was with Drogin. I saw him and I knew I wanted him. Instinct maybe?"

"Well then I guess we just have to keep carrying you till instinct kicks in." Huffed Vale.

"You are a complete ass, you know that?"

He merely smiled like he dared me to do something about it. I thought about it. I really did. But the food was about done, and I was starving. Starving and exhausted, so I decided to save it for another day.