Ripley took in the landscape around him. There were trees, a road, and tall pillars of smoke rising into the air. The Rider took them closer, and what Ripley saw were burned buildings, the smell of burned flesh and blood still lingering in the air.

"A fire?"

"One of Arayoch's feasts. " the Rider said.

"A feast? That doesn't look like one at all."

"The feast is for the demons. A village is chosen and then sealed in a burning circle of hellfire. The demons come up and devour the residence, among other things."

"That's horrible. Are there any survivors? Maybe we can help?"

" Unlikely. But maybe we can find a body for you."

The horse gallops toward the ground but doesn't quite touch it. It moves gracefully over the blackened ground, which radiates heat. Ripley feels angered by what he sees.

"This is wrong, just wrong." He mutters.

The Rider remains silent.

"There. " He points to something laying outside the circle of scorched earth.

Ripley notices what looks like a child lying on the ground.

"Is he.. "

"Dead, yes. Recently. And fully intact. That's good."

"How can that be good? It's a dead child."

"It's a body. Without a soul. One you can inhabit. You must move quickly. The longer you stay here in this form, the closer you are to fading."

"I'm going to fade?"

"This world will see you as dead and cast you out. You might actually end up dying when that happens."

"I... don't want that." He says. "What do I have to do?"

"Get inside the body. Put it on like you put on clothes. I'll take care of the rest."

Ripley obeys. Jumps off the horse and goes to the dead boy. He is surprised that the ground does not burn him. He does as the Rider said, kneels down and wonders how he is supposed to fit into such a small body. But then his hand just goes in and it seems to sink into the body. Ripley moves his other hand.

"It's like putting on a shirt." He tells himself.

As soon as his head goes under, he feels something. He no longer smells the burning flesh or hears sounds coming from outside.

Images begin to flash in his mind. The house. A dark bedroom. Loud knocking on the door and screams in the street. People in black robes with pointed hoods ordered them outside. A man and a woman with him.

All the inhabitants of the village are lined up outside on the street. And then it begins. Someone is killed. A young woman. Blood flows from her throat. Some try to flee, others fight the robed people. But a circle of fire ignites around the village and everyone stops. There is no way out, they are trapped, and then they come - demons. The child runs and tries to hide. But it is not able to escape. It is caught by the huge monster that towers over the houses and has a mouth on its belly. Only to be pulled away by something slimy. A tentacle of a slimy, slug-like creature. It tugs the boy toward it. The tentacles have sharp, bone-like tips. They dig into his skin and carve something into his back. It hurts and burns, and the boy screams. The larger demon seems to have left.

Then the creature pulls him even closer. Something slimy slides up his legs and then inside. There is a blinding pain, the feeling of being torn apart from the inside out. He vomits, coughing up blood and bile, but the pain does not stop. Then he loses consciousness.

Ripley wakes up and feels nausea and pain reverberating through his body. It takes him a moment to register that his arms are small and darker skinned, long dark brown hair falling from his head.

"I used a resurrection and healing spell. Any wounds you might have suffered are gone."

"Thank you." He says.

Only when he hears his own voice does it really click. He's alive, he's the boy, but the memories he has are still his own. Except for the few brief moments before the boy's death.

"I can sense people nearby." Says the Rider." You should be safe now."

"I really can't thank you enough. Is there anything I can do to return the favor?"

"Maybe in time. I must go now. My presence would not be appreciated by the people here."

Ripley hears shouts from the forest. He does not recognize them. It's not a language he's ever heard. When he turns to ask the Rider why he cannot understand them, there is only emptiness.

People find him. Investigate the ruins. Ask him questions. Ripley remains silent. Not a single word they say makes sense to him. He thought that, of course, as a native, he could naturally understand them. But the only language he could remember was that of his own world. This will be something he will have to learn. The people take him with them. They wrap him in a blanket, someone carries him. They come to another village, a smaller one.

The people offer him food and try to ask him again. Ripley feels very awkward. Then he tries to say something in his own language.

"I am sorry I can not understand you."

People are looking at him confused now.

The Rider had no trouble understanding him. So maybe they would understand him, too.

But he can tell by people's reactions that this was a mistake. The people do not understand him, and now they seem to be afraid of him. Then they start to examine him. Someone finds the mark on his back. They point at him and whisper. An old man comes in and examines him again. Whatever he says makes the crowd take a step back.

It's beginning to look like these people have come to some kind of conclusion about him, and it might not be a good one. The old man asks them something. People whisper among themselves and shake their heads. Two elders, a man, and a woman step forward.

The two elderly people take him home. They take him to what looks like a barn. There are no animals in there, just a lot of straw. They give him some rags and leave him there.

Ripley suspects they expect him to live here. Or at least spend the night. From what he had seen of the village and the interior of the house, the development of this world was behind his own, even before Arayoch had introduced various strange inventions into it.

This new life was going to be very troublesome if he could not communicate. After a night of thinking, he decided to do everything he could, learn everything he could, and use it to kill Arayoch.

What the god had done to his world was terrible. But now he saw that there was another world, and probably many others, who were suffering. Arayoch had to pay for this.

For what he had done to Ripley, for what he had done to the people of the village.

He was angry at the injustice of it. What was happening to these people was so horrible and unfair. Dragged from their homes only to be sacrificed, eaten, and raped by hordes of demons. Apparently, Arayoch thought he had the right to play with human lives as he saw fit. Just as he had played with Ripley in the past.

Over the next few days, Ripley gets used to

his new body, which is so much smaller and weaker. The old woman makes him do chores. Hands him a broom. She looks like she is waiting to see what he will do. Ripley was not good at chores when he was little, but he had a general idea of what to do with it. The woman seems pleased with it.

She has him do various things. Sweep the floor, wash the dishes, and feed the chickens. He thinks it's only fair since these people took him in when no one else would. The old man made him till the soil so he could plant seeds. He also had to carry buckets of water from the well.

The few common words he could learn were broom, chickens that were called dhragen, water, well, and soil. He had learned how to say good morning and had made the elders understand that he wanted to learn more.

Ripley also learned their names. The man's name was called Juven and the woman was Uhlka.

They were not overly caring, but they gave him shelter and food. Ripley felt they only took him in because they needed someone to do the work they could no longer do because of their age. But that was a start. He realized he had to grow up before he could do anything.

Juven smoked a pipe. He grew the pipeweed on a plot of land near the forest. Ripley noticed that he was more talkative after smoking. So he tried to learn new words at those moments.

The sky, the sun, the moon. Nothing like his native language. Trees. The grass. Rain.

Ripley began to write down the words on wood and dirt in the barn. He tried to discover the sounds and letters that matched his own language.

Uhlka was less talkative. She knew how to sew. Ripley watched her. He thought it might be useful to learn, even if it was just to sew up his wounds in case there was no one around to help. There were so many things he wanted to know about the world he was in. So many questions about everything.

Days turned into weeks. His body was getting used to the work. Lifting buckets of water, and tilling the ground, it was hard, especially for a kid. If he had to say, he was about six years old. Maybe seven.

So young. And already dead after suffering horribly. There had to be younger kids in that town. He wanted to know what it was called. It plagued his dreams, mixed with memories of his own home that was forever, gone and he would wake screaming or crying, often both. He prayed no one heard him. Ripley began to avoid sleep. Especially during the full moon, when the night terrors got worse. On those nights, he would draw on wooden boards he found in the barn, using charcoal and chalky rocks. He needed to know if he could recreate his weapons. It was Arayoch who had shown him these weapons, but he could not think of anything else he could use against demons. And the thought of killing the Mad God with the weapons he showed him gave a certain satisfaction. It was like using his own weapons against him.

He made a list in his mind of all the materials he would need. He had already seen that there was iron in this world. And copper, too. Of course, there were other things he would need. For example, a smelting furnace. Lead, gunpowder, maybe steel if he could get it. He would need a workshop to craft in. Money to buy things, or things to barter if there was no currency here. Maps of the world, historical records, if possible. Ripley wanted to know how many times the same thing had happened in the past. How many people were sacrificed at the feasts?

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

He was endlessly frustrated with this child's body which could not reach high places, could not carry heavy things, and could not concentrate for long. He often got distracted by other things. The sunbathing cat, butterflies, clouds. He would lie down in the grass and look up at the sky before picking himself up again. He suspected that since he was in a child's body it make him like this. He also remembered his childhood much more often. But he could still remember his whole life, but his mind just tended to focus most on childhood memories.

One day Juven took him to the village. It was the first time he had been there since that night they found him.

People look at him strangely as they enter the same house as before. The old man is there.

"Who this?"

Juven replies. He does not understand the term. It's not old man, but it sounds similar.

"Ettmon," the man says, walking toward Ripley.

He still can not speak well, but he tries his best.

"Ripley."

The man looks at him.

"Take off your shirt."

Ripley stares at the man, confused.

Juven turns to face him. He points to his shirt.

Ripley reluctantly pulls up his shirt.

The man inspects his back. Ripley flinches as he feels a cold hand touching him. Then he remembers the mark the demon had carved into him.

Ettmon pulls his shirt down roughly and shakes his head.

"What's behind?" He wants to know.

He had tried to look over his shoulder, but could not see it.

Ettmon draws something on parchment.

Ripley looks at it, confused. A talon-like thing. Four fingers clenched together.

"What that?"

He notices the atmosphere in the room change.

Ettmon shakes his head.

Ripley understands only a few words of this explanation.

Night, fire, something. One word stands out. Kharos.

"Kharos what?"

The man leads him to a table. There lies a map, the first map he has seen in this world. Ettmon points to a spot on the map. There it says Kharos.

The name of the village.

"Demons." He tries." Arayoch."

There is fear on the faces of the men in the room.

Ettmon steps away from him. Says something he does not understand.

Juven takes something out of his bag. Ripley recognizes his own drawings on the wood. Ettmon looks at him and frowns. Someone grabs him from behind. He looks confused.

"Juven?"

The old man just turns around and walks out the door.

They chain him up. And Ripley thinks this is all ridiculous. He does not understand what he's done, only that the people in the village are afraid of him. And it has something to do with the mark on his back and what happened in Kharos. But surely these people would not do anything to a child.

He is soon proven wrong. At nightfall, he is dragged from his cell and tied to a stake. Hay and wood were loaded around him. With horror, he realizes that they intended to burn him. Ripley fought back, but to no avail; a child's body was no match in strength for adults.

He felt frightened and hopeless. He had managed to escape death once, but if he died now, what would happen? Who would stop the feasts? Who would stop Arayoch?

There was nothing he could do but pray. Ripley did not believe in any gods. Considering the only god he had ever met had turned out to be a liar and a betrayer. So in his heart and mind, he called not for a god, but for the one person who had helped him.

The flames lit up the hay and rose high.

"Someone, please help me!" He shouted in his native language. "Somebody. I am not an enemy to these people. I would do anything! Anything!"

The flames were so close now. He scanned the crowd, expecting someone to stop this. That this was all a cruel joke. But nobody moved.

"You fools! If you do this, you will condemn yourselves! I could stop Arayoch! I could save all of you! I would do anything to stop him! Anything!"

He feels the smoke sting his eyes. His throat is dry and he cannot shout any more. He feels tears falling as despair is all he has left. There is a distant sound on the wind. Like a horse galloping.

There, above the crowd, it comes closer. He sees the Rider descend. The crowd stares and some try to flee. The Rider makes the shackles in a flash. Pulls him onto the horse.

The Rider took him to some ruins in the forest. It looked like it had once been a tower. Parts of a wall and half of the building were still there.

"Thank you." He said." Once again, I am in your debt for saving me."

"You do not have to thank me," said the Rider. "I feel that I left too abruptly and forgot that you are not as experienced a traveler as I am."

"Indeed I am not. I did not expect that I would not be able to understand a word of the language of this world. "

"Oh. Yes. It's quite difficult at first. There are really only 5 languages in the universe. Every other language is a dialect or a variant or a mixture of them."

"Well, I have never been much of a linguist."

"This world speaks a fairly archaic form of one of the primary languages. A great learning experience for you."

"Then I'll do my best. But I am afraid I do not quite understand what happened back there."

"They tried to burn you."

"Well, yes, but why?"

"They called you a witch child. "

"Witch child? I am not a witch."

"A witch child does not necessarily mean a witch. It means they thought you are cursed and will bring disaster to the village."

Ripley sighs.

"I am afraid that might happen again, as long as I have that mark on my back."

He turns and pulls up his shirt.

"Do you know what it means?"

"Yes. It's the mark of the Talon. A symbol that represents Arayoch and his grip on the worlds he rules. His demons use it to mark their prey."

"What about the demon who left this mark? Will he come after me?"

"I can not say for sure. I have only been in this world once before, in transit to other places."

"If the demon comes back, there could be trouble. I can not defend myself at all in this form. And it might take me a long time to make my guns."

The Rider laughs.

"You plan to fight someone?"

"Yes. And I plan to win. I meant what I said. I will find a way to end the feasts. And I will kill Arayoch."

"You should focus on becoming strong. Shape your body as you grow. You can still prove to be a valuable ally. But until then, you still have a lot of growing up to do."

"Honestly, I do not like the body of a child. What would happen if I died in this body?"

"Your soul would leave it, just like any other soul. And then you would return either to death or to one of the places in between."

"But how would I know?"

"The spell I used on you. It enabled you to reanimate in this body. When you died the first time, you should have gone to your death, but you resisted that path. It is likely that you will do so again. And with each death, you find your way to the in-between world faster and faster, because you'll know your way around it better and better."

"And what about the spell?"

"It nourishes your soul so it does not fade. Even if you die, it should still have some effect. It will sustain you when you travel to other worlds. And with each death, you will be able to last longer without a body."

" So even if I die, I will able to resurrect in another body?"

"Yes. But you might be thrown out of this world and unable to return for some time. Time passes differently in each world, so a minute in one place can be years elsewhere. In the in-between, time is very slow. It is almost completely still. Nothing changes. The worlds outside of it are constantly moving and changing. You can end up going both to the past as well as to the future."

"I can travel to the future?"

"I told you that I have been in this world before. In truth, I have been in a future of this world. "

"Then you know what will happen."

"No. The future changes. You have not been in the past of that world, and if you were there, it had no effect on the future."

"I still do not understand."

"Do not worry about it. It's rare to end up revisiting the same place. That's all."

"So if I die, I will not be able to come back here."

"It would be fair to assume that."

"Then I will do my best to stay alive. "

"There is a town north of here. The people there might give you shelter."

"No. I think I'll stay here on my own for now."

"I'll will come by when I can."

"Thank you. You have done so much to help me."

"It's nothing. There are very few like you and me. Not many over the ages have chosen to walk this path for it is a difficult one. The path of struggle and defiance. Against death, against time, against Order and Chaos alike, against the gods and the norms of the Universe. "

Ripley reflects on Rider's words.

"If that is what must be done, then so be it. Then struggle I shall. Somebody's got to do it. I may not know much about gods, laws, or the universe, but I do not believe things are right as they are."

"I am afraid, my friend, you will find that few things are right in the universe. For all the supposed order it claims to have, chaos is much more apparent. But I admire your courage, and I hope that it does not abandon you for there are things much worse than this."

"It's hard to imagine things worse than this."

"You do not have to imagine it. More likely, you'll experience it at some point."

Ripley bows his head.

"For now I'll say goodbye to you."

The Nightmare took off into the night sky, leaving Ripley alone in the dark forest.

Suddenly he realized how cold it was, how little he was wearing, and that he had nothing with which to build a fire. In theory, he knew how to build a fire, but he had never done it. He had never lived outside of the luxuries of civilization. Fear gripped him deep inside, but he knew he had to survive if he wanted to defeat Arayoch one day. Rider said that he could come back to life if he died. Granted, in another world, but now he would know what awaited him, and perhaps his next body would not be a child.

He had curled up behind some boxes and shivered the whole night though he had survived the night. In his heart, he remembered why he had resolved to do this. He remembered Stella and her smile. Golden hair in the summer wind. The red grass and the teal leaves of the trees on a world that no longer existed.

He felt the crushing loneliness of being the only one left. The last of his entire world.

"This is all because of him."

Loneliness turned to hate.

"I do not care what happens to me, but I will destroy you, Deceiver. I swear I will."