Aegaeon climbed a hill as the sun was setting ahead of him. He felt that typically this would mean he was going west but he also felt that directions were different in this new world. As he trudged up the slope he gripped a tree to stabilize his footing when he heard the crackle of a fire. Was there someone else besides him? Was it a town or a group of people?

Aegaeon excitedly climbed over and saw a girl pacing on the other side of the tree line. Finally Aegaeon had found the way out of that endless maze of trees but now, who was this girl?

Aegaeon stepped across the tree line and into what would be called the girls camp. He slowly approached not wanting to scare her. “Hello?” She turned and regarded him. At first it seemed she was itching to run away, but when she saw it was a man and not some beast she relaxed.

“Hi, my name is Clarissa, what’s yours?”

“Aegaeon, how long have you been here?”

“A few days, I woke up around here and haven’t been able to leave. So how is your name pronounced again?”

“It’s like Egg-On. Like you have an egg on a skillet, why haven’t you been able to leave?”

“Monsters.” Aegaeon nodded grimly in acceptance of what she said. He understood her completely. It would be easy to be captivated by fear at the prospect of leaving.

“Would you like to have a seat by the fire?” Her question startled Aegaeon, he was lost in thought of his experience and it took a moment for him to respond.

“Sure, why not?” And so they sat.

Aegaeon looked across the fire at the girl he’d just met. She had a slimmer build with some curves where it counted. Her face was a bit more round than his own with piercing green eyes. The color was the same as newly grown grass, dark green with highlights of a softer hue. Her hair was a mix of blonde shades that gave a rippling effect in the fire light. Her nose tapered to a rounded point and her lips were quite full. All in all, she was stunning.

Not wanting to be caught staring Aegaeon asked, “Do you remember anything from before?” “Nothing, it’s like my mind was wiped or something. I occasionally get a feeling like I remember something but I can never get my finger on it. What about you?” “Same, I initially remembered a few days before I woke up in the forest but it’s hazy. Now even those abstract thoughts are gone. I wonder why?” The two sat in silence for a while as they watched the fire.

“Hey, I’ll keep look out, you go to sleep. You look tired.” Aegaeon sensed that Clarissa had had a few long days and needed rest. Besides he was more of a night owl anyway. “Thanks, but I’d rather stay up.” “Are you sure? You can trust me. Honestly I’m just excited to meet someone besides myself. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt or offend you.” “Eh.... alright. I guess I could use the sleep. But if you do anything I’ll beat the crap right out of ya! I’ve survived for a few days alone and I can keep going if need be.”

With a chuckle Aegaeon just nodded and turned over to start watching around them. Clarissa went to sleep slightly peeved that he didn’t take her threat seriously.

Aegaeon considered playing with Water Blast but thought against it. He wasn’t sure if it would wake Clarissa up and he was too tired anyway. He’d play with it tomorrow. For now he was content to sit and watch the night sky as the moon slowly played across his view. A few hours before morning Clarissa woke up.

“Okay, I’ve had my rest, your turn. Don’t want you tired tomorrow now do we?” “I guess you’re right. See you in a few hours.” Following her lead, Aegaeon turned over where he was and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly and before he knew it, Aegaeon was waking up to a beautiful face staring intently at him.

Aegaeon jumped back in shock at waking up this way. He hadn’t expected someone like her to give him this much consideration. He wondered how long she’d been staring at him and about what she’d thought. He looked at her with wide eyes and noticed she was blushing. Why was she blushing?!?

With a red face Clarissa launched into a nervous explanation. “I-it’s been a long c-couple of days.... and I don’t remember anyone before just being a-alone. Sorry. I was just trying to figure s-some stuff out. S-sorry.”

Aegaeon just laughed. While he was in the middle of trying to catch his breath he was suddenly punched in the arm. “Don’t make fun of me!” “I’m not! I just wasn’t expecting that answer is all. I thought I was weird for having those same thoughts. It’s nice to know it’s not just me.”

Clarissa looked at him weirdly, and Aegaeon felt awkwardness at her gaze. This lasted only a moment before she started to smile. Aegaeon was lost looking at her smile when he noticed she was in the middle of talking. “... to go?” Sounding like a moron, Aegaeon replied with “huh?” She gave him that look again that made him feel awkward and then said, “so where do you want to go?”

On a date. “How about away from this god forsaken forest yeah?”

“Sure.”

Clarissa started to grab some stuff and when she went towards her plants Aegaeon stopped her.

“What are those?”

“Some plants I found. The mushrooms heal you and the berries are delicious. This big mushroom in the middle apparently makes the other plants grow faster.”

“Interesting. Have you tried directly putting your energy into the plants? I can do that with water.”

“What do you mean?”

“Watch this,” with that Aegaeon used Water Burst and sent a bolt of water towards the sky. It went higher than he thought possible and landed next to him in a spray.

“How did you do that?!?”

“I concentrated on water and a path opened up to me. When I completed the path I was given this skill.” Do you have any paths with plants?”

“There’s one in my list called Path of the Botanist. I wonder what completing it will do.”

“How much PP do you have?”

“Not enough.”

That ended the conversation as the two both glanced towards where they were going. With a grunt, Aegaeon took lead and started to walk. Clarissa trailed slowly behind thinking about what this could mean for her.

Aegaeon and Clarissa were walking for hours on plain type land, with tall yellow grass brushing their legs. The sun beat down on them with intensity. Fighting through fatigue the two continued to walk. The plain they were walking started to taper off and became a bit more green. This was all the indication they needed to keep walking this way.

Around the end of the day they were in a lush field of green grass. With a few massive pines standing. Unlike the forest however, they pines were spaced apart and there was a full lake sitting in a clearing. The two ran for water guzzling it down. While sitting next to the lake on the small sand bar Aegaeon asked,”What are we hoping to find?” “What do you mean?” “Where are we going? What are we looking for? Are we hoping to find more people? A place to live? I’m tired of just walking along finding nothing and not having anything to look for.”

Clarissa thought for a moment before responding, “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think there are any buildings anywhere or population centers. I think everyone else is kinda like us, waking up in the middle of nowhere with nothing but open space and monsters to keep them company.”

“I think you’re right. Do we want to build a place for us to live?”

“I’d like that. Sure beats wandering forever. Maybe we could find some monsters worth hunting for food. And we could grow a garden.”

“Do we want to settle here? It’s a nice area, I’m sure there’s plenty of game and the soil would probably be good for crops. There’s also a lake. So both of us could train our specialties.”

“Sounds to me like this is the best we’re going to find. How do you want to build a place for us to live?”

“I don’t know, we should make a temporary shelter until we can figure it out.”

With that Aegaeon got up from the beach and looked around to see what resources for building they had. Seeing nothing but trees and grass and a couple rocks, Aegaeon drew Neptune’s Wrath and made short of work getting some larger branches from some trees. With these he fashioned a small shelter approximately 10 feet long and five feet wide. The branches made a haphazard union at the top but due to the resilience of the wood the branches held and little to no twigs fell into the shelter.

It took only a moment to sweep out the few that did. Clarissa was impressed both with his ingenuity and ability in building a working shelter. But she grew hesitant when she thought of there being only one.

“Are we both in the same one?”

“Yeah, unless that’s an issue for you. I just figured since it was the two of us this would be more than enough space.”

Clarissa shook her head clearing her thoughts”... I guess you’re right.”