Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

Tears ran down Basima's face as she desperately clung to Jin's hand and silently prayed that she wouldn't trip again. Her prayers went ignored, however, as she stumbled over a fallen branch hidden in the underbrush they were fleeing through.

The screams and sounds of Max's flesh being torn apart along with Kian and Mary, who she had known her entire life growing up with the Servants, still echoed in her mind, and she wondered if she would be next. Would Jin order the others to abandon her, too, like she had with Max? Would Jin think she wanted to be a sacrifice as well?

"Get up, Bas," Jin commanded as the Wayfarer yanked on her arm to lift her with more unnatural strength. "You're not dying today, remember? Get up and don't stop running."

She held tighter onto that hand like it was the last hope she had in this life. Letting herself get half-dragged by the strange woman from another world. Perhaps the gods had brought Jin here for them? To make sure she survived. Was it foolish of her to want to believe that?

Probably, but as the howl of the monsters rang out behind them, she chose to be foolish because despair and death were the only other options.

"Keep going, Kar!" Jin yelled out as they saw the larger man slow and lean against the trunk of one of the tall trees to try and catch his breath. "I know it's hard, but just a bit further, and we can rest!"

Hadia released Alim's hand now that the man was more aware of the fact that they were fleeing, and she moved to Karam's other side to help get him moving again. "Come on, big guy. We get to the base, and we can rest safely. No stopping till that ward is up!"

Karam didn't respond through the heavy breaths, but he nodded and pushed himself forward.

Basima made the mistake of glancing back and screamed as she saw one of the monsters heading for them. Apparently, there hadn't been enough of the others to go around, and the Brushwolves were ready for more prey.

Jin startled her by throwing the spear again, but it missed the beast this time as it dodged the projectile. Her own eyes were able to track its movements, however, and Jin's attack reminded her that she had magic of her own now as she recited the incantation for her spell again, "May the arcane arrow fly true!"

Her magical arrow shot forward from her finger and hit the monster in the shoulder. It let out a yelp of pain and slowed but didn't stop chasing.

"Shoot again!" Jin yelled at her. "Yours didn't have a cooldown! Shoot till it's dead!"

She obeyed and fired off another that hit it in the eye and made it fall to the ground dead. Then she was being pulled again as Jin held her hand and didn't leave her behind.

They caught up with the others and stayed together. Alim made sure their barriers were all up, while she and Jin kept checking behind them to see if more monsters were giving chase.

Another ten minutes of sprinting had Karam leaning against another tree and wheezing, "Just… leave me… No point… in all of us dyin'... 'cause of me."

"A hero doesn't leave friends behind!" Daren objected, crossing his arms over his chest and striking a pose that made Basima think of the recordings she had seen of one of the past Champions dubbed the 'white knight.'

She and most of her peers had crushes on that one growing up, along with a handful of others. Despite her parents warning her that the Speakers made the past Champion look grander than the reality, it wasn't until after her eighth birthday almost half a year ago when she was shown an actual Season recording of the Day of Death—the day she was now getting to experience firsthand.

Jin pointed her spear at Karam angrily and harshly added, "I'm not leaving our healer behind. We won't survive without you, so shut up and keep moving."

"Hey," Basima said weakly, trying to diffuse the obvious tension in the Wayfarer. She took a few steps forward and gently put a hand on that spear shaft as she said, "If we can't survive without him healing us, then us pushing him so hard that he collapses isn't going to help either."

Jin gave her an odd look, one that seemed twisted with anger, fear, and longing, before lowering the weapon. Basima wasn't sure what to make of that look. As far as she was aware, nobody had ever looked at her with longing before, and it was weird to see it coming from someone she barely knew.

"Sorry," Jin finally said, rubbing a hand over the prickly black hairs that had been slowly growing in on her bald head since they first met. "We can let him rest, but be ready to fight. I doubt those monsters can't follow our scent… wait a minute! Kar, can you change our scents into something different and foul? Something that might make them think some other monster got us first?"

"I—" He took another deep breath and said, "I can try."

"Just do it temporarily. We'll walk slower and rest again in a little bit. We just need to get away from our original smell," Jin commanded, and the large man nodded. He focused on Jin first, putting his hand on her shoulder, and then the nastiest odor started coming from her that Basima had ever smelled in her life.

"Oh, gross! She definitely farted bad, Cici!" Daren complained loudly, moving further away as Celia worriedly followed after him.

"It's just Karam's Spell, Dare. You know Kar's always nice to us. He's going to help make the monsters not want to find us," she tried to reassure.

"Gods, Kar," Hadia choked out through tears. "We need to be able to breathe still. What even is that? It's like a rat crawled up a guy's ass and killed itself."

Poor Alim actually turned and started to dry heave for a moment before quickly moving further away to join the siblings. He turned and started making those weird hand gestures to Jin, who gestured back while choking out, "Yeah, maybe tone it down just a little so we don't kill ourselves in the process?"

Karam complied, shifting the scent more to still be unpleasant but tolerable for all of them.

Once he finished applying the scent disguise to all of them, much to Daren's displeasure, they began moving in the supposed direction of their base again. The forest was filled with a light mist that Basima secretly enjoyed, and the overcast sky was actually a nice change from the relentless burn of the desert sun.

It was the sounds that kept creeping her out. Or rather, the odd lack of them unless it was the snarl of a monster or scream of their victims. The sound of the other Servants dying was still echoing despite the silence.

"Alright. Here, tucked in the brush around this tree should be good," Jin said as she gestured to a large evergreen surrounded by ferns. "Hopefully, nothing will see us this way, and the smell will keep them from investigating while we rest."

Once everyone was sitting hidden and catching their breath, Basima quietly asked Jin, "What are those gestures you keep making at Alim?"

The Wayfarer looked at her in surprise for a moment before shrugging. "Alim called them the Whisper Signs. It's a sign language they use, apparently. I just happen to have a translation Talent that lets me understand."

"Oh," she said. Then she nervously asked, "Could—Well, if we survive tonight, could you maybe teach me so I can talk with him too?"

"I'd like that too," Hadia added, obviously listening in the cramped space.

"I tried learning before," Karam said between deep breaths. "I can't do a lot of them since they require two hands, but I know some."

Jin gave an awkward look before saying, "I mean, I can try, but I'm not exactly a good teacher. I'm sure Alim would be better. I can help him with it." The Wayfarer sighed, then added, "First step is getting to that base. Do you know if there's a day cycle here? It's already pretty gloomy, but are we gonna have to worry about it getting darker?"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Probably," Hadia said. "It usually follows the time cycle outside of the Tower unless it's part of the biome's particular challenge."

"I remember stories about a biome that was constantly night that had more Dark-type monsters and another that was the opposite with constantly bright daylight. The way it messes with the Champions' sleep cycles was one of the problems that made the whole floor harder."

"Great," Jin said flatly, and even her gestures for Alim somehow looked sarcastic. "So if this started right at midday, we only have—what?—maybe six hours before we won't be able to see shit in this gloom. Any idea how far from the first bracelet ping till we reach the base?"

They all shook their heads and Jin ran a hand over her face in obvious frustration.

"Should we start moving again then?" Basima asked, despite not wanting to leave the apparent safety of the bushes they were in.

Jin sighed again and nodded. "Yeah, it's probably not safe out here."

She nodded and stood with the others, helping Karam get up as well, and carefully followed after Jin as she moved to check the surrounding area before taking up the rear. Basima glanced back at the strange woman and asked, "You're not going to lead the way?"

"I can lead!" Daren announced, beginning to move forward, when Celia's firm hand on his arm stopped him short.

"No, we're staying in the middle so we can respond no matter where a monster might come from, okay, Dare?"

He gave an exaggerated sigh. "But the middle isn't as fun as up front."

Jin had a little smile as she shook her head and said, "Hadia should lead for now. You're quicker than she is, right? You can catch up to her quickly if we need you to. I'll stay in the back in case anything tries to sneak up on us again and call out if I need your help, alright?"

Dare grinned. "Alright. I can run really fast now!"

Basima didn't argue with Jin's plan. She felt herself relax slightly at the idea of this woman from another world watching over them and protecting them from the monsters of this horrible nightmare. Perhaps she could even hope that she would live to see tomorrow.

They walked for at least another hour before the next ping on their bracelets went off and pulled them more to the left. Jin had been getting worried that they had somehow gotten turned around at one point, but now she worried that the distance was just that great to get to the base. Making it there before nightfall was seeming more and more impossible.

Needing to repeatedly stop to kill tiny demonic forest critters didn't help speed up their pace. Luckily, none seemed as dangerous as the viney wolves. Unfortunately, much of the loot they generated had to be left behind since Mary had died, and they had no pockets or bags. They loaded their arms with what they could hold but couldn't afford to be weighed down too much.

During one of their rest stops hidden in the underbrush, Jin finally took the chance to shift her focus to her bracelet to learn more about the looting Talent she had discovered.

She remembered Petal's brief explanation of what an aura was and that she would need an ability to sense and control her own, but he had also mentioned everyone already had one. Did that mean she could use this last option still so they weren't forced to leave all their current loot behind?

Jin contemplated asking the others but wanted to word it in a way that wouldn't make it seem like she had a hidden reason for asking. Eventually, she settled on, "Someone told me that we can unlock our auras by gaining the right ability, but none of us got one. Is it not guaranteed?"

"That's right," Hadia answered as she kept her focus beyond the brush.

"Does that mean anyone who has a Talent that relies on using their aura is out of luck?"

"Depends on the Talent," Karam interjected when Hadia shrugged. "For us, our auras are basically trapped as a thin layer over our skin until it gets empowered by an Aspect ability. That essentially means we'd have to be close enough to touch whatever we want our auras to affect. Most aura abilities grant some kind of passive Boon, but I've heard of other abilities affecting auras in different ways."

"So how can—" Jin broke off as a branch snapping sounded from nearby, and everyone tensed, aside from Alim, who reacted a beat behind. That was when Jin realized she should have taken the time already to teach the others to actually be more like Alim and be able to communicate silently. The hand signs were used by the Whispers for a reason, after all.

She placed three fingers vertically over her lips in the sign for "silence" to all of them before signing to make sure Alim was prepared for a fight. When the creature finally appeared, Jin was initially relieved to see what almost looked like a normal deer from Earth. It looked like a young buck that might have been two years old based on the antler points.

Her heart almost stopped when a second deer appeared next to it; this one looked older, and it sniffed the air nearby curiously. Jin wondered if there were regular animals in here for them to be able to hunt for food as part of the survival challenge. When the larger one gave an ear-splitting bellow and its mouth unfurled into disgusting-looking tentacles, Jin realized that monsters would be the only source of meat for them should they survive.

The creature charged at them—whether in hunger or offense to the smell, she wasn't sure, but it mattered little as she yelled, "Run!"

They all bolted in the direction they had been heading for their base, clambering through the underbrush.

"Look! Our new home!" Dare shouted from ahead as the siblings easily outpaced the rest of them. "We'll be safe and cozy there!"

Just as Jin felt a wave of relief at the sight of an old wooden cabin through the trees, Basima tripped again. Jin hoisted her up by the arm only to shove her to the side a moment later when she sensed the monster about to crash into them.

Her [Mana Barrier] shattered at the sudden impact with the tinkle of broken glass and translucent blue shards that quickly dissipated. She heard another bellow and glanced back to see the larger deer fallen to the ground and shaking its head, but the smaller one had been right behind it, head lowered and ready to skewer her.

Pain radiated through her left side as one of its antler prongs scraped her hip, and the monster's body made her tumble to the ground. When she glanced back up to see it turn around, she realized the antlers had changed, growing longer, sharper, and gaining a metallic sheen to them. They could easily skewer her like a kabob that its tentacles would lick clean.

"Keep running!" she yelled at Basima when the woman looked like she was going to try helping her. "Get to the base!"

Conjuring her [Silent Spear] again, Jin used it to stand again. Trying to brace herself, she attempted to skewer the younger stag first instead.

It sorta worked.

The rampaging monster did get skewered as it charged her again after she managed to put her end of the spear in the ground like a pike. However, she also got skewered by the metal antlers as one pierced through her shoulder and another hit on the same side right below her bust.

As Jin struggled to breathe or even move past the shock of pain, she vaguely registered that her lung must have gotten hit. When she placed a hand on the lower prong causing the problem, a new display window popped up in her wavering vision.

This time, Jin mentally declined, weakly shaking her head. Another display popped up in her line of sight.

Jin nodded and was relieved when the prongs impaling her turned to gray ashes, releasing her from their frozen grip. She fell to her knees and idly wondered if monster ashes could cause infection.

A familiar bellow rang out again from behind her, and she looked over her shoulder in time to see the larger Ironhorn charging at her with its metallic antlers aimed straight at her. It was an odd sensation to feel suddenly more powerful as the [Dare to Believe] Boon settled upon her, and Daren appeared at her side. He gave her a broad smile and a thumbs-up as he said, "A hero leaves no one behind!"

He whipped his cloak in front of himself, turning it into a large sheet and burying it in the ground in front of them. It rang like a gong when the Ironhorn crashed into it a moment later, and Dare loudly laughed before telling her in a proud voice, "Just wait here while I save the day!"

Daren vanished behind the cloak-turned-shield before she could protest. She was still bleeding heavily despite the boost to her health and Fortitude that she felt helped keep her holding on to consciousness.

Jin felt someone else grabbing hold of her and trying to help her up, but her heart broke when the Boon ran out, and the wall of white fabric suddenly turned to gray ashes. Before her was the final scene of a large Ironhorn dead on the ground with its skull bashed in but a long metal prong skewering the happy hero that had saved her life. Despite the prong going up through the bottom of his jaw, he still wore a smile, and Jin's world went dark as sorrow consumed her.