Dawn- An age of Darkness

I used the shades to travel 

There weren\'t any roads and most of the place was riddled with trees. 

There were animals but most were alive- unlike me. 

I did try to experiment with the sunlight and so far, though painful, nothing much happened to me even when I was fully exposed to the sunlight. 

"Is there any civilization nearby?"

"I\'m only aware of what you are. I cannot escape your presence."

So, I couldn\'t use the spirit as a scout?

"What happened after I lost? What happened to my friends?"

"I do not bear that knowledge. I broke free from my host when I switched to you, severing all connections, therefore, I only know what centered around you. Though I do pray and hope that the two of them are alright."

A malicious spirit praying and hoping? I almost wanted to chuckle but stopped. Maybe this thing wasn\'t malicious after all. Even now, it desperately tried to protect me, and what had happened because of my folly, it wasn\'t its fault. 

I kind of didn\'t want to talk about all this, and yet I found myself asking about all this over and over again.

"Then- where the hell are we?" I mumbled. 

The trees were like charcoal and most of the animals here were brown. Yes, most were alive, but somehow, they felt different even by the standards of this world. 

"Perhaps in the West of where we were. The trees and the harsh climate indicate as much, or it could be far north, as that place too, bear similar terrain. Up ahead, there are marshes just past the forest toward the mountains." The spirit floated about two story high and gave me directions. After that it disappeared for a second. 

I remembered certain things while I was in that phase of mine. Apparently, I\'d run into Anverosa… \'SO that pendant-\'

The pendant was Imazael\'s. And it was related to Anverosa, meaning Imazael was probably Anverosa\'s daughter. But Anverosa was married to Ashirnae- meaning, stuff happened during the glory days of the gods. 

When I\'d run into her, she was kind of disappointed and mad but- at this point, I didn\'t really have the power or will to live up to people\'s expectations.

Anyway, that wasn\'t my concern, my concern was something else. 

"Isn\'t there anyway to know where we are precisely?"

"Perhaps we could travel up the mountain and figure it out?" The spirit manifested again. So, it couldn\'t stay manifested for long periods of time?

There were mountains in the far, far north of here, but those were really far- maybe thirty-forty kilometers away. 

I had a map with me, a map I\'d got from the old man. But I never needed to use it as I had people with me who knew where what was. But now, I did need the map but- I didn\'t know where we were, so it was kind of useless.

The ring was still kind of stuck to my chainmail. I put it in the index finger of my right hand. 

I didn\'t want to lose the little thing. 

Without actually talking more, I kept on walking.

The forest thinned but nothing was in sight. With full speed, it\'d take maybe two or three days to reach the base of that mountain in the distance. At normal speed. 

But I wasn\'t quite normal right now. 

I didn\'t feel hungry and I could basically walk like stamina wasn\'t even a thing.

I guess I could give Lianne a run for her money in this state.

Sigh.

But at least I was going to reach that mountain faster. 

***

By evening, I was out of the forest, but in front of me was a grassland. Or grasslands and swamps to be more precise: marshes. No civilization. 

And there were large phytons and crocodiles here and there. This place was crawling with reptiles- deadly reptiles. 

So- I backtracked a little and set up camp on top of a large tree. 

I also hunted a small croc and feasted upon its flesh. I could have hunted the snakes but I didn\'t want to. I\'d rather eat crocs than snakes. 

Cooking food made them terrible though. And I only felt full once I drank enough fresh blood. \'Is it possible I\'m turning into a vampire?\'

Perhaps it was possible, perhaps not. But I didn\'t care. 

I looked fairly human and I didn\'t have overly uncontrollable bloodlust towards anything that lived as long as I was satiated. If I had to say, I\'d say I was a half-dead at the moment. But there wasn\'t any way to make sure. At least not on my own.

I hunted another croc and ate it raw.

My mana capacity had seemed to triple or maybe even quadruple and I was kind of growing with every bite. And since my armor was still attached, by supplying it mana, I could regrow it. It didn\'t look brand-new but it was good enough for me. 

Oddly Boriosa\'s robe was still good to go. Hard to imagine, this thing was still here. But it was here and in one piece too.

With everything done, I just stared at the night sky and the distant moon…

Wait, moon?

There was a moon in the sky- half of it was just debris. \'Where the hell am I?\'

Sigh.

I knew it wasn\'t quite my fault. I knew that.

But- but I couldn\'t just forget it. I couldn\'t just not think about it. I couldn\'t. Alisa had died because of me. And the same was true for Biteria and Ve. I didn\'t know if they were dead or not but at this point- I didn\'t have a choice but to assume. 

Sigh. 

The night passed. 

***

In the morning, I started to travel again. I didn\'t really sleep last night, more like I couldn\'t. I didn\'t need sleep and I didn\'t want to have nightmares- so maybe I should have just traveled but I didn\'t do that either. 

I was really torn, even now on what to actually do. But moved ahead anyway. I needed something to distract myself. 

I was glad the mountain was a bit far, at least this way, I had something I could do while not thinking too much. Revenge was the one thing that kept me going but- what will happen after I get it?

I really didn\'t want to think about that and just wanted to keep myself busy.

Hypocrite. A pure hypocrite I was. 

"There seems to someone in the distance." The spirit pointed out.

She was kind of following me like a ghost, manifesting even in the middle of the day every now and then. She couldn\'t stay longer than a minute at best though.

I traced the spirit\'s gaze and found someone in trouble. Crocs and snakes had a knight surrounded. He was wearing silver armor and judging from the curve, he or rather she, was probably a woman. She was covered in full body armor and even her face was under a rather strong looking helmet. 

"I don\'t think that\'s our business. We\'re here on a different mission."

At this point I didn\'t just want to randomly help people and end up in more shit. I already had enough on my plate.

The spirit didn\'t say a thing and we kept on walking. 

"You there, Sir, please help me!"

I heard her voice, but I proceeded to ignore it. It had a rather masculine tone to it.

But it wasn\'t my problem.

"Please, I need your help."

I didn\'t even look at her. 

"Please!"

Sigh.

This was getting more than annoying. 

"Saving a local and using her as a guide might prove to be more logical than wandering around yourself." The spirit kind of wanted to save her, it would seem.

Obviously, I didn\'t care.

But-