That Wasn't the Plan

by Jason Cheek

  I couldn’t help but laugh at being punked out. Sometimes, there was nothing to do but laugh at yourself. When Krishna finally settled down enough to be serious again, I went back to what I’d been saying.

  “Seriously though, you’re manifest pets are cool as hell. They’re probably going to save our asses if my idea works. At least, it will for anyone who hasn’t reached the point of having manifest their own Giant Squirrels yet.”

  “What do you mean?” Krishna asked, still trying to stop from giggling. “So far, the Nature Magic tree has been kind of blah in comparison to what I saw from the Dread Pack attacks. Seriously, none of the spells I have are particularly great for combat in comparison to the damage they were doing. Even the magic pets are kind of so-so.”

  “I think they’re a lot more powerful then you know.” I said knowingly. “When we stop for lunch, I’ll show you what I mean. My manifest pets’ time-out will be up by then.” Sitting down cross-legged in the grass, I pulled up the spell for Manifest Giant Squirrel. “Give me a second to see if my idea works first.”

  Chapter One.Seven

  (Wednesday, May 7th / Day 17 of The World.)

  In my mind, I did my best to visualize what I wanted. The word I pictured in my mind was Tengsly. It was a name I’d come up for one of my pets in Dungeons and Dragons. In that game, it had been a gray Void Walker that was capable of carrying messages and stuff via the Ethereal, aka the space between the various elemental planes. So naturally, I had to have a nickname for the creature that meant connection.

  For those of you not geeky enough to be in the know. The Ethereal is basically equal to “space” in a solar system. Only, in the Dungeon and Dragon’s universe, each planet would be equal to an elemental plane of existence. Basically, that’s a snazzy way of saying a world with its own laws and physics. Don’t be upset if you don’t get the specifics. It’s a topic that’s pretty far out there on the geek-o-meter.

  While I didn’t even know if the ethereal was even a thing in The World, what I wanted was a Giant Squirrel that could communicate and carry messages. Tengsly I pictured as a fast moving flying squirrel with wings that could fit on my shoulder. Kind of between the Pokemon Leafeon and an in real life Sugar Glider with wings that also had the ability to telepathically communicate. I’d just about had the image formed in my mind, when Krishna spoke up.

  “If you start moaning like a Buddhist monk, I’m out of here.” Ignoring the sarcastic comment, I cast the spell.

  Once again, green energy shot out from my body to take shape on the ground before me. I didn’t want a giant squirrel the size of a medium-sized dog, but something more like a giant Sugar Glider. I figured a creature like that wouldn’t be much larger than a small kitten at best. Opening my eyes, I was greeted by the smallest ball of green energy that I’d yet to see. By the time the system window popped open before my eyes, I was ready.

  Create a name for your “Manifest Giant Squirrel.” This name will forever be used to identify your manifested animal companion in the future.

  You have selected “Tengsly” for your Manifest Giant Squirrel. Names have power in The World and your manifested pet will take on aspects of your chosen name’s meaning.

  Instead of being a cute brown and white Sugar Glider or a cream-colored Pokemon, I had a dark-gray, winged mutation with long fangs sticking out of its tiny muzzle. Except for the color, the little creature was cuter than sin. As its green eyes met mine, I felt a connection link to my soul as its presence lit up in my mind. The simple creature before me didn’t have much of a thought process. It was too low level for that. But, it understood what I wanted as it pranced forward a couple steps before leaping into the air to fly to my shoulder.

  Tengsly had fleshy wings that were covered in fur, along with the flap of skin a normal Sugar Glider would have between its front and back legs. The flying squirrel flew to me in a blur. Whizzing past my left ear, one of its little claws gripped my neck as it used the point of contact to flip around to my opposite shoulder. This close to my face, I could see its flight was more like a humming bird’s as it settled down on my armored shoulder. Its tiny claws easily gripping the black Cuttle leather of my cloak as it settled down on its perch weighing nothing.

  As I turned to look at the adorable little guy, Tengsly began chattering at me happily as his little paws gently stroked my face. I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips at the absolute joy the little creature had as it bonded with me. As our connection settled down, I was just trying to see if I could pass the guy a message, when I heard Krishna bust out laughing.

  “Are you shitting me, Star?” The Uten Syn guild leader said, clearly not understanding my idea at all. “Please, tell me how this little monster is going to save us?” He asked, looking at me as if I’d lost it. “You do realize that Squirrely is a hundred times his size and can barely take out a fox two levels lower than him.”

  “You poor dense man,” I said exaggeratedly. “Maybe I should be talking to Lyeneru instead of you.” Seeing the tensing of his shoulders, I realized he didn’t like me joking about Lyeneru casually like that. Holding up my hands to stop him from snapping back at me, I hurriedly continued.

  “Tengsly’s job isn’t to fight.” I clarified in a calm voice. “Although, the little fellow has some sharp teeth and claws.” I amended, offering Tengsly an armored finger to attack. As his little paws playfully gripped my finger as if it were an enemy while his fangs gnawed at the tip, I continued excitedly. “His job is this!”

  Focusing my thoughts, I mentally signaled for him to pay attention as I sent him a message to carry to Krishna. It was short and to the point, but exactly communicated my point to the laughing Uten Syn guild leader. In a flash, the flying squirrel shot from my shoulder to circle around the other man’s head. As Krishna stepped back in consternation, Tengsly came to a hover before his eyes.

  “I’m a block head that has no imagination?” Krishna repeated under his breath, his eyes unfocused as he received his first mental message. As it sunk in what I’d done, he flipped me off as Tengsly came zipping back to me.

  Giving Tengsly another message, I pictured Thomas and where I thought he’d be as the flying squirrel took off in a blur towards the front of the formation of soldiers that were still marching by. This time, I had the little guy wait for a message before returning. Watching the little guy go, Krishna looked back at me in confusion.

  “I still don’t get it. How is that going to help us fight better?”

  Before I could answer my new friend’s question, I saw a flying blur loop up into the air and head towards me. A moment later, Tengsly was settling on my shoulder as Thomas’ reply appeared in my mind. ‘What the fuck … Star, is this your pet? What do you mean you’re back on the side of the road?’ I did a silent fist pump into the air as Krishna looked at me like I was slow or something as he waved his hand in front of my face looking for an explanation.

  “Yo, Krishna to Star, can you hear me?”

  I held up a finger expectantly as Krishna’s expression turned to one of annoyance. A half a minute later, he was just starting to chew me out when Thomas and Thompson came running up to us from the front of the formation. They both ran right by him to stop in front of me and stare at Tengsly.

  “Where the hell did you get that little guy from?” Thomas demanded as his finger poked and prodded the little flying squirrel. “We need everyone to have one of these like yesterday.”

  “Any idea how far their range is?” Thompson excitedly asked, peering closely at the little imp who was hissing and snapping angrily at Thomas’s finger.

  “No clue,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll have to do some experiments.”

  “What the fuck are you guys going on about?” Krishna said cutting in, obviously starting to get frustrated at missing the point. “So the little guy can pass along messages. What’s the big deal? It’s not like they can fight.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Both Devil Dogs repeated as they looked back a
t the little Moon Elf in shock.

  “What’s one of the most important things to have in warfare?” Thompson asked the Moon Elf.

  “Powerful weapons? Strong soldiers?” Krishna immediately replied, unsure of what the Priest was getting at.

  “While that helps to a point, powerful weapons are kind of useless if you can’t get them where they need to be in time.” Thomas pointed out.

  “Still not getting the point.” Krishna said in exasperation.

  “Good communications.” I said, before our new friend got too annoyed at my friends.

  “Ding … ding … ding … give that man a cigar!” Thompson said, lifting my arm like I’d won a boxing match.

  “Yeah, it’s the one thing we’ve been missing.” I explained, giving him a rundown of the northern tribes’ ability to communicate using various forms of Shamanism. Fighting an enemy with nearly instantaneous communications means they could overwhelm us in different locations, while we had no clue we were even being attacked. By the time I’d finished explaining everything to him, he was nodding just as excitedly as the rest of us.

  “Now that we have that worked out,” Thomas impatiently said. “How do I get one of these for my own?” Seeing Krishna and my shit-eating grin, he shifted uncomfortably. “Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?”

  The guys moaned and complained when they learned it required being level 10 in Nature Magic to get their own flying squirrel. Unsurprisingly enough, all the Devil Dogs wanted in on the action. Dumbfounded, Krishna shared out his profession to all the guys. As the guys ran off into the woods to find some Orcs Scouts to kill, Assault Leader Dell asked if he and the other officers under his command could learn the profession too.

  For the last two hours, before we stopped for lunch, I’d heard Ayda’s singing off in the distance four different times. Although I never actually saw her, each time her Song of Fortitude came to my ears, it was like I’d just downed a Red Bull as the exhaustion left my limbs. During that time, Krishna never left my side at the head of the column as we continued to talk. Even though, I’d already explained to him that he’d be getting hit up with more training requests once the ladies returned from their hunt. He’d laughed my words off with a shake of his head as we went back to the discussion of doing the same thing with the other manifest pets, while I explained to him what I’d done.

  When we stopped for lunch, I called the different teams back to camp using Tengsly. With a blur of his wings, the flying squirrel happily launched into the air to hunt everyone down. As each of the female only teams returned, they demanded to know where the little guy had come from, which invariably led to Krishna teaching another group his Nature magic profession. It made the Uten Syn guild leader happy to feel like his profession was something useful for a change, while I was happy to see my friends, vassals, and companions learning a new profession at their own request. An especially rare occurrence for a magic tree with such an odious start.

  There was a lot of excitement when I manifested Shadow Fang and Kitano in the center of our temporary camp. Shadow Fang had gained nearly three levels and Kitano one from all of the fighting with the Chaos Storm players. Patting Kitano’s barrel shaped head, I introduced him to Krishna who looked at the demon bear in amazement as he finally seemed to grasp what I’d been trying to explain to him. As my friends returned from their hunt, their mouths dropped open at seeing the fearful beast plopped down next to me as we ate our lunch. While Shadow Fang got some attention as his shadowy form flittered about the edges of the camp on patrol, it was nothing in comparison to the oohs and ahhs that Tengsly or Kitano received.

  When Neysa and Helgath returned halfway through the meal, our greeting was cut short as the Silver Dire Wolf carefully sniffed at my manifest pets. Reaching through my mind for their various connection, she hailed each in turn. I was pleasantly surprised to see Tengsly land on her head and happily start grooming her ears as Helgath gently petted the little flying squirrel while he worked. By the time they were finished meeting each other, I had a hunk of meat out for Neysa and a kabob of smoked Cuttle meat ready to go for Helgath.

  With Helgath’s help, Neysa had been able to target some of the Shamans that had been reporting our progress from the hills nearby. They’d had a few tight battles and had taken some serious damage at times, but they’d managed to take down their targets. Looking through their memories, I saw that it had been more than close on a few occasions. Their soulbound status had caused both of them to take more chances than was smart, but, so far, they’d come out on top. I left it at that. Not bothering to tell them not to do what they were going to do anyways.

  The Half-Orc also confirmed Brenna’s fears that we weren’t getting all of the Orc Scouts and agreed with Neristhana that there must be an enormous horde headed our way. Helgath couldn’t say how long we had before the main force arrived, but thought they had to be near for the number of Orcs they’d been encountering. I kept that information on the downlow. It wasn’t like I could do anything else and having everyone worry about the issue wasn’t going to help anyone. Crossing my fingers, I silently wished for the luck to get everyone out in time, before the shit destroyed the fan.

  The hour for lunch passed in the blink of an eye. I made sure to check on Ayda. Although she looked thoroughly exhausted, the bard assured me that she was fine and that I shouldn’t worry. I made sure to talk with Assault Leader Dell about the situation, but there was little else I could do, since we needed her magic to keep our forces going.

  By the time two o’clock rolled around, we were once again making our way through the forest. Instead of forming up into better groups, the boys and girls decided to make a competition out of who could level up first to get their own Giant Squirrel. I quickly found myself alone with Tengsly as Neysa had Shadow Fang and Kitano join her and Helgath on their Shaman hunt.

  Chapter One.Eight

  (Wednesday, May 7th / Day 17 of The World.)

  As the hours went by of alternating between marching and basically double-march, I worked with Tengsly to get a feel for his range, speed, and the amount of information he could deliver. The message length basically worked out to be the size of a medium paragraph, or five short sentences. Useful, especially since you didn’t have to type the message out. Speed wise, he was fast. Easily able to lap a twenty square mile area in around ten minutes. As long as you gave Tengsly an approximate area of where to search for your target, he was back in ten minutes with the message.

  The problems only showed up when he was forced to search for the target on his own. The wider his search area, the longer it took for him to deliver the message and return. I wasn’t sure if that was due to the dense forest or simply a restriction of the game. Who knows, it could just be an issue with his level and learning his new role. Either way, I wasn’t complaining. While not instantaneous, it was still the best means of communication we had, so far, when outside of the cities.

  It wasn’t until a little after seven o’clock that the teams started returning. Kenzie’s group was first and consisted of Sarka, Unalia, Phoenix, Sara, Zhou, Terry, Jill, Krystal, and Bonnie Smash. A quick glance showed me that every single one of them had gained a level or two. Well, everyone except for Phoenix, who hadn’t gotten any, and Sara, who’d gained a total of five, which the Devil Dog’s Frost mage had needed after losing two during the Sea Orc attack on the Wind Dancer.

  While Sara and the others hunt for levels had been a success, Sara was still a little behind everyone else even at level 32. I’m sure her decision to start wearing her Cuttle leather armor instead of her robes had something to do with that. Otherwise, from the in-your-face level of damage that everyone’s armor was showing, I’m sure Sara would have been down another level or two if she hadn’t broken down and changed up her play-style. Even so, their gore splattered faces and ill-tempered looks said that the fight hadn’t been easy.

  “How’s it going guys?” I called out to Kenzie and Jill who were in the lead. “Gratz on the l
evels!”

  Looking at each other questioningly, Kenzie shook her head in mock disgust. “You’d think by now he’d know the difference between boys and girls.” Kenzie said to Jill, acting like I wasn’t there. Whatever, I thought, as Sarka and Unalia greeted me with hugs while rolling their eyes at the first two women. Terry gave me a wink as she walked past while Phoenix gave me a tired high-five.

  “Don’t be too hard on him,” Jill joked back, ignoring the annoyed looks on everyone else’s faces. “He’s always been a slow learner.”

  “How close are we to the Uten Syn fortress?” Sara asked in a disgruntled voice, as she pushed her way past the two joking women. We were on a marching phase at the moment, which made it much easier to talk. “I’m getting sick and tired of fighting magic resistant monsters.”

  “I think they’re actually considered demi-Humans in The World.” I offered helpfully.

  “Whatever they’re called, they suck ass.” Sara shot back, giving me the finger.

  “Why weren’t you using your Dark magic spells then?” I asked, ignoring her bitching. If my Dark magic was being less effective, I needed to know.

  “The Dark Magic worked fine, but sometimes it would be nice to actually get a Frost Nova to stick even once in a while.” She grumbled unhappily.

  “We were hoping to get some training from Krishna,” Bonnie Smash spoke up helpfully from the back of the group. “We figured it would help to have messengers, since we’re getting close to our destination.”

  “It’s probably for the best,” I agreed, double checking the time on my HUD. Feeling my desire to send a message over our mental link, Tengsly crawled out from the hood of my cloak and looked at me expectantly. Quickly, I gave him the message and pictured Krishna’s face. Chattering an affirmative, he leaped from my shoulder in a blur of wings and disappeared into the forest’s canopy. “How’s it looking otherwise?”