The smell of wood was the first thing to assault Enoch’s senses when he woke up, followed by the thoughts of his worried sister.

How are you feeling?

He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar wooden ceiling.

“Horrible,” he replied, grimacing, “It’s like my whole body was trampled by a pack of rhynophants.”

She chuckled.

You should be more grateful. it was pretty close.

“Where are we?” he asked, looking around.

Afternoon light was entering the small room they were in, and small dust particles were dancing in sun rays.

The room had very little furniture: the bed he was laying on, a desk and a chair, all made of wood. An effigy Enoch didn’t recognize was nailed over the desk. A sword with three hilts.

“Meh,” he thought to himself.

Then he realized he couldn’t see his sword, which made him finally notice that he was in light cotton clothes he didn’t recognize.

The mortals took us to their village, Kaja said, their healer has been looking after you for the past week. After a pause she added with a sigh, they took the orb too. I think they were just being cautious though.

“Week?!” he had accidentally said the word out loud, and his lungs made it clear that they didn’t appreciate it.

As that moment, rumble was heard behind the door, followed by the sound of footsteps quickly leaving. Apparently someone wanted to be notified as soon as he woke up.

Yeah. I told you it was a close call. And he isn’t the best healer either.

He grunted, trying to lay on his side. Even without taking in account his injuries, this bed was everything but comfortable. He thought of the white spider and those strange words that had appeared right before he fainted.

“That was definitely... The last time I followed - ouch - one of your whims.”

... What? That is so not-

But before she could finish, she was interrupted by the door being opened and the sound of boots hitting the wooden floor. Two male humans and a male wolfkin with brown fur had entered the room, all of them having swords at their waists.

They were the first of the People he was seeing after roughly such a long time, so he could not help but smile a little while trying to push himself in a sitting position. The existence of the People was a constant reminder of his mother’s soft nature and mercy. Elves, orcs, humans, dwarves, beastkins, kerots and giants were more than just anatomically similar, they all shared the same origin: the love of a certain being and the death of another.

The ones that had just entered the room looked like a rough bunch. Scars, badly trimmed hair -or fur-, their behavior. Their clothing was mainly consisting of poorly made leather, which hinted at their low class, and more than anything else, they seemed exhausted.

One of the two humans, an old man who still had patch of black on his short gray hair, gave him a look, as if to acknowledge that he really was awake, then pulled the chair from under the desk and sat on it, facing the bed.

“Glad to see you finally awake, young hero. My name is Ronan, I am the leader of the Foxglade clan.”

He also was the one healing you, added Kaja.

He paused, maybe expecting some reaction, but Enoch just kept looking at him with a curious look on his face. The younger man behind Ronan kept fidgeting and the wolfkin was clenching his jaws a little too hard.

“I would like to start by thanking you, in the name of all the members of my clan,” the old man said, “for saving the lives of so many of our fighters by risking yours.” he hesitated and then added, “if there is anything we can do to-”

“I did not do it expecting a reward,” interrupted Enoch, “all I ask is that you allow me to stay in your village until I’m fully healed.” he looked at the young man who seemed unable to stay still, “then I will be on my way.”

It seemed that it was the right thing to say, because it made them look visibly less tense, even if it was only a little. The old man scratched his head and said, “ well I have to admit that your selflessness really is welcomed. we do not have much, and the little we have... is really needed, especially after we lost so many of our own.”

“Very well then.”

Silence fell. The old man seemed conflicted by the fact that he was questioning a bedridden teenager he was indebted to.

“Who are you?” he finally simply blurted out.

“You can call me Enoch. I am just a traveler... A wanderer of sorts,” answered said teenager with a grin.

“Enoch... Just a traveler, uh... You do know there are no settlements, roads or even trails in the parts you met my men right?

That’s what you get for just saying random stuff.

“Is that so?” being vague was his best option here, until he had a better grasp of the situation. He didn’t want to say anything that could put him in any complicated situation. “Could you just tell me what you really want to know, old man?”

“Did the bloodseekers send you? If not, then someone from the Neo Pantheon did. In both cases,” he stood up abruptly, knocking the chair down behind him,“ I take full responsibility for hiding the existence of the odiran primer, and humbly request you to spare my men.”

Enoch raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

“You have shown that you had a heart by saving some of them, even though you didn’t have to. They are brave people and-”

“No, no, that is not what I mean,” he interrupted, waving his hands, “I do not know what you are talking about, human, I did not come here to kill anyone.”

You called him a human. They don’t do that between themselves.

The man squinted his eyes, “But you are an aurosei lord. There are currently no lords in Alessana that aren’t either a bishop of the Neopanth or agents working for the Stonehearts.”

New words. New organization names. New titles. He was glad to see that masters of aura were still respected,but he was in dire need of information and it would be best for him to get it before he ventured into the wild. For that, he needed a cover a that would justify his future questions without tipping anyone off. Maybe it wasn’t the best of times for asking what that slaughtering machine was.

He didn’t want anyone to have an idea of what he was.

“Maybe that was true until a week ago, but it’s not the case anymore. I met your men close to the Edge because that’s where the gate to Alfheim is. I came from a plane further down the Path.”

Sometime truth was the best option. They didn’t need to know which plane he was coming from though.

The men looked at each others and back at Enoch again. The wolfkin talked for the first time with a softer voice than his appearance would suggest he had.

“It’s been decades since I last heard of worlds still bearing life beyond Alfheim, lord Enoch, and it was through centuries old tales. It is a well known fact that it is the furthest reachable one, simply because...”

“The trail of ki is too thin? trust me, I know. I guess I am just better than most at sensing it.”

The men stood silent for a moment, before Ronan spoke again. “Then I will take your word for it ‘traveler’. I have no reason to doubt your words, and even if they weren’t the truth, all that matters to me is that you do not plan on hurting anyone. I will now leave you to rest.”

“That is fine by me,” said Enoch with a smile.

They motioned toward the door, but before they could reach it, Enoch spoke again “Ronan?”

The men turned around

“Is it custom in your clan to meet people you are indebted to with swords at your side?”

The old man didn’t answer, but the young man who hadn’t spoken until now had apparently decided to try to stutter an answer. Enoch raised a hand, stopping him, and simply said, “I would like my gear to be given back to me. Also, I would appreciate it if you could appoint someone as my aid. As I am sure you can understand, I have many... Cultural questions.”

He wasn’t smiling anymore. Ronan nodded and the men left, closing the door behind him.

You did not have to scare them. They are good people

“They were already scared, and that’s what annoyed me.” Enoch thought back to her. “That, and I do not like random people touching my sword.”

Annoyed? ...You know, I had my doubts, but I think this human body is already starting to mess with your personality. I am supposed to be the mortal-like one

She wasn’t wrong. There were multiple hormone combinations influencing his decision making, and a clear limit set by his brain to how high his intelligence could be. But he was still himself. Just restricted... For now.

Talking about his mental being altered, his mind wandered once again to the visions of the white spider’s bite had caused, and he -painfully and with many grunts- assumed his regular meditating stance on the bed: legs crossed and hands joined.

Being an aurosei meant not only being able to absorb the ambient ki, but also being able to transform it into aura inside the body. Unlike the former, the later process relied more on the spiritual abilities of the practitioner than the physical ones, and if that spider had somehow poisoned his mind, the damages on his cultivation could be irreversible.

First, maintaining a state of balance between focus and relaxation, he allowed the ki to flow into him through his body’s thirty meridians; which were the twelve lines of entrance points and the height lines of storage points for all of the People. The ki started to mend his injuries as it went through him and slowly filled his reserves without any issue.

A bit less worried, he then proceeded to enter his inner world. The inner world was a mental visualization of one’s very state of spiritual being, and while its access wasn’t limited to auroseis, meditation made it a lot easier.

Since he had been freed from the prison universe, his inner world had always been the same.

A limitless meadow of white grass at the center of which stood a single majestic tree on fire, the sun eternally setting at the horizon. Always.

But now, his inner world was vastly different. Too different.

It was nothing but white. World of plain whiteness. there was no ground or even gravity. No sense of up and down.

But it wasn’t empty.

In front of him, giant words were floating, on a blue rectangular canvas.

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***

An hour earlier.

At the Foxglade village, there was a certain tavern named the Fox’s den, owned by an orc obviously named Den. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a one story building made of wood like most of the other surrounding structures. Being on a somewhat isolated territory in a village of poor reknown, the Fox’s den rarely saw strangers, so it was mostly used as a hangout spot by the clan members and as a mess hall by the guards. But recently, there had been even less people sitting at the tables than usual. To be exact, there were only three.

On one of them, eating a copious meal, were Ronan, Foxglade’s leader, and his young daughter, a demi-human named Mein. In her case it would be more accurate to say that she was just moving her spoon around her food, head down.

On another table, was a young man named Domor.

Domor, was just a regular guy.

He didn’t like danger, and wasn’t planning on being a hero. He didn’t have the best set of morals either, hell, he was a guard only because he had thought it would help him impress girls. But he did value loyalty and despised ingratitude.

That is why he couldn’t help but curse at the cowards who had simply fled the village as soon as they had heard that an aurosei, who saved half of the failed “undercover” expedition, was sleeping in Ronan’s inn. Foxglade had given them so much, shelter, food and honest works. And more importantly, a family to call their own. But they had turned their back to all of it without an hint of hesitation.

Thankfully, Den and his wife were still here. He didn’t know what he would have done without the good ale and the well cooked steaks that were the trademark items on the Fox’s Den menu.

As he was biting into his meal, Amar, leader of the guards, suddenly entered the tavern, breathing just as heavily as if he had fought ten assailants by himself.

“He is awake,” the brown wolfkin simply said, loud enough for Domor to hear.

As soon as Ronan heard, he got up and left the inn without saying anything, followed by Amar. It seemed that the wolfkin felt like his presence was one of his duties as the captain of the guards, which made Domor chuckle sadly. A fool he was, for sure. Would the monster decide to slaughter them all, no one would be able to stop it. Domor himself was starting to think of a place he could hide, second guessing his own sanity for staying.

“Hey, Dom,” said a soft voice next to him.

He looked up from his plate, his thoughts of whether there was still time to leave or not interrupted by a blue haired demi-human girl standing in front of his table. Demi-humans were the results of the ‘unblessed’ union of a beastkin and a human. They were often seen as strange, as they were humans with random animal features, but Domor didn’t care about any of that.

the girl with cat ears and lowered tail standing in front of him wasnt the result of some forbidden love. she was Mein, his friend and the chief’s daughter.

“Hmm? You want something?” he asked.

“Could... Could you go with my father, please?” she asked, eyes still locked with the ground, “he would not allow me to.”

And that’s how Domor, regular guard of the Foxglade clan, came to meet a knight of the pagan gods for the first time. By convincing Ronan and Keloin to let him accompany them, just so that he could be the former’s daughter’s spy. Had he known what was waiting for him in that room, he would never have stepped in the inn in which the demon was resting.

Standing in that room had felt like being chained down to a rock, deep underwater, with a predator mockingly swimming nearby.

The pressure was just too much to handle. The sadistic smiles made his skin crawl and hair stand. He almost turned around to run away each time the beast in human skin glanced at him, but somehow managed to stand still through it, knowing Mein was undoubtedly waiting for him outside.

And sure enough, she was there when he got out, sitting on a bench under the shade of a blossoming tree, staring at him with her sad eyes while he approached. He knew she wasn’t in the best of moods since last week’s tragedy, and that’s what he had agreed to her request in the first place... But gods was she beautiful.

As he started talking to her, drenched in sweat and still shaking, he realized he now had a newfound respect for the chief and the captain. They had been able to talk and behave as if nothing while facing the monster. On the other hand he had not been able to utter a single word when he had tried to.

In retrospective, if had paid more attention to her and had noticed the glint in her eyes, the future of the clan would have been much less darker.

But all of what was happening, all of it, was definitely too much for just a regular guy.