Eilif awoke stiff, sore, and cold. He looked around blearily, taking in the cave he was currently sheltering in. The slightly better light of morning didn’t reveal much more than he’d been able to see last night. He contemplated just staying there, huddled in the cave. What was the point of getting up? Everyone he’d known on this world was dead and he was alone. With but two shards and no weapons he was all but defenseless.

In the end it wasn’t any great revelation that forced him to get up, it was an itch. Idly he reached up to scratch at his face and his fingers to encountered something crusty. He scratched at it vigorously, causing whatever it was to break and flake away. Bringing his hand back down he examined his fingernails, finding some dark, reddish black substance under them. Briefly he wondered what it was and how it had gotten on his face. Then he remembered, that red liquid he’d been unable to identify.

While in the moment his brain hadn’t be able to understand what he was seeing, he now recognized the material for what it was. Blood. His entire left side had been covered in a spray of blood and other fluids; he could see it now, all down his gambeson and pants, and entirely covering his boots. His hands went back up and probed at his face, finding more blood all the way up, and into, his hair.

Suddenly Eilif was kneeling at the pool; he didn’t remember moving, he just knew that he needed to get the blood off. Off came his gambeson, then his tunic. He plunged his head into the water scrubbing vigorously at his face, neck, and hair, coming up only in brief gasps until his skin was tender and raw. Finished, he sat back on the stone floor and shivered, though with cold or emotion, he couldn’t tell.

Eventually the chill mountain air and his wet state drove him to the realization he’d have to put his clothes back on. He didn’t want to; while the blood hadn’t penetrated the gambeson, both it and the tunic were tainted in his mind. Unfortunately, there were no other option. He struggled into them and then forced himself to get up. Moving would help warm him, and the source of water in the cave was now contaminated. At the very least he needed to move to another way stop; though if he truly wanted to survive, he’d need to follow the pass to wherever it led and hope he could find food and shelter.

Forcing himself out of the cave, Eilif started walking up the pass once more. The gentle upward incline continued for a few more hours until he finally reached the high point of the pass. Looking down toward the exit he could see it let out into a sprawling forest of evergreens, and there, in the middle of it, appeared to be several large, boxy towers made of glass.

He had to pause and marvel at the sight of the towers. The few panes of glass he’d ever seen were in the temple windows, and he knew they’d been ruinously expensive. To make an entire tower of windows? The idea was mind boggling. What kind of society existed here, to have so much wealth? Shaking his head at the wonder, he began his descent.

It cost him a good portion of the day to reach the end of the pass and when he did, he found himself entering the forest. The trees were tall and obviously old while the ground was a riot of green ferns, moss, and bushes. There didn’t appear to be any easily accessible game trails, or pathways through the forest, which meant he’d be wading through the undergrowth. With a sigh of resignation, he started pushing his way in.

The forest floor was treacherous, made up of dips and mounds covering an already hilly terrain. More, the underbrush hid much of the ground from him, making forward progress slow and difficult and hours passed as he struggled for every foot. Eventually twilight began to fall, but the towers were nowhere in sight; he wasn’t even sure he was going the right way anymore.

Looking around in the twilight he took in the scenery. There were no conveniently placed large burrows, caves, or other shelters in which he could hide for the coming night. This meant he’d be out in the open, which was not likely to be conductive to survival.

His own planet had been tamed long ago, and forests like this no longer supported beasts and monsters. However here, on this new world, such creatures would have just come into being. With only two shards to his name, and no weapon of which to speak, Eilif wasn’t sure he’d survive the night. Worse, he knew he couldn’t go blindly walking through the underbrush in the darkness. Odds were good he’d fall and hurt himself on the uneven terrain.

Eilif continued onward until the risk of putting a foot wrong outweighed the need to keep going. With darkness swiftly falling upon the forest he found a large tree and placed his back to it, then curled up to make himself as small as possible.

For the first few hours of darkness Eilif found himself flinching at every noise, certain that any moment a monster would be upon him. However, as the night wore on no attack came, and weariness began to take its toll. It became harder and harder to stay awake, despite the threats he knew the darkness concealed. Heavy lids made it hard to peer around the nighttime forest, and he found himself moving sluggishly, enough so that he was almost grateful when a cry pierced the night.

“HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!” came the cry of a woman.

Eilif jolted into wakefulness, adrenalin coursing through him and wiping sleep from his thoughts and eyes. He leapt to his feet, head darting this way and that as he tried to pinpoint where the cry had come from.

“HELP! OH GODS HELP!” The cry came again, and this time he could tell it was coming from somewhere to his left.

A myriad of thoughts ran through his head as he dove into the underbrush, running and stumbling over hidden roots and holes toward the sounds of distress. A few quiet thoughts were asking why there was someone else out in the forest at night as well, and why didn’t he recognize the voice? Surely they had to be from the village, didn’t they? However, those thoughts were overshadowed by a louder thought. If he didn’t help, he would simply prove himself a coward once more.

“HELP! PLEASE!” came the cry once more, this time closer, almost on top of him.

Eilif burst into a small clearing in the woods, where one of the massive trees had clearly fallen and taken out its nearby neighbors. He looked around the moonlit area, eyes searching for the source of the cries. “I’m here, where are you?!” He cried into the dark forest.

“Right here,” came the soft voice from behind him.

Eilif whirled just in time to intercept a taloned claw with his forearm. The gambeson blunted the attack somewhat, but a line of pain still lanced down his forearm from elbow to wrist. He jumped back, stumbling on the uneven ground but managing to maintain his footing. Before him was a creature that looked like a cross between an owl and an elderly woman. It stood seven feet tall with wings that terminated in arms and a shockingly human face surrounded by a crest of feathers. Moonlight glinted on wickedly long talons that adorned both its hands and owl-like feet.

The creature chuckled. “Am I not what you were expecting o brave hero?”

Eilif brought his hands up, he had two shots of his Holy Blast and he needed to make them count. Before he could call upon the power however, the creature lunged forward, a clawed hand reaching for his head. Eilif ducked and found the creature had anticipated the maneuver and brought its other claw around. A line of fire raced across his face and he stumbled back once more, this time screaming in pain.

The owl woman chuckled with sadistic glee. “You really should watch where you’re going. You don’t have that many eyes to lose. Though I suppose its moot at this point,” she taunted, even as Eilif furiously blinked. His left eye wasn’t working right, he couldn’t see out of it and the pain was mind numbing.

Bringing his hands up he fired off a blast of holy radiance. The owl woman squawked but his aim was off, the lack of an eye had ruined his depth perception, and the pain was making it difficult to correct.

Shrieking the owl woman came at him again, and Eilif made a desperate gamble. With a roar of his own he dashed forward, right into her swinging claws. He brought up his arms to protect his face, though only his right forearm managed to intercept its intended target. The claws raked down the left side of his face once more, barely missing his ear and leaving three new lines of sharp pain. His right sleeve was shredded, and his forearm wasn’t in much better shape, but he was now close enough.

Forcing himself to work past the pain, Eilif reached out and up, grabbing the side of the monster’s head. The thing screeched in indignation, attempting to bite him. He let it get his hand in its mouth, and he could feel its sharp teeth breaking skin. He didn’t care, he now had it right where he wanted it. With a thought and effort of will he expended the last of his starlight. His hand radiated a brilliant golden glow that was followed by a blinding flash and a wet thumping noise. For the second time in as many days Eilif found himself covered in gore as the creature’s head exploded.

The body slumped to the ground, and Eilif followed suit, panting hard with exertion and pain. His single good eye watched the remains of the monster, but there was no sign it could survive without a head. A few heartbeats later a small spark of light appeared over its feathered breast and coalesced into a softly glowing crystal.

Eilif quickly snatched the shard up. He didn’t know what it was, but it’d be related to the creature in some way. Shoving the shard into his pocket he slowly explored the wounds the creature had left. His right arm was shredded as was the side of his face. The wounds had taken his eye but missed his ear and mouth. He could feel a hole in his cheek however. His hand bore more than a few punctures from where the creature had gotten its teeth into him; fortunately it hadn’t had the time, or perhaps the strength, to bite through the bone.

Stripping off his gambeson he shrugged out of his tunic and began tearing it into strips. He used the resulting rags to bind his arm and hand, then tried to do similar for his face. By the time he was finished he was feeling woozy and tired. He’d lost too much blood, and without a healer the wounds would likely become infected and he’d die out here.

It was at this moment that a soft noise drew his attention. A soft humming had pervaded the clearing. Looking around he spotted a creature hovering above him. It was oddly shaped, with a rounded body and four round ‘wings’ jutting off, two to a side. The wings appeared to have holes in them, until he realized they were filled, but with something moving so fast it was little more than a blur.

The creature produced a light which it played over Eilif and the downed monster. It then spoke, though in a language he couldn’t understand. There was a brief silence, then the creature repeated itself, this time the tone sounded forceful and angry.

“I don’t understand,” Eilif yelled up at it, afraid that this thing was another monster, and he without a way to reach it.

Another beat of silence, and then Eilif heard another noise; the sound of something approaching. Seconds later a light pierced the darkness, and he could see the figures of people coming. They were dressed in strange, black uniforms that seemed to involve some kind of upper torso armor. They had visored helmets and were carrying strange boxy items that Eilif assumed were weapons. They looked distinctly unfriendly.

Eilif quickly took his new shard out of his pocket and checked his constellations. He was surprised to find he now had four. The Stave, The Library of Alexandria, The Survivor, and The Tah-tah-kle’-ah. He should have three, the first two because he was granted them by the gods, and the last because he’d killed the creature. Where had The Survivor come from? It took less than a second for him to figure it out. The image of the constellation was a bruised and battered man in a stained gambeson huddled against a wall.

Eilif turned away from that constellation, its only saving grace was that it wasn’t called The Coward. He looked to The Tah-tah-kle’-ah which turned out to be a rare constellation with seven nodes arranged to create a stick figure. The nodes overlaid the image of the owl woman, though she’d never worn the serene or placid expression the constellation showed. With a thought he bound the newest shard to the constellation.

The Tah-tah-kle’-ah – Rare

Aspect: Magic

Bound Location: None

Node 1: Language, Concept, Level 1

Node 2: Empty

Node 3: Empty

Node 4: Empty

Node 5: Empty

Node 6: Empty

Node 7: Empty

A magic constellation wasn’t great, worse, the shard was knowledge based, making it a better fit for The Library of Alexandria, quickly he unbound it and re-attached it.

The Library of Alexandria – Unique, Legendary

Aspect: Utility

Bound Location: Head

Node 1: Knowledge, Concept, Level 1

Power: Insight - Active Effect: Learn a mild amount about an observed creature, place, or thing. Energy Cost: Infinitesimal Power: Keen Mind – Passive Status: Inactive Effect: Mild increase to learning capacity and speed. Upkeep Cost: Total

Node 2: Languages, Concept, Level 1

Power: Ear for Languages - Passive Status: Active Effect: Mild increase to linguistic learning capacity and speed. Upkeep Cost: Total

Node 3: Empty

Node 4: Empty

Node 5: Empty

Node 6: Empty

Node 7: Empty

Node 8: Empty

Node 9: Empty

The Library of Alexandria: Compound Effects

Nodes 1 and 2: Knowledge of Languages - Active

Effect: Gain a mild understanding of a language you can hear or see. Cost: infinitesimal

Releasing his inner sight, Eilif found himself surrounded by a dozen or so of the black clad, visored people. The creature that had been hovering above him seemed to have disappeared and the body of the monster was nowhere in sight. Looking around Eilif seemed to have caught the attention of the newcomers, one of which raised a small box and pointed it at Eilif. There was a clicking noise and Eilif felt a small pinprick of pain on his neck. He moved to swat at it however his wooziness sharply increased. Suddenly it was much, much too hard to keep his eyes open. Moments later the world went dark