Things were strange now. Not different though, that was the strange part.

Everything was out in the open and it didn’t really change Sunny’s opinion on Nyx at all, simply answer his questions and fill in the gaps in his understanding. If anything, with those questions answered and those gaps filled it only strengthened his previous views on him.

It was refreshing. It was terrifying. It was all at once uncomfortable and the most comfortable he’d ever felt.

They had decided to start heading in a random direction. It seemed as good a place as any to start.

And If they walked for long enough in any one direction, they'd eventually reach a fuzzy undefined border between Temperate North and one of the other regions that made up the Magaean Pangea and that would undoubtedly be progress, especially with all the good they’d no doubt do along the way.

Knowing where they were headed wouldn’t matter if there was no one destination, right?

For now, they trekked through the deciduous forests of the North. They had lost the road sometime after the last time they stopped to camp, but that should be fine. They’d just keep walking until they found civilization, there was no time limit.

Nyx had been quiet the first day or so after the revelation, still trying to process his new normal but was starting to come out of his shell.

He had even laughed aloud at the joke Sunny had cracked at a strangely shaped tree stump framed on either side by a round shrub. Which was almost funnier the second time, less so when they passed it again.

“How many dick shaped collections of foliage are there in this forest?” Sunny asked incredulously.

“I think,” Nyx said gently, “it’s the same foliage. We’re going in circles. Um,” he said. “Incidentally, how do we know where we’re going?”

Sunny opened his mouth and closed it.

“You know,” he said, chuckling nervously, most Earth dragonkin would be able to use earth magic to tell which way magnetic north is.”

“But not the ones that don’t know Earth magic?” Nyx hazarded.

“Nope!” chirped Sunny.

They exchanged silent stares for a moment, Nyx’s eyes meeting Sunny’s, Sunny’s meeting Nyx’s face.

“We’re lost aren’t we?” Nyx said flatly.

“Oh yeah, we’re super lost.” said Sunny.

“How have you been managing before meeting me?” asked Sunny earnestly.

“Pretty much the same as now.” Nyx sighed, sitting on the grassy forest floor.

“Me too.” said Sunny, sitting with him. “I have a pretty nice atlas, but that doesn’t exactly tell us where we are on a smaller scale. So what do you usually do when you get lost?”

“I, uh, call in a lifeline.” said Nyx.

“Like on a mycelia hive mind?” Asked Sunny

“Not really.” said Nyx “But I’d kind of like to keep talking to my family as a last resort.”

“How come?” asked Sunny.

“Just do.” said Nyx, standing up.

Sunny followed.

They walked a bit further, wandering through the woods before they found trees of a different variety.

Apples, peaches and pears grew heavy and plump on the boughs of trees placed in neat, tidy rows.

Sunny’s mouth watered as his stomach growled.

Nyx grabbed his hand, for lack of a sleeve to tug and gestured to the white picket fence between them and the fruit. “I think these belong to someone.”

Sunny snapped out of it and turned to him with a grin. “That's even better! If there’s an orchard that means there are farmers. They can tell us how to get back on the path. And if they’re having monster problems, or something, maybe we could exchange our services for-“

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“-Something to help us navigate!” Nyx realized.

“Exactly, that’s what I was going to say!” said Sunny

It was not, in fact,what Sunny was going to say. Sunny was going to say fruit. Bushels of fruit. But Nyx’s idea was much more responsible.

The two of them ran up to the orchard. Nyx was about to start searching for a gate, but Sunny simply jumped the fence with Air magic. Nyx followed, lifting himself over on a shadowy blob.

They walked a bit further, through the orchard before they began to smell smoke and hear the signs of a struggle.

They quickened their pace.

Within minutes, they reached the source of the smell and sounds, a small Catkin farmer was under attack by fire monsters.

The monsters, which took the form of large, crested birds made from flame roasted the fruit and charred the trunks of the trees as the farmer’s Life magic did nothing to protect herself or her livelihood as the vines and seeds she hurled at them were burned through.

Nyx and Sunny lept into action.

Sunny flew towards the monster closest to the farmer and blew with all his might. The monster swelled with the influx of oxygen before blowing away and going out completely.

At the same time, Nyx ran over to the monster closest to him, expanding the shadow it cast and wrapping it around the thing. It fizzled for a moment, weakened by the glow of the fire before Nyx’s efforts solidified it and it enclosed the monster, smothering it.

Both of them missed how the farmer’s pupils narrowed to slits.

Sunny blew away the final monster before extending a hand to the farmer to help her up. “Are you ok, ma’am?”

She slapped the hand away. “Don’t touch me, feind.”

Sunny recoiled in shock and Nyx cringed.

“And you,” she pointed at Nyx “I see your ears, you weren’t born with this curse. You think The Archon will be merciful when he takes you just because you gave up your soul to him.”

“In case you didn’t notice, we just saved your life.” snapped Nyx.

“Oh please,” she said “how do I know you weren’t just trying to get the monsters out of the way to get the fruit for yourself. You’re in league with them anyways.

“Could you just point us in the direction of the road.” Sunny requested, face and tone stern.

“It’s over in that direction, if it gets you off my farm faster.”

Sunny took Nyx by the hand. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

Sunny stomped in the direction of the road, Nyx in tow.

“What an actual bitch.” said Sunny, when they were out of earshot.

Nyx stared at him in utter shock.

“What, if that’s how she treats people who try to help her, she’s a bitch.” he said matter of factly.

Nyx leaned against a pear tree, sliding down until he was sat beneath it. “This was a mistake.”

“Well I wouldn’t go that far, bitches don’t deserve to be lit on fire.” said Sunny

“No, Sunny, this whole thing was a mistake! Trying to do this mission shit was a mistake!” cried Nyx

“Nyx, listen to me, this was one bad experience. Look at how the first time went.” said Sunny

“That’s a fifty percent failure rate!” yelled Nyx.

“And two is a small sample size!” Sunny chimed in.

“It’s not just one bad experience, Sunny, it’s a lifetime.” said Nyx.

Sunny sat beside him “That’s why we have to do this, why I feel like I need to do this. You’re my friend, Nyx, I want to make the world better for you.”

Nyx sank down further into his knees.

“What did she mean by ‘The Archon?’ Or being in league with the monsters.” he asked.

“The Archon of Evil. It’s what some people call me. According to some theories, I brought evil into the world and created the monsters.” Nyx responded.

Sunny stared at him earnestly before looking up at the pears above him.

He stood up and began to pick some.

“What are you doing?” asked Nyx, anxiously.

“What? She has plenty. Besides, she never thanked us for helping her.” he said, again matter of factly.

Nyx quirked an eyebrow. “Never took you for a thief.”

“Neither did I. This is my first time.” Sunny grinned.

Nyx smiled as he was tossed a pear.

Within a few minutes, they had collected and absconded with a bounty of fresh fruit.

They made their way a tad further down the road before breaking into their plunder.

Sunny bit into a fresh, juicy green pear and practically moaned at the taste as he tore into it. He polished off a peach and an apple as well within minutes, licking juice off his claws and grinning ecstatically.

‘Ok, Sunny really likes fruit, file that info away for later.’

Nyx gratefully bit into the peach he was offered.

***

Boots hit the ground as a group of people jumped over the orchard fence, each one bearing a brotherhood mask and hood.

The farmer sprinted towards the intrusion, ready to tell them off before seeing their uniforms at which point she bowed in respect.

“Evening ma’am.” one man said “Did you happen to see a pale human and Earth Dragonkin come by lately? The human has been accused of practicing Shadow magic.”

The farmer smiled “Oh thank goodness you’ve come.”