Unbound

It was a short jaunt down a fern-crowded defile and across a half mile of dense jungle before the two of them reached the road. In Archie’s opinion, it barely qualified as such; made of hard-packed dirt studded with half-sunk blocks of stone scattered at seemingly random. Deep ruts marred its surface, too, enough that Archie had to hop over them just about every other step. Beef didn’t have much issue, of course, which almost drove Archie to burn Mana on Primeval Drift.

He resisted the urge.

Blending in was the name of the game. To that end, Archie wore his simple tunic and trousers—nothing fancy, but well-made enough—while Beef was draped in what he generously called a cloak and Archie considered a circus tent. The thing was massive, but it covered Beef's horns all the way down to his hooves, though it couldn’t disguise his sheer bulk. Archie worried about that, but as they moved down the crappy road, they passed a bunch of farmland, and his fears abated. The fields teemed with people, all of them busy tending or planting seeds or whatever it was that farmers did. Among those people were quite a few folks of unusual stature. In some cases, they were equal to Beef, though none were quite as tall.

The first were giant, bipedal tortoises, complete with enormous, spiky shells and clawed hands. They used those claws, swiping at tender stalks with one hand while bundling the sheaves up with the other and tossing them into large, square backpacks. The second kind were big, bear-like, and had faces only a mother could love.

“Eugh, they look like they ran a Goblin into a wall a few dozen times,” Archie muttered.

“They’re not so bad,” Beef said. “Almost cute. Like a pug.”

The creatures also had claws, though they were more humanoid than the big turtles, despite their fur and giant, pointed ears. These people worked in the barns, moving piles of hay and crates of something or other off of various wagons.

“Ugly and really strong. They could be your twin.”

“Ha-ha. Hilarious.”