Zoe woke, sprawled out on the hallway floor. Her black and red striped dress somehow managing to get caught on her shoulder in her sleep leaving her somewhat relieved she was still in the privacy of her own home as she shimmied her dress back down where it was supposed to be.

  She'd solved the problem of sleep long ago. Not just the need for it — that had been done for her the same day she'd arrived in this world. Or several days after? She wasn't quite sure the order of events anymore. But the actual process of sleeping had been solved now, too.

  There was a period of time where she'd become hyper fixated on optimizing her sleep. Enchantments to keep her from rolling around, enchantments that kept her clothes in the right places while she tossed and turned.

  But when you only ever slept because you felt like it rather than a necessity, the problems with sleep were half the fun. It just wasn't the same if you didn't sometimes wake up having somehow stripped all your clothes off, or with a bit of a kink in your shoulder you got to stretch out with a satisfying groan.

  When there was no true point to sleeping, the point became the process with all of its fiddly, frustrating bits just for the sake of it all.

  Her work wasn't in vain, the tools she'd made were fantastic for people who needed sleep for the sake of sleeping. But Zoe never had troubles falling asleep. It was either the right moment, and out she went, or it wasn't and she wouldn't bother trying.

  Zoe smacked her lips, looking around. At some point on her nap, the two fat boys must have left her. She could find them, of course. She could find almost anybody anywhere in any of Foizo with relative ease, though unless she needed to she tried to avoid invading their privacy.

  Maybe the cats were having a private moment in their litterbox. They deserved that, at least.

  Several cracks accompanied Zoe's groans as she stood and stretched out her sore limbs. First on the list was Sally. The girl rarely left Foizo anymore. In her younger days, she'd been adventurous. Racing out to nearby cities and dungeons, tagging along with whoever could protect her.

  A slight pulse of mana rushed around Zoe as she teleported to Sally's house. She arrived in a familiar room. Well, familiar in the sense that it was obnoxious and different to anything she'd ever seen before. A telltale sign that she'd made it to Sally's home without problem.

  Pink cushiony walls covered in rough looking white strands of fur with a ceiling made of what looked like entire swaths of the white fur and a floor that somehow looked like she was standing on slices of ifosa.

  The one thing that hadn't changed was the door. Made of the same black stone back in Zoe's home. This was, after all, one of Zoe's rooms. Most of her friends — at least the ones that didn't live with her, had dedicated rooms for friends to teleport into. Teleporting outside somebody's front door often spooked people nearby and also wasn't legal. Technically, though it wasn't often enforced anyway.

  Sally was the only one who decorated it with so much disdain for Zoe, though. Each time she'd stop by it seemed Sally found yet another way to disgust even the most patient of interior decorators.

  Zoe pushed some mana into the black door, a quiet ringing heard from the other side. A few minutes passed in silent contemplation before Sally opened the door.

  She wore a simple purple gown that stretched along the floor behind her, with hair dyed to match and a pleasant, patient smile as she saw Zoe.

  "Zoe," Sally said. "Is this a friendly visit? Or do you have yet another favour to ask?"

  "It's a favour. But!" Zoe held up a finger, "I think you'll like this one."

  "That's what you said last time. And I most certainly did not like being tortured." Sally lifted an eyebrow.

  "It wasn't torture, it was resistance training. And you loved it." Zoe said.

  "Is resistance training what we call that now?" Sally questioned.

  "Okay, so you were testing my enchantments. You still loved it." Zoe said.

  Sally sighed. "I did, I did. But if that's what you're after, I'm not in the mood for pain today." She did a twirl, the purple gown lifting from the floor as it fluttered around her body. "This is a rest year. I will be comfy and lazy and enjoy the company of soft furry companions, even if it kills me."

  "I need a cat sitter. Emma and Joe are still out and I need to go almost die a few times to learn why staying here is better." Zoe said.

  Sally chuckled. "You're finally leaving us behind, huh?"

  "Something like that. You heard of that self proclaimed sinkhole wizard?" Zoe asked.

  "Mhm, why? Wait. No way, you're travelling with them? Zoe." Sally scolded. "They're pretty strong but they're not going to do the kinds of things that challenge you."

  "No, no. Well, yes. But I'm going to just tell them who I am and invite them along for my journey. And if they don't want to go meet a dragon then I guess they can just go do their own thing. But I'm gonna travel with them for a bit, see if this sinkhole magic actually has anything going for it or if the dude's just being weird. Also, the other guy has a really interesting skill I want to study." Zoe said.

  "Really?" Sally asked. "What's it do?"

  "Anything? I think anything. It has random effects." Zoe answered.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "Is that on a system layer or with mana?" Sally asked.

  Zoe smirked. "Good question. Tell you what, I'll travel with them for a bit to study it and wait right, that's already the plan."

  Sally rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll watch your cats. When are you leaving? Today?"

  "No, fifteen days. Or fourteen now, I guess. I had a nap." Zoe answered.

  Sally nodded. "Alright, send me a message whenever you're leaving. I'll just be here, lounging around anyway. Actually, come pick me up and drop me off at your place."

  "Sure thing. Alright thanks Sally." Zoe said, a pulse of mana washing over her as she teleported back home to one of her workshops.

  This workshop was for the little things. Crates full of failed rings and pendants stacked along the walls, shelves displaying the ones she felt a particular sense of pride for. Her first identification obscuring enchantment sat proudly in the middle, nestled in between her first invisibility enchantment and her first attempt at a panacea. They all worked somewhat, showing the proof of concept at least though none of the ones on display were perfected.

  She often wondered what that said about her. Most people would put their perfected, finished enchantments on display, she imagined. But to her, it was more about the memories. Those precious moments when she broke past some wall that was stopping her, found some workaround that at least proved it to be possible.

  The next days flew by, the anticipation growing with each passing moment. She was at last, leaving. She wasn't going on much of an adventure, there was no grand plan, no destination in mind. It was just a simple adventure, off to explore and discover just for the sake of enjoying herself.

  By the time the day came to leave, she'd made a few enchantments. Six were identical gifts for Tom and Jeff — rings that would let out enough light to even deter Wanderers in the dead of night. Pushing back the shadows and demons that inhabited them by overwhelming force. Made from the purest of black stone she had, oozing with incredible amounts of mana.

  They would recharge on their own over time, but the mana required to power the enchantments was far greater than ambient mana could provide in a reasonable time frame. And unless they found somebody generous with an abundance of mana, they wouldn't be able to power the enchantments themselves either.

  Thus, six of the rings. If they still died after that, they'd overextended and there was nothing Zoe could do to prevent death by idiocy.

  Another six were rings that opposed the first six. Rather than creating a powerful burst of light, they would rip light away with an incredible force. Gifts for the Wanderers, if she could find a friendly one willing to communicate at some point. A significant portion of her time was just testing to make sure the six she gave Tom and Jeff were powerful enough to overwhelm the ones she'd give the wanderers.

  She wanted to be nice and develop friendships with the wanderers, but giving the Wanderers the power to kill her other friends just seemed a little too far. Maybe it was hypocritical, giving Tom and Jeff the power to kill the Wanderers she hoped to befriend.

  Zoe shrugged. First come first serve. The Wanderers had their chance a thousand years ago and decided to traumatize her instead.

  One enchantment was a small looking leather bag enchanted with a much larger space on the inside to hold several more enchanted pieces of a tent, that when put together formed yet another space distortion in the form of a tent. On the outside, a normal tent. On the inside, a comfortable yurt.

  Some of Foizo's enchanters went so far to make their multi-part enchantments even assemble on their own. Zoe never bothered herself, though. Setting up a tent was an important skill to have. It being larger on the inside was one thing, but assembling itself? That stripped an experience away from the user, and just felt wrong.

  And the last was a gift for the dragon, if she found it. She wasn't sure if Dragons liked gifts, or if they'd need this particular one. But it was better than not bringing a gift, she felt.

  Zoe rounded up the enchantments and tucked them away in her Storage skill before she stood up and walked to the imposing black door. She stared at it for a few moments, not wanting to accept what was behind it, and then pushed it open.

  Inside, the room as almost empty. The walls, ceiling and floor all made from the same black, glossy rock and oozing with mana. In the middle sat a plain wooden bench, which Zoe walked to with pained steps and sat down on.

  She looked up and started reading the words carved into the wall.

  Ash and Lila, farm owners east of Flester. Met them as glorified snow blowers. I regret to forget how Ash died, but I believe with the fall of Flester. Lila died of old age, having moved to Korna after the fall of Flester. Introduced me to Eliza.

  They will be remembered.

  Name after name, etched into her walls and preserved with enchantments. Jeffrey, Rizick. Peter and Lauren. Olga, Doris, Kiara. The names never ended. Death after death, loss after loss. Even some that managed to reach immortality died to wars or dungeons. Some that went off on adventures hundreds of years earlier, never to return. Maybe they died of old age, maybe they died to some dungeon. Maybe they just had enough resistance that Zoe's Sending didn't work anymore, and had decided not to come back. Zoe tried not to hold on to too much hope, but sometimes the ideas crept in anyway.

  It was a part of life, Zoe knew. She always did. People would live, people would die. And she, as long as she were lucky, would continue to bare those memories. But these days of mourning were the painful ones. They were necessary, to remind her of who she was, and where she'd come from. To remember the ones who had touched her life and made her the woman she was proud of.

  The worst were the ones she couldn't remember. It wasn't until several hundred years in that she'd decided something like this was necessary. Her naivete in her younger years making her believe she would never forget something like a person's life.

  So many of the names were just names. Most just had short, somewhat accurate paragraphs of their lives. Zoe wished she had the time to write entire biographies about each of these people, to remember each of them in as much detail as she could.

  But then she wouldn't remember them. Writing that many would take too long, reading that many would never happen. They would sit and collect dust on a shelf, with only a few ever being read. In a way, forcing Zoe to pick her favourites. To only remember a few select people. But there were so many who had touched her, so many who mattered to her.

  So a wall worked better. She could sit in this room, surrounded by their names, their memories. And every so often, she'd carve another name in. Another important memory of who they were and how they lived. Just enough to jog her memory, not so much she'd get lost in any one person more than the others.

  Zoe took a deep, quivering breath and walked up to one section of the wall. "Thank you. I'm going back to the valleys today. Met some new people, Tom and Jeff. One of them calls himself a sinkhole wizard, the other has some fascinating skills. I'm going to try and meet the dragon," Zoe draws her fingers across a trio of names she'd met on her first trip down the valley. Brick, Spark and Blue.

  "I don't think I'll get revenge. I don't think you'd want me to, anymore." She chuckled, thinking back on the memory of first seeing the dragon with them. The sheer force it elicited, the understanding that they just couldn't matter to it, no matter how much they tried. It was awe inspiring.

  "But maybe I'll talk with it. I wonder if it can talk. I think it can. I hope it can."

  She didn't believe in an afterlife, didn't think that any of these people could hear her. But somehow, it made her feel better to talk to them anyway. The slight hope that they could still hear her, still understand her felt pleasant, in a way.

  "Alright," Zoe turned towards the open door. "I'm off now. I'll let you all know how it went when I'm back, alright?"

  Links:

  Ko-Fi:

  Patreon: