Flames rose around him, the heat pelting him and burning him.

Yet it didn’t hurt.

Raylas looked around the blinding room. White fire ringed him, just like before. But they also seemed to be dimmer, the room slightly smaller. There were small differences between the last time he was forced here and now, but there was one thing left unchanged.

Floating in the center was the burning orb, hovering over everything and looking down on him.

Raylas reached for his weapon but his hand only touched his side. His clothes were gone, burned away long ago. There were no weapons on him except his fists, a lot of good those are since the orb hovered well out of his reach.

[What are you?]

He sneered at the entity as it pulsed into his skull.

“I am who I am,” he said.

[A warrior who abandons his ward? A hunter who plays in the forest? Where is your home, Heir of Aasim?]

“I am no heir!” Raylas cried out. “I have rejected the curse. I have rejected that path.”

The orb laughed, the light bursting with a glow which could eclipse the sun. Raylas closed his eyes to protect himself but the after image remained. The heat rose around him and he felt himself start to melt again.

He was going to die again.

Not without a fight!

He roared and reached for his polearm. He felt his hand grab a hold of the handle and he pulled it from its clip. A tinkling of chain resounded and he stood ready, holding the dagger and chain in his hand while glaring at the orb.

[You claim to reject yet you still hold the weapon?] The orb taunted. [Even if you refuse the gifts bestowed upon you, you cannot remove the mark on your soul]

“I am Raylas of Eilire,” he yelled. “And I remove the mark and become free again!”

[What will you do if you cannot?]

“Then I will kill all who dare try to push me where I do not wish to go!”

The orb exploded in a nova of mirth. The flames felt like they were burning him into cinders yet at the same time he was being rebuilt, being purified in the glorious fire. Even with his eyes closed Raylas could see the flames around the room, he could see the orb clearly even when he looked down at the ground. The floor was reflective now, all roughness which once covered it melted and hardened into a single, smooth sheet of glass.

[So you will fight?]

“I will be free, even if it means running away,” he declared. “I choose to stay alive and do as I please.”

[Then will the great blood of the monster-slayers change their destiny?]

Raylas growled and launched the dagger up at the orb. The blade throw felt right, like when he was fighting the zombies the first time. It flew straight up directly into the burning orb. A pulse erupted launching him from his feet and over the flaming walls. He landed outside on embers of colorful coal. He felt bones crack from the landing and his skin burn.

A rainbow of light flickered around him, reflecting the sparkling light of the chain which he held tight in his hands. The blade was still stuck in the orb which slowly moved toward him.

[Fighting the fates? I deem this mission acceptable]

The walls of fire started to spread. The color full coal which Raylas was lying on slowly started to catch fire, burning away the brilliant reflections of the chain. He shouted in fright and launched to his feet, yanking at the chain for the orb to be released.

Thankfully the hook was shaken loose and fell. He yanked it and skillfully caught he blade, then he turned and started running.

[But can you escape the first link of your chain of fate?]

The orb slowly picked up speed. Raylas ran but his muscles were weak. He felt his feet catch and drag into the coal. It was like running in mud, but not only did his feet get stuck but it also caused a storm of dust to rise into the air. He was choking.

Then there was the heat against his back. The walls of fire had opened and spread out, slowly closing in on him like a flaming cage.

His heart thumped and he cried out in fury as the heat grew. He launched the knife away from the flames and felt it snag something. He jerked the chain and strained his muscles to get loose from the muddy coal. With a plop the resistance holding him was gone and he felt himself soar into the air, seeming to float for a few moments.

The world was a kaleidoscope of colors. Sparkles of every color of the rainbow reflected around him, but behind him he glimpsed the shine of freshly made glass. Then he started to fall, the ground rushing toward him. He saw where his hook had landed and he felt his heart quicken in hope.

There was a circular arch lying half buried in the ground, its surface shining like gold.

He crashed into the coals sinking into them and feeling the muddy mess take a hold of him again. He gripped the chain and pulled, inching forward bit by bit.

The heat behind him grew and the thumping of the orb got worse and worse as it laughed its horrible laugh, exploding in a magnitude of blinding lights each time.

He pulled and pulled getting closer and closer until he was just out of reach. He lifted his hand to take a hold of the golden arch when he felt a cold breeze push him away.

[How dare you reach for me when you rejected me]

Raylas gasped as his back caught fire. There was pain which ate away at him, charring and burning him. He screamed in pain as the world grew brighter and brighter.

* * *

He burst up from his bed, sweat dripping from his brow.

He looked around. A couple of small fairies were poking and prodding the area but most had left during the night. The fire had died down, only warm embers remaining which kept the small shelter warm from the freezing morning.

He wiped his face after he regained his breath. It was a dream. Just another one of those nightmarish dreams.

He looked down at his hands and grimaced. Did they look even smoother? He felt like he was looking at the hands of a young man, not the ones of a grown man who had spent his life struggling from battlefield to battlefield. What in the hells kind of curse did these artifacts give him?

He shook his head, his hair cascading down his face to cover his vision. The fairies… they also did magic to him.

He sighed and took a hold of the hair, the fairy’s braid must have come loose during his sleep. He reached over and took a hold of his dagger to cut it but the creatures exploring the corner let out startled gasps and rushed to him. Raylas paused as they pushed at his hands to move the dagger away from the hair.

They had saved his life last night by helping him find shelter, so he would cater to their whims until he left the forest.

He stood up and clipped the chain to his belt and took a hold of some vine lying in the room. He used the vine to tie his hair back, much to the Fairy’s joy.

Deciding he had spent enough time down in the hole he gathered up his things, leaving the rabbit’s bones and the remaining food for his little helpers. They appeared grateful and one even gave him a light kiss on the cheek. A smile spread across his face as he adjusted his bag on his back and went up the stairs.

He paused at the top and glanced round. There appeared to have been another fall of snow the previous night. It now reached up to his ankles, meaning he would have to waste more energy keeping balance through the uneven grounds.

Around the ruins were, for the most part, quiet. Like the night before he could see no signs of any monsters who made the place their home, nor did he see any beasts using it was a place to sleep. There was a stillness to the winter wonderland, but there was one thing which stood out. A large tree of blue leaves and purplish bark stood a distance away, barely able to be seen through the rest of the wood.

He gulped and slowly left his hiding place and crawled slowly away from the tree. From the beginning there was magic in the air and a stillness to the place. At first the thought it was a respect for a potential dungeon, but now he found it meant something worse for him.

“Leaving so soon?” A creaking, yet harmonic voice asked.

Raylas peered to the side and started to mentally scream.

“My little friends said there was an elf-friend in the woods, yet here I see only a human?” A woman made of wood said. Her skin was smooth and white, like a birch tree, yet her body was covered in a thick purple bark like the tree in the distance. Her hair fell like vines with bits of leaf mixed in, and her eyes appeared to glow with a healthy green.

While her beauty was almost ethereal, Raylas couldn’t break his eyes from her hands. They were small and pointed, like sharpened spikes. Around each joint was another jutting of wood, some which had bits of rock or bone embedded in them. The creature smiled and her wooden teeth were like that of a wolf.

“What brings you out here,” she asked politely.

The ground rumbled as a spike of wood erupted from the ground behind the Dryad. She sat down on it like a stool. Then another came out behind Raylas making him jump. He feared his heart would stop as the wood behind him split opened and flattened itself, leaving him a comfortable place to sit.

“Please, sit.” She gestured.

“I… I think I’ll stand, thank you.”

“I insist,” she said as vines burst from the moss and wrapped around his arms and legs.

Raylas lost his balance and was pulled back onto the chair. As soon as he sat down the vegetation released him, leaving him to his own devices while sitting in front of the tree woman.

“I have been watching you,” she said. “You find well for a predator, yet you are also gentle to those harmless.” She held up her hand as a fairy flew up and landed on her outstretched finger, swinging their legs contently. “A lone predator in my woods, causing chaos by leading the dead here?”

“The dead came from the woods,” he stammered out. “We were attacked first. I just got them off of my trail.”

“How they got there I have no clue,” she muttered. “The dead remain food in my woods. For them to walk and move has to be through magic… a human magic.” She gave him a flat glare.

“I know nothing of magic, Maiden,” he spluttered.

“And yet you have a very strong scent of it?” she said. “A hot, burning wind like when I was a sapling, but also an aura of cold which makes the sleeping months feel tepid.” She moved forward, the branch she sat on pushing her closer to Raylas. “I am curious if you are more than a predator, but a danger to my forest.”

“I only take what I need,” he gasped. He tried to stand but his legs were wrapped in wood. His arms were free but he couldn’t get to the chain due to the wood covering the chain.

“You took more than you ‘needed’ when you killed the wolf,” she pointed out.

“They attacked first. It was a matter of survival of the fittest, and I came out on top. Victor gets the spoils.” Raylas scratched against the wood but his movements were not making any progress. He was trapped, half buried in wood with the dryad approaching.

“Yet the spoils were turned rotten from the undead.”

“Why would we ruin our own spoils after a hard won victory?” Raylas countered. “The undead are not from the humans, but from something else. Something older.”

The dryad paused and leaned back, thinking. Time passed. Seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes crawled by until she gave a nod.

“Your story makes sense. I shall not act against the pack of humans nesting nearby.” She sank into the wood which lowered itself into the ground.

The wood around Raylas’ legs thinned until he was able to snap them off. In the distance he saw the wooden woman appear and disappear, weaving through the tree and brush while smoothing out bits of leaves and brush. He sighed and turned to finally escape only to stop face to face with her again.

“I didn’t say you could leave yet, human,” she smiled, her sharp teeth making Raylas sweat. “We still have more to discuss, now come.” She sank into the log he was sitting on and then appeared a few dozen meters away and gestured for him to follow toward the large blue tree.