“Gah! Damn it.” Anna grumbled, she had been knocked to the ground, she made an attempt to get back up but then saw the blade of a greatsword drive into the ground next to her neck, with Barry’s foot on her back.

  “Give up? Or do you want to continue?” Barry asked, Anna had managed to connect a couple of hits that impressed Barry, but not enough to make him feel discouraged.

  She sighed, no longer struggling against his hold. “Yeah, that’s it for me. You got me…” Anna had a look of defeat on her face as she said that.

  Barry had been keeping an eye on her mana consumption the whole time during their sparring session, and he could still see that she had enough for one more use of her teleportation skill. ‘She’s definitely lying, but I’ll play along.’

  And just as he predicted, she vanished from her position, leaving a red cloud of mist behind that started to inflict damage to him the longer he stayed inside. This was Barry’s first time experiencing Anna’s newly evolved teleportation, the clouds that she left behind were now capable of harming anyone inside them for a bit before it faded away. ‘These clouds are so annoying, good thing that was her last use…’

  Anna then reappeared behind him, attempting to sweep him off his feet with a low kick, but was not successful. He simply kicked back against her leg, catching Anna off guard and causing her to tumble back. “What-”

  Barry’s blade was pointed at her neck, interrupting her mid-sentence. “You really think I’d fall for your cheap antics? You should know better.” He mocked. “Continue or submit, which one?”

  Although flustered by his display of calmness, not even fazed by her deception, she could see the writing on the wall and admitted her defeat. “Tch…fine! You win, I promise this time.” Anna looked the other way with an irritated look.

  She then saw him stow his weapon back into his inventory and surprisingly extended a hand over to her. Anna was not expecting him to help her up, but accepted the offer.

  He pulled her back up onto her feet, and she regained her stability. Although Anna was still salty over her loss, she decided to give him a compliment. “Thanks; I’ll admit, you’re still strong despite being weakened. Seems like I still have more training to do-”

  “That’s for sure.” Barry commented, not only cutting her off, but also stunning her because of how rude that sounded to her. “Although your use of your teleportation was rather tricky to deal with, I think excessively using it is bad for long-term battles. You were so damn dependent on it. And another thing…”

  He started nitpicking about everything that Anna did, Barry was repeating everything that Thalia was feeding to him about her analysis of the way Anna was fighting. The rest of the group, along with some spirit animals, had stopped what they were doing to spectate the sparring session that had occurred.

  Anna just stood there, listening to Barry’s rant, which kept irritating her the longer he went on. She tried not to let his criticism get to her, and when he was finished, he asked if she got everything that was told. “Yup, got it.” Was her only reply, but even Kat could tell that she was clearly fuming by what was said to her.

  A thought appeared in Barry’s mind, realizing that he had something in his inventory that he had been holding onto for a long while, when he tried defending Ned’s town. “Hold on, I have a consolation prize for you, since you tried your hardest…”

  Anna wondered what sort of prize he was going to give her, even more shocked to hear him give her something in general. She watched as he took out a pouch filled with feathered throwing knives made of jade. “Here, I had gotten these as a reward a long time ago from a quest. They’re called “Jade Song Feathers”, supposed to poison and weaken anyone struck by them, but they’re all single-use.” He explained, handing them off to her.

  She inspected the knives, astonished that they were a Rare type of item. “I was not expecting you to give me something like these. Why?” Anna was curious, genuinely wanting to know the reason.

  “I’m no good at throwing knives like you are, might as well give them to someone who does instead of having them do nothing in my inventory. So do you want them or not?” Barry asked again, crossing his arms.

  Keeping the pouch close to her chest, Anna gave a sly grin. “Of course, I’ll take them. I won’t say no to free stuff, thanks.”

  After giving her some advice and a pouch full of jaded knives, Barry looked at his surroundings and noticed that the others had been watching what was going on. “What are you all standing around for? Get back to doing what you were doing, no unnecessary breaks.” He ordered, and everyone got back to it.

  Barry felt like he had given everyone enough advice and thought it was time for him to check out for him to get some personal training of his own. He told the group that he was going to go back to sleep and to wake him if anything important arised, or if they decided to make another stop at some place.

  He walked out of the room and slumped back onto his usual couch, it wasn’t hard for Barry to get into a sleepy mood. And within a minute, he had drifted off into a deep sleep, returning back to his dreamworld.

  Upon entering his dream, he saw Thalia sitting on a boulder facing a pond, playing the violin that was gifted to her. The melody was enchanting to say the least, Barry had to admit that her music was very entrancing, although it wasn’t something that he would listen to. Maybe the person he was before losing his memory would have liked it much more.

  “Thanks again for giving the group some advice, I don’t think my criticism alone would have been helpful.” Barry appreciated Thalia’s support.

  The silver knight played for a bit longer as he approached, before slowly ending her performance. “You’re very welcome; again, it’s like I’m helping my soldiers train during my lifetime.”

  Barry chose a spot to begin his individual training, going based off Thalia’s regiment that was given to him. He summoned a couple of soldiers from Haglethorn, preferring to fight enemies that had a proper fighting style compared to creatures like Mongruuls that were wild and unpredictable.

  Barry was curious if the challenges from his contract would be affected by what he did in his dreamworld. Those challenges were the following:

  ‘Will what I do in my dreamworld count towards the challenges? It would be very convenient if it did, time to find out.’ Barry hoped that it would be taken into account.

  Thalia watched from her spot, deciding to switch up her theme of music to fit Barry’s training, intense upbeat music filled the air that made Barry feel immersed in every action that he did.

  He drew his hammer from his inventory as his weapon of choice and initiated the fight against the guards by charging at them. Barry clashed against the blade of the first guard, immediately feeling the difference of strength he had now compared to before being debuffed.

  ‘Wow, I would have won this exchange before, but now…I’ll have to be more cautious.’ He took a step back, avoiding the swing of another foe from his side, then delivered a hefty swing at them but was avoided with a duck. ‘Yup, -20% loss of physical prowess in general makes quite a difference.’

  Barry’s training continued until after he was finished fighting against 20 guards men, his enemies managed to drop his HP and Stamina to near 10% respectively. Needless to say, he was more exhausted than he was before. Throughout the fight, he didn’t want to use ‘King’s Commanding Presence’ to increase his physical stats because he wanted to see how weak he was currently at his base form.

  It didn’t take long for him to regain his composure, and so he inspected the contract again to see if any of the enemies he defeated were taken into account.

  ‘Mmmm…yeah, it was too good to be true. Oh, well.’ Needless to say, everything that he did, was not counted towards the challenges. A look of disappointment appeared on his face briefly before accepting the case.

  Thalia stopped playing her violin before speaking to him, taking notice of his expression. “What’s the matter? Upset that none of the challenges from your contract acknowledge what you do here? I had a feeling that would be the case.”

  “I wish that it was, but if it did, I guess the contract wouldn’t even be considered a challenge since I can’t die here. Agh, whatever. I have a feeling this will all be worth it in the end anyways.” Barry replied, rising back up on his feet to get back into the groove of things.

  “Hold on, Barry.” Thalia called out, stopping him. “I have a bit of advice for you, especially given the drawback that you have acquired.”

  Barry gave her his full attention, they both took a seat on some chairs he manifested before she spoke to him. “I know you’ve said it before, that you fight with your undying rage inside as your main source of strength. And I can acknowledge and respect it from what I’ve seen so far, but can you imagine it in the form of something…visually?”

  Her question sounded deep, he thought about it for a moment. “Well…I can imagine my rage as wanting to devour the gods and everything in my path that tries to stop me. Is that what you mean?”

  He couldn’t see it, but Thalia had an awkward smile on her face behind her helmet as she laughed. “Um, sort of…can you picture your rage as something in a physical form? Besides yourself?”

  Barry tried thinking again, but shook his head. “Not really? Can’t really think of it in a specific form other than myself choking out these damn gods…and that fucker Judas.” He still hated the fact that the doctor managed to get away, possibly alive, due to his allies.

  “Hmm…let me tell you a bit about what goes on through my head as I fight.” Thalia advised, Barry listened closely to what she had to say, which seemed very insightful.

  She resumed. “When I fight, I imagine myself as an elegant swan dancing around the battlefield. I weave through my enemies' attacks with gracefulness, while listening to a rhythmic melody in my head that matches with the events going on.” Thalia could see the amusement on Barry’s face, she smirked. “Yes, I picture my techniques and maneuvers being performed as a swan would.”

  “That’s…” Barry found what she was saying kind of odd, he couldn’t imagine a swan fending off a dozen or so enemies by itself. “...so weird?”

  She nodded. “Yes, as weird as it sounds, that is how I imagine every action I take as a swan. The people of my kingdom would in fact nickname me that, Swan. People would compliment my movements on the battlefield, similar to dancing with grace and beauty without fear. I was simply a serene swan swimming through a sea of hostility, unnerved by those trying to kill me. You might think what I’m saying is crazy.”

  “You got that right.” Barry couldn’t help but blurt it out, causing her to chuckle at his honesty. “A serene swan in the midst of a raging battle, slaughtering everything around it with peace in its mind. How is that not insane?”

  “What I’m trying to get at is that you should imagine your fighting style as some sort of…creature. I promise you, by doing this, everything that you do when executing these techniques that I bestow upon you will make them much stronger.” Barry could hear the sureness in her voice as she spoke. “Decide upon something like I have, to incorporate in your teachings.”

  Barry rubbed his head, trying to think of something on the spot, but couldn’t. “Yeah…nothing’s coming to mind…however, I know damn well that a swan isn’t what matches what I do.”

  Thalia agreed, a swan was not what she would compare Barry to. “Indeed they are not, I can not see yourself as one. You’re too rageful to anything docile, you don’t exude a calming presence to those around you, but rather a menacing aura that-”

  “Okay, I get it!” Barry interrupted, he already knew what others thought of him. Thalia smirked under her helmet, clearly amused by his reaction.

  If imagining his techniques as some sort of creature performing them, Barry would do his best to choose one as soon as possible. “I’ll try to think of any creature that I can compare too, if you say it will help…this will be a difficult task, it seems.”

  “I’m positive there is a creature out there that you can relate to, I can think of a couple that share the same resilience and perseverance you have.” Thalia placed a hand on her chin, nodding to a few that came to mind.

  “Like?” Barry wanted to know.

  Thalia let out a light laugh before replying. “Not. Telling.” Barry had a poker face, bothered that she wasn’t willing to share. “I want you to decide for yourself, that is your own assignment to work on as you train. I wonder what you will pick.”

  Barry would roll his eyes and return to his training after their talk, taking into account everything they spoke about. Through his combat training, the thought of which creature best represented him floated in his mind.

  After getting a feel for his current strength from his warm-up with the guards, he figured he could apply some of his available points that he was saving to his physical stats. He had 56 available points and placed 10 points in each stat respectively: Strength, Agility, and Endurance.

  He would have 26 available points left, these point distributions basically set him back to where he was before in a way, the passive from his skill ‘King’s Commanding Presence’ also helped even out the negative effects that the contract was applying to him.

  Once that was done, Barry would go on to practice against more guards and later some average Mongruuls before challenging the larger brute Mongruuls in 1v1 matches. His fights were definitely easier now after adjusting his stats, but he still took his matches seriously, never being complacent.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  This would go on with breaks in between as normal, while under Thalia’s tutelage. And like the other times, he would get irritated at her criticism and insults that actually helped improve his drills.

  It was then that he felt an outside force shake his physical body that was sleeping, he figured it was someone trying to wake him up and informed Thalia that it was time for him to go. They exchanged their goodbyes until next time prior to him laying down on the grass in a resting position, shutting his eyes.

  He felt his essence drift away, connecting back to his sleeping body that was on the same couch he laid. Whoever was shaking him stopped as they saw him rise from his slumber, “Yeah, what’s up?” Were his first words, stretching his arms out.

  It was Puck this time who had awoken him from his sleep, the Kobold looked to be in some sort of distress. Everyone else was asleep around this time, except for Ron, who had taken Buford’s shift on giving Abe directions. “Puck, sorry to wake you, Barry. Puck had a crazy dream and needed someone to talk to.” The Kobold explained.

  “Crazy dream?” Barry wondered what it could be that made Puck nervous, so he lent an ear to his little Kobold friend. “What sort of dream did you have? I haven’t seen you this worried in a while, since our fight against Wreav.”

  Puck took a deep breath and sat down, collecting everything that he was able to recall from his vivid dream. “Puck saw a huge, shiny dragon! It flew above the clouds, looking down at the world. Puck then saw it swoop down at Puck, it scared Puck at first, but then it stopped and floated.”

  This dream of the Kobold sounded very odd to Barry, he urged Puck to continue, wanting to know more. “What happened next?”

  “Well…it just floated in front of Puck, like it was staring at Puck. The dragon glowed a bright golden-light that made Puck hard to see up close. Puck then heard a voice, maybe it was from a big, glowing dragon?” The Kobold paused for a moment, trying to recall what was said.

  Whatever this dragon was, it sounded like it was no ordinary being. Puck had his hands on his head, thinking about what he heard, but was only able to provide one word. “It all sounded fuzzy, but Puck was sure he heard…Valkynoise?”

  “Valkynoise?” Barry repeated, he said it again a couple of times before thinking about another name that sounded familiar. “Wait a second…”

  He then opened his system menu and inspected Puck’s character profile, his eyes then darted at Puck’s Class title, which was “Descendant of Valkynox”.

  “Do you mean…Valkynox?” Barry replied, thinking that had to be the correct name that Puck was referring to.

  The name rang a bell in Puck’s head, he jumped up and down. “Yeah! That’s it! Wait…do you know big, glowing dragon?” The Kobold tilted his head, looking puzzled.

  Barry shook his head, “No, I’ve never met the dragon you’ve mentioned. I, uh, only guessed that was its real name.” He was surprised to know that was the real name of this mysterious dragon.

  “Oh.” Puck sat back down, still curious what this majestic dragon was doing in his dreams. “Well, although Puck thought it was weird for this dragon to show up. Puck believed he felt a warm…friendly presence from glowing, dragon? Puck don’t know for sure.”

  ‘Valkynox…that could be the dragon’s true name, which would mean that Puck is a descendant from it if I’m going based on what the system is telling me. However…what could be the reason why it popped up in his dream?’ Barry wished he knew more about this vivid dream of Puck’s.

  Barry then placed a hand on Puck’s head, rubbing it to ease his well-being. “We’ll figure out the meaning behind this dream of yours. You let me know if you ever experience anything similar to it.”

  Puck smiled, he was glad that he was able to share his concerns with Barry. “Okay, Puck will let you know if it happens again. Puck gonna go back to sleep again, thank you, Barry!”

  The Kobold then returned back to his sleeping spot, which was a floor cushion that he used to rest on next to Barry’s couch.

  ‘Valkynox, a shiny dragon, supposedly. This dragon has to be real if Puck’s Class title mentions him as a descendant of this dragon. Wonder what it wanted from Puck?’ Barry pondered the possibilities for a bit, maybe someone knowledgeable about this world’s mighty dragons knew what this thing was exactly.

  An unexpected notification appeared in front of Barry, he took a glance of what it was. ‘It’s Calista, wonder what she has to tell me.’ He opened the message and began reading it.

  Contained in the message was Calista informing him about the whereabouts of the next prism keys, with their approximate coordinates on the world map. She explained to him how everyone has been working hard to build the base for when they returned. Edward and Sylvia were preparing for their trip to the tundra biome so that they could be ready to retrieve one of the prisms. She wanted him to inform Ned and Oswald about the other location so that they could get started on their travel there before these mysterious competitors reached them before they did. As for the last prism location, she would get back to them on that.

  Barry responded back quickly, assuring her that he would inform the old geezers, as well as telling her that they were almost there at the water castle. After he submitted his reply back, he let Ned and Oswald know where the other coordinate was, which was in a volcanic area.

  Sometime later, Barry received a reply back from Ned and Oswald that they were on their way over to get a head start on getting the prism. They wished him safe travels and hoped everything was going alright so far. Calista responded back with a similar message, also adding the fact that Sylvia hated that she got the short end of the stick by going to a tundra biome.

  This got a laugh out of Barry, he was glad that he didn’t have to go there. Regardless, he felt more confident knowing that there were others he knew that were working on completing this main quest as soon as possible. He was determined to prevent these unknown beings, that were from Ron’s future sight, from achieving supposed world domination.

  With all that said and done, Barry would have liked to return back to sleep so that he could continue doing some more training, but couldn’t bring himself to rest. He then had the bright idea to check out the different biomes in Abe’s backyard for any creatures that he could use as a persona for his techniques.

  He rose from his couch and did just that. Barry took his time to observe and watch each different creature for anything that shared similar traits or characteristics with his.

  This would continue for some time, taking great care to not miss any details that he saw from each type of animal. However, despite looking through each biome and seeing creatures that he never would have seen back on Earth, none of them were able to come close to what he was imagining.

  Barry stepped out of a tundra biome, shivering somewhat as he placed his hands on his head in frustration. “Gah! I’ve gone through them all! Why isn’t-” He stopped himself from getting any louder, realizing that everyone else was still sleeping. ‘Why isn’t there any creature that I can use as a persona!’

  Suddenly, he received an unforeseen call. ‘Who the hell is calling me now-’ One look at the caller ID and Barry was already madder than he was before. ‘No, what does this bastard want!’ It was Ven.

  He switched the biome of Abe’s backyard back to summer before stepping inside, that way he could talk in private with Ven while not disturbing everyone else’s sleep. Barry answered the call, greeting his favorite moderator with a pissed off tone. “What the fuck do you want!”

  “Well, a happy hello to you too, my cash cow- I mean, oh so kind and benevolent contestant!” Ven replied, sounding cheerful, not minding Barry’s hostility at all. “How’s your travel through this wondrous land treating you so far? We’re not on air by the way, the show is taking a break for a bit, so I figured I’d check in with you.”

  Barry took a seat under a tree before beginning his irritated chat with Ven. “Good, because what the hell happened back at Haglethorn. I heard from Oswald that the city was abducted by mother nature. That was your doing, right?”

  “Ah yes, that did happen. It’s truly tragic that the city fell into ruins, the people there put up quite a fight against those plant monstrosities. Maybe if the city’s forces banded together with the Chakarie, they might have stood a chance to uphold their precious home. But alas, they were too dim witted to agree to a truce.” Ven sounded sorry in an overly dramatic type of way.

  “So, you’re not denying that you were the one that made that quest happen?” Barry wanted to hear him admit it was him.

  “Mmmm, it wasn’t just me. There’s a bit of voting here and there when it comes to deciding on the type of challenges we, moderators, throw at you all. I rather enjoyed a challenge that makes you all act in total chaos and disarray.” Barry could hear the amusement in Ven’s voice as he spoke.

  Although Barry hated the people of the city for not believing his truths about the gods true intentions for involving everyone in this game they were in, he knew that there were those that wanted no part in it like him. “So a collective vote, that’s how you all decide upon what sort of quests we face.”

  “Precisely, we want to be sure that the sort of entertainment we agree upon is enjoyable for the gods watching. Of course, we also have to be sure that the quests we assign to you are manageable depending on who is involved. Especially with contestants like you around, the challenges are sure to be difficult.” Ven enjoyed every piece of action Barry went through.

  Thinking back on everything that Barry had faced so far, it made sense to him why the quests were more demanding and strenuous to those around him. “So because of me, anyone else involved that doesn’t match or come close to my strength is bound to struggle, or worse, die?”

  “Bingo!” Ven blew a party whistle into the call. “Your unwavering will and determination to overcome gruesome odds makes us believe that you have what it takes to get through these harsh trials. And I happen to notice that you dislike helping those in dire need, yet choose to do so. We love to exploit that weakness about you, spices up the challenges.”

  Barry slammed his fist down on the ground, he was pissed that the moderators were able to realize his one and true weakness. “So that quest with the Eviscerators invading Ned’s home, you pushed for that! Didn’t you! You knew I wouldn’t be able to ignore them!”

  “Woah, woah, simmer down. You and your pal Ned became great friends afterwards, didn’t you? Yes, I did take advantage of your kindness that you try to hide so much. But everything worked out in the end, right?” The more Ven spoke, the more Barry wanted to strangle him.

  Although Ven was correct in that he was able to be friends with Ned, as well as obtain an ally to help complete the main quest, Barry hated the fact that he was being manipulated against his own will. “Ven, fuck you. I’m not as kind as you think I am. You might have discovered my damn weakness, but that doesn’t mean I’ll always be forced against my will to act in your best interests. You’d best remember this.”

  Ven smiled from where he was, finding his rebellious act amusing. “Duly noted, my dear cash cow. Oh, and by the way, your welcome about my hint of your little Kobold companion…” There was a pause before he resumed speaking. “Say…how did you meet him, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ven’s tone was a bit serious this time.

  “And why the hell would I tell you that?” Barry wasn’t going to feed him any information, thinking he was going to do something cruel in the future involving Puck.

  “Hey, honest question here. I was just curious how you two met, me and the other moderators were unable to connect to the world after transferring everyone for some time. So I wasn’t able to see where and how you encountered each other.” Barry couldn’t help but feel like Ven was being…genuine about what he was saying.

  Even though Barry sensed that Ven was telling the truth, he still didn’t give a fuck if he was. “Nope, not telling. So if you have nothing else to say, then leave me alone and go bother someone else. I have shit to do.”

  “Hmph!” Ven smacked his lips. “Fine! Keep your secret, I’ll find out one way or another. But until then, take care and stay entertaining for all of us! Oh, how I love to see your reaction when you and your crew see what we have in store for you all.”

  Barry didn’t like how excited Ven was, all he could expect was something dangerous that needed to be overcome. “Go take your annoying presence elsewhere, fuck off already.”

  “Yes, yes, no need to be so rude. Farewell, Barry!” The call then ended after Ven’s goodbye, leaving Barry to process all that was said.

  ‘So, Haglethorn really did fall…had they worked with the Chakarie, maybe they would have been able to defend the city. And my presence has some influence on the quests that are presented to those around me, am I really that interesting that the moderators have to make the challenges harder than they have to be?’ Barry had a couple of things on his mind after learning some things from Ven.

  But more importantly, he was curious about why Ven was fixated on Puck for a bit. It wasn’t like Ven to sound serious, when he was usually an obnoxious, sarcastic bastard that liked getting under his skin. ‘Why did he want to know more about Puck?’

  He tried thinking about what was so special about Puck aside from him being the only Kobold he knew that was capable of using pyromancy. ‘Maybe that, but it could also be that he’s potentially a descendant from that dragon Puck mentioned in his dreams. Valkynox. Yeah, that has to be it.’ Barry was sure that was the reason.

  Barry had a couple of things that he wanted to know. The first was finding out who this Valkynox dragon was, Puck mentioned its presence being friendly but wasn’t quite sure.

  As for the second, he was curious what sort of beings were competing against him and the other contestants, it was something that was always on his mind since Ron’s vision. He already knew that there were Eviscerators and the plant monsters that were seeking these prism keys, but what about the other two types of enemies?

  Another concern were the prisms that served as keys, what exactly were they keeping locked away? And where? He knew that it had to be something that had the potential to give someone total domination, but Barry really wanted to know what it was.

  ‘Answers, answers, I’ll get them eventually. But for now, we focus on claiming the first prism and push on.’ Barry rose from the ground, ready to go back to his lovely couch.

  But just as he was doing so, the door back inside the living room opened. It was Ron. “Ah, you’re in here, having a moment of peace, are you?”

  “Yeah, kind of. But I was just about to head back inside. Did you need something?” Barry asked, walking on over.

  Ron shifted his head around on his shoulders, thinking of how to describe what he was going to tell. “Well, in short, we should be arriving at the Ichor Ocean in a few hours. Buuuut, there might be a teensy problem that I’m not sure about.”

  Barry was confused by what he meant. “What do you mean? Just say it, what sort of problem are you insinuating?”

  “You’ll want to come outside and see what I’m talking about.” Ron flat out said, waving a hand to follow him.

  And so Barry trailed behind him, he noticed that everyone in the living room was gone and must have been outside to check on what this problem was.

  He stepped outside, the carriage was parked on a hill that had a clear view of everything else down below, with more forest to traverse through. The time of the day was morning, but the clouds were gloomy, a gray sky with no sunshine or rainbows. Everyone else took notice of Barry, they were looking out beyond the forest where the vast Ichor Ocean was at, but more specifically what was going on there.

  “There Barry.” Ron pointed in a direction. “Tell me that doesn’t look like a treacherous storm over there.”

  Ron was right, Barry’s eyes zoomed in to get a better look at the situation ahead. “There’s a town near the coastline as well…and a lot of ships as well? It could be that other contestants have either attempted to ride through the wild ocean, or are hesitant about doing so.” Barry assumed.

  He tried looking even further out into the ocean and spotted a faint glimpse of what could have been the island where the first prism was being held. Barry opened his system map and inspected to be sure, but quickly confirmed it. “The island, where the water castle is located, that’s where we need to go.”

  “But how?” Kat asked. “The water looks too dangerous to cross, how do you think we’ll be able to pass through?”

  Abe smacked his shin and hollered out loud, catching everyone’s attention. “You kiddies are too scared about a bit of turbulence. Why, I have something in store for y’all once we get there. Just wait and see, you’ll be mighty shocked when you see how much of a cakewalk this will be.”

  The group was surprised to hear Abe be so confident of how they were going to be able to overcome this challenge of nature.

  “In any case, we should at least check how the other people of the town are planning to go about this storm. That is, if they are still thinking about making it over to the island.” Anna suggested, everyone agreed and hopped back on the carriage.

  Barry was back inside, thinking about what was awaiting them ahead. He saw that Buford was getting the jitters, bouncing his legs up and down. “Buford…you doing alright?”

  Buford looked at Barry with an awkward expression, breaking out of his thoughts. “Oh, me? Of course, why wouldn’t I be? Haha, I mean, it’s not like I’m afraid of getting stuck in an ocean of raging waters…did I tell you guys I’m afraid of the ocean?”

  “Puck believe in you, we get through this together!” Puck reassured the werewolf with a couple of pats on his back.

  “Don’t worry, Buford. Let’s have some faith in what Abe has planned for us, he’s gotten us this far in a short span of time, hasn’t he?” Kat encouraged with a warm smile. Everyone had to admit that Abe hadn’t let them down for a moment, being very generous of his services.

  Buford appreciated the group’s effort to ease his worries of the ocean, he took a deep breath and laid back in his comfy chair. “Alright, I’ll try to think of something else to distract myself.”

  “What’s your favorite type of food to eat?” Luna asked to help him out.

  Buford tried thinking of her question, tapping on his chest of something scrumptious. He then rose up with a wide smile on his face. “Nice, juicy, lamb chops! I wouldn’t mind eating those everyday if I had too.”

  “I’ll make a note of that for the next time we ever have any lamb meat. I’ll cook some of the best lamb chops you’ve ever had if you manage to endure through the ocean.” Anna promised him.

  “Really!? I’m holding you to that! Now I have something to look forward to after all this.” Buford looked more cheerful than before, his change in attitude lightened everyone up.

  With the topic being about everyone’s favorite food, it eventually came around to Barry’s turn of what his was.

  He wasn’t sure how to answer the question, because he wasn’t sure what he craved the most with his lack of memory of his own past. “Umm…pizza?” Barry figured to just say something instead of nothing.

  Kat, Anna, and Luna were intrigued by his answer, thinking that he would have answered with steak. “Pizza?” Ron said, with a puzzled look. Buford and Puck were curious as well. “What’s that?”

  “Only the best thing to ever exist!” Luna vouched, she then explained to the three what it was which made them even more fascinated by the type of food. She then turned to Anna with excitement. “Anna, you have to make a pizza for everyone at the base to try.”

  Anna sighed, thinking that she might be expecting a huge list of requests later down the line. “Sure, if we can get the proper ingredients and a brick oven, I’ll make it. I can already see myself giving everyone a taste of almost everything about Earth’s food.”

  The mood of the group had been lifted, raising the morale and easing their concerns of the challenge ahead. Barry laid back in his chair, listening to them continue to chatter until they arrived right before the town.

  ‘Good, everyone seems to have their heads held high. We’ll make it through this crappy storm and whatever else that is thrown at us. I’ll swim over to that island if I have to, nothing’s going to stop me.’ Barry thought, determined to conquer what awaited them.