I turned out that my inexperience as a rider was something Sigmir shared, their tribe had a few beasts of burden but nothing for riding. Their main mode of transportation was simply walking.

Still, it was no problem according to Elding, whom I trusted on the subject. She nuzzled my neck and told us that the easiest way to learn, was to do. With that gem of wisdom, Sigmir and I were shown how to mount without trouble, something that was a lot easier if you could talk with your mount, according to Cisar. Like that, the mount knew just what the hell you were doing and wouldn't try to turn to see what was going on and in doing so stepping away from the would-be rider and making things difficult for him.

With the use of the stirrups, it was easy getting on after Cisar explained how it works. We were told to simply hold the reins taut but not actually pull on them. The two spirits would chose our way and we could simply speak to them, after all they were able to speak with us.

Like that, we left the farm and went riding through the snowy forest. Interestingly, the spirits were able to run on the snow, barely leaving a trace instead of sinking in and having to fight it.

To view the world from higher up gave a different perspective, for the first time I was able to understand why some people in the real world were paying lots of money to be able to keep horses and ride. I knew the forest, it was almost equal to the forests we'd walked in for the last two months but the different perspective gave me a new outlook and the effortlessness of simply letting my mount decide what to do, made me feel relaxed and content.

That change in outlook and perspective manifested in another way as well, I was able to see the forest with different eyes. I'd thought I had known the forest due to walking within this forest and those like it for days on end and had seen the beautiful sights it had to offer. But I had only seen the breathtaking, obvious sights for example it's hard to miss a frozen waterfall glittering in the sunlight, it just smacks you into the face with it's majesty.

Now, I looked closer and was able to see small snow-crystals glittering on frozen pine-needles and small icicles growing in secluded spots. It was a more subtle beauty, the beauty of small things not the majestic, breathtaking view of some marvels of nature.

The two spirits made sure that we didn't run into anything that mistook them for prey and would have forced them to bolt, possibly causing trouble for their inexperienced riders. Over our ride, it felt more and more natural to move with Elding, letting me sit easy and making it a lot more comfortable. I even gained the Equine Riding-Skill but I doubted quite a bit that I'd be able to truly ride a horse that relied on me for guidance, Elding did that without any true input from me.

We jaunted through the snowy forest for about two hours before we got back to Cisar's farm. Dismounting was easy but the painful surprise came when muscles we'd never used in the way we had today, told us so. I stumbled a little and had to stabilize myself by holding onto Elding and saw that Sigmir had to do the same with Hringur.

Both spirits wished us a nice day and retreated into their respective crystals, leaving Sigmir and me standing in the yard, grinning like fools.

Together, we slowly made our way back through the grove, walking relaxed hand in hand and both of us thinking our own thoughts. For the first time since I met Sigmir, there was no need to do something, no crisis that needed attention, nothing really that needed to be done.

With my Astral Severance we would not start our next journey for two days and hunting was pointless, if we found anything worth hunting, my handicap would stop us from doing anything about it. I didn’t want to leave Lenore in the dark and log out for longer than necessary. I approached the Grandmother’s house to turn in my quest but knocking did nothing. Kallista told me I’d probably only see the Grandmother again once all three tasks were done.

On the next day, apart from riding each day, we relaxed, talking, joking and simply doing nothing.

I also talked with Kallista about the world of Mundus however her information was rather lacklustre. What she told me about magic was utterly useless to me, because she used an inborn connection to the natural world in addition to memetic chants, gestures and sometimes material components to use her magic. My use of runes was a totally different pony.

The political and geographic information was interesting but it was dated before the cataclysm that changed both the geographic and political map in a literally earth-shattering manner. Even the continents had changed compared to her information.

Thus, the only useful information I got was about the natural world. I learned that there was a metaphysical, natural balance between predators and prey. If too many predators were killed, predators further away 'felt' the abundance of prey and were drawn there. In addition, killing large amounts of living beings without taking the appropriate measures had an effect on the surroundings, twisting them and creating the possibility that Nethersprites would manage to enter our world, spreading decay and corruption.

In addition, she advised me about our way forward, according to her, our best bet would be going to Yari first; it was located at the end of a trade-route so we might be able to sell some things there as they actually used money. Pretty much everyone accepted the coins issued by the Adventurers Guild. There were the three 'low' valued coins, starting with Copper then Silver and Gold. They all had a certain weight and due to their distinct pattern it was hard to shave off material so you could trust them without weighing. For higher values, the guild issued enchanted coins, similar to the paper-currency in the real world, because it would be rather annoying to lug around hundred pounds of gold just to buy something big. The comparison she gave was that a night in an inn was about a silver-coin, meal inclusive, a loaf of hard bread was about a single copper and so on.

After Yari, we just had to follow the mountain-range south, staying on the east side of it, until we saw a large, lone mountain, this was Mount Yugid. It would take roughly six days march, or two days ride, south. When we completed our task there, we should simply head east until we reached a river and slightly south of us, we should find the grove of Tegi, it would be easy to spot it due to the taller than normal trees around it.

The day after, it was another day of relaxation. During the afternoon, we checked in with Thekk and Praxi, getting the Dire Boar Armour from Praxi and the Shield from Thekk. Both were high-quality items, as one would expect from crafters with their skill.

Obsidium Round Shield Rarity Rare Type Shield Base Protection 18 against Piercing Damage Base Protection 18 against Slashing Damage Base Protection 14 against Blunt Damage Special Effect Master Crafted – Base Stats increased. Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this shield is held, you gain +1 Endurance This shield was made by a Master Smith to withstand attacks and help it’s wielder endure attacks. It’s infused with Obsidium making it durable but heavy.

Walking over to Praxi, we were told that the Armour was an investment, he would detract it from our payment for the ashes.

Dire Boar Brigandine Rarity Uncommon Type Leather Upper-Body Armour Base Protection 5 against Piercing Damage Base Protection 8 against Slashing Damage Base Protection 7 against Blunt Damage Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this piece of Armour is worn, Vitality +1 This Brigandine was made out of hardened Dire Boar Leather. It is enchanted to increase the Vitality of the wearer.

In the evening, the Astral Severance wore off. The feeling of Astral Severance fading was a strange one. One moment it was as if I was wearing a blindfold and all of a sudden the blindfold was pulled away and the influx of Astral Power started flooding into me. I had to enter a meditative trance to keep myself from getting drowned in the Astral River.

I let myself float and feel the stream gushing into me and was able to relax. There was a little pain as my mind had to re-acclimate itself to the Astral Power flowing within it but it was mostly harmless.

While I was in my meditation, I remembered that I still had one rune to infer, a Blood Rune. Feeling the streams of power within me, I found one that felt akin to my Blood Runes and attuned my mind to it. For the first time, I didn't use a runestone as basis of my meditation, instead searching the flow of power itself to attune myself to the right stream. Swiftly, a rune entered my mind, an extension of the spout-rune I already knew but attuned to blood. My mind read the meaning as Exsanguinate.

Not quite what I'd been looking for but it was an interesting concept, useful for offensive magic and curses.

The next flow I felt was a flow of Darkness, for the first time I truly felt the essence of darkness. Darkness was the unknown, the change and the chaos. Everything was clear cut in the light but things could hide in the darkness. The rune that entered my mind was the most basic darkness but maybe also the most profound. It was the rune meaning Shadow.

For a little longer, I immersed myself in the Astral River, letting the power flow through me, before once more heading to bed with Sigmir.

The next morning, we packed our belongings and mounted our spirit-horses before heading south.

Journeying with the horses was an interesting experience, they weren't physical creatures so as long as we supplied them Astral Power, they were able to keep going. Ylva had to retreat into her Hallow as she was unable to keep up for long. Instead of six or seven days wandering south to Yari, we managed the trip within two days.

During the first night, we were the chosen prey of a wolf-pack but they swiftly learned that both Sigmir and I were no easy prey. They slunk back into the woods, leaving a few cadaver behind. Sigmir took care of the skinning and I made a nice stew with their meat.

The next day, we reached Yari. It was nestled in a long valley with a wooden palisade. If I’d have to guess, I’d say the town had to have about thousand, maybe two-thousand inhabitants, mostly living in long log-houses. There were large tracts of land cleared around town, probably fields for the summer. The only gate in the palisade was facing west, so we had to circle the town once, before entering. We didn't want to explain about our mounts so before getting into line of sight of the gate, we dismounted and sent the two of them back into their crystals.

Then we marched on, toward the gates of Yari.