Ericka Stevens practically bounced on her seat as her cousin, Arthur, drove his pickup truck down the highway. They were but a few minutes away from Greenwood National Park. She hadn't been there in ages, and certainly not after she Altered. She could hardly believe that just a couple of weeks ago, she was nothing more than an ordinary schoolgirl, and now? She had superpowers! She was a hero!

Well, she wasn't part of the Protectorate since she needed to be eighteen to properly join. She could have joined the Young Guardians, the hastily created under-eighteen division, but Arthur took a long look at the contract and practically ripped it up before she even got a glimpse.

That bad, huh, cuz?

If it were, then she wondered if the YG would ever fill their ranks. Unless they were taken from juvenile halls? There were dozens of Altered who'd run afoul of the law and most were either incarcerated or in community service. Perhaps the terms of the contract given had been for people like that. If so, the Protectorate were poopie heads. Or maybe the people running the show?

Yeah, that sounds about right, hie hie!

For the twelfth time, she stared out the window and at the passing landscape. The interstate cut through the hills instead of winding around them. Good for speed, but not much for the land, honestly,. The carved up hills were covered in ugly cement, and the greenery only started a few dozen paces away. The view of farmlands would have been more interesting if there were actual crops instead of mud. In the distance were some tractors pulling a plough. Not a very interesting view since there were only so many times the machine could zip along the plot before she lost interest. She stared up at the skies instead and watched the clouds passing by. She amused herself with making out common shapes and figures that the fluff formed, and wondered how it would feel to step on the clouds.

Oh. She could fly. She could certainly reach those heights and find out for herself!

Er…if she didn't grow dizzy from the heights, ahaha…hah…

"Finally!" she exclaimed as they drove past the billboard proclaiming the entrance of the national park. Unsurprisingly, the display was of a Greenwood Tree. It had massive trunks that would take twelve men holding hands to encircle and, of course, the grass-green colouration of the bark, and the lighter shade but still undoubtedly green hue of the wood itself. Greenwoods were only found here, and there were only a thousand still living. She'd read all the pamphlets, though she wasn't sure of the exact number at the moment. There were attempts at breeding more, but they grew so slowly that none were as enormous as the thousand.

She could already see them towering over the hills. They were spread out, with no tree closer than a hundred paces to any other Greenwood. Each one was at least twenty paces high. The tallest one was about thirty paces, though the Giant was visible from the border.

"Yes, yes, we're here," Arthur grumbled. "Sure, you couldn't have flown here by yourself?"

"I'll get tired." She pouted.

"Yes, and you'll spend the day flying instead of walking."

"You could just stay in the gift shoppe."

"Maybe I will," Arthur shot back. "I don't know why I agreed to this."

"Cuz, you promised," she exulted.

"Yeah, yeah, I did. Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, too bad mom and pop were too busy."

"Ain't that the truth." Arthur sighed.

Ericka pouted. Home was a bit more complicated than she liked to think about, but she was here now and not back there.

Once they reached the parking lot, the two of them alighted and made their way to the registration booth. Entrance was free, of course. In fact, the park wasn't walled off in any way, and there was nothing stopping people from entering through other avenues than the front gate. No, registering their entry was more for safety. They paid for the brochures, wrote down how long they were staying—until tomorrow—and planned activities: hiking and camping.

Her eyes were drawn to the bulletin board where a picture of Grizzlehof, a two-and-a-half-pace-long grizzly bear that weighed nearly five hundred Jin, and the warning printed underneath. 'Warning: Grizzlehof is cranky after coming out of hibernation. Keep at least fifty paces away when sighted.'

"I guess that's good advice," Ericka muttered.

"Considering he's one of the biggest bears in the country, yeah," Arthur said. "You heard about the group of hikers who had a run-in? I'm actually surprised they didn't put a bullet in his brain for that."

Ericka gave her cousin a shocked stare. "Hey! They're the ones who entered Griz's territory! At least he didn't maul them!"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah, but several have been brutalised. The other survivors said it was an unprovoked attack. They were well beyond the fifty pace mark when Grizzlehof charged them."

"I actually wonder what set him off."

"Who knows?"

Once they finished their registration, they returned to the car and picked up their backpacks. Hers weighed about five Jin, which was about a tenth of her weight. Arthur's was more than twice that, but thanks to the way the pack was built, the weight was wonderfully distributed rather than sitting on their shoulders.

With a last look at their car, to check the locks, the two of them marched for the trail, and hopefully, to happy trails.

_________

Yuriko received a message from her grandfather the very next day, early in the morning, in fact. It was Earthsday, the seventh day of the week, so she didn't have any classes. If it were a week ago, she would have had a shoot today, and probably Sunsday, too. Thankfully, her schedule was free as most of her scenes had already been shot. They were moving into post-production, but there might be a few scenes to be reshot in a few weeks.

What that meant was that she was free to either take a break or take on different projects again. She opened her computer and checked her email account. Among other things, there were dozens of project proposals from Pixel Fairy, but sitting at the top of the list was the message from the Company.

When she opened it, the contents were merely a time and a place. Today, actually, ten in the morning. Somewhere in Altalon District, the northwest one across the river from Burmington. Purple Iris Chocolatiers.

Huh. There was no reason not to go there early. She had several hundred Torrie bills in her purse and a credit card linked to her savings account. She had millions there by now, a culmination of several lucrative gigs. She could afford to splurge. Hmm, maybe she should buy a chocolatier shoppe? That way, she could get as many as she wanted. Probably cheaper too. It was a pity her true body's sweet tooth wouldn't be satisfied, hie hie. Not that she had different consciousnesses. Even under temporal distortion, her incarnation and true body were still one. Well, her true body had a better palette simply because the level of physiological refinement was higher.

She spent the next couple of hours in her morning regimen of light exercise and meditation. Her true body was relegated to figuring out the unifying Ennoia simply because she didn't have much to do in Shangria. Gathering resources was simple, and the monsters in the 2nd layer were too pitiful. All it took to kill one was a single sunblade to the core, and they poofed into shards.

But she also spent that time getting to know Ilvarra and Carina's fighting prowess. Or lack of, in Ilvarra's case. The silver-haired woman was more an information broker, researcher, and REI-space walker than a fighter. She was an able administrator and organiser, and she helped Ryoko keep Yuriko's household in order. The funny thing was that her infatuation with Heron had spread to her as well, though neither she nor her lover had moved to include the woman in their intimate circle just yet.

She, Gwendith, and Heron had a complicated relationship, and much of it had been left unsaid. For her part, anyway. She did make it clear to both that she wasn't ready to commit to anything more than intimate relations. They weren't about to get married or anything like that. She wasn't sure if she could classify the other two as her boyfriend and girlfriend according to Astorian standards. Or were they a throuple? Hmm, nope. It was more than the two of them were involved with her. Their relationship with each other was more like friends. They certainly didn't get intimate with each other, and during the times that all three of them made love, Heron and Gwendith took great pains not to touch each other. Gwendith was still recovering from the aftermath of her captivity, and until she did, there would be no way she'd get intimate with Heron.

Hmm, did either of them want each other in the first place?

Ilvarra was different in that she was attracted to Heron and Yuriko, and probably wouldn't mind a proper threesome, though adding that bit of complication to the mix could upset the balance.

'What balance, though?' she thought to herself. Her lovers revolved around her, which probably isn't the healthiest thing. It was also the reason she didn't really mind if Ilvarra and Heron had sex with each other.

Hmm, was there a twinge of jealousy there? Nope. Probably not.

Carina, on the other hand, was an adept fighter and an excellent member of the team. Although they hadn't truly been tested yet, considering the lack of real danger. She was able to properly complement the others in the fighting, and she was well-versed in support tactics. She was also quite accurate with her rifle, though nowhere near Da's level of marksmanship. Fluffington and Sir Blue frollicked amongst the monsters, and generally made a nuisance of themselves otherwise.

Progress over the last couple of weeks was swift, though it was already slowing. If she had fought that monster for just a bit longer, perhaps she could have garnered more insights into the cyclical elements. Perhaps. But it was also possible that she'd wrung whatever she could from fighting. It wasn't as if the Burning Auroch was that powerful.

Carina assured her that a monster like that was rarely encountered, but that wasn't a good thing. Fighting powerful monsters helped her push beyond her limits, but even so, there has been a distinct lack of true life-or-death battles. She could cheat by limiting herself, but there was only so much she could learn from doing so. What she wanted, and probably craved, was a real challenge.

But at the same time, she worried such a challenge might mean the end of her. She's led a charmed life so far, but without the safety net of a pocket God-Monarch…

What were the consequences of defeat anyway? Death was the most final, but subjugation was just as likely. Many a Mishala had found themselves turned into sex slaves when they were defeated. That there was a guide to how to turn things around from that point spoke of how often it happened to her relatives.

But relying on mercy or lust to spare her from dying was not a pleasant prospect, and hurt her sensibilities. No, while she sought challenges, she wasn't foolish enough to charge headlong into trouble without proper assessment.

Which meant she couldn't just blindly agree to what Lilibeth's grandfather wanted. The Homelander's association with RuiNation, or as they called themselves, the Nation, wasn't quite as clear-cut as the old man pointed out. And aside from the car chase, Mullethead hadn't really offended her. He fought well, too, though he was quick to run once she found his weakness. Pity.

But now, the question she needed to answer was if she should go to the Purple Iris as Lilibeth Lawson, or as Regalia.

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