The very first thing I did after my celebration was beg for food to eat. I hadn't eaten in four days, which was about 10,000 calories in the red for me and my diet (I was told to make use of my fast metabolism while it lasts). It may have been more than four days, in all honesty.

I didn't eat much while contemplating suicide. Who would've thunk it?

But before we could sit down and eat, we had to walk a few miles uphill. Surrounding the flats was a wide stretch of mud, dirt, and rock that sloped upward. The smoke worked something like the tides, expanding and receding. But instead of

I wouldn't say it was an easy walk, but it was refreshing compared to what I had just recently gone through. Like how I was better about keeping my phone charged after not being able to for a few days, even if the position I had to sit in to do so wasn't exactly comfortable.

I know, I know, first-world problems. In my defense, I didn't really have too much worse going on in my life at that point.

But I digress, my point is that it was easier to ignore lightheadedness, aches, humidity, heat, and trauma when that was comparatively a relief. It was hard to really describe any of those things, in all honesty. My mind had adjusted to worse, so any reasonable description really only felt like an overstatement.

So we cleared the distance as the sun began to 'set'. I say 'set' in quotes, as it was likely only around early afternoon. It just began to hide behind the ash, which extended far taller and wider than any mountain I knew of. But it wasn't unfathomable- evident by the fact that it was distinctly a 'pillar' in my mind, rather than a wall. Still, it managed to blot out the sun. Which had me feeling a weird sense of jet lag on top of everything else.

On our way, we encountered a few of what looked to be research teams. Most of them were tall, green-skinned humanoids. Likely not dragons, considering how Rilu's signature look of superiority didn't fade.

Still, it could have been a permanent fixture, even among dragons. I had no way of knowing.

It goes without saying that we steered clear of them, especially after a few glances of what my Imprint told me was pity. He started walking a bit more angrily, and therefore quickly, at that, which gave me a shred of annoyance and struggle that I, admittedly unfairly, projected at them. I found it hard to blame Rilu for much after he had quite literally saved my life on multiple occasions.

We spent some time searching for a nice spot to rest just as the light began to die, an unspoken understanding between us that I would probably not get back up for a while after I sat down.

Which I very well did after we found- and I can't believe I'm saying this- a cozy-looking rock. It stuck out of the sloped ground and was flat on top, layed out at a very slight downward angle. A short hike up to it confirmed it as a viable campground, a few miles safe of the ash.

I sat down and nearly tore the satchel from Rilu's waist despite knowing I wasn't attuned. I was given some tasteless bars with all of the consistency and taste of some hell-forged hybrid of concrete and cardboard. I didn't even have the energy to complain, I just chewed on it slowly. It was awful to eat, but it made my stomach feel more full than I felt like it would ever feel again on the way there. It gave me energy and warmth, especially after using water from the canteen to wash it down.

I didn't need to drink as much. When the sun wasn't out, it was a reasonably comfortable temperature. However, I still drank a lot. I needed water, and something about it kept me sharp, made me more comfortable. It put my head back into my body and reinvigorated me. It could have been placebo, but I was curious if something had happened to the canteen.

For now, though, it was just my savior. Well, my second savior. Rilu was the beacon of hope, but it was the gentle supporter toward it.

Was it strange to consider a canteen of water that way? Ah, well, Autumn always told me it didn't matter, since I couldn't change how I felt. I agreed. Certainly hard to practice now.

After eating to the point where I felt I would throw up, I laid back. And immediately regretted it, as my back screamed into my skull and my organs squirmed inside of me. But it was worth it. I could stare at my new night sky more easily.

Rilu laid down beside me. To this view, our eyes were one in the same.

Stargazing was nice. But the sense of wonder and curiosity it filled me with inevitably was funneled toward the wide array of subjects I had to ask about. The first of which was the culmination of my daydreams and hobbies and everything in between.

"So... What sort of magic can you do?" I asked without considering anything about it. I just wanted to know, to see real magic. To see a being bend the world's rules to their will. To see that I had the same potential to grow at a scale I had given up to reality.

"I was wondering when you would ask that. I wasn't quite buying that someone from a world without anything but machines wouldn't want to see immediately," he replied, his formal words incongruous with the audible excitement I could hear underpinning his inflection.

Stolen story; please report.

"Well, if you've been thinking about it so much, is it wrong for me to expect a demonstration?" I followed up, tilting my head toward just in time to watch him stifle the grin growing on his face. I myself had to hold back a giggle upon seeing that.

As he stood up, I leaned into a 'draw me like one of your french girls' pose. If you want to know why I didn't just sit up, even moving position like that was agony. Resetting myself would be even worse.

If he were to ask, though, I'd just have said I was trying to seduce him.

He glanced my way to make sure I was watching carefully. He reached his arm out and struck a pose. I would have laughed at his all-too-characteristic dramatic flair if a red-orange dot swirling with barely-contained heat and flame didn't appear on the edge of his finger, reverberating with fiery haze like solar flares from Earth's Sun.

That barely contained energy turned to uncontained energy as an explosive blast of flame created a second dawn in my vision. I couldn't even cover my eyes as I stared at it, reaching out toward the edge of the night like a billion campfires.

It made the heat more uncomfortable. I couldn't find it in myself to complain after seeing that.

He didn't even look tired.

"I am so glad that I didn't punch you that one time," I spoke idly, moreso to the remnants of the attack than Rilu, in awe of the landscape set alight in its wake.

-

Rilu had to take the canteen for himself after one of the fires got out of hand. The only part of the Crater's Edge that had a patch of green on it was burned down. Far too quickly, in fact. I assumed magically enhanced super-fire, which sounded dumb in my head, but sadly seemed to be the most likely solution before my lack of experience with burning grass.

I didn't see him make it back, I had fallen asleep far too quickly for that. And when I awoke, well, I sorely wished I hadn't. Sorely being the keyword. The thing about the tolerance for discomfort I had felt the day prior was that it was nothing if not temporary.

We had plenty of supplies, so after a bit of begging on my part, we decided to stay on our rock for a few days. With the ash storms, there wouldn't be any bad weather around, and we didn't need any firewood considering Rilu's capabilities.

He seemed troubled about something, though. Not just because of the curious and conflicted expression he wore when he thought that I wasn't looking, but because I was burned a few times even as he created and sustained small sparks and fires.

I told him more stories as we spent most of the hours of the day looking at the sky. I asked him about the things I saw, he explained, and I came up with a story about them. It gave the stars and worlds new light, one we could share.

It was.. fun. It was strange to say after everything that happened. But daydreaming with another like that was all of the best parts of being with my friends back home. With Mason, Leo, Autumn... And Olivia. Whatever happened, I wouldn't get to see her again.

Well, there very well could have been a way. But holding onto that hope was a dangerous road, I had read enough fantasy to know that much.

-

"So what do you plan to do if you get back home?" Rilu asked reluctantly on the last day we planned to remain. The sun was rising behind us as we stared at the Firestorms. It was a sudden question, but it was a good one. One that I had been avoiding.

"I don't suppose you'll be satisfied with an 'I don't know'?"

"If that's all that you have to say."

Well, shit. He was good.

I thought for a moment before slowly pushing out some words, "I don't know, that much is true. But I guess I do know that I have to do something. I'll look for a better answer as and when we get there."

He nodded slowly.

"If you keep going, just a word of advice, this probably won't be the most difficult or painful thing you need to go through," he warned after another awkward silence. His words were tinged with regret.

At that point, the words just came out of my mouth.

"Of course not. Not if I have anything to say about it, at least."

He grinned, excitement burning fiercely beneath his eyes. I had apparently answered correctly, but I couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear.

"I like that. Alright, I've decided. I'm going to take you with me back to the Citadel."

"Isn't that the capital city of the entire planet? Will they even let someone of an unknown species with no records in?"

"How did you say it? 'I'll look for an answer as and when we get there.'?"

"Touche. I guess that's our location, then. Do you have a map?"

"Nope, I lost it! There should be some at the Outpost. Just a few days' journey from here. Don't worry about what we're going to cross, I'll keep you safe," he teased, ruffling my hair, something he did often now that he knew it annoyed me.

I tried to do the same in retaliation the first few times, but he just stepped out of the way with infuriating grace. Once I got stronger, though, it would happen.

There was magic in these worlds. I should at least be able to grow that far.

-

The path we were walking on slowly became more well-trodden, bending and twisting around rocks and indents in the slope for a more comfortable walk up. It was nice to have some reasonable terrain, even if my feet still hurt like hell.

We crossed a bend and I saw a tree peeking over our upturned horizon.

I began to run up before my body glared at my mind. I capitulated to its demands, walking up and around at a brisk pace.

The ground leveled out quickly, and I could see the beginnings of a treeline. A seemingly normal forested area, though I couldn't see much beyond that. The trees inside must have grown hundreds of feet in the air.

But that didn't change the fact that I was seeing lush green once again.

I could only gaze at the forest. It was a sanctuary, a next step, and yet more unknown dangers all in one.

I only had one thing to say,

"I hope that I never need to go back to that glorious ashtray ever again."

-

We weren't all that tired, still. Er, I absolutely was, but my legs feeling like jello was still a twisted sort of catharsis when considering the days before. My burns had mostly healed, too, they didn't even sting any longer.

Sure, I'd fall if I pushed my legs more than a brisk walk, but lethargy was comfortable.

Thinking about this made me realize that I had spent far too much mental energy on justifying how I could keep going. Maybe I just wanted to impress Rilu. If I did, then I was an idiot. The dude was probably competing in triathlons out of the womb.

Speaking of, Rilu walked into the woods without much care on the same path that began near the top of the Crater's Edge. He didn't appear to believe the forest was worth caution.

I hoped that he was considering me in that assessment.