We left Gillith behind us quickly. Naro put us through a grueling pace. We seldom stopped for rest, and if we did, it was only for food and water. My legs ached, and my back grew stiff, but even at night, when it seemed like my body clung to the ground with weariness, it was hard to sleep.

If I did sleep, it was not for long. Nightmares constantly plagued me. For the first few nights, I would wake up to Calk leaning over me, grinning with crooked old teeth, his eyes blazing blue with hate and disappointment. Then his face would change to that of his elven form, and he would reach for me, and I would panic and roll away, only to find myself back in the waking world rolling through the icy cold snow, away from the comfort of warm embers.

After the days turned into weeks, my nightmares and anxiety seemed to lessen, but my curiosity did not. I wondered why Calk had not found us yet. I knew that he was more than capable and seemed to have a limitless amount of power.

We followed trails that were overgrown and all but hidden from use. Naro seemed to have an innate understanding of the terrain and the mountain, and I marveled at the gnome’s memory and outdoorsmanship since I supposed it had been many years since he had trod them.

He could read animal signs that I couldn’t even see, construct shelters of strange designs that I had never imagined possible, and he talked about the woods and the world as if the trees and squirrels themselves had long since told him everything he needed to know. We would eat strange nuts that tasted bitter but would fill the stomach, and if a scratch or cut was to be had, he would make a salve paste from a plant he found that numbed the pain.

I found myself growing to like the gnome, even if he didn’t talk much. Despite his small stature, the quiet determined way that he moved about the world reminded me of my father. Once I asked him how he knew so much about the land--despite it seeming to me the gnomes had been holed up in the city for such a long time.

“Calk is not as smart as he thinks,” he had said, and that was it. I supposed there must have been some way the gnomes left their city through the wall--whether through a gap or some other means.

After a few weeks, we finally left the gnome forests and found ourselves in a valley. It was strange to see so much open space after being on the mountain.

We both stood staring at the tall white grasses moving in the gentle sway of a breeze. The sun was just going down, and the blue sky had turned orange and pink.

“Haven’t left the mountain for a long time.” Naro stared out at the field, and after a moment, he sighed. “Somehow, I thought I might never see outside the mountains again.” Then he took off his pack. “We’ll camp here, but there's no fire tonight. The space is too open.”

We settled down and ate our rations. We still had plenty of dried meat and fruit supplied by the gnomes, and I did not mind it one bit. To me, it was better than what we had eaten on the ship at sea. I figured they had some sort of special way of preserving the food since it almost tasted fresh.

We lay there in the grass for some time, watching the sun go down until it was almost night. Usually the gnome kept watch over us while I slept, and it was then that I realized I had never seen the gnome sleep before. I wasn’t sure how he regained his energy, but I thought gnomes must be different from humans in that regard. But now he was sleeping--and I found it incredibly odd.

For some time I lay there in the darkness of the valley. I knew I should stay up for a while, to give the gnome a chance to rest--and it was good to have one set of eyes open. But then as my thoughts began to drift, I began to hear something.

At first I thought it was only the rustling of grass, but as I concentrated on the noise and sat up, my skin began to prickle. It was my name. My name floated through the wind around me--so quiet I could barely hear it. But it was my name all the same. “Milnas…” it whispered. I looked at Naro and then I heard it again, and my eyes focused on the sword. Somehow, in the weeks of travel with the gnome, I had not thought of it once. And at once, I found that incredibly odd. The entire reason we left Gillith was because of the sword--and the entire reason I found myself alone in the valley with the gnome without my friends was because of the sword.

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It was as if before that moment, I had no memory of it at all--but now I did. And I itched to look at it. I slowly crept over to the gnome and put my hand on the hilt.

As the flesh of my hand met the hilt, I felt a strange presence around me. I knew it wasn’t a sound that I had heard, but I couldn’t help whipping my head about as I searched for the cause of the strange sensation. And then, before my eyes, a figure began to materialize.

“Hello child.”

His voice was unlike any I had heard before; deep and rumbling, like the grating of stone. The sound seemed to linger in the air with its thickness. I shook my head in disbelief that the figure had spoken and that he was real.

He was tall, incredibly tall--and wiry lean. Long white hair flowed over his shoulders and his eyes glowed purple. But they were brighter than Calk’s and I did not see his pupils. Small wisps of light seemed to leak out of his eyes as he regarded me.

The figure pointed at the sword still in my hand. I looked at it and noticed that it had slipped out of the scabbard. Like the scabbard, the blade was black as tar. However, the blade was covered in purple runes that glowed and pulsed faintly.

“Would you believe that I made it for you?” The figure looked up at the sky for a moment and breathed out a thick breath. I noticed that the grass he stood on wasn't flattened.

I looked down to see Naro shift in his sleep. The gnome was still sleeping--but then I realized I had not spoken. “Are you in my mind?”

“In a way. I’m not inside your mind. I’m in the sword. But yes, I can read your thoughts.”

My logical mind protested having someone else inside it since it was not true. How could I know if I was me or if there was someone else inside as well?I felt my vision begin to blur, and a lightness came over me. But then a coolness touched my head, and a foreign sense of calm washed over me. The dizziness and nausea dissipated, and I realized that the figure must be the source of it.

The fear had left me but the confusion had not. But I did not feel danger from the strange figure--but I could not tell if that was some sort of magical calm or my own.

“Who are you?” I asked slowly.

“Theodmon.”

Memories of Calk’s stories flooded through my mind. “Was this truly my father?” Before this figure had materialized before me I had never given it much thought. I had thought Calk’s stories were those of myth and legend--and despite feeling as if they bore some truth, they were too old, too far, and too hard to believe.

But father or not, here was the elder elf who had started a war and caused the destruction of the elven cities. I reached for my magic-- and it came quickly despite it being weeks since I had used it on the churchmen. I had begun to hate the power it gave me--hated that it turned my friends from me and hated it was the reason the church had come for me. But it was still there for me when I needed it and the void settled around me.

But this time it was not a void--but pure brilliance. It was if I was submerged in purple light that clung to the air, and the figure was like nothing I had ever seen. Calk had glowed like the sun and would have burned my eyes in the void if that was possible, but Theodmon was different. Calk was a shadow next to his form of energy. Theodmon’s shined and crackled with violet energy that radiated from him. He reached up a hand and it was as if I was thrown off a cliff, but instead, I was tossed out of the quiet world.

“Don’t do that again,” he said with a small smile.

“How?” I spluttered and attempted to scoot away from the figure.

“I forced your mind back to reality. Your power is impressive, but even you have limits.”

I sat there on the ground and I could do nothing but stare. Every second it was if my body tensed, and my mind still realed from the power of the man in the void. It was if I had seen a God.

“Relax child, I will not hurt you,” He kneeled down to my level. “Sit, and I will explain everything.”

And so, not knowing what else to do, I sat--resisting the urge to escape into the void of the quiet realm once more--knowing that if I did, my sanity might never come back.