When I woke up, I felt hot and cold at the same time. My body could still recall the heat from the electric pool, but at the same time, my body had mostly cooled, although I was still covered in sweat. I also expected my entire body to be sore, but surprisingly, the numbness and pain were almost entirely gone. I got up with relative ease and saw that Tasha was already awake, lying with her back against the wall. We were both by the entrance to the Spirit Altar. Tasha smiled weakly at me and I went to sit down next to her. Her face was a bit red and judging by how gaunt her face looked to me, she was either still recovering or had been brooding for a while now. Before I could ask, the Spirit spoke again, his disembodied voice coming from everywhere in the Altar at once.

“I see you have successfully received my power, human.” I glared up at the open ceiling.

“You know, I hate how ‘human’ keeps getting used as an insult.”

“My apologies. I should be calling you by your name anyways. What is it?”

“My name is Braith.”

“An interesting name; in all of my years, I have never encountered an individual with such a name.”

“Thanks, that means a lot to me,” I said sarcastically.

“I think it would be good for you to remain serious for the rest of this conversation.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I will explain to you my power.” Oh, that actually would be useful. “I am the Spirit of the Thousand Bolts, and you are now the current vessel for my power. Within your body, a thousand bolts of a unique kind of magical energy are circulating throughout your body.” I looked at my hands and started flexing my fingers. I guess I felt a little tinglish. “Most of the time, none of those bolts are actually used, but when they are, they amplify your physical capabilities. They increase your strength and speed. However, a mortal body can only withstand so much of that burden. The more bolts you try to use, the more pain you inflict upon your own body. Overexert yourself too much and you can suffer permanent injuries. Even death.”

“Death?!” Braith began frantically examining his body for any warning signs.

“Yes. If you recklessly use too much of my power without training yourself, your entire body will break down and you may die. However, that kind of limit should be far beyond the kind of energy you can draw for at least a few years. For now, the most bolts you can use would probably only leave you exhausted and in excruciating pain.” Thank goodness the only setback is excruciating pain.

“I would rather never have to go that far.”

“It will be necessary when your life is in peril. Those kinds of consequences are still better than death, are they not?” Hearing death again, I fully realized what I’ve just done. I killed a man. I mean…that was what I planned to do originally right? Or was it Tasha’s plan? Is this what Bradley wanted? It only made sense. I looked back at my hands and then to my empty sheath. Also, next to me, I noticed Jack’s sword still in its sheath.

“Dad?” Tasha suddenly spoke, interrupting my train of thoughts.

“Yes…?” I said, without meeting her gaze. Suddenly, I felt her hug me.

“Thanks for saving me.” I closed my eyes. Yes, I killed Jack Free. He was a man who murdered innocent people and tried to kill me and my daughter. Killing him…was the only way to stop him. However, that rationalization did not ease my mind much at all. I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling again.

“Spirit!”

“Call me Thousand Bolts.”

“…Thousand Bolts…if Jack had actually killed the both of us…would you have given him your powers?” The Spirit did not immediately reply. “Well?!”

“No…I would not have. He was unworthy.” That was the best answer I could expect, but I still felt unsatisfied with the matter.

“What about between me and Tasha? If Tasha were still conscious, you would have given her the power instead, right?”

“Both of you were well-deserving of receiving my power. In actuality, I had intended to give my power to the Battle-Hardened girl. Both of you piqued my interest, being such unique individuals, but the girl caught my eye first.”

“It’s not too late; you can take the power and give it to Tasha now!” Tasha suddenly let go of me, and actually looked a bit upset with me. “W-what? He said he wanted to give the power to you first…”

“I don’t care what he says! You’re the one who beat Jack!”

“I only beat him because you helped!”

“But you’re also the one who saved me!”

“But-”

“Dad! Do you really think this is something I would like? Being given your reward just because you’re my dad?!”

“T-that’s not how I meant it…”

“The two of you can cease your argument because it is too late. My power can only be transferred at the end of my host’s lifetime. Your debate about worthiness is also ridiculous. Both of you are exceptional. The fact that you could somehow use the electric water without my power is beyond amazing. I say this with the highest praise as I was not sure what to expect from the first visitors in…well...centuries at least.” I pressed my palm against my forehead and wiped off some of my sweat.

“I’m sorry, Tasha.”

“…I’m not…” I laughed.

“Yeah, I guess you have nothing to apologize for. When you’re right, you’re right.” I stood up fully and posed with my hands on my hips. “It may have cost me a sword and a portion of my morals, but I have a shiny new power now.” I looked back at Tasha and I saw that she was staring at Jack’s sword.

“Maybe not a sword…”

“Tasha…you can’t be serious. Jack used that sword to kill all of those villagers.”

“I know…but, he’s gone now.”

“I don’t care how good the sword is; I don’t want to use the sword of a murderer like him.” I instantly realized the hypocrisy of my statement. I would have continued to use my old shortsword if I could have retrieved it. “What I mean is…”

“Yeah, I get it.” Tasha started to stand back up while bracing herself against the wall and I helped her onto her feet. “At the very least…maybe we should at least bring it back to the village?” Her expression looked more forlorn then tired now, and I imagine my own face quickly matched hers.

“I guess. We also need to tell them everything that happened here…”

“Are you leaving now?” the Spirit asked.

“Yes.”

“Then, let me tell you this. Once you leave this Altar, I will truly become one with you and reside inside your mind for the duration of our pact.”

“Inside my mind?”

“Do not worry. I will not be able to manipulate you or tap into your deepest thoughts. I will only be able to observe everything that you observe. It is to make sure that you make yourself well-known to the world as my vessel.” I continued to be amazed at how the disembodied voice could say such things with a straight voice.

“Well, don’t count on me suddenly becoming a hero or anything.” I stepped outside of the Altar and when I next heard The Spirit’s voice, it was much quieter.

“I’m sure you’ll still live up to my expectations.”

“Whatever,” I said aloud. Tasha looked at me a bit strangely.

“I did tell you that I would be in your mind from now on.” Oh great. “Don’t worry, I will recede into the recesses of your consciousness soon enough. You won’t even remember I’m here, aside from the existence of my power.”

I did not feel like talking to the Spirit any longer, so Tasha and I went back outside of the mountain. Right as we got our bags from the wagon, I saw a group of villagers coming over. I also noticed that they were all carrying weapons.

“You!” one of the villagers cried out. I was not sure what he was mad about, but I noticed that Remi was there as well and that he was crying. Just as I was about to ask what was going on, the villagers surrounded us and another one spoke up.

“You monster! Murderer!”

“Uh…” I said, confused.

“You even killed Jack, didn’t you?!” My face lost a bit of its colour. Yeah, I did. This seemed to show quite clearly to the villagers.

“How could you?!”

“I had no choice!” I yelled back at them.

“You killed him and all of our friends! Why?!” Wait, do they actually think I killed everyone else?

“I think you are all misunderstanding something!”

“We most certainly are not! Remi wanted to see what the excavation was like, but when he got here, everyone was dead!” I looked at Remi, and saw him wiping away some tears while staring at me, eyes filled with rage. I instantly recalled Bradley’s dying breaths and imagined Remi coming across his father’s body. It was a horrible feeling.

“Did you do all of this to us because of Jack Free?!” another villager asked. I could not understand the meaning behind that question.

“You are a mercenary, right? Did you fight in the War of the Nines? Was it later skirmishes in the Outlands that you fought in?” Why are the villagers asking these kinds of questions? I opened my mouth to explain myself, but the villager was not finished speaking. “You have some grudge against the Farseers, don’t you? You just had to get rid of him, and when anyone else got in the way, you killed them! Well, Jack Free was a hero to us! How dare you do this in blind hatred?!” Are they serious?!

The villagers looked ready to attack and Remi suddenly charged ahead, wielding a knife. Just then, the ground started to shake. The earthquake caused loose boulders from the side of the mountain to fall right on top of us. The villagers quickly got back but Remi was intent on getting his revenge on me. As the boulders came down, I felt a sudden jolt run down through my legs. I easily dodged Remi’s attack, grabbed him, and jumped out of the way of the falling boulders. A bunch of boulders fell down between us and the villagers and Remi tried to stab me with the knife. I let go of him, and I felt a jolt shoot through my arm as I knocked the weapon out of his hand.

“I’ll kill you!” Remi screamed at me. Beside me, Tasha wore a difficult expression. It was mixed with sympathy for Remi, shock over the villagers’ reaction, and anger over Jack Free’s deception. Tasha then opened her mouth, probably to explain the situation. I instantly turned around and began to run, grabbing Tasha’s hand as well. She briefly resisted and the villagers started to chase after us.

“But, you didn’t do anything wrong!” she said to me.

“Leave it!” The two of us ran away and quickly got away from them. Even with the weight of the bags on our backs, we could run so much quicker. As Tasha very gradually got over the emotions of the previous situation, she seemed to be quite impressed that I was keeping up with her. When we were completely sure we got away from them, we started to walk again.

“Dad…”

“Tasha, we can’t go back.”

“But, they need to know what really happened! They need to know what Jack Free was really like!” she said, clearly feeling sorry for the villagers.

“Do they really need to know?” I asked seriously.

“W-what?” Tasha began, just a bit taken aback by my attitude. “Of course they need to know! That man tricked them all and killed all those people!”

“Tasha,” I started, still figuring out my words carefully, “if we go back there and tell them that Jack Free, the person who they believe was a hero, killed all of those people, how do you think they would feel?” Tasha looked at me with surprise. “Do you think they would be happy?”

“N-no, but-”

“But what! They won’t feel any better, but we will?” Tasha looked a bit mad now, but I was not finished. “If we tell them the truth, and they believe us, they may thank us. We may feel better about it all, but the villagers will not. They may also never trust another Farseer ever again.”

“Who cares about that?!” Now I was taken by surprise. “Jack Free was an evil man! He does not deserve to be remembered as a hero while the real hero is seen as a murderer!” I stopped in my tracks and Tasha did as well. “I don’t want all those people to praise and mourn him while only thinking bad things about you. It’s just wrong!” Tasha almost looked ready to cry. I bent down a bit and placed my hands on her shoulders while looking her in the eyes. She turned her head to the side to avoid my gaze.

“Tasha, look at me.” She slowly complied while saying nothing. “I’m sorry, I misunderstood what made you so upset.” I swallowed to clear my throat. “You are right. Leaving things as they are is wrong. However, Jack Free is dead now. That wrong doesn’t matter anymore. Think about it this way. Being betrayed by a man you admired and trusted for years, or by a man you only knew for a day. Which would hurt you more?” From her expression, I knew that Tasha knew what I meant.

“But...what about you?”

“I may never even come across those people ever again. It doesn’t matter how I feel about it. But, remember that I know that this is still wrong. If I ever come across another person who deserves to be punished, then I will make it known.” I suddenly laughed, forcefully. “Listen to me, I sound like a hero!” Tasha laughed too, not as obviously forceful. “Alright, let’s keep going now.” Tasha nodded with determination.

I pulled out the map from the luggage, but when I looked for the compass as well, I realized that the compass I bought from Dennis was in my pocket. The same pocket which was just as exposed to the electric pool as the rest of my body. I turned it around, tapped it several times, even banged it against a true, but it was all no use; the compass was broken. So, we are still in a hostile forest and we have no compass. Just another thing to deal with today, but I can make this work.

After hours of wandering through the forest, we managed to come across the dirt path again. We followed it and just as the sun started setting, we finally reached Reapers’ Pass. It was a rather low valley at the edge of the forest, but it is not as if its height mattered. The sheer cliffs made the idea of scaling the walls an idealistic dream.

With only a few steps into the valley, I knew that the stories about the fog were by no means exaggerated. It was like walking under complete darkness, except all you could see were cloudy walls of grey instead of pitch-black. I instantly reached for Tasha’s hand and pulled her in close. We slowly made our way to one side of the valley and then continued forward as quickly and carefully as we could, mindful to not trip over loose rocks and other debris.

As we continued walking through the valley, we gradually increased our pace as we became more adjusted to the fog. Just barely, we could see a bit further into the fog, and the ground was relatively even. However, we remained vigilant about any sudden events or encounters. Staying on edge also helped me ignore what had happened earlier today. I would have time to sort through my emotions and thoughts after reaching a safer location.

After what felt like an hour of nearly blind travelling, I paused. I could feel Tasha tense up next to me and knew that she heard something as well. I squinted in vain to see deeper into the fog. I tried to focus my hearing and my heart rate started to climb as I tried to concentrate. There! I heard it again. Not too far ahead of us, but coming from the other side of the valley. When we entered the valley, it was about twenty feet wide, but the fog made it impossible to know just how much it may have narrowed or widened up to this point.

“Tasha,” I whispered, “I’m going to go over there to find out what that sound is. You wait here.”

“What?” she whispered back, quite loudly.

“Shhh. I’m just going to walk over there and when I find out whether it’s friendly or…not so friendly, I will shout back to you.”

“What if you need my help?”

“In this fog, I would really prefer not to fight.” Standing right next to each other, we could make each other out pretty well, although there was a slight haze obscuring the finer details. However, neither she nor I should be under the delusion that any techniques for gauging distance and appropriately timing attacks would work too well. “We would just run, instead.” She wore a disagreeing expression, but eventually nodded.

“But, please draw your sword before checking it out, anyways,” she requested. I looked over at Jack Free’s sword for a few seconds before nodding in return. I silently drew the blade and made my way over to where the sound was coming from. During our exchange, we did not hear the sound a third time, but I heard it again after taking a few small steps towards it. This time, it seemed like a familiar noise. A few more slow steps towards the other side of the valley and I spotted a shadowy blur seated on the ground. I paused and felt a bolt run through my body as my adrenaline started pumping again. I stared at it for a few seconds before taking one careful step towards it. I still couldn’t make out what it was and it didn’t seem to move. I couldn’t slow my heart rate, but I at least had the patience not to rush my approach.

Very slowly, I took another step forward. Then another, and another, carefully focusing on both that object and the sound. By the next step, when I heard the sound again, I could tell the sound was coming from further away. With the step after that, I thought I could finally make it what it was. This made my gradually calming heart race again. I couldn’t be completely sure just yet, and as much as I wanted to shout out a warning over to Tasha, I controlled myself. Another step forward and I was certain.

The person was lying face-down. He was wearing leather armour, stained from blood from multiple lacerations across his body. Still making sure not to forget about the sound, I stood over the corpse and noticed two more things. One, I could now make out another, larger blur further away. Two, the body seemed familiar. I crouched down by the body, made sure I still had a firm grip on my sword, and made one last check around me before lifting the person’s head off the ground to see their face. This time, I could not stop myself from letting out a surprised shout.

“What is it?!” Almost instantly, Tasha ran to my position, without faltering a single step. She looked at the body, and although she wore a clearly shocked expression, she focused on scanning the fog around us, spotting the large object as well. “What’s that?”

“Not sure,” I half-lied. We heard a sound coming from over there, but this time, it was more audible. I threw caution to the wind and ran towards it. It was Dennis’ carriage, sans the wagon. The horses, still tied to it, were also lying dead on the ground, multiple arrows sticking out from their throats and flanks. Sitting up between the wheels was the driver. His chest was soaked in blood and his eyes were half-closed. When he had a clear look at us, they suddenly widened.

“You!” he croaked out with a bit of blood. “This…this is your fault!” He coughed up more blood. I crouched down next to him to have a closer look at him. His hands were covered in dried blood, probably from trying to stop the bleeding from his chest wound.

“You need help,” I said, like an idiot. The driver’s face contorted with both pain and anger.

“We waited for hours!” He coughed again, this time with even more blood. I reached out one hand with no idea on how exactly I was supposed to help. The driver continued to cough as he slumped onto the ground. I looked with horror as I realized the coughing fit caused him to start bleeding out.

“Uh, um,” I fumbled uselessly as I knelt in closer, still having no idea on how to help. Just a few seconds later, the coughing ceased, as did all other movement. I reached over to his neck and lightly pressed two fingers against it. No pulse. I let out a slow, pained sigh and got back up. I turned around and recoiled in surprise, having briefly forgotten that Tasha was still there.

“Dad?”

“He’s dead.” I deemed further elaboration unnecessary. I began walking forward again, away from the carriage. Then, just ahead, I saw one more figure in the fog. I casually walked over to it. Now that I was only a couple feet away, I could confirm his identity. It was Dennis. He was lying on his back. There was a long slash going across his chest. His face was shaking as I stood over him. Wait, shaking? My gloom instantly evaporated.

“Ah…so, it is you, Braith…” he said, voice riddled with exhaustion.

“You’re still alive!” I immediately knelt down over him to take a closer look at the slash. It was rather long, but it didn’t seem too deep. I sheathed my sword and prepared to pick him up. “Don’t worry, Dennis! I’m going to get you help!” Dennis closed his eyes.

“I guess…I should have waited a bit longer…”

“Don’t talk, Dennis. Save your strength. Tasha, let’s go!” I cradled him in my arms like I did back in Befson and quickly started forward.

“We…were attacked…”

“I said to shut up, Dennis. Just…just don’t talk. We’ll get you help. You’ll get through this.”

“Did you…find what…you wanted…?”

“Yeah, but that’s not important.” I looked over his face again. His eyes were still closed, and his face looked completely drained. The fog was as thick as ever, but I could not waste any more time in Reapers’ Pass. I stamped my foot on the ground and it worked as intended. I felt a jolt run through that leg. “Tasha, we’re running! Follow closely.” I stamped down the other foot to force another jolt and then I began sprinting forward.

“I’m sorry, Braith…” You’re sorry? “I overreacted.”

“No, Dennis, you were right to be upset. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“I tried waiting…before the valley.”

“Dennis, please, stop talking,” I said, partly saying it for my sake as well. His circumstances would only worsen the quagmire of emotions I’d have to sort through. He stopped talking and I just had to hope that was because he finally listened to me. After another few minutes of sprinting, we suddenly burst out of the valley, the fog giving no indication of thinning even until the very end. Above us, the moon was high in the sky and the world around us was cast under a pale blue light. Before us was a vast expanse of grasslands with what looked like forest far in the distance to our left.

“Where to now, dad?” I paused at Tasha’s question. My incompetence was showing again. I realized how little backing my promises had as I simply gazed ahead of me.

“Uh…to the Nature Clan,” I said, half questioningly. “They can help?” Right? I felt Dennis shuffle a bit. He slowly tried reaching into his breast pocket, but the arm suddenly dropped back down. “What is it, Dennis?”

“My pocket…” His voice was even weaker now.

“Tasha, come over here and take out what’s inside his pocket.” She obeyed and pulled out a velvet box.

“The Nature…go northwest…” Dennis gasped out before suddenly coughing. Blood dripped from his mouth.

“R-right. Got it. Come on, stay with me, we’re going to the Nature Clan.”

“I…was saving it…for you,” he said in between coughs. It was now that I remembered what was in the box.

“Tasha, open the box.” She opened it and inside was the ivory compass that the thief tried to steal back in Rettif.

“Do me…a favour…”

“Yes, of course, anything! What is it?”

“Go to Deimos…tell Zalae…a green hat” He paused after another round of coughing. There was now a spatter of blood around his mouth.

“A green hat?” I turned to Tasha. “Where’s northwest, Tasha?” She turned the compass around quizzically, but also with a mix of panic.

“Uh…I don’t know…” I would hit myself in the head if I were capable of doing so and in a less distraught state. Of course she wouldn’t know how to use a compass.

“I’m going to set you down for a moment, okay.” I knelt down and gently set Dennis onto the ground. I took the compass from Tasha and quickly determined the northeast direction. I’m sure knowing the exact degrees would be extremely helpful but finding any friendly settlement will more than do. I picked Dennis back up and he opened his eyes. “F-feeling better?” I’ve been saying a lot of stupid things recently. He closed his eyes again and his lips barely curled into a smile.

“Thank you…it was…” I forced myself to ignore him and sped ahead. Tasha quickly followed after me. Dennis didn’t say anything else during the entire time we ran. I lost track of time as we ran, but we eventually saw a fire and smoke in the distance. I didn’t even take the time to consider whether they would be friendly or not as I rushed towards the campsite. There were several large, animal hide tents set up around a fire, a couple wagons, and some horses. The people wore hide armour and were clearly armed. Regardless of the possible threat, I did not hesitate to run right up to them.