I struck water, and my world went black as a feeling of dread threatened to consume my mind. Threatened to consume my very soul.

  It was all so fucking poetic.

  I thrashed and squirmed, but the inky-dark was relentless and unending; I didn’t know which way was up or down.

  And I was losing air fast.

  Then I felt… something warm; small at first, but soon, like a raging fire. I dared to open my eyes to see the Dragons-eye burning brightly in all its glory. It illuminated the water in a silvery light, and looking, I saw Vekrem below me, his clothing caught on a downed tree that laid at the bottom of the river.

  I fought the current, swimming down and down with all of my strength. Dragon reached out in my head, but he was a distant thing at that moment. A whisper—a nagging feeling. He didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was saving the person right in front of me. I couldn’t focus on saving the world, not now—

  Just focus on saving those within reach.

  That determination propelled me as I reached out, grabbed a root of the tree, and pulled myself the rest of the way towards him.

  Vekrem appeared limp, as if he’d knocked his head during the crash. I was out of air and out of time; I hoped beyond hope he was still alive.

  Then, surprisingly, Vekrem’s eyes sprang open. They were sharp—determined. He reached out, grasping the Dragons-eye, but then slumped again, those determined eyes rolling in the back of his head. I wasted no more time as I pulled the dagger from my belt, cutting the piece of his clothes that bound him. Letting go, the river swiftly took us both in its momentum, forcing us forward as roughly as if bound by chains.

  Grabbing the back of his hood, I hauled him up towards the surface, the light of the Dragons-eye guiding my way. But before I could make it, my own body failed me. My mind drifted aloft, caught in the flow. I had tried again to save someone, and failed to do so—

  Was I always destined to come up short?

  ***

  Water exploded from my mouth as rough hands violently pressed down on my chest. I opened my eyes to the darkness of night, but, feeling the hands press down on me again, I pushed them aside, turning my body to cough up the rest of the water in my lungs and the contents of my stomach as well.

  “You’re actually alive!” Asema said with some surprise. She slumped and laid next to me, apparently exhausted herself.

  Her ample chest rose and fell as quickly as my heartbeat, which pounded violently in my own as if it would burst through my skin at any moment. Exhaustion didn’t even come close to describing how I felt, and I was quite tired of almost dying on a near day-to-day basis.

  Remembering my last thought before I’d passed out, I surged forward and said, “Vekrem! Where’s Vekrem?”

  I saw the silhouette of her gesture, but I couldn’t actually see it. However, knowing what I knew, my heart dropped into my stomach—

  He didn’t make it.

  Sensing my sorrow, Asema sat up, placing her hand on my shoulder. “Your friend, he was—“

  “Don’t say brave,” I replied, shoving her hand back. “Don’t say heroic. Or fearless. Or anything of the sort. He died… that’s the only thing he is now. And he died because of me.”

  “Because of us,” Asema said.

  I felt as if she would place a hand back on me, but my body language warned her off. she sighed.

  “If I’d not gotten caught stealing, then none of this would have happened,” she admitted. “For that, I am sorry. Sorry for your loss. Sorry for humanity's loss.”

  I found that last bit curious. having no heart for the conversation, I replied, “None of that matters now.”

  Suddenly, I felt an old “friend” tugging at the back of my mind. Not Dragon, but something far more powerful. So powerful in fact that I’d never defeated it before…

  My own self-loathing.

  “We need to move,” Asema offered as she forced herself to stand. “They’ll be on us soon. Even in the dark, the rodrants have superior vision. They’ll be slowed for sure, but not as much as we will.”

  “What does it matter?” I replied. “The quest is over—done. There’s no point in my being here now.”

  Dragon smoldered in the back of my head at my self-pity.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Right,” I replied. “You.”

  “I!” Dragon boomed in my mind, sparing no sympathy for my feelings. “And stand ho thy brooding. Thy sulking—it is not fit f’r someone who carries mine own will! Your traveling companion, the rodent, Vekrem—he is not dead. In fact, he is quite alive and currently enjoying a very warm fire, with which I would very much like to acquaint myself.”

  I stood, leaning against the edge of a tree. “Wait…” I asked. “How do you know?”

  “I can feel him,” Dragon replied. “Can you not?”

  Focusing—truly concentrating—I felt that I could. Almost, it was like there was an extension of myself out there, somewhere, enjoying the warmth of a fire, just as Dragon had mentioned.

  Turning to Asema, I couldn’t hide my excitement as I said, “Let’s go! Looks like the quest isn’t over yet.”

  “What do you mean?” She asked. “And where are we going?”

  ***

  I had run into no fewer than three trees on our romp through the dark forest. Behind me, I could hear the ever-raging river, and in front, the sounds of scattering wildlife as we trampled through like blind bears. The mushrooms provided little light here, and the moon, shrouded by clouds, proved to set the scene for ill-tidings. Worse, from the pressure in my head, I suspected rain.

  “How much longer?” Asema asked, nudging me in the back.

  Not paying attention, I hit the branch of a tree, which snapped back, cutting a clean line on the edge of my neck. The sense I had of Vekrem was small and fleeting, and even Dragon wasn’t sure how or why it existed at all.

  Rubbing my fresh wound, I said, “I don’t know. We just need—”

  “Wait!” she called out excitedly.

  Squinting, I could just make out the outline of her hand as she pointed in a direction between some distant trees.

  “There!” she said. “Do you see it? Light!”

  At the very edge of my vision, I indeed saw a faint light, like a lone firefly in the darkest of night. But it was there. It existed.

  “Let’s hurry,” I suggested, but Asema was already running ahead of me, heedless of any danger that threatened ahead.

  I understood why I wanted to find Vekrem so badly. He was my friend. The only one I had here in this distant world. But her… she hardly even knew him. Why did she care so much?

  The light became brighter and brighter, and eventually we found its source. Inside an abandoned stone tower, likely a remnant of some village lost to time which had been used to scout for distant enemies, was a small fire. Inside, our traveling satchels were in a bunch near the fire, and Vekrem, snoring quietly, was propped up against the edge of the wall with what appeared to be a brown blanket draped over him.

  “Vekrem!” I yelled, rushing towards him.

  Before I made it to him, a voice in the darkness stilled me as they said, “Leave him be.”

  I peered around, hand hovering above my dagger. As I did, I saw nobody else in the stone tower.

  I asked, “Who’s there?”

  “An old enemy,” they replied. “But now a new ally. Promise you won’t attack me?”

  I fingered my dagger. “I promise,” I lied.

  I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, and as I spun, I drew my dagger, ready to strike, but in a moment of recognition, I stopped. My blade hovered a few inches from her throat.

  Wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, I asked, “Saise?”

  “Aye,” she replied, coming into the full light, her red-fur looking even redder in the fire's light. “Glad to see you remember me. Would have to kill you if you didn’t. Remember, you made me a promise—”

  “A promise?” Asema cut-in, glancing between the two of us, confusion plain on her face. Putting a hand on my shoulder, she asked, “How do you know a chitik?”

  Saise answered before I could. “He tried to kill my mate, Kech.”

  “He tried to kill me first!” I countered. “How was I supposed to know that the gunk from the mushroom would cause Radiant Rot?”

  Asema removed her hand and glared at me with all the hatred one could muster. “You inflicted this Kech with the rot? I wouldn’t even wish that on my worst enemy.”

  The chitik, Saise, nodded in approval of her words. “Reckless,” she said. “The human man is stupid and reckless… but strong as well.”

  Shrugging, I slowly moved towards Vekrem. “And why are you here?”

  “Why?” Saise replied incredulously. “To make sure you complete the quest, of course. The cure for the rot is a boon to us all—not just humans. There are those less civilized who still continue to use it for purposes of war.”

  Reaching down, I tried to rouse Vekrem, but he did not budge.

  “Just leave him be,” Saise said. “The rodrant is fine. I was on my way to meet you both in Silverock, but I heard distant shouting. When I investigated, I saw the crash. I was about to jump into the river when I saw Vekrem’s body float up from beneath the water. It took me far longer to save him than I had hoped. When I did, I decided to make a fire, assuming your life was already lost to the river.”

  “Thanks a lot.”

  Saise merely shook her head as she sat on a stone slab that had fallen from the roof of the tower some time before.

  Glancing over, Asema still glowered at me, as if she had something to say, but wouldn’t.

  Annoyance pried open my mouth as I asked, “What’s your problem?”

  She crossed her arms, and, feeling a bit disrespected, I amended the question.

  “And why are you even here?” I asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Us,” Saise corrected, fingering her chain-like weapon. “What aren’t you telling us?”