Minutes turned to hours and hours turned to days as I drifted along. I admit I may have lost track of time. I was smack dab in the middle of a dessert by the time I realized that I should probably head back. Time just seems to fly by nowadays. The cold desert sand shifted underfoot as I got out and shook off the water. Soft dunes surrounded me as far as the eye could see but the stream behind me seemed to cut through it with no problems. My mind felt clearer than ever, at least since I woke up. I gave a small grimace as the bone splinters in my ankle shifted uncomfortably. Closing my eyes, I forced the bones back together. I had some metal pins in place at one point, but my blood dissolved it in mere minutes.

I took stock of my surroundings in search of anything interesting and found slight vibrations coursing through the ground. Quickly I noticed a sort of tune imbedded in the strange occurrence. It was rough around the edges but beautiful nonetheless. I stood there for a bit and admired the song before slipping back into the water. Unlike my leisurely trip down I speed up the current at record pace. By making myself almost immaterial I was no longer restricted by water resistance. If one were to spot me going by all they would see was vicious black smoke flashing by.

The stream that was o-so-pure was strange. Frequently traveling in and out of the spirit realm as well as hosting an almost scary number of spirits. It most certainly did not have a natural origin. There are numerous rivers and lakes in the spirit realm, but they mostly reflect actual bodies of water in the mortal realm. I have a feeling that this stream would allow even normal humans to travel across to the spirit realm and back unknowingly. Which for normal bodies of water, only occurs at special times or occasions. Having been induced by the already weak fabric between realms, large bodies of freshwater tend to be the source of the weakest natural barriers, weakening even more.

As I moved, I began to notice a metallic taste in the water, blood, and a lot of it too. I was, by now, halfway back and this amount of blood would have drawn me out of my trance if it was present earlier. I had moved from the early night of the desert to late noon, by moving at such speeds I had chased the sun until it was high in the sky. I popped my head out and ignored the sudden glaring headache. In my rush, I ignored my usual caution and came face to face with a soldier. Startled he stumbled and my instincts launched a claw forward which disemboweled him, and another claw slammed into his collar bone. He was pulled into the water and I began to devour, he struggled and struggled but the taste of blood and the smell of sin brought my mind into a frenzy.

Besides adding a little crispness, the man’s chain mail offered no protection from my ravenous hunger. Soon, every trace of him was gone. It took a bit of effort, but I rained myself in before I did something stupid. I guess I was hungrier than I thought. I popped my head back out and saw two or three soldiers running away. To kill or not to kill, that is the question. A logical man would say no, but a hungry man would probably disagree. I was more logical than hungry at the moment, so I let them go. I had no real reason to kill them other than hiding my identity and even with that all they probably saw was a blur.

The battlefield appeared to be on some planes, bodies spread out far and wide. Screams of the injured and dying hung in the air, like a sweet melody. There were a few skirmishes of small groups but most of the soldiers laid incapacitated. Well, I was just thinking about throwing my new apprentice onto a battlefield, and it seems like I just found the perfect candidate. I ducked back under the water and sped up my return. It took mere minutes to arrive back at my territory. Nothing visible had changed and none of my traps were tripped.

Strangely though the girl was missing. I guess it was not that strange, I did leave her alone for a few days with nothing but jerky, alcohol, and wine in the shed, she probably got hungry at some point. The mixture of blood and pine sap concentrate I had given her earlier only lasted a week so she couldn’t count on that to suppress her appetite. Caws began to echo out as I put my nose to the ground and searched for her trail, which was very easy to find.

Despite the constant snow, which I’m pretty sure is being caused by my presence, her tracks were minutely visible. A tiny depression here a slight edge there, all clear in my old eye. Her tracks were strange, however, a winding path seemingly heading in a straight line, like she was being guided. A vision began to form, a faint afterimage walking steadily while looking up into the treetops. I followed the gaze and found a microscopic scratch on a tree limb, too small for a songbird, at too weird of an angle for a raccoon, but just the right size for my crow friend.

As I moved on, traces of sprites began to appear, and a bit after that, the dots began to connect. They were guiding her towards the village. It seems like my array system also guessed that and gave her a push, as evident by the trail's abrupt end. I felt my eye twitch at my array’s seemingly sudden gain of intelligence. First the pestilence and now this, why is everything I create gaining intelligence.