It was a long time before they finally beheld the light of day again. The journey through the dark had been long, but Zakariah was free and the riddle of the Countryside had been solved. There was still a long road ahead, but our heroes were now truly far from home. Tenebris left them on the northern side of the hill as he slithered back into the darkness. Tristan wanted to make him pay for what he had done, but the Vampire was gone before anyone noticed his absence.

‘We need to keep moving, these lands are no longer safe at night, especially not so close to that cave,’ said Varius.

‘The Autumnwoods aren’t that far away anymore,’ said Zakariah as he pointed ahead.

Beyond the plain that was stretching out before them loomed the thick forest and it was a lot closer than before they entered the cave, but in front of the forest lay the remnants of a certain ruined town while a huge volcano was spewing ashes into the air further down into the West… Slowly, the empty grasslands made way for trees and thick foliage. This plain was no longer grey, but green and filled with ferns, shrubs and trees. The cave had been a shortcut and saved them a huge amount of time.

‘We’ll keep moving until we have to camp on these plains tonight,’ said Rhyddion as they made their way across the plain. ‘I don’t think we should camp in the town up ahead, in fact, I hope we could avoid it entirely, but it’s blocking our path.’

‘I agree,’ said Archmage Shannon. ‘Wouldn’t want any Pyromancers to find us at night, now would we?’

The ruined town was Laurel’s Town, which had been taken by Furnox and his Pyromancers. It would soon prove to be a tough journey to get through there.

‘I’d like to thank you guys for saving me by the way,’ said Zakariah. ‘I could have died down there…’

Zakariah paused for a while as if lost in thought, ‘…but I didn’t, thanks to you, you have my gratitude for that.’

Tristan came walking beside him.

‘Why don’t you tell me something more about your adventures, Zakariah, you haven’t told me about the Veil of Winter yet.’

‘Ah yes, my adventures!’

Zakariah started telling one of his stories again as the others silently listened to the old man.

After a while, they saw the light shimmering upon the plain in the distance, between a group of trees.

‘Look! Over there!’ shouted Varius. ‘There must be water over there!’

The adventurers moved closer to the group of trees and found a small, shallow lake filled with clear water. A small stream came down from the Autumnwoods, through Laurel’s Town, with beautiful, green trees growing on its sides.

‘I don’t think I have ever seen this kind of trees,’ said Tristan as he looked at them in amazement.

‘Well, dear boy, these are not just any trees,’ said Zakariah. ‘These are young Arva trees, when they’re older they’ll be about three times taller than they are now!’

Tristan looked up to the trees crown, which was already several meters above him.

‘The Autumnwoods are full of the things and I don’t think I have seen them anywhere else,’ continued Zakariah. ‘Some say that the Lady of Growth planted them herself and that that’s why they have such spectacular colours. One thing’s for sure, though, there are no greener or taller trees than the Arva trees.’

‘We shall rest here tonight before we travel to Laurel’s Town tomorrow,’ said Varius as he nodded to Rhyddion who started to refill their water supply.

Simon grabbed his axe and was about to start hitting one of the trees when Zakariah stopped him.

‘Better find some twigs that are scattered around the ground her for I don’t deem it wise to cut down one of the Arva.’

Simon agreed, put his axe away and started gathering twigs and larger pieces of wood. He piled them up and covered it with some of the dry grass he had been collecting. A small spark emerged from Shannon’s staff and set the whole thing ablaze. The group gathered around the fire as Varius went out to hunt some dinner. By the time he came back, everyone was talking and laughing as they started roasting the rabbits Varius had caught. All except Shanondarion. He had been very unlike himself ever since they emerged from the cave. He was never a very jolly person, but not like this.

‘What’s the matter with you, Shannon?’ asked Tristan. ‘Why don’t you have a drink and some food? Come sit with us!’

They all made room for the Archmage, but the old man stood up and walked away without saying a word.

‘Shouldn’t someone get him?’ asked Varius.

‘I’ll go after him,’ said Rhyddion.

The tall man stood up and walked through the bushes after the Archmage.

Rhyddion found Shannon sitting on a rock, gazing at the nocturnal sky. The sky was clear this night and the stars were clearly visible. Rhyddion sat down on the ground next to the Archmage.

‘Do you know what those are, Mr. Lux?’

‘I prefer the name Rhyddion, Archmage.’

‘Do you know what those are, Rhyddion?’

‘My parents always told me that they were called stars.’

‘Then you had quite intelligent parents, Mr… I mean Rhyddion.’

Rhyddion was quite astounded by this sudden change in the Archmage. Where was that bitter, old man whom he had grown to know and heard so much about?

‘They are the Watchers, each and every one of them,’ said Shanondarion.

‘I thought you didn’t really believe in that sort of thing?’ asked Rhyddion.

‘I wish I didn’t…’

The Archmage sighed and for a moment, Rhyddion almost thought he could see a tear running across his cheek.

‘You must think I’m an old, vindictive son of a bitch, huh?’ said the Archmage suddenly while he turned towards Rhyddion.

‘Well, I wouldn’t say that…’

‘Don’t try to deny it, you are right to feel that way. Sometimes I guess I feel that way too.’

‘If you feel so bad about yourself, then why are you always acting like that?’

‘Like what?’

Rhyddion got up, his bottled anger was about to emerge, but he kept his calm.

‘You’re always making fun of others, acting like you’re better than everybody else. You treat the people whom you deem lesser than you are like shit. My friend Jonah and all of his friends and relatives live in a pile of dirt, because you and all those other Mages refuse to pay them more for the honest work they do for you. They’re good people…’

‘Good people?!’ shouted the Archmage suddenly. ‘Don’t you dare tell me that those animals are good people! They ruined my life!’

Rhyddion was immediately rendered silent by Shannon’s sudden outburst. They sat in silence for a while until Shanondarion started talking again.

‘I’m sorry, Rhyddion.’

‘You had your reasons, probably.’

‘I was out of line and I think I owe you an explanation… Can I entrust you with something? Something…personal.’

Rhyddion sat down and turned towards the Archmage.

‘I’ll try and listen.’

‘How old do you think I am?’ asked Shannon.

‘I don’t know, I’d say, euh…’ Rhyddion tried to guess lower than he thought, ‘…50 or something?’

Shanondarion started laughing loud.

‘I must say, that while very kind, you are incorrect, friend!’

Shannon caught his breath again and started his story.

‘I have walked this earth for 357 years now. I was there when it began, when everything you see here around you was molded into shape. I was there when the Gods were still peaceful and when Laurel still walked the earth. I helped to build Arcadia and Laurel’s Town when I was still younger, back then, everything was still safe and sound and beautiful. But by the time I had become 21 years old, the war had started. I don’t really remember who started it and why, but all of a sudden, the world was turned upside down. Lady Laurel was dead, murdered by Saarthunix, and the Gods were at war with each other, tearing up our world in the process. There were four cities at first, you know. Arcadia was the largest and on the borders of the Veil of Summer were Laurel’s Town and two smaller towns. These two smaller towns were obliterated during one of the many battles. The people from those towns ran inland as fast as they could, to Arcadia, the people in the poor quarters are their descendants. The city was soon flooded with people seeking refuge, but we had none to offer. So we helped them build temporary homes on the edge of the city. Temporary homes which later became their permanent homes. It was at that moment that I first saw her. It was at that moment that I first met Lidya. She was beautiful, you know and I immediately fell in love with her. My parents disapproved, they thought I should marry one of Arcadia’s girls. They had always been very judgmental people, my parents, so I started seeing Lidya in secret, wandering the poor quarters at night and gazing at the stars. She was so beautiful, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like her. Even the light of all those thousands of stars couldn’t match the radiance of her eyes, but all good things must end eventually, for that is the cruelty which we called Life. We had been seeing each other for five years and we were already making plans for the wedding, even though I hadn’t asked her yet, so I decided to finally ask Lidya to marry me. At that moment I could care less about what my parents thought and I bought some of the finest gems I had ever seen and made an amazing necklace out of them. The necklace was blue and I used what little I knew about Magic to imbue the gems with a light to match her eyes, she cried when I gave it to her, so I initially thought my plan had failed. My face turned all red and I was about to go home when Lidya took my hand and kissed me. I’ll never forget that moment. Never. “I will live with you now and beyond and even Rhux’ golden halls would be mere plaster without you, for you are the light in my life that makes everything shine”, that’s what she said. In fact, it was the last thing she ever said to me, for when I came to her home the next day I found that it had been ransacked. She was lying on the ground with her belly cut open. The radiance of her eyes had turned dull and her white teeth were scattered on the ground. They took the necklace and my Lidya’s life with it. I buried her and cried often at her grave. That is when I thought that my life couldn’t get any worse and yet it did. I was severely depressed for the next weeks and thought about ending my life more than once, but then I received an invitation from the God of Wisdom, Shinden, to join his Mages in the Pinnacle, for he thought I possessed great talent for the Arcane. I accepted his invitation and left for the Pinnacle, never to return, leaving my old life behind me, but one can never truly leave the past behind, I learned that the hard way. The more I learned about the possibilities of Magic, the more I thought about Lidya. The things I could do with this knowledge, even for those beyond Death’s veil, were unimaginable and I found a way to bring her back! This was a thing called Necromancy and it is strictly forbidden, but I wanted to at least try it for I couldn’t imagine ever having a life without her. Not even all my Arcane knowledge was enough to fill the void she had left within me, so I studied for months, practicing for hours a day in one of the dark rooms of the Pinnacle until on one particular night, I managed to pull her spirit back to this realm and make it take a physical shape. She hadn’t aged a day and she was just as beautiful as I remembered her to be, but something was wrong. She started screaming and crying. She hit me and asked me with tears running across her face, “Why did you bring me back?! Why did you bring me back to this terrible place?!” She was in a constant pain for that time which seemed to be an eternity, until she turned her face to me and begged me, “Kill me…please kill me…” I…I couldn’t do it! She was the love of my life and I finally had her back and now I had to kill her myself! She begged me again and again and finally, when I understood that I couldn’t let her endure this suffering, I set her body ablaze with my staff and I watched the flames turn her beauty to ashes for a second time. A man should never have to endure such a thing twice! Shinden had heard the whole thing happen and came down to me. He said that he knew I was destined for great things, but that he couldn’t allow a Necromancer under his roof and so he kicked me out. I had to return to my hometown. My parents had died during my time with Shinden and my old family home was still vacant. One day I came home from one of my walks through the city and as I was about to go to bed, I could feel a darkness creep into the room. And there, in a dark corner of the house, I saw him. I saw Sarthox, the God of Time. He was a terrible sight to see, surrounded by the Fog filled with the souls of the damned and his many eyes peering right through my feeble mind. I could hear his voice in my head. “Not even a Mage, may steal from the God of Time. Those whose time has run out cannot be given new time. You, Shanondarion Rectus, still have much to learn and I will not deny you this knowledge. You will walk this earth until you have learned your lesson…” He cursed me! He cursed me to walk this earth beyond the timely borders and as I watched everyone I loved die around me, I slowly withered and turned into the man you see before you. I have learned all there is to know and still my soul is not free, but I will keep on learning, for when I learned my lesson, that is when I may finally leave this eternal torment behind me and return to my Lydia…’

By the time The Archmage had finished his story, the tears were running across his face.

‘Perhaps you’re right, Rhyddion. Perhaps I should leave the past behind me and help those poor people, but they took her from me…’

Rhyddion was completely silent. He had no idea that this man whom everyone resented had been through so much hardship and lived.

‘I never found that necklace again by the way,’ said Shanondarion Rectus when he got back up.

‘But I will put it on her grave before I leave this world.’