Since Enok had come to Alfheim, this morning was the first he had been able to relax. Ignoring the insolent mortals he had to deal with earlier, it could actually rank as one of the best of his human life. Then again, he had only lived a bit more than a year as a human.

Sitting alone at a table of the Fox’s Den, the only Tavern of the Foxlade village, he was facing a copious meal consisting of different dishes of bear meat.

Wolfing down the food and setting aside the empty plates in a growing pile, Enok made a mental note of rewarding Den, the orc owner of the establishment. Considering the various difficulties of cooking that particular meat and the quality of the assorted course that had been served, he was greatly satisfied.

Although he was eating alone, the tavern was far from empty. Sure, the closest tables to him were weirdly unoccupied, but at all the others people were merrily eating and chatting. The place was bustling with activity, a good portion of the clan was apparently present for the early feast.

From time to time, one of them would dare to steal a glance at him, but he shrugged it off, figuring it had to do with the amount of food his body could consume. While an aurosei could last longer than average without eating, they still had to sustain themselves every now and then, whether they had the body of a young human or not.

Though they were still cautious around him, he was glad to notice that the villagers had at least stopped thinking of him as someone sent to punish them for hiding the primer. That was probably due to their leader speaking to them.

Things could get complicated if people kept spreading word that a drifter had taken over the village.

For that reason, he had decided to leave for the world’s gate as soon as he was done with his meal. He had wasted enough time without the need for random challengers to delay his journey.

“Ah!”

Shouts of surprise filled the tavern as a ball of light flew through the window, briefly followed by the entrance of a female catkin. The orb lazily moved over the heads of the startled customers toward her brother, leaving the girl to the arduous task of making her way through the crowd.

“Hello there,” Kaja merrily greeted as she got close, “feeling lonely?”

“Very. You have no idea how much I missed you,” and then, widening his eyes as if he had just remembered something important, he whispered “it’s not like I am a host to your very soul and this glass orb is just a tool to move your consciousness around, right?”

“You know what I meant Enok. Also, stop trying to be funny, I told you you’re a lost cause.”

“Oh, sure. It doesn’t mean I have to listen though,” he waved his fork toward the demi-human who just had gotten close, “is your father still busy, Mein?”

“Hmm, yes, lord Enok,” she answered with a melodic tone. She seemed in a good mood, her present behavior was completely different than the previous day’s, “my father says that he will soon be done with the things you requested. It’s a shame you couldn’t wait for better ones.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” said Kaja’s, circling around her brother’s head, “we just need clothes that will allow this guy to look a bit more normal and a mean of faster transportation than walking. Any horse would do the trick, really.”

Trying to swat the orb away, Enok added, “It’s true. However I do appreciate the effort your clan is putting into this, no one wants to travel with a bad horse,” after a short pause, “Is there something else you wanted to talk about?”

While the girl was apparently calm her frantically moving tail seemed to indicate her true state of mind.

“Well...” she hold her arms and her eyes started darting around, “we were thinking of selling the remains of the primer you defeated. Of- Of course we will share the benefits with you if you allow us, my lord!”

He lifted a brow, “Oh? Are they valuable? Just call me Enok, by the way.”

The “Lord” thing had gotten old really fast. How he used to put up with all his other titles was beyond him now.

Mein’s eyes got wide, “Hmm... okay? Well, there are many people who are interested in technomancy, especially old one. They would pay a good price for the parts... E- Enok.”

He smiled, putting the last plate on top of a pile of other empty ones. He clapped twice and bowed to express his gratitude for the meal, and then faced the girl and said, “I see. Well, I don’t mind.”

Beaming with happiness, Mein wheeled around to face the sea of customers once again.

After her frail figure left through the door, Enok spoke.

“Did you notice the glares she received from some of the people here?”

“Yeah,” said the orb, landing on his head, “she is the only survivor out of the leaders of the expedition in which a third of the clan died. It’s clear that there’s going to be a lot of resentment.”

He nodded, almost making the ball of light fall on the table. Those who had died had brothers, sisters and parents who didn’t have anyone to blame for the death of their loved one, other than Mein.

Even though they knew the dead had chosen their fate by themselves, the living had to find something to devote their grief to. Mortals were illogical creatures.

It explained why the chief’s daughter had been the one waiting in front of his door, left to interact with the master of aura everybody was afraid of.

“She is trying to redeem herself,” he whispered.

Just like him. Sure, in an infinitely smaller scale, but the concept was the same. There was nothing she could do to bring back the dead. It made the discovery he had made earlier even more tragic.

“Ahem, let’s not make hasty comparisons alright?” said Kaja, on a tone that sounded a bit too neutral for her. She was now facing him, her light having shifted to purple.

“You know what? I think you’re right, the sooner we leave, the better,” she added, “going to check if our stuff is ready yet.”

And on that note, she quickly left the room the way she had entered it. Through the window, after flying over wary mortals.

Shaking his head, he glanced outside. There was still time before night and the rise of the first stars.

As he left the Fox Den, Enok was welcomed by the sight of a brown mare, saddled and attached to a log in front of the place. Her neck was speckled with white and her eyes were sparkling with intelligence.

“There you are, lord Enok,” said an approaching Roman. Over his head were floating the words .

That explained his healing talent, even if Enok could not see any bones or skull on him.

Even though it was still early, Roman seemed exhausted after having supervised the distribution of the meat Enok had brought between the village’s families.

“I present you Naope,” he said, motioning toward the animal, “I assure you it’s the finest horse of the village, and that it is completely able to bring you to your destination. This,” he handed Enok a heavy leather bag, “contains a map and provisions that will at least last you until you reach Mildbloom, the city bordering the Broken Tribes region and the Flower kingdom. Mein should bring you the clothes you requested soon enough.”

The “Flower Kingdom”, that was a name Enok recognized.

Enok opened his mouth to protest, but Roman raised his hand, “Please accept these gifts. Their previous owners were glad to part with them for a bigger share of the magical bear you hunted down, and in any cases, they are people you saved. The dead beast itself will help a new warrior rise in the tribe, and my daughter told me that you agreed on letting us sell the primer’s parts. That alone is worth hundred times more than we are offering you.”

The man’s old eyes were determined, so Enok simply nodded and took the bag and put it across his new horse.

The man shook his hand and left to his duties, “I wish we will be able to meet again young machine lord.”

The sun was now high in the sky and it was getting hot. Enok was still standing in front of the Fox’s den, caressing the mare and wondering where in the worlds was Kaja.

“One moment she is in a hurry to go, and the next one she is the one delaying us...”

People leaving the tavern would give him puzzled or surprised looks, probably wondering what he was still doing there.

As he was awkwardly waving back to a child who seemed to want to wish him farewell, Kaja flew from around a corner a few houses away, still looking as purple as when she left.

“And you were... ?” Enok asked, annoyed.

“I lost track of time! Don’t worry about it, just get on the horse and lets go!”

He didn’t budge, “I don’t really like you urging me around just after waiting so long for you. We’re safe here, so what’s happening?”

She literally groaned, “Oh come on Enok! Trust me on th-”

Before she could finish, a noisy four-wheeled carriage turned at the same corner Kaja had appeared a moment ago. It was pulled by a seemingly robust scaled bull, and sitting on front were a smiling Mein and the young man that had came with Ronan to first greet Enok.

Enok raised a brow in the orb’s direction.

“You know they will slow us down,” it argued.

“Lo-, hmm... Enok!” Mein called, closing in, “I’m glad you waited for us, we’re lucky that our destination is a stop on your journey.”

“I guess it is,” he said, “what’s your destination again?”

She looked surprised, “Dame Kaja didn’t tell you? Domor and I are going to Mildbloom to sell the primer...”

He glanced at their cargo. The machine had been covered with woven pelts tied in place so they wouldn’t fall off, and the primer had probably been tied to the carriage itself beforehand. If bandits were to attack it, it wouldn’t be because they guessed its actual precious content.

“Oh, I see... Well, let us go then,” he said, untying his mount.

He didn’t know what was up with his sister, but their share of the sale would for sure come handy, and there probably wouldn’t be another opportunity to get it.

He got on Naope, the horse snorting with apparent anticipation, and lead the way out of the Foxglade village.

They went West, and after a few uneventful hours the rocky ground became mixed with slightly more dirt, revealing a trail left by a regular traffic.

“The world’s gate is in the city called Aurora, which is administrated by the Neopanth, right?” asked Enok, studying the map, “wouldn’t it have been faster to simply go North West from the village?”

In his time, world gates, sometime called portals, were generally in trading cities which organically grew around them, brought to live by travelers and merchants. But it seemed that Aurora, city located at the center of Alfheim, had been made into a stronghold for privileged citizens by the new leaders of the Path.

“Sure, but on paper only,” Domor, the warrior accompanying Mein said.

He was holding the reins of the carriage Enok was riding next to, and seemed to have gotten over most of his fear, the fidgeting, replaced by an interesting brand of wary aloofness, “The different settlements of the Broken Tribe region are basically all hostile savages. Going that way would mean having to fight off those who would attack you on sight and deal with the customs of those who would at least hear you out before attacking you. This detour out of the region is actually a huge time saver.”

“That makes sense. I wonder how you can call your people savages though.”

“Those savages ain’t my people,” the man spat, and that was it.

“Even without the other clans, there are monsters and dangerous beasts,” Mein said, probably to stir the discussion to less sensitive subjects, “and I heard the lights are appearing more frequently.”

“The lights?”

It was Kaja asking and the orb had regained it’s regular blue color. She had pretexted wanting to scout ahead to put as much distance as possible between the orb and the others -which wasn’t actually much- since they had left the village and was just flying back. Enok was pretty sure she had been sulking.

“Oh, glad to have you back dame Kaja!” merrily said the cat-girl. She seemed to truly appreciate the floating orb’s company.

Too bad her feelings aren’t reciprocated though.

“The lights are a mysterious phenomenon that happens in some regions of Alfheim. Strange lights randomly covers an area, and makes any living thing that gets too close simply vanish. Thankfully it always happen at the same spots so it’s easy to avoid.”

Well, that was new. These “lights” didn’t remind Enok of anything he knew of and had picked his interest. Too bad they basically defined a danger zone.

So far, every conversations had taught him something new, and he was only in the Path’s second world. He was almost starting to dread what had happened to the others.

The sun kept its course in the cloudless sky, and night soon begun to fall. However the small procession decided to push their mounts a little further in the twilight so they could reach the fluttering lights of the first settlement on their road.

Kaja, bored by the monotone scenery had left the Vanguard to be placed in Enok’s bag and her bad mood was now spoiling his.

The environnement was getting better, though. Trees were growing straighter and taller and Enok spotted little critters more often. Had he even seen flying birds close to the Foxglade village?

The stars though, were still hiding, as if trying to make themselves more desirable by being late.

“By the way, Lord Enok,” started Domor, “ I have been wondering. How are things in your world? Why did you come here?”

The question caught Enok by surprise. The rocks of the Foxglade were now far behind them and the way their surroundings weren’t getting much greener the closer they were getting to the Flower kingdom had him wonder about how much the living conditions of its people had changed.

Mein, who had been very close to fall asleep, became visibly focused in an instant.

“Well... first, you can just call me Enok, like Mein,” he started, and by the last word he already knew what he would say, “I guess, things were as good as they can be, with the ki getting thinner every year. At some point it effectively became impossible to live there anymore and we had to leave. If I’m the only one who made it to Alfheim, then I must be the only survivor.”

The warrior whistled, “Seems like it really just became a dead world, like everybody has been calling it for centuries uh?”

“Seems like it.”

“So you’re looking for a new home? As a drifter aurosei, you’d probably be welcome in the Neopanth’s military, but I have to tell you that you are just as welcome with us,” Enok noticed the man wasn’t looking straight at him and seemed oddly focused on the road, “even though you’re still young, you’ve proved us that you were better than many adults around these parts.”

Enok’s eye twitched at the “young” part, but he shrugged it off. Kaja had told him that the villagers gave him seventeen years at most. He also ignored hearing her chuckle.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not trying to take roots just yet,” he said, “I’m going to the next world, I thought it was obvious since I’m going to the gate.”

“Oh, so you... You actually want to cross the gate?”

His tone made Enok turn his head to see Domor’s expression. Even with the poor light, it was unmistakably pity. He wasn’t sure what that made he feel in return.

“I don’t know what to tell you Enok... The Neopanth hasn’t held tests on Alfheim in more than thirty years...”

“And I... I suppose taking those “tests” is how people earn the right to travel between worlds?” He tried to control his voice but he could feel it slightly shaking.

“Well, yeah... But not the only one. You can pass the gate by either right of potential, strength or riches, as they say. Basically, without tests you can’t pass if you aren’t insanely rich or strong enough to open the gate by yourself, which is, well, impossible for someone who never even took the tests to begin with...”

Domor looked liked he felt all the guilt for inadvertently crushing a young man’s dreams of adventure and it made Enok put his focus back on the road. They had gotten a lot closer to the small village. It didn’t have a fortified wall like the Foxglade village, and with all the carriages, horses and other mounts Enok could make out, it now seemed more like a resting spot than a proper settlement.

“Don’t be too discouraged though,” he heard him say, “you’re a freaking drifter, that makes you nobility in their eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they opened the doors just for you. I think it’s something they do for their recruits, from time to time.”

“Is it the same everywhere else?” Enok asked.

“Hmm? Do you mean if...”

“I’m asking if it’s the same for the other worlds. If the beings of the Path are all trapped like cattle by this Neopanth.”

He could accept the existence of the Neopanth, it was inevitable for a dominant group to rise over the rest. He could accept being called a pagan god, his real name not even spoken anymore after not even a thousand years of him being imprisoned.

...But his mother’s creation being balkanized? People being forbidden to walk down the Path even though they had the ability to? That he could not.

Domor didn’t immediatly respond, and for a moment Enok thought he might have offended him. But when he finally spoke, it was with an even tone.

“Do you see the tracks? On the ground.”

Puzzled by the strange question, he looked down, only to notice that hey were currently crossing two sets of metal rails that were stretching North and South as far as his eyes could see. The metal was eroded but one could still distinguish the odd carvings that covered it.

“These rails are all over Alfheim and converge at Aurora. They used to be tracks that machines called ‘trains’ would follow. From what the chief told me, they could transport people, goods and, more importantly, the ores from the mines. Life was better back then, even with the curse, and the Neopanth was as much active here than it is on the other worlds. But thirty years ago the fucking bi-”

“Thirty years ago, Agatha, the Iron Queen, came.”

The expression of his slowly building anger was cut Mein. While the subject looked like a very sensitive one, in that moment Enok thought it had more to do with her not liking the cursing.

“Alfheim isn’t just a dead end as the first world of the Path, it’s also a dead end for the lives of its inhabitants. People deemed unfit by the Neopanth or important people found guilty of some crime are exiled here. Before the Iron Queen came though, they could still eventually leave by successfully completing the tests. But there hasn’t been any since then.”

“So to answer you question” continued Domor, apparently having calmed itself, “about whether it’s the same everywhere else or not, well, the answer is no. Alfheim is a prison for the Iron Queen, and we’re all locked up in here with her. We’re not cattle, we’re damned inmates, you included.”

“I see,” said Enok, “I’m guessing she is pretty strong?”

“Yes, but only compared to us. Don’t get me wrong, she mostly plays according to the Neopanth rules, and would be gone if she wasn’t. And by ‘gone’ I mean dead. But even with that, all of Alfheim is under her control, one way or another. Her children are governing the main regions, except Aurora and the North. But the question is, how important did she have to be before coming here, that they thought this situation would be better than just killing her? That the Administrator is just sitting in that city, doing nothing for thirty years while she has us under her boot?”

Enok could hear the anger and frustration in his voice, but he was more concerned about how all this new information affected his plans.

After all, Gormin, one of the people he had killed in the morning, had said he was governor of the Broken Tribe region and a son of the Iron queen.

He almost face palmed himself. It was like realizing how hard it was to leave the tiger’s mountain only after having killed one of its cub. He could feel Kaja getting even more anxious than him.

Thankfully, no one else knew about his meeting with the arrogant mortal. He still wanted to travel anonymously, however unlikely that option was now getting. Becoming the mortal enemy of the world’s effective leader would kind of be counter- productive.

Silence sat between the travelers until they entered the settlement and reached the inn they would be sleeping in. Night had completely fallen by then, and before even getting off his horse, Enok looked up at the sky.

Some of the stars had disappeared since they had been put there, others had changed color, but he found the one he was looking for, still bright and illuminating its part of the firmament with countless others surrounding it.

Hey Kaja , he thought, do you see it? This star?

I do. What about it?

From now on, it’s name will be Galateus.

In this moment he hated that she was also experiencing his feelings, but in the end, it didn’t really matter. She had been exposed to worse than melancholy before, and for much longer.

Quest window

Living through a star

You have been touched by the plea of a machine cursed with life, and touched it in return.

Quest objective : Name a star after the lone child who never was. Grant him his wish to watch over you.

Reward : (Physical backup module) Blueprint

Quest status : Completed.

Enok closed the window and sighed.

“Rest in peace.”