I look at my surroundings, standing at the very tip of a large tree, scanning the landscape for landmarks. I had briefly put my mask on for this very purpose of climbing the tree.

"Alright, where the fuck am I?" God, damn it. God damn it. I was like an old blind man trying to walk his way through the country alone, except that old man could barely hear anything. I catch my foot on a branch and come crashing down the tree, except that old man also had never been outside a modern city before either. The tree then snags onto my cloak, violently jerking me to the side as I swing back and forth from the tree. I hang there in despair, before looking back down to see a bunch of squirrels circling my bag. Presumable for the food inside

"Hey! That's mine!" I yell at the squirrels before furiously writhing around. My cloak rips and I fall back down to the ground, scattering all the squirrels away from my bag. ...

Isn't there supposed to be a path somewhere? I begin thinking as I lay on the ground. Surely the travelers in this world don't go through all this right? I think I was following it for a while but... I probably veered off course by accident. Maybe I missed a road-sign or something, I wouldn't be surprised with just how shit my vision is. Fuck! I knew I shouldn't have been traveling without my mask on. But I'll barely make any progress that way! if I try sprinting, I'll just shorten my mask duration.

Over the past couple of days, I discovered a couple more new limitations with my injuries. If I walk without any significant usage of Anku, I'll need to spend 50% of my time recovering. So four hours of my mask on would require four hours of my mask off. However, if I run, it goes from 50% to 70%, and if I run at my full speed, a single hour knocks me out for an entire day.

I sit up and brush the dirt off my clothes. I ruffle around my bag, making sure the squirrels didn't manage to take any of the food.

A month of traveling before I supposedly reach Oliviand, that's what Jarso told me. No cars, no bikes, just my very own two feet. I take out my compass and stare at it as it slowly whirls around, before settling in on one direction. Oliviand was directly north of Astrodam, which means...

I ruffle through my backpack for the map. That I was either to the east or west of the main path... I can't tell which side I was on though... If I travel east, I'll either rejoin the path, or I'll hit this massive lake, and if I travel west I might reach a plain.

I raise my hand to my chin and contemplate. Plain or lake, plain or lake, although further up the lake-side I'll reach a port town called Vou... No harm in checking that place out before Oliviand, I might find a doctor there that can help me. If I reach the plain though, what options will I have? I can try doubling back, although that'll be a huge waste of time.

I continue thinking.

Alright, screw it. To the east we go then, best case scenario, I rejoin the path, but the lake-side doesn't sound too bad either.

And as you would expect.

Two days later.

I find myself at a sandy beach, standing before an endless expanse of water.

"I hope Jarso packed more than a months worth of food." I murmur to myself.

The cool breeze ruffles my hair, running through my scalp. I check my map once again. Yep, this is the place. I take a big sigh and slide my mask off my face. My stomach ties itself into a knot as I do this; however, I was used to the feeling at this point.

"I know I shouldn't travel without my mask on, but it's just a long beach right? How hard could it be?" I murmur. It was still pretty early in the day as well.

I begin trudging along the sand, nearly deaf and blind.

I... How did I end up in this situation... My wrists and feet were shackled, and I was blindfolded and gagged, being transported to God knows where. People just go around kidnapping random people in this world? I never even noticed them coming, just came up behind me and knocked me out. Before I knew it I found myself in a horse drawn cart.

(Unbeknownst to me at the time, the beach I was traveling on was a very common smuggling route, trail of pirates as it was called. Unlike, the main road there were no checkpoints, no guards, no guarantee of safety whatsoever. Traveling without at least thirty armed men was complete suicide for any merchant trying to import illegal goods or evade taxes, and it was absolutely littered with bandits. A touch ironic I guess.)

My face painfully rubs against the wooden tiles as the cart hits a bump, splinters getting lodged in my cheek, and only one thought was running through my mind, I have to get out of here right now.

These shackles are made out of pure metal though, there's no way I can break them without my mask, I resist the urge to struggle. Better I play dead than try to resist, I'd rather they don't know that I'm awake, if they do... I don't know, they might hurt me.

My heartrate begins rising, my arms and legs begin going numb. I feel... kinda feverish... Shit... I actually don't know what's about to happen to me. I've never been this, helpless before.

Oh yea, that's right. I'm alone now. No enemies who know who I am beforehand, no enemies who just want to play with me, no enemies with genuine moral compasses, just the pure evil of human beings, and I was completely helpless. The realization finally truly struck me.

I'm not in charge of my fate and there is a very good chance I will never find out anything about Dundee or myself.

I begin breathing heavily as the weight of the world begins crashing down on me, and for the first time ever, I wanted to go back to New York.

No.

It's all because of my injuries. If I didn't have this nerve damage, I would have been able to notice them coming and beat all of them. I have to be more levelheaded.

You know what? No, not even that, if I had my mask with me right now all these guys would be toast.

Right?

...

I wonder if they're going to feed me.

...

Or let me go to the bathroom.

Twenty thousand three hundred eighty one. Twenty thousand two hundred eighty two. Twenty thousand... hold on what number was I on?

As I struggle to keep myself sane, the wooden planks stop jostling around under my body.

We stopped.

I begin straining my ears as futile as it was, and as I expected, all I could hear were a couple of incomprehensible low droning noises, it was really like everything around me was underwater.

I eventually stop trying; however, I know I can't relax. If an opportunity comes I have to be ready to seize it.

Tense moments pass by. I loosen my arms and legs until my muscles were almost completely slack, ready to explode into action at any moment.

I silently pray for my mask to finally return. I doubt that they held onto it, as I'm sure it would have returned to me by now if it were close by. Prior to today, the longest my mask had been missing was four days and 2 hours, largely depending on the context on which I lost it. Which means soon, I'll be free, although I won't have my compass nor map, which means...

Mmh, I smile underneath my gag. I'm going to have to forcefully take some new ones.

As I daydream every possible way I could break a finger, an unusual but familiar scent takes the air. I rub my right arm in confusion, wondering if I somehow got wounded and didn't feel it; however, my fingers did not come back wet.

Hey... Then... Why do I smell blood?

Suddenly the droning noises I could hear were beginning to sound a lot more audible as they got closer and closer. Yea, I think I should have realized this sooner. There's no way that I would be the only one that they would kidnap. The sounds were becoming a lot more recognizable; they were screams and groans. A leather flap close to me opens, and the wood next to my feet thuds as I hear a body getting tossed in with me, their screams being muffled by a gag.

And there was nothing more that I wanted right than to destroy these people.

I get up off the ground and sit back up upright. The moment I do this, I feel a surge of Anku through my body, electrifying every single limb. My vision also returns, despite still being blindfolded, as I was now able to see through the cloth. I turn my head to the right, as I suspected, I was inside of a covered wagon. My hearing was also back to normal. I touch my face; my mask had somehow returned to me.

The leather flap opens once more, putting me face to face with a tall lanky man holding a sword covered in blood. His eyes widen in surprise as I immediately lunge out at him, trying to grab his throat, only to be stopped by the chains holding me.

Am I... too weak to break these? Even with my Anku back?

The man doubles back startled for a bit before he smiles at me. "Forgot you had those on huh?" The man laughs, "Keep struggling, there's no escaping your fate."

My pupils constrict in rage, I grab one chain with my other hand and loosen all my muscles at once, getting ready for a single explosive moment. My vision blurs, the world around me fogs up as all sound is soon erased, all the Anku I was subconsciously using to relieve my nerve damage flows out of my head and into my arms and knees.

The man mouths something and draws his sword, but I don't hear it. At that moment every single one of my muscles tense up, my Anku explodes across my body, weaving around every single activated muscle fiber with an almost 100% efficiency. I hear two clanks as two of my chains break all at once; however, my right limbs were still chained up.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I curse out loud. How much strength did I just put in that? Am I really this weak right now?

I eye the man closely as he begins approaching me, his eyes were now completely serious. Damn! I won't have another opportunity for another burst of strength like that, I have to stand and fight like this.

I begin swinging around the chain on my left arm threatening his range with a sword with my own. If I can just wrap this chain around the sword he's mine. The man hesitates and looks away as I do this, hesitant. I immediately yoink my chains violently as he does this, making the message clear to him that we are going to clash right now, or I will break free the moment he turns away.

"God fucking... Well, I knew what I was signing up for." The man murmurs before beginning to slowly inch forward...

He turns his head, "Hey! I need some he—" I tear my arms forward once more, snapping the two other chains with a loud clank. The man yelps before finishing his sentence as I fly out of the wagon. He desperately tries to bring his sword up as a guard, but I slam right through it, guarding my skin from being cut by the metal of my shackles, straight into his stomach as his knees buckles from the strength of my blow.

"That's what happens when you lose your nerve." I say snarkily before driving my fist into his teeth. Now, where am I. I look around the scene, the sky was red, a fire further off in the distance, being obscured by a forest of trees in the way. We were on a narrow path, I hear a whimper from beside me. I look down to find a little kid lying on the ground, her face was streaked with tears as she looked at me helplessly. She was presumably the person that kidnapper was going to throw in the wagon next.

Ah shit, I'm not very good at this kinda of stuff. I just wanted to beat some guys up. I scratch my head and then undo her blind and gag.

"Um, are you alright?" I say awkwardly.

I see her eyes widen and throat prepared for a scream. In a panic immediately cover her mouth with my hand. "Shhh, I'm on your side, I'm going to help you, I'm going to help you, I'm going to help you." I feel her breath gradually stop hyperventilating as she slowly but surely calms down.

I slowly take my hand off her mouth. "Everybody is being attacked by these strange men. I don't know what we did to deserve this, they're dressed up weird as well."

"Wait, so you're saying there's a village nearby? Civilization?"

The girl nods her head.

I pat her head. "Alright, stay here. I'm going to go off and drive off the strange men alright? I'll be back a soon as I can."

"Wait! Please don't go! I don't want to die!" The girl begins wailing a bit too loudly. I cover her mouth once again.

"Shh, shh, I'm going to need you to be brave for me. Go off into the forest and hide behind a bush or tree somewhere, carefully, without making much noise alright? It's so dark right now that it'll be impossible to see you. Please, trust me. I'm going to hurt those men attacking you badly." I finish off with a hint of anger in my voice.

I hear footsteps from within the forest. "Go, go!" I whisper with a sense of urgency. The girl nods her head and scrambles off into the dark, melding into the shadows.

"Phil? I heard you shouting something are you alright?" A woman steps out from the forest.

"Who are you?" She tenses up immediately after seeing the man lying on the ground. She then notices the broken chains attached to my limbs and her eyes immediately widen.

"I guess I'll try to get some information out of you before killing you." I whisper to myself but audible enough on purpose so that she could hear me. She immediately turns tail and runs, leaving a cloud of dirt from her feet.

"Wait—" Damn she's fast! I immediately begin running after her, however, I am unable to gain any ground on her.

"Help! Help! Some strange masked teen just killed Phil!" I bite my lip as she alerts everyone to my presence. I once again am reminded of my fall to grace, right now, I don't think I would even be able to outrun a car.

I clench my teeth and smile as I see glimpses of the village past the trees. "Alright, then bring it on you damn amateurs."