Dawn broke gray and heavy, the Kentucky woods shrouded in mist that clung to the trees like reluctant spirits. Nate woke to the soft rustle of movement. Aura and Night were already alert, their forms silhouetted against the Overlander's windows. Mika stirred on a chair near them, listening to their conversation silently. The three’s presence was a comforting reminder of the night's relative peace. There had been no dreams of chitinous horrors or screeching voids that had plagued him, only fragmented visions of flowing qi, inspired by Night's shared perceptions.

  A short while later, Lindsay was at the wheel, nursing a mug of steaming regular herbal tea. They were still in summer, but it was an unusually cold morning.

  The dungeon they were headed to had officially been conquered earlier that morning. Nate would set up the basic community and prepare it for when they arrived. The rest could wait until later.

  At the moment, all that really mattered was that they now had another community as part of their network. Another dungeon had actually been conquered that day as well, with kobolds; however, since they weren’t near that one, they weren’t as excited about it.

  Angie would be handling that community.

  Outside, Night loped along easily, matching the pace of their Overlander as Lindsay took it slightly slower than normal.

  Nate was sitting at the table behind the girls, working on the community, and taking the moment to quietly cultivate and circulate his qi. A year before, this same action had been nearly pointless, with no discernible benefits to his body. Now, it was a steady stream that bolstered his senses.

  During this trip, they had taken a route that had been carefully planned for them. Outside of one or two deviations, they had stuck to it and avoided trouble that they couldn’t handle, for the most part. They had needed to continually update the information and parts of their route at each stop, but it had been worth it. They were returning in one piece.

  When they were all stronger, they would need to redo this trip again, except then they would actually be able to take their time. Speed had been their friend this time. It was why they hadn’t spent as much time foraging for herbs or just looking around. They needed to keep moving in order to stay safe. It was part of the deal they had made with their parents.

  The Overlander rumbled along the old highway, its tires kicking up pavement and gravel as Lindsay guided it west. The mist had burned off, revealing a landscape of trees, interspersed with hills patched with wildflowers and scattered ruins. Remnants of a time before the dimensional zones had invaded their world and changed everything.

  Lindsay adjusted the wheel, navigating around a pothole. She was quiet, cultivating as she drove. It was a habit that she had started during the defense of their city, though she had never been able to perfect it. Now, with all the time they had spent driving, she had finally been able to get a firm hold on it and could now do both at once.

  “How close are you to finishing up with that community, Nate?” Lindsay asked. Not breaking her concentration.

  “The basics have been put together. The wall is in place, along with the main meeting hall. I just need to add the job and information board, and then a road for everyone to use. The rest I can add later. A few banshees have already started to enter the community and wander around the area, so when we arrive, we’ll have to hold an initiatory meeting with Aura before leaving.”

  She nodded, a smile coming over her face. “We’re almost home, everyone.” Her tone carried hope and happiness, but Nate caught the undercurrent of tired worry. The road trip had tested them, exposing cracks in their confidence.

  Mika clambered onto the dashboard, her whiskers twitching. "Home means more friends, right? Like me, Aunty Aura, and Uncle Night?" Her innocence lightened the mood, drawing chuckles.

  "More than you can imagine," Angie replied, scooping the weasel into her lap. Mika nuzzled her hand, a small comfort amid larger uncertainties.

  Nate watched Angie cradle Mika in her lap, the weasel's tiny paws kneading softly against her shirt. The trip had worn on all of them, but Angie carried it differently, deeper, like an old bruise that throbbed under pressure. He could see it in the way her shoulders relaxed just a fraction, her fingers stroking Mika's fur with deliberate care.

  He turned his attention back to his wrist computer. The community layout was coming together as the dungeon constructed each piece in turn. Sturdy walls of qi-infused stone, a central hall with simple furnishings, and the essential board that had the information about being a dungeon mercenary or champion, along with other information. He added the road last, a wide path leading from the community entrance to the heart of the settlement. It wasn't fancy, but it would work.

  The banshees, monsters with haunting voices that could damage those who heard their songs in various ways. The ethereal, ghostly type of banshee could cause paralysis. The more physical and normal style of banshee would shake the mind and cause anything from confusion, temporary blindness, to outright unconsciousness. There was an even stronger type of banshee whose wail could damage one’s core, hurting their cultivation.

  The new inhabitants of the community were already drifting about, their curiosity drawing them in like moths to a flame.

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  "Done," Nate said, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. "The basics are set. When we get there, we'll need to hold that meeting with the banshees. Aura, can you handle the explanations?" He wasn’t actually sure if the banshees could talk normally. They had human forms and mouths, but that didn’t mean they would understand their language even if they were capable of normal speech.

  Aura shifted from her spot by the window, her five tails curling lazily. "Of course. Banshees are vocal beings—literally. They'll appreciate a clear voice guiding them." Her telepathic tone carried a hint of amusement, but underneath it, Nate caught the subtle thread of her own contentment. Having Night around had eased something in her, a shared understanding between beasts that no human could fully bridge.

  Lindsay glanced over her shoulder, her eyes bright despite the early hour. "How long until we hit the dungeon? I’m getting excited to get home and see everyone." She tapped the wheel lightly, her cultivation flowing steadily as she drove. It was a seamless blend of focus and motion that she'd honed over miles of empty road.

  Angie checked the paper map that they had marked with its approximate location. "About two hours if we keep this pace. The zone should begin a couple of miles off the highway, tucked into some hills. Then we’ll need to hike to the portal itself in the depths of the dimensional zone. The people in Columbus said that there had been no heavy monster activity reported in the area, but we'll need to stay sharp."

  The road began to climb, winding through hills that grew steeper and rockier. The dense canopy of trees occasionally broke, revealing vistas of the Kentucky countryside stretching out below them, a patchwork of green and brown under a vast, open sky. They passed the skeletal remains of a small town, its buildings hollowed out and reclaimed by nature. Weathered signs for an ancient gas station and a diner stood as lonely sentinels to a forgotten time.

  It was in the ruins of one such town that their relative peace was shattered.

  "We've got company," Nate said, his voice low and even. He pointed toward a cluster of stone buildings on their left, where several figures perched motionless on the rooftops. From this distance, they looked like grotesque statues, their forms blending with the crumbling architecture.

  Lindsay slowed the Overlander to a crawl, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. "Gargoyles?"

  "Looks like it," Angie confirmed, already pulling up the relevant note file on her Sub-DCD. "They’re likely from dungeon twenty-eight or thirteen. They have a weakness to blunt force attacks and are susceptible to sonic attacks. They have particularly nasty claws, but their flight is clumsy. They prefer to glide." She looked up, her expression grim. "They're territorial creatures; we must have entered their hunting grounds." She tilted her head in confusion. “Why are they here though? Dungeon twenty-eight is over five hundred miles away.”

  “Maybe they like the rocks in the area,” Nate quipped.

  The gargoyles didn't move as the RV crept past. Their stone-gray skin and hunched postures made them nearly indistinguishable from the weathered statues that had once adorned an old church. There were seven of them in total, their leathery wings folded tight against their backs, their horned heads tilted as they watched the vehicle with unblinking, ruby-red eyes.

  "They're just watching," Lindsay murmured, a bead of sweat tracing a path down her temple.

  "For now," Nate countered, already getting up from the table he had been working at. "Angie, come on, let’s get ready on the arbalests. Lindsay, keep the RV moving, slow and steady. Don't give them a stationary target. Aura, keep in contact with Night and see if he can help if everything goes wrong."

  He popped the first hatch and poked his head through the opening, the cool, damp air hitting his face. Each of the hatches had different access points; one was directly above his bed, allowing him to crouch. Another was above the kitchen table, which forced Angie to stand on the table. The third was above one of the girls' beds in the back.

  Nate quickly unlatched the medium-sized arbalest, the metal cool and solid under his hands. He slid it along the circular rail that enclosed the hatch and swiveled it to face the buildings, his movements practiced and efficient. A moment later, Angie joined him at her hatch a few feet away, her expression a mixture of apprehension and grim resolve.

  "See any leaders?" He asked, his eyes scanning the rooftops.

  "The one on the tallest building," Angie replied, with a tilt of her chin. "It's larger than the others, with more pronounced horns. It’ll likely be the one giving orders." She was careful not to point at it or make any other movements that might make them a sudden target. Up to that point, the gargoyles had been ignoring them, and she saw no reason to change that.

  As if waiting for the most annoying moment possible, the lead gargoyle unfurled its wings with a sound akin to grinding stones and launched itself into the air with a powerful leap. It didn’t even bother to flap its wings but used them in a controlled glide, using the slight elevation to its advantage. The other six followed a heartbeat later, their forms dark shapes against the gray sky as they swooped toward the Overlander.

  "Lindsay, they’re in the air! Don't let them land on the roof!" Nate yelled down through the open pass-through.

  The Overlander swerved sharply, the tires squealing in protest. The lead gargoyle, caught off guard by the sudden maneuver, overshot its landing, its claws scraping uselessly against the roof of the vehicle with a screech of metal on stone.

  "Now, Angie!"

  Angie sighted down the length of the arbalest, her breath held tight in her chest. She squeezed the trigger. The bolt, a thick shaft of special qi-infused steel, shot forward with a concussive thud. It caught the lead gargoyle in the middle of a large, slow turn, punching clean through its chest in a spray of stone dust and dark, viscous fluid. The creature let out a choked shriek and plummeted from the sky, crashing onto the road behind them with a sickening crunch.

  The remaining gargoyles faltered, their aerial formation breaking in confusion.

  "My turn," Nate muttered, lining up a shot on one of the closer ones. He fired his bolt, striking its target in the wing, shattering the delicate rock structure. The gargoyle tumbled from the air, landing in a crumpled heap in the ditch.

  Two down, five to go. But the remaining gargoyles were smarter. They stopped their direct assault, instead circling the RV like vultures. They were waiting, testing their defenses.

  "They're going to try and wear us down," Angie said with a smirk, reloading her weapon with another heavy bolt. “They don’t seem to realize what sort of enemy we are.”

  "I’m fine with letting them try," Nate replied. "Lindsay, find a wide-open space. An old parking lot, a field, anything. We're going to have some fun."

  Lindsay spotted a derelict strip mall a quarter-mile ahead, its parking lot a vast, empty expanse of cracked concrete filled with wildflowers. She floored the accelerator, the Overlander jumping forward in response down the ruined highway. The gargoyles gave chase, their screeches echoing behind them.

  Thank you to all the people who have taken the time to rate the story and to my latest Patrons! I have other stories up on my Patreon, including my current WIPs. Which are now Created G.H.O.S.T. System(My Cyberpunk story), WetWorks2, plus The Restaurateur and His Daughter and DungeonFall. :)

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