Micro awoke from his deep, dreamless sleep after the rain had stopped and the small fire Blue had constructed had completely died. His hand was still a little sore, but his neck was in much more pain due to the strange position he’d fallen asleep in.

  “Blue…?” He yawned, stretched, and stood up to look around.

  “Ow…” Blue’s muffled voice declared from his pocket. “Don’t just suddenly move like that.”

  “Sorry,” Micro replied. “Wait, what are you—”

  “You didn’t tell me you had such a nice Core Card in here! It’s so warm!” She popped out of his pocket with a grin and lifted the ruby Core Card a little to show him.

  “Are you okay? That thing felt dangerous before…” Micro voiced his concerns, but the pixie dismissed his worries.

  “For a big dumb human it might be!” Blue laughed. “I’m no baby!”

  “I see.” Micro stretched his arms, then smiled. “How old are you?”

  “Hmm…” Blue thought earnestly for a moment. “I never bothered counting. I wonder…”

  “Anyways.” She gave up counting on her fingers and shrugged. After dropping the ruby Core Card back into Micro’s pocket, she climbed back up on his shoulder. “You’re in luck.”

  “Why is that?” Micro asked.

  “I’m more damaged than I realized,” Blue said through a yawn. “A gust of wind could kill me.”

  “Oh no!” Sadness appeared on Micro’s face.

  “You should be rejoicing!” Blue seemed embarrassed to explain her problem. “You have a chance to pay me back for stealing all my energy, never mind all the help I’ve give you free of charge!”

  “Ah, that was—” Micro nodded sympathetically, but Blue’s energy seemed to be returning.

  “Granted, it’s my fault I got caught, but getting sacrificed is no joke,” Blue continued. “So you’ll be carrying me for a while. Congratulations.”

  “Thanks?” Micro smiled.

  “Be more grateful.” Blue frowned as she climbed out of the pocket and stretched. “It’s an honour.”

  “Thanks again for that.” Micro nodded, and his nose nearly missed colliding with the head of the pixie as she jumped up and down on his shoulder.

  “Watch where you’re swinging that thing!” Blue shouted before finally settling down. She looked surprisingly comfortable after a moment.

  “Sorry,” Micro said, but he wasn’t sure if she was teasing him or not.

  “So?” Blue pointed at Micro’s nose aggressively. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m not sure,” Micro replied. “I need to find a master, some cards, and food, as well as—”

  “You really are lucky!” Blue explained.

  “I am?”

  “You are!” Blue announced, rising to her feet again with a proud expression. “As lowly a creature as you are, you shall have my guidance.”

  “Umm, that’s great.” Micro didn’t think too long on the pixie’s words as he poked his head out of the tree to confirm that the rain had stopped. “Shall we go?”

  Blue’s excitement faded as her lack of energy caught up with her, and she fell to a seated position atop Micro’s shoulder.

  “Yes,” she said with a much quieter voice. “But where?”

  Micro began to walk, enjoying the sensation of mud squishing beneath his feet.

  “I need to find a master in the Serpent… Art…?”

  “Sect?”

  “That’s right!”

  “Interesting. That may actually be a good destination. I think there was a sect like that between an old well and a dungeon a day or two that way. It’ll take longer on foot though…” She pointed ahead and slightly to the right. “Go that way. Let me know when we get there.”

  “Okay. You really know your way around this world.”

  “Of course I do…” Blue yawned. “It’s my kingdom…”

  “I see…” Micro agreed, but she was already asleep on his shoulder.

  ~

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Micro wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep, and the sky was too cloudy and dark to be sure whether it was early or late in the day. Though his eyes were adjusting to the light of the forest floor in time, he was still getting used to walking. He only rarely tripped over rocks anymore, and he’d learned that allowing his arms to swing at his side drastically improved his balance.

  He stayed true to the direction he was pointed in, now more vigilant in scanning the way ahead for any creature that might wish to collide with him, and night fell once again. His first instinct was to continue on, but he was once again painfully reminded that he lacked the headlights required to do so safely.

  The scenery around him had barely changed at all in the time he’d spent walking through it. Small hills and massive trees made it difficult to see far in any direction, so he considered finding a tree to sleep next to. However, as he sought out a comfortable looking tree, he noticed the smell of smoke. Not only smoke, but the smell of burning oil. It was a strange smell, but it somehow felt familiar to him. A wave of nostalgia filled him as his nostrils filled with the smell, and then he realized he was licking his lips.

  “That…” Micro said after taking another deep breath. “…smells amazing…!”

  Micro immediately changed his course to investigate the source of the delicious smell.

  He came to the top of a small hill and looked down to see the light of a campfire burning steadily in the distance. He didn’t hesitate to approach it, and he soon noticed three large men sitting around the fire watching a large chunk of meat sizzle and smoke.

  Recalling Blue’s attitude to humans in general, he gently scooped her off his shoulder, almost dropping her due to the numbness he still felt in his hand, and placed her into his pocket next to the Core Cards where she remained curled up and asleep.

  “Good evening!” Micro shouted with a friendly voice and waved to the men who hadn’t yet noticed him.

  One of the men stood up with a long metal object in his hand and a fearsome look on his face, while the other two scrambled to pick up their own metal objects. Micro hadn’t seen tools like that before, and they were notably rusted, but he didn’t dwell on it.

  “Umm, hello,” Micro called to them again despite the suspicious glares. “I… well…”

  Micro realized he had no idea what to say to the men and he came to a stop several paces from their fire, still looking at them with a friendly, though confused, expression.

  “What’s your business with us?” The standing man was the first to speak. He was tall and strong, and his clothes looked to be made of old leather, adorned with bone buttons and ornaments. His long hair was tied back and his face was mostly hidden behind a short, thick beard. His comrades were similarly dressed, though they didn’t seem as strong. The one to his left had a large belly, and the man to his right was almost as short as Micro.

  “My business?” Micro wasn’t sure how to answer. “I carry things… Are you farmers?”

  The man looked up and down the boy and continued his questions.

  “Those clothes you’ve got on… You a cultivator?” His voice showed a hint of fear when he uttered the final word of his sentence, a fear matched by the faces of his two comrades who now stood behind him holding their odd metal tools.

  “These clothes? Oh, I found them…” Micro looked down and shrugged as he recalled their origins. “I guess I am, kind of…”

  “Wait… You’re not with those Tiger Moon folks…?” He frowned suspiciously as he reexamined the boy’s attire.

  “They’d kill a brat for wearing that,” the fat man mumbled with wide eyes.

  “What should we do, boss?” the short one asked the tall man in front of him. “You’re the expert on those types.”

  “Hmm,” the biggest man continued. “Where are you from?”

  “I don’t think you’d know it,” Micro replied politely. “And I’m not sure how you’d get there from here exactly.”

  “Who did you come here with?”

  “I think I came here alone. But, I’m hungry, and I was wondering if I could—”

  “You have a name?”

  “I’m a Micro.”

  “A Micro?” The man frowned. “That’s your family name?”

  “Not exactly… It’s my model name.”

  Despite their confusion about the boy’s answers, the three men began to relax. The tallest man looked behind him and grinned, and the two men put down the objects in their hands and returned to their places by the fire.

  “Come, sit,” the chubbier of the men beckoned to Micro. “Eat your fill!”

  Micro sat next to the man, his eyes on the meat suspended over the fire with a stick. The man reached out and tore a piece off with a knife and handed it to Micro, who didn’t waste any time devouring it as fast as he was able to.

  “Ah… I missed oil…” Micro sighed. The feeling of the steak filling him up with warmth and satisfaction was indescribable, and he looked up at the dark treetops in glee. “Thank you very much.”

  “Don’t mention it, little guy,” the short man replied happily while digging through a big leather bag. He pulled out some rope and tossed it to the big man next to Micro, unable to stifle his laughter. “Rich kids as foolish as you are always welcome around here.”

  Micro looked down at the rope, wondering if it was something else to eat, when he suddenly felt the force of the biggest man’s foot in his back, driving him face first into the ground.

  “Wha—” Micro had no time to imagine what was happening before his hands had been pulled behind him and tied together.

  “Aha!” the fat man shouted. “We were out hunting that damned deer all day, and this big juicy meal ticket just wanders into our camp!”

  “He’s young. He’ll sell quick,” the tall man agreed, tugging on the rope to test the strength of the knot. “Tie him to that tree there. We’ll bring him into town in the morning. It’s about time I slept in a bed again.”

  “That sect might even pay us for the armour he’s wearing.”

  “Or for finding the little thief who stole it!”

  “Aren’t you the model of justice!”

  “Are you sure he’s not a cultivator?”

  “We’d be dead by now if he was, moron!”

  “There’s always the mines…”

  “They always rip us off!”

  “Same split as always?” the short man turned to ask the tall man with a more serious tone.

  “We’ll see what he goes for first,” the tall man shot back with a dark expression, causing his comrade to turn his head and abandon the conversation.

  As instructed, the fat man grabbed Micro by the arms and dragged him to a tree near a tent.

  “What are you doing?” Micro asked, but the man just mumbled happily to himself while tying him to the tree.

  For the next few minutes, Micro sat watching the men laugh and eat together while waiting for an explanation. As he went through their words over again in his mind, something eventually stood out to him.

  “I’ll sell…? I’ll—” Micro gasped. “They’re planning to sell me!? Hey, I already have an owner!”