Aegon kept slipping in and out of consciousness, while unconscious his mind seared as he saw distant stars …. He heard a howl from the deepness of space and felt drawn towards it, yet before he could focus on it his eyes snapped open and the vastness of space was suddenly replaced by the familiar darkness of the damp cave, droplets of water rolling down the ceiling and hitting his face.

Still, before the dizziness from his sudden awakening subsided, the chains of unconsciousness yanked him back and his mind was once again on that strange plane of distant stars .

Now in front of him stood that dreadful being, that striking black fur, those piercing red eyes, yet it seemed not all was as he remembered.

Fenrir didn't look like the god of fear Aegon thought him to be, his body was littered with wounds, both big and small, leaving his fur tainted with blood, pus and a mysterious green liquid. At that moment, and especially from a distance, Fenrir looked no different from a common wolf, badly wounded and at the end of its rope, Aegon even doubted if that was the same being who left him with such a striking impression previously.

He shook his head, trying to regain some clarity, and mumbled to himself. “No, those eyes…they can't lie…nobody has such arrogant eyes.”

Seemingly having heard him, Fenrir turned towards Aegon, looking for something or someone, maybe Aegon, yet the beast's eyes never focused on him and after a while the God of Chaos gave up and instead focused on his left thigh which was hidden from Aegon's sight.

His red pupils lost focus and a single tear formed in the corner of his eye, it silently slid down the beast's snout and fell into the nothingness of space below….

Aegon once again felt his conscience returning but before he returned to the cave, between all the haziness he saw Fenrir pull an unimpressive arrow from its still hidden thigh and on the tip was that same green liquid….

…

A light breeze rustled the leaves of the forest and for a moment the sounds of the world were drowned, only the cold air that assaulted their faces made Travis and the rest of the group feel like they were still grounded in reality.

But that feeling was ethereal in nature and as soon as it appeared it was already gone, like a fleeting thought. As they confusedly looked between each other for answers, even their thoughts about the event became muddled and soon flew with the winds that had created them.

…

Aegon’s eyes opened once again and he found himself back at the cave, his face wet from the dripping water, the water felt strangely cold and the cave somehow looked the tiniest bit brighter, the dripping sound the tiniest bit louder.

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Being such a minute change he didn't put much thought into it and simply lifted himself up and made his way up towards the white dot of light in the distance.

His hands gripped firmly on the rocks and he propelled himself forward, one hand and one step at a time his figure silently got closer and closer to the exit and before long he was right in front of the exit, looking outside he saw Percy walking around mindlessly while Travis was still sitting down in meditation near Tank and the rest of the group.

Roy was looking straight towards the cave but Aegon knew his friend couldn't see him, taking one good look back towards the darkness he stepped out of the cave.

The warm sunlight hit his face and Aegon almost thought he had dreamed it all. It all looked exactly the same, he felt the same, in clear opposition to his idea of gaining a “godhood”.

Looking back towards the cave, the all enveloping darkness of its entrance had disappeared and it now took in the sunlight like a normal curve would, he could see quite a bit into the cave while before he couldn't even see his arm.

“Was it the fall? Did it make me dream all that up?” Looking at his clothes he saw clear signs that at least the fall was real, maybe when he hit the bottom he also hit his head and hallucinated all the rest.

Thinking back to his time in the cave it all seemed too fantastical to be true, a god of chaos was hiding in a normal cave, furthermore he just so happened to be close to dying and so ended up passing its “inheritance” to him.

“What are the odds?” Still he couldn't shake the feeling that it was real, it nagged at his mind that something so terrifying wasn’t something he could come up with. In the past the scary things he imagined or heard in stories didn't hold a candle to Fenrir’s bare presence.

While he was still deep in thought Roy called him over as Tank was waking up and in a good enough condition to take them back to the village, seeing the beast almost fully healed from the life threatening injuries he suffered not long before, Aegon became even more convinced by the power of those healing shards and vowed to get his hands on a few in the future.

…

After the sun had set over the horizon the silhouette of the massive three horned rhino appeared in the main road of Miriande and the booming sound of its steps brought new life to the village, seeing their “heroes” return safe and sound they deduced the rest of the story and the few who were able rushed to prepare a celebration. It all amounted to only a few tables placed on the main road with soup and roasted potatoes yet amidst the smiles and tear filled expressions of gratitude they felt they couldn’t have been received any better.

Later that night Aegon finally returned to his provisional house and found Kuro still sleeping in the same place he had left him in the morning.

He stretched his hand and patted the wolf’s head in an affectionate way but something felt strange, Kuro seemed rigid.

The wolf woke up as soon as his partner touched him yet he sensed that something didn't feel quite right, the all too familiar figure he had spent most of his time with in the past few months now felt… different, but he couldn't quite put his paw on it… the feeling wasn't overwhelming by any means and he soon forgot about it when Aegon presented him with a juicy piece of meat he had gotten from the wolf's corpse and prepared specially for Kuro.

Looking down at this scene Aegon pondered about the ethics of knowingly giving his partner meat from an animal of the same species, especially without him knowing about it but he soon felt it was pointless as Kuro was enjoying himself and that was enough moral justification.