Return Sid:
The time had finally arrived for me to leave this campsite. I had just spent the last few years at the camp alone. Without Gwyn here it never really felt the same, but I made the best of my situation and trained myself tirelessly each day as I had promised him I would. My blessing had become much stronger, to the point where I felt like I could take on anyone. I had harnessed my life energy to the point where my focus was unbreakable. When I would enter the zone (what I called my state of focus), I was able to sense everything around me with extreme detail and accuracy. This greatly contributed to the extent I was able to utilize my blessing, Traveling Hands. At this point in time, I was able to slip my hands through space at extreme speeds. I had become so fast that I could snatch a flying bird straight out of the air. However, at one point I managed to catch a bird that seemed to have three eyes… I let that one go. I had created my own special way of using this ability. I knew that I was able to throw objects through the "way points" or portals I would create, but throwing a spear through the negative space (what I called the area between two way points) just didn't fit a fighting style that I felt complimented the blessing. Rather than necessarily using a weapon, I chose a different route. I figured out that I was actually able to penetrate my hands into objects through waypoints I created. By shaping my hand as a spear and focusing a waypoint into the center of an object such as a boulder, I was able to completely split it apart just by forcing my hand into the space I had created. This was really tricky at first, and I damaged my hand a couple times by not focusing within the center of the object. If I wasn't able to pinpoint or rather perceive the center of the object, my hand would exit the waypoint simply at the surface of the object and I would end up jamming my hand straight into a face of stone. It hurt like hell. Once I got the hang of it, I could quite literally cut through a tree using my blessing without even applying much force. I would simply thrust my hand through the way points and place my hand directly within its already existing structure. By doing this, I would cause a complete rupture in the tree and send it falling to the ground. I understood that this skill I had developed was extremely dangerous if I attempted to use it on a living being… Thus, I decided to try and develop something more practical and well, less deadly. This is when I developed the "speed draw" as I called it. By using the speed of my sleight of hand, I could generate enough force with a punch to severely damage whatever I struck through a waypoint. It actually occurred to me that my hands may have been picking up speed as they entered and exited through the negative space. So I got creative with it. As a way to hide my ability in plane sight, I had thought of something ingenious. By using the pockets on my trousers, I would just slip my hands into the pockets and create waypoints through there. Then, while using speed and power simultaneously I only needed to strike my hands downwards in my pockets about an inch. With my generated speed from the waypoints and the speed of my own physical abilities, one inch of movement was all I needed to strike with enough force to cause damage. However, this was not the greatest discovery of this new skill. While using the speed draw technique, I could also easily steal things without anyone noticing! I guess old habits die hard hehe. Unfortunately I was not able to really use this on anything while living out in the camp, but I was absolutely itching to try it out on someone someday. Now, I did realize that if I was going to continue on as a thief throughout the rest of my life then I was going to need somewhere I could store things that I had stolen as a means to hide the evidence. I know, I know… I may have thought a bit too deeply about this. But seeing as I now had an ability perfectly suited for such a life, I couldn't take any risks if the situation did ever arise. So I created my own vault. Basically, all I did was dig a massive underground space underneath Gwyn's shack (I truly hope he never finds out). I created little cubbies in the dirt walls and numbered them using tiny sticks. I spent a great deal of time, probably too much time memorizing every single inch of that vault. I then tested a simple theory. From my previous experiences with Gwyn and the giant serpent, it seemed that my blessing did not have any type of limit on the distance I could open waypoints. However, the farther I would reach into unknown lands the more inaccurate my waypoints became. That is when I discovered a loophole to this restriction. By completely memorizing a certain location and being able to imagine that place within my mind, I could create a waypoint there where my hands could reach. I tested this many different times by traveling farther and farther distances away from the campsite and using my blessing to place in and take out various items from the vault. Man, I was a genius. However, something unexpected happened during a time when I was out testing this theory. I was down by the river Gwyn first took me to fish, and I attempted to pull out a wooden spear from the vault. I succeeded in doing this, but when I looked across the shore of the river… I saw an animal sitting on the other side staring at me. It was a scruffy white dog? But that wasn't the most surprising part. The scruffy dog stared at me, with a weathered looking sword held in its mouth. What in the heck was a dog doing with a sword? I called out to the dog, "hey there friend! What are you doing out here in the forest?" In this entire time I had lived at Gwyn's camping ground, I had not ever seen a dog of any kind. You would hear the occasional howl at night but I suspected it was from some sort of wolf species. It was safe to say I was very intrigued by this peculiar dog. As I called out to it, the dog began to wag its tail. Very unexpectedly, the dog seemed to back up and then ran at full speed towards the river. "W-woah wait a minute!" I shouted. The dog then leaped and spun through the air like some sort of acrobat and then slid upon landing in the bank of the river next to me. My mouth opened wide in awe after seeing that. "What the heck! This dog is amazing!" I said as the dog wagged its tail again. I approached the scruffy white dog and knelt down in front of it. I gently reached my hand out and said, "It's okay friend, I would never harm you." As if the dog understood my words, it shoved its head into my hand nuzzling itself against me. "Hahaha, looks like I've made a new friend today!" From then on, the dog stuck by my side as if we had never been apart. Eventually I came to start calling it Dutch. The name just seemed to fit her, and I was grateful to have such a loyal companion. Strangely, not once did the dog ever part from the sword it held in its mouth. At times when she would take naps or fall to sleep, she would simply place the sword down under her head as she rested. I thought perhaps the sword belonged to someone important to her, so I felt it unnecessary to think about it any further… At least that was until a random beast had entered our camp one night. Gwyn had mentioned to me long before that there were many wild and dangerous beasts that lived in these lands. However, due to Gwyn's camp set up it became increasingly rare to ever see such a beast near the campground. It was as if Gwyn's presence still resides here to some extent, warding away monsters that might threaten me. However, one day out of the blue a rather nasty creature made its way into the campground. I decided to call it a man eating sloth, as that is exactly as it appeared. It was a gigantic creature with huge devilish eyes. I noticed it's presence long before it entered the camp, but rather than trying to divert it elsewhere I felt this was a golden opportunity to try out my new skills. So far I had only been using them on creatures I would catch while fishing, but this type of training only went so far. I could tell this monster was very strong, as it lumbered through the forest I could hear trees literally being knocked over simply as it passed through the area. However, I was not the only one to sense the presence of this beast. I watched as Dutch began growling aggressively towards the forest. It was obvious that Dutch also knew what was heading towards us. When the man eating sloth finally broke through to the clearing of the camp, before I could even make a move Dutch began sprinting at full speed towards the beast. "Wait Dutch! Don't!" I yelled out to her. But the scene that unfolded before me will forever be engraved into my mind. Dutch launched herself into the air twisting her body. While holding the sword in her mouth, she spun into a whirlwind and slashed down towards the monster's torso. Unexpectedly, the Sloth seemed to become increasingly fast and was able to block the slash with one of its arms. However, that did not stop Dutch's rampage. She continued to leap and slash every which way. It seemed like the Sloth could barely hold its ground and was only just keeping Dutch at bay. I was amazed at this dog's capability with a sword. Was this even possible? Despite Dutch's overwhelming force, the Sloth finally struck back. With speed far beyond what I could have imagined, the Sloth smashed its hand against Dutch's side, sending her flying into a nearby tree. But as Dutch collided with the tree, she managed to stop herself and sprung off of the trunk using it to propel her even faster towards the Sloth. THIS DOG IS AMAZING! All I could do was watch in awe of this unique animal. Dutch flew through the air at an unprecedented speed. With a twist of her body mid air, she dodged the oncoming slash of the sloth and completely severed its arm from its body. The man eating sloth seemed to be completely taken aback and roared into the air as blood gushed from its wound. I saw that Dutch was preparing for another attack, but the sloth was prepared this time. With its remaining arm, it grabbed hold of a tree trunk and completely ripped it out of the ground. There was no way Dutch could dodge it this time! The Sloth swung the tree trunk towards Dutch in a ferocious manner. But before the tree could strike her, I made my move. Using my blessing I struck the tree's core, shattering it into pieces before it could reach Dutch. This seemed to confuse the man eating sloth so it threw what was left of the tree in its hand directly at me. The log came fast, VERY fast. I barely had enough time to lean backwards to dodge it. I could feel the intensity of the air as the broken tree flew just over my head. I quickly gathered myself and prepared to strike the sloth. Unfortunately, I was too slow. Dutch had launched her final attack against the sloth and cleaved a massive wound onto the torso of the beast. This sent the Sloth tumbling backwards into the woods. I didn't see if the sloth had gotten away, but that was certainly the last time I ever saw it. After landing the final blow, Dutch simply turned towards me still holding her sword and gave me a muffled bark. I couldn't help but laugh at this insane dog. This was the start of our journey together. Soon enough, I was on my way to find my friends.
Year: 115
I ended up spending the first year in Gwyn's camp alone, and then after Dutch showed up we were there for about another year together. It was definitely lonely at first, but Dutch made an excellent partner in crime. Despite that, I still missed my friends dearly and often thought about where they may be and what they might be doing. Sometimes I would feel down, but Dutch seemed to pick up on this and would nuzzle her head against me. This always cheered me up. I also thought about Gwyn and what he would think of the progress I've made. Would he be proud of me? Eventually, the time finally came for me to leave this campground. I gave myself about a year's time to travel to the Kingdom of Cashmere, as I wasn't entirely sure what would happen along the way. I wanted to give myself the best chance of finding whatever this opportunity was that Livana had informed me of. Her details were not exactly specific, but as long as I headed northwest to the coastline of this forest I'm sure everything would work out.
I completely sealed the vault I had created beneath Gwyn's shelter before we left and stored it with various different items I may need while on my journey. I felt this would give me an immense advantage while traveling being able to have access to any tools, weapons, or preserved foods at my fingertips. I was confident that I was going to succeed on my journey to meet my friends. All the training I had done would be well worth it. Dutch and I set off to the northwest coast early in the morning. I had never been towards this area of the forest, but despite the risk of encountering wild beasts I decided to just make a beeline to the area without stopping. Unfortunately, the trip to the coastline seemed to be longer than I had imagined. Eventually nightfall came and Dutch and I had to set up camp in an unknown area of the forest. I was unsure of how far away I was from my destination, but I definitely couldn't make it there within a single day. The night was warm and a soft wind was blowing through the gaps of the trees surrounding us. I could see fireflies dancing around the leaves. It was peaceful. I had leaned myself against a tree with Dutch by my side and slowly began to fall asleep. Then… I began to experience the most interesting dream.
At first it really felt as if I was simply floating in some ethereal realm of clouds. Everything around me was swirling with color as small twinkles of light began appearing and then fading away into wisps of glowing tethers. The golden wisps of light seemed to be flowing in a specific direction and I felt myself being drawn towards wherever they were heading. As I floated effortlessly forwards, the wisps of light began to swirl and combine themselves together. The once small tethers of light had spun themselves into a large and brightly glowing light. "Where was I? And what is this thing?" I thought to myself. I floated closer and closer towards the ball of light until I was able to reach out my hand. As I approached, I gently touched one of my fingers to the ominous glowing ball of light. The touch of my hand must have triggered something, as the glowing ball suddenly burst into a blinding light that enveloped everything around me. I closed my eyes trying to avoid the harsh light, but as I re-opened them everything had completely changed. I was no longer in the strange ethereal realm and the tenderals of light were no longer visible. I looked around me, trying to understand what I was seeing. It appeared as though I was looking down from above, as a scene unfolded before me...
I had no idea where this place was. It seemed that I had become some kind of observer in this strange world. This was just a dream though right? I decided to just accept my fate, and simply watch whatever I was about to see. At first there was a very thick fog that was blocking any view of what was below me. For some reason I really wanted to see what was beyond that fog. But with just a thought, the fog appeared to dissipate and spread apart revealing what was hiding beyond it. It looked like a very old stone structure that was covered in blackened vines. It almost looked like the whole structure had been burnt by fire, as there were scorched markings across the weathered stones. Again just by thinking that I wanted to see what was inside, my whole point of view began to shift and move forward towards the structure. This was amazing! My vision drew closer to the structure and I noticed a broken window with a dim light flickering from within. I pushed my point of view even closer until I was able to peer inside of the broken window. What I saw inside was not what I was expecting at all. The first thing I noticed was a small fire that was lightly burning on a stone pillar in the center of the room. It seemed to be lit by some unknown force because there was no sign of any type of fuel like wood or oil. As the fire flickered I noticed different things around the inside of the structure. There was a painting of a woman with fiery red hair on the wall and she was surrounded by what looked like dark entities. The dark entities painted around the woman almost looked like shadow creatures. I was very curious about who this woman in the painting was, and what the implications of those shadows meant… But before I could think about it any further, I saw something that truly startled me. Within the flickers of the flame, the shape of a small body was revealed. I was completely shocked, and I couldn't believe that I didn't see this person when I first looked through the broken window. It looked like they were possibly praying to the small flame. As I peered closer at the person I realized why I hadn't noticed them. This person… their skin was completely grey. And not just grey, it was almost like they were nearly transparent. How was this possible? Suddenly, they began to speak out towards the flickering flame. It was the voice of a small boy. They spoke, "P-please goddess, I have come here every day for what feels like an eternity. I pray to you, please help me find peace in this empty and meaningless place. I am lost, so very lost. I am starting to forget who I was and why I am here. All I know is that despite the emptiness of this world, your flame has shown me warmth. You are my guiding light." I could just barely see that the boy had tears running down his face as he spoke desperately to the flame. This poor boy, how did he end up here? And where even is this place? I realized as he prayed that this must be an altar to a god much like the one Gwyn and I visited for the goddess Livana. I was sincerely beginning to doubt that this was just some normal dream I was having... The boy continued, "I offer you my soul in place of salvation. I will dedicate my everything to your flames if that is what it takes. Allow me to embody your wishes o' queen of the endless fire." As the boy finished speaking, he stood up and stepped towards the flame on the pedestal. As he stood up I was able to get a far better look at him as the flames light cast across his face. His eyes looked sunken, and he had very short curled hair. His whole body looked thin, as if he had been starved. He was also wearing a pendant around his neck that had a carving of a spider on it… The boy was literally wearing rags for clothes. I could tell that this kid must have been suffering and the prayers he had made began to make a lot of sense. When he approached the flame, he reached out his hand and placed it directly into the flame. This surprised me and I shouted out, "hey stop!" But he clearly could not hear me. But the flame, it should have burned him right? That was not the case. Instead, the flame began to glow brighter and looked as if it was becoming stronger by the second. Then out of nowhere,the voice of a woman spoke out from the flame.
"Hmmmmm what do we have here? Such a young soul so broken and yet still clinging to life. I have heard your words child. I have heard you each and every day. At first it was a bit annoying, however… I have become quite fond of your words. How could I ignore such a dashing admirer after all?"
The sound of the woman's voice was simultaneously soothing and fierce. You could definitely hear the sarcasm in her voice but the boy was smiling ear to ear with tears in his eyes as she spoke to him. "Oh Goddess! Thank you, thank you so much for hearing my words. I am so blessed to speak with the Lady of the Flames." The boy said as he knelt down while still holding his hand into the flame. The goddess began chuckling lightly and responded.
"I do quite enjoy your flattery. It just so happens that you are in luck. I am in need of a proper legatee and have had no luck recently in finding anyone suitable to wield a legacy of mine. You appear to have a will and determination that is suitable for my flame. Your persistence in pursuit of my aid was rather pathetic… tho still commendable. However, you are a unique subject indeed. You are perfect for what I have in mind… however, once you receive this blessing you will have no place here. You will need to immediately leave otherwise they will come for you. Do you understand what I am saying boy?"
"Y-yes! I have no intentions of staying in this place. I will do whatever it is you ask of me! Please help me leave this place O' great queen of flames!" As the boy finished his words, the fire that he had his hand placed inside began to explode in size and became a roaring flame on top of the pedestal. The boy stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. Out of the flame formed the image of a beautiful woman. Her hair flowed with the flames around her as wisps of fire flittered off of her body. She drew closer to the boy, seemingly floating down to where the boy sat on the ground, and gently placed her hands on his face. "Well then, if you are so willing, I have just the thing in mind to set you free from this place." The woman said with a mischievous smile. "Open wide… Theodoro."
I was not prepared for what I witnessed next. The boy, Theodoro, opened his mouth wide and the Goddess leaned in very closely to his face. The golden ball of light began glowing fiercely within the crest of her sternum. I watched as this golden orb began to travel slowly up her chest, through her throat, and then finally to her mouth. She gently opened her lips and the orb of light floated ever so slightly into the mouth of Theodoro. Simply observing this strange and incredible scene unfold began to stir something inside me. Regardless if this was just some outlandish and crazy dream, my instincts were screaming that this was something incredibly important. The Golden orb made its way into the boy's body until a quick burst of light emitted from his chest. In a matter of seconds, the boy's once dull and grey body began regaining color. The translucent nature of his skin became solid and it appeared as though his body began regaining muscles. Perhaps it was returning to what it once was, or maybe what it was supposed to be. However, I was so caught up in watching this otherworldly experience… I failed to notice what the Goddess was doing. In just a glance, I made direct eye contact with the goddess! "Y-you can see me!?" I said with a startled tone. The fiery goddess smiled slyly and winked. She then held up her hand and placed a single finger over her lips, gesturing to me to remain silent. With her other hand, she raised it into the air and snapped her fingers. A burst of flames followed and enveloped everything within view. The boy named Theodoro and the chamber of this divine altar all disappeared from view as a spiral of flames seemed to consume everything in sight. My body began drifting from the window of the structure I was peaking through. I watched as the entire structure went up in flames. I then noticed that I too was on fire just like everything else around me. I felt panicked at first, but quickly realized there was no pain or heat to these flames. In fact these flames felt bizarrely physically as if I could actually feel them touching me. It kind of felt like the fire was pulling me away from this place. And in the blink of an eye before I could even register anything else that was happening, my whole body was pulled away at an alarming speed. My vision became completely obscured by the flames until I decided to close them all together. That's when it happened, my eyes opened and I was back to where I had initially fallen asleep with my back against a tree. I woke up from that oddly realistic dream. I was surely in shock from everything that I had just experienced in that dream…But that wasn't enough to distract me from everything that lay before me as I was sleeping.
I was unsure how long I may have been out for, but it seemed like daylight was just about to show itself. As the light began to show through the trees of the forest, numerous bodies of beasts I had never even seen before laid scattered across the forest floor. Among all of the bodies, there she was… Dutch sat among the corpses of beasts happily wagging her tail with her sword tightly held in her mouth. She was absolutely covered in blood. "W-what in the world happened!?!" I shouted. Dutch simply barked in response while wagging her tail. I stood up from where I was sitting and just scratched my head in bewilderment. "Dutch, were you protecting me?" Dutch once again barked in response. I had no idea how I managed to sleep through such a massacre, but I knew that Dutch had really saved me from a difficult situation. "Man… I LOVE THIS DOG!!!" I yelled out into the forest with my arms spread towards Dutch. She got up and ran over to me while tossing her sword onto the ground. She jumped up onto me and started licking my face. I couldn't help but laugh. What an insane life I was living right now, I thought to myself. The only way it could be better, is if I could share these moments with Ivan and Oli… However, even though I was enjoying the current joyful mood… things quickly turned around as I felt the presence of something nearby. It happened in an instance, while Dutch was licking my face, I could tell that someone or something was nearby. It didn't seem like a beast of the forest, but it was definitely up in a tree somewhere not too far from us. I decided that I would take advantage of this moment to try something out. I turned my back away from where this thing was and began to concentrate. I think Dutch could tell I was attempting something because she sat quietly nearby with her sword read in mouth. I closed my eyes and tried to sense the specific life energy of the thing watching us. I went into a deep state of focus. Within my mind, I pictured the landscape of the forest while maintaining the location of the watchers life energy. I steadily honed in, and then prepared to strike. I balled my hand into fist with two of my knuckles jutting out. I went for it and activated my blessing. I struck my fist out as hard as I could hoping that I was able to pinpoint the exact location of my target. As my hand slipped and vanished through the travel path, I instantly felt my fist collide with something hard. Off in the distance behind us, I heard not only a "AHCK!" But also a loud thud as something hit the ground floor of the forest. I couldn't help but snicker at the sound knowing I just pulled off something amazing. "He he he he he he…" The sound alerted Dutch and she began running towards the location of the loud thud. I followed closely behind her as we approached the location. When we got there, I was pretty surprised to see a guy lying on the forest floor with a large lump on the back of his head. He also had what looked like a golden horn laying on the ground near him. I recalled Gwyn telling me that it was very rare for people to be found in this forest with all the beasts, natural dangers and the like. I heard the guy start groaning as he flipped himself over on his back. "Uuuhhhggggghh…. What the heck happened?" Dutch was quick on the uptake and hoisted her sword towards the man's neck as he laid on the ground. "Woah! Woah woah woah! Hey stop!" He shouted at us. I responded rather harshly, but I have no idea who this guy is or why he was watching us. "Is that really what you should be saying right now? Answer our questions and we might not lop your head off." I proceeded to stamp my foot down next to his head. "AHHH! Stop okay, okay just don't kill me!" As he spoke, I noticed him glance quickly towards the direction of the golden horn on the ground. That was all I needed to know that the horn wasn't just some ordinary instrument. "First off, why were you watching us and for how long?" Dutch then growled further reaffirming my question (Thanks Dutch). The man flinched and continued to glance at the horn as he nervously responded, "I-I am just an average hunter… I happened to notice there were a lot of beasts in the area so I hid up in a tree. I didn't even know you guys were here ha ha.." Sheesh, this guy was a horrible liar, I thought to myself. At this point, I was unsure how he was involved… But my intuition was telling me this guy had something to do with all of the beasts that fought with Dutch. The strange horn that was on the ground was too suspicious, and on top of that he was out in this forest alone? There was only one way I could find out the truth. I looked at him unconvincingly and said, "Hm a Hunter huh? Odd that a hunter would be in the forest with a horn rather than a weapon." The man's eyes got wide when I mentioned the horn. He clearly realized I had seen through his ridiculous lie. The man moved quickly. He rolled away from Dutch's sword and scrambled on his hands and knees towards his horn. He dove towards it and grabbed hold. I watched as he prepared to blow the horn. However, before he could pull it off I quickly snatched the horn out of his hands using my blessing. I did it so quickly that before the man even realized what happened he was blowing air out of his mouth with a stupid look on his face. "HAHAHAHA!" I couldn't help but laugh at the man's face. He looked at me completely bewildered by what had just happened, but quickly realized I now had his precious horn in my hands. "GIVE THAT BACK DAMNIT!!!" He lunged towards me trying to take it away, but I was far too quick for him. I hopped up into the air and boosted myself over him by stepping on the man's face. I then grabbed hold of a tree branch above me and blew his horn as loud as I could. The man fell to the ground and seemed dazed for a moment, but then a look of pure panic crossed his face. "N-NOOO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!" The man yelled. As I sat there hanging from a tree branch, I noticed Dutch quickly run and jump up into a tree nearby. She barked at me three times very loudly as if she was trying to tell me something. It seemed that she possibly sensed something when I blew the horn. I followed her lead and pulled myself higher into the tree above me. The man below was scrambling trying to get to his feet. However, seemingly out of nowhere appeared a beast I had never seen before.