The warmth tingled and tickled every inch of my body, and though I had to shade my eyes from the sting of the light, I could not stop myself from stealing glances of the sun, the singing pain be damned. The bright, joyous sun. Relief flooded my senses, invigorating my tired bones. I was finally free. Free again from the darkness, free again to see more than a few feet ahead. Finally free.

I had jumped to the bottom of the earth and had clawed and crawled my way back up. I didn't even register the tears streaming down my cheeks, or the hoarse, rough sound - unfamiliar to me - emerging from my throat. Laughter, I realized with no small amount of surprise. I had forgotten how that felt. So simple and yet...worth everything.

My boat had no paddle, so I just jumped into the lake, still laughing. And I still was grinning as in delirium, when I laid my head to rest ashore, in the shade of an old willow tree, listening to the calm movement of twigs and water. I took every detail in like a thirsting man at an oasis. The sky. The wonderful, blue, and endless sky with all the small fluffy clouds, wandering ever restless to the next horizon and the one after that.

The sun shining through the leaves and branches. The feeling of bark in my back and the wind in my hair. If I could spin words like a bard of old, I would have written a ballad so heartwarming, it would have brought tears to the listeners. All about the intense love, I felt for the cool breeze in my hair and the tiny tickles it send through my skin. I just enjoyed the moment. It was beautiful.

In the distance loomed a mountain range, as high as the clouds and as wide as my eyes could see. But I did not recognize it. I knew the mountains around Ravenrock like the back of my hand and a few of them were quite distinct, like the Old Man or the Horns. I could not see any of them.

I was not well-traveled beyond the borders of Ravenrock and the mountain range - called the Divide - was gigantic in scale, circling around a good part of the eastern and southern parts of the Empire of the Sun. Ravenrock was just the easternmost margraviate in it and far from the only one in the Divide. Long story short - I did not know where I was.

The vegetation around here seemed normal to me, I reckoned to be anywhere around the Divide. That meant surely that I could have landed in the Wyld. I tried spinning the thought further. What would that mean? The forces of the Wyld had taken Ravenrock, the most defensible position of the margraviates. If they had attacked more spots than this at the same time...no, it would not matter. With the Ravenrock fallen, the flatlands were wide open. They had neither the fortifications nor the troops to withstand the demons of the Wyld.

I had seen them, I had fought them. I had lost against them. Even if by miracle all other margraviates still stood strong at the borders, they would be starved out when the supplies from the hinterlands inevitably ran dry. I had to assume that the Divide had fallen to the enemy.

I could not be sure how fast the rest would fall. It took logistics to conquer an empire. And that was not done in a week. Then again. How much time had passed since the Last Flight of the Raven?

I had seen what the Demons of the Wyld could do and the Lords of the hinterlands, vales, and coasts had no means to even delay them, even if they cooperated. Which they were notoriously too spiteful to even try.

Maybe the Emperor in his city of marble could rally a defense or the mages of the circle. But I had not much hope for either of them.

Then again, what did I know about the powers they commanded? The Emperor had famously the highest level in all of his lands. And a few of the archmages of the circle were up there as well. I only knew that none of them had helped when my walls had been breached and the people slaughtered. The only assumption I could bear to make was that they had not the power to do so.

So the conclusion for me had to be: I was in enemy territory. No one would search for me specifically, of course, as I was presumed dead. And who even would search for me? I was not important in the grand scheme of things. No, I was alone in enemy territory and I was free from pursuit.

While I knew my way around my side of the mountains, which would have been helpful if I had emerged there, I assumed that there were fewer soldiers of the Wyld in their own territory - with the invasion happening and all. My mind was way too unchained to worry about petty concerns like the existence of mortal enemies. I had braved the deep, I had jumped into the Abyss and came out again a man. A man who would handle whatever obstacle may lay in his way.

As my lazy gaze wandered around the magnificent countryside, I suddenly focussed hard, my heart jumping in terror. A subtle mist had risen up in the valley and over the water. All the way up to the flanks of the mountain nearest to me. It had followed me! I wanted to stand up, but something shot out of the water, gripping my ankle. I scrambled for my weapons, but they were with my backpack - out of reach. A slimy snake or tendril had wrapped around my ankle and pulled me down towards the lake.

"Zero! Help!“ I yelled out, still trying to get a grip on the branches of the willow, but they were flexible and gave way too easy for me to hold. I was dragged underwater, flailing helplessly.

I saw a snake, jaws opened wide almost as big as the tunnel my little boat had shot through earlier - of course it could not have been bigger, because it had traveled the same path - it had tentacles around his maw like a living, slimy beard, all of them grabbing and pulling for me. And just as the jaws opened wider to swallow me, I felt the cool metal of a chain around my wrist. I grabbed it and pulled with all the strength I could muster while kicking wildly at the teeth and tentacles.

The jaws slammed shut, only tasting water, and I kicked off from the face, struggling up to get some air. I saw Zero, which had wrapped around the trunk of the willow with his other end, bark grinding and breaking off under the duress. My wrist did not fair much better, as blood began to redden the water until I had the presence of mind to activate [Stonehide].

And I saw the thing, the snake, rising above the surface. Steam curled up where the sunlight hit the oily skin on the head, which quickly dove back down underwater again. Then the tentacle around my ankle quivered and released me, disappearing as well.

The smell of burnt flesh still hung in the air, as Zero pulled me back to the protection of the land and tree. I coughed up water. In the lake, under the shadow of the big tree, the head of the snake emerged again, having found a place where the sun would not reach it. Its eyes staring at me with hunger and hatred, the tendrils moving just below. And even there, in the shade, steam rose from its skin. I saw no trace of intelligence in those eyes. just an endless pool of primal rage.

I took my hammer and one end of Zero.

"Stay wrapped around that tree, buddy. This time we will get them.“ And I turned to the giant snake. "You know what? I have had enough. You ugly piece of shit will die today. And only because you just had to ruin the best day of my life.“

I walked into the water.

As soon as I could be reached without exposing itself to the sun, the snake shot through the water towards me, mouth open, teeth glistening and tentacles lashing around wildly. All instinct. All speed. I dove to the side and got hit by the thrashing body as the head of the snake sailed past. It tumbled and rolled through the shallows. But I had what I wanted, it had jumped over Zero.

The snake coiled backwards, trying to get back into the water. Once more I jumped as it attacked, then ran a few feet through the ankle-deep water, before I jumped again. This time over the body of the snake. It was rather big, shoulder high, but I made it, gliding over the slippery surface of the skin. It burned as the acid of the mist had burned.

I tossed Zero back to the tree. "Get him! Wrap him up tightly.“ I was followed by snapping teeth, a snake desperately trying to reach me while his own body was in the way. All the while the sun burnt away at its skin.

I had time to breathe now. The snake tried to get back to the water, the pain of the sunlight finally too much for it to handle, but the chain snapped tight. Zero had wrapped both ends around the tree. The snake was caught, unable to retreat to the darkness of the lake. It had rolled over some and entangled itself further in the chain. It no longer tried to eat me, all its being focussed on fleeing the light. Not considering how to get out of the chain. It would have been easy, rolling over and slithering back. But the snake had no mind to make that assessment. It thrashed and coiled, lashed, and rolled. Because it was melting.

It had no sense to even go to the shadow on land, under the tree for example, where it could have fought me. The skin was exposed to the full sunlight. It was burning, sizzling...melting like a candle in front of me. It never knew pain like this, so it was mad in its attempt to flee. I heard the straining metal links, but Zero held. And I heard the creaking and cracking of the tree trunk but the willow held.

I stood back and watched the struggle. It took some time, but soon there was no snake anymore, just a black sludge that dissipated in the water, leaving behind the chain that no longer had something to hold onto. I felt Essence enter my body.

[By everything that is holy you idiot. Yeah here, you have earned yourself 35 EP. I don't care. And you don't care. You have been awake and in danger for days. DAYS. And the first thing you do when you reach safety is jumping at the next opportunity to endanger yourself. Here. Punishment by notifications! -Lily]

And notifications flooded my vision. They were a lot and some of them were quite long. They went way too fast for me to follow, but I could recognize a lot of the same messages telling me that I had killed a skeleton. Huh. That seemed to be a long time ago. Had I been in danger ever since? Had I not meditated or read the messages? Guess not.

I shrugged. Nothing mattered anymore but the freedom I had found. I just did not care. I helped Zero untangle himself from the almost destroyed tree.

"Well Zero, I guess I am in love with you. Thanks again. That was awesome!“ He wiggled happily and crawled over, wrapping himself around me again.

[Yeah. Tell him I find him cute and awesome too! He leveled up that fight. He is now level 4! - Lily]

What? Zero had levels? And why did I not know anything...ah yes. Constant danger and no communication with Lily. I found Zero right before the mists had risen from the deeps.

Speaking of which, I searched for the mists rolling over the mountainside. They were still approaching, but they were slow. I would flee again, although I did not see it that way. The sun would be up a few hours still. They might have followed me through the tunnel, the river, and the lake. But as the snake had shown me, they would have problems traveling overland as long as the sun would melt them.

"Let this be my parting gift to you, demons of the Wyld.“ I said to no one in particular. I took satisfaction in the thought that even if I might not be able to take vengeance for the murder of my family, I at least had released an ancient and alien danger to the backyards of my enemy. That counted for something, surely.

Lily's outburst had made something clear to me. Until now, I have had neither the time nor peace to visit my Demesne and get some rest, other than the coma following mortal danger and exhaustion, and I felt the yearning for respite growing in me.

I was free now and should just make the time. But not while the sun was still up and I could bring a few miles between me and the mists. I just leisurely, but still fast-paced, explored the forest and hills around me.

Picking the direction away from the mountains, I just walked away. I began to once more enjoy the smells and sounds around me and the fresh air, blue sky, and the sun behind the leaves of the trees.

I reached the end of the woods with only a little bit of sunlight to spare and not a care in the world. As I ascended the lightly wooded rolling hills, which opened up to a plain in the distance, I could not see signs of civilization anywhere my eyes could see.

No fields of wheat, no smoke from campfires or fireplaces, no villages, roads, or manmade structures at all. So I picked a particularly big and picturesque oak tree which stood imperiously on a hill, watching over the smaller ones like a mother over her children. I sat down in its shadow and watched the sun go down, preparing a fire for my first meal in freedom.