Warm Welcome Back

“Uuuh… a name for the land itself, not a name for a town or something? Hmmm… how about… Silverwood Heights? Uh.. yeah, sure?” John vacillated, but tapped the button to confirm.

Silverwood Heights claimed by John Newman! Current population 19.

John was about to comment on the population when Ellie walked up behind him wrapping her arms around him and resting her chin on his shoulder. “You tired of naming things yet?” She giggled.

John laughed, “Yeah, I hope there aren’t any more for a little while.” He turned around planting a light kiss on Ellie’s lips. “Let’s see if we can use my fast travel skill, shall we?”

He turned around and placed his hand on the stone monolith, trying to will it into a fast travel anchor.

Fast travel location discovered: Cullis Gate Silverwood Heights

“It worked!” John cheered, before reaching out and tapping the stone again.

Fast Travel Locations:

-

“Uh, huh… Seems I can’t access the locations I have in Springfield. I kinda expected that though, if I’m completely honest. At least we know I can make them here, so it might be quicker and easier to get to the Silverwood in the future,” John reasoned.

“Yeah, that’ll be good, that trek is a pain in the ass; it’s gotta be like a two-hour walk or something, or at least feels that way,” Ellie complained, laughing dryly.

“It’s not that bad of a walk, and it’s really pretty, like a perpetual autumn forest.” John smiled, hooking his arm over Ellie’s shoulder. “Anyway, we should get back to Springfield with the girls, I’m sure their parents won’t appreciate that we’ve had them stuck here for all this time.”

“Yeah, I’m honestly a little worn out from all the excitement we’ve had today,” Ellie said as she leaned into John’s chest. “Hey girls, come on, time for us to go back home.”

“Awww, but we don’t wanna!” the two chorused.

“Well, we can’t leave you here, and you wouldn’t want us to get into trouble for not getting you back home safely, would you?” Ellie asked.

Mimi and Yatina both looked disappointed, and Mimi sighed, “No, but we wanna play more.”

“Well, we have to go for today but maybe we could bring you along again when we come back,” John offered.

The girls both looked at each other as if having a silent conversation before they both nodded. “‘Kay!”

The group walked up to the Cullis Gate. Before starting to cast the spell, he looked over to where Skye was. “Hey, we have to go but we should be back soon, can you and Terra keep things running here?”

Skye seemed to smile, though it was still hard for John to tell. “Of course, master, we will oversee the camp and eagerly await your return.”

John cast Cullis Gate. The odd feeling washed over the group again as the world shifted and a bright purple light blinded everyone before they arrived back in the woods of Springfield. John wondered what the time was and pulled his phone out. “Half three, we’ve been gone for a while,” he absentmindedly noted.

John had taken five steps out of the stone ring before an arrow struck the ground right by his feet. Quickly he turned. “Ellie, grab Mimi and run!”

He turned around and sprinted, scooping Yatina up and racing out of the other side of the Cullis Gate. Again they were halted as a metal disc bounced off one of the stone pillars then off a tree close by. John and Ellie turned back, running in another direction, only to halt as several aggressive hisses rang out, just before a small seven-headed lizard-like creature cut them off.

The creature was small, maybe just a little bigger than a cat; John could have laughed, but it still made him pause as it had seven heads. Before they could run in another direction, Mimi wriggled out of Ellie’s grasp and ran over to the thing; she dived onto the ground to pick the creature up, giggling as it playfully nipped at her. “Nibbles!”

John wasn’t sure what to do when a voice made him jump, “Step away from the girls before things have to get ugly! Just a warning, but we aren't the only ones here, within moments we can call a dozen or more people here, not that we will need them.”

John and Ellie spun around to see two women almost flanking them, One with dark skin and adorned with purple from her boots and shirt, to her lipstick, her eyes and her hair, which was tied up in twin buns. She stood with two metal disks in her hands, ready to attack.

The other woman had a bow at the ready and an arrow pointing right at John. He couldn't get a clear view, but from the arrows sticking out of her red leather jacket, he assumed she had some kind of quiver attached to her belt. Another thing that stood out to John was the length of her hair: it was tied up in a ponytail but seemed like it could reach her lower back.

John quickly let Yatina down before pushing her behind him to shield her, though Yatina didn’t seem bothered at all by the appearance of the two women.

John saw Ellie move her hand to her knapsack in the corner of his eye, which was when the woman with the bow quickly trained the arrow on her.

Almost on instinct, John’s claws appeared and he moved to cover Ellie. “I don’t know who you are, but I’ll fight tooth and nail before I let you hurt anyone,” John spat.

Yatina and Mimi suddenly ran in front of John and Ellie. “We’re sorry we ran off again, don’t be mad. We promise we will try not to do it again. Don’t hurt John and Lele, they are lots of fun,” both girls cried out.

The aggression vanished from the faces of both women and they lowered their weapons. Similarly, John put his claws away. The woman with the red jacket looked at Mimi with a stern expression. “What did you two do? The whole camp is out here looking for you. We’ve been worried sick that you might have been kidnapped.”

Both girls seemed on the verge of tears when John spoke, “I guess I can assume you know Mimi and Yatina then. Uh, they can’t be totally blamed for what happened if I’m completely honest. You see, I kinda used a spell but after I’d used it I didn’t have enough mana to get us back.”

“John, I thought you said you didn’t want to broadcast that you had magic?” Ellie chastised.

John looked at her and sighed, “Ellie, they are looking for a little gorgon girl and I think Yatina is some kind of dragon maybe? I think they already know about magic, not to mention they have that tiny hydra thing.”

Ellie looked like she was about to argue but huffed, “I guess.”

“Anyway, so we were kinda stuck until I had enough mana again,” John explained.

Both women looked at each other before the one in the red jacket said, “So you made a barrier and you couldn’t get back? How do you expect me to believe that you are skilled enough to make a barrier but you can’t get yourself out? Even people who can’t make barriers can get out even if they have to **** their way out.”

“No, it’s not a barrier; it’s not easy to explain. Uh, anyway, I’m John and this is my girlfriend Ellie. Sorry for the, uh… misunderstanding?” John offered.

“We’re sorry too, right, Cyn?” the purple-haired girl asked her companion.

“Yeah, sorry, also this is Nissa, we’re part of the Hunters of Artemis,” Cyn said.

“Artemis? Like the goddess?” John asked.

Both women looked at each other with a confused or concerned look on their faces. “Uh, yeah… Sorry, but have you been living under a rock or something, almost everyone in the Abyss knows of one camp or another from our group?” Cyn asked.

John awkwardly laughed scratching the back of his neck. “Ah, uh, well I’ve not been part of the Abyss for very long.”

Nissa’s attention snapped over to John. “Oh, so you are a late bloomer?” Not waiting for a response, she turned to Cyn. “Miranda will probably want to speak to him, don’t you think?”

“Miranda? Ah, shit!” John exclaimed.

Both women looked over at him with a curious glance. “You know Miranda?” Nissa asked.

“Oh sorry, no, I don’t know her but you just reminded me of something,” John pulled out the Mana Gem. “Hemet’s gonna give me an ear full for not using this thing to get some extra mana earlier.”

Both girls looked shocked. “You are allied with Hemet? Why didn’t you say so sooner? Also, you are getting more and more interesting. Cute, late bloomer, and now somehow an ally of Hemet,” Nissa said before quickly turning to Ellie. “And not to mention this one, damn. Definitely sorry we shot first, asked questions later.”

Ellie let out a giggle. “Don’t worry about it, not every day a girl can say that she was ambushed by a couple of cuties in the woods.”

Cyn blushed while smiling at Ellie. John noticed Cyn’s eyes start to wander up and down his girlfriend’s body. He felt a slight twinge of jealousy, but he wasn’t sure if it was because someone else was looking at his girlfriend or that he wanted the cute girl in front of him to be checking him out; the twinge quickly vanished, though, as his mind began thinking of how hot the two of them would look making out.

Nissa laughed, “Talk about me flirting, should your boyfriend be here while you’re flirting with both of us?”

Ellie turned to John. “Well I know he’s definitely thinking the same thing, I bet he’s already had a thought or two about what it would look like for us all to be doing one thing or another. Isn’t that right, John?”

This took John by surprise, but before he could answer, Ellie had already pulled him down into a tender kiss.

“EWWWW!” the young girls complained.

Nissa laughed, “Well, I guess that’s my cue then, right?” She turned to Cyn. “I really wish I could try talking you into taking the girls back to camp, but you are in need of a good time more than me, have fun, but not too much fun, and make sure you tell me all about it when you get back to camp.”

Nissa grabbed a hold of the girls’ hands before turning back to John and Ellie. “Hopefully we will meet again sometime, without the girls being around.”

Mimi and Yatina both groaned, “But we don’t wanna go!”

Nissa looked at John and Ellie, then over to Cyn before giggling, “You sure you want to stay? You know that when I leave, big sis Cyn is going to be kissing John and Ellie, right? You really sure you want to stay to see that?”

Cyn’s blush grew. “Shut up, Nissa. Listen, I’ll take the girls; I’m sure you are ravenous to spend some time with the two of them.”

Nissa laughed, “Not a chance, I can have fun whenever I want, you, on the other hand, have been uptight since things ended with Erica, so you definitely need some action.”

Mimi and Yatina started pulling Nissa’s arms. “Come on! We have to go before they start doing yucky kissing!”

Nissa happily allowed the girls to pull her along. “Later! Make sure to get their number before leaving!” Nissa called.

“That girl can be really infuriating sometimes,” Cyn muttered under her breath.

Ellie smiled and walked over to Cyn; John couldn’t hear what she was whispering. He could also see Cyn’s blush growing, she looked over at him and openly checked him out before she bit her lip and nodded.

Ellie took hold of the hunter’s chin before leaning in and kissing her on the lips; again John couldn’t help but feel a little jealous but he wasn’t sure of who and again that feeling didn’t last long seeing two incredibly cute girls making out.

Ellie turned to John. “Aw, look at him, all lonely over there. I think we should go and keep him company, what do you think, Cyn?”

Cyn bit her lip again before nodding. The two girls let out a giggle before both sashaying towards him, which made it hard to decide where he should be looking.

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