Jacob looked around to make sure everyone was okay. He yelled at the roots once more.

"Please, let us go."

Slowly, the dark roots seemed to unwrap itself from everyone and crawl back underground. Maria and Lidia seemed to be breathing heavily as they fell on the ground. Lidia’s legs and face slowly started to heal. Slimo walked over to Doc and made sure he was okay. Meanwhile, Jacob looked at his own hands. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He was in disbelief his power worked. A small smile appeared on his face.

’So, this is what it’s like to have power.’

After checking on Doc, Slimo walked over to Lidia.

"Are you okay? I slapped you pretty hard back there."

"Don’t sweat it. My ability has to do with energy transfer. I can convert physical force done to myself into either my regenerative abilities or raw power. A slap like that only helped me."

Slimo stared at her impressed.

"What an incredible ability! Have you ever lost a fight hand-to-hand?!"

Lidia smiled widely.

"In a hand-to-hand fight, I’m immortal."

This sent chills down Slimo’s spine. However, Lidia slapped him across the back.

"It’s okay. Pointy and sharp things will do me in nicely, which a lot of people seem to have these days unfortunately."

Jacob walked up to Slimo, still panting.

"What the hell was that thing?! I’ve never seen something so huge in my life!"

Slimo looked at him with fear in his eyes.

"That creature was a leviathan. It had to be. I never thought I’d get to see one and live to tell the tale."

"What the hell’s a leviathan?"

"One of the most powerful creatures you can possibly face in this world. Remember how I said there isn’t much of an understanding about naming these monsters before? I guess that was only a half-truth. It’s true we don’t know much about the specific types of monsters, but we do know how dangerous they can get."

"You mean to tell me they can get even more dangerous than that?!"

"I’m sorry you have to hear it from me."

Even Lidia seemed to be pacing anxiously hearing this.

"What other levels are there? What else should we be worried about?"

"There’s seven classes of dangerous beings like the one’s we’ve faced: beasts, monsters, spirits, leviathans, guardians, keepers and providences. There’s even a subclass of experience each of them possesses that can be sorted into three categories: Infants, elders, and deities."

"Which one did we just face? A deity?"

Slimo paused for a moment.

"As much as I don’t want to admit it, it’s possible we only faced an infant leviathan. However, it’s hard for me to tell since this was my only encounter with one."

Jacob’s heart seemed to beat out of his chest. This world they were living in was much more dangerous than he could have ever anticipated. All of a sudden, it became clearer why the kings of his home kept this knowledge hidden from the public.

Maria walked over to Jacob and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn’t seem to be affected hearing these things from Slimo, but Jacob felt she wouldn’t have come over to him if she wasn’t at least slightly bothered.

Doc was the next one to speak up.

"How about those snow beasts we saw in the mountains? What were they?"

"The biggest one was probably an elder monster, but the two others were infant monsters at best."

"You mean to tell us that those were one of the weakest creatures we could possibly face?!"

"I’m sorry. I should have told you all before we left. I knew this journey was going to be dangerous."

There seemed to be a small tension that fell over everyone in the group. However, that didn’t stop them from moving forward. Jacob was the first one to step forward.

"Well, if creating a world of peace means fighting horrors beyond reason, it seems I have no choice. Let’s go find the nearest village and continue searching for our friends."

Slimo was shocked hearing Jacob’s courage.

"But aren’t you scared?"

Jacob looked at him, confused.

"Scared? Of course I’m scared! Terrified, even! But if I’m scared while I’m walking freely through grassy plains, how do you think our friends feel? They are probably beyond scared. We have to be brave and save them as soon as we can."

Lidia walked closer to them and put her arm around Jacob and Maria.

"He’s right. We can’t change how the world is right now, so we have to adapt to what we’re given. Even as horrible and terrifying as it may be."

Slimo sighed to himself and studied the landscape ahead of them.

"The village should be another half-day trip from here. Let’s start walking over while we still can."

As the group gathered themselves and started walking, Maria held on to Jacob’s hand. He looked at her and smiled brightly.

"I’m sorry to say, but our dream is looking more and more impossible. Sometimes I wish my dream was to be a baker instead."

Maria chuckled.

"That would be horrible! I’ve seen you cook before, there’s no way you would make money!"

"Hey! That was my first time, it doesn’t count!"

Slimo joined their conversation.

"Maybe I can give him a few tricks, for your sake Miss Maria."

Maria laughed once more.

"Thank you, but I think it would be more fun if I taught him myself. Maybe you can show my mom some new recipes!"

Slimo blushed slightly and looked at Lidia again. Lidia seemed to be picking at something in her teeth using her nail instead of listening to the conversation. Her hair was a complete mess from the crazy flying they did and her clothes were disheveled. She saw Slimo looking at her and barred her teeth at him.

"Did I get it? I keep trying to pick at something that’s stuck in my teeth."

Slimo lightly whispered to himself.

"So beautiful..."

"Huh? Did you say yes?"

"Uh... Sorry, yes! It looks like you got it!"

Lidia took her hand and wiped it on her shirt before letting out a massive burp.

"Man, I haven’t released that much energy in a while. Thanks for giving me a good ole’ slap back there! I think you almost broke my face!"

Lidia put her arm around Slimo and started rubbing his head with her knuckle.

’So beautiful...’