Sloping up from the cliff was a plateau adorned with grassy ridges. A wide, clear river that stretched across the valley fed into a moderately-sized lake surrounding the base, where Rilu pointed and told me the outpost was.

We were approaching the venue- we would probably be able to see over the top by mid-afternoon. The sun was high in the sky, which meant a few more hours of walking. With the strangeness of the landscape and the size of everything, it was difficult to judge distance by any metric other than time. It was a surprisingly nice climate, what with the literal hellscape that almost neighbored it. Or, well, the hellscape even here probably was. I had heard plenty of things about this planet, and hostile was the only word I could use to describe it.

I had questions to ask about that, too, far too many, but if I kept interrogating Rilu constantly I feared that we would grow distant. There was a more personal question on my mind, though, perhaps in line of some of those very fears.

His display of trust earlier didn't make sense. I assumed it was a part of the honor system he needed to follow to be a Duelist, but that didn't seem quite right. It would be too easy to take advantage of, and the role of the Duelist was one of power. My situation seemed unheard of and beyond suspicious, and Illusion magic had to be a thing here. Even without considering powerful otherworldly visitors, it didn't seem too farfetched to believe that the Bound Flame Skill could evolve into a glamour of some type.

So, well, I figured I'd just be direct. Not like a question like this would kill me. Probably.

"Sorry for asking, but why are you trusting me with your stuff? What if I'm lying to you and suddenly speed off with everything?"

He sighed.

"An imposter would have come up with a better alibi, and I've been watching you closely. If you're a fake, you're good enough at it that you might as well just take my things. Also, do you really think you can get away with betraying the trust of a representative for an entire race's power?"

"Oh, I didn't think of it like that," I said absently as I internalized the situation. Perhaps I was worrying too much, not that anyone could blame me.

I sort of understood what he meant, but in all honesty, I didn't know enough about the status of a Duelist. Especially with Rilu's circumstances.

I decided to just let my thoughts whirl with excitement for the outpost and finally have a break.

Sure, it wouldn't be a very long rest, or it could not be one at all depending on Rilu's plans, but I'd hopefully at the very least be able to look at the night sky without my life actively at risk.

-

We came around the bend and began to crest the upward slope. Grass grew here, but no trees. Thinking about it, the climate didn't make much sense, lush, massive trees on the highland, but the plains below with sparse trees held the glistening streams. The climb up was fast, though it felt like forever in my anticipation. These were the first people that I'd see on this planet.

We came to a sudden cliff on the rock which I had to walk around. The path, unfortunately, didn't consider human physical abilities. It was only about 5 meters high, but there was no way that I would be able to climb that. Still, the walk was comfortable and pleasant regardless of the lack of consideration for my rock climbing skills. Er, lack thereof.

As I stepped above the wall-like cliff I could get my first real view of the outpost. The land flattened out, with about two football fields between me and the precipice. Or so I predicted, as the precipice was blocked by the predominant feature of the landscape.

Hung between two house-height columns of mahogany wood painted in a strikingly similar fashion to totem poles (and considering the paint was glowing slightly, it was possible that they were functional magical wards) was a map I focused on for a moment, about halfway across the landscape. It was strange, my perception being so vivid and all-encompassing in my immediate surroundings, falling off immediately. But even before Gradient, my vision had been quite sharp, so it was easy to make out the details.

I'd need to get closer to see where we were, but the map was of a distinctly crescent-shaped continent with clearly defined sectors. Islands dotted the area in the embrace of the crescent's gulf. I wondered if there was only one continent here or if there were more. The planet was most likely smaller than the earth, considering that all of the others seemed to be. Then again, I could have been wrong. Gravity at least seemed indistinguishable, though I wondered if I'd notice differences with Gradient.

Regardless, I didn't need much. Having any sense of where the hell I was was nice, especially with the rest of the things around me. Those things being a sparse but bustling set pale-shaded geometric sheet metal buildings laid out in intimate clusters. Mostly sheet metal, at least. They were adorned in sand-colored cloth overhangs between entrances in the same array. They all seemed to be of similar low-tech design, in stark contrast to the fancier implements of the assumed research and monitoring equipment back on the Crater's Edge. Despite being far away from the flats, these buildings almost seemed like they would be more at home in such an environment.

I saw an antenna on one of the buildings. It felt incongruous to the fantasy setting I had been preparing myself for, but it was oddly comforting to have a sign of home.

Maybe this place wasn't so much of a hellscape after all.

I began a light jog toward Rilu, who hadn't bothered to wait for me and was already talking with an inhabitant at what appeared to be a checkpoint. The keyword was 'began', as my aching muscles protested that heavily. Even with the Well of Life in my repertoire, sleeping for days on hard dirt and rock wasn't great for your back. Admittedly, another thing I had been looking forward to

Which I didn't quite want to admit to myself, as I had decided to go with the Ranger class. I wanted to play the part of a Bear Grylls-esque survivalist, even if I was being pampered by a Dragon. Vitality was the other potential Tree, and I needed to survive before all else. The other two had Intellect trees, which wouldn't be of much help. But regardless of if it was of necessity, the idea of being a ranger was appealing to me. Slinging arrows, hunting prey, finding secrets in the forest...

Which also happened to make me feel bad because I knew that I shouldn't be getting into a role. I shouldn't be dreaming of sitting around and using superpowers. I should be dreaming solely of how I may be able to get back home, and I knew it.

Oh well, that was nothing more than yet another emotional prison. I'd constructed many before. At least it wouldn't take a conceptual therapy-empowered Houdini to escape one like this.

...Probably.

I made it to Rilu, who was tapping his foot impatiently. And sassily, which was kind of hot. *That* capitulation didn't stop me from making fun of him for it, though.

"Oh, my liege, thank you so very much for waiting on your humble servant, for I am weak in stature and without the great inheritance of my people," I wheezed, faking being far more out of breath than I actually was. Rilu attempted an 'I've never seen this man in my life' gesture by looking around frantically as if expecting to see someone else. Before he sighed and shook his head. The guard seemed, like Rilu when I first saw him, dissatisfied with my existence. But it was less in curiosity and pride than him. The curiosity had been replaced with contempt.

I didn't take too much offense. I had some power over Rilu in a public setting, and I felt good about being able to use it. Some racist (I would say humanist, but, well, you know) wouldn't be enough to bring me down from that high.

He and Rilu exchanged a few words, about half of them insults directed toward me. I didn't feel bad about that either. I was the one who gave him such an easy character to tease.

Regardless, we were allowed through.

-

We didn't bother to rest. Rilu seemed to be in a hurry, and if I felt tired I could just take a sip from the verdant Well of Life. I was getting hungry, but, honestly, being hungry wasn't all that bad. I never ate all that much anyway. Well, in fairness, I was reconsidering that lifestyle after some pointed insults about my body type from the prior events.

The only stop we made was about a minute after we got through the gate when I dragged my Draconic companion toward the map. Because of the aforementioned tininess of the outpost's landmass, the walk was only around a minute, even with my slow speed and leisurely pace. I was enjoying the strange but relaxing scenery.

"Why are you dragging me over here? I know how the world looks," Rilu grumbled with uncharacteristic sternness. He had seemed lethargic today, a subtle sense of stress underpinning our banter. I doubted it was just the time crunch, though maybe I had just convinced myself that it had something to do with his powers.

"I don't know how to read," I delivered with an inappropriate amount of self-satisfaction. Despite me being the one who didn't know how to read, Rilu was the one who was embarrassed. Not the strangest subversion of conventions I had been a part of here.

He facepalmed and didn't say anything more. When we arrived, I simply stood over at the map. After about thirty seconds of awkward silence, he realized that he was supposed to be telling me about what I was looking at and began frantically talking.

I giggled, causing him to blush. It seemed that we were both fun to mess with. I could accept that.

"The right, on the left is where we are, off of the Wildlands, and, uhm..." he stuttered out. I decided not to laugh at him for that. Mostly because it was reminiscent of many of my interrogations.

Suffice it to say, Rilu wasn't very good at explaining maps. I nearly patted his back in sympathy, but I didn't want to be slapped all the way back to the Flats. I began to analyze the map on my own, letting him fumble around for a few moments longer. Gradient let me do it quickly, though I still needed to actually think about the precise image it put in my mind.

The map was, as I mentioned, crescent-shaped and fully colored, shaped like a moon, and with a very wide variety of environments dotted throughout. On the rightmost edge of both ends of the crescent were large lengths of desert (assuming that was what a sandy yellow signified) leading into various environments. Starting from the bottom and moving left and upward, it transitioned into what appeared to be a green area populated by various forests hugged by a mountain range on the exterior that went up the continent. There were certain colors and details not reminiscent of any environment that I knew of as well. Such as an area that was simply blue or an area marked with a mushroom.

That end of the continent seemed pretty consistent until, on the edge of a line of forest, it was broken up by a dark area marked similarly to the mountains, with a mirror symbol in the center. This area was halfway up the bottom, and the trend carried on until the center, with the exception being a forest marked by cliffs and an assortment of blue lines.

I was no genius, so I could say this with confidence- It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that that was exactly where we were. The forest and plains looked tiny on the map, and the set of mountains that seemed to extend higher were marked by a singular, taller rock with a line extending off of it. I assumed that signified the worldbridge. The problem was that the forest we passed through, though thankfully marked with larger trees and a blue outline, was barely noticeable. We had gone maybe a few dozen centimeters on the map.

Which, considering this could have been a map of the entire planet, was actually quite good. The thing that scared me is that I thought I knew where we were going. Partially because I could see Rilu's eyes gravitating around it, and partially because of how the location in question was marked.

A diagram that seemed sort of reminiscent of an older city, complete with buildings out of place for that period dotted around and another line moving from it. Right smack dab in the center of the continent, where a river broke straight through.

There were labels around the sides that I couldn't read. And I didn't want to make Rilu feel too useless. So I guided him through what to tell me. Or tried to. Really, I just took on the closest thing that I had to a calming tone my vocal cords could squeeze out and tried to work him through the process.

"First, where are we on the map, and where are the wildlands?" I asked. He took a deep breath, and I had to hold myself back from giggling again. I was being way too mean to him.

"The wildlands are just the term for everything past the Scorched Lands around the Daimoon Flats. They used to be unexplored, but the name stuck even after. There are a lot of weird places there."

He seemed relieved as he spoke, which made me happy.

"Are we heading to the center of the continent, then?"

"Yes, we are. That's where the citadel is located."

"What route are we-"

Our conversation was cut short by a rumbling under the earth.