I was so shocked by the collapse of the portal that my legs gave way and my butt plopped painfully to the floor. Orthok, whose upper body I dropped in the process, came to and groaned. “I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“What happened? Where are we?” he asked in a weak voice.

“I’d like to know myself,” I replied, looking around. We seemed to be in an underground room, a cave of some sort. It was quite dark, so I couldn’t make out many details. A strong animal smell hung in the air. The light was coming from the direction where the portal had been, there had to be an exit there. The hunter apparently came to similar conclusions.

“This must be the monster’s lair,” he opined. “That’s good, such a powerful animal must have driven off or killed all the predators nearby. We should be safe here for now. What about Rieg and Nigel?”

“Rieg probably fell,” I said somberly. “And Nigel... only a part of him made it.”

“That’s too bad. But it had to be expected, portals like that are always unstable.”

“And when were you planning to tell us?” I asked indignantly. “It could have been any of us!”

“You would have had second thoughts about using the portal otherwise, and it would have cost us all our lives.”

“Sure, but you know, with us... with us on the islands, I mean, we place great value on the freedom of choice, especially when it comes to life and death!”

Despite his pain, the hunter grinned wryly, “And I hear that from a man who enlisted in the military the other day. I would have loved to have seen you tell your superior officer about freedom of choice.”

There was little to say in response, and I changed the subject. “What if the portal hadn’t collapsed and the monster had followed us?”

Orthok shrugged. “Animals don’t like portals and avoid them. The portal must have trapped the wolf in the cave, so he had no choice. And if he did follow us... well, the portal could have closed while he was inside.”

I had to agree with this reasoning. Apparently, escaping through the portal, as dangerous as it might have been, really had been our best option.

“Where could the portal have led us? Had the wolf opened the portal?”

“No, the wolf didn’t, although he must have come through it himself. The spontaneous portals arise on their own, usually in the Devastation, and rarely in the rest of the world. The distance such a portal bridges can vary greatly.”

“So we’re probably in the Devastation now? What are we going to do now? Your wounds need to be taken care of, but we don’t have anything with us. No food or weapons either...” I fell silent, discouraged, as I realized the gravity of the situation.

Orthok groped for his belt and exhaled with relief when he found it. “All is not lost,” he said. “Help me, please!”

I helped him take off the belt. He groaned several times during the process, each movement must have caused him severe pain. When it was done, I saw that the hunter’s short sword and quiver were still attached to it. Only the bow had been lost.

“Look on the inside, there’s a secret compartment built in,” Orthok whispered. His voice was barely audible; he seemed to be at his limit.

I felt the strap. There was indeed a small pocket hidden in the thick leather, from which I pulled out a sealed vial containing a mint-green liquid. “What is this?”, I asked curiously.

“It’s a magical potion that will boost my regeneration. You just have to put my foot down properly first so the bone can knit together.”

Wow, there were healing potions in this world! But why wasn’t the potion red, as it should be according to canon? Again, a question I was not allowed to ask. Instead, I asked, “How fast does it heal you?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Well, it will be a few days before I can walk again. It depends on whether I have enough food while I’m healing, because the accelerated regeneration takes a lot of energy. See if you can rustle up anything, you won’t be able to feed yourself on air alone either.”

Oh well, another side quest I could happily do without. I looked at Orthok’s feet and saw Nigel’s body parts lying next to them, dead fingers still clutching around the hunter’s legs. Somehow, I had already suppressed the gruesome event. Poor Nigel! I also had to think about Tim and Bob. Hopefully, they would be lucky and get away while we kept the monster busy. I wished with all my heart that they had caught up with the dastardly merchant and given him a good thrashing.

“What are we going to do with the remains?” I asked Orthok. At that, I realized how little I still knew of this world. How did they deal with their dead? I had no idea.

“Bury them somewhere outside,” he said after some thought. “In itself, in the Devastation, it is better to burn the bodies so that no revenants can arise. But since they’re only parts, that shouldn’t be a problem.” His face darkened, apparently the subject brought back unpleasant memories.

I detached the severed body parts from the hunter’s legs and set them aside, then turned my attention back to Orthok’s feet. The right one looked okay, but the left one was turned 90 degrees inward, which was definitely not normal. I looked indecisively at the hunter. Surely that’s going to hurt like hell! What would be gentler, doing it fast or slow?

“Wait a minute!” said Orthok suddenly. He looked pale and his breathing was rapid. I’m sure he could imagine the coming pain better than I could. The hunter reached for his belt and bit into the leather. “Now!” he groaned through clenched teeth.

Better hurry, I decided, grabbing his foot with both hands and twisting it backwards into place. Orthok let out a muffled groan, shook his whole body, and then passed out. Damn it, he was supposed to take the healing potion now!

I guess I had to wait until he regained his senses. Sighing, I sat down on the ground next to the hunter, the vial with the potion in my hand. Hm, if the healing potion was magical, it had to glow in the magic sight, why hadn’t I noticed it before? Curious, I activated Magic Sight and looked at the vial, but it faded just like all the other non-magical objects around me. Strange... Instead, I noticed how an entire area in the back of the cave lit up.

Excited, I stood up again and came closer. In the corner furthest from the entrance, the wolf had set up camp. The ground all around was littered with large bare bones, and there were also some animal skulls lying around. This entire place was bathed in a warm brown light. The glowing ground formed the background, on which some stones sparkled like stars, also from some of the bones magical light went out. I understood: the wolf must have placed his camp on a source of magic and been exposed to its effects for a long time. Whenever he stayed there, slept or ate, the invisible radiation hit him and changed him.

This had to be one of the places Vaari had talked about. Here I would probably have the opportunity to strengthen my magic core, only how did that work? I ate the magical alga I had found in the forest, but I couldn’t eat stones or bones....

At the thought of eating, my stomach announced itself with a loud rumbling. True, I had to get my priorities straight. First of all, it was about our survival and for that we needed food. On the other hand, wouldn’t strengthening my mana core improve our chances? I glanced at the hunter, but he was still unconscious, so I decided to use the time to meditate.

I sat down in the glowing area and called up the view of my mana vessel. The display was at 3/15. As usual, I imagined the mana lake above me pouring into the jar. The mana stream looked much more powerful this time and was a brown color. My mana filled up faster compared to the last times, shortly after the jar was full, I felt the heat pulse with which the enlargement of the magic core became noticeable and when I already wanted to end the meditation, another one. Mana 17/17!

With a satisfied smile, I opened my eyes and heard Orthok calling my name. I went to him and wanted to give him the healing potion, but he did not take it yet. His eyes looked at me urgently. “Jason, listen to me carefully! After I drink this, I will be unconscious for some time. How long, I can’t say, my injuries are pretty severe, so it will take time. When I wake up, I will need water and food, otherwise I will die because my body will consume itself. So you have to go outside and take care of us, but pay attention! In the Devastation, many things are not as they seem. There are dangers you don’t know about and, of course, some you do know about, but that doesn’t make them any less bad. You probably won’t see people, but if you do, don’t trust them. And stay away from portals!”

Despite his serious words, I had to grin. He sounded like a father drumming into his son not to talk to strangers and to watch out for cars when crossing the street. Then I realized that this wasn’t the peaceful suburban town I grew up in we were talking about. I had to go to an area full of magical anomalies and survive there, alone and with no hope of help. The thought made me stop laughing.

Orthok gave my hand an encouraging squeeze and emptied the vial into two sips. No sooner had he removed it from his lips than his eyes rolled upward and he shut down. I took the vial from his slackened fingers, replaced the stopper, and placed it in the compartment in the hunter’s belt. In our situation, every item was valuable; who knows what else the little vessel would be good for?

Now I had no reason to delay my excursion into the Devastation any longer. I grabbed Nigel’s dead forearms with a sigh and headed for the exit.