The beast took a step back as Samuel spoke, its head tilted to the side. There was a definite light of intelligence to those eyes. The eyes! Samuel focused on them. They weren’t just violet. They were the exact shade of violet that marked and Ancient. He’d first noticed the color in his friend Grimr, who he now knew to be standing in front of him.

The image of the large cat shimmered slightly, as if in a heat haze. Then, quite suddenly, it was gone, replaced with the image of a twelve-year old boy standing on the forest floor. He was wearing tribalistic clothes fashioned from hides, and his shaggy brown hair hung down to his shoulders. Apart from the longer hair, there was no mistaking him.

“I thought you were dead,” Grimr said blankly. Then he threw back his head and laughed. “If you hadn’t pulled out that blade, you definitely would have been!”

Samuel dropped the long crystal blade, and it disappeared from view, returning to wherever it came from. Samuel crossed his arms in mock condemnation and shook his head, the adrenaline fading now that he realized his life was no longer in danger. He knew Grimr was right. Even when he’d thought he was just a magically potent animal, he had no chance of winning. But against Grimr himself, the odds practically disappeared.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “I’m the Champion of Arcana. I might have surprised you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you would,” Grimr said, making no attempt to hide the pitying note in his voice. “But Shigeru and I searched everywhere for you. Where did you go for a century?”

The druids who’d tried to attack him came back around and moved to wake their leader up. They were sheepish now, avoiding Samuel’s eyes as they set to repairing the damage to the nearby trees. When their work was complete, they each offered a deep bow to Grimr, then disappeared into the trees.

Samuel began to tell Grimr of what happened after they’d parted ways, leading his old friend to the campsite he’d started making. He got a small fire going for dinner and coffee, and soon their mouths were watering at the delicious aroma that wafted from the pot. He explained that he’d returned to Arcana’s cave to receive his full blessing, and been lost from the world due to a bad teleportation spell.

“I’ve tried teleporting since,” he said with a sigh. “But I just can’t manage it. I think I broke myself, wherever I was.”

“The ethereal plane,” Grimr said with a nod. “I’ve been there a few times. It’s unpleasant, no doubt.”

“You know about it then,” Samuel commented without surprise. “I had planned to ask you if I ever saw you again. I had no clue it would be so soon.”

“So soon?” Grimr arched an eyebrow. “It’s been a hundred years, as I’m sure you’re aware. I’ve been back on the mortal plane nearly a decade already.”

“Well, yes,” Samuel agreed. “But I don’t feel like I’m one hundred and twenty-two years old.”

“Eh, you’ll get used to that. Time means next to nothing to you now.”

They poured themselves cups of the steaming black liquid once it was complete. Grimr leaned against a tree as he watched Samuel unwrap one of the food parcels from Sera, revealing some roast duck and asparagus. He set the food on a tin plate over the fire to heat it. It wasn’t long until the smell of hot meat mixed with the other smells in the area. A few small animals came back around now that there was no fighting, each giving staring at Grimr in awe before scampering away.

“So why do you think the ethereal plane kept me so long?” Samuel asked, biting one of the asparagus stalks in half. “I didn’t even mean to teleport. I just wanted to escape that pain.”

“The ethereal plane is a great mystery,” Grimr commented. “There are fewer actual reports of mages visiting it than I have fingers.”

“So you don’t know much about it?” Samuel asked, disappointed. “I figured you would know.”

Grimr looked at him in silence for a few seconds, then said, “I know many things, Samuel. But I am not all-knowing. Just like mortals, if we wish to know something, we must learn.”

It sounded odd to be considered apart from mortals, Samuel thought. Even though he’d had a few months to grow accustomed to the idea, he just couldn’t come to terms with the fact that he was no longer human. He was an Ancient now, just like Grimr. When Arcana had made him Champion and bearer of his essence, the god had reforged Samuel into a new being. With a representative, Arcana had been saved, and now resided in the Divine Isles as the god of Knowledge and Magic.

“I only know one thing,” Grimr added. “The ethereal plane is made of raw mana. It is a chaotic place that drains residents of this plane of their mana whenever they find themselves there.”

“So the only reason I’m alive is because of the amount of mana I got from Arcana.”

“It would seem so,” Grimr said, reaching forward and snagging a piece of Samuel’s roast duck. “I believe that makes you the first mage to visit it and not be driven insane.”

“Even you?” Samuel asked. “What was it like for you?”

“It was utter madness,” Grimr said with a grimace. “I was only in for a few hours each time, but I returned unhinged. It took months for me to recover.”

“That explains why I slept for so long,” Samuel mused aloud. “Well, at least that’s one question answered.”

They talked amongst each other a little while longer, which mainly consisted of Grimr explaining how the world had changed in his absence. The world at large had developed more, with more people pursuing higher knowledge than ever. Even in some of the remote towns like Jirok to the north and Harlest to the south-east had schools, and the country was benefitting from it.

“Sera told me that Shigeru had moved to Milagre, and was in charge of a peace-keeping force,” Samuel said. “It seems he did well for himself.”

“He is doing well for himself,” Grimr replied. “He’s still alive. He’s quite strong.”

“He’s still alive?” Samuel said. “But he has to be about a hundred and thirty years old now.”

“One hundred and twenty-five,” Grimr corrected. “And trust me, he’s feeling his age. But he’s powerful now, so he’s aged much slower in the past few decades.”

“That’s remarkable. I’m heading to Milagre myself, now. I’ll have to make a point to visit him.”

“He’ll be pleased to see you,” Grimr said. “He was very distraught when we failed to find you.”

“Ah,” Samuel said slowly, not sure how to reply to that. He changed the topic. “How is it, being the God of Nature?”

An immediate glower came over Grimr’s face. “It’s exhausting. Growing this forest was the easy part. But keeping the denizens of nature in line is more work than I’d expected. What’s more, most of them still refuse to bow to my will.”

“How do you mean?”

“You’ve heard of Naturas?” Grimr asked. “They still consider Neratas to be their god, despite his death. Even as his family, they show me no respect.”

Naturas was a nation to the west, Samuel knew. From studying maps and records that he’d found, he knew that it was a country dominated by natural magic. There were heavy punishments for anyone who tried to break their laws about living with nature. It was a fairly peaceful place, but they weren’t known to be fond of outsiders.

“They aren’t corrupted, are they?” He asked. “Not like this forest was?”

“As far as I can tell, they remain pure,” Grimr reassured him. “But they have changed some in the past century. They’re more welcoming of outsiders, even if they reject a lot of modern beliefs.”

“Hmm,” Samuel mused. “Maybe I’ll make a trip there at some point.”

Eventually, Grimr excused himself from Samuel’s fireside, claiming he had work to do. The young mage was a little surprised at the sudden departure, but they made their farewells. Samuel promised to stop by again in the near future, and see if he could help Grimr with anything.

“There are so many new things in the world for you,” Grimr said with a laugh. “I probably won’t see you for another hundred years.”

Even Samuel had to laugh at that, and he waved farewell as Grimr returned to his panther form and slipped away into the night. Samuel finished his dinner in peace from there, staring absent-mindedly into the flames until he was finished. Now that he knew he had no reason to fear attack again, he laid his bedroll by the fire and stretched out with a yawn. He fell asleep with his eyes upward, as if he could see past the trees to where the stars lay. Grimr was right, he thought. There was so much to experience out there in the world that he didn’t really know where to start.