World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

Luka Prime strolled around the Beastial Grove with Annie Prime beside him. Animals, beasts, and a monster or two roamed about, snacking on looming plants the size of a house or hiding amongst the foliage, pouncing on their friends when they neared. They played and rested, sunned themselves and groomed their mates.

The paths were congested and thick with hidden details, overgrown like a jungle—courtesy of Jear's nature magic—and crawling with movement. It was as if the area itself were watching, totems and heavy stone statues camouflaged within the magical plants, waiting to scare all who dared to step past the curb. And they did. Frequently. The statues and totems turned red and blared a warning to return to the path.

"Whichever god suggested security totems, has my thanks," Luka said to Annie as they passed over a section of the river splitting the land.

It was a wide river but it narrowed at this specific point. Under the wooden bridge, World Eater's Rapids carried guests through troublesome white waters, bouncing their circular rafts around, slashing and soaking them head to toe.

Luka made a note to himself to add water cannons on the bridge so guests could spray riders when they passed by.

"I'm just glad I don't have to terraform anymore," Annie replied, walking the paths in bare feet. Her magic, while incredibly powerful and versatile, still was weird. That was unlikely to ever change, so toes caked with sand and dirt was something she would have to get used to.

Luka glanced at her feet. "We could probably find you an enchantment spell for that. Maybe a pair of those socks that have five individual toe nubs like gloves."

"'Nubs?'"

"Eh, toe… sleeves?"

Annie laughed. "'Nubs' is better."

They passed under a sign offering guests the opportunity to join a skipper and travel down the Salamander's River Cruise—followed by a talisman of the Salamander God which cast the area in a deep red glow. Amphibious statues crawled from the water's edge; their eyes ruby gemstones and their fangs made of solid gold. The statues uttered words of warning before retreating into the water. They looped a few moments later, repeating Their God's words for all guests.

Luka and Annie joined the back of the line, slowly walking through a swampy wetlands, passing under ancient stone arches sporting carvings of salamanders, and eventually into a dockhouse filled with gathered relics, treasures, and curiosities.

Most of the items were purchased from visiting guests—merchants, adventurers, treasure hunters. Some were real artifacts from around the world, others were fake and overpriced. Whatever the case, the queue for Salamander's River Cruise held items found only in the Salamander's Temple! At least, that was what the skippers would have you believe.

Piling into the riverboat, Luka and Annie sat toward the back and looked for issues with the ride. It was a simple boat-on-an-underwater-track style ride, tracing the outlined path on a circuit. The skippers would act like they were piloting the ride, but in reality they were there for exposition and jokes.

The boat drifted into the Salamander's Temple and the skipper said, "If you feel a warm breeze on your neck... congratulations, you've been chosen as today's snackrifice!"

There was a bolt of lightning, and illusionary fires burst from stone urns jutting from the gray-green water. Heat glyphs sparked to life and humidity filled the antechamber. Ruby-eyed amphibians swam through the water toward the boat, riders screamed, the skipper laughed with vigor. He pulled a magic wand from a quick-sling.

"With this wand, I cast amphibian flambé!"

Boom! The temple reverberated from a magical explosion. Green fire met the swimming salamanders, and the decadent smell of grilled meat wafted through the chamber. The cruise carried on and all the guests clapped.

"I'll be scrubbing frog guts off the bow for weeks!" yelled the skipper.

All the riders laughed—except for Luka. He leaned over to Annie and whispered, "Frogs aren't salamanders though."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Didn't you write all the jokes?"

"No—after we hired all the skippers, they got together and wrote a booklet of jokes. They took it very seriously."

"Huh," Annie said. "Good for them. Get them a bonus or something."

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Luka mentally made another note. He also made notes to fix the timing glyphs on the fire urns. They were out of sync by a quarter second or so.

The next stop was Titan's Nest, a wild family rollercoaster through a giant bee nest. The line was bright yellow and smelled like sweets, twisting and turning down narrow passageways and past "vaults" of honey—Earthen-style bank vaults fitted with massive rotational locks and flashing lights.

"These bees really want to protect their honey," Annie said, not amused.

Luka laughed. "It's for the kids, you know?"

The ride itself was a simple chain lift rollercoaster with swooping drops and underbanked, or overbanked, turns. Halfway through the ride, brakes released, and the trains were free to spin. It was quick, simple, high capacity and loads of fun—if you could handle motion sickness.

The land passed over and around the river multiple times, leading near the lake before stretching far into Emberwood Forest. Animal exhibits filled the edges of the paths, and multiple rarer or more unique creatures gladly accepted treats for petting and scratches.

"Looks like the petting zoo section is doing well," Luka said. "I was a little fearful none of the animals would be interested…"

He trailed off as they walked through a bend. There, in the distance and towering ten meters high, was a dinosaur. Hulking muscles, leathery skin, a flume of feathers around its neck and tip of its stunted tail. It was mostly green with dottings of orange, and teeth the size of a human's head. It sunned itself in the middle of the path, uncaring of a gaggle of children climbing up and down its legs and back.

"Is that?" Annie asked, voice on a different plane of existence. "Why did you never tell me this world has dinosaurs!?"

Luka lacked words, so he said, "I didn't…"

The beasty yawned, and a tongue unfurled like a Labrador. It was then a little tuft of white fur climbed its way to the dino's head and promptly plopped down, king of the world.

"Is that Leo!?" Luka was striding forward in seconds, uncaring of the resting monster. It's not going to attack, it's not going to attack, he chanted in his head, stalking right up.

"Leo! What are you doing up there?"

The puppy dire-wolf looked up, irritated that his nap was already interrupted. Then he spotted Luka and adopted a wide smile. His tail wagged and he barked at his rider. He lowered himself—

"Don't do it!" Luka yelled.

Leo lurched at the edge of the dino's head, once, twice—he jumped! Luka scrambled to catch the flying pup, the two colliding roughly and sending both to the ground. But! Leo was safe! Luka, however, was bruised.

He groaned as Annie ran over. "Bad wolf! How could you—" she yelled, only to cut herself off when the dino opened a massive eye and stared down at her. She swallowed hard, and the monster huffed and went back to his nap.

Luka dusted himself off and asked, "Do we need to do anything about this?"

It was a nearby dwarfish woman who answered, "Nelly no! The lads and ladies are having a ripe ol' time climbing the beasty! Don't ruin d're fun!"

Luka held up his hands in surrender. Between Jear's assurance that Ressen pacifies all monsters and beasts and Goddess Tippy's protection blessing on the park, the dino was… likely safe. Even from kids falling off its back or head.

They decided to continue on, Luka scolding Leo for his displays of acrobatics.

"So, you and Eve, eh?" Annie asked.

The second to last ride in the new area to check was Pegasus Skywalk. Since Annie and Luka were both adults unaccompanied by a minor, they couldn't ride... or could they? They scaled the stairs leading to the loading bay and ethically declared themselves conducting a "safety test" to make sure everything was in working order.

Within minutes, they were sailing between the treetops, circling the area in a nice, smooth, and speedy transit. It was a kiddie ride and it showed. It didn't bank harshly; it didn't invert or randomly dip—it was just a trip through the trees.

And just so happened to be a great place to talk privately since every train had a maximum occupancy of two people. Leo had to ride in Luka's hoodie to fit.

"You're not upset, right? Because if you are, I'll call it off—"

"No!" Annie interrupted. "Don't do that. I was just teasing you." She went quiet before adding, "I'm glad, actually. I was worried the park was becoming your whole life."

Luka shook his head sarcastically. "Why does everyone think that?"

"Because you live, breathe, and eat in a park?"

"Touché."

"I do think the age thing is weird though."

Luka turned to look at her. "That's what I was saying! Everyone told me I was wrong!"

"Oh," she said flatly. "Then you were."

"But you just said the same thing I did!"

"Yeah, so?"

Luka gave a frustrated grunt before turning a hint somber. "I like Eve. Everyone likes Eve. But I am afraid I'm going to ruin things. Friendship, potential romance, etcetera."

Annie nodded vigorously. "Wow, Dad, look at you, identifying the problem everyone has with dating a friend they've known awhile!"

"Ha ha," he said flatly. "Make fun of the guy who died alone and was reincarnated."

"Who died alone after having a wife and daughter."

"Ex-wife. The divorce, well."

Annie took his hand and patted it. "I'm happy for you."

"Say that to me after we have our first… date." It felt weird, really weird, to say aloud.

"I will."