Raylas was standing in an open room, a bright white flame burning around him.

He looked around but there were no real walls, but the walls of flame boxed him in so he couldn’t leave. Their heat burned him, but it also felt comforting. Like a warm embrace from a lover, or was it closer to the proud burn in his chest when the Captain complimented him.

He touched the flame and it singed his hair, but it didn’t hurt. He tried to leave only to be stopped as the flames got too hot. He wasn’t burned but the temperature was to the point where he was gasping for air.

Raylas turned back into the room and looked around. The ground was flat and empty, but floating in the middle of the room was the glowing orb of flame he saw when the zombies attacked.

The aura around it was just as intense, yet also less. Raylas wondered if he was getting familiar with it. His hopes came crashing down as his head split open when it spoke.

[Why are you rejecting me?]

Raylas scrunched his face together to fight the pain. He managed to crack open an eye and look at the Orb who was pulsing angrily.

“I don’t even know you!” Raylas shouted back. “Who in the hells are you? Who even asked for you?”

The Orb exploded in a radiant light which hit him. The fire actually hurt this time, burning his flesh and blinding his eye. Raylas screamed in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his face.

[You dare claim you don’t know who I am, yet you called for me?]

“Cursed artifact!” Raylas cried out. “I will burn it and remove this curse. I asked to live, not to be tormented by whatever the hells you are!”

The orb pulsed again, but it wasn’t as painful. The flame quit burning and returned to the embracing warmth.

Silence filled the room as Raylas regained control. His burnt eye had melted shut so only one eye would open. Strangely there was no pain, but he could feel the skin liquefying and dripping like candle wax.

He looked up at the orb and gave it a rude gesture.

“I won’t submit,” he roared. “Torture me all you want but I will not give in. I will live, you bastard. I’ll escape your curse and go my own way.”

The orb started to laugh, the pulses hitting Raylas’ mind like a punch.

[You wish for the power to live, but not to serve?]

“For what reason should I serve a curse?”

[Again, you call me a curse. The line of Aasim has always been prideful, but you are truly unique]

The orb lowered itself until it was just above Raylas’ crouching form. Raylas tried to tell it off but he felt like he was being crushed. The aura of the Orb grew stronger and stronger as it got closer, and once it stopped Raylas felt himself shaking to stay upright.

[You Will Fight, or you will die]

It erupted and Raylas felt himself black out from the pain.

* * *

He sprang out of bed, his body sticky with sweat. Raylas grabbed his face and felt the smooth flesh beneath them. He was not scarred, and could see out of both eyes. His head throbbed in a quickly fading pain from the eruption, his only evidence that the dream was more than just a dream.

“Welcome to wakefulness, Master,” Sapphire cheered.

Raylas waved her off. The pain was worse than any hangover. In fact, he would prefer to have woken up in jail after a long night of drinking and a bar fight.

He peeled the sheets off of him and sat at the edge of the bed, his face in his hands. The flame… there had to be some explanation to this? He didn’t have the dream when he slept at the fort, and now it came? Was it an omen? Was it the curse?

What did it mean that he would fight?

He peered at Sapphire. She was sitting in a chair, waiting patiently for him. Raylas let out a weary sigh and forced himself to sit up.

“Why am I in the room now?” he asked.

“You passed out in the main room,” she relayed. “Dave and I helped carry you here.”

“How long was I out?”

“Only about an hour or so. Darling said to not worry about breakfast and to be ready for a tasty lunch.”

Raylas looked around the room. He was still in his clothes, but his belt had been taken off and set on the table. The pouch was emptied and the jewels and coins were laid in a neat pile, right next to the bag he found with the chain. The ring, strangely, was sitting on the floor.

“I am forbidden from touching the ring,” Sapphire said when she noticed his glance. “It fell when I took off your belt, so I’ve been unable to put it with the rest.”

Raylas bent over and picked up the ring again. There wasn’t a blemish on it despite the rough treatment the past few days. The metal still looked freshy polished.

‘Master of the Ring, Show me the World and I’ll Grant Your Desires’

The words seemed to echo in his head. He wasn’t hearing his native tongue either, but an unknown language spoke to him. Despite that he understood the meaning of the phrase.

Raylas placed the ring by the jewels and looked at the bag. The designs on it held meaning too, he could feel it. It was like when he read the chain and the ring, something long forgotten was crying out to be heard.

Sapphire took the bag and handed it to him. Raylas gave her a curious glance but she just smiled and squirmed in her chair happily.

He turned the bag over. It was hard like it was full of coins, but the contours of the bag were haphazard like it was filled with balls and blocks. He took a breath then opened his eyes to… read.

It felt weird to read.

‘On quest and journey we ride,

Though home is always by our side.

Only veins of aasim may open the door

To the treasure generations have stored.

Everything starts somewhere’

Raylas arched his brow as he finished. This was different from the others. The others had a strange pull to them which gave off the feeling of warmth or longing. The chain was liking fire burning behind his eyes and beneath his skin. The ring was a pull in which when he read the writing he wanted to get out and climb a tree or cliff.

But this one didn’t have any push. After he read the passage the calling he felt was gone. The bag felt normal, just any other bag. Raylas tried to pull the strings to open it but they still wouldn’t budge.

“That’s now how you open it, silly,” the girl chuckled.

“A bag opens by the string,” Raylas groaned. “This one would be better to be cut as it won’t loosen.”

“Cutting won’t work either,” she said. “Even a mithril blade would dull and snap before you could cut through hydra weaved cloth.”

Raylas blinked at the name, then sighed. It was probably just a name, like a fighter calling their sword ‘giant slayer’ or something outrageous. There was no way this bag was actually made from the hairs of a hydra.

He peered at the bag again. It was ridiculous, right?

“Then how does it open?” Raylas pushed his mind away from troublesome thoughts to focus on the current puzzle.

“By saying the code,” the girl laughed. “You read it, right? Then you should know it.”

“Code?” Raylas looked at the writing again. It was a puzzle? "Like one of those blocks in which the pieces are shaped to fit together in a specific way?"

"Similar," Sapphire said. "But this is a reading puzzle, not a toy one."

Raylas stared at the bag as nostalgia hit him.

"I have not messed with a puzzle in years," he reminisced. "I bought one during a festival when I was a young teen. It was one of the first things I bought something for enjoyment and not survival. Food wasn’t a problem, and my weapons were sharp and armor polished."

"Why did you decide to get it?"

"It looked interesting," he strugged. "I spent weeks fiddling with it until I memorized each wood piece. I could put it together even in the pitch dark just by the feel.

"I would still have it if it wasn’t for the bandit fire which made me fail my first escort mission. I only did monster extermination or random talks before, but that escort… it gave me my first major scar."

Raylas touched his shoulder, but the familiar groove was not there. Twenty years of pains were gone, just like the scars on his face.

He took in another breath to clear his mind.

"But that was then and this is now." He stated.

He had to stop moping and move. To wallow in pity due to the curses latching onto him was now to get cured, he needed to move.

First order of priority was to find out if there was a blacksmith in town who could repair his armor. Raylas hoped the jewels would be worth enough to pay for it but if not he needed at least the straps repaired. The second priority was to get his polearm fixed. The blade was still good but a solid piece of wood was necessary.

Thank the gods they were in a lumber town. Wood was plentiful around here, and the likelihood of a blacksmith is high. Due to the monsters they should also be skilled in armors and weapons.

A smile finally broke on Raylas’ face. Things seemed to be moving in a good direction again. As soon as he fixed his equipment and resupplied he would head off to Gloomcrest. The Guard patrol should have cleared the roads by then.

Second priorities are getting Sapphire something proper to wear. Raylas opened his pack and threw a shirt at her along with the final piece of rope. It was no longer than a couple meters but the perfect length for a belt.

“What is this, Master?”

“Put it on,” Raylas ordered. “I can’t have you walking around like a harlot anymore.”

“I told you not to call me that…”

“We’ll buy you some proper clothes today,” Raylas said. “But for now please put something else on. You also don’t need to cover your hair now since that playboy saw you.”

She puffed up proudly and started to undress.

Raylas quickly averted his gaze and looked down at the bag. A puzzle was a perfect distraction from… this.

He read the phrase again, and pondered the meaning. Carrying your home with you? How was that possible? Raylas struggled to carry a cut tree, much less an entire house. Then the fact that the ‘door’ can only be opened by the blood of an Aasim?

But the phrase that stuck out the most to Raylas was the final one. Everything Starts Somewhere? It felt like that was the key to the entire thing?

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see the girl wearing what appeared to be an oversized dress which ended at her knees. She danced and spun around to show it off, and Raylas smiled. It was like looking at a child wearing her first dress.

“We should go before it gets late,” he announced as he stood up. The fatigue from the past few days had greatly lessened, but his muscles still seemed to scream for some proper rest.

He put on his belt and placed his treasures inside. He placed the pouch with the riddle on his clothes bag, since he’ll puzzle it out later. He was about to place the ring inside but Sapphire gave a light cough.

“Please wear it, Master,” she mumbled.

Raylas looked between her and the ring before sliding it into the pouch.

“Too risky,” he said. “Some pickpocket might try to take it from us.”

The girl pouted and looked down sadly. Raylas pat her shoulders and started to guide her from the room.

“We’ll have more time for frivolous things later. For now we have to prepare for dinner with Sir Vodianus.”

“A dinner sounds nice.” She seemed to perk up, but a hint of sorrow still filled her eyes.

“It does, doesn’t it,” Raylas said. He truly hoped it would be uneventful. He had had far too much excitement already and needed a week or two of rest.