We woke to a wonderfully warm morning. Surrounding the circular, seamless grey stone platform, the grass glistened with dew. Later today I was sure that the sun, in the almost clear brilliantly blue sky, would be unreasonably hot. Still, as it was early, the gentle morning sun was comfortable and warmed me nicely.

We had pitched our tent on the platform using mana tools in place of pegs. Wulf had slept under the oiled cloth, in the copse next to the platform. Feeling stiff from sleeping on a perfectly flat, extremely hard surface, I wasn’t sure if we had picked the right place to sleep.

Still, despite being stiff, we had slept soundly and safely. So it couldn’t’ve been all that of a bad place to sleep.

After Alis had woken, Wulf wordlessly gestured for us to follow him into the morning gloom in the depths of the copse of trees. There, in the deepest part of the copse, Wulf had showed us large deep pink growths on a few of the trees. Under his watchful gaze, we harvested a dozen of the growths.

The soft skin instantly thickened when we followed Wulf’s example and laid them out in the sun. Following his example, we peeled back the extraordinarily thick leathery skin from the outside of the growth. Inside, I was surprised to see a much smaller, yet brilliantly moist, ball of deep red fruit flesh.

After seeing Wulf taking a bite, I followed his example once more and bit into it. Fruit juices ran down my chin as I bit into the deep red fruit. It was wonderfully sweet, yet with an edge of bitter sharpness I wasn’t too keen on.

With our breakfast of fruits over, Wulf started whittling a stick he had picked up earlier in the morning. Now seemingly ignored, Alis and I decided it was time to head towards the centre of the island. Not knowing what we were meant to do with our satchels, we entrusted them to Wulf. Telling him we had done so. A grunt was all we got in reply.

Despite not wanting to take the satchels, I took a small pouch attached to my belt. Inside of which held all the talismans and precious mana tools Celameth had entrusted to me.

Taking the lead, being slightly larger and stronger, I pushed my way through the tall grass heading towards the vibrant green dome like hill sitting in the middle of Netherfane. As I pushed through the grass, the morning dew wet my clothes and shoes in an uncomfortable dampness.

At long last we burst out of the thick, high grass and into the vibrant green grass circle which surrounded the dome-like hill.

The grass was the same vibrant green as the hill. Not only that, the blades of grass looked like something had recently mowed them to a short height. All-in-all, it kinda looked like the lawn of someone who was lawn obsessed. Though I didn’t have a lawn of my own, I was still rather lucky back in my old life: I had had a small bedsit flat of my own.

Alis must’ve noticed something. She came to stand next to me, her pretty freckled face wrinkled with worry.

I reached out and took hold of her and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

‘It’s just my old life,’ I told her.

‘Do you ever wish you could go back? Those wonders from the tower make that world seem so much nicer than this one.’

I pulled her close so I could wrap my arms around her. ‘I do miss things from there, Alis. Things like showers, toilets, central heating, taps, TV, and shops, oh, the internet too. Yet what I gained from coming here far outweighs what I lost.’

‘What have you gained?’ She asked.

‘Aggard, you, Celameth.’ I said Celameth without thinking.

Now that I had said it, I couldn’t take it back. Nor did I feel any need to. Something must’ve changed during the winter and spring training. Somehow Celameth had found a way to not only get close to me, but also found a way to make me care about her.

Alis had a slight upset pout on her face.

I stroked her fiery red hair. ‘Alis, you are dear to me. Please never forget that.’

She looked away, but kept her head resting against my hand. ‘It is hard for me to see you love another more fully than me. I had thought that there would forever hold a small place in you heart which was solely for me. Not even that tiny place in your heart is sacrosanct for me. I have to share it with another. Another who wants to use you.’

‘Maybe she does want to use me,’ I said, gently guiding her face so she looked at me. ‘But I too want to use her. Aggard herself has told me what she wants me to do for her. If you cannot accept that I put her before anyone else, even myself, then you might as well leave, Alis. For it is to her that my entire being belongs.’

‘No it doesn’t, Klarric,’ Alis said. ‘I can tell that you have come to care for Celameth as a person, as a future-wife. There have been times when you put her before Aggard’s wishes. I have seen them. Yet there has never been a time when you have put me before either Aggard or Celameth.’

The pain in her teary eyes was unfathomable to me. Maybe she was indeed right. Even if she was, I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what I could say. Didn’t know if I could even say it.

‘I love you, Klarric. Love you as much as… I love you.’ She proclaimed. A strange strength in those teary eyes. ‘All I do is for you, to support you, to help you grow. Please, just once, give me some sign that you see me. See me for me. See the depths of love I have for you.’

Her fanatical outburst reminded me of some fanatical and jealous outbursts I had overheard from those jealous of my blessings from Aggard. Back then, all I thought Aggard needed was to give them a sign, anything, for them to latch onto. Either that, or for them to back off.

Now I was in Aggard’s place.

I could feel the cloying and obsessive desire dirty my being.

Yet, despite that, I did have feelings for Alis. Not true love, I knew that. But maybe a form of gratefulness. For it was she who helped me during those dark moments back when I first transferred to the new training fort. It was she who visited me during my many stays in the infirmary. It was she who had been caught alongside me when the jealousy back at the fort had finally exploded into something dangerous.

I pulled her closer to me, forcing her to come closer as she tried to pull away. Finally, she relented and gave up her struggles. I enfolded her in my arms and kissed the top of her head. ‘Did you not say that there was a part of my heart which I kept separate for you ?’

She nodded feebly.

‘Can you trust and believe in that part of my heart?’

She nodded feebly a second time.

‘Well then, as soon as we’re able to, let’s declare our love for each other and get married.’

A shining visage of Aggard appeared before us. ‘My devoted devotees, I shall now oversee this marriage of yours.’