My first view upon awakening was of an unfamiliar straw ceiling and seeing the orange of dusk settling in through a window on my left. I made an effort to sit up and only got half way before falling back flat on my back.

My own weakness reminded me again of the events that probably led up to me lying here. The memories played out and I regretted all of the opportunities I could have saved him.

I could have just thrown any one of my disruptive spells between the two to have a long enough pause to resolve any misunderstanding, but I just stood there and did nothing. Real useful I was.

Now I had no idea what happened to the guy. The only possible source of those answers was antagonized by myself in my rage too.

I really did outdo myself in digging this hole.

I was content to just lie there until oblivion took me again. My plan, like all others, was not meant to be gone through.

The door on my right cracked open and let in my best friend’s killer. Rocking a few new bandages and wearing a simpler combination of a black tunic and grey pants, the man looked no worse for wear.

I narrowed my eyes at him while the rage and frustration temporarily drowned out by resignation bubbled up to the surface once again.

“What are YOU doing here, killer?”

The man was unphased by my aggression and just sat down on the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry kid, but-”

“You don’t get to say sorry.”

“Well, I am saying it. Didn’t think that one was a friendly. So I will apologize for that.”

“Your apology is not going to get him back.”

“No, It won’t. But you lying here hating me is not going to bring him back either.”

“And WHAT do you think will bring him back?”

He just fell silent at that and I felt heat gather around my neck. It worked its way up my face along with the words pushing up through my throat.

“Come on, out with it. What do you think will bring him back?”

There was still no response and I took a deep breath in. the air felt thick and heavy.

“Got nothing huh? That’s fine.”

I took in another one. The pressure in my chest should be enough to match what I felt in it.

“BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING HIM BACK. YOU KILLED HIM. HE’S DEAD. NO REDO.”

I was heavily panting and most likely red in the face at that point. He remained silent, seeming to give me some time to settle, before speaking.

“Could you tell me more about him?”

My train of thought was derailed by the strange question and I only go one word out.

“Why?”

He just shrugged, eyes still locked on my own.

“You wanted me to feel bad about what I did. I would if I knew more about him.”

I reflexively went to ready another [burst shot] to throw at him and received a painful reminder that I was definitely suffering from an overtaxed mana gland. I settled for another glare. He remained quiet, taking it with no issue.

I stewed there in my own indignation at his tone from before but for whatever reason felt the compulsion to open up after a while.

“If you want to feel bad, know that he was a pacifist. He was never the first to strike from the beginning of the fight. He didn’t even used any of the sharp edges on you when that tail whip landed. He was always like that from before and was kinda bullied for a bit in middle school for it.”

I paused a little to center myself.

“He doesn’t take it lying down though. Got to exercising and the guy got decently popular by the end of it all. He didn’t took that stab you did on him either, Huh? I bet you were trying to kill him that time too, right?”

He nodded with what I hoped was shame.

“Right. His popularity in middle school only lasted so long since the guy was never an extrovert and was soon back to his tiny circle of friend in highschool.”

The old man nodded to show he was following and I kept going.

“Still, he was there for friends. At least most of the time, the guy could just be a bit too lazy to bother if things were trivial and inconvenient. But if I really asked, he would do it. This, you know, would lead to him doing a lot of dumb stuff that I came up with.”

The mention of that was already bringing up a memory of one of those times. We were on Tim’s bike travelling back to his house after buying a new monitor for a friend of ours. Instead of just letting the place deliver it to us, I had the idea that Tim just carrying it and me riding him back with his bike was faster. By the time his first complaints on a dead thigh and sore arms came in, we were already deep in traffic and too far from the shop to call it quits.

“I’m so going to die man, so going to die.”

“Come on. It’s not that bad.”

“Tell that to my dead legs. Oh, wait. You can’t. They’re dead.”

“But you’re not, so that’s fine.”

“My life’s in danger man. One more pothole and I’m biting the dust and the road.”

I choked out a half-laugh-half-sob at the vivid image of me speeding up for a pothole once he said that. Tears fell more as I recalled the silly laughing we did right after. I stayed in that pool of melancholy and nostalgia for an unknown amount of time before I recalled my unwanted listener.

“Right, you’re still listening. Where was I? Ah, he was soft and nice with friends. He was also very trusting with people and looked a lot on their positive side. This had its ups and downs.”

He spoke for the first time since I started.

“How?”

“Well, for one, he trusts me a lot with things and rarely questions much.”

I paused, thinking of a line he spoke before. My breath hitched a little and I played it down as a shrug.

“Unless it is obviously bad. But then, that trust also got him in the back many time and especially one time.”

He seemed to perk up a little in curiosity. The risen ears would have been endearing. I saw them as an annoyance.

“That I will not mention. They are only his to tell and I don’t believe he will want you to listen at all.”

The tacked on comment failed to ruffle him. The man only let up his focus gaze for a respectful nod.

“I can respect that.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate that. And Tim probably would too.”

I could not stop with the reminders of what he had done. It felt wrong not to.

“I think I would like this Tim if we had met under different circumstances.”

“Would you now?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“I would. He resembles me in some aspects.”

“Why even tell me all of this now? What good does that do?”

“To get you to talk to me.”

“And what does that do?”

“Get you to listen to me.”

“And what? I’m listening. What do you have to say, for yourself? Sorry, again?”

“I don’t think I have killed your friend.”

“Really now. What makes you think that? Because his screams and the crater from that bomb really points the other way.”

He stood up after that and went to rummage in one of the boxes. A question filtered out through the shuffling noise of items being moved about.

“Did you ask me what I used on him?”

“No?”

A brief exhale of satisfaction told me he found what he was looking for.

“It was not a bomb that I used.”

I huffed irritably.

“Could have fooled me with that explosion.”

“You must have guess from the shape that the things in that box were all weapons of some sort. Am I right?”

He held out another one of those bombs.

“Yes?” I replied hesitantly.

“None of them were weapons. They were all experimental preset teleportation spells Ruvyn worked on. I was the subject of a lot of those in my time spent with him.”

He playfully tossed the canister and I reflexively flinched. I was still not buying it, those were definitely not harmless. Failed experiments can always blow up.

“And tell me, why would you subject yourself to that?”

The bit of friendly light dimmed a little. I could not say I hated that.

“I have my own stories that are only for me to know. The point still stands that those were not weapons.”

My scoff could not have came more naturally.

“Yeah, not weapons. Explain Tim’s screams then.”

He was insistent. The calm within his voice did not leave.

“The transportation always came with immense pressure, something I believe your friend can survive.”

“And why would that be?”

“I was able to make it through with my defensive aura. And your friend managed to crack it. It would not be far off to say he lived.”

“And where would I even find him? Or is it one of those things that Ruvyn has pre-set-up to connect to one place.”

He nodded.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“You can choose not to and mope here. But why not be like your friend and trust people?”

With those parting words, he left my room to go elsewhere.

I looked emptily up to the ceiling and considered the conversation I had. It galled me that my mind was slowly coming around to his reasoning.

I had two option just like he said. One is to just sit around here and be miserable. The other one is to simply believe in what he said and get ready to go out and search for Tim.

Whatever I choose, it was only going to happen after I have rested both my spirit and body.

Moonlight was shining through the window when a new visitor entered and woke me from my slumber.

Small feet tip-tapped closer to my bed and I was greeted by the sight of a much cleaner Layla standing at the side of my bed in a clean sundress instead of the armor that was stuck to her for at least three days.

The different attire only emphasised her apparent timidity.

“H...How are you brother?”

“Better, how about you?”

“I’m fine. Are you sure you are better?”

“I am.”

“So you’ll come out for dinner, right?”

I nodded and rose from the bed, successfully this time.

Once off, I noticed that I was still in the three days old clothes and smelled horrible. Layla didn’t mind and just led me by the hand out of the door from the small and cramped room.

I was expecting some stairs to welcome me upon my exit, but all I saw in the dim lighting was a wooden walkway leading into a wall of leaves.

I was walking forward to see if the leaves hid a door when Layla pulled me to my right where my hazy eyes picked up an orange glow coming from a hatch in the boards.

Layla let go of my hand and entered the hole. I followed and found a ladder leading down into the light.

With the leaves and now the tree trunk the ladder was leaning on, I could already guess that I had just been sleeping in the hut I saw the old guy leave earlier in the day.

As I got on the ground ready to go walk around for a look of the structure, Layla was there holding my hand again and taking me towards the campfire I ignored behind me.

Sitting down facing the ladder and fire was the same old man handling a grill with an assortment of meat and a large pot on it. On his right was a girl around my physical age in a slightly dusty moss green tunic and dark brown pants. Both were seated on two of the four logs circling the fire pit.

The girl was in a hunched over pose working on something and I got a full view of two tufts of black feather sticking out of her black curly. The imagery of a horned owl fit in easily.

Layla led me to the fire and took a seat with me on the log facing the old man. Our arrival caused both of the fire’s occupants to look up.

The man’s lingered for a bit before moving on, the girl’s stayed on me and I noticed that she had on a pair of thick round glasses, further cementing the fact that she was an owlkin.

From his position on the cooking station, the old man spoke.

“You’re awake, good. Now I can finally have a proper introduction.”

He stood up and went over to the girl who was again preoccupied with something.

“Come on. What did I tell you about practicing magic around meal times?”

An awkward chuckle escaped her as she rose from her crouched position to reveal a small seedling sprouting from the earth under her log.

The adult just shook his head and turned back to me and layla. He pointed a hand to the girl and she waved shyly.

“This is Ayano. Come on, say hi.”

“Hi?”

“Good, and my name is Taryn.”

He pointed to himself and turned to Ayano.

“And here is Brandon.”

“Hey,” I waved to the girl.

Taryn nodded at me and went behind his log. From a compartment hidden somewhere, he pulled out some wooden bowls and utensils. He handed a set to Ayano and handed two to me.

Once everyone had their set, Taryn lifted up a piece of meat with his one arm and manifested a black ‘blade arm’ from his stump. He went first to Ayano and carved her a few slices before moving on to Layla and eventually me.

“Are you sure that thing is clean?” I pointed to the blade.

His face fell flat and he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Yes. I manifest them from nothing so there can’t be anything on them.”

I reined in the little bit of antagonism that sparked that remarked and focused on at least cooperating until I could go and confirm what he said about Tim being alive.

The meal went on peacefully after that with the two males just eating in silence and Layla initiating a conversation with Ayano about whether she could make flowers with her magic. Ayano entertained her request, or at least tried to before Taryn told her again that there would be no magic during meal time.

Layla argued the point and they ended up with a compromise. If they could finish their meal quickly, they can go do that away from where we were eating.

Layla expectedly gulped down her entire bowl immediately and asked for leave. The meal was a two-parter as revealed by Taryn when he took her bowl and scooped out from the pot a thick soup with bits of vegetables visible in it.

Layla pouted a little, but attacked her new challenger with gusto and was soon rearing to go play with Ayano. Taryn just led his eyes over a slowly eating Ayano.

Layla’s face fell and she went over to needle Ayano into eating faster. The older girl held firm in her ideology of enjoying a meal at her own pace regardless of Layla’s whining. Ayano’s bowl was soon finished and Layla was bouncing up and down.

I was sniggering internally at her inevitable fall in morale when she realised Ayano still had some soup to pack away. Layla saw Ayano hand the bowl over to Taryn and her face conveyed a look of utter disillusionment. I could almost hear my teeth ground together in my effort to hide any outward indication of my amusement.

Ayano eventually finished her entire meal and Layla instantly grabbed her hand. The larger one showed blatant shock at the little one’s ability so simply drag her outside into the open patch of earth a stone’s throw to my right.

I silently finished my own bowl and handed it to Taryn for soup. I poked around my bowl a little before taking the first tentative spoon of the vegetable soup.

Slower than the first one, the second bowl was finished and I was left sitting there alone with a still eating Taryn. While he ate, I readied myself for the conversation that I was definitely going to start.

Taryn was finished with his meal and I opened my mouth.

“Alright, we need to settle somethings.”

He took a look at where the girls were at before turning to me again.

“You said earlier that Tim might have survived.”

He nodded.

“I was definitely skeptical of that, but there were some reasonable points that you had. So I need the details of why again.”

“Ok. What do you want to know about that?”

I closed my eyes a little to ready myself.

“Explain to me CLEARLY what it was that you used on him.”

There was a small pause before his reply. My voice might have been a bit too demanding.

“They are experimental products from Ruvyn on quick to use teleportation for his further experiments in observing how the transportation works.”

My eyes widened a little and I stopped him there.

“So they are experiments to help him do more experiments?”

He replied flatly with a straight face.

“Yes.”

“Ok. And what were they supposed to do?”

The question was spoken steadily.

“Fast to produce teleportation seals that was all synced to a specific point.’

My voice rose from the calm it had begun with.

“And what DID they do?”

“They did just that, but according to Ruvyn, the transition tunnel was too crooked and small to count as a standard for observation. I just feel a lot of pressure on me while I travel through the first one.”

I jumped in right as he took a breath. Something caught my attention.

“Wait you said the first one. Are there differences between each one?”

“Yes. Ruvyn said the rushed nature of production made the enchantments on them wildly divergent. The next one I tried exerted a pulling force from all angles around me.”

I was getting angry again at this point.

“So, you are telling me there is no concrete pattern for any of this and, for all I know, the one you used on him could very well be one with just too much force for him to handle.”

“He was tough. The resistance his flesh gave was more than anything I have encountered.”

“Anything else besides that?”

I was still agitated and not settling any time soon.

“The transportation was completed. Any lethal failures of Ruvyn’s research always end up with an extreme explosion and the remains of what was being transported being fused into the area around it. I did not see any traces of undead around the blast zone.”

His better reasoning helped me stomped down some more stubborn denial I still had.

“Fine, I’ll give you that. Are there anything else I need to know about the adverse effects of travelling through those?”

“Well, I have lost plenty of clothes and equipment through them, so non-living matter suffers more of the effects.”

“That seems fine. To move on, you said they all lead to one place before. Is that true? ”

“Yes, they are all linked to one destination near our first research location.”

“And where would that be?”

He put a finger to his chin before standing up.

“Wait for a bit,I can’t really tell you without a map.”

He climbed up the tree and into the hut hidden within its canopy and I took that time to take a look at what Layla was doing.

They were apparently finished with whatever flower Layla wanted and were both hiding poorly behind one of the bushes listening to my conversation with Taryn. Layla was not at all apologetic for eavesdropping and just walked up to me.

“Hey, what were you talking about?”

“I was just asking about Tim.”

“But uncle Taryn said he was fine.”

“Yeah, but I had to make sure. He is a friend, right?”

“Right. And Olivia too.”

“Yeah, her too,” I replied uncomfortably.

The realization of how much I have been ignoring her for Tim throughout the times we have met was a bit of a sucker punch. I did not get long to think on my blatant disregard of another person when Layla continued.

“Hey, Where did the old man go?”

“He went to get a map to show me where Tim was so we can come get him.”

“But what about mom and dad?”

I could only pause awkwardly to think of how to reply. Taryn was useful for once and helped me out of that situation when he came down with a map.

When he opened it, The first thing that I noticed was that there were many more side notes on this one than the one Ruvyn left us.

There were whole paragraphs linked to certain places and plenty of illustrations showing monsters and notable landmarks. Notes were also on the infamous Unknown that I so far have found no map detailing.

There was also one small hut symbol on the map down south just off of the beastman colonies’ border that overlapped with where I remembered ‘old dog’ was on the other map.

“Alright, so we are here.”

Taryn pointed to the map to confirm that my recollection of the map was not wrong.

“And this is where your friend should be,” He pulled out a piece of charcoal and marked an area on the northern border of the Unknown with an ‘X’.

“So this was where you and Ruvyn were at. why did you even go there, just past the safe zone of the Unknown?”

“Ruvyn was fleeing from the elves through Citengord and ran into me at their border. I gave him the idea of hiding within the Unknown and its danger. So we went there and the safety emboldened Ruvyn into making a research station for himself there.”

“Great, he probably set something to travel back there really quick right?”

“No. It was the Unknown. Nothing lasts there, we found out a month later when monsters were flooding our facilities. Nothing probably remains of it besides the anchor Ruvyn buried for his experiments.”

“So what? We can still get there by regular means.”

“Yes, we can.”

“So what are we waiting for?”

“It’s not that easy. Terrain morphs every four years in the Unknown. That’s why it’s impossible to properly map and researched.”

“Alright, so it changed. But can’t be that drastic, right? How long ago did you leave the place.”

Taryn spent a moment thinking before answering.

“Our relocation out of the unknown and its cover led Ruvyn to fall back onto the surveillance net again and we took our separate way for five years. He contacted me again after that telling me of Laura and that he will still send research and items back to me so I can get him materials for his research. I stationed myself near the border of the beastmen colonies at that point to do this and,” he turned to me, “How old are you?”

“Around ten, close to eleven?”

“Then it’s been about sixteen years.”

“So that location had it’s terrain changed four times. I still don’t see why we can’t go and find him now.”

“One, the anchor is a physical item, not an ethereal seal locked on one location. If the earth moves, it moves with it. Second, you don’t know how much it can move every time. So our search location turns to this,” he circled a new area covering twice the surface of the ‘X’.

“It could be even larger. An expedition of that size needs time to be prepared.”

I balled my fists tightly and ground out.

“So you are saying we are not going to search for him. Even after all of that bullshit to convince me he was alive?”

“I did not say that. I just need you to know that it will be long before you get to see your friend between the difficulty of the trip itself and the fact that I still need to get Ruvyn and Laura out of whatever situation they are in now.”

“Fine.”

“Good. Now that you are not raring to stupidly hit me. I have some good news,” he crouched down low to look at Layla, “that goes for you too, Layla.”

“Now that I have both of you safe and sound here. We can start the trip to go find where your parents landed in, Layla. And once we do, I can get around to settling business with you Brandon.”

We turned in for the night after that. The two girls got the only bed in the hut while I was given two thick blankets and relegated to the floor.

Taryn went out of the hut after that so I could only assume that he slept somewhere comfortable enough for him. The girls were soon asleep with Ayano breathing evenly and Layla snoring. I already had my fill of sleep earlier and just lay there in the dark.

I was eventually too bored and crawled out from under my covers to try and sneak out. I only got a few steps down the ladder when Taryn’s voice sounded out from behind me.

“Get back to sleep.”

I turned around to see him sitting up within a brown sleeping bag, in his hand a wooden figure of a warrior with the same round shield and scimitar as his avatar.

I added narcissism to the reasons I disliked the old guy and went back up to the hut. I fell asleep after a while of just running my eyes over all of the shelves and boxes within the hut on the side without the bed.

The morning started with Layla shaking me awake rather violently.

“Come on, wake up. We need to get breakfast and go find mom and dad.”

“Alright, alright. I’m up.”

I groggily got up and stumbled out of my cocoon of blanket. Layla was already up and looking pippy and Ayano was still sleeping soundly in her bed. Out of habit and sleepiness, I almost walked into a wall thinking that it was my old room in the tower.

The embarrassment woke me up completely and I climbed down from the hut to look for a place to relieve myself. I was about to just walk out into the bushes when Layla yelled from behind.

“The bathroom is this way.”

I coughed awkwardly into my hand and gestured for her to lead the way. We walked off into a small trail on the left that eventually led to an out house. I braced myself for a wave of deadly odor when I opened the door to it. But what welcomed me was just a tidy looking bathroom with a tub of water and a wooden toilet bowl.

A breakfast of leftovers soon came after I finished my morning business. Ayano was still out of it so the meal went rather quietly with only Layla contributing to conversation through questions on what we were doing after the meal.

“We are getting your parents.” was the answer when Taryn finished his bowl and just went up into the hut again for something.

We all finished our meals and was just lazing around when he came down again lugging an enormous backpack of half his size. A crystal ball centered between four legs with a pulsing purple arrow within it and the map I saw from yesterday were taken out.

He set both down on the ground in front of us and realigned the map with a compass. He looked back and forth between the orb and the map before drawing a line on the map from our position to Cytengord.

“Alright, looks like your in luck Brandon. we can finish finding Ruvyn and be close enough to start locating Tim if we are lucky.”

He packed up the navigation tools and told us to follow. We walked Eastward for a good while before the edge of a forest was seen again and Taryn suddenly whistled loudly.

After a while, some rustling could be seen from within the bushes and out came an ursidane. The naturally armored bear was wearing even more armored than usual with steel plating covering its flanks and legs to go with the bone plates it already had on its back, shoulders and forearms.

Taryn’s bear soon stopped in front of us and I could spot a long leather saddle covering its back.

“Get on, we should be able to reach the owlkin colony before dark if we hurry.”