Lights. Lights and Trees.

The back of my head hit the cool bark of the wind-oak tree and my eyes just started to wander.

“She will forgive you. Of course, she will.“ Lily piped up beside me.

“I just tried to help.“ I was still tense, but the anger had left me as fast as it had come.

“You meddled. People will not always appreciate meddling. But, “ the awful word hung in the air again, “what do gods do but meddle in the lives of mortals?“

I closed my eyes. The air in my Demesne felt too stale for right now somehow, so with but a thought I increased the strength of the winds until my hair was being ruffled to my satisfaction. I was moping and I knew it.

“I thought I had a handle on my anger.“ I finally said. “I was not a patient youth.“

“Well, nothing happened. Nobody even saw.“

I smiled sadly. “You saw.“

“You should have seen me. I was raging around here. I am way worse than you.“

“All right, it is done. No more anger for me. Let us focus on the things we can do.“ I clapped my hands, before I pulled out the book of Skills out of the shelf in the base of the wind-oak tree. I had no Essence to spare to speak of, but I just liked the feeling of perusing the tome and needed something for my hands to do. “Tell me about your adventures in the Afterlight, Lily.“

“It was not nearly as entertaining as you make it out to be. The information stored in the place is wonderful and magical, but to tease every bit of information out of a depressed old-timer after a good bit of haggling over a soul or two is not my favorite thing to do.“

“What did you learn?“

“I met a wisp, pale green, that barely was a conscious being anymore. He had dwindled away into the light, ready to part with himself and become part of the Afterlight. He was...he was very sad, Hannibal. I don‘t...well can you just promise me not to die anytime soon, please?“ She hesitated, until she continued, as chipper as ever. “The wisp took the soul I offered him like it was water in a desert. He had been the wisp of a nature godling.“

“And he taught you?“ I interjected.

“Yes, he did! He taught me how to create a hollowed grove, how a simple animal can be god-touched, and much more. I learned from other wisps as well. I know now that I knew nothing before and have a long way to go, still.“

I smiled again. At least one of us was making progress. I listened to the excited wisp telling me about all the things she had learned, and her joyful voice was like a calming balm for my troubled mind.

Somewhere in the middle of her telling about her adventures, I felt at peace. It was my purview and duty to meddle. And I would do it, whenever necessary.

Now, I was planning to meddle in the divine affair of a being that had deemed imprisoning a mighty divine beast into a cave to haphazardly solve the problem of a draining ocean an appropriate solution.

My feelings just were not as important. So I let them go.

—————————-----------------------

“Zora.“ I asked calmly, as I watched Simue sleeping a couple of paces away from the fire. We had not spoken much, but neither had there been any hostilities between Simue and me. It seemed if I decided to not escalate things, they would die down eventually. A leaf in the wind, destined to fall.

The strangely warm night went that much colder as I tugged along the connection to my newest companion, rousing her from the otherworld, despite her usually being only able to interact with reality through the Skills of Simue. But she was part of my world now. And things had changed.

“Zora!“ I called her again, and this time the cold creeping up on our little hill was intense, as the banshee appeared in front of me.

The one-eyed woman looked calm, just an invisible breeze in her hair. Nothing like the blazing fires or red-lighted veins on her skin, or the hatred and hunger on her face. She just was a little translucent and her colors were muted, is all.

“You do dare, do you?“ She smiled. “You truly do not fear death, do you?“

I answered her smile with a crooked one of my own. “Not the usual amount of death, no. I am not mortal anymore. What about you?“

She shrugged. “I never learned what true death is as I never left her side.“ She glanced over to the small bundle of the woman sleeping next to us. “All I know is the otherworld. And that is a place to fear. A place where I am hunted and tormented, still. Yet.“ Now there was a remnant of the hunger glinting in her eye I had learned to recognize.

It was hard to remember that this was not the same woman I had known. It was a twisted being of vengeance and rage. But at the core of her being, her reason to be, was love undying. I had tilted the scale. Love first, angry revenge murder second.

“What do you remember?“

She just shook her head. “This and that. The memories go first in that other place. They feed off of it. It is who you are and they want to end you being someone.“

That made me shiver where the cold had failed to have an impact on me.

“Can I ask you to once more carry a message for me? This business has taken too long already.“

She stemmed her fists into her hips, looking down on me. “I was too proud for that even alive, I am pretty sure. Is this what you want to degrade me to?“

I shook my head. “Are you above defying danger and interfering in the design of gods and divine beasts to claim unspeakable power for those you love and wish to protect?“

She snorted. “At least you know how to use your words. Again to the stupid egg?“

I nodded. “I need to rouse it. I need it awake. Hatching, even. Can you do that?“

“I am immune to mundane fires, Raven, but I can be snuffed out by ...other fires.“

I looked her straight in the eye. “And?“

We stared at each other for a while. “You owe me a bunch of Essence for that.“ She finally said. “And I will be gone for a couple of days. Make sure not to drag her into too much danger.“ She glanced over to Simue and her look softened.

The silence hung there for a while. Then, she furrowed her brows and looked back to me. “How do I rouse a divine egg?“

“Well, what can you do?“

“Stab it? A lot?“

“We‘ll try that then.“

————————————

[I, The Raven, Claimant of the Wyld and Protektor of Ravenport, hereby declare that I have seen your plight. I know not your name, nor what you are, but I know you to be shackled under the assault of the forces of the falling sea, to be tormented and used to another's benefit.

I hereby, by my nature as a Twice-Born of the Wanderer, a spirit of freedom most pure, solemnly swear to never cease to search for a way to free you from your imprisonment, as I will not allow it in the Domain of freedom I seek to create.

You will be freed, or I will cease to be, on that I swear. One way or another.

I only ask for one thing. Grant me the Elemental Key of fire you hold as an Elemental Guardian. It might be the very thing I need to ease your pain and ultimately free you, as I currently have little ways of actually reach your presence.

It might not happen today, nor next year, but you will see your freedom again, that I swear.

May the greater gods be witness to my honest oath and strike me down if I fail to deliver onto my words.]

[A vow has been made! The Raven, Twice-Born of the Wanderer has sworn to free the Eternal Flame, divine Phoenix, from his imprisonment under the Shattered Lands and find a solution for the falling sea within two years or cease to be.

Consequences for breaking the vow: Dire.

Do not go back on your words, for the wrath of the greater gods will fall upon you!]

I might have made a mistake in formulating the time span I intended to find a solution in. The system had taken my statement and seemed to have rounded up to two years. Well. I was hell-bent on freeing the - Phoenix? - way sooner than this.

Apparently, Zora had found a way to deliver my vow. I meant every word of it. This situation would not stand. It was cruel and, even worse, unelegant. Whichever ocean deity had come up with that idea needed to be taught a lesson.

Now, nervousness came to haunt me as the words of my vow faded away from my view, and the darkness and the flickering flames of the fire were my only awake companions again. Come on, Eternal Flame. Just say yes. Yes. You want it too, I know it.

I began tapping my foot, then jumped up to get rid of the nervous energy. If this was not going to work I had no idea what to do...despite waiting for the Staircase to be built to the ground and Thimotheus taking a look at the problem. Which could take months I felt to not have.

Suddenly, Lily trumpeted triumphantly in my mind and the long-awaited notification danced before my eyes in the most-welcomed pale-blue light.

[New Title gained! Keymaster of the Wyld.

Through wit, might, and compassion you have collected the four elemental keys you need to unchain the Wyld and claim it as your own. With the set complete, all you need to do is find the locks and open the way to your destiny.

Rewards: 400 EP, 40 Shards

Skills unlocked: Elemental Key of Fire]

“Finally!“ I said, sitting down hard while all the knots in my stomach flew away. I had not even known how tense I had been. All the questions, all the insecurities were gone now. I had done it. Something. All I needed was to make the last step.

Wherever I was meant to make it.