Shelby's mother waved from the shoddy makeshift visiting room where she sat waiting for them. Everything was plastic. The chairs were the kind of cheap patio set that you could get in a perfectly molded stack of ten for $29.99. The same kind that would shatter to pieces if you twisted in them, even slightly. The table was white plastic with an imprinted faux texture and hollow cylinders for legs, which slid into place. Even the carpet was plastic. It was a cheap gingham weave that was warped and melted from dropped cigarettes. There wasn't any art on the walls, just yellow stained eggshell paint lit up harshly by buzzing white lights.

  Shelby remembered these details so vividly because she usually spent all 30 minutes of their visits running her tiny hands all over everything. Her mother squatted down next to her as Shelby dropped onto her hands and knees and picked at the thick plastic strands of the carpet. She brushed Shelby's hair away from her face and asked her about school, her friends, everything... anything.

  Shelby's father took a seat in one of the chairs and read through a stack of papers, his jaw set and tensed. She didn't remember them even speaking, although they must have talked at some point. All she could remember was her mother following her from chair to table to carpet, over and over again. Her hands always touching Shelby's hair and shoulder and back. Her mother’s hands were always so... cold, and thin.

  What was it that she would always say?

  "Shelby..."

  "Shelby, honey, listen to me."

  "You have to wake up." ...No, that wasn't right...

  "I wish I could... wake up." No, not 'wake up.' I wish... I wish I could be...

  "Ms. Shelby, you need to wake up, immediately."

  Shelby blinked a few times. The world in front of her was absolutely littered with notifications.

  "Shelby, are you awake?" AIDAN was floating in front of her face, the fires burning beneath his smooth glass exterior were low and weak.

  "AIDAN? What happened?" She tried to reach to touch him, but her monochromatic hand passed right through him. Uh...

  "Unfortunately, you were incapacitated due to falling from a great height," he explained.

  Shelby looked left, then right. She was laying in a shallow stream surrounded by high cliff faces. The canyon was so narrow that barely any light filtered down from the tree-ringed sky above. She could also see herself, a few feet away. Her, or... Caramel's eyes were closed as she lay limply on her side. Shelby's heart sunk as she scanned the ground for Mallow, but she was no where to be seen.

  "That... isn't good," Shelby said lamely.

  "It is not ideal. You may have also noticed that a time sensitive event started while you were..." AIDAN hesitated, "Dreaming? I must admit that I am not familiar with human physiology. You seemed to be experiencing something as you lay there."

  Shelby pinched the bridge of her nose, but she couldn't feel anything. Ugh, weird! She shook her hand out, "Yes... dreaming. We need to get to Copperglade as soon as possible, right?"

  "Yes, it would be unwise to let this event end in defeat. That outcome would make completing your quest much more difficult, and it may lock you out of important storylines."

  "Well then, we can't have that! What do I do?"

  "You may select an area on your map to recover at," AIDAN informed her, "Although you may incur a penalty if you travel far from your current location."

  Shelby tilted her head, but opened the map. It had gone a shade of ghostly blue, and flickering white lines connected the handful of areas she had discovered while travelling around. At the centers of the highlighted areas were pulsing red circles. Hearts?

  "Indeed, these locations are called 'Hearts'," AIDAN explained, listening in on Shelby's self-talk.

  Shelby focused on the largest of the Hearts, the one at the center of Copperglade Village.

  "You would be able to travel to the Touchstone at the Guild Hall Plaza if you had attuned to it," AIDAN said.

  Shelby groaned, "Okay... so not there..."

  She noticed that the Western Rootmarsh Heart was very close to the edge of the town, so she selected that next:

  Shelby's stomach dropped. That was a quarter of her experience to the next level, and she would drop down to level 6? That seemed really harsh. What the heck...

  "As you can see, travelling across the region comes with a significant cost. I would not advise accepting that penalty ahead of attempting the ongoing Town Defense event," AIDAN said.

  Yeah, no kidding. I just got killed. Being even weaker would be a disaster. Shelby took a calming breath, "Any advice on what I should do, AIDAN?"

  Shelby plopped down on the ground and stared at her own body, trying not to freak out.

  "Reviving in our current area would not incur any penalty, but we would need to travel extensively to reach Copperglade Village. I advise against this. Selecting a Wild Heart one area away from our current location should only impose a minor penalty. Of the adjacent areas that are accesible, Rillwarrens is the closest to our objective."

  Shelby squinted at her map. There were two areas south of where her arrow icon lay, Rillwarrens and King's Coast. Oh! This is where Rifu's camp is! Shelby noticed a smaller Heart beating in a minute area between two larger outlines, which was where she had met Rifu. Shelby nodded, "Yes, that area isn't far from town."

  The Rillwarrens Heart was unfortunately way up on top of the hill that loomed over the entire area, so she would still have to walk back through all the stream-carved islands to get back to town. That would take at least 10 minutes. She bit her lip, "That's cutting it close, but you said the penalty is reduced?"

  "Examine it for yourself," AIDAN said as he prompted a window to appear on Shelby's behalf.

  "Oh, that's not bad at all! Okay, let's go there."

  Shelby mentally accepted and the light around her streamed around her as she snapped into place on top of a marshy ridge. Her health bar rolled up to 2 points and she held her now solid arms out to examine. A familiar weight slumped down on her shoulder as Mallow materialized from a green flutter of leafy energy. Oh thank goodness. The event timer in her quest log ticked down to 18 minutes and she flinched. I can't lose this one, better hurry!

  She turned toward Copperglade and started to sprint downhill. She could see the massive resinling tree far off in the distance. AIDAN tried to speak up over the sound of her heavy footfalls, "Shelby, please pause for a moment."

  "Can't, AIDAN, every second counts," Shelby huffed out.

  She leapt over a stream, feet grazing the brambles overflowing from the ground, and landed on all fours on the other side. She quickly glanced left to right and spotted a clear path downhill.

  "That is why I am asking you to stop, I believe I can help you."

  Shelby drew her bow and quickly took down a fruit rat that was lazily wandering in her path. Shelby frowned, "Can it wait?"

  She skidded into the unusually tidy clearing beneath the resin tree. She watched the branches above her as she navigated hurriedly through. AIDAN raised his voice, sounding like his patience was sorely tested, "Please desist. You have an item that will decrease your travel time."

  Shelby slowed to a jog, then a walk. She took a final look around and then opened her inventory. She had a variety of fruits and materials, but nothing that could... Oh!

  True treasure? Like... a carriage? Shelby popped the locket into her hand and held it up the to rays of light streaming through the forest canopy. Sure enough, there was a small hole running through it. Shelby pressed it to her lips and blew.

  A sharp note blasted out of the locket, much louder than Shelby expected. A few rats even scurried away from their hiding spots under roots and bushes. Shelby looked expectantly towards the town, waiting for Diao's carriage to come get her, when a deafening crash sounded to her right. She raised her arms to shield herself as a storm of leaves and dust billowed past her. A huge figure loomed over her, exhaling warm air that blew her hair back.

  "Elizabeth?" Shelby whispered.

  The boar standing in front of Shelby was broad and powerful, with silky fur, a heart shaped nose the size of Shelby's head, and two tiny tusks protruding from the corners of her giant mouth. Shelby lurched forward and threw her arms around one of Elizabeth's thick legs, "It's so good to see you!"

  She stepped back and surveyed her rescuer, "And you're all healed up, too? I hope I didn't leave Diao and Tira stranded just now..."

  Elizabeth huffed and nudged Shelby with her nose. Shelby shook her head, "Right! We need to go!"

  Shelby took a running leap and grasped onto the thick fur on Elizabeth's back, then threw her leg over the boar's back. Shelby pointed down the slope towards the town, and cheered, "That way, Liz!"

  The boar charged in the direction Shelby was indicating, trampling thorns and brush under powerful hooves. The boar was surprisingly fast. Shelby's cloak whipped through the air as Elizabeth took a bounding leap over a deep ravine, then surged onward. Since they could move directly towards town unimpeded, it was only a minute before Shelby saw the outskirts.

  A trio of Hodekin were patrolling down the main road, a hundred yards out from where Elizabeth and Shelby emerged from the brush. The town beyond didn't seem to be damaged too badly, although Shelby could see a few wandering smoke trails to the south. Shelby drew her bow in preparation for a fight, squeezing her knees tight on Elizabeth's back to stay steady. One of the Hodekin pointed towards them and barked out something inaudible, and the other two whipped around. They raised short spears and levelled them at Elizabeth, but as the distance between them grew small enough to attack, the boar leapt over the spears with surprising agility, and the Hodekin flattened themselves onto the dirt road to avoid being battered.

  As the boar raced past them and Shelby pulled her mane to direct her south towards the training yard, she suddenly slowed to a walking pace. Shelby tugged a few more times, pleading with her ride, "Faster! We have to stop their boss!" but the boar had decided it was done running.

  "There are system enforced travel speeds within towns," AIDAN informed her, "your companion is not permitted to run here."

  Shelby sighed, thinking, it's always something! before slipping off Elizabeth's back and sliding to the cobblestones below. As she touched down, Elizabeth immediately faded away. Shelby grasped at the air, but the boar was already intangible. AIDAN preempted the stream of confused exclamations running through Shelby's mind, "Do not worry, she has returned to the campfire. You may summon her back at any time."

  Shelby scrunched up her nose, but nodded. As she looked around, she saw that there weren't any Daizi villagers out on the street, but flashes of movement in nearby windows told her that the people were anxiously barricaded in their homes, waiting for a sign. There also weren't any Hodekin immediately nearby. The ones she had leapt over were far behind, and although she could hear shouting to the north, the immediate area was calm.

  Did I come too far in? Shelby expected Naile to be heading for Pico's gardening plaza, but then she realized the wolf didn't know where the mayor lived. Just to be safe, Shelby sprinted towards the starting area. If she ran into Pico first, she could warn the town's leader about danger.

  The plaza was thankfully empty and free of enemies, but after a few attempts at alerting Pico by pounding on her door, Shelby had to conclude that she wasn't home. Where else could she be...

  The last place Shelby had seen Pico was at the inn, so she looped around the northern walkway above the garden and headed east. There was a dull commotion in the direction of the inn, and Shelby gritted her teeth. Are they already this far in?

  She rounded a corner to find a pair of Hodekin skulking up the street. One was carrying a long stick wrapped in oiled rags that was covered in sputtering flames. Every couple of yards he casually thrust the stick under doors or through windows, and small flames clung to the buildings. Shelby furrowed her brow at the sight, so it wasn't an accident!

  She drew her bow and fired at the wolf carrying the torch. The impact from the arrow knocked him to one knee with a surprised yelp. His companion jolted and unslung a spear and plank shield, then ran headlong at Shelby. She ordered Mallow to lob an Abrasive Jelly into the wolf's path and followed with a Measured Shot. The combined attacks arrested her assailants momentum just short of a successful stab.

  Shelby danced backwards and fired again. The arsonist was back on his feet and stepped forward cautiously, trying to slip behind his companion for cover. Shelby continued to backpedal as she fired again, but this arrow was intercepted by the rugged plank her target was using as a shield. He crouched low to cover his body as he crept forward.

  If you're going to hunker down, then... Shelby fired over his shoulder and clipped the torch bearer, who snarled as the arrow cut across his arm. Mallow launched an arcing sphere that splashed across the spear wolf's shield and the liquid started to hiss. The spearman looked weary as damage streamed off his arm, and her took a long step back to retreat from the burning liquid.

  Since they were both on the defensive, Shelby asked Mallow to keep the pressure up as she examined the pair with Shadow:

  Catach Bleak? Isn't that the group that attacked Naile's clan? Shelby gasped, then levelled a finger at the pair of Hodekin in front of her, exclaiming, "Troublemakers!"

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