The place I escaped to was a beautiful sight, but after escaping a dark and colorless place anything would’ve seemed beautiful in comparison just for the colors. Dirt, sunlight, grass, and strange ruins. I was in the middle of a thick cluster of ruins, tall pillars of white stone and old graying walls of ancient structures that barely stood the test of time around me. Moss, vine, and nature fought hard to reclaim it and was winning their slow battle. I don’t know who the old ruins belonged to, or where I was, but I was free and that was good enough to me.

I didn’t really have a plan, I never really have a plan I think. I just picked a direction and started walking again. Around the ruins were more skeletons, and other corpses that walked with a little more flesh than I liked. Neither were pleasant company, and I didn’t even try to talk to them. I simply left, and they ignored me well enough.

The ruins were in the middle of a thick cluster of forest, the trees slowly infesting the ruin itself and expertly hiding it from normal sight. Regardless of not knowing where I was, I decided to walk aimlessly into the thick woods. It didn’t take long to walk and escape the thick underbrush returning back into the light that was blocked by the tall canopy. Though it was probably several hours, it felt like no time at all with the wonders of nature around me. I was fascinated by every small detail, the twisting roots, hanging vines, chirps of birds, skittering creatures, and even the sticky mud around streams and puddles. I probably spent more time staring and poking at the vegetation and random creatures than I did actually walking.

When I finally escaped the clutches of dark shadow under the trees, the world opened before me as a vast canvas of rolling hills and blue sky exploded with color. Waving fields of tall grass and colorful flowers covered the ground and billowing wind jostled the plants making the entire place feel alive. Some part of me was almost sad, but whatever feeling it was quickly passed me by. The only thing that kept my attention was the fog of confusion still hanging around me, and the bewildered curiosity that kept pace with that confusion. I still had no idea who I was, what I was, or where I found myself. But then I saw something in the distance, a scene that struck me with a blow of curiosity akin to awe.

Almost like a foul stain on the beautiful canvas that was nature, a large force of what I later realize were soldiers marched along the farthest hills I could see. Their regalia was purple and black, I almost wanted to know who and what they represented, but it wouldn’t matter soon. As they marched along the hill, coming over the horizon was a massive figure clad in shadow and darkness. It was impossible to judge how tall it actually was, it looked like a normal sized figure from my distance while the soldiers who followed it were smaller than ants. This dark-clad creature held a purple jewel on its chest that glowed with radiant power, and its body jerked and moved as if possessed by something. Then, as the creature emerged from the distance, so did its enemies.

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The canvas of rolling hills was framed by far distant mountains, ones that were so white with snow you could almost not perceive them at all and see them as part of the cloudy skies. Yet out from these mountains a hot-glowing beacon erupted in a fiery display. From the mountain hundreds of silver-clad dots followed: an opposing army. The two entities beheld each other in the far distance, the massive shadowy figure that reeked of evil and the small beacon of fiery light and power.

In mere moments the fiery light lunged at the dark entity, its speed so immense it closed the seemingly several mile-long distance in only a few seconds. The dark power took the hit and began to recoil backwards, only to fling its arm towards the small light in rage. A fierce battle began between the two primordial beings, for that was the only thing they could be. It took several minutes of these creatures fighting before the fastest of their armies even engaged in combat. As I watched this battle unfold some part of me knew these entities had to be gods, or creatures of such power they were akin to gods. Yet I hadn’t fully comprehended the notion at the time, what a god was and what it meant for them to fight like this.

Before an hour passed the battle was done. The armies had clashed almost thirty minutes after the two god-like entities began their own battle. The fiery beacon won, their silver-clad warriors routing the dark army completely. As the dark entity fell, the beacon of fire struck down at its purple jeweled heart, and it exploded in a great dark fog that fell over the area. The light of the rival entity was dimmed after slaying its enemy, but the silver army and their god retreated back into their mountain. The dark fog remaining over the battlefield, and probably still remains over the battlefield to this day.

I stayed long enough to watch the conflict, but after its conclusion my curiosity was sated and I yearned to continue. I felt no emotion watching those primordial monsters fight, nor after watching one be so brutally slain. I simply continued along my path, choosing to go in a direction that brought me away from the dark fog.

It wasn’t long until the hilly terrain began to even out on one side of the horizon. By my position, and the noon sun hanging overhead, I had figured I was traveling north. To the east, towards the mountains and dark fog, hills churned into rock and rough mountain cliffs. To the west, open plains of never-ending fields of grass stretched out with a welcoming breeze. My direction was obvious to me, I didn’t think rocks would be easy to traverse, and I didn’t wish to head anywhere in the direction of the dark cloud, so I traveled west.