I was suffocating. I’d been bandaged from head to toe in a thick layer of gauze, sticky poultice and layers of bandages that all served to restrict my breathing. No doubt it wasn’t a coincidence that I was effectively bound. Not that it mattered one way or another. I ignored the sensation that my burned skin was molting and went to work on the bandages. It was frustrating at first, but I got the hang of it and was able to slowly unravel the twisted mess of gauze and cloth at a pace I found just barely acceptable.

“I’ve walked a lonely road and been led astray more times than I can count, but the time to set down my burden has finally come,” the outsider sighed wistfully and craned his neck in the direction of Sowillo, the Day Sun. Its rays failed to penetrate the dense foliage that’d given the Dark Forest its name.

I wriggled like a worm, but he was hopelessly trapped. “You’re crazy if you think I’ll shoulder them in your place. Now that I’m free of that place, I’m not doing anything for anyone ever again!”

The traveler nodded lethargically… I realized the old coot had been, of all things, asleep! “Now look here, if you can’t respect your elders and listen to a proper explanation, you might as well go back to your so-called family. Well?”

The bitter word cut into the chilled depths of my heart like a hot knife. Something inside me that was indescribably fragile and unbearably soft shattered. There was no visible wound, but the pain lanced through me all the same.

The outsider rummaged through his cloak for a minute before he produced a treasure that I knew well: a compass. He handed over the crystalline disc with obvious reluctance; parting with it clearly pained him. I hadn’t the faintest idea if such an unreliable relic could help me escape the noose I felt closing around me, but I took it anyways. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

“If they capture me, the Seventh will take my place. Nothing will change.”

Forging ahead sounded a whole lot more likely to keep me alive than staying rooted to the spot like a frightened animal— even if I was following the lead of a broken compass.

I emerged wheezing from the wrappings. Any sane person would’ve beheaded me then and there for fear that I’d reawoken as a revenant. I was covered from head to toe in splotchy burns, but even so I’d expected worse. As closely wrapped as the cowl was around the outsider’s face, it couldn’t hide the curious glint in his eyes.

A mottled cloak thunked against my chest, sending me reeling. I tugged on the matching shirt and trousers before I saw the crusty blood and recognized the hunter’s garb. I felt a twinge of guilt but tugged on the dead man’s boots all the same. I had trouble with the laces at first but got the hang of it on my third try. I finished and pulled up the cloak’s hood so my pale complexion was hidden from Sowillo’s harsh rays.

The outsider regarded me with tilted head and glassy stare. “You look the part, I’ll give you that. But surviving the Dark Forest won’t be easy. The odds are better for both of us if we part ways here. Don’t worry, that compass will guide you true.”

I swallowed my self-loathing and looked at my benefactor. “Why do all this for me? Who are you?”

The traveler choked on the first words that came out of his mouth. Eventually he managed to speak past the lump in his throat. “Back there… that was the bravest, stupidest stunt I’ve ever seen. Your idiocy infected me, I suppose. I couldn’t help myself and here I am.”

He shrugged like it was nothing… like it couldn’t have been helped… like there hadn’t been ample time for him to escape. From the look of his hands, blackened by soot and covered in a thick poultice derived from native sap, he’d rooted through the bonfire to dig me out. I had the odd sense that it’d be rude to take note of the burns. I was too tongue-tied to express gratitude or loose a barbed comment at the outsider’s casual intercession of Altressor’s most holy ritual: I was supposed to have been consumed by the flames, and the Seventh vessel— an icy bolt shot through me. That’s right, there would be no Seventh, not anymore. I was the last.

I’d been so preoccupied that I hadn’t realized. “What happened? Are the villagers okay?” I said, and for a bizarre moment thought the townspeople would need my help with the repairs. “I can’t go back. I can never go back,” I reminded himself.

“If by some stroke of luck you survive the Remnants,” the traveler chuckled, “I’m sure there’ll be more trouble to be found than all the foolish nonsense I imagine you’ve conjured up.”

“Where do I go from here?” I felt lost.

An impatient foot trampled the greenish-brown grass. The man merely shrugged in response. “That’s up to you. From now on, you’re free to choose where to go and what to do. You’re free to live as you see fit. And don’t you let anyone take what’s precious to you.”

“I don’t think I ever got your name,” I said.

“What?”

I stood still as a statue. “Your name.”

“Not the least bit heroic, but the situation as it stands requires that sacrifices be made. Miracles aside, Altressor had been a ruined city long before that Matriarch claimed it for her own. There’s no doubt about it, that tyrant would burn the Dark Forest to the ground to find you. Doubt she’d stop there. If this aging body of mine could withstand one last journey, I’d make a run for it with you. I’d keep running until the very end…. and then…. I’d crawl on hands and knees like the pitiful worm I am,” the outsider said with a voice full of a lifetime of regret.

“Who are you?” I pleaded.

As the outsider with no name winked, the man spasmed and wasted away before my eyes. I yelled hoarsely and threw myself to the ground beside my onetime savior. Bitterly I put a lid on the suspicions trapped inside me and held the traveler’s hand as the life left his eyes. Freed from the trappings of flesh, the outsider was borne into the heavens by a gust of wind. I pounded my fists against the ground until my knuckles broke open and bled freely into the earth. Pain was a welcome distraction.

A whispered thought lingered long after the traveler had taken his last breath: Nevermore.

—

—

—

I sat in a daze for an interminable amount of time before finally a sense of impending doom brought him back to himself.

“But those plans matter not a whit. Isn’t that right, brother?”

“Oh, it’s just you, Kaze?” yawned Shadow’s nearly unintelligible voice. “Be reasonable brother— let me remain in this blissful dream. Father will be displeased to hear I’ve awoken, and you know little Morpheus is too fragile to withstand his temper.”

“Manipulative trash!”

“You’ve got me there,” My shadow moved disconcertedly. Shadow had waved mockingly at the wind.

A gust of hatred trampled the brush underfoot, disgust splintered the trunk of a hundred-year-old oak and sent me flying. The forceful pressure would’ve brought me to my knees had I been standing. As it was, I pinched my nose and held my breath until the force of nature left him alone. As long as I could keep ignoring the uncharacteristic, almost unbearable weight of the compass that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, or the way Shadow droned on and on about things that made less sense than anything I’d read in Altressor’s collection of dusty old books and records.

“So flashy, he’s unbearable,” My shadow yawned and slumped over like one of the broken wind-up toys I'd hidden away amongst a pile of oddities that lacked the characteristic glow of real treasure. “Not that I care, but are you going to let yourself be hunted down and killed?”

“No, that’s not it— I don’t want to die— I can’t, not while there’s so much I don’t know. There’s still so much I want to see first.”

I slapped myself. He could mope and be miserable later, after I escaped the hunter patrols, avoided pissing off any territorial forest dwellers, and navigated my way out of the Dark Forest. I glanced casually at the shadowy eaves and thick tree trunks, heard the chattering cry of a large bird and an unnatural wailing sound that I couldn’t place.

“You’d be happier if you stayed ignorant. Going back and getting sacrificed is always an option. Plus, I’m exhausted. Can’t we at least agree to leave this dreary place?”

I stomped on my shadow; no effect. “There’s no way I’d invite you on my adventure.”

“Like I wouldn’t rather be stuck with a prettier vessel— but no, it had to be you. Anyways… Good talk! Enjoy your chase scene, and feel free to die if you want to. I’m planning on getting my first real sleep in ages— no telling how long this little excursion of yours will last, and I for one plan to make the most of it,” a cavernous yawn filled the forest and startled a flock of birds to flight.

Well that settled that. I could ignore my shadow— whatever it was— for the time being. Moving, I had to keep moving. I opened the compass, marveling at the geometric patterns that I could just barely make out before the strain made me go cross-eyed. My attention tended to wander whenever I’d been brought a little piece of the unknown world outside Altressor, so of course I wandered off course. What kind of adventurer didn’t take the scenic route? I hummed merrily as I walked between what I figured must be the tallest trees in all the lands.

“I wonder…”

My desire to know more, see more, and be more completely overwhelmed the weakness in my limbs and muscular atrophy from ever-increasing periods of confinement. Before I knew it I'd scaled the nearest redwood as easily as I had climbed everything else I could scramble on top of back home— then my thoughts caught up with my actions and I gripped the trunk like my life depended on it, because it did. Even after accounting for the branches slowing him down, I’d impact the ground with a splat, maybe even a splooooosh.

I thought about letting go. “It’d serve them right,” I said, but I didn’t release my grip on the redwood.

I decided I’d climbed high enough, which happened to be just as high as my heart would allow before its frantic beating busted a hole in my chest. Looking at the way down gave me a sick sense of vertigo and I decided I’d satisfy myself with achieving limbo between earth and sky. I peeked at the ground far below and checked my compass. I compared it to the shadowed canopy and let a rash idea take root in my head.

There was a way, and I wasn’t one to shy away from the unknown. “Moving forward is doable. Totally doable. You can do this… just don’t look down.” I gritted my teeth, forced my hands to unclench from the trunk, and moved forward.

I teetered uneasily on a branch nearly as wide as my wingspan and set each foot down with the utmost care before I committed to another step. Small as they were, my tiny steps brought me to the point of no return. Heart pounding, I stood shakily on the precipice that my life, my entire existence, had been founded upon. When I let go of the fears holding me back, I gained the confidence I needed to travel the twisted path of branches.

The Dark Forest soaked up sound and light, leaving me little to go by. I couldn’t hear any sounds of wildlife and my raspy breaths almost masked the creak and sway of branches. Traversing the network of interconnected trees required lots of guesswork, but my compass pointed the way ahead with eery precision.

There was no beaten path above the forest floor, and I’d accumulated countless scratches that made my borrowed clothes stick to my skin. Whenever I did stop, the feeling that I was being watched kept me moving. Besides, the incessant complaints from my body were nothing compared to the joy of exploring the upper reaches of the dreaded Dark Forest.

Time passed. I felt lightheaded. I stopped long enough to strip off my cloak, tear off my shirt and wring out the sopping wet cloth before I tied it around my waist. I shrugged the cloak back onto my shoulders and reached reflexively for a nearby branch as my shoulder muscles shook and a spasm traveled down my back. My heightened state of alertness had pushed my body and mind to its limits, but the feeling that I was being hunted remained, persistent.

It took me longer than it should have to notice the glow of Pleiades, longer still for me to realize its significance. Soft light radiated across an arid landscape of rolling sand dunes that would drain the life force of any traveler foolish enough to attempt a crossing. An unexpected burst of energy made me leap spastically into open air. I nearly overshot the thick, prickly vine, but the needles stuck fast to my soft flesh and held firm.

I descended the green stalk with an air of prideful disdain; I paid the bloody price to reach the forest floor. A sick sensation made me teeter alarmingly and my vision went hazy. When no better idea came to mind, I tore strips off my shirt while I lost most of the feeling in my hands.

“Little light, best be on your way— unless you want to be snuffed out after all? Not that I care one way or another, but those hunters will be upon us soon,” Nyx said.

I scoffed and kicked at my shadow. It bent unnaturally, deftly avoiding the blow. “Asleep when it matters but now you’ve got something to say?”

I looked back time and again at the Dark Forest, gazed intently as if Altressor would appear before me if I only looked hard enough. Ahead was the future: endless possibility and exploration of a world I’d experienced secondhand through dated books and histories. Behind awaited capture and imprisonment, and certain death at the hands of my people so that a new, more agreeable vessel— the Seventh— could take my place.

Things would go back to the way they were before my time, before I had disrupted the natural order and cursed Altressor. A baby girl would be saddled with expectation, ardent worship and unnatural abilities. All I had ever wanted was to be normal. When I discovered my wish was borne of an impossible naivety… I longed for freedom. Now that my chains were broken, there was no way I was ever going back.

I made myself a promise: to make my comfortable prison in Altressor, my so-called home, a distant memory. Not that I had a whole lot to give if he broke my oath, but I promised everything I was that the oath would be upheld. I’d die before I went back to serving as a false deity— with promises as flimsy— to the people.

“I’ll never go back. If it comes down to it and I’m captured, I’ll find a way to kill myself. I will,” I said with stone-cold determination.

As soon as I uttered the solemn oath to myself aloud, a sudden onset of exhaustion sent me reeling. He grabbed a thorny vine reflexively, recoiled, then fell. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and warm saliva gathered in my mouth. Waves of clammy heat crashed against a bitter chill that robbed me of my senses and left me tantalizingly near to my goal… and yet so frustratingly out of reach.