I darted out of the immediate danger of being below the waterfall, almost jumping, as the forces and the chaotic currents tugging at me were too strong to just walk. Soon, I left the pool the water had dug into the plateau, only surrounded by the ever-present spray.

There was the animal that had made the mistake of planning its next meal with me as the main course. It now was lying on the side, wrestling with Zero while hissing angrily, which would never be heard in the deafening noise of the falling water.

I let Zero make short work of it, while I glanced around the mist for any other danger. It took mere seconds for Simue to also jump out of the pool, joining us as Zero finished strangling the lizard. I took the body and waited for Zero to climb around my torso, before I continued on, leaving the waterfall in my back, concentrating hard to keep my direction straight without much vision.

The cloud was substantial, and we spent some time getting out of it, quite often seeing the shadows of those lizards shooting by, but in the end, we found the end of it. Which was more relieving than I had thought it would be.

Before us, descending with the salted river the waterfalls were feeding into, cascading down stepped cliffs beside us, was a strange paradise. Everything was salt-crusted, no surprise with the sea crashing down behind us, and yet life had found a spectacular way to blossom and bloom, right here.

I am no expert in the sights to see under the surface of the ocean, but the plants, or formations, in front of me gave me the specific feeling they could as well have been underwater. Strange they were, alien and foreign. And so colorful and interesting that I surely was staring with my mouth open like an imbecile.

Plants, somewhat rocky-looking formations, in every color imaginable, grew out of a thick layer of crystallized salt that covered everything else - a sight like beautiful flowers growing in a bed of the whitest snow. Huge they were, bigger than a man by far, some in the distance even towering above the rest like giants. The winged lizards darted in and out of the spray and the waterfalls - as spectacular a sight as they had always been - flitting around and catching the fish that were falling down with the saltwater before they exited the cloud and searched for a spot on the bright flowers to devour them whole.

There was always more to see, but never in my life had I laid my eyes upon colors of such intensity and variety and I immediately fell in love with the sheer wonder of nature hiding below the Shattered Lands.

Stranger still, hiding the answer to a question I have had for a long time, the waterfalls cascaded down the stairs but then, in a huge, flowing river carrying sealife and debris, entered a tear to the side of the chasm in the wall with barely a foot room above the water. The question being of course: Where did all the water go and why was the sea itself not drying out.

I could see some of the same wonder seeing in the eyes of Simue. She looked like just a girl, then, happy and in awe from all the wonders she was experiencing, with none of the bitterness or the sadness clouding her fair face normally.

I touched her on the shoulder and on we went, along the gurgling river, climbing down the rugged plateaus. We were leaving footprints. Reddish-brown stone was being freed from the layer of salt with every step we made.

Surrounded by the river and the taste of salt in the air, I suddenly had the familiar feeling from [Lament of the Shackled] again. I saw a faint light in the distance stubbornly bouncing up and down as if bound to the planks of a ship rolling through the waves of a storm.

The light was far away, but it pulled me alongside the direction the river was taking. It was strange seeing a light in the distance in my mind, while I simultaneously saw a wall of stone right in front of my eyes where the river was disappearing under. I put my hand on the wall, for good measure I guess, but it was as sturdy as any mountain I had seen.

“Do you see the dragon? Or the creatures Barak spoke of?“ I asked Simue, who had climbed atop a little rock while I had been busy playing around with my Skill.

She shook her head. The creatures I was referring to were the source of the Dragonamber, worms of darkness, if I recalled correctly, eating the corpse of the Dragon of Life and producing the Dragonamber in their intestines through the darkest of magic corrupting the life force. That knowledge was based on the words of an enemy and a madman, though, and as such not worth to base any decision on.

Deeper we went into the forest of colors, stopping often to touch something in wonder that just seemed to be out of this world. Spindly, heavenly-blue tendrils forming a netted canopy above the path, polished-looking, almost shining golden-yellow...mushrooms? Thick, spongy plants swinging in the breeze, smelling like the sea...we could have stopped every other step.

“Let us take a rest somewhere we have a better view.“ I said finally after a few hours had passed. Swiftly we aimed for a larger rock formation, climbing fast and with sure movements. Those rock formations were numerous, scattered all around the landscape. Which made sense, as the Mad King had torn the Shattered Lands out of the earth and this was the lower part of the tear. Below the colors and the salt was broken, rough, and rugged stone. Many tower-looking spires and spikes reaching into the nothingness above were followed by smaller areas looking like giant, rocky combs leaning against each other.

How life managed to turn the desolation of the area, and the salt, as far as I know the death of most plants, into this rich and beautiful gem of a Hidden Garden was...inspiring, really. Thought-provoking. Life-changing.

We reached the top of the formation, spreading out our stuff to dry, even if only a few stray beams of light even reached the bottom of the chasm. It was better than wearing the clammy clothes, by all accounts.

Our gaze wandered across a neverending sea of colors, salt, and stone. Neverending, as in the sight got diffused by fog in the distance, but not completely covering everything. There was a spot in the middle where all color seized to be. It was almost a perfect circle, huge, from what I could gather from up here, where no color existed but the white of the salt and a few spots of absolute black.

“Doesn‘t look ominous at all.“ I sighed, pointing the spot out to my companion.

Yep. She wrote in her book. That was easy to find.

“Never say something is too easy, Simue. Life finds a way to make you eat your words.“ I smiled nonetheless.

What? Afraid of darkness worms? Never seen the body of a dragon before? Amateur. She grinned as she tapped on her lines.

“I just worry that you have packed too little a blade.“

It is not the length of the blade that matters... it's the ridiculous amounts of knives I have on me. Mass over class, as I always say.

I cackled with her, a nice moment to share.

“Simue, do you consent to be made my companion? It binds us together, in a godling-mortal kind of way. I ask you to because I regret all the times I did not know if you were alive or not. And because it will help us in what is to come. It would grant you a level, as well:“

Suddenly her mirth was gone, and she pulled herself back in hesitation. Her lips moved wordlessly as if to work through what I had just asked her in silence, and yet I felt there was something else going on.

„We would be just companions. Brother and Sister in arms and spirit. A bond we earned through strife and blood. And trust, most of all.“ I explained.

She looked down, sheepishly I thought, and took her time. Then she scrawled something on her page.

She does not share.

She looked at me. Fear, maybe apprehension, was in her gaze but there was something else there, too. A plea. If she asked for understanding or help, I could not say, but I would not suffer a friend of mine to be tormented, by a lost love one or not. I grabbed Simue at the arm, quickly and softly, and with a thought, I took her choice away.

She leveled up as the Essence, an astoundingly low amount of 260 Essence - she must have been close to leveling up herself - ran through my tingling fingertips into her. She looked at me wide-eyed, panicked even...then I got cut a thousand times.

All around me memories, ghosts of cuts appeared, slicing, jabbing, stabbing, and tearing at my skin. Blood exploded off me like a geyser, but quickly I activated [Stonehide], pumping Mana into it until I was covered by a hand width of stone.

The thousand cuts continued, ravaging, tearing, chipping away at the rugged stone around me, until the storm subsided and I was left alone, bleeding and breathing heavily. Simue stood before me... and yet she did not at the same time. Her eyes were burning red, her hair was blown back by an unseen gale, red veins of light scarred her face and her arms, giving her the glow of something unnatural, something raging. Worst of all, she was floating in the air, specters of blades flying around her in a complex pattern I could not follow with my eyes.

I forced the mass of my stone-covered body to its feet, facing the spirit. “Zora?“ I asked. “Is that you?“

The answer got screamed in my face, making me stumble even with the added weight of [Stonehide], as the high-pitched scream of the banshee assaulted my ears. I had heard that scream before, in the cave of the sirens, but obviously, I had not been the intended target, then. That had changed.

“Stop.“ I tried to make myself heard in the storm. “I do not allow it.“ I pressed out through clamped teeth.

I felt for the newborn connection between Simue and me, it was faint and subdued by the burning rage overshadowing everything. But it was there. I grabbed it. Hold on to it. And rode the wave of rage until the storm lost its ferocity.

I was a ragged mess after all was screamed and done. Barely able to stand on my own feet. The ringing in my ears never stopped. And would not, not for a long time.

I was disoriented and...someone shoved a paper in my face.

I asked you not to. You shouldn‘t have.

“Sorry.“ I murmured. “That was a bad idea.“ I was not really present, just swaying back and forth, holding onto the present with all I got.

Yes, be sorry. I did not want that. Fuck you. Thank you, but fuck you.

Her eyes were deep and unreadable. I sat back down hard, the stone falling off from me, clattering to the ground around me.

„My pleasure.“ I brought out, before I fell back completely.

The last thing I saw that day was the hastily scribbled word Idiot dancing in front of my face, quickly eaten by the dancing black and white spots of sweet unconsciousness, and above that the giant eyes of Simue, studying me with worry and scorn.