Kennon woke to the smell of smoke and the screeching of the alarm. He opened his eyes and could barely see. The sharp sting of smoke filled his lungs. He coughed as he tried to clear his eyes.

  It was no use, there was too much smoke.

  He fumbled his way to the door. Feeling Bev already outside. Panic rose in his chest. What happened? Why was the alarm sounding? Were they under attack?

  In an instant his mind cleared. And just a moment later he was outside.

  It was still dark, the moon shining high overhead. He blinked the tears out of his eyes and saw it.

  It stood on four squat legs with a long tail and reptilian skin. It was almost crocodile like. But crocodiles didn’t tend to have frog heads.

  Its massive jaws were open wide, almost a meter tall. Black smoke poured from it like a grass fire. One of its too large eyes flicked to Bev, she was still in her night clothes, but she already had her halberd in hand.

  Smoke belcher - predator - T2

  Kennon started to chanel water jet immediately. Then the unthinkable happened. In the blink of an eye the belcher’s long tongue shot out and wrapped around Bev. she didn’t have time to react before she was pulled into its gullet.

  Kennon screamed in primal terror as he cast water jet at the beast’s midsection.

  It seemed to leap with incredible speed, the centimeter thick jet of high pressure water just barely hit its leg. It twisted in the air, and landed on the ground with a loud thud. The injured leg twitched as its head thrashed. Kennon readied another cast as its mouth seemed to explode open. Bev flew out along with smoke thick enough it looked solid. And a large amount of blood.

  Kennon saw torn belcher flesh vomited up along with Bev. and through their link he new she was alive. The beast’s eyes flicked about wildly as it drew mana into its legs.

  Kennon fired the water jet at its head. It hit with a piercing shriek and the mana in the belcher went still. It was dead.

  Kennon ran towards Bev, only stopping long enough to grab his pack.

  He examined her and felt his heart drop as he realized she wasn’t breathing! He pulled a health potion from the pack with a speed he didn’t know he had and forced it down her throat.

  A moment of silence passed. And Bev coughed out smoke. She was breathing! She was ok!

  Kennon nearly cried. She was unconscious still. But she would be ok.

  Then he looked around their camp. And he saw their cabin was still smoking. It was on fire!

  He cast smother on it and the fire died. But the damage was done.

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  Their cabin was unlivable. A quick glance showed that their storage crate had just barely survived.

  The cabin didn’t matter. They planned on leaving in a few days anyways. They would just need to accelerate the plan.

  Bev would recover. But it would be a few hours before she regained consciousness. Kennon took a moment to center himself.

  They survived. They could do this. They would be ok.

  Then he heard a growl in the distance.

  A squawk of some unnaturally large bird.

  They may have been in more trouble than he thought.

  Bev woke up on the ground. Her armor strapped on tight. The sun was too high for morning. And why did she sleep in her armor?

  Then she remembered suffocating in the belcher's mouth.

  She bolted upright in a panic. Looking for Kennon.

  She spotted him throwing a lighting bolt at a flaming bird.

  Was she really awake? This wasn’t right. She watched the bird fall to the ground twitching. Still alive, until Kennon stabbed it. The next thing she knew she was leaning against the cabin wall. Kennon staring over her.

  “Can you hear me?”

  She thought for a moment. Then nodded.

  “We need to get out of here. The belcher burned the cabin. And the fight seemed to attract every monster in the realm. I have everything loaded up. Can you stand?”

  Bev tried to process what he said. It didn’t make sense. Beasts didn’t go this wild unless something was wrong with the realm.

  Then she caught the part about the cabin burning. And her heart dropped. She looked behind herself to see the cabin half collapsed. The walls scorched and burned.

  Tears welled up in her eyes. They had worked hard on it. That was their home! Why? Why did they have to lose two homes in as many months?

  She noticed Kennon attempting to help her stand. She grabbed his offered hand and stood up. Her legs were unsteady. She felt sick to her stomach. But she could move.

  She heard a growl from the forest, and almost on instinct pulled a spear from her storage and telekinetically skewered the approaching tiger.

  She looked around again. There had to have been a dozen dead beasts. All of them T1. all of them left where they fell.

  Then she noticed the cart she had built to haul their things. It was packed just as her brother said. He was right. They needed to go.

  She retrieved her bone spear and placed it back in storage. She was thinking a lot clearer now. Her armor’s mana storage was getting low. She charged it quickly to keep the enchantments running. Kennon must have been keeping it charged. Actually he must have put it on her.

  She finally could think clearly enough to check the notification that was begging for her attention.

  Level 8 reached. +10 soul points + 100 maximum mana.

  New suggested skills available.

  Hah! Perfect timing.

  She heard a violent cry coming from the forest.

  She chuckled darkly. Who knew, they might be reaching level ten before they left after all.

  She took one last look at what had become their home. They never intended to stay there for long. But it really had felt like a home.

  Kennon hadn’t deemed to pack the smelter, or the smoker. They would be leaving behind several things. But nothing of monetary value.

  Just before they started to leave her eyes caught on the figure of a winged serpent. It had cracked from the heat. And lay in several pieces.

  They left. Bev taking the lead, and Kennon dragging the cart. It was time to get to civilization.

  Thank you for sharing my journey. To help me walk it I have a set up. It is 20 chapters ahead and releases at the same time as the Royal Road chapters.

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